Back to Normal

I only slept about three hours last night so if I write something that doesn’t make sense, that’s why. I went to school, but for no good reason. My brain was toast and I didn’t learn a thing. At least my body was there and I made the effort. It was good I went so I could make peace with Vestina though. She came out to help me on Saturday but our bus stop was closed because of all the work they are doing in the streets replacing water pipes and she couldn’t find my house because the bus didn’t come all the way down to where we live. When she called to say she was lost we had already started the party and we couldn’t go get her right away. She went back home and she was ticked. I don’t blame her but we were caught up in circumstances beyond our control at that point. She told me today if I was anyone but ME, she would never speak to me again. I told her she needs to be more forgiving, and I invited her over for leftovers. I hope we are still friends. She makes me laugh, and even though she was steaming mad at me, I still managed to make her laugh too, so that’s a good sign. We both understood each other’s predicament and what happened was bad for both of us as I really needed her help at the party, but it’s all over now and hopefully the friendship is intact. Uff da.

I so wanted a nap today after school but I wanted more to spend time with Vestina, so I’m nearly numb and my eyes are burning from so little sleep this weekend. Just as I laid down to take a nap after Vestina left, Kaleb came home from the afterschool program a little early as he wanted to get his homework done so he had time to play with his Ninetendo. Talk about motivation! Sabina came over and helped him finish up and then Kory came home from work and the day literally just snowballed. We had a second cousin and her two kids over to help us eat leftovers from last night’s party and her foster son Benjamin and Sabina and Kaleb turned the house into a wreck, but they had fun in the process. Life is back. Now if I can find my brain somewhere, I’ll be happy.

Last night I went outside at midnight and for the first time in weeks, I saw grass. The frost has been so hard it left a thick white crust over everything. But last night, warm air blew through town and started melting everything. Rain even fell from heaven – something we haven’t seen in a long time now (especially this time of year). The weather forecast said we’d have sunshine today and I went to bed expecting a gorgeous sunny winter day, and I woke up to two inches of snow and more coming down! It was the big wet fluffy snow and the ground was covered in SLUDD (the Norwegian word for slush). Too funny. It really is hard to get bored with the weather around here because I never know what to expect, but once again, everything was just gorgeous with a fresh layer of new snow. It’s finally above freezing though so I imagine it won’t last long.

I was thinking how I could just coast now that Thanksgiving and Kaleb and Kory’s birthday’s are over, but then I looked at the calendar and realized it’s only a few weeks until Christmas! I’m not even sure I’ll get a Christmas letter written this year, certainly no cards out and I haven’t even decorated yet! Good grief. And it’s not like I’m sleeping the days away either, as I have more waking hours than I should but there still isn’t enough time to get everything done. I wonder if it would help if I lived a double life? (Does that mean I get twice as much time or I have to do twice as much work?) Maybe “normal” is a good thing. Hopefully that will be tomorrow’s forecast.