So I’m very late today, and I have no pictures of little Jason to post yet (mostly because I’m at work and the pictures are on a computer at home, but also because I need Eric to take some good ones for me).  But I’m here, so that’s something, right?

My morning was a bit hectic because we had Maggie last night.  Karen & Erik thought his parents, who were sleeping at their house, would stay through today, but they didn’t.  So Maggie came to our house for the last night, and my normal Xanga time was taken up with taking her outside this morning.  Then I had to pack up all her stuff and bring her to C-ville with me today to stay at my parents’ house.  Since my parents are probably going to meet them at their house when they’re discharged tomorrow, they’ll just bring Maggie  home with them. 

As far as how things are going for them, everything looks pretty good.  Karen sent the baby to the nursery last night except for feedings so that they could get some rest.  They are pretty much fine with visitors today if anyone wants to see the little guy in person.  Jason has good lungs and sucks on his fingers.  REALLY LOUDLY when he’s hungry.  It’s kind of funny!  But the feeding was going well on everyone’s part, and Erik was holding up, too.

Last night, I made brownies, an angel food cake and snickerdoodles.  The cookies are going to go with us tomorrow to Cleveland where Eric and I will spend the day with my best friends from college.  It’ll be a long day, but it should be fun.

Today, I’m just waiting around at CU for the papers my students are turning in today.  But I’m tired and very emotionally drained, so I am fine with having very little socializing in my life right now.  So I’ll probably goof off in my office for a while and see what I come up with from there.  I’m so glad it’s only hours from being Spring Break!

Karen’s Big Day!

EDIT (2):  Here’s the news:  Jason Eric Dietry (most likely), born at 8:52 am.  8 lbs., 6 oz and 19 inches long.  Karen is being moved to the postpartum room, and I’ll probably be heading up in the early afternoon to give her a couple of hours to recover!  Feel free to pop over to Karen’s site to congratulate her!

I got a call from my mom about 6:45 this morning.  Erik had just called them to say Karen was about to start pushing!  My parents are heading up, and I’ll be heading over after the baby is born.  Stay posted for more updates!

Humbled on the way to the Library
On a slightly less interesting note, I had a Gail moment yesterday.  I was venting in my head about my students and how they don’t listen.  I send them all the information they need, but they don’t read it and pay attention to actually apply what I tell them to their work.  I was walking out of my building to the library as I said again in my head, “They have everything they need to know…why won’t they use it?!

That’s when the Spirit nudged me quite obviously.  Um…I guess I do the same thing to God, don’t I?  I was raised in C-ville.  I have 30 years of Bible training under my belt.  I’ve been a believer since I was seven years old.  And God has given me all the information I need, but I absolutely refuse to pay attention to it and apply it to my life. 

Apparently, God will use other people’s children to remind you of your own flaws, too!

The rest of life
So, other than my “epiphany” yesterday, there’s nothing terribly exciting to report.  I decided to actually pray about my workshops yesterday, and they all went very well.   I should be more careful than I am to prepare in prayer as much as I prepare the information to share…it always makes a huge difference!   My students will be dropping papers off at my office today and tomorrow, so Spring Break is almost here.  I’m very, very glad!

In the evening, Eric and I went to a metro park for a few minutes (he wasn’t dressed warmly enough to stay long) to take some pictures in the snow.  Then we came home and had dinner.  After dinner, we ran to Giant Eagle to buy some fixin’s for making fresh tea and coffee (for Eric, of course!).  We watched a little television, and I talked to my mom about where Karen was and such, and then we all went to bed.  Lovely!

Happy Thursday!

The quick recap:

• Looked up writing stuff
• Graded
• Tidied the house
• Cleaned up the kitchen counters
• Collected recyclables and loaded them in my car
• Refilled bird feeder
• Had lunch
• Knitted for bit
• Dropped off recyclables
• Put gas in my car
• Stopped at Karen’s for a couple of hours (Maggie camped on my lap for her afternoon nap)
• Chatted with Eric when I got home
• Goofed off for a while
• Made breakfast for dinner
• Knitted while watching television with Eric until bedtime

So that was my day.  Eric had one of his (unusual) bad days at work, so he came and needed to vent.  He’d even missed lunch!  And the run he was doing crashed on him after finishing 10 of the 11 layers of metal he was putting on it.    So today will mostly be spent trying to find the problem and fixing it. 

