So.
The city of Baton Rouge apparently SHUTS 'ER DOWN at the slight mention of sub-30 temps and light rain. Amelia's school announced it was closing before any rain happened at all, and my school decided to close at 5:00 this morning.
And I find this all pretty hilarious. When I taught high school in Georgia, I worked for a school system that was well-known for NEVER shutting down, regardless of snow, ice, whatever. If the roads were "passable," then school was on.
There IS a very, very light dusting of snow on the roofs of the houses in our neighborhood. (I mean VERY light...just on a few select shingles.) Amelia asked if we could climb a ladder to the roof to build a snowman. 1) Is that an ER visit waiting to happen, or what? and 2) Bless her heart. (If I were Oprah Winfrey or someone of similar wealth, I would have had a snow machine installed in our backyard for Christmas. ALL Amelia wants to do is play in some snow.)
But anyway, so far I've enjoyed a morning of sleeping in (until 8!), and then leisurely sipping coffee while watching Good Morning America. And I totally teared up watching the feature they did on Liz Vargas (love her) and her recent effort to conquer her alcoholism. Just seeing the support of her colleagues (including Amy Robach and Robin Roberts, who have been on the receiving end of that support as well) was very moving. (Also, I find that the tears come more easily as I get older. Why is that?)
On a lighter note, and speaking of GMA, I never cease to be amazed at the transformation that George Stephanopoulos has undergone over the years. Do y'all remember when he was all frumpy and disheveled-looking as Clinton's press secretary? (I tried to find a good photo of this and failed.) And now he is this suave, sophisticated news man? Who knew?
(I think I've spent too much time thinking about that.)
(And I think I'm obsessed with GMA, despite the fact I rarely get to watch it these days.)
And speaking of transformation, I (well, my hair "stylist") chopped about eight inches off my hair yesterday. My hair had gotten REALLY long, and I just needed a change. I'm not sure if I love it yet, but I don't hate it. I think I wish it were just an inch or so longer, but it's hair. It will grow back.
(That last sentence shows tremendous growth -- pun not really intended, but there it is -- on my part. There have been MANY times in my past when I cried over a haircut. Who has time for that? I'd rather cry about the cast of GMA and their personal struggles.)
The news just came on with a special update on the "havoc" that this "winter weather" is causing. I better go so I can...do absolutely nothing.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
Random Things from the Past Week
I am trying to be better about blogging. I really am.
Here are a few things that have been going on since I blogged last...
--I started a new semester. I don't really have anything significant to say about that other than I am teaching the two courses I enjoy teaching the most, so I'm hoping for a good semester. I'm not so sure about my lit class, though; on day two I had eight people absent (out of 35). Hmmm...
--Because of Harry Connick, Jr., I am giving American Idol a shot this season. So far, I'm enjoying it. The chemistry among the judges - Harry, J. Lo, and Keith Urban - is fun, and Harry has the ability to be honest and charming at the same time.
--I am a little too excited about the Winter Olympics starting soon. And don't judge me, but I have possibly arranged some assignment due dates to accommodate my obsession.
--Amelia is into all things related to Frozen. I'm wondering how many times I hear the song, "Let it Go" in a day.
--Speaking of Amelia, can I say that I wish I could hit the pause button on the passage of time and freeze this age for a couple of years? She is 6, and I am enjoying it so much. Granted, it isn't always rainbows and tulips, but for the most part, this is a fun age.
--I began my weekend Friday afternoon by shopping for some pants to add to my "teaching wardrobe." Let me just say that it was a depressing way to begin the weekend. However...
--I ran (and by "ran," I mean "slowly jogged and walked") a half-marathon yesterday. For some reason, that has always (and by "always," I mean "for the past five years or so") been something I've wanted to do. My time wasn't excellent (2:45), but I did it...and the race itself was rather fun. I do think I'm going to stick with running for a while because I don't hate it, but I don't think I'm going to do another longer distance race for a long time. I hope to stick to some 5Ks and maybe 10Ks and just work on getting faster and running more and walking less.
And that's about it.
Here are a few things that have been going on since I blogged last...
