Give ALL the Thanks!

The turkey is already in the oven. From what I hear, it's been there since six. My mother has taken to cooking it in a bag- a practice which she believes negates the fact that it will be in there for seven hours and helps keep it moist. She is mistaken. But it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without an exceptionally dry turkey, so bring on that baking bag!

Last Thanksgiving, I was very fortunate to be able to come home and have dinner with my family. However, I was not so fortunate that I was able to stay for the whole day. I had to leave for the city right after dinner was over. But this year, I am able to stay for the whole weekend, which is pretty awesome. I will be able to join the women in my family for our traditional Black Friday insanity, which is even more awesome, and Thanksgiving-giving will be celebrated once more, with the very best friends in the world. And that is really really great.

Several of my facebook friends have spent the duration of November listing things that they are thankful for this year. In hindsight, I wish that I had done that as well, because I have a tremendous amount to be thankful for this year. That's a wonderful feeling.

I am thankful for my new job, and my great co-workers, and my AMAZING kiddos. I'm thankful for my health, my family, my friends, my Ben, my really nice cat-sitter, and just for how happy my life is.

All of those, of course, and refrigerator magnets....

Nutcracker Nostalgia

For the past three years, it has become a tradition for me, at least once during the 'holiday' season, to blare Tchaikovsky's waltz of the flowers, dance around my kitchen, and cry.

I'm not saying that that very action just occurred in my kitchen yesterday. But I am also not NOT saying it, so you can do that math on that one.

For twelve years of my life, the span of time between the first weekend in September and Christmas was known as "Nutcracker Season" with the Robinson Ballet Company. We'd audition, we'd obsess over casting, we'd rehearse, we'd have the entire score memorized, and then we'd take the show on the road all over Maine (and sometimes New Hampshire). And I loved it. It was chartered buses, perfect pink tights, rehearsals every weekend, pointe shoes sewed with floss, costume changes, stage makeup, bobby pins, and all of the hairspray IN THE WORLD. On top of that, there was the familiar, glazed-over expression that friends and family would get when I broke into one of my many Nutcracker musings. Or rants, as the case may be. It was a very special time every year.



I don't usually talk about it, because it makes me sad. Not sad because I can no longer be in the show, necessarily. It's more because the path that I have taken in my life has made it so that I cannot participate in a tradition that was SO important to me as I grew up. At least, not in the same way that I used to. Sometimes, a familiar song will come over the radio in a restaurant or store as part of their holiday cheer, and I find myself welling up. I've seen a LOT of Nutcrackers, but none will ever compare with the original, the one that I grew up with.

So yesterday, while I could have been doing homework, or packing for my trip home, or cleaning the apartment so the cat-sitter won't judge me, I was instead playing the familiar music, marking out the choreography in my kitchen, and texting F, one of the only other people on the planet who can understand this feeling. "the same thing happened to me this morning," she said, "every time I hear the music on a commercial on TV I get a little bit sad and very nostalgic."

I'm not sure if she was thinking about this EXACT moment, but it was probably something similar...


Yeah. Nutcracker Nostalgia. That's what we can call it from now on.

Nothing Ruins Your Friday....

...like realizing that it's only Tuesday.




Thank goodness for Starbucks.




(to give you all a glimpse of just how tired I am, I will tell you that I just tried to upload the math paper that I was up late editing instead of that gorgeous selfie. Hello, sleep deprivation and scatter brains!)


Maybe it is just me, maybe it's the very inconsistent weather and changing seasons. Maybe it's the fact that I've started my week with too little sleep and a lot on my plate and not enough time for some of the foolishness I've got going on. When something like this happens to Ben, I call it being 'righteously put-upon,' and maybe THAT's what it is- but this week- I'm looking for a little validation. It doesn't have to be much, but I am on the hunt for a sign that says "hey, YOU!! You're doing okay! Just keep going!"

I know, I know. DREAM ON!!

At least we are very close to one of my favorite weeks of the year. So close, in fact, that I can ALMOST see the light at the end of the tunnel...when it isn't blocked by research articles and presentations and textbooks and those awful tri-fold numbers that you use for your 7th grade science fair [YES, I have got to go and get not one, but TWO of those this semester. At least now I'm a grown up and can make them look TOTALLY kick ass!! Get ready to give me MEGA high marks for aesthetics!!].

Enjoy your Tuesday, friends.

Babs Blips: #Babsproblems

There is a slight air of chaos in apartment 6D as we enter this final, 2ish week long stint before Thanksgiving. Ben has tests galore, and I am suddenly realizing that all of my projects and papers are due at about the same time. We've spent a lot of time writing in our planners and, needless to say, great stress is anticipated.

Babs is also feeling the stress, but for slightly different reasons...




"Ugh, so tired. Didn't get my usual five hour nap..." #Babsproblems





"If I get any fatter, I might not fit on this windowsill anymore...." #Babsproblems


oh, the life of a domestic feline. it can be rough, ya'll.

Fall in Fast-Forward

Have you ever noticed that the time right before Halloween to the time right after New Year's Day always goes by in a blur? It is one garbled mess of costumes, family gatherings, office parties, and all the food in the world. Before you know it, BAM! It's the new year and store shelves are stuffed with Valentines. It's nuts.

Be that as it may, I know that I am not alone when I say that this particularly crazy time of year is one of my favorites. It means falling leaves, trick-or-treat, Halloween parties at school (which included one child SO into his Big Bad Wolf outfit that he refused to change out of it all day). It means laughing with my sister and cousin on the front porch of my parents house as we try and make sense of our dysfunctional Thanksgiving Dinner, Thanksgiving-giving, and BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING (which my work schedule forced me to miss last year). It means a crazy outdoor Half Marathon on the coast of Massachusetts in DECEMBER. It means Christmas shots with my family, the Nativity Play, and my father driving us around on Christmas Eve to look at our neighbors elaborate Christmas-light displays. And when it's all over, it means there is only a month and change until the Disney Princess Half Marathon. Awesome.

One of the perks of being a schoolteacher (aside from the obvious benefit of working with children and giving them a positive educational experience, of course) is that every once in a while you get to enjoy a fabulous three day weekend. We don't have school on Monday in observance of Veteran's Day, and while I know that most of that day will be eaten up by the loads of homework that I have been putting off, the day will still be accompanied by the wonderful feeling associated with a day off from work.


So that's that. I hope everybody is enjoying their autumn. But before I log off, I WILL share with you two wonderful surprises that I found when I got home from work yesterday evening.


The first is a package of energy gels sent from my sister in Maine. They were a totally unexpected and USEFUL gift (expect some sort of play on 'All I Want For Christmas is GU' later in the season....)

I tried the raspberry this morning before my run. Pretty darn good.




The second is something that I knew about already, but had kind of forgotten about. In an attempt to make me jealous, Ben took a bunch of selfies of him and the cat as they snuggled one afternoon while I ran some errands. This one is my favorite.




Happy Saturday!!