No, I haven't put up my tree yet......

(Image courtesy of Bing)

I had plans....I was going to attend the Christmas arts & crafts sale at the Railyard in downtown.  I was going to catch up on my laundry.  I was going to Michaels to look for a small table top tree since I don't want to put up the big one this year.  I didn't do any of those things though, because I've spent the entire day studying for my final exam.  

I did well on the mid-term, and the final will be similar.  But I have to study.....it seems to be an obsession these days, where I would never have thought to spend so much time for a single event before.  There will be a two paragraph essay included in the final, which I'm not looking forward to.  But I figure that studying for all the other parts (there are 3) will prepare me to write a short essay on whatever she decides to put in front of us. 

My eyes are tired and blurry, but I've put a sufficient number of check marks on the review.....I think I can leave the rest for tomorrow.  Poor Romeo is under the weather with a cold, and he went to bed hours ago.  I will have to be quiet when I wander in to the bedroom before collapsing into bed.  

The idea that the registrar's office schedules final exams seems crazy to me.  I've never had to suffer through a final that wasn't scheduled by the professor.  The final for this class is on Tuesday at 7:30 in the morning.  Why didn't we just do it on the last day of class?  We really didn't do anything important this past Tuesday/Thursday.  I think she should have given us the review on the 30th, and have us take the exam on the 7th, which was the "last day of class"....except for the exam of course.  College never ceases to amaze me with it's crazy and inefficient ideas and "traditions".  But, I'm too tired to ! complain about it.  A Christmas miracle, haha.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend....

Love, 365

When you do things you don't really want to....

Latest picture of the gang...

Last year, one of my racquetball buddies mentioned that she thought I had signed up for the NM Doubles tournament.  There's another player that has the same first name that I do.....she asked the organizer if I had signed up, and he said yes ~ only it was our newest player on Wednesday nights.  Not me.  So, she ended up playing the tournament with her anyway (because that's the kind of person she is, very nice).  I always felt a little guilty for sort of letting her down, so I asked if she wanted to play this year.  It's a weekend tournament, but it still takes up most of the weekend, especially if you play in different divisions.  

So, we began on Friday night.  It went ok, we should have just wiped the floor with the team we were playing, but neither of us was playing very well.  We still managed to win.  The next day, I'm still not "on" ~ meaning I just couldn't get past the anxiety of playing a tournament.  It had been about 2 or 3 years since I had played in one.  I was, again, not "on".  I made so many stupid mistakes, I was wishing someone would hit me on the head with a racquet and put me out of my misery.  It went to a tiebreaker, which is where I really sucked.  We lost.  Worse than that, I became very frustrated with one of the players on the other team who seemed to stand in front of me every minute.  Which they aren't supposed to do, but the ref wasn't calling her on it.  Whereby I grabbed the back of her tee shirt in an attempt to get her out of my way.  When she turned around to walk back to receive (after the point) I made an ugly face and faked hitting her with the racquet.  Even now, I'm so embarrassed.  I really lost it.  I'm not sure I'm ever going to play in a tournament again.   I apologized, and she was very gracious about it.  Still, I think I'm done with tournaments.  I don't want to put myself in a position where I'm that ugly person again.  

I suppose it's good to know one's limitations.  Although I know that everyone else has likely forgotten about it already, I know I will bring the image to the forefront of my mind and chastise myself over it for awhile.  This is one of my worst habits.  I call it emotional flagellation.  I won't forgive myself for a long time after everyone else has. Now I just need to find a way to move on.

Love, 365

Let the craziness begin.......

It's a Santa Fe Christmas

The holiday season has officially begun....our office is festively decorated, our radio station 99.5 is playing non-stop holiday music.  I'm not planning on putting up our big tree, I'm going to Michaels' or some other craft store and look for a tabletop size tree.  It's just Romeo and me after all.  No visitors are expected, so I don't want to do the whole thing ~ move furniture, haul out all the boxes of decor.  It'll be festive and simple.  I still have holiday baking to do as well, and the new Better Homes & Gardens came out with their page after page of cookie recipes...I've picked out two to try, and will do my own family favorites as well.  These will be doled out to friends, but I know we'll have a few for ourselves.  

Romeo & I have decided not to exchange gifts this year.  Instead, we're going to have a fabulous Christmas meal.  I'm thinking prime rib roast or similar.  I've never cooked one before, but it looks very simple.

I'll be fairly busy today, with a Dr's appt, hair appt, along with a racquetball tournament that starts this evening and will go on through the weekend.
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It was nice to have such a long break from classes as our Prof. went to a conference (truthfully I think she and her family went to Chicago for a visit, I just can't imagine a conference being scheduled right before Thanksgiving).  We had two weeks off, which was great.  I turned in my essay yesterday, which I wasn't happy with, but oh well.  It's done.  Both my previous writing assignments were graded at 88.....she is tough on grading, but I didn't follow all the instructions on the second one (I just got so caught up in it that I forgot to expound on one of the issues she wanted us to discuss ~ stupid me).  I don't really care.  I have a 97 on the mid-term.  The final should be a similar type of exam and as long as I study I should do well.

