Since the mall is forty minutes away, and the Wal-mart is still a work in progress, we country folk have to find other ways to get our Christmas lists to Santa. In Canton, they plan a tree lighting ceremony for the day after Thanksgiving, then all the kids line up to see Santa on the town green. He arrived by horse drawn carriage, and there were also a half dozen people dressed as Frosty, Rudolph and various North Pole critters walking around to keep the kids entertained while we waited.

Claire didn't last through the hour wait. It was below freezing, and a layer of snow and slush covered the ground. (Something Mom should have thought of before deciding to wear a pair of lightweight sneakers instead of boots.) So while she and Grandma retired to make Hot Cocoa, Nathan and I stuck it out to see the big man himself.


Apparently, he wants Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys this Christmas, and was devastated that the free goody bag had a book instead.

In other Christmas news, I'm trying to figure out how to decorate the house when I have absolutely no exterior outlets. Just to get this modest display up took three extension cords leading from the farthest corner of the garage, a timer and a small three outlet adapter.

I want to put lights on the porch, and bought an adapter to convert the light bulb socket into a plug, but I don't want to risk overloading that. Also, the porch is Zeppo's domain, and I'm not sure how he'd take to a change in decor. Although he's left the garland on the lamppost alone so far.

Whatever we do will certainly pale in comparison the the neighbors. They've been lit up for over a week, keeps me up nights.

Huh?

I set up an interview for Tuesday and they want three letters of reference. I don't think I've needed that since I applied for college, and yet the prospective boss indicated that it was the most normal thing in the world and required by the company. Ugh.

Most of the employees are nurses and health care workers, so I can see the point there. But I've never been asked for this for accounting jobs. They seem content with just running background checks.

So now I have to come up with a member of the community ("like a teacher, or politician"), and two employers. And I know that Hyatt employees aren't supposed to do letters, they're very much in the "let's avoid lawsuits by only verifying dates of employment camp". Plus, Hyatt employees don't stick in one job for long, so I don't even know if I can find my former bosses.

Should I just cancel the interview?

Hat, Glove and Scarf time

Does anyone wanna come over and take my doggy for a walk? It's 20 degrees out and I'm still not warmed up from the walk I took him on two hours ago. I suppose I should be grateful that it's not snowing again. Only six more months to Spring!!!

Crash and Burn

Ugh, I'm having a miserable week. Coughing. Coughing. Coughing. Night and Day. I stayed home from work Wednesday, and got some drugs from the doc on Saturday, but I still feel pretty rotten. Can't sleep unless I am propped up by four pillows, and even then I wake every hour with a coughing fit. Or drenched in sweat. Attempts to speak either come out in whispers or devolve into hacking fits. I dread having to call out to the kids to stop doing something, because half the time I can't get the words out.

The silver lining is that Dan took a week's vacation to chill out a bit. So every night he's been home to corral the kids. Except last night, when he was passed out drunk on the futon from too many Jager Bombs. You see, his co-workers like to have a yearly bar-b-que party, and since they're all apartment/frat house dwellings college kids, it was decided a few weeks ago to have it at our house. I cheerfully cleared out, and took the kids to the Grandparents for the afternoon. I expected to come home to my loving husband, who, knowing I've been sick all week, would have had things cleaned up and be prepared to take the kids off my hands again. Instead, he was the victim of peer pressure, which I'd think would be pretty hard since he's not only the boss, but also 8-15 years older than everyone else.

At least his friends can hold their liquor better, because someone did manage to clean things up, and one guy stuck around to make sure Dan wasn't alone. Although I was also really ticked off that they lit a bonfire in the backyard. Not surprised, these are chefs after all, they have to set things on fire, it's part of their nature. But I mentioned it to Dan last week and told him if he thought they'd like to burn some of our yard waste for fun, we should first get a permit. Instead, I came home to an illegal fire that was way to big to burn out before bedtime. The aforementioned responsible friends made sure to clear a ring around it and bank it a bit, but it was still smoking in the morning. Not happy about that, especially because I think that enough smoke got in the house to send me into twice the usual number of retching fits.

Whew, had to get that all off my chest.

P.S. You have to watch Ratatouille. Just don't watch it on an empty stomach.

Bethel, VT

Found this cool photo on a blog today. That's my Dad's house on the hill on the far left.

Halloween

Halloween's over. Baseball is over. If I can just get over this cold and sleep for more than 6 hrs on a regular basis, I may feel half human again. Although with skating lessons tomorrow night and a Bowling B-day party on Saturday, I don't think I'll be able to unwind quite yet.

Halloween pictures!!