Speaking of Easy

Well, in 17 days, we’ll be turning the page on the calendar to a brand new year! It seems like 2025 has both flown by AND has lasted a decade! Last Christmas seems like it was ages ago, but it also seems like I did nothing really meaningful this past year. This week was a good one and this next one should be even better (finals week at work – Fall semester is almost over!). I’m joining Momfessionals and A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites once again (and also linking up to Sunday Bookends because both are covering similar ground).

This past week started out very busy once again, but luckily it gradually slowed down over the course of the week and I had a much needed peaceful weekend. Let’s go through it!

Rookie Debate Tournament

Last Saturday we had our “Rookie” Tournament for our Intro to Public Speaking, Small Group Communication, and Argumentation and Debate classes. It is a long-standing tradition. I took part in my very first Rookie Tournament as a judge 30 years ago! I was on the Speech and Debate team as a competitor and I remember thinking how cool it was that I got to judge these debate class students. I took this photo of our framed team photo from that year that hangs on the wall of our team room to this day:

Gotta love the 90s hair and outfits. Since I was the instructor for both sections of Argumentation and Advocacy, all of the students competing were mine. They did great! It was all women and they definitely had a great time competing and getting to know each other better over the course of the day. I counted up and I think this was somewhere around my 30th Rookie Tournament between the years as a competitor and then my years back as Director of Forensics. Here are some photos of my students competing:

Dance Show

On Sunday, we went to see our Dance Club’s show at our Student Union. My daughter’s friends performed in it (they are in high school) because their dance teacher started this club when she was at Chico State a while back and they do this show every year now. It was a pretty great collaboration with the Dance Club, the local dance school doing a routine, and a few cultural clubs that did more traditional dance. It was very fun and entertaining.

Ice Skating with Girl Scout Troop

On Monday, my Girl Scout troop and the troop that meets with us went ice skating at our local seasonal rink. We’ve had rather cold weather here (for us – I understand that many of you will laugh – or groan – at this being described as “cold”) – in the 40s. So, it was definitely appropriate weather for it. It was the first time ice skating for most of them (we do have a mom and daughter who go every week during the season, so they were quite good), so it was an adventure for most of them! They did great! We got fancy hot chocolate from the stand there with whipped cream, a candy cane and a pirouette cookie and we did a sock exchange. Overall, it was a great night. I need to order fun patches for them now!

Christmas Tree!

Last year, we waited until SO LATE to get our Christmas tree and then we left town on the 22nd and didn’t come back until the 27th and then it was practically time to take it down (I kept it up through New Year’s but it was struggling at the end). So, this year, we got it up this week, I immediately decorated it (by myself – this is an ongoing frustration of mine to wait for others to be “ready” to decorate, so this year, I just did it), and it has been lovely. My daughter made paper chains at her after school program job and they make a great addition – very low-tech and nostalgic! I’m happy with it and I hope it lasts into the new year. I love a Christmas tree in my living room.

Smoking (meat) with Friends

My husband’s birthday was this month, but I was sick and he was traveling the week of it, so we delayed until this weekend. When asked what he wanted to do, it was smoke some pork butts and make pulled pork for friends. So, that is what we did. No photos, but they turned out great. He also made some Pork Chops on the bone and those were tasty as well. And it was fun hanging out with friends.

What I Watched

I started a new show this week. I found it on Hallmark+ and it has been great so far.

I am a little bummed to find out it only has 10 episodes as I am already on #6. But, I love the characters and the plots and it is a fun show so far! It has 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, so I don’t know why it doesn’t have a second season. Oh well, I will enjoy it while I can.

I am still reading the same books as last week. Hopefully things speed up when I’m done with teaching and grading in a week or so! But, I’m really close to being done with the audio book and will definitely be starting another when it finishes.