Post Christmas

It was a lovely Christmas. I posted the latest pictures of everyone below. All 3 kids are currently home and it was nice to witness them all interacting and sharing conversation last night.

I'm a bit bummed right now since my paycheck doesn't reflect the overload payment I was verbally lead to believe and trusted that I would receive at the end of the fall semester. Now I shall have to write an email to the chair of the dept. and the dean requesting that they state in writing that I will be paid for the fall and spring overloads, how much they will pay me and when, or I will NOT teach the scheduled Spring semester overload lab section. I really hate being put in this position. Once I solved their problem due to their lack of adequate planning they dropped the ball. A real morale booster, that's for sure! Gee, I just can't wait to go back to work!

Yeah Yoga!

Ladies, I DEFINITELY recommend getting your spouse or significant other involved in doing yoga. It has many benefits!! George and I have been doing yoga together most mornings for the past two weeks, and as Rodney Yee says (the tape we follow) "....the rewards are truly great!"

It is snowing vigorously right now on this Monday morning. George managed to get out of the driveway earlier despite the approximately 8 inches of snow. I walked the dogs and the street didn't look very well plowed. I shoveled the walks and the driveway apron and behind the car so I can get out if I decide to go to school....which is getting less and less likely today! Josh volunteered to do some shoveling, but he sleeps half the day since he is up all night. He still has a pretty bad cough too that he had since Thanksgiving. Josh came home from school Saturday for winter break. We didn't go to the Ruff's wine tasting party Saturday evening since the weather was supposed to be bad - and it was. We were disappointed that we couldn't go since it is always a lot of fun. We will hopefully see them New Year's Eve. Instead we fed Josh a nice salmon dinner. Last night I cooked a turkey breast with all the trimmings, including fresh cranberry sauce (although the guys didn't like it much, I did!) We played Wii bowling with Josh last night. It is always fun! The avatars we made of ourselves look just like us! Squeaker, our cat, tried to get involved too. All the cats and dogs are napping in the living room with me right now.

Anya comes home tomorrow morning. Hopefully she will catch her plane this time! Adam is flying home for a week a couple of days after Christmas. We will have a house full! I better stock the refrigerator! I'm all ready for Christmas. I didn't bake any cookies, just some quick breads. Make it a good day!

Christmas Trees

Christmas trees are full of history. Each ornament speaks to me as I rediscover it and place it on the tree. Little hands fashioned this one - although now those hands are full grown. A friend I lost touch with made these delicate paper ornaments for me as a gift one year. I wonder how she is. Some speak to me about trips I've taken to Germany, Florida., etc. I think about the time I was there. Others were made by my grandparents, bridesmaids, sister-in-laws, mother or me, or given to me by my sister. I think about each person. Some ornaments represent former passions or hobbies that make me smile. My Christmas tree is alive with history and is full of stories.

Free rice and Yoga

I was listening to npr on my way to visiting hours at a funeral home when I heard about this new website a guy set up to do something about world hunger and to also help improve your vocabulary (his son was struggling with this). He decided to make a game - for every word you correctly define you donate 20 grains of rice (actually the money equivalent) - and he got big name companies to advertise on the site to supply the money to donate. The site can be found @ freerice.com Check it out! It's fun!

George bought me a yoga "kit" from Borders last Christmas, which I have enjoyed and I have purchased more demanding dvds as well. It REALLY does help you feel better and make you more flexible. I gently and gradually persuaded my husband to try it! He felt better too after trying it out. I hope I didn't scare him off yesterday, as I introduced him to a more rigorous dvd! So far so good!