How incredibly wonderful it was to see Eric get out of his brothers’ maroon Impala yesterday afternoon, just after 5:00.  We both made it.  We looked at his pictures.  They had a good time, but it was really cold so he was glad to get home.  Now I just have to figure out what to do with the large pile of smoke-smelling camp stuff sitting on my living room floor! 

Yesterday was both really good and really bad, depending on what time of the day it was.  The bad issues related to the fact that I was dead tired, the fact that it was gray and cold, and the current issues I’m facing regarding the drama ministry at church. 

The good stuff:  I babysat the girls yesterday…they are so very cute!  I did get some things done that I needed to do. Karen came over to give me a hug (and to pick up the books I’d brought back for her) because I really needed one and Eric wasn’t home yet.  And then, of course, Eric arrived, much earlier than I’d expected him (that was a great surprise!) and we spent the entire evening just being together.  So the good stuff did redeem the day overall.

Today it’s back to CU for classes.  I’m ready to be done for the week, but I have TONS of grading to do.  I really need to catch up on a lot of stuff.  I feel very behind.

I am so very glad that Eric is coming home today.  I have no idea when he’s getting here, but they have a good 8 hours of driving to get home, so I’m not expecting him until evening.  But I kept waking up last night (and early this morning), and it really helped me to remember he would be there tonight!

Last night was crazy fun!  Our small group helped to run an event for the youth at our church.  Scott Walker (yes of Cedarville) is in our group, and his company runs parties and does inflatables and stuff.  So brought a number of their games and we ran them (and got to play on them, too, of course!).  I managed not to hurt myself, though I am a bit stiff today, and I really strained my voice trying to give instructions over the loud music and other party noises.  But is was a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, I am SOOOO tired today.  Yesterday was continuous from beginning to end, and I didn’t get nearly enough done.  And I have to go back to Cedarville today to babysit the girls for Deb.  I’ve driven to Cedarville 10 of the last 14 days.  I’m really tired!

I’d really be okay if Eric decided to come home tonight.  I’m not expecting that to happen (though it might be raining on them right now and getting colder right behind the rain), but it would sure be nice. 

I had a very productive day yesterday.  I got my papers read before I focused on anything else (good for me!).  Then I went rollerblading because it was beautiful out and I also wanted to give my body a no-impact workout for a change.  After that, I went to the store and chatted with Karen while I shopped.  I went home, made supper, and then watched tv while I worked on the Christmas skits.  I think I like where they’re going right now!  Then Karen came over and we watched tv and talked until like 10:30.  She was so sweet to come over and keep me company!  I watched the end of the Chronicles of Narnia on one of the movie channels and went to be a little after 11:00.  Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep as well as I have the rest of this week.  I think I’m starting to miss Eric in my sleep.

Today I’m heading to CU, then home to help get set-up and run an event for the youth at church tonight.  I’m glad I don’t have drama tonight…I needed the break!

It was so nice to sleep in yesterday!  I didn’t even move until my alarm went off…no extra lights turning on/off, no radio clicking on at 5:30.  I even took my time getting to CU (okay…that was because I forgot to email something to my students so I did that before I left!), so I arrived at about 10 and skipped chapel (gasp! ) so that I could get everything ready for my classes.

A test in Basic English and peer group work in Composition made for a not terribly stressful day.  My dad was home at lunch.  He’d had a doctor’s appt. to finally get his knees checked.  Great news:  he has TERRIBLE knees!  It sounds dumb to say it like that, but now with a doctor’s approval, I think he can start moving towards knee replacements.  He can barely move now without serious pain, and it’s starting to make his thighs and calves hurt constantly, too.  So we were very glad for that “bad” report!

I stopped back down at the house after class to pick up some one-helping leftovers that Mom offered to me for the week.  While there, I realized that my front tire was really low, so my dad filled it for me.  It read 12 pounds of pressure when he hooked the machine up…the tire is supposed to have 44 pounds of pressure.  No wonder my car was pulling and shaking so hard!  I had a MUCH smoother drive home!

