December? Not possible!!!

As I sit here rejoicing in the quietness (on this last day of finals there are very few students on campus), I started thinking about all the things going on in my life.  I decided I needed to write a new post, and hit the highlights of the last few weeks.

THEN....

::shamed face::

I noticed that the last post I made was in September.  SEPTEMBER!!!!

::sigh::

I have been busy, I admit.  But I shouldn't be so busy that I don't have time to write a little!  Deepest, abject apologies to my one or two readers.  Erm... hello?  ::crickets::  Hello?  Given up on me as a bad job?  How can I blame you??

So... highlights.

September:

• We paid off our car!  Our only debt now is our (very small) mortgage.  No credit cards, no nothing.
• I started working full time on "my" campus - no more long commutes!  (This, of course, does not mean I actually have a library yet.  I'm working in a computer lab, and Still Waiting for them to start the courthouse renovations for the real library.)
• We ate lots of late-harvest greens, and I rediscovered my southern heritage by making vats and vats of collards and freezing them to serve up this winter with joy and deliciousness.
• I celebrated the 25 year anniversary of "Princess Bride" - the Best Movie Ever. "As you wish!"  (The philosopher gave an appreciative nod to the special occasion, but declined to watch it yet once again....  Inconceivable!)

October:

• Discovered a new favorite librarian quote from Neil Gaiman: "Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one."
• Said goodbye to the Ponds as Doctor Who (Season 7) came to an end. 
• Hiked Horn Mountain in the Chattahoochee National Forest.  Remembered the boots.  Forgot the camera.
• Had my deepest hopes dashed when Florida State lost to NC State.  (Boo, hiss!  But we still won the ACC Chanpionship so Orange Bowl, here we come!) 
• Made huge headway clearing the brush and bramble (and trash) on the back of our property.  Goodbye old tire!  Goodbye dead stump!  Goodbye prickly thorny nastiness!  Hello, poison ivy.  (sigh)
• Did some work in our front shrub bed - moved the unhappy plants to better locations and replaced them with nandinas and gumpo azaleas.  What?  You want pictures?  You'll just have to wait until spring!

November:

• Started my Christmas shopping.  (No, really.  I did!  Really!)
• Of course, said Christmas shopping actually involved filling up shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse and Operation Christmas Child.  (But that counts, right??)
• Experienced an earthquake.  In Georgia.
• Actually beat the philosopher in a game of Scrabble.  (This will likely be a highlight for the year!)
• Celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom (we did Cornish hens instead of a turkey)
• Celebrated Thanksgiving Saturday with my dad, watching football and eating black bean dip.  We did have a bird, tho... wait, what? Don't buffalo wings meet the criteria?) 

 December:

• Fetched our Christmas tree from Sleepy Hollow Farms.  It's beautiful.  And we haven't taken a single picture of our lovely decorated house.  Boy, I really AM a slacker!
• Celebrated the start of Advent at Trinity Anglican Church.  (Your humble blogger is the webmaster so maybe that's where all my online time is being spent, rather than here with you good folk?)
• Planned our Christmas vacation - three days of peace at Navarre Beach! 

I also taught 30 classes, participated in a hiring committee, did a gazillion other things for work, repainted the living room and dining room, and even washed the car once or twice.

And over break we're actually going to tackle the front foyer.  You know how the door only opens halfway because of the banister?  Yeah.  That.  We're going to fix it, and put in a new floor, and replace the carpeted stairs with oak treads.  And if we're Very Very lucky, we'll get it done before Christmas!