So it's been a while - sorry about that. The semester is quickly coming to an end, which means everyone goes nuts for a month.

Anyway, I'm sure everyone has heard the phrase "if you don't like the weather, just wait 10 minutes" in regards to Minnesota weather. While it is true about Minnesota, it's almost more true of Oklahoma. Take for example this past Thursday. The sun was shining, but we had a 20 minute rain/hail deluge:









No joke - it was like somebody turned the faucet on full blast. One minute: no rain; next minute: so much rain we can barely see. Crazy Oklahoma weather!

I'll be heading out to California next weekend for a friend's wedding and then we go into the home stretch of the end of the semester. There are 3 weeks left and I've got a ton to do. Where did the semester go? I'm still trying to figure out the paradox of how time can go both very slowly, yet very quickly. Once the semester ends, I have about a month off before I begin research. Yea! I'm not sure if we'll be heading up to Minnesota yet - it will depend on what the hubby finds for summer work. We hope to take a long weekend to visit some friends up in Boulder, but we'll be flying there.

And to end and just because they're cute:





Hope spring is coming to everyone!

Yes, I'm very late with the snow pics and the snow was gone the next day. Bad me! But here is a pic of our front lawn with the snow:



As usual, school and teaching are taking up a lot of my time. Though I did get a chance to go see the Body Works exhibit at the Science Museum in OKC. I missed it in MN because I couldn't find anyone who wanted to go with me, but a friend of mine and I went last weekend. It was phenomenal - there's no way I can find the words to describe it. It took us 2 hours or so to go through it and I probably could have spent more time there. :D Just very cool.

Julie and Alan (friends of ours) got a cute chocolate lab puppy a couple weeks back and Julie brings her into the office from time to time. Of course, none of us get any work done, but that's OK. Here's Bella:



We are so getting a lab when we get a house. I was thinking about a pug first, but I was always going to get a lab. But now I'm think labs all the way. I guess we'll see...

And so my girls aren't left out, here are a couple of cute and funny pics:





Yes, that is a Silke foot. I walked into the bedroom and all I saw was a foot - it turns out she was doing her usual laying one her back, but under the covers. Minus one foot, of course. So picture this:



but under the covers. Silly kitty.

Yeah, so nothing much else is new - I hear that's a common ailment for blogs right now. I'm absolutely, positively certain that next weekend will be more entertaining...

We arrived back in OK Friday evening after spending 2 weeks "home" in MN. We had a great time and it definitely went too quickly. We decided that although 2 weeks may sound like a lot of time, with 2 holidays and miscellaneous family functions it turns out that 2 weeks isn't nearly enough time.

There was much snow in MN and we enjoyed it thoroughly:





Even the squirrels enjoyed it:



There were only a couple of days where it dipped below zero - we had pretty good temperatures, for the most part. It still took some time to adjust (it was 66 degrees the day before we left OK), but we're homegrown Minnesotans, so it wasn't so bad. :D It was great to be able to spend time with both immediate and extended families, most of whom we hadn't seen since July. New Years rang in cold, but fun, as we lit sparkles in the snow and watched Galaxy Quest. I got a great shot of sunrise one morning:



The trip back was mostly uneventful. We awoke Saturday morning to sunshine and temps in the 50's. It got into the high 60's yesterday and was 75 F today (yes, I know I'm evil). In fact, this is what I wore as we wandered through a park next to campus:



Yeah, I look pretty dorky in that shot... But the park was fun and I'll bet certain nieces and nephews of mine would enjoy it very much (hint, hint):





We did have a visit from my brother and sister-in-law and their crew as they drove up from Texas last night. It was great seeing them - I wish we could have shown them around a bit, but that's for another trip. :)

Oh, and the girls are recovering fine from the trip and dealing with the "bully boys":

We saw the most awesome blue sky yesterday - a true definition of cerulean blue. See for yourself (though the pictures still don't do it justice):





It's been in the high 70's all week and we're supposed to get in the low 80's today. I really can't say I'm unhappy with the weather here... Jason looked at the weather map yesterday and the whole state was a big blank spot - no clouds at all. Cool. :D We got a good laugh out of one of the morning reporters on TV yesterday: it finally dropped down to 50 overnight and she was reporting from OKC at 6 AM. In a winter jacket. With a fur-lined hood. No joke. I almost bust my gut laughing at her, though I'll admit a long-sleeved shirt might not have been out-of-order. But a winter jacket?!?

The girls have been enjoying their new past-time...





... and can those birds eat! We're filling up the feeder at least once a week. We even bought a new one for the finches, though they still seem to prefer to eat from the old one. Goofy birds. We're mostly getting sparrows and little gray finches, but I've seen some yellow finches flying around. Fortunately, we don't seem to get any squirrels and the big black birds leave the feeders alone.

I finally managed to get my spiffy red phone yesterday, for the price originally quoted to us. So I'm available for contact again! Woo hoo! I can't believe how nekkid I felt without a cell and it made communicating with people more of a struggle, since I pretty much use my cell to call everyone. Most of my friends here are with AT&T, so it's free minutes.