--I started a new semester. I don't really have anything significant to say about that other than I am teaching the two courses I enjoy teaching the most, so I'm hoping for a good semester. I'm not so sure about my lit class, though; on day two I had eight people absent (out of 35). Hmmm...
--Because of Harry Connick, Jr., I am giving American Idol a shot this season. So far, I'm enjoying it. The chemistry among the judges - Harry, J. Lo, and Keith Urban - is fun, and Harry has the ability to be honest and charming at the same time.
--I am a little too excited about the Winter Olympics starting soon. And don't judge me, but I have possibly arranged some assignment due dates to accommodate my obsession.
--Amelia is into all things related to Frozen. I'm wondering how many times I hear the song, "Let it Go" in a day.
--Speaking of Amelia, can I say that I wish I could hit the pause button on the passage of time and freeze this age for a couple of years? She is 6, and I am enjoying it so much. Granted, it isn't always rainbows and tulips, but for the most part, this is a fun age.
--I began my weekend Friday afternoon by shopping for some pants to add to my "teaching wardrobe." Let me just say that it was a depressing way to begin the weekend. However...
--I ran (and by "ran," I mean "slowly jogged and walked") a half-marathon yesterday. For some reason, that has always (and by "always," I mean "for the past five years or so") been something I've wanted to do. My time wasn't excellent (2:45), but I did it...and the race itself was rather fun. I do think I'm going to stick with running for a while because I don't hate it, but I don't think I'm going to do another longer distance race for a long time. I hope to stick to some 5Ks and maybe 10Ks and just work on getting faster and running more and walking less.
And that's about it.
Wednesday, January 08, 2014
A December / Christmas Recap
So, here's the thing: I dread posts like this because I find them overwhelming. And then I end up taking a longer-than-planned blog absence because I feel like I can't write about current things until I cover the "big events," and, as I already have said, I find the "big events" quite daunting.
Therefore, I'm going to compromise and just touch on a few highlights of our holiday season. Okay? Okay.
Honestly, December seems a blur. There were Christmas activities, events, birthday parties for friends, Christmas itself. Something seemed to be going on constantly.
One Friday evening, Amelia's school was supposed to have a movie on the playground, but they had to postpone because of the weather. We invited her friend Grace (and Grace's mom) over, and we had just the best time. We ordered pizza, hung out in comfortable clothes, snacked on Christmas cookies, and had a nice evening. The moms chatted while the girls played.
We made a spontaneous, unplanned trip to see Santa. He was at an outdoor shopping center on a VERY cold day, so there was no line. Amelia wasn't wearing anything Christmasy, and the set-up wasn't very elaborate, but again...NO LINE. Priorities, people. (She asked for a princess guitar and a soccer whistle. Y'all, that soccer whistle was a 59-cent whistle she saw at Party City when we were shopping for goody bags for her birthday. You'll be happy to know Santa delivered the soccer whistle...and Aunt Ashley delivered on the princess guitar.)
I graded like a crazy person the last week or so of school. One day, though, my friend Martha and I just HAD to take a break, so we spent a day in New Orleans. We had lunch at a yummy place called Dick & Jenny's and did some Christmas shopping.
Now, here's a story I must tell...I had bought tickets for Amelia and me to see The Nutcracker at the River Center here in Baton Rouge. I had great seats, and we were pumped. It was going to be a girls' afternoon out! I showed up at the Will Call window, and there were no tickets under my name. The woman took the credit card I purchased them under, and still no tickets. I pulled up my confirmation email on my phone. She scrolled through the email and showed me that I had purchased tickets to The Nutcracker at the River Center in COLUMBUS, GEORGIA. Y'all. What. On. Earth. I almost started crying because I was so mortified / in disbelief that I had done something THAT nutso. I had no clue. Anyway, by this time, the performance was about to start and Amelia was tugging on my arm, ready to take a seat. Since we were already there, I purchased the cheapest tickets they had...and those landed us in the top row of the balcony. Womp wompppppppp.
But my girl looked cute, and she enjoyed the show. I took a couple of pics of her. :-)
I also did quite a bit of cooking and baking this season. Here are some cookies I made to give to Amelia's teachers.
