Sixteen degrees. No kidding.

What a day to stay in and snuggle with a blanket and a cup of tea! Short of a tornado, it's as windy as I've ever seen it and it's spitting snow outside. I don't want to stick my nose out there only to have it frozen off. I'm thinking I should make a pot of chili and some brownies and just gaze at the Christmas tree for the rest of the afternoon.

Here are some pics I took when I went to Arkansas to visit in October. The first one is Reece and his beloved dog, Dooley. For the past five years, Dooley has been Reece's best buddy. Dooley is the sweetest, friendliest dog. Sadly, Dooley is very ill and we're not sure if he's going to make it much longer. He's not responding to treatment and my brother and sister-in-law were told that they might have to make a tough decision about Dooley within the next week. My heart breaks for Dooley and the family, and especially for Reece. He's being very mature, and trying to accept the possibility that he may lose his dog, but he's also extremely sad. I wish there was something I, or anyone, could do.





I love this one of Reece, Emily, and Dooley:



Emily was trying to show us Dooley's teeth and his "mean" look - but he is too sweet and is having quite an effect on Emily:




One more thing: the link below is for a website I enjoy. Take a look and enter their contest if you'd like.

Cold December Day!

So. I really had good intentions to start posting more often. Really. But life keeps getting in the way.

I've been watching a lot of old movies lately, particularly Bette Davis movies. "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte" and "The Letter" were the last two I watched. Just love the overly-dramatic acting in those old movies. Also watched "Mildred Pierce," one of the best Joan Crawford movies. Anyone else in love with Netflix Instant? It's so simple with an HDMI cable. In fact, Pete and I called and canceled our cable yesterday, because we never watch network television anymore. As long as I have the internet I'm good.

Almost finished with the Christmas shopping. We put up the tree earlier this week, and I wrapped all the gifts, so now we are thinking about doing some baking! Pete bought some cookie cutters and I've been looking up recipes.

Speaking of food, we had a fabulous Thanksgiving meal! I worked for a week on it, and Mom and Don came up to celebrate with us. We had a good time eating and shopping at flea markets. Don bought a very old dresser and took it back to Arkansas and refinished it. It looks wonderful from the photos he sent me. Pete and I refinished a table and a chair recently. Found a Danish Modern end table at the Salvation Army that I want to refinish now. I'm having fun doing that, and I'm looking to buy a sewing machine so I can learn how to sew and make some fun stuff. I don't know where this creative bug came from, since I hardly ever did anything creative or crafty in the past.

Still, still, still looking for a library job. I start a part-time job on campus next week, so I'll have a paycheck again and an excuse to get out of the house, but I'm still job hunting for a library position. I'm planning to apply for the Ph.D program for next fall, which will give me something to fall back on if I'm not hired someplace by then.

I'll be back sooner than later. Promise to try to post more frequently, but right now I need a nap.

I forgot how to post.

Luckily, I use Mozilla and it remembers my password(s) for me, so I was able to log on to post this worthless entry.

I am sick of everything.

I am bored and not productive.

But,

tomorrow is my day to turn over a new leaf.

I figured if I posted that, I might actually do it.

I'll be back in a day or so, NO, not a month or two, really, to write about what's been going on and some of the crazy ideas I've been juggling in my mind about my future and stuff.

Keep Your Fingers Crossed

I have a telephone interview tomorrow with a university library. Wish me luck.

This is how I'm going to feel tomorrow, but hopefully not how I'm going to act:

Seriously

I know. I haven't posted anything in a month. Didn't want to bore you, but here goes:

Lately, all I do is look for jobs, send resumes, sell some books on eBay, go to flea markets, and play games on Facebook.

Just about finished with this book, then it's on to the next one, but I'm not sure which one yet.

Been watching this series and it's quite funny.

Spending lots of time with my new roommate. Remember the new boyfriend I wrote about? Yes, now he's my roommate, too, and we are having a blast hanging out together. I have decided to keep him and he is learning to pick up his dirty clothes so as not to annoy me.

