How do you spell relief? Not having to work would be my guess. Or in my case, not being able to find work, which may or may not be considered relieving. In my case, it kind of is, though I'm itching to get back into education, whether it be helping others or continuing my own. Michael (really, he is special) brought not one, but two essays home for me to "correct" two nights ago. He waited till yesterday morning, 10 minutes before he had to leave for work, and asked me if I could "proofread" them real quick. Now, these were not his essays (he doesn't write much) and I didn't get paid for it. It was a favor for his supervisor, and they weren't his supervisor's essays either. No, no...they were essays written by a friend of his supervisor. Oy! I read the first sentence of the first essay, looked at my sweetie pie, and asked, "You need to take these back this morning? And what country is the author from?" I assumed Sweden; I was wrong...he told me yesterday evening that she is Dutch. I spent most of yesterday morning trying to help someone I'd never met, typed an email letting my husband and his supervisor know that I would have felt more comfortable sitting down face to face with the author, but I did what I could to help. The point to all this? I need to start tutoring again, or take a high school teaching position through a fellowship that will place me in a high risk "urban" high school, which Michael and my folks are dead-set against because it's...how'd they put it? Oh, yeah, too risky and dangerous.

So, the kids are settling into their new schools a bit. Did I mention Miss Alexandra's popularity? Within her first week attending a new school, ten classmates, approximately, nominated her for Homecoming queen for basketball. It was all so new to her, she freaked out and turned the nomination down. Poor kid; it was so embarrassing for her...so she said, anyway. I'm sure it boosted her up a little though. This week, her English teacher tried to encourage her to enter a creative writing contest after seeing a sample of her writing. She didn't think she'd do that well because all the other entries dealt with...what did she say? Something about: "they were all dark, and mine was fun and light." I told her that was why she should have entered, but she didn't. Grrr...how to get this girl to have more confidence and not so scared to do things when I can't even do that for myself?

While the kids are settling in, Michael is working on making his job more permanent with Pinnacle Airlines, the WoW expansion was released, and of course, I've been spending some time playing The Burning Crusade. I hear it's been getting some news coverage. Anyone check out Yahoo's article on it yesterday morning? Michael went out at 11:30 the night before to be at the store at midnight to pick up our copies. He's a pain sometimes, but then he does things like that.

My impression of living here so far...most people are nice and hospitable, it's a little slower (but I knew that already), the weather is as freaky here as it is there, I hate the elementary school and bus driver, but I really love being near my family. My baby brother and I are rediscovering the comfort in sibling rivalry...it's so much different when you're adults. Last week he threatened to come home from work and kick my ass when I wouldn't let him talk to Momma. I told him, "Bring it, Meat; let's go." He's such a chicken.

Peace, y'all.