Easter report

Following tradition, Uncle Brad gave the instructions about hunting the eggs. Twelve per child, and if you see a "K" on the egg, leave it there. It's for Kaya, who is allergic to milk and has special candy.

(When listening to boring instructions when you'd rather be out hunting for candy, lift your shirt to entertain yourself.)


And they're off!


I couldn't take a smiling picture fast enough-- no time to waste!


Why wait until you're done hunting to enjoy the candy? Open one, fill your mouth, hunt. Repeat.


After the hunt (the big kids helped the little kids and it was all very sweet!), Court had a little me-time in the hammock.


...while the kids sorted out their loot.


After the hunt we had the feast. It was a lovely time!

Skipping ahead to last Friday... our university's new president had his official inauguration ceremony. He's the one in the green and blue robes in the middle:


Brad was asked to join a faculty/staff/student choir to sing a few songs in the ceremony. If you click on the picture you can see him.


I sat across the arena and took a pic of him at his seat.

Boys everywhere!

Before the Bowmans left for home I snapped a few pictures of the troops:


Oldest, wisest, sly sense of humor, wickedly smart


James Dean wannabe, funny man


The charmer with loads of personality


The Energizer Bunny, with stitches; terribly fun to eavesdrop on when he's playing alone

The last full day they had here they went to the pool here at school and had it nearly to themselves for part of the time:



The first night they arrived we went out for seafood at RJ Gator's. Here is the requisite pic of gator-eating-kid:


Monkey see, monkey do:


On their last morning I didn't have to work so we had a load of waffles and bacon for breakfast. I think this might be my only pic of Cheri as well! Sorry, Cheri!

A dorky guilty pleasure

I've come across two new time-waster websites this week, both involving my forbidden desire: cats. Oh, how I want a pet cat again. It just kills me that I am now allergic to the same cat I brought home from the humane society, who lived with ME, who I took care of. Ack. Darn allergies.

Anyway, I'm not one who likes cat t-shirts, cat items, paraphrenalia, etc., but I do enjoy the occasional peek at kitties. Here are three sites-- one old, two new, I've been peeking at this week.

1.) Cuteoverload.com Pics of cute things with baby-talk captions. Cutesy-wootsie cats, rabbits, hedgehogs, puppies, etc. Very tame and family-friendly except for the "cats in racks" category in which kitties are nestled, er, somewhere. But it's not too graphic.

2.) Cats In Sinks Just that. Click the button for another pic of a cat in a sink. That's pretty much it. But it somehow holds my attention.

3.) I Can Has Cheezburger Weird name, even weirder inside jokes, and super weird captions. Most need to be said out loud to understand. But most are cute and some are downright hilarious. Mostly just cats saying silly things. This one is most addictive to me.

Anyone else have time wasters? I feel like I hover in the same corner of the internet all the time-- gmail, school email, msnbc, news-press.com (local news), and askmetafilter.com. Google reader catches all my blog updates for me. If gmail-msnbc-askmetafilter were an actual location, say, like the corner of 5th and Main, I'd have real friends there as I'm a regular. Isn't that weird? There are other people, probably, with the same interests, same "hangouts" on the internet, but I'll never know them.

What are your hangout sites?

Five stitches

(Photo via Court's blog)


The gang did make it home in nearly one piece. As I said before, the wind was a bit rough on Tuesday as were the waves. Court was driving the boat and decided to jump a few waves created by another boat's wake. I guess the boat smacked down pretty hard as the boys in the front of the boat went airborne a bit and then smacked down onto their seats. Except Ethan was laying on his belly, so when he smacked back down he landed on his chin.

"Four people hold me down, five stitches," he proudly proclaimed when I met up with them at home. Yes, four people had to hold him down while he got five stitches in his poor little chin.

So close to making it home in one piece...

And yesterday they went to Sanibel by way of Firestone-- a brake line in their van broke and they spent a good part of the day hanging out near the repair place. They finally did get to the beach and then later had dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger, where Jonathan ate an entire half-pound hamburger and got his picture taken for their Big Eaters wall. Court's blog is here, again.

