I'm back and happy new year

So it definitely needs to be said that holidays are not conducive to blogging at all!! Mostly because all of my thoughts sound like "Me Want Cookie!" and also because time at home equals no time away from the family at all. (And also no visiting websites other than facebook and gmail, because my dad stalks his daughters' internet usage, and let's face it--who wants their dad to read their blog???) But Christmas was good and I enjoyed sleeping in past 5am for 5 days in a row...I haven't gotten to do that since July before I started this job! My guinea pigs also had a wonderful Christmas and were pretty much the stars of the show. But in about 5 hours 2008 is coming to an end, so here are some things I've learned this year:

-Octopus is a horrible thing to eat. Horrible. But worth it, if people pay you to do it.

-Guinea pigs are more loveable than any human I've ever known.

-It's okay to take medicine sometimes.

-Sometimes new friends just show up and instantly become a good part of your life.

-Paying Rent is pretty much like throwing all your money down the toilet, except that it makes you be not homeless.

-It might be okay to admit that my sisters are my best friends.

-Purchasing mascara that isn't waterproof is never a good idea.

-Scary movies don't terrify you if you watch them with the Christmas tree lights on.

-Single girls can drive big Uhaul trucks all by themselves.

-Once your apartment has been broken into once, every time you come home you wonder if someone's been in there while you were gone.

-Used book stores drain my bank account.

-There is no way that 2009 can NOT be better than 2007 and 2008!

Maybe it's official?

Soooo, my current "big" news is that I've decided on a church! That being said, you can't hold it against me if I eventually end up somewhere else. I've signed up for their "discovery" sunday school class starting in January to learn more about the beliefs, etc etc, and I guess if there's something huge there that I don't agree with I will maybe not keep going there. But for now, this is it, and I'm actually kind of excited. Check out their website at http://www.cccarp.org/ This past week I attended my first "non-church-service" event there--their Christmas choir program (complete with little children singing and Christmas cookies afterwards!). It was good :) So that's the news for now.

Other than that, my smart guinea pigs have learned to escape from their cage (it's making life interesting) :), and there are footsteps and voices coming from my ceiling yet no one lives above me...maybe somebody is moving in?? (boo)

The jumbled-ness inside of me!

-I really think that God laughs when I burn my christmas tree-smelling candle. (In a good way).

-The past couple of weeks I have been going through SERIOUS cable-envy. I think it was triggered by my trip to my parent's house for Thanksgiving. Cable is such a nice thing to have.

-At work we've "adopted" two old ladies that have no family from the retirement center down the road. We're buying them christmas presents of certain clothes, etc. Can I tell you how excited I was to pick out an old lady nightgown with matching fuzzy slippers? So fun!

-A month or so ago there were these two end-table type pieces of furniture next to my dumpster, so I took them. Turns out I didn't really have a good place for them, so I sold them on craiglist. Pretty fun to make money from other people's trash!

-I finally got a table for my dining room, and it is beautiful. And it was cheap, and just the right size for a girl like me. That kind of makes it sound like I'm fat, but I just meant that I'm only one person and I live alone.

-I re-learned to play the C scale on my guitar. Minor accomplishments make me smile :)

-I'm finally learning how to skip stones! Once I can do it consistently, I'll be able to cross another of my life goals off my list :)

-I discovered a man I work with is from Egypt! It has been fun to used the two arabic phrases I know with him ("hello" and "my name is Amy"...I'm sure he's getting tired of hearing those repeated every time I see him!). It's also been fun to talk about some of the places I visited while I was in Egypt, espeically since he's from Cairo and that's where I spent most of my time! What a small world.

-Neither Target, Walmart, or Walgreens sell regular matches. How lame.

-Red Box movies are such a good invention.

-I really want to go paint pottery at the place down the road. Anyone want to come to Greensboro and join me?