Tradition

The milestone has been reached. We have completed the first 100 days of school for the year. Kind of anti-climatic seeing as we didn't have school Monday or Tuesday this week. See, when the wind chill reaches below -20 degrees, they don't like to make the kids stand outside to wait for the bus. Relatively silly reason to cancel school if you ask me, but at least I got a nice four day weekend out of the deal.

In other news:

• I've actually been getting my lazy butt to the gym fairly regularly. Six days out of the last nine. I figure that's not bad for just getting back into it. To reward myself, I intend to use my Best Buy reward certificates (that I got when I bought my new TV) toward a new iPod Shuffle. I already have an iPod, but since I've started running somewhat regularly, I think the new Shuffle will be quite handy.
• Heather and I are planning a trip to Hawaii this summer. Yes, I know, we should make this trip in the winter, but we are teachers, so we don't have the vacation time then. Plus, Heather's trip will be paid for entirely by her school because she will be attending a science conference while we are there. I'm not so lucky, but it will still be worth it. All the more reason to keep working out... want to look good in a swimsuit for the beach!
• And speaking of the trip, my portion will be paid for using a portion of my income tax refund. I finished filing when I had the day off on Monday and, due in great part to my tuition credit, I'm getting over $3500 back. The rest will pay down some debt.
• Coal has been driving me nuts lately. He wants to be a night owl, which is unusual for him. He gets behind the dresser and bats at the electric cords. He bangs on the closet door until it opens enough for him to get in, then he knocks stuff around inside. He jumps up on the dresser and knocks off everything that isn't nailed down. And all while I am trying to sleep. So he gets shut out of the bedroom, but then Copper can't get out when she wants a drink of water, which happens way more often than I ever thought.
• My friend Sue and her two girls will be in town this weekend. The girls (9 and 13) are competing in a cheerleading/dance thing in the town where I teach. They are staying in a hotel Friday night, but will likely be staying at my place Saturday. I guess that means I have to get the rest of the Christmas stuff cleaned out of my spare bedroom so there is room for the air mattress.
• And Lost is back on tonight. So that will be all