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all-knowing

all-knowing

When I was four years old, my family moved to Houston for the winter months because it would be a shorter commute for my mom to her work (which was two hours from our house). From what I remember, the apartment we rented was an upper level, two-bedroom place. The kitchen was small with an adjacent dining area that looked out over the street. The living room was also small and I think we just had our couch and TV brought over from Austin.
There are things I specifically remember about living in Houston. I watched The Wizard of Oz for the first time in that apartment. I tried to slide down a wooden pole at the park and got a huge sliver that ran diagonally across my hand. I made a snowman and called him Frosty (sans hat, but oh well). I cut the electrical cord to a lamp that sat next to my bed and nearly shorted out the house, then blamed it on the invisible man (my real imaginary friend, China, had long since been dead, gone in a tragic car accident).
And I remember being particularly concerned about whether or not Santa would find me that Christmas. For the holidays we were going to be staying at the finished apartment that resided in half of my aunt Kathleen and uncle George’s garage.
How would Santa find me? We weren’t in our regular house, and we weren’t at our temporary home. We were in some apartment in the middle of nowhere. How on earth would Santa know where I was? I was stymied.
Well, mom, being the wise woman she is, told me that Santa would surely find the way to where I was. I’m sure I asked a million times if she was sure, and how could she be sure, and was she sure?
Needless to say, Santa found his way to where I was. I remember falling asleep that night after leaving out milk and cookies, and still wondering if Rudolph might get lost on his way here, and then waking up late night/early morning and seeing a dollhouse sitting on the floor with a light shining through it, making it luminously pink. He had come! He found me! I was happy, and I went back to sleep and pretended I hadn’t seen it when morning came.
(On another note, it also snowed a bucketload Christmas eve, and the bed my parents slept in was right next to a sliding glass patio door, which for some reason didn’t shut flush with the wall, so when my mom woke up, there was a foot of snow next to her side of the bed. Fun stuff indeed.)

tree issues

tree issues

Yesterday I helped mom put up her tree with Jane and dad was there too. We went to Stacy’s and tromped around in the snow and cold, and mom was weenie and after like, 5 mins of tromping, told us she liked “that tree right there” and sat in the truck. Much to my chagrin, Jane agreed, and I gave up, and the tree came down.
Needless to say, mom has now agreed that my judgment in choosing xmas trees is far superior to hers.
That tree is TINY. It’s tall, but skinny as all get out. Back in the day (meaning, like, 6 years ago), we had a tree that completely filled up the space between the desk and the tv stand in the parents’ living room and came out to like, the middle of the room (in footage, that’s like an eight foot diameter on the tree). This year’s tree’s diameter is like, four feet.
NOT my choice in a tree. (pictorial evidence to come.)
But it’s decorated and pretty, and I am uber excited to get my tree this weekend. Woohoo!

EX-mas

EX-mas

i have not been in a very chirstmassy mood lately. i think it may be attributed to the cruddy time i’m having finding a job. i have been in a constant state of anxiety for about two weeks now, and it’s not fun! there is this knot in my stomach that refuses to go away. i wish i could be excited for graduation, but this rejection is just eating at my excitement i had at the beginning of the semester.
anyway, i think it also has to do with the lack of snow. and the smallness of my living arrangements that allows for no xmas tree. and all my decorations are in storage. so i have some tinsel on my entertainment center along wtih two snowglobes, which i took OUT of storage so they didn’t freeze and explode. is it just me or has it been rather snow-less lately during winter? it’s so annoying that i have to put up with cold, and there’s not even any snow for xmas. what a bum deal.
i have some ornaments that had been hiding in new london for the last five years or so that i got from erin. they are vintage, real vintage, ornaments and they’re kind cool. so i might string them up on a piece of ribbon and hang them on the weird wroughtiron fence thing i have in my living room (don’t ask).
i really wish i could put up a tree. liz has a tree! i have never had my own tree and it kind of depresses me. i heart the xmas tree! next year i HAVE to have a tree, or else i will be sad.
so, maybe next week i will be more xmas-y. once i have my target job nailed down and i’m done with my current job. i’ll watch rudolph and charlie brown and drink hot chocolate while eating the millions of cookies on my kitchen table.

shameless plug

shameless plug

clicky clicky!
it’s time for christmas shopping almost!
and if you or anyone you know has someone on an xmas list who likes famous art (or, unfamous art even), go check out my link. those are the pics that i have in my house waiting to be not in my house (i.e. sold).
/shameless plug

fun

fun

christmas was good, as always. i heart christmas wtih my family! even better that nate is here now.
the big gift i got was a fontanini creche set. that stuff’s expensive! except the donkey looks like he’s drunk. 🙂 drunk donkey!
i also got my awesome jena-luc shirt!!! i’m so excited for that shirt. it’s a little big, but that’s ok, i’ll deal wtih it. i also got my kill bills and firefly box set.
liz screamed when she opened my gift to her, that was fun. and i was really excited about nate’s gift from me, but it didn’t show up in time, and liz spoiled the surprise. 🙁 but it’s a O RLY shirt. haha! it’s awesome.
i saw two classmates of mine at church, didn’t say hi cuz i really don’t care about people i graduated with anymore (except angie).
monday my sisters came to st cloud and we went shopping, facing the hordes of people. ugh!
and tonight i’m going to new london again for liz’s grad party and on friday to my cousin matt’s wedding. that should be interesting!

