Knocked it out of the park

Apparently, the perfect gift for Jeanne was, in fact, a professional photo of her boys, their ladies and her granddaughter professionally matted in a very pretty frame.  We went to Ice at the Gaylord Texan, and a concierge desk on the way in was good enough to let us check in our gift.  We walked through the exhibit and took a few runs down the snow-tubing slide before heading out for dinner in one of the restaurants under that same roof.

It was a Mexican restaurant with a buffet.  We put the wrapped gift at one end of the table and Jeanne at the other.  By the time Cas and I returned with our second plate, she was staring down the package.  I noticed her checking it out and suggested that she open it.  I guess we didn't have to tell her twice..  She LOVED it.  I mean, I have never seen her that happy.  I realized before the evening was over that the practical result of this gift to Dave was that he likely had to spend the rest of his evening holding a framed picture up to different places on the wall until the perfect spot could be located.  I told him I was sorry I hadn't thought of that side effect, and he said, "You did good, kid."  Aw, shucks.  I think we did good.  Thanks, Dave.  In fact, I think we knocked it out of the park.

Here's the picture we went with:

It was pretty cute.

Yesterday, the afternoon was pretty consumed for me.  We had a problem with the vent tube coming out of the dryer, and we had to fix it.  Since I installed the thing in the first place, I imagined that any repair I may employ would only compound the problem.  It turns out Dad is off work this week, and he was happy to help.  He grabbed a few tools and came over to repair my dryer.  He also left those tools over here, so I am headed back to their house today so I can return them.  No biggie.  

Last night, Cas and I went to Bed Bath & Beyond and purchased our new plates.  The light blue ones I had were great in my old house before I painted the kitchen... seven years ago.  They haven't matched my decor for over seven years.  No matter, though, they did their job, and now, they will become part of a charitable donation.  

The new ones look great in the dining room and the breakfast nook.  Behold, the new plates:

And they work great.  We just ate eggs and ham right off of them.  Way to go, new plates.  You knocked it out of the park.  

Happy Hoildays

We had our Christmases.  On Christmas Eve, we headed to my parents' house.  It was quite the gathering.  It was Mom, Dad, Danny, Laurie, Holly, Jason, Kris, Alejandro, Jim, Cas, the triplets and me.  Eleven adults and three infants.  Holy cow.  Like I said, it was quite the gathering.  I brought over my extra margaritas from the party Cas and I had.  Mom had a ton of food laid out, and Jim even brought a veggie tray and some cookies.  We had quite the afternoon and evening,  After all the presents were opened, we sat around the fire pit in the backyard with our short sleeves on and our shoes off.  The weather was good for it, and the evening was pretty great.

After Holly packed up three babies and started her van, I stuck around for a moment and helped clean up a little.

Then next morning, Cas and I went to his cousin's house for brunch and saw his dad's stepmom.  I suppose that makes the woman his step-grandmother.  We saw her and had a lovely egg dish with some of his more distant family members.  I got a nap in on Christmas afternoon, but Cas didn't.  In retrospect, he really should have.  It would have been helpful, because he was pretty wiped out by the end of the day.

We went to his mom's house in the afternoon for a Christmas dinner and still more presents.  By the end of the multiple Christmases and housewarming gifts and such, I had accumulated almost every item on my Amazon wish list.  It was ridiculous.  I kept putting things on the list, and apparently, people kept buying them.  It was an embarrassment of riches.

To be fair, Cas and I gave presents, as well.  I drew my mom's name for my family's exchange, and she had about five or six boxes to open.  Cas drew my dad's name, and he picked up some motorcycle parts.  Over at Jeanne and Dave's house, we got something for everyone.  It was a good time.  Jeanne was apparently pretty happy with the engraved wine glass, but Dave was discovering the real present- we're sending them on the wine bus trip we did back in early September.

Yesterday, we took a moment to breathe in and out.  Today, we are off to celebrate Jeanne's birthday.  A trip to Ice at the Gaylord Texan is in the offing, and we are gearing up for that now.  It's a gray, rainy and crappy day.  I guess the beautiful, t-shirt weather had to come to a close at some point...  So, it's rain on the way there and Ice this afternoon.

Arts and crafts

I think I actually bought the Groupon in the summer, and I know I booked the appointment before Thanksgiving, but yesterday, Cas and I finally went to do glass blowing.

It was pretty freaking awesome.

