Home! :)

Woohoo for Columbus Day and South Dakota!! Yep, that's right, because Mount Marty is in SD, we find that it is only fair to honor this day of the year with no school. AND, that fairness means that I have had the pleasure of spending this three day weekend at home in Elgin, NE.

Though my time here at home has been relatively uneventful as far as excitement goes, I can't begin to describe how nice it has been to slow down a bit. I had fully intended to spend both Saturday and Sunday afternoons doing homework, but instead I wound up reading Nicholas Sparks' newest novel, The Last Song. I read the entire book and was predictably sobbing at the end. It was a great book and I'd recommend it for anyone looking for a bit of light reading! Once I finished that book, I did actually sit down and get some things accomplished. I made a massively intimidating stack of flash cards for the upcoming chapters of medical terminology, wrote three reading reflections and two poems for creative writing, and skimmed part of the chapter on DNA transcription and translation for microbiology. I even downloaded our choir music on this old computer here at home and attempted to tune my voice this a.m. Now I'm worn out!

What about non-school related activities here in Elgin, you ask? Well, for starters I went to bed at 10:30 on both Saturday and Sunday nights. Though an extremely unusual thing for me to do, it was amazing. I feel partially refreshed now that I have a few decent hours of sleep under my belt again! :) Since I've been home, I've also gone to Norfolk with my mom so that we could get an oil change and new windshield wipers for my car and groceries to feed Dad and the boys here at home, attended church in my beautiful home parish with my family, helped my little brother apply for college (he even applied to MMC!) and scholarships, and eaten a whole lot of good home cooking - probably too much of it...

And (this one is good), I even got a head start on my final project for Writing and the Visual Arts. On Saturday afternoon when I arrived home, I visited the nuns here in Elgin and interviewed Sr. Pat Hoffman. She's going to be the "person of interest" you could say for my final project. She has a very interesting story to tell - not only has she been a sister since the age of 13, she's been teaching at Pope John (my high school) for 37 years! Once I was done drilling her with questions, I stayed to chat with those two wonderful ladies over juice and cookies. :)

I must be off now to take pictures of Sr. Pat teaching before I hit the roads and return to Mount Marty to kick off another night of homework...hopefully some piano practice as well!