New and Improved

I finally figured out how to change the look of my blog (with lots of help from my mother) and here is the result. The photo at the top is mine, taken at Foster Park last Spring. Let me know what you think of the change.

Playing in the Dirt

Today I (re)discovered the joy of running around barefoot in the dirt. My mother, brothers and I spent the afternoon putting in our vegetable garden, which involved lots and lots of dirt. Shoes were abandoned very early on. It felt like we were playing in a big warm sandbox. Patrick proclaimed himself Mr. McGregor, Andrew was named Peter Rabbit (so very appropriate), and Jonathan was Benjamin Bunny. They also said that I was Jemima Puddle Duck, but I just don't see it.

We now have several kinds of lettuce, a few different tomatos, red and green peppers, banana peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, turnips, beets, and (best of all) a bunch of strawberry plants. In addition, I filled a planter with bougainvillea and nemesia, planted a few little beds of marigolds, and also a few dahlias. A few hours after everything was in, a series of storms came through and watered all of our little plants for us.

Michigan, Poisoning, and Wallpaper

(Warning: Longish post ahead!)

My mother, Andrew, Jonathan, and I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Michigan on a choir tour, led by our friend Nancy Osbun. Jonathan is a member of a choir at one of the Lutheran schools here in town, and the rest of us went along for fun. It wasn't seeming like much fun when (after 4 hours of sleep) I found myself in the Unity school parking lot at 5:30 Tuesday morning. It got better. After a short performance at a Lutheran school in Dearborn, we spent several hours roaming around Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum. We didn't cover anything close to everything, so my mother bought a membership and is planning on taking the whole family back up there, along with my grandparents.

We drove up to Frankenmuth after finishing at the Museum. That evening while all the little school children did their homework and Jonathan studied his Greek, my mother took Andrew and me over to the outlet mall across the street. Mmmmmmmm. I have to admit that I was not expecting much, but these were niiiiiiice outlets. The first place we stopped (after squealing our tires and doing a u-turn in the parking lot) was the BCBGMaxAzria store. I didn't know they DID outlets. We stopped in for a moment. Tragically, we only had 45 minutes to shop, and it was decided that we would accomplish more if I were not allowed to go drool all over the way-discounted designer clothes. (Oh, but I wanted to!) Anyway, we did make it to the Fossil, Ann Taylor, and Le Creuset stores.

On Wednesday the choir sang at a few more schools and we toured St. Lorenz church in Frankenmuth. It was quite lovely, but the plasma screen TVs installed throughout the sanctuary rather ruined the effect, as did the stained glass window featuring Washington and Lincoln. After we were finished inside, Mrs. Osbun took us across the street to the cemetary, which was very lovely and picturesque. We spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon in Frankenmuth where we shopped and ate lunch.

Our last stop was at Concordia, Ann Arbor, where we were given a tour of the campus. They acted as if these 6-8th graders were seriously considering their school, not just kids being led around (in the pouring rain, I might add.) We left directly from the university and headed home.

The real fun started on the way home. None of us had eaten any veggies for the past few days, so we stopped at a Crakcer Barrel to find some. The service was awful, the food was cold and disgusting, and my mother and I left with food poisoning. I was sick all evening (and over night) on Wednesday, and ended up going home from work early on Thursday because I was completely unable to face walking around for 5 hours.

Anyway, I am all better now, and I had far more enthusiasm and energy than I needed today. I discovered that I do not know what to do with myself when I don't have schoolwork to worry about. I sat around reading for a few hours and afterwards I felt intensely guilty and antsy, and as though I should be DOING something. So I stripped our bathroom wallpaper. All of it. My family found it a little strange ("Most people would go shopping- she destroys something!" says Patrick.)

Literary Crisis!

I am having a problem of tremendous proportions. I started re-reading Mansfield Park on Sunday, and cannot seem to appreciate or enjoy it. I am not drawn to any of the characters, Edward (though nice) is dull, and I find Fanny insipid and boring. This is Jane Austen. I should like Jane Austen, and I don't remember disliking Mansfield Park the first time I read it. Have I grown more more picky? Am I more shallow and unable to appreciate these very quiet characters? I have no idea. All I know is that I have put the book down, unfinished, and am turning to my fluffy library books for amusement.

Perhaps if my copy had illustrations like this one I should find it more enjoyable!

