Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Are you there, God? It's me, geekgirl...

I don't mean to complain or anything, but can you cut me a little slack? I mean, I know it's nice to be busy and all, but just a little time to stop and catch my breath at work would be great. Oh, and that master list I have? If you would please let me actually mark things off as finished, I'd really appreciate it. And I guess I should add that I'd like to not have to add five things to it for every one thing I do get to mark off. Because that has sucked so far.

Also, could you help me out by not making me so grouchy at work? I'm trying to keep the wrinkles from settling permanently into my forehead. You know, that whole aging thing? Really not your best work....

And while we're on the subject of aging... I'm going to be 36 in a few months. I'm not trying to pressure you or anything, but you were the one who gave me a biological clock in the first place. It's ticking pretty loudly right about now. Tick, tick. Between that and the raging PMS, it's no wonder my eyes can cut through metal.

I really wasn't going to say anything about the weather. You've probably heard it all by now, but seriously, can you make spring come a little earlier this year? I'm so ready to not have to wear a stocking cap and mittens to bed.

I will have to thank you, though, for giving me such a wonderful family. And for letting me get to spend so much time with them the next two to three weekends. My nieces and nephews make all problems just disappear. As for the teenager, thanks for making him a sci-fi nut, and for making him a kid who will be very unlikely to make me a grandmother in the next six years. I'll be adding that line to my evening prayers, btw.

And while I may have wished more than once to be an only child while growing up, I wouldn't change a thing. That which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right? I have my sisters to thank for making me as strong as I am today. Please watch over them, especially as they have children of their own.

Okay, I think that about wraps it up for now. It was nice talking to you, God. I hope things are going well with you. Keep up the good work!

Love,
Geekgirl

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

You know, this is kind of getting old.

Wind chill = -27°F.

Seriously longing for summer right now.

Back

Finally got my cable modem working again. Not a lot to chat about tonight, just digging the faster speeds... Turns out, the guys who replaced my cable modem way back last fall forgot to register the new one to my account. Therefor, the new one was hampered speed-wise, by mediacom.

Anyway, all is fixed now...

Saturday, January 26, 2008

You're kidding me...

I woke up early today, because I had a bunch of errands to run (work, Panera to pick up bagels). I was checking my email when my son came into my room.

"Mom, I've got funny bumps on my arms..."

He has the hives!

The only thing I can think of is that we ate the red M&Ms from a bag of valentine's M&Ms (we needed just the pink and white ones for the shower). It may have been just enough of Red 40 Lake that it prompted an allergic reaction. He rarely eats M&Ms, and never that amount of red ones before.

So, I called First Nurse, and they said to just give him some benadryl to help with the itching, and to get him to the doctor if his face swells and he has trouble breating.

Poor kid is miserable...

Friday, January 25, 2008

Updates and such

About the sign thing - no worries there. Yes, there were six signs that were not very nice, but they were not terribly threatening. Pretty immature stuff, complaining that the lab was closed on Monday. Because, you know, they didn't get the whole "University Offices closed" thing.

This week has been very busy, and this afternoon was doubly so. I am enjoying a quiet evening, watching old episodes of Star Trek, Next Generation Season 1. The last two, in fact. My only question is, where the heck is Wesley? Now we have to wait for NetFlix to deliver the season 2 disc 1...

Sewing stuff is going well. I really, really love my new sleeves and forepart. I am still working on the sleeves, but I have one sleeve decorated, and ready to be tacked together. I still haven't figured out if I want to use single pearls to catch the sleeve panes together, or if I want to do something slightly more elaborate. I don't have time constraints on this project, so I really can take my time and make them gorgeous.

The next project will be to add the decorations to the black bodice and skirt. I have trim on the black gown already, but it needs more to make it really special. I am, of course, going to try this gown on first. I am making very slow progress in my weight loss goals, and I want to be realistic about my body shape. If the gown fits, then I won't feel quite so bad about the extra 8 pounds. If it doesn't fit, then I have to make a concerted effort to lose this weight. Ideally, though, my goal is to lose 30 pounds by the end of the year. However, whatever size I am in May will be the size I stick with until after the Des Moines Faire. I won't have time to do too many alterations if I keep losing wieght after May.

And if you are wondering - no I did not gain 30 pounds since September. I gained about 10. I just want to be slimmer. And yes, you may not think it to look at me, but there is 30 pounds there to lose. I'm just sick of being chunky in certain areas.

