Christmas 2009

Christmas was amazing!! A few highlights of the week:

• Due to the heat and hot water being turned off in my building, I only had to work Monday of last week. That meant that I had Tuesday-Sunday off. It was great! Merry Christmas to me!!!
  
  
• Kohl's coupons = last minute Christmas shopping...for myself :)
  
  
• We each had $7.41 to spend for our Christmas jar shopping. I only spent $5.62 (Go, me!) and learned that the self-checkout at Smiths does not accept half dollar coins.
  
  
• Christmas Eve dinner was a triumph, as compared to recent years. Spinach stuffed chicken, roasted red potatoes, glazed carrots, failed bouche de Noel--all delectable and divine. And it must have been good if even Uncle Paul complimented on taste and selection.
  
  
• Santa delivered this year! I got a new laptop for school. Too bad I have to reimburse Santa 3/4's of the computer's purchase price... So really, I only got 1/4 of a laptop.
  
  
• My favorite present was the quilt top my Grandma Lambert made me. It is beautiful!!! I was really surprised and excited by the gift, especially as all my other cousins received quilt tops last year and I, having received a different gift, was insanely jealous.
  
  
• It is crazy to see how our family has changed and grown, and continues to change and grow. It was wonderful to be with them and to share Christmas with them.
  

Some photos from various holiday events:

Michael. He takes Christmas very seriously.


Megan, Maggie, Cole, and Vera waiting to open presents.


Ryan and the teddy-clad...teddy.
(Long story, HOT picture)


Dave and Chelsea


Coleman's going GQ early in life.


Will trying to sneak snacks before breakfast.


Jamison and Santa


Femininity comes easily for some.


Bowling with a camera-happy Vera.



I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, too!

Happy Holidays!!!

I Know it is Rather Late in the Day, but

Merry Christmas!!!

A Haiku

A winter's morning

fog swirls in utter silence,

eerily empty.

Baby Steps to Adulthood

Yesterday I received the H1N1 vaccination, using my insurance card for the very first time.

I feel so grown up!

3.83

Not too shabby. Nope, not shabby at all.

I find I'm liking graduate school.

Repose

I overslept my alarm 2 hours this morning and was an hour late to work.

How can something so wrong feel so right?

Weekend Highlights

• Making crepes
• Eating Indian food
• Playing Durak
• Going Christmas shopping
• Hearing Christmas music, and
• Spending time with him:

Sometimes, I Wonder at College Students

How did they even get in with sentences such as

"Therefore I was difficult to take it seriously" and

"It has allow me to view different phase teaching profession involved"?

Mrs. Riley would be absolutely appalled.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The tree is up.
The lights are hung.
The presents are wrapped.
The snow is here.
The boy is coming.

Now all I'm missing is the mistletoe--

--not that we will need it......

One More

Only one more test tonight and then I'll be done--until January 12, that is. I can't believe I survived my first semester as a graduate student. I thought for sure Psychometrics was going to kill me. Who ever knew it would be Developmental Psychology instead?

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...

...he is sure to eat the chocolate-covered cinnamon bears too. Poor little fellas. Attacked in their sleep. They never saw it coming.

I just don't get it. How exactly does a mouse get into a closed filing cabinet?

Lysol Guy

It is an established fact that I am a nice person. Yep, a very nice person. It's kind of a requirement for my job. I have to be nice to the people on the phone. I have to be nice when I tell clueless students where the computer lab is. I have to be nice in explaining how to use the scan function of the copy machine. I have to be nice while pointing out the ladies' room. And I have to be nice to the people who walk into my office seeking answers and campus maps.

There's this guy that has come into my office a couple of times looking for directions. I am nice to him like I am to all (see above), but he stinks. Smells. Bad. Like stale cigarettes and old cheese. You know the kind. Anyway, every time he comes in I have to fumigate my office with Lysol air freshener afterwards to get rid of his stench. A nice guy, just really smelly.

Today he came in, and just would not leave me alone. Our conversation went something like this:
LG: How are you doing today?
ME: Good. What can I help you with?
LG: Nothing, I just wanted to say hi. You look very pretty today.
ME, trying not to gag and typing faster: Thanks.
LG, noticing the business cards on my desk: Do you have a card?
ME: No, I'm not important enough to have my own card.
LG: Are you a student here?
ME: No. I just work here.
LG: How old are you?
ME: 26. You?
LG: 21.
ME: That's nice.
LG, trying to act nonchalant, but not succeeding: So, are you married? Dating someone?
ME, for once being truthful in my answer and silently thanking the gods: Dating. I've got a boyfriend.
LG: Oh, yeah? That's good. My girl will probably kill me when I get home. I was supposed to be home an hour ago.
ME, wondering why, then, was he still talking to me: How long have you and your girlfriend been dating?
LG: About a year, but it's been rough. How long have you and your boyfriend been dating?
ME, fudging a bit, but not really: 3 months. It's going really well.
LG: Oh. Good. Well, I better be going. See ya.

As soon as he was gone, I pulled out the LYSOL...and the CLOROX wipes. And then I PURELL-ed my hands. Yuck!