I'm officially finished for the semester!! I calculated grades, and I'm done. (Yes, done; not finished. My English teacher brain is on vacation.) YAY!!
However, I am going to spend quite a bit of the summer reading. Today I worked about half way through Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. I hadn't read that one before, and I figured that it was about time....
Monday, April 30, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
And His Name Is....
No, I'm not pregnant. And no, we didn't get a dog.
I've decided that I need to name my rosebush. I spent a few more hours today cleaning brush and junk out of my soon-to-be-garden, and I think my rosebush needs a name. The rosebush is beginning to bloom, and the roses are yellow--a soft, pale, almost-white yellow, and not the bright yellow that you usually see in the flower shop. (Did you know that the yellow rose is not the state flower of Texas!! Dad used to sing 'The Yellow Rose of Texas' all the time; since Dad's originally from Texas, I thus--for some reason unbeknownst to me--always thought that the yellow rose was the Texas state flower. But it isn't. Apparently the Texas state flower is the bluebonnet. The bluebonnet? Who thought of that? Oh well, at least they have a state flower. All Oklahoma has is a state parasite that we try to pass off as a flower. I mean, mistletoe, a state flower? Really.... Hmmm, I digress.) Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out what to name my rosebush. I think it needs a 'he' name, though Jimmy and I thought it would be kinda cute to call it Petunia. Any ideas?
I've decided that I need to name my rosebush. I spent a few more hours today cleaning brush and junk out of my soon-to-be-garden, and I think my rosebush needs a name. The rosebush is beginning to bloom, and the roses are yellow--a soft, pale, almost-white yellow, and not the bright yellow that you usually see in the flower shop. (Did you know that the yellow rose is not the state flower of Texas!! Dad used to sing 'The Yellow Rose of Texas' all the time; since Dad's originally from Texas, I thus--for some reason unbeknownst to me--always thought that the yellow rose was the Texas state flower. But it isn't. Apparently the Texas state flower is the bluebonnet. The bluebonnet? Who thought of that? Oh well, at least they have a state flower. All Oklahoma has is a state parasite that we try to pass off as a flower. I mean, mistletoe, a state flower? Really.... Hmmm, I digress.) Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out what to name my rosebush. I think it needs a 'he' name, though Jimmy and I thought it would be kinda cute to call it Petunia. Any ideas?
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Things Eastern Oklahoma has that Western Kansas Doesn't....
Yesterday I was thinking about Kansas and Oklahoma and the differences between the two. Thus, 'Things Eastern Oklahoma has that Western Kansas Doesn't.'
1. Chiggers. (Not fun. We have pheasants in Western Kansas.)
2. Ticks. (Again, not fun. While you'll occasionally find a tick in Western Kansas, they're fairly rare. You certainly don't have to check yourself for ticks every time you come in after being outside.)
3. Poison Ivy. (I didn't have a clue what this stuff looked like before coming to Oklahoma. I still don't know what it looks like, but I do know that it has three leaves and that Jimmy's allergic to it.)
4. Red Dirt. (I thought dirt was supposed to be brown.)
5. Trees. (I like trees, but there are tree roots and tree stumps from old, dead trees all over where my garden is supposed to go.)
6. Snails and Slugs. (Okay, the snails are kinda cool to watch, but the slugs? How am I supposed to get rid of these little creatures?)
7. Lakes. (I don't really like to swim anyway, so the thought of swimming in green water with fish in it just isn't overly appealing.)
8. Humidity. (I think this probably has something to do with the lakes and the trees and just water in general--which is something that Western Kansas doesn't really have.)
Also, where are all the basements?
1. Chiggers. (Not fun. We have pheasants in Western Kansas.)
2. Ticks. (Again, not fun. While you'll occasionally find a tick in Western Kansas, they're fairly rare. You certainly don't have to check yourself for ticks every time you come in after being outside.)
3. Poison Ivy. (I didn't have a clue what this stuff looked like before coming to Oklahoma. I still don't know what it looks like, but I do know that it has three leaves and that Jimmy's allergic to it.)
4. Red Dirt. (I thought dirt was supposed to be brown.)
5. Trees. (I like trees, but there are tree roots and tree stumps from old, dead trees all over where my garden is supposed to go.)
6. Snails and Slugs. (Okay, the snails are kinda cool to watch, but the slugs? How am I supposed to get rid of these little creatures?)
