I’m in the rocking chair on a snowy afternoon. S and N are playing on the computer. M is carrying the Halloween pumpkins into the back field for the winter animals. Mum’s “Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy” plays on the stereo. I hear T laughing at something outside…I bet he threw a snowball at his mother.

The last week was decent. I was busy, just about every day, but I got a lot done. Work drama was minimal, except with a Wednesday student issue, but we’ve passed that (I hope). On Thursday night I drank pretty heavily while watching the Cowboys defeat the Packers. Yesterday I was hungover, but not badly, so I hit a couple morning student meetings, faculty council (during which I probably hangover-spoke too much), and a noon departure. I watched “The Namesake” through the afternoon. Man, I loved that movie. The filmmakers handled the father/son dichotomy perfectly. I could see myself struggling to explain emotional concepts to my kids, or the importance of books and music, etc, like the film’s main characters. I cried a bit towards the end, I’m not ashamed to say. I took a long bath wit “I Love You, Beth Cooper.” I’m digging that book, too, as an easy diversion from “Jane Eyre.” The book arrived at the library’s reserve desk yesterday, and I’ve already topped 100 pages. I’ll probably finish the novel this weekend. More on the book later.

This morning I woke past eight, since I was up for a couple hours in the middle of the night. After a quick shower, T, S and I hit the supermarket and the coffee shop. The former was packed in a nod to the oncoming storm. I sent T and S on a couple missions (e.g. pizza sauce) and shopped quickly. Afterwards we visited the coffee shop. A mom and her daughter vacated the three chairs near the fire as soon as we entered, so we settled in with our books. I screwed up T and S’s Italian soda orders, resulting in some slight divaesque behavior, but besides that episode the kids were fine. I chatted with one of M’s friends for a while then called home to check out our afternoon schedule. M at first proposed a visit to Santa, but changed her mind, so we hit the little Christmas tree stand next to the creek and picked out a tree (thirty one bucks). The wind was blowing pretty hard, at this point, so I hustled through the tie-down (taking a moment to pity the poor bastards working outside) and hustled home. M and the boys set up the tree while I made everyone pizza bagels. N was in a bit of trouble for slight verbal issues, but he’s getting better every week, so I can’t complain. The flurries are everywhere, the wind strong, and I could either stay home all day or walk through the weather. Either would be great. The coffee shop is experimenting with a later closing time, 9PM, and I feel morally obligated to support the effort, so perhaps I’ll visit later. I hope the coffee shop girls don’t think I’m a stalker.

I forgot to mention that a small publication accepted one of my articles. More later. Stay warm.