About an hour to go. Thought we might get to leave early but some people decided to come see the musuem...go to a movie instead!

5:00 Countdown

It's 2:30 at the musuem. Just counting down the minutes until the work day is over. In 2 1/2 more hours I will begin my 2 week Christmas vacation and will be on the road headed to Dallas. I can't wait to see my family! It's been a month since we saw each other at Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a wonderful and very merry Christmas!

Time Is On My Side

Yesterday I had a small moment of panic after lunch. I knew my couch was going to be delivered at some point and I had been told it would be late afternoon/early evening. This made me think that it might be around the time I got off from work which would have worked with my schedule a lot better. There were only two of us working on Wednesday and I was the only staff member so I couldn't leave work at all. (That's not how the day was planned when I agreed to have the couch delivered). So I got the fateful call at a little after 1:00. The couch was coming from Houston and the sales lady said they would call when they left the city and call again when they were an hour away to give me some time. So I call back and the mover guys tell me they are 10 minutes away from my apartmen! Even if I could have left work it takes me 30 minutes to get home! Grrr! So i quickly called the apartment complex to see if they could unlock the door. The receptionist said they weren't suppose to but they could if they had something in writing. I frantically wrote out a document that gave them legal permission to open my blasted apartment and shove my couch in. Thankfully when I got home that night there was a beautiful, comfortable couch in my living room. No more sitting on the floor!

*A breaker has shut off at work today. Of course it had to be the one that provides electricity to the kitchen. So the refrigerator and microwaves are out...looks like we will have to order hamburgers for lunch!

5 more chapters done on my defensive driving (3 of which I did at work). I now have 3 more chapter and the final test. The plan is to do all of this at work tomorrow. Since I will be the only one working in the office area and I really don't have much to do this week I figure I can execute this plan successfully. We shall see...

Today I finished all of my Christmas shopping. Well, at least everything is bought (I'm waiting for 2 items to come in the mail). I'm just happy to get out of the Christmas maddness. I'm not a typical girl in the fact that I really don't like to go shopping so Christmas time is 5 times worse. But it's all worth it to see the happy faces of my family on Christmas day. This year I was way ahead of schedule. Last year I was working 20 hours a week at the Provost office and about 30-35 hours at Kirklands. So all my Christmas shopping was done the day before Christmas Eve!

I started my defensive driving today. It's going to be a long journey. I'm doing it online which is nice because I can do it on my own time. I spent 2 1/2 hours on it tonight and I got through 3 chapters out of 12. This is a real life lesson for me...always go the speed limit!

Special Present

Today I got a special surprise at work. I showed up at 9:00 as usual for my Saturday work day. It was going to be just me and Ketra today. I got all the lights turned on and just as I was going to open the safe the phone rang. It was Houston (the director of the museum) calling to tell me that Ketra went to the emergency room yesterday and he couldn't get anyone else on the phone to take her place. He told me it was unsafe to have just one person working the museum so he told me to put up a closed sign and go back home. So now I have a 3-day weekend!

I ate so much food this week. We had two Christmas parties: one with our staff and one at Blinn College. Our staff party consisted of breakfast burritos, cream cheese rolls, and christmas cookies. We had a gift exchange and at the end of it I got a wonderful Christmas cd (which I had wanted) and 4 lottery tickets! These were my first lottery tickets--and I won dittley squat. At lunch we had lasagna, salad, bread, and cheese cake. I was so stuffed.

On Friday we went to the Blinn Christmas Party. Our museum is affiliated through Blinn--the way we explain it is we are the stepchild of Blinn. Blinn is located in Brenham which is about 30 minutes away. So we all loaded up in the van and headed out on our field trip. There was so much food there! Tons of cocktail shrimp, roast beef sandwhiches, a chocolate fondue fountain, and lots of desserts. It was another day of fullness!

I Got a Couch!

Well, my days of sitting on the floor are coming to an end. Today I found my very own couch! It is a cream color and the fabric is like suede. It comes with pillows but I'm going to change them--not my cup of tea. The best part is it folds out into a bed. That was my major stipulation. I had seen the couch in the store but it didn't have an "i'm also a bed" tag. Luckily the lady helping me checked and low and behold it was a bed! This way I will be able to have people over and they can comfortably sleep. The sofa is out of stock right now but it will be delivered once I get back from Christmas holidays. I'm so excited!

