I can't feel my hands. Ish.

It's still cold. The roads are getting better but I don't think the snow is melting much. There are still tons of people without power, including some members of my family and some coworkers. It could still be a week before they get power back and it's....it's just so inconvenient and icky and annoying. Thankfully our power never went out, so our refrigerator is full of food from my grandma's house (her power has been out since Wednesday, I think). It's been so crowded at work, too! Some people have come in and used our outlets to charge cell phones and stuff, but I think most of them are just bored, honestly. I'm normally a big fan of winter (Christmas! Christmas break! And heat is gross) but this is just getting silly. And despite the fact that spring in the Ohio Valley is absolutely horrible and disgusting (ever felt like your sinuses were going to explode?) I think I'm looking forward to the thaw and warmer weather. I'm tired of being cold, for once.

It will be interesting catching up with school work next week (apparently some power is still out on campus but they are determined to have classes anyway) and hopefully everything will be OK.

I don't have anything interesting to say (do I say that often?), I was just bored and I'm putting off taking a shower because once I do I will want to go to bed, and it's too early. So, here I am hanging out on blogger. I think more people should update their blogs so I will have something to read other than my "Plessy vs. Ferguson" book for History class. So, get to it, people!

See?

I think there's a gnome in here somewhere...

Brrrrrrrrrr

Things here are bad. Well, sort of. Thankfully we have power (it would be really bad if we didn't, with all the animals and such). But it really does look like bombs have been going off all over the city, and then the whole place was spray-painted white. I had to go in to work yesterday (my boss was there for five or six hours by herself) and we had to take a few alternate routes to travel to the library, which really isn't that far from my house. I don't think we passed a single yard that didn't have some kind of limbs or trees in it. It's rather apocalyptic looking, I guess. And then there are the downed power lines (we accidentally drove over a dead one yesterday, and another was about to fall). People are trapped in their neighborhoods and subdivisions, roped off from the rest of the world by caution tape and giant frozen trees. The roads are nasty, too. My school has yet to cancel classes for tomorrow but to be honest, if they don't call them off, they are insane- especially since everything at my school is no a hill. If everything wasn't covered in ice and snow, it would look like we had been hit by some powerful, mysterious tornado that only attacks plants and power lines (not buildings). It's downright creepy.

Hopefully we will continue to have power and stay reasonably warm here at home. If classes are canceled tomorrow I don't *have* to go anywhere until Saturday, which is good.

Hopefully winter weather is treating you better than it is Louisville.

If you're bored and like reading news stories, here are a few about what's going on in our neck of the woods:

1.3 Million Lose Power, Long Outage Feared

Governor Declares State of Emergency

Ice Storm Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery 2

I'm the snow miser.

Isn't it weird how, when faced with a budget crisis, some employees (I'm not naming any names...) are considered "non-essential" and therefore get days off without pay, and yet, when the streets are covered in ice and snow, the governor declares a state of emergency, and the mayor begs everyone to stay home, those same employees are like, the only ones required to come in to work? Because they are so..."essential"?

It's downright wacky, I tell you.

Completely pointless weather post.

The weather is being weird here.
My mom has mentioned it on her blog, but for those of you who may not know it, people in our city freak out when there is a mention of snow. Because if it might snow, then we might get twenty inches of snow. Or four inches of solid ice. Or nothing at all. There are runs on milk and bread at the grocery store (why not snack cakes and Diet Coke? That's what I'd get, anyway.)
So my dad has been speaking ominously of the impending weather for the past several days. One meteorologist was apparently saying he expected schools to be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. I would be just fine with that! I don't have school on Tuesday but Wednesday I have a Chem test and like, nine other classes. Practically. I would love to be out of school, even if it meant I was stuck at home in my messy room with nothing to eat but Ramen noodles. I don't mind. I've been in bed sick all weekend anyway. I'm not really enthusiastic about breaking up this routine (minus the sick part).

But I don't think it's snowing. I haven't been outside yet, but it was barely doing anything last night. I actually think it's getting warmer outside. It's still supposed to stay below freezing in my city, but who knows. Weather is weird here. I don't think anyone can really explain it properly. I pretty much have to go to work tonight, even though I still feel really bad, so I will see what the mood is there. Maybe hardly anyone will come in because they are afraid of driving tonight. I don't think I'd mind that at all.

Tag, I'm it.

Uh-oh. I have been tagged! There is a photo game around here in blog land where you open the fourth folder wherever you store your digital pictures, and choose the fourth photo and post it and explain it. And tag four people. Brooke has tagged me. So...here we go..




