Cough and Sniffle Blues

So I think the official worst part of having a cold is that you aren't completely sick enough to bail out of everything (though I had to miss church today) but you're sick enough to have it be constantly irritating. However, after sleeping most of the day I did successfully manage to make edible semi-homemade pumpkin pie for our belated Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Since I'm not a big fan of baking this was something of an accomplishment for me.

Benefits of a cleaning streak....

So every year around Christmas time I get this usually unstoppable urge to buy pretty things, wrapping paper, bows, gift bags, tissue paper, etc. probably because of the deals that seem to float around. However, this year I discovered the cure for that...cleaning out my back bedroom closet. Nothing lets you know just how much junk you have like cleaning out a closet. This time I tried to use the "Have I used this since we moved?" test. Which means - have I used it in the last two years? Anything that I hadn't, barring major sentimental attachment, went into a large box which hopefully will shortly make its way to Deseret Industries. And now there's actually extra room in that closet...which means I can go buy more stuff right? Maybe not.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Tracy and I are celebrating late, on Monday, because of our wierd schedules. Orginally we both had the day off, but now I have a meeting with a professor, c'est la vie. Tomorrow, I have big plans to clean out a closet and catch up on my reading, exciting huh? I think my recent cleaning kick has something to do with creating order out of chaos :)

Anyway, Happy Turkey Day everybody! Chances are if you're reading this, you are on my list of people to be very thankful for.

You know you're a hopeless history geek when...

I just put a non-required history book on one of my Christmas lists. It's not in my field (though I'm starting to wish it was), not on my exam lists, not something I will get brownie points for reading. I just want to read it...how sad is that?

Love is...

Love is having a husband who will willingly go with you to Twilight, and who, upon seeing the movie said, "That wasn't too bad." Which coming from Tracy is a somewhat positive review.

Most of you know of my love for the first three Twilight books (and my like, with reservations, of the fourth), and I thought the movie was a lot of fun. There were only two things that really annoyed me. The first was the fact that they've condensed a plot line that takes place over a year into two months, which has that effect (so often seen in movies) of making the characters fall madly and commitedly in love in about a second, which, even in a movie about vampires, stretches the bounds of credulity.

The other problem was the fast and loose representation of geography. Last time I checked Forks, Washington and the Columbia River Gorge were more than a couple of miles from each other. Not that it didn't make for great cinematography, but it made me grit my teeth.

Recycled Title

So in spite of the fact that I claim to be creative, I ripped off the title of my blog from the column I used to write at my high school paper. I, once again, found the combination of alliteration and mild self-deprecation too much to resist. Plus, the other idea I had was already taken.

Good Abraham Lincoln Quote

Some of the students in the classes that I teach online recently chose to write an essay based on a debate about whether or not it was Abraham Lincoln that freed the slaves. Today I read a quote by Frederick Douglass that I think sums up both sides of the argument pretty well. At first, since I love Lincoln I thought I was going to hate it, but in the end I really liked the perspective and what it had to say:

"Viewed from the genuine abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull, and indifferent; but measuring him by the sentiment of his country, a sentiment he was bound as a statesman to consult, he was swift, zealous, radical, and determined" - Frederick Douglass

Just what I need, another place to talk too much...

So, I finally broke down and created a blog. For a long time I was going to try and do it on Tracy and I's website, but I think I'm still a bit technically challenged for that and I wanted to go the uncomplicated route.

I also debated about a blog because of the variety of people that I know: do I bore my family with my history stuff and my independent political views, do I bore my non-LDS friends with the church stuff, and do I risk boring just about everyone with the minutiae that is my life? So I guess this is fair warning, since its my blog there's bound to be a little of all of that floating around...so read if you dare.