Eve of February

*sigh*

Today was a very long, rather difficult day. Very long. (And actually it should've been even longer, except that I accidentally overslept an hour and a half!) I woke up at 6:50, got ready for school, dashed off a couple of e-mails, ate breakfast, gathered my books and was off to school. The boys had a conference with Fr. Schmidberger this morning at 9, so there were only girls in Physical Science - reminded me uncannily of the ol' girls' school days! - and we couldn't do the lab that we've been trying to fit in since before Christmas. I worked on Metaphysics all throughout the following free hour. Then we had Theology and after that Latin. It wasn't a BAD morning - it just wasn't an easy one. Mentally wearing.

Jozef called right as I got out of Latin. I called him back ten minutes later and he said he'd call me back 30 minutes after that. So I went and ate lunch. Just as I finished with that, he called back and I talked to him for an hour. That wasn't the most stress-free conversation - so no mental break. I talked right up until the bell and then ran to History class... the notes were coming thick and fast but my mind was wandering, which made it doubly hard. But I managed. Last hour was Metaphysics. I had read ahead in the book, but it was still a struggle to keep up and try to assimilate information of that nature. A slight incident in that class - wherein Father got momentarily upset - didn't help and, for some reason (maybe because my nerves were already a little raw), it shattered whatever mental capabilities had been remaining. ;) My brain was toast by 4 o'clock.

After school, I started typing out History notes... then got a text message from Rose saying to come home soon because our package from the O'Farrells had arrived! I got home at 4:45 and we opened the package immediately. That lifted my spirits more than I thought they could be lifted at that point! :) Dinner helped as well, fortunately. And I was actually feeling like almost new by 6:15, when I left to carpool to Topeka for a ballroom dancing lesson (2nd week of 10).

The lesson went well and was actually somewhat encouraging (it is actually possible for me to learn to dance! ;)) - but by the end of the hour, I was VERY tired!! We stopped at Spangles on the way back for refreshment... and I got back home about 9:30 pm.

Just one of those days that leave no time for mental relaxation. The kind of day that proves you're only too human. ;) But God knows what each of us can take, and so the day wasn't entirely miserable. :P In fact, I complain far too much!! There were quite a number of little highlights throughout the day - people being friendly and courteous helps a ton and just makes the day go so much more smoothly!
Anyway, that's my vent for the evening! It's now nearly midnight and I must be on my 8th wind by now!! :) Actually, I'm sorta zombie-ish at the moment. So I'm going to bed. Thanks for braving another post of mine! God bless~




..............oh, by the way! Just a matter of statistics - this is my 150th post!!

Cartoon

This was posted on the Computer Lab door by Fr. Griego!! *lol*

Hiatus Between Semesters

[Disclaimer: This is a LONG post. Be forewarned. ;)]

*whew*
This past weekend was the three-day weekend we have between semesters at school. It was PACKED full with sociality. ;) (Well, except today, but anyway...)

Friday, I finished my last exam at 11 am. Over the lunch hour, Sarah and I went to MJ's and she was kind enough to treat me to a cappucino and we split a cinnamon roll. When we got back to the school, we went over her Latin before her oral. Meanwhile, there was dancing going on in the reading room, springing from the pure joy of being finished with finals! :D That afternoon, at home, Mom, Rose, Joey and I played some MadGab and watched the beautiful snow fall. Friday evening, I went to the square dance which was soooo much fun!!

I had a GREAT time! It was the best time I've had at a square dance yet (and this was my seventh). I danced all the dances... something like 10 or 11 in all. :) Very sore feet afterwards, which is a very good sign! ;) I got to bed a little after 2 am.

Saturday, I slept in and then went to Froggy's for a couple of hours. In the afternoon, Rose and I cleaned the basement.

At 4 o'clock, Nick, Jozef, Sarah and Mariann came over. Dave and Matt joined us closer to 5. We played MadGab in the basement until dinner time. Dinner was very yummy! It consisted of pulled-pork sandwiches, chips, okra, pickled baby corn, and black olives. It was followed up with after dinner mints.

After dinner, we played/sang/listened to music...


Then we played Taboo. That got pretty funny!

Finally, there were "goodbye" pictures with Jozef...


That night, it was to bed about midnight.

