A lot of thankfulness to catch up on

Day 16 - My mom
I am so, so thankful for my mother. She is absolutely the best. It is so comforting to know that I can call her whenever I need, or even don't need, for anything or nothing at all. She's so giving and always does so much for everyone else. I'm so thankful that she has been so supportive of me throughout the years and that she's always been there for me. Love you mom!

Day 15 - My students
I have really fantastic students. It's a really tough time for them right now, and a few of them sleep through class. I don't take too much offense, though, because I know they're so completely exhausted from being bombarded with papers and exams in all their classes. I mean, it IS almost Thanksgiving AND the end of the semester. It's just crazy this time of year, and I think they're working hard to balance it all. For the most part, they're doing well, but there's a few that are sinking quick. I have had the pleasure of chatting with several of them. They're really fantastic people and students. I'm so thankful that I've had the opportunity to get to know them.

Day 14 - The weekend
There is something just so wonderful about the weekend. Although I thoroughly enjoy my job, it's nice to wake up on Saturday or Sunday mornings and know I don't have to get ready and head into work. I'm so thankful for a few days off to regroup and catch up on grading or lecture prep. I think the thing I love the most is the fact that I can wear my comfy clothes and throw my hair in a ponytail. Being a slug is right up my alley.

Day 13 - The squirrel is gone!
I think I mentioned previously that we had spent Saturday raking up the leaves in the backyard, which are already back again, and trying to close the hole in the house where the squirrels are entering. Yes, we have squirrels living between our two floors, and back in August or September, we found they were entering on the side of the house, where they had pushed up the roof. M decided to get all handy and close up the hole. So, he sawed, hammered, and drilled until he had that hole sealed up. He even painted it to match the rest of the trim. Well, come Sunday morning around 6 am, we were awaken by some weird noise. We kind of ignored it and went back to sleep. Around 7 am, we heard something again, and yep, you guess it, we had locked a damn squirrel in there. So, M went and borrowed the ladder again and tore down all his handiwork. He then proceeded to pull up a chair outside the hole. After about an hour, the squirrel finally left. Whew! M then closed the hole back up again, and hopefully, we won't have any more squirrel problems. I'm glad we were able to get the squirrel out of there because if he had died in there, it would have been STINKY. Also, when he (maybe it was a she) was trying to get out of there, he ate a hole the size of my fist through the piece of wood used to block the exit. (See the picture below.) It's a little scary to think what else may have been chewed on. Ugh... squirrels are bad news.