X-mas in Vermont

I've been having so much fun on my vacation and right now... it's snowing! I'm not sure why I'm so excited, since I don't want to go out and do snow activities (and now I can't go to the movies), but something about childhood snow days must be tucked away in my neural pathways somewhere, because I'm thrilled.

this picture is from a sledding trip that I didn't go on, and shows the village my parents live in from a hill above town. as you can see, it's up in the mountains and hence, no unnecessary trips down the mountain for movies or whatever during snowfalls.

the weather has actually been really mild up until now, and we've had a museum trip (I didn't go), many sledding expeditions (never went), several food and present-shopping trips (I did go), and a dinner out (I did go). I got a great picture of my dad at the meat counter, getting just the right things, don't know if I'll be able to post it. he made a great traditional Italian 7-fishes dinner on Christmas Eve (but only 3 fishes + minestrone) there were salmon cakes, cod & potatoes/fennel, and shrimp - mmmmm! then the very next day, my step-mother made a turkey dinner with all the fixings, including my two favorites: winter root vegetables and homemade cranberry sauce - mmmmm (and stuffing)!

there were 8 people on Christmas Eve and 9 on Christmas Day. my lil' nephews ages 5 and 9 had tons of presents despite several packages not arriving. older one proceeded to read his book of science facts from cover straight on, after verifying the copyright date (didn't want out-of-date facts). I learned quite a bit about absolute zero, entropy and spontaneous combustion. the littler one managed two face-plants: one in the Christmas tree (no casualties) one while sledding (mountain:1, Ezra: zero). I also introduced the boys to ninja warrior, my fav program when I can get to cable. they loved it, of course, which shows how cool they already are!

my big plans now that the rest of the family's gone is mainly to not finish the two novels I've started... ahhh, vacation! and now, maybe I'll stick my nose outside and at least get a few seconds of snow-experience. hasta la vista, amigos: I hope your x-masses were equally lovely :)

oh noes!!!

tha lorider lost her celly!!!if you needs to reach me, e-mail is best- TTFN

3!....2!....1! caffeine!!!!

christmas vacays are so close I can almost taste them - literally.... I began a tradition a couple of years ago of having a cup of coffee at the airport before I fly, so now I associate it with flying because it's about the only time I indulge anymore.

I used to be able to drink coffee normally (if a double espresso for breakfast is normal) but lately, I get all jittery if I have coffee or coca-cola, and even chocolate after lunchtime keeps me up at night - what an old lady! this especially sucks when I go to visit my dad because there's going to be coffee, really good, strong coffee available every day! hmmmm..... I can tell already that I'm going to have to make a serious choice next week between glorious coffee and sleep! oh, well there are plenty of books at dad's house......

have fun on your vacays, everybody.... don't indulge too much in - erm- caffeine!

the art haps/xmas

hey detroit ppl-
who wants to go check out the revamped DIA? who wants to go see an exhibit about Saarinen at the Cranbrook? I want to do both in the new year, so sign up for my field trip now!! I'll get you some permission slips after Christmas.

speaking of Christmas, I just got tix today to head to Vermont over Christmas! I am so psyched - a whole week! it sounds so relaxing. plus my dad and step-ma, and grandma are all great cooks, so I'm going to stuff myself :D I'll see my little nephews also, my sis and bro-in-law, and hopefully my brother and his g-friend too! fun-fun-fun. I plan to take walks (or at least one walk) in the snow, up a scenic hill with Molly the springer spaniel. (yes anon, I'll be bringing electric hand-warmers and leg-warmers, plus some aromatherapy 'just in case')

I'll see if I can get some great pix of snowy New England to show from my trip!

ps: go to this guy's blog to see a great pic of a cat in a box of assorted beer. and also, he finally started posting about tha nog. garsh, and I thought I had a nog problem!

bumpity-bump!

oops ppls- I've missed you! Happy Halloween and Happy Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's been so long that ppl are actually asking me to post haha! mostly things have been bumpy & I've been busy trying to smooth them out... but it will all be good in the long run :)

my school fi-nal-ly called back a teacher they laid off from our building, so my class size has been reduced to a normal size & we just have to figure out who's teaching what and we'll be fine.....
(also we've begun the after-school tutoring program and I'm working with the kids who were in my class last year - it's great to see them again!)

my gramma's out of the hospital and decided not to do chemo, so she's at home, doing well. I saw her at Thanksgiving and we had a great visit.....

I didn't dress up for Halloween, fell asleep after 1 trick-or-treater, and missed out on Thanksgiving dinner due to travel times.... let's hope Christmas is more successful! lols

congrats to Marie and Fernando on their new jobs!!!! (and congrats to Marie on a month in France - *thbbt!* lucky!!!!)

yikes, one of my brothers now has his official driver's license and the other one has begun driver's ed -- if you live around Ann Arbor - WATCH OUT :D

anybody else got news???