home alone

As I took today off, because we're leaving this afternoon, I have the whole house to myself for the morning. Admittedly, I did go to work at my usual time to make sure that everything was ok - my boss walked in about ten minutes later and said, "What are you doing here?" and I said, "I'm leaving, really." He answered the phone at one point, while I was rummaging through things on my desk, and told the person on the other end that I was "away for the weekend". And by nine o'clock I was back here.

Amazingly everything was pretty much ok. The last time I tried to leave on holiday, back in March, I was still at work twenty minutes before my plane was due to leave and I almost missed my ride to the airport.

So I made some tea, put CBC 2 on, and I've been puttering about peacefully, made some rice krispie squares for the bake sale this afternoon, tidied up, had a nice long shower. The dog is sleeping and ignoring me. The phone doesn't ring. I've still got time to pack and run some little errands before everyone comes home for lunch. This free morning is almost as much of a treat as going off to Yellowknife will be...

happy birthday to me

Tuesday was my birthday. It was a good day, pretty quiet at work so I got lots done and then the Beavers had a party for me. Lots of balloons and cupcakes, tin-foil crowns and red Kool-aid, first time I've ever played musical chairs to Nickelback, hordes of six-year-olds giggling, we read stories and then Karen and Patti and I went back to Patti's place for the more grown-up portion of the evening, some wine. Not much, though, because Wednesday is of course a work day.

Kirsten and Rachel made me a beautiful cheesecake, from scratch. It was cooling in the fridge and when Ian opened the door at one point, it escaped and fell on the floor. I understand there were tears, I wasn't there, but really the cake was wonderfully tasty and we covered it with berries so the damage didn't show. Really it's the first time in a long time that anyone made me a cake without any pathetic prompting from me. (Nobody ever makes me a birthday cake. sniff)

This weekend we're off to Yellowknife to do some Christmas shopping, because of the miracle of Aeroplan.

darkness falls

It's getting darker. The sun's totally set by 2:30. I like the dark, I find it cozy, but it makes it so I don't want to get out of bed in the morning. Our bedroom is by the front door, and at 8:20 this morning Miguel was standing in the doorway with his coat on, and he said to me, "Not doing the work thing this morning?" But I did. Really, I've never been very good at getting out of bed, and maybe I just like a good excuse.