I'm looking forward to having Thursday off.

I'm meeting with Boy's teachers in the morning. Usually, this fills me with dread but he's been doing so well lately, I just can't imagine it going badly. He has plowed his way through eight books in the past week or two. Granted, they are more 3rd grade than 5th grade books, but he's enjoying it! That's the kicker. The only part that might make a glich is when I discuss with them his being pulled out of math class to study reading and how I really don't like that. The kid really gets math and this is a critical time in the course of study. But that's no biggie.

School is still going well. Still holding onto that 4.0, which I cherish. I've already finished part of the work for this week and should be able to slam through the rest of it tomorrow night. Thursday evening we're meeting to compile all our information and create our presentation. Should be fun. I wonder if anyone but Jeff and I will have our work done. Hmmmm.

Work is going...okay...yes, okay would be a good word. It's going okay. I'm branching out into new territories and exercising my empowerment. (Whatever.) It's slowed down enough to allow me to catch up to the rest of my life, but is still busy enough to keep me interested. I think I'm doing a good job showing everyone that I'm not the cold-blooded bitch they all think I am. (Oh, the power of guilt by association.)

The food battle is being waged. Not won yet, but a valient effort is being put forth. As of this morning, when I poured the remaining half a bottle down the sink, I have given up Coke. I'll rediscover the hydrative power of water (oooh, and it's free!). I also managed to drive by the bagel store this morning without stopping for my morning fix. I supplemented with two cookies from the health food store, and I have fat-free corn muffins for backup as well.

Fall off. Get back on. It's that simple.

Several family problems are solving themselves.

Hubband and I had the battle over Christmas morning: whether to go to his sister's for breakfast (at the ridiculous hour of 9am) and present opening or to stay home and make them schedule Christmas at another time. It seemed very important to Hubband to hold on to this last tradition of his family Christmas (and now that I think about it, why wouldn't it be), so I let it go. Officially, however, I hate spending any part of Christmas away from my home. We had two or three years in a row, right before his parents passed, where we celebrated with his family Christmas Eve. It was so nice to be able to wake up at our leisure and fumble around the house all morning. Then when his folks passed, we couldn't bear the thought of treading on Christmas Eve, which had always been "their day". So we went back to Christmas morning "just until"...apparently, just until forever.

Anyway, Sunday I had to attend a family shower and his sister mentioned some trouble they were having on the other side of the family and how it meant they would be celebrating Christmas on Christmas day (when they usually don't) and also her daughter lives farther away now.

Gee, would it be too much trouble to have that big breakfast hoopla? Because we're more than flexible if you want to have it ANY OTHER TIME!

So that might work out just perfectly. But we'll have to see.

In the meantime, there is Big Boy's birthday to deal with. We were worried about what to get him. It's always been a problem. Especially with his birthday so close to Christmas. And now he has his own income, own life, and access to the latest technology at an employee discount. We were lost. For the last four years, we've bought him his season ski pass (he was on the ski team) but last year he didn't use it much and it's not cheap. So we were stumped.

Until I got online today and found out his college bookstore has gift certificates! Yeah, Baby! What every college kid needs who's not getting financial aid.

So, Thursday will be about more Christmas shopping and getting organized for the upcoming weekend scrapbook retreat. I can't wait.