I think they're headed to Sanibel again today and we're going to try to meet up with them for dinner (any excuse to go to Sanibel is fine with me!).

I'm quite disappointed in myself

It's about 65 degrees here and I'm freezing. I know, I know, Northern
Readers, that 65 degrees would be a dream. You would immediately cut
your sleeves and leggings off and expose your lily white arms and legs
to the sun's warming rays. However, you have blood as thick as mashed
potatoes, and mine runs like water. The slightest hint of a breeze
passes by, the temperature varies from 74, and I'm reduced to a
shivering, blue-lipped penguin. My hardy Chicago roots are withering
and I am so sad.

In other news, my fearless husband and friends are out in a boat, in
the cold water, with cold breezes. By choice. Oh, yeah, and there's
a wind advisory for watercraft today. I look forward to a phone call
at 4:30 which will hopefully tell me they've made it back to land.

Grand Central

On Saturday evening a whirlwind of energy landed in Lehigh Acres, Florida. That whirlwind is made up of two parents, one 8th grade boy, two 6th grade boys, and one kindergarten-aged boy. Have I mentioned I come from a family with two girls? No boys? This is a new experience for me, actually for both of us, considering we have no children and live a very quiet life.

Truly it has been more fun each minute to have the Bowmans here with us-- should we call them Bowmen? Plus Cheri? Anyhow, tonight was an absolute ball-- it was like a marathon of board games. Heaven for me. We started out with a round of Rummikub, followed by a few games of Carrom, capped off with a few rounds of Scattergories. The things the kids came up with in Scattergories were hilarious... Things you keep hidden? Laundgeray. Terms of endearment? Wife. (both submitted by Leland.) Cheri and I were laughing hysterically multiple times tonight. Too much fun. All the while little Ethan was following a pretend treasure map around the living room in circles, looking for treasure which he declared he found in the directions for the Carrom board.

Tomorrow Brad's taking the day off of work and I think they're going to all go rent a boat for part of the day. I'm not sure any of them have a boating license or experience, but being the men they are, they'll figure it out MacGyver style.

You can see Court's play by play at his blog.

Picture pages, picture pages

Mom left on Sunday night after a really, really fun visit. Here are a few snapshots. I'll fill in with more later.

Coming up the ramp at the airport...


First taste of coconut shrimp. It has become a tradition to head straight from the airport to the nearest seafood restaurant.


This was R. J. Gators. Hence the gator.


That night we had a family night. The kiddies played on the hammock...


...and tried on their Easter bonnets from Mimi.


This pic just cracks me up. Seen on the automatic sliding door at Marshall's. One would think that Marshall's has high expectations as to the speed of handicapped persons.


Another night we went to this seafood place...


...the freshest in town, they say.


And on Sunday just before Mom left, we went out to Sanibel to Gramma Dot's, for more seafood.












One would think that all we did was go find shrimp to eat. But we did other things, too. Those pictures are on my other camera and will have to wait.

Two jokes

Brad gets jokes sent to his inbox daily. I don't know the source--
I'll find out. In the meantime, here are two little laughs for you.
Credit to the joke-of-the-day website Brad knows about. These are
posted with you in mind, Grandfather.

An earless boss is holding interviews for an open position at his
company. The first candidate comes in to interview. The boss says,
"What is the first thing you notice about me?"
"You have no ears!" says the candidate.
The boss yells in a rage, "Get out of my office!"
The second candidate comes in and is asked, "What is the first thing
you notice about me?"
"You have no ears!" he says.
Again the boss yells in a rage, "Get out of my office!"
The third candidate is called in for his interview. The second
candidate tells him, "Whatever you do, don't mention his ears."
The boss asks the third candidate, "What is the first thing you notice
about me?"
The candidate thinks long and hard, looks the boss up and down, and
says, "You wear contact lenses."
"Amazing!" says the boss. "How did you know?"
The candidate replies, "You haven't any damn ears for the glasses to hang on!"

