"Pre-GIving" Activities

The week was pretty quiet, but things picked up once the weekend arrived.

Saturday, after waking up early to try and avoid too much bustle at the grocery store, I spent some time with my tutee.  since I can't spend the required hours with her, I am no longer her 'official' tutor, but we continue to meet.  We usually just talk, so she can work on her English speaking skills, and lately, I've been giving her (what I think are) fun assignments.

I bring a movie (or pick out one from the library) for her to watch and make her write a one page synopsis.  This particular week was the first mostly coherent paper that she turned in.  It had quite a few flaws, but it was the best one she's completed to date.  To her credit, she completed her first paper on INCEPTION, which would have been hard for anyone, not to mention someone who's first language is not English.  One of her other attempts was for DIRTY DANCING.  It was better...but she still didn't grasp the whole story.  This one was for JUMPING THE BROOM, and it was much, much better.   She felt good about herself, which made me feel good about her improvements.

Saturday night I went to the first 'Pre-giving' celebration with Delaware and her friends and it was very fun...even without being drunk (which everyone else was).  I brought corn pudding, better known to this group as 'crack bread' because they just can't get enough...and this batch was a particularly good batch and was a big hit.  After dinner, we split up into teams and played 'charades'...and even though some people got a bit too competitive, it was a good time.

Sunday morning was supposed to be spent at the barn, but it has been raining here for the past three days or so (which I love!) and so conditions at the barn were not ideal.  Unfortunately I ended up just spending the morning in, even though I was now able to go to church.  It's bad, but I convinced myself that since I'd already hear the sermon for today last week (It was a week when the Pastor would be on the East coast and he would be preaching via video...and I was on camera last week and taped it) that it would be ok if I lounged around the house.  I know, it's bad, but it was nice.

Sunday afternoon and evening, I went to the second 'Pre-Thanksgiving' dinner at my co-worker's home. It was very nice of him to invite me and I had a really nice time.  His party had way more people than the previous night's festivities, and a good amount of toddlers/babies running around.  He's married with a 4 year old, so his friends are mostly the same...and about 95% were in the TV industry, so the conversation was a lot like being at work.  But again, it was fun and the 'crack bread' was a big hit.

Tomorrow starts a new week, but it looks like it will be a very quiet and very short one.   My boss has doctor's appointments all day on Wednesday with her daughter, Delaware and the Creative Exec on her side won't be in on Wednesday, and there's a rumor going around that Wednesday could be a half day. (Here's hoping!!!)  Till then...I press on.

PS--(Nerd Alert) I just saw an advertisement for "Treksgiving"...a Star Trek marathon on Thanksgiving, and I'm excited!  Although, I am supposed to be at a friend's house after the morning of volunteering with Feeding the Homeless and she's not into sci-fi anything.  Maybe she'll have pity on me and let me watch there as we cook and fellowship!