Katelyn!

We brought in the New Year by having Katelyn come stay in Ames. I met the Griffith parents in Parkersburg on Friday. I was thankful for their thoughtfulness at bringing her halfway. Well, Katelyn and I were just like two little girls on a weekend long sleep-over. Kyle worked both Saturday and Monday, so I introduced Katelyn to all the wonders of Ames, mainly Hyvee Chinese, Kyle and I's favorite thrift store, Goodwill, and DVDs at the public library. We had a lot of fun picking out 5 great chick flicks and proceeded to watch them, inspite of Kyle.

We celebrated New Year's Eve will pizza coutesy of Katelyn and watched That Darn Cat, I had never even heard of this movie, and delightedly laughed through the whole thing. We enjoyed bubbly at midnight in our Goodwill bought wine glasses. Since Kyle doesn't have cable we listened to the count down on the radio, while both Kyle and Katelyn participated in some ritual that involved opening both the doors. Thanks TT! We had a lot of fun and we loved having Katelyn around. I look forward to a crazy year and I will try to keep you all posted on what is happening in my world. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

What an exciting year 2007 has been. I finished my next to last semester at Iowa State. That seems to be the most exciting thing I can think of. It was one of the most stressful semesters of my college career. Of course, the summer before was also full of tears. I took an American Sign Language course, that still out weighs any class I took at ISU in the difficulty category. Needless to say I am glad that is all behind me.

Happy Finals Week!

   This week has been a drag.  It feels like it has lasted about four days longer than it should.  I have one small final left, and then I finish off my week with a full day of work.  I will admit that I am extremely excited.  This semester has been nothing short of tough.  Not because of the course work invovled in 20 credit hours but because of the people I have had to deal with over the course of the semester.  I have shed many tears because of the emotions these individuals have made arise.  Nonetheless, I am strong and ready to start the impossible...working and student teaching, at the same time.  
  On a lighter note, Kyle surprised me with a movie this week.  Don't worry, we went to a 7 o'clock showing, so I wasn't up late.  He took me to see The Golden Compass.  I love this book and was waiting for the movie with much anticipation.  I really enjoyed it, but of course, it wasn't up to Kyle's 'Lord of the Rings' standards.  What ever is?  The ending left much to be desired, but on the whole I really enjoyed it.  Hope everyone's week is going well.  Drop me a line.

Let it Snow!!!!!

Last weekend we got a nice little snow storm, mostly ice and sleet, but a little snow. I was excited for the Christmas looking weather. I enjoyed watching the snow fall as I sat next to my sad little Christmas tree.
I have been listening to Christmas music for a couple days now on pandora. I love the old classics sung by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. What a great era!
I took this picture today after I got home from class. I wanted to blog about the snow, and to make it a little more personal than just a random picture outside my apartment, I put myself in it. (To Amy, Beth and Ginny, it is a self portrait!)
If you check out the blog, drop me a note. I hope you enjoy the snow just as much as I do!

Random Thoughts

I was waiting for the bus this afternoon after class. It was chilly out and I was bouncing from leg to leg to stay warm. Luckily, I had something to distract me from the chill. About ten feet away from me there was a bit of construction going on. Iowa State seems to constantly have some sort of construction project that blocks your way as you go to class. Anyway, this project intrigued me. It consisted of three guys and two large machines. As I arrived they were working on pulling a pole out of the ground. If you aren't familiar with ISU's campus, we have these poles everywhere that are connected by two chains. One fastened at the top and one at the bottom. They create some sort of fence to try to keep fellow students off the grass. They pulled and struggled with this pole, one machine was completely chained to it, probably by its own chains, which seems slightly ironic. It wasn't until both machines used their powers together did the pole budge from the ground. After the pole was successfully removed, the two machines worked on filling in the gigantic hole. I was also very intrigued by this. One machine piled the dirt in, while the other vibrated viciously to pack the soil down. The vibrating was extremely loud and made the sidewalk within a 20 yard radius vibrate as well. As the dirt relocation was going on, I happened to notice one lone shovel leaning against a caution cone. I felt sorry for the shovel. Its work seemed trivial compared to the two machines. It would only be used to scrape up the little mess left behind. Nonetheless, the bus arrived and I welcomed its warmth and promise of home. I was so interested by what I had seen that I had to tell someone. And since there will probably be no one that actually reads this, I felt safe in sharing it here.
In other news, I found out my student teaching placement yesterday and I am pleased to announce that I do not have to commute to Des Moines. If anyone happens to read this, drop me note. :)