i planned to write yesterday. then the santa anas came in and bowled me over. not literally, i left that for all the other people who like to go out in 70 mph winds, but they tend to bring in the two things i'm allergic to in spades: dust and mold. so, from about mid-afternoon yesterday i've been miss drippy with a mild, "no, you really don't want to notice me" headache, and a lovely sore throat. and, for some reason, very scattered. it has been hard to concentrate on anything for longer than a minute or two and my phone greetings have been punctuated with a lot of sniffling. they tend to go something like this:

me (sounding all congested): hello. *sniff* this is *sniff* domynoe. *sniff*

caller asks for someome who's not here . . . ever.

me: sorry *sniff* you have *sniff* the wrong number. *sniff*

if this is how i am while still in the house, going outside is out of the question. besides, i'd more than likely be blown past any place i was trying to reach even if i did own a car. and a bus? no thanks. the warning on the news last night specifically including a warning for "high profile" vehicles. buses in 70+ mph winds are no fun.

today was supposed to be my quiet day. i was going to wake up late to an empty house and enjoy my solitude for the first time in ages. well, i got some solitude, but not quite as much as i expected. see, i went to bed about 10 pm because of the allergy flair up. so, of course, i woke up at about 3 am, then 5 am, then 7:30 am. at the 7:30 mark i gave up on sleep. but that meant not everyone was out of the house yet. and once the kiddos were out, saxy ended up having to do laundry before he could job hunt. by the time he left, i didn't really notice the solitude.

and i jumped when my middle girl opened the door.

so, all the kids are back in school now - the oldest went back today and the rest were back thursday and saxy is looking for work. leaves me some quiet time at home (and once i realize it i will enjoy it) yet keeps me available for my son when he needs me. looks like the poor kid is coming down with another ear infection or something. i'll have to watch him and see, but my quiet time might be kind of short, at least for a few days.

in the mean time, i've been looking into something that let's me continue to be home during the day and still earn a little money. the local adult school pays the "community classes" teachers $20/hour starting and no teaching certificate is required. classes run about 2 hours once a week and you can offer to teach as many as you want. so i'm going to look into that - i have to pick up a form that i fill out and turn in for each class and i need to see it to see how long i need to plan lessons for in terms of weeks. and i need to think about what classes i want to offer. so far i am thinking beginning html, the mechanics of writing (grammar and punctuation), and a beginning creative writing workshop. if i can come up with one more, that would be $160/week for 8 hours of actual class time. it would give me teaching experience as well. but i wouldn't start till fall, which is good because i still have to plan the actual lessons. ;)