Self Sabatoge

After a lovely catching-up with M tonight, I decided to (re)join Goodreads as a way to keep in touch with her and a few other friends who are there. I can think of only a few combinations better than good friends and good books. I say (re)join because I joined last year but forget under what name or address.

Anyway, I'm back on Goodreads, and thanks to the text-based reading list on my wiki, I can add to Goodreads the books I've read in the past 18 months. But that's where my split personality tendencies take over.

I'm the person who is perfectly content to dump a bag of (nonperishable) groceries on the floor by the front door when I come in and then and walk by it for several days before putting away the groceries. But I feel compelled, as I add books I've read to my Goodreads account, to add the specific edition I read, not just another edition of the same title. Since my wiki list doesn't include ISBN's, it's going to take a bit of time to add each book.

I AM my own worst enemy.

Postum, We're Glad We Knew You

I didn't comment on Postum's demise back when L. alerted me to it, but thought I would do so now. I have drunk Postum off and on over the years, more on in the past year or so, after finally perfecting my preparation technique. Postum always makes me think of my grandfather, who drank it perfectly black, if memory serves, in a particular mug that I remember clearly.

I've tried Postum black, since it seems like the adult way to drink it, and with sugar and lemon it's not bad. Turns out, however, I like it best made with 90% milk, which negates all the bitterness. With Hot Shot and microwave, it's a snap to make, and to my mind, preferable to hot chocolate (sorry Mom!).

When I heard Kraft stopped making Postum, I bought up every jar I could find in town, so I still have a small supply. If I become desperate for money I can sell them on eBay, where a jar goes for $35-$65.

Once my supply is gone, I guess I'll have to try other alternatives: Pero, Cafix, Roma, etc. Anyone have any experience with any of those? I'm not really looking for coffee taste, just Postum taste.

Christmas = Road Trip =

... AUDIOBOOKS! My excitement about seeing my family, particularly Niece #3 and Nephew #1, is only slightly surpassed by the excitement of knowing I'll have 22 hours in which to listen to any of the following:

The Private Patient - P.D. James

When Will There Be Good News? - Kate Atkinson

Second Glance - Jodi Picoult

The Laughter of Dead Kings - Elizabeth Peters

Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert

I'm still in a real print slump, but I'm all for audio!

Top Three

Jason asked me to name my favorite pie, or at least my top three favorite pies. Jason apparently doesn't know about my aversion to choosing favorites.

I have decided, however, that the top three includes Chocolate Angel Pie and Cherry Pie. If I try to name a third, I think my brain will explode. Candidates include apple, peach custard, pecan, lemon meringue, chocolate custard...

What is in your list of top three?

An Original Poem

Pies, pies, pies for sale;
Oven-fresh, never stale.
Apple, cherry, take your pick;
They're going fast, so make it quick.

Snap Out of It!

I've mentioned before how when my mother loses her sense of smell during a bout of sickness, she sometimes worries that it might be permanent.

Well, I'm in a REAL reading slump. I just realized that I have finished only one book this month, and the month is nearly over. I'm working my way through three audios in the car and at the track, but have nothing else on tap, and no real desire to read anything else, even though choices abound just inches from my fingertips.

What's wrong with me? What if it's permanent? If so, life would not be worth living.

Here We Go A-Wassailing

No seminary tomorrow, so I'm in pre-holiday mode. It's 11:30 pm and I may or may not go to bed in the next 30 minutes. But either way, no worries.

Once I'm actually On Holiday (starting 10 pm Wednesday) I have plans to work on Baby J.'s Christmas stocking, putter around the apartment, and cook myself an all-carb Thanksgiving meal. The tentative menu includes Dressing, Refrigerator Rolls (I'll probably wimp out on those), and Cherry Pie. My mind is also full of various other treats, including caramels and White Christmas Cookies, but my plans are usually pie-in-the-sky while my energy is worthy of an earthworm, so I'm not promising anything. At a minimum, I'll have mashed sweet potatoes, because there's an ample supply of leftovers in the refrigerator.

To gear up for all that cooking, tonight I eased myself in by making wassail. Yum!

In honor of Thanksgiving, here are three things for which I'm grateful:

1. I'm descended from and related to skilled, interested, and shall I say, even intuitive, cooks. I'm not much of a cook myself, because as with many other skills, I enjoy reading about cooking more than I actually enjoy the act itself. Nonetheless, I am the grateful recipient of many wonderful meals, treats, recipes, and memories, and hardly a cake mix or can of store-bought frosting in the lot.

2. Despite my hypochondriacal tendencies and my current state of overweight, I am remarkably healthy and have always been so. This is a blessing of immense significance, more significant than I am sure I realize.

3. I have a soft, cozy blanket to curl up with every night. If my home were on fire, it's the one thing I would save.

Where Have You Been All My Life?

I asked that question when I watched Lyle Lovett perform on The Tonight Show on March 7, 1996.

Now I'm asking the same question of mashed sweet potatoes. I only discovered sweet potatoes in general after 30+ years without them. I mashed some a few months ago and thought they were good, but not necessarily memorable.

Then, I made them again this week. Sweet potato + salt + butter + cream + the magic of a handheld KitchenAid = heaven on a fork.

I just boiled and mashed a big serving to take to work tomorrow. I gladly ate what little bit wouldn't fit in the freezer container, and had to exercise all my inconsiderable will to not eat the remainder. After that, the only thing that would satisfy was some homemade chocolate syrup from the fridge.

Speaking of which, those are two good things. Chocolate. Sweet potatoes. Wonder what they're like together.

Six Quirks, Or Oops!

So, the Duchess tagged me. Here goes. I don't have six blogging friends, so I have failed on that point already. Also, I don't really think I have that many odd quirks (many faults, but those aren't the same as quirks). Guess I'll let the readers judge.

1. Link the person who tagged you: The Duchess
2. Mention rules on your blog.
3. Tell about six of your quirks.
4. Tag six fellow bloggers to do the same.
5. Comment on their blogs to let them know or leave a list of names at the bottom of the post.


Auntie K's a Quirky Gal?

1. She walks barefoot in her own home only extremely rarely. She never walks barefoot in another person's home. For some reason, being barefoot in her office doesn't bother her nearly as much as the other scenarios.

2. She refuses to use a bookmark. They just fall out anyway.

3. She is very careful to state her complete order up front at the Wendy's drive-through window, so the cashier doesn't have to ask a bunch of unnecessary questions. The script is: "Yes, I'd like a #1 combo medium, with no lettuce, onions, or pickles...and a Diet Coke." (The cashier usually responds with "what size?")

4. She can't talk on the telephone with the receiver against her right ear.

5. She has four alarm clocks, and usually sets at least two of them for different times anywhere from 4 5o 18 minutes before she actually intends to get out of bed.

6. She can't leave the house without an adequate supply of Puffs Plus, Vaseline Lip Therapy, and Curel.

Is the West Family game to participate? You could list two quirks for each adult and one each for each child to-date.

