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UGH!

I have three papers to write. I have all the data, I have the beginning of lit reviews, I have every piece of the puzzle in my lap/inbox and all I have to do is synthesize it, spit it back out into Word, and write the stinkin' papers. It's my goal of the break to get these out. I didn't even do this research, but if I'll just write these papers before my boss does, she'll put my name on them.

It's so hard, though. It's hard to know where to start. Well, the beginning, right? In my psychology research methods class this semester, we turned in little bits of an APA manuscript throughout the semester, and I thought it was awesome to break down the process. It was much less intimidating that way. Still, it's tough.

The beginning isn't REALLY the best place to start though. The introduction with all the literature in it is the hardest part. Since the research is done, I'll start with the methods section and back into the introduction.

I just wanted to whine about it for a minute. Whine. How ridiculous. I'm whining, on the clock mind you, when I have three golden opportunities for publishing in my lap. Enough whining. I'm writing.

Jessica! Come do half of the work! LOL You know you want to!

I have so many pictures from our trip, I'm going to make separate posts over the next few days.

The drive into Port Aransas was pretty good. We hit traffic in Austin and San Antonio. When we got closer to Port A, our GPS told us to get on the ferry. Ferry! As in, drive your car onto a boat and go for a ride. :-O It was free. The ferry ride was quick. I was a little nervous - I saw that Grey's Anatomy episode with the ferry crash and I know how devastating it can be. Still, we rode the little ferry boats several times over the weekend, and I lived to tell the tale.



It wasn't long after checking into the hotel before we hit the beach. We brought our kayaks to Port A, but the first day was the only day with flat seas. But it was freezing! So, we didn't kayak the first day, and the subsequent days were too windy/wavy for good kayaking. What a bummer! We should've yakked when we had the chance.



The moon was really pretty during the sunset.









See all those jelly fish? All those little white round things? That was the first time I'd seen them in the wild before! *shudders* They were EVERYWHERE during the trip.



This is why we went to Port A. Tom won this $2500 fishing platform at Sharkathon this year, and we had to pick it up. This is Danny with DMR Services in Ingleside. He did a great job on the platform. Thanks, Danny!



Tom and I headed to PINS - Padre Island National Seashore. This is where they have Sharkathon every year. You pay $10 to get in, and it lasts you a whole week. You can camp there the whole time and not pay more than $10 a week. We could pull the camper down there and use the generator and be totally civilized. I think that would be cool to do someday. There was still a lot of debris that had washed up onshore from Hurricane Ike, but the beach was nice.



Check out all those pelicans!



Me and my lack-of-balance and heights-make-me-dizzy-ness made it up on that platform. Hi Tom!



This was the best catch of the weekend. A black drum, aka "big ugly". WTG, Tom!



You'd think we know what we're doing. Ha!



All weekend long, people would say, "You're gonna do some serious fishing, huh?" If only they knew...

We left PINS to check out some bay waters on the way back to the hotel. Caught a few little fish, but this was my favorite sunset of the trip.

Then I turned around, and there was a big red moon!

The next day was 40 MPH winds. It was nuts! Check out the rippled sand. Tom and I ate breakfast that morning at San Juan Restaurant. I had migas and Tom had a chorizo burrito, and along with 2 drinks and tip, it was $10. We would've spent that at Whataburger! It was awesome and cheap and fast. We ate there 3 times over the trip. We went for dinner one night, and the special was fajitas with shrimp for $6.99. And it was the best shrimp I've had in a long time. I wish more restaurants would go cheap!

I love birds! This one is having deep thoughts - staring out into the ocean and contemplating the mysteries of the universe.

Hello, jelly fish.

Coming up in the next blog is our trip into Corpus Christi, where we toured the USS Lexington since it was too windy for fishing.

Tonight, we are going with my old boss to Stephan Pyle's restaurant downtown and to the Dallas Symphony Christmas concert. Then, we will officially have no money leftover for our anniversary. LOL I'm so looking forward to the fancy dinner/concert tonight!!

I have just one final exam left, and it's tonight. Yay!! Then we are off to Port Aransas.

Last week was pretty alright for us. I am so tired though. I have succumbed to the fatigue because I know I have a vacation coming up. We're leaving early tomorrow morning and coming back Monday. Tuesday, we're headed to the DSO Christmas concert with my old (I mean, former) employer and her husband. THAT I'm so excited about. We have an anniversary coming up too. December 20 will be 1 year. :-) We are not doing anything in particular that day, or exchanging gifts, since we have this trip and the symphony concert. We will probably stay in, have a nice dinner, and see how our top cake tier made it through the year. I'll have a cake mix handy just in case...I'm not expecting our wedding cake to be that great!

Friday, we got a new group of McNair Scholars. It's hard to believe I've been in for a year! That program has changed my life. I still feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants most of the time, but I have come a long way. When I think about what my CV is going to look like by the end of the summer, I get so excited. By then, I'll have presented at 8-9 conferences and have 3-4 papers published or "in press". I'm sure I could not have done it, in this amount of time, without the support of the program and my two amazing, crazy mentors.