So, things are okay, just wish I could find a job and I'm trying not to get discouraged. It is a bit disconcerting, however, when I spent all this time working on a master's degree for a promising job market and I continually receive rejection letters. But, I'll keep looking.

And, I'll be back in a week or two.

This one is worth the 4.52 minutes.

While I'm waiting for the storm to pass:

I found THIS.

Reece is taking a shower, and when he's dressed we're going to find every pet store in town and look at mice. Then we're going to the Army Surplus store. Again.

Midnight tonight: Harry Potter. Wish me luck.

The Boy

I returned last night from a week's visit to Arkansas and I brought Reece with me! He's staying until Friday, which is the longest visit he's ever had with me, and he's excited to be here. He told me last night before we went to sleep that he couldn't wait to wake up tomorrow and "do stuff." So, that's what we'll be doing: STUFF.

He's so funny. We picked up sandwiches at a nearby sub shop last night and I'd ordered a veggie sub, and he ordered turkey, ham, and cheese. While we were eating, he asked, "you are eating a sub with no meat on it?" When I answered yes, he said, "that's just wrong."

Just in case you were wondering:

It was on this day in 1937 that SPAM came onto the market. The canned meat product from Hormel Foods Corporation was given its name by a contest winner; the prize for his ingenuity was $100. On one occasion, a Hormel spokesperson said the name was short for "Shoulder of Pork and Ham"; on another, a company official said it was a conflation of the words "spice and ham." All sorts of parodic acronyms have circulated over the years, including "Something Posing As Meat." The original recipe, still sold as the "Classic" flavor, contains pork shoulder and ham meat, salt, water, sugar, and sodium nitrate. There's a gelatinous glaze on top, which forms like that after the broth cools down.

Spam sold in the Americas is mostly produced in Austin, Minnesota — "Spam Town USA" and home of the SPAM museum. Hawaii's residents consume more Spam per capita than the residents of any other state, and the canned meat has been nicknamed "The Hawaiian Steak." Spam is the main course in the Israeli Defense Force's combat meal kits, but the pork is replaced by beef so that it's kosher.

There's a Monty Python sketch that came out in 1970 where the actors go into a café and try to order breakfast, but almost everything on the menu contains Spam. One woman doesn't want Spam in her breakfast and gets into an argument with the waitress, who tells her that the menu consists of "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam, and Spam." It's from this Monty Python sketch that "spam" acquired the use so familiar today: unwanted or unsolicited e-mail. The first recorded use of the word in this way is in 1993. It's also become a verb in the English language, for the action of sending out spam.

And the word "spam" itself, untranslated, is now a noun in French, Portuguese, and Vietnamese. The verb "to spam" in German is "spammen"; in Czech the verb is "spamovat"; and in Italian it's "spammare." There's a new Monty Python's musical, SPAMALOT, currently playing in San Francisco.

No explanation needed if you're an AD fan.

Buster: And I'm going to continue dating, Mom.

Michael: It sounds a little bit like 'dating Mom'.

Buster: It's starting to feel a little like it.

Happy Holiday

Can't wait to see this girl next week! She's in Florida now, but will be home about the time I drive down to Arkansas. Planning to stay a week and visit, then I'm bringing Reece back to Columbia with me for a week. We have tickets for the first showing of the new Harry Potter movie on the 15th at midnight. I don't know which feature excites Reece more: the movie or the fact that he's getting to go to a midnight movie. This old auntie will have to drink a couple of espresso shots to stay awake that late.

Free entertainment? You just have to know where to look.

I've been looking at Craigslist a lot lately, mainly searching for a desk for my future office, but also to waste time that I should be spending cleaning closets or something. Anyway, under the "Rants" section in my local Craigslist, I've been reading a topic called "Weird Neighbors," which is hilarious. The best entry I've read so far is this one, and I promise I copied it exactly as it was posted, only I added some paragraph breaks for clarity. This person should be a writer:

Ours is Earl - not exactly a neighbor, but up the road a bit.