Three down, one to go

I had two final exams this morning, the first one being at 8:00 am. It hurt, but I managed to make it on time. The test was comprised of 10 page-long "short answers" (short being a relative term) and two essays. I wrote for two hours straight and filled two blue books with facts about nationalism and reform movements in the Ottoman Empire, which is actually far more interesting and much less esoteric than it sounds.
My second exam was for my literature class, and we were allowed to have our books out and open. I asked the professor if it mattered that I had been taking writing my notes inside my book all semester, and that did not seem to bother her one bit. I wrote three essays for that class, over Dante, Chaucer, and Milton, and it turned out to be pretty fun- except for the fact that my right hand was getting red and swollen from the death-grip I had on my pencil all morning.
My third "exam" was a final German essay, due outside of class today. I wrote it last week, and emailed it to the professor right afterwards. Since her return email said that she had read it and couldn't wait to have me back in class next semester, I'm assuming it was ok.

After my literature final, I met my mother at Biaggi's for a celebratory lunch. After we had finished eating, we went over to Jefferson Point for some shopping. Our first stop was Barnes and Noble, where I picked out a whole new stack of beautiful, unblemished, and very delicious looking books. We also went to Von Maur to ogle the shoes. I very firmly believe that if I were to buy and wear a pair of these shoes, I would suddenly have the ability to sing and dance like Judy Garland. They are that cool.
We are such goofy girls that we also danced around while the pianist played Phantom of the Opera songs. It was somewhat ruined by this disgustingly loud woman, (wearing shorts that should not be worn unless one is with one's close family, and one's close family is blind,) who came up to him in the middle of a song, and announced very loudly that her daughter takes "pie-ana" lessons and lectured him on the importance of music.

After finishing with our real shopping (real meaning browsing) we went over to the Vera Bradley store to scope out anything we might want from the outlet sale today. My mother got a ticket to the pre-sale-sale from a friend, and that's where she is as I write this. Neither one of us is usually very into Vera Bradley and it is VERY strange that she went to this sale (really, really, super-off-the-wall strange) but she found some really cute and useful bags at good prices, including gifts..... The best part, though, is that she comes home bearing a bag of wonderfully yummy Nutty Bavarian almonds.

Blogging Guilt

I accidently clicked on the link to my blog a moment ago, and realized that it has been almost 3 months since I wrote anything. This is vey sad, and something I should like to remedy.

The only excuse I can offer is that I have been unwilling/unable to think of intelligent things to say, and I would rather not say something pointless, just so that my blog can look updated. All of my mental energy has been going toward school work and making fun of my neighbors (oops.)

Most importantly, finals are next week and I'm looking for an excuse not to study, and my blog offers me an excellent opportunity to do so.

Anyway, now that my most excellent readship has deserted (and rightfully so), I believe I will start using this again.

I always knew I was royal....

Thank you, Katie.

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Countess Bethany the Herbaceous of Leg over Wallop Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

I'm posting right now because I'm tired of seeing the same thing every time I open my blog. That, and I haven't posted anything for almost a month.

Unfortunately, I don't have time right now to write anything that makes any sense, so I'll just save that for later, when I'm procrastinating about studying for my German exam.

Pancakes for Dummies

After I got off of work this afternoon, my mother and Patrick took me out for lunch at IHOP. I had been hungry for pancakes for a few days, so I was ridiculously excited by the prospect.

I got a lovely plate of yummy, fluffy, whole wheat pancakes, which I covered in butter. I decided to use syrup, something that I never do. As I was pouring the syrup, I was amazed by how thin it seemed. It splashed all over my plate and soaked right in. As I was eating my pancakes, I was surprised at the lack of sweetness- I had just drenched my pancakes in syrup. I was setting down the jug, thinking, "I like this syrup. I don't like overly-sweet syrup...." when my mother asked me to pass the coffee. I looked around for the coffee, and she pointed it out to me... right in my hand. I tried to explain to her that that was the syrup, but as she was pouring it into her cup, I realized that, yes, it looked much more like coffee than syrup.

We spent several minutes laughing at me.

There are two lessons to be learned from this. The first is that one should always read the labels before one dumps something all over one's food. The second is that coffee tastes pretty good on pancakes.

Up too late, with access to a computer

It turns out that I'm a lazier blogger than even I knew. I have had weeks off of school and haven't managed to write one stinkin' thing in all that time.

