Most of what I want for Christmas is house-related, but I have a few items that I want just for me. I feel silly asking for house-related things for Christmas, but I know they are things we would like to get anyway, so why not?

Lowe’s Gift Card to buy such things as:
paint for other rooms of the house
mulch
track lighting for the living room
gardening supplies
a weed whacker
a BBQ grill
knobs for the bathroom cabinets to replace the gold ones (yuck)

Bed, Bath, and Beyond Gift card to buy such things as:
a crock pot
new towels
a new handy-chopper
a silicone splatter guard
plain black picture frames for framing “art” or prints
some sort of organizing system for our dishes, pots, pans, etc.

$$ for knitting supplies (new yarn, different sized needles in double-pointed, circulars, and regular-styles, etc.)

i-tunes gift card for new music for my i-pod

a cute (brown? tan? some sort of neutral, yet classy one) messenger bag to replace my current, free, broken-zippered bag that advertises a book publishing company (from a workshop)

a gift card for Target or someplace with cute, reasonably priced fashion jewelry

a Barnes and Noble gift card for books on my wish list

Ah, the specificity of it all.

I never thought I’d say it, but I’m ready to get back to work. Not that I wouldn’t like another day off, but this snow business is ruining my lesson plans! The eggs students set up in lab have been sitting there since Monday. They missed a cell parts quiz, and I don’t think they’ll be ready for a notebook check or second-draft paper submission after two days of play.

In my time off, I have fended off a lingering headache, hung Christmas lights, made pumpkin pie, written our yearly Christmas newsletter and folded, addressed, labeled, and stuffed them. I made chili and cornbread from scratch. I had coffee with a friend and talked with family and friends on the phone. I went for a couple of walks, read a book, and checked the weather incessantly.
I finished a season of 24 and started watching Lost on DVD. I have to admit, it’s been pretty relaxing to have a couple of days to myself, but I need to get out to thrive. I need it to be warm enough outside to be able to jog if I want. I need to have errands to run and people to see. This computer screen staring me in the face for two days can be unnerving, and I can only cook so much in two days before I feel compelled to eat it all. A little work every day is good, I think, because it presses me on to achieve more. I then feel like my free time is somehow “earned.” With unexpected free time, I don’t have much warning to think about what I want to do with my time, so although I know cleaning the shower, organizing the office, or catching up with extended family might be what I should be doing, it’s not what I think about immediately.

Well….off to doing who-knows-what until bedtime, which will hopefully be in an hour. It has snowed a little more tonight, but we will undoubtedly have school tomorrow, as a warming trend is occurring. I know. I’ve been glued to every website imaginable that is related to the weather or school closures.

I think I might start reading Blue Like Jazz tonight. And I might knit.

Frightful enough that bus service was cancelled halfway through the snowy Green Bay Packers vs. Seahawks game, forcing thousands of fans to stay the night in pricey Seattle hotels.

Frightful enough that people on the way home from last night were on the road for over 8 hours. At 7 a.m., there was an evening/morning commute– a combination of people coming home from work the night before and headed to work that morning. Sometimes a usual 10 minute drive took people 4 hours. People slept in their car. Articulated buses jack-knifed. Some people have abandoned their cars and decided to walk to the nearest hotel for the night.

Seattle Public Schools and several others closed today due to the snow and ice. I don’t think it’s going to thaw before tomorrow–the low tonight is expected to be 18F, so I don’t know what’s going to happen.

In other news, the Mt. Baker ski resort has a record of snow: 98 inches in 5 days.

The weather people are counting down the hours until November is over. This month has brought us floods, record rain fall, snow, ice, and record low temperatures. I find it exciting :).

(This post was written 11/28/06)

OK, so we got some snow. On the ground, even. And it stuck! However, there are no guarantees that it will be enough for Seattle Public Schools to call school off tomorrow. One of my friends got a snow day today, and I want one, too! I want to put up Christmas lights and sleep in. I’d love to work out and then cancel it out by making a pumpkin pie.

I just finished watching the first season finale of 24. That show wears me out, but it’s good for my nervous knitting.

What to do on a snowy day? Hint: Fondue forks + mini marshmallows + gas stovetops=delicious and fun!! I wouldn’t know from experience or anything….

Well…off to grade papers! I’m hoping for a snow day, but I know I’ll regret one come June.

What’s the deal with Seattle wasting perfectly good snow on a 35F degree afternoon? It’s melting away! I wish and hope for snow, and when it does come, inevitably the ground is too warm for it to stick or the air itself is too warm for the snow to make it to the ground. This used to happen in Heber Springs, too, but it seems to happen more here in Seattle because of the warming waters surrounding the city.

