Pretty much sums it up...!

Ok...so...I know I haven't posted at all this semester.  I. Am. Sorry.

Christmas break is nearing and I hope to update you all at that time.

Until then, I want to give you a little explanation for some of my lack of existence in the blogger world this semester.

Go check out this blog post and you just might catch a little glimpse of my life this semester  ;)

ENJOY!


Love and miss you all,
~MW

Lep Course, Final Update

A very late final Arizona update…  My apologies!  The Tundra is just so busy!! 

OK, so I left off on Thursday of last week.  I’m so sorry I didn’t update y’all right after we got back from collecting in the desert!!  Why??  Because, it. was. awesome!!!  We all got some really great moths for our collections among other things (I found a bristle tail!  Baller!!  I’ve never seen one in real life and those things are triiiicky to catch – so jumpy!).  I must say, that the highlight of my night, and nearly of the week, happened back at the station, though.

Once we got back to the station we all started processing some of the goodies we picked up in the desert and I decided to “just go check” and see what the station sheets brought in, since we had decided to let those run while we were in the desert.  As I was walking up the hill to check one of my favorite sites I started to realize something: “I’m an idiot!  There are mountain lions out here and I’m going by myself to look at a stupid sheet hung between two trees with a light to try to find some moths…I’ve lost my marbles, officially…”  So, upon that realization you would have thought I would have turned around, right?  One would think, but no I had already committed and was a little over halfway to the sheet so I just flashed my head lamp around a whole lot as I walked and quickened my pace a little bit…as did my heart rate  ;)  I felt much better once I got to the sheet, for some reason the light of the mercury vapor lamp was comforting and made me feel safe (don’t ask why…I was crazy that night…blame it on the lack of sleep??).  I started on the front side of the sheet and got a few cuties then moseyed around to the back side of the sheet and grabbed a few more goodies.  While I was checking out the back of the sheet I saw something rather large land on the front side – all I could see was its silhouette, and I had no idea what it could have been.  The only things we had been seeing of that size were sphinx moths and knew without a doubt that it was not a sphinx.  So…naturally, I walked around to the other side of the sheet to see the beast.  Y’all…again, I nearly peed my pants.  It was a Dysschema howardi!!!  This beauty is the largest tiger moth member in North America!  And it is goooorgeous.  Typically moths of this size (same goes for most sphinx moths and a few others) aren’t killed using a kill jar…it takes them too long to settle down and they end up shredding their wings and just beating themselves to death instead of passing out first like the little guys.  So, for the sake of the moth and the preservation of the specimen we inject them to speed up the process.  I, however, of course, did not have a syringe on me…neeeeat.  So, what did I do??  Well, I couldn’t just leave it there!  It was the only one we had seen the entire week and the only one anyone had seen the entire summer – it, at the very least, needed to be documented.  So I plucked that pretty off the sheet with my fingers, gathered up my kill jars, and ran (yes, ran) down the hill back to the labs to find someone with more knowledge who could help me decide what to do with my gem.

When I got to the bottom of the hill I ran passed a number of my favorite mothers chillaxing at one of the picnic tables – I so wanted to stop but I was on a mission and I had to take care of the moth first  :)  When I got inside the lab room I saw that Hugh was in there – excellent!  Hugh was our course curator and he, like all of the instructors, has a wealth of knowledge about preserving specimens.  I ran over to him, held out my hand and said, “Hugh!  Help!”  He looked up from his scope and just about fell out of his chair, looked at me with the biggest grin and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”  All I could do was shake my head in response.  He stands up and says, “To the lab!”  We ran down to his curation lab where he had all of his supplies stored and he did the deed for me, preserving my beauty in perfect condition.  Hugh injects with ammonia, instead of ethanol, because it works immediately (seriously, the thing was out in about half a second) and keeps the specimen pliable for longer – allowing for a smoother mounting and spreading process (mounting: placing the specimen on a pin; spreading: spreading the wings into a position that reveals the color patterns and morphological characters…also makes them pretty to look at).  **sigh**  My moth was taken care of and after asking Hugh if he needed her for the station’s synoptic collection and him assuring me that the male-female pair in the collection would suffice and that the moth was all mine and if anyone tried to take her away from that he would set them straight we marked back to the course labs and we showed her off to everyone.  It was pretty humorous…people started coming out from the woodwork it seemed!  From that moment on one of three things happened pre-collecting each night: (1) people threatened to hog-tie me so that I couldn’t get the good ones before them (there were a few other beauties I had in my possession that people were jealous of…), (2) people wanted to rub some of my luck onto them, (3) people wanted to make sure that I was at their sheet while we were collecting.  It was pretty funny.

