Back to Work

Well, gosh, I either have a new cold or the last one came back with a vengeance. I started getting stuffy and sniffly yesterday afternoon. It wasn't enough to keep me from sleeping, although I woke up several times. Ray is not in the bed, so I think he is asleep somewher else to avoid my noisy breathing.

We all went to the UUFA yesterday for the service, led by Sarah Dan Jones! She is a choir director and talented service leader. We all had a good time. My father even got up and danced--amd tried to get my mother to join him! I was already up, at the first invitation, but that is not for Ray.

Read some, did some quilting, swept the leaves off the porch, worked on re-organizing my clothes for winter.

And now, to work.

Yesterday started badly, with a call from the Shelter. The 8:00 am person did not show up for her shift, so I rushed off and spent a couple hours there. Maybe I'll pay myself overtime...she eventually called and showed up; had it down wrong on her calendar. I think that's why I'm so grumpy. I had a plan for the day...and that wasn't part of it. On the other hand, I didn't have any out-of-town guests or big plans that I had to give up. And I will get paid. And I do have a job.

I had picked out a couple recipes for dinner that needed to be made ahead. But Ray was up when I got home and we went out for a walk. It was such a beautiful sunny cool day, I worked outside a little too. My Dad had to cut down a tree; he couldn't wait, so Ray and my Mom helped with that. There were some chain saw problems too (ooo-christmas idea--heavy work gloves for Ray for moving wood, books about managing your wood for burning, product to help stack it?). I went in and started the dessert, which had to chill for several hours. It was a complicated recipe, involving lots of pans. It was supposed to be "marble", meaning two different flavors mixed separately and swirled together, so twice as much work. It was very good, as it should be, with eggs and heavy cream, but I'm not sure it was important to have the caramel and the chocolate--maybe I'll make just one half next time. Then we all had a late lunch and Ray got ready to go do the sound for a wedding at the Fellowship. My Mom and I had planned to drop him off and do a little shopping, but I was still working on the ragout when he left. It had to be ready because it had to cook for 2 hours. It was delicious I must say. Beef chunks cooked with lots of onions for a long time.

Worked a little on my sewing while it was cooking. Sewing is never as relaxing to me as cooking or knitting. Trying to quilt this huge window covering is incredibly frustrating. I am reminded of when I tried to sew the stripes down the side of Molli's TKD pants. How do you keep the thing straight?

Anyway, I was awake by 4:30 this morning. But what can I expect when I fall asleep at 8:30?

A pleasant day off

Ray and I took a walk--pretty cold and windy, but sunny and nice. Then we took Vanessa to exercise class and went to the grocery store. We were back in plenty of time to pick her up. I did a little sewing in the afternoon and a little work clearing the grass from around the knockout roses. Played cards, made supper, went to the movies. Not very exciting.

We sure had a great time last night. Ray and I probably would have stayed a lot longer, but Vanessa was more than ready to come home. She says some peculiar things sometimes. When we got in the car, she said, "I wasn't sure if it was going to get better or deteriorate." I certainly understand that she was tired--it was 11:30 when we got home! We started playing Fictionary (also known in our house as Dictionary), where you make up definitions for words--booger dance, gobstick, lampong--about ten, after dinner about 8 followed after a break by pie. The Captain said it was the worst pie crust he'd ever eaten. I think that is an exaggeration, but I like our pies better. Deb V. always makes the pies. Laughing and playing with friendly, smart people--that's about as good as it gets. John O. had to get someone to read one of the definitions for him, he was laughing too hard to get it out. Francesca was ringmaster, and there were lots of clowns.

I made rolls and whole wheat bread, Vanessa and Ray made the sweet potatoes--all home grown. We have one whole pan left. There was turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, acorn squash (with maple syrup and butter and rosemary), two kinds of cranberry relish (plus canned for the V. boys). Artichoke-spinach casserole, quinoa with green beans and dried cranberries, stuffing. I'm sure there was more. Deb V. also made wheat bread, with walnuts and raisins, yum. She has a bread maker. We talked a good bit with Michael and Alice, who have recently moved to DC. I want to be more like her, understated and calm, but right. Tom and Deb V. sat at our table too. Captain and Vanessa sat with Bertha--and Francesca and the V. boys. Harry is going to be playing Romeo in UGA's Romeo and Juliet in February. We all want to see that. One of the fun things is we will talk all day about who said what and what we liked and didn't. Both Molli and Amelia called to wish us all Happy Thanksgiving. My phone died while I was talking to A., so M. called Janna's house--she knew where to find us!

