Cozy by the Fire

After a few weeks of up and down temperatures, today finally feels like one of those cold, beginning to get wintry days. I came home with a headache and sat with ice to get rid of that. After becoming cold from the ice, I decided to see if I had any dry wood so I could attempt to make the first fire of the year. I must have actually been thinking ahead last year, because there was one piece of wood in the fireplace. I grabbed some others from outside.
Now, the making of the fire wasn't as easy as I had remembered, so I must have had wet wood. I used these fire starters that I got for Christmas a couple of years ago, and I used 5 of those, and about an hour later I finally had something decent going. The problem is that I have to sit directly by it to actually feel the warmth...so I grabbed the mail, a magazine, some hot tea and snuggled in for the night next to the fire. I love the smell of a fire! I think a rearranging of the furniture might be in order to get a comfy seat close to the warmth.

Whew! (big sigh!!)

Today, November 3, 2007, is a day that I thought would never get here!  And now here it is, come and (almost) gone.  I am officially finished with my course work for my masters degree and am a grad school graduate!!  Wow!  

Today at our last class we reminisced about that first day and how intimidating it all seemed to us.  We saw some people at our break who were just finishing up and we were asking them all kinds of questions.  And now...a short 18 months later, that group finishing up is us.  Who would have thought we'd ever get here?!  

So, unfortunately today was pretty anti-climactic.  We had presentations and did a short group assignment.  Then we watched two videos and that was it.  No big finale.  No hoopla.  Just a whoop and a holler from us as we exited room 202 for the last time.  Luckily we had planned to go have a fun celebratory lunch at Bandido's.  We have already planned to get together for breakfast in about 8 weeks to keep in touch.  

So, here's the kind of dorky part...I'm actually going to miss it.  Not just the people, but the schooling.  I don't know if I discovered that I love learning, if I was happy to have something to keep me busy, or what, but I am a little sad that we're done. (Don't let the other cohort members know that!)  I think that I have enjoyed knowing that I had something to do, except during the extremely busy periods, and that I enjoyed the social aspect of it.  

So, who knows what's in store next for this graduate.  First things first...I've got to figure out how to change everything on this blog that says "grad student".     : )

Field Trip Funnies

So we took our students (both 4th grades) to The History Center and the Courthouse last Friday. I was thinking about the trip this weekend, and remembered this funny story from the orientation part. At the beginning we meet in a large room and talk about the history of Fort Wayne and look at some memorabilia (war clothing, old records, etc.). One of the other things we look at, and discuss are different pelts that might have been used around here. She shows us a raccoon pelt, which is usually pretty easily identified. Then she shows a beaver skin, a deer skin and one other skin. This one is smaller and is long and narrow. When she asked what kind of animal they thought that it was, one of the students (not mine) actually shouted out "hamster". I thought I might wet myself!
**Oh yeah! I almost forgot...the real answer is-- muskrat.**

Random Acts (of kindness?)

So tonight at family game night the topic of Christmas came up. Normally we do some type of exchange with each other to prevent people from spending on everyone. We've tried to mix it up at times by doing something like a "service exchange" or something. My aunt suggested that we somehow donate to a family friend who is going through a rough time and is in need of many things, especially financially. So, at first I was like my younger cousin and thought, "Hey! I want gifts!" But then I got to thinking about it and realized we should do something like this. We all have so much STUFF and usually get people more STUFF that they don't need, but that they put on a list so someone knew what STUFF is least likely to annoy them. I'm all in favor now, and think that it would be great if we all at least donated the amount we would have used in the exchange (about $25 each) to this friend. How thrilling for her to feel better about being able to pay a few bills, and how fun for us to help.

