The Eye Twitch...

I bet this is the post you have been waiting for since my last holiday posting. I cordially invite you to sit down, relax and read Christmas 2010 through the eyes of Sara. After spending the respectful 5:00 hour at Chrismas Eve mass, I headed home to a dinner of Pork Roast,homemade applesauce,sweet potatoes and bread. After a whoops I got too excited because it was Christmas Eve and forgot to eat all day until dinner, it was time to lay low until the all night Ralphie marathon.
     After the annual first viewing of "A Christmas Story", promptly at 10:00 I recieved the I'm home for one night so ya better come see me phone call. "Let me find my parka,winter boots and then I'll be over." Okay so maybe I didn't need to find my winter boots for walking less than a football field length to her house, but after the unfortunate incident with my crocs on ice, I needed to find better shoes. Wallabes to the rescue.
     Knowing that in less than two hours I would have a day filled with chaos and family, I planned to make a short 10 or 15 minute stay. "Okay it's time for the annual playing of Christmas Eve Charades. Kids against adults.Sara you get to go first." Wait a second? Who in the room was considered a kid? Anyone under the age of 30. "I'll stay for one or two rounds and then I have to get home and go to bed. I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow." First card I draw? "Christmas In Connecticut." Seriously? I had never heard of this movie. And how in the world does one act out Connecticut? Point to a christmas tree, attempt to air draw a map of the United States, hope they get the idea, attempt to point to the state of Connecticut and pray to God they get it. Five laughter minutes filled later, I had achieved success. Highlights of Christmas Eve Charades? Yukon Cornelious, Cindy Loo Who, and the Bishops Wife. TWO HOURS later, the clock had turned to Christmas morning and I trekked back home to attempt to get some shut eye. Ohhhh but yours truly had a better idea than sleeping.
     This was one night I truly felt like a five year old on Christmas Eve. I couldn't help it. I was so excited. For what? The morning, mom and dad's present and jitters about Christmas dinner. After the 12-2 and 2-4 AM viewings of Ralphie I finally slept from 4-9:00. And for the first time good ol dad had to wake me up on Christmas Morning.
     The rest of my family was to promptly arrive at 9:00 for the days festivities of which included opening of stockings, breakfast of welsh rarbit,sausage and danish, and opening of presents. I'm not mentioning names, but the person who gave me the title of this posting thought it might be funny to torment me and be FIVE minutes late. Usually I don't mind, but seeing as this was Christmas, this whole act of being late wasn't funny. I didn't have time to worry about them being late. My stomach was in knots. Knots of excitement. You could say I was pretty pumped for the day but I was WAY more pumped about mom and dads present. (That's coming later) Present highlights included: Sara Spills business cards (holla) my yearly Mary Englebreit tear off calendar, khaki pants (you can never have enough) a couple bottles of shampoo (yes I'm picky) and INDIVIDUAL peanut butters. There is a peanut butter God. Yes I got excited over peanut butter. Be jealous.
     There it sat. The last box. The box that I had lost sleep over. The box that was filled with love. The box that had the first clue to mom and dads scavenger hunt. I was so ready for this moment. The first clue read: "A preview of a future beach wedding?" The next clue turned out to be hiding under a picture of myself and unmentioned sibiling in dress up wedding gear around the ages of 7 and 5. I'm not going through all the clues because thats not the point, but after the final clue sat a big red bow on the cabinet that held their Christmas present. "Just press play." Insert a huge sigh of relief.
     This was no ordinary Christmas present. This present was a video that told a "story" of mom growing up, dad growing up, their dating years, their wedding, the time before as much as she gets on my nerves/creator of this video sister was born, her childhood, my childhood, the best brother in law I could ask for childhood, 2005 and on, and Michigan pictures. You would think that when you are approached with this idea, it would take a week or two from start to finish it, but try a MONTH and a half. I'm not complaining, but when you take on a project like this, make sure you can clear your schedule. It was time to finally press play and queue the unlimited waterworks. I could finally sit back and see what I had helped produce.
     The opening of the presents had been completed and it was time to gear up for another rousing round of presents and Christmas dinner. Like I mentioned in Christmas Eve Eve Ramblings my hope for good behavior was dwindling down to nothing.
     I bet you thought I wasn't going to tell you about Christmas afternoon and dinner shenanigans did you? Stay tuned...

