thanks day
by Willow
This Thanksgiving was a funny one for me. For one thing I was sick with a cold, which meant my eyes were burn-y and my nose was runny and my brain was very foggy. I was not particularly good at "conversation" or "thinking." Also, this was the first year in many that I was not the host of Thanksgiving. Even when I was working at Baker Street in NYC, and was scheduled for a double on my favorite holiday, even then I bossed the Egyptian chef around- instructing him in the ways of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner- and I forced all of my Irish, Scottish, Moroccan, and Bangladeshi coworkers to come into the restaurant and eat with me. I gave a toast and made all of the un-Americans tear up.
This year I was exhausted from my first three months of teaching and (as previously mentioned) sick. I was looking forward to being a guest instead of a host. I'd met Mike's folks the day before and liked them a lot, and his brothers and sister-in-law are great. I thought, "ah, a family Thanksgiving ." I decided to bring one dish (my simple yam, sweet potato, & apple bake) and leave it at that. But then on the morning of I woke up feeling sad. I needed to pick up the ingredients because I classically procrastinated the shopping, but when I pulled into New Season's parking lot I was slapped in the face by the closed sign. I had to go to Fred Meyer's instead, which was an absolute zoo. When I got home I was running late, and I couldn't stop fussing over the dish. Luckily Curt helped me wash and chop:
But then the darn thing wouldn't bake fast enough and we were running late anyway, so I had to take it out of the oven at my house and carry it on my lap to Gene's where I promptly jammed it in the oven over there, fretting all the while. It turned out fine, if a little "al dente" and the rest of the meal (prepared by the Merrill's) was wonderful. After we ate we watched a few competitive eating competitions on TV- everyone was full and cozy. I was still feeling a little melancholy though. Being with someone else's (very nice) family made me miss my own family. And not hosting made me miss hosting after all.
After we ate Mike and I headed back to my neighborhood to say hi to Steve and take a little nap. Then we headed to the bowling alley for the annual Thanksgiving tournament. I bowled my best game ever (103) but Curt won the fabulous prize:
One year I won the trophy. And by won I mean stole. But it was an accident.
When we got home I was lamenting the fact that I squandered a perfectly good Thanksgiving by being sad when I checked my voicemail and Lo! There was a message from my uncle saying that he, my aunt, and my two cousins were in Hood River and headed to Portland the next day! Family! My family! I hadn't seen them in years and was absolutely delighted to hear from them. They arrived in the next evening and I went with them to the lighting of the Christmas tree in Pioneer Square (very festive and also very crowded and also very cold) and to dinner and Powell's. Today Mike and met them at the Saturday Market (ugh) and we watched a marimba band together. None of these were things I had planned to do with my weekend, but I ended up having a great time. They're gone now- headed back to East Glacier, Montana- but I feel like my holiday season is off to a pretty good start. I'm r-e-a-l-l-y excited to go home for Christmas this year- I can't wait to see Liz and J's new place. And I've been missing my folks and my tight tight lady-homies and awful lot lately. Wow- I just realized I fly out in like, 3 weeks!
I am thankful for my friends.
I am thankful for my family.
I am thankful for the family of my friends.
I am thankful for the transportation that allows these people to come together.
Posted on November 25, 2006 | Comments (1)
this came in an envelope covered with turkey stickers
by Willow
Posted on November 18, 2006 | Comments (5)
back in (cyber) town
by Willow
Hi, um, I don't know if you remember me? My name is Willow and I used to hang out here a lot? Heh heh, yeah I know it's been a while, but it's just that I've been out of town (meaning off the Internet) for a while. It's not that I don't like it here, I totally do! In fact I hope to be spending a lot more time here in the near future getting reacquainted with the place, catching up with the regulars- you know. I wanna get back in my zone.
The last couple weeks of school were pretty rough- Halloween plus rain-induced indoor recesses made for cranky kids and cranky teachers. Whoever invented indoor recess is a jerk and I hate him. Guess where the kids go during indoor recess? My classroom! Which means I can't zone out at my desk eating carrots and reading UHX because there is too much screaming and block-throwing. Send them out in the rain, that's what I say! A little drizzle never hurt anyone. (Though I don't know if you can call the Pineapple Express storm that's been tearing through this town drizzle. Whatever.) All I'm saying is that in Denver recess was always outside- often in huge snowstorms. We all bundled up in snowpants and parkas and trudged around the schoolyard while our nose-hair froze and sealed our nostrils shut. That's what recess is all about! Being miserable OUTSIDE, not making your teachers miserable inside.
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Man, I can't believe that of all the teacher-y things I wanted to complain about on my blog I decided on indoor recess. Weird.
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In other news my kitty is nice and snuggly and nice. Really nice. It's strange to come home in the evening and have this warm, living thing greet me at the door all purring and cute. I pick him up and I can feel his little ribs and his little skull when I pet him. There is an animal living in my home! A domesticated beast curled up on my couch RIGHT NOW! It sorta blows my mind. Pets are good. I recommend that people get pets.
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As I type this I have two space heaters blowing directly on me but I am still cold. The boiler in my building is on the fritz, which basically means that any time I want heat I have to call my property manager who lives off site to come over and reset the boiler. It's a jacked up system, considering sometimes I get home late at night or wake up early in the morning and am cold and can't get ahold of her. I don't understand why she doesn't get the boiler fixed. This has been going on for two months now! She can't enjoy getting phone calls at all hours about the same damn issue. I think she's getting annoyed with me, and I don't blame her. But damn! Fix the boiler! Josh looked up tenants rights for me and said that inconsistent heat is grounds for me to withhold my rent. I don't want to go into all of that because I like my apartment and the owners of the building and even my property manager, but honestly it's ridiculous. I don't want to wear a coat and hat in my own home! What should I do? I called the lady today and left a message about turning on the heat and mentioned that I'd been looking into tenants rights, and would "love to talk to her about my findings." Which sounds so passive-aggressive and I hate it! I sort of blurted it out and now I feel embarrassed. How do people deal with these things?
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I have a regular week at school starting tomorrow, and then I have not kids for the whole week of Thanksgiving! Monday and Tuesday are planning days and then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are straight up vacay days. Then I have three full weeks of school and then two weeks off for winter break. I'm soooooo looking forward to these breaks. Right now I don't feel like Willow that often. I feel like Ms Teacher Lady and Ms Grumpy Blob. I'm hoping that time away from my class will restore some of my personality. A trip to Denver will surely help a lot. I miss those friends keenly.
Other people I miss right this second:
* Allison Halter
* Tom D (who warned me against turning Perfect Heart into a cat blog)
* Sweet Lu
* Dublin homies
Wow, blogging is fun- I should do it more often!
Posted on November 12, 2006 | Comments (2)