Checking In

How-doo,

Just thought I'd check in quick before bed . . . since I didn't have time to post this AM.

It's nasty cold out there tonight - not January nasty, but November nasty, to be sure.  When I was out doing chores when I got home it was 18 degrees with a brutal wind that brought the temperature (wind chill) down to 5 degrees, so my Davis weather station said.  And, of course, the nearly full moon always makes for coooold nights in the wintertime.

The two dogs and two cats are all sprawled out here on the floor of the kitchen, and I'm cozy in the corner rocker . . . still wearing my mukluks, thank you very much!  And, whoooh!  Listening to that wind HOWL!

Swamp River Ridge got about 3 more inches of snow last night.  I'd thought it was a little more, but I think the drifting accounted for that.  If the winter weather continues like this, I'll have to put the blade on the truck and then just remove it (and re-attach it) when I get the truck into the garage for it's pre-winter (ha - pre-New Year?) tune up.  Especially with these winds making drifts, the winter driveway out to the plowed road is getting a leeeetle deep (for the Yaris).

A good friend celebrated her birthday last Sunday, and I, as usual, was tardy in getting her gift finished.  But, I wrapped it yesterday morning and dropped it off to her on my way to work.  She's the post mistress (master, technically) in the tiny burg that my mail gets shipped to.  Here's the package (I make these boxes from pre-printed paper),

And here's what was inside:

At small post offices like ours, the employees (that'd be JUST HER, nearly 365 days a year! . . . although she recently got a Saturday employee after a long jag where she'd had to cover all 6 days a week ON HER OWN!) don't have to wear government-issued uniforms, and she has always dressed SO NICELY . . . despite how filthy the mail inevitably makes her!  And, she accessorizes BEAUTIFULLY, so it wasn't hard to try to figure out what to make her.  When I saw these Cloisonne pieces, they screamed her name to me (the colors were right) so I hope she'll get some good use out of 'em!

I feel like I've been trying to run through quicksand at work this week.  It's been an entirely UNsatisfying past few days.  Very.  Aggravating.  I'm hoping to get my two weekend days this week, and I've brought home some work to get done.  Yeah, I know:  it defeats the purpose of a weekend, but I'll feel SO much better if I can get a couple of solid hours in on things.

Tomorrow I have a full day of nannying.  I've had Baby Girl three days out of the past seven (including tomorrow).  For whatever reason(s), that's the schedule that my care of her seems to follow:  nothing for a month and a half or so and then a few visits all at the same time.  It will actually help, though, to be out of the situation where my mind is trying to tackle the 1,201 things I have going on all at once (at my office).  When I nanny, I nanny.*  And that's that.  Occasionally, "we'll" cook or bake (she'll be two years old next month).  And, since tomorrow's gonna be a continuation of tonight's brrr-cold weather, I suspect, AND since it's her daddy's birthday, I think we'll definitely spend a little time in the kitchen.

Anyway, that's all the wisdom (ha!) I can think of to impart tonight.  My lids are growing heavy, so it's time I shuffle upstairs.

Hope YOU have a terrific weekend!

*Clarification and guilty admission:  I once tried to juggle nannying and work when I had that summer time management job.  It was an admitted disaster of near epic proportions, and I'm still recovering from my stupidity . . . fortunately, Baby Girl and her mother have long since forgiven me.

P.S.  I just remembered this one particular piece of brilliance:  once my office was locked up good and tight tonight, I realized that the keys were still hanging on their hook . . . inside.  I wonder if that's because, JUST THIS WEEK, I gave Mama Pea a ring of keys to keep for me, saying, "I just know I'm going to forget my office keys one of these days or leave them in one vehicle when I'm driving the other."  (Sigh.)