-Sara-

Christmas Eve Eve Ramblings...

I promise that I will blog a full low down of my what should be interesting and if it is not, then something is seriously wrong Christmas 2010 holiday, but before Christmas shenanigans play out, I do have some where did you come up with these Christmas thoughts. Like I've mentioned in pasts posts, we all know just how random yours truly can ramble, so here goes nothing.

      I have found my top four favorite Christmas songs. Why not five? Because after working at Shenanigans headquarters for the last three Christmas's you get tired of hearing Mimi's classic Christmas carol "All I Want For Christmas Is You" at least five times during my assigned shift, you must branch out and find better Christmas music. And that's exactly what I did. In no particular order, here they are. Silent Night by Sara Ramirez. She does an absolutely gorgeous version of it that can be heard in the "Holidaze" episode of Grey's Anatomy. Little Drummer Boy by Josh Groban. There are a million different versions with the same lyrics, but after hearing the same version with humans trying to sing a beat of a drum, he gives his version a twist of pop to it without the human beating of a drum. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Chris Martin of Coldplay. Same thing, I heard it on Grey's Anatomy and fell in love with it. I went to go buy it on iTunes and it's not there. iTunes has almost every song known to man but this one? Oh wait. They do. But I have to pay 20 dollars for one song? No thank you. Apparently it was on CD, but only made 1,000 copies for the VIP Coldplay fans. Finally, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts' Roasting On An Open Fire) by The Roots. I despise this song. It's just so depressing and slow. But then why do I like only one version? Because Quest, lead singer of The Roots has the most soothing voice I have ever heard. I am currently on a quest to get The Roots to put this version on iTunes. And if you haven't heard any of these you should YouTube them. Immediately. 

     As I sit here blogging to my fellow followers, I am about to witness the 18th throwing of Jay Thomas throwing a football to a giant meatball on top of a pizza on top of a Christmas tree on The Late Show With David Letterman. I find it slightly disturbing. And odd. 

      I know this blog is titled Christmas Eve Eve Ramblings, but Tucker's (the four legged king of the house) 13th birthday is Christmas Eve. It seems just like yesterday I was in art class while Mom and the sister traveled to bring the little fur ball home. My little baby is all grown up. 

     Because it's not Christmas Day until Saturday and can't go into present details, I have come to the conclusion that my fellow siblings and I will be giving Mom and Dad the best present ever. I will be sure to include details post Christmas but if someone tries to top our present, it could get ugly. Consider this a warning. 

     According to the meteorologists, it looks like I will get one of my Christmas wishes fulfilled this year as they are predicting we will in fact be having ourselves a white Christmas. I mean I'm kinda sorta pumped. I can't tell you the last time I saw snow on Christmas. 

     It's going to be a bummer going back to Shenanigan Headquarters and not working with Christmas music. It's so joyful and cheery. And when it goes away, it's like what a bummer, Christmas is really over; until next year. For me, Christmas music is a little break from the non stop thanks to satellite radio there are no commercials' 60's and 70's oldies station. 

     Along with my white Christmas wish, I did ask for one more thing. Not to be sick. And because I was such a good girl this year and was sick within 18 days of each other, I will not be arriving to Christmas dinner sick. I won't go into details, but for the people who were lucky enough to hear my Christmas dinner 2009 story they would be happy for me that I will be able to enjoy dinner 2010. 

