New Year's has never been that important to me. Maybe it's because I've always been on a more academic schedule. In addition to the joys of new pens and notebooks for class, my birthday is at the beginning of the school year. So, it really is more of a new year for me than the arbitrary calendar date of January 1st.

So, all I can do is hope, pray, beg the gods of the multiverse that this week is not an indication of what it will be like to be 35. The fact that my birthday isn't really until next week gives me just the smallest glimmer of hope that this is just a bad send off of 34.

The pessimism may surprise you, but that' just because I spent Wednesday evening writing my academic genealogy to avoid looking at the following.

Yup, that is the ceiling of my kitchen. Wednesday morning, after an entire night of heavy rain, I woke up to a soggy kitchen table and a pretty new ceiling.

The best part came later when the DH went upstairs to check the Cat Bathroom, which is directly above the kitchen. He said he noticed the wall and then just touched the ceiling and his finger went right through.

Thursday, instead of going to sweaty yoga, I got to hang around the house to hear a contractor tell us that the actual problem was minor. In his words, "A 10 cent fix." The resulting damage is worth a little more. Fortunately, the in-laws can file a home-owners claim because it was weather related.

Today...today was going well. Until I decided to go to the bathroom before teaching the afternoon class. That was when the zipper on my pants broke. Now, these weren't just regular pants that have multiple fasteners. These were some really cute pants with a side zipper. In fact, they are the pants that I wore to our "reception" dinner at the Peppermill in Vegas after we got married the second time. The side zipper business means that the zipper was holding these pants up.

Fortunately, I happen to bring a change of clothes to school today. This is really a random occurrence. It was the only thing that saved me from having to staple my clothes together.

Yeah, that's my week. The ceiling brakes and my pants fall down.

Don't worry, I am well aware that in the whole scheme of the world my week wasn't that terrible. In fact, I'm still pretty fortunate -- my cats have their own bathroom for cryin' out loud! It was just one of those weeks.

Oh and about the cat bathroom. It's just that it's there and no one uses it, so it's the perfect place for the litterbox. Besides we have to do something to make up for the fact that we love the dog more.

Oh...and two more things....
First of all - while I appreciate that New Orleans is in the path of Gustav, but seriously people. Look at that map a little more closely and you can see that the good folks in Cameron Parrish, who are still recovering from Rita...yeah, you know the other hurricane that hit three years ago, are more in the line of that storm. Those are the Cajun Princess's people down there and they do not need to go through that crap again.

Secondly, the saving grace of this day has been my discovery of Black Hockey Jesus. I never thought I'd thank Redneck Mommy for taking a break, but I've discovered a lot of great blogs this week. I've spent this afternoon reading through the archives and I'm in love. Really. If the DH would trust himself enough to sit down with a pen I think he'd have a similar voice.