today:

walked about 7 miles. I did get a gift and an office chair.

party 6 to midnight

DH just left on his bike to help with downtown traffic.( they close the main st at midnight to let the antique dealers in ) the cat cried when he left.

May I just say that juliana is made of awesome?

I might just be a tad tipsy.

Aimee, if you'd done that when I was cashiering, you would have instantly become my favorite customer, particularly once you said, "Obviously, I do that too often for it to be my default finger signal."

Don't deprive the Albertson's cashier the joy of seeing you, regularly.

waves

...so I'm still trying to wrap my head around the time difference between Bangkok and you folks, and, well, I haven't actually got a fucking clue. I've decided that I'm twelve hours into the future. (When I was organising my classroom [organising is perhaps not an ENTIRELY accurate choice of word, but neither is it entirel inaccurate] I was tickled pink when I picked up the inflatable globe and played at 'I am here! Mum is here! Buffistas are here and here and here!')

Anyhoo - HURRAH! For I have moved into my new studio apartment, and although, yes, it is tiny like a teeny tiny thing, it is also fucking GORGEOUS. Made of awesome. I welcomed myself to the apartment by watching Slings and Arrows Season 1 on the DVD player (which tried to convince me that it couldn't play said DVDs, because they were the wrong region, but I scritched it under the chin and talked about salad shooters and eventually it surrendered in bafflement and played the DVDs, yay!).

I heart Canada, and still fully intend to become Canadian. Eventually.

Anyway, yes, I have an apartment and it is full of shiny things! Today I'm looking for things with which to catproof it - sadly I've not got hold of any big rag rugs to cover the lovely leather sofabed, but I HAVE got seat covers for the dining chairs and I've bought Daniel a squishy catbed/tent thingy that is shaped & coloured like a giant tomato. And I bought him a lovely squishy cushiony thing too. I plan to hide these in Daniel-friendly places, so that he can hide in them and feel cosy and secure.

However, I have not yet obtained a cat litter tray or litter. Hopefully tomorrow? And then I can bust him out of the cattery and introduce him to the flat.

Did I mention that I'm on the 18th floor, with fabulous views of Bangkok? The view is particularly grand at night. Also we have a wee garden bit that I've got access to, and a gym (which I'm going to explore this evening) and a pool which is WAY cool. It has a waterfall and turtles spitting water into it. Stone turtles. Not real turtles. This probably merits clarification, all things considered.

Tomorrow is my first day of teaching Year 2 (Grade 1 age, Grade 2 academic standards). Gulp. Pray for me? Because I really really want to do this WELL. Like, really well. And I want to be patient and kind. I'm worried that I may be shouty. I can be shouty sometimes, and I don't want to be all Snape-like on their asses because they are ickle and wee, but sometimes I just default to it because I'm more geared towards teaching 'To be or not to be' than 'B or not B'.

Patience. Kindness.

(...which I just typed as kinkness. Fuck.)

Anyway, yeah - hopefully it will all go well. I think I know what I'm doing and my classroom looks okay, although not as fab as I want it to. But it'll do. Insh'allah.

In the process of organising my shit this afternoon I discovered that TWO of my kids have their birthday tomorrow!!! So I have gone out today and bought Birthday cards and a couple of birthday balloons and some stickers. I'm a bit torn about the cake situation, but I think that probably I won't do cake. It's the first day of school. Maybe one of them will bring cake?

...I think I may buy some fish for the class too, this week. And some plants.

I'm really very excited about having my own class again. It's fab!

Aimee, at quilt class last week, one of our regulars did something similar. Now, this woman hand sews and hand quilts EVERYTHING. She's as old-school and proper as it gets. Sweet, sweet lady, and even though she hand stitches, she's still got more done than I do! (bad Val!) So, she showed her latest quilt, which was absolutely gorgeous, and we were all exclaiming over her stitches once again, and someone asked, "Which finger do you hold your thimble in?" And she gave us the finger. Poor thing turned SO red. We all thought it was hysterical, but she was so embarrassed. It was really funny.

Fay, you're such a sweet teacher to do that birthday stuff on the first day of school. You're going to win those hearts even quicker than I thought possible for you.

Much to do today. Didn't do much at the old apartment yesterday. I saved myself for dealing with the couch over there. We had to move it out through the window and over the balcony. Hired a guy (Nora's friend...who is a total hoot!) to come help us, and it actually went pretty smoothly. YAY! So, one less thing to deal with over there. And, couch went to a good home (Victor and thessaly). So, double YAY!

Then I had dinner almost all prepared over at the new place so Victor and thessaly could see it and be fed. It was nice. We had a great time.

Today, I think I'll do some laundry this morning, then head over to the Cambridge apartment and pack up everything that needs to be shipped out...to either Emily or Erin. I'm also going to repack some bins that are going to end up going to Goodwill. I was hoping to sell them, but I just ran out of time, and I don't want all that stuff at the new place. So, this is the way it has to go. I'll put the stuff to ship in my car and ship it from Rozi tomorrow morning as I head over to the Cambridge apartment to get more done. Do a Goodwill run then start to try to clean. It's the home stretch...really. It has to be!

Yay for making the old apartment history, vw.

The new studio sounds wonderful, Fay. Turtles! I can't imagine you yelling at the children. Hee. When the boys were in that age group I spent a lot of time in the classroom. They are much sweeter than the middle school or high school kids. The reason I was in the classroom so much at that time was the need level. The teacher always needed another set of hands. When Brendon was in 1st grade I worked with the children struggling with reading. It was a wonderful experience. I'm looking forward to hearing about your new kids. Lucky kids to have you as their new teacher.

Hee Aimee! I blame MM. He surely helped make the gesture second nature.

MIL will be coming to visit today. I really need to clear away the dirty dishes before she arrives. My house is a big mess. Looks like I better get serious about the hurricane preparedness too. Ernesto predictions just took a big right turn. Askye bound it looks like. We won't know for sure where it is headed until after it interacts with the islands.

My screen pool enclosure has never been repaired from last year. Roof not so much ready for big winds either. I'm a lot more ready that many people, but still a lot to do. When I fly I am still surprised to see just how many blue roofs are found throughout Florida and the gulf coast.

Matt just arrived home. he said" I don't know how much I'll sleep", and promptly started snoreing. Emily comes for her stuff about 9 - my DS and bil and 2 dogs about 10 - for a round of- look at that - that's a good deal - and why did anyone want that in the first place?

Class room sounds lovely Fay. and I expect you will yell more than you'd like, bu I think yuo'll do better than you think.

huricane behave better than expected Ma~~~

Take pictures of the cool old stuff, Beth.

Fay, have you got a digital camera to take pictures of the new place? It sounds absolutely fab. And I'm boggling at an apartment building with (it sounds like) over 18 floors, a pool and a gym! Wow. I think Ima have to find some kind of tech job in Bangkok.

vw, good on getting so much stuff done! I can't wait to see pictures of the new place.

I sense a theme, here. I think I'm a picture whore for pretty places. If I can't go there myself, then by damn I want to see pictures!

It never ceases to amaze me how paying bills just wipes through the money.

But, I am thankful for having enough money to pay them.