Today's nutcracker is a stocking holder. He has a broken base, however, so he doesn't work for his intended job. (Which is why my two stockings are on the wall using push pins, rather than suspended from him.)
Included in this picture is a selection of my nutcracker video collection. Missing is a Nutcracker on Ice (skated with an Olympic Gold Medalist as Clara ... can't think of her name of the top of my head at the moment, however), possibly another NoI, and Barbie's Nutcracker. There are possibly more, but I can't think of them at the moment.
The one at the bottom of the stack under my nutcracker is, quite possibly, the most book-accurate ballet out there, and it's high in my favorites. I have certainly seen it more often than any other version.
And today is the last day of the year. I was considering showing you the last five nutcrackers of my collection (I have two that I forgot to take pictures of when I did the picture shoot, and then three that I got for Christmas this year), but I might not. We'll see another day.
A popular thing to do on the last day of the year is to look back at that year and see how you did.
Personally, I don't think I did half bad.
In January, I started babysitting my four cousins for my aunt. I also started writing the second draft of
The Ankulen out by hand, and worked on typing up
Do You Take This Quest?
In February, I turned eighteen, realized that I now needed to discover my identity, lost the use of my library card, had a wonderful blog party and got
kidnapped by a king. I don't think I've been rescued yet. They were trying to solve Kendra's Clues ...
In March ... I frankly don't remember March. It marched right past me. Was that the month that I sewed buttons on dresses for orphans in Africa? I'm going to pretend it is. (I can't keep up with a sewing machine, so I wasn't fast enough to sew the dresses, but I was quite good at adding those little finishing touches.
In April, I released the Kindle version of
Do You Take This Quest? It was interesting. My sister fainted and could no longer volunteer at the horse place until she gets an okay from a doctor. (She still hasn't gotten it, by the way ... for complicated reasons akin the the reason that I still don't have a working library card.)
In May I purchased a new computer (my old one had died in December of '12) and I promptly
vlogged for the first time.
In June, I released the paperback version of Take, had a party, and did a few critique swaps ... although I didn't do very good at holding up my end ... I gave a valiant effort however!
In July, my sister turned sixteen and got a job so she could earn some money to get herself back to the horse place, and she started to have something called a reliable income .... which is something I didn't have much of .... I participated in
Actually Finishing Something in July, though I didn't really finish anything. I did paint a bracelet, though.
In August, I talked about
world building as marketing buildup for
The Ankulen.
In September, I released
The Ankulen and started pestering my sister to bring me home an application so I could start getting a reliable income too.
In October, I read a bunch of Science Fiction as research for NaNo.
In November, I won NaNo, and was hired by the place my sister works.
In December, I talked about Nutcrackers. A lot. And I made a lot of progress on
My Kingdom for a Quest. My sister has also quit her job, though I'm still there, since they were giving her more hours than she wanted, and she was not getting enough sleep, falling behind on her school work, and was on the verge of an asthma attack. I'm still doing fine, however, though my fingers are a bit sore from the touchscreen and my feet are killing me. Oh, and I've finally,
finally have learned Punch embroidery, which has been my New Year's resolution since I was ten or so.
I'll talk about my plans for 2014 tomorrow, though as heads up, I would like to publish at least my next short story collection and
Kingdom. Oh, and I get to see Hobbit 2 tomorrow! (At least, I think that's the plan). I'm so excited!
