Genie and the Whale

It's been a very hectic time for me, as I am sure many of you can relate.

Work has swallowed me up whole and I have had some major decisions to make. My position is coming up again, and the question remains; do I want to reapply for this job? I have been making a list of pros and cons. And doing a lot of soul searching. I have taken amazing strides in reorganizing my department both in it's physical organization and in its curriculum. It's almost at the point of working like a well-oiled machine. Why would I not want to reapply, and reap the benefits?

Oh yeah, I detest the leadership style of the administration. Although they have been making some efforts to address the morale in the school; although they have started to support endeavors that are not necessarily on their agendas, I still am suspicious of their motives.

That being said, I am not sure it's better at other schools, and if it will stay that way...

In the midst of this, I have had issues with my poor aging cat who decided he didn't like these changes I have made to the house as much as I did, and pooped in my bed. Under the made bed's covers!

I discovered this when I got home Wednesday night. So I, in the middle of the night, turned contractor and tried to move the door from the now study to the bedroom to seal it off. 10 minutes to unscrew the hinges off one frame. 10 minutes to screw one set of hinges on another frame, only to discover the door is too low and scraping the floor. 15 minutes to unscrew and realize that the frame had the old hinges under a coat a paint still on it. 45 minutes to remove the old hinges. 25 minutes to try to hold up the door while screwing on the top hinges, getting my slipper stuck underneath. 10 minutes to wrestle my slipper under the door. 10 minutes to screw the bottom hinge. 5 seconds to discover the door was slightly too big to fit that frame.

Le sigh

At 1:30 am, I gave up, jammed the door in the frame and called in sick.

I had to take Stinky to the vet to see what's up with him, only to find out it's behavioural. I had to phone around looking for a contractor to help with these jobs, only to find they are all descendants of highway robbers... I had to wash my sheets and bedspread. I had to have a minor meltdown.

I also decided it was time to decorate the amazing tree I bought (pictures coming), only to discover the box I had all my decorations in was falling apart with mold and mildew and creepy crawly things in the basement. I panicked that the storage room was leaking until I realized, this was probably residual from the old house. I unpacked the box with much distaste, put the decorations out to air, dumped the box in the recycling bin, and left that bright idea for the weekend.

So, as I finally sat down in the afternoon to have my brunch, I decided to watch TV. Maybe it's just me, but I find I deconstruct things too much. There are far too many commercials on for stuff. Naturally, the biggest commercial holiday is rearing it's bankrupt head. As I watched pitch after pitch, the messages seemed to be the same. People are disappointed with the gifts you give unless it's a car or a diamond, or an expensive video game.

I got peeved.

Do not people realize, it's a gift to have someone in their lives who wants to give them a gift? Who wants to share a holiday with them? Who has taken the time to purchase yet another ephemeral object? We really need to get our priorities straightened.

The bright note of my week has been spending time with the newest miracle in my life, baby Tristan. I babysat him last night, and he brought me such joy, it made up for all the struggles. That smiling, gurgling, bright-eyed new soul restored mine.

And later that night, as I was going home, I looked up and saw this...

Even the poor quality of my camera phone cannot distort her beauty... I gazed at her and made my wish. And, as I made my way home, I was grateful. :)