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News, Information, Updates

2 February 2012, Thursday

Happy Groundhog Day!!

Or as we made up in Tucson today - Happy Prairie Dog Day!

21 January 2012, Saturday

School is back and going. We've had a week and a half at the university and next week I add the elementary school back to my schedule. This semester is going to be rough. But we can do anything.

Today was quilt fiesta day! Brett remembered everything he learned last year. We'll put the pictures up soon on Ooh Shemo.

We're just trying to stay ahead of things. And that's keeping us plenty busy. We do plan to go out for Chinese on Monday to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

6 January 2012, Friday

Happy Three Kings Day to all!

And a happy 12th day of Christmas as well.

I guess this means that tomorrow I should probably start taking down the Christmas decorations. At least we keep the spirit longer than the stores do. It was amazing to go to a store on Christmas Eve (because that's when we buy our stocking stuffers, even if we do overshoot the stocking size by two shopping bags) and pick out a Christmas card; and then go back to that same store two nights later (so Boxing Day) to buy some ibuprofen and see Valentine's cards where the Christmas cards had been 48 hours earlier. Stop and enjoy it some why don't ya!

5 January 2012, Thursday

Time to go over last year's goals and see what kind of goals I can set for 2012.

In 2011 I wanted to...

Unpack all of my boxes - I completely emptied 2 boxes. Which isn't anywhere near all of them.
Finish the alphabet of books - I had seven left. I read four. I got stuck on X when I didn't go get it from the library and I picked up a fiction book instead. If I don't finish it this year I'll kick myself.
Finish more old sewing projects than I start new ones - Didn't do so great on this one either. And I picked up the habit of buying yarn for new knitting projects. And since the knitting projects I've been doing take very little yarn, the yarn stash is growing fast.
Vitamins, exercise, and healthy eating - Based on the original goals I totally nailed all of this one. I modified it about mid-year because I realized I should probably do strength training more than once a week and probably do yoga more than once a week as well and I didn't make the new goal. There was also the issue of an injured knee and two other major health things that kept me from getting all 780 miles I wanted to get. But I got 604.2. And that's not bad considering.
IRB approval for both of my research projects - I am completely done with the IRB. I changed one project so it no longer requires IRB approval and I got approval in 6 working days for the other one.

So it looks like I did 2 out of 5. I've done worse. But I've done better too.

Here's my five goals for 2012

Clean and organize our closet, under the bed, the Tigger room, and the garage (that's where all of my stuff has been stuffed). I've been a bit of a pack rat my whole life, possibly bordering on hoarding at times. But if it's been in a box since I moved to Arizona I'm probably never going to actually use it at this point and we could use the closet space for something else. I'm just not looking forward to the hurricane that's going to hit our house when I start going through everything.
If I don't finish this darn alphabet of books challenge this year I'm going to kick myself! Actually, inspired by my sister-in-law, who also has an incredibly long to-read list, I'm aiming for 10 pages a day Monday through Friday. That should get me through several books by the end of the yar.
Graduate!! Because really, it's time to be done. Bonus points if we finish paying off my student loans before then.
Finish three quilts. I have more than that that need to be finished. But if I can finish at least three, that will be great.
Grow an herb garden. I must discover the secret to keeping them alive. Because they make cooking so much more fun.

It's not the most exciting of lists. But some of those are big enough to keep the year full.

4 January 2012, Wednesday

As 2011 kept going I found myself at more of a loss of how to explain it to others. It was one of those years where you kind of had to be there. I did manage to put together a photo summary, one photo per month, again though. Here you go:

January - Trip to the Quilt Fiesta, Beyond Bread, and Bookmans.
February - Warm inside while it froze and snowed outside.
March - Celebrating five years since our first date.
April - Kind of a boring month actually, although Mom and Dad Giles came for a visit.
May - Memorial Day BBQ and a trip to Utah
June - There were fires on the mountain but we still managed to get up to our spot for the solstice.
July - Trip to Snowflake, AZ for the temple on Lisa's birthday.
August - Fulfilling one of Lisa's dreams to work chains at a football game.
September - Making good use of our couch. It's perfect for a nap.
October - In which we reveal just how much we're into the TV show Chuck (and if you aren't, what is wrong with you?)
November - Celebrating life and being thankful for all of its miracles.
December - Holding each other close and celebrating the life of our Savior.

26 December 2011, Monday

Wow. December has really gotten away from us. The semester ended. It was a good semester. Round one of data collection for my dissertation ended. It was good. We decorated the house for Christmas. I like Christmas decorations. I made some presents for Christmas and decided that a few of my ideas would be better for next year than this year (you gotta know your limits). In a lot of ways this December was just a normal December and in other ways it was its own unique thing.

We hope your December has been full of peace and that you've had a Merry Christmas.

The month of November is in the archives.

Meet Giggles

I am an educator and graduate student. I quilt, belly dance, run, read, and try to grow things. I am a Mormon. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, grand-daughter, friend, and wife.
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