You know things are looking up when...

So I have a cold that includes one of the worst sore throats I've had in a long time, however, I still feel like I've had a good couple of days, I've made good progress on my research for the Indian Curriculum project and in studying for my exams (finally!) Though things aren't perfect, there's hope for me yet :)

Poem

I used to write poetry all the time, but its been a long time since I tried my hand at it. A couple of weeks ago I bought this teeny tiny notebook when Tracy and I were wandering about downtown. The other day I took it with me when I went to eat my lunch at work. Maybe it was because such a tiny notebook seemed the right size for poetry, or maybe it was my general moodiness of late, but a poem just kind of appeared. Strangely enough I hardly ever write poetry that rhymes, especially serious ones, but this one just kind of came out that way. Anyhow, since my Mom and John are always asking if I've written any new poems I thought I'd post it.

Stir
Dripping and slipping, sliding away,
The failing of light at the end of the day.
Stark scattered snow and skeleton trees,
An echo of mountains on the frigid tight breeze.
Unstructured longings and half-informed dreams,
Stir. Nagging for life at my raveling seams.

Taking the risk of a political comment

So I figured that since I posted a warm fuzzy temple post, I could risk a political comment. Also, hopefully this makes up for my relatively lame posts of late.

Though I'm not entirely jazzed about everything our new president has done in his first days I was very happy to hear that plans were in the works to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Any of you who have talked to me about politics know this was a major issue for me, as I felt it was that thing (like Wounded Knee and Japanese Internment) that our generation as going to be apologizing for forty years from now. While I may not entirely agree with all of President Obama's positions, this was one of the reasons I voted for him, so I'm glad to see follow through so early on.

Tiring but worth it

I worked at the Draper Temple open house today. For the first four hours I was at the very end of the tour and for the last four hours I was at the beginning of the tour. Strangely enough I said the same thing in both places. (Hello. How are you today? Just step this way please. No, I'm not sure where that is, let me find out. ) I wanted to walk through the building, but by the time my second shift was up I was ready to sit down. What I saw of it was lovely, and it was awesome to be a part of it. A couple of fun comments I overheard were one really cute little boy that just kept saying "Oh! Wow! Oh! Wow!" and another guy who very grudgingly said "Well, I suppose it is impressive." Both those reactions made me smile.

Crazy

I will not whine, I will not whine, I will not whine (I'll spare you writing it out 100 times and stick with three.) I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed this week. However, I get to volunteer at the Draper Temple open house tomorrow which should be a great experience.

Sunshine and Books

Today was a bit of a roller-coaster day for me, my anxiety issues reared their ugly head in a fairly serious way, plus I was feeling a little physically blecky as well. (I woke up this morning from a nightmare that included both multiple fiery plane crashes and multiple nuclear bombs, no kidding.) I felt bad that I didn't go to work today but I hope I built up some good reserves so that I can go forward stronger and better adjusted. Well, a girl can dream. However, on the plus side it was also gloriously sunny today and I threw open the curtains and used that to help me settle down and get readjusted. I love sunshine, and as my uncle Erv once pointed out, though Utah has a ton of snow it also has a lot of sunny days in the winter.

On another topic I've also had the rare opportunity over the last couple of weeks to read 2 books by one of my favorite authors. The books were Heir to Sevenwaters and Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier. She writes amazing historical fantasy novels that generally knock my socks off. These two were especially enjoyable as the heroines were definitely people I could identify with and these books also avoided any racy situations. (Not that her other books are trashy by any means, but some have strayed into PG-13 territory on occasion.) I wish there were more books like these in the world. Although, if there are don't tell me until summer :-)

Just proving I'm still alive

So I know the last couple of weeks were supposed to be downtime, but I have been a seriously lazy soul the last few days. I read a couple of books, made some small effort at maintaining the house, and did manage to get the Christmas decorations down, but that is about it. I'm hoping this annoying inertia fades away because I seriously need to get my butt in gear.

Tracy and I went to see Australia the other night, which was fun. When I was an undergrad an eon ago I had a massive love affair going on with that country/continent (which has since been somewhat upstaged by my love of Scotland) and this movie brought some of that back. Though I can't say the plot was massively original, as it was something of a cross between half of the western romance novels every written and The Man From Snowy River (though, no offense to Jim Craig, but Hugh Jackman is a lot more fun), I still really enjoyed it.

Home Again

We made it home safely on dry roads, which was nice as Tracy and I were driving separate vehicles. Tracy bought a truck from his Mom, she gave us a great deal and he's really excited.

We had a terrific time with both of our families, and our parents were especially fun and hospitable. Here's one my favorite pics of my side of the family. (This picture is proof that I'm the midget throwback of the family. Though my Dad isn't in this picture he's a semi-giant as well.)