(The photo right above is of all the boxed up / bagged up goodies to take to Amelia's school.)
My parents came the Sunday before Christmas (which was also the day of the "Nutcracker incident) and stayed until Friday. We really enjoyed having them here. They play a lot with Amelia, and I have to give a shout-out to my mother, who was most helpful in washing pots, pans, and dishes while I cooked.
On another kitchen note, every year I say I am going to make the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls, and every year, I back out. The recipe makes seven pans, according to her. I ended up with nine. And dadgum it all, I don't think I took one single photo of the finished product. On Christmas Eve, Amelia and I delivered pans to Martha's family and to Grace's family. And we enjoyed a couple of pans ourselves. (I mean our family enjoyed them. Amelia and I did not consume two pans ourselves.)
Here are my elf and I, delivering the goods:
On Christmas Eve, Amelia did the usual ritual of leaving cookies and hot chocolate for Santa. She had made a special placemat for Santa at school, and she was very concerned that Santa would take the placemat with him. In fact, she wanted to start out her note for him by warning him not to take the placemat, but we assured her that if she whispered those instructions to our Elf ("Princess Ella"), she would see to it that Santa left it. And he did.
Princess Ella was a huge hit this year. Amelia would look for her every morning, first thing. (And then she would go to her Lego advent calendar, which was also a huge hit.)
(By the way, when Amelia discovered the elf standing with the Nutcracker one morning, she said the elf looked "awkward." I can't say I disagree.)
Oh wait...here is Amelia on Christmas Eve, excited about Santa's arrival. (She also checked NORAD every two seconds to update us on Santa's whereabouts. It. Was. Hilarious. Well, the first twenty times, at least.)
And Christmas morning was the usual, but fun, flurry of activity. Amelia was quite thrilled with this Elsa dress that Santa brought. She pretty much wore it nonstop for two days...and danced MANY times to "Let it Go."
My parents gifted Amelia with a karaoke machine. Enough said.
(I think I will enjoy the karaoke machine more when I find a karaoke CD with "Strawberry Wine" or "Walkaway Joe" on it.)
That evening, our friends Damian and Rebecca came over, and they joined all of us for a yummy dinner of prime rib, baked potato casserole, Yorkshire pudding (my first time attempting that, at Darryl's request), roasted asparagus, and dessert. It was a fun, wonderful day -- I really think there is nothing like Christmas with an excited kid. :-)
I thought I was winding it up, but I just realized I left out two things I want to make sure to document. First, somewhere in all that craziness was Amelia's Christmas dance recital. It was a hoot, as always. Here's my cute reindeer.
And last, but not least...this was our first year having a real tree. I. Loved. It. Our artificial tree that we had years finally just bit the dust last year, and since our housing situation is temporary, we didn't want to invest the money in another artificial one just yet. I'm hoping to convince Darryl that we need a real tree every year, though...
(Amelia always enjoyed rearranging the ornaments on it.)
This post might qualify for the most disjointed one I've ever written.
Anyway. Moving on...
It was a fun Christmas, for sure, but it was busy, busy, busy. We shared some wonderful times with family and friends, and we know we will treasure these memories for years to come!
The End.
Therefore, I'm going to compromise and just touch on a few highlights of our holiday season. Okay? Okay.
Honestly, December seems a blur. There were Christmas activities, events, birthday parties for friends, Christmas itself. Something seemed to be going on constantly.
One Friday evening, Amelia's school was supposed to have a movie on the playground, but they had to postpone because of the weather. We invited her friend Grace (and Grace's mom) over, and we had just the best time. We ordered pizza, hung out in comfortable clothes, snacked on Christmas cookies, and had a nice evening. The moms chatted while the girls played.
We made a spontaneous, unplanned trip to see Santa. He was at an outdoor shopping center on a VERY cold day, so there was no line. Amelia wasn't wearing anything Christmasy, and the set-up wasn't very elaborate, but again...NO LINE. Priorities, people. (She asked for a princess guitar and a soccer whistle. Y'all, that soccer whistle was a 59-cent whistle she saw at Party City when we were shopping for goody bags for her birthday. You'll be happy to know Santa delivered the soccer whistle...and Aunt Ashley delivered on the princess guitar.)
