Where I've Been

1. In my officeat school, frantically trying to get my crap in order. It's been a crazy week, and even with no school on Monday, I'm behind. Though, I am pleased with my progress on class prep, and I'm all ready for the conference I'm attending tomorrow and Friday. Talk written, swap stuff collated, directions printed, registration confirmation in a folder, carpools arranged, class notes for sub in his mailbox, quiz printed, journal prompt sent....I find that though I hate working under pressure, and that I'm not so pleasant to be around when I'm this stressed, I do get things done.

2. At home, cleaning.

3. At home, picking out paint for the home office. It was battleship grey, and the previous owner/flipper was so enthusiastic about painting with this color that he got it all over the white ceiling. But then, there was white from the trim on the walls, and on the floor (which was then lacquered, right over the paint glops). Also, it was a high gloss paint, on lathe and plaster walls. Also, when we had the room jacked up last summer (because it's over the front porch, and some previous tenant had removed a not-unimportant pillar), the plaster cracked. So, the paint choosing started with a trip to Home Depot, which ended with about 3,000 choices that we liked. It was narrowed down to 7, and we got down to one color for above the picture rail, one below, and a white for the ceiling.

4. At home and out and about with my parents. Well, mom, really. Dad came up with the sole intention of painting the office. He likes it. He also likes doing taxes. I'm just not going to stand in his way.

5. Knitting, but not what I was knitting before. We got some amazing news this week that close family friends, who have been trying to adopt for years (7, we think), have adopted a baby boy. He's the sweetest little chub of a guy at 5 months, and when things like that happen, when good people are afforded the opportunity to love and care for someone who needs it, I well up. Now, as they scramble to arrange work schedules, find child care, set up a nursery, and feel all those emotions that we imagine they must be feeling, I do the only thing I can do to welcome this little guy into our extended family. I knit. In about 5 hours I've done 2 sleeves and half a back of a hoodie for him (baby things are small, and the yarn is thick), and I hope to finish before my folks leave so they can take it back to the family. The family. They've been waiting for years to make their family larger, and now it is. If I'm this overwhelmed by emotion, I can imagine how wonderful they must feel. Photos soon, I promise.