March Comes in Like a Lion...

Every once in a while that phrase applies to the month and this March was one of those times for us. March first rolled around and with it came the first real snow fall we've had since October! My excitment was soon subdued when I realized my school was the only one in the state (ok, maybe not the state, but pretty darn close) that wasn't closing for a snow day. The funny thing is that for up-state NY, a 6 - 8" snow fall like we had is a normal event most winters, and most schools wouldn't think of closing for that little bit. But because schools hadn't been giving out snow days due to the lack of snow, they were ready to give them out now. Needless to say, not many people showed up for classes. I think the largest class I had that day was maybe 8 people in my Lit to Film class, which is normally one of the bigger classes I have.

Zeph helped me shovel out the van before I left.

I love country roads.

The drive to school was beautiful.

I love it when the snow sticks to all the branches.

When I got to school, I ran into the field house to get ready for volleyball, only to find that I was only one of two students who showed up for it! So we spent a couple hours passing and serving to each other... my bruised arms weren't very happy with me after that.

I love this weird thing hanging from the ceiling.

The windows are tinted shades of green, blue and a light purple-ish and its looks really cool when the light comes through the colors.

I spent my break reading, eating Nutter Butters and watching the snow fall.

It was kind of nice to be on campus when there weren't many people around and everything was so quiet. But I was glad to get home and be cozy under blankets with some hot tea and a good book.

The snow can make the campus look so pretty sometimes.

Adventures of tap dancing and improv scenes

Oh the adventures I have had over the last week! And I blame it all on the fact that I wore this shirt the day they started!

On Tuesday, the adventures were small, but entertaining. The ice rink was closed during my break at school so I got out my sketch book, (I have become nearly inseparable from it over the past couple years.) and came up with several new dress designs. While I was waiting in the theatre for my acting class to begin, there was a women who had been helping with auditions that day still hanging around waiting for the next round of hopeful young actors to arrive and exhibit their skills. She skipped up onto the stage with her tap shoes on and began to do a very happy, energetic dance. She then turned to three people who had been up close to the stage and invited them to come up and learn the dance. Since I was sitting more towards the back of the room, I just watched for a while smiling to myself, remembering how badly I wanted to learn to tap dance when I was little, mainly because I had adored Shirley Temple as a child. Despite the fact that I was sitting down, it wasn’t long before my feet started moving to the beat of the tapping, imitating the stomps, hops and “ankle flicks” that were being performed on stage. By the end of the 10 minutes, I had learned the tap dance along with the others. Shortly after the impromptu dance lesson, all 18 theatre students were immersed in the warm ups and getting ready to tackle the next assignment: performing an improv scene with another person. The catch? We were each only allowed to say one word. My word was Moon, and my partner’s was Sun. We had to communicate some sort of an idea to the audience by only speaking the word assigned to each of us. It is so odd to try and explain to someone. The scene escalated from a little “tiff” that the characters invented, and continued into a full blown argument with Mike yelling “SUN!” and myself only yelling back “MOON!” It ended up being very comical to watch all the pairs interact with each other and I found myself finally enjoying an improvisation exercise.

Last first day...right?

Today I went back to my classes, which I had (and still have) mixed emotions about. Yay, cause I'm learning new things and when it comes down to it, I really don't mind college that much. On the other hand, it takes me away from spending my days doing only what I wanted. Yes, my disappointment in going back was due only to my selfishness.
It started off not as well it should have in my opinion. I was trying in vain to avoid some of the puddles in the parking lots, but alas, it did no good and my feet were wet from 11 am to 7pm. I forgot my water bottle and being cheap I didn't want to spend money on bottled water, so I went without, resulting in  a migraine. My last class, though it was fun, seemed to drag out a little long. The fact that it was a 3 hour class nay have had something to do with it I suppose. When I was freed from the class, I ran to my car and started the hour drive home, squinting all the way because the glare of the lights on the pavement hurt my head.
At last! My warm and cozy house! After realizing I was going to be a crank, I got warm, got food and went downstairs to hide in my room. But then my little brothers (ages 17 and almost 7) came down to the basement to practice their football skills, which includes but not limited to, the ball banging against the wall, screams from being tackled, smashing into the wall in order to avoid being tackled, etc. I was laying there thinking "please, just be quiet for a few minutes!" But then I heard it. My 6 year old little brothers giggle. My other brother had just showed him some kind of trick, and it put little Zeph into a fit of giggles. I don't even know how to describe it, but it never fails to make me smile.
It made me realize how amazing my life is. God has given me such an amazing family, one who is there, ready to support me and help me through things when I'm frustrated and need help. They tend to help me the most when they don't know it though, like tonight with the giggles and laughter, suddenly the bangs and thuds didn't bother me. I love my family. I think I'm gonna go give them all hugs now.

Mom's Christmas Gift

Ever since we moved into this house we've been using the same stove/oven. In the oven there was a "hot spot" in one corner so we had to make sure to keep rotating whatever we were making. Another quirk was that we had to set it 25 degrees lower than what the recipe called for. To add even more personality to the mix, several months ago a burner on the stove broke, leaving us with 3 burners. At times it was frustrating to try and coordinate large dinners with this contraption. Then, this Christmas, my Dad did his research and bought my Mom a brand new oven! After it was back-ordered twice, we finally were able to pick it up yesterday and installed it last night.

The stove that served us the best it could for nearly 11 years (and who knows how long before that!) is now out of the kitchen. I can't say I'll miss very much though!

And in it's place is this shiny new stainless steel one. Complete with not just 4, but 5 working burners, a fantastic oven (with even heating...no hot spots! and it's also a convection oven)  and a warming drawer

I don't know who is more excited about it, me or my Mom! I cannot wait to bake something yummy like a cheese cake or meringues, both of which I wasn't able to make with our other oven. Normally I'd be planning what I could make starting the moment I got up in the morning, however, tomorrow I start my spring semester. (Pro: I get to take lots of fun classes like acting, pottery, high ropes, etc. Con: I can't stay home to  bake, play piano, sew, and read all day in my comfy pants and hoodie.) Oh well, I'm looking on the bright side, which is that this is my last semester! Hurrah for only 16 (or so)more weeks!