However, she did remind us ~ she had also mentioned it on the first class day ~ our final is scheduled by someone else (?????), some kind of committee or something?  And it's on 12/12 beginning at 7:30 in the morning.  Holy shit, 7:30, are they serious?  So, although I was thinking our class would be done on the 7th, there will be one more day.  I will have to get going very early to make sure I'm there on time, as I'm never in the area at that time of the morning so I don't know how backed up traffic might get.

Big news!  Remember the girl I mentioned who had the dreads?  Well, on Tuesday I was surprised to notice that the dreads are gone.  Her hair is quite short (probably didn't have the patience to untangle them) and thick.  It looks so much better.  And she's speaking up in class more.  I speculate that she went home for Thanksgiving and her parents took her to a hair salon.  Or, maybe she did it before she went so that her folks wouldn't freak out.

Well, I must get started on the day.  Have a fabulous day!
Love, 365

It's great to be home again.....

Son #2 and Sioux

We survived....we drove 900 miles from Albuquerque to Round Rock Texas for Thanksgiving.  The trip there ~ we left at 4:30am ~ didn't end until about 7:30pm due to traffic issues from construction and border checkpoint (which isn't at the border), and taking wrong turns.  It was, in a word, exhausting.

Cedar Breaks Park & Georgetown Lake

We had a nice hike on Thursday morning/early afternoon.  It was lovely, and Sioux had a great time running around and swimming to retrieve the stick thrown for her.  She did suffer from swimmer's tail for a couple of days, but I think it was worth it.

Later that day we had a nice dinner with Son #1 and his new wife.  Friday, we did Thanksgiving all again at my Mom's, where everyone who was in town was there, so I was able to meet my sister's new grand-daughter, Rebecca.  So cute, but I can see at 3 months old, they are going to have their hands full!  She appears to be a determined young lady!

Isn't she adorable?

Saturday we literally did nothing except have a nice dinner (take out, because we had the dog).  We said our good-by's and prepared for the trip back on Sunday ~ again at 4am.  *Side note, the older I get, the easier it is to get up at 4am, haha.  We had no issues on the trip back and made it home in about 13 hours.  I ended up taking off today so that I wouldn't have any problems with returning the rental car (a Ford Edge that we really liked).  All in all, we enjoyed seeing the boys, Sioux was thrilled to see her owner.  Will we do it again next year?  Nope.  I don't want to do that drive again for a long time.  It's just too long.  It's really too bad we aren't 7 to 8 hours away, which would be so much more manageable.  We discussed again the idea of moving back someday, but the final decision will be at least 3 to 4 years away.

I hope all of you enjoyed your holiday!  And I sincerely hope you didn't have to drive 13 hours to get there.....

Love, 365

Oh, happy day.....

I don't want to add his photo to my blog..

it would pollute, like oil on birds feathers

(nah, this ain't no poem, haha).

But, I was happy to hear the news this morning

that Charles Manson is dead.

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Also, a big shout out to Rick Watson for bugging me about adding the "follow" button on my blog.

I am so impatient, that if I didn't find the widget in 2 minutes, I would give up.  I finally found the darn thing, so, follow away!  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, 365

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I know it's a bit early, but we will be traveling and although I'm taking my computer ~ more on that in a bit ~ I doubt I will have any blogging time.

Why I love Thanksgiving:
~The food is great.  Even if it is purchased in advance and warmed up in the oven, you're still sitting at a full table with friends/family/pets.  Ok, maybe not the pets, but they're hanging nearby, I betcha.
~No shopping for gifts.  No wrapping, no worrying (omg, will he/she like it?), no emptying the bank account for a holiday (although I don't do that, I try to shop somewhat early, or buy modest gifts).  No meltdowns from kids that didn't get quite what they wanted, although they might have a tummy ache.
~No trees or tons of decor you have to skirt around.  Maybe a cornucopia that is thrown out the next day anyway.
~I consider this a stress free holiday, for all the above reasons.  Eating and football and Yahtzee or scrabble.
~Dessert.  Pie, that comes in pecan and pumpkin and apple.....

I hope that all of you enjoy!

Although I'm taking my computer, it's an attempt to make some real headway on my essay due on 11/30, which I haven't even started. :-(

Love y'all ~ 365

I'm jumpin on (the sexual harrassment bandwagon)....

Al Franken, the lastest harasser to be accused....

