cheap entertainment.

I've been at home this past week celebrating Christmas with the family and catching up with some old friends. It's been wonderful and I'm so glad that my job allows for this much time off at the holidays. I have spent a number of hours with a good friend of mine from high school, Laura, and her family.

Laura's daughter, Claire, has to be one of the sweetest and most adorable kids I know. She is 22 months old, very well behaved and super friendly! I only see her once or twice a year and she acts like she knows me right away when I visit and always has hugs and kisses to give. Really, is there anything better than that?

As many of you know, I tend to get a kick out of kids and the random things they say...Claire has been no exception to this lately. The other day we were sitting in the kitchen and Claire was asking if she could watch a bit of a movie while dinner was cooking. [authors note: I am not around kids of this age on a regular basis and sometimes it takes me a bit to translate what they actually say.] I asked Claire which movie was her favorite and she looked up at me with her big eyes and long lashes and said "f*%k." I smiled to myself and said, "what?" Claire responded "f*%k." I looked to my friend Laura for assistance and asked, "what did she say?" Laura looks at me (with this look on her face as though she couldn't believe I hadn't understood Claire) and said, "Shrek."

I cracked up and said "dang, sure sounded like she was dropping the 'f-bomb' there." Claire continued asking for "f*%k" and for "donkey and f*%k" and I tried SO hard not to laugh. Well, when Laura finally realized (and admitted) how much it really did sound like what I was hearing, I was not successful in holding it back and I was laughing so hard I thought I might wet myself! Claire just looked at mommy like she was ready to ask her "who is this crazy lady?"

I wish I could say that I didn't encourage more conversations about that giant green ogre with Claire during our time together, but I can't. =) Laura has since thanked me (rather sarcastically) for ruining the way she hears her daughter saying "Shrek" and, as a language educator, has committed herself to working more on the "shhh" sound with Claire.

To top it off, I made sure that Claire had a nice new (and noisy) toy before I left town. She is now the proud owner of a pint-sized recorder and, I might add, seems to love it. WHAAAT? It's great for motor skills and hand eye coordination. Ha. Let's be real, I am in so much trouble when I have kids... the paybacks from my friends will be severe.

* I did get to go with Laura and Claire for Claire's first haircut at a salon - so fun! I'll post a picture soon so you can see this little cutie!

snow excited...

Well, the weather outside is frightful, and the fire I'm attempting to build in my fireplace could be delightful - if I don't smoke out the house. Today, I am saying, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It is a rarity that we get snow here in the Valley - there's always plenty of it on the mountains, but I've only seen it here about three times down here and even then, it's not much. Needless to say, as much as I complain about cold weather, there is something about seeing snow for the first time a season that makes me SO happy. I love it when it snows like this - big flakes that stick AND I don't have to go anywhere today.

Alright.. I'm off to enjoy the beauty!

Shhh... don't tell my friends in Minnesota how excited I am about the snow... they'll think that I'm going to reconsider my stance on winter and move there.

travel photos revisited

Here are a few pictures from the travel experiences. Hope you enjoy the video - thanks for introducing me to animoto Megan!

the wish bone. part 2.

Well, clearly I am not informed about the best way to prep the wish bone for maximum breakage and cracking! Thank you for helping me out with this one. =)

I will say, it has disappeared. I still don't know what happened to it...hopefully someones' wishes are coming true!

the wish bone.

Salem mom and dad (i.e. the housemates) had Thanksgiving dinner in WA and I had it at a friends' house which, resulted in no turkey leftovers here. Lorie, (i.e. Salem mom) decided to make a turkey on Sunday so we'd have dinner and sandwiches for the week + some. Yum.

Well, I was standing in the kitchen chatting with her as she was cutting the meat off of the bird (yuk - I can't stand that), but she'd just fed me turkey and was wanting to chat... so...there I stood. She got to the wish bone and I commented on how much we used to love that as kids and used to argue over who got to break it! She laughed at continued on...

Eventually I headed up (before she was finished) and when I came back down in the morning, the wish bone was sitting on the window ledge above the sink. I didn't really know why, and kind of chuckled thinking that she saved it for us to break later. However, she's not said anything about it all week and it's now WEDNESDAY and the turkey bone is still sitting there. I'm tempted to ask, but don't want to end up commenting on the grossness of it. Ew. Turkey carcass is not what I really want to look at while preparing breakfast, lunch or dinner for that matter.

