Fire drills in college?

Oh what a great sound that treacherous alarm made tonight!

"There is an immediate fire threat in the building. Please evacuate immediately."

Yep right smack dab in the middle of class.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

So as we are filing out of the building like cattle awaiting the auction pen, murmurings of "is this for real?" starts happening.

All of my classmates, who are school counselors, were reporting to everyone that they need to stand in a straight line, face the building, and no talking. HAHAHA! All we needed were green and red cards to hold up to show we made it out of the building safely.

So we stand there in the cold with all of our things. About 20 minutes later, our professor said "Let's just call it a night."

You don't have to tell me twice. Shortly after that the police officer came out and said building is clear and it's safe to go back inside.

What? I didn't hear anything! And apparently neither did my friends who were dancing and singing (literally) to their cars.

Hooray for an hour class as opposed to three.

So now I've been home relaxing. I have not cooked dinner (thank you the ever delicious Taco Bell!). Nor have I decorated my Christmas tree. I'm thinking we might go with the au natural look this year. Evergreen and lights! Start the tradition with me! But I am about to watch Modern Family we recorded last week with my sweet family. Ahh how I love my hubby and puppy!

Ready Set Go!

It's so hard to gear myself up back for work after a nice relaxing week of coughing and spitting up all my gross sickies. I am still sick. It stinks. Oh yah and my poinsettia that I paid way too much due to a school fundraiser, "hey it's for the kids" is dying. Aren't those like aloe vera plants? I'm pretty sure I'm killing it. The leaves are all curling and stuff. I'm so good at plants.

Tomorrow night is my second to last grad school class. Three hours of pretending to listen while I construct all of my lists. Tomorrow my lists will include...

"Things to do at school"
"Things to do at home"
"Things to do to prepare the house for Christmas"
"Things to bake for gifts"
"People to buy gifts for" -why am I the only person not done with Christmas shopping?
"Things to cook for the next week"
"Reasons Penny rocks"
"Reasons Mopac would win America's Next Top Dog"
"Things Randy should buy me because he loves me." :)

You know, a typical lists of lists to be made.

Oh yah and I'll turn in my project (which will undoubtedly be completely wrong!) My professor is obsessed with us doing corrections. This class is pass/fail! What happens if I don't correct it? Can't you just say "Oh it's their last class. They've accumulated close to 50 hours of graduate work. I'm going to let them graduate without having to redo my assignments to the standards I have set that even Jean Piaget and Sigmund Freud couldn't achieve if they were still alive." (Insert evil laugh here)

grr...almost done! I can't wait to wear that silly hood! Bring it correction lady!

HEB is a no Go!

How many grocery carts can fit down the baking aisle?



Stay away from the grocery store. People are plum crazy. They've got turkeys and fried onions dancing in their eyes. I went in to grab a couple of things I forgot. Next year, I'll try extra hard to remember. I told one woman with much sarcasm, "Isn't this fun!"

Hey I tried to lighten the air. She had that, "I'm going to run over your big toe with my full basket" look.

And just a little tip for all you hard going late shoppers, we are all in a hurry. There's no need to charge forward with your full basket, toddlers falling out, and samples in hand. I appreciate those samples, but can't we pick a better time to taste test off brand potato chips? Just steer your cart and stay out of my way. I'll stay out of your way. This could all be solved if grocery carts had blinkers.

Blessed

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, it's a great opportunity to reflect over the many blessings I have in my life.

1) That I have a personal relationship with Christ. That I can talk to Him like he's sitting at Starbucks with me, and I know He hears me. Even if something doesn't happen or change, I know that He is working in my life. That He is in complete control, and I am hopelessly and utterly lost without Him guiding me.

2) I'm married to my best friend. I found the love of my life early, and while everyday isn't rosy or peaches and cream (hello, it's marriage! it's not suppose to be rosy every stinkin' day.) I know that he loves me for me. I am so blessed to have someone who cares for me and encourages me every day.

