Why do I do this to myself?

Ah, the holidays. Every year I promise myself I'm not going to invest much money or effort into it, and every year it turns into a major headache anyway. And I don't even have all that much fun to show for it.

I overextended myself at work. First of all, back before Thanksgiving an email came out asking the staff if we wanted to participate in Secret Santa, which would involve drawing names and then leaving small ($5 and under) gifts and treats for the person Monday through Thursday of the week before winter break. Then on Friday, you'd do one last (slightly bigger) gift. I thought, "That might be fun." So I signed up.

Then a week or so later the guidance counselor sent out an email asking for volunteers to adopt a student whose family was struggling and provide some gifts. Well, I like to be charitable at Christmas, so I told her to sign me up. I didn't realize I would have a child all to myself to provide gifts for. 

THEN, the principal sent out an email just to the office and administrative staff, asking if we wanted to draw names for a gift exchange. Everyone else said yes, so I didn't want to be the odd one out. 

So of course I signed up for that too. 

To summarize, I volunteered myself to be responsible for:

• Buying five gifts for my "Secret Santa" person, four totaling $20 and then the fifth being "bigger". (It's a third grade teacher that I've barely ever spoken to).
• Buying all the gifts a child is likely to get this Christmas. For privacy reasons, all I know about said child is that it's a boy in the second grade who likes "action figures and WWE wrestling". Oh, and his shoe and clothing sizes. *
• Buying a gift for our school librarian, a nice enough lady that I know nothing about. I heard that the minimum to spend is $15 and that there's no maximum. Jesus!

I decided to bite the bullet this afternoon and go get all the gifts from Target in one fell swoop. In case I've never never mentioned it here on the blog, I HATE SHOPPING. Hate it. Online shopping has become my best friend over the last couple of years for a reason. But I did it, and I'm proud to say I got everything I'll need to fulfill all the obligations I signed up for. I spent way too much money and I had NO CLUE how any of it will be received. At least it won't be weighing on my mind anymore, though. I can stash it all in my office at work and dole it out as appropriate.

All this, and I haven't done one single thing for my family or friends yet.

*I actually don't mind spending money on the child, it was just very difficult for me to shop for him. I know nothing about buying kids' toys and clothing, especially with the scant information I had. And I wish I'd spent all the money on him, and not on bullshit trinkets for coworkers. Sigh.

Work week recap

A winter storm is headed this way, bringing with it the chance of ice late tonight and early tomorrow morning. As much as I long for a good snow, ice is a different matter altogether. Ice is beautiful, but so dangerous. Thank goodness it's a holiday weekend (Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday) and I have no real need to leave the house before Tuesday. Following on the heels of this storm is another weather system that the long-range forecast says might bring us some snow next weekend. Fingers crossed for that! I'm anxious to see the "new" house and neighborhood with a blanket of white.

I've continued to feel a bit under the weather for the last couple of days. Although I got a negative result on my rapid Covid test, I remain unconvinced that I don't have a (very, very) mild case. Yesterday my throat felt kind of weird and sore, and I've been a bit short of breath for a few days now, off and on. That sounds bad, but it's not that unusual for me. I have mild asthma that can be triggered by allergies, a cold, or even just a drastic change in temperature.  A puff or two on an inhaler and I'm totally fine. So who knows?

I'd go to one of the DHEC testing sites for a more accurate PCR test, but they've all been so overwhelmed that it's taking up to a week to get results back (and that's when we're not having a state holiday and a winter storm) so I don't think I'll bother. I feel almost 100% back to normal today, anyway. If it is Covid, thank goodness for vaccines and boosters! I was careful at work yesterday to keep my N-95 mask on and to avoid other people as much as possible, just in case. 

