Notes from the Week

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas card I write"   -in the stylings of Bing Crosby

This week in the mail, amidst the coupon catalogs, sale notices and wrong tenant letters, I received my first Christmas cards of the season!  It starts to feel like the holiday season a little bit more with each card and it'll be nice this year as I won't be able to see all of my dearest friends over the holidays like usual.  This also means I have to make sure to get mine out soon so as to not be behind this year.

It definitely feels like winter here and there are some flurry images on the weather forecast so here's hoping!  >insert snow dance here<   I've pulled up my Christmas play list while in the car and at work (where we've been decorated since Halloween) and am thinking about buying a tree as well, but so far the only decoration that's made it out of the box is my Advent wreath.  

 Last weekend I went ice skating downtown which was fantastic!  It was super cold out, even with some hot chocolate, but I had a great time.  I got to use hockey skates for the first time and have to say I prefer those over the figure skates.  I always seemed to get tripped up *toe pick!* on figures, and didn't have much trouble with the hockey skates.  I didn't fall or run over any of the little kids zooming in all directions so I'll take that as a victory on ice.  There's still the matter of learning how to stop without using a wall or natural slowing, but we can save that for a later lesson right?  ;o)

Thoroughly enjoyed the Glee episode this week as well and laughed at & loved the fact that Sue rigged Secret Santa.  Genius!  Also great was Kurt & Blaine's rendition of "Baby it's Cold Outside" and Wham's "Last Christmas."  I have yet to find a station that is playing solid Christmas music on the radio though and although most of them have interspersed the normal with holiday tunes it makes for a refreshing change.  I drove through the holiday lights in the park the other night which are pretty and festive and free! 

I'll leave you to your warm cozy thoughts and dreams of white Christmases, pretty decorations, holiday mail and hot chocolate for tonight dear reader.  

   ......fa la la la laaa......

Thanksgiving Rewind

Holy Ice Skates Batman!  It's already December!  Well dear readers I'll have to give you the short version to catch up.  ;o)  Let's take it back a week or so to Thanksgiving and go from there.....

I took a couple days off work to go home for the weekend and Wednesday dawned grey and rainy as I trundled my way into work for a 1/2 day.  I could hardly sit & work - I was so excited to start the holiday.  I planned to drive my way through Illinois to M&D's and brought along an assortment of road tripping essentials: iPod, books on CD, GPS, water, chocolate & snacks.  It took about 7 hours and passed through a whole lot of fields, sky and fuzzy radio stations in the heart of IL.  The rain stuck around for part of the drive but cleared up as it got dark which I found to be a nice trade.  I ended up listening to the book "Dear John" on CD most of the way up & back and enjoyed it for the most part.  I tried to make fudge to bring with me, but it didn't cook long enough so it didn't set.  Bummer. At least I can use it to swirl in ice cream or with fruit for dessert.  Mmm.

Once home it was nice to relax and be with family again.  It's been a couple years since we'd had a family Thanksgiving so this was super nice.  We watched parts of the parade & football, cooked & ate lots of yummy food and had a grand time.  J & I even went running with dad in the cold as a pre-dinner workout to help make room for the pie.  We went to see HP7 again (sooo good) and helped dad bottle his Amarone wine too.  Mom & I went out to dress shop for a bridesmaid dress and I think I tried on all but a couple they had to offer!  A wonderful weekend home and a break from work and family and good fun and good times.

holiday quilt tree @ work

Then it was back home and back to work again, with December creeping up on me.  Wednesday the Yo-Yos brought in lunch and treats for the staff and it was delicious.  Baked ham &cheese sandwiches, veggies &dip, cookies, pumpkin cake, meringue bites, divinity candy, and more.  Such yummy food - I didn't have to eat dinner I was so full.  Then we had our volunteer meeting/luncheon and my department helped donate supplies for our decorations.  See if you can spot what we used: scissors, spool of thread, pin cushion, tape measure and more.  I'm also getting lots of mail at work as the entries for the School Block Challenge come in.  The blocks are creative and well done so I'm excited to see the rest that are submitted.

We're getting new carpet in at the apartment too so that's fun.  It's a darker pattern which I think looks much better in the hallway and won't show the dirt stains of people moving in & out as easily.  Our 2nd Saturday is coming up again and this month is Edible Quilts - we have sugar cookies for people to come decorate with quilt designs in icing and candy embellishments!  It means a lot of baking ahead of time but yum!

Phew, I think that's as caught up as I can be for now - stay tuned for more holiday fun!

Weekend Dabbles

And so dear reader I have recovered from the lack of sleep caused by the awesomeness that is Harry Potter.  I even managed to function quite normally at work on Friday until about 3 o'clock when my brain started to shut down.  the movie was fantastic and I definitely want to see it again! That afternoon I received a letter by owl (via the USPS mailman...) from SM that held some much needed Harry Potter preparation. Thanks friend!

It was fun this time to go with a friend, as I went solo to number 6.  It's much easier to keep yourself awake when there's someone else to help you!  Lucy & I watched Bones (so now I'm all caught up) and hung out until we had to head to the theater.  I was surprised to see a lack of costumes, but as we were fairly early, perhaps I missed them.  however, there was a guy dressed in black with a cape, with an actual broom and goggles  - obviously a Quidditch player.  Lots of stuffed Hedwigs, house scarves and then a girl in a pink bunny costume - we couldn't figure that one out.

It was great to sleep in on Saturday and enjoy the weekend.  I hit the library to pickup the 2 books I had on reserve.  I also got out a stack of books I'm sure I won't finish before they're due, but I couldn't resist.  I cleaned and savored the beautiful fall weather and colored leaves.  This past week was really great what with the hype for HP7. In addition to that, I received a letter from Sr. Ann Catherine *hooray!*, successfully taught another hands-on to school groups and tried some new recipes.  I've made stir-fry for dinner in the wok Mom brought down for me and it was so good.  Then, I made chocolate and chocolate-cherry pastry - delicious!  I also tried to make fudge but it didn't set right.  So now I'll have to make brownies or a cake and top them with fudgey goodness. (such a chore...)  ;)  While relaxing and clearing up clean clothes I caught up on Glee, Psych & How I Met Your Mother - which were all very entertaining.

chocolate pastry - yumm!

After all of this, I managed to put a label on a baby quilt I made for my cousin and get it ready to ship out.  I meant to mail it earlier in the week but wasn't coordinated enough for that.  Apparently, no one needs to mail anything after noon on Saturdays, because that's when the only post office open on weekends, closes.  Sigh.  Here's what the quilt looks like, and we sent it with a Curious George & Dr. Seuss book for baby Matthew to enjoy.

'Fishing Star'

 Hope your weekends were just as wonderful as mine! 

First Impressions

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part I

Wow.  I am so glad they decided to make book 7 into two movies, because the first 2 hours was incredible and we've still got plenty to go through before we come to the end!  People in the theater were groaning in disbelief that part I had already come to and end!  I imagine at the end of part II, there will be disappointment that this series has come to an end.

The story followed the book fairly well and I enjoyed every minute.  While there are always differences due to the book-to-film translation and what my imagination has created, there weren't too many glaringly obvious changes in this film. *phew*   It definitely has set a good grounding for what's to come in part II and there's plenty of information uncovered.  I'd like to have seen more of Harry, Hermione & Ron traveling the country-side looking for Horcruxes as there wasn't a lot of time to build up some of the story/character developments.  The action was super as were the characters - Ron really got to step up a bit in this one compared to some of the earlier films where I think he gets a bit overshadowed by Harry & Hermione. Time-wise the movie was a bit short compared to previous films, but full of good things so it's well worth a trip to the theater at least once, if not twice.

Midnight shows are awesome and I'm still hyped up!  However, I'll close here and follow-up with more later as I know 7am will come early.

Wish You Well

The other night I got to meet best-selling author David Baldacci! 

He was in town to speak at the West Kentucky Community & Technical College about his book Wish You Well.  WKCTC has been promoting the book along with several activitites as part of the One Book, One Community project.  Basically, they hopd to involve the local community to read the book and to promote and encourage reading as an essential life skill.  The college had several essay contests for middle & high school students as well as within the college community, and they brought Mr. Baldacci in to speak to local students, talk about his books and of course, to sign copies of Wish You Well.

I got involved in September during the kick-off for the One Book, One Community event as it was held on the front lawn of the museum.  Since the novel is set in the mountains of Virginia in the 1940s, the event hosted various crafts and traditional arts of the period.  Activities included, basket making, caning, folk music, canning, rug making, clogging and, of course, quilting.  As for my role, I set up a community quilt - a large frame with cheater cloth (fabric with a pattern pre-printed on it) - so that people could come and try hand quilting some stitches into the quilt and see what it was like.  I sat outside quilting with JS for most of the morning, talking to visitors and encouraging them to try a few stitches.  We had kids and adults from all over - even a couple ladies from Belgium! - sit with us and add some quilting of their own.  It was a good event and it fell during BBQ on the River, which meant great food and music too!  I could think of worse ways to spend a Saturday at work.

I helped out at the VIP reception prior to his talk and got to meet him briefly.  He was very personable and he spoke well about how he became a writer, his stories and the Wish You Well Foundation which supports reading & literacy across America.

I must admit to you dear reader, that I have not actually read Wish You Well or anything else by Baldacci.  (oops).  With the push to have the community read the book, there were no copies available anywhere that I could find.  I felt a bit out of place listening to people talk about the book since I didn't have clue as to what went on in it.  However, I enjoyed meeting the author and contributing my small bit of help to the events and have added Wish You Well to my reading list.  :o)

Superman

Faster than a speeding bullet.
More powerful than a locomotive.
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. 

presto changeo!

 

Across the river lies the city of Metropolis - home of Superman!  In the summer they have a Superman festival, there's a museum, the city paper is The Planet and wall  murals around the town.  The big draw is the 15' tall statue of Superman - which is a great photo op - and the recently added was the Lois Lane statue. In the gift shop they sell anything & everything Superman. My favorite was the kryptonite - green painted rock!

 

spot the impostor!

Trial Run Complete

Last week at work I had my first group of school students come in for a tour & hands-on activity.  I didn't give the tour as I'm still learning that part of the job.  I tend to tag a long on tours when I can to soak up the information!  Back to the school group story.....

It was a group of 20 students and we did the paper folded star activity (see children hands-on).  It's a fun project as every star turns out different due to color choice & placement and the child's creativity.  I managed to give the right directions, keep the kids from going wild and even remembered to have them fill out the evaluation forms!  Yay!  :o)

It was fun to do and worked out well which is a good first run for me with these activities. We have a large group coming in later this month so at least I know what to expect and what I need to work on to keep it going smoothly.  Now I'm working on our next 2nd Saturday project for November - I'm thinking turkeys or fall leaves!