Christmas time is almost here

DH got here on Friday and we visited his family over the weekend. Tomorrow we head out to visit my family. I look forward to these times.

His parents took us out to dinner and a symphony concert on Saturday night. I don't remember the last time I've been to an orchestra concert. It was probably when we were still in Alaska. I thoroughly enjoyed the music. There was an a capella group from the local college that were incredible. The soprano soloist was also delightful. Yes, I loved it!

DH brought another large truckload of stuff from Kansas. There are a lot of things that will help make this really seem like OUR home. Things like pictures and other personal items. Unfortunately, most of the stuff has been sitting around our first floor rooms since Saturday morning and poor DH has had to put up with me fussing about the state of the house. I don't deal well anymore with disorder and tripping over things. It's probably part of the anxiety disorder symptoms.

Most of the stuff is going into the basement so that I can sort, unpack, and place at my leisure. I'll have time next week to really dive in. DH has to report back to post on Saturday and I'll stay a couple of days in Kansas with him before heading back to IL.

I'm still in a bit of disbelief that I've got almost two full weeks off work. After the past month of general craziness, I'm glad. Today I spent most of the day napping and relaxing. It was really needed. I feel almost completely back to normal...or whatever passes for normal for me. There is a big pot of soup on the stove and I've got a little knitting project I hope to work on this evening. Life is good.

Empty-headed

Beyond the usual hustle and craziness of finals week, there really hasn't been much going on around Casa Rosa.

But the hustle is leaving me worn out and rather run down feeling. Good thing I got my flu shot this year. So far, healthy.

I am looking forward to the weekend. DH and I are heading up to visit with his family. The weekend includes a trip to hear the Rockford Symphony holiday concert on Saturday night.

Next week, we'll head a bit farther east to see my family. Maybe there will be a couple stops at Trader Joe's and Binny's while we're in the area.

The BIG D is looming. That's deployment for those not in the know. No, I don't have an actual date. We can still count down in weeks, but the daily countdown is not far off. Amazingly, I've been pretty sane feeling about it all the past couple of weeks. However, that might be due to the insanity that has become my work life over the past month.

And if you're not in the midwest, it's COLD!!! I was glad to pick the dogs up on Monday because it's been chilly without a Maddie under the blankets to keep things toasty.

Crossing over to LaCrosse

This weekend I rode up to LaCrosse, WI with a librarian friend to hang out with a bunch of other librarians. While there, we toured the main branch of the public library, the university library at UW-LaCrosse, and the library at Viterbro University. After the tours, the group headed over to another librarian's home for a fabulous dinner spread, laughter, and conversation.

This morning a few of us regathered ourselves for brunch.

It was a good time. These are librarians who've I've chatted with or known of in the virtual environment. It's nice to finally put the physical person together with the online persona.

The pictures are from the various locations we visited.

Winter wonderland

Pictures were taken with my Flip camera on the way to work this morning. We ended up having a snow day yesterday and I did not leave the house. The wind blew all day long keeping the snow flying and the air chilly. Wind chills are predicted to be very low for the next few days. But I'm glad to be back at work today.

A guest and other furry critters

This rabbit was huddled next to the house on the garage side. At first I was wondering if maybe it were hurt. Then it occurred to me after looking at the foot and a half of clean gravel there that the intake/output pipes for the furnace are near where the bunny was crouched. The warm air from the house is probably keeping that area toasty (at least to a little thing with thick fur.)

And the dogs are enjoying the snow. Maddie was feeling very frisky and was trying to get the other two to play just before I snapped her picture. Ginger has been seen rolling about in the snow making dog angels, but she shakes before I can get a good picture of her snow covered self. Charlie has a bit of snow nose in this picture, although he seems to be the least impressed of the three.

There is still some nasty stuff predicted for us tonight and into tomorrow. Right now it's raining. Ice is starting to form on things, which I hope doesn't continue. If we have to get a winter storm, I'd much rather have snow...even if it does blow. Everyone seems to already be planning for the college to be closed tomorrow, but I'll wait until I hear something for sure in the morning. Until then, I'm planning for another work day.

Let it snow!

We already had a good dusting when the dogs got me up around 4:30 am. These were taken just before I left for work this morning at 8 am. Our first snow of the season. I don't know if we'll get much from the storm that is predicted. It seems that we're in the range of maybe an inch or so.

But it was really pretty to see this. My snow dozer shovel worked well for me also. Go the sidewalks cleared in about ten minutes.

We need a little Christmas

It's not much, but my gutter clips weren't working. I like to think of my outdoor decorating as tasteful and understated. Yeah. That's it. Our realtor also dropped off a very nice wreath yesterday that is on the front door.

The town puts up a large tree in the middle of an intersection in the downtown area. They cut it somewhere locally.

This weekend is also the lighted Christmas parade and the lighting of the displays at Windmont Park. I think I'll try to make it out for the festivities. They even do fireworks!

Other than that, I don't have anything exciting planned. 2012 is at the local theater and I might go see that tomorrow afternoon. The house needs to be cleaned. I plan to bake some fresh bread and make some chili or soup. Maybe some Christmas shopping will get done, but I'm really not planning any trips out of town, so maybe that won't happen.

We've had a few snow flurries today. Big, fluffy flakes. But nothing that would build up. There is snow predicted starting Sunday and over the beginning of next week. Last year, I was starting my new job and we got bad enough weather my first day for the college to close early. I kind of hope that doesn't happen next week because we are so close to finals.