The "Farm"

Yesterday, we drove out to my Aunt Jeanette and Uncle Dave's house. Aunt Jeanette is my mom's sister. They live in Belleville, TX which is about an hour from my parents' house if you take I-10 and do 75 or 80 the entire time. Which, by the way, was slower than most driving on I-10 at 9:45 AM on the day after Christmas.

Aunt Jeanette and Uncle Dave have 15 acres with a house, a pond, a barn-type shed, a big ass garage, 2 donkeys, 5 or 6 goats, 2 dogs, some peacocks and some ducks. We used to go out there to swim when we were little, long before there were ever donkeys or goats. Owen kept saying, "we're going to the farm, today!"

When my sister posts some pictures or video on her blog, I'll put a link to it. Owen had a great time chasing goats until Carmen the goat wanted to butt heads with him. Owen got to ride on the tractor with Aunt Jeanette and Uncle Dave took us all walking through the woods. Owen kept asking if this was the hundred-acre woods where pooh bear lives.

We had a good time, ate too much sausage and got to see our cousin Sarah and I finally got to meet her boyfriend Ben.

Photo Booth: Owen

Before lunch time, Owen had fun with Photo Booth on my computer:

Houston

It's pretty darn cold in Houston today. It started getting colder yesterday. It's still not below freezing, but cold enough.

My aunt Margaret passed away Thursday night. I'm really sad and it really sucks. My uncle Ed asked me to say a few words at the funeral tomorrow. I have an idea of what I will say, just not sure I'll be able to say it all. Plus, it's hard to find the right words.

Mom and I took Owen to the mall yesterday. We rode the carousel at the mall and then went to mickey d's for lunch. Owen had chicken nuggets and a chocolate shake. Mom and I discussed how the greatest thing ever would be to have a whopper jr. and fries from mickey d's...their fries are fantastic.

Frikkin Snow!

I think we got about 4 inches of snow today. I drove in it WAY more than I really wanted to.

I leave for Houston tomorrow afternoon. As if things couldn't get any worse, I woke up this morning to a 58-degree house. The furnace would kick on, but the blower wasn't working. David came over after I left and pulled the cover off, put it back on and it started working. By the time I got home, the house was at 62-degrees and the blower had quit working again. I pulled the cover off, put it back on and it started back up again. I have a furnace guy on his way tonight to take a look at it. I don't want pipes freezing while I am gone because the damn blower keeps going out.

shopping...

...is sometimes fun and sometimes sheer torture for me. One of the nice side effects of being nearly single again is that I have 7 fewer people to buy gifts for. The Poussons decided last year that grown-up don't exchange presents...which was shot down by the Van Hooks. I know that it's the thought that counts, but I need more stuff like I need a hole in my head.

Thanks to the magic of the internet, the US Postal Service and UPS, all my Christmas shopping is done. I just had stuff shipped right to Mom and Dad's in Houston. Mom and Erin are under strict instructions to hide presents in the same closet where mom hid ours...and not to wrap them, because that is my favorite part. There are just a couple things for Owen that will travel on the plane with me.

And I already bought myself a nice couch for Christmas that will show up the week after, I think.

put out good mojo...

...or think good thoughts, or say a prayer or whatever it is that you do. My Aunt Margaret is not doing well. :(

Grad School Math

88.17% = A

Wah-Hoo!!

FINALLY our grades were posted for my statistics class. Before any kind of a curve, I have an 88%! It's official, I am no longer conditionally admitted...I'm a full-fledged MBA student.

nice snowfall

It rained Monday off and on, into yesterday morning. Yesterday around noon, the rain changed to snow. It wasn't that bad here in Davenport, I think we maybe got an inch.

One of the things I like best about the snow is I can see animal prints in it. This gives me an idea of what Miner is sniffing at. I am fairly certain that there is a rabbit living in the drain tile that comes out of the retaining wall. There were little bunny prints right in front of the opening last night.

In and Out of Crying a Lot

I'm a cry baby. We all know this. We have known this for a very long time. Lately, it's just been the eyes welling up sad sort of cry. Not the sobs of 6 to 12 months ago.

Aside from the crying in the bathroom on Saturday, it was a good class. We talked a lot about self-awareness. The whole idea of what you can and cannot control. Which I have to say, I am all about the serenity prayer these days...well, I have been for the longest time, but really in the last two years. When things were really bad, I would just say that over and over to myself in the car on my way home from work. It helped remind me that I can't control other people or their actions. I can only control myself and my reactions. Sometimes that's easier said than done.

It was interesting to see how other people in the class handled that. I don't want to judge...there are some people who clearly "got it" and others that you can tell are still in the full on wanting to control what someone else does. Don't get me wrong, I try to control other people, but I know better. I'm still not to the point where I never try to - no one is perfect. I do catch myself sooner than I used to.

