Last Class

I had my last class today... last class with Dr. Morgan and last class at BSU.

Next semester I'm writing my Research Paper and doing my Written Exam. No classes.

A little annoyed...

Yeah...

So I paid my December rent and left a post-dated check for January's rent that they were going to hold (like they did last year). My rental agency deposited both checks at the same time. This resulted in an overdraft from my credit card (what with me being broke and all). I've been dealing with this for a week and the end result is this: The bank didn't charge me an overdraft fee bc I have overdraft protection. The rental agency couldn't get the check returned bc it didn't "bounce." So I'm left paying interest on this amount for one month - until I have money to pay it off. Not a horrible result, but I'm annoyed non-the-less.

It can all be summed up in one word: Hassle.

Oh for cute!

Chewy!

Found it at Think Geek.com

If only I were say... nine years old again :)

New Family Member

So my parents just called me.
My Mom was giddy.
They had me on speaker phone because they "had some news they wanted to tell me together."

This is extremely rare and made me go... "Uhhhh.... ok."

I thought maybe they'd decided to adopt the Great Pyrenees puppy they've been helping to watch. Some friends of theirs found it and they're trying to turn it over to the GP rescue, but they have to hold it for 30 days. These friends already have two huge dogs, so the GP has been spending it's days in my parent's back yard.

I was wrong.

Dad - "We got a Bengal!"

Me - "You got a WHAT?" - I thought he was joking... that they got another cat, maybe a bigg-ish one.

I was half right...

They went to the place where they got Luxor (who passed away this past summer) and when they walked in the owner said, "I've got your cat in the back." They were like, "Yeah. Right."

She brought out a Bengal Cat and apparently it was love at first sight.

Her name is Sarabi (interestingly... that's the name of Simba's mother in the Lion King) and she weighs about 15 lbs.

She's still in quarantine, so they can't pick her up until tomorrow... I get home Thursday so I'll meet her soon.

A freaking tiger cat...

*boggle*

A Good Visit

Went to see Sharon today. I haven't seen her since May. Been missing her quite a bit. She's had one heck of a week, so I think she enjoyed our visit even more. Hopefully we'll be able to get together again before another 7 months go by!

Have you ever...

Have you ever been walking along when you heard something that made you stop in your tracks, blink, shake your head, stifle a giggle and take a deep breath before moving on?

How about two guys walking out of the Men's Room as one says to the other, "I’ve had them all my life and you know what, they didn’t get any bigger as I got older."

You know you live in Nrthn. MN when...

When they bring in dump trucks to remove the snow from parking lots.

True story: I was looking around at the huge piles of snow (smiling inwardly) and contemplating a post about dump trucks and snow... when a dump truck with snow remnants drove right by me.

Then I listened to my voice mail with my Mom was complaining about 79 degrees today, 80 degrees tomorrow and would I please bring some snow home to them?

Sparks & Fire

Did some more Raku last night and stopped by to see how it turned out this morning... Interesting...

Had to grind down two of my high-fire pieces. First time I've had to do that, but the glazes ran a bit and the pieces stuck to the kiln shelf. When this happens they have to pry it off the shelf - sometimes taking a bit of the shelf with it. Luckily you can grind it off.

I was getting ready to use the grinder and the Professor asked me if I'd used that grinder before and I said, "I've used 'A' grinder before." And he said, "Good."
I (practically) grew up in a locksmith shop... Key machines and grinders are like home to me.

iPod Touch

Trying something new. Got an iPod as a gift, but seeing as I already have one... I traded it in for an iPod Touch. Pretty nifty. Takes a bit longer to type, but will come in handy when I'm at home for Christmas.

Picturessss

The back of our Bowling Shirts:


Today's snow:


My own computer help:

Two Lumps

So THAT'S why Rascal climbed our Christmas tree ten minutes before family was due to arrive, bringing it crashing down onto the newly set table. There were ornaments (only 2 broke) and pine needles everywhere and he went into hiding for the rest of the day.

In the past...

I'm not sure if my references are totally obscure or antiquated... Maybe both.

In the past couple of days I've made references to a "push-me-pull-you" and "No Name City" and the people around me looked at me like I was crazy.

In other news...

I got to do some Raku firing today in Ceramics. Basically you fire your pots in a kiln, slowly raising the temperature and then when they're super hot (glowing red) you remove them from the kiln and put them in a container with some highly flammable material (in this case shredded paper). The special glazes for Raku firing give you some interesting colors and you get a crackled surface. It's a bit dangerous - what with the flames and such... plus it has a 50/50 chance of cracking your pots... and they're not food-safe. Two out of the three pots I did today cracked.

Medieval Tech Support

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.