OK, enough ogling over my moth collection…  ;)

The rest of the trip was just as incredible as the first half was.  It was such a blessing to be able to be in the presence of and build relationships with the lep gurus of today.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t star-struck the entire week.  I now have some remarkable friends and connections to help me along as I continue in the field…at least for the next two years.  Again, I’d be lying if I said that this last week didn’t make me want to reconsider the idea of finishing my master’s and moving forward to get a PhD in the field…I really do enjoy research.  And the collaboration that goes along with the community is so fun and allows for a broadening of knowledge that is priceless.  I think I’d be much happier in a museum position than I would be in a professorship, though.  But, I still have at least 2 years to figure out all of that, for now I am enjoying my time in the community and enjoying my project.  I got a lot of pointers and clues about my group while I was I AZ, as well.  Like I said, priceless.

Our last official night of the course (there was a scheduling faux pas and all of the instructors headed out a day before the students were told to leave…woops!) was an absolute blast (surprised, much?).  After dinner we all piled into vans and trucks and made our way over to New Mexico for some non-collecting fun at the Rodeo Tavern.  The instructors had been talking this place up all week, so by the time Saturday night arrived we were all beyond excited to finally make our way to the little hole-in-the-wall.

This place was a hoot!  We upped the customer count by about 5 times…and so probably doubled their weekly earnings!  It was fun watching the locals watch us – a few of those cowboys tried to play it smooth on the dance floor, too, it was too funny.  But those locals sure knew how to play pool!  I don’t think our people (and we actually had some really good players) won but one match against those cowboys.  We all took a couple turns around the dance floor – I even got out there a couple times.  I tried to tell Jim that just because I’m from Texas does not mean that I know how to two-step…he laughed and pulled me out onto the floor anyways.  We decided to blame my lack of dancing skills on the fact that I was wearing chacos – that’s right, two-stepping in chacos.  How’s that for a mental image??  Gotta love entomologists, am I right?  We closed the tavern down (at about midnight…who closes that early??) and headed back to the station to continue our final hoorah before a good chunk of people left the next day.  I think we finally called it a night around 2 or 3am…so just about right on time for most of us!

Sunday consisted of clean-up, packing, and farewells…talk about depressing.  It was like being at summer camp and leaving all those awesome new friends and counselors who had been your life for that last week.  Isn’t it amazing how quickly people can get to know each other and build relationships when you’re surrounded by each other 24-7?  I just love that about people.  Oh!  I almost forgot!  I got up extra early Sunday morning to hit the road with Hugh.  He had set up a few extra light traps out and about the desert and other areas Saturday night and I told him I would help him take them down.  So we headed out around 6am and started collecting traps.  We had a great time driving around on empty, gathering the traps, and chatting the early morning away.  We got back just in time to catch the tail-end of breakfast and then set to sorting the traps with everyone for one final moth search before we got the clean-up and farewells.  In those traps is where I found my second Euchaetes zella!!  It was my last once-over on a whim at one of the traps I hadn’t picked through yet and caught the corner of a wing out of the corner of my eye and thought, “No way that’s a zella…”  I picked it out from under a couple other moths, flipped it over and, sure enough, it was indeed a zella!  It was rather thrilling, to say the least.

Sigh…I still can’t believe that week is over and I’m back in the Tundra getting back to the old grind…  I so wanted to stay in that hidden-away oasis.  It was so refreshing to be unplugged for that week with some internet access here and there…when it decided to behave.  I never carried my phone on me…that never happens.  It’s practically glued to my pocket here.  I’m going to work on making it less of an appendage of my body.  I’ll still have it on and around, but I’m going to work on not having it a finger’s length away so much.  Aside from being unplugged that week in AZ was just what the doctor ordered for my mental and physical health.  It’s been a rather stressful summer on my front and I’m convinced that is why I’ve been feeling so poorly the last few months (headaches, body aches, migraines, etc…).  By the second day-in in those gorgeous mountains I was feeling so good, even though I wasn’t sleeping, that it was a no-brainer…stress = bad news bears!  Everyone needs to really stop and leave the stressors for some amount of time – even if it’s only a day or two.  I also need to be better about eating full meals…it didn’t matter how tired and run-down I was going into a meal at the station, by the time I left the mess hall I was feeling completely re-energized and ready to tackle some more moths!  Lesson learned…I need to rest and I need to eat (better). 

Well, now that I’m back home I’ve been processing my specimens from AZ (once they are all spread I'll show y'all the goods!) and trying to get back into the swing of life in the city.  The moving process has also begun.  We got most of Megan and Justin’s things moved yesterday and today we are taking the bulk of my stuff.  We can’t move into the house until Thursday, but we have access to the garage for now, so we’ve been piling as much into that as we can while we have access to Justin’s parents’ truck and trailer.