Something else that happened this week...I took on the task (with my friend, Christie) of trying to boost the morale at my job. Yikes! I'm not sure why I decided I should be so bold as to tell the whole staff they suck at being happy and grateful, but I did. I read a book (Have You Filled A Bucket Today?) to them, and then explained that our staff has grown apart. We have started having cliques, being very whiny and had way too much complaining. We made a bulletin board with buckets for every staff person and made drops to put in them. It's just a way to try to start something positive amidst the negative atmosphere. The wild part is that so many people thanked me for doing that. Everyone said that we needed it, and evidently no one was willing to step up to the plate. Guess it's that IWU teaching me to be an "agent of change." : )

Gilmore Girls and Announcements

Since I really have nothing to share, and am feeling bad about not posting in over a week...I decided to have a Gilmore Girls update. After a brief hiatus from the show, due to season 6 not being available right away (come on! I watched 5 seasons in just under a month!), I'm back to my viewing addiction. Fortunately for me, after the break, I'm now able to refrain myself to watching just one episode and actually getting some school work (Nebraska or IWU) completed.

On that note...only 3 Saturdays to go!! And boy, they are going to pump every last bit of studying out of us that they can in this last class. Each week we have about 3-4 assignments due, plus reading, which is never priority for me. I just can't believe that it's this close to the end. I ordered invitations online, and actually shed a tear when I saw the preview of them on the computer (not a surprise for most of you).
Speaking of invitations, here's a good story: So, the invitations come in the mail last Saturday. And since I had nothing to do that evening (ha!), I decided to sit right down and start addressing them so I could send them whenever I wanted to. I got out my little address book and started writing addresses on them and sealing them all up to send. After about 8 or 9 I went to lick one and seal it up and it didn't stick. Upon second glance, I realized that it had no sticky stuff to lick. And upon even further looking, several of my envelopes were defective! Great, I thought...now I'm going to have to call customer service. After a few minutes of thinking about what to do, I made the brilliant realization that there happened to be 25 sticky envelopes, AND 25 non-sticky envelopes! Hmmm...then suddenly it hit me. This is one of those fancy occasions where you put the card in one envelope and then into another (sticky) envelope. Hey! I've never gotten married--I don't know all these things! So, now the decision...do I redo all the messed up ones or leave them. After thinking about it for a minute, and realizing that all formality was probably lost when I put a sticky note on some of them, I chose to be my casual self and send out...heaven forbid I say it...improper announcements. So, if you're one of the few lucky ones to receive the graduation card...just remember, just because I'm getting my masters degree doesn't mean I now know everything! : )

I wasn't tagged, but...

So, I wasn't actually tagged for this, but saw it on a blog I read and thought it was enjoyable...so I'm putting it on here. Enjoy. And if you do yours, leave comments with your funny ones.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet, current car) Lucy Saturn

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream, fav cookie) Chocolate Peanut Butter Oreo

3. YOUR "FLY GIRL" (GUY) NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letter of last name) C Ste

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Green Elephant

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name & city where you were born) Ellen Grabill

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of last name & first 2 letters of first name) Stech

7. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink--put "The") Blue The Tea

8. YOUR NASCAR NAME: (first names of your grandfathers) Hubert James

9. YOUR STRIPPER NAME: (fav perfume, fav candy) Sunflowers M & M

10. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names) Lynn Curtis

Fun at the Fair

Tonight I helped Gabrielle initiate Alaya into the world of carnivals at the Bluffton Street Fair. First, I had to get a picture of the three of us with our quirky t-shirts. From left to right they say: "Where's my prince charming?" (Alaya's), "I thought you were hot from far away" (Gab's), and "In tennis love means zero" (mine). It made me laugh!

And of course, like any child would, she loved the fair. I'm happy to report that she enjoyed my favorite carnival game, the mouse game, as much as I do. She was a natural gambler and wanted those quarters to keep coming. She caught on very quickly how to place them on the numbers. She actually rode a car-type roller coaster, too. Pretty impressive for not quite 2 years old!

The one thing that I wanted to do was eat some fair food. I walked around all night looking for just what I wanted. Finally around 10:30 I decided on something...an ice cream cone! How boring! So, on the way out I got a hand-dipped corn dog. That's slightly better. Maybe next weekend at another fair...