Photo a Day in September #30

30.  Sign

As I said in the last post, we are out of town this weekend.  This evening, we got into Kansas City.  We're here to hear Florence + the Machine tomorrow night at the Starlight Theatre.  I slept in, which meant we got a late start this morning/early afternoon.  Everything was pretty much closed down in KC when we got to the Plaza, so we had dinner at Noodles & Co. and headed to the hotel.

I'm glad we did because look at it!

Zach signed up to some sort of rewards program, and he got 80,000 points for signing up.  Well, depending on where you stay, that number of points can equal a few nights' stay.  :)  We are at a Holiday Inn Express, and when we arrived to check in, they notified us they had upgraded us for being a rewards member.  (They also gave us free water bottles and chocolate.)  This room is HUGE and especially nice for a Holiday Inn.  :)  I LOVE having a king-sized bed!!

Well, I did it.  I slipped up a few times when it came to posting on the correct day, and I think all of those happened this past week.  *lol*  Oh, well, I still did it.  It was fun this time around, as it was in July.  Maybe I'll do this again in November?  Stay tuned...

Photo a Day in September #29

29.  Animal

 the only elephant we saw up close

(Somehow, we missed the elephants when we were walking around.  Zach and I saw them on our train ride.)

 tour-twa-ziz

(Tortoises pronounced the French way.)

 the striped donkeys

 This giraffe was a total CREEP.  He was 20 and chasing three- and five-year-olds (giraffes, that is).

 Ah, this picture doesn't capture the ugly gray flamingo.  but do you see the injured one?  He was FED UP with his bandages...

 Sea animals?

 Of course, I had to photograph some birds...

This bird looks fake. Like out-of-a-Yeats'-philosophical-poem fake.

 Even amphibians need their beauty sleep.  (Who knew?  I didn't.  Amphibians are beautiful.  ;)

I tried to post this last night, but I couldn't get my Photo Stream to load my photos.  We are out of town this weekend (Tulsa, then Kansas City), and we were staying at a friend's house, so I was on her Internet.  Zach had already fallen asleep, so I had no one to figure out what was going on with my Photo Stream.  So I surrendered and went to sleep.  :(

We came down (well, over) to Tulsa Saturday afternoon, had lunch at Wendy's, and met Sheena and Dallas at the zoo.  Zach found some LivingSocial vouchers for the zoo back in May, and we tried to use them when we were over in June.  However, we ran out of time, so we planned to come back in the fall to use them.  This was seriously the only time we could go this fall.

It was an enjoyable afternoon.  We saw lots of cool animals, including a family of monkeys in which the tiniest one was swinging on his "mommy's" tail and catching her poop!  Zach captured the poop moment on video, but narrowly missed the swinging one.  Sheena and Dallas had to leave earlier (for separate obligations), but Zach and I stayed and rode the train around the zoo.

On our way out, it started to pour.  Sheena had a family dinner, so we were going to go back to her house, so I could work on some class stuff (grading and planning) and Zach could work on some insurance stuff with his scooter.  But I was already hungry, so we headed to Andolini's for pizza instead.  They have AMAZING pizza:

 We did pineapple and red onion this time.  My husband LOVES pineapple pizza.

I was freezing in the restaurant.  I made Zach give me his jacket, which he offered on our first date.  :)

(We hadn't received our food yet, and I was ready to jump over the sneeze guard to where they were tossing pizza crust to steal some garlic knots!)

After dinner, we went back to Sheena's, and I attempted to grade a few outlines before I gave in to girl talk.  Then Dallas came over, and we watched The Five-Year Engagement, which had some dark moments but ended well.  Zach didn't watch much of the movie because his TMJ was bothering him:

 He finally woke up after falling asleep and caught the last third of the movie.  All in all, it was a good trip to Tulsa!

