Saturday Fun in Pittsburgh in Pictures

did the 15 minutes of fame!

The presentation is DONE!! I was presentation number 8 of 12 of the new doctoral candidates. It was a pretty cool experience and and I'm glad it's finished. . . . A classmate actually video taped all our presentations and so I'm looking at how I did. .

School's Almost Done!

Posters, Friday presentations to peers and faculty, Saturday free day and Graduation Sunday!! WOOHOO!! As one of my advising instructors says "Feel the Glow" Well. . . .I'm getting there.

wordless wednesday

Just a few short days

and it'll be over. Let's see. . .the list before leaving for Pennsylvania

manuscript bound (2 copies) and ready to go = check
poster, ordered and received = check
powerpoint for presentation = check
handouts for instructors and peers = almost check, need to make copies
electronic format for capstone project = check
suitcases out with beginning signs of packing = check
graduation costume packed = check
outfits picked out for presentations = check
girls hair done for the weekend = check

okay, what am I forgetting? I'll never know until I'm on the airplane and remember, oh yea, I forgot ________________!!! Geez, oh well. . . and then will think I can do without it for just a few days. . .

need to get cheese curds for my cohort, yes cheese curds!
When we met in July, no one knew what a cheese curd was so we all decided to gift each other with something known for in our state, so Wisconsin = cheese (cheese curds). Now, what kind to get? Decisions, decisions. I'll be so elated Sunday night when we are on our way home and life can resume to something more normal.

Motorcycles for India

I know, you think motorcycles for India?? What does that mean? Well. . . because I have to post, I'm leaving you with a teaser. I'll explain tomorrow.

st. nicholas

Did visit this year! We really don't do the "Santa" thing here at our house, but we do talk about St. Nicholas and the great things he did. So this year, the girls got bubble gum and socks to keep their little toesesesesssss warm! It was pretty funny, Kidist woke up first and found her goodies, and very quickly said, "I've been a good girl this year, St. Nick brought us something!" It's still pretty cool to watch the girls get excited over the little things. . . Makes me smile!

We now have a curler in our house

Bayat attended her first curling group today! She is going to be part of the Blackhawk Curling Club Junior League! Last year her kindergarten teacher, who curls, invited our entire family to the curling open house. We all went and gave it a try including myself. There are pictures to prove it too! SO anyway, I'm just about finished with my extracurricular educational pursuits and I think the girls are ready for some extracurricular activities, so away we go! Bayat really enjoyed the open house and seemed to quickly get the hang of it, so today she started! She's excited about it and has already made a few new friends.

too sick and tired to write yesterday!

So I didn't . . . . . . . .

Ta Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

The book is here! The book is here!! It's so very cool! It's pretty amazing to see all of the work I've been doing for the past 16 months in print form! It's all coming together. 11 more days until graduation and then it's Dr. Lori ~ That actually sounds kind of funny!

Wednesday ~ Wordless of course

Some random pictures!!


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Today's writing prompt

IS: Are you a competitive person or not? What helps you refocus and/or work harder when you find yourself slacking off?

I wouldn't say that I am competitive, I would say that I don't want to be left behind or in the dark. As I am finishing up my degree, I would like to think that I've had a collaborative relationship with my cohort peers, being supportive, supported and just being there. There is always the one that posts first, makes the argument first, and is the leader of the pack, but I wouldn't say it's me! I am the one who sits quietly among the crowd gleaning information and taking it all in and then will add my two cents.

So let me pose the question another way. Am I a competitive person when it comes to my hubby? YES!!! But I always lose :-) And know that I will lose, but still the competition is ON!

When the heat is on, I don't know that there is one thing that can help me to focus. That comes from the inside. Let's take running for example. I don't consider myself to be a "runner" perse, but like to keep active and well. . . it's good for me. It's definitely not easy for me and having someone to run with is most beneficial for compliance. I run with a co-worker who is 14 years younger than me and for the most part I can keep up. Now I would not say that it's competitive between us, but we do support each other. We just ran our first 5K together and she finished 2 minutes ahead of me! Good for her! Again, I'm just happy I'm running and doing well with it. We are talking about looking into some 10K runs for the spring and this will be good as we work toward supporting each other to increase our running distance and endurance. Not competitive. The thing that keeps me focused is that I know it's healthy for me to do, I feel better when I do it and I'm hopefully being a good example for my daughters. Fenric the dog gets his exercise too! So. . . competitive, I don't know if I fit that bill in my adult life.

Monday Mixup~

So today, I get a call from the bookbinding place. They have shipped someone elses manuscript to my house. I can't even pronounce his name so it must be important. They are shipping my book/manuscript to my house today, with an estimated ship arrival date of Thursday! Cutting it just a tad close for me, but I guess it'll have to do. . .Still working on my final TO DO LIST in preparation for the final presentations/defense, etc. and slowly getting it done. Wish me luck.

A day of rest

Living Life - Jingle Bell Run

Today a coworker, a friend of mine and I ran a 5K to raise money for arthritis. It took place right here in Janesville and yes, it was snowing. We didn't think it would happen, but it did. So we ran in about 3-4 inches of snow at about 9:30 in the morning. Overall it was a lot of fun and well it was for a good cause. Bobbie came in first at 29 minutes and seconds, me at 31 minutes and seconds and Margo 33 minutes and seconds. I think we had good times considering it was snowing and at the end was quite slick! Good times had by all. . . . .

hair, hair, and more hair

So the girls and I are driving home a few nights ago and I'm scanning the radio stations for something to listen to. I come across a sort hip hop song and I think I hear "I whip my hair back and forth" and then tonight on the prowl for hair pretties I come across this. . . . and well. . . quite frankly it caught my attention. So with all the talk about hair, "I want long hair, straight hair, etc." I present two videos I've found on the great internet. . . . I have to say I well. . . like the second one best. . .

