Life Casting

First I life-cast Daniel's face for a ceramics project

Then it was my turn!

What Happened???

You should have seen my eye yesterday: even more colorful! I had some nice shades of royal blue also.

Saturday, I woke up early to go with Daniel and his family on a falconry hunt in the south of the state. Yes, just like the Medieval Ages. Except now only trained and licenced falconers can keep birds. After hiking in fourteen degree weather for several hours and only seeing one (large) wood rat being taken down by a hawk, I was standing on a ridge a couple yards away, watching the rest of the group trying to scare a squirrel into the open. Suddenly a big dark thing was hurtling towards my face [probably a large chunk of wood. We never actually found the object, but if it were a rock, it would have broken my glasses]. I barely got my eyes clsoed before tears were streaming down my face as I groaned. Fortunately, Daniel's uncle, who is an ER doctor, was on the trip with us. After an initial exam of my eye, he drove me to the nearest hospital.

Even thouugh there was quite a line, I was seen in less then ten minutes. To see if there was any tear of the cornea, they put some dye in my eye, and then shone a black light on it. Daniel said my eye was glowing a floresent green, especially arround the rim of it! They refered us to a nearby optomologist who just happened to be in his office at the time. After many eye drops and bright lights in my eyes, he pronounced that I had Traumatic Iritis. Basically, my eyeball is bruised and the muscle strained, but there is not scratch or punture to the lens. My pupil has a hard time constricting as normal, and gets misshappen causing blurred and whitish vision. I am on two types of eye drops to help: dilation drops to lessen the strain, and steriods to control the inflamation.

The Helper

I have such a busy helper!It's easy to forget how necessary are those child-proof cabinet latches, and outlet covers, and closed doors. Magazines and books? Keep 'em up high. Wastebasket? Keep it emptied. Electronics? For the most part, he hasn't figured out how to turn them on completely. But I suspect he will have the microwave figured out within the month. Then we'll have to rethink the kitchen arrangement.

Merry Christmas!

Luke loved the music at church this evening. He danced in the center aisle as the congregation sang. He was so fascinated by the drums and guitar that he walked up to the stairs of the platform to watch. He stood right next to the pastor and danced to the beat of the music. He put on quite a show for the congregation!

Our tree awaits us in the morning.

Update from Greta

Finals are over, so now I can tell the world about some of my news.

I had mentioned that I was nominated for homecoming about a month ago: the next week I was hard at work campaigning to win Homecoming Princess, while organizing SGA's involvement in homecoming. I handed out candy, fliers and movie posters; made announcements in classes; recruited facebook friends; made alliances with other student groups who had people running for homecoming, just no princess; and talked the gamers, the smokers, and the art students into voting for me. Once they all heard I was running against sorority girls, they flocked to the polls to vote for me. Its not that I have anything against sorority girls: but I was willing to use the truth to my advantage. In between campaigning, I ran a carnival booth with pin the beak on the owl; decorated an owl cake; and designed a float for the parade (and dressed up like the mascot to ride on the float). The week culminated in a beautiful dance in a ballroom, where the homecoming court winners were announced. I was the runner up to the princess!

A few weeks ago, I was chosen, along with 58 other students, to be inducted into another honor society: Who's Who Among American Colleges and Universities. My university has over twenty thousand students enrolled. Visiting family got to come to the ceremony with me; I had the largest cheering section there! The president of the University gave a speech and then we filed past to receive a framed certificate. Much picture-taking ensued.

Grade 1

This past year I have been working hard to get upgraded in the EUSPBA (governing association over solo and band bagpipe competitions in the Eastern US) to the next solo level. I found out yesterday that I made it! I'm now in Grade 1, which is the top amateur bagpiping level. There is only one more above Grade 1, which is the Professional or "Open" level.

Grade 1 will be more than enough for now. Grade 1 competitors often get asked to play in invitation-only competitions, among some other nerve-wracking things.

Changes

Belated Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated and gave thanks at Heather and Jared's last Thursday. Jared's parents joined us too. Before heading home that evening, we loaded two cars with boxes and furniture for Heather and Jared's move here. Most of that went into either the garage sale pile, or the newly floored attic. They will be moving in with us by mid-December because Jared hasn't been able to find a full time job since his motorcycle accident. We have exciting times ahead!The rest of the weekend has been very busy as well. The Professor's family arrived for a one-week visit on Friday. Heather and Luke arrived for a ten-day visit on Saturday morning, bearing more boxes for the attic. Jared arrives (with a fourth carload) this morning. This afternoon most of us will watch Greta be inducted into an honor society. We have our annual Santa Lucia Dinner planned for tonight. And Luke's first birthday party is Wednesday night.

Note: Uhhh...somehow this went to drafts instead of being posted. It's only about a week late!