Greetings from Merry Old England

So we have been in England since Christmas Eve, but I haven't had email until now at Sir GB's dad's house. We have been having a grand time, but the weather is in fact horrible. The sun was out for a whopping 25 minutes today, and then of course it began to rain....poop on that. We went to Cambridge yesterday, and have also been to York, and visited some wonderful towns with names like cockermouth (yeah, it makes me giggle too), then at one intersection...one way was giggleswick and the other was wigglesworth, so I have named my sheep souviner Sir Giggleswick Wigglesworth the third duke of Cumberland. Yes he is a very pretentious sheep.

We are having fun and enjoying staying with the various parts of Sir GB's clan...who are of course all very nice. So if I don't catch up with you before then....happy new year. We are off to Madrid on Tuesday and there for a few days.....so we'll see what I can do on posting there....

huggles and happy new years!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Some people call Paris the city of lights, I personally view it as the city of stairs. I do not know the last time I climbed this many stairs. But we have been to many fabulous museums in the past few days, the museum d orssey, the centre pampideu, the picasso museum, and today the louvre (before heading to england). We also went to the catacombs, which I thought were really cool, but Sir GB said they gave him bad dreams. What can I say, aside from the overwhelming number of stairs, Paris is a fabulous city that I would gladly return to any day. We are off today to Otley England, home to Sir GBs mom for christmas, and she does not have interwebs, I know how can this be, so I will wish those of you out there that celebrate christmas a happy one, and I will be back in touch when we reach Sir GBs dads house where there are interwebs.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

We are in Paris

We are having a lovely time in Paris! Sir GB and I have been to Sacre Couer; Eiffel Tower; Notre Dame (we climbed to the top and saw gargoyles up close); then the pantheon and the latin quarter. We have had great food and lots of wine!

A-team is headed to europe

So Sir Grizzly Bear and I take off for Europe on tuesday morning....such adventures we will have...I think we might do the catacomb tour of Paris. I will go searching for sheep in Yorkshire, and in Madrid I will try to avoid pig. So be expecting many photos when we return, most likely no ferns this time, as I have been informed they are in low supply where we will be. Lame, but I guess I will survive as long as there will be some sheep.

Other goings on in Wellseley

Joss had her first moo juice...which she enjoys!
And I saw the inflatable house...this place had a ton of crazy inflatable ornaments I have never seen....crazy

Daisy and Me!

Meet my new canine best friend Daisy....she is such a sweetie....she is well loved by everyone she knows.....even her "sister" Joss, well, except for when Joss has food.

Me and Joss

Here we are, two cuties. I had much fun hanging out with my niece. She is very delightful, especially if you sleep with earplugs. I'll put up more pics soon....including me with my new best friend Daisy, and the inflatable house....very scary that place...who knew you could get so many enormous inflatable christmas ornaments.

who is the MVP of Joss' birthday

You guessed it....ME! I came back from burns on four of my five fingers on my right hand! And a sliced left thumb....Yup back from the injured reserve or the disabled list (choose your preference) to save the day! And I helped with play group today! So if you want to see pictures of the party click here

But here are some highlights!

The Fear of Santa

Some of you may know that when I was a wee little gerbil I was terrified of people with facial hair (I am still pretty scared of women with facial hair) this included Santa. So I was delighted to discover this site with all sorts of kids terrified of santa...see it isn't just me!

Our Disco Christmas Tree with Nicholas the Sock Monkey

Seeing since we aren't really Christian, and celebrate Christmas as a holiday to celebrate family and friends, we have a slightly different take on the Christmas tree. Yes, our tree is silver and yes it has fiberoptics built in. Oh and you are correct there is a sock monkey on top of it, his name is Nicholas. He keeps a watchful eye on all of the presents and lets me know when Sir Grizzly Bear has been snooping around looking for them.

Turkey Day

We had a great one! We had a great one, with fantastic food and friends. A couple people said it was the best thanksgiving ever. What a compliment. Here are some photos...courtesy of Ness

Finally some good news

So I haven't written about my academic world a lot lately, mostly well because I think I have been sucked into teaching so much that I haven't thought that much about it.

But finally some good news: I made the long short list at Oxford. You may wonder, what the hell does that mean? Well it means they are considering me based on my application and have requested more materials. If I make the short short list (yes, these things exist, and that is what they are called) I give at talk at Oxford in early February. It is actually an awesome job. It is in Nuffield College, which is a graduate college at Oxford specializing in social sciences. It is kind of a sweet position, 3 years including, salary, room and board, although you do have to dress for dinner every day. I suppose this could be handled.

On the never ending dissertation front: I am supposed to finish a new draft by the time I leave for Europe. Three chapters are done, a fourth is almost finished, and I have the entire week off from school, so I should be able to bust a few out. Of course two of the unfinished chapters are the introduction and the conclusion. I would love to have this working draft done, and go to Europe without it hanging over my head, and then Karen can read it. Hopefully she won't keep it hostage for 5 month this time.....hmmmmmm.....

Naughty bonobo

I have to say this little girl is pretty damn smart....reminds me of me as a kid....although I just set fires and didn't pull alarms....but pretty good stuff.....

got to love those primates!

Adventures at the sleep clinic

So the good news is I most likely only have a mild sleep apnea, and most likely have massive anxiety. Only in my world is this good news. But I get the official word next tuesday...so we'll see.

I just want to sleep....is that so much to ask?

Happy Birthday Sir GB

Sir GB is having a birthday today. He couldn't wait, so we opened presents at breakfast. He seems to have liked everything. He especially liked his little crocheted kitty I made him named Truffles. I think he kind of looks like Tiger Cat. Look for truffles soon on the gerbilknits page.

Let's hope Sir GB enjoys his bithday party.

I'll tell you the lasagna smells really good.

getting ready for the sir gb birthday

so tomorrow sir gb turns 40...yup, so now he can stop talking rubbish about us being in the same decade.....

We are having a little party for him, 10 or 12 people, or something like that. I have decided to make an italian feast....b/c well, hell i wanted to.

so if you know sir gb wish him a happy birthday tomorrow. I am sure he will appreciate it.

7.5 days until Andrew's birthday

His presents are all bought, and his card....even his card from Tiger cat. Now I just have to finish planning the birthday party....all i have so far is dessert, which he requested....cheesecake. which given my love for the cheesecake is fine with me. I am thinking of an italian feast, which will appease all of the meat eaters and the vegetarians. thank god we don't know any vegans or we would be in serious trouble. Oh if you actually know andrew and want to send him something, he got an ipod from his dad, so itunes gift certificates would be good, or he always enjoys tea and dark chocolate.

Lack of sleep

So, I had a big discussion with my allergist about my inability to sleep. So I am headed off to the sleep clinic in the next month or so.....hopefully it will make it so I can sleep through the night. Apparently it isn't normally to only sleep 4 hours a day for 2 months....who knew!

Happy Halloween

Um...I personally think this is the cutest trick or treater ever....but I am biased towards little Joss

Sleep is not my friend

Apparently sleep has friends broken up with me. I have been getting up at the crack of the middle of the night lately and not falling back to sleep. On Monday i was at 4, today it was 2:30ish. Yeah...not my best moments. My guess is that it is probably stress. The job market sucks....this is the most stressful experience I have had in a while. All I can do is wait. In the mean time:

• I am just writing a job talk for a non-existent talk
• Teaching two courses
• Co-authoring several papers
• Crafting...crafting...crafting (check out my craft blog for more details)
• Contemplating putting Tiger in a halloween costume (note this is not Tiger in a costume, just looks like her)
• Realizing that I will have to actually finish my dissertation at some point
• Just really wanting to be on vacation