Varied Thoughts on Gum and things.....

There are only three school days until Thanksgiving. There are only 18 school days until Christmas break starts.

Isn't this a wonderful time of year.

After a wonderful weekend in Norfolk I took my first personal day in my nine year teaching career. It was simply wonderful to gain a few extra hours with Lindsay and I loved not having to drag into work on Monday after arriving home late on Sunday evening. It was also nice to have an evening to get ready for the workweek instead of eating up the entire time on the highway.

I still think the decision to take the personal day was worth the embarrassment of having to ask for help from our secretary to fill out the personal day form. It took me several minutes to identify the thing since I had never laid eyes on it.

Still, the prospect of an impromptu four day week has not been equaled by the week itself. Today is Thursday and I feel just as worn out by the week as I usually do. It may be the 6am basketball practices but I think it's just force of habit. Fridays come along at a regular pace and I think that most people can tell a Friday by the way it and they feel even if they don't have access to a calendar.

I wonder if it was like this before they had calendars.

This year I'll be traveling a lot over the holidays. Please pray for a nice, dry winter. That's unusual as well. I typically feel robbed if we don't have at least three snow days. If I were staying in the area the snow would be no big deal as a foot of snow falling on a Thursday is going to melt by Friday. I've heard that the snow in Nebraska can stick around for weeks though. I suppose it's even worse up north. My friend Rachel said they already have snow on the ground.

Here's a random thought. This morning I had orange flavored gum. I haven't had sugared gum since I was in junior high when I used to buy grape and orange gum regularly. They used to advertise it for flavor and softness. My other favorites were the gum that had two flavors with one in the center wrapped in the other, the gum with the liquid core (basically sugary syrup), and who can ever forget Big League Chew. I preferred the grape flavor there too.

How did I ever chew those things for all those years. This sugary orange wad was so sweet that it hurt my teeth to chew. I could almost hear my dental enamel cry out in pain! The gum I chew today is ADA approved to make my teeth stronger and whiter. It is sugar free and hard as a rock. And yet, that is what my mouth now desires.