I live! Aaaaand, I have power! Thursday night, the power finally came back on! It felt wonderful to be sleeping in my own bed again. Still after seven days with no power, I certainly learned not to take a heated home and hot shower for granted!

Work has been absolutely crazy this week. Yesterday, we did more in sales than the store has ever done before. The shelves were soooo empty this morning! Glad to have that part of the season behind us, though - now it's time for the returns season! :P

Sadly, the Seahawks didn't give me a win for Christmas. They put up a good fight, though, against one of the best teams in the NFL! Still, we fell ass-backwards into the playoffs, since the 49ers lost! Hopefully the Hawks can pull it together!

Okay, now I need to go start my present-wrapping. :P Yaaaay, procrastination! :D

Merry Christmas, everyone!! :D

And we have now crossed the four day mark! As of half an hour ago, we've now gone over four full days without power. The temperature inside the house is down to 47 at the moment (actually up a degree from this afternoon!), although that may drop overnight. I was playing with the flashlight and giggling at the fact that I could see my own breath inside the house. So now I'm back at my friend's place tonight, for more warmth! Still no word on when we'll get power back in our own home. The latest update to Puget Sound Energy's website could put us as either day-to-day or possibly not til Friday or Saturday. Agh! Ah, well, not much we can do but wait...

The mall was definitely jam-packed today. Between the people trying to escape to heat and the people trying to finish up Christmas shopping, it got pretty crazy at times. The grocery store was fully restocked, though! Except still not much in the ready-to-eat hot foods - all they had was a full roast chicken, and I didn't need a whole chicken just for me. :P At least the food court was open, though, so I got some real food! Many supplies here at still tight, though, despite the fact that many areas have power back. My dad said when he went out to get stuff today (batteries, propane, lamp oil, etc) he was told that people were showing up at store opening and buying all their stock by the case. *headdesk*

In happier news, I was SO glad to read last night that Julia Murney and Kendra Kassebaum will be taking over their respective roles in Wicked on Broadway beginning in January! EEEEE! OMG, they both deserve it so much. Fantastic performers, both of them, and I only wish I could go to New York and see them again!

*waves* I live!

( The Seattle storm report - from someone still in the dark, three days later! )

So, Seattle, how's the windstorm going? :P We still have power here, although I'm not sure how much longer we'll have it. It went out a few times at work tonight, but came back on within a minute or two. Let me tell you, that store is DARK when the lights go out! Coming home was a bit freaky. I came around a dark corner on a fairly busy road, and had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting a tree that had fallen across the road. The people behind me had to do the same, and the people behind them. It had fallen across power lines, so there were no street lights and you couldn't see it until you were right on top of it. I managed to drive off the road a bit and get under one side of it (yes, under, around was not an option). Hopefully someone has called to report that, 'cause I have no idea who to even contact. That's a pretty heavily-used road. Anyways, the streets are already littered with branches, so driving home was really an obstacle course. And we're just getting started - we're supposed to have 60-70 mph winds for the next several hours!

The Seahawks game ended badly (WTF? we lost to San Francisco AGAIN?!) but at least we got more interesting footage. This time, it was the drains overflowing due to the storm and flooding the field. And apparently the power went out in the stadium, too. King5 has footage of that on their site (scroll down to the videos on the main page). Freeways are flooded, roads are closed everywhere. Two deaths attributed to the storm already. It feels so wrong, though... we're only supposed to get major storms on holidays! What the hell are we going to call this one? :P We're going to have to start naming them after Seahawks games this year. :P

And yes, as promised, it is time for the return of the Twelve Days of Disney Christmas! So, without further ado...
( Day 1: 'Celebrate the Season' opening number )

So, Seattle, how are we enjoying our fall so far? I think by my count, we're up to:
-A minor windstorm
-A massive rainstorm (accompanied by massive flooding)
-A snow/ice storm (which pushed us over Seattle's one-month rainfall total record that's stood since 1933)
-Another minor windstorm
-Yet another minor windstorm today
-A major windstorm on track for tomorrow night

...and that, my friends, is only since mid-November. Welcome to Washington!

We're back in the house now, and the floors are all pretty and shiny! Latte literally ran laps around the house when she arrived back home, but I think she's just glad to be away from the vet! (we boarded her there) Poor thing had scratches on the end of her nose from pressing her face against the bars on her kennel for four days. *huggles her* But she promptly jumped up on her favorite chair and went right back to sleep.

I got lots of reading done while I was away! I read Robin McKinley's "Beauty" in less than 24 hours - I couldn't put it down! That one has joined the ranks of my favorite books. I'm reading the original novel of "The Princess Bride" now, and almost finished with that, too. I love it - it's like reading the movie almost word-for-word at times! I guess that's what you get when the novel's author wrote the screenplay as well. And it makes me think of Cary Elwes all the time. Mmmmm... I'm on a fantasy reading binge at the moment. :P Still waiting to move up the holds list for "Eragon" at the library, 'cause I really wanna actually read that one before I go see the movie. They have 150 copies of it now and I'm jumping up about 5-10 spots per day (#42 at the moment!), though, so hopefully they'll get down to my name in the next week or so.

And as many of you whale geeks know, they announced today that, in all likelihood, the baiji is now extinct. Not one sighting since 2004, and if there are any left out there, there aren't enough for a genetically viable population. :( That's just... I can't even wrap my brain around that. Extinct due to habitat destruction - the first whale species to go extinct because of human habitat destruction. But there's so many others on the brink, I can only hope this is a wake-up call to the world. But the cynic in me keeps thinking that not enough people out there truly care...