Uh-oh, sore throat...I really don't want to be sick and I have to get these grant proposals done. Maybe it's nothing.

I did get drafts of two of them ready, waiting for feedback from others. Meanwhile, Addie is really upset that she's pregnant, but doesn't believe in abortion, it's murder; and don't worry, she's going to move in with the baby's Daddy and he's going to pay child support. Marty's tickets were lower than we feared, but now her car needs a new battery.

Betsy, the board president, had some suggestions about dealing with the night staff not signing up to work New year's Eve. Tell them they need to do it for the good of the shelter...and that you will assign them if they don't volunteer. I do think it's possible they will all quit rather than be forced to work a certain shift. It's a very part-time job. However, if they all quit, I think we can hire new ones without too much trouble. My plan was that I would have to do it, so I like this one better. Notice, she did not mention asking the Board to do it.

I left at 3:30, picked up Ray and came home. Vanessa was just putting the lasagna in the oven. I made it a few months ago and stuck it in the freezer and then got it out this weekend. A good system, if I do say so myself.

At Arabic class, I attempted to catch up after having missed last Thursday. They learned numbers, which are written from right to left, but you write the ones, then the tens, then the hundreds, so they look like our numbers. Except that 4 looks like a backwards three, 0 is five, and a dot is a zero. And I still don't know the names of the numbers, so can't understand them. Only two more classes; he says absenteeism is what killed us; we should be farther along. I say I need about 8 more classes to learn the things we have gone over so far.

While I was gone, Vanessa made dessert: apple upside down cake--warm with whipped cream!

Cold and rainy all day yesterday, the fire kept the house warm. It was pouring in the night, too, but is quiet now.