First Choice

Yay! The History Department (thanks to the Historical Administration component) was awarded Eastern Illinois University's First Choice Award. The university got a new president this year, and he has set a goal of making EIU the best graduate-degree-offering middle-sized university in the country. He decided to go through all of the grad. programs and see which ones have the best national recognition at this point. Yep, we're #1! The HA program is "the crowning jewel of the university." That made us all feel good inside.

I'm sad because Mom left for home today, but I'm glad that she made it back all right and that we had sooooooo much fun while she was here. We really did have a great time, and her visit helped the semester not feel as long as it was feeling before. Alyson's mom was happy that my mom brought some Halloween decorations for the apartment because for some reason she thought that Mormons didn't celebrate Halloween. Don't know where that came from! She said she's going to send us some Halloween candy.

Back in the day, a few years ago, I was majoring in Business Education at Utah Valley State College. I completed my Associate's degree before realizing that my heart was in history instead of business. But my time in Business Ed. has not gone to waste! I now have a whole set of skills that give me a bit of an advantage over my history peers when it comes to technical stuff. My good friend and neighbor at home, Carolyn Kuehne, was my Access database course instructor at UVSC, and she taught me many wonderful things that have been useful to me many times. Today was one of those times. I was in my Digital Applications class this afternoon, trying not to pass out or fall asleep (we'll blame it on the cold). I had my Mentholatum, pack of Kleenex, Vitamin C drops, hand sanitizer, and schoolbooks all spread out across my table and was zoning out as our teacher Mr. Riccio was talking about the assignment we having coming up. He said that we needed to complete some metadata descriptions of photographs in Micorsoft Access. I was about ready to kick out and fall asleep when I heard Mr. Riccio, say, "Has anyone ever worked with Microsoft Access?" Everyone was giving him blank stares, shaking their heads, and saying, "No. What is that?" Then he looked at me, and I said, "Well, I took an Access class one time." Everything went silent, and everyone turned and looked at me as if I had just gotten back from the moon. Mr. Riccio hadn't ever worked with Access, so he asked if I would come up to the front of the classroom and instruct everyone on how to use Access. I think it's funny that we have a class assignment that needs to be completed in Access, but even Mr. Riccio doesn't quite know the in's and out's of the program. :-) So I went up to the front and hooked the computer into the projector so everyone could see what I was doing on the big screen. We had a quick 20-minute version of Access 101 and got the framework for our assignment laid out. The other students were grateful that they didn't have to go and figure out how to use Access by themselves, and they thanked me profusely for knowing how to use the program.

Speaking of being grateful, I am grateful that I left "early" from our 3:00 meeting yesterday afternoon. I don't really consider leaving a meeting five hours after it starts as leaving early, but when one considers the fact that the meeting didn't end until 10:00 P.M., I really did leave quite early. A seven-hour meeting??????? Oh dear, what am I going to do with these guys? The whole point of the meeting was to complete the museum exhibit design brief that was due this morning, but there was truly nothing brief about the document. Mr. Riccio said it was the largest design brief he'd ever seen. Yes, I thought to myself, because it took seven hours to write!! We have our weekly class meeting tomorrow night, and I am really, really, really hoping that everyone is getting at least a little tired of meeting with each other so that it can hopefully be a short and sweet meeting. Well, I'm off to bed to see if I can recover from the cold.

Five Hours and Counting

Yikes! It's 8:00 p.m., and I just barely left a school meeting that started at 3:00 this afternoon!!! And the scary thing is, I left early--they're still there talking in circles. The students in my program were meeting to discuss a museum exhibit assignment that is due tomorrow, but everyone is so analytical and over-achieving that it was seriously taking an hour to get through each section of the assignment. There are 10 sections to the assignment! I still love everyone in the program, but they think and talk waaaaay too much about everything. This was one of those occasions where you're actually glad to have a cold--because it's a good excuse to leave a never-ending meeting early. As I sat there blowing my nose, it was pretty obvious that I needed to leave and take some more cold medicine. When I realized that this was not going to be a short meeting, I called Mom and she came over to eat some pizza with us. She thought it was quite funny that our meeting was never going to end. She was nice enough to stay there with me until I was able to escape. I think her presence also contributed to making my exit easier. Finally we are back at home, I have taken some cold meds, and am much happier.

