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Sunday, December 16, 2012

Silver Liningness Sunday

The air is still heavy with Sandy Hook, but it does help me to feel gratitude.  For one thing, the universal shock, disbelief, and sense of tragedy is in itself a good thing.  It's when this sort of thing is no longer so shocking that we've really lost our humanness.

So, I reflect on the goodness of the week just past.  For one, Chaco is home for his long winter break.  Evidence abounds:




"Chaco Central" was quickly set up in the ManCave, pretty much taking up the entire surface of the project table... and a few square feet of floor space.














And we can't overlook the obstacle challenge of getting anything out of the coat closet.













The Ellie Mae has been with us for one week now, and I continue to just love her.  What a fun and friendly little vehicle!  One of our bargaining chips was that she needed some new tires.  I took her to our shop of choice to get her all decked out.  Those guys down there know me all too well, greetings of "Hey (cashflow) Abby!" when I step in the door.  It's a wonder they haven't gotten me one of those lovely shirts with my name on the lapel with all the time (is money) I'd spent there with the Subaru.  No offense, but I hope to be seeing much less of them now.

My tutor matching service did a "Twelve Days of Christmas" promo for the first 12 days of December.  Each day, one tutor and one student that had a lesson that day were chosen for something from the gift shop.  Well, I didn't win, wasn't chosen on any day, but it was still fun to check each day.  They're an enjoyable and user friendly group to work with, and I don't need a water bottle/t-shirt/hat/other propaganda anyway.

In other employment gratitude, I'm grateful for my crossing guard job.  As far as "moonlighting" activities go, it's a privilege to work with the elementary kids and their families, as reminded from Friday's events.  Friday afternoon's traffic was solemnly well behaved.  I guess drivers realized, for a while anyway, that maybe an elementary school crossing isn't so inconvenient after all.

I also got a small raise.  Don't tell them, but I'd do it for free.
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8 comments:

agg79 said...

Just like RC - bringing the son home for the holidays. I hope you are able to enjoy the time with him before he heads back to campus. It is amazing how much "stuff" they can accumulate in a short period of time on campus.

And you should have an Abby shirt for all the coin you spent down there with the Subaru over the years.

ShadowRun300 said...

Sandy Hook certainly has me reflecting on the things I am grateful for...
How nice to have Chaco home. Do you wonder how you ever fit him in your house for so many years? lol
Congrats on your pay raise. I'm sure they are just as grateful for you to be safe guarding the children as you are to be their safe guard.
And I'm happy you love Ellie Mae so much! She seems to fit in quite well with the family. Perhaps you can store Chaco's bike in her...

Abby said...

Yeah, where did all the stuff come from? Today, he asked for a microwave.

me: For Christmas?
Chaco: HA!

Darn.

Abby said...

Chaco noted how small our house is. Just now noticed? Yep, easier to clean. If we lose it, we could live in the Ellie Mae.

Rock Chef said...

Hah, he has certainly stamped his mark on the Man Cave!

My son has had to leave his beloved 3 screen desktop PC at Uni and only has his laptop. How will he survive with only 1 screen?!

Abby said...

Will YOU survive with him having to survive with just a laptop?

Rebecca S. said...

Eldest coming home Christmas Eve for 'at least a week' he said today!

Seems like you and I were thinking the same things after the tragedy...and you're right. When the public outcry stops that IS when we've lost it.

Okay, moving on now to see what kind of car you got.

terri said...

It's nice to have the college kids home again, isn't it? I always feel like it's too quiet when Kacey heads back to school after an extended break at home.

I'll stop complaining about the condition of our coat closet now. At least there aren't any bicycles in there.