Today (well yesterday now) Ian and I put up the outdoor icicle lights at work (and of course, even though I tested them inside, one set of strands decided when we got them outside that it had a short somewhere in it and so wouldn't do anything at all which made me angry and then it just went dead dead and some of the others went dead dead so i calmed down tried talking nice to it and bending/flexing along the length and got it to only intermittently barely flickers very dim won't stay lit no matter where in the series that strand is plugged in -- so I put it right at the end to more easily replace and we ordered more of the same type of led lights) and then later on tonight I decided that while I had the box of lights/snowflakes down I'd put up my Let it Snow banner and all the window snowflakes (that stay up all winter even once the rest of the holiday decorations come down.) I'll wait to put up the ACTUAL holiday decorations in the big box: the little tree with the presents and my rat kings, the garlands with all the lights, the menorah, etc.  But for today I put up the wreath on the door and all the snowflakes as well as the outdoor icicle lights. And right after I did, the cold rain tonight switched to mixed precip turning to snow in the morning!!!! And o but I do hope that promise of snow is real!!!!!!!  I will have all the snow giddies if only it WOULD snow, it's well and truly past the time there ought to be snow in Wisconsin after all....

 

 I started happy dancing when I saw the forecast shift and grinning extra huge and told my parents to blame me for putting up my "Let It Snow" banner and all the snowflakes tonight if their morning commute is extra messy with bad drivers.

I was thinking I'd go home early and light a fire and stay up all night with it just in case to watch the snow.... But here it is 1am and I've not yet gone home yet and while I don't want to MISS the beauty of the first snowfall, I should get at least some sleep (and preferably not with a fire going in the hearth, lol.)   Also, tomorrow Mikaela wants to come over during the day to hang out with me and Spock and Waffles and maybe have a fire during the daytime and I'll probably put out my menorah (a gift from my sister, even though she's an atheist Jew and her husband is an atheist Jew) and put up my tree and all the ornaments and all my at home decorations while Mikaela is visiting. Just have a nice cozy put up all the happy light and decorations day. (All I've put out was taking down the holiday mugs today and not just the late fall into winter snowman mugs.)  Tomorrow night Crissy and I have 8:something pm tickets to see Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes at Point because Tuesdays are the cheap $6 ticket day at Marcus Theatres.  I mentioned it to her that it was coming out while I was driving to APT and she just went into the app and made it happen while we were waiting for our Spring Green Culver's orders to arrive before going to see Proof at APT. So tomorrow is supposed to start with fresh snowfall (though it may not stick since ground temps are above freezing) and the day I'll be at home with Mikaela (after her classes are done) and the animals and putting up my Channukah/Christmas/Yule/Solstice and then tomorrow night going to go see the movie in the theatre. And even though I didn't come in at all last night after watching the Packers game with my maman (we FINALLY won!!!) because exhaustion just hit me hard and I opted to go home to sleep and I realized that it was a holiday week with like 8hrs pto AND I got nearly 14hrs in on Saturday when I came in early to take care of the mulch and herbs. And now I've managed to get like 10 hours in because I came in at 3ish to get the lights done and I'm still here. And that means it's only Monday and I'm somehow already sitting on nearly 34 hours out of 40 hours clocked in for the week and it's only Monday....  Capricorn moon much?! 

Luckily, I have a LOT of plans for the week, so it's probably a good thing.

Tomorrow (today now?): Playing in the snow if any accumulates --> hanging out with Mikaela and the fur babies and cozy holiday decorating time --> back to work and watering the melodramatic mfs among the plants who needs water every 3-4 days --> cocktails of some sort with my mum and Sarah and then dinner --> seeing Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes --> picking up my dog and heading home (or punching in to water the melodramatic mfs if I didn't take care of them earlier, lol) 

Wednesday: Quiet morning by myself with the fur babies --> picking up Mikaela after her classes finish at 1:30ish --> going to the zoo and visiting with all the giant fur babies --> work to make the pumpkin/squash soup for Thurs and maybe put up the holiday decorations (otherwise I'll put them up Fri)

Thursday: Heading to my parents house at like 11:30ish to watch the Packers game with my maman and help cook/prep whatever needs doing --> 4ish Crissy and Sarah and Mikaela (and maybe Chris, Sarah's husband, but he probably won't come) will come and we'll sit down for Thanksgiving meal --> hanging out with the girls while my da brings my grandma a plate of her meal and drops another plate off at Glenn's since he'll be by himself

Friday: Putting up holiday decorations if I haven't yet --> meeting downtown for dinner before the tour of My Fair Lady at Overture Hall which my parents, Sarah, Mikaela, Crissy, and I have tickets for

Then next week isn't so crazy, thankfully. Tues my grandma has a podiatry appointment in the morning and Weds she has an optometry appointment in the morning and then Sun the 3 is the holiday symphony show (I was astonished they only had two weekends between Nov symphony and Dec holiday symphony) and then a week with nothing in the calendar except tickets to All Is Calm on the first night of Channukah starting (and fitting my work hours in whenever) and then I fly out to Seattle early morning on the 12th to visit my sister and her family and I will be out there across the holidays fly home overnight the 27/28 (unless my 5 hour layover in Denver in the early morning ends up snowed in and then I'll have to figure something out) and home with enough time to catch up and get end of month/end of year done at work. 

I was also reminded today that I still have 9 days of ptso and only 3 can roll over if not used by whatever point in January so I do NOT need to try to cram in as many as possible of 40 hours of work before a Tuesday morning flight out west and arrive tired and know that the kiddos will be my alarm clock at 7am the morning after my flight gets in (and every morning thereafter, lol) because the week I won't be bookending any hours will only use up 5 ptso days AND I get the holiday of Christmas Day as a freebie 8 hours don't need to work or use ptso days once I'm back so that's only a 32hr work week if I don't use days so like, I can go ahead and use my days the first week of me being gone instead of trying to cram 40hours in Sat-Sun-Mon staying up all night before a morning flight.

This is what happens when you have any Capricorn placements (mine are Capricorn moon and Cap Jupiter) and grew up in a family owned business that you have spent your whole life joking is ACTUALLY the oldest child in the family so you grew up more like a middle child even though you're the oldest. Even when you don't MEAN to be a workaholic, you find yourself on a Monday night with around 35 hours of your 40 hours in and getting a lecture from your mom/boss/hr (because family business) about actually USING your ptso and not staying late the night before/all weekend to try to get as much done as possible before you leave in a couple weeks. Fucking incorrigible workaholic habits.... Even when you're the only person in charge of scheduling your own hours because that's just what works best for ADHD to hyperfocus and actually get stuff done instead of being a happy fun distraction for yourself and everyone else..

Anyway. I'm going to head home now. before the weather cools the roads intoslippery  messiness. Maybe try to get some sleep then wake up to see if we really DO get snow and to watch it falling or just stay up like an overgrown kid WAITING for the promised snow to start falling, maybe. And depending on the road conditions, I'll let Mikaela and Sarah know if I'll brave the other drivers on the first "omg there's something frozen wet on the ground, what do I doooooooooooooo" annual amnesia of how to drive on snow/mixed precipitation (yeah it happens in WI too first snow/mixed precip of the year) to head across town to pick M up at 10ish bring her back or if she should take the bus to mcw and figure out getting her to my place from there. On verra. But first step to whatever I do tomorrow is me heading home now, lol.