Things are looking good for Eric with the new job. He has a "mole" at the corporate office, and when Eric's current boss called to check up on how the interview went, the mole said,

"It looks good. Be prepared to lose him."

It's possible that Eric could be starting the new job as soon as right after the holidays. Oh, God, I don't want him to get his hopes too high and then have them dashed, so I'm trying not to make too big a deal out of this. I think he's a little disappointed that I'm not acting more excited, but I think I'll save the excitement for when he gets the call with the offer. It's funny; normally, I'm the overly optimistic partner in our family, and he's the pessimist ("Realist," he says). Lately, though, has had a surge of confidence in the best possible outcomes.

He says he's not as sure that I'm pregnant this cycle, like he was last time. I think we both got a reality check when we weren't successful last month. Proper timing aside, there are just so many damn variables. Oh, well, we've done everything we could this month.

Guess who almost knocked over a pew in church today? Nope, not me. Eric this time.

"Somebody should really secure those things..."

I'm exceedingly glad it wasn't me, because I was already being watched and people would really have noticed this time. Today we did the "He Shall Feed His Flocks" air from The Messiah; I sang the alto solo. Honestly, you'd think people had never heard an on-pitch voice before. I mean, there was hunger in some of these people's eyes... I appreciate the compliments, but it was a little unnerving when they would repeat them over and over, refusing to let go of my hand or stop staring into my eyes.

Eric has a solo next week. We'll see how he likes it.

We decorate for Christmas yesterday. Of course, for Mr. and Mrs. Packrat, that meant an evening of cleaning before the decorating could commence. I did six loads of laundry, I think, for only two people. He did the dishes. We generated two big bags of garbage, though mostly from old papers. Ugh. And we swear up and down, every time we do this, that this time we'll keep it clean...

Since we're going to be home for more of the holidays this year, we decided to do more than the tree. I tried putting lights around the inside of our front window. Can somebody please tell me how normal people attach lights to window frames? Because last year I learned that tape didn't work. This year I thought I was ahead of the game because I had these little adhesive hooks that didn't hold our Christmas wreath the way they were supposed to, and I figured they'd be perfect for lights. And they were...mostly. The hold the lights fine at the top of the window, but at the bottom corners, they pull away. So I taped the hooks to the wall. They still pull away. Arrgh.