On a side note, the break has been wonderful. I enjoyed all our Christmas celebrations, although I have come to the conclusion that I am officially a disenchanted twenty-something type. I discovered this when, upon waking on Christmas morning, my first thought was not, "Ooooh! Presents!" or "Yay! We get to attend another beautiful church service." No, my first thought was more like, "Mmmphrrrrm. Still sleeping."

I worked every morning this last week. The library is finally moving to its amazing new home, and the process started in the Genealogy department on the day after Christmas. I spent 4 hours every morning shifting books from the original set of friendly, smooth, stable shelves to the vicious, nasty, cruel, unsanded-plywood moving shelves. For some reason, no one else seems to have had much of an issue with these beasts. I, however, don't seem to be able to approach them without my hands being savaged.
It could be worse. I am being paid for my trouble, after all.

In honor of the New Year, Patrick and I are watching our favorite Tivo-ed episodes from the past year. I discovered in the course of the evening that Patrick had missed the series finale of Alias last Spring, so we're in the middle of it right now. Jack is dying, Irina deserves to die, and Sark is awesome in his $500 shoes. That was one great show.

Long Day

I'll get the semi-depressing part out of the way first. It would appear that my Spring Break trip to Germany has been cancelled. I got a $250 refund check from the IPFW Continuing Studies dept. (the dept. that works with the travel programs) in the mail today with a note attached saying,"Full Refunds are given if the university cancels a program." Sniffle. Really, though, it is almost a relief. Funds were going to be very tight and I was a little stressed over the cost. Now that I won't be spending every penny I have, I feel quite well off. ;o) My mother is even talking about a family trip to Siesta Key for Spring Break.....That could definitely make up for any suffering.

Andrew and I started this morning much earlier than we would have wished. He and I had to be over at church for Christmas program practice (he's a Wise Guy and I'm the accompanist.) I like to moan and complain to my mother about taking part, but really I enjoy playing for it, even on the dreadful piano in the church basement.

After practice was over and I had wrapped some gifts, we headed down to Anderson for an (early) Christmas get-together with family. My grandparents, and maybe some aunts and uncles, are going to be gone for Christmas, so we had to celebrate a little early.
We got to my grandparent's house a few hours before the festivities were supposed to commence, so my mother and I helped out a little in the kitchen. I got to assist my grandpa in making the beef brisket for dinner... a VERY important job.

Back at Thanksgiving, all the cousins exchanged names to decide who was buying gifts for whom, and so "us kids" had our exchange this evening. Since I'm technically an adult I also got to take part in the adult's gift exchange (the sort where you can steal presents and everyone gets really wild.) I contributed a set of Starbucks demitasse cups and saucers which I fell in love with yesterday (nothing like waiting until the last minute.) My mother scooped them up and was able to hang on to them all evening. I got a gigantic, soft, fluffy, warm fleece blanket which is my new best friend. In fact, we're hanging out together right now.

Speaking of soft and warm, my grandparents got me a cashmere sweater which I am completely in love with. It's a pretty sort of sea-blue and oh-so-soft.

Tomorrow, after church and the Christmas Program, we have the Bach Collegium-sponsored Messiah sing-along, which should be fun.

Finals are OVER!

I am sitting in the library computer lab right now, heaving many sighs of relief. I just finshed my piano final, and before that completed my psychology final.

The piano one went fairly well. I flubbed my way through Mozart's Rondo alla Turca, but they judges decided not to hold my memory problems against me because, "it was a gutsy move to even try to play that piece." (I didn't know I was being gutsy. I just liked the music.) My other two pieces went off beautifully, and I got very high marks. Now I can go back to playing the piano for fun, and maybe even pull out some Christmas music sometime soon.

I now have a month of freedom before me.... a month to get excited about next semester and, most of all, a month to spend NOT thinking about when my next paper is due. Yesssssss.

Now I just have to wait for all of my grades to come back. ;o)

Saturday Photo Hunt

Today's theme is Red.

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

I just love taking pictures of the flowers at Foster Park, especially the tulips. They have so many "good sides" to get pictures of, and the colors are just fantastic! For some reason, this one always makes me think of a dragon.



I love this picture, which I took while staying in Australia. That's my aunt in the red coat, and my uncle is father up along the path in his red shirt. We were on our way to see some Aboriginal cave paintings (which, incidently, were also red.)

Last day of class!

I just thought that I would share some of my glee. This afternoon I had my last class for the semester. I still have to make it through a few days of finals next week, but actual classes are over. I think that when finals are over I'll throw myself a party.