A farmer and his wife go into town. They come upon the local airport,
what with its fancy planes and everything, and see a pilot doing
loop-de-loops in the air. When the pilot lands the farmer asks, "How
much for a ride?"
The pilot replies, "Ten dollars for three minutes."
"Oh, that's too expensive," says the farmer.
"I'll make you a deal," says the pilot. "I'll take you up there and if
you don't make a noise, you don't pay. But if I hear a sound, it's
ten dollars."
"Deal!" says the farmer. So they go up for a ride, the farmer, his
wife, and the pilot. The pilot takes them through the loop-de-loops
and all the acrobatics, and then lands the plane.
"No sound at all! That was amazing!" he says to the farmer.
"It wasn't so bad," says the farmer, "except I really wanted to scream
when my wife fell out."

Seen in my statistics class...

...and wildly popular with me as this summer marks TEN YEARS since my mother's second diagnosis. November will be TEN YEARS since she has been healthy, the second time. Save the Ta-Tas indeed. By the way, the student photographed mentioned that there is a whole website with ta-ta gear, in case anyone is interested in having their own ta-ta shirt.

In other news, I received a rejection letter on Saturday from the grad school here at the university where I teach. It seems that they require a passing score on the basic educator's exam, which I have not taken. BECAUSE I ALREADY HAVE THE PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATE. Dur. I'm about ten steps beyond that, so I just went in to meet with the professor in charge of admitting me and got everything squared away. I'm in!!!

Next time I'll tell you about plan A. Attending here is plan B. :)

They got the bad guys!!!

I got a call last night from the county sheriff. The guys who stole my purse have been caught! Three males were caught in a traffic stop near Fort Lauderdale and the officer found over fifty people's identification and credit cards in a hidden compartment in the car. Mine was among them! The guys aren't talking, of course, so we can't assume they'll be charged yet. The detectives on the case are sifting through all of the identification and trying to match prints to cars and the bad guys. Who knows if they'll ever be convicted or anything, but it makes me happy to know they've been caught!

A few things

1.) We are sickies. The 10 to 14 day flu has moved in. We spent the weekend in a rather lethargic, hacking state and are still sneezing and coughing with regularity. It started Thursday night, so hopefully we're rounding the corner soon.

2.) We took apart the freezer a few weeks ago. After many puddles in the fridge and a few instances of sheets of ice in the freezer, we got all Maytag-repairperson on the freezer and took it apart. Out with the icemaker, out with the back wall thingy, in with the hairdryer. Which warps plastic freezer-floors, you should know. But it's all defrosted and working beautifully. The little drain in the back was frozen shut, so we squirted hot water into it and voila! We are so proud of our money-saving selves.

3.) I'm applying to a grad school in New York. It's a big "IF" and zillions of details would have to align in order for it to work, but I'm going to try anyway.

4.) Brad did not get that job opportunity we were hoping for. But there were over 50 applicants and more than half of those had directly applicable experience, so we're ok with it. There is still one other option at hand, so who knows.

5.) Mom arrives on Saturday. Little did she know her vacation would entail making lots of chicken soup for the sickies. Take your Airborne, Mom.

6.) I finished The Bag. I have been designing the perfect school bag and it's finally done, thanks to sick days and small bursts of energy. I'll post pictures soon.

7.) I also got half of a mannequin. I needed a torso on which to model my aprons, which will soon appear on my etsy shop. I went over to a warehouse place that sells secondhand store fixtures and got me a wicker torso. She's wearing a t-shirt and apron right now and hanging out in the green room. Oh, and I need to post pics of that room! It has been organized and is a dream to work in.

That's it for now.

My husband does good work.

After spending countless hours cleaning up other people's messes, Brad finally got the instructional manual completed for his department. It's for more than his department, actually, it's for everyone who uses a company credit card. He sent out a memo alerting all of his users to the changes, and got this email response from the Internal Compliance Auditor here on campus. It's quite a compliment, but really, nothing we didn't already know. Brad exudes excellence.

I am so pleased to see this memo, Brad. You work P-card compliance firmly and professionally. P-card usage can so easily become an area of abuse. Procurement Services does a consistently reliable job of monitoring the large number of P-card transactions. It makes this internal auditor sleep better at night.

