Probably brief tonight; I'm exhausted.

We had the Open House this afternoon. I wish that I had an inkling of how it went; the realtor had a sign-in sheet for visitors, but she was gone by the time we got home and apparently took it with her. I know that we probably had at least one person or group show up, as there were some leaves tracked into the bedroom from the widow's porch. Beyond that, though, I'm uninformed and anxious about it. I left a voice mail for our realtor, but she hasn't called me back yet.

I cleaned all morning in preparation for the event, more than a little amped on homemade Eggnog Latte. The menfolk decided to clear out of my way while I was working, so they all went to church and left me here by myself. I must say, it's a whole lot easier to clean a house when a toddler isn't dogging your every move, determinedly trying to undo whatever you do. I wish I could arrange for that kind of setup every time I need to clean the place; it's especially frustrating to try to mop floors when the baby wants to "help."

Maybe I'll hear something tomorrow morning. I'm crossing my fingers on that. Most of my current tasks for myself are home-bound chores, so I can stay at home and wait her out. I don't want to be a pest, but I'm not afraid to call her until I get some mental peace.

On the subject of those chores in question: I have to accomplish in the next few days:

• Grade the first batch of student research papers for my World Music class
• Write the take-home portion of their final exam
• Finish a couple of hats (just a tie-band on a pixie hat and a leaf on an apple) and get them mailed off
• Make appointments for haircuts for Eric and me before Christmas
• Design and order our Christmas cards

Nothing too huge here. The papers are the part I'm dreading; I've gotten a start on them, but I have difficulty with this sort of thing. My problem is that I tend to be picky, and even though I'm being a bit relaxed on the actual points awarded, the papers still end up covered in my markings. I also wince over the mechanics. Someone, somewhere along the line, failed these students royally by not teaching them anything about citations or references.

For a while, I wondered whether I was to blame for not covering the subject in class, but then I realized that these are college students taking a music class. If their English teachers didn't cover the subject, it's not my responsibility; if they didn't listen in their classes, it's still not my fault. None of my non-English profs ever devoted class time to how to write a bibliography, yet we were still expected to know how to do it. I told them what format I wanted, referred them to the Writing Center, and even told them that they could simply use the citation format in their textbooks. Even so, I have papers that run the gamut from pretty good to those that didn't even include a single citation.

I want to be nice, but I can only do so much.

I need ideas for my Christmas cards this year. Last year, I put our faces on Thomas engines (you can see it here), and the year before that, we were on Christmas balls. What to do this year? I was thinking maybe snowmen or gingerbread men, but I'm not sold either way.