Late but not out

Minutiae. I haz it. This noon I went home with a to do list. I didn't get to the birthday present shopping for my mother that I wanted to do. These were the things that had to be done:

• Gas in car (it was doing that almost stalling thing it does when the tank gets low. Nod says it's a pressure sensor that needs to be replaced. Keeping the tank above half full works too.)
• Find phone (I forgot it this morning and hoped the school would not need to reach me for child crisis. I wasn't very worried because they do have my work number too. I found the bugger next to the tv where I had left it last night after watching Wallander*.)
• Take pill (tetracycline for my acne, I do not need to miss any pills.)
• Bedding in washer (Lexi and I are a symbiont pair as she doesn't wake up to take herself to the bathroom in the night. Sometimes we're in sync and the bed stays dry. Sometimes I sleep all the way through the night (decadence!) or don't wake up at the right time, and the bed gets wet. We're having a wet week so far.)
• Email teachers (I needed to tell them that I will pick the kids up on Thurs afternoon instead of having them go to the after-school program.)
• Pluck (my whiskers are asserting themselves)

I got it all done (except for the plucking, whiskers bring luck, don't they?) and ate my lunch. I'm rather proud of scrabbling my way up to minimum standards.

*I'm watching some of the Wallander episodes, Swedish police procedural mysteries. Starring a grumpy rumpled Branaugh. The sort of thing I like to read. I'm not liking the dramatization as much as I expected to. Nothing wrong with it except for some predictability. I may abandon in midstream.

Gifties. Here's what I've got.
Nod: a box of 100 bits. M&Ms for stocking. I will give him an empty box to represent the hat we'll look for after xmas.
Need to get: nothing although I may get him the glow-in-the-dark frisbee he asked for

Katy:  green converse sneakers, black leggings, From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler, little rainbow sketch book and star candies for stocking, calendar to share with her sister, goofy panda hat (she picked out the last two).
Need to get: pair of earrings, silver chain if I can find one for not much, stocking toy?

Lexi: Fairy book, little rainbow sketch book and star candies for stocking, Littlest Pet Shop thingie (that she picked out)
Need to get: something cute!, silver chain if I can find one for not much, stocking toy?

Elaine: gloves, empty hat box like Nod.
Need to get: pie plate (she asked for this)? Or?

Georgia, for birthday on the 28th: card, produce bag with asparagus on it, recommendation for Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, CD of our neighbor's sweet music.
Need to get: another asparagus thingie? magnet? it needs to happen tonight so I can box it and then mail tomorrow.

Need to do in order of direness:  Georgia, Lexi, Elaine, Katy, Nod.

I really should start sooner next year.