I want a legitimate snow day–none of this halfway snow business. This is enough to dash a woman’s dreams. OK, maybe it’s not that bad, but if it’s going to tease me like this, I just don’t think I can take it :). Stupid urban heating. Many towns outside of Seattle have gotten 6-18″ of snow, and it will continue to snow tonight and stick. Grrrrr….

This Thanksgiving break I have been a grading machine! Senior papers were due this Wednesday and I have graded several of them. I like to give comments galore so they can make changes as needed at this stage. Sometimes it feels like the papers will never end.

In other news, I have resumed running outdoors on the weekends, if two Saturdays in a row are enough to establish a pattern. I ran this morning around Green Lake (it was NOT raining!). I would like for this to be something that occurs throughout the week. If only I could break through the barrier that the 4:30 p.m. darkness creates in my mind, this would be much easier. Justin and I are going to try to work out every night this week. Ah, yeah.

As far as the crazy Seattle weather is concerned, not only have we gotten more rain this month than any other month in Seattle’s records, we are also expecting snow this week! I hope we get it because I could use another day of grading….Sad, isn’t it?

At least I’ve gotten to do one fun thing this weekend–Justin and I went to see The Great Gatsby at the Seattle Rep this Friday night. This play was much more impressive than the previous Seattle Rep play we saw. It had more than one character, an actual set, and an interesting plot–amazing! Not only that, adding to the intrigue was the car and pool that were onstage.

Well, I’m off to grade one more paper before relaxing for the evening. Here’s to revising and editing–may my students appreciate my efforts!

All of today’s hard work paid off. We had a glorious Thankgsgiving and we’ve had people over here for the last 7 hours.

Here’s how my break has gone so far.

Out of school by 1:15. Left school at 2 to pick up Justin. Went to a movie downtown and came back home to clean up before church’s first annual Thanksgiving eve “service”. We ate some snacks and shared what we are thankful for. I fell asleep on the couch before 10 while Justin went to the store and worked on his computer.

Slept in until 9:30. Made to do list for the day and realized I had better get started. Called Mom and talked to Anna. Made stuffing and cornbread dressing; put 13-lb. turkey (organic/free range) in oven. Had cornbread and coffee for breakfast. Made cranberry sauce and sweet potato casserole; cleaned up living room and set the table. Made gravy. Changed clothes…showtime!!

We also had:
Lukas’ famous mashed potatoes
Dawn’s yummy vegan green bean casserole
Andrea’s fabulous corn pudding “cornstuff”
Andrea’s mom’s desserts (pecan pie, ice cream dessert, apple pie, and lemon meringue pie)
Dawn’s cherry-apple pie and pecan pie & cornbread muffins
sparkling cider
apple cider
egg nog

After eating a lot, Andrea, Dawn, and I walked around the neighborhood when it wasn’t raining. I called Dad and Rhonda and Granny and Pa, and then we started Settlers of Catan. After David won (grrr), we played SeaFarers of Catan (and David won again!). Andrea and I played guitar hero, and almost everyone else is playing Risk. Blech.

Tomorrow holds running, grading, and the Great Gatsby. It will also likely rain and begin to get colder, which may bring snow later in the week.

More knitting and reading to come, I hope.

After being on for a few hours, our water has been shut off again! I tried to call the phone number listed, but it gave me a recording. I tried calling the 24-hour hotline, and I got another recording that says someone would be with me shortly. The phone rang once and I got hopeful someone would attend to my needs. I was redirected to the original voicemail that gave me the office’s “normal business hours,” which is not what I wanted to hear….

Grrr. I want my comfortable lifestyle back again!! Off to a coffee or teahouse to grade until we get water again….

The city, while working on the light rail, shut down our water for over 12 hours this weekend. This seems to happen every 3-4 months. We got a vague doorhanger earlier in the week that said “Your water will be shut off SATURDAY 10 p.m.-12 noon. We didn’t know which 10 p.m. or which noon it was talking about, so we took pains to not be home or use water during those times on Saturday. We left the house by 8 a.m. that day anyway. It didn’t get turned off in the evening or early that morning, so we thought maybe they did their work from 7-noon and were done with it.

However, they were not done with it.

In fact, they shut off the water from 10:30 p.m. to almost 4 p.m. today, which is way too long when we are hosting church in the morning. Especially when the toilets don’t flush.

So, although we haven’t been camping in a while, it sure feels like we have been.

Native Son was intense and emotional, as well as well done. Plus it starred someone from the movie Garden State.

I have completed a 4-week knitting class. Now I know how to cable knit, increase, decrease, yarn-over, knit hats, rib, add color, and do mittens. Yay!

I am now at a Digital Learning Commons training, so I better go!