If M. would blog, and I think she should , she could participate. But then, if M. blogged maybe I wouldn't have any more fun surprises of finding a personal letter in the post box.


PS and background for post title: I hit publish post and then viewed the post and was surprised to see the library's chat widget showing on the blog next to my post. Then I realized I had inadvertently posted to the library blog instead of to this blog.

The library blog showed up first in my list of blogs because it was updated more recently than this blog. What a horror that would have been! When I do post to the library blog, I don't do it under my blogger account anyway, so I think I need to gracefully remove myself from the library blog before I have a personal debacle on my hands. I can just see myself blogging, on the wrong blog, about some handsome man I met at work or any of the other trivial and embarrassing things I reveal here. Talk about a bad dream!

Who Said That's a Bad Thing?

I get about 20 emails a day in my spam folder at work. Here was the subject line for one today:
"Now you don't have to spend your evenings alone reading books." You can guess about what the message went on to advertise.

Well, it happens that some of us happen to like spending our evenings alone reading books. So please keep your explicit emails to yourself!

A Seminary Update

Several people have asked how seminary is going this year, so here's a brief update. Well, not so brief. After all, if it were brief, you'd wonder what happened to the real Auntie K and who the imposter blogger is.

Overall, I think it's going well. I have a larger class, usually about 18 students, but I think they're generally more attentive than last year's class of 12. Unfortunately, as the year has progressed, the students have become more distracted and less likely to answer questions. Some of the girls like to talk to each other too much.

Sometimes the students come up with some really good ideas and ask good questions. At other times, I wonder if anything is sinking in at all. I do have to repeat myself much more often than I would have to do in a class of adults. Guess that's just part of the game, though it makes a small part of me glad I don't have teenagers of my own. Was I that inattentive at that age? Anyway, I digress.

I've assigned a few responsibilities to class members, like arranging devotionals and prayers, conducting class, and setting up the room on Sundays. That has helped a lot. If I get brave, I'll have them sign up to teach a lesson next semester. I'm not sure some of them will do it, however, since I really have to pull teeth to get a couple of the girls to give a devotional thought.

Another improvement is that we start generally on time now. Last year, I had one student who arrived on time and the rest of the class was consistently 10-15 minutes late. It was hard to keep momentum going in a lesson and very discouraging to boot. We have a couple of students who are always late now, but they come into class quietly, we all say hello to them, and they manage to catch up without too much interruption. I still don't get through lessons any faster than I did last year, and I'm not sure they're getting much of a sense of the overall picture of the New Testament, but I think this class spends more time talking about things not strictly lesson-related. I guess that's ok with me as long as they're mostly talking about something Gospel-related. Many of the students are eager to share "missionary moments" they have had at school, and we talk about that more days than not. Many of their school friends know they are LDS and it seems to come up in conversations a lot.

Between you, me and the blogosphere, I think I will probably ask to be released after this year. In a way I feel bad about that, because I really do enjoy the students and I'm reading and learning more about the scriptures than I would have otherwise, and I know that in this area they generally keep teachers longer than two years.

On the other hand, I think I need some time back to try and get my life into some semblance of order. I'm not working enough on writing and "researching," I spend every Saturday I can just recovering from the week while the housework and such piles up and the roaches plot a complete overthrow of the apartment, and I'm a bit depressed by everything I have to do. AND, I'm gaining weight like there's no tomorrow, which I think is in part due to my haphazard ways of eating, sleeping, and exercising. Not that giving up seminary would solve all the above problems, but in theory it would give me more time to work on them. And it may help me break the usual habit of coming home from work, taking a nap, and then getting back up at 10 or 11 to work on lessons (or blog).

Thanks for asking!

Go Litttle Brother!

Guess who's presenting at NCFR today in Little Rock (1:15 pm) on "An Evaluation of an Online Educational Tool for Romantic Relationships"?

What They Don't Put on the Label

A recent bout of unexplainable itching led me to switch to dye and perfume-free laundry products. I think the itching has abated a bit. There's a danger, however, that the manufacturers fail to mention on product labels.

A less than meticulous housekeeper, one who say takes laundry from the dryer and leaves it on top of the hamper for a few days, may be dismayed to come back and to not be able to determine, for lack of any "freshly laundered" scent, if the items are clean or dirty. I, of course, don't fall in the category of less than meticulous housekeepers, but I have a vivid imagination, and I can see how such a thing could easily happen to others.

So, if you plan to switch to perfume-free laundry products, just know that you've been warned!

Real Time Abounds

Well, we're back to "real" time in multiple venues. My mother, who is quite bothered by the idea of mere mortals messing with time by implementing Daylight Savings Time, is I'm sure relieved to be back to real time. Myself, I'm just pleased to have had an extra hour of sleep. Actually, I forgot about the change last night, but happily remembered when I woke up this morning.

Even more important than the end of DST, for me, is the fact that someone fixed the library clocks, which have run anywhere from 1 to 3.5 minutes fast ever since I started working there. Hallelujah! Of course, that doesn't mean I'll be 3. 5 minutes earlier to meetings or desk shifts. But at least when I'm late, I'll be "really" and truly late!

Question of the Day

Will anyone notice, or care, if I manage to sit in my office all day without doing any real work?



photo: Chicago Daily News. (1924). Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Lynch [photograph]. DN-0077932, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago Historical Society. Retrieved from Library of Congress American Memory < http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cdn:@field(NUMBER+@band(ichicdn+n077932)) >

Halloween is Yummy!

So, what immediately springs to your mind when someone says "Halloween"? Some may think of goblins, jack-o-lanterns, costumes, or apple-bobbing. Me, I think of two things:

See's Orange & Chocolate Wafers

Russell Stover Orange Marshmallow Pumpkins

So, you ask, what am I dressing up as for Halloween? Why of course--a candy-eating couch potato!

Heartstopping

Longtime readers may remember my girlhood habit of leaving my library card in the stacks when I was browsing for library books. Old habits, apparently, die hard.

Friday evening I was at work after we closed, trying to finish up some things for Monday morning so I didn't have to go in on Saturday. Part of my work involved a trip down to Reference to look at some encyclopedias. So, I armed myself with paper, pencil, flashlight, and keys (they turn off some of the lights at closing and the Reference shelves can be pretty dark). I went downstairs, did what I needed to do, and was ready to head back up to the office when I realized the keys weren't in my pocket.

Without keys, I had no way back into our office area or into my very office, wherein lay my car keys and ID to exit the building. For a second or two, I imagined how I could pass the night in the library until someone came to open up at 8am (I was going to find a novel and pass the time reading and sleeping. and being hungry). Then, I thought to backtrack through the Reference shelves, because I was CERTAIN I had checked my pocket for keys before I went downstairs.

Sure enough, the keys were on a shelf where I had stopped, and I was able to get back into my office and safely exit the building.