Other than baking yesterday, I watched the entire Macy's parade. This is the first time we've had DVR, so I could pause it while cooking and then fast forward through the commercials--or any boring parts. I did a little vacuuming and took a bath. While I was in the tub, Janna called to say, "don't come at 4, don't come before 5." So we played cards until 5 and we got there about 5:30--we were still the first ones and there was a lot more last-minute preparation before we could eat. Tom V. was allowed in the L to carve the ham and turkeys. Alice (who is a nutritionist) was occasionally allowed to consult. And Janna began to get panicky at one point--how do we make this happen every year?? gravy, mashed potatoes, everything ready at once. There were 22 people, I think.

Sigh of contentment, followed by wistful thoughts of how she now has her children to do things with for the next few days, while I do not.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for so much today. A job. Health--mine and others'. Friends and family who love me and take care of me and each other. My nice safe home. And even my government, although it is hard not to add "but" or "except". The technology that allows me to be in touch with my far-flung children. Food...and much much more.

We had a little Thanksgiving miracle yesterday. On Tuesday night, when our 6th family had just moved in and the weather was turning cooler, we realized we didn't have enough blankets to keep everyone warm. And it was going to be even colder last night. As you can imagine, I am not one to advocate just turning up the heat. We were going to go out and buy lots of blankets, but instead we sent out an email and asked if people had blankets (or wanted to buy blankets) to bring them by. and they did...a big pile of them in my office, brought by workers and families, a steady parade all afternoon. Sniff! it just made me tear up. Some believe in the power of prayer...I will believe in the power of email. I better be careful how I use it.

Also, we have started getting unsolicited end-of-the-year checks in the mail. Awesome! Sam at HED responded positively to my grant proposals. Now I have to write 3 major grant proposals by Dec. 11, without much help. And the fundraiser is next Thursday--I'll have to miss Arabic again. No interns this week; it was kind of nice. A good thing since they will be gone most of December. Although we need to find out how to update the website, because Taylor did not do it before he left, even though I thought he said he would. It looks like none of the Night Staff is willing to work Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve. I might have to put in some time myself. Sigh. I wouldn't mind much if Molli wasn't going to be home. I don't suppose anyone from the Board will step up!

Ray took me in and kept the car and went to his office (even though he was not supposed to, since he is furloughed). He got a lot done, but looked awful when he came to get me. He went to bed when we got home and I haven't talked to him since. It is the same old stuffy head and exhaustion, I think. He could be getting another cold, but I think it's just his allergies. I wish there were something to do about it. Time to build a new house and sell this one??

We had shrimp for supper. We often have it with pasta or rice, but we had rice the night before and pasta before that. So I was looking for some way to cook and eat it with potatoes. I finally found a recipe for Low Country Boil, which uses shrimp and potatoes and sausage, which we had in the freezer from my parents' trip to Massachusetts--linguica. My Mom and I put it together in about half an hour. We ended up being ready to eat before 6. I tried to wake Ray, but he grunted a no when I asked him. My Dad came out and sat down, took one bite and said he couldn't eat it. He had apparently had indigestion all day and chicken soup for lunch. I didn't know or I would have gone with the pasta and shrimp with cream sauce. I was annoyed, he felt bad. Mom and I ate shrimp and sausage and potatoes. Sigh.

We watched some TV and I fell asleep--before my Mom! I was in bed by 9, so not surprisingly I was awake before 5. I am looking forward to my day off--baking rolls and bread for dinner at Janna's. Watching the parade on TV. Maybe working some outside when it warms up this afternoon. Maybe cleaning some inside. Maybe playing cards. Trying to be upbeat and not miss my kids too much. You see, Casey, the trouble with having kids...is then you miss them when they're gone.

Falling asleep early every night finally caught up to me. I woke up at 4 and was not sleepy. Ray was breathing loudly right next to me, but I don't think that's what kept me awake. I know my snoring has bothered him many times.

The day before Thanksgiving and lots of people are not going to work today--kids are traveling home from college. Of course, not in Mexico or Switzerland, where my daughters are. I don't really mind working today, no guests at our house. We will be joining Janna for dinner on Thursday and need to bring rolls and sweet potatoes, but we don't have to be there until 4 and I am not working tomorrow.

I still have a stuffy nose. It's very warm in here again from Ray building up the fire at bedtime.

