All fixed!

I managed to work out the kinks in my links! I want you to be able to access all the great sites I find! Happy viewing!

Apologies

I am just discovering that my links in previous posts aren't working. I will get this fixed. I am still new to Blogger so I am not sure what I am doing wrong. I'll post to let you all know when they are fixed.

Oh the weather outside is frightful(ly warm!)

I can't believe it's almost Christmas. This year has gone by so fast! I know everyone always says stuff like that but it's true. I don't seem to have much of a holiday spirit this year. My usual Christmas knick-knacks are still in the closet. I have been playing Christmas music, but this year it is not the same. I think too many years away from family have started to make me weary of holidays. I think that unintentionally this year I have isolated myself. I was always working on my next school project or taking a well-deserved nap. I didn't call friends back like I should have, email family with news, I didn't Skype Victor as much as I could.

Still I have tried to be mindful this year of all though who are struggling. I hear in the news about how the weather has devastated the northwest, and those families in Oklahoma who are freezing. I think of the poor holiday shoppers who lost their lives to the gunman at the mall, and out military who are spending another holiday away from their families. I was depressed because I have to experience another Christmas without snow when I am sure there are many who wish they could. Each year I treat myself to a new Christmas CD. This year I picked up Michael Bublé's CD which had a song that I had never heard before - My Grownup Christmas List. By coincidence I found a great video someone created on YouTube using this song, but sung by Kelly Clarkson. I think it is worth watching.

I guess I needed some help to remember the reason for the season. I need to do more.

So I have been spending every spare moment crocheting caps which I will send off to my mom with instruction to give some to family, but to give the rest to those in need. It's not much, but I am on a grad student salary for at least 6 more months. I hope I can do more next year.

Speaking of doing more, I just got my Mental Floss newsletter for the month and it had this great story that I also want to share - Mangesh (the editor)writes:

"And secondly, I figured I’d share a little story that reminds me of why I love the holidays. Last year around this time, my 4-year old niece was going through chemo for leukemia. She was having a rough time. She’d lost her hair, and while she was all smiles, she was too weak and sick to go to school, and didn’t have much interaction with other kids. Plus, like other children in the same condition, she was asked not to travel. But here’s the sweet part: a group of retired pilots arranged this big Christmas party at a New York airport, where all these young kids with leukemia were invited and told that they were finally going to go on a trip. So the kids were giddy. They and their parents were all given tickets, and herded onto a plane. Then the shutters were closed and the aircraft just taxied around while the kids sang carols and drank punch. And when they finally pulled up to a different terminal, which was decorated in snowflakes and candy canes, and filled with Christmas trees, the kids were told they’d arrived at the North Pole. When the party was over, they hopped on another plane and traveled back to New York.

I saw my niece a week later and she couldn’t stop chattering about her trip to the Arctic. Seeing Mrs. Claus, shaking hands with elves, and armed with the evidence of having been on a real live moving plane, she knew she’d traveled to Santa’s abode. And I know it made her miserable year so much better. I love the idea that something so small- driving an aircraft from one side of a runway to the other, was dreamed up into something so much more magical. I’d love to thank those pilots for organizing such a wonderful event, and bringing so many smiles to so many sick kids. I guess it just renews my faith in people when I hear that men and women are spending their spare time dreaming up events like these, and I hope you’re witnessing similar acts of goodness in your part of the globe."


Do you have any great Christmas stories? If so, send them my way and I'll post them. I hope you all have a happy holiday season and a very merry Christmas!

I Can't Believe How Far I've Come

WOW! I survived another semester! I am taking a class over winter break and then (if all goes well) I have one more semester before I graduate! It is actually in sight! I need to start filling out job applications, which is how I will spend my Christmas break, besides homework. I am going to fill out applications from everywhere, to cover my bases, but I would love to start at a public or community college library. I am not sure where I will end up, but the possibilities are exciting!

Any suggestion about where you think I should go? Or where I should work? Let me know what you think.