Up Sunday in time for the 6 o'clock Mass. *yawn* Rose and I had a rather hilarious saga later in the morning. We went to get a car wash (automatic, since it was Sunday)... Mom gave us the money for it and we went and got the Blazer washed and dried. Then we were going to go for a ride. Well, I didn't realize that Rose was going to go on the gravel roads... muddy roads, no less, since the snow was melting! By the time we got back into town, the car looked worse than before the car wash!!! :/ :O We decided we'd go back and get it washed again. The cheapest wash there was cost $4 and required exact change. We had $3.75. By this time, it was about 11:40 and we were supposed to meet some people up at the school at noon to go ice-skating. We looked for the necessary quarter everywhere. In vain. We even got out at the car wash and I scoured the ground in the area looking for quarters. No luck. It was extremely funny, at least to me. We called Jozef, but got no answer. So then I called Dave and asked if we could borrow a quarter. He was confused, I think, why a quarter would be so important on such short notice, :P but I explained to him in brief and he's getting cookies for his pains anyway. ;) So then Rose and I very quickly went back over to the car wash and accomplished what we had originally set out to do, i.e. get the car clean. :) We got home at something like 11:59 am. :D
We met Joe, Sarah, Nick, Kevin, Larry, Will and Will up at the college. Joe and Sarah rode with us in the Blazer - actually, Joe did the driving. The peanut gallery in the backseat (i.e. Rose, Joey and Sarah) was in fine form and there were lots of laughs!! :D


Skating was VERY fun. The rink was really small (rinky dink... haha), but there weren't many people there, so we were about one-third to one-half of the "population." Thus we were able to have a lot of fun. Of course, the Canadians were really good. Actually, all the guys were good. Joe and Larry were FAST!! Wow. It's so much fun to watch someone who's good at something! They played tag (too fast for me to compete with! ;)) and we played crack the whip... until we were told to stop (about half an hour later). :D

Joe, Larry and Sarah took turns with the hockey jersey in favor of Canada. :D

Daisy-chaining...











The absolute best thing, though, was when Joe jumped over Will!! Oh my gosh!! That was either brave, trusting or stupid on Will's part. :P (j/k) It was very impressive on Joe's part. :D The other Will got this fantastic photo of it!!!

Group photo...

We had a lot of fun on the way home, as we did on the way there. Back in St. Mary's - or rather, on the other side of St. Mary's - we took the Blazer out and tested its "zero to sixty" capabilities. It clocked out at 12.10 seconds... with five people in the car.
At home, we ate the dinner Dad had prepared... with courses and wine in true Italian style. :) Immediately thereafter, I left for Annie's going-away party. I went with Sarah and we stayed until about 8:15. They were playing Psychiatrist which was a lot of fun, but we had also been invited to the Freds' for dessert and games, so we went there as well. We stayed 'til 10 o'clock, playing Cranium. By that point, I was QUITE tired... although, as always, when I got home, I got a second wind and didn't go to bed until after one.

Today, I slept in 'til 9:15, made cookies with Rose, did some laundry, watched a movie, and unsuccessfully tried to finish several other things. Will came over and he and Joey did work on Algebra and computer generation all afternoon and evening, taking a break to watch a movie. :P Not the most eventful day in the world, but pretty good nonetheless. It has been so awesome not to have schoolwork this weekend!!! I keep having a guilty conscience about not doing schoolwork, but there's none to do!! :D Too bad we only get three days off....

Anyway, this post is now VERY long and it's late... I need to go to bed because the daily grind begins again tomorrow...
If you made it this far, you have my sincere congratulations! If not, I understand completely. ;)
For now, though, I wish you a good night and may God bless you~

So Very Different...

I never dreamt HOW different this school year would be from last year!!! Sooooo different. And next semester will be different even from this one, with a dozen people leaving and one new girl coming... I must have a phlegmatic streak, because I don't like change like that. *sigh*
Ah well. Change will come whether Monica likes it or not.
Looking back though, here are some pictures of what we were up to a year ago today. :D It was the last day of exams and we went to Red Lobster in Topeka, after going to Sam's and Churchill's. We had a GREAT time, with finals finished and everything. :)

Matt and Joe...
Yours truly...
Ben...
the "SPUoF's" (inside joke ;))
Okay, the smile looks just a little out of place. :P

Exams'll do that to you!! :D


It's all good. :)

3 Down!!

Physical Science, Theology and History are DONE!!!!! For better or for worse.

