Work this week: spent an afternoon being trained in how to do electronic filing in federal court, which starts for us January 1, 2004 (which seemed so far away when we first heard about this in the summer . . . ).
Weather this week: the first snow on the ground, just a dusting and gone by mid-morning, and brutal winds post-Thanksgiving. But we are fully ready for winter now, with a brand-new snowblower, which was a mind-bogglingly wonderful early Christmas present from Chad's grandmother. (Words just cannot express how happy I am about this. Last year we borrowed neighbors' snowblowers, but we'd just moved in and couldn't get away with that now.)
Holidays this week: yay, Thanksgiving. We spent it at Chad's parents, along with my parents, his grandmother, and one of his great-aunts. Plus the respective parental dogs. (We boarded Emmy because she would have been very unhappy with the other dogs.) Overall an excellent time, very good to have everyone together—not free of the little sharp edges rubbing together that comes with extended time spent with family (especially for introverted me), but only a few of those and by far outweighed by good things. The most memorable image of the holiday was courtesy of the dogs: Truman, my parents' twenty-pound Boston Terrier, lying on a sheepskin pad at the back of his crate and chewing on something-or-other, and R.D., Chad's parents' seventy-pound yellow Lab, slowly pulling the pad out into the room: it looked for all the world like he was trying to drag Truman back out to play. (He only pulled it out halfway, so we think he was just after some food crumbs.)
Also, Chad's family came up Saturday to see the new curtains and all. Emmy was extremely good (except for the Triscuit-licking incident) and we had a nice lunch.
Shopping this week: Christmas shopping is in good shape, though
the hardest people are still left. Chad and I have decided to get
each other a new TV (27", flat screen) for Christmas, so we looked
at those too; anyone have experience with Daewoo or Apex? Also, I
saw 
pameladean's reprinted Secret Country trilogy and
drooled over the covers, but
I was good and didn't buy them now (personal spending being on hold
until after Christmas). Later, I promise.
Health this week: the persistent cold subsided for most of the week into just a little congestion, but last night I had a bad sore throat and headache. It's better today but I'm going to be very aggressive about medicating any recurrence, especially since I'm inexplicably exhausted and have been all weekend.
Football this week: don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that the Patriots are 10-2, but I'd be even happier if those wins weren't so damn ugly. Most of the Colts game wasn't on TV here, but I did see the best bit, the four consecutive defensive stops inside the five-yard line. Go, Pats.
Link of the week: a comic that is rather apropos given my book log's title (thanks, Skwid).