Thanks to all that make this happen, and keep up the good work!

Proud wife am I.

Worky Work, Busy Bee

Sorry for the silence, dear readers. It's a chaotic season right now. Days and evenings are worky work, weekends are sleeeeeeeeep and sleeeeeeeeep. We're almost through with the germs my new batch of students brought to me this semester, and that is a welcome finale.

Work is going well. I'm happy with my college students during the day, and in the evenings I've started doing trainings at the computer store. The hours fly by, especially in the evening. I feel very fortunate (read: protected by God) with regard to the computer store as they just did a big slashing of hours due to a corporate dictum. Had timing not worked as it had, I probably would not be hired now and we would not be making our budget. Praise God for provision.

And I've completed all my requirements for grad school. Did I mention I'm applying? (I just re-read old posts-- yes, I did.) So the application process is complete. Had a funny thing happen last Thursday. Here are parts of the email I sent to my mom and sister:

"So I've had an interesting morning. I went to my 9:30 class, taught for an hour, and had 30 minutes to kill until my stats class. I went online to find some sample questions for this Millers Analogies Test, which is the quickest, cheapest option for grad school entrance exams around here. (Sorry, Sis, that you have to take the GRE.) I found two sample tests online and took each, and got 17/20 and 18/20! I was pleasantly surprised! I breathed a sigh of relief and thought maybe this isn't going to be so hard to cram for all weekend.

My half hour drew to a close, and I headed off to stats. Funny thing-- my students were walking the wrong way! One girl who recognized me told me that the prof had cancelled the class due to a meeting! Woo hoo! Free hour and a half! ...and my mind started thinking. Hm. I just took two practice tests. I surprised myself at how well I did. I have the registration form and check in my hand, which I had planned to take to the testing center anyhow... but surely I couldn't take it now. The form expressly says in bold letters that I must pay at least one day prior to taking the test, to give them time to set up and make sure they're not overbooked.

Unbelievably, they got me right in. I got to take the test spur-of-the-moment. I got a 450 out of 600. Not bad for not preparing, I thought. I needed a 400 to get in, so I have that. But I wonder what the percentile is-- like, how do I compare with others? I looked online. The standard deviation is 25. The average is 400. Thanks to my stats class, I now know that says I scored in the 97th percentile.

I think I'm going to grad school."

That was pretty encouraging, and certainly I can't take credit for that. No preparation? And I am not a genius. It felt like a little confirmation that I'm going in the right direction.

Brad has applied for another job here on campus and I think he'd be perfect for it. The interview process is just starting, so we'll keep you posted. It would be a really great thing for him career-wise and for us financially-- would pay for my grad school and then some. And God has given Brad a peace about it. It's in His hands anyway. We are learning the depth of the truth of that statement more and more this year.

In other news, we went shopping the other day. Steve and Barry's is a shop we had when I was at Purdue; it had collegiate t-shirts 2 for $5 and other such deals. Well, now it has branched out beyond college-wear and we found a few items for Brad. And these fine t-shirts. There were more options, of course, from a closer-to-the-gutter sense of humor category.




For Valentine's Day we made fondue at home, and it was gooood. We started out with cheese fondue made with broth, emmenthaler, and gruyere cheese. Then we had a bouillon to cook chicken and broccoli in (the potatoes needed to be par-cooked first, whoopsies, crunchy potatoes). Finally we had chocolate fondue made with milk chocolate chips, cream, vanilla, and a little peanut butter. A. Ma. Zing. And oh, darn, we had to do it again on Saturday night as there were leftovers and we just couldn't bear wasting them!

Also on Saturday we got the car detailed by a friend of ours here at school. He's graduating this spring but prefers to detail cars at a golf course and did it for us for nothing. It was so nice to get rid of all of the teeny glass shards still sticking around the car from the break-in. Oh, and speaking of, the bastards used my credit card to get lunch for themselves at Chick Fil A and Burger King. Maybe, just maybe, the detective can use this information to catch them. I've mostly let it go, but every once in a while I let loose with a "BASTARDS!" Wouldn't you?

