Two, and three.

My kids are being SPOILED this year. You see, my mother sent her "12 days of Christmas" package early in December. Then their other grandma did a similar series of presents. We're finally reaching the end, tomorrow will be the last day they open presents before Christmas. Well it would be, except I went to the Dollar Store and grabbed some new toys to pull out at regular intervals during our trip to Grandma's house. I wrapped them too, since I had paper left over from last year. And when they get to Grandma's house (technically great-grandma, but they don't understand that difference)? MORE presents. She asked for the list in November. The day I sent it she emailed me back explaining everything she had gotten for them, which was every item on the list. They're going to have an AWESOME Christmas. Plus my parents are dropping by and that means even more presents ... sometimes it can be advantageous to be the only grand kids (yet, anyway) on both sides of ...

So my mom called me tonight (10:15 p.m. their time), which was kind of weird because my parents don't generally call people after 9 p.m. I picked up, of course. And this is what transpired: Mom: "So, you're probably not going to believe this. I have a question for you." Me: "Ok?" Mom: "How do I inoculate the owl thingies?" Me: <-busts up with laughter (my mom just doesn't play video games) Turns out she rolled a Drenai and got herself to level three. She's enjoying the graphics and got a laugh out of one of the guards telling her "Aren't you cute?" when she wandered out of the starting area. Just when I think I know my parents, they bust out a new one. My mom, playing WoW. Never been prouder:)

So my mom called me tonight (10:15 p.m. their time), which was kind of weird because my parents don't generally call people after 9 p.m. I picked up, of course. And this is what transpired: Mom: "So, you're probably not going to believe this. I have a question for you." Me: "Ok?" Mom: "How do I inoculate the owl thingies?" Me: <-busts up with laughter (my mom just doesn't play video games) Turns out she rolled a Drenai and got herself to level three. She's enjoying the graphics and got a laugh out of one of the guards telling her "Aren't you cute?" when she wandered out of the starting area. Just when I think I know my parents, they bust out a new one. My mom, playing WoW. Never been prouder:)

I thought this was an apt picture. I haven't burned any of my school paraphernalia but I have thrown away an awful lot. It's been a joy tossing things (that I won't need in the future, obviously) into the trash can. Done! Done with another semester! What shall I do with myself now that I have all this free time? The creative urge has struck, I have ideas, I feel the weight that has been lifted off me. There is joy in life. Man, is this what normal people with normal jobs feel like? Hahahahahahahahaha oh shoot I'm verging into a mini-hysteria ... So, yes, the Orc family (should probably come up with a new name for ourselves) is finally on Christmas/Winter Break. The tension that has filled the house these last few months has dissipated, stress levels are eased, and the Christmas spirit now has room to flourish.

I am recovering from two finals earlier today. My hand cramped, my neck hurts and my back feels thrown out of alignment. I think my face had a grimace of concentration on it most of the day. I'm sure it was very attractive. But now that's over and I only have online stuff to work on. Damm still has finals left though. Or does he? The last time it snowed in Las Cruces the city shut down for several days. Look what it's doing right now: So I guess we'll see about the school remaining open. I know those of you in the North are laughing but we here in Las Cruces are woefully unprepared for cold weather. Heck, I saw girls walking around in non-winterish looking skirts today. We were so not expecting this. This is what we have also been up to: This is our "serious" face. We took some smiling photos too but I am ALWAYS smiling in pictures. I needed some non-smiley ones. I went for the black dress this year; I have trouble finding dresses in brighter hues that work f...

I hope your Thanksgiving went well. Mine did, although it was a bit weird-it was at my house this year. I didn't host it, we all pitched in, but it was at my house. And therefore it couldn't be Thanksgiving, because Thanksgivings are spent at grandma's house with all the relatives. My grandma, to be specific. For seventeen years holidays-most of them-were spent at my grandma's house, so now the holidays feel weird 'cause I'm not at her house. Oh well. I also hope your Black Friday went well. I was facing the hordes at 8 a.m., but really everyone was very nice. We at the bookstore didn't get any of the crazy, pepper-spraying people (if you haven't heard of that read this ). It was busy though, so when I finally got home around 4:30 p.m. I collapsed on the couch. I did take advantage of the games being 50% at my store, so I guess I contributed to the madness. And now it's Cyber Monday and we college kids have to go back to school. Every part of my be...

So I read the Hunger Games Trilogy and felt absolutely awful Monday morning. Book hangover. Definitely don't drive while under the influence-trying to navigate the car while reading what happened next just doesn't work. Anyway, I was on our school's online thingymajig (it's called Blackboard but I have no idea what you call it in computer parlance-platform?) and noticed that our final essay assignment had been posted for my mythology class. Turns out I can write about any hero/heroine from any novel/movie. Score, right? I'm totally writing about Katniss Everdeen. My reading marathon over the weekend turned out to be just the right thing. In other news, I have a group presentation today. Judging by the laughter, goofing off and cookies we made it's going to be a good one. Ask me anything you want to know about jazz and I might be able to answer you. We had some confusion over what, precisely, we were going to cover. I thought jazz and I thought music! and researc...