I keep starting new posts...

but after writing for a while I generally decide they are kind of stupid. Things that I've written about include how I love cats but not dogs, how I am not good with change, and something about how we are a very selfish egocentric country. All of these ideas putted out after a paragraph or two. I will say that I've been reading archives of other people's blogs and one of them in particular is really touching. I've decided to just free-write about what's been going on for, at least, some sort of update.

I've finished my first semester of college where I'm actually engaged and trying instead of...what the heck did I do the first time around?!? I'll leave that one alone. I did really well and earned a 4.0, and including the last time around I have a cumulative 3.25. Not...too...bad. I'm excited and also extremely anxious about next semester because I have Macroeconomics, History (not my strong suit), Human Growth and Development (a psych course), and Anatomy and Physiology...gulp! I've heard that course is tough, tough, tough. I've had a very, very basic course of it before, which will hopefully be helpful. Lord, please let it be helpful. I've heard that it's a lot of memorizing. So really the tough part will be that it is time-consuming. I am happy that a classmate from my Comp class last semester is also in the A&P class with me. Yay! Someone to start a study group with.

Christmas vacation has been great. Because it's coming after actually being in school it really has been pleasurable to just sit around and not have to think too hard. I've been trying to read a book that I borrowed from TMA forever ago. I'm having a little trouble actually wanting to read. We've been partaking in a "How I Met Your Mother" marathon every evening after the boys retire to their room. We've also had qutie a few activities.

This time off we've had a lot of family gatherings. We've been to Laumeier Sculpture Park to have Jedi Training with light sabers. We had a park playdate with the R's. We also had NR and LR over yesterday morning for a playdate where the older boys played Wii and the younger boys played cars and watched Kung Fu Panda. Most recently, like this morning, we went to the zoo.

We took The Scientist's best friend, NR, with us to Zoomagination Station, which has all these different centers, as the boys call them. There is a veterinary area where you help stuffed animals feel better, a playhouse where you can sort recycling and fill bird feeders, a viewing area where you clean the windows, an art area, puppet theater, library reading area, sand and water tables, and the place The Scientist and NR spent their entire time the habitat building area. The boys spent the entire 45 minutes building a rainforest and rivers. This particular center has rocks, wood, trees, felt "lakes", animals of every sort imaginable. They really enjoyed it. After that session we went to the Children's Zoo.

I love, now that the boys are older, taking them to the Children's Zoo. We didn't even really see any of the animals. They spent an hour and a half playing some sort of challenge game and then a Jedi game on the playground. I wish that I would have taken my mp3 player, because they were so occupied I was a little bored sitting in the sunshine watching them run in circles up the steps, down the slide, up the rock ramp, down the slide. They did tell me on the way out that Monkey had opened the gate at the top, went out, then came back in and locked the gate. I had three going in, three going out, and they were all looking out for each other. It was a really nice playdate. After that we had a quick bite to eat and went to the Herpatarium, or Reptile House, where we watched one Caimen Lizard chomp down, and not let go of, another Caimen Lizard's tail for like five minutes. At that point, the boys speech was starting to have potty talk interspersed, and I was having caffeine withdrawals, so we walked to the car. Well actually, I would give them a spot to wait at and they would race each other ahead to the specified point.

Wow, would you look at that? I have a whole post. I guess the point is to just have little bits of randomness to start with instead of a cobwebby old topic. Or maybe just having something other than school going on, which I've found some people would really like to forget that time of their lives, helps.

This season...

make it about reaching out to other people and enjoying those around you. I'm not really big on the gift-giving aspect. (I'm a horrible gift-opener. My reaction is always awkward and unreadable.) I have been trying to see around those first reactions of people (mainly in the service industry) and trying to think of reasons why they may be acting the way they act. I know it's helped me be more patient. And I've found, that if you are nice long enough the person who is irking you eventually comes around and smiles or, at the very least, ends the "transaction" on a much more pleasant note. I'm trying to remember that this season is a hard time for many people, and the reasons are usually emotionally tied. I know, from my own experience, how powerful one's emotions can be to keep in check. Following this paragraph is a PostSecret. It reminded me that you never know who you are going to influence in a significant way.




This Christmas, I'm enjoying that I have a break from the stress of school. It's making me appreciate family time. I bought Christmas Vacation, with Chevy Chase, hoping that it would be a movie The Scientists would like. We watched it last night and we didn't even get through the animated credits, and he was already laughing. He loved the entire movie and was laughing so hard. It was a nice change from the normal moaning and groaning he usually puts up about movies I've picked.

When I bought the movie, I was supposed to get forty percent off, but my coupon wasn't scanning correctly. The sales lady, who would be one of the previous sales people who don't seem very cheerful, used a different coupon on the register. I ended up paying full price for the movie. However, she took forty percent off of a Star Wars pop-up book that the boys wanted for Christmas. The book was originally $32.99, because of the coupon I only paid $19.79 for the book. I kept telling the lady that I was fine with not getting a discount on the DVD, because the computer took more off for the much more expensive book. This was one sales person who never broke with her gruff exterior. After witnessing the other customers in the Borders, I understood why. Those were some crabby customers. They were snapping at the workers and rolling their eyes. I felt really bad for the workers. It's not like they enjoy pushing charitable causes on the customers or asking you if you're already a member of Borders Rewards program. It's part of their job description and the customers shouldn't act like it's a personal threat, or attack, on their time. God forbid! A simple "No thank you." is enough. A "I REALLY JUST HAVE TO GO!!!" is over the top and really quite rude.

So while I don't think that those snotty ladies will read this blog, for the handful of people that do (and really I don't think you're the ones with these rudeness issues), remember that smiling, being polite (using please and thank yous when necessary), and being patient are ways to show that you respect the person you're dealing with. It's not a way to act condescending and superior. And in an effort to not leave out any specific holiday celebration (my apologies if I do):

"Merry Christmas"
"Happy Holidays"
"Happy Kwanzaa"
"Happy Hanukkah"
"Happy Saturnalia"

Mr. C., The Scientist's teacher, made a slideshow of the class making their gingerbread houses. You will find the link here.