Speaking of work, I meant to tell you about something nice that happened to me at the beginning of the week. My little buddy Clarence (the boy who kept coming to my desk for Christmas candy in exchange for not getting in trouble last month) stopped by my desk to see me on Monday. (Since I was already feeling a little weird, I gave him a fist bump instead of a hug). He said, "Mrs. Barlow, I'm going to bring you a present tomorrow!  I told my mama I wanted to get my favorite teacher a present!" I told him that that was a sweet thing to say, but that his good behavior and good attitude was all the present I needed. Of course, I forgot about it immediately. Well. The next day he showed up at my desk and presented me with this:

"Viva Las Vegas Night" perfume! :)  

Clarence was so proud of himself when he gave it to me. He said, "It smells REAL good!" (It smells about like you expect). What a sweet, kind thing for that little boy to do! I wrote  him a nice thank you note on some of my personalized office stationery. I showed the gift to the basketball coach, who happens to be one of the behavior interventionists, and he quipped, "I hope that's not missing off his mama's dresser!" Haha! We both got a good laugh at that. All joking aside, though, this little bottle of dollar store perfume made me cry a little bit. 

I'll sign off today with a few pictures of the aquariums at work, taken by some of our Art students who are studying photography at the moment. Aquariums are notoriously hard to photograph, but the teacher sent me four of what she judged to be the best ones. The first two are from the goldfish tank in the lobby, and the last are from the planted community tank in the library.

Shout-out to the talented Anne Marie!

When I arrived home this afternoon a prize I won over at Anne Marie's blog From My Brain to My Mouth had arrived! And just look at it---a gorgeous hand knit shawl!! I can't begin to tell you how much this lifted my spirits today. 

The color in the second photo is more true-to life.

Thank you so much, Anne Marie! I'm wearing the shawl as I type this and it's so warm and light, just perfect for a cool day. I absolutely love it and will treasure it forever!

The gift

A famously difficult and sharp tongued teacher at the school stunned me yesterday morning by leaving a gift of beautiful flowers on my desk. They were waiting for me when I got to work.

I thought at first that the rest of the office staff was having me on, I was so astonished, but they were  just as incredulous as me. Ms. S is a veteran teacher that rules her classes with an iron fist. Most of the kids are scared of her, and the staff tries to steer clear of her notoriously fiery temper. She's always been friendly to me, however. Everyone kept asking, "How did you ever manage to get on her good side?" And honestly, I have no idea!

Later in the morning, when I was finally convinced me that the tulips were indeed for me, I sent Ms. S an email thanking her and expressing my surprise. She emailed me back and said that I was always very kind, and she appreciated me, and when she saw the flowers she thought of me.

Can you believe that?

Gifted Art

That last post was a depressing piece of crap. I've already deleted it once, then revised it, and just now I wanted to delete it again. Instead of that, I'll just follow up with a post that's bound to be of more interest. Even mild interest.

My husband has been the lucky recipient of many gifts of art work over the years. I've never seen anything like it...and I'm not sure why it should be so, except that he's always had very diverse kinds of friends in his life, many of whom were/are artistic types.

There was an elderly lady named Margaret Joy (now sadly deceased) that was an especial friend of his. She was an artist with a lifetime's worth of watercolor and oil paintings in her home studio, and she gave him three of her paintings which now hang in our house. We count them as some of our most cherished possessions. One is a still life of vegetables in a bowl, another has birds sitting on a flowering tree branch, and one is of brightly colored koi fish. It's wonderful to have such lovely keepsakes from such a dear woman as Margaret. One of these days I'll post photos of them.

Then there was a young guy friend of Gregg's named Matthew, who painted two big canvas pieces as a gift for him. They're of the discus fish he was keeping at the time, and among his favorite things. The two paintings hang in our living room.

So then yesterday, Gregg came home with a small framed print given to him by the secretary at one of the elementary schools where he maintains aquariums. It's by a local artist and it's called "Wrapping the Palmetto". I believe it's supposed to be a South Carolina take on a Maypole, because the Palmetto is our state tree. I thought you all might enjoy seeing it.

What a nice little gift from an appreciative client!