Obvious Changes and vanity

First things first, obviously my look has changed here, I thought the other template was a bit bright for fall/winter and I was looking for something a little more fall/winterish, however, I'm not sure I succeeded, but I do like this template and color scheme much more. It feels much more peaceful, and just me. So I hope you like it, I do. :)

On to the subject of vanity, at work we have directories posted at the entrances to our office suites. They have our Names, titles, office numbers and a headshot. That way if students have been so clueless as to not even know our names they can always wander around campus and possibly identify us by sight, this is assuming they have been to class to see what we look like. Or perhaps they can wander about campus simply popping in on each Biology Professor and ask, "Are you my professor?" Kind of like the little duckling in that book "Are you my Mommy?" Except, not quite so cute. with these pictures posted it increases the chances of them finding us hiding in our offices, hoping they don't find us hiding in our offices. Anyway, I was contacted by the person who organizes the directory to update any info that needed updating. Well my name needed updating (I've been married for 3 years already) and my official title needed updating (thats right all you peons out there! I'm a full PROFESSOR now, not just Ass(ociate) Professor!). Then I asked, "Can I update my picture?" My previous picture is not so flattering. First of all my makeup was way to bland (not enough color, I look dead) and my hair was too long (hello crazy pentecostal lady!) and my face was way way to round and full (a bit too much weight). I have since gotten a cute haircut/highlights, lost some weight (23 lbs to be exact, but who's counting?) and spiced up the makeup. Oh, and my picture for some reason did not have my characteristic head tilt and cheeleader smile that every single one of my ID pictures has. I needed to have the head tilt to make it right, to make it me.
So I took a copious amount of time to fix myself up this morning, and came in for my photo shoot! Ok so it was infront of a white film screen, but I saw the pic and it came out perfect! Head tilt and signature smile! It took 2.3 seconds.

I know this post is worthless without pictures, I would love to put up the before and after. But I can't, I don't have the pictures, but suffice it to say what shred of vanity I have has been satisfied today. Today I feel like a supermodel! Ok, a supermodel sitting in a messy office, in an outfit from Target, eating seasonal Hershey kisses. but a supermodel nonetheless!

Fox.

Holy Crapinoli, two posts in one day!

Yup here I am again, for two reasons: 1. I feel compelled to tell you about my dislike of vacuuming and 2. I am procrastinating on the grading. So lets get to the complaining shall we? :)

I cleaned alot of the house today since I had family coming over for the big Rivalry Game viewing. My nephew is allergic to teh kittehs and I have 2 of the little shedders. So I vacuumed for my nephew and well, I hate to vacuum. Not just cause it's a stupid chore, but also because 1. I hate my vaccum and 2. I have some severe dust mite allergies. Have I told you I'm really into listing things by number lately. 1. it keeps everything in order and 2. I'm trying to be more organized and 3. It makes me sound like I have a point, and well usually I don't.

Anyway, my vaccuum sucks and not in a productive dirt removing way. It's a canister vacuum but it has this stupid center filter thing that always falls out when you empty the canister and then you have to pick it out of all the mess you've just vacuumed and you can see the dust coming out of the bag and the filter is horribly dirty anyway and you think "how can this thing even be working at all...". Anyway, stupid vacuum. OH and all the frickin hair that falls out of my head (and its alot unfortunately) gets wrapped around the brush and it starts burning and EVERYONE knows how bad that smells and how hard it is to get rid of that smell. So everytime I vacuum (read rarely) I have have to unscrew the bottom of the vacuum and cut out all the hair. ugh, I have to do this like, at least twice. Damn vacuum. *grumble*

Then there is the issue of my allergy. Whenever I have to move anything that might shake up dust (read: move anything that has sat still for more than 48 hours) I start to sneeze. When I vacuum it is so bad that I go through almost half a box of kleenex. I will be vacuuming and literally snot is pouring from my nose. I was a damn geyser today. I still don't think my nose is back to normal. Damn little IgE antibodies and mast cells were releasing histamine right and left today. Stupid goblet cells working overtime. Anyway, I suffered through all that, just for my nephew. And you know he didn't sneeze once this afternoon. So I guess it was all worth it. :) He's a good kid, and he loves science so it was the least I could do hugh? I'm a fantastic aunt, they came over and had hot chocolate WITH marshmallows, and mac and cheese and orange soda (it was actually diet but don't tell them that). They loved it! ;)

Oh as for the procrastination part, I just have exams to grade and well, who ever wants to do that. But I should do at least a little bit. I always put it off and then I'm scrambling at the last minute to get them done on time and I always think back and tell myself "If I had only split them up and gotten a few done each day, I wouldn't have to do this." *sigh* so I'm going to try and be responsible like my buddy Westexgirl and get things done in a time frame that makes my life easier, not harder. So here's to you WTG, I'm grading in your honor!