Well that's not very exciting. This is where I work- before we opened- and all the things that we had to put away. It still looks like this sometimes but I think I was particularly overwhelmed that day and decided to document this excruciating mess. There are like, six other pictures from different angles in this folder but I won't bore you with those. Anyway. There is a little slice of my life for you.

On to the tagging...um...I guess I tag mom and Kelli. And if anyone else wants to do this, feel free! I am too sleepy to think of two other people who haven't done this yet to tag!

Today.

Today marks the thirty sixth anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision, when our Supreme Court justices legislated from the bench and basically stated that it's ok to deny the most important of our constitutional rights, the right to life, to unborn children, so that the mother may not be "inconvenienced", "burdened" or "punished". Since this decision was handed down in 1973 approximately forty million children have died in what I am unashamed to label the American Holocaust.

Today, please pray. Pray to end abortion. Pray that our new Commander in Chief will follow the path of so many politicians and neglect to keep one of his campaign promises (the promise to sign the "Freedom of Choice Act", more here). Pray that President Obama will make wise decisions regarding this issue, as he was seen as one of the most "pro-choice" (i.e. pro-abortion) Senators in our country. Pray for the crisis pregnancy centers whose sole purpose is to show women who are considering an abortion that yes, that is a baby they are carrying, not just "fetal tissue" or "uterine contents". Pray for the demonstrators in Washington today, as well as around our country, that they will be safe and their message will not only be heard, but taken as legitimate. Say a prayer of gratitude for the women who have made the decision not to take the easy way out, and have either kept their children or provided an adoptive couple with a child of their own. And lastly, but most importantly, pray for those women who are facing fear and worry, today and every day, about what to do. Pray that they will choose life over death. Selflessness over convenience. Pray that they will choose love.

The people person's paper people.

Howdy. I have to go to work in a few hours. Before I do, I thought I would procrastinate and post on my blog.

Last night was really fun. Kelli and I went to Babies R Us, which does not sell babies, and tried to find clearance things to take to A Woman's Choice. This store is expensive. And the clearance section was...not much. Mostly toddler things, anyway. We did find some deals on bottles (which they need pretty badly) and Kelli bought a ginormous box of like, six hundred baby wipes (also on the "most needed" section of the list). We decided that next week we will try to take our stuff over there. I'm pretty excited about it. I found some big gift bags at the dollar store and we've got one filled with boy stuff, one filled with girl stuff, and a bag full of just bottles. Hopefully it will help. And then we can start collecting all over again.

Also, I think I mentioned that I had accomplished some wedding things recently. I found bridesmaids gifts, but I won't say what they are on here because some of my bridesmaids read this (if not all of them) and I want it to be a surprise! They came in the mail the other day and that's pretty exciting. Um, what else...oh, I found my favors. I've decided that I want to kind of have a snowflake theme, even though it pretty much never snows when one wants it to here in Kentucky. So I found these really cute snowflake bookmarks. I like the fact that they come in their own little boxes with tags. Also they are cute, and bookmarks are pretty useful. I like books. Brandon likes books. This seems to fit us- except Brandon doesn't care a whole lot about wedding planning. Except he wants the one Star Wars song for the recessional.

The favors I will probably get

Tonight I have Econ homework and general studying to do, so I don't know when I will post again. There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding when I'm going to do things, it seems. All I can say is, I can't wait for school to be over, and hopefully I will get good enough grades to keep my scholarships.

It's incalculable.

While I am very happy not to go to school or work today, as it is a holiday, and also I often dislike going to those places, today has not gone as expected. I was pretty unhappy when I went to bed last night and didn't sleep well. This morning mom came in and said it snowed, and I couldn't drive to Brandon's but he could come get me. Well, that's kind of a big chunk of time we would be wasting, so after much discussion he is headed over here (dad and Jonathan are both home today). I had wanted to go out to lunch, with one of our Christmas gift cards, but we aren't. I had planned on going to Toys R Us on the way to Brandon's this morning to see what baby stuff I could find on clearance for my rapidly increasing collection of stuff for donation to A Woman's Choice (if you have anything you want to give, let me know!) but obviously I'm not going...so yeah.

