From Birthday to Showcase

I'm not hating on anything or anyone today. Much. hehe Yesterday was a mass of frustration and I realize my reaction to that frustration was a little on the childish side. I tend to be like a toddler when I get frustrated--I throw tantrums. Except, instead of falling down in a screaming fit I cry over yucky recipes (Ritz broccoli casseroles, REALLY? *hurl*), vow to NEVER read certain websites again because their redesign sucks (Smart Bitches anyone?) and post George Strait videos about hating everything.

Mama pulled me mostly out of it at lunch yesterday but the Coke and Chili Cheese Fritos I indulged in at last break didn't hurt. Plus, I had cookies at home so I'm all good now. Still a little in a "I don't want to talk to certain people" mood but for the most part, I'm good. It helps that my best office friend is back at work today. She was out yesterday. She usually pulls me out of my tantrums. Ya'll pray for her. ;-)

Anyway, so here's the weekend review!

Saturday was, of course, Emmy's birthday party. We had it at Sis2's house because it's bigger and easier for Em's other grandparents to get to. And shock of shocks, BIL actually came. I haven't seen him since July 4th so I wasn't exactly sure if he was even still alive. Maybe Sis1 had killed him and was just TELLING us he was working all the time, yanno?

But yeah, so he was there, as was were the usual suspects. You know, these guys?

They were uber helpful.

And seriously hungry.

Does this look familiar?

Let me give you a hint...

She hasn't changed all that much, huh? lol

I'm not sure what the peacock feathers were for except she requested them. And then she kept putting the middle one up to her chin and saying "Gobble, gobble." I'm thinking we need to get her a book about birds, right?

And for the proof that BIL is, indeed, still alive...

Poor BIL. He can, in fact, still walk. Just barely.

So anyway, yeah. Emmy had a fun party. She collected a ton of money that is now burning a hole in her pocket and the best part of all was when we surprised her to go see Breaking Dawn. We didn't tell her where we were going, just that we had to leave at around 2 to get there for our "appointment." She was half convinced that we were taking her to a spa. lol Of course she figured it out as soon as I put my blinker on to turn at the theater. lol She got so excited that she started bouncing around in the back seat and grabbed Sis2's shoulders and started shaking her and squealing. Sis2 now needs some physical therapy, new eardrums and a neck brace, but it was worth it for the excitement on that child's face.

She sat between Sis2 and I and my friends E and A came in almost right at 3 (when the movie started) so they sat next to Sis2 as the seats next to me were full. :-( Emmy spent most of the movie alternating hugging my or Sis2's arm in excitement or with her face pressed into my shoulder to avoid any "nekkid" scenes. She even covered her eyes during the kissing scenes because she says they're "gross."

She didn't think THIS

was gross when she first unrolled it, though. Silly girl. (Love the bewilderment on the other two's faces, though. They're like... "What's the big deal? It's not Dora or Thomas.")

But she LOVED the movie and is super bummed that she hasta A WHOLE YEAR for the next one. She's asked for the first three on DVD so that may be what she's getting for Christmas from dear ol' Aunt Jana.



Anyhoo, after the movie, we went back to Sis2's house and played with the kids a bit before Em and I left for the country. I took her to Nana's and stayed a bit to visit so that we could gross Nana and Sis1 out with details of a few scenes. hehehe

So Sunday I skipped church altogether since I had to be at work at 1:30. I probably could have gone but I'd have been rushed and probably late for work. As it was, I took that extra hour to curl my hair with the curling iron. A completely wasted effort because apparently, my hair is too long to hold a curl anymore. By the time I'd finished the second half of my head, the curl on the first half had fell fallen out. I ended up just pulling up the whole mess and calling it a day. Serves me right for trying to get all fancy.

I did get to work on time and snapped off a pic or two before everyone else got there.

Below is the "homespun" Christmas tree that Mama and her co-workers decorated. Since their tree was going to be near the Ulysses Grant collection Exhibit and displayed with the quilt exhibit they researched Christmas trees from the Civil War era and based their decorations around that. I hate that you can't really see all the details from this picture but they used burlap instead of ribbon, hung real pine cones (plucked from my yard!), strung cranberries (albeit, fake ones), used crocheted ornaments and Mama's BFF fashioned birds from newspaper and magazine pages. I may be biased, but I think theirs was the most awesomest tree there. They put weeks of thought and planning into it and made the ornaments specifically for this event. All the other trees were pretty basic--regular stuff brought from home!  (Like the one I did for my department. lol)

I didn't get any photos of the Grant exhibit because it had a "no photography" rule. It was pretty interesting. And I could tell you why a university in Mississippi has the papers of THE Union general, but it's a long convoluted story that involves lots of factors that I'm not at liberty to discuss. BUT, it's cause for great excitement in the world of academia, lemme tell you.

I did managed to snap off a couple of shots of our department before everyone showed up.

Below is the view from the workroom door. As you can see, our exhibit was mostly documents and photographs. They were all pretty interesting, though. Famous autographs--including the original Spanky from Little Rascals and J. Edgar Hoover. Also important documents from our state history and photos our agricultural collection, circa 1950's. I couldn't get any close up shots because for preservation purposes there's a no flash photography rule and it was too dark to get a good shot without flash.

This is the view from the front of the Reference desk--this is the desk I sit at and allow patrons to bother me assist patrons from for 2.5 hours each morning. See the little tree on the corner? That's mine. It's very generic--BALLZ--so I didn't take any close-up shots.

This is the reference shelf that I decorated with my junk from home. Looks familiar, right?

And that's all I'm gonna cover in this post.

You're Welcome. ;-)