Bleh, sorry, but bleh.

Fox :)

Turkey Day in review

Well my bloggy friends, it's black Friday and instead of trudging through the melee at the stores I have decided to give you my Thanksgiving in review. Now aren't you glad you didn't wake up at 3 AM to be at the store at 4 AM to buy that handmixer on sale? If you had done such a foolish thing you would sound like the crazy woman on TV who said she had only gotten one hour of sleep. Sad, sad, sad, unless you are acquiring some gadget that does your housework or a book in say a 7 book series of some kind, there is NO REASON to be awake at such an ungodly hour on a day you can sleep in. Oh well at least it wasn't me and at least I don't have to interact with that crazy and no doubt cranky woman.

Anywho on to teh day o teh turkay!

Well our holiday's started off as usual with some crazy kink in the plans. Namely I ovulated Wed, not Thursday or Friday like the Nurse thought I would so I called the Dr.'s office in a panic, "OMG I'm laying the eggs now! What do we do?!" The sweet nurse Honey (no pun intended, ok maybe a little, and yes that is her name) said no problem just come in this afternoon and we can get your IUI done. PHEW! I felt a whole lot better about that than Friday anyway. So this little office visit put us a bit behind time wise eh, but no biggie. Keep your fingers crossed and light vast amounts of Jesus and/or saintly candles please!

Now to the real reason I'm writing this post, the food!

I made mac and cheese for the inlaws house and then stuffing for my family's house.
I had preshredded, prechopped and premixed spices and I brought all my own cookware and even containers for leftovers, I was well planned for this one. ;)

I made the mac and cheese and it got rave reviews, in fact more raves than my MIL's dishes. Is it completely wrong for me to relish that? I mean seriously I feel really kinda evil. The sweet daughter in law in me feels bad and I told her how much I liked her turkey and stuffing,I(as did others) and "the peas were delicious!" But then there is the evil soap opera, dark haired vixen, who is smiling that evil cat-like smile while tossing her thick hair over her shoulder, arms crossed all the while soaking in the feeling of crushing the rest of the cooking competition!!! BUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Oh, um, sorry I'm back.

I myself thought the mac and cheese was not nearly as creamy as I'd hoped (with 2 cups half and half how can that not be?) and not as cheesy as I'd hoped. It was a very mild and yummy mac and cheese but not what I was hoping for. I think I need stronger cheeses, now that I have a basic recipe I will need to fool with it a bit. Although I'm not sure why, dh and I cannot be eating mac and cheese like that more than once a year. So anyway, I just tasted it again reheating it with a bit of milk to make it more creamy and again, not nearly cheesy enough. Good, but too mild for my taste (which is probably why even dh liked it).

Now, we left my in laws house after I helped with the dishes and dh played a game or two of poker with the men. We left to go to my sisters house at which we were all bringing a couple of dishes or so. I was to bring the stuffing since "No one wants stuffing but you and 'moneyman'" I said I would make the stuffing because 1. I LOVE stuffing and can't imagine thanksgiving without it, and 2. I had a great recipe I was dying to try.

So I get there, commandeer the stove and a spot in one of my sis's double ovens (thank the Lord, since at my mil's there was much handwringing cause there might not be room in the oven!! the emphasized should be read with much sarcasm)
And commence with the stuffing. Now this is serious from scratch stuffing. I even cut up the bread in to cubes and let it dry for 24-48 hours none of that store bought croutons! Anyway I make the recipe, and the consistancy was exactly as Pioneer Woman (the blog from which I procured the recipe, Gob Bless that woman!) said it would be, moist yet crumbly and the broth mix did smell heavenly. Well everyone took some and everyone, especially moneyman LOVED IT. In fact it was the most talked about food item there. *evil curve of the mouth and slight eyebrow twitch* Again, I was victorious. Now mind you, my mother does not cook the worlds best turkey, and she doesn't put a whole lot of effort into the Thanksgiving feast idea. She doesn't like stuffing because (as she puts it) its just soggy bread. She makes broccoli cheese rice casserole with velveeta, and not cheez whiz (and it does make a difference). She will make cookies and cakes with less sugar than it calls for because of the calories. Her turkey comes out a bit dry and her gravy comes from a jar. However, I give my mom superior props when it comes to Mexican food, most namely Tamales, rice and frijoles rancheros. I suspect these are better dishes because she feels more kinship to these dishes than to the traditional american bird.

Anyway, the whole family agreed I should be the stuffing cook from now on, forever and ever. ;) Moneyman requested, nay, ordered, that it be made again at Christmas. I suggested tweaking the bread from french bread to sourdough and he said "Nope don't change a thing." I think the stuffing came out a bit too sweet, most likely from the corn bread mix I used. It was a nice texture, and a nice mild blend of seasonings. The seasonings were not overpowering, but were obviously there, and the bread was not soggy or dry, but nicely moist. Overall I liked it alot, but for some reason I felt it was missing something. I think I'll try my own experiments with the sourdough bread. but I did love it, and it will be a staple in my Thanksgiving arsenal. Oh as will sauerkraut, it is surprisingly good with turkey. We'll honor dh's family by adding it to our T-day feast.