In other happy news, March is quickly approaching and we are full of plans for visitors!!!! The first week is my spring break, which means if I can get sub jobs thats loads of extra money. Then the second week I have to teach but am taking evenings off to spend with... MOM! She comes for a week to see me and a few of her friends who vacation down here as well. The next week Dad comes into town with his "friend" so I don't think they're staying with us, but we will get to see them periodically. Then on Saturday the Bowman tribe arrives! We have been plotting and scheming and are super excited for all of these visits. March is simply amazing, weather-wise down here, and we love to share it with you! April doesn't stink, either. Anyone want to plan a last minute getaway?

We're going to start praying fervently that God would sell our house in October. We either have to refinance or sell, and gosh would it be nice to sell it. It will be a miracle, but God can do that. We would rent a condo for a year or two until I finish my masters and then see what happens. That's something you could pray for.

Hope you all are well. I'm off to proctor a midterm exam and then meet with the education department to chart my course of studies. Wheee!

Just What I've Always Wanted To Be

Seen while shopping at CVS:


If your favorite vegetable is a corn dog, you're a Mitchum man.

Struck me as funny for some reason.

We're hunkering down for the day as we both have whatever rotten cold is going around. We don't have much of an opinion about the big game but hope to see some fun commercials.

Overheard.

From the files of "Isn't It Fun To Work With 18-Year-Olds":



Employee 1: Jim, I like your new 'do! What made you do it?

Jim: Oh, I lit my head on fire this morning. I was trying to light a cigarette.



Ironic, considering said retail place features a gen*ius bar. Maybe it's supposed to be funny.

Hello, New Blue Friend

This morning we went dumpster diving again to see if we could recover anything. We didn't find anything except for the cop who helped us yesterday when it all happened. That was a weird coincidence and quite comforting, too, as she was really great about everything. I had lost the slip of paper with the case number and detective's phone number so she gave it to me again and we came home.

I worked on our taxes and my financial aid form for much of the afternoon and then decided to grieve actively. Sewing is meditative for me, and I need a new purse anyway, so I sewed up this blue friend. He's blue because I'm blue.

I especially like the inside-- blue bubbles with a ticking striped pocket.


Perhaps my favorite part of making a new purse is the ceremonial transferring of stuff (wallet, chapstick, etc.) from old purse to new purse. It was when I realized I didn't have those things to transfer that the tears began flowing.

This whole thing just hurts. I have bad words to say about those people, and I have said some of them. But more than just being annoyed that I don't know my drivers license number to write on the financial aid form, I am angry that my husband, who so desperately needs to rest, is instead outside at 11 pm still vacuuming out shards of glass and taking apart the car door. Instead of relaxing tonight he has come in to check on me with blood on his fingers. Instead of having a day of rest we are picking up pieces literally and figuratively. And instead of being ready for the week I feel beaten down and violated. And so I cry out to God-- why did this happen? What can I learn from it? Please won't you protect us more? Please heal our hearts and bodies and restore us quickly.

RIP, Little Pink Purse

Pardon my french. It has been a hell of a day.

After a busy morning of weighing in at Weight Watchers (I gained, ugh), then running around buying a birthday present for a friend, I dropped Brad at home and went out to meet said friend, Ashley, for her birthday lunch. We had a lovely time together, she loved the present, and then we went for a walk at the slough nature preserve, my favorite peaceful place when the weather is as nice as it was today.

We parked our cars, I took my keys and phone and put my purse in the trunk. We were away from our cars for 45 minutes exactly. I think you can finish the story yourself.


When we got back to the cars there was a cop car nearby and numerous people standing around writing on clipboards. I walked toward my car when a man stopped me. "Don't touch your car. It was broken into and the cops need to dust it for fingerprints."

I called Brad who came over immediately. Another cop arrived to help with the seven people whose cars were broken into. Whoever did it broke windows and jimmied some locks and only stole purses-- no GPS systems, stereos, etc. Bastards.

