HAPPY BUN-DAY!

Olive is one today! Happy Birthday, bunny!

...And?

For all intents and purposes, I've been gone for weeks. The primary reason for my absence was/is an inability to find a comfortable position to sit and blog. The pain from my herniated disc has gotten markedly worse since my initial MRI in July, and sitting and typing is really, really uncomfortable. Previous treatments have yielded no relief. Next is another MRI (Yay! It's going to cost $500!); hopefully, it will provide the orthopedic surgeon the information he needs to make me less miserable. Cross your fingers!

In the meantime, school starts tomorrow and my internship at Planned Parenthood (not the Southern Tier AIDS Program; I am so behind on updates!) starts Tuesday. Not surprisingly, I feel totally unprepared.

Maybe looking at baby Frankie trying to eat me will make me feel better? Let's try.

Spring 2011

This is it, the last semester.

• Good Girls/Bad Girls
• Principles of Case Management
• Wellness Through Yoga
• Practicum in Human Development & 120-hour internship

Re: Re: Fall 2010

My Fall 2010 grades were... not as good as I would have liked.

• Social Justice: B+
• Holistic Health Practices: A
• Child Welfare Policy: B
• Community Leadership & Development: A

My B in Child Welfare Policy was a huge annoyance and an even bigger disappointment. Boo.

Re: Fa La La La La: A Local Christmas Experiment

Hello and Happy New Year! I have been remiss in updating you on our Christmas Experiment. 'Tis late, but here we go. J and I were very successful in our Christmas Experiment (though, more accurately, it should be called a Christmas Challenge, as it was not really an experiment). We had a couple of challenges for ourselves as we embarked on our holiday shopping. Here are the updates:

• All of the gifts for our family were purchased locally or regionally. Only one single gift was bought at a "big box" store. The remaining gifts came from Sea Hag, Sam the Beer Man, Tom's, River Read Books, Ithaca Coffee Company, Laveggio Roasteria, Nyala Farm Alpacas, The Petal Pusher, Silk Oak, Spirit & Kitsch, Homespun Boutique, Creature Comforts, the vendors of the Otsiningo Park Farmers Market
• The two or three friend gifts that came from the internet were purchased from independent artisans selling their stuffs on etsy.
• All gifts were wrapped in paper purchased before we decided to take this challenge or in repurposed paper.

We did a great job on this challenge, and we got to know our local shop owners, farmers, artisans a little better. We really enjoyed our Buy Local Christmas.