And, with that, dear ones, I’m off to get back to the packing!  Can’t wait to give y’all a “tour” of the new place once we are all settled in,

Praying your Sunday is a blessed one.

Lots of love,

~MW

Oh my word, it's summer....

Yes, the crazy bug dork is indeed still alive!

This post will be short, but there will be more coming this week - I promise  :)

As the semester came to a close I took the opportunity to take a little trip to Texas to see friends and family and marry off two of my favorite people.  Don't you just love it when your friends marry each other?  I think it's pretty flipping sweet  :)

The wedding was beautiful and the trip was jam-packed with visits and completely lacking in sleep...in other words, it was awesome.

Here are some picturas to keep you smiling until I can give you a legitimate update on the end of the semester and my Texas time:

So blessed by this lady.

 

Beautiful, beautiful bride!

 Wouldn't be Texas without bugs and coffee  :)

Missed this fluffy mess while I was away...love coming home to his cuddliness.

Praying all is well with you, sweet readers!

Shalom,

~MW

Just another winter storm....IN APRIL!

So....this is what we woke up to today....

Yuuuup.  No joke.

But, on a less snowy note, I brought home some new additions to my houseplant collection :)  

YAY, PLANTS!! 

That's all for now...back to that thing called grad school  :]

Shalom,

~MW

Happy, Happy. Joy, Joy.

Ah, Sunday.  How I do love you.

I absolutely love taking the pup out to play on our Sunday morning stroll/run around the dog park (as does he...all behavior goes out the window once he realizes that we are going to the dog park to....PLAY!!!).  This preceding or following my morning cup of coffee that is paired with scrolling through the weekly Post Secret - wonderful.  Then some general maintenance/clean-up around the apartment that got neglected or I simply didn't get to on Saturday...pretty wonderful, indeed.  All of that followed by Skype dates, homework, work, and church...makes for a pretty decent day.

So, I've been neglecting to post my joys for each week...but I most certainly have not been neglecting finding my joys in each day.  But, in an attempt to re-establish some accountability in the blogger world, here is this week's bundle of joy  :)

Saturday, 19 Feb 2011 - dinner at Kieran's Irish Pub, followed by an evening at Shout House Piano Bar with the gang in celebration of Trisha's bday!

Sunday, 20 Feb 2011 - truly enjoyed a relaxing snowy day...even though I was sad to see the green grass disappear again.

Monday, 21 Feb 2011 - I picked up my birthday present from the 'rents (more on that later!), followed by coffee & lunch with Megan on our way into campus (after having the morning off for a half snow day - happy bday, Trisha!!); new shipment of moths arrived at the lab!

Tuesday, 22 Feb 2011 - wonderful breakfast at Baker's Square with Megan and saw Christine for the first time since she had "abandoned" us to go back home to Germany for a week!

Wednesday, 23 Feb 2011 - was surprised by a little snowman awaiting me out on the Taurus, after a long...looong day (thanks, Fraser!).

Thursday, 24 Feb 2011 - super productive day (complete with a lovely little surprise of deeelish potato salad!) followed by Smash Burgers and Quest for the Holy Grail at Corey & Callies...we were all in serious need of some mindless humor.

Friday, 25 Feb 2011 - TURNED IN MY MINI GRANT PROPOSAL!!!  Whew!  And...found some pretties on sale at Jo-Anns  :)

Saturday, 26 Feb 2011 - went to the first hockey game I've attended since about 7th grade (way to rock it, Katy!), followed by breakfast for dinner, potluck style, at Megan's...mmm, mmm, gooood!


This week was beyond insane.  We were all on edge as the majority of us had numerous deadlines to meet this week and none of us felt like we were going to make all of them and stay on top of course work...well, we were right...we really didn't get much done in the way of course work, but we did meet our deadlines!  It was one of those weeks where you have to force yourself to stop and go do something (breakfast...watch a movie...) other than the pile of things awaiting you...or else madness will undoubtedly ensue!  We were able to curb the madness for the most part, though there were a few days that simply were too much...even profs were going a little crazy this week.  As RH put it early in the week: We've entered the vortex...it's going to be a long week.  Sooooo true.  But, the week is well over and after recouping a bit yesterday, most of us are back to normalcy, or so it seems, today.  We still have too much to do and so NOT enough time to do it in, but it will get done, don't you worry your pretty little heads  :)