School should settle down for a couple of weeks. I just took my last mid-term for the time being and the next exam isn't until 15 Nov 07. That at least gives me 3 weeks of just homework and teaching - no extra cramming. :D It sounds like I'll be teaching the astronomy lab next semester. The grad student currently teaching it has an RA next semester and I guess I'm the next most qualified person. Which is scary, really. But it turns out that you get to be in complete charge of the lab - you make up the labs and decided what they're going to observe. It might actually be fun, because I have complete control. And it's astronomy, so I can teach it with my eyes closed. The only downfall is that it's Tuesday and Thursday nights, but as long as my shows get taped, it might not be that bad. Maybe it's time to look into getting that DVR I've been putting off getting...

Wow, the last week has been crazy. Things have lined up so that I have a lot of homework due this week, but fortunately it's almost all done. I've been pretty miserable because of my allergies - the pollen counts for both ragweed and grass is in the "high" region and I'm pretty congested. Actifed is about the only thin I can take that will knock out most of my symptoms without completely knocking me out, but it still makes me pretty dazed. I'm managing, but I'll be glad when I can think clearly again. o.O

We've climbed back into the 90's again, but with some scattered showers. We had a really cool sky last night:



Even though I'm glad we weren't in the 30's like Minnesota last week, I'll be glad when we can turn the AC off for more than a couple of days. Though to be honest, I'll be really happy when the Physics building has an internal temperature warmer than 70F. I have to bring sweaters just to stay warm inside! Though here's what the girls think about the warm weather:



They are still flea-less and are due for another round of prevention tomorrow. Hopefully our flea days are over - permanently. I was very glad to hear that our vet in Minnesota was surprised to hear that they got fleas indoors as it made me feel like I wasn't a horrible kitty-mommy and did something wrong.

I hope to have something more significant to blog about at some point, but right now I'm mostly concentrating on school. But the minute something more exciting happens, I'll be sure to post. ;)

... I found another thing I'm not so fond of in Oklahoma: the fact that your pets can get fleas even though they are strictly indoor animals. How, you ask? Well, it turns out they come in on our shoes - yes, it is as simple as walking outside. Evidently all the rain here in Oklahoma has made it a flea-happy place. So now I'm feeling oh-so-guilty for giving my babies fleas! We've spent the entire day vaccuuming, spraying everything from the carpet to the furniture and giving the kitties their first ever bath. After that, I'm allowed to say that I have the best cats on the planet - Jason and I both came through completely unscathed; no scratches whatsoever. Silke was so resigned that she even let me rinse her off by taking her in the shower with me, which was so much easier given the amount and thickness of her fur. I won't go into all the gory details, but Jason was snapping some shots:

Jasmine:





Silke:









And just to show that they're mostly recovered now:





Silke is actually sitting on my lap now, though she's still pretty wet!

On a completely off-topic, but yet lighter subject, we found a great fruit wine from St. James Winery in Missouri:



It's more of a dessert wine, but I would definitely recommend it. Especially when you have the prospect of washing all the linens, bedding and clothing that could possibly be exposed to fleas. I'm going to be doing laundry all night...

I had a few exams and I'll be taking the General GRE this Saturday, so I've been a little study-consumed. :D My nephew's 3rd birthday party was this last weekend at Chuck E Cheese and what an experience that was! I'm amazed how much sound that many small children can create. But he had fun and that's what matters.

I'm put my babies on Catster, so now they have lots of friends! I figured it was about time they got their own webpage. :P

My research progress has slowed immensely and I'm not all that pleased by that, but homework seems to take up so much of my time, I have little to spare on research. Now I can fully sympathize with a friend of mine last year who always said she had no time for research! Too many classes and teaching...

Teaching is going well - they have mid-terms this week, so I actually had students in my office hours! Quite an amazing feat. And there's always the inevitable question that I can't answer because the question itself is ambiguous and there's no answer key. *rolls eyes*

So, off to meet with advisor-type to go over the little bit I've accomplished in the last week!

My promise to myself was that I would try and update my journal and no rant. There are so many people I'd love to talk to more often, but I can't usuually find the time. So, my goal for now is for this journal to be a way that I can update people on what's going on in life without all the ranting.

So, this week:

Most of my week(s) are filled with school work. I have 3 homework assignments due a week, so I tend to be a bit on the busy side. In fact, it was only when my mom called yesterday to check in that I realized I hadn't spoken to her since Sunday. How screwed up is that? I think I spoke to my mom at least once a day, if not more, all summer. But I didn't even realize what day it was as it all ran together. Hence, most of my week is filled with school work. :D

I am convinced that my students are out to drive me insane this semester. There has been much hitting of the head on the desk this week as I try not to be snarky. I figure it's good practice in patience...

Hmmm... my research is still ongoing, although the pace has slowed down dramatically. I still have a weird jump in my data that irks me in the wee hours of the morning. My advisor-type and I are planning to attack it next week, so hopefully that will solve the problem.

The cats are still dorks. They've been that way for 6 years, so I doubt they'll change. The hubby is writing an interesting article on them that I will insist he post here so all can read it. I'm sure it will be interesting.

That's it for now - I'm sure I'll be more entertaining next week. :P