Life is...life.  Been at the "new" job for about 10 months now.  Love the job - not the boss.  It's her own business and she's good at it, but what a pain to work for.  Make any mistake and get a scolding and a lecture - regardless of the scope of the mistake.  She taught school about 25 years ago and it shows.  I love my co-worker, who may likely take over the business in a few years, but I don't know if I can hang on that long.  I'm committed to one year and then I'll re-evaluate.

Spent a week in Paris over the holidays!  The county that my son's high school is in has a program for high school musicians - two years ago they went to London.  The trip is open to all high school students in the music programs in our county (one of the biggest in the country - we have 24 high schools, I think).  Of those that choose to go, a band, choir and orchestra is formed, if there are enough participants.  This year there was a band and a choir.  The eight or so orchestra students formed a color guard.

We left on the 27th, arrived on the 28th, and on the 29th the whirlwind began!  We had a four-hour bus tour around Paris.  Over the next week we performed three times and saw all of the sites.  The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre, Sacre Couer, Monmartre, the Moulin Rouge, Musee d'Orsay, the Arc d'Triomphe, the Champs Elysees.  I have to say, the Metro is wonderfully easy to use.

The hubby and I volunteered to chaperone, and were given the 10 kids from our son's school (including him).  The kids were wonderful and so much fun!  We called ourselves the "Blue Amoebas".  Part of their uniform was a baby blue hoody.  When we went to the Louvre, I made them all wear the hoodies, as did the hubby and I.  Inside the Louvre, I told them to stay together like a big amoeba - hence the name.  They called themselves that for the rest of the trip.  I was Mama Amoeba and the hubby was Papa Amoeba.  We're planning a pizza party in a couple of weeks to share pictures. 

The worst part of the trip were the flights - both there and back.  We flew nonstop from Denver to Frankfurt, Germany, then on to Paris.  On the way there, we had 3/4 of crying toddler surround-sound.  Eventually two the of kids settled to sleep, with the aid of attentive parents.  The third, however, cried every 20 minutes or so all night long, or at least until about 3:00 am.  Her parents didn't seem to give a rat's ass that she was crying and whining.  Dad would dump her on mom, who eventually would put her on the floor.  When she started crying again, Dad would pick her up and the cycle would start anew.

The flight back was a day flight.  I swear it was 48 hours long (9.5 actually).  Both the hubby and I caught the canned air crud - a bad cold.  We got back last Thursday.  I worked a half day on Friday, and for 90 mintes today, until the other girl came in.  bleah...

Need to get online and see what the mini-me needs to do to get his driver's learner permit.  OMG.  Don't know if I'm ready for this.  Don't know if there's enough hair dye to cover the gray I anticipate getting.  I haven't had to teach anyone to drive in 11 years - since his sister was 15.

Hope all of you had lovely holidays and are all well in this new year.