Something I wanted to tell y'all about is what Spring is like here.  As I mentioned in my last post, we got a little taste of spring a few weeks ago.  Y'all, I am so excited for spring to finally get here - for real this time.  Momma, do you remember the beginning of the Beatrix Potter videos - how they start off with spring-time water trickles as she hikes off with her paint set?  That is what it is like here.  Everything melting (feet upon feet, upon feet of snow) as the sun starts to peek out from behind the clouds, so it's still a touch overcast.  Trickles of water running continuously (so it's always perfect for taking a little cat nap).  Green peeking through the melting white snow (really ice, at this point).  Birds chirping.  Insects humming.  It's lovely.  I saw a darling little chickadee yesterday with its tell-tale call of, "chickadee-dee-dee-dee-dee," and I just had to smile thinking about how awesome spring is going to be here.  I absolutely cannot wait!  Though, waterproof shoes are definitely a necessity - it's quite...squishy with all of that snow melting!

Ok, I told y'all I'd tell you more about my bday present from my parents, so here you go!  As many of you know, I've been in the market for a sewing machine for the last few years.  I've been looking at used ones, new ones, way old ones, etc...and just haven't really found something affordable that actually works...so, I've been holding out for that steal to come along.  Well...much to my surprise (I seriously could not believe my eyes), that is the very thing that my Momma and Daddy sent my way for my bday!  I love them...have I mentioned that before??  :)  They showered me with a brother xr-7700.  It. Is. AWESOME!!!  Ok...so I haven't used it quite yet, but dang, it can do SO much and it came with so many little extras!  So legit.  Look!!

That's some of the fabric I found at Jo-Ann's - super on sale!!  Wouldn't you all like to know what my plans are for it...?  Well...you'll just have to wait, it's a surprise  ;)


Here are some more sights from this week: the little snowman and deeelish potato salad, courtesy of Fraser - props on the potato salad, yo - you'd do well in Texas!

It's still quite snowy and frosty here.

 

Jakers got a new toy!!!  And he loooooves it!!

And now...after running around outside this morning and then playing with his new toy...he is one tuckered, pup  :)  Did I mention that he's spoiled...?  ;)

Well, I do believe that's all for now, kids.  Praying blessings on your Sunday and the week to come.

Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - it just started snowing again...

All that I know is I'm breathing....

  **Deeeeep breath**

What a crazy couple of months or so it has been up here in the FT.

Sometimes I feel like my life is moving so fast that I wake up some mornings and I can't remember the day before or what day it is or what I have on the docket for that day.

Sometimes I feel like I'm simply going through the motions and that I have forgotten why I am where I am, and why I'm doing what I am doing.

Sometimes I have so much to do, that I just can't sleep.  I can't turn off my brain.

Sometimes I just want to disappear into the North Woods and simply be and be with my God...I haven't been the best daughter of late.

Sometimes I think I forget to breathe...

But I do know that I am still breathing...and right now that's about all I feel that I can do.

This semester is proving to be busier than I could have ever imagined.  Courses are proving to be heavier than expected (by myself and SW...she's just as surprised as I am, thankfully); the to-do list regarding my research seems to be growing daily; I have loan specimens coming in from all over North America on just about a weekly basis - and, processing them is extremely time consuming; forming a committee is turning out to be quite trying; getting prepped for my first committee meeting means I have to have a bunch of stuff written up about myself, my research, etc.; the whole department is getting ready for the ESA-NCB meeting in March - which means we have to get our abstracts written and submitted by then end of this week, and then actually preparing our posters/talks, a number of us students are busy studying and practicing for the Linnaean Games (kind of like an ento quiz bowl), and then there's always the general prep that comes with hosting a meeting (yay...); we are about to be busy getting ready for the prospective student "Welcome Weekend" the end of March; there are number of outreach opportunities coming up that we students will be busy with; oh, and fellowship/grant applications are all due here in a couple of weeks; oh, and that thing called a social life...trying to keep that one going too; and church is getting busy in the best possible way (we start small groups this week!!).  Whew!  As a result of all of that, I feel like I have been a neglectful daughter, sister, student, friend, girlfriend, etc.  The days leave me so incredibly exhausted that all I want to do is fall into bed and sleep, but I simply do not have the time to do that, and even when I do finally let myself fall into that dreamy bed of mine I find no rest.  I'm tired.  I'm spent.  As Bilbo Baggins would put it, " I feel... thin. Sort of stretched, like... butter scraped over too much bread."  I'm ready for this semester to be over.  Even though I am so incredibly happy and blessed here - so incredibly blessed, I cannot even begin to explain.  I am simply ready for the "lazy" summer (haha...funny joke) to arrive so that I can go home for Mak and Wes's hitching day, play with my moths and actually get research done, make another trip home for when Jake and the Stones come home from Africa, head back up to the FT to do MORE research (!!!), go to Arizona to learn about collecting and prepping leps for a couple of weeks (!!!), help Panda get settled in (he's been accepted here at the U!!!) and hopefully do the same with Jake, maybe take a few museum trips with SW to look at type specimens, aaaand go camping and collecting (!!!) with RH and Frenatae amongst and between the other events of the summer.  I'm just ready to be done with classes, really.