Romeo and I were watching the news this morning before he left for work, and saw the story of Leean Tweeden revealing Al's forced kiss, and likely we've all seen the "pretend groping" photo by Al while Leean was asleep.  

She explains that many have experienced worse, but it was a week of harassment with Al at a USO function a decade ago.

I was furious to read that: (and you can go to the article here)

     Congress rules on holding lawmakers accountable re: sexual harassment are as follows:

     ~Accusers can file lawsuits only if they first agree to go through months of counseling and mediation (Does this sound fair to you?).

     ~Then a special congressional office is charged with trying to resolve cases out of court.

     ~After all that your lawmaker-harasser is found guilty & there's a settlement, they don't have to pay.  Confidential payments come out of a special US Treasury fund (that's right, your tax dollars go to pay for the sins of congressmen).

One representative who's chief of staff is a woman reports she doesn't know a single woman in her age group that hasn't experienced inappropriate conduct in the workplace.  NOT ONE.

For myself, I'm all for calling out these men.  I've been sexually harassed in so many situations, it's not even funny.  

~Asked to sit on the lap of a man I worked for in a nursery (plants), while he groped my breasts....I should have gone to his wife and told her.  Afraid I would lose my job, which I needed.  Never got close enough to him for that to happen again.

~While married, have had friends of my husband ask me for sex.

~Had another boss put my hand on his erection and state: "Look what you've done to me", as though I should then agree to have sex with him, because it's my fault.

~A man I know who is married & who knows I'm married constantly ask me for "dates".  All turned down of course.  He knows that I know his wife, and he's met my husband.  What is the deal???

Am I the only woman who is sick and tired of all this shit?  I would think not.  But I am angry with myself for allowing it to happen without speaking up.  

NOW IS THE TIME!!

We can't simply let this sort of behavior continue and keep quiet.  

We have a voice, and we need to use it.  

We aren't at fault.

We don't need to feel guilty, or think we "asked for it".

To the men who enjoy using their power to harass women, shame.  I hope you all burn in hell.

Love, 365

Almost naked??

Yeah, I'll get to that in a minute.....

Fall, New Mexico style...

Well, here I sit, trying to make time speed up.  It's a bit past my bedtime now (10:30), and I still have an hour and a half to go ~ my class registration time begins at midnight.

Last year I waited until about 5am figuring that would be safe enough to get the class I wanted.  Wrong.  By then, the class was not only full, but the wait list was full as well.  Lesson learned.  But in order to be absolutely sure, I have to register right at midnight.  Worked for me when there were only 2 slots for the class I took this summer (what a great class that was!).  But, wow, staying up until midnight for something that is necessary but not fun is not my cup of tea.  

So, a little post to distract myself.  Maybe a bit of online window shopping.  

I'm afraid if I go to bed & set my alarm, I'll either not want to rouse myself to get up, or if I do, then I might not be able to fall asleep after.  The wonders of getting older....

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So now the nearly naked part....

Naked might be taking this subject a little too far....but have you noticed that so many women are wearing yoga pants or leggings?  I have noticed this trend at UNM, although I see it at the grocery store, library ~ just about anywhere.  At the university, I would guesstimate that 50% of the girls wear leggings or tights instead of jeans.  Some are fairly modest, and their shirt or jacket covers the backside, but most don't.  I'm all for comfort, but I think this trend is nearly as bad as wearing pajamas to the grocery store.

I tried to find some decent photos on Bing, but I would say the majority of the pics were a little too.....suggestive?  Sexy?  Pornographic?   ~ OK guys, I know what you're going to do next, haha.

What do you think?  

Love, 365

***Reminder to those of you who might enjoy reading The Faithful by James O'Toole:  class will be over by Dec. 14th, so let me know if you are interested!  Probably best by e-mail, so leave your comment & I'll drop by with the e-address.

Mud slog....

UNM 

This morning I viewed a very interesting Ted Talk about higher education ~ mainly college education.  About how the existing system is antiquated and hasn't changed since the 1900s.  It was almost like someone was trying to put a message in front of me.  I wasn't able to post the video here (mostly because I didn't want to spend one or two hours figuring out how), nor could I find the video on its own so that I could provide a link.  Basically, the presenter voiced his concerns that higher education is still running the same model for the last 100 years.  

Think about that for a moment.

Everything else ~ our computers, our cell phones, cars, television have all advanced incredibly in just the last 5 years.  Gautam Khetrapal, the man who gives the speech on TedXU, describes the model as based on linearity, conformity, and "batching people".  That what we learn is basically obsolete by the time we graduate.  This isn't true in all fields......although history remains the same, there are different ways to interpret the stories of history, or a new discovery changes the status quo.  Mathematics doesn't change, although the way we arrive at our answer may.  