Last night, a friend invited me over for dinner while her husband was at a bible study.  It was a really good time and we had a great dinner and chat.  I got home a little after 9:30, so then it was almost time for bed.   So far, I’m meeting my goal which is to stay busy so I don’t have much time to think about Eric being gone…hopefully, I be able to keep it up!

I decided to write a quick post tonight so that I don’t spend the little time I have planning for classes in the morning on Xanga!  Of course, I’ll still check it to post comments, so this might not help me at all, but we’ll see!

The weekend was mostly uneventful.  Eric and I ran up to the mall on Friday night to buy a gc for Deb for her birthday.  We were home just after 6:00 and I made tacos for dinner which we watched during the replay of Eureka at 7:00 on Sci-Fi Channel.  Eric’s computer had “lost” his schedule of shows to record, so he didn’t get it on Tuesday when it was first on. 

Saturday, we did some running around in the morning.  We went to Tractor Supply Company, a boot store, Dick’s Sporting Goods (where we bought Eric some hiking boots), and MicroCenter…all before noon!  Then home for Eric to play with his new computer toy, which he did while I cleaned the house (swept the kitchen floor, vacuumed, cleaned all of the bathrooms – even the mirrors!).  Then we watched the first half of the OSU game, left at halftime for Cedarville, watched the rest of the game while Mom finished making Deb’s birthday dinner, then spent the evening on the party. 

This morning we got up for church, and after we got home, Eric started packing for his camping trip.  His brothers came around 1:00 to pick him up, and after loading his stuff, they headed to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan to go camping until Thursday.  Yuck!  So I’m on my own…trying to keep myself occupied so that I don’t notice as much that he’s gone. 

This afternoon, after he left, I made a taco dip, cleaned up the kitchen, read the newspaper, did the crossword, went for a walk, made cookies, got small group stuff ready, ate a light supper, went to small group, and came home.  Eric called me on my way home so I talked to him for a short bit…he’s not a good phone talker (especially in a hotel room where his brothers are watching tv…they start camping tomorrow), so we didn’t chat for very long. But now it’s after 10:00 and I’m going to head for bed soon.  So that’s one night down, 3 to go!

So I finished the laundry, but not the ironing.  However since
Eric could wear jeans today and won’t need his dress clothes again
until a week from Monday…there’s no real rush for that!  I also
worked on Christmas stuff and made Eric an angel food cake yesterday,
and I ran to Sam’s Club (where I was surprised and somewhat annoyed
that they had Christmas stuff out but not Halloween candy!).

Last night was uneventful to say the least.  We did go for a short
walk and talked for a while.  I really would’ve been fine without
walking, but it was good to spend the time with Eric.  We went to
bed between 9:30 and 10.

Today is a rainy, gray class day.  I’m doing a chapter test review
in Basic English and a Writing Day in Comp, so they’ll probably both be
bored.  I am taking candy to bribe them into participating,
however, so maybe that will help! Yeah…so I guess that’s about all!

I’m somewhat surprised that my ice cream answer yesterday got more reaction than anything else I said all day! 

Yesterday, I had to wear a jacket for the first time.  And I really needed it!  But at least it was partly sunny…that always helps!

Yesterday was Day of Prayer at CU so I didn’t have my Basic English classes.  I met with a student (who apparently got his “stuff” done) and he actually seems to be figuring some things out!   Then I went home for lunch, chatted with mom for a while and then went back for Composition.  We covered logical fallacies in class, and I show lots of movie clips (one thing Hollywood does well is bad logic!), so that is always a fun day.

I went home and laid on the couch with Eric watching tv until 6 or so when I got some supper before heading to church for drama.  It was a better evening than I was expecting, truthfully!  Then home for some QT with Eric!  Today is the last day of his week of meetings, so tonight he can finally start to relax.  I’m looking forward to it!