But!  My God is not tired, He is not spent, and I can find rest, comfort, and peace in that promise.  He is never failing.  Even when I feel like I simply cannot keep moving, He carries me along.  How beautiful it is to know that being a daughter of the King means that even when I fall down (which is quite often) He is always there and ready to pick me back up again and help me dust off my hands and knees, pour peroxide and rub ointment on the scrapes, and bandage them up for me.

I love my God and I love that He loves me unconditionally...scrapes, bruises, scars, and all  :)

Speaking of scars, I've been dealing with some of those lately...old experiences/memories/heartaches have been floating above my head and lingering there.  It's frustrating at times, but forces me to stop and remember how much I have learned and grown through those experiences and how blessed I am to now have that wisdom and knowledge that I probably would not posses otherwise.

What funny things scars are.  I don't think you can really ever forget where one came from.  It's interesting to me how different scars are from bruises.  You can find a bruise and have no clue how it got there, but the deep wounds that result in scars are incredibly difficult to miss.  I find it funny, too, that scars don't have to be, necessarily, tied to a bad experience.  Some of my scars remind me of awesome runs on the mountain bike trails, or running around llama farms as a kid, or some of the best performances from my ballet days; while others remind me of running into things or wrestling with kittens at the vet clinic (kittens are eeeeevil!!!  Cute...but eeeeeevil!!!).  Now, those are all physical scars of the flesh, but I think the same can be true for emotional/spiritual scars.  I have scars from mission trips where I saw such unbelievable poverty that pieces of my heart were tugged away, but the experience was so beautiful in seeing people abandon themselves recklessly at the feet of Christ, and seeing myself and the other people on the trips with me grow in their faith and relationship with the Lord, that those scars remind of beautiful things along with the heartbreak.  And, of course, other scars are simply reminders of heartbreak.  Can't be helped.  But, I digress.

Things really have been exhaustingly (it's a word...promise...thank you, English language for being absurdly ridiculous so as to allow us to pretty much make any word we want into a "real word"!) wonderful here.  I had one of the best birthday weeks I have ever had - it's definitely going down in the record books as one of the best.  I was surprised by many of you with little cards and messages and gifts throughout all of that week (THANK YOU!!), and a few are still trickling in!  Y'all are awesome.  I received some of the most breathtakingly beautiful orchids from Jake...RH made me go pick them up from the office and bring them to class with me, haha...everyone was quite impressed.  And, I am very pleased to say, that they are still alive and well in their little vase in the Insect Museum - everyone gets to enjoy them on a daily basis.  I really want to try and sprout one or two of the spikes...I need to look into that or run by Linder's and talk to the plant people to get their thoughts and suggestions on that undertaking.  Anyways, I was also surprised by the Bug Dork crew up here with a fantastic dinner part at Chino-Latino!  I don't think that I have ever been so surprised before.  Megan did an awesome job of pulling it all together, and everyone here was amazing at keeping me totally and completely clueless, well done, kids, well done  :)  Once those pictures get forwarded to me I'll throw some up.  We had a blast...though we all paid for it a bit the next morning...it was definitely worth the mid-week late night.  That Saturday RH and a number of us Bug Dorks took on the frozen waters of Lake Owasso and went ICE FISHING!  We had a great time, despite not catching a thing.  So fun.  Really...haha.  And then, Sunday, of course, we had a rockin' Super Bowl party.  SO MUCH GOOD FOOD!  It was glorious.


This weekend everyone seems to be catching up from last weekend, haha.  We were all rather unproductive on the school/research front.

So things have been busy, stressful, crazy, but wonderful all at the same time.  I'll try to post some pictures later on, but for now I need to get back to work.  I have grant drafts and abstracts to finish by tomorrow.

Praying all is wonderfully with you, my lovelies.

Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - I promise I haven't forgotten about finishing the new blog layout...it was either work on the layout or write a post this weekend - I figured you would all rather have an update  :)  I'll get to it...eventually, promise!

