Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?

I've been doing some soul searching lately and I haven't enjoyed it.

I've been complaining, whining, bossing, and acting like a plain old snob.

I think I'm in a rut.

I think the holiday bug has bit me, but in a I-must-be-obsessive-compulsive-and-get-all-this-stuff-done-so-that-we-can-enjoy-the-holidays mood. I've been barking at Bub, freaking myself out that after Bub's Christmas party, the night before we close, that we'll be all holiday-cute and stuffing boxes with newspaper-wrapped items until dawn instead of snuggling in our warm bed and celebrating that we're moving! and to our first house! and yeah!

Last week I emailed several friends and family members to help us move in 10 days, a mere 10 days before Christmas and the response? Overwhelmingly positive. I don't get it. Ask me to do that for someone else and I would have laughed at the computer screen and told Bub, are they for real?

So for this I am grateful, but I don't know what it is about my 'tude that is making me this way. I think I'm stressed.

So, moving on to more stress. What the hell do I buy my sister? She is not a girly-girl, her birthday is in a little over a week and the best I can do? The best I can do is think that a set of knives is a good gift.

Someone set me straight.

See, my sister lives in her condo and is a bonafide work-aholic. That is fine and that is what her work is all about--the client--and deadlines--and I could never do it because you need to know math. And so yeah. I thought knives would be a good gift because we went and carved pumpkins before Halloween at her place and she said she had this one crappy knife aside from a kit she bought. She needs some home love. Knives could help, right?

And the funniest part is? Bub thinks knives are OK for her gift too. Um, can you imagine if we go through with this and get her knives?

This gets better. So we decided on a Restoration Hardware gift cert for Bub's parents. They are doing some remodeling and Bub's mother told me how she really likes the store, so we think this is a great gift idea. Except apparently I go haywire with gifts (I know, I am about to purchase knives, but go with me here) and Bub's mom is all like we're asking for no gifts or to spend no more than $25. They are sweet, and all like, you just bought a house so please don't concern yourself with buying gifts. But hello? You can buy like 2 coffees at Starbucks and a piece of gingerbread and go over that amount. So we decide to get a gift cert for Bub's mom and dad thereby making it $50 ($25 for Mother-in-Law and $25 for Father-in-Law). I still think this is too little so we think that getting a small something else as a joint gift will complete the giving.

So what do we get? I don't want to get something geared towards one gender more than another or else it's not a joint gift and so at least three times Bub has suggested that we get.... socks (as in the things you put on your tootsies) as a gift.

Hi Mother-in-Law, how are you? Oh, yes, enjoy the gift certificate, complete with your socks. We got you the special white kind. We didn't want to go over the maximum amount, so no gold-toe brands were purchased.

Although the woman who thought I was preggers earlier this year? She bought me socks for Christmas last year.

I won't knock them though, they are pretty nice.