So far, this week I have lost about 2 and a half pounds. I am simply cutting out snacking, and portion sizes. I am not really hungry or anything, so I must be doing okay. We'll see how this goes. I just don't want to be this size any more, even if it is average.

Okay, so I got my internet fix for awhile. I am going back to my sewing. I am going to watch Knight's Tale, which is one of the favorites I pop in when I sew garb. I am still sad about Heath Ledger. I think he was just someone I thought would be around for a really long time. I've honestly watched Knight's Tale more times than I can remember, and was really looking forward to new Batman (just saw the trailer Saturday night, and didn't even realize he was playing Joker - too blown away to even see the credits).

Okay, that's enough for the evening. Geek Girl must sew, so she can relax!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Major mistake

Thought I was feeling better when I woke up at 2:00, ate some soup... not good.

Monday, January 21, 2008

In a daze...

Can't sleep, despite needing to get up for work early tomorrow, to avert a mini-disaster. No, it's nothing I did, nor anything related to the labs. I am not sure how seriously to take any of it. I know, I am being cryptic. Not really sure what to thing right now.

My horoscope for today:
Taurus: Don't overreact to a mini-crisis. Stay calm and you'll get through it just fine.

Prophetic, really.

I'll have a longer post about this tomorrow night, but suffice it to say that I am weirded out. And no, nothing physically happened to me or any of my family, and I am just waiting to see what the next step is.

Basically, there was a small amount of vandalism at work, consisting of signs being posted that were obscene, in the words of a friend and employee who found them (one of my lab monitors... poor girl). Signs posted on my labs, and on my office door. I have no idea what they said or showed. She took them down, as she was appalled and didn't want me to see them. I did ask if she saved them, as this will have to be reported to DPS. She did. I don't know if this was random, or targeted, or if any other place in the college also had signs posted. This is not how I thought I would spend my morning, tomorrow. I'm going to have to see them, as imagination is always worse than the reality. I don't want another sleepless night.

I am just nervous, and a little befuddled. I can't think of any reason why anyone would have done this. Best case scenario is that it was a random, drunken thing that was just done for fun. Worst case is that someone out there has a grudge, and I don't know why or who it is.

I'm hoping it was random.

If not, this may be the end of my public blogging, as I just don't feel comfortable with a real name blog anymore... I'll decide by the end of the week.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Sunday morning rambling

I must say, waking up at 8:30 this morning with a sore throat, and a sore right shoulder really put a downer on day two of my 3-day weekend. That, coupled with the fact that my son is having a friend over at 1 to work on a project, just made my day complete.

I just finished giving the house a run-through, and sorting the laundry. I am about to hop in the tub, in prep for running to JoAnn Fabrics to exchange some things that I need (wrong color), and to the grocery store. It's Really-Fracking-Cold-Out!™ again, so this out to be soooooo much fun.

And it would all be okay except for that stupid sore throat, which means this will be the third time I have been sick in 6 weeks...

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Whoa.

End of a long day here...

I'll write a bit more about the Lego challenge tomorrow, once I get my laundry started, and the house somewhat back into shape. My son is having a friend over tomorrow afternoon to work on a social studies project (a Lego™ representation of the Battle of Bunker Hill - yeah, they like Lego™ a lot). So, everything, including my run to JoAnn to exchange some things, and to the grocery store, will have to be done in the morning.

This also means that I will not be able to sleep in tomorrow. And since I've had more caffeine today that I have had since May 18th, 2007, I will probably not be able to sleep tonight. Oh, and my left heel hurts like crazy, my legs and back hurt from standing nearly all day, and since we just got home from seeing I am Legend, that will also probably keep me up tonight.

Break time.

I ran back to my office after the first round of competition, and the Project Presentation. Things went fairly well, except that the robot was having problems. Hopefully they can work that out before their next competition time at 11:37.

The project presentation, however... it was good, but the kids needed to be coached to not say certain things. You do not mention at the end of your presentation, during the Q & A, that some people didn't do as much as others.

Nor do you mention your idea of burning dead bodies for fuel.

Can't wait to see how the teamwork interview goes...

How cold?

It is -7°F right now, with a wind chill of -24°F. Very cold.

And yet, I saw some kid in a t-shirt and shorts, helping carry stuff from a van to Howe Halls. One of the kids competing in the Lego™ competition. I really couldn't believe that any adult in that group would have allowed that. It was even colder at that time (7:45). And there was a wind chill advisory out, too.

