Back in the Swing...

It was back to work for Laurel and I today. After a strange long weekend with house-guests and a burglary, a sick day, canceled plans, and finding a dead body in the river, we were ready. A rush hour ice storm granted us a two hour delay, so Laurel and I got to leave the house after sunrise, for a change. I thought I would get to work early and catch up on my paperwork, but of course, Laurel took the worlds biggest crap right before I put her coat on, necessitating changes of clothes for all parties involved. Then we both took spills on the icy driveway getting into the car. I thought it might be a rotten day, but it got better from there.

Because there were other kids at daycare when we arrived, Laurel immediately went to work greeting her little friends and hunting down her favorite toys. It's a lot easier to leave your baby after a long weekend together when she doesn't even watch you walk out of the room.

The students weren't too bad today. I reread my Fred Jones book over the weekend, and relaxing my jaw really does go a long way towards "meaning business", as he puts it. I'm worried about the midterms tomorrow...I had 7th period all cranked up to play a review game today, and when I put up the first question, it was all crickets and gulping. But maybe I'll ask you to describe how the base 10 number system works, and see what you do.

After school we had an impromptu playdate with my neighbor Stephanie and her daughter Olivia. Olivia quickly gravitated towards the tea set, but there were only a few minor scuffles over tea spoons and saucers. Stephanie gave me an excuse to brew a late afternoon pot of coffee and we chatted in two and a half sentence segments in between scooping toddlers off the stair case.

The whole neighborhood is on edge because of a rash of escalating armed robberies. I called my neighbor Marlene after I put Laurel to bed, while I was waiting for M to get home, and we made plans, as we always do, for rescuing each other from various criminal scenarios. When M arrived home safe and with bounty from the restaurant supply store, I finally relaxed. Not a peep from the babe, and I'll make it to bed before 10PM. I know I can't count on a two hour delay tomorrow, so I'll be ready to get up at 5 and start the whole thing over again.

One thing I have to say, is there may actually be something to my Uncle Joe's advice to say "I get to go to work today" instead of "I have to go to work today".

Oh, and relax your jaw.