3) My family! I adore my parents and brother. They make me smile and scratch my head all at the same time. (hello, it's your family! They are not suppose to make sense every stinkin' day.) I also have amazing in-laws. I'm lucky to be loved by so many people. They are my friends as well as my family.

4) My friends are amazing. I know that at the sound of their cell phone, they'd drop everything for me. They post blog comments for me to get excited about, meet me at Mesa Rosa, embark on weird Austin festivals with me, and chat with me about nothing on the phone. I'm lucky to have such loyal and fun friends.

5) Mopac!!!! I'm so blessed to have such a sweetie pie to greet me with a wagging tail everyday. I love, love, love her.

6) My job. I'm thankful to have a job in which I enjoy (most days;) in this economy.

7) My education. Master's degree in 3 weeks! Whoo hooo!

8) My health. And amazing doctors to help get my hormones right on track. Randy appreciates this too;)

9) Common Sense. I think this is overlooked in today's society.

10) A sense of humor. It's important to be able to laugh at yourself and not take life so seriously. Randy helps me with this one for sure!

Hope you have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving!

Disgusting

Everyone I know loves turkey. We are all on board for Thursdays' feast. Yes! Fried turkey here I come. My parents bake a turkey and fry one as well. Now you know where I get this cooking obsession from.

Turkey should be left as turkey. The white meat that you carve up or find sandwiched between two slices of bread.

And not in bacon. I know so many people who love, love turkey bacon. "Oh Penny you can't even tell the difference. And it's so much better for you."

Right, I get it. So when HEB offer a coupon...buy this, and get turkey bacon free, I took them up on it.

I should have given my free bacon to a bum. It was disgusting. It even looks yuck. Picture shoe leather. Well I crisped some up. I did appreciate that my house didn't reek from the odor. The reason, there's no grease. I can't say I appreciate that. The reason bacon is so good is because it's unhealthy.

Well we gave it a go. We both couldn't even finish one slice. It was wafer yuck! I'm throwing away the whole package. I think I'll stick to the good stuff.

I think this has squashed any future attempts to try ground turkey. "You can't tell the difference." Ummm I'll stick to my ground hamburger meat. My daddy is so proud right now.

Of Course

I'm so thankful that I'm on vacation. Nine days off from school sounds amazing. I had so many amazing things planned for next week. I'm getting my eyes checked. I hate dilation and that dreaded question they ALWAYS ask you, "Do you need sunglasses?"

Even though my eyes are on fire, I will not take those grandma inspired plastic glasses that cover 90% of my face. "No thank you."


It's also a given that whenever I'm on a break from school, I get sick. It never fails. Every stinking vacation, I get this nasty cold that won't go away. Well, today I'm getting the first signs of a nasty head cold. My throat burns every time I swallow. It's completely appropriate since today is day 1 of relaxation.

Disinterested could be my middle name right about now. I'm so blah about so many things. I don't even enjoy reading anymore. Gasp, I know! I've been on chapter 2 of my new book all week long.

I even asked Randy how upset would he be if we didn't decorate for Christmas this year? What is wrong with me? But this Grinch just sees it as a ton of work. Since we are going to Denver this Christmas break, it feels even more daunting because I'll be putting up decorations once we're back in school (who am I kidding, I'll probably be putting up decorations sometime around Valentine's Day). Hopefully the bah humbug spirit will leave, and I'll get some jolly spirit back.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pumped about other upcoming Holidays. Like the one that involves stuffing...and pecan pie...and fried cajun turkey...and green bean casserole...and broccoli cheese rice. Man, I can't wait for Turkey Day.

I hope you have an amazing week of family, fun, and praises for your blessings.

meetings

I was in meetings ALL...DAY...LONG!!!

Lucky for me that Snapple drinks include cool facts under the lids.

Did you know that honeybees have hair on their eyeballs?

You can thank my meetings and my inability to pay attention longer than 5 minutes for that interesting fact!