Any guys who happen to read my blog should skip this entry. Are they gone? Ok. I think it's poor planning on somebody's part to make us capable of bearing children years before we actually will (with some exceptions -- like most of my highschool class who I've seen walking around Goodwill with not only babies, but toddlers, and even children). As we speak I'm taking a pit stop on my way to find a heating pad and some Midol. And a pepsi. And hopefully some chocolate -- and don't tell me that caffeine is bad for me. I don't care. And we have some pop that's been in the garage and is just shy of frozen -- the best way to drink it! Anyway. Think about it. Most of us were blessed with all of this at, what 12? 13? And most of us won't need this particular function until we're what? 27?30? Notice we have anywhere between 15 and 20 years of wasted effort. Anyway -- I'd love to rant more, but my lower back is protesting having to sit in a straight back chair. I'm going to go lay in front of the fire and moan....ciao!

I went to see "Catch me if you can" with Tom Hanks and Leonardo Dicaprio. It was very good. I would highly recommend it! Go see it -- its certainly better than most other stuff out there. Except Lord of the Rings -- it's still selling out here! Go see. I have to go figure out what to do with my New Years Eve. No clue. Mom, Dad and I went to bed early last year -- but maybe this year we'll be adventuresome! Happy New Year!

I've found a new craft! Two actually! My friend Mary Beth made a quilt for her brother for Christmas, and now I'm in the mood for quilting. Mother said she'd buy me a starter for grandmother's flower garden. I love that pattern. And to top it off, they're selling reproduction 1930's calicos...so I can make one that doesn't look new. They have a technique to shrink it once its all done so it looks worn! I'm going to try it. After I get done turning 49 hankies into a lapquilt....And I thought after last semester it would take me a year to want to sew again!

The geese are flying north. Why? The cat likes nothing better than to sit on the table and eat the centerpiece. And the dog runs around outside perfectly happy in a red down coat. There must be something in the water here.

Boy are we grumpy over here. The Christmas fun is over, and now we're all walking around snapping at each other, and then complaining that everyone else is biting our heads off. Aren't we a blast?

Merry Christmas! May we all remember what we're supposed to be celebrating! And then, once our priorities are straight, I hope you all got gifts you can actually use! I went shopping with my mother and pointed to stuff, so no big suprises here! Staples. And legal pads. Go figure!

Tis the Season!

This christmas is strangely lacking the Kunze Christmas mania. Partially this is because my parents have spent the entire semester trying to, first, buy a house, then get the tenants to get out so they can move in. Lately they couldn't move more than the basics in because the carpet layers were coming "soon." Finally my parents decided that they coudln't wait for them any longer and moved half of the stuff out of storage and bought new furniture to replace the stuff that was left in California because it wouldn't fit in the moving van. True to form the carpet people showed up directly after we'd hung all the garland and put up three of our four christmas trees. They also made it the week of the faculty Christmas party, and were laying carpet still within an hour of the first guest arriving. Needless to say, we are short on fa la la la la around here. As for myself, the combination of being sick for a week and a half after thanksgiving, finishing a recital dress and having finals has left me with little energy to climb an orchard ladder and hang an angel on the twelve foot tree. Andrea's boyfriend has been here all week, so she has little energy that doesn't involve fawning all over him..don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy. It seems like this might be it for her, but still. Chaperoning for a week is the last thing I wanted to be doing. Luckily(or unluckily) they are extraordinarily loud, smacky kissers -- so one doens't have to be in the room to know what they're up to. Sitting at the fireplace I heard them quite clearly down the hall and could heckle them without actually having to move. So anyway -- I'm going to go wrap presents now. We bought more stuff at Costco which falls under the "stuff for the house that we get instead of presents for each other" and rather than display them, I'm going to stick a bow on it and put it under the tree. "From: Mom and Dad, To: Mom and Dad" So there! Deck the halls indeed!

Oh yes. Skiing. Every muscle in my legs is protesting this morning. More in my back are joining in the chorus. And my arms keep claiming that they've been ill-used. There's no rest for th' wicked, and th' righteous don't need none. Anyway -- I'm going to go curl up by the fireplace and try to stretch these suckers out. Before I finish allie's present, decorate the tree, and make a zillion angel ornaments! Merry three days til christmas!

Skiing! Isnt' it wonderful? Wizzing down the mountain at a breakneck speed, staying upright only by luck and the grace of God! My family went for the first time in 3 years (hard to find snow in California). Jason, Andrea's boyfriend, spent the day on the bunny slope trying to master the snowboard. He's only ever surfed before, so I hear he spent more time sprawled out spread eagle on the slope than he did upright. Allison only wiped out every 3 feet or so on the "big people trail" and Andrea and I had far too much fun racing to the bottom. Oh, except for once when we made a wrong turn and found ourselves staring over the edge of a black-diamond cliff. We made a mutual decision that neither of us had dying on our agenda for the day, so the next best plan was to hike back to the Y and take the other fork. We thought we'd just take a short cut through the powder, but ended up waist deep, so we had to truck it back uphill and around. As I see it, I planned on downhill skiing, not cross country with a good portion of hiking thrown in. I'm sore now, but tomorrow will be worse....Anyway -- we abandoned Jason to the bunny slopes, and spent the rest of the day taking Allie up and down the backside of the mountain. All in all it was a great day...and to end it off with a kick I went off a small ski jump! And landed it even -- barely, but I still feel a victory! Anyway, I'll blog tomorrow if the muscles in my body still permit me to type!

The Twin Towers! Amazing! Everyone who hasn't yet needs to go see it. I love it. They kept nearly everything from the book, and Gimli has the best lines (basically all of the comic relief) but they aren't just ploys to add some lightening. They're actually in the book! YAY! I can's even critique it! Even the stuff they changed was ok (and granted it wasn't much -- they were pretty much purists). Wow! Glowingly positive reviews from me! I can't wait for the third one. Until then I'll just have to read the book again....and again....and perhaps again! (on a side note, I'm so happy to know what happened in the battle scenes. Normally I skim over them because I can't keep the names straight -- are they talking about a city or a person. Now I know!)