After filling out my report we waited as the nice sheriff dusted the car for fingerprints (not much success) and then Brad got as much of the bits of glass as he could off of the seat. We decided to check a few nearby dumpsters as there's a low-ish income apartment complex across the street. No dice.




We decided to just go home and make the necessary phone calls to the banks and credit cards. But then I just felt like checking the dumpsters at the nearby Walmart. We drove around back and I peeked into the dumpster. I spotted a passport-- that was weird. People don't throw their passports into the dumpster, I thought. Then I saw some credit cards, library cards, social security card, and other such things. By George, I had found someone ELSE'S purse. I called the cops who came over and looked at it. Brad had to get into the dumpster to get everything out as the cops "can't get into a dumpster" (grrr, so what will they do if they see MY purse in a dumpster?). We gave everything to the cop and went home.

I called the bank (24 minutes of being on hold before getting a live person at Bank of America. Seriously. They get an F in customer service.) and canceled my debit card and credit card. Then I called our evening employment to ask them to stop payment on Brad's paycheck which he had endorsed and I was going to deposit on my way home. I also ordered a replacement drivers license and AAA card online. Should only be about a week until I get some identification back.

We decided to go ahead with our fun dinner plans. I found a good review online of a restaurant for which we had a buy-one-get-one-free coupon and thought we might enjoy a little adventure.

When we got inside we found that it was a buffet, and since it was 7:30 all the food was old, crusty, and nearly gone. We left and headed for a safe and predictable dining experience at Uno's.


We got off the highway and headed down the exit ramp. There were two lanes of right turn lanes, both having a red arrow. The traffic was coming from the left at a pretty good clip when the guy next to us, in the left lane, decided to turn right, directly in the path of an oncoming car! The driver of that car navigated well and tried to swerve to not hit him, but there was no way to avoid it. The cars bumped like bumper cars right in front of us as we yelled, "NO! NO! NO!"

I called the cops (for the SECOND time today) and we followed the cars onto a frontage road to assess and give our witness. The guy who pulled out in traffic was an elderly gentleman who, with his wife, was on his way home from a family wedding. It seemed he just had a little trouble seeing the car coming. The other driver was a 17 year old college freshman who was on her way home from doing a community service project. Neither was hurt, thankfully, so we left after about 25 minutes of waiting for the cop and five minutes of talking with the cop, who was incredulous that we didn't want to eat at the Amazon Grill, but suggested the white pizza at Uno's.


It is very good to be home, finally. I am sad to have lost my dear pink purse, the $120 in cash inside, the more than $200 in gift cards, my personal information, and the innocence and bliss of a nice, peaceful afternoon. I am annoyed at the time and cost of replacing the window and trying to match the tinting of the other three. I am hurt that there are people in the world who do mean things to others instead of acting with love. But I will recover, and things could be worse. For now I need to cocoon and just be safe at home with my sweet husband, and block the nasty, mean, dangerous world out for a bit. What a day.

No monkey sightings...

...but I have a fantastic batch of banana bread in the kitchen. We bought a handful of bananas to feed the monkeys but never actually found them. We were a bit short on time as we got a late start and then had to get to a funeral. But at least we have some incredible banana bread. Remember how it always sinks in the middle? This time it didn't! It's amazing.

So Friday I didn't sub as the school district was off. I got some things done around the house and then got a phone call just as I was getting ready to do some school work. It was my official offer from the fruity computer store, and when could I come in and sign the paperwork? I left about a half hour later and they had me stay until closing, watching training videos online. I'm hesitant but excited about it. They have me on a fast track to doing some one-on-one training since I have a teaching background, and I'm glad about that. Sales on the floor isn't really all that appealing to me. But Brad is a superstar at it and loves it, and it fills my heart with glee to see him that happy.

Saturday we slept in and then went on a wild monkey chase. Then we went to the memorial service for the mother of a friend of ours-- Kubby was the drummer in the worship band at the first church we were part of here, and his mother had a double aneurysm two days after Christmas. It was great to see them again, but it was just a very sad occasion. We came home and took naps (told you we were sleep deprived!) and had a late dinner and went to bed.