Mom and I had a fun time at church today. Everyone there was very happy to meet her. I accidentally fell asleep during sacrament meeting (we'll blame it on the cold), but luckily I had Mom there to catch me up on what happened :-) After church today, Mom and I went over to the Small/Riccio farm to return the house key and so that Mom could meet more of my professors. They loved meeting Mom, and she loved meeting them. They took us on a tour of their house, and we got to sit out on the front porch and chat in the cool fall breeze. We had a great time out there!

Mom and I are going to go eat one of the delicious pumpkin cookies we bought at the Great Pumpkin Patch yesterday--they are the best things we've ever eaten! Unfortunately Mom has to go home tomorrow :-( I told her that I wish she could stay for the rest of the semester, but I know that everyone at home would miss her too much. I'm glad she's been able to come for a visit though!

Mom in the Mums

Mom and I were having so much fun yesterday that I forgot to write on my blog! And today we were having so much fun that I didn't get to the blog until now. Before I catch up on yesterday, here are some pictures from today's adventures. First you'll see Mom and me in front of a giant blue covered wagon at the Lincoln Log Cabin. Next, what is that? A used car lot? No, it's a used buggy lot! Must be Amish country. Mom and I went up to Arthur today and went to the Great Pumpkin Patch. There we took pictures of Mom in the mum patch, and me with the scarecrows. Wait, which one isn't a scarecrow? They all look equally scary!

So, I have a bit of catching up to do. Let's see--Thursday night was a little rough because I wasn't feeling very well. I think I'm either getting a cold or have become highly allergic to corn. :-( So it was a little hard to wake up yesterday, but once we got up and going, Mom and I drove out to Dr. Small's house to take care of her kitties while she and Mr. Riccio are away for the weekend (they both go by "Riccio" usually, but Dr. Small's academic name is Dr. Small because that is how she's known in the published world). Then we went shopping for EIU souvenirs at the campus bookstore, and had lunch at Jitters and Bliss. After lunch I had to go back to campus to work with Dr. Hardeman, but when I got there, he wasn't feeling well, and he knew he would have a really hard time staying awake while reading his students' papers (that would make two of us who would fall asleep!), so he decided to not have me stay for the afternoon. So, Mom and I went for a drive over to Mattoon. We hit a couple of book stores downtown, and we went to the ORIGINAL Burger King. The original Burger King was started in Mattoon even before the Burger King chain started down in Florida. Supposedly the two started independently, but the one here in Illinois started first. Problem was, the Florida people had more money, so they got to call the shots. The Mattoon people got to keep the name, but they never got any money for coming up with the idea. We had a tasty cherry-vanilla Coke there! After Mattoon, we went back to Charleston and took my buddy Kristen to dinner at the Thai restaurant for an early birthday dinner (her birthday is on Tuesday). Then we hung out at the apartment for the remainder of the evening.

This morning Mom and I went out to take care of the kitties again, and then we went on over to the Lincoln Log Cabin which is only a couple of miles from the Riccio's house. The Lincoln Log Cabin is an Illinois State Park, and they've done a pretty good job with it considering that they don't have any of the original Lincoln structures left standing. The cabin that today represents the home of Abe Lincoln's father and stepmother, is a reproduction built back in the 1930s. Supposedly the original cabin was shipped to Chicago for the World's Fair back in the 1890s, but it mysteriously disappeared. They have people out there acting as if they are working on the farm in 1845. So it's a pretty fun place. I'll be out there next weekend making brooms out of corn for the Fall Frolic. That reminds me, I need to learn how to make brooms out of corn this week.

After Lincoln Log, as it is known around here, Mom and I stopped at the Moore Home State Historic Site just down the street. That is the house where Abe Lincoln stopped when he swung by Charleston on his way to Washington to become President. Here he supposedly dined with his step mom and the Moore family before going to visit his dad's grave at the Shiloh Cemetery about a mile away. Of course, the next stop on today's Lincoln pilgrimage was the cemetery where Thomas Lincoln and later Sarah Bush Lincoln were buried.

After the Lincoln stops, Mom and I took off for Amish country. First we went up to Tuscola to have lunch at Flesor's Candy--the fun place where Alyson and I had lunch not long after we started school. Mom and I had the BEST Reuben sandwiches ever!!! They were made with red cabbage--delicious. We also had some tasty fresh peach ice cream. After the best lunch ever, we of course had to stop at Amishland--the big red barn that says AMISHLAND on the roof. Mom thought that was a fun place, and we were able to purchase more apple butter. One of our favorite shops there at Amishland featured Halloween costumes for geese--seriously! They had all kinds of goose costumes, including witches, draculas, and pumpkins. My personal favorite was the scarecrow costume--but I imagine that would be a goose's least favorite, because their wings would have to be stuffed inside the sleeves of a shirt.

