Par-tay

Finally! It's Friday! I thought this week would never end. I'm so thankful that I only have two days of whole classes next week, and two days of non-exempt students. It's going to be wonderful! After I make up the semester exam, of course.

This weekend should be full of good stuff. Tonight is the Lee County Bar Association Christmas party, to which Eli and I have been invited. Eli's going to go hobnob with some area lawyers, and I'm going to go eat free food and drink the free drink, though I'll have to pass on the frozen margaritas for another couple months. After the LCBA party, we have a young couples dinner for church, and we're responsible for bringing the tea. This means that the food is...yes, you guessed it...free. And so is the good company. I'll actually know people there, and I'm sure it's going to be an enjoyable evening. One of the young married girls (under a year) already told me that she's living this pregnancy vicariously and she hopes I don't mind if she asks a lot of questions. For education purposes, well...we'll see. I am an educator, after all.

Speaking of being an educator, I received an excellent honor today. If you hate language and grammar, you won't think this is an honor, but here it is: Mr. C, a bigwig in the central office (though I'm unsure of his exact title...superintendent of something or other), sent me an e-mail today and asked me to proofread this very important document which will be submitted to the state department in February, and to comment on its organization and completeness in answering the questions posed. It was in dire need of my expertise. I sent him back the document with the comments I made, and his response was something akin to, "That's exactly what I was asking for." He did send it to two other people, Masters of the English Language as he called us, so it wasn't just me, but I'm actually surprised that he thought of me at all. There are four English teachers at my school, which is one of the smallest schools, and no one else received this request. It was pretty cool to be me today, when my principal asked me if I wasn't busy, could I go down to the gym to help supervise 8th graders? I told him I was doing something for Mr. C. He said, Oh, well, finish that. Mwahaha.

Back to the weekend. I think tomorrow I'm going to sleep in and then wake up and make pizzelles, those yummy waffle cookies that my family makes for special occasions (though I wouldn't complain if I saw them more often). It will be my first time flying solo on this, so we'll see! I'm thinking about giving a few to everyone I work with directly...8 or 10 people. I will have to put the cats away to keep these cookies Timmy- and Coco-free. Tomorrow night is the Victorian Front Porch Tour in Opelika. I'm not exactly sure what it will be, but we're planning to go--mannequins and paper mache dolls set up on the front porches of the historical houses? Again, I'm mostly going because of the hot chocolate and cookies. And possible caroling. But, as the trend goes, it's mostly for the free food. :)

And Sunday, we go to church for Advent Breakfast (which has taken the place of Sunday school for this Advent season) and have our...yes, free...breakfast and Bible study. And then we have to skip the service and head to Mobile to go to This Is Christmas! at Eli's parents' church, where they will be singing. Lots of driving, and unfortunately, this trip won't include victuals. Well, not the gratis kind, anyway.

You might think food is on my mind just because I'm eating for two, but I have to admit that I've always been like this. I'm just more open about it now. I mean, Eli did initially meet me when I was hovering over the refreshment table at an RA info meeting. Our eyes first met over free food. May there be much free food to come in our lives (clarify: free, but not government subsidized).

Today, I'm thankful for weekends (and let's not forget--free food).