A few of us went bowling Friday night. Not as many as last time. I guess people are worn down from studying. I needed the study break! It was nice, but I suck at bowling, and my arm is still sore from hurling that ball into the gutter. Then Saturday morning, Tom and I got up early to meet a bunch of folks for the Neiman Marcus Children's Christmas parade in downtown Dallas. Danyelle, Reade, Chase, Miranda, Kayla, Janelle, Brandon, Celise, Tammy, Michael, Connor, & Cayden. I think that was it... Here we are:

I should've gotten a group picture of us bowling - instead, I just got a bunch of pictures of people's butts. :-S

I also went on another cookie press extravaganza Sunday. That thing is too neat.

So anyway, I need to get in the shower. This morning, I have been working at home. I don't have a lot to do. I needed to take off early anyway to study for my last final exam. I'm planning to come back all refreshed from my trip and be ready to write some papers! That's the plan for Christmas break at work, anyway.

I probably won't be around until after my trip! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

I have this really obnoxious saying lately. "Think solutions, not problems!" Isn't that annoying? I use it all the time. It is good advice but I feel like a tool everytime I say it. I need it today because I'm getting all frustrated working in eCampus where I'm in charge of a project in 8 sections of an online class. I'm in charge because I'm the one who brought up all the issues students were having. This is why people end up being all apathetic and unhelpful at work, because sometimes you're just asking for more work when you say something.

But more work is a good thing. I want to be valuable.

So anyway, solutions, not problems. The grading a nightmare because the data collection we're doing (in the form of a project that has to be graded) is in 8 sections and 4 different groups (i.e., there are 2 sections each doing 4 different projects). Some people came to campus, some people did stuff online, some people submitted assignments correctly, some people emailed them, some people only completed part of the project so we're stuck with the issue of whether we should award partial credit.

There are no solutions to this one...I just need to get through this semester and spend a lot of time over the break doing better. I know for sure it's my responsibility next semester so I can plan it from the beginning. I can't wait til the grades are in and final so I can start thinking about next semester. I guess my solution is to keep trudging through.

Our other big problem right now is this house. They're putting a passenger train in our backyard. We went to a meeting about it last night at city hall. It's going to be a nightmare. Our intersection will be a railroad crossing, we'll have a train coming by a couple times an hour. They'll have to widen the street next to our house. They're already widening Swisher to 6 lanes with a new toll bridge over Lake Lewisville. One man said it well last night when he pointed out, "It will be just like living in Carrollton!" They tell us they aren't taking any of our backyard, but their math doesn't add up based on our property lines and the location of the railway. They want to tell us it isn't going to effect our ability to sell this house with a train in the backyard. Yeah right!

They showed a before and after picture of a house with "sound mitigation improvements". All I could tell was in the "after" picture, they had bars on their front door. Yay! We'll need bars on our door! (Poorly thought out demonstration on their part...) We don't get a sound wall so people will see right into our backyard from the train. I grew up close to a railroad, so I know we'll get used to the sounds and stuff. Everytime alcohol sales come to vote in my hometown, Edgewood, I think of Terrell. I think Edgewood will look like Terrell if we start selling alcohol. This feels the same to me. I've really grown to love where we live. It has a country feel to it but we're still close to Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and UNT. I hate thinking about it becoming like Carrollton. Not that there is anything wrong with Carrollton. It's just not Corinth.

We've looked at houses about 3 times before, everytime this train issue comes up. This time I think we're serious. It's coming and this place isn't going to be the same thing we picked 4 years ago. So we've been talking about our options. We could move to the west side of 35, but we'd still have the 6 lane Swisher Rd to deal with (it's 2 lanes right now). We could move north of Denton to the Sanger area, but I can't help but feel a little cynical like, "How long before they 'urbanize' that, too?" Surely we'd have a little more time in Sanger.

There's always Edgewood! Someone shoot me NOW...

We don't do homeowners associations, which also limits our options a bit (I think Tom loves old, ahem "classic" cars too much for a homeowners association). We could go west - maybe we should check out the area on 35 between Denton and Fort Worth. Heck, I talked to Tom about us just finding a place IN Denton. I think some of the neighborhoods north of University are decent and inexpensive.

The other issue is with the economy. We're lucky to be in a situation where we could buy a house while we wait to sell this one (or rent it). But the foreclosures make it really tempting to want to buy quickly. It feels like there is some added pressure to make a decision soon. If we wait 6-12 months, will home prices have gone up so much that we'll wish we had made our move now when we could've gotten a bargain?

Ugh, I don't have a solution for this one either. It's just one big fat problem. There are so many factors to consider and there is no way we can be sure we're making the right choice.

We've made it to December! I love Christmas. Thanksgiving, not so much. I could do without that one, really.

