Efforts

Hello and Happy Saturday to all....weekends....love them.  Even when I work through them, I still rejoice at awakening on my own with no mechanical device to nudge me.  I was up just before 7 this morning and enjoyed a quiet morning at home before heading to the office.  Much accomplished and home reasonably 'early' (all things considered).

J. and B. went to the taqueria for dinner - Mexican food on a budget when I'm too lazy to cook.  Craving enchiladas and it's too hot and too time consuming to make them.  But I will soon - my cousin S. provided a great recipe and I can't wait to try it. I just need a day where cooking will be 'fun'.   That day isn't today - nor in the foreseeable future.  Love having J. home 'cuz he handles dinners - I help 'plan' what to have and he makes it happen!  'Tis a beautiful thing!  I am really enjoying have a stay at home husband!

It's now Sunday.....another productive day at the office.  Came home to cook and I've mixed up scone dough for tomorrow - birthday celebration.  Made a double batch 'cuz I need scones for a Wednesday meeting also.  They are delicious!

Here's something that amazes me about my job....it helps so much to know that there are other folks working hard, too....great to have a couple friends also working this weekend.  Helps so much to have a friend to call for a question; a vent session; encouragement (mutual).  It's a lot of work to do what we do and for those of us in small districts who do it all pretty much alone, it's such a blessing to have others doing the same thing.  And today, a county office employee was also working - so I was able to get some questions answered and fix a couple things - our County Office of Education is so, so great.

I left by 3 feeling slightly ahead...just slightly.  Trying so hard to get to a point where taking one day off next weekend is possible.  Maybe two if I wedge in some good effort during the work week.  Hope to...I always try but constant interruptions are the 'norm'.  And meetings on and off throughout the week also make it a challenge.  It will all get done.  It always does.

J. is having a 'dental emergency' procedure tomorrow - he has an abscessed tooth and needs a root canal stat!  He is going to call first thing in the morning to get in to see the root canal guy (I have no idea what he's called).  Our dentist saw him yesterday morning and faxed over the info to the other dental professional.  We're hoping it can be done first thing in the morning 'cuz we have a phone appointment with a financial advisor scheduled at 11AM so we can hopefully get some of our questions answered.  We need a plan we both agree on - and at the moment, our approaches are diverging instead of merging.  Not drastically - but somewhat.  So many things to consider - and it truly is hard to know which direction to go and what to do first.  And when I get frustrated about it, I remind myself how blessed we are to have all this stuff to think about.

Time to get the scones rolled out, cut and baked.  Then glazed.  It's not an easy process but it's worth it.  These taste pretty much just like the Starbucks Petite Vanilla scones and they are worth the effort.  I did take a short cut by asking J. to drive to Pleasanton yesterday to pick up vanilla bean paste - so instead of scraping a zillion vanilla beans (which are sort of dry and require a good soaking before attempting to extract the caviar from the bean), I just measure out the vanilla bean paste - it's a breeze! So grateful that J. was able to go there yesterday - or I'd be bringing bagels instead.  Not nearly as good as scones.

Funny thing is, though - the person who's having a birthday probably won't eat any scones - I'm also bringing her sliced cucumber and celery with hummus - 'cuz she rarely (really, really rarely) eats sugar!  The rest of us will enjoy the sweets - and I like hummus, too!!