nothing says nerd like...

Ok, so I was online buying my books for next semester yesterday and as I was going through the list there was a book that I already own. In fact I had recently bought it to read over the break to prepare for my upcoming class and it sounds super interesting. And it's one of my texts! haha! Add that to my 'nerd' repertoire! I can see Justin looking for a rock to hide under now - but no worries - I won't tell him and I certainly won't bring up in front of his friends! We have an image to protect!

so cute!

Girls! I was looking for an easy, inexpensive gift for my VTs etc., because I don't really have time to bake this year (sad!) and this is what I found:

They were so easy to make and turned out really cute! I used self-adhesive ribbon and a buckle slide then added a dab of low-temp hot glue on the back to make sure the ribbon held together where it overlapped. Here's a close up - I can't get it to rotate so you'll have to rotate your head. Sorry!

And here's the little gift I did for the sisters in the RS presidency with me:

I went to an antique store and found these pretty little old tea cups and some cool old spoons and I put some Russian Refresher (like Wassail) mix in a little tiny ziploc bag, tied a cinnamon stick to the spoon and wrapped it all together. I think it turned out really cute and hopefully no one will think it was weird to get an old cup and spoon. :)

It's all about them

Just a heads up for all y'all who'll have teenagers some day - they are a big ball of contradictions and if you're not careful it'll drive you nuts! Oh, let me share some examples... Yesterday Becky and I were out shopping (since I have pretty much nothing done and Christmas is in one week shopping is my whole goal this week) and we picked up the boys (Justin & 2 friends) and took them to the mall. Of course we separated as soon as we got there - you know, we wouldn't want to embarrass them, they surely wouldn't want to be seen with two old women and two loud little kids. (Seriously, they're really loud! My nephews have this thing for screeching and its not cool. And the 2 year old laughs and smiles so big when you tell him no, he just loves it if he causes trouble!) Later, we saw the boys in the food court and I waved. This was most embarrassing to all of the boys! Then I called to Justin (he wasn't very far so it wasn't a yell or anything) and asked if he wanted some money. Well, yeah! I said, 'oh, we can talk to you as long as we're giving you money, huh?' He said yes. Envision a roll of the eyes here.



One more example. The last couple days I told Justin he could ride the bus to school and he said that's so unfair 'you're off today!' I reminded him that I have tons to do. He doesn't care. I reminded him that I've not showered, I'm in my pajamas, have racoon eyes, and my hair looks like I stuck my finger in light socket and (I didn't remind him of this but I was reminding myself) I didn't have a bra on - and as any post-baby woman knows, that is not good and you just should never go out in public w/o a bra! Do you think he cares? Well, no. At least not this time. He'd really rather have a ride to school than have to ride the awful bus. Perhaps I can just put a hat on?



So, the bottom line is, it's all about them. Just remember, you'll never get it unless you think about each situation and figure out what it is they want to get out of it and how you can help them the most. Then, you can see how even the most embarrassing situations will be 100% fine with them, so long as they end up on top.

Christmas card pic

Woo hoo! Finals are done! I'm is happy, happy. So, now on to my Christmas cards. I told Justin that I have a very limited selection of pictures to choose from to send with our cards as he was such a turkey and wouldn't take a decent picture with me. Ever. Then I said maybe I'd just send his tangle-with-the-pier picture. I was kidding of course but he thinks that'd be a great idea. So, here are the two I have to choose from, you can vote. The pier:

Or, a very accurate picture of what vacationing with us is like:

Personally, I don't think the bleeding boy is very appropriate for Christmas cards, although it does say a lot! But I also like to pretend that vacations are fun so I'm not sure I like the other picture either. Perhaps we'll just have to skip the picture this year...

This is the scene at my lightrail stop this morning! There are three tracks along side each other, two for the light rail and one for regular trains. A coal train derailed this morning and knocked the lightrail train on the next next track off. No one was hurt but it'll be a day or so before they get it operable again. In the meantime, it's snowing like crazy and really icy and I have a final so I have to figure out another route to school. If I leave now, I may make my 10:00 final in time. :) Too bad it's a final, if it was a lecture, I might just skip it...

one down...

One final down, five to go... And enrichment on Wednesday. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can... And I don't even have my Christmas cards started. This may not seem like a big thing so most people but I usually have them done and in the mail by about the 3rd of December. So, I'm way behind! Sigh. On that happy note, I think I'll head out into the 15 degree morning and conquer my next final! :D