Today I 'pulled a Cathy". I stopped at our favorite gift shop on my way home because I hadn't gotten a Valentine gift for my parents. (I had to zip home and make a card for them as well before I could bring the gifts over to their house, I'm very disorganized and losing track of time.) So I found a pretty red candle in a pewter candleholder for Mom and decided on fudge for dad.

Then shopped for myself.

Well, I did get a St. Pat's gift for Mom. A cute little gray mouse, and she's all decked out in shamrocks and has a mobcap. I got one for myself, too.

I also got a ceramic/porcelain holders for jar candles that are made by Yankee Candle. This is hard to describe. There is a container that you put the jar candle in, then a lampshade to put on the top the candle. It looks like an old fashioned lamp when it’s lit. You have to buy each part separately, and neither part is cheap.

This one has pansies on it. I got a jar candle to go in it, too. I got the small size, but could have gone overboard and gotten the large one too. I refrained. It's really pretty, though. I just love pansies.

So when it came time to check out I had them wrap everything. This is what I mean by "pulling a Cathy". She’s famous for buying something for herself and having it gift-wrapped. The gift-wrapping is free, so it’s a cheap thrill.

I'm not even going to open my gift to myself right away. I'm going tot put it somewhere and open it on one of those days that I'm feeling lower than low.

Of course that could be in an hour.

I'm feeling really overwhelmed at work this week. I have a really awful meeting on Thursday morning. They're nasty and bringing an advocate. I'm dreading it. They'll be really nasty because this child also tested very well. It took seven hours to test her, but she tested at about an average level. The parents will be pissed. They want a private placement. Not likely.

I had a strange parent meeting this morning. I think these parents were separated at birth. They looked so much alike that they could have been twins. Even the principal commented on it later when he saw me at lunch. It was very strange.

The father was this little bit of a thing who looked as if he was one of Santa’s elves, he even had an elfin face. He also is very ADD and is very happy to talk about the joys of Ritalin. I guess they’re finally going to have their son check out to see if it might help him.

This child needs something to get his act together, he can’t seem to do it on his own.

I have a vacation next week and was really hoping to get to NYC for at least a day, but it's not working out. I'm in desperate need of a "city fix". So I'm going to have to settle for listening to songs about NY and watching movies set in NY. The fact that I've got most of "You've Got Mail" memorized notwithstanding.

I think I might read Time and Again one more time. It’s a great book.

Encore seems to be responding to the Prednesone, although last night was a bit iffy. I had to lower the dosage and I think it effected him. But he seems to be back on track today.