I'm not excactly sure how the weather is in other parts of the country, but if you live in the Midwest, then you know how bad it got this weekend. Now I like a white Christmas as much as the next person, but when it messes up travel plans and the wind is blowing so hard that it hurts your face, then not fun! The bad weather started earlier Thursday afternoon and just got worse as the day went on. I had to work that day and usually Christmas Eve is really slow because most of the residents go out with their families and we usually get done an hour early. Not this year! This year nearly everyone stayed, so it wasn't as simple as I had hoped.

Dad came up from Lincoln to pick me up (there was no way in hell I would be driving all the way there in my little old car) because he and Mom decided that if I was going to spend Christmas with them, then Christmas Eve would be the best time to get me because the weather was only going to get worse. He came to the HP, and of course, I wasn't done yet because we had been busy, so he sat in the lobby and chatted with Beata (heh), this cute little old lady. Dad wanted to follow me home, but I didn't want to drive in this snow, so I told him I'd rather leave my car there and just pick it up later when they return me to Omaha. I'm sure everyone thought I worked this weekend when they saw my car there!

We went to my apartment (the parking lot was a mess and hadn't been plowed yet; the snow was just piling up) where I packed the rest of my things and Milo, then headed for Lincoln in the blizzard. Oh, joy! While it was bad out and we couldn't see the road sometimes, it wasn't TOO bad (except for the part where Dad passed a snow plower and for about ten seconds we couldn't see anything except pure white - it was like being in a snow globe - that was really scary; and for a long stretch were behind a long stream of cars that were behind a snow plow), but I would never want to drive in that kind of weather. It just really sucks that this weather had to happen during the Christmas weekend. Because of it, we weren't able to go to Minnesota this holiday to see Bill and Kelly and had to forgo the Christmas celebration with Mom's family.

Mom had enchiladas waiting when we returned home and since I hadn't eaten anything since Wednesday night, I was quite hungry. After that, we opened presents, yay! My parents liked the gifts I gave them. In fact, one of my presents was a book and Dad asked if he could read it because he didn't have anything to read, so I gave him the two books I bought for him.

Anyway, I recieved:
-Slumdog Millionaire DVD
-The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
-Hair towel
-"The Night Before Christmas" Philosophy gift set with "cookies and milk" body wash. It came in a cute box that looks like a book.
-Heart-shaped jewelry box with three compartments
-dangly stone earrings
-Movie poster calendar
-$25 gift certificate to iTunes (which now brings my total to $50 because I bought one with my $25 gift card from Target I got from work, so yay!)
-Two tops and a cami
-"Extra-comfy" socks

I must have ate something that didn't agree with me because I woke up with an awful stomacahe on Christmas and spent most of the day lounging around and reading my magazines. It was still snowing and I went out in the backyard and made a snow angel. Half of it was covered in thick ice and I "attempted" to skate on it. I mostly fell on my ass. It was still snowing pretty hard and nearly an hour later my footprints and snow angel were no longer visible!

We were going to go out to see a movie, but due to the bad weather and how I was feeling, we stayed in and watched Slumdog.

On Saturday, Dad and I went to see Sherlock Holmes, which was really good. I can overlook the changes they made from the book such as Holmes beating up the bad guys. We had lobster for dinner, which was supposed to be our Christmas dinner with Bill and Kelly. Mom and Dad will probably go up there next weekend, but I can't because I have to work.

I don't think this snow is going to melt until mid-March! I am so sick of seeing snow everywhere!

With nine shopping days left before Christmas and today and tomorrow my only days off until Christmas, I thought I would tackle the dreaded holiday shopping and managed to get gifts for my family in one day.

( It was a long day, though )

Since I had to work on Thanksgiving and didn't get to my parents' house until Thursday evening, we celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday this year. Bill and Kelly came with Stanley and Maggie from Minnesota and I brought Milo and the poor thing spent most of his time under one of the beds traumatized. He would come out though when Bill and Kelly took the dogs out to the park or for a walk.

Bill, Kelly, and I played a game of Scene-It Thursday night and I won by a landslide. I was on the other side of the board when they were both still on the same side. Then we played a few rounds of Who am I? where someone picks a famous person and the others have to ask yes or no questions and try to guess who it is. I was Anne Hathaway, Johnny Cash, Naomi Watts, Laurence Fishbourne, Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Johnny Cash, James Cameron, Tina Fey, and Sean Astin. The last one was sort of a joke because everytime it was my turn, Bill would ask if I was ever in a trilogy and if I said yes, he would say, "Does it feature hobbits?" So when I chose Sean Astin and he asked that I said, "Yes!" Then he asked, "Are you a hobbit?" LOL. That game is fun!

