Let the classes begin!

My group of 30 has a 45 minute break right now as we wait for the round robin sessions to switch so I'm using the time to write about things so far.  My group's consolation for not getting to go home early (yesterday, another group had "free study" time last; today, the second group has that time last; we don't get it last) will be getting our papers returned to us first.  I'm not sure that's a consolation but what can you do.

After a restless night on Thursday because of nerves and excitement, I dragged out of bed at 6:00 a.m. to get ready for back to school.  This is the first time I've been the student in 7 years.  I didn't realize it had been that long until I looked at my transcript from UNM when I was getting my graduate school paperwork together, which confirmed that my last class was summer 2002.  Time really does fly--if you had asked me a couple of months ago, I would have said it was more like five, even though I know I was finished with my library certification before I became the school librarian and this is my 6th year in that position.  I was given a pep talk by Donna, who also filled up my water bottle and made me a chai latte before scooting me out the door at 6:45.  We weren't sure what traffic would be like between her house and Denton plus I needed to stop by the parking office to pick up a temporary pass.  I had plenty of time since I got to Denton by 7:15.  As an aside observation, the sun comes up really late here.  It's not daylight at home at that time of the morning but it is much brighter by then.  I know why but it's one of those things you forget about until you're there.

Parking permit was obtained with little ado and I found my way to the classroom in a building that wasn't here when I was a student 15 years ago (it was built/dedicated in 2001 according to a plaque).  I spent the first two hours of class having a serious panic attack about this.  I honestly felt like I was two steps behind everyone else--some had come with the syllabus printed out from a website that I didn't know about and I didn't know my ID to log in to the UNT system and it was all very frustrating and disheartening and if I could have cried without anyone seeing, I probably would have.  But I'm in a room with about 100 other people so I'm fairly certain I couldn't do that.  I did, however, frantically text Donna to see if she could get onto the UNT site at her house to find out all my information for me.  After just a bit, she texted back with all the information I needed, I got onto the UNT system, found the mysterious website, and felt myself calm down enough to listen to the lecture that had been going on the entire time.

And I found myself really interested.  I am such a nerd but I LOVE this stuff.  The class that I'm on campus for is on information organization and we're going to spend the semester creating a database of information for a hypothetical collection.  I know eyes will glaze over when I talk about that but I think it's cool.  My other class is on information resources development and from the syllabus, it seems to be about, well, developing information resources.  All the stuff to acquire collections, collection development, evaluating different resources, etc., etc.  I do that already in my day job and I'm hoping that I'll be able to use information from there in the class.  I've got to email the instructor to make certain that it is allowable.  If not, I'll get even chummier with some of my colleagues in the district and use their library collections.  Or maybe use a combination of the two.

I know that I need to get a big calendar and write out all the due dates for everything.  I've got to work on my time management skills again.  The past seven years of managing my sitting time with my productive time hasn't exactly been very taxing and I'm thinking it will be a 180 degree shift very soon.  The second class seems to will allow for more independent pacing as long as I have the assignments in on time (and don't wait until the last minute to do them!).  This class that I'm on campus for will require more specific work and online chat times.  Paul will be happy that I'm busy in the evenings again so he won't feel guilty when he has to work so much.

It is very surreal being back on the UNT campus.  When I was walking to lunch yesterday, I went by Maple Hall, my dorm at UNT, and got a little sentimental.  I did a quick drive around campus yesterday afternoon and just a flood of memories came back--mostly good, lots of funny ones, some a little bittersweet.  I was, of course, reminded of my seriously crazy roommate from freshman year--Kathie with all her crazy Aladdin and Disney paraphernalia including a glow-in-the-dark Aladdin poster and all the Disney princes (her boyfriend had all the princesses) and the 35 pictures of her boyfriend plastered around the room and her cartoon in the bathroom.  Meeting our friend Peter whose dorm room overlooked the sidewalk from Maple to the main part of campus.  Jacqueline, Debbie, Teri, Tina, Nicole, Katie, Christine (Steph's roommate), and Diana (my roommate when Kathie finally moved out).  Our friend Bryan who casually knew Kathie in high school and didn't really like her but stuck around with me and Steph.  Spending way too much time at the Delta Sig house.  Being so sick while trying to take finals in December.  Never quite knowing what to do about Ray.  Kathie's cookies being made with "a double dose of love."  Steph, Xavier, and I inviting our professor Dr. Bruner to coffee because it seemed like the thing to do (he just had that aura about him) and then nearly choking because I'd never had coffee before.  Imbibing just a bit too much at a party in Peter's room and getting pathetically weepy with Steph.  Getting written up for playing Beastie Boys too loud after quiet hours.  Not really knowing what to expect with my mom being sick in the spring.  All the laughs and fights and tears that come when you stick a bunch of girls together in closely confined space.  I remember being so homesick during the year and desperately wanting to transfer to Texas Tech to be closer to home but not wanting to because I didn't want to leave my friends at UNT.  Most of those friendships didn't stick after I moved but I'm really glad for the one that did because she reminds me of that very crazy year of life when I was so ready to conquer the world but utterly clueless and unequipped about how to do it.  And she can verify so much of the things that happened and remind me of the things I've forgotten.  I love her for all those things and for being a friend for the past 15 years.  And since I'm making myself all mushy and sentimental and weepy while writing about freshman year, I'm going to stop.  It's time to get back to the work at hand anyway.

