Dear Blog,

   If you were a goldfish you would be dead. I have been so neglectful of you, and for this I apologize. You might be suprised to hear this, but I do think of you. In between classes, I think of you. While wrestling piles of textbooks and writing epic essay's, I think of you. Sometimes I even think of you in a rare moment of free time. Sadly, when I have those rare moments where nothing is required of me, I usually sit and stare, my mouth slightly agape. You see I have become so accustomed to doing, doing , doing... that when I sit still I fall directly into a catatonic state. I believe it has something to do with the 437 things in my personal life that need to be done and have been neglected just like you. Out of a mountain of 437, where do you begin?
   We have a bit of catching up to do so I will just skim the top and give you the highlights. Halloween. M'Kayla took her neice and nephew trick or treating, and Lulu decided (wicked pug that she is) that she would go too. In the chaos of the evening, I didn't know that she had slipped out the door. I wandered the neighborhood feeling like a character in some creepy B movie calling Lulu and asking the random mummy or ghost if they had seen a rotten black pug. Just when I was sure she had been dog-napped, she came running down an alley to greet me. She was full of exictement and most likely dropped candy.
   My wonderful mama prepared 2 Thanksgiving Feasts as we couldn't eat with my sister and her family due to some of us having colds and baby Nicolas's fragile health. She prepared two dinners and hand delivered both, eating twice. We are so blessed with our awesome mom!
   The day after Thanksgiving was tree day! We found our tree's in the woods once again. This year was special as M'Kayla and Garrett now have their own apartment and got a tree of their own!
   Finals came and went, the stress nearly sent me over the edge. The pressure on pre-nursing students is quite high as we must have as near a 4.0 GPA as possible. There are only 16 slots open each year in the program I am applying for and grades are the deciding factor.
   After finals, a break. . . where I think I mentioned I spent much of my time staring at the TV in a semi trance. I did manage to crochet and knit a few pair of hand-warmers for gifts, and crochet a hat for my sister and my daughter.
   Christmas was fun, we decided no gifts this year. I did make the hand warmers for my mom, M'Kayla and a good friend, but that was it. It was very nice not having the pressure of buying gifts, but at the same time it was surreal and made if feel almost as if Christmas came and went very quietly.
   Two more weeks off and then I was back in class. I am currently taking Interpersonal Relations and Communications during the intersession. Its two weeks of full day classes, but at the end I will have earned my 3 required credits for the subject.
   On January 18th I am all set for Chemistry 101, Probability and Linear Mathmatics, Sociology and Developmental Psychology. I am not looking forward to the Linear Algebra!
   We have had colder than normal temps like the rest of the country. Many nights in the -10 to -20 temperatures. Its been cold. We've been filling rabbit waters and even having to knock ice out of the heated chicken waterer.
   Oh and how could I forget! We've had 9 new additions to the farm. Christmas had a litter of kits, and they are the sweetest little babies in the world. I am a bit concerned about finding homes for them. . . and won't be repeating this process again while I'm in school!

   Much love to you dear blog. You are faithful thats for sure. I will try to feed you weekly words and water you with photos! Here are a few from the months gone by... see you soon!