The Seventh Inning Stretch

Hey everyone,

Once again, it's the end of the week, and already finals are looming. I'm entering week seven, and finals are week eight. Eek! I'm ready for Fall Break, though. I'm not planning on doing much of anything, which will be a nice change. Hopefully, Ashley (my roommate), Mrs. Frazier (host Mom), and I will all go up to Coeur d'Alene one day. I hear it's really beautiful, and all of us want to see it sometime. As there's no time like the present (when you're on break, that is), we plan to take advantage of it.

As far as illness goes, I consider myself officially cured from the swine flu and all other assorted sickness I contracted. This evening, I took my last antibiotic pill, and feel marvelous. God willing, I'll stay well!

Nothing much happened this week. The weather has been cooling, and there's a threat of snow Thursday morning. I'm dubious. We were given an additional week and a half to complete a paper, which caused great rejoicing. Tomorrow is a birthday for both Dr. Stokes and Robin (classmate), and Dr. Stokes will be twice Robin's age, which is amusing. We'll be having cupcakes to celebrate. Also, Hilary and I never had a chance to carry out our end of the bet, so we still have to do that sometime. She thinks Chris will just forget, and we'll get away with it. Again, I'm dubious. I ran out of postage stamps, which meant a trip to the Post Office, and nothing exciting actually happened, so that's a boring little tidbit for you. I'm also nearly out of stationery, which, for me, is a big deal, considering my addiction. So Mom, if stamps could appear in my stocking at Christmas, that would be lovely.

I got to take care of Mary twice this week, once on Thursday, as usual, and also on Saturday, so Stan and Trish could go to a wedding. We played piano, sang (or attempted, as I'm not a soloist, and she can't both play and sing), and watched Singing in the Rain. I love that movie! I'd only seen it once before, so it was fun to see all I'd forgotten. I missed the end, since Stan and Trish came back, but that just means I'll have to watch it again. Oh shucks!

Today after church, Ashely and I were invited to lunch by Ruth and James, the Fraziers' daughter and son-in-law (Mrs. Frazier is still recovering, so she didn't come). We had some absolutely fantastic shrimp scampi, and my seafood cravings were satisfied for the time. Dessert was homemade peach cobbler topped with homemade vanilla ice cream. Delicious! The ice cream was made with real vanilla beans, too, so it was very vanilla-y. Afterwards, Ashley and I picked up Claire, and we went home, waited for Jessie, and watched Emma Thompson's version of /Sense and Sensibility/. We wanted to see the new 2008 BBC version, but none of the movie stores had it, and the one person I know who has it already lent it out. Maybe that will happen over break, too. But we had a great time. Ashley didn't know the story at all, so introducing it to her was a lot of fun. I haven't had girl movie time for a little while, or a chance to really spend time with Jessie lately, so it was good to have her over.

This week's social highlight was a 90's party Saturday night. Everyone showed up in true 90's fashion (after raiding the Salvation Army). People came in these awful sweaters, oddly colored pants, Mohawks, plaid shirts unbuttoned to reveal the white undershirt, and all kinds of fashion abominations. I unearthed an extremely high-waisted pair of jeans, tucked in a T-shirt, and put my ponytail on the side of my head. That was quite a disorienting feeling! I got a crick in my neck, because I kept wanting to turn my head to get the ponytail behind me, but of course, it never actually got there. It also weighed my head down, and was just bizarre. I'm glad I wasn't fashion-conscious during the 90's, or I might have chronic neck pain now. One event was a white elephant exchange of vintage artifacts. Several VHS tapes appeared, mostly of the Mary Kate and Ashley variety. I think there was a GI Joe, a Barbie puzzle, and Fruit Stripe Gum in the mix. I got there late, so I didn't participate in that part, but only caught the tail end of it. Then, we all piled into the basement for snacks and the main event. Even the food was reminiscent of the 90's; Bugles, Pringles, Pretzels, lots of good, unhealthy things. I'd forgotten about Bugles, so that was a fun discovery. They don't taste nearly so good as I remembered. Oh well. Well, now comes confession time. The main event was, for me, a huge act of rebellion. (I'm sure you'll be shocked, Mom and Dad, so brace yourselves.) As college is supposed to be a time of liberation from all former authorities, I took this opportunity to throw off the iron yoke of my parents, and, for the first time ever, I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yes. Cowabunga. I know this will probably result in lots of coal in my stocking instead of stamps, but I'll just have to deal with the consequences of such actions. It was pretty cheezy. I don't feel like I missed out. In fact, I'm probably better off for not absorbing copious amounts of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But you have to be rebellious in college, or you don't get the full experience, right? So I've filled my quota for the year.

Well, that's all that's coming to mind for this week, and it's bedtime, so take care and goodnight!