I’m so glad December is here. Now it’s okay to listen to Christmas music and put up all the Christmas decorations. I did some of that this weekend. The boyfriend will be coming over on Friday night to help decorate my tree. Of course I’ll post a picture.

Is it bad of me for not mentioning that it’s World AIDS Day? Or writing anything about it?

I need to get a poinsettia for my living room and maybe one for my dining room.

I heard the news about people getting killed on Black Friday. I’m glad I didn’t go out yesterday. I did go out shopping this morning though. I guess everyone was out yesterday because there wasn’t anyone at the mall this morning around 9:30. Maybe I missed the crowds because I wasn’t there really early but I thought I’d see the crowds at 9:30. The parking lot was even empty.

I guess the economy is keeping everyone from spending money. I wasn’t spending money either. I was returning a coat that was the wrong size. I didn’t even buy anything. This has got to be the quietest shopping weekend I can ever remember. I thought there would at least be some window shopping going on. Even the Apple store was quiet. Did you go shopping on Black Friday?

Today is my blogiversary! Five years ago today I started my blog. In the first year I wrote a lot and posted a lot and “met” lots of other bloggers. Since then I’ve started the podcast, the videos, and the photos pages. I don’t always post everyday but I have at least posted a few times a month. I’ve had almost 100,000 hits in five years so someone is still checking out the blog. I still enjoy doing all the online stuff and plan to continue. So Happy Blogoversary to me!

We made it through Hanna just fine. We had about 8 inches of rain and winds up to 43 mph but no damage to report. It was actually just like a really long thunderstorm without the thunder and lightning. The plastic furniture on my balcony got blown around just a bit and the plants got way too much water but nothing serious happened. We had plans to go to our favorite winery but decided against that when we saw the amount of rain that was coming down.

Now the weekend is over and it's back to work tomorrow.

Today I went back to work for the 22nd year in a row. I swear it gets harder each year. I did not want to get up this morning. But I dragged myself out of bed and went to work.

As usual, we had to sit through several hours of BS and then sit through an hour and a half of little training sessions. None of which I can actually use in my classroom.

I found out I'm going to have 26 students. That's a pretty large class. This may be a tough year. Of course I won't know for sure until I meet the students and their parents and see how needy they'll be.

I guess I'm ready but I wish I would just win the lottery so I wouldn't have to work anymore. I look forward to retirement more and more every year. I have at least 8 more years until that time.