Sunday we went to the Vineyard, which we're contemplating leaving. It's a long story, but we're just trying to figure out where we fit in best, and what is most important to us. Each church has its flaws, we know, but some flaws are easily overlooked, and some are just plain offensive. We're slowly trying to figure this out. After church we had lunch and took naps. Again. And then had dinner and went to bed.

And today we have enjoyed a day off. I've been studying statistics as I am still lost and the book is a terrible teacher. I also have 42 homework assignments to grade. I'm making headway, but this is a bit difficult. I'm also seriously considering going to grad school in the fall, for a seemingly silly reason. Every time I watch School of Rock (Jack Black), I see Joan Cusack as the head of school and my heart skips a beat. That's what I want to be! I want to be a head of school, specifically a girls' school. We caught a few minutes of the movie on tv last night, and then I dreamed about visiting my former students at the first school I taught at-- a girls' school. It just makes my heart beat and I want want want to be there. Trouble is, my time is maxxed out just making ends meet. And chances are slim that I will have free graduate credit hours this fall (just found that out, ugh). So it is up to God to make this happen if this dream is from him. I will apply for financial aid, I will take a job at a public school for more money (even though I will hate it), I will do what he leads me to do. Anyone have any advice about going back to school?

We're about to leave for work-- 5:30 - 9:30 tonight. At least we're together, and it's actually really enjoyable. The people there are all very young and full of energy (they couldn't understand why we didn't want to go to the 10 pm movie on Friday night) and they keep us awake and alert. Can't complain!

Feels like home to me

Today is cool, high of 81, a little humid after this morning's rain, and gray. We get only a handful of gray days down here and I just really love them. Everything is subdued and calmer than normal, and I just want to cuddle up on the couch with Brad and watch netflix. Which we will do tonight.

I spotted this colorful thing on campus today: a red-leafed vine climbing up a tree. Most leaves are green all the time, so a rare red leaf caught my eye and, combined with the gray sky and cooler temps, it made me feel like I was at home. Nice warm fuzzy feeling.

In other news, we learned today at lunch that there are wild monkeys in Florida. I'm not even kidding. A sociology prof was microwaving her lunch as Brad and I were eating at an adjacent table and she mentioned that she had been out watching the monkeys yesterday. "In the zoo?" I asked. "No, down in Naples. There are three of them and people say they've been around for fifty years," she replied. (!!!!!!!) Brad and I are going to check it out this weekend. She said that they live in a protected natural area right near an old folks' home, and that they are tame and like to eat bananas, grapes, and peppermint candies. There are also a lot of them in central Florida somewhere, like fifty or so. We're definitely going to investigate. Bowmans, we're thinking if this works out it could make for a fun outing in March. :)

Forgive me, readers, for I have, well, been absent.

I've been thinking of you, I promise. But things are busier than ever right now. School is back in full swing, and I am pretty happy with my Monday through Thursday schedule. Mondays and Wednesdays have five classes (ugh) but Tuesdays and Thursdays have only three each. I've also figured out a new system this semester: instead of doing lecture recaps, which means five lectures some days, I'm doing no more than 10 minutes of example problems, and then the students are working together on worksheets. The worksheets are exactly like their homework and quizzes, so they're helpful to the students and I only have to do a little talking when they ask me questions. It's working out better and I'm not quite as exhausted as I was in August. It's still a little rough on my introverted self, but I'm getting through it.

I also am subbing on Fridays at the close-by high school. It's about 5 minutes from the house and the school day is from 7 am until 2 pm. Not too shabby for an extra $100. And I just had a successful interview at a particular computer store whose logo is a fruit. (I'm going to try to keep all references to a minimum so as to fly under the googling radar. I won't disclose any secrets, so if you've found me, know I promise to behave.) Anyway, I'll be working there alongside Brad, who has been there since mid December. He really likes it, and I'm excited to start. Though an evening job is tough on the energy level, at least we'll be together. I'm going to try to work toward being a trainer of sorts in their individualized computer tutoring program. It sounds realllllly cool to me and seems to fit my giftings. Our current dream-of-the-week (everybody needs one) is to get on full time with them in the next two years, and then move and help them open a new store somewhere in an exotic location, like Ireland, or England, or Finland, or Australia, or Canada, or anywhere in the Midwest. Ok, so it closely ties in with our dream to get the hades out of here, but at least it's more positive and focused, instead of whiny and flailing. We shall see what comes of it. For now, we are terribly grateful to have these jobs and that we enjoy them. And they make our budget balance, which is a rarity in this town, this state, this country, this economy.

