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How much do you know about the diamond trade? Here's a short, informative animation.

Terrible, terrible, terrible confession

*sigh*
I have committed a horrible act of betrayal.

To appease my hubby's desire that I become interested in more things he's interested in (a completely rational and fair desire--), I agreed to try playing World of Warcraft with him. This agreement was made with the qualifying term, "sometime." A noncommittal committment, if there ever was one. Now, that is not to say that I never meant to play... but considering the time when I said it (I was quite busy with school and such), and that it goes against my rational nature to waste my time playing a computer game when there are things that need to be done, I just wasn't sure when "sometime" was--probably within the next 8 months. I bug James about getting things done before he plays all the time.

So, last week James (perhaps unwittingly?) tricked me into playing. I will always claim I was tricked. About a month ago James installed Warcraft on my computer, so it was ready any time I felt the slightest need to, I dunno, become a big cow and carry a big stick and hit imaginary spiders with it. I guess that need happens sometimes. To nerds. In their parent's basements. At any rate, last week James mentioned that he had created a few characters that were ready any time I wanted to play. Now, creating a character has by nature a creative (and hence, fun) aspect to it, so if I was going to play the damned game I at least was going to have the pleasure of making my own dude to run around with said big stick. So I said, "No, I want to create a character myself!" I didn't mean right then, but since it was Christmas break and I didn't have any school or committments, I had no excuse. At that, James instructed me to open up Warcraft, and the rest is history.

So now, with six more lessons in my unit to write, the laundry to finish, the house to clean, and packages to mail, I am wasting my time "leveling" my human "mage." At least I chose a character that James is embarrassed to be seen with, and I can still tease him about that.

Skunk in action

Some of you might be sick of hearing about Toby. Tough luck. Don't read this. I'm not sick of him, and on this blog, it's really only my opinion that matters. :)

This post is all about how much cuter and more adorable my pet is than yours.

Every day when I get home, Toby runs to greet me at the door. Then, I usually feed him a little treat while I go to the office to check my email. In the evenings, I might plunk down in bed to read or grade papers or what have you, and he usually joins me by my side.
These first pictures were taken after he fell asleep next to me, and was tired enough that he didn't wake up when I left to grab the camera.










Here he is, peacefully sleeping.

...and here he is, the instant he was awakened. We are constantly reminded that Toby is still a wild animal, and still has wild animal instincts. He is defensive if something wakes him up... hence the compact body and huge tail!










Once he realizes it's me, he begins to play. He flashes his bum at me. (The camera has a slight stall before it takes the picture, so you didn't get the full view. But his body is slightly U-shaped in this pic.)










In addition to bum-flashing, he stomps. He stomps with all his might! Stomp stomp, with both front feet at the same time, tail in full sail. He'll charge at you, too, pre-stomp. Every night, it's run run run! stomp stomp stomp!










These pictures were taken later that evening. James and I were relaxing in bed, and he joined us. Plop! Right next to me.










...He commences the hourly bath by grabbing his hind leg and running his fur through his teeth. It looks like he's gnawing on a drumstick.










And of course, he must play. He'll bat at our fingers, lunge at us, open his mouth wide to flash his big teeth.










Oh, and he loves climbing all over us, too.









While I write this, he is curled up on my lap, hiccupping softly.

Spot on!

You Are a Traditional Christmas Tree

For a good Christmas, you don't have to re-invent the wheel. You already have traditions, foods, and special things you bring out every year.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

Your Brain's Pattern

You have a dreamy mind, full of fancy and fantasy. You have the ability to stay forever entertained with your thoughts. People may say you're hard to read, but that's because you're so internally focused. But when you do share what you're thinking, people are impressed with your imagination.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

This is not very wise

I spoke to my mom last night, who informed me that my dad played a wise man in a church play, that she had a picture of it, but that he wouldn't let her post it on their blog because he really doesn't want anybody else seeing it.

Enjoy!

(He's the one in the middle. Hi Dad!)

This weekend

On Friday I got to visit Emily and her new baby, Dakota Jack. He's adorable, and so funny!



















Then we went to a Christmas party at Kadra's.




















Whenever we go to a party, James inevidably collects a fan group. I call them his "disciples."










There was also a White Elephant Gift Exchange. This is the best White Elephant gift I've ever seen, let alone received. Credit goes to our friend Skye.

Quick update

James and I had a relaxing and wonderful Thanksgiving at the Wright's. Mom made a 27 POUND TURKEY! I've never seen a bigger bird.
At first, I wrote in "27 pound turkey" on the picture, but I put it next to James' head, and it looked like I was calling him a turkey... and we all know that I would never, ever tease James.
