I've been particularly moody lately and I'm really trying not to let these small changes in schedule ruin my day. I lack some kind of coping mechanism. And I can be really grumpy, for lack of a better word, when I let myself. So I'm trying not to let myself. I keep saying to myself that I still get to spend time with Brandon (we are watching my DVDs of The Office together!), and I still don't have school tomorrow, and even though I have to go to work the helper we had on Saturday did a LOT and the "holiday weekend mess" that we normally have will be easier to deal with. Also Kelli will come over tomorrow afternoon, and we are going clearance shopping and to Whole Foods. We love that place. Maybe we will watch a movie as well, that would be nice. I am choosing to ignore the fact that my first day back to school this week will be one of the crazy Wednesdays, where I have almost all my classes in a row.

I hope everyone had a good weekend, and if you're off school or work today, have fun with that, too. I'm sorry I didn't have more to say! I have no meaningful thoughts- I haven't been awake that long. Maybe later today I will write about the small amount of wedding stuff I have accomplished.

Beyoncé, pink the color, Pink the person, hot dogs, basically anything that is awesome, snowcones...

Favorite movie: Moulin Rouge... also Labyrinth, Willow, Airplane, and anything that can consistently make me laugh. Plus Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Those are givens- aren't they on everyone's list?

Favorite color: Pink. Also purple. And silver.

Favorite music: I got a Gillian Welch CD from the library that I really like. I listen to lots of stuff, though.

Favorite actor: Alan Rickman. Close second, Ewan McGregor. Ewan has been in better movies, but Alan is awesome. But Ewan is Scottish. It's a tough call.

Favorite actress: Emma Thompson is pretty amazing....I don't pay much attention to actresses, though. You know who I can't stand? Renee Zellweger, or however you spell her last name. She creeps me out.

Favorite food: anything tasty. Bonus points of it's exotic.

Favorite form of chocolate: Ganache.

Favorite TV show: The Office, currently. It's so funny! There are others I like as well, but I can watch The Office over and over again.

Favorite Board Game: I don't play board games too often, but I don't mind Trivial Pursuit.

Favorite day of the year: Christmas Eve.

Favorite store: Whole Foods. I have been there four times.

Favorite author: Sarah Dessen almost always produces good work. Jodi Picoult is about 50/50, but her *good* books are out of this world amazing.

Favorite drink: I like Shirley Temple's. They are pink and cherry-ish and yummy. I try not to drink sodas, though.

Favorite restaurant: Um....I eat McAlister's more than anything, but I wouldn't say it's my favorite. I'd have to think a long time about that one.

Favorite pastime: movie-watching with Brandon!

Favorite season: winter.

Favorite time of day: the time that I am not working or at school. Actually I'd rather be at work than school.

Favorite fruit: mangoes. Yummy.

Favorite place to be: the penguin room at the zoo with Brandon.

Favorite item to collect: I have so many random collections. Teacups. Mary Moo's (these little cow figurines that they don't make anymore). Books. DVD's. Um...gift wrap.

Favorite video game: I play Sims. I used to play Final Fantasy VIII all the time. I miss it. Also I like the old Spyro games for PlayStation. If someone finds a PlayStation at a yard sale for a few dollars they should get it for me for my birthday. That would be sweet.

Favorite book: I feel obligated to say "the Bible" so I will alter the question. My favorite FICTION book would be, collectively, the Harry Potter series. Oh, those books are so good. Delicious, even. Has there ever been a book that has captivated such a large audience? That has encouraged so many children to read? And what is there not to love about a story that holds friendship, loyalty, and bravery in such high regard?

Favorite fictional character: Harry Potter. Also Col. Brandon of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Can we throw Kermit the Frog and Jim Halpert in there as well? Just so we have all the bases covered.

Favorite person to text: I'm not supposed to text.

Favorite person to call in the morning: I only call three people. I call Brandon all the time and he calls me all the time. I call my mom sometimes, even if she is just in the other room. And I call Kelli about once a month to tell her if something important is on TV, but she doesn't answer. I don't think I have a favorite.

Favorite place to visit: Disney World. Also the Smokey Mountains. Why do they intentionally spell "Smokey" that way?

Favorite holiday: Christmas, of course. Food, presents, family, and Jesus. Good times. Three weeks off school doesn't hurt, either.

Favorite all-time TV show: Oh, I just don't know....I can think of six or so. I like TV, what can I say. LOST. House. The Office. The Muppet Show. M*A*S*H. The Soup makes me laugh a lot. Top Chef makes me hungry.

Favorite food to make for special occasions: I don't think I have a favorite. I am known for scones and brownies, neither of which I have made in a long time. I am particularly proud of these pretty candies I made for my cousin's bridal shower. Unfortunately we did not take pictures of them, but they were pretty flipping amazing.


I'm going to bed now.

