Well, I've hit a bit of a lull again. I don't think it will last long as this spring is starting to fill up with activities. I'm pretty sure I can count on life getting back to the usual crazy pace here in a couple of weeks. I'll keep ya posted. For now, all I have to say is:

1. Eight degrees is cold. Very cold.
2. 200 yards from my car to my building at work is not very far. Unless it's 8 degrees. Then, it's like the Boston marathon.
3. It's snowing here....again.
4. I ran errands in said snow today, deciding that I must eventually learn to drive in this mess. I did pretty well. I don't like the ice, but if it's just snow, I can get around.
5. Is it spring yet?

Brrr.........

You might have noticed the addition of the baby ticker. I thought it was a cute way of keeping track of progress. So far, so good. I feel great, no morning sickness yet, no real problems.

Yesterday was my first day to really teach and it went well. I have nice students again this time and I think it's going to be a good semester. I wasn't happy with the first few weeks of my American history II class in the fall, so I'm trying to change some things up to make it better. Once I get to the 20th century, I'm mostly happy with what I did last time and I won't have to tweak much. Here's hoping this will be a good spring.

Have a great day!

What a nice weekend we had. Saturday, we went with Sean and Tracie to lunch at an Irish pub and then to see The Last King of Scotland. What an amazing movie. Not the least bit uplifting... seriously, a very heavy film....but the story was compelling and Forest Whittaker WAS Idi Amin. Wow. When we left the theater, it was just starting the snow storm that lasted for another 12 hours. By Sunday morning we had at least 4 inches. The roads are clear now, but there's still plenty of snow all over the place.

Sunday afternoon we braved the snowy roads to go downtown to catch the Kansas City Symphony perform (the tickets were my b-day present). They were also very good. The did Beethoven's 5th, which was the big draw, and was lovely. The surprise hit of the performance was a violin concerto by Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer. They had this Hungarian soloist come in for this piece and blew us all away. He was amazing. The place went absolutely bonkers (well, as wild and nuts as you can get at a symphony concert!) and he came out for an encore which was met with even wilder applause. Very fun. Then, weird thing. Every time I go to a concert like this I think back to my band days and yesterday I was thinking about my old band director and wondering how he was doing. When we got home, there was a message on the machine from my parents, who are in New York for the week, saying they'd just run into him there! So eerie!

I'm spending the bulk of today doing boring things like paying bills and doing laundry. Tomorrow is the first day I do real stuff with my classes, so I'm trying to get ready.

So.... last Friday's post was a little prophetic. Most of you already know the big news that I'm pregnant! I found out on Saturday. Hmmmm. Due date is 18 September and I'm in my 6th week. So far, I feel great, just a little tired. Okay, make that completely wiped. It started Wednesday night - I can't remember the last time I felt so unreasonably exhausted. I made it through my first day of the semester yesterday, but I was dead on my feet by noon. It didn't help that the nail holding the heel to the sole of my shoe decided to pop up and poke me in the heel out of nowhere. I had to leave in between classes and go buy new shoes so I could continue walking! Thank goodness I found a sale! So, yeah, I passed out before 9:30 last night and slept until almost 8 this morning! Geez...I knew I was supposed to be tired, but I never expected it to be this bad..... But, I'm so excited to have a baby on the way, I almost don't care. Almost.

It has been snowing for the last several hours, but it's starting to end and is mostly just flurries now. The sun is peeping through the clouds, shining on the snowflakes making them look like pieces of glitter falling from the sky. It's really beautiful...

So.... I really have nothing new to say, but I don't like leaving my blog stale for so long. I finally started scrapbooking again and it feels wonderful to have a creative outlet. Classes start Thursday of next week, so I'm spending a lot of time putting those together. I think this semester will go much more smoothly than the last.

It's snowing outside right now. We're supposed to have a big winter storm come through this weekend, so that should be interesting.

I'm really excited Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy are back from reruns.

But seriously, folks, that's all I've got. Maybe something super-exciting will happen next week.

The Army school where Brad teaches invites several international officers to participate in its program each year. These are some of the most promising mid-rank officers in their countries (~35 years old) and they come to foster a spirit of cultural understanding and perspective. It's kinda cool. Brad and I signed up to sponsor two officers coming in to start in February. Both arrived this week.

On Wednesday, we met our Rwandan guy at the airport and he seems very interesting. He has scars on his head and is missing half an index finger - obtained in the 1994 conflict. You know, I felt very cultured after watching "Hotel Rwanda", but standing before this man with visible scarring from a very real conflict made me feel rather silly for feeling like I knew about it because I watched a movie. He's very open about it and volunteered the information himself. I'm looking forward to getting to know him better.

On Friday, we met our Lithuanian guy and he's great, too. We had a little more time to spend with him and so I got to learn a lot about Lithuania (I didn't have far to go since I knew next to nothing about it before then). He's very friendly and open. He, also, fought in a major conflict - he was a very young man when the Soviet Union fell and so participated in the revolution to overthrow the Russians in his country. He doesn't have physical scars, but you can tell the emotional scars run deep - he's not a big fan of the Russians.

All in all, a very educational week. They're living on post, but we'll be getting together with them a few times while they're here. I'm anxious to learn as much as I can from these guys.

Yesterday was my 31st birthday and I've had this blog for a year! Time sure flies - how the hell did I get this old?

Brad took me out last night for dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant. I've been dying to try that cuisine for a while now. It was okay. Not bad, but I'm not sure I'll rush back to have it again. But I'm so glad I got to try it - it's really different. After that, we hit this art house theater downtown Kansas City to see History Boys. Great movie - also great to have a theater that plays all those movies that don't come to the huge cineplexes. Brad got me tickets to see the Kansas City Symphony later this month, which is awesome! They're doing Beethoven's 5th. Can't wait!

Happy 2007!!!! We had a semi-quiet New Years Eve with our new friends, Tracie and Sean. Then, while Brad watched football I worked on my craft room. (although, I did manage to catch Boise State kick the Sooners back to Oklahoma in one of the best college football games, ever!) I haven't done much with the room since we moved in. Stitch peed on the carpet (!!!!!) and so I've kept the room closed off until I had time to deal with it. I got the smell mostly gone and my room all set up. I even hung pictures on the wall. I'm totally set to sit down and scrapbook for the first time since probably May. Can't wait!

Tracie and I dragged our hubbies to Casino Royale this afternoon. I rarely see a movie twice in the theater, but this was worth it. Tracie hadn't seen it yet and she's a huge Daniel Craig fan. So yeah, we drooled and Brad and Sean made fun of us. They liked the movie, too, so I felt vindicated since they both went in grudgingly. It's fun having some friends to do stuff with - what a nice change.