You will be happy, Dear Reader, to know that my nephew Devon made it through his surgery with flying colors and his prognosis is excellent. He is a strong, muscular little guy (with his father, how could he not be? My brother is 6'7"-- and no, I'm not kidding).

You will be happy also, Dear Reader, to know that I think the Christmas shopping is almost done. Except for the Daschke men. That, I'm puzzling over. But the shopping for Dereck's mom is *almost* done, and the shopping for the little Hatala boys is done, except maybe for one more thing for Christian, probably bug or dinosaur related. The other two can be made content with Star Wars and legos (oh THANK you, E-bay!), but not Christian. He is persnickety.

You will also be happy, Dear Reader, to know that this weekend there is no soccer to go to, so I can sleep in* tomorrow, unfettered (except for the inevitable early morning weekend phone call that always befalls us, for some reason).

You may or may not be happy to know that I am sleeping this week. Almost every morning, I wake up and Dereck's side of the bed is empty, because he is not sleeping. And that makes me feel bad, helpless, shallow, etc. I wish I could help him sleep, or at least be awake with him. And yet, there I sleep. I am angry and frustrated about the election, too, but like Karl, I seem to be able to sleep in most circumstances.

And I am sure you are all as happy as I am that it is Friday.

This weekend my plans go like this:
Friday: make challah on my lunch hour. Write grants in between blogging today. Have a nice Shabbat dinner. Go out to hear a band our friend is bringing in tonight.

Saturday: sleep in* (see above), have coffee and breakfast with Dereck, walk dog, sit around, go to the gym with Liza, shower, go to office and work on consulting, work on memoir, possibly go to Mass with Carol at 5:30, have Allison over for brisket, maybe go see Alfie tomorrow night.

Sunday: sleep in*, have coffee and breakfast with Dereck, walk dog, sit around, listen to NPR, shower, work on memoir, take a nap, have dinner, watch TV (Arrested Development!), sit around, read a little, go to bed.

Doesn't that sound exciting?

I imagine that more sitting around and less working will occur than I have noted, and that one or more trips to the coffee shop will also occur.

And I don't even mind.

What does your weekend look like?