11.04.06
Bachin’ it
(That’s “bach” as in bachelorette, not as in Johann Sebastian.)
Indeed, I am without my hubby today. Jamie went on a retreat, and I stayed home to theoretically do important and edifying things. Not so much. Instead I:
- Didn’t shower until 2ish
- Ran a few errands (including renting the first season of Desperate Housewives on DVD… no, I am not desperate)
- Crocheted a hat
- Loaded the dishwasher (ha! At first I typed “dishwaster”) to clean up after our very first dinner party, which took place last night. More later.
- Folded some laundry
- Went to O’Hare to pick up Mo and have dinner while she had a long layover on her way back to Princeton
- Knit and watched TV (I am determined to empty my knitting basket so that I can start new projects–I’m discovering one of the joys of marriage is someone is there to critique your crafting habits)
The past week has been a bit of a challenge. After school classes started, which means I race downstairs at the end of the day to teach kids to knit. Fun, but an extra time commitment is not exactly what I was looking for this week. Report cards were due Wednesday, and despite the fact that I told the kids that I was writing the comments for their report cards (and they reacted with appropriate expressions of horror), they still did not behave themselves. At least only one of them got to talk to the police this week. I miraculously got the report cards done on time (tip to the teachers–print your comments on mailing labels and just stick them to the cards. Then the next quarter, all you have to do is change a few words and print again! Yay!), thought it was a challenge to figure out how to say things like “Your child is a lying, cheating punk” in a nice teacher way. In Spanish. After I finished the report cards, I had to write my Individual Growth Plan for the mentoring program. Basically it just involved setting a goal and saying what I would do to achieve the goal, so it wasn’t hard, just annoying. Especially when I would rather be baking for our professional day potluck.
Friday the kids didn’t come to school (not a coup, just a professional day), and I had a meeting for a writing project I signed up for. I was really proud of myself when I said “We were under the impression that this would not take up our whole day and that we could spend the afternoon in our classrooms. I’m going to be selfish and say that I need that time.” Becky puttin’ the smack down! They must have taken me seriously, because they called their artist who was supposed to take up our whole afternoon and had him come early (he still ended up taking forever to do his schpiel). Later the other teachers thanked me. I’m proud of myself for sticking up for what everyone was thinking, and not putting up with an infringement on our union-regulated half-day of prep in our rooms when we didn’t agree to give it up. Teacher power!
Friday I shifted gears from school stuff to our first dinner party! We hosted a small group dinner with a “comfort food” theme. I raced home from work to clean the kitchen, make two chicken potpies, try a new cider recipe (yummy) and watch Jamie make pumpkin bars. We had a delightful dinner, though our tiny table forced a bit of creativity (who knew TV trays could double as table leaves?). The food was yummy, we had about a billion desserts, and the kitties didn’t get too freaked out. Yay.
A certain sister-in-law asked about our Thanksgiving plans. We are staying in Chicago, and hopefully having dinner with some friends, then I’m cranking out thank you notes (and perhaps even afghans! But not to go with the thank you notes). I have a full day of school on Wednesday, so travel gets a bit hectic. Sigh.
My eyes are getting droopy. I hope it isn’t to weird trying to fall asleep without Jamie next to me… I suppose I could do it for 23 years, it shouldn’t be too hard, right? But I do miss him. Perhaps I’d better get down the down comforter.. my heater is gone. 
