Merry Christmas!

It's been awhile since I've posted because I've been having fun with Christmas preparations and spending time with my husband while he's off school.

Here's some exciting things that have happened:
1. We got a sofa! A really nice one! For only $363!
2. We painted our living room green. We hope this is okay with whoever is in charge of our apartment.
3. I went to beautiful downtown Shelby, NC to visit one of my best friends, Lydia. I taught her to knit and she took me to her church and told me about applying for Ph.D programs. I also saw one of my best professors from college, Dr. Goodman.
4. I drove in snow. Very exciting.
5. I have 259 new emails in the email account I use "professionally." This is where I get job postings and lots of library-related emails so I can stay up to date. After Christmas break when I'm back in the library I'll be doing lots of reading!
6. Matt and his mom got together to get me a sewing machine for Christmas!
7. Christmas dinner is halfway done. The roast is roasting, the potatoes are mashed and baked, and the broccoli salad is ready to be mixed. All that's left to do is bake the crescent rolls, glaze the carrots, and cook the corn pudding.

Merry Christmas!

Snow, snow, snow...and a show!

We encountered all this snow in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park on our way to Nashville this past Sunday. It was a welcome suprise that made the journey even more worthwhile. We went to Nashville to see Andrew Peterson's annual Christmas concert at the Ryman Auditorium. I guess it's kind of silly to drive 5 hours to see a concert, but it was one of the best - if not the best - concert I've ever been to. Andrew just released a wonderful Christmas album called Behold the Lamb of God: the true tall tale of the coming of the Christ. There was a plethora of guest artists including (but not limited to) Derek Webb (formerly of Caedmon's Call), Sandra McCracken, Andrew Osenga (of Caedmon's Call, formerly of The Normals), Randall Goodgame, Buddy Miller (Julie, his wife, is one of my favorite artists, but was sick and unable to appear), Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn, Pierce Pettis, and Phil Keaggy. It was a great way to celebrate the coming of the Christ.

Mo in the snow

That's me in the snow. By the way, Mo rhymes with many words. I like that. Maureen rhymes with few words, which is okay too, but in college for a bit, I was referred to as Queen Maureen, which doesn't really fit me. Anyway, snow is pretty.

Update: I am somewhat incorrect about the rhyming. According to Rhymezone.com, Mo rhymes with 369 words, and Maureen rhymes with 300, which is more than I would have thought.

Matt in the snow

And there's Matt, who in his life has seen less snow than I have and was slightly more excited about it.

On the needles

I"ve been trying to knit quite a bit lately in order to finish some projects. Here's what I'm up to:

On the Needles:

1. Purple Ribbon Scarf (gift)
2. Mystery Purple Item (gift)
3. Mystery black boucle item (gift)

On Hiatus until after Christmas:

1. The unsuccessful sweater that has made a return as a somewhat successful sweater that just needs to be longer - again, this is a fault with the pattern not me!
2. A small bag to match the return of the unsuccessful sweater
3. Scarf and hat or hat and bag with Lion Brand Landscapes Spring Desert yarn
4. Sweater with Cascade 220 Burnt Orange yarn

AT&T Wireless is the dumbest company I have ever dealt with

We have had so many problems with this company I'm not sure I can remember them all, but after our experiences with them today, I feel the need to recount as many of them as I can. These will soon be written in a letter to their customer service department.

1. We moved to an area where they don't have service, but they wouldn't let us out of our contract unless we pay $300. It's cheaper to pay the bill every month, so we keep the phones.(August)
   
2. Then, they merged with Cingular, but we were told we could not transfer to Cingular, even though Cingular does have service here. We were told we would not be able to transfer our service until after our contract ran out in February 2005. (August)
3. Even though we had stopped using our phone because of the excessive roaming charges, our October bill arrived with charges for CALLS WE NEVER MADE. Seriously, Matt's phone had been sitting untouched on a shelf, yet calls MADE FROM TAMPA, where he had not been in October, were on our bill. (November)
4. We received a fancy letter and flashy brochure in the mail that proclaimed the wonders of the merger and the fact that we could change over to Cingular service. So, Matt calls to find out how to go about this. We are told his contract expired last week (remember earlier we were told the contract went until February). Funny, but if we had called a week earlier we wouldn't have had to pay for the month of December. (This morning)
5. Then, a helpful customer service representative named Heather checks with her manager and explains that all we have to do is go to Cingular.com and sign up for service (which includes a free phone), then call back AT&T Wireless, tell them to cancel the second line because we're switching to Cingular and we won't have to pay the cancellation fee. Sounds good, right? We go to Cingular.com, sign up, and then Matt calls back AT&T Wireless (which had the worst voice recognition phone tree ever) and is told everything he was just told by Heather, WHO WAS ANOTHER AT&T WIRELESS REPRESENTIVE, is COMPLETELY WRONG! What the heck!?! Matt spends another half an hour on the phone while they tell us that we still have to keep my service until February and there's no way we can change unless we do it on the phone with them and pay extra money for a phone. The bottom line: we never should have gone to the Cingular website, even though that's what Heather told us to do. ACK! Why can't they give us a straight story? (This afternoon)
   
6. I cannot create a log-in on their website because something somewhere in all the information I just typed in doesn't match their records. (15 minutes ago)
   

Oh, Christmas Tree!

It's pretty in the dark...in the daytime, it looks pretty raggedy. But I like it. The cat does too. especially the glass ball ornaments. We've resorted to moving his food in the guest bedroom and closing him in there when we can't supervise him.

1 Peter 3:8-12 MSG - I think this speaks for itself

8 Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. 9 That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless--that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.

10 Whoever wants to embrace life
and see the day fill up with good,
Here's what you do:
Say nothing evil or hurtful;
11 Snub evil and cultivate good;
run after peace for all you're worth.
12 God looks on all this with approval,
listening and responding well to what he's asked;
But he turns his back
on those who do evil things.

Inspirational Career Quote

In the nonstop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us with floaties and teach us how to swim.-Linton Weeks

Water

It's been raining here for the last two days. The rain stopped this afternoon and the sky is beautiful. But the water is still here.

Our yard always seems to collect the water and squishes excessively after rain. I've become accustomed to this and try to walk lightly (if that's possible). On my way to the library I noticed a weird noise in the grass. I think you can actually hear the water seeping through the ground. Most of the way up the hill I heard small trickling noises in the grass.

I think this is really exciting, obviously, since I'm writing about it. In Florida, rainwater just sits and habors mosquitoes.

"Another moonshine still busted"

That's the headline on the local newspaper today. Note the use of "another" - this is the second one found since we've been here. It seems to me that it would be easier, cheaper, and well, more legal to just pick up your liquor at the store, but apparently the mountain folks don't agree. I guess they think enjoying homemade alcohol is one of the benefits of living in a small town (see post below).