Flamingos at the Albuquerque Zoo, Nov. 2013

~I have completed the majority of my Christmas shopping (yay!) thanks to Amazon.  Since most of my family lives in another state, and because I'm a procrastinator of the first degree, it's been wonderful to place the order, have them wrap it, and ship it.  I'm not sure I should support Amazon, but I do enjoy the convenience.....a tiny bit of research trounces Amazon for their lack of charitable giving, although one ratings website on employee happiness showed contented workers (although I'm not sure how accurate it is ~ my skepticism is showing).  I still have a few things I need to do for my Mom, but an impromptu search of William-Sonoma's web site showed their wonderful mac & cheese ramikens were on sale, so I sent an order of those to her.  If you've never tried them, they are wonderful, although a tad expensive, even keeping in mind they do come in porcelain dishes that are handy.  

~I am done for the semester (it was over on 12/4), and I did score an "A" in the class!  I have to admit I wasn't surprised because I thought the class was easy ~ not one single test.  3 grades: our op-ed piece, our primate enrichment project, and our final paper.  She had also said that attendance and participation counted, but I couldn't find any actual grade for that...   I do find writing difficult.  I did fairly well on the final paper, which is the first truly long paper I've had to write in college (14 pages).  

~Yesterday I made homemade marshmallows!  They turned out great too, and surprised me with their simplicity.  I'm making some more today, that will have some Bailey's in them - they're supposed to be placed on black coffee.  My son wants me to make them for his boss, who loves sweets.  I'm planning on giving the marshmallows to friends with a mug and some hot chocolate mix.  Scored a pretty mug on sale at Starbucks for 1/2 price - the hot chocolate mix was actually more than the mug. Somehow that seems wrong.......

~ Well, gotta run, have racquetball game in an hour!  Happy shopping, everyone!  

Love, 365