7. Lakes. (I don't really like to swim anyway, so the thought of swimming in green water with fish in it just isn't overly appealing.)
8. Humidity. (I think this probably has something to do with the lakes and the trees and just water in general--which is something that Western Kansas doesn't really have.)
Also, where are all the basements?
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Almost Finished....
Wow, the school year's almost over. Our last day of class here is Monday, and I'm trying to get all of my grading and stuff finished up by then. I still have some work to do, but I'm looking forward to summer. I'll have about a month 'off' before I start teaching my summer section, but I'll be keeping myself with reading and studying, working in my yard and garden (after I get the overgrown rosebushes and poison ivy cleaned out of where my garden is supposed to go), and preparing for the classes I'll be teaching both this summer and in the fall.
We finished our ultimate frisbee season tonight. We lost our playoff game tonight, and we ended the season 4-2. Since we had a good turnout tonight, I just sat on the sidelines and watched everyone else play.
Also, it seems that winter's almost finished too. Actually, since I decided to pack my sweaters away and pull out my summer clothes today, I wouldn't be surprised if winter decides to reappear for a few days yet....
We finished our ultimate frisbee season tonight. We lost our playoff game tonight, and we ended the season 4-2. Since we had a good turnout tonight, I just sat on the sidelines and watched everyone else play.
Also, it seems that winter's almost finished too. Actually, since I decided to pack my sweaters away and pull out my summer clothes today, I wouldn't be surprised if winter decides to reappear for a few days yet....
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Playing....
I did some playing this past week and over the weekend....
I played a couple of games of Ultimate Frisbee this past week with an intramural team from my church. Though I hadn't played in a while, I did okay. Our team is currently 3 and 1; not too bad....
Last night Jimmy and I had a few friends over to play Settlers of Catan. I'd only played that game a few times and I didn't do too well, but I did have a lot of fun (and I think everyone else did too).
Today I played in the dirt. I have a little flowerbed out in front of the house, and Jimmy's mom gave me some bedding plants for my birthday. Though I didn't get the plants planted today, I did manage to get the flowerbed cleaned out (which was a much larger task than I'd anticipated). I hope to be able to plant flowers within the next few days....
I played a couple of games of Ultimate Frisbee this past week with an intramural team from my church. Though I hadn't played in a while, I did okay. Our team is currently 3 and 1; not too bad....
Last night Jimmy and I had a few friends over to play Settlers of Catan. I'd only played that game a few times and I didn't do too well, but I did have a lot of fun (and I think everyone else did too).
Today I played in the dirt. I have a little flowerbed out in front of the house, and Jimmy's mom gave me some bedding plants for my birthday. Though I didn't get the plants planted today, I did manage to get the flowerbed cleaned out (which was a much larger task than I'd anticipated). I hope to be able to plant flowers within the next few days....
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Happy Easter!!
Happy Easter!!
Jimmy and I went to an early Easter Mass this morning, and we determined that neither of us can recall ever going to an Easter morning Mass before. We're both more accustomed to going to a Saturday evening vigil Mass, so the Easter morning Mass seemed very (very!) short and different. I think I'll/we'll go back to the vigil Mass next year; it just felt more like an Easter Mass....
We had Easter dinner with Jimmy's family at our house today. We cooked a ham and all the fixings, and it was generally a lot of fun.
I spent most of the afternoon taking a nap. (The early morning Mass combined with the late night of housecleaning threw my sleep schedule way off.) I've been spending most of the evening working on my computer and playing with wedding pictures. (I got some wedding pictures from one of my sisters, and I got the proofs back from the photographer. I'm in the process of uploading the wedding pictures to my shutterfly site; I should have some up there to share within the next few days. Oh, if you were at the wedding and have pictures that you would like to share, I'd love to see them....)
Jimmy and I went to an early Easter Mass this morning, and we determined that neither of us can recall ever going to an Easter morning Mass before. We're both more accustomed to going to a Saturday evening vigil Mass, so the Easter morning Mass seemed very (very!) short and different. I think I'll/we'll go back to the vigil Mass next year; it just felt more like an Easter Mass....
We had Easter dinner with Jimmy's family at our house today. We cooked a ham and all the fixings, and it was generally a lot of fun.