Historic moments call for desperate measures

I really wanted to be able to watch the inauguration today. The television in the library didn't want to cooperate this morning--it was very poor reception when I first turned it on--hardly any picture for all the snow. I fiddled with the cable connection for a while and finally came up with this solution:
A wire basket propping up the cable just so.  What isn't really visible in this picture is the tape I had to use to get the cable to be in just the right place for reception.

It's still not crystal clear, although it's not a blurry as the first picture would imply, but at least I got to see history in the making today.

This week in life

Just a funny picture of Jub taken a week or so ago. We'd taken the games to Texas at Christmas--Jub was intending to jump into the crate and didn't make it very far. Then I think he started enjoying the view from up there because he sat up there a couple more times. He can be rather cute when he's not being a cat.

I registered for my graduate classes at UNT on Monday. I'll be taking 7 hours this semester and will spend four days on campus starting next Friday. The rest of the classes will be done via the Internet. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. But I'm excited and interested in seeing how the classes work. But I've got to get my brain back to thinking in more academic terms. Paul and I were pleased that the tuition bill wasn't as much as we'd originally budgeted. That's always a good thing.

Yesterday, I had one of those moments at work that really make me question some people's thinking. On Monday, one of my coworkers came by the library to ask me if my neighbors whose house has been on the market for 6 months would be willing to rent. My coworker sold her house and she and her family want to rent a house until they relocate in the next year or so. I called my neighbor and got the ball rolling on that. Yesterday morning, I was standing in the office and told my coworker, "Oh, I'm going to go call Neighbor back and then will get you two in touch." My coworker didn't say anything to me until after I'd chatted with my neighbor for a good 20 minutes and we'd talked about what a win/win this was, etc. When I went to talk to my coworker shortly after the phone call, she told me THEN that she and her husband had found another house to rent on Tuesday. I still have no idea why she didn't tell me this rather important little tidbit BEFORE I called my neighbor. I dreaded having to call back my neighbor to tell her--I think my earlier phone call was a bright spot in a rather dreadful six months in regards to their house--and now I had to call back with more disappointing news. After lunch, I saw my coworker again and confirmed that she didn't need the house. Thankfully, Neighbor was gracious and appreciative that I'd done as much as I had for them. There has been someone visit their house twice now in the past week so hopefully, something good will come of that for them and they will be able to start their lives for real in St. Louis. But I still just wonder what the hell my coworker was thinking by not saying something to me first thing this morning. Some people. . .

Paul took the Camry in for the 100,000 mile check-up yesterday as well. Holy cow. Aside from the body and the engine, I think he's got an entirely new car under the hood. He was funny when he called with the news about what had to be done because he prefaced the entire conversation with "Now, remember I haven't had anything done on the car in a long time." I think the entire car was being held together with a wing and a prayer. There are new engine mounts, brakes, CV boots, spark plugs, timing belt, and a whole host of other things. We laughed at the end when the service manager told us that oh, yeah, and we also had to replace the antenna because we forgot to lower it before washing the car. It is cheaper than buying a whole new car and hopefully, we won't have to spend quite so much in 50,000 miles.

Paul and I think we're going to do some furniture rearranging this weekend. We're going to move the futon into the guest room. It's technically too big--it's 91" long so it will take up the vast majority of one wall--but we want to see how it will work with the more open floor arrangement. I think I'll like having it rearranged although I'd like to still eventually get a daybed for the guest room. We're going to move the double bed into the upstairs bedroom. This will at least give us an idea for furniture in the rooms.