Sorry to say that's the most exciting item to report right now, but it is. Welcome to my world!

My TV is Broken, Or, an Adage Proved

I own an inherited TV with a universal remote. I'm not complaining in the least, but that piece of information may help you understand why I've never been able to turn on closed captioning while the TV volume is up. So, if I need to backtrack to see what pithy insult Greg House has just hurled at some deserving minion, I have to mute the volume. I often wished I could have captions and sound at the same time.

As they say, be careful of what you hope for, because it might come true. And so it has for me. I don't know what magic remote button I pushed, but now I have closed captioning all the time and I can't turn it off.

Any advice?

Ho-Hum

When my mother catches a cold and loses her taste, she sometimes worries that the loss might be permanent. In similar fashion, I'm a bit worried that my lack of creativity and/or interesting events to blog about might become permanent.

The only mildly interesting event lately was the opportunity to chaperone a church dance last Saturday. Twenty+ years is apparently not enough time since my last youth dance for the pain to have dissipated--it made me nervous and self-conscious just being there as an adult! The girls I drove all seemed to have a good time. They spent the whole ride there and back (hour each way) sharing iPods, two girls to a player, one girl to one ear bud, and texting various people in and out of the car. What did teens do before iPods and phones?

BTW - Octavia and Arachnus have gone on to that big vacuum bag in the sky. That's about the only other thing of note lately--I managed to thoroughly clean the kitchen and semi-thoroughly clean the bathroom this week.

The Other Side

Hello, readers:

We're the two little spiders who live in Auntie K's bathroom. Perhaps she is tired of her long days and lack of free time, but we're on the other side of that workaholic lifestyle, and we're all for it. In fact, our very existence depends upon K's lack of time and energy. One day, she's going to take it into her head to point the vacuum nozzle our way and that will be curtains for us.

Actually, K. hasn't worked quite as much the last few days as she was doing previously, but so far, we still seem to be in the clear. If you can think of anything that might save us from certain destruction, please let us know.

Signed,

Octavia and Arachnus

Anti-Awesome

My weekend trip was very good, and I loved seeing three of my nieces. More about that later, perhaps. The week back at work was particularly tough, filled with four very long days, and I'm looking at more work over the weekend. :-(

So, this post will only be a short rant against Mozilla. Please ignore me if you have no interest in Firefox (or think it's only the name of a movie).

The Firefox 3 location bar is, imho, decidedly anti-awesome. In what world is my bookmark for a government Web site about raw fruits and vegetables relevant to my action of typing www into the location bar? It's not relevant in my world, and I don't want to see it cluttering up my computer screen, along with all my other bookmarked sites that have some vague connection to the letter w.

If I want to search for a site containing a "w" I'm going to use the handy search engine box next to the location bar. Call me old-fashioned, but I liked my plain-jane location bar, and I didn't start typing in it unless I knew the URL I wanted.

Trust me, I'll either be trying a fix or returning this upgrade to the sender.

Taking Off

I'm off to Michigan and Ohio on Wednesday, combining a trip home with my dear friend eb and a quick visit to Nieces 1, 2, and 4.

I never even finished blogging about my last trip, and here's another one. Aren't I the jetsetter!

Losing It

In the past week or so, I have misplaced or temporarily lost:

house key: mislaid for 4 days after I took it off the keyring to take it running.

office keys & church key: missing for 40 minutes until I determined I had dropped them in a friend's yard (during that 40 minutes I managed to lock my car keys in the car and had to have the apt manager let me into my apartment to retrieve another car key, because this all happened during the aforementioned period when the house key was AWOL. And yes, this is a separate incident from the week before, when I inadvertently left the same keyring on my desk at work and we had to have Seminary outside the next day).

floor fan remote control: this was missing for several months. I found it Sunday, and have again mislaid it, less than 24 hours later.

Visa card: apparently missing since Saturday, though I didn't discover its absence until I tried to buy something at the bookstore today. I retrieved it from the Kroger service desk tonight.

Kroger Plus card: probably gone forever. It was last seen in the company of the aforementioned Visa card, but the Kroger manager claimed no knowledge of it. Probably not a big loss, provided I can have my accumulated month's purchases transferred to my new card. If I spend $17 at Kroger this week, I'll earn a $0.10/gallon gas discount for two visits in September.

Dare I ask what's next?

Cliffhanger

So sorry to keep my faithful readers hanging. The presentation (a training session at a school inservice conference) went well:

• The pimple didn't erupt.
• If I said Texas instead of Tennessee, no one called me on it.
• I slept later (not longer) than I meant to, but it wasn't a problem.
• The room was full. I didn't have enough handouts, but now I know for next time.

Like many other things in my life, I spent waaay too much time preparing for what actually transpired, but it's water under the bridge now.

Easily Persuaded

It turns out that I needed the print copy of my latest audiobook, The Distant Echo, for more than just the fact that one cd has some unplayable tracks. The story is set in Scotland, and the narrator reads with such a heavy Scot accent that many placenames and proper nouns are undecipherable to my ear. So it's nice to have the print copy to refer to. The danger, however, is that when I look up a passage, I'm tempted to keep reading beyond the point to which I've listened.

Since I've been listening, however, I've started talking to myself with a Scottish affect, saying such things as "Where are me keys?" This is not a new phenomenon. When I listened to The Last Town on Earth, a story set during the 1918 influenza epidemic, I started with a bit of fear whenever someone near me coughed. During the epidemic, that could have been a deadly sound.

I think I had better not read something like How to Commit the Perfect Murder. Who knows where I would end up!

A Prayer on Presentation Eve

Please help me to not oversleep. Or perhaps that should be, please help me to at least get a couple of hours in.

Please, keep me from saying Texas when I mean Tennessee.

Please make sure there are more than 2 and less than 40 people in my session.

There's a nice blemish about to pop out on the side of my nose. Please delay it for a day.

148 Days to Go

It's only August 5 and I'm already feeling nervous because I don't have my 2009 appointment calendar purchased yet. I'm afraid to think about the deeper implications of that.

Holiday Road (and Food) Sign

Guess what state is home to this billboard?

Enough is Enough

I love* my public library, but three trips in one day is a bit much, even for me. Here's how it went down:

I stopped at lunch time to pick up a hold (Blue Balliett's The Calder Game), and at the same time returned two audiobooks (visit 1). Then I motored on down the street to UPS and the post office, where I opened another book in the car and discovered one of the discs from a book I had just returned.

So, after the post office I headed back to the library for visit 2 to return the errant disc. While there, I decided to ditch the J.A. Jance I was listening to (terrible narrator, stiff writing and boring story) in favor of another Val McDermid.

However, while later ripping the cd to put on my mp3 player, I found that half of disc 3 is unplayable, thus necessitating visit 3 to pick up the print copy (we don't have it at work).