On Monday I'm getting together with some friends from my honors 20th Century class for some pre-final studying time. We got together before the midterm and it was incredibly helpful. Our professor tends to talk very quickly, and it can be difficult to write down all the necessary points, so meeting to compare and compile notes helps to create a much more cohesive picture. We'll be meeting at a classmate's house and there will be food and coffee, plus a fire in the fireplace. Cozy.

Oooooh! Blog Update!

I just realized that my blog has been sitting there, gathering dust-bunnies since Thanksgiving. The poor thing. I'm sure it has been feeling incredibly neglected, but I do have a good excuse for my desertion. My perfect excuse is that I have had many long, disgusting, boring, school-related papers to write. When I have long, disgusting, boring, school-related papers to write, I find myself completely unable to even contemplate writing for fun.

Perhaps after finals are over next week I'll post more. In fact, I'll make myself post more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm sitting in my grandparents' living room right now, having chopped **9** cups of celery in preparation for the best stuffing in the entire world. My grandmother's stuffing is legendary.... People start dreaming about it on the day after Thanksgiving and crave it all year. It makes chopping cups and cups of briny water chestnuts bearable.

Photo Scavenger Hunt

Theme today- Plush

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

This is my little brother, cuddling with his bears Toby Keith and Firebreath. (Yes, those are the names he gave them.)

I changed my mind

I do have the brain power to write something.

I spent the entire day today in my pajamas. I didn't have school, work, or anything responsible to do, so I vegged. In this case, vegging meant entering 336 books into my Library Thing account (that would be Rachel's fault.) It was nice to just relax and waste an entire day. I've been so very useful lately, and it was starting to catch up with me. ;o)

I'm getting ready to start on my final paper for the semester. It's for my 20th Century class, and I'm writing it on government-sponsored eugenics and social engineering. As I'm sure you can guess, it's going to be a very uplifting paper...almost as uplifting as the one I wrote last year on physician-assisted suicide. I honestly don't know what makes me choose such dreadful topics. Maybe I should have a talk with my psychology professor.....

My history class has been really interesting lately, mostly because our discussions keep going off topic, so that when we're supposed to be discussing communist China, we're actually having a philosophical discussion on human rights, which morphs into isolationism v. internationalism, which somehow turns into a discussion of why we hate Wal-Mart (and not for the usual PC reasons.) Somehow, with all of that going on, we still manage to learn about Communist China. And, on one in the class, including the professor, tries to argue in favor of Communism or Socialism

Of course, there are some of the usual flakey people involved in the discussions...the sort who try to tell the class that everyone in America hates the US military, and that all good Americans should move to Australia. Apparently Canada is no longer an option... something about Canadians being too American.

My American history class is quite different. For the two weeks we've had the pleasure of hearing the professor rhapsodize over Johnson's Great Society and whine about the evil Vietnam veterans and all the problems they caused for us. We're talking about Nixon on Tuesday, which should be... interesting.

Because my mother wants me to post...

...and I'm lacking the brain power to actually write something:

In One Word-

1. Yourself: hungry
2. Your spouse: hah!
3. Your hair: up
4. Your mother: dancing
5. Your father: bald (good thing he doesn't read this...)
6. Your favorite item: books!
7. Your dream last night: weird
8. Your favorite drink: water
9. Your dream car: convertible
10. The room you are in: bedroom
11. Your ex: hah!
12. Your fear: failure
13. What you want to be in 10 years? rich.....
14. Who you hung out with last night? my mother
15. What you’re not? energetic
16. Muffins: poppyseed
17. One of your wish list items: horse
18. Time: flying
19. The last thing you did: LibraryThing
20. What you are wearing: pjs
21. Your favorite weather: sunny
22. Your favorite book: Pride and Prejudice (so I can't answer that one in one word...)
23. The last thing you ate: cereal
24. Your life: busy
25. Your mood: cranky
26. Your best friend: my mother (aww)
27. What are you thinking about right now? dinner
28. Your car: hah!
29. What are you doing at the moment? breathing
30. Your summer: short
31. Your relationship status: fine
32. What is on your TV? : movie
33. What is the weather like? cold
34. When is the last time you laughed? just now

New Blog

One of my very favorite people now has a blog, and I am CERTAIN that it will be very interesting when he gets around to posting on it.

Patrick's Gallimaufry is the blog, and if you couldn't guess, it is my weird and wonderful little brother.