Monthly Update

I see I last posted on November 1st, so here on the eve of December I post again.

Spent this Thanksgiving in Kansas and loved it. It was in the 60s there (I don't think this is normal) and I got to accompany my cousin's one-year-old on a wagon ride with his grandpa (my uncle). Also met the newest member of that family, who is very very small and still feeling serious about her entry into life. My family is ripe with United Methodist ministers on both sides, and I toured a couple of churches and it was really great to see the improvements being made and the growth there. I also ate lots of wonderful things (not just on Thanksgiving day) including several varieties of pies. I felt rather nostalgic traveling with just my mother and sister, the three of us together in Mom's SUV was great. I knit and talked and drove and talked.

Roxie had a lonely Thanksgiving at a "pet resort and spa." The "resort" gave me a Thanksgiving card with a picture in it that they'd taken while Rox was staying there. She looks so sad and a little stressed. She's slept it off, though, and seems no worse for the wear as she lounges beside me on the couch. It was too rainy yesterday for a really good walk, but we've had several cuddling sessions to make up for the stress.

Merry Christmas season! I am enjoying plotting planning for Christmas this year. Not as many handmade gifts as last year, I'm afraid. But it is fun to carefully think about everyone anyway. And there's always buying handmade things. ;)

Next Tuesday are finals for this semester. I am inordinately proud of myself for having successfully finished a semester of school while working full time. I've learned so much and had such a great time doing it. It's heaven for me to be reading and writing about and talking about great texts...and I'm looking forward to my Spring classes and my two Summer sessions and then... who knows? I'll have a Bachelor's degree! In true Shannah style, I think I'll ace my English classes (the hardest, senior level classes) and just do okay in the Freshman Political Science class. Is it bad to be so terribly one-sided? Maybe I should just go with what I'm good at and enjoy the ride? I'm classified as a "non-traditional" student now anyway.

I'm looking forward to a month without school where I can read not-as-good books and knit and sew and spend time away from campus, relaxing with the boyfriend and the dogs. Life is very good this year.