Inside Julia's mind

I'm here, really. I just haven't been in a blogging mood for a while.
So what have I been up to?

Here comes FIOS!
Last Tuesday stayed home in the morning for the Verizon/FIOS people that never came (they'd rescheduled and didn't tell me) So I stayed home from work this Tuesday (the 4th) as well, and they did come, and now I have hundreds of channels to watch!!! As if I didn't have enough of a problem sitting in front of the TV! But now I get BYU-TV, so no more trying to listen to Conference on the internet or shlepping up to the Stake Center! I should probably try to make it up there for at least one session, but being at home is so much EASIER!!

My internet is much faster too--at least, faster enough to be noticiable. Given that I had Comcast Cable before, this is a rather interesting fact.

Snowfall
As many of my friends noted on their blogs, it snowed on Wednesday (why? Why couldn't it have been Tuesday when I was home anyway??). I did go to work, and didn't get hit by other cars, or slide around, or anything. But it was nice and peaceful with the snow falling outside and my office mate staying home (she lives in VA, can't really blame her for that). We got a lot of snow, 4-5 inches (I never heard the final count, but there was a lot of snow on the ground). I didn't believe the weather people when they said it would snow. I thought they were talking about Western Maryland, or someplace else. Or that they were lying to us again. But no, they were right, and there was a lot of snow. And the schools didn't close. That was kind of amazing. Especially since it really did accumulate and cause many, many accidents on the highways.

Holiday Party
I went to the Relief Society's HF&PE night last night. It was a Christmas celebration, at the home of the RS president. It was very nice, and the program was beautiful. Most people crammed into the kitchen to talk to their friends, but I get really claustrophobic in large crowds, so I went in by the fire and sat. People came to me, and meanwhile I got to enjoy the beautiful decorations and quilt. Our RS president is really quite talented.

During the program one sister read O Henry's "the gift of the Magi". She was very expressive in her reading, and transported me to a different time and place. It was very nice. The music was really nice too, performed by several sisters in the ward.

Tin Man
A mini-series on Sci-Fi channel this week. It was a re-imagining of the Wizard of OZ story, and having seen Sci-Fi channel re-imaginings I was prepared for the worst, but it was actually quite good. It even had several homages to the original that were quite cute, such as the protaganist being the great-granddaughter of the original Dorothy Gale, and being named after her. It wasn't until my FIOS was installed that I realized I wouldn't be able to tape it off, or record it using my DVD Recorder (not the one that came in the FIOS box, either). I'm going to have to look into that, although I don't tend to tape that much anymore, just the occaisional movie or mini-series. I suppose I could buy it... sigh.

The Neighborhood Cat
Anyone who's visited me in the last several months knows about the neighborhood cat. She seems to think she lives at my house. Course, I do feed her, and I did get a cheapo litter box for her. I can't bear to think of her outside in this weather. But she's not a stray. Her current owner has been on travel for the last several months, and the house-sitter keeps letting the cat out, then leaving for work. Leaving the poor thing outside the whole time, til she returns late at night (often after I go to bed, then leaves before I get up). Not such a problem in the summer, but now that it's cold, she really shouldn't be outside so much. So I have a little furry roommate. I call her Kitty, for lack of knowing her real name. Maybe they'll let me keep her, and I can call her Padme like I want to...


Hoping everyone is having a happy (or at least not terribly stressful) holiday time.