Earl lives in 2 trailers, parked up next to each other so that the back door of one is at the front door of the other. (?)

Earl got a head injury a few years ago because he fell down a staircase that wasn't there while working on a house under construction.

He caught himself on fire one time using gasoline in the wood stove.

He doesn't have running water.

Women actually live with him sometimes.

He had a yard sale that has been there so long, we now tell people to just drive on past the flea market.

He leaves his laundry on the line for weeks at a time. I suppose that's how he washes it.

You can see where all the junk is in the yard, he mows around it, including the old broken down mower.

Earl is our local meth head/alcoholic but we know when he's gotten clean because there is a giant piece of plywood painted with "Jesus Loves You" out in the yard sometimes. He generally gets clean after a jail stint. He's using again when it's gone.

Earl is the nicest person in the world. He'd give you the shirt off his back, if you should want it.

Update on the Unemployed Wannabe Librarian, or "Hire Me!"

You would think that someone who just graduated and is looking for a job would post more often on her blog, wouldn't you?

Let's see, Emily visited, then Sherry and Sophie came, then they came back two weeks later. Then I cleaned house again in time for my mom to come up for a visit. Now Reece is wanting to come up and I'm trying to figure out a good time for that and somehow incorporate it with a visit to Arkansas sometime in July.

Still applying for jobs, and it's ridiculously time-consuming and I hate it.

It was 99 degrees here yesterday, according to my car's thermometer display. It felt like it was 110 with all the humidity. Today wasn't as bad, but geez! It's not even July yet? Do we really have to put up with this for two more months or longer?

I'm applying for a job in Anchorage. (See above paragraph for reason why.)

Books:

Read this one a couple of weeks ago. If you like biographies about Georgian society members, you'll love it. I tried to watch the Stanley Kubrick movie based on Thackery's story of this event, but only made it through two hours, which was half of the movie. I'm going to attempt the second half one day when I'm hyped up on caffeine.

This book was beautiful writing. I even wept a little. Didn't want it to end. One good thing about being a bum is all the reading I'm able to do now.

Here is what I'm reading now. I fell in love with it after about three pages.


This one is next. Again, loving all this spare reading time!

My mom brought me this book when she came to visit last weekend. I've been wanting it for such a long time and now I own it. Thrilled is the word.

Tired of inserting hyperlinks.

Movies I've watched recently:

"Revolutionary Road" - doesn't live up to the book, but still a good one. The best actors you'll see today. If you like Mad Men, you should see this.

"Gran Torino" - first half was funny, then it got poignant and then predictable, but I still liked it and would recommend it, but it is somewhat violent. Clint Eastwood: still a bad ass.

"Mrs. Henderson Presents" - love Judi Dench and this is her most feisty role ever. And, it's based on a true story, so if you watch it, be sure to watch the special features for the history of the event.

"I've Loved You So Long" - should have been titled "So Long, You're Boring." Kristen Scott Thomas can speak French. That's about all there is to this one.

"The Reader" - how many time have I written this: not as good as the book - ? I think it would have been difficult to follow if I had not read the book.

"Rescue Dawn" - Don loaned it to me because I have been obsessed with the Vietnam War and its movies and literature for years and hadn't seen this movie. One-word description: tense.

"The Secret Life of Bees" - again, not as good as the book, but a good cast and it was enjoyable. Except, in a movie starring Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, and Alicia Keys, you'd think they'd break out singing just once so we could hear their exceptional voices! And, Dakota Fanning's Southern accent was as bad as Olympia Dukakas's in Steel Magnolias. British actors can nail an American accent, and American actors can do the same to British accents, but why can't a Yankee ever get it right when trying to be a Southerner? It bugs me.

I finished all three seasons of "Arrested Development". Oh, lordy, they were funny. Buster was my favorite character, but they were all equally evil/creepy/endearing.

Season Four of "Weeds" is on its way to me from Netflix. Can't wait.

That looks like a lot of movie viewing and book reading, but hey, it's hot outside.