      "Hey Sara will you please run to Target and go get some printer ink for me?" was the best joke of Christmas 2010. Sure Mom. I'll be happy to go fight the whoops, are there only two shopping days left before Christmas, I guess I better go do my shopping customers just so I can go get you some ink. Well after Target I made a little detour and purchased some of the best $12.78 I'll be eating until next July because I have five pints with my name on them peppermint stick ice cream. 

     It was two years ago Christmas Eve that my view on Christmas movies changed forever. I was forced to watch who cares about a 12 year old boy named Ralphie wanting a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas? But fine, I've heard so much about this TBS 24 hour marathon of "A Christmas Story" I'll give it a try and see if I like it, it might be my all time favorite Christmas movie ever movie. 

    If you read First People Givers and experienced Thanksgiving 2010, all I asked for Christmas was for my family to behave at Christmas dinner. My hope is slowly dwindling down to nothing. I'm sure it will be filled with laughter, and "mother no nuts!" commentary. 

     There was a timespan in my life of when I was OBSESSED and I mean obsessed with *NSYNC. You can ask anyone in my family and they will 100 percent agree with that statement. Circa 2002(?) *NSYNC came out with a music video titled "It's Gonna Be Me". I never really listened to the lyrics, I just watched the video for Justin Timberlake's hair and fascinated with the fact they were marionettes in a toy store. *NSYNC came out with the brilliant idea to put out a line of marionette look a like dolls of themselves. Bet you can't guess what was at the top of my 2002 Christmas list? The official Justin Timberlake doll. Christmas morning had arrived and the final present was calling my name. Soak it in Sara. This is the last present you'll open till your birthday. One end opened, I began to see the infamous orange stripes on the box just like I had seen in the video. I really wish we had captured the moment on camera. I'm sure I woke the entire neighborhood up. Apparently I squealed like I have never squealed before. As my family describes it, high pitched shrills came from my lungs. If there was a memorable Christmas moment that speaks to me, this would be the one. 

     Oh, and after learning the hard way, finding Feliz Navidad in english is a lot harder than you think. 

-Sara- 

      

March 27, 2005...

I was finally starting to get into my Sunday night routine. Dinner, the last minute procrastinating of homework followed by the ABC primetime Sunday night lineup. Wanting to make sure that my normal shows that consisted of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Boston Legal were new, I did a quick look over to find the tiny little "N" to tell me my shows were airing a new episode. I knew exactly where these shows were in the paper and with my eyes going straight the top of the lineup, there was no Boston Legal to be found. "I know it's here somewhere. Maybe I'm not looking on the right day." Oh here it is. Nope. My show had been replaced. And we all know change isn't my best friend. 
     What's was this"Grey's Anatomy" show? You premiere a show in the middle of the TV season? Are you serious? ABC has the guts to remove one of my shows from the Sunday night lineup? Maybe this mid season show would totally bomb and bring back my shows. I'm only going to watch it because my normal show isn't on. Famous last words. Sunday night had arrived and after an afternoon of dreadfully boring homework, it was time for me to sit down and give this I really wish my other show was on, but I'll watch this and see if I like it show instead. 
     Going into Grey's Anatomy with hardly no information about the show, I was quite skeptical. Wasn't Grey's Anatomy a well known go-to medical book? A show about a book? This is starting to get sketchy and boring and I haven't even watched the first episode yet. Okay Sara if you can't get into the show within the first ten minutes you can change the channel, but at least give it a try. 
     Who names their first episode "A Hard Day's Night?" Aren't most shows titled "Pilot?" I knew I had heard that title somewhere. This is when it pays to be called the Human iPod. Oh that's right. The episode is titled after the legendary Beatles song. Creativity just went up at least 100 points. And the production company at Grey's Anatomy had already named their first episode? This wasn't looking good for my other shows return. 
     "The game. They say a person either has what it takes to play or they don't. My mother was one of the greats." And you use those words as your opening line of your show? Strike one. Adorable cute actor Patrick Dempsey in opening scene? You can erase that first strike. Oh how cute. This looks like it's gonna be just another one of those primetime love story dramas. And as we all know I have an attention span of about a 5 year old. I get bored. EASILY. Next thing you know it was 9:30 and the show was half way over. And I hadn't moved. That says something. And as an added bonus? I actually understood the story line. 
      On March 27, 2005 is a day that I became addicted to at the time little show called Grey's Anatomy. I wasn't sure of it at first, but as time went on, I became addicted. After watching the first two episodes and seeing what was unfolding during it's freshman season, I instantly had my favorites. The first and still favorite I spotted was the neuro surgeon Derek Shepard. I won't go into character details, but I'll say this about him: HIS HAIR. What a hunk. And then I found the heart of the show sweet character Meredith Grey who deals with the ins and outs of residency at Seattle Grace Hospital in Seattle,Washington. And some of the advice she gives can some how be worked into my life. If I was only that wise. And here I am seven seasons later. I might be one of the most dedicated Grey's watcher one has ever met. And I'm sure you want the reasons as to why I think I'm the most dedicated Grey's viewer. 
     Here is my evidence. I've seen it from the beginning. I have every single episode on DVD. I have a Microsoft Word document dedicated specifically to Grey's quotes. I have a photo folder that has everything Grey's you could think of. I know every important moment in Grey's history word for word. I know what story line it is within the first twenty seconds of the opening. I know every doctors story. I stood by Grey's Anatomy through the tragic writers strike.
     And as Izzie Stevens once said in the Justin Bieber squealing Season 5 episode 22 "What A Difference A Day Makes"  "You don’t recognize the biggest day of your life, not until you’re right in the middle of it. The day you commit to something or someone. The day you get your heart broken. The day you meet your soul mate. The day you realize there’s not enough time because you wanna live forever. Those are the biggest days. The perfect days. You know, it was a beautiful day." 

