Country and Christmas, not to be mistaken for "Country Christmas" which I find revolting even though I'm from Texas.

I just came off a SUPER FUN weekend which for the first time in many MANY moons did NOT involve even a split second of schoolwork. It did, however, involve:

Movie night (Terms of Endearment) including DaVinci's pizza followed by a trip to the pub under Third Place Books in the U District.

FREE yoga! Ommmm...followed by lunch at Boom Noodle. Chicken teriyaki, delish.

Chick flick w/the roommate (Letters to Juliet) followed by a fabulous nap on the couch followed by...

My first ever trip to The Little Red Hen, this country bar/club in Seattle. It was AWESOME. Next time, I'm wearing my Daddy's cowboy hat. Highlights:

• A great band, great music, and great margaritas.
• Jesse applied his knowledge of salsa dancing to the country music, and guess what? It totally worked. I love him.
• We learned (I re-learned) the Tush Push. Jesse picked it up after watching twice. Then he taught me. Seemed quite backward to me.
• This OLD couple...no lie, had to be in their 80s. And boy did they dance! I danced with the dude...adorable. I hope when I'm their age I'm gettin' my country dance on at the Little Red Hen.
• I was quel impressed by the number of country music fans...I really thought I was the only one who listened to it in all of Seattle.
• Leah's boyfriend, Kassra, was like "Are we still in Seattle? On Earth?" So I translated the lyrics for him: "I told her way up yonder past the caution light there's a little country store with an old Coke sign. You gotta stop and ask Mrs. Bell for some of her sweet tea...Mama gave her a big ol' glass and sent her right back here to me."

Sunday brought Seattle's first snow of the season...and our Christmas tree! Leah's awesome friend, Joe, met us at Home Depot and we loaded up on Christmas! I've wanted to decorate the last few years but haven't had the energy (or money, hello graduate school). This year, I have a job and TONS of energy! So we went a little Christmas crazy. We spent the afternoon listening to Christmas music, drinking hot cocoa, and setting everything up. The tree went in front of the living room window that looks out to the Seattle skyline.

Not so super fun, but went right along with the excitement of the weekend...I went to my room for bed and noticed out the side window what appeared to be fire. Upon further inspection, the a recliner chair on the back porch of the house next door was ON FIRE. I stood there gaping when a woman ran out onto the porch and dumped a pot of water on the chair. She looked at me and we made eye contact. It was one of those freaky moments when you watch someone in trouble and they see you seeing them. She ran back in and out again, this time on her cell phone. I hoped she was calling the fire department. I called Jesse and he told me to call the fire department. Just then, I heard sirens so I went to the front of the apartment to see if they stopped and they did. From my bedroom, I watched the firemen come to the back porch and put out the fire. They tossed the big chair over the 2nd floor balcony to assess the damage on the porch. It was pretty dark, but some of the floor and a lot of the railing was burned. Oh yeah, the whole house (porch included) is wood, as is ours. And also, the houses are like 2 feet apart. If we both reached out, we could touch. Scary.

This morning, I woke up to SERIOUS SNOW on the ground. I made it to work, but they are saying we will likely close early. I know it's a bit treacherous but to be honest, I'm just excited. Thanksgiving is next week, snow is on the ground, the Christmas tree is up, and I have a poinsettia in my office.

North Seattle Community College

P.S. If you are one of those people who thinks being excited about and/or decorating for Christmas before the day after Thanksgiving is insane, please don't rain (or dump snow) on my parade.

questions & tidbits

Questions:
1. Anyone know how I can decorate for Christmas w/o spending a fortune? I'm thinking Value Village and Big Lots. Other places?

B. How can I FINALLY stop biting my nails? I've had a few good runs in the past breaking the habit, but something always kills it. But I like my nails when they are long and pretty. Plus, my broken finger looks like it is forever bent out of shape so I desperately need long, pretty nails to make up for it.

D. When should I go to Texas? I need to earn some vacation time, so I'm looking at Spring. Probably when I'm about to kill myself b/c it's March and the high is barely 50 degrees in Seattle. But the academic calendar will keep me from going during March...maybe February? Except in February it will probably still be chilly and I'll be darned if I go to Texas and it's not warm. If I go in February, I don't know if I can go again in summer because I'll be wanting to go for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Am I overthinking this?

20. I thought my last post would evoke at least one comment. So, what could I have done differently? Too long? Should I have only posted about the mid-term or the BFGE but not both? Or are you people all just too busy?