Looks like the drive to CU will be potentially dangerous.  Madison County is on a level 1 snow emergency. But I cannot cancel class today, so I’ll just have to drive slowly.  Still…I don’t like driving on bad roads.  I don’t like driving oh-so-slow.  I don’t like risking head and hand.  I do not like it, Sam-I-am. 

EDIT: I’ve arrived at work with very little difficulty.  The interstate was pretty much clear.  Lovely!

Okay, enough creativity for this hour of the morning!  I need to get on with my day.  Hope you all have a lovely morning…Happy Wednesday!

I remembered again yesterday why I usually do not cancel class, even for bad weather.

My students cannot handle it.

I spent too much of yesterday resending, repeating, rewording, and otherwise clarifying for my students all the information that either I’ve said multiple times in the last 2 weeks (but they didn’t listen to) or I emailed to them on Friday (which they didn’t read).  I don’t typically mind until someone gets annoyed with me because I hold them responsible for the information which he or she didn’t listen to or read completely. 

Yep…it is definitely the week before Spring Break.  Really, everyone is already on Spring Break in their minds (professors included), so this week is always a very interesting one.  We basically have to excuse a lot of behavior and attitude by reminding ourselves that everyone is just tired and needs to go away for a week.  And we do.  I am looking forward to Spring Break as much as anyone else.  Maybe more!

Okay, enough whining, though.  Most of my students were just fine yesterday, and we did pretty well with classes and things.  There’s just a couple who are hard to deal with sometimes.  In the evening, Eric and I went to Chipotle for dinner, so I didn’t have to cook.  And I ironed when we got home, so now that’s done.  I got in bed at 8:30 and read for a while.  I was pretty much asleep by 9:30.  Sleep is so nice!

Today I have another stack of papers to read (the other half of the stack I read on Sunday), and I need to tidy up my house.  Other than that…we shall see.  Maybe I’ll see if Karen wants some company.  Who knows?

Happy Tuesday!

What a weekend!

I did not go to CU on Friday, so I spent the day writing, doing laundry, and goofing around the house.  Friday evening, Eric and I were trying to decide what to do (we were leaning towards nothing), when my sister called to say they’d decided not to go to Vision Night at church.  Oops!  I’d forgotten all about that.  So we hurried dinner and drove (in the ice) to the church for the “event.”  At least it got us out of the house without spending money!

Saturday, we hung out at our house for most of the day.  I worked on laundry and wrote and surfed the net and talked to Eric.  In the afternoon, my parents came up to Karen’s house to drop off the dresser Dad built for their nursery, so we went over there for a couple of hours.  In the evening, we tried to get some pictures of the ice before the sun went down, but it didn’t happen.  The sun drops really fast these days!  Oh well.  We went home and got some supper, watched some television, and then turned on the movie we needed to watch so we could return it to Netflix.

Saturday night, I had a horrible night’s sleep.  I don’t think I had enough time from the movie to bed, so my brain never shut off.  So I just kept thinking all night long.  And it kept me up all night long.  Yuck!

Sunday, Eric left at 7:30 for his brother’s house.  He spent the day with his brothers, driving to Cabela’s in W. Virginia to buy stuff for their camping trip.  He didn’t get home until 7:00 pm.  I went to church in the morning, and then to the grocery store with Karen.  I put a beef stew in the crockpot when I got home, and then spent the afternoon grading and watching television (at the same time!).  I had beef stew when it was done, and then started knitting (and watching TV) until Eric got home.  He showed me what he got, and we watched some television together before I was just too tired to stay up anymore.  We were in bed about 9:30, and I slept like a rock until Eric got up at 6:30.  So nice!

Anyway, that’s the weekend recap!   Happy Monday to you all!

I am not driving to CU today.  I have emailed all my students with their assignments and reminders, and I am staying home. 

I was debating all morning about driving the hour down there, but I think I knew I wasn’t going when I pulled out jeans to wear.  Apparently, my subconscious was already decided!  So I called my mom to get a second opinion, and she thought my subconscious had made a good choice.  Now I just have to decide what to do with my suddenly open day!

Yesterday, I ran to WalMart in the morning (after typing up the information I would need to send today, if I didn’t go).  I graded in the afternoon and then read a book while waiting for Eric to come home.  I did a little bit of knitting in the evening while watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  I needed a light, short movie to watch, and that fit the bill.  I actually wanted to see Transformers, but I think it’s still being borrowed by someone else.  And besides, it was too long to watch last night.  So the romantic movie worked just fine!

Anyway, that’s about all I have this morning.  If anyone has any good ideas about what I should do with my day, feel free to let me know!  Happy Friday!

