Post Holiday Post

We've just returned from spending Christmas in FL with my husband's family. We drove the 10+ hours, which with a 2 year old is no small feat! Callen actually did great for most of the time. We divided the drive over 2 days on the way to FL but made the long trek back in one day - which was harder on Callen and us! But, it was good to be home and in our own beds again. It is always nice to visit with family and friends, but also nice to come home again.

We took Callen to see Santa for the first time while we were in FL. We stood in line 30 minutes until it was our turn. When it was Callen's turn to sit on Santa's lap, she would have no part of it! She screamed and held onto me for dear life! Guess you've figured out - we didn't buy those Santa pix! Maybe next year she'll be more willing to sit with Santa and tell him what she'd like for Christmas.

I've really been amazed in the past couple of weeks how Callen's vocabulary and her sentence structures have developed. It also seems that she's beginning to look more and more like a little girl and less like a toddler! I'm not sure I'm ready for her to grow up so fast...

I hope you all had great holidays; I look forward to hearing about them soon! Oh, and the Christmas cards still haven't been written on this end, but hopefully soon : ).

Time Again

I know I talk a lot in these blog postings about how fast time goes by, but I have to say it again: I can't believe how fast the last month has gone! The end of the semester is always frenetic with grading, exams, and finishing up everything before the holidays. However, this end of the semester was even more frenetic.

All the departments in my current building had to pack up their departments as we were all moving to a brand new building this week! The new building is so beautiful! So, in the midst of finishing up the semester, we were all packing boxes (I had 39!). In addition, I flew out to a conference last Friday and didn't return until after midnite Tuesday night. I'm also working on a grant proposal that is due in just a few weeks and way too many papers. And, of course, getting ready to travel again in a few days. Bo and I haven't written the 1st Christmas card yet. For all you good friends who have been sending us cards -- we hope to send out cards within the next month : ).

I went to a fabulous workshop at the conference last weekend. It was on Time Management (how ironic, huh!). I'm determined to try to implement some of the wonderful strategies I learned in the all day workshop. For those of you who have seen my prior offices, you'll recall that I'm not the best manager of paper. Hopefully in my new office with my new time management skills, I will be better about this : ).

Even with the time flying by, the travels have been great and all the boxes began to arrive today! Maybe in January I'll have time to start unpacking!

I hope you all have a great holiday season and safe travels wherever you may roam!

Youth and Technology

After dropping off Callen at her school this morning, I stopped by my local Panera and graded papers from my undergrad mental health class (and I actually finished grading all of them this morning -- whoo hoo!). Their assignment was to examine how the media portrays some aspect of mental health. They've been presenting their projects over the past week of classes.

I've been amazed at the variety of media images that the students have been able to find depicting aspects of mental health -- from news reports on various news' websites to commercials to movies to clips from You Tube. I knew there were a lot of films and videos that dealt either directly or indirectly with issues of mental health, but I wasn't aware of the prevalence of clips on You Tube. The huge number of clips presented from You Tube has really amazed me! I should examine You Tube in more detail the next time I teach this course!

Here's to youth and technology. . .

Disclaimer: I was not paid in any way by You Tube for making this post : ). However, if they'd like to pay me, please contact me!