yay! new books!

I got new books! New, never been read books! When I left Special Collections in August, everyone pitched in to give me a gift card for Barnes & Noble. I used it in December and got myself a ton of books - but since it would've cost as much as the gift card was worth to have them shipped here, I took advantage of the free shipping and just sent them to Joel's parents's place. Well, there were a few books we'd put into storage that I found out that I wanted, so I asked Rita if she could mail them to me, and since the M-Bag rates charge a flat fee up to 11 lbs, and then roughly $1.00/lb. after that, I asked if she could fill the box up to 11 lbs. with the books I'd purchased. So I now have brand-spanking new copies of The Book of Lost Tales 2, Lays of Beleriand, Lost Road and Other Writings, Unfinished Tales, and Shaping of Middle-Earth, all of which I have never read before, plus a brand-spanking new copy of Anne of Ingleside, which I have read before, many times, but never owned a copy of myself.

I can't recall when I last had this many new books, both new in that they've never been read before and new in that they've never been read before by me. Woo!!!!

everything's just peachy-keen

The last few nights it's snowed, and today it even was blizzarding snow while I was in class - as thick as any Wisconsin winter. Now, wonderfully, the sun is shining! There's hardly any slush on the ground. So I got to enjoy snow coming down without having to deal with any of the bad side effects.

I have new books! I'm still all giddy about that.

Got an email from the folks at the Jagiellonian University - they've filed a formal complaint saying that the money they transferred neither got to me nor was returned to them, so where the heck is it? The bank has two weeks to respond. So, we're making progress on figuring out just exactly what happened, and hopefully within a few months (hah!) I'll get reimbursed (250 euros is nothing to sneeze at).

I'm listening to a CD which puts me in mind of all the happy things that happened over last summer. Even with the hecticness of preparing to move overseas, and trying to find a house, and having Joel gone for two weeks :(, there are some things about last summer which I will never forget and which make me happy every time I think about them. (Logic camp and everyone I met there being a big part of it).

Last night we made spaghetti and meatballs (the first time I have EVER made spaghetti and meatballs, and the first time we've ever used our red sauce recipe with spaghetti instead of another type of pasta). It was a very homey, satisfying kind of meal, and we've got leftovers! And, I've got a bowl of Romanian mushroom stew for lunch, plus two happy cats who are enjoying both the box and the bag that the books came in.

things just keep getting better

My mom emailed me confirming dates for when she can come visit in August, and will be purchasing her tickets soon. Yay!

Friends of Joel's are getting married at the end of May and are honeymooning either in Italy, with a few day stopover in Amsterdam to visit us, or in France, with an invitation for us to come join them for a day or two in Paris. Yay!

A herald friend from An Tir is going to be in Delft at the end of August, and will head up to Amsterdam for a few days since if you've got the opportunity for sight-seeing in a city with free crash space, why not take it? Yay!

And I just got an email from one of my bestest friends, who is planning a trip to Berlin in May to visit one of our mutual friends, and wanted to know if she should squeeze in a few day layover in Amsterdam to visit. Yay!

I'd really been hoping when we moved over here that we'd be able to convince enough friends and family to come and visit us that we'd end up flying back to the States only twice in the four years (we can't really afford more than that). It looks like my plan is working! Though I am looking forward to May/June 2007 when my cousin gets married, because we plan to go home for that, and it will be very good to see everyone again.

In case anyone hasn't noticed, I have been having a great day. On top of everything else, I found that a book I'd purchased based on its title (Philosophy in the Middle Ages) a few years ago doesn't just have useful articles and discussions, but it's actually an anthology of translations - including some Arabic and Jewish texts. That makes it even more useful than I thought it might be.