FOR TERRI:

1. Do you like blue cheese? No…gross
2. Have you ever smoked heroin? Nope.   
3. Do you own a gun? No.
4. Your favorite song?  Today?  Mercy Me’s “God with Us”
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?  Not usually.
6. What do you think of hot dogs?   I don’t much eat them. 
My husband prefers the kosher, real-meat ones.  If I have to eat one, I will.
7. Favorite Christmas song?  There are very few I don’t like…
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Cranberry Grape juice
9. Can you do push ups?  Yes,
about ten before my arms give out.
10. What do you want?   A baby
and a dog.
11. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry?  My wedding and engagement rings.
 12. Favorite hobby?  It depends on my
mood: reading, yarn crafts, organizing.
13. Secret weapon to get the opposite sex?  Um…I wouldn’t want to hurt them…
14. Do you have A.D.D.?  No.
15. What’s one trait that you hate about yourself? My know-it-all-ness
16. Middle Name? Marie
17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment.  Is
F9 the button for the font menu?  I’m so
glad I stopped to pee a minute ago.  I
don’t like a ton of things about myself.
18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday. Pantyhose,
milk, razors for my husband
19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink?   water, milk and cranberry grape juice
20. Current worry right now?   Will
I ever have kids?
21. Current hate right now?  How the books
I’ve picked up recently have to always talk about the stuff I most dislike talking
about.
22. Favorite place to be at?   With
Eric.
23. How did you bring in the New Year?  With friends from church.
24. Where would you like to go?   Europe
25. Name three people who will complete this.  ???
26. Do you own slippers?  Yes, I just
made them myself.
27. What shirt are you wearing?  A grey OSU
hoodie that Karen got me for Christmas
28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?  Don’t know.
29. Can you whistle?  Yes
30. Favorite color?   Blue.  Almost any shade
31. Would you like to be a Pirate?  Not
really.   
32. What songs do you sing in the shower?  Whatever
songs pop into my head.
33. Favorite girl’s name?   Don’t
really have one.
34. Favorite boy’s name?  Ditto.
35. What’s in your pocket right
now?   My hands were just there, checking
to see what was in them (nothing).
36. Last thing that made you laugh?   My
imagination
37. Best bed sheets as a child?  Definitely
the flowered ones my grandfather made into a rug years ago.
38. Worst injury you’ve ever had?  I
broke my wrist in a soccer game in high school.
39. Do you love where you live?   Sometimes
40. How many TVs do you have in your house? 2
41. Who is your loudest friend?  Manda Cronkleton   
42. How many dogs do you have? None…but I’d love
to have one.  
43. Does someone have a crush on you?  I hope Eric does…
44. Who makes you smile the most?  My husband.  He makes
me laugh.
45. What is your favorite book?   Jane Eyre.  The Bible.  I have lots of favorites…
46. What is your favorite candy?  M & Ms  
47. What is your favorite Sports Team?  OSU Buckeyes
48. What song do you want played at your funeral?   Untitled Hymn (Fly to Jesus) by Chris Rice
49. What were you doing 12 AM last night?  Sleeping soundly
50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke
up?  Apparently Eric is sleeping in a bit today.

Here was my outline for classes yesterday:

-Start with the “Witch Village” scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail
-Begin the powerpoint to introduce logical fallacies
-Talk about Occam’s Razor (show a clip from Eureka where one character explains this concept)
-Describe the various logical fallacies (focusing on the “big” ones like circular reasoning, false dilemma, post hoc ergo propter hoc, and slippery slope)
-Show the “Battle of Wits” scene from The Princess Bride and analyze it to name the logical fallacies present, especially the fallacy that killed him (it was false dilemma, if you wanted to know).

The students always enjoy that class, and frankly, so do I!  The ability to use pop culture in Composition is one of my greatest assets, and I take full advantage of it!

As for the rest of the day, nothing terribly exciting.  I should have 3 of 4 students finish Basic by Spring Break which is nice.  I was supposed to meet with a student at 4:00, but her 3:00 class got canceled, so I got to leave earlier than I was expecting. Nice!  The evening was very relaxing: reading, a light supper, watching TV, and bed.

Today I have a few things to accomplish.  Eric is currently taking pictures of snow on trees out a window of our house, but he should be off to work in a few minutes.  I’ll probably run a couple of errands and work on my grading.  Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?  Or not…

Anyway, happy Thursday!