Dedicated. 

-Sara-

This Ain't No Snowmageddon....

"Snowmaggeddon: (n) the term used to describe epic snowstorms- like the February 6 blizzard that dumped some 30 inches of snow in Washington D.C." People were snowed in without power for weeks, schools were out for days, and the federal government had to be shutdown some days. We're talking about the feds here people. If the government was shutdown and people had to ski to work, yea, I'd categorize this under a crisis. And then you have our weatherman calling for the half inch of ice with an inch or two of snow storm 2010 a big deal? They need to get their priorities and facts straight. 

    Three days shy of the official start of Winter and I have already witnessed what may be one of the craziest winters (well besides 2009, but thats another story) of my short 22 years of life. As I mentioned earlier in one of my postings, I'm beginning to despise the cold. I have always enjoyed the cold, but when I have to set my alarm at least five minutes earlier and can't press the snooze button, just so I can build in time to put on extra layers, you could say I hate the cold. 

     Rumors of this impending "storm" began swirling mid day Monday. The meteorologists couldn't pin point the exact day of it's arrival, but whatever it was, it was gonna be a big one. If this so called event was gonna be big, it was time to do some major we better gear up in case we're snowed in for days shopping. And with the shopping came the panic shortages of bread, milk, and eggs. Insert Mom knew this was coming and went out two days early and beat all the locals panic attacks. Recently one of  our beloved local meteorologists retired after serving his twenty five years of weather duty. (I'm getting somewhere just hang on...) and when he got excited about a storm he rated it by how many milk bread and eggs we would need. Sadly, he's not here to rate this storm, but as good ole dad said, he would have rated this as a one loaf of bread one dozen eggs and a gallon of milk storm. I had myself convinced this was gonna be nothing compared to last year's Winter storm. Or so I thought. 