I spent most of the afternoon taking a nap. (The early morning Mass combined with the late night of housecleaning threw my sleep schedule way off.) I've been spending most of the evening working on my computer and playing with wedding pictures. (I got some wedding pictures from one of my sisters, and I got the proofs back from the photographer. I'm in the process of uploading the wedding pictures to my shutterfly site; I should have some up there to share within the next few days. Oh, if you were at the wedding and have pictures that you would like to share, I'd love to see them....)
Monday, April 02, 2007
BDanica Finally Had a BBaby!
In case you're as out of the loop as I am, BDanica (who doesn't update her blog very often) finally had her baby! Her name is Brynna Elisabeth, and she was born on Wednesday, March 28. YAY BDanica!!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
"Wait a Minute, I Got Married..."
Well, it's been a busy week....
The wedding was last Saturday, and it all went beautifully. The whole day was generally a lot of fun. I haven't seen very many pictures yet, but I'm eagerly awaiting a phone call from the photographer....
Jimmy and I flew out early on Sunday morning for a little honeymoon in Washington D.C. We'd both been to D.C. before, so we got to spend the trip seeing the things that we either wanted to see again or hadn't seen before. We went to the International Spy Museum, the National Postal Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Library of Congress, the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, and various other places. While I enjoyed visiting most of the places that we went, I particularly enjoyed the Postal Museum, the Shakespeare Library, and Ford's Theatre. I was a bit disappointed by the JPII Cultural Center; I was expecting a museum and it was more of a cultural/convention center. I probably would have enjoyed the Spy Museum and the National Archives more if they hadn't been packed with children who were apparently on school trips to D.C.
Our honeymoon was generally pretty low key. However, we stayed at the Hotel Rouge, a fancier-than-usual little place, and went out for a fancier-than-usual dinner one night which was followed by a limo tour of the D.C. area. We flew back home on Wednesday so Jimmy could be back to work on Thursday morning.
I feel like I've spent the last couple of days just trying to put my house back in order. (My absolutely wonderful family came down for the wedding, and my house--now our house--was Grand Central Station. The back room got turned into a flower shop, the kitchen became a cafeteria, and the rest of the house was either visiting space or work space as needed.) Between all of the traffic from the past week, the wedding gifts and stuff (decorations, etc), and the recent return from a trip, there's a lot of work to be done before the house looks like I think it should. Most of today was spent in the back yard; tomorrow I'm staying in the house.
A Story: "Wait a Minute, I Got Married...."
On Sunday night (after a long day involving airplanes, problems with check-in at the hotel, and some sight-seeing), Jimmy and I decided to go find a pub where we could just sit back and have a beer or two. We pulled out our little D.C. guidebook and decided to go to The Brickseller (the bar that's in the in the Guinness Book of World Records for bar with the most beers). Jimmy was very excited because they had Lithuanian beer. Anyway, after the first beer, I decided to make a trip to the ladies room. After trying to open a door in the ladies room the wrong way, I flippantly remarked, "Well, you can tell I've never been here before." Another young woman replied, "I've only been in town two days, and this is my third visit to this bar. They have the cheapest beers in town." I replied, "We decided to check the place out because my fiance...oh, wait a minute...I got married yesterday...that means he's my husband...well, my husband was hoping they'd have Lithuanian beer here...." The lady laughed, offered her congratulations, and asked if my husband and I would like to join her and her friends; I politely refused, but I'm sure I left her with a little story to tell her friends....
The wedding was last Saturday, and it all went beautifully. The whole day was generally a lot of fun. I haven't seen very many pictures yet, but I'm eagerly awaiting a phone call from the photographer....
Jimmy and I flew out early on Sunday morning for a little honeymoon in Washington D.C. We'd both been to D.C. before, so we got to spend the trip seeing the things that we either wanted to see again or hadn't seen before. We went to the International Spy Museum, the National Postal Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Library of Congress, the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, and various other places. While I enjoyed visiting most of the places that we went, I particularly enjoyed the Postal Museum, the Shakespeare Library, and Ford's Theatre. I was a bit disappointed by the JPII Cultural Center; I was expecting a museum and it was more of a cultural/convention center. I probably would have enjoyed the Spy Museum and the National Archives more if they hadn't been packed with children who were apparently on school trips to D.C.