Like I said, we had our big feast on Friday and oh, lord, I ate so much. Later that night we went to a bar where two guys played requested songs on their piano. Of course they would play the songs that people paid $20 to hear. My parents didn't like them too much because they played more contemporary stuff and I don't think my parents can name any song or artist that came after 1979. (Joking....sort of). They started with more old school stuff like the Beatles and Elton John, then also played Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy, You Belong With Me, Party in the USA (hehe), Gin and Juice, Baby Got Back, I Gotta Feeling, and my personal favorite, The Chanukah Song!

On Saturday we went bowling and boy did I ever suck! I came in second to last on the first game and last on the second game. Once I start sucking, I can't seem to get better because I'm too discouraged by that time. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and once again I stuffed myself silly. I think I ate more in those two days than I ever eat in an entire week. (Well, maybe not). When we got home, Bill, Kelly, Mom, and I played a couple rounds of Scattergories. After we put the game away, Milo came out because the dogs were sleeping and jumped up on the kitchen counter. In a few minutes, the dogs were in the living room and Milo's fur was standing up and his tail was puffed and his ears were laid flat back and he was making this hissing sound. That cat was pissed! Stanley made the funniest whining sound! Kelly says he only makes it when he's worried. Aww! Poor Stanely.

Oh yeah, and my new nickname is Candlestick Chin. Don't ask.

My brother got married Friday and even after having three glasses of red wine, one glass of champagne, five Malibu pineapples, two bottles of Mike's Hard Lemonade, a Bahama Mama, a margarita, a lemon drop, and a tiny amount of Yagermeister this weekend, I still remember (pretty much) every detail!

( Festivities and Fun )

I had a busy day yesterday:

( Kelly's shower )

( Maggie and Milo )

( Bowling )

( Rainbow Brite )

I've finished my Christmas shopping! Here's what I got for everyone:

Dad: The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
Mom: Burberry Brit perfume and lavender chamomile hand soap
Bill: The Dark Knight 2-disc DVD
Kelly: Philosophy "The Recipe Box" with three body washes: red velvet cake, sweet creamy frosting, and strawberry shortcake and winter candy apple body wash
Maggie and Stanley: I got each a rawhide chew bone, Itty Bitty Bones treats, and dog food sampler, plus for Maggie I got Peanut Butter Beagle Bagels because she's part beagle and loves peanut butter, and for Stanley I got oven baked treats. They look just like Oreo cookies! I got their stuff at the Three Dog Bakery.

( My Christmas wishlist )

I checked out four Gossip Girl books from the library. Do you know how embarrasing that was? Damn that show for being so addictive. I have a feeling I'll bitch how the books don't hold a candle to the TV show!

I was also amazed when I paid only $18 for a full tank of gas. It wasn't that long ago when I had to pay $50 for a full tank! Saving money feels great! (Or spending it on Christmas gifts instead, anyway).

My Dad's surprise party for his 60th birthday was a month ago, but my mom finally got all the photos on a CD, so now I can share the celebration with you all through photos!

( On to the celebration )

It was a fun evening!

This Saturday my mom has a surprise party planned for my Dad's 60th birthday. His actual birthday isn't until the 22nd, but this was the only weekend Mom could get his old band from Topeka to play at the party. His younger brother and his wife are coming all the way from Seattle to surprise him as well and all my mom's sisters (from Iowa) will be there as well as his neighbors, friends from work, and golf buddies. And of course me and my brother! Dad already knows that I'm coming up this weekend as well as Bill and his fiancee. He thinks we're going to celebrate his birthday this weekend, but has no idea about the party...which is a miracle considering Mom didn't get her own e-mail address when she asked people to send their regrets to their joint e-mail account. Luckily Dad doesn't go on the computer as much as Mom. Haha, both Bill and I asked her why she didn't just make a new e-mail account so she wouldn't have to risk Dad seeing any replies about the party.

I had no idea what to get Dad, so I just made a playlist of jammin' songs that I thought he might like.
( The playlist )

I have to go to the dentist tomorrow. Ugh. At nine a.m. Ugh.

I spent the last couple of days at my parents house and my dad had just finished Watership Down and here's how our conversation went:

Dad: "I finished the bunny book last night."
Me: "How did you like it?"
Dad: "It's the best book I've ever read."
Me (eyes widen:) "That's the best book I've ever read."

Yay, I'm so happy he liked it. If you haven't read Watership Down by Richard Adams, it's a must. Now my mom is going to read it next. She has a lot of pressure to like it. Dad joked that if she didn't like it, then something's wrong with her.

Mom and I saw 27 Dresses. It was cute, but one of those movies I won't remember much about in a couple of months. There was one dress that looked like one of my mom's old bridesmaid dresses!

Well, I've been doing a little better since Mac died. I still think about him every night and cry when I'm in bed. I also find myself doing certain things when he was alive: for instance, he used to like to sit under my chair or behind it while I was on the computer, but he was so quiet that I always had to check under my chair before I scooted it back. The other day I caught myself doing that. It also feels weird whenever I open the fridge and there's no cat there begging for food! I set up my (little) Christmas tree and remembered how Mac loved to sit under it or bat at the low ornaments. Awwww.