I graded like a crazy person the last week or so of school. One day, though, my friend Martha and I just HAD to take a break, so we spent a day in New Orleans. We had lunch at a yummy place called Dick & Jenny's and did some Christmas shopping.
Now, here's a story I must tell...I had bought tickets for Amelia and me to see The Nutcracker at the River Center here in Baton Rouge. I had great seats, and we were pumped. It was going to be a girls' afternoon out! I showed up at the Will Call window, and there were no tickets under my name. The woman took the credit card I purchased them under, and still no tickets. I pulled up my confirmation email on my phone. She scrolled through the email and showed me that I had purchased tickets to The Nutcracker at the River Center in COLUMBUS, GEORGIA. Y'all. What. On. Earth. I almost started crying because I was so mortified / in disbelief that I had done something THAT nutso. I had no clue. Anyway, by this time, the performance was about to start and Amelia was tugging on my arm, ready to take a seat. Since we were already there, I purchased the cheapest tickets they had...and those landed us in the top row of the balcony. Womp wompppppppp.
But my girl looked cute, and she enjoyed the show. I took a couple of pics of her. :-)
I also did quite a bit of cooking and baking this season. Here are some cookies I made to give to Amelia's teachers.
(The photo right above is of all the boxed up / bagged up goodies to take to Amelia's school.)
My parents came the Sunday before Christmas (which was also the day of the "Nutcracker incident) and stayed until Friday. We really enjoyed having them here. They play a lot with Amelia, and I have to give a shout-out to my mother, who was most helpful in washing pots, pans, and dishes while I cooked.
On another kitchen note, every year I say I am going to make the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls, and every year, I back out. The recipe makes seven pans, according to her. I ended up with nine. And dadgum it all, I don't think I took one single photo of the finished product. On Christmas Eve, Amelia and I delivered pans to Martha's family and to Grace's family. And we enjoyed a couple of pans ourselves. (I mean our family enjoyed them. Amelia and I did not consume two pans ourselves.)
Here are my elf and I, delivering the goods:
On Christmas Eve, Amelia did the usual ritual of leaving cookies and hot chocolate for Santa. She had made a special placemat for Santa at school, and she was very concerned that Santa would take the placemat with him. In fact, she wanted to start out her note for him by warning him not to take the placemat, but we assured her that if she whispered those instructions to our Elf ("Princess Ella"), she would see to it that Santa left it. And he did.
Princess Ella was a huge hit this year. Amelia would look for her every morning, first thing. (And then she would go to her Lego advent calendar, which was also a huge hit.)
(By the way, when Amelia discovered the elf standing with the Nutcracker one morning, she said the elf looked "awkward." I can't say I disagree.)
Oh wait...here is Amelia on Christmas Eve, excited about Santa's arrival. (She also checked NORAD every two seconds to update us on Santa's whereabouts. It. Was. Hilarious. Well, the first twenty times, at least.)
And Christmas morning was the usual, but fun, flurry of activity. Amelia was quite thrilled with this Elsa dress that Santa brought. She pretty much wore it nonstop for two days...and danced MANY times to "Let it Go."
My parents gifted Amelia with a karaoke machine. Enough said.
(I think I will enjoy the karaoke machine more when I find a karaoke CD with "Strawberry Wine" or "Walkaway Joe" on it.)
That evening, our friends Damian and Rebecca came over, and they joined all of us for a yummy dinner of prime rib, baked potato casserole, Yorkshire pudding (my first time attempting that, at Darryl's request), roasted asparagus, and dessert. It was a fun, wonderful day -- I really think there is nothing like Christmas with an excited kid. :-)
I thought I was winding it up, but I just realized I left out two things I want to make sure to document. First, somewhere in all that craziness was Amelia's Christmas dance recital. It was a hoot, as always. Here's my cute reindeer.
And last, but not least...this was our first year having a real tree. I. Loved. It. Our artificial tree that we had years finally just bit the dust last year, and since our housing situation is temporary, we didn't want to invest the money in another artificial one just yet. I'm hoping to convince Darryl that we need a real tree every year, though...