Cue the SpacejJam soundtrack. Omg, remember that?

Before I have to go study, and while I am finishing my dinner, I would like to post this brief update. Brandon's team won their game tonight! And Brandon played extremely well. Like, amazing. Hopefully now they have found their stride and will continue to play well the rest of the season. Last year they only lost one game, and interestingly enough they didn't record a two-pointer for Brandon's team, and with those two extra points they would have been tied after the first overtime and might have won. That's how I remember it, anyway.

A brief thought.

So I'm browsing the online version of the International Encyclopedia of Sexuality for my IDC class ("Cross Cultural Sexuality"- it was the only one that worked in my schedule) and I decide to take a look at the section on United States abortion statistics. I think I wanted to see the tone that this thing has- how unbiased it is, I guess.

I read the following:
"They (abortion rights activists) believe that a woman can never be free unless she has reproductive control over her own body."
"Free"? Are they guaranteeing their freedom by setting this baby free of its earthly bonds? I don't feel oppressed because I have to obey the law. I don't think that the government is being sexist when it says that I'm not allowed to rob a bank, even though it would be convenient and helpful for me if I had money to make my life easier. I don't think that it's logical for a woman to feel oppressed if the government should say that since she had a part in creating a new life, she shouldn't be allowed to dispose of it for her own convenience.

I should have stopped there. But I kept reading. I came across this opening to a paragraph:
"The recent murders of physicians and staff at abortion clinics, arson and bombing of abortion clinics, and the blocking of abortion clinics by anti-abortion protesters have contributed to women’s difficulty in receiving this still-legal medical procedure."

Whoa. Murders, arson, bombings....sounds really violent, doesn't it? Almost like every neighborhood with an abortion must look like a war zone. If you didn't have me here to explain things to you, you might think that there have been hundreds of abortion "doctors" murdered by deranged pro-lifers. That buildings must be blowing up every day, that the streets of these towns must be filled with chaos and carnage. Right?

Guess how many abortionists have been murdered in our country (arguably the country with the most heated debate between abortion opponents and proponents).

Seven.
Seven crazy people killed seven medical professionals who provide death on demand.

Now, these people were not justified. Killing is wrong, period. And how much sense does it make to combat murder with more murder? But...seven. Forty million children put to death since 1973, versus seven recorded murders in our country's history.

Which side is supposed to be the violent one again?

The week in review.

The first week of classes this semester is over and boy am I tired. That's pretty much all I can say about it. I can't even think about what all I have to do and when. I will start mapping all that out over the next week. But I just wanted to let you know that it is unwise to schedule all of your classes in a row. Sure, it makes things easier in regards to making a work schedule, but other than that it's pretty icky. I think that that's why I'm so tired. Wednesday I had a class from 8-9:50, one from 9-9:50, then 10-10:50, 11-11:50, 12-12:50, and 1-2:15. By the time I was in the 11 o'clock class I thought it was four p.m. I don't even know what I was thinking by the time my last class ended, other than "I want to get out of here and go home". And then I went to work. And got sick. I've been having some tummy troubles lately and have had two panic attacks within the last week and that's sort of bothering me. Maybe the general feeling of icky-ness and exhaustion is messing with me, I don't know. Hopefully on Monday everything will be OK. I actually started having a panic attack on the way to school Friday morning and ended up coming home as soon as I got there. I think I will probably be a little anxious on the way to school Monday, but hopefully it won't bother me too much.

Things are going quite well at work. My new manager is fantastic! She has been really helpful in getting the craziness that is our library under control. She has actually worked it out so that we will be getting a new employee from the main branch, and some temporary help from some of the other branches over the next few weeks! We are all very excited and optimistic. I think she really likes it at our branch, too. I wish that she could stay there permanently, instead of going off somewhere else whenever the hiring freeze is lifted (IF the hiring freeze is ever lifted...*_*) and they start shuffling people around again. Also Kara called at work today and I got to talk to her for a while and that was really nice. She said it's 75 degrees in Louisiana. It's in the thirties here.

