november

wow... it's been a REALLY long time since I have written an entry here... it's been a VERY LONG month!

After Obama won the campaign I began writing my oral presentation for my Romantic Lit class. There were a few things I touched on in the poems I was comparing both entitled "To a Skylark" - one by Wordsworth, one by Shelley. I shared a little background on the skylark, including a clip of what the bird sounds like (thanks to the ipod and ilive!) and then I tried to look at the poems through the lens which the author of the poems views poets and poetry. For WW, he views the poet’s art as an “acknowledgement of the beauty of the universe.” WW sees the poet AS a divine spirit, part of the divine or voice of divine. For Shelley poetry is a fire which is sparked by a diviner nature. The poet will never be equal to a voice of the divine. He laments that he cannot pour fourth as naturally as a skylark which is part of the divine.

That's it in a nutshell...if you want more info just let me know. i doubt you do.

So that went well and then that weekend it was off to NYC. I took the bus down which was super easy and relatively inexpensive. Ilyse took me to Chat-n-Chew for lunch which was delicious. We watched Penn State's only loss of the season (booo!) and had some dinner and time out. It was an interesting time. I highly recommend the shortline bus out of bingo for trips to the city. I doubt if I will be returning any time soon, though. I am a country girl. Even in the "big city" of Binghamton I still feel like this is 100 times more country than the concrete jungle of NYC.

I took a Medication Administration Training course and passed on November 13th. Now I can give children medication. Isn't that EXCITING!! It certainly is for my center.

I've also been to two Binghamton University Men's Basketball games. My inlaws get season tickets and have been on a cruise so we were able to take another couple with us to the Friday 14th game. It was a blast. I love being at collegiate level games. I love the fans. I love the feeling and the school spirit. I am a Penn State girl and with that comes this familiar feeling when everyone is cheering. It feels like "home."

Last Saturday (the 15th) I was able to hang out with my favorite little girl, Miss G along with her padre, John, and Shane and Nick. It was BY FAR a "best day." Her mama had her first full day away from the house, going on a delicious wine tour on the finger lakes! We watched noggin, my new favorite show is Jack's Big Music Show. Not only because they played EXCELLENT music but because Miss G was too friggen cute dancing to it. We really just spent the day watching the baby play and Bear Grylls survive in nature. It was so relaxing and really exactly what I needed. To actually relax for a day. I was sick earlier that week due to a weakened immune system caused by exhaustion. oy!

The BAEYC has also been working on a conference for the past few months. We brought national speaker Larry Griffin in for the day this past Saturday. I am hospitality chairwoman so it was up to me to feed the masses. I was able to get my friends at Starbucks Front Street to donate coffee for the morning. I had Gance's do the catering for lunch, sammie boxes. I was ready to have a heart attack by this past Thrusday night! I was thinking of everything that could go wrong and how I would fix it. (awful concept) Would there be enough? I wondered. Would it get there on time? 1 MILLION thanks to Gance's who did an INCREDIBLE job they did. Holy crap. Highly highly reccommended!!

Larry Griffin was amazing. He spoke about "Challenging Behaviors" in children. His message was basically, get to know your children. There are things that you can't change in their lives but they are with you for X hours a day and during that time you have to give your all to them. He spoke about the brain and the differences within according to gender. He spoke about teaching the children that we are all here to help eachother. It was beautiful. I, of course, cried. It was a great reminder that I LOVE WHAT I DO. I love love love love love all of the children in my classroom and I am so glad that they are part of my world.

You see, in addition to freaking out about the sandwich boxes on Thursday night I was also freaking out about the fact that I will have a Master's Degree by the end of August. oy. Then what? Well, I don't need to decide that now. I have ALWAYS trusted in the universe, the hp, to guide me. It hasn't lead me astray thus far.

So what's next??

-FIVE DAYS OFF!!!!! For the first time in YEARS i'm not working Thanksgiving. Sweeeeet! I'm having dinner here with my adorable inlaws and my lovely friends the KOZs. But first... I have to make serious strides on my 20 page paper (due: 12/11). I also will be sharing beautiful times with much of my family of friends this week and I can't wait! Hopefully it won't be a MONTH before I update this thing again!

enjoy...