So, that's pretty much it. We've both about shaken the lingering cough. The calendar is filling in but it's just enough to keep us busy and Paul's travel schedule isn't nearly as crazy as it was last year at this time. He's gone next week and doesn't have travel plans again until the last week of February or so. Life is settling back into a nice little post-holiday routine.

I should come up with a synonym for "small"

Paul and I are both still dealing with the lingering cough. Neither of us feels particularly bad--we just can't stop coughing. I'm not as bad as he is, much to his chagrin. I'll still just have a couple of really bad coughing fits but even those aren't too bad. Yesterday was the worst it's been in a while--I woke up several times during the night and then had a couple of really bad coughing spells during the day and this was with medicine. Last night, I took more medicine and did OK until about 4:45, when I woke up coughing. I needed the bathroom as well and then I wandered over to look out the window at the great big bright full moon. In that time, I stopped coughing and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 8:30, when Paul came into the bedroom to talk before we got up for the day. Both of us fell back asleep until about 9:45--I think we needed to catch up on sleep. I've done pretty good today--I've not taken medicine, although I will before going to bed, and I've not really coughed. Hopefully, I'm on the mend.

This afternoon, I attended one of the JLA personal development day sessions. These are scheduled every couple of months and they are just a fun way to spend an afternoon with other women doing a variety of things. I've gone to a yoga class and signed up for a cooking class that unfortunately was cancelled. Today's class was learning how to bead:
I didn't make the glass bead but I picked out the other beads and figured out the pattern for the necklace and the bracelet. I'm excited to know how to do this, especially since it was much easier than I'd imagined. I have another beaded necklace that I loved that broke several years ago. All the parts have been in a baggie in my closet since then--if I'd been thinking, I would have brought it with me to restring. I think beading would be another fun hobby to do since it wasn't hard at all and it would be fun to make pretty things for myself and as gifts. And, just as with knitting, I think it could be as expensive or as cheap as I'd like it to be depending on the materials I purchased. Paul and I are trying to figure out how to rework the guest room to make it more usable during the 95% of the year we don't have guests. It's always seemed a bit extravagant to have 100 sq. feet of space in our little house that we don't use much at all. It's a small room and the current set-up with the double bed and small dresser don't leave much room for anything else. I've found a small desk that I'm going to order for the room to have for my own use. Especially now that I'll be starting classes, I'd like to have a place to keep all my stuff and do work and I've not had that since we move into the house. We're also thinking we'd like to switch to a daybed with at pop-up trundle to use when visitors come (I love this one or this one at Restoration Hardware but I'm not going to spend that much on the guest room; so the search is on to find something similar but cheaper.) The daybed would leave the floor space available to set up the card table to do crafty things like sewing or beading. We'll see if I continue doing this but it's was a nice way to spend the afternoon and it was interesting to learn.

This evening, Paul and I had dinner with friends at their house and then played board games. Paul got Jason and Jenny hooked on some of his board games and they are about as competitive as we are. It made for a fun, and lively, evening. Surprising, because didn't think I was doing that well, I tied for first place with Jason with a last minute purchase I made that thwarted his planned purchase. I didn't know I was blocking him--I couldn't figure out what else to do. When we finished that, we played a couple of rounds of another game that plays really quickly.

So, a very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon and evening that will hopefully bode well for a good week at work.

The sweet smell of menthol

I managed to contract Paul's cold last week. I started feeling feverish on Friday, spent most of Saturday trying to deny that I was sick, and Sunday, I was pretty much inert on the couch with a fever. I debated back and forth as to whether or not I should call in sick on Monday but my fever broke Sunday afternoon and I decided to go ahead and go to work. Paul suggested that it wasn't a good idea, that I'd be pushing myself, that I have the time, etc., etc. And he was right on all his points except I'm too stubborn to listen. I take a little too much pride in not getting sick, in my super-immune system. I've always been a very healthy person. I remember in high school when seemingly every other person in Texline School, and we're talking K-12 and teachers/staff, was down with the flu and I was still full-steam ahead healthy. The Home Ec. room was turned into a sick ward because basketball players were still coming to school. We were entering the end of district play and you had to be at school in order to be eligible to play. So, show up they did; not that classes were really happening because everyone was sleeping in the nurse's office and the Home Ec room. I was snuggling up with everyone just trying to get sick. It never did work. Someone commented to my parents at the game that night how good I looked out on the court. And I did because the majority of the other team was also sick. When you're the only healthy person running around out there, you do look like you have a step on people