There is one more thing that I am excited about that I will share on here now while I am thinking about it in case I get so busy over the next few weeks I don't have time to get on here much. I have been feeling called to get involved with the crisis pregnancy center here in my city for a while now. There are only two abortion clinics left in the state of Kentucky, one is downtown and some people from my church got together and opened up this center across the street from it. They offer free ultrasounds to women who are on their way into the clinics, and I read somewhere that more than 70% of the women who take them up on that offer decide to keep their babies or put them up for adoption. The center then helps them out through their pregnancy with counseling, referrals for financial assistance, and other stuff. Then once the baby is born these woman can go and get clothing and other supplies for their child, take cooking classes, GED help, and other things. I think that that's amazing. I am vehemently against abortion and have known for a while that I wanted start doing something to help, but I don't have a lot of free time to volunteer (this center and its two affiliates are entirely volunteer-run, and one of them is only open 12-15 hours a week because of this). So after much pondering I have decided to start using my tithe money to buy things for this center. I sent them an email asking what they needed and they replied with a list. I'm pretty excited about it. My dear friend Kelli is getting involved, too, and also my friend Jess at work said she wants to help out some. So I have two plastic drawers in my closet now that are full of baby clothes and bottles (two of the things that the center said they needed the most) and I will keep collecting stuff for a month or so and Kelli and I can take some boxes of stuff over there. I think it'll be really neat. And maybe in a year or so when my schedule calms down some I can do some volunteer work over there. The way I see it, the more they are able to be open and the more they can do to help, the more tiny lives will be saved. When we are ready to take our stuff over there I will try to take a picture of it and post it on here. And if you know me and live around here and want to help out, just let me know!

"Cupquake" lip gloss is amazing.

I do not have many friends- real, true friends that I feel comfortable both complaining to and sharing my triumphs, friends with whom I can talk about more than the weather, you know the lot. This is nothing to be ashamed of. Quality over quantity, I say. The friends I have are true blue, as the saying goes, and quite a bit of fun to be around. Today was the last day that a friend of mine at work will be at my branch. She is moving to Louisiana this weekend to be with her "honey". This is a very sad occasion. Although she is very nearly almost ten years older than me (ha), I have enjoyed every day that I have spent with Kara at the library. She has been so much fun and has made work (a place that one does not expect to enjoy being at) much more bearable than it would have been otherwise. She's really cool and I'm going to miss her a lot.

We will be experiencing many big changes at work this week. Kara will be gone, and she is an extremely organized person who keeps our children's librarian grounded. We are getting a new branch manager on Monday. Our assistant manager retired a few weeks ago and I know of one person that would move to another branch if a position became available, another that will be retiring before summer reading starts, and we are already incredibly short-handed and, basically, swamped. You have no idea how much work we have to do. The cherry on top of this proverbial sundae is that as an entity under the umbrella of the city government, the library is currently under a hiring freeze. Has been since last summer, I think. Or last autumn. Anyway, people are dropping like flies, it seems, and we can't bring in anyone new. If you think of it, your prayers this week would be much appreciated as we go through these transitions and face still more obstacles. I love my job and would even do it in a volunteer capacity if I were so financially blessed (fewer than twenty hours a week, though) but it can be incredibly stressful at times (that's why they call it work, though, I guess). Plus I go back to classes on Monday (18 credit hours! Can you sense the excitement? The desperate fear?) and supposedly somewhere in my ten minute breaks I will be talking to an "insurance guy" about The Incident in the Tumbleweed Parking Lot. Hopefully we can get my car fixed soon, so I can get my tires before the one goes completely flat or my coffers are drained by the evil Amazon.com (that's a long story for some other time).

Brandon has a ball game tomorrow at 3! Fingers crossed his team will win.

Happy Weekend, everyone!

At least it wasn't a tank.

"Do everything without complaining".

This includes blogging.


I got some money from the stuff I sold at Half-Price Books today.

I had a really nice lunch with Brandon.

We had a gift card.

We even got dessert (peanut butter pie!)

The old lady in the passenger seat of the SUV that backed into me in the parking lot was really nice.

The rude smoking lady who was driving didn't actually talk to me (which is good because I don't think I would have enjoyed talking to her).

I didn't say any bad words (yay, me.)

Everyone has insurance (Kentucky has some weird law that I think would prevent me from getting any money for repairs from someone if they didn't have car insurance).

I actually have money in my bank account to get my car fixed, eventually.

If and when I get a rental car while said repairs are being done, my parents can drive the rental since I'm not legally old enough, and I can borrow their car.

I had to get the alignment on my car checked, anyway.

The calmest and most reasonable person I know was with me and was able to drive me home since I was shaking so bad.

Only the wheel-well of my car got smushed. If I had driven any further before getting plowed into, I probably would have been smushed, instead. A little, anyway.


It certainly put an interesting spin on what was supposed to be a celebration of the fact that my wedding is exactly one year from today.

I'm taking a nap. All this effort not to complain has made me very tired.