Physical Science.... welll... that went oookay. I kinda went blank on the formulas I needed and all these formulas I didn't need kept popping into my head! *aaaarrrrrgggghhhh* So we'll see...

Theology went pretty well. It's a little hard to tell how Father's gonna grade the last essay question, so I'm not too sure about that one. But other than that, I think I did well on it.

History turned out similarly. I missed a bit of information on 3 or 4 of the 10 identifications, but nothing major. There were four essay questions and I think I did well on those. I came away from History feeling pretty good. So that was good! :D

Most of all, it's just great to be through with those three!!! *whew* On the books for tomorrow: Latin at 8 am and Ethics at 10:30.

The bad news of the day was that our Latin orals are going to be Thursday. :( I wasn't going to have any exams Thursday and was fully planning on being a bum that day. :P But now I have to get ready for school and go in for ten measly minutes. Kind of a bummer. :/ Oh well! Could be worse!

Dinner time! That's all for now! Thanks for the prayers, any of y'all that prayed!!! I felt their effect in History today - that was surely the result of prayer! :) Please keep them coming, too. :D

TTFN~

Weird Weather

We set a new record high temperature for today. With a high of 65*F, we surpassed the 1990 record by one degree. It was absolutely gorgeous today!!!! We opened up the house and thoroughly enjoyed it... even though that did make it rather difficult to take the studies seriously. ;)

I made a WHOLE BUNCH of chocolate chip cookies this afternoon - with Rose's help. :) ...Brain food for exam week, ya know. :D Veddy important!! Of course, making cookies didn't help the studying progress any either... nor is taking the time to post helping either! :/
Therefore, y'all'd better wish me luck and keep me in your fervent prayers! I'm gonna need 'em!! Okay?? Thanks! :)

And with that, I'm off to tackle History... once more into the breach, my friends, once more! :P
B'bye~

Memory Lane

I love going through old pictures... well, the ones that bring back good memories, anyway! :D This picture that I'm posting today is from a long time ago (relative to my lifetime)... roughly 15 years ago. It's amazing how well I remember it being taken! I remember coming in from playing outside with my sisters, all sweaty, and Mom had us pose with the big glass of ice water she got for us to drink. I remember thinking - even at 4 years old - that the last thing I wanted to do was to press my warm and sticky face between those of my sisters! :D Nonetheless, the picture turned out very cute - if I dare say so myself. ;) Here 'tis:

The Weekend is Here?!?!

It is absolutely UNBELIEVABLE that it's already the weekend!!! The week FLEW by... zip. That fast!

I'm actually s'posed to be studying History... *looks around furtively* ... *whispers* Don't tell my conscience!
...yeah, studying even on a Friday evening. :/ Hopefully it'll pay off.

The last few days have gone pretty well. I'm looking forward to the end of the semester. It's so nice to get a fresh start on grades and everything... and I love getting grades/results back!! ...though that sometimes takes a long time.

Anyway! This is a really pointless post!! Sooooo, I'll stop bothering you and get to those reams of History notes. ;)


Tata!

Back to School

Well, school is back in session now. Three days running... It's dead week here at the college, for finals begin next Tuesday. Things are off to a gradual start and I'm not too worried yet. Monday night, I'll be freaking out.
My exam schedule runs something like this:
Tuesday - Physical Science, Theology, and History
Wednesday - Latin (written and oral) and Ethics
Thursday - nothing
Friday - Liturgy
I really wish Thursday and Friday were swapped. Liturgy is a 1-credit class and it's just a nuisance to put it off like that. Besides, if it were Thursday, I could have a four-day weekend!! :) ....C'est la vie.

I was happy to finally get my Liturgy mid-term back yesterday - I scored a 93, which is about 10 points higher than I was expecting to get... so that was good news. :D More good news came when I got my History paper back. I got an A!!!! Yay!!! I can't honestly say I'm very surprised, because I did think it was a good paper. But the rumor had circulated that no one had gotten an A and that the highest grade was an A-. I'd been counting on my paper to help my grade, which I think is a B+ right now (that's a good grade for this History class). So that did indeed make me happy. :) .....now to do well on the History final! :/

The finals I'm most worried about are History, Theology, and Ethics. Latin should be no problem. And Physical Science... well, it'll take some study, but not so much that it'll kill me. ;) There's not enough material in Liturgy to REALLY worry about it. But the amount of material covered in Theology, Ethics and History is DAUNTING!!!! So you've gotta pray for me, okay? :D Most especially this coming Tuesday. Once Wednesday afternoon rolls around, I'll be flying pretty high (as long as I don't bomb anything).