Photo a Day in September #28

28.  Front Door

I've already posted about my wreath earlier, but I never shared a picture of it on my front door. :)  I was too lazy to take a newer picture, but since you folks haven't seen this one, I think it will suffice.  (I rarely slack off in this photo challenges; I don't feel it's honest to reuse a photo or find one online.)  t looks pretty much the same, except it has sagged more, so it has a more of an oval shape now, and one of the pumpkins (lower left) looks blistered.  (But it may have looked that way originally, and I just didn't notice it!)

Our door is a darker red, but it always photographs fuchsia.  :)

Photo a Day in September #27

27.  Canned

Yep.  This is all I came up with, and a day late, too.  I was too tired to post last night, and then I had a weird day:  I was off and hoped to get a lot done, but then I spent early morning reading emails and blogs, late morning napping, and most of the afternoon at our car dealership.  A friend brought dinner tonight, and here I am, hours later, finally posted my pathetic picture of my hairspray.  It does help me poof my hair, though, and it's in a can.

Photo a Day in September #26

26.  Apple

This weekend, I made some caramel apple cider cookies. I found the recipe on Six Sisters' Stuff through Pinterest; I pinned the recipe last fall, but I felt it was too late in the season to make these cookies (it was more pumpkin fall time than apple fall time, if you know what I mean).  So I HAD to make them this year, and I knew the first weekend in fall was PERFECT.  I have been wanting to try more recipes from Pinterest anyway, so I've made it a loose goal to try a new recipe each week, and if it turns out alright, take part of them up to work.  I hate wasting food, but I also hate gorging myself on rich foods, so it's a win-win situation.  Everyone is always sharing food at work, so I feel like Zach and I should give back.

I brought half of the cookies in on Monday morning.  There were about twenty.  Most were gone by the end of the day!  Everyone commented that they liked how they were unusual but familiar and tasty. I would have to agree.  I altered the recipe a bit: I cut the caramels in half and rolled them out so they would disperse throughout the cookie better.  They taste just like fall with a crunchy exterior and chewy, caramel center.  Very interesting but delicious!  All of the cookies at work were gone by Tuesday, and we only have seven left (out of our 22) today.  :)

Photo a Day in September #25

25.  Fresh

. . . nothing like a pitcher of fresh sweet tea.  :)

Be Grateful #6

yummy white chocolate cream brûlée at Greenhouse Grill before Noises Off

1)  I am thankful it's week six of the semester.  Only ten to go until finals (I believe ;)!  I do enjoy my classes (teaching and students), but as this is only my second semester to teach, it's still rough at times.  Speaking of that, I'm relieved that the quality for my Phoenix class this time around is much higher.
2)  I am happy that we bought a Theatre Squared subscription so we can go to hilarious plays every other month.  Noises Off made my weekend.
3)  I am grateful for the encouragement I find in the Quaker meeting we attend.  We don't get to go as often as we like, but when we do, we are never disappointed in meeting with Friends and with God.
4)  I feel appreciated by my workplace this week.  They honored us part-time folks last Friday with a video and a certificate.  :)
5)  I am so proud of my husband, who was one of two people from our division accepted to an advanced leadership training program.  He's going to keep doing great things!
6)  I am pleased that husby and I got to celebrate our anniversary (third wedding/fourth together) with a low-key celebration.  It was so sweet!
7)  I am ready for the weekend:  Vietnamese home cooking in our home, zoo times in Tulsa, and Florence + the Machine in Kansas City!

Photo a Day in September #24

24.  Toy

Last Christmas, I got this shelf for my collection of American Girl 25th Anniversary mini-dolls.  Yep, last Christmas.  Um, exactly 10 months ago a week from tomorrow.  We are only now getting around to hanging it up.  It's going to go in our bedroom.  It would have gone up today, but Zach had a weird reaction to the anesthesia at the dentist and is sick on the couch.  : (  My poor baby.

