The Christmas party went pretty well.  Kim about freaked out when she saw I'd brought Tim Tam - she and Jeff were on the same Australia trip I was.  Somebody brought homemade marshmallows, which most of us had never had before, and they were wonderful.  During the gift exchange, the most sought-after gift was, as usual, a huge collection of Asian ( Read more... )

I just had the most wonderful grilled cheese sandwich.  I used that cheese that was from a gift basket that nobody at work wanted, plus slightly dry bread from a local bakery, fried in butter (that "spreadable butter" that's butter mixed with vegetable oil) over medium heat.  The cheese, being in fact high-falutin' aged cheddar, was probably what ( Read more... )

One of the books I have to read for my current grad school class is all about the leadership qualities of Ernest Shackleton.  You know, the guy who failed to reach the South Pole but always got his men back alive.  And, yes, I realize he must have been a gifted leader and a smart cookie, but the book's prose is so completely glowing that I started ( Read more... )

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Last night, Jeff tried to introduce the college group to a new lawn game.  It was called "Double Ladder Ball," and involved throwing bolas (a string with a ball at either end) at a sort of ladder structure (kinda sorta reminded me of a wicket) with the goal of getting the bola to wrap around a rung for points.  However, we quickly redubbed it " ( Read more... )

I don't know when I'm gonna get around to posting my full HP:DH review, as we are moving this week.  (Side note: anybody in town who might possibly maybe want to help would be greatly appreciated and loved forever.  'Cause, darn but we have a lot of heavy boxes of books.)  Anyway...

Just so you know, there were about, oh... a thousand people at ( Read more... )

We had a bit of a retreat this weekend, which included much wandering about a lovely arboretum on the edge of a small town in the plains. It was beautiful ( Read more... )

Our house has gone wireless!  I bought a router on Saturday and it's all hooked up now.  Not that it benefits me any, but I should get more time on the desktop if Amy and Mary can do all their surfing from their own computers ( Read more... )

I am irrepressibly cheerful today.  Must be the snowstorm.  ::dances::  It's slick and dangerous out, and I didn't even try to get my little Geo up my rather dramatically sloped driveway after church, but it is SNOW and I love it.  Tonight we're having a New Year's party at Jeff and Kim's, and since I don't have to work tomorrow (yay financial ( Read more... )

Yesterday was fun. Mary came with me to Sunday School and church (she usually goes to Amy's church) and then I went to the Johnson's for Leonard's art show, where there was cherry cider with orange juice and lots of paintings, my favorite of which was one of a window and one of Magdalen College, and then I went home and was online until it was ( Read more... )