Okay, okay, I'm also playing a lot of Scrabble to break up the monotony.

That's all I've got.

Happy Birthday, David

Dear Dave,

You're such a good brother and one of my very best friends. I have been blessed to have you in my life for all these years, which are too many to count. We're getting old, you know? I hope you know how much I appreciate you as a brother and as a person. I see how people light up when you walk into a room because they all know their friend has arrived. Yes, you're a friend to everyone and I don't know a soul who doesn't like you. Thanks, too, for marrying Dawn and having such amazing children. Looks like you inherited the best from our gene pool and passed it along to Emily and Reece. My teeth are now aching from all this sweetness.


Seriously, you didn't think I'd let your birthday slide without a little public humiliation, did you? (I love the way Bera is looking at you in this photo.)

Love Having Company

Lots going on, and I am the busiest unemployed person I know. Where does the time go? All the little projects I've been planning to tackle this summer? Not even begun. I look for jobs and apply for jobs and look for more and then I take a break and read a book or watch a movie. But, mostly, I've been entertaining!

Mom and Don didn't get to come up for a visit, but Emily came on Memorial Day and stayed until Thursday. Dawn met me at the halfway point on Monday and then again on Thursday to pick her up, and that time she had Reece with her, so we had lunch and I got some good, sweet hugs from the boy, who is as tall as his mother now. I swear he's cuter than the last time I saw him, too.

Emily and I had such a good time hanging out, watching movies, shopping at the flea market and vintage stores. We scored a beautiful white linen dress for Emily at one of the shops. It still had the tag on it and it was an incredible bargain and Em looked gorgeous in it, so we had to buy it! We had dinner at the wonderful Mexican place Emily loves and Pete joined us. Emily wanted to inspect the new boyfriend and she approved my dating him. I love that girl. Didn't want her to leave.

The next day, Friday, Sherry and Sophie arrived and stayed until Sunday. We had a great time, too. Sophie is the sweetest 13-year-old, and I had fun spoiling her like I do Emily and Reece. Sherry and I stayed up until 4am and 3am both mornings talking, which left us dragging our butts during the day, but we had so much to talk about! They're coming back to spend next weekend with me on their way home from Omaha, so I'm looking forward to that.

Sandy and I went to a conference earlier this week at Osage Beach. It was a good conference, mostly, and the food was great and it was nice spending time with Sandy. We had a two-bedroom suite and we both wished we could have stayed an extra night but we had to get home. I tripped on some uneven gravel the first night and hurt my already broken toe, which made walking difficult, but I managed to get around okay. Toe's better, but I'm still not ready to resume my walking every morning.


Next up: visits from Reece, Don, and Mom, but not sure in what order. I just know that they all need to get a visit in before I leave this place.

I'll return tomorrow for a birthday post for a dear brother of mine.

So, later.

I Are a Graduate Now!

I just looked back at my archived posts for a short story David wrote about going to the Christmas Parade with Reece in 2005, and I started reading some of my older posts, and some of them were funny. I am not funny anymore. And I rarely post even a boring entry! I guess that's what grad school does to a person - sucks the very life from her.

So, I now officially have TWO master's degrees. And no job. I'm looking, though, and have several prospects, so I'm not the least bit discouraged right now. Job-hunting takes a lot of time, too! I spend hours online writing letters and sending them and tweaking my resume and blah, blah, blah.

And, on top of all that, I have a broken toe. My right great toe, as a podiatrist would say. If it isn't broken, it's sprained at the very least, and it hurts to walk on it, so I'm limping around my apartment. How did it happen? I tripped going in the door of my new boyfriend's house and took a dive right into his living room. Oh, I haven't mentioned the boyfriend? He's a real one, and I like him, just don't like his front door. He has this great cat, however, that I'm dying to introduce to Abby. hee hee Anyway, the boyfriend is Pete and we met last month and are unbelievably compatible. It's still too early to know, but I think he might have some staying power. We will see. And, I'll keep you updated.

