I'll be home for Christmas. . .

I just bought my plane tickets home for Christmas. Ok, actually, my dad's credit card just bought my tickets home, but either way, I'm going home. I'm very excited and would be even more excited except that there's only 5 weeks of the semester left and about 2 years worth of homework to do. But, I'm still going home. And for a long time. I'll get there the 19th, and I'm not leaving until the 30th. Mostly, that's just because I want to see family and friends without stressing out, but also because, after I get married, I probably won't be able to spend that much time at home. I'll have other families and obligations that I will have to attend to as well. I guess that's just a fair trade-off. So Camille, let me know when you're free.

I leave next Wednesday to go visit my man for Thanksgiving. We won't get the kids until Friday though. That's ok, because I haven't seen Wes since Sep. 30th, and he doesn't have any furniture, so he wants us to go furniture shopping. We're also going to buy my ring. I have one all picked out. I'll try to get a picture of it. I felt funny picking out my own ring, but like Wes said, it's not like it's a surprise and since I'm going to wear it the rest of my life, it would be nice if I actually liked it. There's also a sale at a wedding store here in Madison, so I'm going to try to go to that this weekend and maybe actually buy a dress instead of just looking at the pretty picture on the computer.

I don't remember if I blogged about this already or not, but, Wes told me his son has been in therapy for about 8 months. I guess he is acting out towards his mom and then asked her if Wes and she were getting back together since he was moving there, and when she said no, asked if Wes wouldn't be his daddy anymore since he was getting married and since she lives with her boyfriend. This worried me, because I was afraid that he would be hostile to me as well, since I'm competition for his dad, but Wes says that he only acts out against her and not him, and that he seems very excited to meet me. So I'm very nervous but excited. I've never dated anyone with kids before and I know how important this is to Wes and to me. The kids could live with us in the future. I must have a good relationship with them. And, if Wes and I decide to adopt more kids, I want his kids to know that they are not being replaced. Hopefully it will all go well.

Went and saw my advisor yesterday about school stuff. (I should really write Ph.D stuff because it makes me look smarter, but I still think of it as school stuff). Here's the schedule for the next couple years of my life. April 2006: take pre-lims. May 2006: defend dissertation proposal. June 2006: visit archives in Russia. July-Nov. 2006: apply for funding. Oct. 2006: get married. Nov. 2006-June 2007: work on dissertation in USA: probably visit the Hoover institute, Harvard and various other universities that may have stuff (sorry, nothing in Dallas). Jan.-Sep. 2007: Wes may be out to sea. Sep. 2007: I leave for my 9 month research "trip" to Russia. (yeah, these last two were supposed to correspond: the Navy didn't get the memo). June 2008-whenever: write dissertation. So, now you will all know exactly where I will be for at least the next three years.

Ok, I think that's about it. I also think I have a cold because I feel like crap and can't breath (is it really that important anyway?). I don't have to go to campus today, but I would really like to catch-up on stuff. We shall see. Hope everyone is doing good.

One last note: had a dream about Amanda last night. It was a good dream. Things had worked out and you were happy. You were very, very happy. Please e-mail me or call me. I miss you.