Happy Christmas

A little bit late but I hope everybody had a great day with friends and family. I was with my Mum, Dad, brother Giles and sister-in-law Carol (and their cat Mollie and dog Riley). It was all very lovely but I got a horrible cold, was running a fever and am now home contemplating a bath and some lemsip.

Home

It may be freezing (Heathrow is effectively closed), and I may be grading but there really is no place like home.

Off to the UK

As my silence has shown, the last few weeks have been brutal at work. At times fun, energizing, academically rigorous, challenging, emotionally and intellectually rewarding, but hard. I think I've put in at least 70 hours each week and while I didn't burn out (a testament to my students as well as my choice of career), I didn't do anything else but work and sleep. I bumped into one of my students today and we chatted about our lack of sleep and the things we had to let slide (I refuse to give up on showers, for example).

I'd say at least it's all over. But it isn't. I've graded the one grad paper that came in but the other 43 are going to hit me soon. Likewise, I'm halfway through Media and Fashion. Thankfully my students write well. I've also got three dissertations to read. I'd take them on the plane but I'm already overloaded with gifts despite buying a lot of people books from amazon.co.uk. I've packed very little Mayle (frigid temps at both ends make it unsuitable) along with sweaters, jeans, leggings and skirts--I've had to pull things out of my bag like Izolda that I would have worn but I still think I could end up having to check something despite my best intentions. The box of Graham Crackers I have for Jenny, Giley's Uglydoll and Sadie and Max's game and my Agnes bag have filled up my tote bag to the point that I don't think it will pass muster as my personal item...

So, I am off tomorrow morning leaving Evan to hold the fort and tend to the cats. Remy is still on medication (fourteen weeks and counting) and I hope he is able to wrangle her on his own. It's a brutal early morning tomorrow--my flight leaves at 8.35 am (all the better to prevent jet lag). I will likely blog in the interim, but until then, here's a picture of Peeps whom I will miss while I'm gone. She's currently wearing her chicken hat and drinking from my water glass. No cat loves water as much as her. And no little girl cat is as loved by her Mummy.

And not to leave them out, here's the fabulous, happy, elegant, confident and loving Blue and our little chubby, complicated, affectionate diva, Remy.

                                                              Blue

                        Remy, our green eyed girl, in her Elizabethan collar.

Yes, we do live in a cat house... Obviously I will miss Evan tons but at least we can talk on the phone. Maybe Peeps will talk to me but the other two are usually silent (except when growling at each other) so these photos will have to suffice in the interim.