"black friday."

So, I feel like I have been absolutely inundated with ads, commercials etc. during the past few days offering information about the annual "black friday" shopping. On a normal day I have an expiration date of about 30 minutes in stores and often choose to go late at night to avoid other shoppers and lines. I can not imagine choosing to get up somewhere between 2am and 7am on my day off to go stand in line and fight crowds. Ugh. I don't think there's anything I want or need enough to get me to do it.

Good luck to those hitting the aisles, I'll be thinking of you while I'm enjoying the peace and quiet of my living room, the morning news and a cup of tea.

giving thanks.

I am so grateful and so blessed, it's always nice to take the opportunity to remember it. To my friends and family, thank you so much for being in my life!

amen.

November 4, 2008; United States of America

we can. we did. we will.

mr. sketch markers.

Can I just say... I love, love, love, the fact that in my job, I get to use Mr. Sketch markers on a regular basis. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the joy that is the Mr. Sketch... those are the richly colored and SCENTED markers with wonderful chiseled tip.

These were the markers that I always wanted during "school shopping season" as a child, but they were always a bit too expensive and or slightly impractical for regular 3rd grade marker needs, ya know? I was always a bit jealous of the kids who were able to talk their parents into these markers. But now, at 28, I have my very own set for office use, thanks to my place of employment.

p.s. orange is, and has always been my favorite... what's yours?

the work of the great pumpkin?

Last week I had a good lesson on just how observant I am sometimes [not]. Let me set this up for you quick. I am currently renting a room from a great couple, my newest ma and pa, Jeff & Lorie. Their house is located across the street from a large local high school, so we often enjoy the musical styling of the marching band, the buzzers in the morning and the traffic during drop off and pick up. Usually the school is relatively quiet at night, but, every once in awhile.... something a tad exciting happens.

Last week Lorie and I were sitting in our living room watching the 2003 hit, "Love Actually." For those of you who haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

Anyway... we must have been pretty engrossed in the film because, according to our neighbors, around 10:30 p.m. (mid-movie) a large dump truck backed down our street and the driver proceeded to dump roughly 500 pumpkins in front of the main doors of the high school and then drive off quite promptly.

My neighbor, who typically can't stand living by the school and notices all the rebellious things the students do, even admitted that this was a slightly funny prank... what's funnier still, is that both Lorie and I were COMPLETELY UNAWARE to this happening. How the heck did we miss it? You'd think we would have heard something.

Remarkably, the school had it all picked up before the beginning of class the next day, except for one lone pumpkin hiding behind the tire of my car. I was curious as to where it had come from as I left for work that morning, and didn't learn about the "joke" until later that night. How they got 500 pumpkins picked up by 7:30 a.m., I'll never know... must be the work of the great pumpkin.

*luckily, no physical damage was done to cars or the school in the implementation of this prank, however, we are guessing that they swiped the pumpkins from a local pumpkin patch and probably cost the owners a bit of money.*

leon's sprinklers.

Every morning my neighbor Leon goes out to turn on his sprinklers about 6 a.m. My alarm is usually starting to pester me about that time so I usually hear the sprinklers turn on and will promptly fall back asleep. By the time I actually roll outta bed at about 6:30 a.m., after listening to sprinklers for a half hour youcanimaginewhatihavetodorightaway.

whew. made it again.

the train.

So, there is a set of train tracks here in Salem that seriously gets used all.the.time. This particular set of tracks runs on one side of campus, so throughout the day we are constantly battling the noise. Most of the time we just laugh, wait for it to pass if we're in a conversation and move on with daily business.

The house that I'm living in right now is near enough and positioned in a way that allows for the full sound effects of the trains to travel through my bedroom window rather well. lovely, right?

Last night (after a 15 hour work day) I arrived home at 1 a.m. (yes, 1 a.m.) ready to fall into bed and SLEEP. I laid down, closed my eyes and instantly heard the whistle blowing, seemingly louder than normal. The train noise doesn't usually bother me too much while I sleep; however, last night was exceptional. While this particular train went through town I heard the whistle blow no less than 20 times. Not exaggerating. I actually started counting these and each of these blows took about six seconds. Yes, I began counting the length as well. Seriously? Seriously. Was that really necessary as we drove through a city at 1:00 a.m.? Really?

