Productivity.

Since my last update I have been rather productive. In the past eight days I have:

- Had a bake-athon with my girlfriends
- Read three books
- Cleaned the dreaded closet
- Written some letters and cards
- Finished most of my Thank you cards (although I still don't have access to any of the addresses)
- Slept in
- Gone to Stanwood and back
- Finished almost all of my Christmas shopping

So, this Bake-athon we had... It was insanity! We were baking for over 10 hours. We made 11 recipes and doubled each one! We made everything from peanut brittle to gingerbread cookies to no-bake cookies to chocolate balls to biscotti and much much more. We were so sick of it by the end. Not to mention the fact that we were utterly overwhelmed by the quantity of cookies we were supposed to be taking home with us.

On to my readings.
"Night" by Elie Wiesel - Fantastic. Highly recommended. It's the authors record of surviving the holocaust and the terrifying things that he lived through. Short book, very moving.
"Stolen Innocence" by Elissa Wall - A bit slow at first, but by the end I didn't want to put it down. This was more informative than I expected. It's about the author's experience growing up in a polygamous sect. She was a teenage bride and eventually broke free of the community. The author does a good job defending certain aspects of the polygamous community while unveiling some of the horrors that occur. The book is written with sincerity, love and sadness for the people she left.
"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult - Another highly recommended read. Erik even made me read this one aloud to him in the car while we were driving because it is so well written. It's about a little girl who was born because her parents wanted a genetic match for her older sister who has leukemia. This little girl has undergone so many procedures to keep her sister alive and healthy and she has finally decided that she doesn't want to anymore. It's about a family's struggle to do what is right.

I should go wake Erik up... Have a good day!

Woops

Erik got off work at 12:00am. I was supposed to pick him up, but I fell asleep on the couch and didn't wake up until 12:39am. I jumped in the car and FLEW to his work. There I sat outside, embarrassed waiting for him to come out and scold me. I switched to the passenger seat. About 15 minutes later these two guys came out asking me what I was doing there. They informed me that Erik had decided to walk home. I eventually found him and humbly picked him up... now totally embarrassed... and a bit frustrated! Who walks home at 1:00am?!?!?!?!

Oh yeah, guys whose wives forget to pick them up.

My Christmas List

There are so many things I want to do this Christmas.

The not-so-fun things:
- Clean my house, including that dreaded closet. We have this walk in storage space that's about the size of a walk in closet that's all cement with some make-shift cupboards that is a disaster! We moved in the day before school started and I have been putting it off until now. It is time!
- Get on top (and stay on top) of laundry. I currently have five loads to do. Yes, that is all of our clothing. At least we have clean towels... that's a plus right??
- Fix my computer. For some reason the screen won't turn on anymore. The computer sounds fine but something isn't connecting. That is bad because all the addresses are on there for our wedding "Thank you" cards. (Yes I left those until Christmas too)

The "me-time" things:
- Read. I haven't been able to enjoy reading for the past two years. I have only read nursing books and that isn't cutting it. I tried to read in the summer, but there was too much to do and reading just wasn't enjoyable when I wasn't busy. I miss falling asleep reading.
- Walk. When we first moved here I walked all the time. I loved it until school became too busy and sucked the life out of me.
- Write in my journal on occasion. I blame this mostly on Erik. I share everything with him and it feels redundant and tiring to write it all down either before or after I talk to him about it. I love writing my thoughts though. I think better that way. Now I'll have time too! (I hope)
- Write letters to people. There is nothing better than getting a hand-written letter by snail mail. I think they are so precious and much more intimate and personal.

The fun things:
- Bake! I'm getting together with my girlfriends on Monday and we are baking 16 dozen cookies together. We are doing 2 dozen of 8 recipes so it should be good.
- Make a gingerbread house with Erik. That will just be fun.
- Write Thank You Cards. This will not always be fun, but I like connecting with people and it gives me an opportunity to write some people that I would not normally send mail to.
- Go to Stanwood for Erik's Alaska Fishermen Christmas party.
- Go home for Stewart's wedding.
- Go home and then to Stanwood for Christmas and Mom's birthday.

And of course there's always:
- drinking tea
- lighting candles
- sleeping in
- enjoying rooms lit by nothing by Christmas lights

And that's just off the top of my head!

Oh Bother

I know I should really be studying right now. I have a bio exam at 9:30 tomorrow morning and I haven't started studying for it, but I just wrote my nursing exam this afternoon and I am exhausted! I hate nursing exams. Sometimes I feel I would do better if I didn't study at all (ok, that's an exaggeration, maybe if I studied LESS) because their questions are often ridiculous. I over think things wanting to have the answer somewhere, but I don't. I guess so often and that frustrates me! I have adopted the "I just have to pass" attitude... ok that's a lie too, but I wish I could.
My Christmas holiday starts as of 11:30 tomorrow. Hallelujah!