P.P.S. - I almost forgot to share this little gem with y'all!  This little article about 20 Obsolete English Words that Should Make a Comeback is pretty amazing -  and, I vote we start using these words again  :)   Also, MY BIG BROTHER IS FAMOUS!  Check out this little article talking about his new band Shivaree (it talks about some other bands, as well, but Shivaree is the best...of course!).  Check out some of their songs - they are way fun...raw recordings, but still awesome  :)

My First 10 on 10!

So, a few of y'all might have found your way over to my lovely blogger-friend and sister in Christ, Katy. I've mentioned her and linked up with her a few times before. And she is way more blog savvy than I am, just sayin' - so love you, Katy! Anywho, she's does all these fun bloggery things and then I jump on her bandwagons...mmhmm, I am that person. Maybe someday I'll have enough time to be as awesome of a blogger as Katy is :)

So, Katy is a big participant in this neat little thing called "10 on 10" where you take a picture every hour for 10hrs on the 10th of each month. FUN? I. THINK. YES!! So, here goes my first 10 on 10! (I'll be honest, I missed a few hours here and there, so there's a touch of a gap in some of my pictures...TIGS, need I say more?)

So, here's my first 10 on 10 - December!

9 AM

This is what I wake up to every morning - MOM! FEEEEED MEEEEE!

10 AM

Coffee + Gihrardelli Peppermint Bark in 

Christmas mug = most legit homemade peppermint mocha EVER!

11 AM

Decided to wear earrings for the first time in about 2 months.

12 AM

Walkin' into Hodson...sorry for the mitten in the picture...they're kind of fluffy.

1 PM

Worked on my cerambycid illustration for a bit

2 PM

Took a break from the bug and worked on some manuscript stuff for the Wharton.

3 PM

ENTO vs EEB dodge ball - pretty epic.

6 PM

Went home to take Jakers out before heading back out

7 PM

Decided to lite the tree for Jakers before I left.

1 AM

Called it a night after hangin' with the bugdorks in celebration of 

being done with Insect Ecology!!!!

***Sorry for the major lags: dodge ball lasted forever and then my phone memory filled up after I left the house for the evening...


I'm going to try and remember to do it again next month - anyone care to join in??

Shalom!
~MW

Avoiding finishing an assignment?

I invite you to enter the wonderful world of Blogger :)

Yes...I am indeed procrastinating. It's so hard to be motivated when something isn't due until 3:30pm and the actual class is no longer meeting...yuuuup, I am there. Is it possible to have "senioritis" in grad school? Maybe it's just a case of "holidayitis" or "homesickitis." Stay tuned for the diagnosis.

But, for now I am going to prove to all y'all that I am indeed still alive and that I am still a contributing part of the blogverse...even if 90% of my contribution of late has merely been in the way of comments...MY APOLOGIES. As my lovelies in Africa say TIA (This Is Africa), so I shall say TIGS - This. IS. Grad. School!! I have come to accept the sad but unavoidable truth that grad school will indeed keep me from gracing your monitors and screens from time to time.

So, how goes life in the FT of late?

snow...Snow...SNOOOW!!! (<-- White Christmas style, Daddy!) We've had quite a bit of snow here, along with single digit and negative degree days, daylight that disappears circa 4:30pm, and...wind. So, the snow I love, the single digit and negative degree days I really don't mind...like my property manager said the other day, "It's so cold it's like it actually makes you warm." I know y'all probably can't understand that, but it's true! It's so cold that it's like our endothermic capabilities actually finally kick into action and boom! - you're warm and toasty...well, if you have a decent coat...and some good socks...aaand a hat...and maybe some long underwear...yup, that aught to do it :)

The ever so essential base layer....does this not remind you of Peter Pan's shadow??
Right about the time he gets ready to stitch it back on..?


Definitely one of my best investments since the move up here.

Oh...do NOT forget your gloves or a scarf - those are key as well, especially the glovies. Man. My finger tips get SOOO cold!! I need to invest in a legit set of glovies, I think. My layered knit gloves just don't seem to be cutting it anymore *sad*

BUT! All that to say, it's really not so bad until the wind gets to blowing. Even a little breeze can feel like a million little ice daggers slicing right through you...yuh, it's pretty brutal. Sometimes I'm convinced that by the time I make my trek through the snow to/from my car that the wind will have successfully taken thousands of little nicks out of my face - the only part of my body that is not layerfully covered as I brave the winter weather. So far the wind has not won, although I can't seem to get enough fluids into my body to keep my lips from cracking/peeling (gross, I know...welcome to my life.). Ah well, hopefully I can recover for a spell in my beloved TX before making my return to brave another 3-4 months of winter...neat.

