Happy New Year!

It is a cold grey mizzly day only suitable for sitting in front of the fire place eating some yummy homemade cookies and lazing about. So here I am, doing just that.

The trip to Arkansas went well. We left on the 23, drove around 6 hours through torrential rains and arrived early and hardly tired. Love those interstates for driving. The only problem with all the rain was that I was unable to see most of the countryside.

The next few days were spent with Carol's family, and I do believe she had a good time. Most of the events are what you might expect for the holiday, lots of eating, talking (mostly within the family, all those memories).

The trip home was nice, sunny and warm but windy. Gas mileage was not as good as the trip up, but we still managed to average 32 mpg. We stopped twice on both trips for leg stretches and gas, but neither stop was very long. The country changes quite noticeably from the pines/hills of Arkansas and the scrub of North Central Tx.

We came home to a sick Charlie(sneezing,weepy eyes). Constant medication has improved his condition,though Daph has begun to sneeze so she is whining about the pills being stuffed in her throat as well. Maggie has been clingie since we came home.

Carol's mom gave us a Kitchen Aid for Christmas (awesome machine!), and I have made bagels (with Carol's aid), three batches of cookies (one given to the neighbor as a thank you for looking in on the kitties and one for tomorrow), and some pizza dough. I am struggling to resit baking something more adventurous like a really nice cake. The mixer is a breast cancer machine and painted pink, but I love it anyway!

Tomorrow is hopping John and collards, the usual good luck dish here in the southern part of America. I shall put some hot stuff(remind me to get some hot sauce one of these days), likely chipotle, in to add depth. If the weather is nice we shall walk as well.

Well, it is now nap time, I am sleepy from the grayness of the day.

Oh, yes, btw, Carol and I will be getting married this summer once she has completed her PhD. No date has been set as yet. We plan on getting wed and spending a weekend in a bed and breakfast somewhere nice, maybe on the Louisiana coast?? I am a full fledged suburbanite now--middle class car, middle class home, three cats, and married. What is next? At least I am happy.

just a quick note to say I am home, tired but home.

It is almost 5:00 am and I am dressed, packed, and ready to head home. I will have to sit here for a few hours before anyone else wakes up though. We should be leaving around 8 and home around 2 or 3. I am looking forward to being home.

I had a wonderful Christmas, Carol's family made me feel welcome and accepted. I will likely write more about that later once I am home.

It has become bitterly cold once more. There is frost on the car window! I miss summer.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Merry Christmas

First, Happy Birthday to the other sister!! :) Hope you had a great day Sunday.

Tomorrow I am off to Arkansas to spend the holiday with Carol's family. I don't think I will have time or access to the webs, so this is likely the last post I will make until just before the new year. We leave tomorrow morning, have a six hour drive and come home on the 27, so hopefully the weather will be friendly and the trip will be pleasant.

My grades for the past semester were posted yesterday, and I managed to get three A's out of three classes (for a 4.0 average). Good start.

The fridge is full of stuff, pies, bagels, etc.'s for the holiday meals and as presents.

I am going to be suffering the next few days, I have not been offline for so long that I don't know if life without the web is possible. I wait on the day when implants allow for highspeed connections all the time.

Busy day today. I have to clean the car, make the last few things we take with us, clean the car, and finish the getting ready to go stuff.

Poor kitties will miss us when we are gone. If you can, come by and give them some loves.

Oh, Merry Christmas to everyone, I hope your holiday is fattening and happy.

semester 1 done

I did my final presentation in an intro to reference last night and finished the course work for this semester. This semester was a mixed bag. All the courses taught me things I had not known, yet some of the assignments were of little value as learning tools. I am happy to have the first semester finished, and I am looking forward to my nearly one month break.

I did my last virtual reference session Tuesday and will not be doing that again until January. Even though I am not always very busy with that volunteer job, I do find it interesting when I do get questions. There is pleasure in helping people obtain the information they need.

I have been suffering from the winter blahs the last few weeks. It has been cold and gray and it even snowed. This morning it is bitterly cold (20 F, feels like 12) and there is no hope in the future for a warming trend. damn canadians and their cold weather us texans aint wantin youse stuff take it back!!

I have some wonderful plants in the house that were rescued from outside before the freezing weather settled in. They are awesome.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!!!