More Holdiay Fun

I'm back home now after spending the last 6 days celebrating Christmas at my parents house. I think six days is really too long, but we did have a wonderful time together For the most part. There was what will now go down in family history as the Scrabble incident.

I arrived there on the 23rd and was immediately told by my parents that they would like me to pick up my brother at the airport. His flight arrives at 10 p.m. Neither one of my parents like to drive after dark, but I was expecting at least one of them might like to accompany me to the airport. No such luck they were quite content curled up in their pajamas watching the hockey game. Happily Matt's plane arrived on time and we were both back home a little after 11. Although everyone was exhausted we stayed up until 2:00 in the morning, chatting and catching up. I really hate that I only see my younger brother a couple times a year.

Matt initiated a Scrabble game on Christmas eve, just the two of us head to head. We are both pretty competitive but I did not realize how competitive my brother was until we started playing this game. Now let me say for the record I prefer playing Scrabble online, it adds up the points for you which is for me the least favorite part of the game. Things were going along swimmingly until I put an S at the end of a vertical word and used that S to create a new horizontal word that ended with a triple word score. According to my brother THAT was an illegal move? "WHAT are you talking about?" I asked. "How is that an illegal move?" "You finished a word with an S, that was your move, you can't make two moves in one turn." Matt argued back. Clearly NY rules and IL rules of Scrabble are very different. I looked at him in total disbelief knowing that I had played this way for years and had never been challenged. I'd love if some of my blog readers would chime in on this one.

We pulled out the very small rule book and both argued our points, he continues to insist that if my letter S was in the middle of my horizontal move it would be okay but not at the beginning? I had never heard such crazy talk in my entire life. At this point for me it really was no longer about winning the game but educating my brother on the rules of Scrabble. He did not seem interested in learning. After a few more moves it became evident that in order for harmony to reign for the holidays we should stop playing. So we did, in the middle of the game, we folded up the board and put it away. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

The rest of the holidays were consumed by one family gathering after another 4 days worth! I arrived back home yesterday afternoon and have been enjoying the quietness of my own home. I've got a stack of books to read, a new Kindle and far too many Christmas cookies that my mom insisted I take home with me.

A Tale of Two Weekends

Last weekend was insane, this weekend was wonderful.
Last weekend I had to get up early, teach a 4 hour class, clean my house, do laundry, and finish all the paper work to refinance my house

This weekend I celebrated Christmas with the girls in my book club, I slept in this morning, met a couple of dear friends for coffee, finished my Christmas shopping and wrapping. I now have 2 weeks to relax and enjoy the holiday season. My weekend would have been complete if only I had run into this man. And his sleigh.







These pictures were taken last year with my cell phone camera. Today, I had my real camera with me and was hoping to run into this jolly old man who seems to have taken it upon himself to bring cheer to the shoppers in the Rochester area. Unfortunately today he was elusive.

Rude Student Behavior

For the last two Saturdays I have had the privilege of teaching adult students in one of our non traditional programs. Now I realize that the freshmen college students I teach are also adults but sometimes some of them really do not act that way. I've got two classes left with this group of freshmen. I've really enjoyed them but some of their behaviors are beginning to bug me. I realize what I am about to say will not surprise anyone, but why must students send text messages during class?

I set my standards the very first day of class, you do not need your laptops for my class, they'll be no Facebook or Solitaire on my watch and there will be no texting. I've had to occasionally remind a student of these rules, but this last Thursday one of my students nearly sent me over the edge.

She was sitting directly to my right when during the middle of me leading a class discussion she pulled out her phone and began to send a text. "Put that away there is no texting in my class" I said to her quietly. I actually do not like to embarrass students, perhaps that is part of my problem. She put it away and then 5 minutes later she pulled it out again. "Put it away" I said this time a little louder and I thought with more authority. She rolled her eyes at me and stuffed it back in her pocket. A few minutes later she pulled it out a third time, once again I told her to put it away. Now, I'm really pissed! If your texting is more important than what is happening in class than please don't come to class. I glared at her and she once again puts it away. I am being 100% honest when I say that after a few minutes more she pulls it out one more time. This time her hands and her phone remain underneath the table, as if I am an idiot and really don't know what she is doing.

In the meantime, I'm trying to lead a class discussion on Men, Woman and Biblical Equality. We're also discussing the idea of Ordaining Woman and a woman's role in the church. It is a great conversation that my class and I are having. Yet while I'm leading this discussion Ms. text-a-lot is busy working her thumbs. She is close enough to me that I could kick that darn phone out of her hand and sending it flying under the conference table I think to myself. Yes, that's what I'll do I'll kick it out her hands. Wait is that appropriate behavior for a college instructor? What if I break the phone? I really don't want to break her phone but I really wish she'd stop texting. It is so distracting to me. Yes, I'm going to kick it on the count of three, 1,2, Oh wait I'm trying to listen to another student share her thoughts about woman in ministry.

Ultimately I did nothing. I'm a little disappointed in myself. I kind of wished I punted it out of her hands. But then again if I had, I might be cell phone shopping to today and I really did not have time to do that.

Things that arrived today..

December 1st and the first real snowfall of the year have both arrived. That's just swell. Every year when the first snowfall arrives I ask myself over and over again "Why do I live in this part of the country?" I am not a winter enthusiast, I wish I was, but I'm not. Here's the problem, I love being outside and as soon as the first snow falls it reminds me that for the next 4 months I will be trapped indoors. Now I will say that the snow is quite pretty, but it's also cold and wet and slippery to walk and drive in and I just don't like it. Someone recently asked me if I had any winter note cards to sell. I have pictures from every other season besides winter. Proof that I really, really do not like snow.

I have completed all my Christmas shopping, my list this year was much, much smaller since my family this year decided to draw names instead of all of us buying for each other. I'm not sure why we didn't do this sooner. At any rate, my online shopping is done. The beauty of online shopping? Well the first is obvious, never having to step foot in a crowded shopping mall. The second? Multiple deliveries from the UPS or Fed Ex man. I can't help but get a little giddy when I see these trucks turn down my road and wonder if it's for me. One gift arrived today.

The third thing to arrive today? What I thought was a used book I ordered turned out to be paperwork as thick as a book. I've decided with interest rates being as low as they are to refinance my house. I'm psyched about the money I will be saving and the fact that I have taken 5 years of the life of my loan. I am not so psyched about the load of paperwork I have to do.