I'm a bit huffy after a comment was conveyed to me about stockpiling. You mean the materials that cost less in bulk that I don't have to buy again for one or two years, and do use every year, giving the budget freedom to purchase different materials at a good price that are then also used every year. Or maybe it's the ornaments for our annual Christmas tree that we reuse every year that have been here since before I started working here.

I have a feeling this was spawned by the fact that my "stockpile" resides in the barn attic and the ED wants to move my office there (with the mice shit and no heating and leaking roof) and he needs to free up the space. I'm sorry that I didn't precisely calculate how many pomegranates and lotus pods I needed last year and have some leftover. I'm sorry I saved our Christmas lights and recycled the grapevine wreaths to use again.

Tell me, is spending a grand and netting $4000 a disappointment? (Maybe I'm wrong and it is).

It seems like bad form to whine about it, since it's the result of an extremely successful year, but I am just weary to the bones and feel like I can't get ahead of the curve on anything right now. My desk is just buried and my email inbox is overflowing, and it seems that no matter how much time I put in I can't catch up.

So much of it is really good stuff, but it's just overwhelming. I'm hiring more people, and planning a move into a real commercial space for the business, and incorporating, and trying to keep on top of current that has me working overnights and then carving out time to teach. All of my employees are doing amazing work, but we are all working too many hours right now. There is some crazy exciting stuff on the horizon, but right now I just want to feel like I have my feet under me. I never expected to be a business owner on this scale.

Drew, that does sound overwhelming. But congratulations on your award! I saw Pix's pictures on FB.

That certainly seems like a lot. And good stuff, so congrats, but still a lot. You'll get it all managed, I'm sure.

these are all reasons I will be moving into sara's basement.

Across the street. Or maybe Sandra's basement. She does roommates. I'm one of those that needs autonomous space to be alooooone. But do appreciate proximity and community, which is why the rowhouse setup and this community work perfectly for me.

We joke about knocking doorways between houses/building one giant ramp across porches on my block. But it's kinda not joking. A lot of us are committed to staying here as long as is possible and are without kids and uninclined/lacking relatives to move in with. And a lot of us are single, of a similar age. And then there's always the senior apartments and evergreen living house just across the street to the south, should it become necessary.

Hell, we're doing a practice round with Brian being laid up now. Which reminds me, need to check in on him.

ION, as a Christmas elf, I am making the cutest fucking decorations. Tree cookie wreaths and snowmen. Hemlock cone and acorn cap topiaries and ornaments. But the bulbs just arrived this evening, so now I have to switch gears back to planting. Ugh. Would be so much better with an actual seasonal gardener.

I am so over my kids today. They are old enough that they should be able to be a help instead of a burden, but they cannot seem to get their shit together to actually be helpful. Probably this is my fault, because it's my job as the parent to teach them how to get their shit together. But seriously?

Preach it, sister!

In fairness, my 10 yo does manage to pour himself a bowl of cereal. But I just am so over the nudging them through ever step of the day. Ugh!

Okay, and now for the other side of parenting, I'm gonna go lie down for a little bit with that same 10 yo boy, who has decided to go to bed early as he's tired and he just wants a warm snuggly bed. And his momma.

They've closed I-80 through Wyoming because of snow storms. I find the idea of closing off an entire interstate very impressive. They have actual gates that they can swing across the lanes, with signs saying very emphatically that anyone passing the gates when they're down does so at their own risk and no one is going after them until the freeway reopens. There's something so matter-of-fact and uncompromising about those gates, out there on the high plains and acknowledging that Mother Nature has the absolute last word.

Red sky this sunrise...hopefully only for the weather.

Just climbing into bed from a very long day. Time to get a few hours of sleep.