So, Monday, I stubbornly went to school with cold medicine in my pocket and the resolution to make it through the day. I had a very sore throat and my ears ached as a result but by golly, I was going. Part of my stubbornness is that I know I will be gone for three days in three weeks for classes in Denton so I didn't want to take anymore time off. Also, I am hoarding sick days because if I do have a baby and it's during the school year, I don't get paid maternity leave. I can use sick leave to get paid but once that's used up, it's unpaid leave. Also, the yearbook group meets on Monday and we had a deadline on the 5th--not that we made it but I wanted to hound the staff about it. All my buts meant a very long, somewhat miserable day at work. By Monday evening, I had to concede that Paul was right as I was again running a low-grade fever. I called in to the system and left the secretary a voice mail letting her know what was going on. Then I slathered down in Vicks, dosed myself heartily with Advil and cold medicine and cuddled into bed.


I was dozing in bed when the phone rang about 8:45 and Paul said it was from an APS number. I was afraid that I'd done something wrong and they didn't know I wasn't going to be at work that day. But it wasn't. Oddly, my principal called to ask a question that easily could have waited until I returned. I understand thinking of something and needing to do it right then but it was still odd to take that call. The rest of Tuesday was spent napping or just laying on the couch watching bad television. I remember that as a highlight of being sick as a kid--all the reruns of old television shows and all the old game shows that were on in the mornings. I woke myself up snoring at one point during my mid-morning nap and the cat woke me up another time because he was sleeping on me and started chasing rabbits. Paul also took a half-day sick/personal leave but hung around the house during the half-day that he was working. It was just a cozy little household of snoozing and coughing.

My fever never returned and what is left of my cold has settled into the most irritating, lingering cough that Paul also has. Neither of us can talk much or laugh because we start coughing again if we do. We've taken to sleeping in different rooms since we're not coughing at the same times and it was quickly determined that that was the only way either one of us would get any sleep. The cat is sleeping at the top of the stairs between the two bedrooms, I guess in order not to give away his true loyalties. I've worried more than a handful of students by having a coughing fit while trying to help them with something. I haven't really figured out what medicine works the best although Mucinex seems to be helping more. I don't seem to be coughing as much in between coughing fits. There is also the faint smell of Vicks lingering in the air and on our clothes. We're supposed to go to a game night with friends on Saturday--we were laughing (not much and most just on the inside) that if we start to lose, one or both of us is just going to have a coughing fit. We're all about the pity win.

Christmas 2008

Our Christmas season kicked off in early December when we went to the River of Lights with Paul's parents. We hadn't been in a few years and Paul's parents had never been. It takes about an hour to walk through the display. The weather was really nice that night--not too cold and no wind to speak of--so it was a nice way to spend the evening. On the 20th, Paul and I went to his parents' house for presents and dinner with them. I got a portable hammock from them. I've always thought I'd like a hammock (motion-sickness issues notwithstanding) but since we have neither trees nor posts, and a crabby HOA that might not let us actually put up posts or trees, I think this will work nicely. I know where I'm going to put it in the yard when the weather warms up and am already looking forward to a summer nap (aided with Dramamine).
One of the scarves I knit with yarn I brought back from Ireland was for my mother-in-law. It was a green wool that I knit in a garter stitch with a rib stitch at either end. I put a little spot of red in it (two rows) just to spice it up.
My father-in-law and I after all the presents have been opened. I'm looking at my new book called An Incomplete Education, which is just perfect for my love of useless knowledge and antagonizing Paul by reading snippets to him that he doesn't really care to hear or repeatedly interrupting him by saying "Huh." as I'm reading. He's going to love this book.
After dinner, we went with Paul's parents to a Celtic Christmas concert presented by a local group in town.

On the 24th, we drove to Amarillo to spend the rest of the week with my family. We has discussed going up to Kansas to see Paul's granddad but because his parents weren't going to stay long and because it was really really cold there, we decided to wait on that trip. Paul's granddad turned 96 on Christmas day and he's doing pretty good for someone in their mid-90's but there is no denying he's getting old. Hopefully we'll be able to see him soon.