The evening ended with a confusing but still hilarious game of Paco (some crazy card game that to me makes no sense) and then dh and I went home. all in all pretty good.
I'm still worried about my mental state of food victory. Please, tell me if you think I'm crazy. ;)

Holy Crap it's been a loooooooong time

Hey everyone (ok, not so many everyone's but whoever is bored silly enough to even be checking here anymore)

It has been for.ever. since I blogged, yeah I know, I know.

but I'm now back.

hmmm. there have been plenty of blog worthy events, just well lack of motivation. I have to really push myself to get little regular things like this blog done. Not sure why. I think it's an inertia situation. You know things at rest tend to stay at rest and things in motion tend to stay in motion. If I let myself be at rest, it's hard to get back into motion. So here I am trying to get the ball rolling again.

I haven't blogged much about my students so here are some snippets:

"whiney girl" - almost missed an exam, came in looking all panic dazed

her: whats going on?

me: you taking your exam today (duh)

her: Oh my gosh thats today?!

me: um, yes.

her: *sigh* ok. I knew I should have emailed you.

Then she proceeds to tell me her sob story single mom, blah blah, daughter blah blah may not make it to the practical blah blah. Whoa wait wait, what? Not make it to the practical? um nope, unless you'd like a zero, can't happen. So I make alternate arrangments, and even come up and re set the exam on a Friday, still no show. Nope thats it, thats the last chance. So she then proceeds to go above my head when I tell her there's nothing else we can do. Um, yeah thats not gonna work. Turns out it didn't. So she's still here, but whiney girl realized she can't push me, or my dean around.


Then there is Cletus. He's probably my most memorable student in a few semesters. You know the Simpsons character Cletus, yeah the WT character? This student is him. In. The. Flesh. Although surprisingly my student is not as dumb as he appears. Though he is literally just as slackjawed. He asks questions trying to link two ideas together that have nothing to do with one another. It's hard to answer those questions without sounding mean.

him: So does that mean "x" is really a part of "Y" because of "Z"?

me: Um, no, not really. I see where you're trying to go with that, though. but, no, they have nothing to do with each other. really. at all. So, ah, anyway....

him: somewhat confused, annoyed, slackjawed, furrowed brow look.

One time he came running in literally in the middle of class and in front of everyone breathlessly proceeds to tell me why he was missing from class and while he couldn't stay, he wanted to know his exam grade. In the middle of class. While I'm lecturing, to the rest of the class. I told him he would have to wait a bit while I finished. He proceeds to sit in a chair IN FRONT OF THE CLASS waiting for me to finish. All the while waiting for me with that slackjawed furrowed brow look. So then I finally finish and I show him is grade and he leaves. *sigh*

Then the other night he proceeds to mention to me during class something he saw on Discovery Channel (thanks effing DC) about how bacterial flagella is an example of intelligent design. I know exactly of what he speaks, however I will not entertain the discussion in class for various reasons.
1. We are discussing immunity, not bacterial flagella. That was week 2.
2. We are not discussing evolution in this class during any week.
3. Intelligent design is not something that should be discussed in any science class ever, during any week. Except perhaps on April Fools (oops! did my sarcasm come out!)
4. I am soo not getting into that discussion with Cletus at all, ever.

He then notices the cold shoulder I give his comment/question (though I did respond with "that topic is for a whole 'nother class"). And gets belligerant with me, trying to catch me tripping up in my lecture.

Oh no buddy, I believe I am the one with the masters here, and if theres a topic I love almost as much as evolution, its immunology. I think I can hold my own on this topic, certainly against you Mr. Cletus (seeing as you missed last class and have zero idea WTH is going on).

Anyway, he was giving me angry dagger eye, crooked toothed looks for the rest of class. To be perfectly honest, I was kind of worried. He looks kinda crazy. For real, like unstable crazy. I was a little worried about going to my car alone that night. Luckily, his mood improved in lab and he left early. *phew*

I cannot wait until he is out of my class. It was funny cause the day he missed class, class was so fun, and I didn't realize it until he came back. *sigh*.

It was one of a few times in my life that I thought I should listen to the little voice telling me that he is not right in the head. From now on I will simply nod and smile. Only a few more weeks to go.

Hmmm, other than those two students, everyone else is pretty normal. Except the chick who has been in my class 3 times already and still is not doing so well. *eyeroll* Maybe if you would actually pay attention you might get through this class.

Ok, well I gotta run for now, but now that I've opened the flood gates, theres no stopping my blogging. Ok except for now. I really gotta go.

Fox.