Month: January 2009

Lobster Night

Go figure – two days after the big snowstorm had crappier roads than the day after… So we had the day off yesterday. I had a nice relaxing day. Got some college work done. Finished a book. Plenty of quality kitty time. Etc.

Today’s been relaxing too. Been updating the tunes on my iPods (over 9000 mp3s going onto my iPod classic now). Balanced my checkbook & paid my mortgage bill online (for the first time – we’ll see how that works soon enough).

Tonight should be fun – it’s Lobster Night at the Weavers. Bunch of friends from work (both now and from the past) will be gathering to munch on lobster and (hopefully) lasagna. The lady who usually brings lasagna whenever there’s shellfish (she’s not partial to it) wasn’t sure at first if they could make it since her hubby’s suffered a bad back. But his love of lobster is such that he intends to go. Dad is glad, though he was more than willing to stop ’round their place on the way to pick up the lasagna if he had to. 🙂 Mom & I will be having lobster, of course.

In other news, I made a design with my calendar entries this month! It’s the Eiffel Tower! Or something. Good thing I don’t usually shoot for patterns in my posting. Still, it was fun this month.

Well, Linus is on my lap ready for some quality kitty time (which coincides with quality college time), so I’ll head off for now.

White stuff onna ground

Received the phone call about an hour ago – school is closed tomorrow (our last “calamity day” of the year – any more and we have to make them up in June). Ohio’s getting a pretty decent snow storm right now. I’ve heard as little as 3″ but as much as 10″. It’s nice to be all bundled & warm in my house. (Well, I’m not bundled at the moment, but I will be when I finish being on the PC and get to bed, heh.)

Today after work, I sent off my application for a grant for electronic balances for the school. Here’s hoping we get the grant!

Earlier tonight I finished my first quarter grading (finished chemistry exams) and posted the info to our online gradebook. So I’m set there. (Grades are due Thursday, regardless of what the weather brings us, but as I’m done, that deadline means NOTHING to me. Bwa ha ha ha!)

Since I’m done with grades and the grant application, I’ll work on college coursework tomorrow. And I think I’ll read some. Should be a nice day. (Here’s hoping the power stays on!)

In a lovely bit of irony, I’ve been watching Sahara with Michael Palin. It was a bit warmer there than it is here. 🙂

Ouch!

Yesterday I mailed off the credit card payment which included my last big semester at university. That took out nearly all of my savings, so this is as poor as I’ve been since, well, since I don’t remember when. (Probably since I used to travel to England every year or so. Amazing how much money I got into savings when I stopped flying there each summer. Heh.) But there are many good things in this too.

  • As I said, it was my last big payment. After this semester are 3 more semester hours which I’ll pay over 2 or 3 semesters. (And this semester I paid for 7 semester hours).

  • I have paid for my Masters program WITHOUT taking out a loan. I am very proud of myself for that.

  • When I called the folks to whimper (in a not very serious way) they invited me around for wine time and the watching of the Inauguration Parade. It was fun.

  • Yesterday amazon.com sent me $50 worth of gift certificates for paying for my college bill with my amazon.com credit card. 🙂 I only spent $5 over that to order lots of fun books. (And I’m only $400 away from another $25 gift cert.)

  • In my preliminary work on my taxes (still waiting on forms from lame-os Wooster and Ohio) it looks like I’ll be getting a refund again. Woot!

  • Heck, this summer I updated my bathroom big time which was a great use of money in savings.

So, although my savings account looks pretty pathetic right now, I’m very fortunate that I’ll be able to start saving again now that my Masters Program is finishing up. And next year, when I’m done with the program, I’ll move sideways on the pay scale at work and get a bit more money. (I’m envisioning a successful Masters Thesis. It’s the only way to envision it.) Yay!

Unexpected 5 Day Weekend

Last night before I got ready for bed, I got the phone call from school that we’d be closed again today. Oooh yes – with Monday a national holiday, that means we basically have a 5 day weekend.

It’s a bit frigid right now, but at least we’re into the positive °Fs for now. (Tomorrow will seem tropical with a high predicted around 24°F.) I think I need to come up with another layer for my feet – they’re freezing at the moment. Still, I’m one of the very lucky ones – I don’t have to go out in this and my house is very comfy.

Yesterday I had a nice day. I called dad up and invited him around for lunch. He said he’d call shortly before stopping around and then we’d walk to the post office. After he called & I bundled myself up, we did just that. When we returned to my place, I fixed us a lunch of pesto tortellini with salad and rosemary olive oil bread. Mmm, mmm, tasty. We watched an episode of Pole to Pole while we ate. It was quite pleasant.

Most of the rest of the day was spent playing City of Heroes and reading. I spent several hours in the library with kitties on my lap. I shall endeavor to do so again today. (One way to get my frozen toes thawed out again.)

Today I slept in til nearly 10am. I played CoH again until lunch and while I was watching more eps of Pole to Pole, the subscription finally lapsed. So I’m free from my addictions again – yay! (Well, apart from the DTs. But with college starting back up, I’ll soon be too busy to miss my games.)

Dad and I did go out again to the post office today. With 3+ layers on, it wasn’t too bad. But it sure was nice to get back into my house.