We went to Amy's house to see my parents, Donna, and Amy and her family first. Goofy grins from Abigail and Benjamin before we got down to the business of presents.
For both our nieces and our four nephews, we bought animal slippers and DVDs of a series called Growing Up (fill in the blank animal). Apparently, it was a hit with all the kids. Talking with Paul's brother yesterday, their kids have finished the series and Sarah has decided to be a zookeeper and Joshua wants to pet all the animals. Abigail also seemed pretty pleased with her funny meerkat slippers.
Donna got us a new garden gnome, decked out in Tech togs. It will probably reside in Paul's office with much of our other Tech stuff.
I was stumped as to what to get my parents for Christmas so after Thanksgiving, I was questioning Mom about if she'd gotten a chance to look at the book I'd made for our vacation and if she'd done the same yet. The answer was negative to both of those so Paul and I decided that it might make a good gift for them. She'd shared all the pictures with us so I was able to use them and made a picture book for them of the vacation. Since I'd already made one, it wasn't too hard to compile it, although it was interesting to try to use her pictures. I kept telling Paul that I wish they'd taken a picture of this or I couldn't believe they didn't get that picture. But in the end, I was pleased with the book and I think Mom and Dad were as well.
I also made scarves for Amy and Donna using the yarn I bought in Ireland. These were long, skinny scarves in the garter stitch. I didn't use a pattern, just knit with a color until I got tired of it and then switched to another color. I also put a simple fringe at the ends. I told Amy and Donna not to look too close but I think they look nice.I was looking at the picture book with my mom but got a little distracted. We gave Benjamin shark slippers and while he didn't necessarily like wearing them, he did enjoy playing with them and making them "bite" us. Kind of like what I'm doing here.
My dad checks out the picture book. I had to laugh when he looked at one picture and said "What am I doing?" I didn't know either but needed another picture in Bath and that one fit. (He was pointing at some ruin in the Roman Baths with a goofy look on his face.)
One of those funny kid stories to remember about Benjamin. Amy bought green and pink icing for the kids to use to decorate cookies for Santa. When she showed the green icing to Benjamin, he let out this shriek that we weren't sure what meant. Then he told his mama, "I'm happy!" Santa might have had a belly ache after eating the layer of icing on some of these cookies.

There had been some kind of stomach thing going around--I know I've heard of lots of friends having it in various places across the country. Amy and her kids all had it before we came and my mom was sick the first part of the week. Unfortunately, Donna caught it in the wee hours of Christmas morning. Paul and I stayed out at Uncle Jammie's house since he'd brought his camper back and we'd have another bathroom out there, and Donna was also bunking out there with us that night. I'd forgotten my glasses so I was blindly trying to help her--I honestly just pulled the ponytail holder out of my hair to give to her and found a clean washcloth--but there's only so much one can do to help out. It's not a very dignified illness and sometimes a little space and time is the best thing one can give.

A little bleary-eyed from a short night, Paul and I headed to my maternal grandparents' house for Christmas lunch. Happily, someone had thought to invite my step-granddad who might have been alone otherwise.
It was a full house with two aunts and uncles, a cousin and her four kids, three grandparents, my parents, one sister and her family, some other guests, and Paul and me. The best laid plans were to stop by Granddad's house to see him in a quieter (i.e. easier to talk to him) place and then go back on Friday to spend more time with Gran and Granddad and whomever was left there. We didn't get to chat with anyone very long plus we were only at the house for a few hours before heading back to Jammie's place to see the rest of the family that had shown up out there.

I haven't seen my cousin Julie and her husband and little boy in about five years. They live in the Ft. Worth area but I've not been able to meet up with them whenever I visit. Zane has been diagnosed with autism so much of their time is spent with his therapies. When they've been in the Panhandle, I've not been able to be there. It was nice to see them again and get to play with Zane. He's becoming more verbal, although it's still not easy to always understand him. At one point, he grabbed one of Paul's games that we'd brought and started pulling out all the pieces. If it had been Abigail or Benjamin (or any of the other little cousins), we would have known what to do but we were both at a loss (I don't think either Julie or Chris knew what was going on). I couldn't help Paul because I didn't know what to do either. One can't exactly reason with Zane and once he's focused, you can't divert his attention to something else. So both of us were left saying "Hey, hey, hey" and trying to save the cards from being scattered before Julie stepped in. It's a tough row to hoe and I definitely don't envy my cousin or any other parent facing this. But they're doing a great job and he is an enjoyable kid to be around. Amy, David, Abigail, and Benjamin play with his new car toy from Aunt Jane and Uncle Glen.
Grandmother opens up the bird calendar and birdseed with gave them.
Zane plays with his new states and capitals cards. He can tell you all 50 states and capitals in alphabetical order and by region. There is a states puzzle at Uncle Jammie's that Benjamin started working on. Zane can complete it in no time flat so I was taking pieces Zane was putting in and handing them to Benjamin to put in. I was trying to explain to Zane that Ben is a little boy who doesn't know his states like Zane does. I didn't offer that I'm a grown lady who probably doesn't either. The Midwest stumps me every time.
Granddad watches Benjamin playing with Abigail's new art supplies. Granddad seemed to be in good health and spirits--definitely better than when I saw them in November and he was getting the chemo treatments.
After gifts, we decided to go look at the Christmas lights in Bishop Hills since Uncle Jammie lives out there. About midway through the drive, I started feeling a little "off." I made it another hour or so before I had to acquiesce that I had got the stomach thing, too. It was a long night and I was pretty much inert most of Friday. Fortuitously, Donna and I are pretty much the same blind so I was able to borrow her glasses for the day so I didn't have to muss with contacts or just be blind. I was able to visit with Uncle Jammie, the grandparents, and Donna but didn't want to venture out to Gran's house or to far from the comfort of the couch. Saturday morning, Paul woke up not feeling well so he just spent the majority of the day out in the camper in bed. The family was teasing him that they can't ever get him to visit and then when he does, he won't even come in to visit with them. Thankfully, everyone understood what was going on. We were just hoping that we didn't get anyone else sick but when we left on Sunday, Grandmother was down for the count and on Monday, Uncle Jammie and Granddad both were sick. I haven't heard reports from any other family members but I know Uncle Glen was also sick before Christmas with the funk.

