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.

life goes on.

even when it's not recorded in a blog, life moves on. here are some exciting things that started happening mere days after the last time i posted anything:

i got a job.
hank got two jobs, then hardballed a fantastic offer from the job he took.
we bought a house in a fantastic neighborhood i love.
we gutted the main parts of the house.
we slept on an air mattress while we worked on the house for several months.

that pretty much brings us to right now. we're in the final stretch of getting the house fixed up. we're still sleeping on the air mattress. gemma's probably planning how she can run away. my mind's melting away on account of the lack of creature comforts.

shuffle!

last bunch of songs on my itunes shuffle:

closer--hagfish
T.S.R.--against me!
what if we give it away--REM
calloused heart #2--drag the river (sons of bitches are over!)
million bucks--ALL
where is my mind?--the pixies
cruel swing--jawbox
follow the sound--smoking popes
newest industry--husker du
my world--descendents

not bad, but i had my ipod on shuffle in my car driving to st. louis from champaign sunday, and damn! that sucker was really playing all the cuts. and it didn't stop there--the song-to-song transitions were like the mixtape gods themselves had been doing the dj-ing. i wish i could've saved that playlist. c'est la vie.

things i realized this week.

super paper mario is a really really fun game and i'm glad hank bought it for me.

my birthday is this friday and i'm not really looking forward to it at all. i'm looking forward to having a day off and maybe even to the free noodles & company lunch and baskin-robbins ice cream (thanks, birthday clubs!), but i'm really deep down sort of dreading my birthday. i don't want to be 27.

my fingernails are a source of great amusement to children under the age of ten.

the terrible twos are nothin' compared to children aged one-and-a-half.

i miss my dog more than is probably normal. she's really turning into a good dog and it makes me sad that i'm not around every day to see how she's growing up from a rambunctious puppy into a nice girl. this past weekend we were at my mom and dad's and when i told her to go to her home so that i could go back to work at the end of lunchtime, she just walked right over to her cage. no protests or anything. just right over.

On Notice.

On Notice.
Originally uploaded by erin patton.

take note, offenders. you're pissing me off.

frustration.

so, i'd been waiting with bated breath to hear back about a job i'd pretty much been assured i was going to be offered. i didn't want to jinx it. then somehow, it must've jinxed itself. too good to be true, i guess. then again, maybe they were just assholes. i mean, what kind of company does a phone interview, an interview, a full-day second interview, checks all my references, and keeps me waiting around 3 weeks before i'm told to come in to pick up drug testing paperwork, then when i arrive for said paperwork, renegs? wtf?! i mean, if they decided they shouldn't hire for the job right now, then why waste all that time--mine and theirs? i have a serious case of chapped ass about this whole thing.

which brings me to teaching. "those who can't, teach..." is this true? those who can't what? those who can't stomach the bullshit that apparently comes along with industry and business? cuz that's me right about now. i'm considering my options in education. i'm considering my options in everything, really.

there is a guy playing open mic night at picasso's right now who sounds a lot like hayden. neat.