Day 16: Halfway There

 I had a really lovely day after yesterday's hilarious crapfest. It snowed and some of the snow stayed, but I wasn't working so I spent the day cooking (making soup for a cottage overnight this weekend and batch cooking to freeze some stuff for when the kids come home - chicken breasts marinated in Sundried Tomato and Oregano salad dressing and Vietnamese style Lemongrass Chicken) and sorting through some papers and moving a few more things downstairs - the main floor is SO CLOSE to being the tidiest it has been since we moved in. 

But I am suddenly exhausted and can't think of anything intelligent and unified for a post, so I'm just going to scan the comments on my November posts so far and talk about some of them and also incidentally I love you guys.

Suzanne, whoo-hoo, you're still doing it!

Beachmama, thank-you for saying nice things about Angus, he was happy to see you this summer, and right back at you about Jonathan - remember when Eve said she wasn't going to put 'love' on ANY of her class valentines and Laura said "even on Jonathan's?"

Steph, Angus is mostly really liking grad school. The course work is right in his wheelhouse and he's finding it really interesting. He somehow landed a pretty cushy admin job in the provost's office and has been enjoying that too - he always said he never wanted to work in an office, but after cleaning windows all summer I think an office is not seeming too terrible. Also, he just arranged to assistant coach the baseball team at his former college for three credits, and I think that is going to be a totally amazing experience.

Pat - I can't even imagine the amount of chaos four kids could create, given what happened with my two (although to be honest, I'm not innocent either, especially because it's my plethora of bookshelves that take up so much space that there's not enough space to store everything else neatly).

Ernie - ha hahaha, you're saying four kids, hold my beer, right? If I was you I think I'd be wading through a hip-deep pile of hoodies, snack wrappers, craft supplies and school supplies constantly.

Thank you to everyone who complimented the dress I wore to the retirement reception. I bought it at the One World Bazaar with Jody (HI JODY) last year, and then did that thing where I hung it up and every time I looked at it felt worried it wouldn't look as good as I remembered. Jody finally reminded me about it and I put it on and really liked it. Plus, asymmetrical, which, as Eve puts it, is kind of my jam.

Steph - it IS really cool going back to my alma mater. I never really thought about it that much, Matt was totally the one driving Eve's application and excited about being connected to McMaster again, but I really love that when Eve talks about class buildings or libraries I know exactly what she means, and wandering around the campus in the fall was thrilling. I'm just really happy with how things turned out.

Suzanne - I do not always order a Stella anymore. I'm not even sure why. Often I just get tonic with lime, because I'm having trouble going a long stretch without a headache and because I had a long stretch of pretty severe depression and alcohol seemed like a bad idea. Sometimes I get gin in the tonic and sometimes I have this fucking delicious thing called a lemon drop, which I think is just vodka, lemon juice and simple syrup and maybe club soda, but somehow it is the absolute perfect mix of sweet and sour. Very occasionally I get a lemon drop and a shot of tequila because I can't drink more than one lemon drop and, well, tequila. 

Tudor - OMG, HOW did I never think of getting a shoemaker to put zippers in my Docs, this opens up a WHOLE NEW WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES.

Thank-you to everyone who stood up for the pumpkin painting - I agree both that it's not quite Halloweeny and that it is a good alternative - Eve keeps hers to decorate her room for weeks, so it works really well for her. 

Thank-you also to the Americans who answered the 'what do you cook at Thanksgiving and Christmas' poll. Would not have guessed beef tenderloin would be the surprise substitution.

I always try to put a picture in every post, because if I don't then when I post to Facebook it attaches a random photo from elsewhere in the blog, so here is a picture of a new thing that brings me joy. It's a diffuser from Sage that I bought on sale last year and then stowed in the basement to give myself for Christmas and forgot about. I remembered I had it while shopping with Zarah (HI ZARAH), found it and plugged it in when I got home. I love using it as a night light when I come in after Matt's asleep (which is almost always), and keeping it on in the morning when it's overcast. 

HI EVERYONE. And goodnight everyone.