Almost New Year

Well, I keep forgetting that tomorrow is the last day of the year. Time for some New Year's resolutions. I always keep these private but LET IT BE KNOWN...they are made. Tomorrow I will remember to take my new calendar to work with me. I already have numerous things to mark on it. The spring months are filling up FAST.

If my sweet Sarah is reading this blog, please go check out Emily's blog - she has a really cute post about YOU.

I have to start doing some HARD-CORE reading tomorrow night. Do or die. It's time to kick into speed reading gear because the current speed isn't going to get me there in time.

26 Candles

Happy birthday to my babies - they were 13 years old yesterday. We had a little birthday celebration. I let them select cell phones and ordered online. They should have their phones tomorrow, I think. We will give Erin's old phone to Jerry since he has the crappiest phone in the house. After the switching is done, I will be the proud owner of the crappiest phone in the house. Not fair, but I will get a new one in June...maybe.

I've got photos of Erin and Emily doing birthday rites. They had identical cakes. Dave gave me a hard time...I always buy birthday cakes from him. I walked into his shop 15 minutes before closing and told him I needed two birthday cakes. He smiled big and asked "When?" I told him, "I need them now." His smile quickly changed to frown and he said, "Mom, you didn't wait until their birthday to remember the cake, did you?" I gave a sheepish "yes" and he commanded the situation. He took a quick inventory of the showcase and produced 2 Santa Clause cakes. I said "Perfect!" and he grabbed the icing pen and wrote the girls' names on their cakes. Dave is the best. I bought 3.5 dozen cookies too to take to Molly's party and as I was walking out the door, he came carrying two packs of candles and just tossed them on top of the boxes (free of charge). He said, I bet you forgot the candles too. I smiled and thanked him. Forget the candles? You know that's the thing I've liked most about birthdays my whole life - the candles. I use to steal the birthday cake candles out of the garbage can. Let no candle go unburned!!

You might have noticed the Gingerbread house in Erin's pictures. That is Emily's creation. She loves to make gingerbread houses. Someday I will make a gingerbread house....yes, that will be a good aspiration. I want mine to have spree and smarties...and crushed peppermint on the roof.

Well, tonight I played the role of suck up. My prof is encouraging participation during "reading weeks". So far, I haven't been getting into the reading aspect of "reading week". But with the challenge posted, I made an effort. Many of the required articles I've surveyed thus far are L-O-N-G and dreary. I found the two shortest articles assigned for the first 4 weeks and picked the two shortest. I read them and wrote summaries and critiques, and submitted. I got in there first, which means I'll be ridiculed because I probably only gave him 60% of what he was looking for....still, I pioneered! I took the risk and by doing so, I did the least amount of work. Excellence through laziness! Thanks be to God.

Back from Atlanta...and other news

I attended year 1 residency and boy was that some kind of trip! I worked like a dog, not sleeping more than 2 to 3 hours a night for 5 nights. I was tired but I learned a LOT!!! I met some amazing people; people who have done remarkable things and plan to do remarkable things. I found the demographics of the class to be interesting. I think it was about 2/3 black people, and almost all women. The professor was an exceptional man. He has 2 doctorates and is finishing work on his 8th master degree. He has been accepted to start work on another degree at Cambridge. I must brag a bit. I got an 'A' in the class...it was a tough piece of work getting an 'A' in there too. Our team project blew. We wrote a good piece of work but our presentation sucked. I certainly assisted the suck part of the presentation. I hate presentations of any kind.

So now, I get until next Monday night off if I wish and then I start on another 8 week class. I have completed 7 credit hours so far. I have an 'A' average, 2 A's and an A-. My next class up is like an overview of technology, I think. Sort of like a survey of all sorts of things related to computers, networks, and electronic devices. It should be.....dreary probably. Technology is fun to play with but I hate reading about it.

Emily got braces on her teeth.

She did pretty well with them at first. I kept her doped up on Motrin for the first few days, even woke her up in the night to give her Motrin. I learned from Sarah's experience. Sarah was fine the first day and then woke up the first morning after in agony when the Motrin had worn off. The dentist thinks she will have these more than 2 years...there's work to be done.

It's Christmas almost and I haven't started shopping yet. The girls want new cell phones for their birthday so that I can do without much trouble. Emily helped me put up the tree tonight and we have lights on it. Tomorrow, we'll add garland, and wait until Erin gets home tomorrow night and let them both have at decorating the thing. It's nice to have somebody else do this chore. I like Christmas but it's a lot of work. Sarah said she might come home tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing her. She doesn't come home much...she's a busy girl.