up north...

happy birthday jesus!

they don't call it brrr-midji for nothing.

midnight bowling. never have i heard so much 80's music since, well, the 1980s. (by the way, my score never left the 80s either.)

mimi's tree.

a local hot spot. one of many.
it is northern minnesota, after all.

happy birthday jesus!

years ago, before i was even born, my mom made a nativity scene in a ceramics class. today, i have that nativity scene. she sent it to me in the mail, having replaced it with a more up-to-date version.

i like hers best-it holds a lot of pleasant memories for me, as i'm sure it does for her too. i love to flip the pieces over and look at her initials hand-carved on the bottom of each one.

i think jesus would have been very proud.

your fired!

yes, if the donald were in charge of my future as a blogger, he'd have me hitting the road, jack. so it's been a month and a half since my last (extremely short and boring) entry, i've been busy!

so busy, in fact, that i finished school. yes, i completed my student teaching on the 30th of november and attended my last class on the 7th, last friday. wow. i finally have that illusive b.a. i've been trying to get for the last 15 years. ouch. nothing like laying all out.

but it's mine. not to jinx myself - i don't actually know if i passed yet - but i should be receiving my degree in the mail any day. now i just sit and wait...wait to see if i passed the state test, wait for my license and certification. then i can start subbing. well, after i get fingerprinted - can't have any criminals roaming the classrooms.

so i've been busy. and when i'd have a moment where i wasn't commuting, or working, or teaching, or lesson planning, or writing reflections, or making my peanut butter sandwiches for the next day's lunch...well, i just didn't feel like blogging. forgive me.

now it's the christmas season, and i'd almost rather be doing all of that over again rather than brave the malls to buy gifts. especially when i have no idea what to get anyone. any suggestions? my husbands family just draws names every year so everyone is only buying for one person. i like that (though not everyone sticks to it. i will, stickler for the rules and all...) this year i have one of his sister's names and so far i know she wants socks and bland recipe cards. whoo hoo. i can't wait to see the look on her face this year when she gets tan, black and grey! imagine the outfit possibilities!

this is the first year that my husband and i will actually spend christmas together. up until now we had gone our separate ways, neither of us willing to part with our own family's christmas traditions (christmas eve horsdevours at my house are gift enough, mom!). but now we're married so we have to act like we want to become a part of our spouses family's christmas. and it's not that we think the other's sucks, we just love ours so much...anyway, we probably would've gone our separate ways again, but our families feel that since we're married now, we should probably start acting like it.

we thought maybe when kids came, we could send one with one family, the other with the other. trade every other year...

anyway, glad to be back and all. happy to have survived the last three months.

i love sunday mornings...

moving day!

today is a very big day for the folks--moving day! after over 23 years in beautiful estes park, colorado, the sunny mountain oasis where much of my formative years occurred, my parents have made the very big decision to move off of the mountain, leave the bears and bobcats behind, and make a new life for themselves about 45 minutes down the canyon. eventually they will call loveland, colorado, their home...for now, a little town between loveland and denver is where they'll lay down stakes until they find the perfect dream home.

i'm excited for them, even though my mom is totally nervous, to be sure--she's not a fan of change and if it were up to her, we'd probably still be living on andrew's avenue (yep, now you get the name) in detroit lakes, minnesota, the place where i was born (to everyone's joy and amazement, i'm sure) a mere thirty-*ahem* years ago. but no, she married the traveling nomad, and so about eight or nine homes later, starting anew. i'm excited for them.

there are things i and they will miss--as mentioned before, it was always exhilarating to look out the window of the house and see a bear or a deer or a bobcat roaming through the yard, or pressing it's nose against the glass. the woods are a beautiful and beguiling place to settle down, and nothing beats a silent winter walk through the trees.

that being said, to be 45 minutes closer to the grandson and 5 minutes from a target ain't all that bad either.

i talked to my mom this morning, about 6:45 a.m. their time, and of course she was up. she'd probably been up for three hours.

i know it'll all go fine. i wish i were there to help and i can't wait to hear how things go. i'm totally excited to see the new place...there's a little nomad in me too.

president sheen.

oh, the pride i feel for my better half; it must be a sin. he always knows how to act around dignitaries.