I really can't complain much, however, since on all 3 visits I managed to snag a precious spot in the curbside 30 min parking, rather than having to venture into the dreaded parking garage (had to go around the block once on visit 3 to wait for a spot to open).

BTW, I finished 8 books in July, the most in a month since I started keeping track again last year. It helped that two of them were short YA's and one was Eclipse, which I started a long time ago. But still...


*Well ok, I love the idea of a PL. My feelings for my current PL are firmly in the "like" zone.

Pedestrian Safety

In Idaho I saw do-it-yourself crossing guard equipment for the first time--colored flags pedestrians can carry from one corner to another as they cross busy intersections.


My aunt said they have the flags in some towns in Utah too. Good thing, given all those Utah Drivers out there!

Food-Free Post

This morning my coworker J and I went to speak to University Seminar instructors. They teach the optional "Intro to College Life" class that has a library component, and we encourage them to come to the library for a session with a librarian. For many first-year students, that visit is only their first or second time in our library, and we count on that opportunity to introduce them to what's here (I sure wish that class was mandatory!). A large percentage of them will never come back with another class to work with a librarian. I went to speak to this group on the same weekend a year ago, though I did it solo last time. So how did the two experiences compare?

• I'm noticeably fatter this year.
• I stayed up just as late last night as a year ago, but it wasn't to work on slides in my office.
• I knew many people in the room this time, and several offered kind praise about my past work.
  
• I'm back in my office blogging after the presentation, nearly at the same minute of the day as last year. To be honest, I haven't listened to that Lyle Lovett cd very much since I got it. Today I'm listening to The Joshua Tree and feeling very "in the groove." (I think I need to get the remastered edition I linked to here. What do you think?)
  
• I don't have all the answers, but I understand the situation much better, having actually taught a few of these classes now. I think we made some improvements in the program last year, but we still need to make the instruction more active and digestible. I'm happy to have someone to partner with this time around.
• Last year, I came back to the office and did some follow-up work, and then probably went home and lazed away the afternoon. I had some work to do back then, but really no understanding of what was coming once school started, and nothing like the long to-do list I have now. This year, I'm already late to a Church/seminary activity that's going to run until 8 or 9 pm, I haven't finished the follow-up work from this morning, and I'm not sure when I'm going to work on the training presentation I have to take to a county school inservice conference next week.
  

Here's one thing that's possibly different. Last year I was new and excited (as excited as I ever get, which maybe isn't much) about working with these instructors and teaching these classes. Now, the bloom is off the rose and I've been around the block once. I've struggled all summer with motivation and interest (yes, I struggle with that every day, but it's been really bad this summer), and I haven't worked nearly as hard as I should have on various projects, including this one. But talking about it with J this week and talking to the instructors this morning, I felt a tiny spark of something like enthusiasm. I wish I could stay here for a few more hours and gently blow on that spark to nurture it into a flame. Instead, it's going to have to fend for itself against the wind while I go off to other activities (for which I have a whole other set of motivation problems!). So, I'm hoping it stays nice and dry for the next several days. If it's raining Monday morning, that little spark doesn't have a chance!

Holiday Food Again

Another stop on the holiday rounds was Pirate O's, a gourmet grocery store in Draper. I passed up the candy g-string, but came out with a Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate Mousse bar (never seen that flavor before), some Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce, a Mozartkugel ball, some Botan rice candy, and a Lindor Hazelnut truffle (should have gone for two Mozartkugel's instead). I also bought what I seem to remember was a Schluckwerder marzipan loaf, for some odd reason having decided I didn't want to pay for my favorite brand, Niederegger. Not sure why I was taken with such an odd spasm of frugality, but I was.


The best part of Pirate-O's, however, was actually not the candy but the meat and cheese locker. All the cold beverages, meats and cheeses are in a separate freezer room, separated from the rest of the store by a strip curtain door. I could live in a room like that! The comfy temp seduced me into picking up a bottle of Izze Sparkling Grapefruit, but I again decided I didn't want to pay that much money, and took another trip back into the cooler to return the drink to the shelf.




*I know this post sounds terribly snobbish, but the fact is that I take my food confectionery seriously. Lest you think I'm an elitist, you should know that I consumed an Idaho Spud (from Maceys grocery) while writing this post.

More Holiday Food

Among the many yummy things we noshed on at my dear aunt's house was ambrosia, frozen in individual silicone cupcake molds, and brought out for several meals.

I suppose my grandmother would have called this dessert, but it's salad in my book!

Holiday Food

As is fitting for my family, a lot of the holiday centered around food. We were making some stops on the way home from the airport, and when we passed Rubio's, my aunt said we could pop in there.

And of course, Rubio's = Fish Tacos. Maybe not the best I've ever eaten, but still, I'm loath to pass up a fish taco wherever I find one.

Here's Mom at Rubio's:

On Holiday

Being on holiday means one has time to do things like eat a sliced nectarine for breakfast (shown here on my new Fiesta Dinnerware).


Of course, by now the holiday is only a sweet memory, but it's a good one.

Revelations

A couple of weeks ago, I learned three surprising facts all in the same day:

• My dear friend M bought and moved into a condo this summer.
  
• My brother A2 just finished playing a season of indoor soccer.
• My coworker J knows how to both knit and crochet.

Granted, none of the three facts are that shocking. The surprise of the first two is just that I didn't know about them until after the fact. As for J, he's male, so the fact that he's skilled at needle arts is a bit unusual (but totally cool).

What else am I in the dark about?

Deep Breath

Back at work. Trying to take it easy (that's not hard to do). If I don't work too hard, maybe my mind won't realize I'm back at work. Or at least, that's the plan.

More about vacation soon.

July 17

Happy Birthday to...

ME!

LYLAS

Linda and Cynthia at the Mountain View cemetery, Pocatello, Idaho

Changing of the Guard

What do these places have in common?

• Taco Bell
• Marriott Hotels
• MTSU campus
• D/FW International Airport

What Might Have Been

When I started blogging, the Blogger URL for auntiek was already taken, hence my current URL. I'm disappointed to see that the other Auntie K hasn't done much (if anything) with her blog. The least she could do after hogging the name is to put it to good use. I may not be as witty as I was back in the beginning, but at least I'm trying!

Happy Discovery

I just learned that a Dove chocolate bar makes for convenient illicit snacking if you're staffing a service desk in a no-food zone. The bar breaks into four convenient bite-sized pieces, perfect for discreet consumption.

A Blessing and a Curse

A three day weekend, for someone as ambivalent about work and as generally angst-ridden as I am, is both a boon and a bane.

As I am wont, I came home Thursday night with plenty of "work papers" in my bag, about which I had some vague notion of doing something over the weekend. I got as far as scattering them on the floor by the front door in search of more pertinent items in the same bag (namely my current audio book), and there they stayed until Monday morning.

