She's not at her desk. May I take a message?

For some reason, I'm suddenly incredibly swamped at work. I have several different bosses pushing me to finish several different projects, and giving me one day to put on a half-hour presentation and things like that. It's unusual, because I'm usually given a basic list of things to work on at the beginning of the quarter. Then I touch base once in a while, but work on them myself, on my own timeline.

Kirstin also has another big project to do, which my extension means that I have a big project, too. She has to pick a country, and write a report on how they celebrate Christmas there. (Of course, some countries really *don't*, but we won't get in to that.) She wants to do hers on Russia. Fine. I'll get some information from the internet and we'll write a report.

Ah, but it doesn't stop there. She also is supposed to dress in her country's traditional attire. Here's the thing, though. In the 1700's Czar Peter decreed that all Russians should adopt western dress. It's a law still on the books. SO either I dress my munchkin as a westerner and I am a boring mom, or I dress her as a Russian from the 1600s. That's a bit difficult.

Then we have to present a traditional Russian Christmas dish. So far the only one I have found is a wheat porridge called kutya. I don't have any idea how to cook that, and don't know where to look for a recipe.

I just love these homework assignments.