     With our special christmas guests arriving the day of the impending storm, I thought two things: A) It can snow and ice all it wants, but let them get here first, and B) I hope they brought warm clothes. The storm was to begin promptly at 12:00 Wednesday night. Once it had been pinpointed as to where the storm was headed, it was time to call in the big whigs of ABC News, Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel, and CNN. At this rate, I was finding my winter coat, my candles, charging my cell phone and my computer for what could be days of living life in little house on the prairie. If we called in the national news, this was gonna be an epic storm filled with lots of snow, ice, and loss of electricity. Excellent. No power in December? Just what I've always wanted for Christmas. With my adrenaline at an all time high, I had prepared myself to ride the storm and pull an all nighter so I could experience the beauty of the glistening snow falling on top of the dreaded ice. Like I mentioned earlier, the weatherman need to get their facts straight before they start reporting the weather, because at 9:15 Wednesday night the white stuff began to fall. "The more snow the better. The more snow the better. The more snow the better." If I kept telling myself that, maybe this would all blow over. 

     Finally after watching all of Jay Leno and the opening of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, I gave in. I was okay with whatever was going to happen. As long as everyone was safe, and school was called off the next day, I would be okay. Heading to bed, hoping for the best, it was off to what would be a night of spotty sleeping. 4:30? Still have power. Back to bed. 7:45? Still have power. Back to bed. 9:00? Still have power! Success. This was some storm alright. It's a good thing we called in ABC News, The Weather Channel and CNN because it was a big storm with two inches of snow and a half inch of ice. Yes, the snow and ice were pretty, but having your car being completely iced over is not what I call pretty.  

     One would think that if the city received a blanket of snow and ice, people would be smart enough to stay in and hang out and take advantage of the snow day. I'm not mentioning names, but you know who you are, had better plans to come and hang out with yours truly for the day. I'm not complaining that they came to hang out for the day, I'm just saying that they should have thought the idea through when driving on the side roads. Bringing themselves and the Jo Man for the day, it was time for them to tackle coming down the street with a four wheel drive. Halarious. Having the bright idea to start breaking 100 yards before mi casa, they thought they could get into the driveway with no problem. And they had no problem gliding into the neighbors driveway 100 yards PAST mi casa. Seeing that they found themselves stuck in the neighbors driveway there was only one person to call. AAA. 

    "Uh yes, I'm sure you've gotten multiple calls like these today, but we have a vehicle that is stuck in a driveway and we need you to come get it out."  "Okay we'll be there in 30 minutes." I kid you not. 30 minutes later the tow truck had arrived with Humpty Dumpty.  "I don't know about this one either. I've already had to leave three other jobs." Humpty Dumpty wasn't about to leave his fourth job was he? I'll put it this way; if you have a relative who doesn't take no for an answer, you can figure out his response. Well over 90 minutes later, we had ourselves a celebratory lunch to celebrate the car being pulled out filled with ham and Nord's bun and hunkered down for an afternoon of naps. 

     One parting tip of advice: Crocs and ice don't go together. 

-Sara- 

     

The Simple Life...

Before I begin, let me clear this up. This is not going to be a blog about the FOX t.v. show staring Paris Hilton and Nichole Richie. With the holiday less than two weeks away, and things get insanely hectic in life, lets have a stop and smell the roses moment, and allow me to tell you about the little things in life that make me smile, giggle and sometimes squeal. Two things before I start: A) This list is in no particular order, B) This list will be random. 
     Okay so maybe this one has to be first, but if it wasn't for my family, I wouldn't be here. So topping the list of the simple things in life, my family. Joker and Tucker. Orange Gatorade. Shenanigan Headquarters. The silence of the house after every one has gone to bed.Grey's Anatomy. Big and baggy sweatpants. Mom's hot chocolate in the winter. Quotes. Facebook. PEOPLE Magazine. My cell phone and the people in it. The Bear. S.A.S. Straightened hair. Car keys. Leftovers. The breakfast angel. gLee. Summer 2009. J.K L-I-V-I-N. The never ending library of music. The Bieber fever squeal. THE sweatpants. Rainman. Postsecret. Scented laundry detergent. Wedding Cake. Justin Timberlake. Decoupaging. Mary Englebriet's calendar. Cruises. Homemade Birthday cake. Dooley's Sun-dried Tomato Bagel with Sausage. Monday's Crosswords. The Box's Sweet Tea. Speedy ICEE's. Hard Rock Cafe T-Shirts. Perez Hilton. Text messages. Blogs. The Shore. Superman. The Rose. Noodles. Ellen. Snow. Nothing broke.Wonder Word. Homemade chicken noodle soup. College Football. Basketball. Peppermint ice cream. Exit 119. Wholey Guacamole. My laptop. French Fries With The Sauce. Late Night TV Shows. Crushed ice. Finale Voting. The Bow's. Being Right. Patrick Dempsey. Amazon.com. Dove Chocolates. YouTube. SNL. Chip. Vera Bradley. The Green Flash. Life. 


