I made a snowman this afternoon. The presents are under the tree. We're getting ready to make chocolate truffles. In five hours we'll pick up my youngest brother from work and drive around Charlottetown to look at Christmas lights. According to NORAD, Santa Claus is in Berlin. This is my favourite night of the year.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Thankfully, the awkwardness has been resolved. Sometimes it's best to take the beast . . . er, frog . . . by the horns.

Ohhh, this is awkward . . .

I have definitely come to the part of the semester when my brain ceases to produce meaningful thoughts and I can unravel at a moment's notice. I was doing well until this afternoon - I actually turned in two projects early - but today I hit the wall. I could feel my shoulders getting tense all morning, and when I hit a major bump just before dinner I had a total meltdown, complete with pulling my hair (which I do when I'm upset) and using half a box of Kleenex (which did not help the sinus infection at all).

It's not even like the situation is that awful. After all, I did win six dozen cookies yesterday and I don't have any incurable diseases. My assignments will get done and I'll be at home in less than a week now. I guess sometimes the stress just has to come out, and today happened to be the day.

It's time for another end-of-the-semester tradition: Roseanne's mysytery illnesses.

In fourth year it was the incredible sickness that had all the symptoms of mono, but wasn't actually mono. Last spring it was the swollen cheeks and sore throat that seemed like the mumps, but turned out to be a bacterial infection.

When Liam got sick this fall I was sure I would be next, but nothing happened. I thought I was in the clear, but alas, it wasn't to be. After a trip to the clinic this afternoon on the advice of my mother, I have discovered that I am the proud owner of not one, but two separate infections!

I have just returned from Shoppers with several prescriptions and a large bottle of cranberry juice. At least this is a sign that it will soon be time to go home.

So it's going to storm tonight . . . Usually I really enjoy fall storms. I like being inside while the rain blows against the windows. It makes everything feel extra cozy. However, the reason my new apartment is so gorgeous is because during Hurricane Juan the roof blew off the building (ie. our apartment) and everything had to be re-done. I know that Noel is not supposed to pack nearly the punch that Juan did, but for the record I really like having a roof. Over my head. Keeping me, Liam, and our stuff dry. And I'd like it to be there tomorrow as well. Just saying.

The house next door has a child-sized scarecrow on its front porch, dressed in what appears to be a green velvet jumpsuit with lace trim around the sleeves, pant legs, and collar. This would be disturbing enough on its own, but the scarecrow doesn't have a head. Every time I walk past in the dark I think there's a headless baby standing on my neighbour's steps. It's creeping me out.

It's a bit late, but here are the highlights of my Thanksgiving weekend:

1. Introducing Dee to the ferry.


2. Apple picking!


3. A visit to the Roma settlement near Montague.


4. Thanksgiving dinner with my family


5. A Trivial Pursuit showdown. Alas, there are no pictures, but Liam handily crushed Lynda, Dee, and me.

6. Meeting my cousin's one-month old baby. I'm in love.

Earlier this week I discovered the giant shelf of musicals at Video Difference, the movie rental place just a block away that's operated by the same people as That's Entertainment and open 24 hours. I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that I thought I'd died and gone to DVD heaven. It's probably the biggest collection of musicals I've ever seen in one place - and most of them I've never watched before!

For our first selection, Dee and I settled on Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Shall We Dance and we weren't disappointed! At one point, Fred and Ginger tapdance on rollerskates to the song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." On rollerskates, people! And I can't even walk in high heels! The music and lyrics were by the Gershwins (including the classic "They Can't Take That Away From Me") so it was pretty high quality, but it's the dancing that gets me every time.

Video Difference, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Happiest of birthdays to my Mel, who is awesome and turns 23 today!

I am happy to report that today I got my second MMR vaccine. No mumps for me! Yay for immune systems!

As many of you know, the neighbours I had last year liked to relax by smoking massive amounts of marijauna. In fact, they smoked so much that sometimes I would step off the elevator to find clouds of pot smoke billowing through the hallway. Unfortunately, these clouds would also billow under my door, making my apartment reek at all hours of the night and day.

Well, there's something in the air of my new apartment too - but it's much pleasanter than pot smoke. The Ben's Bread Bakery is at the end of the block, and the scent of freshly baking bread wafts down the street several times each day. I've discovered that if you walk past at about 10:00 pm you can even watch the loaves of bread as they truck along their little assembly line.

Just another reason why I love living in my new apartment.

Grrr to the loud machinery operating under my windows this morning at 8am. This was supposed to be my day to sleep in!

I'm back in Halifax, refreshed and ready to blog again.

Liam and I are slowly getting settled in our new apartment. Moving was absolute pandemonium, but I guess that was to be expected. However, I can't really complain: we managed to finish up just before the torrential downpour started. We couldn't have done it without help from Dee, Emily, and Vinny, who were awesome.

