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)