After Amishland, we headed south to Arcola--another Amish town. We hit the Arcola Antique Mall, which was totally awesome. I could have stayed there all day, but we wanted to head to Arthur to visit the Great Pumpkin Patch. It was the coolest place ever!!! There were giant pumpkin people made out of hay bales, giant mountains of squash, and more pumpkins than one could ever imagine. Of course we had to eat some pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin cookies! It was so much fun--very fall-ish. What could be more fall-ish than the Great Pumpkin Patch out in the middle of the cornfields of Arthur, Illinois? I think nothing. On our way back through town, we passed a bunch of Amish people in their buggies heading home for the day. They can pretty much cruise at high speeds in those buggies. Those horses mean business.

After the Great Pumpkin Patch, Mom and I came back home and watched the General Relief Society Meeting online. It's pretty handy to be able to watch BYU TV anytime from anywhere. Well, I'm off to bed. Unfortunately my body is giving out and succumbing to whatever it is I managed to catch from somebody (probably a cold).

Barn Measuring

Yay!!!!!!!!!!! Mom is here!!! It was so fun to see her this afternoon, and it's been great spending the evening together. She arrived at about 5 p.m. after flying into St. Louis and renting a car. When she arrived, I was putting the finishing touches on dinner. We had chicken, black beans and rice, cornbread, summer squash casserole, salad, and sweet potato pie! Dr. Reid came over for dinner, and she and Mom had a great time chatting and getting to know each other. It was a really nice evening.

This morning for Historic Preservation, we had a "barn measuring" party at Dr. Small's house--instead of a "barn raising." The barn is already there--has been for a while--so we just measured it. We got to learn the "how to's" of architectural building surveys. We measured the barn in groups of three, and all of us came out about 2 feet off course. We students believe that it's because the barn is not totally symmetrical, but Dr. Small maintains that it was we students who were a little off in our drawings :-) She is a really nice lady, and we had fun out tromping through the grass, weeds, and cobwebs with her. After the barn measuring, Dr. Small even gave us lunch! It was a little crazy getting over to her house this morning though because it was completely FOGGY outside! When I woke up and looked out the window, I couldn't even see across the courtyard here. Luckily as the sun continued to rise, the fog slowly disappeared. It looked kind of creepy out across the cornfields that are no more--with the fog making everything look dark and misty. Very Halloween-ish!

Where Have All the Cornfields Gone?

Awww, our cornfield out behind the apartment is gone :-( It was so pretty. I guess that the ethanol has to come from somewhere though. This morning when I woke up it was raining, thundering, and lightninging (is that a word?), and I turned on the weather channel, and it said that there was 94% humidity outside! What is this--Mississippi? When Aly and I went out to get in the car this morning, the windows had a thick layer of moisture on them. It was a little cloudy today, but it felt really nice once the humidity went down a little in the afternoon. There is definitely a hint of fall in the air (which makes sense--considering that it is fall).

Yay!!!!!!!! Tomorrow Mom is coming to visit! I am soooooo excited and have been cleaning up the apartment this evening in anticipation of her arrival. We are going to have tons and tons of fun. Tomorrow night Dr. Reid is coming over for dinner so she can meet Mom, so I'll have to whip out something impressive as far as food goes. I'm thinking of making a sweet potato pie for dessert.

Today we had a guest speaker in our Administration class, and he just so happened to be the man I'm supposed to have help the Piatt County people with some exhibit planning. So that worked out nicely for me. Mrs. Miller, our teacher, made lunch for everyone afterwards, so I was able to chat with Mr. McKay (the guest speaker) over a roast beef sandwich. Mrs. Miller rocks at cooking!! At lunchtime I also went with Kristen to try to get her parking ticket taken care of. She got a parking ticket for parking at her own apartment, and they made her pay it!!! We were so mad. She got an appeal form, so hopefully she can get that resolved.

I loved my Material Culture class this afternoon. We talked about Windsor furniture--so I got to talk about my chair from the Arlington House, and we talked about French Rococo Revival-style furniture too--the kind of furniture they have at Melrose in Natchez! So that was fun. I learned a lot of things. We then had a meeting about Tilford Dudley, and then I came home and started cleaning. Alyson and I went grocery shopping, and now it's almost time for bed. "Bones" was really good last night--I'm glad it's time for the fall TV shows.