evidence of truly Mennonite blood...

Saturday was supposed to be a fairly uneventful day around here. I wanted to study all day, Michael was going to do some groceries and bring our dried out christmas tree to the park where they are collecting them to make wood chips for the animals at the zoo. I told Michael to take his time with going to the store because it's much easier to study when he's not at home (I was going to go to the library, but figured I'd capitalize on the chance to study on the couch snuggled in a blanket while he was out). Well, he was gone a long long time. So I innocently asked what took so long. He told me that he got some Christmas lights while he was at the park, because people had dumped their trees lights & all.

He then was bold enough to share just HOW MANY lights he had gotten: "the trunk and the back seat are full" he tells me. At this point there's already a glare forming on my face, so he quickly jumps in with, "but they were free, what a waste of money to throw them all out, somebody can use them!" Yes, but not us! Nor we do need crowd our precious storage space with yet another item for someday when we or someone we know might need them. Some of you are on his side, some of you are on mine, whatever.

It's kind of a funny thing, throwing things away makes me feel good, and it makes Michael feel awful. We cut a deal. I said that they had to be sorted and given away (less the few strands that we would keep) within a month. So I marked my calendar because on February 20th, I'm hoping to experience the joy of throwing away those lights and reclaiming some storage space! I'll keep you all posted on what happens on that date!

here's the proud hero of the lights!

i went to the opera tonight!

I'm bursting with things I want to share right now in the heat of the moment, and Michael is unavailbe at this instant because he is playing Settlers with the guys. Therefore I have no one to talk to, except for you unsuspecting blog readers! I've completed my first full week of classes, and finally got registered for the one class I was sitting in on but not really in. I'm taking 4 courses again this semester. They should be pretty good. One class is Food: composition, function & nutrition. It's just going to be a bunch of facts, somewhat science based, but it's entertaining to listen to the prof. He's an older Englishman who thinks he's pretty funny, so we end up laughing because he's laughing at himself. He's got the classic British dry humor. Then there's Corporate Finance, which I think I will find easier than intro to accounting. I have the same prof, and he's really good at what he does (and he's part of a minority in the school of business who's native language in English). I'm also taking a class called Communication for Professional Practice. This course is required for all Human Ecology students. It's about communication skills, particularly in the form of presentations (aka public speaking). I was a little scared about this class, but I think it will be alright since all of the presenting happens in lab, where there is only 16 people. The scariest project is the presentation that we have to get video taped for and then watch ourselves; that just doesn't sound like fun! And, I've saved the best for last! I'm taking an elective this semester (this is the class I had a hard time getting into). The course is called The Well-Tempered Concert Goer. I'm super excited about this. Anyway, to sum up: it's a classical music appreciation class. The requirements are to go to 9 concerts (they're already chosen) and write a 1-2 page response to each concert. There's no textbook, no exam, just the papers and classes to go that give us some background and history on what we are going to hear. And that is why I was at an opera tonight. Well, more accuartely, parts of six operas. It's put on by U of M vocal students. One of them was in German, I enjoyed that one quite a lot because I could understand the gist of what was going on. We had the story lines explained to us, but when you can piece the words actually being sung together, there's some pretty humorous stuff going on. I can't believe how outrageous the plots and story lines are! So, I think I could really get into opera, except for two things: listening to an opera sung in English just doesn't sound as good, and you miss out on a lot if you don't understand the language that is being sung. (guess maybe I should learn some other languages) Like one of them was in French, and there were people in the audience who obviously understood stuff I didn't because they were laughing and I didn't know why. Anyway, it was good, I'm really looking forward to learning stuff in this class, and just learning how to listen and understand classical music better.

no more mild winter...

This is our house on New year's Eve. We have since gotten even more snow.

And the picture on the right is Dan & Jen's car...it could almost have passed for a giant frozen marshmallow! It's definitely been cold the past few days. Today was expecially bad (I got a lecture from Michael to "bundle up," like I need it, I hate to be cold!) The temperature has been around -30 the past few days, before windchill (with I think it was like -45). I knew it was bad this morning when our digital thermometer didn't have numbers on the screen, only the letters OFL. What does that mean, awful? Well, it was awfully cold, that's true. So, we've discovered that it doesn't read anything colder than -29.9 degrees. The thing I can't get over is how wimpy all these tough Manitobans are being. Some schools were even closed today and people are just chickening out and staying home instead of be brave and getting out there to stick with their commitments! I just want to gloat a little, since they always talk about BC people and how the whole world grinds to a halt at the slightest sign of snow. I'm quite proud of myself for being a tough BC girl and going to school without complaining!

got my marks back...

So I think the toga picture from an earlier post at least provides evidence that I earned my good marks! I did really well this term, I think technically my GPA is the highest I've ever had for a specific term. Mmmm, I got slightly better grades after Michael and I started dating, now that we're married they improved slightly again...does this mean having a baby would get me straight A's???