I'm having a girls' night Thursday night and we're going to have wine and something easy, like pizza. It's Keila, Whitney, and Brett, my "adopted nieces" who are coming over and I can't wait to see them and get caught up with them.

Mom's coming up Friday and spending a few days with me, too. We're planning a casino trip (of course) and some shopping and lots of coffee-drinking. Don is going to try to come with her, but he might not be able to make it.

My friend, Sherry, and her daughter, Sophie, are going to come up the next weekend and spend a night or two on their way to Omaha to visit family. They are going to bring Emily with them if we can work it out with her schedule. That will be so much fun. Emily can then spend a few additional days with me and we can have some much-missed alone time. She's really into photography, now, and we will have to find some interesting places to shoot while she's here.

So, I need to clean house! Better get with it.

Bye, Bea

If I were (and will be soon enough) a Golden Girl, I'd want to be Dorothy. Even though Blanche had a lot more fun, Dorothy was the tall, smart-mouth, sarcastic one who was a stickler for proper English. That's pretty much me in a nutshell.

I hope Bea and Estelle are sharing a room now and giving some shit to the other angels.

Happy Birthday to My Favorite Man

Born 23 April 1564, Died 23 April 1616

I would like to say I've read everything he's written, but I can't, since, alas, I haven't. But I will attempt it.

Still Celebrating

What a relief to know, without a doubt, that I will graduate next month. My family will be happy to know that I'm not planning to walk in the ceremony, which means they won't have to make excuses not to come. Not that my mom would miss it. She'd be up here in a heartbeat if I asked her to. She and brother Don are coming up Memorial weekend for a few days. Don's not been to visit, ever, so I'm looking forward to that. Don and Mom and I are very compatible when we're together. We all seem to like the sames activities and we will have a great time.

Reece and Emily are both planning on visiting this summer. Of course, it'll be two separate trips. They want to visit individually so that they don't have to share back-rubbing time and attention from their aunt. Brother Dave and sis-in-law Dawn haven't been up for a visit. Not that they haven't been invited, and have an open invitation. My friend Sherry and her daughter Sophie, and hopefully Emily with them, are going to try to come up, too. I'm looking forward to all the company.

I'm job hunting! I will have a job by the end of the summer so help me God. It's a pain applying for jobs, but fortunately there are several openings, all over the country, in my field. Plus, I'm flexible about where I will go. The only location I'm not interested in is the South - too hot. However, I won't rule out anything. I know I have to take something to get some experience. I'm crossing my fingers for a position in Milwaukee at Marquette. Hope I didn't just jinx that by writing about it, but it's the job most suited to me and I really, really want it!

Okay, that's it for now. Got to get busy on some papers and knowing I won't have to do any more schoolwork in a matter of weeks makes me want to get it all done now. Hope everyone has good weather this weekend.

xoxo

What's that?

Re: Comps

I passed! I said, I passed! All four sections! Just found out! Hooray for exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spring Break Check-In

I think I rushed into Spring a little too soon, forgetting that I'm in Missouri. We had some really nice, warm weather last week, and I was thinking about sandals, which lead me to the thoughts of pedicures, because a Southern Woman never shows her feet without having prettied them up, so I spent some time Monday giving myself a pedi/mani and felt all ready to don those sandals, and now it's like 40 degrees here! And there is SNOW predicted for Saturday. What the...?

This is Spring Break, and I'm holed up in the house, supposedly studying for comps, which begin on Sunday and last the entirety of next week. I've already told my students that I'm canceling classes next week and they are quite delighted. So, I've been studying, some, but I've also been doing some cleaning and have watched some movies. I also had a paper I had to finish on Monday that I didn't get done last weekend. It was a bugger and ended up being 18 pages. Glad it's over.

So, what are comps? For me to graduate in May, I have to pass all four sections, which are papers I must write next week, with the exact subjects given to me on Sunday via Blackboard. We've been given "hints" as to what the questions will be, and were given some articles to read, so this week I have to study the articles and find more articles related to the subjects, and write an outline of ideas for the papers. Each paper only has to be six pages, with five sources, but there are FOUR of them. In one week. I'm not nervous about it, though. I know I can do it, I just have to focus!