Toby has been very cuddly. He's turned into a little lap skunk... which is cute, but he demands to be held when I'm writing papers. So, I stuffed him into my bathrobe earlier in the week. He was in heaven.















*sniff sniff* My first chalk purchase as a teacher! Upon opening the box, I promptly (and accidentally) broke the first piece in half. Bah!

They're refreshing!

Went to the OG today. (That's "Ockley Green," for all those non-homies out there.)
I didn't teach, but I realized something: In the midst of so much chaos this week, and in addition to the muscle relaxers I'm now taking for my back that I have so cruelly abused with stress and freeweights, Ockley Green was my solace. I had a blast. It was relaxing, in a way. I revelled in seeing my favorite students, I zipped through entering grades, and I enjoyed joking around with the troublemakers. Lots of students call me by name, and many ask what I'm teaching the next day. I think maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to enjoy this...

I have, as mentioned earlier, sustained some sort of back injury. Heating pads, muscle relaxers that don't work, useless Ibuprofin, painful massages, interrupted sleep, etc. etc. *sigh* What have I done to myself?

Crammed (edit)

Things to do in the next four days:
*Create a text set: time to complete, approx. 4-5 hours
*Send three reflections to Jan
*Send one reflection to John, along with lesson plan (still need to write) for Friday (which I need to teach), and figure out our schedule for the rest of December
*Grade about 110 papers
*Record those grades
*Create an hour-long presentation for Mary (Wednesday) on Intrinsic Motivation
*Create an entire unit plan for Jan, complete one of the lessons, and incorporate it into a 2 hour long presentation for Tuesday. This includes painting, typing roughly 20 pages, creating a portfolio
*Create an hour long presentation of Chapter 13 for Sally's class on Monday
*Make a collage/write-up for a short presentation for Fred's class on Monday

Also:
*Interview the principal and write a paper about it
*Read four chapters, finish semester-long project (approx. 4 hours)
*Write a paper for Fred

Once in a lifetime...

Once in a lifetime, something remarkable comes your way...

Something that is so amazing, that you must share it with everyone--shout it from the rooftops!

My friends, something remarkable has come to me, and I must share it.



This is the ugliest wedding dress I've ever laid eyes on. In a hunt for vintage 1940's accessories for a group project, I stumbled upon this beauty described as "'New' western-style 1980s wedding dress."



















Please, friends, notice the striking shoulder pads, the cuffed sleeves, the peek-a-boo cleavage hole, the sassy plastic belt, and the fringe... Oh, goodness, the fringe!

Let's play a game...

Who can come up with the best caption for this photo?

Aud's Bod Blog

I decided I need a place to regularly catalogue my weight loss/healthy living progress. Now, I will no longer be updating on that subject on this blog. If you're interested, you can follow along here, at audsbodblog.blogspot.com.

Please shoot me if I ever do this

Let's establish some things first.

I am at Winco. For those of you who have not been, it is a busy place full of dumb people.
Also, you bag your own groceries. Dumb people have trouble bagging sometimes. I understand this happens, and I have patience so I continue to shop at Winco. James refuses, unless we need to get a lot of stuff, and I go with him. He shops at Safeway.
Anyway, Winco's cashier setup looks like this:














A: Cashier. A Winco cashier is easily spotted in a crowd by looking for dull, lifeless eyes and a fake half-smile. Usually they can't even muster a whole smile, or even a three-quarters one. Their soul has been sucked dry from perhaps only a few days of employment.
F: The box surrounding F is where you pay, i.e. debit card machine and place to write checks.
The two long boxes (B is located in one) are two separate moving tracks where the cashier puts your groceries after scanning them. There is also a button at the other end for customers to push to move the track to get their groceries as they come down the line.
The two smaller boxes (C) is a space to bag your groceries. Bagging is difficult without this space.

So, with that established, let us proceed to the abhorrition of etiquette.
There is this horrendous woman who has purchased an entire year's worth of groceries all in one go, but has limited funds, so she is making the cashier give a continual running total of the groceries. Sometimes, she stops him and makes him take items away. She has two shopping carts overflowing with frozen chicken and top ramen and anything else she could stuff in there.

This is what the shopping carts looked like. On the left, you'll see what looks like a deranged doll. It's not. It's supposed to be a small child. I included it because I figured that if the woman had any small children, they would have easily been misplaced amongst her plethora of Cheetos and bbq sauce.


