This is relevant to me because I'm in a program at a university attempting to earn a degree.  I'm so close to graduation.....but now am running into problems finding the specific classes I need to complete my requirements.  There is a possibility that the advisor can help me with substituting a class for one that I need, or even give me credit to meet a final requirement.  I made my own mistakes.....like not meeting with an advisor every semester or at least twice a year.  After my meeting yesterday, I discovered that I might be able to graduate at the end of next year.  IF the substitutions and credits are accepted.  But, what I wish is that, as Gautam mentions in his video, is that I could design my degree program based on my interests, especially once the junior and senior year are reached.  

During one of my first advisor meetings at the community college I asked why I had to take a class like music appreciation, and was given the age-old "we want you to have a well-rounded education".   

This is a fallacy.  

It's all about money.

Money is the reason I need 128 hours of education to be awarded a degree.

I've understood this for awhile, and understand that meaningful change takes a very long time.  I do hope that someday education will be for everyone that wants it, and that we will be allowed to choose our own path.......

Love, 365 

Hold on while I get my coffee......

Ahhhh, that's better.

Onward, through the fog....

I've been obscessing and taking pics of the sunflowers that were in a flower arrangement I purchased recently.  I think this is one of 5 I've taken the last few days.

Although I consider myself reasonably intelligent, I bought this arrangement simply because I love the 3 small vases (and it looks like old fashioned milk bottles!).  Very handy for small bouquets!  See how I saved $$ buy buying shit?  I wish I could recall the comedian who said that...

Ok, I'll stop now.  But aren't they pretty?

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Romeo.....oh how I love thee.  But seriously, you're driving me batshit crazy.  I know I've mentioned the second story deck issue.  Romeo removed it after he discovered dry-rot in the boards.  Since then, he has done......well, really nothing.  He's measured where to put the posts that will support it, and he has drilled the holes and placed the metal support thingy in.  Because we'll be out of town during Thanksgiving, he's not planning on doing anything else until Christmas vacation, although really, isn't it going to be a little cold?  He plans to place the posts and the framework.  Then, according to Romeo, "it'll be easy to do the rest".  Hmmmm.  I'm always suspicious when someone tells me something will be easy.  

The only issue currently, is that we used to access the roof by way of the deck.  So, closing down the evaporative cooler is tricky, and the roof can only be accessed with a ladder.  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate ladders?  Romeo mentioned "Oh, I think I'll shut the cooler down next weekend, since it's going to be windy this weekend", where I promptly stated that the wind usually comes in the afternoon, so he should have no problem doing it now....not to mention that the following weekend is right before we leave, so we might be busy.  I felt only a teeny bit guilty manipulating him into doing it now.  I know chores like that one aren't fun.  I understand procrastination (I'm the queen!).  I'll be so glad when the deck is done, but I guess I'll just have to be patient (I'm not the queen of that one).

Just to clarify, I'm farrrr from perfect (remember the procrastination).  We've been happily married for almost 40 years, which I attribute to each of us complimenting the other.....like I can manipulate him into a chore, and he is great at keeping me grounded.  It just works, haha.

So, Thanksgiving.  This will be the first Thanksgiving that I haven't prepared everything.  Turkey, stuffing, rolls....the only thing I don't do is my own cranberry sauce.  The plan is that I will kick it out of the park for Christmas.  I just need to dial down how much food I cook or we'll be eating the leftovers for a month.  It's great on the day of, and still enjoyable the next day....but 3 weeks later that frozen turkey is taunting you from the freezer, and you've already used up all the ideas on how to fix it in different ways.....

Enjoy your week!

Love, 365

Oh, I have bald spots......

Shots from the garden

Apparently, I have been neglecting visiting the "adviser" at UNM to plan out classes I need.  I ran an audit to check on what I would need for the spring semester.  I already know I need history classes, but I was hoping to take a break from history for a semester.  But, no.  I need 9 more hours of history.  I won't be taking any breaks.  I haven't taken a semester break for two years, and I won't be able to take one the summer of 2018.  I'm afraid to take a break ~ I might not go back.  I got myself into this, I'm not going to quit now.

We've made our plans to drive to Austin with the dog over Thanksgiving.  Although it will be a long drive, I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with the family for the first time since we moved here.  

We have seen dogs that are up for adoption and when I see one that will work with Sioux, I inquire.  Sadly other people seem to beat me to the punch.  I'm not very thrilled with these groups that foster dogs, as they never call me back, and a few days later I look on the website and the dog we were hoping to adopt is no longer listed.  I don't know how this all works....I guess next time I will ask them to let me know my chances.  The last one asked me if I could go that evening, but I couldn't, so I guess that meant to her that I didn't really want him, since I wasn't able to drop everything and go.  Argh.

Well, looking forward to our beautiful weather forecasted for this weekend!  I hope you have the same.....

Love, 365