Done, fini, kaput, terminado, finito.

It's over, I'm done.

Today was the last day at my old job. I'm now on ten days vacation and start my new job on January 3. There's no way to explain how happy this makes me. Leaving my old job is sad--I will miss my friends--but I know that this is a good move for me, and everyone has been so supportive, and that has made it easier. I didn't even cry today--but I did earlier in the week. It's just been emotional all around. I can't tell you how much it means to me to have had so many people make a special effort to call or come see me before I left. I don't think I've ever had that happen before. Thank goodness for email--it will be so easy to keep in touch with everyone. The Boss and I were able to say goodbye without a lot of emotion or kind words--it was pretty much like every other Christmas. I'm sure I'll talk to everyone several times before things calm down after the first of the year.

So the plan is to relax over the weekend and take care of a bunch of things next week. Missy and I are going shopping for yarn and wine (you can never have enough of either) on Thursday and/or Friday, I have a lunch date with my friend whom I'm replacing at my new job on Wednesday, and I have an eye appointment on Friday morning. Other than that, I'm open, baby, so I plan on having some fun!

My DVD player finally gave up the ghost, so it was very important to get a new one before the weekend, because you know there won't be anything much on broadcast TV over the weekend. Of course, I needed new DVDs to go with it, so I bought the fourth and fifth seasons of West Wing. Between those sets and the 3 DVDs I've had from Netflix for the last two months, I will have plenty to watch this week. I also bought a DVD of the original "Christmas Carol." I think I'll watch that tomorrow.

I also splurged and bought another XM Radio--the XM2Go model, which comes complete with all the accessories for both car and home. I really like the idea of being able to use it without being tied to a power source. I was lucky enough to get it for less than half price, so it was a very good deal. I also have two 1gb SD cards coming for my Palm.

Santa was very, very good to me this week. Santa Boss gave me an extremely generous bonus check. Santa Missy gave me some VERY pretty yarn--two skeins of Trekking sock yarn that I've been coveting. She also gave me a certificate for a skein of American Buffalo buffalo yarn (which she DIDN"T NEED TO DO)! (We also got a order from Elann this week, so there's lots of new yarn to drool over.) Santa Boss and Santa Judy each gave me a very nice bottle of wine (see, people DO know what I like!) as well as a loaf of homemade pumpkin bread from Judy--yum! Santa Terri gave me a bag full of wonderful Christmas goodies and a gift card for Cato (I really need clothes). So my Santas were very, very good to me.

I can't tell you how happy I was to pull into my apartment complex this afternoon--the traffic was absolutely insane. I live two blocks from two major shopping malls and about a mile from two more big shopping areas and a large Target, and this time of year the traffic backs up for blocks in every direction. It really made me feel good to know that I don't have to go anywhere until at least Tuesday.

I'll say it one more time--I'M ON VACATION!!!!!