Tom's trip to Khristi's funeral went OK. He left Tuesday morning for Sealy, which is west of Houston. I slept so bad that night that at about 1am when I was still wide eyed, I drank a couple of beers, which eventually did help me sleep. Unfortunately I had to wake up at 6, but 4 hours was better than nothing. Wednesday, I went to the grocery store on my lunch break expecting a disaster, but actually, since it was noonish, it wasn't that busy and the store was very well stocked. The highlight of my day was finding Land O' Lakes butter on sale.

So back home, I started with my pies. I talked to Tom and he didn't think he'd be home in time for the Misfits concert at 8pm. So I threw on my PJs and started on the green beans. Then at 5pm, Tom said he was going to be there in time, so I rushed around getting dressed again, hopped in my car, and drove it to my sister's house where I was going to meet Tom and leave my car there for Black Friday. Rush hour on 635 E is no fun, especially the day before the holiday.

Anyway, I got to eat Taco Casa, which I only do in Garland, and we made it to the concert just a few minutes after the first band started. I couldn't shake my sleepy the whole night. Beer tasted nasty, 7 and 7 tasted nasty. I was too tired to drink, it was just running me further into the ground. The first 2 bands were OK, but not as fun as last year. The Misfits were good in their own little way. Meaning, they are terrible live, but it's fun anyway.

Turkey day, we got up early to head to my grandma's house in Paris. She announced that she isn't having Christmas Eve at her house anymore, so who knows what our plans are. I don't mind, I think at her age, if she doesn't want to host Christmas, she shouldn't. I'll go see her some other time of year. I'd rather see her one-on-one anyway! The food was good, the company was weird, and afterward, I went home with Danyelle so we could shop.

We napped from about 8-10pm and headed to Garden Ridge. We didn't leave Garden Ridge til about 1:30am...LOL. I got some new Christmas ornaments, a woman's gift for my family's Christmas, some coffee mugs, and who knows what else. Then we went to IHOP for a planning meeting. The food and coffee were great. Kohls opened at 4am this year. It wasn't so bad, really. They were extremely well-stocked, and I only saw a little bit of craziness. I got in line pretty soon because I had a kingsized reversible down alternative comforter ($24) I was tired of lugging around. People were desperate for carts, so they were finding people in the back of the line saying, "Hey, can I have dibs on your cart?" There was a lady raising hell at the front of the line, "I just had back surgery! This is RIDICULOUS! You need to fix this! People are STEALING CARTS!" OMG, did you really expect fairness on Black Friday? It's about strategy! Later, I was helping my sister, and that lady rammed me with her cart. LOL What a hoochie mama.

At Kohls, I also got a "cozy wrap", one of those blankets that you snap so it has arm holes. I really like it. And, of course, I got extra Christmas socks. My comforter rocks.

Then we went to Penneys, and nothing there really caught my eye. I was such a wuss this year, I couldn't stay awake. So after making sure I didn't need anything there, I checked out Dicks Sporting Goods and Staples, then I went to my sister's car for a nap. She and Jannelle came out not long after, we went back to her house, and I headed home. This was about 7:30am.

It rained like CRAZY on me in Lewisville. I almost pulled over because I couldn't see. When I got home, I saw Tom's Black Friday booty. He got us a new TV, a 52" Sharp Aquos. He also got me a top secret gift I'm giving to my sister for Christmas. He got the BB gun he's been wanting, and some misc. stuff like a new dog bed for Sasha, some fleece blankets, and some Bass Pro hoodies. Yes people, I now own a pink Bass Pro hoodie. I'm officially a redneck.

The new TV is AMAZING. I can't believe the HD. And I didn't realize how huge 52" is. I can't wait to watch the UFC fights on this bad boy.

I thought we were going to Edgewood right away, like leaving by 9:30am. But Tom said his family wouldn't be at his mom's house until evening, so we SLEPT. It was glorious! I put my new comforter on the bed and slept for a good solid 5 hours. Thank goodness, because I would've been totally useless without that nap. Then we headed to Edgewood, and had chicken and dumplings at Tom's parents' house along with some Thanksgiving leftovers. His uncle Tommy and aunt Sharon were there, too, on their way home from their daughter Khristi's funeral. It was nice to visit with them, I don't think I'd seen them since Amanda's wedding.

Saturday, Tom and I had a nice lazy shopping day. We slept LATE, went to eat at Cristina's about 3pm, and went to Target and Academy. Sunday, I put up the Christmas tree, and finally tried the Cookie Press that I got for Christmas last year. WOW, that thing works AWESOME! I didn't expect it to be so easy, and the cookies were delicious. I'm gonna go on a cookie rampage this weekend.

I also spilled coffee on my laptop this weekend. The keyboard is all wonky, I can't believe I've typed this entire thing without any issues. *sigh*

Today I'm playing hookie from school. Finals are next week, then we're leaving Thursday for Port Aransas. I can't wait to smell the saltwater.

So, hope everyone's Thanksgiving was good and that you're all ready for a fun Christmas season!