The boon part: With my oodles of free time, I did a (tiny) bit of housecleaning, a bit of reading, a bit of seminary studying, went to church (of course), did a (large) bit of tv watching and a (larger) bit of napping. The highlight of the weekend was Friday night's outing to see the excellent fireworks and listen to the admirable Murfreesboro Symphony Orchestra on Friday night with the Vance/Moores. The company was even better than the fireworks.

The bane part: It was twice as hard to drag myself to work on Monday as it usually is, having had an even longer break from work. The guilt over not doing more housecleaning or studying or any "work work" or exercise was also twice as strong as it usually is. Of course, by Friday night I'll have conveniently forgotten all of that and will be settling in for another weekend of ample time wasting. I'm nothing if not predictable!

Answer Revealed

I guess the reader quiz was a dud. It's my fault for either posting about something unpostworthy or acting like a smartypants. Or both.

So, SST, Ishtar, Erno, Eire, and era are all frequently used crossword puzzle solutions. Yes, really not that interesting now that I think about it. (Erno is Mr. Rubik's first name, and an SST is an aircraft). And we all know what Ishtar was, right?

I am by no means a super puzzle solver (like Rex Parker who solves seven major puzzles every day). But I do enjoy the activity. For several months I've been working through Harder Wednesday Crosswords, a collection of Wednesday puzzles from the New York Sun. Non-puzzlers may not know that in most major papers, the puzzles get harder as the week goes on. I like the Wednesday book because everything is not a total breeze, but if I think about things and look up the fact-based solutions, I can usually solve a puzzle, though not always in one sitting. I guess purists would disagree with looking up solutions, but it doesn't bother me for things like South American capital founded in 1956 or 1933 Nobel Prize Winner. I would never be able to finish a puzzle if I didn't look up those things.

I usually work the crossword right after work (before the after-work nap) or right before bedtime (after the after-work nap), which is also my time to read. So my reading has suffered lately, though haven't been too interested in it anyway--go figure. I did just finish three juvenile and YA books right in a row, however, so maybe I'll put the puzzles aside for a bit and work on my backlog of library books. Plus, I'm about to take vacation (!), and I have some juicy titles saved up just for the occasion (In the Woods, The Dive From Clausen's Pier, and Change of Heart).

Two of My Favorite Things

Enough said.

You Know You're Getting Old...

when your baby brother buys a minivan.

Crossing Over

Have you ever wondered what life would be like if your waking and dreaming lives crossed, like they sometimes do in the movies? Here's some background to the story: In my waking life, I just finished Joshua Mowll's Operation Red Jericho and I want to read the sequel. Alas, neither library in town owns a copy.

Last night I dreamed I was back at BYU. I was a bit miffed to find out that my roommates had oodles of free time to sit at home during the day while I pursued my usual 12-hour weekdays of work and seminary.

Anyway, my brother A-1 was at also at BYU (looking nothing like his actual self). We were both pretty sure that the BYU library would have the Mowll sequel (they actually do!). And the best thing is that A-1 said BYU's library now offers "counterless checkout." Through some wonder of modern technology, you walk out the front with a book and it's automatically charged to your account with an end-of-semester due date. OK, maybe that's not the best thing if you're security or privacy minded, but it sounded like a good idea in the dream. When I last saw him, A-1 was off to borrow the book for me.

In my waking life, I'll be relying on Interlibrary Loan to find me a copy of the book. But who knows, maybe A-1 will show up with the BYU copy tonight and I can dive right in!

photo: Gottscho-Schleisner, Inc. (19 Feb 1949). [photo of circulation desk at Lamont Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts]. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, LC-G612-54563. Retrieved from Library of Congress American Memory.

Reader Quiz

Super Reader of the Week title will be awarded to the first person who can correctly identify the commonality among the following words:

SST

Ishtar

Erno

Eire

era

It's All About Me!

pen or pencil: pencil

shower or bath: shower

night or day: night

sour or sweet: sweet

dark or milk: depends

spicy or mild: mild

Obama or McCain: ?

snow or sand: snow

book or movie: book

The Secret is Out

A first-time visitor to my apartment asked me today if I like books. I think the 338+ books in the living room probably gave it away.

Day Trip

My readers have really been applying the pressure. We'll see if they still want
(near) daily posts once they remember how truly uneventful my life is and how truly unimaginative a writer I am!

Saturday was the annual local Seminary Conference. I drove to Nashville, 66 miles round trip, for a day of talks, training, and trading of teaching tips. It was a long day of sitting mostly in one spot, but it was all very useful. I hope that some things will be a bit easier this year, since I'll be teaching from the very beginning (August 11!) rather than starting two months into the year. One teacher in my small group said that she is a new Seminary teacher, and has never taught teenagers before. I told her that I was in the same situation less than a year ago and am living proof that she'll survive the experience.

Lunch consisted of fruit salad, tortilla rollups, SunChips, and croissant sandwiches. Dessert was a black and white brownie concoction, baked in a piece of square parchment set in a muffin tin. I left the camera home, so I can't show you what they looked like but it was a novel presentation. They spooned what looked to be three different batters into each cup; one batter included mini chocolate chips.

Passing the Test

How many of you have dreamed that you are taking a school exam for which you haven't studied? My variation usually is not only that I have haven't studied, but that I haven't been to class all semester and I'm not sure how to get to the classroom.

A few months ago I dreamed a new twist: as the instructor handed out the exam, he said the last student to turn it back in would not receive credit. So I made sure I was the next-to-last person to turn mine in.

Then, last night the scenario changed again. The instructor distributed the exam, answered some questions about procedure, and I turned to my friend behind me to say something because it seemed the instructor was still explaining. Apparently, the instructor was not still explaining things and the test had begun, even though she hadn't explicitly said so. She walked down the row, took both of our exams and said that for talking we would receive a zero the exam.

I don't know what my friend did, but I had a take-home exam for another class that was due soon, so I pulled that out and started working on it. Luckily, the dream always ends before I see my final grade in the class. I suspect it's not a very good grade.

photo: Chicago Daily News. (ca. 1904). [photo of a police officer sitting at a desk at the front of a classroom monitoring other policemen taking the sergeants exam in Chicago, Illinois]. Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago Historical Society. DN-0000738. Retrieved from Library of Congress American Memory

Am I Stunningly Out of Touch?

You probably know that I'm not particularly interested in either politics or talk show television. Today, however, a story about Michelle Obama on the The View caught my eye. Since I am under heavy obligation to produce regular posts, here's my two cents on the item.

Jennifer Parker, blogging at abcnews.com, writes that during a commercial break, Elisabeth Hasselbeck teared up while explaining to the audience she is about to leave her baby son for the first overnight trip since his birth. Then, in "a stunning demonstration of concern between two women of very different political views," Obama leaned over and appeared to whisper, "Everything OK?"

I am myself stunned that a simple of act of polite human kindness, inquiring after someone in visible distress, is worthy of the description "stunning demonstration." Two people with contradictory opinions can't act like decent humans without stunning us? I think they can, and I hope they will.