I took a break yesterday and turned on the TV while eating lunch, and I saw this amazing demonstration on QVC for these microfiber cleaning cloths. They clean everything! With only water! No chemical cleaning products! So I ordered them. Apparently I'm a sucker, now. I give money to strangers in grocery store parking lots, and now I order cleaning "rags" from a television show. I'll let you know how they work.

Thank goodness I got Netflix to resume. I have "Milk" to watch, and I can hardly wait to watch it. Love Sean Penn. I watched "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" last night. I recently read a Lennon bio for Teen Lit class and it got me curious to watch the documentary. Meh. Not that good, and not that interesting, really.

Have "Rachel Getting Married" at the top of my queue. Anyone seen it?

Emily is in Chicago with her church group for Spring Break. She said they would get a break from all the praying to go shopping one day. That was a terrible way to put that, I know. Hope she's having a good time.

I have no idea what Reece is doing. I left a message for him to call me yesterday, but I haven't heard from him. I'm going to call him again in a minute. Mom tells me his latest obsession is the military and he's watching a bunch of war movies now. I love that boy.

Wow, I know this has been riveting. More later!

Are you wearing green today?

How about this little darling to make you smile today? Meet Lucy, my friend Kelly's adorable little girl. (Shown here with Kelly's permission, of course!) Kelly also sent the following. Thanks, K!

Wishing you always...
Walls for the wind,
A roof for the rain
And tea beside the fire.
Laughter to cheer you,
Those you love near you,
And all that your heart may desire

Lesson learned: Be on guard!

Yesterday afternoon, I stopped at the grocery store after my shift at the library to pick up some popcorn because Abby gets rather agitated if she doesn't get her popcorn at least a couple nights each week. I got out of my car and was immediately approached by a young woman, probably in her early twenties. She said she was in a terrible situation: she was out of gas, and she lived in Boonville, which is twenty miles away, she was pregnant, sticking out her belly to make sure I realized that, and she'd already had a flat tire that day. She pointed to the spare tire on her van. Then she asked me if I could help her. I stood there staring at her with thoughts running through my head, like, "Well, times are bad and we should help those in need." And, "Oh, man, I don't really want to drive this woman to the gas station." Then, she asked if she could have a couple of dollars. I was relieved that she had a solution that easy for me! So, I opened my wallet and I had a twenty-, a one-, and a five-dollar bill in it, so I handed her the five. She looked very grateful when she took it and said thank you and ran back to the passenger seat of the van and hopped in, very un-pregnant-like. The split second I handed her the five dollars, I knew I'd been taken.

It was so obvious then! She had her damsel-in-distress spill very rehearsed and she talked so fast I didn't have time to put it all together, which is exactly what she was hoping for. Why didn't I say something, like, "Well, why don't we call the police and see if they can help you?" Or, "I'll go and get you some gas and bring it back,"????? That would have worked and she would have backed off. But no, I was a stupid, gullible, sucker - just what she was looking for.

I then walked into the store and watched her approach another woman, while the driver of her van, an older woman, puffed on a cigarette. I didn't see if the other victim gave her any money, because another woman in the store saw me watching through the glass doors and asked me if the young woman had approached me, too. The woman in the store said something like, "there's no way that girl is pregnant" and something else and I was furious at myself and really wanted to call the police, but by the time we'd finished our conversation, the van was gone. She probably didn't net more than twenty bucks in the time she was in the parking lot, but I'm sure she spent all day going to parking lots all over town.

This is Columbia, Missouri - people are friendly and helpful here! I haven't felt the need to be guarded, which is why these gypsies are here in the first place. When I'm in Memphis, or any other city, I'm always on guard and no one takes advantage of me. One day, Reece and I were in Memphis and we were leaving a restaurant and a really drugged-out-looking man started walking towards us. I told Reece to get in the car immediately, and then I told the bum to get away and I got in the car and drove off and we were fine. Reece was a little excited, and I'm glad he saw that he needed to be aware of such things, but nothing happened to us.

