One week down...

One to go. I got some good news today. I'm exempt from my fingerspelling final because I have an A in the class. That is a relief.

Things to do next week:

1. Expressive Test in fingerspelling


2. Presentation in ASL Structure on Ethnic/Gender/Regional differences of signs


3. Show up to ASL IV class but we are done so we are partying


4. Final in Intro to Interpreting

I have to say that this semester has been tough on me. With working and taking 4 classes I felt like I had very little time for me. So bring it on, let's finish it..I'm ready for some ME time!

Two Weeks

Christmas break is only two weeks away. I don't think I've been this excited for a break from school since I was 8. I think part of the problem is that I thought I was going to get a month off in the summer and it ended up being the ENTIRE Summer. Anyway...Two weeks..that's it..I have Four presentations, three written tests, two receptive tests, two vocabulary quizzes and I'm sure other things I'm forgetting about to get done. Thank goodness I have that 4 hours of time at work to do some studying. Now if I could just get the people to stop calling in

Holidays

Today was alright...we went over to Jerry's parents to have dinner. We took a smoked turkey from Honeybaked Ham store and a small mini ham. They were wonderful!!

This is the start of a season that really doesn't make me happy I get tired of the commercialism and the "What do I get out of it" attitude. I guess I'm more interested in visiting and just spending time with people in a casual atmosphere. I don't need anyone to go to any great lengths and although I love getting gifts I really don't need anything. So with that said...Happy Holidays..

Now for the obligatory "What I'm thankful for" list.

• Jerry - My rock, My love, my best friend, my straight man, my caretaker...Thank you! I love you! ♥


• Tabitha - My surrogate child. Thank you for being the cat that knows just what I need.


• My Mom and Dad - I love them, they are possibly the coolest parents a girl could have. Did I mention we are cruising again the upcoming spring break?


• My family - For shaping me into the person I am. I miss you all, especially during the holidays.
  
• My Health - It's not perfect but I'm thankful for it.


• My Friends - they make me laugh when I need it, give me a boost when I'm doubtful. Thank you guys!


• My Country - The only place that allows people to be whatever they want and not be persecuted. (I know there are exceptions but that is the main idea)

Bond, James Bond

OMG this movie was great. The stunt work was amazing. Not cheesy like some of the Roger Moore/Pierce Brosnan. These were...well...believable. It was also nice to see that Bond could NOT do everything the bad guys could. Don't want to give away the movie. You should just go see it. This Bond film is great. Back to the real feel of how a Bond film should be. WTG Sony.

Girls, If you don't like action movies, GO anyway. The eye candy is worth it. Daniel Craig is, as my friend Lisa says, all caps HOT! My...what a big gun he has...

My Uncle Armando died tonight. He was very ill and I'm sure is in a much better place. I'll never forget his stories of the Birgin Mary and how he used to drive behicles. His cuban accent was thick and for the first year I couldn't really understand him. Although I was young and didn't know any better. For any diabetics that read this...Please...PLEASE take care of yourself.

Stove Update

The Fajitas were yummy and the stove performed amazingly. Next week I'll be using the oven. Too hot this week to bake anything. It's suppose to cool down soon.

TV Gripes

I really don't get how networks stay alive with reruns of the same shows 3 nights a week. Meanwhile they take off shows that were interesting. So now..I don't watch their networks on those nights at all. In fact my Tivo isn't recording anything there either.

• Justice was one of the shows recently taken off FOX. Why...so they can show reruns of House, which I don't watch, so now FOX doesn't get my viewing on that night at all.


• Happy Hour, another FOX show that was cancelled or pulled or whatever they are calling it. At first they were trying to get people to watch Til Death but we nixed that in this household quickly. I think one week they showed it 3 times...come on..It sucked the first time don't torture us.


• Smith - This was a great show on CBS that unfortunately cost a LOT to produce. Too bad, it was intriguing and Jerry and I were looking forward to seeing where it was headed.

Jerry just told me that Friday Night Lights is struggling. This is a wonderful show about a small town who is obsessed about the high school football team. It's not anything like my hometown high school but I can still relate to "small town" politics and how they can influence things.

Ok, maybe I watch too much tv. And it's my brain to turn into spaghetti. Although I think the shows I watch aren't really spaghetti turning tv fodder. I'm pretty sure I watch "smart" tv. Studio 60 is witty, The Unit is good, Shark is now the only lawyer show because they pulled Justice, Battlestar Galactica well, you just can't go wrong with anything SciFi and of course I have my humor to round out my week, The Class, The Office and My Name is Earl. ( I think the grammar is very wrong in the previous sentence but I'll just blame the lack of good educational shows on that.(School House Rock why have you abandoned us))

Yay!! I can cook again!

The stove has arrived. Isn't it lovely? I can't wait to cook with it. Unfortunately it will have to wait at least a night. I have class tonight. I'm thinking that tomorrow I will make fajitas though.

The elements get hot in about 15 seconds. That is TONS faster than my old stove. (Darn...I should have taken a picture of it...)

New Stove

Today we went out and ordered our new stove. Should be here by Tuesday which means Wednesday I'll get to check her out. I'm so excited to have a glasstop stove. Oh yeah, the oven is frakin huge. I could bake like..I don't know..something really tall.

I hate colds....that is all

Adventures in cooking

I am Bad Luck Schleprock, I have the AIM name to prove it. Anyway, tonight I thought I would try steaming some asparagus in our new steamer. To go with our yummy veggie I would prepare a Perdue Perfect Portion Teriyaki chicken breast, as well as a nice salad with a light vinaigrette. So I put my chicken in the oven, turned it on to 350 degrees and was standing at the sinking cleaning my asparagus and placing it into the steamer tray. All of the sudden a loud humming sound and sparks flew out of the oven. Smoke started billowing from the burners. I yelled to Jerry "help...help... thing...fire...sparks...". Now usually I'm a cool cucumber underpressure but tonight, not so much. He ran into the kitchen and thought I was talking about the new steamer so he unplugged that. Finally I said the right words and he killed the power, via the fuse, to the stove and pulled it out to unplug it. Now I have been wanting a new stove/oven but not tonight! Thankfully I had more chicken and could cook it on the contact grill. (I burned it though ) The asparagus was yummy though. This is coming from a girl that really didn't want to like it. Veggies=food for the devil.

I rocked it!

Voting! What a privilege it is. We are one lucky country that we have the right to vote without fear of other "camps" coming into our homes and killing our families for our political views. Jerry and I spent most of last night researching amendment proposals, candidate and other things. I do have to say that I crossed party lines a few times this election. Voting the issues and not the personality is what is important. (Besides, Katherine Harris is just scary )

So tonight we have been glued to CNN to see how America has voted. It's really interesting. I do have to say that the Senate race in Virginia is a nail-biter.

Who would have thought back when I was hosting Cigarette Potpourri Parties that I would one day get a kick out of staying up late and watching vote results come in?!

Steamed!

Jerry and I have been struggling with our way of eating. We need to eat many more veggies and decided that this weekend we'd go out and buy a steamer. I didn't think it would be as easy as it is. Heck..the darn thing does eggs even. Jerry and I are a huge fan of boiled eggs and so right now we are "steaming" 8 little ovums right now.

I'm thinking soon I'll have to buy some shrimp to steam as well. We kind of went a little crazy in the veggie aisles today. Asparagas, whole green beans, brocolli, yellow squash, pepper medley just to start our steaming adventures for the week. I'm excited. I know, crazy for getting so geeked about steaming things.


**UPDATE** 3:15pm - Steamed hard eggs are wonderful. They peeled better than when I boil eggs. That alone is worth the price of the steamer.