Birthday Goodness...

Sunday I celebrated my 39th birthday. I know... One can very easily round up to 40... Up, up, up! I have had a very good birthday and it looks like I will continue to enjoy birthday festivities throughout the upcoming week! The joy of having one's birthday so close to Thanksgiving; one can find ways to drag it out, to prolong the celebrations.

I started celebrating on November 22nd. Explaining to Orion that for a while folks thought my birthday was on the 22nd because I was born in the middle of the night, just after 3:00 a.m. EST. Sunday the 23rd was spent at Jennifer and Aaron's house in Sedalia (about 30 miles east of here) with good friends. We snacked all day on some very tasty dip and chips. And Aaron and Jennifer provided us with plenty of pizza (I had left-overs for breakfast this morning!). Next to the company, my favorite part was rockin' out to Guitar Hero with Chad and Aaron! What fun!

In addition to the weekend fun I have received a number of electronic wishes via Facebook (Who knew?!), many cards via snail mail, gorgeous flowers from my mum-in-law, a beautiful apron from my "south of the border" sister, home-made cookies, and a pair of 480 million year old earrings (no kidding). Rumor has it, there's more to come!

I promise to take pictures of my "birthday booty" and share.

Tired and Cranky

Tired and cranky. These words are almost always associated with toddlers. However, as of late, they're quite appropriate descriptors of me. The semester is winding down at an alarming rate. I have one and a half weeks of class and a week of finals; I can hear the fat lady singing in the distance. This is been a semester of 12-14 hour days: grading, planning, researching, and writing. And the most distressing thing of all is that despite all the time I've logged, I still can't seem to catch up.

There are 'virtual' piles of papers to be graded (Ma, virtual here means they're electronic, and not hard copies.), there's a dissertation that is simmering (at least it's not cold), four research papers that are in the process of being written, grades to be posted, and plans for next semester! Yee gads!

Suffice it to say I've been terribly tired and most cranky. I am tired of eating fish sticks, frozen pizza, and corn dogs (Although I do love corn dogs!). I want chicken soup with matzo balls; I want baked chicken; I want steak! But I seem to be lacking two things: time and money.

So I've hypothesized that these two factors combined with poor nutrition have only compounded the grumpy and tired factors by several degrees.

With all this said, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can count on one hand the number of class periods I have left. I will have a week during Thanksgiving to rest and write and clean. Lovely! I plan to do all three. I'll have two weeks of class in December and then I'll have another three weeks to work on research (the dissertation and the four papers).

My Niece is Better Looking than Your Niece...

Okay, okay... I don't want to start a fight! I'm just stating the facts! Ellie Jelly celebrated her third birthday this past weekend! I wish I had been there to wish her a happy day! (Photos "borrowed" from Tree's blog.)

Ellie makes school look like so much fun!

What a grown-up girl! Love the uni.

Juicy Goose loves fresh juice.

First Snow

We had our first snow on Saturday. It was more of a sneet (snow mixed with sleet) and it was not very intense. But it sure was nifty to see something other than rain fall out of the sky! Perhaps the next time it snows I can hope for some ground cover.

Long Time

It's been a week since I've blogged. But it seems longer than that! A great deal has happened in the past 7 days.

I skipped bowling for the first time this season. I was feeling puny. And I just needed a little more time to work in my office.

Halloween consisted of me sitting in the house with the lights off. Orion dressed up as a bloody army doctor and made the neighbors' houses.

Saturday we went to Wal*Mart. Orion desperately needed britches. He no longer wears "boy pants." I have to buy his clothes in the MAN section now! We got home shortly before noon; Orion had his full crank on. By 2:00 p.m. we knew why! He was terribly sick! He had a 102+ temperature and was miserable. He slept in his dad's bed for the afternoon and evening. Later I moved him to his bedroom where he convalesced the rest of the evening. Loving and hating the sponge baths I was using to help lower his fever.

Sunday I day-tripped to the big city. My highlights (aside from the company!) included "Retail Rock Hounding" (just wait for Christmas), the Half-Price Books, and Cho-ga the Korean restaurant I love in Overland Park.

Orion remained at home, napping and playing video games, on Sunday. John headed to work at 3:00. I think we all over did it on Sunday.

Monday we spent at home. All three of us. John and Orion rested and played video games. I researched, napped, wrote, and did a load or two of laundry. But mostly kept activity to a minimum.

Tuesday I spent all day in the public schools. My department chair paid a special visit to our PDS schools. I had a great time showing her the three schools I visit on Tuesdays. She bought me a lovely lunch at King Chef Buffet (Chinese). But it was 2:30 and I was in the teachers' lounge at Knob thinking I had over-done it again. I had a pretty miserable afternoon. But after a 30 minute nap upon returning home at 5:00 I felt well enough to make dinner.

Tuesday we elected a new president.

And today finds me cleaning out my office. I was a bit surprised to find over 150 email in my in box and a stack of mail on my chair (seems my snail mail box in the office was full too!). What a mess. I don't remember leaving my office in such a state; but I vaguely recall feeling rather puny on Friday when I left.

What a week! We're all feeling better and taking it easy. What have you all be up to?