Thankfully, I learned a good lesson yesterday, and it only cost me five bucks. Sadly, I'm going to be suspicious of anyone who looks at me in a parking lot from now on, and I will avoid anyone who looks as if they might need my help.

Fun Visit

Big Birthday Celebration!
Originally uploaded by Aunt Vanessa

This is just one of the many good things we ate while I was in Arkansas earlier this week. We celebrated for four days and there's not a spoon of frosting remaining anywhere west of the Mississippi River.

What snow?

I'd planned to go to Arkansas yesterday to spend a few days with the family and celebrate Emily's birthday, but then there was a huge threat of snow from central Missouri to northeast Arkansas, which is exactly where I would have been driving, so I postponed the trip until next Friday. (We didn't get one flake of snow here.) I'll get to party with the family and celebrate Dawn's and Don's birthdays, though, on March 8 and 9 while I'm visiting, so it will be fun. Emily's going to have to wait another week, however, for her birthday presents. Here she is on the morning of her birthday, all beautiful and grown up:



Look at this boy! I can't believe how big he's gotten in just a couple of months. I can't wait to kiss those cheeks. This is the snow they received in Arkansas yesterday and take a look at the remains of their willow tree in the background:




Now, here's what that willow tree looked like after the big ice storm in February, when most of my hometown was without power for several days:



Isn't that something?

Where does the time go?

You just had to grow up, didn't you? You're fifteen today and I can't believe it. I won't go on and on about how precious you were when you were a little squirt, learning to read and how you read every street sign when we were in the car, nor will I go on and on about how much I enjoyed all the Valentine's Day bears that my "Secret Valentine" used to place in my mailbox every year. (I still have them all.) Or how you used to spend every Friday night with me and you jumped on my bed those nights until you were worn out and then jumped some more!

Okay, enough already, I know. I won't embarrass your teenage soul anymore.

I love you and hope you are having a wonderful day. Can't wait to see you Saturday, Sweetie! (And you're still the most precious girl in the world.)

xoxo
Aunt Ness

For My Favorite Vandalay Industries Employee

You know who you are.

This Pic Says it All

It's V.D. Eve. Love to you all!

Well. Friday morning and I've made a long list of things I need to do in the next few days, and "Post an entry on blog" was at the top of the list. Not really. I just sometimes feel a tugging at my consciousness or something, that makes me want to update.

How about some movie talk? I cut my Netflix plan to two-at-a-time and should probably cut it down even more, since I don't have much movie-watching time right now. Lately, however, I have watched a few, starting with "Slumdog Millionaire," which I actually viewed at the theatre. I thought it was a sadly disturbing, realistic film and I'm glad I got to see it, but I wouldn't vote it as a Best Picture winner. Over Christmas I watched the Brad Pitt film, long title "...Benjamin Button," and while it was a pretty good one, it certainly doesn't deserve the acclaim it's receiving, except for the special effects. Here's one I really liked! This is what a Cohen Brother's film should be, unlike their latest one, again with Brad Pitt, which was a bomb (Burn After Reading) - don't waste your time on it. So, what is my favorite movie I watched lately? It is, hands down, THIS JEWEL of a movie. Do see it; you'll thank me. Tonight, I'm going to try to watch this one after I get some work done.

As for TV, I don't watch much, but I'm absolutely hooked on "Lost" and I spend some time searching fan sites to read about it and try to figure out all the story lines. If you've never watched it, go to the ABC website and start at the beginning, but be warned: you'll be captivated from the first episode and you will let everything in your life go to hell until you've watched every last second of every episode! I think the writers of the show have an agenda, or at least some of them do, and I think it's to put as much of their literary knowledge into the show, thinly veiled, in order to get revenge on all their past lit professors who made them search for symbolism and write tedious papers about it! If that's not enough for you, also know that the show has all these really hot men who are sweaty and take off their shirts. Often.