I like this one, it's cute, adorable and well just plain true! It gives little girls a positive image about having hair that is versatile.

Zeitgeist - what does it mean?

Zeitgeist = is "the spirit of the times" or "the spirit of the age." Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and/or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambience, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era.
I'm not really sure what that means exactly, or it might be that I am too tired to really read what those words say and mean! I'm going to take it to mean that right now is a good time to be where I am with my family, doing what we do and living life to the fullest! Hopefully that captures the spirit of the times in my house!

So Zeitgeist is the theme for Decembers NaBloPoMo. We'll see. . . I might have to use some of the daily thoughts for writing this month. . .

December 1, 2010 let's try this again!

So it's NaBloPoMo for December. I've got very little homework, and well I don't know that I'll be able to post everyday as I will be out of the country from December 26 until Jan. . . perhaps I can con my hubby into posting for me. . .

So we'll see. . . School update: The doctoral manuscript has been submitted to the printer and hopefully I'll be receiving three nicely bound books with my name as the author. The topic: Spirituality and Health and Spiritual-Well Being. . . Deep huh?? Not so much. . . I'm looking forward to it being all done so that I can get on with some of lifes more fun occupations: quilting, reading, baking, etc. . . .

So we'll see what we can do for December daily posts! Oh yea the topic is Zeitgeist. . . can you figure it out. . . .hum! i'll post more about that tomorrow!

I know, bad blogger

My posts are about one month apart, I know, but it's almost over. I'm just way to crazy right now to blog. The girls are doing fine, Bond is well and I've finished chapter four of my capstone project for my doctorate. Some edits, and chapter 5 reflecton, and then graduation in December. WooHoo!

I'm looking forward to getting my life back. Don't get me wrong, I totally enjoy learning and love the learning, but it's soooooooooo time consuming and the time I spend doing homework, writing, etc. takes me away from so many other things.

I have two quilts in process and am really hoping to get them both, yes both, done before November and December, one each month. I'll try to be better about posting at least wordless Wednesday pictures, because really, I know it's the girls you want to see anyway :-) It's all good. Thanks for reading and checking up on the blog.

Melkam Addis Amet - Happy Ethiopian New Year!

Melkam Addis Amet - Happy Ethiopian New Year!

Enkutatash is the Ethiopian New Year which will be celebrated by the Gregorian calendar on 11 September 2010.

Yes, the Ethiopian New Year is NOT the same as ours! So the girls get to have multiple celebrations throughout the year! It is currently 2002 in Ethiopia as they use a different calendar system that the rest of the world.

Beginning Wordless Wednesday Early

Think Red for Recycle

Today I donated my first pint of blood. It was not as bad as I thought. Actually the process before donating was more painful. The questions, reading the pamphlet, redoing the questions, the health history, you get the picture. The girls wanted to come with because they wanted to watch mommy get a marfay (shot) but were unable to wait as long as it took for mommy to get a marfay (I'm sure the spelling is not correct, but oh well). So the whole process took about 40-45 minutes and the actual blood donation took about 10-15 minutes. I didn't feel dizzy, unstable, or anything. I am going to make a date to do this every 8 weeks. It's definitely a way for me to love my neighbor as well as be an example to my girls about helping people you don't know and doing good in the world. So next time you are looking to volunteer to help someone, donate blood, you actually are helping three of your neighbors!

so it's sunday

and I attempted to take a sabbath day. a real sabbath day, no cooking, no cleaning, etc. this is the most work i've done all day, writing this post. i feel kind of guilty, but in some sense, a real sense, it's nice to let your brain and body have a break! the girls freaked out a bit when i announced that i was not cooking dinner :-). of course kidist says, "daddy can cook" with daddy answering, "________________". that would be no answer. . . .the girls didn't want sandwiches, that is boring. so they scrounged around the fridge and came up with some pretty healthy left overs and they actually heated up food with supervision of course. so one successful sabbath day has been had at my house today! we'll have to try that again real soon.

didn't know what to write today so . . .

i decided to post pictures instead. One of Bayat holding veggies from our garden, both girls at the Mehaber in MN july 2010 and the girls attempting to sleep in the tent up north. I ended up being summoned about 10:30 because of the noises. Oh well. . . Enjoy

contemplations

Not going to write a whole lot tonight. . . been reading and thinking and wondering and pondering. . . what does it mean to love your neighbor?? Your next door neighbor, your neighbor across the street, the neighbor down the road, across town, in another city, state, country? A different land from which you reside? What does it mean to love your neighbor? I get something, mixed feelings, confused, etc. when I see some of what I see on the internet. (Don't really want to expand on that at the moment). I live in the land of the free, free to do, for the most part, what ever I want to do. Does that mean I should just do foolishly with the gifts that God has given me? Probably not! But does it mean that I should also shout out about what I do? Probably not! But what about bringing about awareness to those who don't know what is going on in the neighborhood! I think it very important to expose the nature of all things, especially those things that WE can CHANGE! So my ponderings, How can I love my neighbors near and far and do it in Christian love? Thanks for reading and pondering with me, because if you've read this far you might be asking yourself the same questions. Peace to all and to all a peaceful night~

Green Jalapenos make good salsa~

Today the girls and I did some canning. We made 5 pints of hot salsa with 7 jalapenos (my fingers are still burning) from the garden and 3 pints & 3-1/2 pints of strawberry jam! Overall, it was a great day with some bumpy beginnings! I've included a picture of the lovelies standing by their green garden creations :-)