"Here Let Me Give You My Card"

Right before leaving work on Friday, the director of the museum, Houston, returned from Blinn College with a present for me...my business cards!!! I was so excited I wanted to give one to everyone I met that night at the mall.

Today we had a special reception at the museum for a group from China. Houston and I were the only staff people there to get ready for the event. The day before, Anne, the curator of education and Houston's wife, asked me to help him. She said he really didn't know how to set up for a reception. So I helped arrange the cookies and petit fours neatly on the plates. Then I set out the glasses for spice cider and the wine (that was quite different from any ACU receptions). When the group from China came it was fun to hear the interpreter speak chinese.

I'm still not use to having an upper level/salary job. I wasn't sure if I was suppose to go into the reception with everyone. I'm use to being the student worker or the sales associate--aka the bottom rung. But this time I was suppose to be there--it was a nice feeling.

It's very interesting to see what goes on at the museum. Each day is new and there are interesting surprises sometimes. I think that's why I like it so much!

Ice and TV Stars

Last night it was very very cold and rainy. I realized that there would probably be some ice on my car in the morning. So I left the apartment 10 minutes early in order to scrape it off. Well, the ice was on there a little bit thicker than I thought. At first I couldn't even get my key into the keyhole. Then, once i got the door unlocked I couldn't get the door open! I had to make countless trips in and out of the apartment with cup-fulls of warm water to dump on the door. (Also I couldn't find my gloves so I had a pair of warm socks on my hands). Finally, after about 20 minutes I got my door open. Then I couldn't find my scrapper. So I had to sit in the car and just wait for the defrost to thaw my car out. By the time I got to work I was an hour and 15 minutes late--Sheesh!

Effie, our secretary, found out from her husband that a man just down the road from the museum won the Home Edition of Extreme Makeover! So there are workers and camera crews just down the road. Starting this Saturday the public can park at the musuem and take a shuttle down to watch the construction. So if any of you watch this show keep a lookout for the episode located in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas!

Today I got a music downloading system! It's been quite awhile since I've had this. So a majority of my day off was spent downloading music. I've found my new time waster...second only to facebook :)

A few of my favorite downloads so far:
* "Hallelujah" song from the finale of season 1 of the O.C. (I tear up everytime I hear this song)
* "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You" from Mask of Zorro
* "Mack the Knife" sung by Michael Buble
* "One Song Glory" from Rent

Marshmellow Cream Dilema

Saturday I spent about 20 minutes searching for marshmellow cream. Sheesh! I needed to make a batch of fudge for my Small Group meeting Sunday night so I ventured to HEB for the ingredents. During my first 5 minutes of the search I ran into Andrei--a guy I met at church who actually worked with my dad a few years back. After a discussion about organic cereal I began my search again. I walked up and down every aisle and finally had to ask for help. The girl I asked had to go call the grocery department then came back to tell me it was on the side of the aisle. Finally I found it--located on the top of the shelf way out of eye level. Oy vey!

I watched an amazing movie Saturday night called Awakenings. It stars Robin Williams and Robert Deniro. It's about a doctor who helped epillectic comatose patients to revive. I absolutely loved it--it is on my Christmas list. Everyone should rent this movie!

Christmas Carnival

Friday night I helped at a Christmas Carnival that A&M Church of Christ puts on every year for children from low-income families. I figured this would be a good way to get involved with the church and have some time to interact with children. The night started off with me going to the wrong place (the church) and then having to call a lady I have befriended to receive directions to the carnival. Once I got there I had to figure out where I was suppose to be stationed--I signed up to help with the arts and crafts table. So the first lady I found I asked if she could direct me. She was so sweet and made sure I found my table. The craft of the night was Christmas cards involving construction paper, stickers, Christmas foam pieces, glue, markers, and pom pom balls. We were a very popular table during the night.

The lady who helped me find my station stayed with me and learned about why I was here in College Station and about my activities in Abilene. Through our talk I found out she is the Children's Coordinator at church and was interested in my work with the youth at Highland. Because of this contact I think I may have a position helping out in the 3 year old class starting in January! I'm so excited--I've really missed teaching at church. Just another step to getting more involved with my new church family.

*Interesting note: Last Monday while shopping in Target I realized one of the workers looked familiar. He did a double take of me as he walked by. On his way back he asked if I was from Abilene. I said yes and then asked him if he went to Abilene High...another yes. Brandon Corey (who I went to middle and high school with) is just recently out of the Marines and going to school out here---what a small world!