What? Christmas is Coming? So Soon?

We just had Halloween!

I've been so swamped with finals and term papers that Christmas really snuck up on me. I'm not ready. I have all my shopping yet to do, shipping, baking cookies and writing cards. We haven't even taken our family photo yet for our cards - oh boy.... we might have to stretch Christmas into January.

I'm working on a quilt for our ex-foreign exchange student in Germany, Anna. All I have left to do are the edges. It takes a good long time to ship something to Germany, so she won't get her gift until after the holiday. Oh well. I just don't have time till after finals and that's just how it is. I'm disappointed that I can't get things done on time, but I'm resigning to the fact that Christmas is just too soon!

We decided not to decorate for Christmas this year. No lights, no tree, no getting the boxes out of the garage. We have a tornado for a daughter and we'd rather not deal with the chaos of a knocked over tree, ornaments flying through the air, watching her swing from the lights... you get the idea.

I'll dig out our stockings and we can have those on Christmas morning. Otherwise, it's all up to our imaginations this year! Ho Ho Ho!

Great Day yesterday!

Yesterday I had such a great day!

Started off running late, traffic jam, parking permit machine wasn't working and had to find a different one.... ok, that's not the great part...

I got to my first class late but the professor was happy and just chit chatting with students, petting the service dog that always snores in class stuff like that. Once he got started, he gave out the questions that will be on the final exam! So awesome! It was like getting the dream Christmas gift!

So then I go to the women's center to study on their awesome sofa... and they have these really yummy treats. Luna Bars. They are a kind of granola bar infused with tea. Total Yum!

Then my next class is the one I've been looking forward to. We get to evaluate our British Lit teacher. Professor Spaz! I evaluated all right - and I let it all out! After class about 10 people stuck around and vented! It was better than chocolate! Sounds like everyone had similar issues and lots of people wrote it in the evaluations. Good! I told the group about my paper being handed back to someone else. You should have seen the jaws drop. Felt good to get that off my chest.

Next class. Post-Modern and Post-Colonial Fiction. We had our final exam and I totally aced it! I rocked! I think I floated out of that classroom! So happy!

I was having such an awesome day that when I left, I pulled past the parking permit machine and gave my permit to the next person in line. I was leaving and it is good til midnight. So, I shared. I've never done that before - never thought of it. It felt really good so I'm going to do that again sometime.

When I came home, the dog greeted me with her usual enthusiasm but the baby just gave me a wave. She was watching "Fishies" and apparently, I was second rate. It's good to see her growing out of her separation anxiety.

Next class, my evening class. The traffic jam was gone - so weird! The instructor lectured a bit, went over what he expects on the final exam and then we filled out evaluations. I gave this guy a good one. It's not his fault that I kinda got tired of watching Westerns. He was hired the same week as the class started, and I think he did pretty good.

Came home and had some quality couch & tv time with my hubby. Ah, that's always nice!

Sarcasm is my forte'

I am writing a paper today about the sarcastic rhetoric of Herman Melville. This is how I imagine Melville - He looks like Chevy Chase don't you think? "They call me Ishmael"

My life is sarcastic so of course I thought this would be a good topic for my term paper. But I'm still struggling to find time to write the term paper! This quicky post is one thing, deep thought and analysis is quite another. And I'm not being sarcastic!

I have three papers due tomorrow so I should be sticking my nose in my research, but "I prefer not to". (Can you hear Chevy Chase?)

I'm going to also discuss satire and irony. I tell ya, I am steeped in irony on a daily basis. Three daughters will do that to a person!

I've decided we should have fish for dinner tonight! LOL!

Proofreaders Wanted!

I have two of my three papers done. Of course, I wrote while doing a bunch of "Mom" things, so who knows how they really turned out. I am too tired to proofread for myself since I tend to overlook my own mistakes. I can type things so very wrong and not see it until after I turn my paper in.

Anyone want to proofread and give me GOOD USEFUL criticism? And not the "start over" kind, because its just too late for that. And not the "yeah, that's fine" kind cuz then I know it bored you to death as soon as you read the title. I don't wanna do that!

I have one more to write. I think I will take a brain break and lay on the floor and play trucks with my tot for a while. Call the teens on their cellies and ask them where they are (they hate that! hehhee) and maybe throw in another load of laundry.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

I'm writing papers this weekend. I have three that are due next week. 1. For my Post Colonial Fiction class I have to write about Cultural Hybridity. 2. For my United States Literature class I have to write about the rhetorical strategy of Herman Melville. and 3. For my Western Literature class (the class where we watch films and never read) I have to write about American Values and/or Identity in the movie "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".

Ouch! Gracie just bit my knee!!!

So anyway... I need to watch this movie and figure out what deep message about American values the director, John Ford, is supposed to be saying. For his movie "Stagecoach" our professor said that the stagecoach was America and the Indians who attacked were representing the communist countries; so the movie was all about America struggling to become a superpower after suffering from the great depression, and it was about WWII, and it was about McArthism.

Hmmm.... I totally missed all that! I saw a stagecoach, John Wayne and some comic book kind of Indian attack. Now when I watch the Liberty Valance movie I'm going to have to pull from the clear blue sky some sort of far fetched ideas about what the movie means and write a paper on it. Any ideas?

I'll work on Cultural Hybridity and Melville's sarcasm later. Tonight is John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart night. Of course, I have to wait until "Finding Nemo" is over - we have to watch Fishies!

We're Back!

We're back. We drove almost 4,000 miles through all sorts of weather. We had a busy week, saw all the relatives but we still missed Thanksgiving. We had lots of quality time together as a family doing silly things like.... talking to each other, singing to the radio, counting how many times we've each been through Las Vegas, silly things like that.

During the trip we encountered all sorts of weather. We went from 91 degrees to 1 degree. I had to buy the teens some coats! We crossed the desert and went over the snow covered mountains. The trip took us through six states.

We only had one "incident" on the trip. My baby burned her hand on Great Grandma's furnace, which is a propane stove in her living room. The burn is a second degree and didn't warrant a trip to the ER but we were all just sick over it. She has blisters but is using her hand just fine. Looks like its healing nicely.

We went on this spontaneous trip halfway across America because my father-in-law passed away last Tuesday. My husband and 16 yr old daughter left on Monday in hopes of seeing him before he passed on, but they didn't quite get there in time. I left with the rest of the crew on Tuesday afternoon. The funeral services were very nice. During the family visitation, my husband held our little one while he stood at the casket and without prompting, she pointed and said "Grampa" for the very first time. It was a very special moment. I think that one moment will last a long long time in our hearts.

We did have a nice time together on the trip (despite the funeral, weather and burn). Here are some pictures from the road. Just fun stuff here... we only take fun photos!
Oh, by the way... the Las Vegas count is as follows: Katie - 15 times, Lexie 17 times, Gracie 6 times, Sandy the dog 11 times.

Roadtrip

Today is a travel day for me, the oldest princess, the youngest princess and the furry princess. Should be an interesting journey! I'm so glad that I have the new mini-van! What a relief to not worry so much about what is dying under the hood.

And the November weather rocks! We are so lucky in that respect too.

I am busy packing and wishing I had more time to take care of details. I'll update my blog from the road if I can. I hope I can find wireless internet - that'll be like a needle in a haystack but there's hope.

Have a good week, folks. I'm off to spend a LOT of quality time with my pincesses.