With no more MMORPGs to distract me, I’ll have to get going on my coursework this weekend. And maybe get some more reorganization & cleaning done. (The kitchen is now more organized to suit me. How many years have I lived here? Sheesh.)

Those you up here in the northern hemisphere, keep warm! (Those of you in the southern hemisphere, keep cool!)

I can sleep in tomorrow!

With 5+ inches of very blowy snow already on the ground and very low temps & windy weather promised for tomorrow, our superintendent (wisely, IMO) has already closed school for tomorrow. So yay, I can sleep in tomorrow!

Those of you (mom, this means you) having to go out in such weather, drive safe!

Snow – finally!

Although we’ve had some ice storms so far this winter, our snow has been relatively little. But today, we’re finally getting some of the white stuff. Although we had 2 hour delays yesterday and Monday, today school started on time. It was very cold, but the roads and sidewalks were pretty clear. It wasn’t snowing yet, either. Apparently already tired of the teachers and students asking if we were getting out early, the superintendent had made a sign and stuck it on his chest saying “2:36” and pointed to it when people would get ready to ask a question. (That’s the regular dismissal time for school.) He popped into my room and asked if anyone had any questions. And if so, the answer was… and he’d point to his sign. Heh. Poor guy.

Within an hour of school starting, however, the snow had begun. And continued. And every time administrators went by my classroom (which is right next to the superintendent’s office, so this happened often in a regular day) the kids would mutter and get all excited. When physics class started (my 4th period class) one of the girls assured us that we were getting out at 11:30am. Sure enough, a few minutes into 4th period, the principal got on the announcements and told us the same thing. Wow – never got out that early for an early dismissal. They canceled lunch as well.

Before 11:30 came, they dismissed the high school students who drive to school to let them get out of the parking lot before the buses and walkers headed out. Then at 11:28 the bell rang and students headed out. Once all of the kids were out, I walked home and enjoyed the lovely view. The kitties were nonplussed about my early arrival. And they’ve been loving the snow, especially if the birds get to flying about in the trees.

The snow is still falling and it’s pretty to look at. And I’m glad I don’t have to go anywhere. I wouldn’t want to have to drive in this. (Alas, mother works tomorrow. But of course there’d be subzero temps and lots of snow – I think the weather keeps trying to remind her that she’s retired.)

Already behind…

It’s only a week into 2009 and I’m already 4 weeks behind. Heh.

I had a WONDERFUL Christmas break, but I managed to put off a lot of things that needed doing, especially for school. And this week hasn’t been my most productive. Still, I got chemistry tests (from before break) graded today. I am going to force myself to refrain from gaming on Saturday until I finish grading the catapult papers (from WAY before break). I hope to get somewhat caught up in order to game all day Sunday (my last true gaming day until summer, I imagine). So wish me luck on being productive this Saturday. Heh.

In other news – have you ever stubbed your toe in bed? The other night I was putting my feet under the covers, but because they were slightly sweaty (even when my feet are cold they sweat) they stuck to the sheets and my toe got stubbed. I was amused, despite the discomfort. Heh.

Oh, and perhaps this weekend I’ll get my 2008 book results posted. I read 65 books in 2008 – here’s for even more in 2009!

Happy New Year!

Hooray for 2009! Hooray for year 38!

We had a lovely time at Aunt Becky’s tonight ringing in the new year. Originally we were going to have the NYE party at my place (just the folks, judiang, Becky & me), but Becky’s son asked if she’d babysit Braden, the first grader. So Becky suggested having it at her place and inviting her granddaughters along to keep Braden occupied. Taylor (who just turned 12) came for the party – her younger sister opted to party with her mom instead.

So Judi and I brought lots of Chinese food from Tokyo Peking (which took longer than anticipated, so I was over half an hour late to my own party) to start off the festivities. After we snarfed down a goodly portion of food (there’s still LOTS left over – yum!) we cleared the table. Dad & Braden watched some DVDs Braden had brought. Taylor watched Mama Mia for the umpteenth time. And mom, Judi, Becky & I played pinochle. My winning streak finally died, but man, mom got a DOUBLE RUN. That was beautiful. I took a photo. We also played a game of Fluxx, which Becky & Mom disliked. Ah well. Then another game of Pinochle. (Mom & Becky won it as well.)


Mom’s double run!

Since Taylor has just turned 12, we decided that it was time for her to do the same right of passage that all of the Lowry women have done throughout the ages – we taught her how to play Shanghai Rum. Heh. We didn’t get all the way through the game (only completed to a run of five and 2 sets of 3) but I won with Taylor coming second. Not bad for her first time. And yay me!

Dad got the drinks ready for all – sparkling grape juice for the kids & me, brut for the adults. Braden decided he was drunk after drinking two glasses of sparkling grape. Heh. We then toasted the new year at midnight. Woohoo!

Last night & this afternoon, Judi and I saw our last two theatrical movies for 2008 – The Tale of Despereaux and Seven Pounds. Despereaux was lovely – wonderful animation, delightful story. Seven Pounds was hellishly teary. We weren’t expecting that. It was good, but I’ll admit that I’ll be getting a DVD when Despereaux comes out, but not when Seven Pounds does.

Later today, after we sleep, I’ll be watching my parade. I love it that those wonderful people in Pasadena put a parade on for me every year. Love ya, Pasadena!