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Dr. A just shared this with me.

Holiday Travel & The Guilt Trip

So.... Flew home last Tuesday night. Had Thanksgiving lunch with Mom, Dad and Aunt M.

Went to church and had lunch with Aunt N, Uncle G, Cousins D & L and their three kids who have grown so much in the last year and a half... Unbelievable.

Got a new winter jacket (needed desperately).

Loved a puppy dog and a kitty cat.

Visited with parents and helped them plan a holiday party. This will be the first party they've hosted since about 1976. They're really excited.

I decorated their/our Christmas tree.

Got up at 3am on Monday morning to catch my 6am flight back here... got to the airport and right before my plane was to board they asked for volunteers to take a later flight. I volunteered and got a free round trip ticket and upgraded to first class on the flight from DFW to MSP. As it turns out someone on the plane got sick... or something... two EMT's rolled their gurney onto the plane and there was quite a delay. The plane didn't leave the gate until 20 minutes after it was supposed to take off so I most likely would have missed my very close connecting flight.

My poor Dad had been home 15 minutes when I called and he very kindly came back to get me. I went back home for a nap, lunch with Mom and then hung out at their shop for a while. At 3:00pm my Dad took me back to the airport for my 5:30pm flight.

I got to MSP around 8:30pm-ish. I booked-it to the other side of the airport and waited for my flight home. Right when they were starting to board the plane they announced that they were skipping my town and going straight to the last stop (north of here). Apparently the weather here was too nasty. They told us that we could fly on up to Thief River Falls and find our own way home or they could try to rebook us but it might be up to two days. Aaaah!

I wound up getting on the 9:10am flight Tuesday and spending the night in a hotel right next to the airport (read: loud planes flying over me all night long).

Arrived at 10:30am, came home, changed clothes, grabbed a snack and made it to my 12:00pm class.

Weeee!

Now comes the guilt trip.

When I came home the first time kitty wouldn't be quiet. She squawks instead of meowing. She followed me around the apartment going "Yeow! Yeow! Yeow! Yeow! Yeow!" And I was only able to love her for 10 minutes before I had to leave for class.

I got back around 5pm and I could hear her crying at the door when I was walking down the hallway. Very unusual. She followed me around again... squawking. I held her in my lap for quite a while and she kept climbing up and head-butting me in the face. If I left the room she would start squawking. And the saddest thing ever... she fell asleep, sitting on the couch (next to me) and woke up crying and looking around for me. Like a baby. Seriously.

Last night I barely got any sleep because she kept head-butting me and crawling on top of me (when a 15lb cat crawls on top of you - you know it).

I had Aya stop by every other day to check on her, feed her, pet her... but even today she is following me around squawking. She was truly traumatized by my leaving her alone for 6 days.

I'm a baaaaad mommy.

Thanksgiving '07

Back in Texas, but no big plans. Just sitting at home with the puppy and kitty trying to keep myself entertained while the parents are at work.

Having Thanksgiving lunch tomorrow with my parents and aunt.

Hopefully I will get to see my Dad's family while I'm here.

Birthday

Had a guest over the weekend. Doug took his Praxis II test on Saturday morning and needed a place to stay.

I got some work done in the Ceramics studio on Saturday - time is almost up for wet clay work.

Yesterday morning Doug woke me up singing Happy Birthday and dancing on my bed. LOL
Dork.

Bowling was fun last night (even though my scores were terrible) and a few of us went out to Applebee's afterwards.

It was an ok birthday. Most of the day I sat at home working on school stuff.

Neighbors

When I moved into this apartment building there was a dentist office here. Now they've added a retirement/assisted living facility for the elderly.

If I stay here long enough I'll have great teeth and a place to retire.

Subbing 10.0

High School Choir... The Student Teacher took over all the instruction, bless her. It was her first week of student teaching, so I helped her a bit with discipline. Overall, it was a good day.

Black Magic!

A quick giggle, courtesy of Get Fuzzy.

Rant-ish

I don't like rude people. There's really no excuse for it.

I don't like bullies. They're really just terribly insecure.

It's kind of sad.

I do like supportive friends who "have your back" and bosses who stand up for you.
They're pretty much awesome.

What will $20 get you?

1. A sharp poke in the arm
2. A day-long pain in the arm
3. "Protection" from the flu
4. A sucker for not crying :)

LoL

I missed a phone call last night, resulting in a humorous voice mail from a friend of mine. He started out by singing, "Happy Belated Birthday to You..." and went on (rambling) about how he and his wife were sorry they'd missed my birthday. He also wished me happy birthday over 20 times...

So I called him (and his wife) back and in between fits of laughter I managed to say, "I don't know what's funnier... your message or the fact that my birthday isn't until November 18th."

Sensory Experience

Last night Aya and I went to see 30 Days of Night.

1. The movie takes place in northern Alaska - in the cold. The theater was freezing. I had on my jacket, hat, scarf and gloves.

2. At one point in the movie there's a bag of pot-marijuana-hashish. Someone in the theater reeked of pot.

3. The Kiwi guy in the movie had a terrible accent. Uhm... My Kiwi accent is terrible?

Ok, maybe I should have stopped with one and two.

Future Plans

I spoke to my adviser this morning regarding my future plans. I told her I was planning on attending the big education job fair in the cities this April and she said I should also look into jobs at community colleges. There's a thought...

*ponder*

It opens up more job opportunities for me and helps me in my long-term goal of teaching in higher ed.

I'll have to think about that...

Free Rice

Heard about this on the radio... Free Rice. For every word you get right they "donate 10 grains of rice through the United Nations to help end world hunger."

Or so they say... but I like word games and it's a nice thought...

Plus when I went to Dictionary.com to look up inveigle, I saw their word of the day is woolgathering and I had no idea it could also mean "indulgence in idle fancies and in daydreaming; absentmindedness." So it's educational.

Who done it?

So much fun!

Last night was my Murder Mystery Dinner Party. I had 6 other people over and we all dressed up and did our best imitations of French and Italian accents (meaning we massacred them). Lots of laughter, finger pointing and drama.

Good times.

The Haunted House was lots of fun too, but I was so tired by then end of it. 4pm until after midnight running around and giving tours. Half an hour before it was to start, the fire alarm went off because of the fog machine and they couldn't shut it off. It kept blaring for an hour or so, when it miraculously shut off on its own.

I'm looking forward to a nice quiet week this week.