Oh…and Trisha, I usually did check the slice size with a customer when I worked at the deli.  Most clerks do, but it’s not part of the job requirements.  But I always checked with the meats which were less common (such as pepperoni).

For Mindy (Hello, Mindy!  I just read your site for the first time…)

Hometown: Cedarville, OH
Current Home: Galloway, OH (suburb of Columbus)

Family: Parents (Jack & Fran Campbell…no Xanga for them!),
Chris & Deb (brother & SIL), Kelly & Holly (my nieces),
Karen & Erik (my sister and BIL) and my fabulous husband, Eric.

Education:  K-12 in Cedarville. BA from Cedarville Univ.
(English & Theatre), MA (Theatre) from OSU  (may or may not go
back…)

Places I’ve lived: Cedarville; Columbus; Hilliard, OH; Galloway, OH

Favorite
tv shows: Eureka (Sci-fi channel), Stargate SG-1, MythBusters, the Travel channel (except the ghost shows)

Job history: Deli clerk at Kroger, library worker (various jobs),
bookseller at Barnes & Noble, stage manager at OSU theatres, office
worker (for my mom when low on funds), college professor

Favorite Ice Cream Place in the entire world:  I can live without ice cream, so I have no favorites.

So I spent most of the day with the nieces…they’re pretty cute, I must say, even if they are Chris’!   Kelly walked me through her entire collection of toys, I think.  Then we played “handstands” where I picked her up by her legs and held her upside down while she put her hands on the floor.  She thought that was great fun…Aunt Shannah was ready to stop before Kelly was!    We also watched a VeggieTales video.  Then Holly woke up from her morning nap, and SHOCK OF ALL SHOCKS, she did not cry when I came in to get her.  She was calling for her mom, looked at me funny when I came in instead, looked around me to see if Deb was behind me, but let me get her out of the crib and never even sniffed about it.  That is the first time she’s done that.  In fact, she actually interacted with me as if she liked me for the first time ever!   Really, though, it was fun to be able to play with her and not have her only interested in finding/holding onto her mom.

After Deb’s class, I was supposed to have a meeting, so I went to my office.  I was about 10 minutes late, and he was nowhere in sight.  So I sent him an email.  I still don’t know if he came by for all of 18 seconds and left or whether he never came at all, but he emailed back to say he had “stuff to do” so we rescheduled until today.  It was a tad annoying since I didn’t have to be on campus at all yesterday, but I did work for 2 hours getting stuff done, so that was good.

On my way home, I stopped in London to get groceries and went on the rest of the way home.  Eric was out with his brothers for the evening, so I was on my own.  I had supper, watched some tv, and generally goofed off.  I sort of expected him around 9:00 to watch Eureka, but when I finally called him at 9:20, they weren’t even back to Ryan’s yet.  So I finished the show and was almost ready for bed when he finally got home (a little after 10).  Then he was really tired, so we just went to bed. 

Geez…yesterday was a very busy day!  The first chance I had to write was at 3:00, and I figured it may as well wait until today!

The weekend was productive.  Eric worked 8.5 hours on Saturday and another 3 on Sunday.  So I was on my own for most of it.  I mowed the grass for him (the first time ever since I’ve lived here!), watched the OSU game and graded on Saturday before heading to Cedarville for my dad’s birthday party.  Sunday I finished all my grading and then wrote scripts for upcoming church things for most of the afternoon/evening. 

Yesterday wasn’t terribly out of the ordinary.  I had classes (my Basic students were very bored unfortunately), but I started logic in Comp which is always one of my favorite weeks!   Then one of my Basic students needed to meet with me, so after Comp, I waited until 4 for him to come.  We finished at about 5:20, so I didn’t get out of Cedarville until after 5:30.  Then home, made a quick dinner, and vegged for the rest of the evening.  So not that exciting.

Today I’m heading back to Cedarville to watch the girls while Deb goes to the dentist and then I have another meeting with yesterday’s student at 2:00.  Eric is meeting his brothers after work, so I think I’m on my own for most of the evening, but we’ll see how that goes…