Monday

And what a Monday it has been!

Last night my nose started running and I started sneezing. So, of course, I wake up this morning with a full-blown case of the common cold. I had work at nine and since I wasn't deathly ill or having a near-death experience, I couldn't skip it. Besides, I take pride in never work. In my two and half-years of service at the library, I've missed work completely only once. My roommate Lindsay was deathly ill and I had to take her to the doctor. Another time, I got to work and was promptly sent home by Jonisa, because I was sick and completely miserable. The last time, I was 45 minutes late because I didn't realize that the new schedule had started. Other than those times, I've never so much as been late to work. It's something I'm very proud of.

Anyhoo, I'm working, sniffling, grabbing tissues, blowing my nose, grossing myself out by the amount of mucus in my nose and throat, and squirting sanitizer on my hands. It was not a fun morning. It didn't help that there were 64 recalls today. But then, there's always tons of recalls on Mondays. My boss, Sarah, finally told me to go get some medicine from the shop in the bookstore, so I could start feeling better. So I took some Dayquil but it didn't help much. My body feels really weak and everything seems a little fuzzy.

I went to my Geography class where we learned about soil and rocks. Loads of fun, let me tell you. I was so tempted to skip and go home, but I can't miss Geography--everything he says is fair game for the test. So I miserably endured that hour.

Then, on my way home, I realized that I had left my keys at home. This was bad. No one's at the apartment that time of day, so I'd either have to suck up my pride and call someone, or sit outside and wait for someone to come home. Luckily, I am a genius.

Our windows have screens on the outside of them. I didn't think they came off easily, but to my great surprise, they do. And we leave our windows unlatched all the time, so I just pushed open the glass part. However, I ran across a problem. Those windows are far enough off the ground to be nearly impossible to climb into, unless you have the arm strength of an Olympic weight-lifter. So, me and my jello-arms pretty much failed. I couldn't get in that way.

Nearby our apartment door is a green rectangular planter half-filled with potting soil. Cue light bulb above my head. I grabbed the planter and brought it over to the window. Standing on the soil inside the planter, I had just enough extra height to be able to see the inside doorknob of the front door. My arms weren't long enough to reach that knob, but I had an umbrella in my backpack especially for such emergencies. I extended the umbrella but didn't open it. Reaching my arm and the umbrella inside, I was able to jiggle the handle, thereby releasing the lock on the knob. Voila! Unlocked door!

So, in addition to being sick, I had to break into my own apartment today. I'm pretty frustrated, but pleased that my adventure is turning into a pretty good story. (Though, I admit, I left out some parts. Our windowsills are filthy and I have dirt all over my shirt now. Also, I rather stupidly tossed my jacket containing my phone into the apartment through the open window before I got back inside. This was stupid because I couldn't reach where I had tossed it. Guess I'm not such a genius after all!)

Addition

So, I have a few additions to my Christmas Wish List.

• silver hoop earrings
• a new mouse pad
• Dang, there was something else, but now I can't remember what it was! Argh!
  

Costumes

I should've posted this yesterday, but yesterday evening was somewhat busy. I made pancakes for my dinner group. And my first ever batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Now those were a grand success! Here's the very simple recipe:

1 big can of pumpkin (the size that makes 2 pumpkin pies)
2 boxes of spice cake mix
1 bag of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the pumpkin and the spice cake mix together in a large bowl until consistency is something like cake batter. Add the chocolate chips. Spoon whatever size you wish onto a pre-sprayed cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. (I had to bake mine for about 24 minutes, but I think the time depends on your oven.) Let cookies cool, then enjoy!

They're way yummy all warm and squishy straight out of the oven. Oh, and this makes quite a few cookies, but it's super easy to half the recipe.

On to the thing I really wanted to post about. Halloween costumes. Yesterday, I saw quite a few creative costumes on campus, so I thought I'd share. Too bad I don't have pictures.

• Magnum P.I.
• The Joker
• Moses
• Various colors of Power Rangers (Black, white, pink and blue. The Pink Ranger and the Blue Ranger were having a battle when I saw them. Most amusing.)
  
• Marty McFly (one of my coworkers, Jeff)
  
• a CEO (another of my coworkers, Kristina)
  
• Harry Potter (Along with various other generic Hogwarts students)
• Scooby-Doo (This one I saw in the morning. He was sitting on a bench and had a leash attached to a nearby pole. Classic!)
• a blue M&M
• a bee
• a Jedi Knight (A girl one!)
• a scarecrow
• a U of U student
• Patrick the Starfish
• a Newsie (Dang, this guy was cute. Yummy!)
• one of the 3 Musketeers (I wonder where the other 2 were?)
• a Scotsman wearing a kilt and, I kid you not, playing the bagpipes!
• 2 bunches of grapes (my roommates)
• a flapper
• various princesses, witches, etc. You know, traditional Halloween costumes.
  

Some of these were very creative and well-done. Others were not so much. Anyhoo, I enjoyed my costume spotting. And no, I did not dress up as anything. I am a party pooper.