-Sara- 

We're Going To The 'Ship... We're Gonna Win First Place...

W. L. L. L. W. L. L. W. L. W. L. L. F. Not with that record we weren't. No, that does not spell out anything. Nor is it an acronym for a word either. That spells out the Win and losses of the 2009 UL football season. Oh, and that "F' is for the firing of Coach Steve Kragthorpe on November 28,2009. From the Falls of 2007-2009 are football seasons I would rather not talk about.
     Of what this Rainman brain can remember, I do believe the coaches line up went a little something like this: Ron Cooper reigned from 1995-1997, John L. Smith 1998-2002, Bobby Petrino 2003-2007, Steve Kragthorpe from 2007-2009. Until 2007 I had faith in the football team. Coming off a BCS Orange Bowl Championship win with Petrino, I figured the team would want to continue to shine and continue their glory days run. Insert former head coach from Tulsa Oklahoma Steve Kragthorpe. Win against Indiana State? Nicely done boys. Loss against UK? Typical. Loss against UTAH? Unacceptable. After that loss, I knew the team was headed downhill. The team had no enthusiasm,  had no curfew and had no team spirit. If I had played in the Orange Bowl and had to come back to this sort of team, I would have no team spirit what so ever. As the loosing streak continued, my faith and dedication began to dwindle down to nothing. It was so sad to see all these football players sit on the bench as the score went up and up.
     After the 2009 season began to come to a close, I started to notice that the Athletic Director began to look awfully tan. Yes, it get cold in the winter, but why would you leave during the end of the football season when you know you are going to have to fire your schools football coach? And these weren't just weekend trips down south. These trips were week some time two week long trips. What was in Florida that had him going in the middle of Football season? "I have no intentions of firing Steve Kragthorpe." Were UL fans on an episode of Punk'd? You're gonna make us sit through another season with this so called "coach?" And you want to sell out the multi million dollar stadium expansion that I'm sure I helped pay for? Good luck with that.
      The trips began to become more frequent and longer. And UL's athletic director began taking important people down with him. Quit dodging the rumors, and admit it. He was finding us a new head football coach. There had been a short list of names including Tommy Tuberville, the return of John L, Phil Fulmer and University of Florida's Defensive Coordinator Coach by the name of Charlie Strong. I had only heard two names come out of Florida's team and those two names were Urban Myer and Tim Tebow.
    Being the polite Athletic Director he was, he was polite to wait until after University of Flordia's SEC Championship game between University of Alabama to approach Charlie Strong. After the our football team isn't too hot right now, I just had to fire Steve Kragthorpe, and with no coach we have no team,  So if we offered you a boatload of money would you care to leave paradise and come put my team back together? conversation, UL had hired Coach Strong.
     Clean slate. Clean record. Having to clean up the mess that Kragthorpe had left behind, Coach Strong had some serious recruiting to do. New recruitment class? Check. New stadium expansion? Check. Sold out stadium expansion? Check. Sara's new faith in the team? DOUBLE CHECK. What seemed to be an eternity of a spring filled with practices and hours of watching old game tape, August had finally rolled around and it was time to debut Coach Strong and his new team.
    Your's truly had doubts about the team going to a post season game. I mean it would be great if we could, but I wasn't going to be disappointed if we didn't. It was Coach Strong's first season, and getting us bowl eligible would be a miracle. It only takes six wins to become eligible. L. W. L. W.W. L. W. L. W. L. L. W.  I'm not asking how we got to 6-6. I just care that we did it.
     On a it's way too cold and it's only gonna get colder night in December, UL gracefully accepted their first BOWL INVITE since 2007 to the Beef O' Brady's Bowl in St. Petersburg, FL. Do I care that it's the third bowl game of the post season? No. Do I care that we may loose? Slightly. Do I care that it feels great to talk about football again? YES.