Just shaking my head at that...

Friday, January 18, 2008

Downsides of apartment living in a college town.

The neighbors at the end of the hall are having a party.

With a karaoke machine.

What time do we have to get up again?

Big Lego™ League Competition tomorrow, so my son has to be to campus early tomorrow morning. Should be lots of fun. The only part that won't be fun is the fact that the wind chill is supposed to hit -20°F tonight. Hope the wind lets up tomorrow before it's time to scrape the car windows...

In other news, I am still working on the new forepart. I have 64 of the pearls sewn on, with another 84 to go, minimum. I keep finding more details I want to accent. I will be using the same treatment on the sleeves. The fabric is so beautiful that I really want this set of sleeves and forepart to be outstanding. Less than five months until the first faire of the season, and six and a half until the first court booking (1st Dubuque Faire - watch the sidebar for links). I have lots of things I want to do before then.

For now, though, I am going to take a bubble bath, then get some sleep. I'll need it.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Frozen

Very cold right now. My stomach is upset, probably due to eating very fast at dinner time, although it was a bit upset right before lunch, too.

Classes started up again yesterday, and I have been working like crazy. I didn't get home for good until 9:00 tonight, and I had a total of 15 minutes at home for dinner (which I ate too fast, and too much). I am wiped out, and it isn't even Friday yet.

Tomorrow, in addition to the cold, we are getting a winter storm. 5-8 inches of snow. The watch is from tomorrow afternoon to Thursday afternoon.

Fab. U. Lous.

The eighth graders are set to go skiing in Minnesota on Thursday, and were to leave at 5:45 Thursday morning. It will probably be rescheduled.

Okay, gotta go throw up now...

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Wow - I actually sewed garb today!

Surprising, isn't it?

I have been trying to get to that gorgeous gold fabric for months now, and just never could find the time. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it, which is rare, and I have to say it is going to look even more gorgeous that I had thought.

Here is a progress pic on the forepart:


The trim is just pinned on in this photo. There will also be gold twisted cord following the edges of the trim, and pearls added to the flowers on the fabric of the forepart. This is truly lovely in person, as it is difficult to see the stylized flower design on the trim (flash on metallic thread doesn't show up well). I have enough that I am going to add it to my old forepart as well, to spice it up. In fact, I really want to find more of it, so I can use it in my new red gown that I have planned, but that may be going overboard a bit...

Did I mention there are sleeves to go with this? I am making paned sleeves, with gold cord on the edges, and perhaps a bit of thin satin ribbon right next to the gold cord, in the same color of red as the trim on the forepart. I like the paned sleeves, because they allow AIR to get through to my arms, thus cooling me a bit. I have the gold fabric and the lining cut out, but I didn't want to sew them yet today.

I am thinking that I may need to flat-line the outer fabric, to give it more body. I used cotton drill for the lining of the forepart, but I don't want to use anything that heavy in my sleeves (I'll already be wearing four layers, with my corset and bodice. No sense putting it in my sleeves, too.). I have some more quilters cotton in a light buff color that I suppose I could use. I chose a gold in a shade darker than the outer fabric for the lining, but I don't have enough of that left. Together, that should make the sleeve appear to have more weight, but still be fairly cool.

Anyway, I can't wait to see the final product, as I think the set will be quite lovely. I am excited to be finally getting started on 2008 garb!

Friday, January 11, 2008

The end of the week

Long day today. By 4 o'clock, I could barely keep my eyes open. Still, I finished up the sweeping in the labs, and helped my boss carry the old metal power strips down to the loading dock (4 flights of stairs).

We only got stuck once, in the stairwell from the first floor to the ground floor, because we used the open stairwell as long as we could. Since I was on the tail end of the strips, I had to lift them up nearly over my head (youch!), so my boss could pivot them enough to get around the curve. Finally, after well over 10 years in the open lab, the custom metal power strips are gone! I will not miss them a bit, as they were getting old and unsafe. Considering that the decision to replace them was somewhat spur of the moment, I think we made an excellent decision.

We started our lab network upgrade yesterday morning, and originally thought it would take us maybe a morning or most of a day to do all of this. We were slightly off in our estimation, but it was a project that was well worth the time it took.

And my gigabit ethernet is smokin' fast. Applying my Cinema4DR10.5 transcript to the 20 MacPros in that room took less than 15 minutes, which included me logging into several machines at a time, launching radmind, getting updates, running fsdiff,, and while that was running, logging into a new set of machines, doing the same, then going back to the original machines and applying the transcript. I was giggling the whole time, it was so fast.

