Dear Santa...

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Despite my beliefs, it is always important to take some time this time or year and ask for my wish list. It isn't long. I promise. 1. Please send my husband his work permit. Then we can actually tell people he's looking, as opposed to he's waiting. We realize that you'll need to lean on the government. But you're Santa. If they'll do it for anyone, it's you. 2. Please let me sleep for a long, long time. During the fall, I have been busy with school. Now I have a husband who demands my attention. I want to stay well. I want to be relaxed. Make everyone go away. 3. Please send a personal assistant. My house needs cleaning. I need to buy groceries when we're running low on food. Not when we're out. And have been for a couple of days. I would also like someone who makes sure the bills are paid on time every month and cooks dinner. So is well aware when the above problems exist. As well, there is a husband who demands attention. See #2. 4. If you happen to see the shreds of my sanity, please return them. And a set of knitting needles. I'll need to repair it somehow. 5. If none of the above is possible, in the words of Sally Brown, "Please send money. Preferably in tens and twenties." Thanks Santa, any and all of those would be swell. Big Smoochies. Me

It's a Marshmallow World

I have now been teaching for 10.5 years.  Working for a residential facility, the kids live at school.  There are no snow days.  They're there, so you should be there.  The first and only quasi snow day I know of was last year, when there was a Professional Activity day, and so there were no students.  It wasn't that the school was closed; we just didn't have to be there.
Today is my first official snow day ever as an educator, and not just a consumer of the system.  It's blowing pretty good right now, and I'm glad to still be in my pajamas at 10:20 on a Friday.  I'm not looking forward to the shoveling later, but J will help.  I think he's as excited as I am that we've found this day.  There isn't a whole lot that we have to do other than be here.  
In preparation, we went to the grocery store on Wednesday, and don't need to leave the house at all today.  Apparently, our car is on vacation too.  
I'm hoping to get a good portion of our baking/sweets done today for the holiday.  We're going to J's family's on Christmas day, and I need to take a dessert.  I don't mind helping, but we're leaving here on the 23rd for our present to each other and staying in a hotel.  It doesn't make the whole dessert thing as simple as it could be.  So I'm making cookies and truffles, and that will be good enough.
If I don't make it back here, a wonderful holiday to you all.  J and I have enough to do that we're going to come back on the 29th.  It's going to be a funny New Year's.  The first I've ever spent at the house here.  I've always been away.  But there's too much to be done to go for 2 solid weeks.  And 1 will be a nice change.
Look at that.  The vacation starts, and I'm already more positive.  Go figure.

The Variables Rear Their Ugly Heads

There is only 1 week until Christmas.  This thrills me to no end, seeing as I'm exhausted, tired, and completely out of inspiration with my classes.  I see a whole lot of rocking out to Christmas carols happening this week.
J and I have finished our shopping, and now I am left with the wrapping...and figuring out what exactly to buy the man I live with.  Everything he could use right now is just too expensive.  We'd both like an external hard drive that we could hook up to the router and network for us both.  He'd like a lap top.  I'd love to get him one or both, but they're just not in the cards right now.  We'll see what happens.
We are, however, going to see Irving Berlin's White Christmas at the Fox Theatre in Detroit as a gift to both of us.  That will be fun.  He's all for making plans on the 24th as we'll be spending the day in Detroit before going to see his family for Christmas.  I'm pretty sure it would be fun to sleep, watch TV and order room service in the hotel.  We'll see what happens.
As for the rest of my life, a lot is happening.  I'm just not allowed to talk about it.  We work on the house in the hopes of selling, but where we're going to end up is a bit of a mystery.  So far, we've bid on 2 houses, and neither has worked out.  Ours is still off the market, a concession to my having a desire for a Christmas tree.  And the problem is, only a small group knows what's going on.  We'll see what happens.  
In terms of work, I'm busy, I like it, I plan to resign from the job I'm on leave from, but I'm in this ambiguous state where I have no real control.  The target keeps moving on me, and I'm shooting as fast as my water pistol will allow.  I'm not soaked yet.
I've been thinking a lot in terms of New Year's resolutions recently, and I don't know what I want to work on.  I would like to resolve to sleep 12 - 15 hours daily, frankly.  And then cook at home and see no one.  I'm not thinking that's the best of resolutions.  We'll see what happens.
In exciting news, I have a friend who is a photographer.  That's not the exciting part.  What is is that she's building her portfolio of live subjects at the moment, and J and I will be posing for her in the new year.  More when it comes about...if I'm happy with the pictures.  I can't believe I won't be.  I sent her an idea for a shoot, and she loved it!  Then I approached J, and when I told him that he would be clothed, he went for it too.  It's something to look forward to.  And that's good in my current wait and see mode.