Playing Catch-up

The holiday season is a killer, don't you agree? I think this is the first free moment I've had a in a week. Even at the library I've had very little time to do anything but read a blog or two...literally. It sucks. But I'm back, so there you go. There are about a million things I want to share, but now that I'm here I can't seem to remember it all, so I'll see what I can do.

The Friday before Christmas was Ian's last day as a 1:1 at the elementary school. He just couldn't take working with kids who have so many problems so young. During the last week of school he shaved his beard differently each day to entertain the kids. This one is my favorite.

My BFF, Julie and I entered a raffle outside of Trader Joe's a few weekends ago and as I result I won a new orchid. Yay for me!

Not only did I win the new orchid, but the orchid that I got as a gift last June has new blossoms on it. It'll probably take months for them to actually bloom, but it's still exciting.

I also got some cool stuff for Christmas: quilting books, a book on how to use old socks to make stuffed animals, a new coffee grinder, a french press coffee maker, lots of DVDs, new pajamas, and a book on living green.

Sadly, although I know I have more to share, this is all I can think of at the moment. Boo.

A week?

Jeezie creezie! I can not believe it has been a whole week...no wonder my stat numbers are down. Yikes!

This is my last week of work before Christmas vacation (officially Mid-winter break...but being a non-practicing Catholic, it'll always be Christmas vacation to me). I think my shopping is done. I've finished 2 of the 3 sock monkeys...and sock monkey #3 body is complete...he just needs things like eyes, ears and a tail. Nothing big. Another hour, maybe.

Food, as I'm sure it is for many of us, is just getting harder and harder. I've been trying to eat a series of small meals many times a day so that I never get hungry enough to binge on holiday treats..but it doesn't seem to be going as planned. It's not terrible in that the small meals keep me from binging but don't keep me from passing on them. I guess I'll take what I can get.

Chris and I are gearing up for the big holiday. We went to my work dinner last night, we have one with his extended family tomorrow night, and then Thursday night is his holiday work dinner at Morton's Steakhouse. After that I'm hoping for a quiet weekend. Christmas will be as follows: Christmas eve: go to my father-in-law's for a "picky dinner" where we just graze for a while. Christmas morning: My parents house for brunch and gifts with my 3 brothers and my BFF Darth Bruce. Christmas dinner is done at my mother-in-laws house. The day after Christmas? Sleep and play with my new toys.

Should be an interesting end to this year. I'll try to be "good" until then, and update sooner than a week!

Golden Compass!

I can't wait to see this movie! I loved all the books in the series.

Drowning in Christmas

I think I might literally be drowning in Christmas. Chris and I did about 25 Christmas cards...mostly family and extended family. We're going to finish up the last bit tonight, plus we need to go over our Christmas lists and see who still needs gifts. We are also going to try to decorate our tree tonight, but we may have to put that off to another night. Exhausting.

Our weekend was nice...a ton of good food and dozens of great people. Fun, but tiring.

Work has also been busy. With the upcoming vacation, my students are getting more and more stressed out. They hate coming to school, but they really hate spending time with their flesh and blood more. A number of them are acting out for that reason alone.

I personally can not wait until vacation...9 more school days...or calendar days. Woo-hoo! Then I can sleep for 3 days straight and still have more than a week to do whatever I want. Whoopie!

Yikes!

I have not been here in about a gazillion years. (gazillion = 1/52 of a year, or one week) I don't know where this week has gone. I've been working on Christmas cards, trying to get Christmas shopping (online so far) under control. I attended two meetings after school hours this week (Quality Improvement and Reading Department). I am beat as a result.

My hands are also crazy dry. 129 year old lady dry. Cracked mummy dry. At night I've been putting Gold bond Foot cream on them and then wearing gloves and that seems to do the trip, but by the end of the day, my hands are dry and red again. Must be winter or something. I think that I'm going to have to go on strike when it comes to the dishes for a little while...which means that our dishes will pile up for longer than usual. Bah.

I wish that I could say that I've been doing a ton of sewing...I have a list of things that I would like to make for people for Christmas, but can't seem to get the energy up to get it done. I think I'm just going to have to suck it up and try to get it all done. It's going to be tough, as I've got a lot going on this weekend, but I think I can squeak some time here and there.

To Do:

1. Iron new fabric that I bought last weekend at JoAnn Fabrics (which is the second one to be closing shop within my driving range...the closest one will now be 90 minutes a way)
2. Make templates from the internet patterns I bought from FutureGirl, and for the infant shoes I want to make for my friend CA's unborn baby who we affectionately call Jumby (Jumby is due on Christmas Eve, so the kid need Christmas presents !)
3. 3 sock monkeys: one for my father-in-law who was caught walking around my apartment with Chris' because he loved it so much, one for Jumby, and one for my work Holiday dinner where we have a "Chinese Auction" (sorry to anyone who is offended...I just learned what this was and I have not other name for it). The auction has a theme of "thing with 4 legs"...so a sock monkey it is.
4. Lunch with Chris and my college roommate.
5. Dinner at Lyndhurst Castle with the 'rents...we don't actually get to eat in the castle, but we'll be in the carriage house...which is lovely. The old horse stalls have been changed into booths, and the tacking room fits about 15 tables. It's really beautiful...and I've even saying this as someone who used to waitress weddings at this place. The worked sucked, but the ambiance was always gorgeous.
6. Work at the library on Sunday.
7. Indian dinner with Chris and my father-in-law on Sunday night.

Yeah, I'm a tad busy this week.

First Snow!

I am happy as a proverbial clam...we had our first snowfall this morning! snow is one of my favorite things. It's crisp and white and puts a nice chill into the air. And it's right in time to make it feel like the holidays are actually on their way!

The unfortunate side is that later on we're supposed to get sleet and rain...nothing good can come of that...perhaps a 2 hour delay for school tomorrow morning, but not much else.

In personal news: I still have no voice...in fact it's gotten worse. I'm working at the library as I type this and I've had a number of people grin when I've tried to speak to them. Great.