Happy Holidays!

Here is your present:

Season's Greetings from me and my morbid nephew!

When nieces go wild

The picture has nothing really to do with this post other than I love fall in the mountains. The topic of this post is my dear sweet 20 yr old niece. A child I used to feed a bottle to, a child I watched grow up. I will here and now admit that I currently stalk said niece on Facebook because otherwise I would have no idea what was going on in her life - it is her fault - she should not have friended me. Last night I pulled up her page to check what she was up to and the first thing I noticed was that she changed her profile picture. From the thumbnail I thought she had gotten into abstract art, upon blowing up the image I discovered that it was not abstract art it was her, with a turtleneck pulled over her face and her underwear in full view for the Facebook universe. If I had been munching on my current diet of Starbursts - I would have choked on one. Before you think I am coming off as some kind of prude take into account two things: one - she is my niece therefore I am very protective of her and two - having gone through a wild period that I will not expound on I know what it is like to look back at past decisions and think "oh crap what was I thinking." I had the luxury of making said unfortunate decisions pre-Facebook and I admit a few post (library school can by CRAZZZZZZZZZY!). My hope for her as for all my nieces and nephews is that they don't have to feel that surge of shame and regret when looking at past choices and that those past choice don't haunt them indefinetly in the land of electronic TMI. My hope for myself is that I can learn to stop cyber-stalking my family because the less I know about them the easier I can digest my candy.

Everyone should watch this

I recently watched the documentary "The Cove." It was heart-wrenching and everyone should watch it. http://www.takepart.com/thecove

Advice for my sister

So my awesome little sis is going back to school and I thought I would offer her some advice for juggling school and life. Although our situations are different, I do school with a full-time job and she does school with a full-time Squidgy, we both are doing major work with time management. So here goes with the advice:

1. A little dust never killed anyone. I know that my sister loves to have a clean house. Surprisingly for my mom, I do too. However, there will be times when you have to put homework over having a spotless home. Professors will not care that your assignment is late because you can't stand dishes in your sink. It can add to the stress to be working on an assignment and see a layer of dust on something and think "it would only take a minute" but that is the procrastination talking. The dust will be there tomorrow when your assignment is not due.
2. Take out can be your best friend (unless you are poor and then mac and cheese is your best friend). Time spent cooking is time away from your homework. Start thinking now about some healthy take-out and/or quick meal options - they will come in handy. I am all about mac and peas. You do the mac and cheese and add some peas - you know - for veggies and such.
3. Plan your homework around quiet times. For my sister, this would be Squidgy school time. For me it is when my neighbors aren't partying (they party a lot).
4. Invest in snacks. I just realized a lot of my advice is centered on food, but seriously, a bite-sized candy bar or ten makes a world of difference when you are three hours into writing a paper.
5. Try not to procrastinate (see above comment). You know why I needed a bite-sized candy bar? Because - I waited until the last minute and I am three hours into writing a paper that is due THAT DAY. I justify it by saying I do my best work under pressure. Don't be like me! I am a bad example. It just leads to stress and stress leads to break-outs (that or all the candy I'm consuming).
6. Remember that your sister is available to commiserate. School can be tough, but it is totally worth it and I am here for you girl!
   

Lost!

I'm pretty sure there are more commercials than actual Lost footage in this finale. To quote Sawyer - "Son of a bitch!"

It's Spring Yo!

So I have officially finished another semester of grad school - OH YEAH! I am a tad crazy so I will be attending summer as well. In the mean time - BEHOLD ...

It is my garden and it is wonderful. Tons of thanks to my friend who put it together for me. You all know I wasn't responsible for that - it looks all professional and such. You may now commence with guessing how long it will take me to kill each and every living thing in that box - cuz you know I will what with my black thumbs and all.

In other news ... Did I mention I live in my town's ghetto? I am organizing a neighborhood watch because graffiti IS NOT COOL! Unless it is cool - like art. You sir/madam, are no artist.

Lessons learned by officially becoming an adult

Lesson One
Just because your sister tells you that the internet says to cook rice for 30 minutes - does not mean it is a good idea. Does anyone know who to remove charred rice from a pan?

Lesson Two
Some washing machines do not enjoy being loaded to the hilt. They kind of explode in a mass of water and suds.

Lesson Three
Fruit by the Foot will make you sick if you eat it for three days straight on a crazy paper-writing binge.

There are more lessons but I am at the tale end of the crazy paper-writing binge so yeah - good luck getting anything coherent out of me.

One Amazing Man

Today my grandfather passed away. He was a truly wonderful man. I always told people that he was a mixture between John Wayne and Johnny Cash, if Johnny Cash played the organ. My grandpa was a man's man. He drove trucks, he served in the military during World War II and during the final years of his life - he had three girlfriends. He had a swagger and bravado that immediately endeared people to him and made you want to be around him just so you could be cool by association. He could play any instrument by ear, however his instrument of choice was the organ which we would always beg him to play when we would visit him. He could also make one mean taco. He was a wonderful, sweet, amazing man and I will miss him immensely.