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Looking at the course calendar, I read:

Last Day of Frustration - December 9th

It actually says:

Last Day of Instruction - December 9th  

Of course we have assessment week after the last day of instruction so the official "Last Day of Frustration" for me will be December 16th.  Then, freedom!  Glorious freedom!  

Is this really me?

 Picture from North and South

I was looking over my blogger profile recently and I started laughing at what I had on there.  Who was I trying to impress?  I liked all the books and movies but really?  If you were trying to get to know me on the basis of the profile, I would be pretty girly girl with my period dramas and Jane Austen books.  I like my movies funny and semi-romantic but my tv shows?  That's a whole different genre...  I love mystery and action with a little science fiction.  Favorite TV shows: Castle, Rosemary and Thyme, Stargate SG1, Star Trek: The Next Generation, MacGyver, Remington Steele, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Walker Texas Ranger, NCIS, Covert Affairs, you get the picture. Not exactly what you'd expect from the period drama nut.

So Many Reasons... pt. 2

Funny how thankfulness sinks in.  I've been struck by all the little things that I take for granted during my day.

22.  Caffeine
23.  Clean socks
24.  Sisters (genetic and "adopted")
25.  Hot water
26.  Alarm clocks
27.  Transportation
28.  Trader Joe's
29.  My Parents
30.  Blogs
31.  Meeting my neighbor
32.  Hanging out with friends
33.  Reading with 2nd graders
34.  Hearing children speak Spanish
35.  Children that don't laugh when I speak Spanish in return.

Nerdyness

I went for a hike today.   And not just any hike, a hike with some plant nerds like me.   Ones that initiated the plant talk and had a game going looking for fungi.  So much fun!  I've missed that type of thing.  My family gets that I'm plant nerd.  My mom's a plant nerd.  We like to be plant nerds together.  But being a plant nerd with peers... a little harder to come by.  When I was taking environmental studies classes, no one else really got excited about plant id, drawing plants, or finding out more about the plants.  I was "weird' even in that context. 

During high school and my first year of college, I was involved with a plant group.  We were all plant nerds.  We did plant nerdy things together like getting excited about new plants, arboretums, and plant identification.  It was fun having friends interested in the same thing.  It's times like this I wonder about my major. 

The same type of situation comes with period dramas.  In high school and early in college, we had a group of girls that appreciated period dramas like A&E's Pride and Prejudice, Wives and Daughters, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility.  Tonight, my sister and I were discussing how we miss meeting people who appreciate period drama.  She just met up with a group who are interested in period dramas.  Kindred spirits are in short supply here in this area. Or I need to look a little harder for them.  :) 

So many reasons...

A couple friends have been posting what they're thankful for each day on Facebook.  I like the concept. I'd just rather do it on my blog...

I'm thankful for:

1. "Free" weekends where all I need to do is homework
2. Having the Bible in multiple versions and forms
3. Freedom 
4. Dreams
5. Vacuums :)  
6. Spanish Flashcards
7. First graders who are enthusiastic about P.E.
8. the campus Christian Club
9. Finally being able to nail the "correct" theme (or at least come super close) in my children's literature class
10. An excellent local library
11. A yellow flower growing outside the library
12. Boxes that can be recycled to make dvd shelves
13. Face to face time with the sister over the internet
14. A great place to work, where I can stop in between classes just because I have time
15. Getting the classes I needed for Spring and mapping out the last semester.  
16. Sharing the same interest in TV and movies with a co-worker 
17. Carpeted floors for dropping electronics
18. Fun friends in my classes
19. People with French accents and fun senses of humor
20. Finding a good run/walk route 
21. My education
    

Tent Syndrome

Public Service Announcement:
Do you have tent syndrome?  This temporary condition afflicts thousands of people every year.  People go camping and think that no one around them can hear what's being said inside the tent.   This may be due to a temporary loss of object permanence once you step inside the tent.  If you can't see it, it's not there.   This dangerous condition has threatened many relationships.  Its insidiousness is not limited to tents but can be observed in other situations including the dreaded "This is a private conversation that no one else should hear but I'm talking about it at Starbucks."  You too can raise awareness and help stop tent syndrome by talking loudly about tent syndrome in public places that might give people the illusion of privacy.  A public restroom is a good spot to start.

----End of Public Service Announcement---

We've all seen tent syndrome in action:
Like when we'd go to Mexico...  You'd have a line of tents, a boy half and a girl half.  Invariably, someone in the girl half would be talking about a boy who is just a few tents over...  Until someone in boy tent starts talking and all of a sudden the girl side realizes that the fabric walls don't stop the sound.  Oops! Both sides would do this.... the things you would hear! 

I think I'm living in a tent.  I used to want to live in a yurt.  I take that back now.   My neighbors were in their yard late last night and early this morning.   I was half asleep; but this morning, I woke with a memory of someone talking about Jesse being gay.  Tent syndrome strikes again!  Just because you're talking to someone doesn't mean the rest of the world can't hear.  You're outside.  Sound travels. 

I have a partition dividing my room from the entry way so if you stand in common area, I can hear just about everything you say.  So at 6 am, my housemates came in and started to settle some friends in to camp out on the floor in the common area.  My favorite bit: housemate says to friends, "I'll see you both in the morning."  I respond: "Um, it's 6 am; it is morning!"  Silence.  Tent syndrome. 

Yes, thanks to tent syndrome, I watched the sun rise this morning.  It was beautiful. 

Now, I'm going to go dig out my white noise machine and plug it in.

So neighbors and housemates, if you can hear my "ocean", I can hear you!

  

Garden Day

Today, I went to play in my garden and took my camera along.

 My favorite heirloom bean: Rattlesnake.

 Best part about rattlesnakes is that the pattern on the bean differentiates it from the stem.  Most beans blend with the stem color which makes them harder to find.  Although, I still miss finding them even with the pattern! 

 My cilantro grew nice and big earlier in the summer.  I came out one night to cut it for dinner only to find that something had been nibbling on it.  I'm going with rabbits here since deer aren't usually in the residential areas.  Both plants were nibbled back over two days.  When the cilantro grew back it started to bolt.  I left them since I think the flowers are rather beautiful.  The flowers have larger white edge petals.  The centers are trimmed with pink.  They work as cut flowers but smell like cilantro.

So far I've lost 4 different plants to gophers.  The gophers have breached the chicken wire under the plot.  Plants lost: 1 tomato, 1 nasturtium 1 cilantro, 1 cucumber.  

I'm taking bets on what plant will disappear next!

 The tunnels are collapsing but I don't have a clear entry point to work with.  I'm curious if planting poisonous plants like poison hemlock or oleander around a garden would do anything to deter gophers.  When I first started my garden plot, there was a large poison hemlock plant in the center and no gopher trouble.  The hemlock died and was taken out.  Now I have gophers...  Of course, I may just have the five star plant buffet or the gophers took advantage of our wet spring to go forth and multiply.  Who knows?  :)