I’ve been an absentee writer of late, obviously – I’ve been in the process of writing a post about FishieFishies and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day for almost two weeks now, and it isn’t done yet. But I wanted to write a post tonight. I’ve been in Arkansas for the past couple of weeks and was originally supposed to fly back to Boston tomorrow (Wednesday, December 31), but weather.com had all kinds of dire warnings about a big snowstorm that’s supposed to hit in the morning. So, after weighing the possible cost of changing my ticket against the possibility of being stuck ringing in the New Year in someplace like Detroit (in the airport, no less) AND therefore missing the Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s Day (we have real costumes this year!) AND missing another blizzard (I love them), I flew out today instead. I’m really glad I did. Here’s what weather.com is saying about tomorrow now:

SNOW WILL BEGIN BETWEEN 10 AM AND NOON. SNOW WILL QUICKLY INCREASE IN INTENSITY AND FALL HEAVILY AT TIMES FROM LATE MORNING INTO THE AFTERNOON… WITH SNOWFALL RATES OF ONE TO PERHAPS TWO INCHES PER HOUR DEVELOPING BETWEEN 11 AM AND 5 PM. VISIBILITIES WILL BE RESTRICTED TO ONE HALF MILE OR LESS AT TIMES. SNOW IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN TAPERING OFF DURING THE EARLY EVENING HOURS.

SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS IN THE WARNING AREA ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM 4 TO 8 INCHES… WITH AMOUNTS POSSIBLY AS HIGH AS 10 INCHES ACROSS THE GREATER BOSTON AREA INTO NORTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS… WHERE THUNDER SNOW IS ALSO POSSIBLE.

IN ADDITION WINDS WILL SHIFT TO NORTH AND INCREASE 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH POSSIBLE. THIS WILL CAUSE CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF THE SNOW AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. ACROSS CAPE COD AND NANTUCKET NORTH WINDS WILL LIKELY GUSTS TO 60 MPH FROM LATE AFTERNOON INTO THE NIGHT… WITH THE STRONGEST WINDS FROM 7 PM TO 10 PM. THESE WINDS MAY DOWN TREE LIMBS ALONG WITH POSSIBLE POWER OUTAGES. A HIGH WIND WARNING MAY BE ISSUED LATER THIS MORNING FOR THIS AREA. THESE STRONG WINDS WILL ALSO PRODUCE CONSIDERABLY BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW YIELDING NEAR WHITE OUT CONDITIONS.

Yep, I think I made the right decision. My only regret is that I got home seven minutes too late to make a run to Spike’s for a post-midnight hamburger (I am SERIOUSLY craving salty red meat) (they close at 1:00 AM). (Mom, Dad, and Grandma, this is why I didn’t call – if you weren’t already in bed, you should have been.)

So I implied in my last post that I had a busy weekend ahead (which is kind of an understatement) – and mentioned that I had been feeling pretty stressed about it on Wednesday (which is even more of an understatement). On Thursday, I sent a message to my Rapid Response team, asking for prayers and other generally happy thoughts.

Oh what fun it is to have righteous friends. The prayers worked wonders. I’m somewhat stunned to report that I didn’t just survive but actually enjoyed almost all of this past weekend; work was completed, the concert welcome text was written, four performances were sung, high notes were hit, last-minute additions to the program were made, Finnish text was translated (kiitos TTJ!), the piano gig was fulfilled, another concert was attended, Christmas decorations were procured and put up (including a tree), the client’s application (6 essays + a cover letter + a resume) was submitted, cookies were baked and delivered, the big fancy church dance was attended (props to CLB for a wonderful job!), the turkey was roasted (45 minutes too long but the really dry stuff will make great soup), a book was read, and the bangs were trimmed.

And I wasn’t stressed – even when I had to sing solos and songs with high notes in front of a lot of people. AND I even had time between obligations to rest and breathe. The only time I had a bad attitude was late Saturday night, and even then I wasn’t too cranky. I’m so, so, SO grateful for all the thoughts and prayers; there’s no way I could have handled a weekend like this one without them. (And I have evidence a-plenty to back up this statement, as anyone who knows me can attest.)

Onward and upward. The next challenge is rather formidable, but with God’s help I can handle it.

(She says, smiling.)

Done:

1 choir concert
1 book read
6 essays + a cover letter and resume
Two dozen cookies
Welcome text for choir concert

Remaining:

3 choral performances
Big fancy church dance
Piano gig in lounge area at big fancy church dance
3-6 essays
Christmas tree shopping and general house decorating

I was feeling a bit stressed on Wednesday and wondering why, and then I started counting up all the stuff I had going on this weekend. Ah, December.

So obviously photography is not (yet) a strength of mine, but I wanted to share pictures of a delivery I received last Friday:

Thanks to JES for supplying the subject for these pictures…

Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time.

– Stephen Swid, executive (b. 1941)

Would that I had more of this kind of wealth. Lots more. Or rather, would that I were better at time management and realistic goal-setting so that I would more efficiently use the wealth I have.

So I’ve started my allergy shot regimen, and the only bad thing is that the injection sites (two on each arm) are reeeeeeeeeally itchy. (The doctor injects a very small amount of each allergen so my body can build up a tolerance to it.)

Aaaaand that’s all for today. I’ve eaten too much spinach ricotta tortellini to be eloquent, but not too much to be completely random. (Obviously.)