We had a mini-visit from Laura, who saw the place at its most chaotic. The three of us had just enough time to grab some crepes at the Farmer's Market before she headed home to gear up for her adventures in Hamilton.

The first day of orientation for the new SIM students was yesterday, and the second years got the cutest little file folder buttons to wear. I'll post a picture as soon as I can get Liam to take out his camera. Today I helped give a tour of the campus and tonight is the Faculty of Management mixer, which I would totally skip except they're giving out free drink tickets.

Liam's classes start Friday morning, but I don't have anything until Monday, so I'm hoping this will be a relaxing weekend. There's a SIM picnic on Sunday, but I don't think anyone has three-legged races or egg-in-spoon races planned. Sorry Lynda!

I'm starting to be able to help answer some of the complicated reference questions at work, and I can't tell you how excited this is making me! I'm going to be a really, truly librarian who can find things! People come into the library and think I know what I'm talking about. I love this!!

I think everyone has a list of books they'd like to read someday and movies they mean to watch when they have the time. Usually I'm much better at reading the books on my list than I am at getting around to watching the movies, but in the past week I've seen three movies that have been on my "To Watch" list for quite a while.

I started last Friday with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which Michelle first told me to watch several years ago. I've always thought the premise for this movie sounded strange, but I actually really enjoyed it. I like the idea of an enduring connection between two people who've been in love, even when they think they hate each other, and I thought the plot was extremely clever. I wonder what it's like to be able to think up stories like that. By the time Kate Winslet whispered "Meet me in Montauk" I had already decided I wanted to watch the movie again because I bet it will be even better the second time. And who knew Jim Carrey is such a good actor when he's not making weird faces?

Then on Thursday I psyched myself up to watch Shindler's List, which I've avoided for a long time. If you've ever heard my story about watching Life is Beautiful I think you'll understand why. In fact, if you know me at all you probably understand why. Surprisingly, I wasn't as emotionally affected as I thought I would be, but I also don't think I let myself become fully absorbed in the movie because I knew if I did I would 1) use an entire box of tissues and scare my blind cat whenever I blew my nose and 2) probably not sleep well for several weeks. I made it through most of the movie without too many tears, although the part where the bodies of all the Jews who've been killed have to be dug up and burned did use up a lot of kleenex.

I saw the first half of Forrest Gump when I was twelve, but tonight I finally watched the whole thing. I definitely understood a lot more of what was happening than I did in 1994. I really, really loved this movie. Really loved it. I know it might be a little syrup-y, but I'm a syrup-y kind of girl. Tom Hanks is brilliant, although it was a little odd to see Mack from CSI New York as a legless man with long hair.

Anyway, I'm interested to know what other movies should be moved up to the top of my "To Watch" list. What do you guys think? What do I need to watch next? I know several of the people who read this blog have very strong opinions about movies, so please suggest away!

Yesterday saw the return of Lynda and Rosey's Fabulous Adventures. Taking advantage of a sunny Sunday afternoon Lou and I piled into her car and set off to explore. Our last PEI adventure took us out to New Glasgow and Rustico, so this time we decided to go in a completely different direction and headed towards Montague. Instead of taking the main roads we meandered a little, which meant we got to see Sharon and Kieran's new house in Valleyfield.

After we hit Montague we continued on to Murray River and Murray Harbour. Alas, the bakery in Murray Harbour was closed, which meant we couldn't sample the Brad Richards cookie (which Lynda says is delicious), but we did see the large "Pride of Murray Harbour" sign. (Why is it that only sports figures or musicians seem to be the pride of places? What about all the people who gets PhDs or do other impressive things?)

Next up was a drive along the beautiful southern shore of Kings County. The scenery here was absolutely breathtaking. Everything was saturated with green and the wind smelled like grass and ocean. Even the cows looked happy. We stopped in at the Cape Bear lighthouse and played tourist for a while.

Then it was time to head home. On the way back we drove through Pownal and Alexandra so Lynda could have a trip down memory lane. Lynda and Rosey's Fabulous Adventures return next weekend, although we haven't decided what direction we're going to go yet.

Yesterday I was looking for something in the stacks at work when I noticed a row of books about pigeons. "Why," I wondered, "would Veterans Affairs be interested in pigeons?" My question was answered a few minutes later when I took a closer look at one of the books and realized it was about pensions, not pigeons. Once again, I was left shaking my head at myself. But not too hard. I didn't want to damage the brain cells that remained.

My civic duty is done. I voted on my way home from work and now I'm looking forward to an evening of watching election results.

However, there is one issue I felt was never fully discussed during the campaign. How is it that no one else noticed the lion is eating Robert Ghiz's head on the signs in his riding?

It snowed a little again today. Seriously. I have had enough.