Micah and Christine

Or maybe the opposite of a slacker. I've been working really really hard. We all have. I'm happy to report that much of what has been going has been good stuff- happy stuff. But that doesn't make our lives any less busy. On my little introduction page I said something about the work-life balance. Well, I've barely been able to maintain that balance, and something had to give. This time I chose to excel in my student-life and try very hard to be a good wife, mommy, and home-maker. So the blog was put waaaaaayyyy down on the priority list.

All of those excuses aside, here is a little of what we've been up to the last month!

Our friend Anish defended his dissertation and is now officially a PhD. Hooray! This is such a great thing. Of course we are very happy for our friend. It also gives hope to the rest of us. Yes! There is an end in sight! We will not be PhD students forever!

We love that kid like crazy. Her personality is developing more and more... and we are just so pleased to get to know her. There are certainly challenges associated with having a toddler in the house, but she is so worth it.

Now that Anish has graduated he wanted to furnish a brand new apartment. We were happy to tag along on a trip to Ikea, and even picked up a few things for ourselves. So we've been putting together a lot of Ikea furniture lately.

This is a very fuzzy picture of the Woodwright! At our favorite soda shop in downtown Pittsboro! I wanted to get his autograph, but decided that would be too dorky. 

Micah and I are now back to school. That has been one of the big sources of our busy-ness. I did a big professional development session right before school started, and now Micah is working on teaching his first class. I guess that since we have both chosen academic careers we will always feel these waves of work associated with school starting.

So things are good, just busy. Hopefully I can keep up with the blog a little better in the coming weeks. I know better than to make promises, though!

The next couple of weeks are going to be EXTREMELY busy, so I'm planning a couple of meals and the rest is going to be convenience food. Our friend Anish got us some just-add-chickpeas Indian boxed food that I want to try.

Toward that goal, I tackled that little spice organization project. We have also been working on organization for our kitchen and living room closets. Micah and I have looked at several options, and I think we've finally decided on the best hanger/organizer things. Hopefully we can wrap up those projects before the Fall semester begins.

I have also been wondering for quite a while what to do with Charlotte's toys. She has lots of toys. I think that having all of them together in a big jumbled pile in her toybox doesn't actually encourage her to play with them- it's just kind of overwhelming. So, after a few different ideas, I wound up with this organization system on a bookshelf.

I can't quite declare this project done, but I am really pleased with the direction it is headed. Now Charlotte has easy access to favorite books. (This is one of three spots in the house with Charlotte books.) She also has toys in categories in bins: dress-up, puzzles, "geometry", art, blocks, and cars/trucks/airplanes. In addition she has kitchen toys and stuffed animals in her room, and a bunch of music toys in our storage ottoman.

Now when Charlotte is playing, we can get out a single bin and she can play to her heart's content. Before she can get out the next bin, we have to clean up the previous one. So far the system is working really well! I feel like I have control of my living room again!

We'll end with a snap of my supergirl at play. Now I'm back to work!!!

As I searched through my pictures for ones of Micah, they fell into three categories: