Post-Christmas Shopping tips

1. Get up and go as early as you can.
This is not best accomplished by waking up at a bit before 10am, checking your email, watching TV, eating breakfast, showering, getting dressed, changing your mind about outfit, changing your mind about shoes, and being about ready to leave at 11:30am.

2. Bring provisions.
Pack a bag with water, snacks, things you want to match, coupons, and your list. It's helpful if you remember to bring your credit card. Both of them. And put gas in the car. If not, it may take you three separate trips back to your house in order to get everything you actually need.

3. Do not get arrested for shoplifting.
This can easily be avoided by remembering to remove the pants you've tried on and want to buy before you leave the dressing room (putting on your own pants is a good idea too!). Once you've decided which pair of on-sale earrings you'd like to buy, do not place them directly into your purse. In general, don't forget the "pay for it" step. Just because you've decided you'd like the item, it's good practice to let the store know as well.

Went shopping with Mom today, let's just say you live and learn!

ch-ch-ch-changes

I've updated the blog appearance a little, most of the changes are probably not noticeable to y'all - but it's making things more usable for me! Of note, the colors have changed, as well as the header picture that is now a link back to the main blog page. (is it ok to admit it took me hours to figure this one out.) Also, I've added a counter to the bottom of the page (so y'all can see how popular I am) and I've begun to use tags. Rest assured that the tags will be wildly overused - but some might be useful. Oh, and the ads. Click away - mama needs to pay back student loans!

I'm hoping these changes will make some things easier in the future!

merry and bright....

looking for Santa...

looking for presents...
Merry Christmas from Mia and me!

one of my favorites

Vienna Teng, The Atheist Christmas Carol

It's the season of grace coming out of the void
Where a man is saved by a voice in the distance
It's the season of possible miracle cures
Where hope is currency and death is not the last unknown
Where time begins to fade
And age is welcome home

It's the season of eyes meeting over the noise
And holding fast with sharp realization
It's the season of cold making warmth a divine intervention
You are safe here you know now

Don't forget
Don't forget I love
I love
I love you

It's the season of scars and of wounds in the heart
Of feeling the full weight of our burdens
It's the season of bowing our heads in the wind
And knowing we are not alone in fear
Not alone in the dark

Don't forget
Don't forget I love
I love
I love you

how quickly you forget

In my 28 winters I've spent 18 of them in RI, 8 of them in MA, 1 in DC, and now 1 in TX. Point being, I'm not immune to New England winters, by ANY stretch of the imagination. And here I am, back, before winter even started. It feels appropriate to make a list of things I forgot I hated about winter:

1. shoveling
2. static shocks
3. dry skin
4. chapped lips
5. when the windows in your car fog up no matter what setting/temperature you set the heat to
6. cold toes
7. runny nose
8. shoveling
9. having to start the car before you drive anywhere
10. wet socks
11. wet bottom-of-your-pant-legs
12. wind burn
13. cold fingers
14. shortages on rock salt
15. cold nose
16. shortages on ice scrappers
17. snow banks...
18. ...that aren't frozen enough to support your weight
19. NOT ENOUGH PAIRS OF SOCKS
20. is there sun here?

I've been in TX for only a few months, but I've gotten used to open toed shoes and being warm. And....well...I like it. Ok? I like Texas. I do. And....

(it's cold in New England.)

please pick the answer that is the most correct

There is only one answer that is MOST correct, you will not get partial credit for partially correct answers.

The best thing to do after one exam, before the next, to clear your head is....
	join Linked Up so you can be online friends with your old boss
	have a raging dance party in your car to "Wild Thing", so raging that at the light 2 cars join in
	clean up cat puke, possibly from yesterday (but also might be new and yesterdays was cleaned)
	re-wash the clothes you failed at laundering this morning
	drink beers
	all of the above.
pollcode.com free polls

study break

it's that time of year, and my study breaks have become unusual and prolonged. This morning's resulted in some minor bleeding, 6 bandages, a tube of neosporin, and an afternoon spent in silence because I'm not talking to her. Those eyes might break hearts, but the claws and teeth break skin!

Also accomplished, she is now micro-chipped (so even if I wanted to leave her on the side of the road, I couldn't), she's healthy for our flight next week (which she is still unaware of), and she's overweight - FATSO!!!