After the power strips were tossed, I finished cleaning up the labs, and our output center, and ended up with just a couple of things I need to go back into work to take care of (scheduling, including the temp schedule for next week). Plus, our color printer was being fussy when I tried to print some signs I needed to post before Monday. The drums aren't aligning correctly, so the colors weren't registered correctly. So, I am going to get some colorful paper and run the signs through on the black and white printer, and get a service tech in on Monday morning (I hope).

So, i am tired, and achy, but we got a lot accomplished during break, and we are ready for the new semester. Now, if you are asking me if I am psychologically ready for the new semester... well... that's an entirely different matter...

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

A Post in Rapid Succession to the Previous Post

I forgot to mention my "Oh Crap" moment from earlier today.

I have been working on a new poster for the laser cutter area. I used to have a hodge podge of posted signs that were put up as needed, instead of unified, and easy to read. I spent most of the morning trying to work out the points that needed to be covered, and the order of presentation on the poster. I used Illustrator to layout the poster, because I didn't need anything enormously complicated. I set the background to "College of Design Red," as I call it, with white text. I set apart the three main areas by adding rectangular borders with a 2 pt. line weight. I was pretty pleased with it, so I decided I was ready to print to our wide-format color printer.

Right before break, we had run out of paper. The order came in before Christmas. For some reason, the boxed rolls came packed inside larger boxes filled with Styrofoam peanuts, instead of just in its normal packaging. This made no sense, as they have never done that before, and the normal packaging is more than sufficient to ship safely. Anyway, the point is, I had to manhandle a heavy 100 foot roll of 36 inch wide paper, by myself, and try to get it out of the stupid box. At one point, I had to lift up my foot, and kick the outer box off. And I hadn't even opened the actual paper box yet.

So, I threw the boxed roll up onto the computer desk, opened it, and started to remove the inner packaging. There are two square end caps that fit on either end of the roll, to keep it from shifting and getting damaged. I was carefully removing the first of these, when I forgot the cardinal rule of moving heavy stuff alone.

Don't let any body parts get between the heavy object and the desk (ground, whatever).

As they say, gravity works, and my ring finger on my right hand did not quite make it out from between the roll and the desk in time. I'm sure I looked quite amusing, having 20-30 pounds of paper suddenly fall 2 inches, and squishing my finger. The only thing I could do was whisper, "Oh FUCK!" and cradle it to my stomach. I didn't even want to look at it, for fear it was crushed, that was how badly it hurt. Luckily, it wasn't flat, and I was eventually able to get the paper unpacked, loaded on the printer, and the printer nozzles cleaned enough to print. I swore under my breath the entire time...

So tonight, I am sitting here, my finger still aching enough that the pain is traveling up my arm, but it is still a normal color, and is not visibly swollen. It hurts like HELL, and I have to be careful when typing to not use it, as that's a nice refresher course in pain when that happens. I'm taking a wait and see approach to this. Tomorrow ought to be fun, as we are going to be recabling the open lab for GIGABIT ETHERNET!!!!! (SWEET heavenly surfing and renderfarming!!!!!)

And the bitch of it is, after all of that, the damn poster turned out a luscious shade of hot pink rather than the bright and spicy Design Red it was supposed to be. I'm keeping it, of course, because it's a great pink, but this means I have to figure out why the color was so far off... Never enough hours in the day....

What?!??!?!?!?!?

Just finished watching Project Runway, and boy am I upset.

The challenge was to create a prom dress for girls from a high school in New Jersey. Some incredibly beautiful work came out of this challenge, with my favorites being Chris and Sweet Pea. Gorgeous work! I was not thrilled by Jillian's work, and I am still not sure why she won over Sweet Pea.

But the shock moment of the evening was yet to come.

Christian, my least favorite designer, managed to once again stay on the show. His dress was Awful, and he blamed his client. The back of the dress was shorter than the front, and it did nothing to flatter the poor girl. Seriously looked like a bad flashback to the 80's, just like most of his work. He never bothered to pad the dressmaker dummy to his clients measurements, so it fit poorly. Try a seriously large gap in the back that he had to fit. He also spent most of the show whining as usual. His youth shows whenever he's expected to do anything outside the normal fashion box.

And yet, he still remains, and they kicked off KEVIN!