Overall, it was a very productive day.  It occurred to Cas and I that we may be visiting his grandmother and one of his cousins for Christmas, so we left the house a little early for the glass studio.  We went to the Bath and Body Works just up the street from the house.  I had a $25 gift card and a coupon for a free item.  When we arrived, they had a buy three, get three free special.  We got three apple-scented items, three vanilla-scented items and a bottle of the lotion I like to keep on my desk at school.  It was supposed to cost $90 before tax, but the three free and the free item coupled with the $25 we didn't need to spend (because it was on a gift card) left us with a bill of $17.76.  Nothing like coming up with a total that reminds you of the birth of a nation.  

After saving about $80 (after sales tax) on a few gifts, we headed to the glass blowing studio.  We were instructed to decide which items we would like to make, and we had to pick colors we wanted to use.  Cas and I chose colors that would go with our living room and pieces that would complement one another.  We were there to do something new, but we were thinking we may get some home decor out of the deal.  

It was really fun, and when we finished up, we were invited to sit for a while and relax.  I had brought a bottle of wine with us, and we drank it while watching the next batch of glass-blowers.  After we left there, I called the art store where we were waiting for a framing order to see if it happened to be in.  It was.  We picked that up and headed off to ship a gift to Cas' dad and stepmom in Florida.  

Today, all I have on my plate is a little more reading in Jeff's book and some help for my mom as she gets ready for the big holiday gathering.  

We have Christmas Eve tomorrow at my parents' house and Christmas Day at Cas' mom's place.  After that, I think we can exhale for a moment, then it's off to South Carolina with us so we can visit my big brother and ring in the new year.  It's a lot of family togetherness, but somehow, it all seems easier than last year.  Neither of us is worried about making a first impression.  I don't have to wonder how one dresses for which occasion and if I am overshooting the mark- I just have to see what he puts on and dress in kind.  We also don't have to decide if he's picking me up or if I am headed to his place.  It's really handy to be under one roof for that reason alone.  

I don't think Cas has ever been this organized with gifts before.  We have all of our Christmas stuff managed and wrapped, his dad's stuff is on the way out in a big, brown truck, his mom's birthday present is done, and I even have Mom and Holly's upcoming birthdays handled.  It's a lot easier when we buy gifts from the both of us, and I think he is really seeing the benefits of being with a woman who plans things out.  

Party in the USA

School went ahead and ended for the semester, and not a moment too soon.  The kids took their tests and headed on home to bug the bejeebers out of their families for a while.  Good.

On Friday, I am pretty sure I left campus the moment I was actually allowed to go.  In fact, I was one of the first three people from work to arrive at the afternoon happy hour.  The waitress apologized when I arrived that none of the drink specials would start until two in the afternoon.  That's an early happy hour, and we had to wait about thirty minutes for it to kick in.

I only stuck around for two beers and a sandwich.  I had to hit up the liquor store for last minute party goods.  I picked up four bottles of wine, a dozen beers and as many bottles of hard cider.  I got all of that back to the house and made it back in time to get ready for Cas' work Christmas party.  It was just as large and loud as last year's party.  It was a decent enough time, but when it was time to leave, I wasn't fighting to stick around.  It was a pretty long day, but a good one.

The next morning, I got myself out of bed and started to make the drinks for the cocktail party later in the day.  Before Cas even walked into the kitchen, I had made a big batch of margaritas and of a whiskey drink that tastes a bit like pie.

I started in on the queso and the wrapped sandwiches as Cas got ready to go to Zoey's second birthday party.  He was out of the house for a few hours, and that was actually okay.  I had to get things done, and I have kind of a system.  It's all good.  When he came back, he helped out with arranging things on trays and such.

By the time 3pm rolled around, we were ready, and my friend Larua was the first to arrive.  Some of Cas' teacher friends came next, as did a few of his cousins and some of his longtime friends.

I had fewer people come, but I wasn't really bothered by that.  Danny came with Laurie.  They got to meet Jerone and Julie.  The party was pretty good.  We didn't run out of food or drinks, and the last people left before nine, which is pretty good, considering that we said we would be wrapping up at eight.

Today was a typical Sunday, so I went to my parents' house.  Tomorrow, Cas and I have plans to go to a movie with his brother and sister-in-law.  Tuesday, we have a glass blowing class and Wednesday, I have to help my mom with the food for our Christmas celebration.  My family will get together on Christmas Eve; his family will get together on Christmas Day.  After that, we have a few days to bum around in Dallas before we head to South Carolina.  I'm looking forward to the trip.  It should be a good party.

There's something you don't see every day

And here it is:

A man in bike shorts and a helmet, riding down the sidewalk on a unicycle. 