Photo a Day in September #23

23.  Mail

I've always loved to check the mail.  You never know what you are going to get!  If you are like my husband and order a lot of stuff from the Interwebz, you often forget what you ordered, so it feels like Christmas every time the postal truck passes by or you hear the clomp-clomp-clomp of someone on the bridge coming to our door.  Even though it's not technically mail, I love to get the (Sunday) paper!  (We only subscribe to the weekend papers because we want Sunday's for the coupons.)  I love looking at the advertisements and circulars and coupons and High Profile section (for the engagement and wedding announcements).  As you can see, I haven't clipped my coupons yet; thankfully, only one booklet came this week, so I can easily get that done tomorrow.  :)

Photo a Day in September #22

22.  Autumn

I made pumpkin pancakes and homemade (buttermilk) syrup to celebrate the first day of fall!  I had planned to make pumpkin waffles, but I couldn't find the recipe I used last fall.  (We bought a case of pumpkin pie mix last year, and we have been trying to use it up ever since then.  The problem is that most recipes call for canned pureed pumpkin--not pumpkin pie mix.  This lost recipe actually used what we have.)  I googled recipes and came up with two; I went with the one that required less ingredients.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  You win some, you lose some.  These pumpkin waffles were a major fail.  Despite using plenty of oil to oil the waffle iron, they were sticking like CRAZY.  I threw out the first one and tried again.  I thought maybe I just needed to leave it in there longer, so I left it in there three times as long, AND IT STILL STUCK!  I added in some more baking mix and an egg (yeah, the original recipe didn't call for an egg) to the batter.  It still stuck!  So I tried pancakes...and they were not flippable!  So I added YET ANOTHER EGG and tried again.  This time the pancakes came out just fine.  It may have been because I had to use regular sugar over what was called (brown sugar) since we were out.  But after researching, it seems like that shouldn't have made too big of a difference in the waffle/pancake recipe.  I think the problem lay in the fact that it used water over milk and no eggs.  Needless to say, I will not be using that recipe again.

I almost gave up, but I had already put my buttermilk syrup on.  It was causing problems on its own since I didn't have any buttermilk and was worried my substitute (vinegar + milk) wasn't going to work.  Thankfully, it did!  I LOVE this stuff.  It is like CRACK.  How did you ring in the new season??

Photo a Day in September #21

21.  Gratitude

We had a division meeting today at work.  I had intended to stay home since I have worked over my hours the past two weeks, but then I found out I had to give an update on my mentor program, so I put together a Prezi yesterday and headed into today.  I'm glad I did because our division recognized all of the part-time staff with a video featuring our faces and some quotations from our supervisors and with Certificates of Appreciation.  (I think my supervisor Marcus thought they meant an inspirational quotation rather than one about the person:  "Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." --St. Francis of Assisi.  :)  When Zach told me he was asked to work on the video, I told him I was glad they were taking time to recognize part-timers who are in between full-timers and student work studies.  We work with so many part-timers who work just as hard or harder than some of the full-time staff.  They aren't just the folks who "fill in" where necessary--they are necessary as individual works to the functioning of our workplace.  It was nice to feel appreciated on a day when I was so nervous about giving my update.  I've become very comfortable with talking to my students, but I still get so nervous getting in front of my colleagues!  ;)

Photo a Day in September #20

20.  T.V.

I told you I was obsessed.  :)

Photo a Day in September #19

19.  Slimy

Today is our third wedding anniversary, not to mention the fourth anniversary of when we met.  :)  We played it a bit more low-key this year:  Zach made me dinner (salad, pasta, and white chocolate-raspberry-lemon bar cake [okay, he bought dessert! ;]), and we caught up on Parenthood (I thought something happened to Haddie after catching a posting by the show's Facebook page!), exchanged gifts (I got him a personalized luggage tag, and he got me a glass candy dish--it looks like a Ziploc bag!--with Sweettarts for my office), and watched The Iron Lady.

I almost forgot to get a "slimy" picture and intended to snap a photo of the watermelon we had to throw out today.  :(  But it was already covered by new trash...a.k.a. the leftovers of our dinner!  I promise the salad was much better than it looks here in the rubbish bin.  :)  I'll have to post some pictures of our anniversary celebration tomorrow once I can get Zach's iPhone to be friendly with my email.

