Longer brighter days ahead.

Its the Solstice. I almost let it slip by. The longest night of the year. There is no snow on the ground. Its done nothing but rain and flood outside of a few flurry days. Flooding as bad as in the spring but I dont think it quite made the national news.. maine was hit harder this go around. Anyway, the sky today was clear and the air crisp and cold at 20ish degrees. Little to no windchill. It was a wonderful winter day. And the pitifulittle glimpse of the horizon that is offered from my yard suggested that the sunset was beautiful.

The longest night. Look at how late I am up writing. I may nap but I will be up to watch the sun rise. Usually it happens around 7:20 on solstice but Im going to have to confirm that.

Its also our 7 year anniversary here. Reflecting back reminds me of when we can over to find our home. I think it was the week before thanksgiving. What a wild 3 day trip. How blessed we were to find our beautiful home at a great price. I had us staying in Colchester and the day we were leaving we didn't have to be to the airport until after the check out time. With an hour to spare, we stopped in for a few frames of bowling. There was an employee who I saw only in passing but he made me think of Vince. Now I wonder. I might just have to scare up that old blog to see if I mentioned it. (edit... I didn't find any mention of it or that trip. funny. I would have thought Id at least mark the trip. But it was uber stressful on so many levels that I might only now be processing it.)

I got funny at work the other day. I had the picture of me in Australia holding a koala in my pocket. Why? Because I always walk around with a picture of me carrying a Koala. Don''t you? Anyway... I was walking with Wendy and Clifton and asked if they knew that koalas carried stds (aka sti, vd... regardless of the designation ick) and then I flashed it to them saying it was when I caught chlamydia. I clarified it was a joke.

I would not be joking, however, if I flashed this picture from that trip and told them I stripped naked on clifton beach and went skinny dipping for my first (and only) time in the ocean.

not the only funny thing I've said at work. I sent an email about how Id been skanking for the last 3 weeks. The music that Trinidad introduced me to took me back to exploring Ska music and then I ran across this little YouTube gem from back in the day and well... and to the training team. It sounds bad but of course it was related to work content. There was a mighty mighty bosstone reference in some training material and so I headed the email "the impression that I get" which made me laugh after the koala comment. .

Back to the home update... we got the fish tank going with fish and plants and snails. Its our Christmas present. Its establishment led to two accidental flooding of the house in a months time. But I think we have that all under control now.

The dogs.. tired dog mom reporting. Two at the same time are more than twice as hard to train. We are going to lessons for their Christmas present. Their destructive ways are wearing me thin.

I finally got frustrated about the complete sense of feeling unsettled. Between the dogs and flooding... how many times do I have to move furniture? How many times have rooms been utterly rearranged in the last 6 months? Its been TOO MANY! I practically hit my limit a week or so ago and that's saying a lot. I sputtered and spewed a little when asked how I was by a coworker. Quite out of character. But once expressed the emotion subsided. Uggh. Parenting.

Con starts Champlain in a few weeks as a Sophomore. I'm excited for the possibilities it might open up for him.

Willow is going back to school as well. Right now she is out in Seattle getting a taste for the father in law side of the family. Its challenging.

Well... The pillow calls and sleep waits. Ill dig into the 80s soon. First I have some Christmas cards to write which is my priority now that I've cleared this catchup off my plate.