I know this is a really boring post, but that's what's going on in my student life right now. :) I don't really have any other life at the moment, so that's what you get! I'll let you know how things go with grades and all... 'til next!
~Monnie

"Indifference"

This is an absolutely brilliant poem by Rev. G. Anketall Studdert-Kennedy, written about the time of the First World War. It gave me the shivers - what about you? It certainly illustrates how much God hates lukewarmness and indifference!!

"Indifference"

When Jesus came to Golgotha
They nailed Him to a tree,
They drove great nails thro' hands and feet,
And made a Calvary -
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns,
Red were His wounds and deep,
For those were crude and cruel days,
And human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to Birmingham,
They simply passed Him by -
They never touched a hair on Him,
They only let Him die,
For men had grown more tender,
And they would not give Him pain,
They only just passed down the street,
And left Him in the rain.

Still Jesus cried "Forgive them,
For they know not what they do,"
And still it rained the winter rain,
That soaked Him through and through,
The crowd went home and left the street,
Without a soul to see,
And Jesus crouched against a wall,
And cried for Calvary.

Why Never to Come to Our House...

...when Joey has been drinking.


Just kidding...

It doesn't take drink for him to act like that.

A New Year

Hello, dear reader!

I had a very nice New Year's weekend. I hope you did, as well. On Friday, I made Italian bread and an old friend and a new friend of mine came over for part of the afternoon. :) The old friend had other obligations and had to leave, but the new friend stayed for dinner and then we (five of us) went and saw the Chronicles of Narnia in Topeka. That was pretty good!! That night, Lindsey came in from Kansas City.
On Saturday, New Year's Eve, I went to Mary Varnado and Robert Campbell's wedding... another girl from my graduating class to get married! Makes me feel kinda old. ;) It was a very nice wedding...

That afternoon, I made more Italian bread (the stuff I'd made the day before had been a little too heavy for my liking), while Mom and Rose worked on making the meatballs and cheese mixtures for the homemade lasagna (a recipe we got years ago from an old authentically-Italian :) man). Rose also worked on the Italian Wedding Cake which we were going to have for dessert. About 6 pm, we had a candlelight dinner accompanied by soft, instrumental Italian music... it was lovely!!!! There's a certain magic that comes of candlelight and music.

We gave Mom and Dad a little anniversary present and had the Italian Wedding Cake (scrumptious!!!) and some liqueurs. Then we set off the little poppers we had gotten and made a mess, but had fun doing it. ;) I chatted online with friends that night, until a little before midnight. I made sure I was on my knees when the new year came in though. :)
New Year's Day - Mom and Dad's 23rd Wedding Anniversary!!! We went to the 9 am Mass, at which Joey served Master of Ceremonies for the first time. He did a good job! After Mass, we left for Kansas City where we went ice-skating at Crown Center. It was a little crowded, being New Year's, but not too bad. Lindsey met us there later on (having gone to a later Mass) and we skated for about two-and-a-half hours in all.

We had planned on eating dinner at Pierpont's (sp?) in Union Station but they were closed. Another place we tried was also closed. We ended up eating at Buca di Beppo in the Plaza.

The food was AWESOME, as was the service!! The decor was.... interesting. ;) Over all, though, it was a pretty neat place. We looked at the lights in the Plaza after dinner and then headed home. Rose did the driving for the whole trip and did a very good job. Those in the back of the van got some shut-eye in on the ride back and we reached home a little after 9 pm.
Today, Rose, Joey and I did some exercising (to soothe those guilty consciences about all the good food we've eaten over the holidays :P) and we've all been doing some badly needed cleaning! This afternoon, if I have time, I might sew myself another skirt. I got some really pretty fabric the other day...

That's all for now! A week from today we'll be back in school. *sob* And two weeks from tomorrow, we'll be suffering through exams. Oh joy. Well! it's back to cleaning and organizing and all that good stuff. :D God bless!