let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Originally uploaded by erin patton

it snowed today! though seemingly hours and hours of snow kept on keepin' on, i think we only got a couple inches. here's hoping that the overnight storm hits though and that tomorrow's a snow day (as if). if i could just laze around in jammies all day....

just when life calms down, it gets busy again!

so, the house is done. well, mostly. we still have 3 closet doors and 2 bedroom doors to hang, a doorknob to change out, and a few painting touchups. there's probably more than that too, but let's just pretend for now that there's not. and there's decorating, of course. slowly, but surely, things are coming together. plants are finding their ways in. pictures are making it up on the walls. fabrics are sitting around begging to be sewn into pillows.

here's some of the fabric i've got ready to go:












cute, huh?

so, we did thanksgiving dinner here, with the fence being finished just days ahead of time. christmas was good times; we bought our first big tree. it's fake, of course, since i'm allergic to real ones, but i figured if we're going fake, we'd go all out, soooooo...

YAY WHITE!

it was nice being here for christmas. lauren and kelly were both home. everyone actually showed up to hank's family's christmas eve party. we drove home (in decent weather for once!) christmas eve and spent our first christmas morning in the house. i took the biggest, most gigantic pile of cookies over to mom and dad's. a sampling:

so, the part where it gets busy again:
i got offered a teaching job! at a college! i'm teaching introductory biology plus the lab this semester at st. louis community college at wildwood, a brand-new campus. as i've realized over the past few months that my present job is just a waste of my graduate education, this was such a welcome opportunity. this really felt like the chance that i needed to get into something new. so far, i've had a week of class and i do like it so far. it's a nice feeling to be your own boss, even if it's only in the classroom. i think this is a great chance to start transitioning into something better. something that frees me up for kids and family and my own interests. i don't think it's going to be easy, but it's going to be good.