Ok. I know in the grand scheme of things this is pretty minor, but dang. Sistah needs her beauty rest!

glitter butt?

Umm...I just went to use the public restroom across the hall from my office. While I don't usually "sit" on these toilet seats, I tend to look to make sure they're clean nonetheless. Today I found green glitter sprinkled all around the seat.

Now, I don't know what the person before me had eaten for lunch... or if perhaps this was just someones idea of a joke... Regardless, I'm sure glad to have students back on campus for the start of classes today.

too much t.v.

You know you're watching too much Olympic coverage when Micheal Phelps shows up in your dreams at night.

Augh.

But, a good dream nonetheless.

gymnastics.

As it is with many people, watching Olympic gymnastic competitions is one of my favorite pastimes every four years. I have the utmost respect for these men and women and am in pain just thinking about doing what they do. But, for crying out loud, why are these gymnasts still wearing scrunchies in their hair? Maybe I'm mistaken, but aren't the 80s over?

Olympics.

I l.o.v.e. the Olympics and have for as long as I can remember. I love the people, from so many countries, putting aside differences and coming together to share one of the many things they have in common. I love the competition and the sweet taste of accomplishment when someone, who has trained so hard, is victorious. I love it when the underdog comes from behind to rule the day. I love the passion and the friendships, and I love the sense of global community.

One of the things I love most about the US is the fact that our athletes come from so many different walks of life, so many different states, countries and backgrounds. I love that people from such a variety of races, ethnicities and cultures are able to call the United States home. In my book, a very beautiful thing and one of the best parts of this nation.

How lucky we are to have the ability to expose ourselves to so many different cultures on a regular basis. But, do we take advantage of this gift? Do we allow ourselves to explore the unknown? Do we allow ourselves the opportunity to get to know people who are "not like us" or do we simply allow social stereotypes and constructs to help us build or maintain our walls? Walls that close us off to the unknown and to the wonderful possibilities that exist in learning about others. One of the things I like best about the Olympics is that it helps us chip away at these walls. It's never enough, but, I guess a little progress is better than no progress.

random student interaction

J, a 20 year old advisee of mine never really ceases to surprise me...

In the middle of a meeting...

J: Hey Kate, can I ask you a favor?
K: Sure J, what can I do for you.
J: (lowers his voice) uhh... will you be a reference for me so I can go to Prom with my girlfriend? (who is still in HS). They require references for dates not in high school.
K: (tries to show restraint, but can't help but laughing out loud). Sure J. I'll tell them that you should be allowed to go to Prom.

my last lecture...

Many universities have a program called the "last lecture" series. This is typically a monthly session in which a faculty or staff member will be asked to take an hour or so and give his/her "last lecture," or rather, a lecture on a topic of their choice. This is typically what he/she would choose if he/she knew if was going to be the final lecture of his/her life.

I was recently asked by the student planners to be the final speaker of the semester. Unfortunately, I didn't have a single evening free to a) plan it and b) actually give it. I have deferred this honor until next semester; however, it has really gotten me thinking. What would I speak about if I knew it was the last time I was going to speak to an audience? For nearly every speech/workshop/lecture I've ever given, I've always had a specific goal, topic or theme. This is utter and complete freedom and I'm really at a loss for what to focus on in this.

Do I pick a topic on which I'm very familiar and on which I have given many workshops? Do I speak about social injustices and use the time in front of a captive* audience to raise awareness? Do I get personal and talk about relationships/dating and other human social interactions? Do I practice my ever-evolving stand-up comedy routine? Do I talk about the benefits of travel and share stories from around the world?

Augh. It's somewhat overwhelming... but fun to think about. If you were asked to give your last lecture, what topic would you choose?

*I say "captive" because college students are never really captive, they are always multi-tasking. I would be competing for attention with facebook, instant/text messaging, email, web surfing etc.

today, yes.

Dear Legg,
This is, quite possibly, the funniest and most accurate blog post I've read in a long l-o-o-o-n-g time. I couldn't have said it better myself and it's basically what I would want to post today.

Thank you,
Kate

starting to get stir crazy.

Maybe its because it's April (read: ridiculously busy at work) or maybe it's because I have friends out gallivanting around the world, but whatever it is, I'm ready to get out of here. Get out of town, get out of the country - whatever. I want to go somewhere unknown, somewhere where I don't know the language. Anybody want to join?

No, this is not an April Fools joke.