-Sara-

Dear Professors...

Hello Finals week 2010. For the first time in my entire education career, I'm not dreading you. Maybe because it's the fact that I have one paper and one written final away from winter break and I do not have to discuss the topic of you until 2011. While I don't have a problem with finals, there are some issues to be discuss with the great minds of higher education.
     I'm not going to mention names, but as one teacher character look a like from a 90's T.V. show once stated in the class syllabus and multiple emails, this person said that they would be handing back the long awaited they assigned in October and would be due the Monday of Thanksgiving break, and that way they would grade them over break, so they could give them back the Tuesday after break paper. "Um, yeah so I had a 30 page paper due yesterday, and therefore I do not have some of your papers graded." Okay, thats great and all that you're going for your Ph.d, but if I do recall, aren't you getting paid by the university to teach us? Because I am an organized person, I have the syllabus for your class that clearly states you will hand them back on the date you promised, not the next class. And because you thought your 30 page paper was more important than grading ours, I have to make an unnecessary drive to school to HAND deliver my paper's revision to you. I understand that you assigned us this paper in October, but you have the nerves to stand up in front of us and say your paper's were "mediocre" when I'm sitting next to a girl who got a 94, your's truly with a 85, and then 93 next to me? You call that mediocre? All night grading of papers at it's finest. And then on top of that, after 27 classes of looking at my name, you spell my name wrong. With comments on my final paper. My name is not SaraH. It's Sara. Four letters. Not five. Clear and simple. It's a good thing you handed our papers back after your evaluation. "What can this instructor do to make this class better?"If it's an anonymous evaluation, you best believe I wrote my piece of mind. "Show up on time."
    Oh the Tom Brokaw look a like... There is nothing that I can say horribly about you. Or your class. You were a laid back man who said at the beginning of the semester, "I'm not here to be your teacher." Well then what are you doing here? You teach at a university so you have to be a professor of some sort. "I'm here to be your editor." That's a first. Except with the how many comments do you really need to make from the peanut gallery, your class taught me just how much I want to go into the Broadcast Journalism field. You handed back papers within a timely manner and graded fairly.While I was looking over your corrections for your final, I came across some figures I had written. And you quote: "something's not right with these figures." How can they be wrong if I spent an extra 90 minutes at school in jeans, a sweatshirt when it was 70 degrees but couldn't take it off because I had the wrong shirt on, and probably walked a good mile across campus to find these figures in an office I had never heard of? Those numbers came from the school census. Not me estimating. Of all your papers I have written for you, you thought I would make up a number of 73,324 credit hours on your final paper? Like I said earlier, I really did enjoy your class. Please, if I quoted the school census you can pretty much trust me on this one.
     And I keep telling myself, two trips to school until break and 20 days until Christmas. I can do this. I can so do this.

-Sara-
  

I Live In A Winter Wonderland...