Now that you have some sort of an idea what winter is like here allow me to share some of my favorite things with you.
* The snow. I've already mentioned it, but my goodness is it gorgeous! There are a number of fields around the "Cow Campus" (Ags, it's somewhat equivalent to West Campus) and they are all currently blanketed in a beautiful white, glistening, sparkly layer of powdery snow. Every time I walk past one of the fields all I want to do is get a running start and leap into the middle of the field (what? It's totally humanly possible to do...) and just land in the foot or so of snow that is resting around town right now...I think I'll wait until there's another foot or two, though.
* The sound my boots make walking on packed snow. It's this fun little squeaking, compressing sound...I don't know, it's weird, but I just like it. Probably because it's still novel...but hey, I'll take it for now.
* Footprints in the snow. I love seeing all of the animal tracks that have started turning the fields into puzzle pieces. I have to admit that they are starting to tease my imagination...I want to know where they lead and who they belong to!!! I totally have Beatrix Potter scenes running through my head...hmmm...maybe I can work on finishing that little story of mine over the holidays! Hey J-Hump, shall we play around with some illustrations over the break? Yes? Mmmk, great :)
* Wintery Christmas spirit. It's been super fun to ring in the season with snow on the ground...seriously fun. Ups the awesome by a good 50%.
* Driving in the snow. I know it terrifies some of y'all, but I seriously love it! Especially when it's actually snowing while I drive. Mmmmmhmm. Perrrrrfection. Ice, however, is a different story - I don't really want to talk about it.

Ok...so pretty much everything I love revolves around snow right now...it's just that awesome.

Last week was pretty insane...I really don't remember all that much of it. A number of us attempted our first preliminary exam (one of the requirements of our program) - we'll find out how we did in about 2 weeks. We also had a number of final projects, papers, etc. due...TIGS. There were a few nights I definitely did not sleep. We hardly saw each other...I think that was the weirdest and most difficult part of last week...being pretty much cut off from everyone, even here. But we survived it!

Well, I've also been a little busy around my little apartment! With...what? If any of you know even a little about me I'm sure you could guess this one pretty easily...CHRISTMAS!

Me Mum sent quite the goody-filled box of love last week...complete with ornaments to fill my tree which, at the time, only had 4 sad, lonely ornaments...It is now pleasantly full :)

Only a small number of fatalities.

Jakers helped me decorate the tree...looks rather enthused, doesn't he? ;)


Haha, I could NOT resist giving this one to y'all...doesn't he look like he's
singing Christmas songs??


Nonna sent this to me via Aunt June earlier in the year...I love these things!

Snowman nutcracker, mini nativity, and seasonal candles...perfection :)

Hope chest Christmas style. A Christmasy runner, Christmas
traditions calendar, nativity, snowman plate...sparkly garland...I'll take it.

I tried to get a little creative with some Christmas "orbs" and spiralling the garland in the
tree dish I would have filled it with candies, but Jake would clean it out...meh, it'll do.

Stockings! Had to hang them somewhere! My very empty wall seemed like as good a
place as any...One for me and one for the kids...Jake and BigBoy can totally share.

NUTCRACKERS!!! I miss our big collection back home :(

I've had this little tree since my junior year of high school...I felt it fit in nicely
in my whimsy corner.

My very own Advent wreath!!! Thanks parentals :)

And finally......


THE TREE!!!

I'm pretty proud of it :) I won't lie. A HUGE thanks to Momma for sending me all the little balls and the extra ornaments...especially the Aggie and Texas ones :) I think my favorite part is my Aggie Santa hat...I've had that thing since freshman year at A&M and it has made it's appearance ever Christmas since. Gotta love it.

Well, kiddies, I'm signing off for the night. Hope all is well with each of you. Praying blessings on you, my sweet readers. Love to you all!

This is what happens when you don't sleep for a good 2-3days...at least BigBoy
and Philly were there to keep me company =]

Sleepily Yours,
~MW

[Insert Catchy Title Here]

Ah, we meet again!

Alright y'all, I know I've been incredibly inconsistent with the blogging, but heavens to Betsy it is insane up here! It just never ends. Sometimes I hardly feel like I'm living things move so quickly here. It's like living in a constant state of warp speed, for seri. But...even though things are beyond ridiculous and I have real rough days...er, weeks from time to time (hello, current week: I am so glad you are over), I am happy that I am here - I do enjoy what I am doing, where I am in the now, and the people I get to hang around with. I still wish (multiple times a day) that I could transplant the U to TX and just integrate my groups of peeps all into one big happy group of awesome, but, alas, no can do. So, I guess I'll stick around here for the next few years...