Photo a Day in September #18

18.  My Passion

Ummm...I guess my current passion would be food.  I'm always thinking about what I am going to be putting in my tummy and posting pictures of my meals on Facebook and pinning every recipe on Pinterest.  I've made it my goal to attempt a new Pinterest recipe a week.  This weekend, I'm making caramel apple cider cookies!  I think they will be perfect for the fall.  :)

I cheated and took this picture last night. Ah, but these frozen Rally's/Checker's fries are sooo tasty, AND I got to use a 75 cents off coupon!  They were cheaper than the Walmart fries.  :)

Photo a Day in September #17

17.  Clean

Yep.  I think my blog just jumped the shark.  *haha*

But this is what I cleaned today--the bathrooms.  I hate doing it, but somehow in our marriage, I ended up with that job.  It wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have three bathrooms, I guess.  And there is nothing better than a clean toilet.  I feel like we are spoiled at work by our very clean and very public restrooms.

(I hope my eyes are seeing this well.  This is the toilet in the half-bath upstairs--a.k.a. the one that is used most often.  I hope my toilet at least looks clean.  I flushed it for effect, which is why the water is all sparkly.  ;)

See the newspaper in the trash?  I use newspaper to clean mirrors and windows.  Why?  It leaves no streaks.  And streaks drive me bonkers.

Be Grateful #5

I love my furry brats!  They enjoy getting inside the hampers we use to tote laundry up and down the stairs.  It doesn't matter if the laundry is dirty and wrinkled or clean and folded.

1)  I am thankful for the IHOP coupons we received this week--two free Fresh 'N Fruities can't be beat!  Going to IHOP definitely takes me back to college and reminds me of Black Friday shopping.  I can't wait for the holidays.  :)

2)  I am pleased as punch when it comes to the weather we are having in these parts.  Ah, fall, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways (and bake autumnal desserts to show you)...

3)  I am happy that I have finished the big chunk of mentor training for this semester.  Oh, five hours of training wears me out...

4)  I am grateful my first Phoenix class went well, even if we fell behind a bit.  ;)

5)  I am so excited to celebrate THREE years of marriage and FOUR years together with Zach on Wednesday.  He is cooking me dinner, which is a big deal if you know him.  We are going to watch Parenthood and hang out.  I hope he likes my present!  My husband is one of my greatest blessings, and "we" makes me a better "me."

6)  I am blessed to have had today "off;" I think I worked too many hours this past week, and I was so worn out, I decided to work from home today.  I may have not been as productive as I had hoped, but I got a lot done on all fronts!

7)  Yep, I'm gonna have to say praise Jesus for funny shows like Community (even if they aren't exactly wholesome and politically correct).  Yep, I'm obsessed.

8)  And it doesn't make me mad to listen to Christmas music as I run errands.  Too early?  Not if it puts me in an excellent spirit!

9)  Thank you, Lord, for my brown sugar Cadbury chip cookie-baking talents.  I baked some "NWACC" cookies for my mentor training--I used green and white M&M's--and I only brought home 2 of 42 cookies!  I love baking, and I am so thankful I am a good cook for my husband, our family, and our friends.

10)  I am grateful for the week and weekend ahead.  It won't be as busy as last week (I hope!).  :)

Photo a Day in September #16

16.  Rock

I got this rock on the west coast of Ireland--somewhere in Rosses Point, which is my favorite place in the world.  It is absolutely breathtaking in that part of the world; the hills are all green and glorious, the water is shining and serene, the sun doesn't set until late at night, and you can walk on the rocky beach in your overcoat and mittens.  Now that is my kind of beach!  I picked up this rock because it is so smooth and is slightly heart-shaped (although that is hard to tell in this picture).  I wish we were able to go back to Ireland next summer, but I will take what I can get (England and Scotland)!

