Shoveling and Sundry Items

I gotta say it...Shoveling and I are so not BFFs. Our driveway is red rock gravel which is fine in the summer, pretty mucky in the spring, okay in the fall unless there is a lot of rain, but the winter.......not fun. In the beginning, it seems like I am shoveling half rock, half snow.

Right now, our current issue is the recent thaw of a couple days that has produced a beautiful, glorious inch to inch and a half of wonderful.....ice. Clear, smooth, and slippery as all get out. Both of us have had trouble staying upright on it. Which makes shoveling easier because it is smooth, but more difficult because well, you are on a sheet of ice.

I am such a complainer. Let's change the subject.

I have a new part time job. I am an advisor for curriculum for a summer exploration program for high school students at a fancy-schmanzy college out east. I am excited because it is a virtual job meant to be done over the computer. Sweet. I had to make contact with my advisee before the first of the year and set our three week work period. Let's just say that it didn't go well in my brain. I had to call back and change the date as when I went to write it on the calendar of plenty, I realized a scheduling conflict.

So, I called her back.

Which was great, as she had realized that she has a conference in the middle of that period, so we set it for a week earlier. As I hung up, I realized that I kept saying March but I meant February. Crap. Double crap. I knew I said March as I could hear my voice in my head. Mind you, I had just called her back the second time not more than 4 minutes after our first conversation. But, what if she understood March instead of February? Then, she is thinking she has a month more time before we get all Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.....and no one wants that.

So, I called her back.

I really know how to make a fantastic, competent, professional first impression. She is most likely hashing it over with her family over dinner. Stellar. Eh. Gotta let that one go. Wish I could take back those last 10 minutes, but oh well. We all do something similar every now and then. At least when she answered the last time I was laughing and saying something to the effect of I am not as incompetent as this in real life. (For those of you keeping score, she understood it to mean February 9th and not March 9th. Phew. An embarrassing moment for nothing. Great.)

On an up note, I still have most of a week left of break. Which is good because I have not done jack with the school work that I wanted to get done. I don't even remember if I brought home stuff to correct. That is how complete the mind break was. It has been fantastic.

I have been dreaming of Italy. No shocker there, but it has been like three nights in a row that Italy has figured into the dreams that I remember in some fashion. Hmmmmm. It doesn't mean anything portentous as I usually think about going through, traveling in, or moving to Italy in some fashion almost every day. It has not reached obsession status, although it sounds like it, it is more of a casual pastime, really. It is my favorite country I have been to and I like daydreaming about it as a moment of escape from school, families at Christmas, winter......shoveling.