Happy New Year!

Had a happy new year at 3 pm at my Grandma's Assisted Living Facility. It's great fun. We've done it several times. They have a band in, and play oldies, and get all the residents to come and wear feather crowns and top hats and blowing horns and shaking noisemakers. :)

Later we took Grandma to visit her old neighbor at the other building. That was fun, too. :)

Now we're back where we're staying, and we're watching a bit of Down with Love.

Trip Log

It's been a nice week with my BF in the Midwest. We had snow on the ground when we arrived and more fresh overnight. Then we had ice and rain and thaw and so forth. :) We skipped the day trip . . .

We got to spend time with some of my friends and time alone together exploring the town. I got to meditate in the Domes (M. had several books to read while I was busy). We also had an official tour of the Domes, so M. could see them. There were a couple of other MSAE/MUM (see sidebar) graduates with their girlfriends on the tour as well. It was kind of weird--they've grown up and changed a lot, but then, I suppose, I have, too.

Now I'm in the Chicago area with my parents. We dropped M. off at the airport (in Iowa) on our way here. Tomorrow, we'll visit my Grandma. I'd better close now. I ought to get ready for bed. :)

Melt to Ice

So first it melts, and then it rains, and then it freezes. Just in time for us to go on a day trip tomorrow! Well, not if the roads are icy . . .

Merry or Pippin Christmas

It's white and snowy and cold and cozy and fun, here in the Heart Land.

Travel was slowed a bit by cold and technical troubles, but we got in the same day, before dark, so that was good.

We've got lots of plans and stuff to do, and I'm happy because everyone is getting along so far.

Very Merry to you too . . . And very Pippin. ;-)

Silicorn Vally, Here I Come

Our affectionate name for the town I grew up in. It's surrounded by cornfields and full of software start-ups. I head there tomorrow too early to mention. Must check-in on-line and finish last minute errands.

Busy, Busy Elf

I played Santa's Little Helper yesterday and got a lot of X-mas things done. Making and wrapping presents, packaging and addressing them. I've still got a few knitted things to finish up, but other than that I'm done, which is good. I'm starting to feel the pressure of needing to get way to much done in way to little time.

Heretics

Meant to tell about this before, but stuff got in the way. This weekend, I heard part of a really interesting episode of This American Life, about a heretic. You can read about it here and listen to it by clicking on the speaker link on the page. It was really interesting, because it was an interview about a man who had been an evangelical, pentecostal minister who stopped believing in hell. And he also started believing that you didn't have to believe in Jesus to be saved.

I'm not sure that I agree with all his ideas. I don't believe that humans are sinful by nature or that Jesus was the Son of God, or even that his death "saved the sins of the world." I believe in the basic goodness of people. I believe that we create our own heaven or hell based on our actions. But it was really cool to hear about someone switching from believing so deeply in evangelical Christianity to believing in universal salvation and not believing in hell.

I only heard parts of it on the radio, so I'm listening to a podcast of it right now. It's hard to write and listen at the same time. So I'll let you read/listen to it yourself at your leisure. :)

Rain and Rainbows

I walked out the door this morning and there was a rainbow above the roof tops. It was raining, but the sun was coming through the clouds in places, so I got to see the rainbow appear and disappear as I drove to work. At one point, it was a (partial) double rainbow and I could see both ends on either side of the highway. Then I drove right under it. Pretty cool!

Easy Hard Week

So this week was supposed to be a real challenge, with long hours etc., but turns out I've gotten off work "early" two out of three days so far. Today will probably be different, but either way I win--I either get more time at home or more money! :)

Dickens Warmed Over

My bf took me to the Dickens Christmas Fair, where we met a friend of his from collage, on Saturday. I really enjoyed it. Most of the people there seemed to be in costume. There were lots of booths with things for sale, and lots of side shows. My favorite booths were the craft ones, pottery and weaving and such, and my favorite side show was the statue-man. He was all white, and could pose as still as a statue, but he also had this ball that he could roll around with his hands. It looked weightless and sometimes even motionless as he moved his hands around it. It was really cool.

The other really cool thing (or should I say hot thing) that happened, was that I got my heater pilot light turned on for the season. Yay! Now I have a warm house to come home to. :) It was so nice this morning to step outside and actually feel how much colder it was outside than in. :)

Too Much Time

I've got time to blog--I'm at work and the baby is sleeping like, well, a baby. But I've got nothing to blog about! Except that I am royal grouch right now. Don't feel like doing my grousing and complaining on-line. 'Nuff said.

Christmas Cheer

My week is going well so far. It's been light in terms of work. The really exciting thing is that the people I work for found out that I have a lap top and said it was o.k. for me to bring it along and use their wifi while the baby is sleeping. So I'm getting on-line a bit more often now.

I'm working on re-organizing my living room. For one thing, it's getting cluttered with stuff I either want to post on-line to sell or don't currently use but want to keep, and for another, the lay out could be better, in terms of flow and use of space and stuff . . . I created a new arrangement yesterday that, with a bit more tweaking, will have room for a couch--something I've been missing since I moved in. I didn't originally want one, because they encourage bad posture, but now I have a boyfriend, I'm starting to re-think it for other reasons. :)

I'm really enjoying the Christmas season so far. It's one of my favorite times of year. I know a lot of people find the holidays stressful, but I love all the corny decorations and sappy music. Plus I'm looking forward to going home to see my parents.

Power to the Kids

I've had nearly a week off from work, and tried to make good use of it. I was unmotivated for the first couple of days, but since then, I've been quite productive. I'm feeling pretty good about myself. :)

I'm also starting to look forward to my trip back "home" to visit my parents. My BF will be coming with me this year, and there are lots of people and places I want to introduce him to . . .

I'm also really excited about an organization I've been hearing about for a little over a year now, called KidPower. They teach people safety skills to kids. These skills are also relationship building skills because they are boundary setting skills. I wonder what my life would have been like if there had been a KidPower center in the town I grew up in . . .