Well, this morning the roads are coated in ice, with more falling as I type. This junk is supposed to keep falling until noon - so I think I'm going to stay home and work from home. (This is why I wanted to teach online in the first place - to minimize the chances that I'd be driving in crap like this - and since it's the first day all winter where I've felt the need of it, I'm going to take advantage.)

So Charles did indeed move out yesterday. I got a big kick out of him and his friends as they were moving his stuff. Paul had a huge, ear-to-ear grin the whole time, and Zack kept cracking bad jokes . . . those boys are excited. And they should be, too. This is a big step for them - and, truth to tell, not a step I could have taken at eighteen. (I didn't actually start supporting myself until I was 21 or so.) So I'm proud of the boy, when it comes right down to it . . .

Ah. In other news, Maddy the Rat had her babies yesterday . . . I realize I haven't mentioned the rat(s) before . . . Last week, Emil and Emma decided to buy a few pet rats (probably because of the warmth and charm rats add to a house when you're trying to show it, is my guess.) At any rate, they noticed that one of the rats seemed to be getting rather larger than the other, and more or less just as they realized she might be pregnant, she gave birth. Emil and Emma are very excited about this. (Myself, I got over being quite that excited about rodents four years ago, when I discovered that, probably by dint of repeated exposure, I'd developed an allergy to them. So I'm staying away from the new babies . . . but maybe I can manage to take a picture for you interested readers.)

Well, better get back to it. I've got a mountain of papers to grade, of course . . . must concentrate on getting that done, and ignore the myriad of other tasks that are calling to me . . . ("Sweep Charlie's room!" "Do some laundry!" "Dishes! Dishes!" "Wash the floor! You have a realtor coming over next week, you know . . . ") Wish me luck!