Yesterday we had a staff meeting. We have started getting requests for tickets for the Harvest fundraiser and I have not had any direction from the board about selling them. I finally got Mary G. to bring me some raffle tickets. Both admission and raffle can be bought online. I will be notified by Paypal and need to keep track so we know who to admit. They can also be bought at the door. There is no such thing as sold out. She also wanted access to my Quickbooks to make sure the categories were there for keeping the money separate--raffle, admission, sponsorship. It was. She reminded me of a few things I knew--it's preferable to write checks directly to vendors, rather than reimbursing for purchases. I asked her about a mysterious Quickbooks problem I was having (some money to be deposited that is negative). She finally printed it out and took it to her office to study.

I made a bank deposit and picked Ray up about 2. We came home and had a walk. It was overcast and cool, but pretty nice. We pretended to look for possible Christmas trees. There are not very many evergreens. They are cedars (junipers) that do not have the traditional triangle shape, and pines, that have fewer branches than is usual for a Christmas tree. Supposedly, my grandmother was known to wire on extra branches to get the desired look. I think a neighbor took 3 small pine trees and lashed them together to get a nice full tree. We may have to resort to one of these methods.

Vanessa had driven herself to the dentist while the Captain was taking a bath. He had been out digging up the garden and bringing firewood to the house, so was really tired. We had an early drink and snack that ran into an early supper, so I could go to Arabic at 6.

We started writing sentences. The verb comes first. If a noun is the subject, it has an apostrophe over it, which changes the sound. It it is an object, it has a dash under it, which changes the sound. Although I like the challenge of learning the language (and thinking about how I would teach differently), I love when Zuhair tells us about his life. In this case, he was worrying about Thanksgiving dinner. He said last year his wife was watching the cooking channel and added a bunch of spices to the turkey. He didn't like it at all, but had to pretend it was delicious. Meanwhile, apparently neither his wife nor his daughter will eat leftovers, but he hates to throw food away. So he was stuck eating this turkey for about 10 days. Another student, Scott, talked about the schnitzel he was having (pork chops with mushroom gravy--sounded delicious). He said he was in the first Gulf War and for some reason the Army served turkey for about 6 months. He says he can't eat it any more.

Home again, Ray washed and cut up strawberries for us to have with vanilla ice cream and TV. Yup, I fell asleep on the couch before 10.

I woke up around 4:30, but went back to sleep. Now it's 6:15...Head still a little stuffy and achy...nice and warm inside due to Ray building up the fire before we went to bed.

Yesterday, I woke him up and he said no, he would come in later. There are no classes at UGA today, so he may revert to his "natural" schedule, which is staying up late and sleeping late. In fact, he had Captain and Vanessa bring him in to work at 11.

Monday morning there is always a lot going on. Extra mail from Saturday. Job TREC people in the office. Today, Jaron came in early and I still have no official communication from Americorps about his position. He told me that they have funding problems in Atlanta and the guy I was talking to no longer works there. I processed the automatic deposits. People who pledge to pay something every month to the shelter authorize us to take it out of their account. So I order a sort of booklet of paper checks that I have to tear out every month, stamp the back and prepare a deposit slip. I'm not complaining. We get almost $700 a month that way. But if you are an organized person, you can just write one check for the year (or the quarter) and save someone from having to do that. That assumes the organization can deal with the cash flow issues. I met with Deb from the Nancy Travis House board about putting in grant proposals for them and talked some about the future. I met Janna and Becky for lunch, so that was a good break. I talked again to crazy people from the leasing company. I asked to speak to their superior and they said no. I called the local dealer and he said he had handled it and it should be stopping any day now. I hope so. Meanwhile I need to learn how to not let it get to me. Ha!

I left at 3, picked Ray up and came home. Did some more work on the insulated shade. there is an inner fabric, picked for beauty, a lining with rings attached (now) and a layer of batting for insulation and a layer of plastic for vapor barrier. It is a pain to assemble. For starters, the fabric has to be cut and seamed, because it is not as wide as the double window I am covering. Then you have to attach the rings to the lining. Then I cut the plastic and batting. Yesterday I pinned them all together, hopefully in the right order and right direction, on two sides. I will sew those and then check it, sew the third side, then turn it right side out and sew the bottom. Then Ray will thread the string through the holes and hang it up for me (staple it to the top of the window). They don't get washed or cleaned. I guess eventually we'll take them down and throw them away and make new ones--oh no! Looking at the walls, there are places that need to be repainted--it has been more than 5 years since we moved in. I am dreading that.

We ate early--Ray made supper--and had time to play another game of cards before we watched our 3 favorite TV shows. I didn't make it through BBT (Big Bang Theory), my current favorite. But I have to say, the 2 and a half men episode had me guffawing.