Full Circle

Hi all,

So, one must be rather careful for what one wishes for. True, I got the 3 feet of snow, but the ice "storm" (it rained...and froze) was a bit much. It WAS gorgeous to look up and see the tree branches waving and scintillating in the sunlight, with a beautiful clinking like delicate glass chimes in the wind until until they ice pieces slid off to dash themselves against the grown, but it got pretty treacherous and I ended up on my butt once. Everyone uses the "yak traks" here, but I mostly do just fine in just boots. Thanks to Benny. Anyhow, it looks like a proper winter now.

In celebration of being here a year, I finally got myself a dentist appointment. I don't want to talk about it.

On a more positive note, Julia celebrated her birthday. I met her on the night before her birthday last year, and it's amazing how our friendship has grown. She was typically gushy, but explained she wasn't going to apologize because, after all, it was her birthday. I got invited to her birthday table, and it was lovely. First time having steak (in steak form), in the village as well. Yum! I'd found a book called "How to Repair Food", which is quite funny - and incredibly useful. I mean, who knew you could turn sour cream back into cream??? This led to an interesting story about south africa, where apparently it's cheaper to buy butter, freeze it, and then thaw it and put it through a machine to turn it back into cream when you need it. Weird, huh?

Anyhow, it was a lovely evening, and a good end to a very long weekend. I'd had to get re-certified in a course that was held at a neighboring community at the lovely hour of 8 am. We got done 1.5 hours early - would starting at 9 kill them?!? It was a good time though. We had cafe and giftshop duty, because we'd swapped with a house having a christening. I had to change my off time on Sunday, because I ended up having to do giftshop on that day as well. Paled in comparison to eating glass though.

Somehow, many (quite large) splinters of glass ended up in the 1/2 of a cheesecake that we were going to serve at cafe on Saturday. Luckily, for others, I had a piece/bite and discovered this. Unfortunately, half of the cheesecake had already been served the prior week....and not thrown away! So that was fun.

Anyhow, for the big news: on Saturday the house went out to dinner and I informed them that I'd be moving on the 7th to help co-run a house (with Schmee and another young co-worker!) whose houseparent needed to step out for a while due to health reasons. No one seem too concerned. This is pretty typical, as people get used to comings and goings - and I'm not even leaving the village. I think Beau will be the most upset, and he's the one I will miss the most. I'm leaving on good terms with Hum and Hather, and knew that this day would be coming months ago. It will certainly bring some new challenges, but I find I'm mostly excited. The weight of it is still settling, but I have hope.

I have a rough 2 weeks to get through first though. Both Calvin and Buttercup are leaving on vacation, meaning that I'll be very short and work and at home - since I'll be picking up 90% of Calvin's work. Plus packing in there.

Need I mention that I'm sorry I've been a little too overwhelmed to blog lately? I hope things will settle down soon, although Seminar events are picking up and I'm rather behind. And rather unmotivated. It will come. Plus, I'm waiting to hear back on my Jet application, which should happen within the next week. So, a little more stress.

Basically, I'd like to sleep the next 2 weeks. A mini-hibernation.

It will get better.

Hope all is well - at least I'm healthy!
Steph