Being Human

I will meticulously check the size and position of every text box in my PowerPoint presentation to ensure they are exactly the same.

On the other hand, I'm perfectly OK with the permanent detritus that floats on the floor below the bed.

Completely Worthless Advice

Take it from an expert: Watching a scary movie in order to scare yourself away from sleep is worthless advice on how to pull an all-nighter. After all, the purpose of the all-nighter is most likely to finish work or homework or bake 5 batches of cookies for your child's class party tomorrow. You do not have time to be watching scary movies.

I much prefer the time-tested method of drinking lots of liquids, taking frequent breaks, praying fervently, and refusing to just "rest for a few minutes." I'll let you know how it works out this time!

The Original Big Guy

Happy Father's Day to the best car-fixing, cartoon-watching, belly-laughing, direction-giving, rocky road-loving dad around!

Auntie K by the Numbers

Age: 37

Height: 63"

Small electric appliances in the kitchen: 10

Age at first kiss: 15 or 16

Library books at home: 21

Nephews: 1

Nieces: 4

Pets: 0

Email accounts: 5

Hours slept last night: 10

But Does it Work?

Have my knit-wise readers seen KnitPicks dye it yourself sock blanks?

For you non-knitters, the explanation is that self-striping yarns are popular in some knitting circles: the yarn is dyed in such a manner that when you knit it into socks or another item, stripes or patterns magically appear (see the example at left).

The sock blanks are machine knit blank swatches, so you paint your stripes on the swatch and then, without even unraveling the swatch, knit from it to make your socks.

If it works, I think it would be a lot of fun.

Since I've never knit a pair of socks, and in fact have still not finished Baby Jack's Christmas stocking, I probably should not attempt this right now.
Photo by: Hello Lovely

Looking Forward, or, An Ohio Evening

I just made plans with my dear friend eb to go to Ohio over Labor Day. She's offered many invitations over the years, but in the past I've demurred with excuses of work, penury, or school. Those excuses still exist (work and school are now combined, since I work at a school), but I'm going to say "What the heck" and do it anyway. I'm feeling happy about having another fun trip to look forward to. Also, buying a ticket to Ohio will put me even closer to another Southwest award ticket, which I promise will be used to go to Texas.

The trip agenda includes eb's high school reunion, which should be infinitely less painful than my own reunion, which is also this summer (Mom, are you certain you already threw away my invite?). Two of eb's siblings are getting married (not to each other, of course!) in August and will have an open house in Ohio that weekend, we'll drive through Amish Country, and visit some of the Ohio LDS historical sites like the John Johnson home. Maybe I can even wrangle a meet-up with the original sources of my aunthood and their younger sister, who are just a hop, skip, and a jump from Ohio.

(Soundtrack for this post is my latest download, "Look at Miss Ohio," on Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains (Music from the Motion Picture), performed by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, with additional vocals by Gaida Hinnaw).

Looking Back

I gave a coworker my blog URL today, so of course I had to come home and post and add some tags so he doesn't think I'm totally lame (You see, I obviously don't care if my current readers think I'm totally lame!).

While adding tags, I looked at this old To Do List. It's particularly amusing to read it in "Edit Posts" view, where the bulleted list shows up as an unpunctuated runon sentence. It turns out I have actually done a few things on that list in the two years since I wrote it. For example,

I have a tiny little Flickr account (it would be better if I saw nieces and nephews more often, so I wouldn't have to take photos of myself and my groceries) (thanks for the comments, Starr--you're my Flickr idol.)

I have a Bloglines account, though I haven't logged on in the past two years.

I have a digital camera, an updated resume, a job as the result of those job apps, a Library Thing account, a wiki (that wasn't even on the list), and my car is registered, though not in the same state.

I never taught myself CSS or updated my online portfolio and I still don't drink enough water.

But I passed Capstone and graduated, and I've even taken a few showers since then.

Bizarro Auntie K

Remember Bizarro Jerry? While I was "running" at the track last week and thinking about what an unnatural act that is for my body, I started to wonder about Bizarro Auntie K. Here's what I think she's like:

Tall and willowy
An early riser
Doesn't own a watch or a calendar
A great volleyball player
A healthfood nut
Tone deaf
She finishes EVERYthing she starts

How I Spent My Non-Vacation

I feel guilty that I haven't posted recently, especially since a reader told me that the first thing she does when she turns on the computer is check to see if I've posted anything new.

Problem is, it doesn't seem like there's much to tell these days, and I don't have children, pets, or a spouse to blog about, which makes it seem all the harder to come up with things to tell.

Anyway, enough blathering. Here's what I've been up to:

1) Absolutely LOVING not getting up to go to Seminary. I think about some of the students sometimes and I miss seeing them, but the break really is wonderful.

2) Catching up on some of my reading. Many evenings, I just come home and read until it's time to go to bed.

3) Feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the things I've said "yes" to at work. In fact, I'm writing this post right now on a "break" from some work-work.

4) Very much looking forward to a July trip, with my dear mother, to see my dear aunt. I'm already thinking I should have planned to stay longer than I'm going to, and I'm already thinking about how hard I will cry when I have to go home, but I also know it will be a wonderful trip.

5) Starting to be really disgusted by what a pigsty my apartment is, but as of yet, I haven't done much about it.

6) Trying valiantly to go to the track or use the home rowing machine when I can. I'm noticeably plumper than when I moved here last year, and I would like to change that. No visual progress so far.

7) Taking a few photos when I can. Really not much interesting, but here's one I took of myself over the weekend. Friday and Saturday I was at Montgomery Bell State Resort Park for a Tennessee Library Association Leadership Conference and Board Meeting (I'm the incoming chair of the nearly-dormant Instruction Roundtable). We stayed overnight and had workshops and meetings on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

So, what have YOU been up to?


I call this "Self-Portrait with Flash." I've obviously never mastered the mirror self photograph trick.

Ugh

It's 4pm and my 10:30-11:00am meeting turned into an all-day activity (we're going to start IM reference. Soon. I somehow became involved in helping work up the proposal. Fun, but NOT the project I needed to work on today).

Now, it's time to change and go to the track. And all I want to do is the exact opposite--go home and eat a snack and crash. And since I skipped out on the track yesterday, this is a bigger deal than it might otherwise be.

So, any advice? Looking in the mirror and pulling on my ever-snugger clothing every day hasn't motivated me so far.

Try This

Tonight I made Black Forest Cookies from a recipe off the back of a package of cherry flavor Craisins. They turned out pretty well. I baked them on the lower middle rack, but they perhaps would have been better baked on the upper middle. I added 1/4 tsp salt to the recipe.

If you want to try for yourself, here's the recipe:

BLACK FOREST COOKIES

Ingredients

1 11.5-ounce package milk chocolate morsels, divided
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 6-ounce package Ocean Spray® Craisins® Cherry Flavor
Sweetened Dried Cranberries
1 cup pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Pour 3/4 cup morsels into an uncovered large microwave-safe bowl. Set remaining morsels aside. Microwave morsels for 2 minutes on high. Stir until chocolate is smooth.

