Muffins

So apparently I'm going to feel the need to post every time I bake something.  I made apple-cinnamon muffins tonight from scratch and they are at least as good as the ones from a mix.  Yippee!!

My Conversion to Artificial Christmas Trees aka Our Christmas Miracle

Christmas trees have always been a central part of the Christmas celebration for me.  For most of my life this tradition has involved going out and choosing a fresh tree and bringing it home to cover it in carefully collected (with help from my mom) Christmas ornaments.  Even when I was a single girl and had a large enough apartment, I stuffed a fresh Christmas tree in the trunk of my car and prayed I'd make it home with it and my car, still intact.  I've always been a little bit of a snob in my preference for fresh Christmas trees.

This year that changes.

For the second year in a row Tracy and I, on my part painfully, decided to forgo a Christmas tree largely for financial reasons.  It's not that we're in trouble or anything, but with going to Boise for Christmas and a few other factors, we've chosen to go without one.  For me this has been traumatic, and I have not born my grief in noble silence (yeah, noble silence is not a quality I possess).  I told several friends and family members the story of my Christmas tree dilemma.

Someone really listened.

When Tracy and I arrived home from Boise tonight there was a lovely fully-lit artificial tree waiting by our front door.

After finding it a home in our living room and alternately bawling and laughing for a half hour I'm left with two particularly joy inducing revelations:

1) There are so many loving, thoughtful people in my life right now that I can only guess who might have done this for us.  That's how blessed we are in the family and friends department.

2) This is one artificial Christmas tree that will never seem less than the true embodiment of the Christmas spirit,

And finally, most importantly, in hopes that whoever did this might read this, or at least might hear about it -

THANK YOU!!!!

The Baking Demon

Hmmm...maybe I really am finally conquering the baking demon. Not only have I know successfully made chocolate chip cookies three times but  I did a totally weird experimental recipe tonight, because I had the stuff and needed to take a dessert to a church thing tomorrow ... and it's actually pretty darn edible.  Yippee!

Ah...the Rollercoaster

So I've been in a process of applying and interviewing for a job at Green River Community College in Auburn, WA.  It was a job I really wanted and thought I was a good fit for.  I found out today that the job came down to me and one other person, and they went with the other person.  The e-mail they sent me turning me down was possibly the nicest rejection I've ever received, in fact they made it clear that if I lived in the area or ever ended up in the area, they would love to have me as a adjunct.  It's always hard to come so close to something you think you really want and then have it not work out, but at the same time, overall, it was an amazingly positive experience.

The Last Big Hurdle

Graduate school has been a hard road, there's no doubt about it.  In fact I told a professor today that if it hadn't been for his class I might have quit during my first semester at the U.  Along the way I've met some amazing friends, and worked with some truly awesome faculty members...and today was the last truly stressful day of my grad student life.

My dissertation is defended.  And though there's still some revising and bureaucratic university stuff to do, in May 2013 I will be Dr. Jenel Cope.

Dissertation Defense Draft

So I don't know whether to be relieved or terrified, but I just sent the defense draft of my dissertation off to my committee. If all goes well I'll be defending it on November 15.  Wish me luck!!!

Things I Vow Never to Do in My Own Fiction

So this is basically a list of things I'm pretty much sick of seeing in books, television and movies, and my reaction to that is to make my own solemn vow, here and now, never to stoop to them in my own stories.

I Vow to Never...

1. Give a character amnesia. Temporary addlepation from being shot or hit in the head is one thing, but total, or near total, amnesia as a plot device is getting old.

2. Bring a character back from the dead.  This doesn't include the zombie, ghost, vampire category, since they're still dead, they just manage to be interesting even when dead.  Not that I'm planning to write a vampiric-zombie-ghost story or anything, I just want to keep my options open.

3. Create a hero who must leave his love interest and/or friends "for their own good" because his life is oh so dark and dangerous.  Seriously, I hate that.  Suck it up and trust your people already.

That's all I can think of for now, and if any of you ever catch me doing any of these in my own writing you have my permission to burn my prose in effigy.