A Holiday Minute

Well I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Now obviously I didn't have any posts coming over vacation, but that would have been ironic if Iblogged "From The Dorm Room" from my house.

....Soooo, I'm back in my dorm room and I KNOW I had a great Thanksgiving. And there is something interesting that happens when you come back to college after a vacation..........

Your GLAD to be back!!

Now this is completely different from High School, where children DREADED the day when you had to go back to your teachers and back to your classes, But College isn't like High School, and therefore something different happens.


There are a couple reasons for this:

- First of All, college is not just about the classes. (Though parents would like to think it is)...There is the fact that you are living on your own, there are friends, places to go, and something interesting is always happening. EVEN if all you do is sit in a lounge and talk with a group of kids....there's something that makes it more fun than doing something like that back home.

- You're doing what you want. Classes are no longer all the random crap that you'll never use in life, instead you've chosen EXACTLY what you are going to take, and even enjoy doing it (though we might not always admit it). Going to class is no longer an all day event...a student might have 2 or 3 classes a day, and do fun stuff in-between each one.

- Kids enjoy being ON THEIR OWN!!! Now this is NOT to say that we don't like going home, because that would crush a lot of parents' hearts, it's just...we like VISITING home, our parents and friends, however we've now been exposed to living by our own rules and like the feeling. So going home is NICE, but students will find themselves happy to be going back to college in the end.

Now there is one other item on the agenda before I let you go....and that's CHRISTMASSS!!!!

Now if you're in a dorm room like I am..then I have some rules that you should really follow if you want to give everyone a nice early college christmas, and still stay sane yourself.

First of All...

DON'T BUY EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW IN COLLEGE GIFTS!!!!!!

This is a big no no. If you take your campus shuttle to Wal-Mart and buy every person on your floor and their brother a christmas present, you'll have found yourself spending $500 before you can say woops.

So keep it to these three people:

1. Girlfriend/Boyfriend
2. Roommate
3. Best Friend

Everyone else can get a candy cane or something.

If there are some girls on your floor, get them soap...they'll go wild and it'll cost you 5 bucks.

Some guys?? Food=Happiness

Keep the real gifts for the 3 people I mentioned.

Everyone will feel they got something for christmas from you...and you'll be happier because you've still got some dough in your back pocket.

Happy Holidays!


Talk to ya Later!

Thanksgiving Tips..THE RIGHT WAY

So...

I'm on my way to leave my dorm room for Thanksgiving Break! I'm finally escaping the college atmosphere and going back to my house to eat a great Thanksgiving dinner. And I was looking through a bunch of articles online about Thanksgiving, and while I was reading I came upon this article of tips from Reader's Digest:

If you are the host...

-Plan to provide a traditional Thanksgiving feast, then be creative with side dishes.
-Whenever anyone offers to help or bring a dish, say, "Yes, thank you!"
-Use hollowed bread loaves for charming serving containers for cheeses, dips, olives, chips and small sandwiches.
-Once the table settings and centerpiece are in place, sit in each chair to make sure each guest will feel comfortable.
-Include favorite kids' foods, especially those they can eat neatly with their fingers.
-Provide at least one low-calorie dish and a vegetarian option. Then serve a sinful dessert.
-Completely clear the table of all dishes from previous courses before serving dessert.
-Fill the sink with soapy water so cutlery and small dishes can soak clean as the guests are finishing.
-Make it easy for guests who help you clean up to help you recycle. Place bins in the kitchen labeled "glass," "cans" and "trash."
-Keep club soda nearby to clean spots or stains on the tablecloth or clothing.

If you are a guest...
-Arrive no earlier than the time the host has announced and no later than half an hour after the time.
-Plan to stay about an hour after dinner unless travel plans or sleepy children necessitate leaving earlier.
-Bring a gift and write a note of thanks afterward.
-Offer to help set up for dinner and to clean afterward.
-Notify the host of any special dietary needs -- if you are a vegetarian, diabetic or allergic to common foods. You can tell the host how to prepare a dish you can eat, or even better, offer to bring that dish yourself.
-If you're going to a potluck Thanksgiving, bring a serving dish with your contribution. Remember, the best potluck dishes are those that need minimal preparation in the host's kitchen, can be served at room temperature and require only a fork to eat.



Ok, I don't know about you, but I have some tips of my own. And a lot of them counteract the tips given by the great "Reader's Digest".

First of All, the beginning tips as a host are obvious when creating a Thanksgiving dinner, but making a side dinner for children??? The meal is classic...turkey, mashed potatos, corn, cranberry sauce, blah blah blah
...And if your winey kid is complaining about it, the mom yells at him, tells him to be thankful for once in his life, and the kid has to eat it in silence or go to time out. That's how most family's work.

If you're a guest, the tips are COMPLETELY different.

Reader's Digest tells you to plan to stay about an hour after dinner is over. Those of us who have dinner with the family KNOW this is not even close to the amount of time you're going to spend there.

We're talking
clearing the table,
washing dishes,
talking with grandparents,
catching ALL of the football game,
and a lot more.
If you think you're going to scarf down your dinner and book it out of there in an hour...you are highly mistaken.

Now the tip that talks about setting up dinner before hand and cleaning up afterwards, there is not much of a choice in that.

As a college student I'm still considered a child ( Yes we are, to bad fellow students )...and that mean when Grandma tells you to collect the plates and bring them in the kitchen...you collect the plates and bring them in the kitchen.
This is not the PROPER thing to do
........this is what you to avoid getting a slap on the hands later.

And as for bringing your own dish to Thanksgiving dinner....SOMETIMES people do this. But most of the time you just end up coming an hour early and getting forced to stir gravy for 20 minutes while the host finishes cooking up the meal.

So as as human being, you don't really need tips like this from Reader's Digest. You know exactly what your family meals entail and how they are going to set up and clean up for them. So nobody should be reading Thanksgiving Tips online, instead you should just go to your family's house like you always do and enjoy the big eating event that is Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

And Talk to ya Later!

I'm Dreamin of a White.....Thanksgiving??

I'm Not Kidding, It Snowed Today!!!

Obviously, there are those of you who have no idea, but North Adams is up in the mountains of Massachusetts....WHERE IT SNOWS IN THE FALL......

-The Picture is from my floor of the Residence Hall...Where I'm Still Warm-

Now all over campus there are students in full winter jackets, hats, the whole nine yards. so what does someone like me do at a time like this???

Well there are two kinds of people...There are the ones who will go out and have snowball fights and make snow angels and jump around in the white, fluffy powder. I personally think this should be illegal until December. No thinking about snow until then!!!

If "The 25 Days of Christmas" isn't on ABC Family yet....then I shouldn't see any snow outside.


The other type of person is the one who sits in their room all day while it is snowing and hopes that it ends quickly. But the heat in a college dorm is not high enough for you to be in a t-shirt and jeans..a sweatshirt is still required.

You want a Tip?

-Dress in normal clothing with a light jacket and go do a bunch of errands. Go somewhere to eat, visit people, just as long as you spend a good amount of time outside. Then run inside...Take a hot shower...Put on sweatpants and a sweatshirt...make yourself hot chocolate or warm milk...put your ipod on the stereo...turn on the news but turn off the volume so you are just watching the news to the music...wrap a blanket around yourself and hang out with friends.

^^^^The perfect thing to do on a snowy day. Trust Me, I've already had a couple....AND IT'S NOT EVEN THANKSGIVING!!!

Talk to ya later!