Stir in brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla. Add flour and baking powder, mixing until thoroughly combined. Stir in remaining morsels, cherry flavor sweetened dried cranberries and pecans.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes or until cookies are puffed and set to the touch. For a firmer cookie bake for 14 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

46 to ?

You may remember that I told you I read 46 books last year. In my week of doing nothing, I managed to watch 4 episodes of Veronica Mars (and one L&O) on one weeknight, and I read a novel on another night (Michael Connelly's City of Bones).

I started the book soon after arriving home from work, probably at 5pm or so. I was done and ready to go to bed at midnight or so, a fairly acceptable bedtime if you discount my plans for the summer.

This got me thinking. I could potentially raise that 46 to about 260 if I did nothing but come home every weekday and read a book. Actually, if I threw in the audiobooks I listened to, the number would be even higher (btw, I'm in a bit of an audiobook funk right now. I can't find anything else at MTSU I want to listen to, and I've exhausted all the Jodi Picoult audios at the PL...).

Not Surprising

An anonymous reader implied earlier this month that I'm either a dog or a duck. Or a bird. Turns out, he's probably right.

In my first week out of seminary, I got to work at 10 am on Monday, and then at 7:30 Tues-Thurs, but only by the skin of my teeth. Not quite the stellar showing I was hoping for.

It Pays to be Lazy

Instead of going to the track after work yesterday, as I should have, I went to Ulta instead. I bought what I believe to be my first prestige cosmetics purchase--stila lip glaze (in berry). I'm trying to not think about the fact that I just paid $22 for lip gloss, but it is very nice lip gloss.

Anyway, it turns out that skipping the track was the right move. Sometime between 5 and 10 pm last night, the water in my apartment went out. I probably would not have jumped into the shower as soon as I got home from the track, and would have been very sorry later to have to spend the night and next day wearing my dried sweat. As it was, I "freshened up" this morning with moistened wipes, brushed my teeth with bottled water, and came to work early to wash my face and put on makeup (and use the toilet). So, I may be fat, but at least I'm not totally smelly!

Hanging In

I started a long, boring post last week about work happenings, but trust me, it really was boring. Suffice it to say that I'm as busy as ever, though I still seem to spin my wheels a lot without going anywhere.

This Friday is the last day of Seminary, after which we're out until approximately August 8. I'll probably live to regret it, but I said I didn't want a night shift at the desk this summer, so instead, I'm working T-Th 7:30-10:00 am. The theory is that I'll keep on getting up at 4:45 or 5:00 every morning during the summer. That plan would work fine if I could go to bed at 9 pm. Or in other words, that plan would work fine with the insertion of a few miracles.

Lesson Learned

If you're wont, like me, to put your morning pills in your pocket as you're getting dressed, to be taken later, make sure you transfer the pills to the new pocket when you change your slacks for a different pair. Otherwise, you'll find yourself at work in one pair of slacks, with your pills at home in the pocket of a different pair.




Wright's Indian Vegetable Pills. (n.d.). In Emergence of Advertising On-Line Project. John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History. Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library. Available at
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/
r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(eaa000976))

Baking

We're having a meet and greet Friday afternoon for our two new library faculty. I said I would take pizzelles. Of course, I've only made them a couple of times, so I went home last night and did a test run. I made these chocolate pizzelles, and they're pretty tasty. I tried rolling some into cones, some into tubes, and molding some into ice cream bowls. None of the molding was too successful. I took most of the pieces to seminary this morning, and the students scarfed them down.

So, I think I'll just take a few different flavors of flat cookies on Friday and call it good. I'm mulling over different recipes I found here.



PS - If you know the current incarnation of Betty Crocker's Cookie Book, I'm also thinking about Key Lime Coolers. Are my coworkers are worth it? Those are pretty special cookies, you know.

46

Yes, my records show that I read 46 books in the past 12 months. No great record, but it is what it is. I suspect I won't be able to top it this year, but we'll see.

The Last Shall Be First

At this point in life, I'm quite resigned to the fact that having a name that starts in the latter part of the alphabet means I'm often near the bottom of any list.

But today, being last paid off. The sixth digit in my SSN is a pretty high number, and because of that I got my tax rebate today. Granted, the money is really just passing through my account on the way to the credit card company, but at least it will be mine for a few days.

All in a Day's Work

It took me far longer than it would take many people, but I managed to shoot and upload some photos of the art installation today, both to my Flickr account and to the library's account (the two sets are nearly identical).

Learning to make a mosaic will have to wait until another day.

Library Art

We have another art installation at the library. It's going to take me another day to finish taking and uploading photos, but here's a preview of PAPERREWIND.

Randomness

Random Item #1: I was hungry this morning and feeling too lazy to get a bowl of Cheerios (yes, please don't comment on that part), and in casting about my desk drawer looking for some nuts (didn't have any), I came across a box of Barnum's Animals Crackers I had completely forgotten. Isn't that exciting?

Random Item #2: You know how people talk about muscle memory? Well, there's also such a thing as audio memory. Example: In college, I had a homemade cassette copy of Simon & Garfunkel's Collected Works*. The first side cut off in the middle of the last chord of "Richard Cory." Yes, a bit disturbing until you got used to it. But now, nearly 20 years later, every time I listen to that song on my mp3 player (which is quite often, because I'm a real creature of habit), I expect the song to end the same way. That's audio memory.



*A1 - For years I've felt a bit guilty because we split the cost of that CD set, but I ended up with the CD's and you ended up with cassette copies, which I'm sure you don't have use for any more. Are we ok, or do I need to make it up to you somehow? BTW, I love Old Friends, which is what I listen to all the time now. Thanks. Again!

Things Change

While making sure I wasn't repeating a post title, I came across Oscar's short essay. He wrote it nearly two years ago, and it makes me feel a bit sad to know how time has changed the little guy. I gather he rarely stirs himself for the doorbell these days, and perhaps not for loud thunderclaps either. I trust, however, that he's still as interested in human food as ever. Or at least, I hope so.

Random Questions

Is it possible to overdose on JELL-O salad?

If I've successfully made it through a full day on 2 hrs sleep before, will I be able to do it again?

Free at Last!

Drug Free, that is. Well, ok, not drug free per se (that would be a bit radical, wouldn't it?).

Painkiller Free. For the first time in weeks.

Shh - don't tell my teeth. I'm hoping they don't notice.

Last Friday

And this Friday too. Aren't some people lucky?

[Charity dentistry clinic, with a dentist working on a child's teeth]. 1910. Chicago Daily News negatives collection, DN-0008189. Courtesy of
the Chicago Historical Society. Retrieved from American Memory at
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/
cdn:@field(NUMBER+@band(ichicdn+n008189))

What Did We Do?