Our honeymoon was generally pretty low key. However, we stayed at the Hotel Rouge, a fancier-than-usual little place, and went out for a fancier-than-usual dinner one night which was followed by a limo tour of the D.C. area. We flew back home on Wednesday so Jimmy could be back to work on Thursday morning.
I feel like I've spent the last couple of days just trying to put my house back in order. (My absolutely wonderful family came down for the wedding, and my house--now our house--was Grand Central Station. The back room got turned into a flower shop, the kitchen became a cafeteria, and the rest of the house was either visiting space or work space as needed.) Between all of the traffic from the past week, the wedding gifts and stuff (decorations, etc), and the recent return from a trip, there's a lot of work to be done before the house looks like I think it should. Most of today was spent in the back yard; tomorrow I'm staying in the house.
A Story: "Wait a Minute, I Got Married...."
On Sunday night (after a long day involving airplanes, problems with check-in at the hotel, and some sight-seeing), Jimmy and I decided to go find a pub where we could just sit back and have a beer or two. We pulled out our little D.C. guidebook and decided to go to The Brickseller (the bar that's in the in the Guinness Book of World Records for bar with the most beers). Jimmy was very excited because they had Lithuanian beer. Anyway, after the first beer, I decided to make a trip to the ladies room. After trying to open a door in the ladies room the wrong way, I flippantly remarked, "Well, you can tell I've never been here before." Another young woman replied, "I've only been in town two days, and this is my third visit to this bar. They have the cheapest beers in town." I replied, "We decided to check the place out because my fiance...oh, wait a minute...I got married yesterday...that means he's my husband...well, my husband was hoping they'd have Lithuanian beer here...." The lady laughed, offered her congratulations, and asked if my husband and I would like to join her and her friends; I politely refused, but I'm sure I left her with a little story to tell her friends....
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Married.
I got married today. More details and stuff to come after we get back from the honeymoon....
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
"go ogle"
"Go ogle." That was the spelling suggestion that I got from my Yahoo! e-mail when it came across the word 'Google.' I giggled (not googled, giggled). Tee-hee!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Weddings and Life....
If you're reading this, I'm guessing you survived the Ides of March. I hope you had a Happy St. Patrick's Day too. It seems I've missed a few reasons to celebrate this past week....
The name of the game recently has been wedding planning. The pesky little details are still being pesky, and they're really starting to get in the way of every day life. Though I'm excited about the wedding, I'm also looking forward to being able return to something resembling a normal life. I fear that, despite my best efforts, I'm slowly becoming a bridezilla (metaphorically, of course--I certainly don't have either the complexion or the coloring for it).
The name of the game recently has been wedding planning. The pesky little details are still being pesky, and they're really starting to get in the way of every day life. Though I'm excited about the wedding, I'm also looking forward to being able return to something resembling a normal life. I fear that, despite my best efforts, I'm slowly becoming a bridezilla (metaphorically, of course--I certainly don't have either the complexion or the coloring for it).
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
3.14
Happy Pi Day!! One of my friends who is a junior high math teacher reminded me that today is Pi Day. Just thought I would remind you too....
Monday, March 12, 2007
Wow, Time Flies....
It seems like time has gotten away from me. I was a bit surprised to see that it's been 10 days since I last updated my blog....I think the time change probably contributed to the time flying, but I don't think that's why I haven't blogged in a while....
I was away at a conference for a few days this past week. I got to go up to Kansas State University for their annual Cultural Studies conference. I presented a paper on WWII films and their influence on the Vietnam War soldiers and Vietnam War literature. The conference was interesting, and I certainly enjoyed visiting with friends and the faculty members there. The drive there and back, however, was not quite so much fun. (I forgot to pick up an audiobook at the public library before I went.)
I've been working quite a bit on wedding stuff. Jimmy and I met with the caterer this weekend, and I've been in contact with quite a few other people who will be participating in the wedding in various ways. I don't think I quite realized just how many pesky little details there are in planning a wedding....
I'm on Spring Break this week. YAY!!
Friday, March 02, 2007
Carmen
Tonight was an opera night. Jimmy and I went to see Bizet's Carmen. Though I'd played some of the music on the piano a very long time ago, I'd never seen the opera on stage before. The music was absolutely amazing (both the stuff I already knew and the stuff I didn't). I think it was probably one of the best productions that I've seen here....
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