Tuesday, November 30, 2004

    Untitled

 
I'm having one of those days. I should just go back to bed and start fresh. I got up and took my shower before I ate breakfast because I had an early meeting. I got to work and had a five-minute meeting. So now I have a meeting that interferes with my lunch time. I usually go home to eat lunch with Bryan on Mondays and Tuesdays, but I guess the time I blocked off on my calendar doesn't matter.

I've been really tired lately. On Sunday, after we came back from Kansas, I took an hour and a half nap and then was still tired enough to go to bed at 8:30pm and sleep until 7am the next morning. I think it's the weather. I'm sure exercise would help but I don't feel like exercising at all. When it's so dreary outside, I don't feel like doing anything. I've been knitting a lot because it's the one thing that keeps me from feeling completely dreary. I have no motivation to do anything but knit. I should be working on my library application but I don't even feel like doing that. It's hard to be at work when I know I still have to be here until the end of July. I'm sure it will come faster than I think, I just want it to be here tomorrow.
posted by erica Tuesday, November 30, 2004 []

  Wednesday, November 24, 2004

    A White Thanksgiving??

 
Snow on or near Thanksgiving in Kansas?? I don't remember the last time it snowed around Thanksgiving in Kansas. Bryan, Meredith and I are all flying down to Kansas City tomorrow for a long weekend with the family. We're staying with my Aunt Nan and will have Thanksgiving dinner with Mom's side of the family and then Friday will be Dad's side of the family. It's always been slight chaos at both family's dinners. Bryan got a taste of family gatherings at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, but he's never experienced Thanksgiving. If we were to have both families together at once it would be nearly 50 people. :) Friday morning, we'll go out to Winstead's for lunch. (Winstead's is a 50's diner in KC that has become a day after Thanksgiving tradition for the women in the family.)

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Safe travels!
posted by erica Wednesday, November 24, 2004 []

  Tuesday, November 16, 2004

    Proud Aunt photos

 
I haven't written here much because I have been writing more on my knitting blog.
Here are some photos of our new niece Paige. She's Bryan's sister's daughter. We went to see her and her family on Halloween. She had the cutest little Halloween outfit on. :) What a sweetheart. Paige was born two days before our wedding, so we'll never forget her birthday! :)










Last night, I worked on the notes from my interview with the library director at Fremont Library where Bryan works. I had to interview him for one of my essays for my library grad school application. Just the typed notes are 2 3/4 pages single spaced. I think this essay will pretty much write itself, the biggest problem is the writer needs to actually sit down and write it. :) I would like to get my essays done by the end of this week, if not by the time we leave for Kansas City for Thanksgiving. What a relief to have it all done by Thanksgiving! The essays are the last things I need to do. I have my application completed and sent to the Graduate School at U of Illinois and the transcripts and letters of recommendation have been received.
posted by erica Tuesday, November 16, 2004 []

  Monday, November 08, 2004

    Wonderful, beautiful wedding gifts

 
I was just thinking as I was heating water for tea in our new teapot about the photo that I took about three weeks ago. It's of Bryan on the night that we had Meredith and her friend, Dan over for dinner. I was so excited to use our new china, new flatware (silverware), new crystal glasses, new tablecloth and napkins. Set with our new hurricane lamp. We received all of these for wedding gifts.

(Click for a better view)

I feel so unbelievably fortunate to have friends and family who showered us with gifts for months! Our wonderful new teapot that I LOVE! It's such a beautiful stainless steel teapot and I love making tea using it to boil hot water. :) Thank you, Meredith!

Everyday when we eat on our new dishes, I think what great dishes. They are yellow, blue, red and green and all so cheery. It's hard to have a bad meal with such lovely dishes. It's almost funny, I feel a bit like a grown up now. :) Of course, I won't officially feel like a grown up until I'm about 115 years old. :)

So today I worked from home. I wasn't feeling like my usual self, so I felt fortunate to be able to work from home for part of the day.

This weekend was a pretty normal weekend for Bryan and I. Bryan worked on Saturday, I knitted a lot on Saturday and worked on an updated version of my projects page. I am trying to come up with thumbnails so that I don't have 7 pages of knitted projects.

Sunday, we went to Unitarian services. The 8th graders hosted a pancake breakfast before services, so we decided to take advantage of someone else cooking breakfast. Of course, the topic of conversation at our table was the election. It was so nice to meet other people who were feeling a bit of the same way we are. The lecture during services was also about the election and democracy. It was exactly what I think we all needed to hear. One thing that I've thought about a lot, but haven't heard anyone else say is that George W. Bush and his fundamentalist friends are no different in waging their war on "evil" than the fundamentalist Muslims who are waging their war. After the lecture, the minister got a big round of applause. I think everyone was feeling a bit more even keel about things afterwards. Sunday morning before we went to services, I wasn't sure I wanted to go, and after I told Bryan that I'm so glad we went. I find it so spiritually enriching to go to Unitarian services on Sundays. It's like getting a bit of a spiritual boost to get me through the week. It's really refreshing to meet people who share the same views I do and really want a better world for future generations. A sane future.