KEVIN!

They kicked off Kevin and let Christian and Ricky stay. And Jillian won.

Did they start fixing the competition????

I guess overtly hideous wins over the mildly aging.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Mission Impossible?

While I was sick this weekend, I was still absolutely set on getting my closet completely cleaned out, purged of excess, and organized. On Friday, when I should have been resting at lunch, I went to Wal-mart, and bought a metal shelf to put in my closet (to go with the other two already there). Friday night, when i should have been resting, I spent 90 minutes putting the stupid thing together, at risk of cutting my fingers the entire time (damn edges were SHARP).

Saturday morning, after pulling myself from bed, I hesitated. I was torn between parking myself on the couch to rest and watch DVDs, and a feeling that if I didn't start this closet clean-out, that I would somehow be a loser and a failure at the one task I set myself for the entire weekend.

So, I did what any perfectionist would do. I started pulling things out of the closet, instead of taking a sudafed and going back to bed, like any doctor would have recommended.

After two hours, I had my closet reorganized. Which is to say, I had the shelf in place, the new storage boxes neatly labeled on the shelves, with the fabric, trims, and other sewing items inside. I even finally had room for my noble garb inside the closet instead of hanging over the door on a hook. It was beautiful!

You see, though, there was just one problem. There was the little matter of all of the rest of the stuff that had been in the closet. It was now stacked (neatly, of course), in my bedroom, and my living room, waiting to be gone through, purged, shredded, tossed. I had turned my beautifully clean apartment into a maze of boxes and rubbermaid storage containers.

So, I spent four hours going through a stack of boxes (and not a single one of the seven rubbermaid containers - four large, three half-sized). I pulled out stuff I wanted to keep, and tossed items to shred into a paper box, to join the other two ledger boxes and two smaller boxes of stuff to shred. All of the other boxes of "To Shred" items, were from my Great Closet Clean Out of January 2005.

By this time, I was practically sleepwalking. My son helped me carry out the garbage bags and boxes of trash. I shoved the rubbermaid containers and the non-shred boxes back into my closet, without incorporating them into the organization. This led to crap still being left out in my room, and boxes in my living room.

It was 5:30 pm, and I was a mess, emotionally, and physically. I took a hot bath, ordered pizza for supper, and sat down to eat in my less than clean dining room, and wanted to cry.

The next day, I started off in the same way. I did laundry, seven loads of it, when I should have been sleeping and fighting off my stupid cold. I went through boxes off and on all afternoon, but somehow never felt like I was making any progress. And the boxes were still bugging me to no end. And I was still sick!

Finally, tonight, after spending some quality time with the shredder, I decided that enough was enough. I went to my room, threw on my iPod, and started taking the containers out of my closet. When I had "organized" my closet on Saturday, I had quite a bit of room left on the shelves (three shelves, two of which were nearly half empty). I did a quick check of the cardboard boxes, to see what boxes held items I wanted to keep, consolidated a couple, then found homes for those boxes on the shelves. I rearranged the rubbermaid containers, so that they fit underneath the built-in shelf along the east wall of the closet (BTW, my closet is a pretty big walk-in closet). I stowed my camping gear and extra sheets and towels a bit more efficiently.

In the course of rearranging the big tubs, I made a great discovery. Two of them were full of blankets that I had been meaning to get rid of. Two comforters, and two blankets that were fairly worn. So, I was able to empty those containers, nest them, put a bag of old videotapes inside, put both lids on the top, and stowed them away for a future need.

I also decided to put the remaining boxes of things to sort back into the closet, at the front, so that I can do a little at a time, rather than trying to force myself to keep working at every spare moment. I knew better than to try to be superwoman about this, but I let my pride get in the way of my physical and mental well-being. Little bites.

So now, instead of a stack of boxes in my living room, I have a stack of empty boxes, and a couple of garbage bags in my dining room, ready to go out tomorrow once the garbage guys empty our dumpster. And yes, my Christmas tree may still be up and decorated, but I will get to that this weekend. It was extra beautiful this year, so I am going to enjoy it for a bit longer.

And when I do take it down, it will be a little bit at a time, rather than all in one go. I just need to remember to do that with everything in my life.

LOLZ

On the eve of the beginning of my strict diet, I offer this: (as seen on Dooce)

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Hands down, the worst cold I've had in at least two years...

At least, one that remained essentially a cold and didn't develop into a sinus infection.