Man, this week was a doosie, to say the least. It started off real weepy as I sent Miss Ricci home to C-Stat (sooo wish I could have gone with her). I knew I really missed her and all my Texans, but I didn't quite realize just how much I miss everyone until I had her here beside me. Absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder, in this case. So that lead to a rather weepy week for me, but I wouldn't trade her visit for the world. Such sweet time and memories that we get to cherish forever. Speaking of which! I didn't upload any pictures last time, and I really don't have too many to share, but below are a couple shots from Mickey's Dining Car (You can read about that, the rest of my weekend with Ricci, and the beginning of my week here). You can see some of Ricci's pictures riiiiight.....here! And she played around with a few of them and made some awesome masterpieces here. (Plug: if any of y'all need picturas taken and you are in the C-Stat area check out my sweet friend and see if she has an open slot to fit you in for a shoot!!)

Come Tuesday I spent about 2.5-3hrs at the bank...with a personal banker...initiating the fraud response process. Yuuuup, I had my identity stolen. Great fun, eh? Not so much. So, now that we have canceled the card that got compromised and got me set-up with all new accounts (with some extra benefits compared to the accounts I had previously) I'm waiting for the affidavit to arrive so I can sign it and get the money back that the jerks stole. From there, the fraud research team keeps doing what they do in an attempt to catch the punks. And here I sit...frustrated, annoyed, but ok.

If you haven't guessed yet, Friday couldn't come quick enough this week...oh, it was a long one. But, Friday did indeed come! Glory! Friday closed with a departmental cruise on Lake Minnetonka. Translation: BOOZE CRUISE. Mmmhmm, it happened, and it was...interesting. Saw some interesting sides of people, to say the least. But it was fun to get to hang out on a boat and visit with peoples. It was a gorgeously clear night and the moon was breath-takingly bright. The music was a bit loud and obnoxious, but it's whatevs.

So now that my week is over, I figured I would share some fun stuff with y'all - in the form of picturas!

Geeses! I way love seeing the geese migrating through. Seriously, one of my absolute favorite parts of living here. I really enjoy hearing them as they fly overhead (just don't look up with your mouth open...eeps, that would not be good.), I love watching their formations, watching these magnificent creatures take off is such a sight - if I ever get the chance I'll snap a video of them for yas. I just think they are fun. Huge poo...but what do you expect from HUGE birds??



Honey from our very own honey house! We got these little honey bears at the departmental welcome party earlier in the semester. I feel very privileged to have one of these, as it's been a tough year for honey - no one has any. The bees are taking quite the hit right now. It's pretty depressing and, to be honest, if we don't figure out how to help our little buzzy friends, it's pretty terrifying to think about honey bees hoping on the endangered list (I can't think about the other "e" word yet...)...we'd be pretty sorely out of luck in the food department.




Care packages from some of the sweet members of my congregation back in A-town. Thank you Miss Susie and sweet Hannah! This made my week when I got it. The cookies were delicious and the teas, oh so lovely. Thank you!!!



Awesome signs on random vehicles driving through town. "Stay back....Stay alive"
Love it.




Jakers on the porch. He way likes it when there are days that I can open my sliding door and he gets to hang out outside and watch the birds and our neighbors as they come and go. These days are fast fleeting, though.



Moths!!! Ok, these are not very nice specimens (we "stole" them from the teaching collection...so they take a beating) and these are not my Euchaetes friends. These guys are relatives that I got to start out with on dissections about a month ago. I have some new ones to run through (starting tomorrow!!), and I am way excited about them. They are newer material and in much better shape than these poor little loves. YAY, DISSECTIONS!!!

Oh!! A lot of you have been asking to see my cubbie in the lab. So, just for you, here are some photos of my little nook. It's nothing fancy, but it works :] Enjoy!

You can find me at:

Where you will probably find me bent over some moth literature here:

Or digging through stacks of lit/books...or digging in desperation for snacks or tea here:

Or else checking or writing another something to do on my calendar here:

There you go, sweet readers. There's my little cubbie, where I spend a good 70-80% of my time each week, certainly each day.

Tomorrow should be a good day of dissections and studying, followed by a good night of sweet worship and fellowship at Christ Redeemer. Hooray for worshiping at the same place 3 weeks in a row! Glory!!

Praying you all have a wonderfully blessed Sunday.

Love in Christ to you all.
Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - If any of you have been thinking about adoption or even if you haven't or aren't super sold on it, may I encourage you to take a gander at this post? If you know me at all you know that things like hitting the mission field and adopting the precious ones who have no one are very near and dear to my heart. J-Hump and Ricci do an excellent job of putting our hearts on the issues into writing. I implore you all to prayerfully consider their entry on adoption. And, I'm done ;]