Dreary January Days

2009 is upon us. I'm sort of glad Christmas is over. We ended up having a fine time at Brian's parents and my parents and grandparents, but neither of us was truly in the Christmas spirit this year. Brian took the tree down in a flash on New Year's Day, which is really unlike him. He wants me to take the Christmas cards down from the window I display them in, but I said they can stay up for awhile. I like looking at them; they're really cheerful and happy. We spent New Year's Eve at Jeff & Candace's, which was a very nice low key evening with them and another couple we know, Chris and Katie. Brian drank beer, and I drank sparkling apple juice, and we were home by 1:30. However, we came home to find cat vomit all over our bedroom floor that had to be cleaned up before we went to bed. Oh, the joys of pet ownership. Now, I really HAVE to have the carpets cleaned.

I'm not back at work yet, but I am starting up again next week, which is great. I work three days next week, and in those three days, I have to drive to Muskegon, Saginaw, and Lansing. If the weather is fine, I'm good with that; it's a nice mileage check in my pocket. If the weather is bad, I will be one huge ball of stress. But, I'll deal with that when the time comes. Here is what's been occupying my time the last week or so:

1) my brother Grant is having this huge situation at school in which he is failing chemistry and may not be able to run track in the spring, which is his favorite thing. And it seems mostly due to the fact he has a woman for a teacher who seems to be a complete moron. My mother told me the whole story when we were up there with them, and I was very upset. One of my old teachers is now the principal of the high school, and my mom said that when she went to the principal for help, she got no response. So, I sent this old teacher of mine (who freaking thought I walked on water, because all the teachers thought I walked on water) a slightly bitter email (that I stand behind, I don't regret the tone at all) saying I thought she cared more for her students, and that this Chem teacher shouldn't be teaching. I finally got a response back today that didn't really say much other than they are working on the problem and are offering tutoring. I passed that info onto my mom, and told Grant he better get his ass to some tutoring, or else I'm going to look like a complete a-hole. And if the kid makes an a-hole out of me, he WILL face my wrath.

2) My Grandma (my mom's Mom) had to have a biopsy on her left boob today as her annual mammogram found an abnormality. So, we have all been a bit nervous about that, especially my Grandma herself, obviously. My Grandpa is in such a precarious state, I don't know what we'd do if something was wrong with Grandma too, and she was in need of serious treatment. Well, the surgeon who did the biopsy today removed three small masses and sent them off to the lab. He told her that while he's not a pathologist, he's been doing biopsies a long time and he strongly feels that from the look of these things, they are most likely harmless calcium deposits. So, Grandma will wait for pathology results, but we all feel much better.

3) Finally, today Candace had to take baby Oliver for a couple shots at his doctor's office, and I said I'd go with her for moral support. She needed it more than he did! He cried for about a minute after getting poked, then when she gave him a bottle, he was fine and dandy. He slept in the car on the way back to their house, and was happy as a clam in the swing afterwards when we were visiting. Way to take it like a man, Ollie!