We came home on Sunday afternoon and have spent a pretty quiet week at home, mostly hanging out in our pajamas and enjoying the down time with each other. We had a quiet New Year's Eve at home, playing board games and watching the second season of The Extras. Paul has ended up with a pretty bad cold although he seems to be on the upswing now. I'm doing my best not to get whatever it is that he has.
And the cat has pretty much done this or meowed. Not sure why he's meowing but we spent the better part of yesterday waking him up if he tried to nap. We figured it was only fair play since he'd decided to wake us up at 6:30 every morning this week with his incessant meowing.
So, another holiday season for the record books. One we'll look back on and remember with a laugh as the one where we all had the stomach funk. But at least we were all together with the stomach funk.

2009!

2008 is in the books. A quick recap of the year shows that it wasn't a bad year as far as years go.

January
A busy month for Paul as far as travel goes. Paul's grandmother died in mid-January which made for a quick trip to a very cold Kansas.

February
Not much happened in February as the winter doldrums settled in. Paul's travel schedule slowed down and we decided to do another remodeling project on the house.

March
New kitchen countertops and sink were installed; windows removed in the living room. That was enough excitement for the month.

April
I traveled to Las Cruces for the NMLA conference. Traveled to Amarillo to see my step-grandmother one last time. My nephew Preston was in a car accident. I learned to knit thanks to a coworker and her Secret Pal gift.

May
Quick trip to Amarillo to see Preston, whose recovery was much more than we ever expected. My mom visited at the end of the month and we went to Acoma.

June
Another trip to Amarillo to visit. I worked Summer School. Paul and I went to Santa Fe for the wedding of our friends Jeff and Alison. We left on our BIG vacation.

July
Paul and I got home from vacation with a genuine Irish cold. My step-grandmother died. The refrigerator died. Summer School ended. Another trip to Amarillo at the end of the month.

August
School started and it wasn't good. Jeff and Alison moved to Missouri.

September
I got fed up enough during an inservice that I started the application process for Graduate School.

October
Paul and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. We went to the Balloon Fiesta. The Book Fair was held at school. I visited Donna in Ft. Worth.

November
Paul and I went to Seattle. Texas Tech beat Texas. I turned ::gulp:: 34. Our neighbor died. My family came for Thanksgiving.

December
I received my confirmation letter from UNT for Graduate School. We held our annual Christmas party. We went to Texas for Christmas and both ended up sick (more on that later).

So far, it's been a nice start to the year. Paul has been sick since after Christmas with a pretty bad cold but he seems to be on the upswing today. We went for our traditional New Year's Day walk and while it was more of a stroll, he tagged along and maybe that's just what he needed to get better. Other than that, we've been in a college football coma most of the day. I got all my thank you notes written and ready to go tomorrow. Dinner is cooking now and while it's not the usual meal I make for New Year's Day (typically ham, potatoes, cornbread--it's my Southern food day) and they don't really go along with the meal we are having, we will be having black-eyed peas. Even Paul now knows that it's not even a question about eating those. I'm 34 and I can only remember twice not eating them. I'm not sure how those years went but I try not to tempt the fates.

Here's hoping that in 2009, we can improve upon those things we did well and not repeats some of those mistakes we made.