Buon Anno Nuovo!
I’m luxuriating in the four days that will constitute my winter break this year. I decided to save myself the hell of taking two classes over the summer semester (which would mean I’d have class every night of the week for about 4 weeks and two nights a week for an additional six or seven) and signed up for an intersession course – a two week term, six days a week from 9:00 to 1:00. I was looking forward to the break from the house and the chance to switch places with Jeremy for about a week as he was home from work and stayed with the kids. He even did three loads of laundry and one day I came around the corner to see him swiftering the floors. I almost swooned. I said “Oh, my God, you’re swiftering!” To which he replied, “Not funny.” I wasn’t joking.
While it was nice to get out the house for an extended period of time for a much-needed break from domesticity, I missed Greta like crazy. As tough as the stay-at-home-mom gig can get, I feel very lucky to have been able to take care of both Alex and Greta full time in their first two years.
The class I took was American Horror, for which we were required to read a wide range of ghost/monster/creepy short stories, watch films, and read one novel, “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson. The instructor was great, the literature was too, but some of the movies were a little out of my interest zone, especially the two documentaries we had to watch on the splatter films of the 70’s and 80’s. Disgustoso! I did, however, get to watch “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “The Thing” for the first time. What fantastic films. I can’t believe I’d never seen them. It was an intense course. I basically sat in class all day, came home, fed the kids, put them to bed and read all night and got up in the morning to start all over. And one weird side note: the entire time I was studying and reading of the horrific and terrible, Greta had nightmares and woke up screaming almost every night. Coincidence?
Now I’m faced with a house that is covered in miniature tumbleweeds of dog hair and a notebook that hasn’t been touched in a very long time. December was a crazy month. Greta was teething for most of it, then she got an ear infection and chest cold. Christmas came and went in a blur and as soon as it was over, literally – 12:15 am Christmas night – the stomach flu hit and made it’s way through the family. Now that I’m done with class (for a few days) and everyone is back to health, work, and school I have a few minutes of down time to catch up on the various things I enjoy, but that otherwise serve no practical need – unless you consider sanity practical. As a mom of two and a full time student, as long as I’m not muttering to myself loud enough for others to hear, I call it sane.
I hope everyone is off to a good start in 2008. I’m looking forward to a busy, but stimulating semester. Maybe I’ll even find the inspiration to keep this thing regular since I have a writing class on the schedule.