Colder Than A Witch’s …

It’s been in the upper 30s and 40s since yesterday. It finally feels like winter. I realized today that I loved winter a lot more when I was a stay-at-home mom and didn’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn in the freezing cold to go to work. It was much nicer when I could just snuggle in bed with the kids all morning =\.

I’d also enjoy the cold a lot more if it weren’t the same temperature inside my workplace as it is outside. Seriously. It’s like 40-50 degrees in the library. We’d spent all last week with sweat trickling down our backs and they finally fixed and set the air conditioning at 65° — a day before the “cold front” made its way down here. And since the air’s constant, it doesn’t turn off when it’s cold out or anything. We have no control over it and it’s awful! My boss was wearing her husband’s thick hunting jacking and I was wearing a thick cable-knit hoodie sweater AND my big poofy coat. It’s been cold and unbearable the past few days. I was actually pretty comfortable today though, except for my hands, which felt like they’d crack from frostbite.

So much has happened since I last updated, and yes, I realize I still haven’t updated with the second half of that entry. I just never have time for anything other than work, the kids and maybe squeezing some alone time with Mario, if we’re lucky. (Either that, or it just so happens that I finally have the computer on my lap, ready to type up an entry or something, and Mario suddenly “needs” to use it, too.) I’ve learned to balance my time much more effectively than when I first started working though, so that’s good. I just wish I had a bit more time for myself (at least half an hour!) and at least 2 more hours of sleep per night. But other than that, I’m pretty satisfied with life at the moment.

Work is great. We’re finally having this semester’s orientation and have officially opened the library. All the books are on the shelves (I had lots of help, but I busted my ass getting those darn books up!) and everything’s being set up little by little. We still don’t have electrical drops or phone jacks, therefore we still don’t have our computers set up and we’re working from laptops but we’re managing. Mrs. V. and I used to joke around when we first moved in that it was like we were our very own little third world country, but it’s gotten much better since then. What a difference two weeks make!

The boys are doing magnificently in school. They’re both great readers and are doing well in practically all subjects and I’ve gotten back into the habit of having them read 30 minutes before running off outside or playing their 30 minutes of video games. I had a chance to get some free books from work, so the kids can’t say they don’t have any new books to read, heh. I’m glad they don’t give me trouble about reading and I hope to maintain that routine till they’re in middle school, at least. I see some of our middle schoolers and how nobody encourages them or cares if they read and these kids are at 1st-3rd grade reading levels. It’s sad!

Alaethia’s just a joy. She’ll be a year old (eek!) on the 24th and I’m in the middle of planning her party. It won’t be anything extravagant at all, just close family and friends. We figured we wouldn’t go all out this year since she doesn’t even know what’s going on. Maybe when she’s 3. I just really can’t believe how fast this year’s gone by. We’re already mid-January…before you know it it’ll be Valentine’s day and then I’ll be planning Jaylen’s 6th birthday party. Then Eenan’s 9th. Holy cow, I’m going to have a nine-year-old!

Alaethia’s learning more words every day. She says mama, dada, pamper (pamp-oh), papa (which means “food” in Spanish slang), hi, by, yay, and other stuff I can’t remember at the moment. She’s still not walking completely on her own; she still needs help from people or furniture, but she’s getting there. Her favorite snacks are those little Gerber puffs and she finally learned to drink from a straw — at Taco Bell LOL. Oh yeah, and she shakes her bootie. Like, literally shakes it and moves her little hips and everything. When she started doing this I asked Mom, “What do you teach her while I’m at work, woman!?”

Aww, Eddie and Sylvia’s baby was born today! About a week early (he was due on Aly’s birthday, actually). How cute!

We spent tonight at home. Mary picked up Chick-fil-A for dinner and then Chris and Mario took the TV over to Mary’s house and we all watched Resident Evil 3 over there (which Alaethia and Matthew caused mischief and tried beating each other up). It was a nice night :).

I think that’ll be all for now. I’m going to have some nice hot chocolate and watch some HGTV. I’ve been really into decorating and color schemes lately. I actually painted my bathroom (lilac) 2 weeks ago, the Sunday before I went back to work. It looks pretty cool. Took some getting used to after having stark-white walls for 8 years but it’s growing on me. Now I just need a nice new shower curtain and a bath rug. I kind of wanted to go to Ross and check out what they have, but it’s too cold and rainy to drive. Actually, I’m going to have to pick Mom up from an appointment tomorrow morning and then go to a birthday party in the afternoon. Man. I’d really like to just stay in one of these weekends, especially when it’s cold and dreary like this. Mario just bought a new Wii controller off of Eddie’s friend (Angela had accidentally flung our second one through a frame a while back so we were left with only one) and it would be nice to play Cooking Mama (one of my Christmas gifts from Mario) or Super Mario Galaxy with the boys tomorrow. On our new 47″ TV Mario just *had* to get this past Tuesday (and so I missed American Idol–grr!). That thing is massive. It looks like a 60″ in my tiny living room!

Okay, I was going to save and publish but the internet’s down. My luck, right?