( Thanksgiving and Christmas )

The other day Kevin saw me reading during my break and asked what my book was about, if it was any good, etc. This led us to a conversation about reading and he confessed he's only ever read one book that wasn't required reading. This quite shocked me and I asked him why. He said he didn't like reading and thought it was boring. Boring?!?! Now, don't get me wrong, there are books that I couldn't finish because I couldn't get into the story. Lord knows I couldn't get past page 80 of Wuthering Heights and there are a handful of books for school I've read that I would never read just for fun. But there are so many great books out there that I feel sorry for him for what he's missing. I can barely put the book I'm currently reading now down because I'm so enthralled with the story. Whenever I see a movie I like that's based on a movie, I usually go out and buy the book and ending up loving it more than the movie. When the last two Harry Potter books came out, the only things I did were eat, sleep, go to work, and read until I had them finished. But then again, Kevin, while a nice kid and means well, is a taaaaad bit on the annoying side and I can't seem him sitting still to read, ha! But dude, reading is so NOT boring! (As long as you have the right book!)

And now, ( My updated reading list )

My phone rang this morning at 7:45 and I knew it wad Dad. He said he was going to call before he left to fix my tire. I thought he was calling from home, but he said he was in my parking lot(!) So I had to get up (ugh) and give him my car keys. I have to admit I felt a little guilty that he was out there in the freezing cold changing my damn car's tire while I was taking a hot shower...

In Oral Lit class we had to write down out two strengths and two weaknesses we have when we read aloud. It was easy for me to think of the latter: reading too fast and swaying too much. It was a little difficult coming up with the strengths. I thought about putting "I'm always well-dressed" except that sounded concieted and really didn't have anything to do with my readings. Then I thought about putting, "I write good stories," but that sounded even more concieted, so I put down volume and eye contact, although my eye contact still kind of sucks. When class ended, I put on my white Banana Republic coat and my new black hat and Mark said to me, "You look so cute!" Hee! And I said, "Thanks, you look cute too." I love Mark, he's so funny!

Check out what I got at the Gap with my 20% off discount coupon:
-this sweater in green
-this shirt in green (to go with the sweater)
-this wrap in pink and it was on sale, boo yah!

Dad called today and said he found a tire for a decent price, so now he needs to come up here to change it. Only problem is, our schedules don't quite fit and it's suppose to get really nasty and snow tomorrow, but he's going to try to come tomorrow morning if it't not *too* bad.

Here is a ( list of coats I own )

So it turns out I blew my tire on my way home the other day. Whoops. Dad came yesterday and he was yelling at me for driving it that way. Well, excuse me, but I didn't know my fucking tire blew out! Then he yelled at me some more for not knowing anything about cars. Uh, well, sorry! Grrr.... Well, we (okay, he) changed the tire with a spare one, but it's smaller, so it's not going to last long, so I'm pretty much screwed, yeah. It's time to buy a new (very cheap) car. So my yesterday afternoon was filled with shouting, tears, and greasy hands. So much fun!

After Dad left, I went to the mall because shopping makes me feel better, lol. I got the Ice Cream Man kit for Lendie (I still think the bubblegum scent is nasty, but maybe she'll like it, *shrugs*), and the Sarah Jessica Parker perfume, Lovely for Mom because she saw it on Oprah's favorite things and when we went to Von Maur in Lincoln she liked the smell of it. I also used my Bath and Body Works coupon and bought cherry blossom shimmer mist and almond face scrub. Then I used my discount card at Old Navy and bought a cute blue shirt with a winking penguin on the front and a striped sweater in different shades of green. Okay, that's it. No more shopping for me except for Christms presents...save for the 20% off discount card I have for the Gap. I mean, I do have to use it before the end of the year!

It's supposed to snow tonight. Ugh.

Today was the first day of my classes and I had Oral Interpretation of Literature in the morning, then Critical Approaches to Literature in the afternoon. I'm not sure how I'm going to like the first class. It sounds like we're going to have to be reading our own work aloud in class, ugh. And we're also going to have to go to some readings and at least one production the school puts on. As for the second class, ugh, I'm sorry, but when I read a book, I just want to enjoy it. I don't want to worry about symbolism or the Marxist POV or a feminist POV about a book. Who the fuck cares about that? Plus I'm nowhere near that intelligent.

I went to the bookstore and got all my books for the four classes I'm taking. I only couldnt' find one book that I needed. Do you know what my total was? $222! Can you believe that shit? That is so fucking overpriced. I better get a nice chunk of change back when I sell back my books. (And you know that I won't even get half that amount!) The guy who checked me out said that I had some professors with good taste because we're going to be reading Fight Club in Crital Approaches. (Heh, I didn't even know that was a book).

Between classes I went to Barnes and Noble to pick up gifts for Dad and Bill. I got The Historian for Dad and 100 People Who Are Scrweing Up America for Bill, although I wouldn't be surprised if he's already read it.