1. When the weather starts getting cold and rainy in Spring Valley, as it has in the past few weeks, my bedroom, which is officially at “basement” level, becomes host to a wild variety of creatures. Aside from spiders, the most prevalent is lizards.
As a child, lizards were my favorite thing to chase through the backyard. I would catch them and play with them for hours. Finding lizards in my kitchen has always been delightful, and I would catch them and put them outside. This year has been especially lizard-ful, with three or four intrusive lizards a day.
Interestingly enough, in Bible study we’ve been going through the end of Exodus, where God gives Moses all the laws about what the Israelites are and are not allowed to eat, and what is and isn’t unclean. Apparently, lizards are practically the most unclean thing ever, because God spends almost an entire chapter of Exodus explaining what must be done if one encounters a lizard. (If one died and fell on a stove, the stove had to be completely broken and destroyed, and you were still unclean until nightfall.) Now, I realize that these laws are not still applicable, but it still made me wonder what is so unclean about lizards. Do they carry horrible diseases? I can’t catch them now without wondering what I’m catching that will make me unclean.
One lizard in particular has slipped into my bathroom. Most of you, I imagine, have not seen my bathroom, but there is a lovely screen that Ms. Liz and her mom made me for Christmas the year we moved in. It’s a white trellis screen, with green vines and Iris flowers that weave through it. It’s really pretty, definitely much prettier than the hot water heater it’s hiding. Anyway, this is the spot that the bathroom lizard picked to hang out. It’s sort of like a “Where’s Waldo” game, because the green lizard can quite effectively hide amongst the green branches. Every time I step in the bathroom, I have to find him. Most amusing game ever. Nonetheless, it’s been four days, and I sort of want him to leave. It’s irritating when I can’t find him.
2. I am now a part-time holiday employee of J.C. Penney. I’m not entirely sure how this happened. I found myself with fifteen spare minutes yesterday, and went in to inquire about wrapping gifts. I personally think that gift wrapping is one of the greatest parts of Christmas, and getting paid to wrap presents would be like getting paid to sort buttons (an equally exciting thing to do). And then all of a sudden, they offered me a job as a “sales associate” for the holiday season. Yayyyy.
3. I’m very much ready for the semester to be over. I’m in the mood to make pumpkin lattes and apple pies and sweaters and scarves, and in order for Thanksgiving and Christmas to live up to their potential, I can’t have programming homework to do. Nor can I spend my time on art projects and math proofs. It just won’t work. I want to knit all the time and drink coffee and eat pumpkin things, and my schedule just won’t accomodate that.
4. I’ve decided it’s time to learn to play the piano. I’m registered for a class next semester, and I’m playing around with it now. I can play “When the Saints Go Marching In” and other little songs, and whether or not you think that’s progress, I’m pretty proud of myself. It’s really easy to get frustrated, because i’m incredibly impatient with things like this, but I’m trying to stay focused. focused.
Also, Sleater-Kinney won’t get out of my head.