A really interesting report came out today about global warming and the Artic ice melting. If this isn't a wake-up call regarding global warming and how we must change our polluting ways, I don't know what is.

I hope everyone has a good week. Smile a lot, it will make you feel better. :)
posted by erica Monday, November 08, 2004 []

  Thursday, November 04, 2004

 
I'm posting the almost same things on both the upto blog and knitting blogs just because I want to and because so much of what I have to say, I would just repeat on both anyway.

Happy 60th Birthday to my mom!!

I just have to post this. My hopefully being a future librarian, I just don't understand how any librarian could be with such a dipwad like G.W. Bush. Is it because he makes her feel so smart? What do they talk about, since he doesn't read books or even newspapers?



Thank you to Heidi for this.

Maureen Dowd's column was particularly good today.

Also the idea that people who voted for Bush are people with high moral values is such a crock. I am a person of high moral values, they are just values that are completely opposite of the Right-Wing's values. I believe that we should take care of people; stop the horrible cycle of poverty; treat others with dignity and respect; treat gays and lesbians like the real human beings they are - they aren't any different; not wage war; stop killing people, especially when it's in the name of "justice"; make education a true priority - we can't go on teaching to a test, our children will be even further behind and we need to look for ways to truly reform our schools. I have a very hard time with people who say that the Democrats or anyone who disagrees with the President have a lack of moral values. We don't have a lack of moral values, we just think that dividing our country into black & white issues is dangerous. I can't conceivably understand how anyone can call themselves a Christian, and treat other human beings so horribly. I was taught that you must be kind to people, respect your neighbor, treat others as you would like to be treated, care for the poor and work to make a difference in other's lives. Those aren't Christian values or Muslim values or religious values, they are people values. George Bush says he respects life but he's waged a brutal war on people who have done nothing to us and he supports the death penalty. If that's respecting life, I'm afraid of the opposite view.

Well, that's my ranting for today. I just find the polarization of those with "moral values" and the others very disheartening.


posted by erica Thursday, November 04, 2004 []

  Wednesday, November 03, 2004

 
It's been a bit of grim day around here. The election results were extremely disappointing, but we need to use the excitement we had to get Bush out of office to work and make sure his extreme policies are defeated. I feel good about the fact that I have two Democratic senators representing me in Washington (Obama and Durbin from IL).

Josh Marshall states the situtation much more eloquently than I can.

I just have to say that it was very difficult to watch Kerry's concession speech. I started crying with the ideas of where this country potentially can go over the next four years. I can just hope that they won't be as bad as the last four years or this country will be ripped apart. We can't live in a country that is so divided with a leader who so wrecklessly abuses our trust and declares unjust wars in our name. I fear that the terrorists see Bush's victory as a victory for themselves, since Bush is their best recruiting tool. If the next four years are worse or the same as the last four, I really think this country will need some serious healing or we won't trust our neighbors. And we may have a whole generation that is scarred in the same way that many in the Viet Nam generation are still scarred. These horrible policies cannot continue. Bush has to try to repair some of the damage he has done to this country. He abused our trust after 9/11 and if he doesn't work to make us a little less divided, a lot of people will lose their trust in our democracy, Americans and foreigners alike. Our role in the world right now is very fragile. I just hope we all survive the next four years. Thankfully, Bryan and I will be in it together.

Peace be with you all. We need it!
posted by erica Wednesday, November 03, 2004 []

  Tuesday, November 02, 2004

 
VOTE!

If you haven't voted yet, go vote!!


No excuses! It doesn't take too long, if you have to stand in line, just think of how privileged we are to have the right to vote. Haven't been following the issues, visit Project Vote Smart to find out where the candidates stand on issues important to you.


posted by erica Tuesday, November 02, 2004 []

  Monday, November 01, 2004

 
Check out this spider that is living near my sister's front door. Creepy!




Last night, Bryan and I watched a fascinating documentary about the Salem Witch Trials called The Witches Curseon PBS. And how there is scientific evidence as to why people were acting as though they under a spell. It's all related to a fungus that grows on grain. Check out the link above for more info.

A too short weekend as usual. Saturday morning, Bryan and I both had full-body massages. It was wonderful. Then we watched our nephew, Michael, all afternoon.

Sunday, we went to see our new niece, Paige Snyder. She's Bryan's sister Alison's daughter. She was born two days before our wedding. :) What a sweetheart! We took a few photos with Alison's camera, we forgot to take ours, so when we get those back, I'll post them.
posted by erica Monday, November 01, 2004 []