Festivities

Still feeling on pins and needles about Christmas 'cuz as of this writing, B.'s 4-day pass is not approved.  From what I can gather, he is one of a very few people in his unit who may have any time off at Christmas - and he had to exchange Thanksgiving for Christmas as well.  But he still isn't confirmed for his Christmas Eve morning arrival.

The work week went by quickly enough - it was incredibly busy and long and I was so, so ready for the weekend by the time Friday arrived.

It's official - my amazing assistant C. is going to be the assistant to the Superintendent at the start of the year.  My best friend G. is retiring at the end of January and C. will replace her.  I convince myself it's a 'win-win' - C. is moving to a new role but still in our district and she will be awesome in that new role of supporting my boss as she has been for me.  And we aren't losing her as an employee, which we might have if this job hadn't become available.  She is divorcing and she needs more money - so it worked out well.

I am depressed about it - finding someone to help me is the easy part.  Finding someone to fit into the merry band of quirky people I work with is another.  I convinced HR that it would be better to go ahead and post the job but not interview until after we're back from Winter Break in January.  We could have rushed through the process and interviewed the last couple days we are there this month, but I told HR 'I will spend my entire two weeks off fretting about how it's going to go' - and I'd really rather just hire someone in January and enjoy my two weeks off.  She agreed - so that's the plan.  My boss is adamant that we find someone to fill that job ASAP 'cuz he doesn't want me to be without support - and I totally agree.  But I'd rather go slow and find the right person vs. rushing to find a body.

Tomorrow, I have a list of things to do - a couple of errands to run.  I keep saying I'm going to work on culling out and cleaning my room but I just never feel like I have the intertia to do that.  J. helped me move some of my summer clothes into the playroom and move my winter clothes into my bedroom closet.  The playroom is absolutely freezing (it's over the garage) and I dread going in there at 5AM daily to find what I'm wearing to work.

I need to clean the room, though, 'cuz my sinuses are acting up again and I feel like the room is killing me.  Need to move everything away from the walls, vacuum under and behind and do a good job on the edges.  And blinds, lampshades and the tops of the high armoire that I can't reach.

H. had a newly scheduled oncology appointment to follow-up on his swallow study.  He says he's having trouble (and discomfort) swallowing so they did a study where they film him swallowing barium.  The study was totally normal and his blood work was, too!  Whew.  He had lost quite a bit of weight but he gained some back so now, we just have to keep reminding him to make time to eat and to take the time to fix something decent.  I don't expect him to eat Paleo or totally 'clean' - he's 22 and that's not realistic.  But I wish he would try to find things that are reasonably nutritious and then be willing to take the time to cook them.  Otherwise, he lives on cereal, chocolate milk and frozen corn dogs.  There's a wide variety of food here - not that he's ever noticed.

He and J. put the lights and decorations up outside today and J. has the tree out of the box, lights added and ready for ornaments.  We're drinking Swiss Miss cocoa in the Keurig and soon will add hot cider to the winter beverage selection.  It's feeling festive and the weather is cooperating 'cuz it's really cold.

One week down, two to go.  Board meeting Tuesday.  It will be really hard to have the board meeting and then realize we still have the rest of the week PLUS another full week - usually, the timing is that after the board meeting, we finish that Friday and we're on break.  The calendar just didn't work out that way this year - bummer.