Yes, I did take a phone snapshot of Obama on Election Night. I texted madly away with Stacey as the realization sunk in - Yes, We Did! - and that I was the only one awake to see it live!

The excitement and the pride were overwhelming, and I couldn't stop myself from tearing up. I was blown away by the class and graciousness of Senator McCain's concession speech, and as one person put it, "He became the John McCain I'd have a beer with again." I have always has the uptmost respect for Senator McCain, and had this been a different time and against a different candidate, he would absolutely have received my vote.

As with many families, this race, and its outcome, have divided my family - those of you who know me know what I'm talking about, and I'll leave it pretty much at that. I love my family, and I hope that the next four years will not be fraught with tension and that we can all play nicely. We'll see how that turns out. It's been a major reason why I normally refuse to discuss politics and why I probably won't discuss them too much going forward. I respect everyone's right to their own opinion, but it does seem that those of us with differing opinions are either expected to keep them to themselves or be ready to defend them at any given time. If I'm proud of the candidate that I voted for, just let me be - I don't ask that you defend your choices, do I?

One last thing - I'd like to express my deep disappointment regarding Prop 8. How we could make such history as a nation one day with President-Elect Obama's win and the next, make history in a completely different direction, is just sad. Love is love, and that really should be that. As far as we've come, we apparently have a long, long way to go.

Anyway. Moving on. My excitement of the day was somewhat dampened the next day when I was laid off. I debated not even mentioning it here, but it's not something to be ashamed of. My company was bought by a bigger one, and apparently I was made 'redundant'. I'm hanging in and trying to find something else. It's a scary time to be unemployed but by no means am I in a minority. I'll hang in there.

I've been getting quite a bit of knitting done, working through Christmas project after Christmas project. I've just gotten one of a pair of socks off the needles for Hubs' great-aunt, and now I'm debating on - shudder - seaming up a sweater for Hubs' cousin's baby-to-be. I don't have to set in sleeves, but I am still world famous for my loathing of seaming. Sigh.

Off to job search and bang out a reader report.