undeniable proof

undeniable proof

i grew up a mile from my dad’s sister and her husband (kathleen and george). his other sister (one of my favorite aunts – the loopy one – colettie) worked in rochester, but every weekend she would come to her sister’s house to spend the weekend with all her nieces and nephews and the rest of her family. rarely does a family stay so close to home, almost unheard of now days, and although i thought it was wonderful at the time, as i grew older, i began to see what kind of an “effect” this had on the family members.
weirdness aside, one of my most vivid memories from when i was younger was receiving my swingset on my third birthday; another was christmas at my aunt’s house.
their house is a work of art; it’s hard to describe, but everytime i go there, i am in awe of how “put together” the house is and how coordinated all the interior design is. it has rustic charm with a touch of flair. when you first walk in, there is a good-sized porch where you hang your coats and kick off your shoes. a good 10’x12′ room. there are three doors in the porch, one, of course, comes from outside, one leads to the large living room, and the other the small-ish kitchen. both the inner doors had a window pane on the top half of the door. (sense of space is very important in the following story.)
when i was 2-1/2 years old, my family (consisting of my mom, dad, and myself) went to kathleen and george’s house for christmas eve. when i got older and my family got bigger, we started to host christmas eve at our house. but until i was about 4, we went there for christmas eve.
they opened their presents that night instead of christmas morning, so there was frantic gift unwrapping and sighs of gratitude from all. then there was a buzz circulating the room about santa claus. is he coming? my 2-year-old self was a firm believer in santa claus.
oh, how i hoped he would show up. oh, how i hoped i would meet him and see what he looked like so i could ask about his reindeer and mrs. claus. oh i hoped i hoped i hoped. so i sat on colettie’s lap and waited and watched, mostly the fireplace because it was widely known that santa came down the chimney.
then i heard sleighbells jingling through the kitchen from the porch. my attention swiftly diverted from the chimney to the door where i could glance through the window to the porch.
a flash of red!
the door to the outside was closing as i whipped through the kitchen door to the porch. i had missed him.
but in his wake was a pink and blue big wheel. ecstasy!
a few minutes later my uncle george came through the front door, rubbing his hands together and shedding his coat, explaining that he had seen reindeer tracks and had santa come? and oh boy! a big wheel!
and i was a believer. oh to have that feeling again.

xmas

xmas

MPR is playing the nutcracker suite! yay!
i have one final tonight at 5 p.m. then i’m done with school. hopefully i hear back from the mcgregor place today. i called and left a message last friday and asked that they let me know either way.
i’m leaving work today at 3 so i can do a little bit of studying before my final. and i want to go sell my books back. i should be able to break even on my stats book (i bought it online for half its price), get back 1/4 the cost of a couple others, and if they don’t offer more than $5, i’m keeping one book. the last book i know they won’t buy back because there’s a new edition (stupid editions).
then tonight i’m eating at olive garden!!! yay!! my aunt and uncle from the DC area are in town visiting and my parents are coming up and we’re all going to go eat out. i’m excited, even though olive garden is probably one of my least favorite places to eat (oh well).
in other news, i have a big headache and my neck is still bugging me.

ok ppl

ok ppl

i hate the blues.
i like jazz (well, the normal jazz. the really crazy stuff, eh, not so much).
there is a distinct difference. such as, i spent two semesters studying the blues, which i wasn’t a fan of to begin with. as for jazz, think charlie brown christmas music and nora jones. that’s the kind i like.

$$$$

$$$$

i have spend sooooo much $ on xmas this year. unbelievable!!!
only person who doens’t have a present in my closet is branden. what do you want???

falalalalaaaalalaaalaaaaaalaaaaaaaaaa

falalalalaaaalalaaalaaaaaalaaaaaaaaaa

so, hmm…
not much is going on. i had a surprsingly calm weekend. thursday i had a company christmas party and got two gift certificates for restaurants.
saturday i finished cookies (finally) and then went to nate’s sister’s for a mini xmas. so weird. her bf’s entire family was there, as well as nate’s mom and dad. so weird. these people i didn’t know. so weird!
anyway, today i went to shopko and target (i know, i know, week before christmas in the mall???). it was pretty boring. i got some stuff, but i can’t remember what i got. yep, preeeetty darn boring.
in other news, it’s cold in here.