Day 328 and Breakfast with Santa

This morning, the club I belong to (called the Child Enrichment Club) hosted the Breakfast with Santa. We had 54 kids come to see Santa and well, it was just a lot of fun. I must confess that earlier in the year, I was feeling a bit negative about doing it again. But then back in August I was reading on a discussion board about how much it cost to do the Santa pictures at the mall and I turned my attitude around. So the point is, I was looking at it with new eyes this year. I do not remember exactly how many years we've been doing it. If I am remembering right, we started it in 2001, so this would have been the eighth year. Anyway, the way our group does it, is we host it at a community building at a local church. It is completely free for people to come. They can bring their own cameras and take pictures of their kids or we've usually got someone there taking pictures too that we can share with them. We've served muffins, donuts, or pancakes plus milk and juice. This year we did muffins. Anyway, it is all very laid back and relaxed. The kids can come in and go straight over to see Santa or they can go sit down and eat first and go see him when they're ready. There is no standing in line and you have to see Santa now or else. Because of that, there are very few screaming fits by the kids. Of course, there are some tears sometimes, but for the most part since the kids get to do it at their pace, it's pretty relaxed. It's fun to get to see the kids talking to Santa and it's fun to just get to talk to people and mingle. So I had a great time this year and I almost feel in the Christmas spirit now. LOL.

Well back to my homework now!

Day 327 and one more week until I get a break from college!

Just one more week until I get a break from my college classes for a few weeks. I cannot wait! Of course that means I have a lot to get done in the next few days in order to be done by Friday night of next week. But I've made a good start and I think I'll have it done in time, if not early. The main thing I'm worried about is the questions I have to answer for my ecology and evolution class. Just to give you an idea of what I'm up against, here is one of the questions:

Consider the following observed facts:

* Humans possess all the genes necessary for Vitamin A synthesis except one. All the other genes are capable of producing functional enzymes, and the missing gene is present as a pseudogene.
* The antifreeze glycoprotein (AFGP) is produced by notothenoid fishes that live in the frigid waters off the coast of Antarctica. The amino acid sequence of AFGP is very similar to that of the proteolytic enzyme Trypsinogen, except for these exceptions:

(1) Trypsinogen contains a single grouping of three amino acids, Threonine-Alanine-Alanine, at the beginning of the domain coded for by Exon 2 of its gene. AFGP contains a series of 87 copies of the Threonine-Alanine-Alanine grouping. (This amino acid triplet is responsible for the anti-freeze characteristic of the protein.)

(2) The AFGP lacks Exons 3-5 that are found in the Trypsinogen gene.

(3) One species of the notothenoid family produces an AFGP that contains part of the exon 3-5 grouping that is found in Trypsinogen but not in the AFGP found in other members of the family.

How would these two sets of observations be explained under the Evolution and Intelligent Design theories? Which would predict that these facts would be observed? Explain your answer.

I read that and I just think "HUH?" LOL! Anyway, hope you all have a nice weekend! "See" you tomorrow!

Day 326 and lotion frustration

Well, I was feeling so good about the lotions but now for the second week in a row, my hands are dry and itchy and have some cracked spots. Granted, it's nothing like it has been in the past, but I'd just like to have nice normal soft hands. I am not sure if it's the weather, if it is the fact that I have had a runny nose so I'm washing my hands even more than normal (if that is even possible! LOL) or what. But man, it's frustrating!

I am on my way out to a child care association Christmas party. Should be fun!

Hope everyone stays warm tonight! BRRRRR!!!!!

Day 325 and the wind today!

Oh my goodness! The wind here in Oklahoma today was awful! I was afraid to take the kids outside since I didn't have enough rocks to put in all their pockets. LOL.

It is three weeks until Christmas. Wow. That is so scary! I do not think I am ready for this yet. Frugal Dad has some Christmas ideas on his blog if you want to take a look, the link is at the bottom of my page.

I am feeling a little better, especially compared to how I was feeling yesterday so hopefully I'm on the mend. I've been going to bed early and trying to get a good night's sleep so I can beat this stuff.

Day 324 and feeling guilty

We have not been very good lately. We ate out last week, on Thanksgiving Day (twice), had pizza one day over the weekend, and I think we ate out at least one other time last week. Oh yeah, we got subs from Bob's. Oh, and let's not forget the Sonic drinks. Now I can rationalize it all I want to. I didn't feel well, I was stressed out because of homework, etc. But the fact is, I should have had a plan. Now I don't feel too guilty for eating out on Thanksgiving Day. I cannot tell you how nice it was not to cook! We had a great day together as a family and we do not get too many of those anymore. Besides, we chose the cheapest of 3 options for eating out. One of the places I called was going to be $20 a plate! Holy smokes. Cracker Barrel was good and we were able to eat for about $10 each, which I didn't think was bad at all. Then we just grabbed burgers from Braum's on the way home for supper. With Christmas, and still having openings and the issues with Josh's car depleting our EF, we really need to be being extra careful with our money. I have pretty much given up worrying about it, I know God will take care of it in His time. So here's my goals to set us back straight!

1: Limit ourselves to once a week with the Sonic drinks.
2: No eating out until at least December 12th (our anniversary and if I say we won't eat out then, well, I'll be setting myself up for failure, LOL).
3: Do the December budget (by Friday)

That's all for now. I may have more to add tomorrow!

Day 323 and Josh's car

Well, I think I mentioned last week that Josh's car had broke down again. Turns out that it is the transmission, but the mechanic was able to find a used one. So we can get it fixed for about $750 compared to over $2000 for a new one. So that's a relief. We have about $400 in the EF so we can help Josh out, but he'll have to come up with the rest. Then we'll be back to scratch on the EF, but at least we are able to help this much. I just hope we're doing the right thing. I think we are.

I have another cold. Obviously I need to be doing something to build up my immunity. My goodness, this is my third cold in 2 months! I'm sure it couldn't be because I"m running myself into the ground trying to do full-time college, hold offices in two child care associations and a mother's club, my job, and all my other responsibilities. Well, at least I get a break soon.

Please pray and send good thoughts that we are making the right decision about Josh's car.

Day 322 and feeling puny

I started feeling kind of puny yesterday, then didn't sleep well at all last night, so feel even worse today. The good news is that I got my homework all done and submitted! Phew! Just one more unit with these classes.