We're also starting training for the Theophostic Prayer Ministry class we took last fall. It begins tonight and runs every Tuesday for about a year, I think. There's a DVD series we'll watch, a manual we'll work through, and then about 8 months of group experience where we'll work through some of our own lies and observe others' work as well. At first all the training requirements seemed like overkill in my opinion, especially since I've been on numerous prayer ministry teams before without a year of training. But this is different, and because its goal is to help a person go back to their childhood or adolescence and dig up old hurts, the facilitator has to be trained to know what to do when really bad things come up, or nothing comes up, or the person freaks out, etc. Without training I could do more harm than good. So we begin that tonight.

Which means life is busy around here! We leave the house around 6:45 or 7 am to go to school, leave there at 4:30 for the fruity computer store (not fruity in the sexual-preference kind of way, goofball), work 5:30 until 9:45, get home at 10:30 and do it all over again. (Disclaimer: Brad is the one who has been doing that schedule for a while now. I will begin it soon. Up until now, my evenings have been free and easy and full of laundry and bills.) That will be Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Tuesday is Theophostic night. Thursday will be go-to-sleep-early night. Weekends will be lots of sleeping.

All of this is to say, if you haven't heard from us in a while, please don't be offended. First, we're both horrible correspondents and it's a wonder any of our far-away-friends are still our friends. We were astounded that we got any Christmas cards at all! Ok, that's an exaggeration. But we know we're bad at keeping in touch. Second, things are just busy. But we will work harder at it. We do love you and miss you horribly.

There's not a whole lot else to tell you, I think. It's a rare cool day here with a -gasp- windchill this morning!!! I think the high is 68 or something, so people are all bundled up in fleece and coats. Go ahead, laugh away.

Oh-- we have made a few travel plans for the summer. We'll be in Columbus May 16 or so as my cousin is getting married in Cincinnati that Saturday. Columbus friends, we will want to see you! And Chicago friends, we will be in town in mid August-- the weekend that covers the 15th or so. We will want to see you, too! I'll get in touch closer to those dates to arrange meals (ahem, Donato's and Massey's, stock up) and visits.

I'm off to meet with a Stats professor for whom I teach. I haven't had stats since that unfortunate summer school class at Trinity with the psychology professor who was obsessed with sex. That was a joy of a class, so I promptly forgot everything I learned. Now, ten years later, I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm faking it pretty well, though.

Happy Birthday, Sissy!

This crazy lady turns 26 today!

Happy birthday to my funny, strong, determined, silly, driven, hilarious, thoughtful, kind, loyal, caring, free-spirited, random, organized, creative, wonderful sister! I love you so much, Floopy!

Not so subtle

School is back in session as of today. I love this job, and although
I'm still bleary-eyed from the 6 a.m. alarm, it's energizing to be
around college kids. And there's something about the rhythm of the
school year that I really like. The kids are fun, too. The girls are,
just like in August, dressed as little as possible. I swear, the
cleavage is staggering. All these perky bosoms are enough to make a
not-as-perky 31-year-old feel ancient and saggy. And the guys can't
get enough of it. They're all full of hormones, just like in
September. New semester = new crop of girls to ogle. Some guys are
subtle, some not so much. Last semester the winner of "Most Offensive
T-shirt On The First Day Of School" went to Mr. "Don't Worry, I Always
Pull Out." Seriously. On his t-shirt. This semester it goes to Mr.
"I'm Not A Gynecologist, But I'll Take A Look." Who makes these
shirts? Goodness. And it's always the guys who I would bet my lunch
haven't seen action in, oh, say, ever. But they want the world to
think they have.

Mothers, don't let your babies grow up to be these guys.