The cashier's not done scanning her things, and she already has things piled up on both tracks. Point E represents a shopping cart that is already full of purchased groceries. Horrendous woman is point D, "bagging" things. This woman is the slowest bagger I've ever witnessed. She was picking out items one at a time to strategically place in her empty cart. I understand watching eggs and bananas, but COME ON!! Bacon? Bacon will be FINE next to that 8-lb jar of pickles. So will paper towels. Anyway, there is a lengthy line forming behind her (there is someone in between us, and several people after me). The cashier must wait for her to bag a few things before he can even scan anything else. Then her phone rings and she answers. So now, the slowest woman in the world is now TWICE as slow because she only has one arm free. Apparently, the gossip was extremely important. I've begun staring at her... and I generally don't stare. It's rude. I'm not rude. This woman is rude.
So the woman in between us only has about six items. She has the cashier ring her up and she just plunks the stuff back in her cart, sans bag. She takes about twenty seconds for her entire transaction.
Now it's my turn. I have about four bags worth of things, so I need the track. We wait. The cashier rings up what he can of mine. We wait more. Woman: "Oh my GOSH! Yeah. Yeah. Uh huh... (plunks one item in her cart) No way! -Blah blah blah blah-" (plunks another item in her cart). Finally she has cleared what she thinks is enough things so that I can get my stuff. I try to move my cart down to the end, but point E symbolizes where she has politely left her full cart sitting in the middle of the aisle. It's OBVIOUS that I'm trying to move (points G1 to G2). Oh, and "TP" represents the ginormous thing of toilet paper at the end of the track. And the light blue lines where point C was on the earlier drawing (where I'm supposed to bag) is her twenty loaves of jumbo sized bread. And point F is her half-ingested Sprite.
So, I interrupt her precious phone call. "Yeah, if you could move your cart out of the way, I could get my groceries." She moves her cart about a foot. I shove it the rest of the way. She continues bagging on the other side. I say, "Yeah, is this your toilet paper? It'd be great if you could move it." So she does, while giving me a "look." Continues talking, bagging. "Oh, and your bread is in my way, too."
My tone was not very chipper. One could say we were NOT exchanging pleasantries. Well, I guess she wasn't really talking back, as she was still wrapped up in her phone conversation.
Finally, I get to bag things. The person in line behind me now has many things ready to bag, so I must be fast. I finish all my groceries (4 bags) in the time it takes her to bag one.
Usually, I'm much more patient and understanding of people. Normally I would have helped her bag, or helped her move her things. But no. When people show that level of inconsiderate, asinine public behavior, they get no such sympathy from me. I was terribly tempted to grab the phone out of her hand and explain to her the tenets of etiquette. Yes, I admit it--I was going to go Martha Stuart on her ass.

Instead, I called Hubby, and he politely and patiently heard my story. Such a good husband to hear his wife call up and say, "Oh. My. Gosh. You will NEVER believe what happened at the grocery store." Hey, at least I wasn't talking about shoe shopping.

Announcement!

No, we're not having a baby.

...but we have come to a decision.

This summer, James and I are planning to move to Spokane, Washington.

Some of you know that Spokane kinda creeps me out. It does. I will admit that. The creepiness is a little hard to explain... like maybe Spokane is full of ghosts or something.

So why have we decided Spokane? Well, despite the mysterious ghosty feeling, Spokane fits (most) every criteria James and I have for a place to live. It's still in the Northwest, which means both the ocean and much of our family is near... it's small enough that the city doesn't have huge problems, but it's big enough that it doesn't have super small town problems, and there are job opportunities for both of us. Also, it's near CdA, and I have a support system there as well. We like outdoorsy things, and the area's full of them... plus, Canada isn't too far away, so if we have to leave the country in a hurry, that won't be too hard. Oh, and a MAJOR incentive: housing prices are super cheap, but the houses are super perfect for us. Larger lots (yay! gardening space!), cute turn-of-the-century houses, lots of parks nearby. Hardwood floors abound, as do big garages/shops for James. So... let's hope I can find a job!











PS: Why don't they pronounce it Spoh-cane? (Rhymes with "insane")

Snuggles for us, snuggles for you!

Can you believe it's already been a year?!
Well, I guess many of you can believe that. But it's gone by so fast for James and I!
Happy first Anniversary, Hubby!














The little skunk has been extra cuddly lately. We think he's entered his pseudo-hibernation mode. These were taken all in one day.












Notice I've censored that picture, both to preserve Toby's dignity, and for those who have sensitive eyes. See his shaved bum? Isn't it hilarious!?


And Toby and James taking a nap together. AWWE! Look at skunkie's little nose! Sniff sniff!
I had to pull the covers back to take the picture of Toby, as all you could see was his little nose sticking out. He had crawled under the covers to snuggle with Daddy.

Misfits

I ate a ginormous sirloin steak French dip sandwich for lunch. With fruit, not fries. Still: 1000 calories. *sigh* Sorta a mistake, but I'm still not hungry and I ate it four hours ago, so there's hope that I will last the night with a meager 200 calories available for dinner.

