Christmas '13

Rick and I started Christmas by going home to see his family. His mom's extended family gathers every year at Grandpa Lee and Grandma Laura's on Christmas Eve for family dinner and gifts. So that was Christmas #1. 

Christmas #2 was with his parents on Christmas morning where Rick "officially" gave me Rollo as a Christmas present. Here he is climbing around on the presents under the tree. 

He's the most adorable Christmas present ever!

Christmas #3 was with Rick's dad's family at his uncles house. 

Shortly after getting home on Christmas evening I noticed what I thought was a really weird looking breakout on Rick's forehead. I said something along the lines of "Geesh Ricky, what's up with your head?" It looked like he had two rows of 3 or 4 zits breaking out all together. Then Rick, Janice and I  had a conversation about how Rick had been suffering from what we all assumed were headaches due to sinus pressure for the past 5 days. Ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine  didn't seem to be helping. The general consensus was that if something hasn't gotten better on it's own in that amount of time it's time to see the doctor. Janice called the doctor's office as soon as it opened the next morning and made him an appointment. Rick drove himself to the doctor where he described his headaches to her and she told him sinus pressure. Then he pointed out the weird acne on his head and she immediately diagnosed him with Shingles. He went on anti-viral medication immediately. We read that the anti-viral is most effective if started within 72 hours of the rash breaking out, so we're really glad he went to the doctor so quickly. Rick's red bumps quickly turned into big red bumps and then into big swollen blisters that spread down towards his left eye and back up on top of his head. 

Rick didn't get to go with me for Christmas #4 with my family because Dad hadn't been feeling well and also has never had chicken pox. Shingles is not nearly as contagious if you've already had chicken pox (you'd have to touch one of the blisters), however, if someone's never had chicken pox, it's fairly easy for someone with shingles to give them the chicken pox. So Rick stayed with his folks while I spent the afternoon with my family. 

I made it back to Rick's about 40 minutes late for the start of Christmas #5 with his Grandma Lucy and aunts and uncles. Rollo was a big hit with everyone. He tried to make himself at home inside Uncle Nik's shirt and then later climbed inside my sweatshirt pocket. He'll sit with anyone who's warm. 

Little monster. 

Dean's List!

Grades are finally posted and Rick and I both made the dean's list this semester!  

Unfortunately, the stress of finals weakened Rick's immune system enough that the chickenpox he had at age 4 "woke up" and now he has shingles.

But we made dean's list!

STAM elves

Life as a chocolate shop employee would not be complete, apparently, if we weren't asked at least once a holiday season to dress as elves.

Today was the Ames Cultural District's "Legend of Snow Magic" event - Santa was supposedly making the rounds (and apparently headquartered a few doors down at the Cupcake Emporium) but I didn't see him.
Perhaps all the Stam elves are on the naughty list?
In any case, it was requested that we wear elf costumes supplied by the ACD council.
And all the Stam employees are good sports -or we wouldn't be working in the service industry- so we had fun with it and I brought in my camera to make sure I got a few good pictures of elves at work.

Elf Erin and Elf Bronson get ready to open the shop for a super busy Saturday!

The shoes did not last long. We got tired of stepping on the bells and they're too slippery and catch too many splinters from our 100+ year old floor. And a full shift of standing on hardwood with zero arch support is just asking for back pain. Even for elves.

left to right: Elf Josh, Elf Quentin and Elf Bronson

Elf Rachel gives us her "happy face"

Elf Josh prepares drinks for a customer

The Stam Staff! (minus managers)
(left to right) back row: Josh, Rachel, Bronson / front row: Quentin, Erin, and Haley

Terry (the owner) took this group picture. But we spent a lot of time today having our pictures snapped by random strangers while we were working.
As Santa's best looking elves, our faces are flying around smart phones throughout the city.

Terry made this picture sparkly to put on the Stam facebook page. You can view the sparkly version here.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAWCSuPS8KcznxAE_d3lAL0slh6VbCLTel03txKlhQWBp-lnRYn4bAp4fbhL5sXi-UGgOc8sRReQWpXxrmbfCdIUK2xWSb7aJa1I44z2kQNT65KHa0g4NkaTtFLik3voR5CL6dQlDopxTL/w360-h360-p/photo.jpg

Dead Week and Finals

"Dead week" is upon us at Iowa State, which means "no projects" unless they've been on the syllabus all semester -- which really translates to "everything is due this week."

So Rick and I are busy busy busy.

Ricky has Finals next week on Monday, Tuesday and two on Thursday (4 classes) and all of them are cumulative.
Poor Ricky, I'll be seeing very little of him for the next two weeks.

My only cumulative final is in Math and is on Monday night, and my other "finals", which are more just exams, are on Tuesday and Friday (4 classes).

It's also the Christmas season at Stam, so the shop has been crazy busy and we're all getting extra hours, which is great for paychecks, but less great for my limited down time.

We're both ready for the semester to wrap up and to have a break!

Rollo being cute

Rollo is just over 12 weeks old now!

He weighs 12.85 ounces ( 364 grams)

He's a monster