Photo a Day in September #15

15.  Hat

We store a good many of our hats on this rectangular mirror with hooks.  Zach keeps his summer hat and the one ball cap he wears (from Legoland in Windsor) there while I store my "Virginia Woolf" cloche, my sun hat, and my vintage beret I got the weekend we got engaged (it's hiding in between my straw sun hat and Zach's ball cap).  I can't wait for it to cool down so I can start wearing my cloche and beret again!  Actually, it may be cool enough tomorrow...  It will be especially wonderful when it's COLD, and I can pull out my knitted berets and wool tam!  :)

Photo a Day in September #14

14.  Store

Ah, I was so tired from my week that I forgot to post my photo last night! :(  As you can see, this is Walmart.  I spend many an hour here picking up items we need.  (Lest you forget, we live in Walmartland--Bentonville, AR, the home and world headquarters of Walmart.)  After my week, I just wanted to come home from work and curl into a ball and rest.  But I had to prepare for my mentor training today, and Zach also invited his friend Andrew to dinner (we had yummy Reubens and blackberry pie), so we had to swing by the Bentonville Butcher and Deli AND Walmart for a few groceries.  Thankfully, I got to wait outside and admire the pumpkins because I was driving and let Zach off at the front.  I also had to go to Sam's Club to order five pizzas for my mentors, and I intended to take a picture of it because I LOVE Sam's, but I'm glad I ended up forgetting because the pumpkins make me so excited for fall!  (And I don't feel so bad having my fall wreath up when I see these beauties.  :)  Oh, and the picture may look weird because it was raining, and I took this photo through the raindrop-splattered windshield.

Photo a Day in September #13

13.  Beside Me

I took this picture as I was eating lunch while trying to email students, complete laundry, call our landlord when the washer broke (well, the lid switch thingy), prepare for my night class, and watch Community.  It has been a long week, and I'm only 2/3 of the way thru.  : /  But, gosh, that sandwich was good:  melted cheddar on toasted bread with shaven roasted turkey.  For some reason, it made me feel kinda sick after eating.  :(  I think it happened because I'm worn out?

Photo a Day in September #12

12.  Chocolate

Today I had a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg.
And it was good.
Even if it is five months old.  :)
Brushing out two wild cats make me hungry, and when I eat a treat with peanut butter, I feel like I am eating a bit healthier (protein...from the peanuts...in the peanut butter counts...right?).

Photo a Day in September #11

11.  Bed

And I'm hitting it . . . right . . . now . . .

Photo a Day in September #10

10.  Shelves

I love our floating shelf in our bedroom.  It's just cool that the books look as if they are suspended by nothing.  :)  Also, that Watching the English book is great fun!  And I need to reread Mockingjay soon...

Be Grateful #4

Hobie has found a new sleepy corner. :)

1)  I am thankful that our Buick was dead when Zach was preparing to leave on Friday.  Although I had to put dinner on hold to go pick him up, it meant he was in our Veloster when a terrible storm rolled in.  The Buick has not been so reliable lately, and it could have been very dangerous on those flooded streets.

2)  I am grateful we sold the Buick on Saturday after it started when we went to pick it up from school! We didn't get as much as we hoped, but we got enough to pay off the scooter, and the man who bought it made it safely home.

3)  I am thankful for those who make me feel like I know what I am doing when it comes to teaching because, honestly, half the time I am feeling things out as I go along.  Last week (I think), I had one of my program's mentors say I was his favorite teacher he had never had.  Then this week, my best friend's little sister posted a quotation from The Notebook, and I told her how I used the scene the quotation came from to talk about introductory paragraphs and thesis statements (her quotation was from the opening of the movie); she said she wished she had a teacher that explained those concepts in terms she understood and cared about.  :)

4)  I am happy I have discovered the comedy that is Community.  But, as Zach says, sometimes it hits a little too close to home  *lol*

5)  I'm pleased as punch that I had some fun money this month to buy a new cardigan at Target.  It is green with white polka dots and was on sale for $15!

6)  I am glad I can share my freebies with those who can use them more than me.

7)  I am relieved that I am closing in on finishing my first stocking.  It will be Zach's, and it is cream and pine green.  :)  I also did a happy dance that I got to make my autumn wreath this weekend.  Thank you, Lord, for my talents!  I love making our home home.

