I want to go to there...

So I found my dream cottage.

Let me back up. I sometimes experience what people call "stress". This "stress" causes me to stare endlessly at walls, eat food without tasting it, and fall sound asleep before I've pulled the covers up. It also forces me into a very decadent past time; looking at real estate I will never be able to afford.

Let's get this straight. I love my house. It is super cute and anyone who has visited it knows that it is quaint, tidy, and very girly. Case in point...



But sometimes, I get the urge to live somewhere else. In particular, I would like to have a cottage in the English countryside, preferably with a view of the hills or the sea or the filming of a Jane Austen novel. Maybe I want to live in a Jane Austen novel. Well, I would do it in an instant if I could also have indoor plumbing, modern feminine protection, and a job.

But this cottage is a real dream. And I can't get it out of my head. I'm obsessed.



I can picture myself sitting in front of the fire, reading a good book, sipping a cup of tea, waiting for the rain to stop so I can go pick some cucumbers from the gaahden. It is harmless (mostly) and indulgent, and I like it, okay? I look at the pile of work next to my computer, I look at the house... and just like Calgon, I'm transported to another world. A world where students don't email me while I'm on my vacation to ask whether or not I've put the extra credit in the gradebook that would inevitably bump their B plus to an A minus.... for example.

If you want to find your own English cottage then go to a site like this one.

I hope this Christmas you find peace and love and joy and happiness. Here's a tip... it doesn't come in a cottage in the English countryside.