cabbitzilla

State of Christmas Update 1:

• Mom: Her Christmas gift was given to her this afternoon; luck had dropped a still-quite-functional 15" Dell LCD, and she was overjoyed with it. It replaced the failing 13" that was all I had the last time I redid her machine... the cubby hole her desk sits in was (and remains) far too small for the big 17" ViewSonic CRT I have sitting in my hall closet.
• Lauren: The Dell Inspiron 5150 that Rowan offered up has been scrubbed, the new hard drive installed & slicked and XP'd. I'm still tuning it, but it's done for the most part, including all the relevant Windows Update (WinUpchuck, I usually call it). Tommy's going to fund a battery I found on eBay to fill that hole; I'll pick up a 5.25" USB enclosure and stuff a DVD drive in it to fill the other. All told, it's a -wonderful- gift, both to me and to the one who'll get it come Thursday. Thank you, mousie. *hugs*
• Tyler: Basic XP install has been done, plus SP1. I've got SP2 and SP3 on a thumb drive for install tomorrow. At present it's running a background process to try and revive the battery. I may have to swap it for one from another unit. I'll install the drivers for the PCMCIA wireless card, but the card itself will stay in -my- possession. There's no way in hell I'm giving THAT boy full and unsupervised internet access. I keep hoping he'll outgrow the honesty 'issues' that have been creeping up of late. He's a bright kid, he just ... well, he's more immature than >I< am, so that's saying something. :p
• Dad: Gift is done, just needs delivered Thursday afternoon. My gift to Evelyn (stepmom, marvelous lady, hella fun to gossip with) is a gift to dad that'll keep him out from under foot for a while. :D
• Leah & Tommy: Mom has a couple knick knack extras that have my name on them. It's the best I can come up with, given my rather empty purse.
• Tina & Tom: They're getting hugs, sadly. I love 'em dearly, but I just don't have anything that'd be of use to them. I may be rehabbing Tina's laptop for Alyson, though, so we'll see what comes up Thursday afternoon.
• Alyson & Makayla: ... no freakin clue. I see the kids maybe six times a year when I'm getting my hair done; I have no clue what either of them want. Makayla's not old enough for a techie gift, anyway... and Alyson may be inheriting Tina's old Acer laptop as mentioned above.

That's the blood family. There're a handful of folks I consider family beyond this, and things are in the works to try and do -something- for each of them. I've got a package that HAS to go out FedEx on Monday morning. I was late with this person's gift the last two years and I want to break that pattern. Everyone else gets hugs, prayers and well-wishes. I wish I could do more.

In less happy news, Leah managed to wreck mom's Toyota yesterday. Grill is gone, hood is buckled in to where it partially obstructs the driver's view, fenders are crumpled and the bumper skirt is shredded. For all that, there was apparently no damage at all to the Camry they hit (yes, mom was in the car with her, on the way to get her blood pressure checked). Mom's trying to placate me on it; I've told Leah for years that she follows too damned close during wet weather, and I'm a bit pissed that she messed up mom's ride. The only wear it showed before hand was a bit of key scratching around the driver's door and trunk keyholes. The only reason I've not chewed Leah a new one is the close proximity of Christmas. We've had enough awkward family speedbumps (of which I am the largest all by myself).

I'm at present having a quiet evening with the cats, waiting for a check-in from Crystal that they've gotten to her mom's safely. I dunno if I'm staying up past that point; I may just try to go to bed and hope for the best. But that's where things stand at the moment.

Via con Dios, Slayer.