and some relief

  - the meeting was tonight. The reason was as I expected "health of my wife" and I am taking it at face value. So it's a sad reason but not a terrible one (not, like "there's some scandal" or "you people are so fractious you are driving us away"). No talk of us folding, yet. A couple tasks the minister done are on their way to be covering. I will fill the pulpit some, it sounds like, but they're going to look for an interim and lean on some retired ministers that people know. 

Anyway, doing a sermon for the second week of January is a thought for next week; this week there was a lot of grading and I'm tired.

- I did get most of the grading done. I have some short papers from my most-advanced class to do tomorrow before I give an exam in my beginner class. 

- Tomorrow is also the AAUW party; I rushed home as soon as the ecology presentations got done today to wash my hair (it needed it, and I'll be out all evening tomorrow) and made the meatballs I usually make, and while they cooked (before putting them in the sauce in the slow-cooker pot, to be cooked the rest of the way tomorrow after a rest in the fridge) I sewed up the side seams on the gift mitts:

I also made a quick Walgreen's run and got a gift bag and tissue, so that's ready to go. I also have a "Toob" of "zoo babies" (little plastic animals) for the "bring a toy $10 or under for Toys for Tots." Well, the toob was a little more than that but I had a coupon at Michael's so I am counting it as being under $10.

I feel considerably better having those things ready to go. I just had too many forks stuck in me today with worrying about the meeting and thinking about "how will I get things ready for Thursday evening with a 2 pm Thursday meeting?" but I managed to do it. 

- And yes, I do feel better that the outcome of the meeting wasn't "time for us to dissolve" but "okay we can figure out a way forward for now"

- I also ordered my brother and sister-in-law's Christmas present - an "antipasto kit" and spaghetti dinner gift basket and some pizza seasonings from Stonewall Kitchen. (Their website is a little hard to use, at least, it was VERY laggy, but they're a place whose products I trust and I didn't want to order from some unknown to me site where either the stuff isn't good, or where it actually never comes)

For my mom, I'm going to order those pouches of shelf-stable salmon she likes from Seabear and maybe also some jam or something similar from somewhere. And I am working on her socks. 

But at least now it kind of feels like I'll make it. And two weeks from now, I'll be on a northbound train for a couple weeks off....