8)  Oh, and I wasn't mad in the least that I finally got to try a crepe from Crepes Paulette at the Farmers Market. Oh, pecan pie (la tarte aux pecans) crepe, you were amazing on that cool Saturday morning...

Please say a prayer for the son of a couple who went to high school with me.  Easton Begoon is three and has been fighting cancer since July of last year.  He was admitted to the ICU at our Children's Hospital this weekend because he is septic.  This little fighter is hanging in there, but we are all so ready for him to be WHOLE, HEALTHY, AND WELL!

Photo a Day in September #9

9.  Me

Me, in my navy, white-striped sweater I got on clearance at F21 in the spring, no makeup, messy hair, procrastinating on lesson planning, having fun with Photo Booth 

Pinteresting...yes? :)

So I find all of my ideas on Pinterest lately.  Last night, we had some friends over for dinner, and everything but the dessert (which was courtesy of Marie Callender) was from Pinterest.  AND THEY WERE ALL DELICIOUS!  I made stuffed peppers, Crock Pot mashed potatoes, and homemade bread.  Ah, it makes my mouth water...

Yesterday, I gave you a sneak peek of something I was in the process of creating (for "Create" for my Photo a Day challenge).  Well, wait no more because here it is:

I made a lovely fall wreath!  I saw one on Pinterest and fell in love with it.  I loved it so much that I pinned it twice!  (No, it wasn't an accidental pin the second time around, as in I pushed the button too much.  This was my very first pin on my Holidaze board, and months later, I pinned it again.)

Zach and I like natural holiday decorations rather than whimsical or ostentatious ones.  We like our decor to be somewhat traditional and look as if it could have been plucked from the outdoors.  If, for the most part, Alcott's Little Women couldn't have made it, then we don't want it.  (Think pine boughs and cranberries and pinecones for Christmas.)  *lol*  So this wreath seemed perfect for us.  After all, I can hang this from September through November, and it will work just fine for Halloween and Thanksgiving.  The original was moss-covered with some realistic pumpkins and a simple burlap ribbon to tie it up.  I decided to recreate it with very few changes!

I had also seen on Pinterest how to avoid buying expensive styrofoam wreaths by using plumbing tubing instead!  The size I would have needed for this wreath would have cost me around $10 or more, according to my estimates, but I got a six-foot-long tube for $1.37!  I felt so proud marching into Lowe's and heading to the plumbing section as if I knew what things were.  ;)  This was great because we are short on our budget this month, and I didn't have much to spend on this wreath.  I simply cut where needed and taped them together.  What is even better is that this tubing doesn't flake like styrofoam does.  :)

I hot-glued moss around my tubing.  I didn't do the backs because 1) I was lazy, and 2) I wanted the wreath to lay flat, and 3) hot-gluing moss is hella messy!  I knew it would be very, very messy, but it was MESSY.  I decided to go with a variety of pumpkins to create interest, and I bought ones with picks (except for the very orange one in the center).  I trimmed the picks to fit, poked them into the wreath where desired, pulled them slightly out, coated the pick with hot glue, and stuck back in.  I had planned on using burlap ribbon, but I had some of this lovely brown fabric leftover from my bathroom shelf curtain and decided to cut a "ribbon" from it.  The ends and sides will fray, so it won't look too neat.  :)

Ah, it was an adventure making this.  Our kitties kept hopping up on the table to investigate the moss, and I was certain they were going to ingest some and die or get burned by my hot glue gun or knock the gun to the floor, getting hot glue everywhere.  Every five minutes, I was yelling, "Hobie!  No!  Dinah!  No!  Zaaaaach!"

I hung it in my kitchen to see how it will look on the door.  We have got to get a wreath hanger or put in a nail on the door.  I think it looks fab!  Don't you?  :)

Photo a Day in September #8

8.  School

In case you didn't already know, I work at a school (a community college, to be exact).  This picture is of one of the six buildings on our main campus.  Most classes are held here; it's much larger than what the picture shows; it's much more labyrinthine than it appears here.