That was a first for me. 

In other news, it was a pretty great day all around. I had my very last day with these two jerky kids from one of my speech classes, so they are on their way to being someone else's problem in the spring semester. I also got all of our party food purchased and made some cookies for my newspaper kids. 

It's feeling pretty good to wrap up my semester so nice and neat. I have a department meeting in the morning and a separate time set to meet with Brook after school so we can figure out how to teach folks about Google Docs. There are four more tests for me to give, then I'm out for winter break. 

I am ready for these children's parents to enjoy them for a while. I've had them quite enough for 2015, thank you. 

I did have a rather unfortunate situation this morning. One of my children arrived 30 minutes late for his first period final, smelling like weed. I can't notice that and overlook it. I wrote an email to the office secretary asking for security personnel to remove the child and see if my nose was correct. Evidently, it was. And apparently, he threw his smoking buddies under the bus to save his own skin. That resulted in another kid being pulled from my second period final. I by the end of the day, I had heard that at least one of the boys had drugs on him and was arrested for real and sent to adult jail. I don't have a clue how many kids were pulled out of classrooms today from this mess, but my nose seems to have started a proper drug bust. It's a blessing and a curse. But thankfully, it's something I don't see every day. 

Holly and jolly

In all 40 Christmases I have experienced in my life, I do not recall having had carol singers ring the doorbell and sing out in front of my house. That's what made last night's group so cool. In addition to being very good singers, they were totally unprecedented.

Cas and I were getting ready to sit down and have dinner when we looked out a side window from our breakfast book to try to see why the kids next door were going nuts and running up and down the sidewalk. Turns out, they were all excited for the carolers. 

They moved over to the sidewalk in front of our house, and somebody rang the doorbell. We put down our food and stood on the porch while about two dozen adults sang to us and about six children ran around our yard ringing bells. 

It was pretty cool. A definite first for me. 

Today, volume 3 issue 3 went out. Halfway there, now. There are three left before we quit for the summer. I'm feeling pretty ready for that. Maybe I should have Christmas first... 

Deadline

The third newspaper of the year went to the printer last night. The deadline has come and gone. That means I have three left before summer.

I have nothing left this week but a few days a final exam review. Finals are next week after a regular schedule day on Monday. That will be the day that the papers go out.

Yesterday was not my favorite day. My six regular classes were not really well behaved, and as a bonus, I got to watch a seventh period class for another teacher. Mr. Holmes is a very large, very deep-voiced black man, but somehow he does not have control over the children as much as I do. Strange, because I am 5'4" and not exactly physically intimidating.

Anyhow, after finishing up with his rotten little children, I had to race back to my classroom for a photography club meeting. Only five kids attended, and three of them seemed like they would rather be somewhere else. I invited them to leave, then Larry, our professional photographer and parent volunteer, informed them that they were welcome to leave if they weren't interested. Larry was pissed. I was, too. 

Maybe today will be a better day. It will certainly be a shorter day, since there is no after school meeting for me, and the paper is already off to the printers. 

There are four instructional days left before finals. I just need to keep breathing in and out. Almost there. 

Christmas shopping

The day after Americans pause and give thanks for all the blessings in their lives, we evidently go shopping. Black Friday has gone from a convenient shopping day for a lot of people who have time off of work to a shopping event of massive proportions.

Cas and I slept pretty late on Black Friday while many were camping out in store parking lots, trying to get an early bird bargain or a door buster deal. 

Cas and I decided to make our one destination the liquor store with 10% off all purchases. 

Seemed like the best kind of Black Friday shopping we could have done. When we had picked up what we wanted, Cas went back to work in his office at home and I headed out to the Kohl's across the street to pick up a few new things to wear. 

Later on in the weekend at a Walmart, I saw the best deal I've seen. Maybe ever: 

It's a pretty standard week at work, now. The kids all came back, for better or worse. Two days remain this week, and next week is also a pretty normal one. The week after that holds our newspaper distribution date on a Monday and four days of final exams after that. We're almost to the halfway point with this year, and I'm excited about Christmas. 

Cas and I have a tree up, and we're wrapping things as they appear on the porch: 

After that, we're off to South Carolina to see my big brother for New Year's Eve. That should be a lot of fun, and I'm sure Jeff will be glad to see us. 

As for the Christmas shopping, I'm almost done for both Cas and me. We have a few things to do, and we will get to them, but anything we were going to buy online has already been purchased. I love to be ahead of the game...