There are about a million things I could be doing right now (like wrapping up the semester with papers), but instead, I'd rather sit by the gas fireplace looking at the "Want a real national lampoons Christmas? Come to my house" christmas lights PLEASE NOTE: My house is no where near National Lampoon's. I REPEAT: My house is no where near National Lampoons. While we do have special guests this year, Mother outdid herself and decked the halls with boughs of holly. And if you could witness these decorations, I think one would be jealous.
     After coming home from the feeling miserable, I'm not in the mood to be picked on Thanksgiving, I was ready for the day to be over. Having to be at work by 7 on Black Friday, I headed to bed at 11:00 dreading the following morning. Wait a second, did I see what I thought I saw? Snow? No way. It's Thanksgiving. It's not supposed to snow. Oh yes. We had ourselves a somewhat of a white Thanksgiving. Okay. That's all the snow until January. Pretty while it lasted.
      After a glorious break from higher education, it was time for me to head back for one last week of class. Depending on when I leave mi casa, I "meet up" with the normals in traffic. One of those normals being a cop. Meet up with the cop? Making good time. And no, I did not nor do I ever get pulled over. I'm one of those who actually drive the speed limit. And if I see the 8:45 Delta flight flying over the bridge, its taken me 10 minutes to get the bridge instead of 17 minutes and I know it's gonna be a good day. But Tuesday, I met one of my new normals for the first time of the season. A snow plow. The snow was long over. I guess they were just out driving the route for the first of the season. Later that afternoon, there became talks of a "measurable amount" of the white stuff. Pssssh. Yea right. Actual snow? This was far too early. How could this be possible? We had just experienced Thanksgiving with temperatures in the 70's.
     After a shocking drop in temperatures, I experienced the first shock of the season. No more flip flops, no more capri's. Looks like jeans and sweatshirts. Highs in the 40's. Which means lows in the 30's in the morning. "Sara, where are your keys? Oh I found them. I'm gonna go warm up your car." The best seven words one can hear when your car sits out in the frigid Ohio Valley air. Warm car, jeans, sweatshirts and gLee to accompany your drive to school? Maybe the drive's not so bad after all. If it was this cold, this snow needed to come.
     Thursday afternoon, I began to see the infamous white thin lines on the roads. School age chillen's have come to dread those lines, while some love those lines. What are those white lines you ask? The thin white lines of brine. For those who are lucky enough to live in paradise and are lucky that you don't have to experience brine, brine is defined as the following."Salt brine is a clear water and sodium chloride solution used for snow and ice control.  It is composed of tap water and rock salt mixed to typical concentrations of 23% to 26% salt." Sorry for the scientific explanation, but it's the best I can do. Seeing those lines finally hit me; winter 2010 was here. But where was this so called snow? With more talks of maybe 1-2 inches, Thursday came and went, and Friday was quickly coming and going. FINALLY on Friday night, the flakes began to hit the ground. With the snow came the countless Facebook Oh Em Gee! It's snowing! It's so pretty! Ah Freakout postings. 
     You can hear Thunder, see lighting, hear rain and hear hail, but one thing you can't hear? Snow. I compare snow like a surprise. Unless you stay up watching it, you wake up to it. Once again, another Sara analogy. Like I predicted, I awoke to the freakout there's snow on the ground Facebook statuses. Whoop de doo. A little dusting of snow. Nah, more like a good inch a half of snow. And the weathermen had predicted for more of the white stuff during the day. Sweet. I was headed to an afternoon of work with snow. And with the snow, you had the weekend of championships football marathon, UL and UK basketball, UL mens soccer game, and the high school football state championship. I'll go ahead and save you a breath. Sara how was work? By far one of the slowest work afternoons of my life. While you were watching football, I was crossing something off my bucket list. Eat fruitcake. And according to the boss of Shenanigans's headquarters, there is one less fruitcake than there are humans. I can see why. 
     If you think that I'm complaining about the snow, I'm not. I love snow. And I love all the perks that come with it; Mom's homemade hot chocolate. The sounds of a crackling fire. The beauty of the snow falling. The front yard being picture perfect with no footprints. The absolute silence in the air. But what I've come to dislike about the snow? Driving in it, having your car covered in it. Not having an ice scraper, having your car covered in salt, and the COLD.I used to love the cold. I used to hate the summer. I would rather be cold than hot. Looks like I've reversed that idea. I would rather be hot than cold. 
     I'm taking applications for anyone who would like to join me in purchasing a time machine that will take me back to Summer 2010. 


-Sara-