personal

A couple of weeks ago, I left Marlowe with my mom and Ellis with daddy and went to a conference. It's been awhile since I've done that. I do enjoy them. This was the national meeting of my academic discipline meeting jointly with a sister discipline. I was going primarily to scout out grad programs, meet people, and make an impression on programs I really want to get into. I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do for the most part.

ok, this is a little awkward. I said I was blog 'most every day in Nov. And I didn't. I just kind of dropped off the face of the planet. Well, bygones and all that. She's back. Hubby's helping me with a new template. And it's going to look purty around here. I need to write for my sake. I'm not going to commit to every day, because there is not something to say everyday. And I was getting annoyed by that. I suppose the point of committing is finding something to say every day. Well, I'm too tired for that.

Right now the biggest things going on in my head are:

Well, my phone is dead. (Marlowe dropped it in the toilet.) My iPod is dead. (Chris sent it through the wash.) My internet isn't up to par. (I had to give up the Fios.) I feel like I'm in a technology void. I miss you all, sweet internetses.

We are slowly getting moved in. We all had bad colds last week, which really slowed up things. Now we're working on getting dressers in the right place and shelves hung, so that we can get over the next major unpacking hurdle.

I've barely been aware of the fact that today is New Year's Eve, that tomorrow begins a New Year. In fact, I drove an hour to visit a friend in Wilmington and didn't even think to wish her a Happy New Year, because I forgot that the new year begins tomorrow. But we just attended a nice evening get-together with some friends, leaving early with our sleepy kids, but it helped to snap me back into End of the Year Reality. I could write a reflective end post about the year, where I've been, and where I want to go, but clearly, I have not been in a very reflective state of mind today.

We had a lovely trip to IKEA today with my mom and my friend Em. IKEA is very close to where I live. I clocked it at seven miles. DANGEROUS! But since it is such a huge store and there's no such thing as a quick trip to IKEA, I don't go there too often. Today I got a small, narrow set of shelves to be my landing pad. I'm tired of keys and mail just sort of floating around the house. And I realized we had no system whatsoever for hats, gloves, etc. (Throwing them on the couch doesn't count as a system.) And fabric!! YAY! They have some really pretty new fabric. Em and I couldn't resist.

In the past couple of weeks I've been gearing up for some Mad Holiday Action. First is the planning. I have my little notebook that I'm writing all sorts of stuff in, because this year my goal is to go handmade for all my gifts.

I just voted! No lines. Yay!

I'm still feeling a little buzz from voting for who is, hopefully, the first African American President of our country. A rush of history! I forgot to be upset about not getting a sticker. (what is it with stingy pennsylvania? no stickers!?) I can't wait to watch the TV all night and feel excited!

In the meantime, though, Ellis has off school, and we're going to meet up with friends at the zoo on this gorgeous day!

GO VOTE!!!!