I'm old.

Now that I'm unemployed (or "on vacation"), I've gotten hooked on old reruns of Who's the Boss on Nick at Night (from 1-2 am--hey, it's not like *I* have anywhere to be the next day). Anyway, according to our cable guide, these episodes are just about 20 years old. TWENTY. (1985, to be exact.) And I remember them airing the FIRST time.

End o' the Year

La la la la la. It's the end of the year. Everyone is off work and on vacation but me.

Jen's home with the guinea pig. Renee & Kishelle are home with their boys. Just me & Lisa bumming around the office.

What are ya'll doing while I sit here in my cube?

A new MasterCard commercial.

Trigonometry book: $85.00
3 full notebooks: $5.00
Gas to drive back and forth for 15 weeks: $75
FINALLY being done with trig: PRICELESS.

UPDATE: 5 PM - I just got an email from my professor. Somehow, I went and got a 100% on the final. She said I finished the class with a 3.6. In TRIG. ME.

The best kid story. Ever.

I just realized that I'm one of those parents who think their kid is the funniest, cutest and smartest kid ever--except that I'm a parent with 30 kids to tell stories about.

But really, this story is AWESOME.

It was calender time, and I was explaining to the kids that we would have a new month when I saw them again. Some of them have a hard time pronouncing "January," so I was saying it particularly exaggerated. "C, look at my mouth," I said. "Say JAN-YOU-ARY."

"JAN-ME-ARY," he promptly replied.

"No!" I said through my laughter. "It's YOU. Jan-YOU-ary."

"That's what I said," he said. "Jan-ME-ary."

And on that note--I'm off for two weeks!!

Baby fever.

I just read a post at Kishelle's blog that prompted the following (go ahead and read it. I'll wait).

Ready?

You want to talk baby fever? I have it bad. It's been 12 YEARS since my last kid. And with my sisters constantly popping them out, there's always a baby to hold...and being around the kids at the preschool and having so much fun with them...they just bring me pure joy, you know? And I'm getting older, and I've met someone who is absolutely fabulous, who I'm totally in love with, and who is going to be a great daddy (hell, he is NOW). Plus, I've been able to keep Fancy alive since APRIL. That's got to count for SOMETHING, right?

At the same time, though...I mean, I still like to sleep in. A LOT. And at the end of the day, I get to go home. To an apartment with no kids (unless you count the guinea pig). And it's pretty nice.
And I like having alone time. Which you don't get when you have a kid.

Still, the rewards of HAVING kids are priceless.

But at the same time....oooohhhhh, they can be little shits, can't they? As Kishelle knows, they can try your patience and just INFURIATE you to no end.

Still, I really kinda want one. Too bad Jeff wants to be "married" and "financially stable" first. (HELLO? Has he MET my family?!)

Awwww.

We were making ornaments at work today. At one point, while I was hard at work with the glitter and glue, I sensed someone standing behind me. It was Z, one of the kinders, who was carefully pouring glitter onto my head. "WHAT are you doing??" I exasperatedly asked him.

"I'm making you look fancy," he said, grinning at me.

Needless to say, I laughed for about 10 minutes. And I went to trig class looking VERY fancy.

Checking in.

I've had a pretty busy week, finishing up my semester (I'm now down with my education classes; the unofficial grades look pretty good. Jeff calls me his "little nerd"). I still have trig to get through; I have one more chapter test on Monday (which I am going to bomb, but I've done well enough this term that one bad test won't totally sink me); after that, we have review day for our final and then, on the 20th, we have our final and we're DONE.

I'm trying to find work for the two weeks the preschool is closed (the week before and after Christmas); I've been talking to the parents, seeing if anyone needs a babysitter for those two weeks, but a lot of parents have time off, too. Losing my piddly little child care income for 10 (working) days won't exactly leave us out on the street, but it'd be nice to keep SOME money coming in.

On a side note, I'm having a bitch of a time coming up with Christmas presents for Jeffrey. I know what he likes: NASCAR, gaming, beer and music, not necessarily in that order. But I don't want to get him Tony Stewart stuff because that's been done; I don't know which CD's or video games he has and which ones he would want; and somehow, I don't think a 6-pack of Bud will cut it. I'm about to resort to asking him to just provide me with a list. (I've always prided myself on being able to provide significant others with personal, un-prompted holiday gifts; I've never needed a "cheat sheet" before.) If anyone has any ideas, please email me. (Don't post them here, ya dillholes.)

Ho, ho, ho.

Adopt a soldier.

For those of you who wish there was more you could do for our men and women overseas....now there is.

http://www.soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php

All they ask is that you write to your soldier at least once a week and send a care package at least once a month.

I figure, it's the LEAST I can do.

Rice and Jello?!

I fear that this was lost in the Thanksgiving shuffle (I just discovered it tonight), so I needed to make sure I brought this to everyone's attention.

Lisa posted an idea for a dish she calls "glorified rice." It was passed down from her late grandmother and is comprised of orange Jello, whipped cream and rice. MIXED TOGETHER. IN THE SAME BOWL.

JELLO. And RICE.

I'm not making this up, guys. It's in the "Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving" thread.

Am I the only one who is thrown off by this? Or is everyone else but me eating Jello and rice? Also: what weird things do YOU all eat?

Happy Birthday Rudolph!

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer turns 40 this year!

I heard on the radio that the Rudolph Christmas Special is running this season for the 40th consecutive year! It's the longest continuously running Christmas Special ever.

I love that campy stop-animation special, along with the others about Jack Frost, the Abominable Snow Man, how Santa Claus came to be and the rest! Growing up I'd watch them every year.

What Christmas Specials are your favorites?

Stay safe, JD.

Someone very important to me is leaving for Iraq on Friday. I ask you to keep him, and all of our other soldiers, in your thoughts and prayers.

The next 6-9 months or so can't go by fast enough.

Blog Party!

So when does everyone want to get together for the blog party?

It'll be a chance to meet in person the people we've been chatting with for months and have a good ol' time with the girls (and possibly a few boys, too)!

After The Holidays? January? February?