Dangerous places

Through a colleague, I was introduced to the discount stores online. Through a friend in Vermont, I was introduced to QVC and HSN, shopping channels on cable television that also have sites online. Until very recently, those were dangerous places for me. It's WAY too easy to see something delectable, to check my bank balance, and to click that "purchase" button.

Granted, I've made some good purchases, things that I haven't been able to find locally, but now that it's November, I've had to pull my hand away from the mouse to prevent that fatal click. After all, Christmas is coming and I need to put the desired items on my list for Santa. If the past is any indication, Santa will lose the list, but putting a moratorium on pampering myself isn't a bad thing..for now.

I write this, knowing that I placed my last online order two nights ago. I dipped into my PayPal account to purchase three gorgeous silk scarves from India. My husband made me do it: he saw me admiring them on the computer screen, and he urged me to buy them. I think his ulterior motive is that he'll offer to pay for them when they arrive and call them Christmas presents because he likes to get me what I really want, but he's not a very discriminating shopper. A red plastic wallet is the same as a red leather wallet, for example, and the pretty, fuzzy slippers? Any size will fit. His heart is in the right place, but his attention to detail is packed up neatly in some long forgotten place. So if I mention that I received some lovely silk scarves for Christmas, you can recall this post and smile.

My student teacher is doing well in the smaller classes, but the larger afternoon classes, and the less focused kids are still giving her some difficulty. That's true for all of us, but she wants to try different techniques to see if any of them will work at least somewhat, and for that I commend her. She'd naturally let some of the kids babble during writing time, she admits, and she'd be looser on due dates and times, but she sees how those don't work for most kids in these classes. The next two weeks should be her best with, for her, a full class load.

We'll have between 8 and 10 here for Thanksgiving, and I'll know exactly how many when we're about to sit down to dinner. One relative on each side can't commit to attendance here, so we'll be open to them being here with us or not.