Tidbits:
Holiday plans: Helena, Montana. Jesse hasn't seen his grandmother or dad in over six years, so of course I haven't met them. They decided to get together so I will be in Helena, Montana for Christmas.
**Note: I've never been to Montana, and my first time will be in the dead of winter. It may end up being "the dead of Pegs" if it's anything like I'm imagining. Snow up to the roof, cars dying whilst driving b/c it's too.damn.cold.
**Jesse's grandmother seems to be the cutest person ever, judging by her emails. She's asked what Christmas traditions my family has and told me to let her know what my wish list is but keep it under $10,000. Super cute, but I can already tell she's going to remind me of Aama.

The Biggest Loser: I pig out while watching it every week. You'd think the opposite.

Rhianna and Eminem apparently have a sequel to that song about domestic violence. Because one wasn't enough?

in the last 24 hours...

4:30 pm--arrived to my class, prepared for mid-term.

5:00 pm--professor finally starts talking about the test, saying he thinks it's easier than he meant it to be and asking if anyone has questions. We ask questions about the questions that he said last week would be the EXACT questions on the test "because the point is that I want you to learn, not just pass a test."

5:15 pm--he hands out the test. Not ONE question is from the review. Not one.

5:45 pm--I turn in my test and leave the classroom. PISSED. It's a credit/no credit class! We should be writing reflection papers, not taking crazy tests like we never take in grad school. AND we have to get 80% to get credit for the course. Out of 20 questions, I counted TEN that I COMPLETELY guessed. WTF.

5:50 pm--make furious phone call to Jesse, shrieking that I may end up finishing this quarter as ABD plus EDLPS 560 (the course). Sure, I write a 50 page General Exam but I can't pass a 20 question test...when I'm led to believe the questions will be completely different.

5:55 pm--I return to the scene of the crime and wait for Leah to come out (who is also in the class). She does, and the WTF conversation ensues. Then Girl We Also Studied With comes out. Same WTF conversation. Then Girl Who Takes the Class Way Too Seriously (recorded the review last week) came out, made WTF face, and started ranting. Such it went, so that by...

6:25 pm--people were still taking the test (that was supposed to have had a 45 minute time limit) and 20+ more people have come out of the room with the same Dazed & Confused expression.

10:00 pm--Leah comes home from her second class and informs me that the last few people said something to Prof about the craziness, so I am left to feel justice will win the day. But I have to wait until Monday to find out.

This morning...

8:20 am--Jesse drops Leah & me off at UW. I meet with Director of Student Services for another Advisor Handbook project meeting because I knew I'd already be on campus, before my Big Fat General Exam (BFGE). Sure, because I don't have anything else on my mind...let's have a meeting about the Advisor Handbook. I might not repeat that choice.

9:30 am--Leave meeting and go to room where BFGE will be held. Of course it's locked. I run around and find the Guy with All the Keys to unlock it. I place handouts at each committee member's seat and sit in my own seat.

9:35 am--Someone walks down the hall. I wonder if it's one of the committee members. It isn't.

9:37 am--Repeat above.

9:39 am--Repeat above.

9:45 am--First committee member arrives. Oddly enough, she routinely works in Senegal, West Africa, on her research...the very same Senegal I lived in before, so we chat.

9:55 am--Second committee member arrives. More chit chat.

10:00 am--Third committee member (my chair) arrives. Conversation ensues regarding students' usage of laptops in the classroom...apparently, they all know we're surfing Facebook instead of taking notes.

10:10 am--Still no fourth committee member. So I go hunt her down. She's in her office where she has mixed up the times, apologizes profusely and we scoot back down the hall.

10:15 am--We begin. I go through the handouts I have brought, paring the 50 page document I submitted down to 5 pages. Impressive.

10:30 am--The questions. Mostly about my study. Yes, but if you do this, how will you handle this? And what if this happens?

11:15 am--Chair asks me to leave for a few minutes while they talk about me. Comforting.

11:25 am--I am asked to return, told I have passed unanimously, and congratulated as an official Doctoral Candidate. My response? "Yay!" and "Thank you."

11:30 am--Class dismissed.

in the next 24 hours...

I will take a mid-term for the first time in YEARS. Of course, my last quarter of course work and the professor decides to do a mid-term and final for a CREDIT/NO CREDIT class. Seriously.

And, drumroll please...after leaving the Ed.D. in Higher Education program not once, but twice...I will be having the oral portion of my General Exam (written already completed, thank.you.very.much) at 10:00 am tomorrow.

On track to be a "Doctoral Candidate" or "ABD" (all but dissertation) when grades post in December. But only if I can pass a mid-term and final in a credit/no credit class. Geez. Here's hoping I remember how to do something besides write a paper and talk about it.