Tomorrow: no school, no school. If it's not pouring, I'll plant the rest of my bulbs, which I have neglected. I'll have a lopsided garden in the spring if I don't act fast.

A week from tomorrow: I'm helping chaperone the middle school dance! What joy. Kristin's tips: wear comfortable shoes, take frequent breaks from the putrid gym air. I hope they play "Forever Young"!

Next Saturday I'm taking two more Praxis tests. Ugh!

My muscles are sore from yoga yesterday. "Feel the power!"

I've been thinking a lot lately of where James and I are going to move. I really want to stay in the Northwest. Please, Universe, help us find the perfect place!

I love autumn. I love houses. I love houses in autumn, with trees in the front and a porch with pumpkins. *sigh*

Today...

Woke up, ate half a vegan blueberry mango cranberry bran muffin and a glass of water.
Did yoga while skunk ran around (and under) me, making mischief. I think he was jealous of the video, because as soon as it stopped (I was sitting cross-legged on the floor) he ran up and plunked right onto my lap and closed his little eyes with delight. Oftentimes, I stop and think: It's kinda weird that a skunk just ran up and plopped down in my lap.
Then I ate the other half of the muffin. Only 220 calories in the whole thing! Vegan muffins rock.

Jello baths, pig, Cancun

James and I experienced a new restaurant that everyone must try: Bamboo Grove. One of my fellow student teachers at Ockley Green is Hawaiian and he said it was "the best restaurant" he'd ever been to, as far as authentic Hawaiian fare and atmosphere is concerned. It really was fantastic. James and discovered that even when we want to, we just can't eat as much in one meal as we used to--we get stuffed! So, today's lunch: grilled luau-style Kahlua pork sandwiches. (For those of you who have never had luau-style pig--it's terrific! They dig a pit in the sand and line it with banana leaves and slowly roast an entire pig for the whole day. Bamboo Grove offers it only on Friday, because it's such a process to make!) MMMmmmm!

Toby isn't feeling very well today. I think he got into something last night he shouldn't have, and his little tummy is upset. He won't even beg for food. Poor little guy!

Emily and Keith are in labor! Little Neaman will be here any minute!! We're getting periodic updates on her blog. First update: "I'm having a baby." Second update: "I really liked my jello bath." Third update: "I'm hungry!" I can't believe the woman is IN LABOR AT THE HOSPITAL and she's still updating us! What a woman! She also mentions that she and Keith are making a funny video for us. James said, "It won't be so funny for long!"

Nick and Tiffany-Ann are going to Cancun for a week over Thanksgiving. ¡Soy celoso!
¿Usted me tomará con usted?

Guess what I have on my computer now? Photoshop!

Kenneth would be proud

Admitting it

When Emily Potter and I were roommates, we'd have lots of conversations about futures and plans and wishes and such. She had decided to apply for graduate school, but was reluctant to tell anyone, because somehow she felt that if she told someone the magic would wear off and she wouldn't get accepted. I agreed--I, too, hesitate to tell people my real plans for fear that once the universe knows about them, they'll fall through.

Emily made the decision to tell a few people.

And in the tradition of becoming vulnerable (as I told Emily I would), I am now telling the universe. This might seem trite and easy to some people, but it's hard for me... but I need help and support from everyone, so I'm cluing you in.

I've told everyone that I want to lose weight, and that Hubby and I are changing our lifestyles so we can do that. As I approach my 1-month mark on my diet, I've finalized my goal.

One month ago, I weighed 216 pounds... the heaviest I've ever been.
This morning, I weighed 208 pounds.
That means about 8 pounds a month, if I keep plugging along and doing it right.

So.... that means that in 6 months, I will lose 48 pounds and will be at my target weight of 160. I don't think I've weighed that since 7th grade.

Thank you all for becoming a part of this with me... for your support, tips, and love.

Dinner and pumpkins

Kadra and Bryce came over for dinner Sunday night.















Toby was very cuddly with them both. Shortly after this picture was taken, he curled up in a ball and nestled himself in her lap.

After dinner, we carved pumpkins! (James' pumpkin is on the far left. You can't see it, but he did manage to cut a lid in the top and scoop out the insides.















Final products...

Party weekend

Saturday evening was Emily's baby shower. Any day now we'll meet little Neaman! I'm very excited, and Emily is the cutest little pregnant lady.













After the shower, James and I went to a Halloween party of a classmate of mine. We had a blast! It's been two years since I've dressed up for Halloween. We went as Goths. I even straightened James' hair!












Christina, the hostess, has a python named Spike. I love him! We became fast friends.

The rest of these pictures are my cohorts and some of their significant others. I have such fun friends! I was impressed with the costumes. I didn't take too many pictures, so this is just a sample of the party population. Also in attendance was Fidel Castro, a (working) keg, money, a few vampires, and others.