Holidays

Mmm...just woke up from a nap. I have been reading all day, reading Villette by Charlotte Bronte. Villette was Bronte's last and apparently most autobiographical novel and a truly exquisite one at that. It is hauntingly lonely and leaves the reader wondering at the end if protagonist Lucy Snowe will be reunited with her love Monsieur Paul, from whom she has been parted for three years, or if he died in the seven day long shrieking banshee of a storm. Sigh...lovely novel...and now I have to rewrite the ending of it for an English project. I'm wondering if I'm still too close to Lucy's heart and soul to look objectively at her and decide her final fate. The picture to the right is of Charlotte Bronte herself, by the way. We left home for Lacombe on Tuesday and are very much enjoying our time at Brent's parents' house. Yesterday, I went into Red Deer and visited with an RDC friend of mine. She's also in her fourth year of her degree (just in English, whereas I am a double major with history) and is applying for grad school at U of A. It was really fun catching up with her and hearing about good old RDC and everyone there. She's getting married this coming summer to a friend of mine from high school (small world!) by which time Brent and I will have been married for over a year! Tonight we are going out to Camp Silversides to do prep work and tomorrow we, along with Brent's parents, are cooking for a rental there. Both Brent and I spent many hours there as campers and also as counsellors. We're glad for the opportunity to go back and help out again. Also tomorrow morning I am going to Red Deer early in the morning to go running with Rachel. She and her husband are driving out to Swiftcurrent for Christmas and I wanted to catch her before they go. There's so many people we'd like to see while we're around and so little time. Also, Beth, a friend of mine from church here in Lacombe, has asked me to sing Christmas Eve and I most readily agreed. I have not sung lately--well, since before we got married, actually, and am most looking forward to it. That's where I'm at for now! Female 1/2

Two funny sites I've found lately: http://www.gizmag.com/go/4889/ http://media.putfile.com/WizardsofWinter-SM

Here's us last Christmas at my parents' house. We're really looking forward to Christmas again this year! Yesterday we bought all but one of the remaining presents to be bought and last night we got them all wrapped (that's quite a feat considering how much I dislike wrapping!). Now we just need to figure out how we're going to label everything--right now we just have sticky notes so which one is for whom. Hopefully the sticky notes don't fall off! We're cooking with Brent's parents at Camp Silversides on the 23, and for sure one day before Christmas we're going to spend time making a bunch of different types of cookies with Brent's mum. Things at my parents' house is always fun at Christmas time too. This'll be the first year in a while that my Godparents and their kids won't be around, but we kids are old enough(and mature enough?!?) now that I think we'll be able to really enjoy our time just as a family. Lots do to in the next two weeks and lots of people to visit too. I'm really looking forward to connecting with some of my Red Deer College friends that I haven't seen in while, including my favorite history prof and mentor, Dr. James Martens. Should be a very rewarding but full two weeks! Female 1/2 

A better week!

Corner Gas Christmas special was tonight. We watched it (of course!). I wrote two exams today, one at eight in the morning and the other from three thirty until five thirty...in other words, I got on the bus in the dark and got off the bus in the dark. Not my favorite thing to do at all. However, two more exams are done!!! I only have one left, next Monday...Philosophy (blech). My mum wrote her final Real Estate Broker exam today yayyyyy Mummy!! I'm very proud of her! In between exams I went to the bookstore and bought four textbooks I'm going to need for next semester so I can get ahead on reading. I paid 150 dollars for four very small texbooks. Nuts, I say, nuts. The race yesterday was AWESOME!! I had a really good time running with Rachel and it was really good to see both Rachel and Trevor. It was Trevor's birthday but I won't give away his age... :) We finished 10Km in roughly an hour and a minute. I think we both did better than we expected to--or at least I did. It was a beautiful day for running, sunny but not too warm. On our way back from the race we stopped at Eddie Bauer to find a present for Trevor's dad, and at MEC so Trev could find exercise pants. Brent and I brainstormed Christmas presents for each other whilst we were there. I already have Brent's present and managed to get it without him having a clue what it is.... So that's the news thus far this week. I'm going to spend tomorrow doing some very much needed housecleaning and start reading for next semester. Sometime within the week I need to study for Philosophy (gag) but I can't put it off. Later, gator! Female 1/2

On a more positive note...