How did we live fulfilled lives before the age of the Internet? My life has meaning, knowing that I can download two complete albums (one somewhat obscure) for $16.98 at 12:10 am, in my pajamas, while sitting on my bed.

Granted, I would be better off if I were fast asleep, but where's the fun in that?

It's Friday

So how do you think a single, slightly-eligible girl would spend her Friday night? Mine was typical.

Took a nap in the late afternoon, after watching a taped episode of Law & Order (library not open today, but I worked anyway, went to the dentist and Target)

Went out at 7pm for a visiting teaching appointment and was stood up

Stopped at Auto Zone to buy some fuses, and at the gas station to buy gasoline

Spent a happy 30 minutes at Publix, wandering the aisles and seeing the sights

Came out of Publix to find the freezing precip had started

Went through McDonald's drive-through for a diet soda as a Friday Night Treat

Am now home, preparing to "cook" steel cut oats for dinner

Will later probably watch some tv whilst picking up the front room, in preparation for my 9am visitors tomorrow

Hmm. Wonder why I'm still single.

My (non-perishable) Publix purchases

Part of Why I Love My Job

Starrlett recently blogged about one reason why she loves her job.

Here's one reason why I (sometimes) love mine. My story isn't nearly as succinct or interesting as Starrlett's, but I need the reminder even if you don't care to read it, so here goes:

A student asked me why when she tried to browse an issue of a journal in OmniFile database in order to find the inclusive page numbers for a particular article, the only visible record was the table of contents. I figured out that 1) the database was doing weird stuff, and there was a way to make it show you every article in the issue if you knew where to look and 2) the article in question wasn't in that issue anyway, because it was an "online only" extra.

I was able to email the student back with the solution to the problem, and I haven't heard a reply yet, but it's satisfying to know I have the ability to connect someone with the information they need. It only took me about 10 minutes to figure out.

One reason I only love my job some of the time: the student asked the question at 10 am, and it was 5 pm before I had ten minutes to sit down and find the solution. Or eat breakfast or lunch, or check email, or breathe...

Live to Shop, or Shop to Live?

Based on this week's purchases, I think I fall somewhere in between the two extremes of living to shop and shopping to live. What do you think?

MS Office 2007 Standard (we're switching over at work, so I really don't have a choice but to get a copy for home)

2GB flash drive, because you never know when you might need another one

USB hub, because I'm tired of fooling with ports at work that I can't see well

Numeric keypad for the laptop, probably not a necessity, but after paying for MS Office...

Two bras, because, well, I don't need to explain that

Multimeter, to test the watch batteries in the clickers at work (except I think the model I bought doesn't even test batteries. Dad?)

Telescoping magnetic pickup tool, because it was there, and I do love magnets

Various groceries from Kroger, all relatively nutritious, believe it or not, with the exception of one Cadbury Creme Egg

photo: Colville student, Walter McClung's account of shopping trip, Spokane, Washington, June 12, 1902. Eastern Washington State Historical Society. Available at http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/aipn:@field(DOCID+@lit(p1101))

Seminary Update

Since I previously used this space to semi-publicly agonize over Seminary, I thought I would at least tell you how things are going now.

I guess we've all settled into a routine, so to speak. I have one student who is nearly always there at 6:15, and I often have one or two others who will show up on time (one consistent offender has a deal with his dad that he can get contacts after he's been on time for a month, and it's working so far).

Few students are reading the Old Testament outside of class, and I myself am still only a few pages ahead of the lesson schedule. One student also goes to institute (weekly study class for college-age adults) and so he usually knows the basic facts about a given section.

The extraneous talking has improved a bit, or maybe I'm just more tolerant. I'm fast losing patience with the lovebirds, and am being more vocal with them about their behavior in class and not letting them hang out in the hall by themselves after class. In my heart of hearts, I wish I wouldn't have them in class next year, but that's between you and me.

I've been doing more scripture mastery work, and trying to have the students memorize a scripture each week. We'll work on it for part of the class on Friday, and then review it during the week.

So, all in all, things look better than they did, and I try to not dwell on the unrelenting nature of it all. My personal life is a total mess--not spending enough time on work, ate donuts for dinner twice this week, getting up later and later every week--but that's fodder for another post. Or not.

The Truth Will Out

Despite my 'gushing about Jason Bateman and the fact that my MySpace page says I'm 19, I am truly an adult. Witness, it's 6am, school is cancelled, and I'm heading to work, thrilled at the extra hour I'll squeeze into the work day.

So When Were You Born?

The Duchess reminded me how sorry I feel for anyone not fortunate enough to spend at least part of their teen or pre-teen years in the '80s. (Though I admit, I think it would have been even cooler to spend those years in the '70s--where I was only a grade-schooler).

What prompted the trip down memory lane? Michael Jackson's Thriller. I can see myself, clear as day, at my friend Heather's house across the street watching the Thriller video on MTV, enthralled and amazed. And that leads me to another classic '80's memory--Alfonso Ribeiro breakdancing on Silver Spoons. Which leads to thinking about Jason Bateman, which leads to...

Naked Dreams

Do you ever dream you're walking around naked in public, or you forgot to study for the big test? I dream the former all the time, and have stopped trying to figure out what it means. All I know is that in my dreams, I know I'm unclothed and feel a bit embarrassed about it, but it doesn't seem to be the acute crisis it would be in real life. As for the test, my variation is always that I didn't go to class all semester, and now it's time for the final exam. Hmm--I've actually lived that one in real life and it isn't pretty.

But the most terrifying recurring night-dreams I have involve cars--either pushing on the brakes and the car won't stop, or driving up a nearly perpendicular slope and knowing the car will tip over backwards.

I had a car dream of the second variety while napping this afternoon. All I have to say is, Dad, if you decide to take out the truck to test the roads for possible ice, please don't take me with you and don't drive up an incline and then back over the edge of the other side. I'll miss Seminary and be late to work, the humidity outside will frizz my hair, and I really don't fancy riding a horse backwards. Enough said?

Pet Peeves

It's been a frustrating few weeks, which has been a good excuse for not posting (I couldn't think of anything nice to say). I still can't, so I'm hoping my readers will indulge me and just let me vent for a minute.

So, here are some of my pet peeves:

People who put a partial ream of paper into the printer and leave the opened ream sitting on the counter. The printer will hold a ream plus some. So wait till it's almost empty, and PUT THE ENTIRE REAM IN AT ONCE! Please.

People who retype a document in order to transfer it to another medium, rather than cutting and pasting from the electronic copy I provided, and then have me correct the multiple errors they create by typing from scratch. I SENT YOU AN E-COPY BECAUSE IT LOOKED JUST THE WAY I WANTED IT TO LOOK!

Thank you for letting me shout at you. I feel much better. Feel free to share your peeves here, and even if I'm guilty of committing some of them myself, I promise to be nice about it!