I haven't read any adult fiction since the beginning of this semester. I am taking a Teen Lit class and have to read 2 or 3 novels/week, in addition to all my other work, so I have nothing to write about any books that would be of interest to adults. Emily and Reece and I have, however, had some good conversations about books lately and I love that I'm reading what interests them right now. I don't think I'd mind in the least working at a public library in the young adult section now. Kids today have such good choices of literature. Way better than the selections I had when I was a young turd.

Now, I have to run some errands and then come back and work for several hours before I can reward myself with a movie. I'll be back in a few days to complain about all the stress.

Herpeeth

Well, I no longer have time to post anything. You wouldn't believe how much I have going on right now and I absolutely hate it. I don't like being busy. I like to lollygag around and organize closets and throw things in the trash and use my label maker and read and watch movies. I don't like having two meetings/day, working until 9:00 p.m., grading papers, writing papers, studying, etc.

So, here's another YouTube because it's all I got and I don't want to hear any complaints, k?

More Things I Learn from Facebook

Candee posted this on her Facebook page and I think it's hilarious. I never watch talk shows, but this is from Ellen Degeneres' show. Apparently the woman she's talking with on the phone is now somewhat of a regular on Ellen's show. If you're not familiar with her, watch this:

He's Eleven Today

STATS on Reece:

Age: 11

Height: Pretty darn tall

Weight: Just right

Cuteness level: WAY off the charts

Intelligence level: Even higher than cuteness

Interests: Wii, Reading, Dooley, Food (especially cheese dip and pizza,) animals, football, girls

Obsession: BASKETBALL!

Philanthropic interest: Humane Society - he volunteers at his local HS on Saturdays. Enough to melt any girl's heart, huh?

His Aunt Vanessa's favorite thing about him: Too many to list, but she loves talking to him on the phone; he's a great talker. He likes going to sporting goods stores, antique stores, book stores, and coffee shops. SEE? He's perfect!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, you incredible boy!

This is What Happens When You Start Finding Old Friends on Facebook

That's me, the tallest one up front, holding my baton, thirteen years old and 5 feet 9 inches tall already. Notice how all the other majorettes have medals pinned to their uniform. Not me. I couldn't be bothered with winning anything; it would have taken time away from all my socializing. We did, however, have a really good majorette line and we practiced 5 hours a day in the summer before competition and won a state championship. I think that was the last time I felt competitive about anything.

Emily, this is the same school you're in right now! Never knew you had such a legacy, huh?

What a Day This Is!

"A golden age of poetry and power
Of which this noonday's the beginning hour."--Robert Frost

She just took credit for my salad. That's not right.

I finally got all the holiday photos downloaded to Flickr and some pics of my apartment and my new bedroom look. I'm probably going to be leaving Columbia after graduation (in May!!!!!) and wanted to take a few pics of the apartment before I moved away. I saved the Christmas pics to a separate set so you family members can view them without having to look at all the pics of my new quilt.

Abby and I have really enjoyed being joined at the hip for the last five weeks. When I go back to school/work next week my lap will probably freeze due to the lack of the 9-lb breathing, heating pad that's been perched on me every minute.

I don't have anyplace to go Tuesday, so I get to stay home and watch the inauguration. Don't think I've ever had the opportunity to watch the entire event live.

Finished This book and highly recommend it. Of course, the movie is in theatres now and I'd like to see it, too. Currently reading this one and am loving it. Finished Season Two of this series last week and cried my eyes out during the last episode. I think, visually, this is the best series I've ever watched. I also think it's pretty accurate historically.

Now I need to get moving and get something, at least one thing, accomplished today.

Happy New Year Already

When last we met, I was lounging around enjoying all my free time. That was short-lived. I ran my legs off the remainder of my two weeks in Arkansas, trying to spend time with everyone and have fun and eat like a famine was predicted. I have some photos to download to Flickr and I'll try to do that this week, but right now I have reading to do and organizing and decorating and some Netflix movies to watch, so I'll see you later this week!