(Amelia always enjoyed rearranging the ornaments on it.)
This post might qualify for the most disjointed one I've ever written.
Anyway. Moving on...
It was a fun Christmas, for sure, but it was busy, busy, busy. We shared some wonderful times with family and friends, and we know we will treasure these memories for years to come!
The End.
Thursday, January 02, 2014
2014 Resolutions and Whatnot
The fact I am writing about 2014 Resolutions the day after New Year's Day should show just how resolute I am.
Not very.
Here are some things I'd like to see happen in 2014. They aren't necessarily "resolutions," but maybe just "goals."
1) Be more diligent about exercise. I don't have a specific weight-loss goal in mind, but I think if I make an effort to exercise more frequently, some pounds will drop (provided I don't follow up the exercise by eating cookies and cake).
2) Be better about cooking at home. We tend to eat out a lot, even when Darryl is traveling. Is it really THAT much easier to pick up a grilled cheese at Sonic than make one at home? Probably not.
3) Drink fewer diet sodas. I'm not ruling them out completely, but if I could move to just a couple a week as opposed to a few a day...that would be a good thing.
4) Read more books for fun. I tend to get so bogged down in reading things for my classes and reading students' papers that I typically don't run to a book for more reading when I get a spare minute. However, I've done a good bit of reading over my break, and it has reminded me how much I enjoy a good book.
5) Get involved in a church again. This is a long story, and I don't want to get into it at the moment, but in short, we've really struggled to find a church in Baton Rouge. Amelia DOES get a decent amount of Biblical teaching through her school (and we try to supplement/support that as well), so that helps, but I miss our whole family being involved in church.
6) Take a family vacation. (We already have plans for this, so this should be an easy goal to accomplish, right?)
7) Have a house that we OWN. We have been renting for almost two years, and while there is nothing "wrong" with renting, and while I realize many people rent for their entire lives and are perfectly content doing so, we are ready to get to a house that we can make our own.
8) Blog more often. :-)
9) "Unplug" more often. I confess I'm addicted to my i-Devices and probably should be on them MUCH less. I haven't quite figured out how I want to go about this, but I'll report back with my efforts.
10) Get off this couch and computer and clean out my daughter's room while she is at my parents'. That is is the final item on my to-do list for this week, and it needs to happen. So Adios!
Not very.
Here are some things I'd like to see happen in 2014. They aren't necessarily "resolutions," but maybe just "goals."
1) Be more diligent about exercise. I don't have a specific weight-loss goal in mind, but I think if I make an effort to exercise more frequently, some pounds will drop (provided I don't follow up the exercise by eating cookies and cake).
2) Be better about cooking at home. We tend to eat out a lot, even when Darryl is traveling. Is it really THAT much easier to pick up a grilled cheese at Sonic than make one at home? Probably not.
3) Drink fewer diet sodas. I'm not ruling them out completely, but if I could move to just a couple a week as opposed to a few a day...that would be a good thing.
4) Read more books for fun. I tend to get so bogged down in reading things for my classes and reading students' papers that I typically don't run to a book for more reading when I get a spare minute. However, I've done a good bit of reading over my break, and it has reminded me how much I enjoy a good book.
5) Get involved in a church again. This is a long story, and I don't want to get into it at the moment, but in short, we've really struggled to find a church in Baton Rouge. Amelia DOES get a decent amount of Biblical teaching through her school (and we try to supplement/support that as well), so that helps, but I miss our whole family being involved in church.
6) Take a family vacation. (We already have plans for this, so this should be an easy goal to accomplish, right?)
7) Have a house that we OWN. We have been renting for almost two years, and while there is nothing "wrong" with renting, and while I realize many people rent for their entire lives and are perfectly content doing so, we are ready to get to a house that we can make our own.
8) Blog more often. :-)
9) "Unplug" more often. I confess I'm addicted to my i-Devices and probably should be on them MUCH less. I haven't quite figured out how I want to go about this, but I'll report back with my efforts.
10) Get off this couch and computer and clean out my daughter's room while she is at my parents'. That is is the final item on my to-do list for this week, and it needs to happen. So Adios!
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