Still hacking, coughing, and using way too many tissues here in the geek apartment. I think my son is ready to buy some earplugs, as it always gets worse right around the time I need to go to bed. Hence, the fact that I am still up at 11:30 on a work night.

In about five minutes, I think the sudafed will finally do its job and reduce some of my symptoms enough to help me sleep. I am thinking I should have gone to the doctor on this one, and might still, if I don't see drastic improvement by Tuesday (day 9).

And no, I am not a hypochondriac, but I play one on TV.

Time to try to get some sleep. I promise I'll write a non-sick post soon...

Friday, January 04, 2008

Helpful Hint #4876

If you have a bad cold, coughing, sneezing, sinus pressure, and body aches, do not decide that it is the perfect time to put together that new metal shelf that you bought that uses bolts in the construction.

90 minutes later, I want to fall over.

Excuse me while I go rid myself of the contents of my lungs...

Thursday, January 03, 2008

All together now...

Please don't let this turn into a sinus infection.

Lather, rinse, repeat...

To exhausted to caucus

This cold/sinus thingy has really worn me out. I went back to work this morning, despite not being able to sleep until around 3 am, and even then, sleeping only fitfully. I was okay until around 1:30 pm, when things started catching up on me. I finished up a project I was working on that pretty much required me to be on my feet (thanks to all of the boxes marked "fragile" that were piled up in front of the computer I needed to update. I could reach the keyboard, but not sit in the chair, and I had to stand at an awkward angle, oh for most of two hours, off an on).

I bummed a sudafed off another cold sufferer in our main office, and that, and some caffeine helped me get through until about 4:45, when I got up to leave for the day. Immediate dizziness. very fun, you have to try it some time.

The plan had been to go to Walmart to get this certain type of shelf that apparently, you can only get there. Instead, we went to the grocery store, and then home, were I ate a large bowl of chicken tortilla soup, and felt much, much less light-headed.

However, now that the sudafed has worn off, a good four hours before bed time, I am in no condition to go lock myself in a crowded room for three hours to caucus.

I know, I am a terrible person for not doing my civic duty at this time, but I am comforting myself with the thought that at least I will not be exposing them to whatever it is that is making me sick.

So, my hats off to all of you Dems in the caucus places tonight: pick good candidates, please. I'd be there if I weren't sick.

P.S. Tomorrow, i am going to bask in the glow of NO MORE POLITICAL PHONE CALLS. Must they call every 30 minutes (been going on for the last week, with a minimum of three calls every night for the last month and a half)?

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

I really could not be more miserable.

Seriously. My throat is raw, my bones ache, and I am starting to get a sinus cold. I hope it doesn't turn into a sinus infection, but knowing my luck it will. I only have a slight fever, but I have been having chills off and on again today.

I think I am going to turn that leftover chicken into more chicken tortilla soup tomorrow... I doubt I will make it into work. I'll probably get the joy of going to the doctor again tomorrow... I definitely have swollen glands under my jaw, too.

Yep, I should have ordered a pizza...

Maybe it is just because I can't really taste anything, due to my cold. I should have stopped at the ruined pumpkin pie. The cornish hens did not turn out as good as I had remembered. I doubt I will make them again, and I doubt that I will eat any of the leftovers. My son enjoyed it, but I just didn't care for it.

Luckily, there was plenty of other food. The rice was good, and the green bean casserole was excellent, and the buns were great. Dessert will also be good, as I bought a chocolate marble cheesecake. I am in no danger of starving.

What I am in danger of is this stupid cold ruining the rest of my last day of vacation. I am miserable. I really do not want to miss work tomorrow, as I need to get back into the swing of things ASAP, in order to not be stressed out about the beginning of the semester on the 14th. We have an extra week to get ready, or I would really be stressed right now. I am going to go to bed early with some cold medicine, and hope that this sore throat goes away overnight.

What a way to start out the new year...

I have a sore throat, a cold sore, and felt like I wanted to sleep all day. Our plans for a late lunch turned into plans for dinner, due to a pumpkin pie disaster, and somehow forgetting to put out the rolls to rise, and the cornish hen to thaw earlier. Now, then hens are in the oven, along with the green bean casserole, the rolls are baked, and the rice is ready. I still feel like I want to sleep, but I need to stay awake, because I have to go back to work tomorrow. At least I am cooking enough food that we'll have leftovers for the next couple of days. Unfortunately, I probably would have been happier ordering pizza.

Maybe I really do have mono...