We also talked about responsibility and integrity. I liked the idea that we choose what we are responsible for. That I am responsible for the things that I think are important to me. That I can choose not to be responsible for something that isn't important to me.

I left class Saturday afternoon feeling pretty good. It's about knowing who you are and what you value and choosing to do something about it.

Nice Walk

I haven't done any running since before Thanksgiving. Mostly because I was sick the week before, and then because I was working on having a good pitty party for myself. Anyway, it is relatively sunny and there's no wind this morning so I bundled up (current temp is 7-degrees) and took the dog for a walk. There's a hospital about a 1/4 mile from my house, and the loop around it is just under a mile. (I learned this using the distance tool on google maps...thanks google, you rock!) So, this morning, we walked 1.4 miles.


Anyhow, the nice thing about this walk is that the sidewalks around the hosptial are wide and clear of snow and ice. Also, the walk along the west and south sides of the hospital are nice and quiet. Even the walk along the east and north sides are OK, they are just along more busy streets. Plus, there's only two houses that we pass that have dogs, so it's not streesful for me as far as Miner goes. And one of the dogs we pass is a super calm young golden retriever, so that helps build my confidence with making Miner do what I want. Plus, he's just a happier dog when he gets walks regularly. My friend Diane called him "exercise on a leash," which is a good way to think about it. It makes him and me feel a lot better.

rough spot in class

I had a hard time not crying in class today. One of our assignments is to interview 4 people for our final paper. We need to ask 2 people from our personal lives and 2 people from our professional lives to share with us our 2 greatest strengths and 2 greatest weaknesses as a leader. As people were asking questions about it in class, i got so choked up, because everyone was talking about interviewing their spouses. Luckily the instructor gave us a break right after that discussion. I cried in the bathroom. I don't know if I was more sad that I don't have a spouse to interview or that I realized that I don't know if I have friends that have seen me in a leadership role in the last 4 years.

I'm trying not to beat myself up that 5 years ago, I knew who I was. I knew what I wanted out of life. I had many friends who lived near me and more just 4 hours away. I feel really alone right now.

The 2nd Half...and 360-feedback

I did the other half of Miner's nails after class. Success! He expects treats afterwards which is helpful in getting him to be still.

For this MBA class, we had to do a 360-feedback assessment type thing. Not sure if any of you have ever had to do one. Anyway, you rank yourself on your leadership skills, and then you as your peers, managers, direct reports, etc. to rate you as well. We got the report back today. I just did an initial glance (we are going further in depth tomorrow) and I was a little surprised that I rated myself higher in a few categories than my 'observers.' So that's good and will help me know where to improve. A lot of the things were around communicating a clear vision about what we are doing, staying consistent and following through...all of which I would say are pretty accurate. There were also some very nice comments.

We did it! (half of it, at least)

The last time I tried to trim Miner's nails was a year and a half ago. You can't see the quick, because like everything else on him, his nails are black. I cut one too close and he bled for a day and a half. So, David took over those responsibilites.

Well, his nails are getting long. I decided that I would use the tactic that I use when I don't feel like going to Jazzercise (tell myself I only have to do the cardio and then wind up staying for the whole thing) on this. I'll just start with one paw. If it's a disaster, I can stop. Well this morning I was feeling pretty confident, so I gave it a shot. I got both his right paws done! I just trimmed a tiny amount, but looking back to vaccuming up the clippings when David did it, I don't think he was taking any bigger chunks.

Yay, me!! Plan is to try the other half tonight or tomorrow.

gifts - talents

For class this weekend, we needed to prep by filling out this worksheet asking about our gifts/talents, values and passions. I'm alright with the values and the passions, but I had a heck of a time coming up with at least 15 gifts - talents. The worksheet suggested thinking about "people say you are so good at WHAT?" and answer the what.

Here's all I could come up with:
stitchin'
gardening
public speaking
learning
organizing
planning
making lasagna
making people laugh
entertaining
trying new things
crafts/projects
empathizing/caring for others

I know there are more, but it's hard to be positive when you aren't feeling great.

The Tree

Since I finished my paper for class, I decided to reward myself by decorating the Christmas tree. Miner was nice enough to pose with it for me.

Christmas Lights 2008

Miner had his yearly check-up today. Plus he got the kennel cough nasal spray and his DHPP shot. He was very timid with the vet, but she won him over with a little doggie treat that she coated in ez-cheese. Miner is a bit of a wimp sometimes, so I have been working on building his confidence. Walks and runs are helping, so we went for a walk after we got home from the vet.

After our walk, Miner hung out in the front yard while I put up Christmas lights on my little Christmas Tree shaped bushes by the front door. I'm posting a photo so Owen can see that Auntie Amy has CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!!!