I was actually there today because my husband works there, too, and yesterday he drove to work in the car we have been trying to sell but have to put it off because it mysteriously dies for no reason.  (No, it's not the starter or the battery or anything logical.  It was his uncle's car originally, and he spent three years trying to fix all of its problems.)  I'm thankful it didn't start yesterday when Zach got off because when I went to pick him up, we got caught in a scary storm.  It would have been terrible for him if he had been driving home in that accursed vehicle and it had died on the Interstate as it is wont to do. ARGH!  So today we had to go on campus to see if the car would start (it did), so he could drive it home to try to figure out what is wrong with it again.  We had a ticket on the windshield because I never renewed the parking tag because we were selling it.  *lol*  The thing is--Zach parked in a visitor's spot so this wouldn't be a problem.  Oh, well, who cares...

...because we sold the car this afternoon!  After we got home, he decided to go ahead and post it, naming its mysterious problem and offering it at a lower price.  We sold it for far less than Bluebook value ($1,000+ less) and less than what Zach posted it for today, but it is gone!  Hallelujah!  Now we just have to get his scooter fixed, so we can be a two-vehicle family for at least another month before it gets cold.  (Oh, and can you believe that the insurance company of the guy that caused Zach to wreck is denying the claim since the police officer didn't take down any testimony from any witness other than that guy?!  Zach even contacted two of the witnesses, and they said they would sign an affidavit that this guy pulled out in front of Zach and caused him to wreck, but the dude's insurance company said that wasn't enough!  Are you kidding me?  If he had hit the guy, this wouldn't be a problem.  How does that make any sense?!)

Anyway, enough of my ranting and venting...

Here are two more pictures of my current school (that is, my work) from this week:

 This was Friday after I got off work at one.  The storm was starting to move in then, but it didn't really hit until five.

This was from Thursday.  We had our annual Welcome Back luau with free food (I had a wonderful Skittles-flavored snow cone!), music, games, and t-shirts (this one).  It pictures our Student Center, which is also above (in the picture of the storm).  This is where my office is housed.  I love how whimsical the SC is on this shirt!

Photo a Day in September #7

7.  Create

Guess what I am making tomorrow?  ;)

Ah, it's going to be in the 50s (THE FIFTIES) in the morning, so it seemed appropriate to start on this...

Photo a Day in September #6

6.  A New Book

Well, this isn't exactly a book, but it did come in the mail.  I'm surprised by how much I enjoy Bloomberg Businessweek.  Unfortunately, my husband (who has an iPad subscription of it) got to it before me...and it wound up in the trash.  :(  I need to keep a closer eye on our magazines because I'll need them for my composition class in about another month!

Photo a Day in September #5

5.  Breakfast

I don't care much for Cheerios.  My mama always let me buy the candy cereal when I was little, and that is where my breakfast cereal heart lies.  I think regular/original Cheeries smell like dog food.  I think it's the oats in them--there's a lot of oats in dog food, too, isn't there?  I will eat Honey Nut Cheerios if I am really hungry and/or there is nothing else to eat.  Of course, my husband loves Cheerios.  (His parents made him eat healthy cereals and vegetables and fruits.)  So when we were stocking up on cereal during the back-to-school sales, he wanted to score some cheap Cheerios with a few coupons.  Wherever we were had the Dulce de Leche Cheeios on sale with the usual suspects, so I insisted Zach get some of those since I felt I would be more inclined to like them.  I was right.  They are pretty good...for Cheerios.  ;)

Of course, I had my breakfast with a big glass of cold sweet tea, no ice.

Now that I am thinking of it, I could have photographed my dinner since it was breakfast, too.  That is, we had brinner.  I made scrambled eggs and toast, and we had some cut watermelon on the side. I  make THE BEST scrambled eggs (according to the opinion of our family = Zach and me).  It's important to not let them sit in the pan; you have to keep them moving.