This forty degree, damp weather in January is disconcerting and seems to be making all of us here in the harriet household anxious. The anxiety factor has not been helped by the Canada geese who have been flying northward in such large numbers today, that is is surely an omen of something and quite possibly indicates that Armageddon is imminent.

Then again, I may just be hoping for an excuse not to finish my dissertation.

We attempted to return to our normal, non-holiday routines today. For me this meant that I got up and took a shower first thing instead of working in my pajamas until noon. I blame my husband on this slothful habit. He�s the one who gave me pajamas for Christmas that were both glamorous and comfortable so that I never wanted to take them off. And while I temporarily tossed around the idea of cultivating a Dorothy Parker-like lifestyle of dissolution, I ultimately decided I really don�t have the personality for it. Also, I couldn�t find my cigarette holder.

AJ is still struggling with a sleep schedule that has been totally out of whack for over a week. Our attempt to return him to his pre-holiday schedule was NOT helped by the arrival of the UPS man just as he was supposed to be taking a nap. Whereupon a sleepy AJ became most unsleepy in anticipation of what might have been delivered. Nine times out of ten the deliveries are books for my husband who occasionally does reviews and is thus on freebie lists from several publishers. But today, the package actually was for AJ � the replacement Lucy for the decapitated model. So no sleeping took place and despite the arrival of a package for him, AJ was crabby all afternoon. Or maybe it was just Lucy�s personality rubbing off on him.

But tomorrow he goes back to school and we all get a much-needed break from one another. I�m looking forward to a few blissful, uninterrupted hours of desk time.

Unless, of course, the four horsemen show up in my driveway first. Hmm. I wonder if I could drop off AJ at preschool in my pajamas...

0 people said it like they meant it