This morning is there is lovely, fluffy snow falling outside.  It’s quite pretty.  I do wish I didn’t have to drive to CU in it, but the roads seem to be clear enough (on the TV anyway!)  EDIT (8:40): My mom just called and said that the roads near them are pretty yucky and all the high schools have cancelled for the day.  Sadly, I actually need to do this lecture today, so I can’t just cancel myself.  I guess I’ll just have to drive really slowly!

EDIT (10:21 am): I made it with no problem.  The roads ranged from only wet in some places to slushy-but-passable in others.  I’ve driven down in much worse!  I’m even ready to talk about logical fallacies today (with movie clips, of course!). 

Sorry I was out of the loop yesterday.  I ended up nursing a pretty crabby attitude for most of the day.  Lots of reasons for it.  It made for a heavy day.

Since I needed to grade, I made myself do that before I went anywhere.  Unfortunately, I had no desire to grade (crabbiness again), so I only got one class read (which didn’t help the crabbiness either).  But I did at least do that much.  Unfortunately, I ended up having to read a few, go check my email, read a few, go play a game, read a few, etc, etc, etc. just to get myself through them.  Maybe today I’ll get to the other class with more focus…

On a better note, I did end the day better than crabby.  After dinner, I decided to be more positive, so I cleaned up my kitchen (including the floor) and then read some good stories to lighten my heart.  It definitely helped, along with my fabulous husband’s presence, of course.  So this morning, my heart’s had a bit of healing, and I’m doing better.

Today, I’m off to work.  It should be a pretty normal day, I hope!  Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Happy Tuesday to everybody out there in Xanga-land!  The sun is shining on freshly fallen snow, and it’s especially lovely because I don’t have to drive to work in it this morning (maybe tomorrow, but not today!). 

First of all, a couple of pictures, as promised.  The first is obviously my Valentines/birthday present.  The second are the slippers I crocheted for myself last week (Terri wanted to see them). 

Yesterday was pretty full.  I did a little tidying up before I left.  At CU, I had the usual day, and I worked in my office just a bit after my last class.  When I got home, Eric was already there, so we watched television until his parents arrived.  We went out to dinner with them. They’d never been to Red Robin, so we went there.  Our service wasn’t stellar, but the food is always good.  We also watched the snow squalls out the windows while we ate!  By the time we’d finished dinner, there was a good inch of snow on the ground.  That’s always fun!  We got home and watched the Knight Rider pilot that aired on Sunday (we recorded it…yay for dvr!).  They left about 9:15, and we watched a Mythbusters episode until 10:00, when we went to bed. 

Today I will have to grade. I didn’t even bring the grading home over the weekend to celebrate my birthday, but now I must get it done!  I may make a Wal-Mart run, but we shall see how much I feel like leaving the house. 

Sometimes, I think that these posts should have an announcer to introduce them.  Something like this (in that deep, male “movie” voice)…“Good morning, and welcome to the Weekend Report with Shannah Hogue.  Covering the events and activities of the last three days for all who need to know.  And now….here’s Shannah!”

See, wouldn’t that be much bettter?!?

Anyway, here’s the good stuff (pictures to come tomorrow).

Friday night: Eric and I had dinner and then ran errands.  We went to Dick’s Sporting Goods and bought Eric a new sleeping bag and mattress pad for his upcoming camping trip.  Then we wandered around Barnes & Noble (I bought a book) before heading home.

Saturday (my birthday!  Yes, Gail, I’m 31.):  We hung out around the house for the morning, and then drove up to Polaris for the first part of my present.  Eric took me to the Great Indoors and let me pick out whatever I wanted for my kitchen.  So I got a digital scale, a digital meat thermometer, a silicon brush, a set of quilted storage containers for my china, and a potato masher.   It was so fun!
   When we got home, I started working on something in the kitchen, and when I came upstairs, there was another little box sitting on my laptop.  It was earrings to match the necklace Eric bought me for Valentines Day!  They are so pretty, and I’ll post a picture tomorrow.
   My family came up in the evening and we hung out with them.  My mom brought pie, and the girls were pretty cute (as usual).  I got a $25 gift card to B & N, and my mom got me another place setting of my china and some really pretty clothes. 

Sunday: Pretty normal, really.  Church, dinner, hanging out in the afternoon, and then small group.  I did not bring any work home with me this weekend, so I actually got to relax.  And small group was more fun than it’s been for a while, which was nice.  I was pretty tired afterwards, though, so we watched a little television and I went to bed about 9:30. 

It was a lovely birthday weekend and very relaxing.  Well…I need to get on with my day!  Happy Monday to you all!