Things aren't particularly better, persay--Brent's running a low-grade fever and I'm on antibiotics. However...it warmed up today to just above freezing and the sun was shining!! I went running after my Russian History exam today. I enjoy late afternoon runs because of the smells. When I run up the streets I can smell people's suppers being cooked, laundry being done, all kinds of different smells. It's quite enjoyable, actually. Totally different then morning runs. Morning runs are fun because everyone on the paths is friendly and says "Good Morning" when you pass them. Lots of runners out in the morning, more old people in the afternoons. I was just glad to be out and active again...especially since I hadn't run in two weeks and I'm running a ten kilometre race for Muscular Dystrophy with Rachel on Sunday. Oye! We're officially out of honey and Brent slept for most of the day (on the day when he's supposed to be in class from eight until six) and I'm not feeling much better, so please keep praying! Female 1/2

What a bunch of sickos

Somebody stop the bus and let us off for a while, we need a break. I was saying to Brent just last night that if we make it through this semester, our marriage is going to be just fine. We're both up to our ears in school work, Brent's got work to do, I've got a dirty house to clean...and to pile it on, Brent's come down with a nasty cold (or possibly laryngitis??) and I'm feeling virtually crippled with a Urinary Tract Infection. Is the end in sight yet? Not in this chilly basement suite. We covet your prayers and if you have any honey or lemon, send it our way--we're almost out. Female 1/2

Snow, so snowy and COLD!

yes, i'm home, safe and sound after yet another dreaded thursday at school. luckily only another long thursday exists for this semester, unless my schedule looks bad for next year as well. with exams and final projects being due i will also be feeling the gray hair coming upon my head soon as well! just finished a felt marker assignment for class today. have you ever experienced the funny sensation that occurs in your head when you've used a sharpie for a long time? that wonderful smell is also the odor given off by my markers. so last night working on my project the livingroom started to smell pretty bad. at school today about 20 people in my class were using the same markers, so needless to say, the classroom stunk pretty darn bad. it did give me a bad headache, which only now is starting to go away. one might also note that the entire third storey, in the k-wing, of my building at school has a wonderful aroma of felt markers drifting about the classrooms and office and hallways. all three of the classes in my program are doing felting right now. i sure hope by next week the smell is gone :) but snow, the subject of my blog today, is what i wanted to talk about... when we woke up three days ago to an inch of snow i was so happy. i love snow, and most of the things that come with it, other than driving and the cold :) the past couple days have been cold!! its not a problem when we are in class in a nice heated building at school, but when one has to wait at the bus stop for 15 minutes, it gets cold! today though i had a window seat in my drafting classroom, so i could look outside from the third storey and gaze out upon the neighborhood, and what a nice view it was. nothing looks nicer than a bit of snow falling! as well the only advantage of having to come home during the dark is that downtown looks so cool at 5:00. especially with a wee bit of snow coming down. wish i could take a picture to capture the view... well, work is beckoning me, lots to do before going home for the weekend! adios amigos, male 1/2

Gray Hair

There have been several times during the past couple years at which point I feel like my hair is going gray as a result of compiling stress. Some of the most memorable of these have been 1) After writing three English essays by hand in pencil from memory over the course of four hours for my 514 Gothic Literature Class last spring. Wow that was hard work...even with the two iced cupcakes that my prof gave each student to keep spirits up. I ended up doing very well on it, but I felt ten years older afterwards. 2) After a couple different days working at the greenhouse last spring, specifically the days when my employers had left me in charge and there were customers/staff that frazzled me. In addition, the last day of Majak Gardens forever, the day of the auction sale whereupon I was assailed by bargainhunters both successful and not for advice, for rides on the John Deere gaiter I was in charge of driving for the day and for help loading and unloading their stuff 3) Today. It's really cold here, snowy and sun-less. I'm still fighting a very persistent cold that keeps me up at night awake and coughing. I just handed in this afternoon my very last history paper for the semester. #4. That's a lot of history papers in one semester. Lastly, today is Brent's looong day at school and potentially he won't be home until six...which is a long time without my husband, in my opinion. Rachel Herbert, a friend of mine from two of my History classes, mentioned to me that they (the powers that be) should cancel school for next week. I agree. "No school for the week of December 5-9 due to lack of student interest". Sounds good! Recently Brent and I have been listening to "the Old Disc Jockey" (that should be read the Old Disc.....Jockey, as in the discs are old but the jockey isn't. :) He plays Big Band music on Sunday and Wednesday nights and it's very soothing. Good for paper-writing background music. We listen very often (heavy emphasis on the very) to CKUA Radio, an across-Alberta radio station that plays a wide variety of music...everything except today's pop music in its varied forms. We're huge fans. Highly recommend the station. You can listen to in on the internet too, as we often do. www.ckua.com That's my pitch and I'm sticking to it. :) Time to make supper, Brent'll be home soon!!