happy travelling, for all of you that are doing that this week/weekend.
happy shopping, for all of you who still have that to do.
happy nutcracker viewing, for those of you who, like me, will be seeing the Nutcracker this season.
Oh yeah, did I mention that I got Nutcracker tickets for Saturday at the Pacific Northwest Ballet?
i did.
very exciting.
ta.

hehehehehehehe!!!!!

just for matt

Whatever.

24 was really good today.
the world according to garp is a good book.
i'm going to bed.

i have successfully arrived at home-home. a nearly tearful goodbye, over 11 hours of travelling, 3/4 of a book, a stop at krispy kreme, a slightly snowy/slushy mountain pass, and some funtime later, i am here. i slept until noon today. yay!

i know i've been slacking a little on the christmas craft ideas--packing, travelling, etc--so today there will be two. are you ready for this?

first
bread ornaments.
make a non-yeast-bread dough.
shape it into christmas shapes.
decorate.
bake.
thread string or nylon thread.
hang.

can also be done with cookie dough i think, but don't expect that to last as long.

second
light catchers/window decorations.
things you need: plastic wrap, markers.
spread the plastic wrap on some white paper (you might need to tape it to the back of the paper or something so it is quite taut and won't move around).
draw/color holiday scenes or designs on the plastic wrap with markers. be careful not to touch after you've drawn, or you will have marker all over your skin.
when the picture is done, put another piece of plastic wrap on top. take off the white paper. secure the two pieces of plastic wrap together.
hang in a window or near other light source.
enjoy the pretty light design.

have fun, people! :-)

Ok people, it is now only 11 days until christmas. so, from now until christmas (or until i run out of ideas) i'll be posting craft ideas. Christmas tree ornaments, decorations, food ideas, cards, gifts...you name it. One per day (unless I think of more...but then you can be sure that i'll run out!).

the first of many brilliant christmas craft ideas.
kid friendly!
Painted Lightbulb Christmas Tree Ornament:
get a lightbulb. (any shape will do)
get acrylic paint.
paint whatever you want on the bulb. let it dry. (a good way to do that is to get a box, cut a hole in it the size of the bottom of the bulb, and to stick the bulb in so it stands up and the paint won't rub off on anything!)
(this is the grown-up part): wrap wire around the bottom of the bulb (where it would go in the socket) and make a big loop (so you can hang it up on the tree!). secure somehow (twisting should work).
hang on your tree!

have fun, people! :-)

heheheheh

anatomically correct reindeer in Christmas displays. Who thinks this is a good idea?
especially when the anatomically correct parts look like shiny christmas ornaments?
can you imagine giving a child an anatomically correct stuffed reindeer?
would you give them an anatomically correct doll?
would you put an anatomically correct human in a christmas display at a shopping mall?
is that a double standard? to put anatomically correct animals but not humans? i mean, if we wouldn't put a human, why an animal? is it any less "indecent"? is it indecent at all, or are we just perpetuating prudery? where are the sociologists and psychologists on the subject of potential indecency as it relates to anatomically correct animals in mall displays?
remember in The Little Mermaid, the big controversy about the priest who is doing the wedding between prince-what's-his-name and the ursula-as-evil-woman, and how there's a frame where he has an erection? there was lots of uproar about all the subconscious sex references in disney movies (the lion king has the word sex in the dust in one scene, but only if you literally watch frame-by-frame...oy). first of all, who sits around and looks for that stuff? but besides that, is the priest with an erection in the presence of multiple beautiful women any different than an anatomically correct reindeer? Would it have been better if the anatomically correct priest had christmas ornaments for balls?
hmm. that would have been very funny, actually. :-)

read the story. :-)

it's all over. yay.
i went out last night, slept in this morning, am going dancing tonight, will probably sleep in tomorrow morning....tomorrow evening a friend of mine is proposing to his girlfriend and i am helping get the chapel all decorated and ready...it's going to be so pretty! :-) home home (yakima) on monday. good times.

happy friday, everyone.

One more exam down, one more to go. One hour to prep.
bye.

Happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday dear Dad,
happy birthday to you.

i have a cold. i hate that. who knew that one nose could produce so much...something...? ugh. I have used an ENTIRE box of tissues today. that can't be good. especially since I don't have any more at home. I will have to borrow another box from Miranda in order to survive the night. can you believe i have to take two final exams tomorrow?

back to the books...

What do these people have in common? and where are they from? and why do we care?

Schleirmacher
Barth
Moltmann
Niebuhr
Westminster Divines
Edwards
Rogers
anyone else who's ever written a completely unintelligible theological work that they would care to infest seminaries with, frustrating students and ensuring that they will never be quoted in a sermon ever.

it's finals. can you tell?

yesterday was Miranda's birthday. happy birthday!
we had a great time, surprising her with all the places we went. We had dinner at a mexican restaurant (her fave type o' food). We came home and made ourselves all cute and then took her to the Sun Dial, which is essentially the Signature Room of Atlanta. It's at the top of the tallest building in the city, on the 73rd floor or so. It's very trendy, very cool, the outer edge of the lounge rotates around the inner portion--so in the just-over-three hours we were there we circled the entire place three times. :-) We had champagne and strawberries, and we generally hung out. It was great fun! :-) I recommend it.

what I don't recommend is getting colds. I feel on the verge of one and I hate that. My throat is a little icky and i spent much of last night sneezing/blowing my nose. where's my echinacea?

i love that stuff.

i have to study now. not much of that has been getting done. grr.

One exam down, about half of a take home done, and two in class exams to study for.

it's going to be a long week, people.

at least it isn't feezing outside. yesterday: high temperature in chicago was the low temperature here. that's why i moved here, after all! :-)

I assume you've all heard that united airlines filed for bankruptcy...that's bad. i fly united more than any other airline, and all my flights between now and february are on united. i need those frequent flier miles! oy.
maybe if they advertised less. or gave up the rhapsody in blue--that's some royalties right there, right? see! i saved them money! woohoo! (ha!)

time to get back to the hebrew. yay.

ooh...exciting news from the DePaul music school.
The new clarinet teacher they hired for this year has been fired.
After one quarter.
He was apparently a really bad teacher....so the students ran a bit of a mutiny, and he's been fired.
nice work, guys! keep up the DePaul reputation so our degrees are worth something! many sincere thanks.

right...
so i still haven't written the exam. i haven't even opened it yet. yes, i'm still procrastinating.
I think I'll do my Reformed outline, and save OT for tomorrow.
yes, tomorrow....
i'm even going to church tomorrow. i'm such a good girl. yes, yes, good girl! :-) because you know, down here in the south that's what you do on sunday, and if you don't you might as well be a leper or something. especially if you are a seminarian.
so, as a good seminarian, i am going to outline my reformed theology reading so i can go to church tomorrow and write my OT exam and start on the hebrew translation. yay.

good party.
bad headache.
good drugs (Orudis KT).
must write Old Testament exam.

I'm procrastinating--can you tell? i should not.
ta.

Tired brain.
Friday.
Classes all over.
Exams looming.
Tired brain.
Sunny day.
Party tonight.
Friday.
yay.

I should point out that it wasn't raining this afternoon.
I took a nap anyway.
It was, however, cold, cloudy, and generally ugh. And it did rain last night. just not today, while I was napping.
that's ok. I was up late last night while it was raining, so it follows that of course I would sleep while it wasn't.
right?

I love naps.

I hate rain.

So, it would follow, that if it is raining (and one cannot, therefore, go outside) then one should take a nap.

I like this.

one class down, three to go. you would think it was the end of the semester or something around here.

nap time.