Still Here

I know---it's been ages since my last post. Okay, so it's been a week. And as that post said, life's been quite hectic.

Things slowed down by force this weekend though. I awoke Friday around 3am in severe pain in my lower leg. I figure I pulled something in a pose Thursday evening. Anyway, after going to work Friday to teach a make-up class, I have, thus, honored my body (and pain) all weekend, keeping my leg wrapped and elevated, and I've stayed off of it as much as possible. On the upside, I'd say it's about 65% better. I'll try to take it easy this week too, slowly increasing my activity toward the end of the week.

In other news, the city here is very excited as the Memphis Tigers beat UT yesterday to make it into the Final Four. Go Tigers, Go! And what an interesting Final Four it'll be: all four #1 seeds made it.

My trip out of town for an interview went well, but as to any news out of it, I'm still waiting. I hope to know more some time next week. The city was much prettier than I expected, and the people were fabulous. I could really see myself enjoying it there. I'll let you know next week! (I hope)

In classes, students are just now starting to realize we have only three weeks of substantive classes left. (I schedule our last class meeting as a review.) This means more and more will finally really start to prep for finals. That means more and more dropping by my office.

I'm also trying to plan my summer (which will include writing at least one article), but until I get news next week, that's too up in the air. Sigh. Life in the life of indecision.

Planted on the couch, though, I did get through a lot of pictures that have been waiting for sorting and captions. From most sets, I've already posted some here. But I do need to get a few from last week up in addition to pics from NYC long-ago promised. I'll work on that this next week. No, really, I will! ;-)

Howard and Sophie are dandy. Our last freeze was the day it snowed, so I have moved all plants outside. Of course that also means I need to mow the weeds in the back yard. This weekend wasn't an option; maybe I can get to that in the coming weekend.

I also have a dinner to host. Four of my students bid on me at an SBA fundraiser, so I'll be cooking a lasagna dinner for them. They expected peach pie, as I've used my offer to bake a peach pie several times in class as a jumping-off point for a hypothetical, but once I explained that peaches are not in season and assured them that the specialty in my family was cherry pie, they agreed that'd work too. We were going to do that early this week, but with lasagna and pie being pretty standing-intensive, we put it off a week or so.

And truly, that catches up most things. Not much else has been going on, as I've been exhausted. My trip involved me being "on" for two days, and that left me fully spent. Getting back here, I felt like I was barely caught up on classes. This weekend, although restful, was really too restful. I'm ready to get back into my routine. It's been a little "off" since my spring break.

But getting back into it, I will!

Great Visit / Hectic Weekend / Happy Easter

My sister and her family visited over the last week, and we had a wonderful time! Since they left Wednesday morning, once I got some sleep, it's been almost nonstop getting ready to head out for a quick trip out of town myself early tomorrow morning. I'll get more details out soon and pics of the visit and our many tourist stops around Memphis.

Until then . . . Happy Easter!

A Snowy Spring Break

Yes, we got over five inches of snow on Friday, and it was beautiful! What was even better was that it was gone by the next day or two.



Yes, my Texas flag is still up from March 2. I figured I'd leave it up to greet my sister and her family on Friday.

Howard enjoyed the snow, stopping to eat it every so often. He'd ask to go outside, run around a lot, then come in to get warm and have me wipe the snow off his paws, legs, and beard.

And so with the visit coming up in, goodness, three days, I've been steadily occupied. I still need to hit the grocery store, bathe Howard, vacuum furniture, and pick up a comforter from the cleaners, but otherwise I'm ready for a house full!

Unfortunately, though, I didn't get as much done as I'd wanted to on my article last week, so that still needs a lot of attention. I know that many journals take submissions into April, so I will simply have to be a late-submitter. We'll see how that goes, for it will be what it will be, after all.

I'm also working to figure out the next year. Possibilities are brewing, but nothing's settled yet. That too is one of those things that is a "we'll see." The road before seems to keep twisting and turning, but my steering's pretty good, so it'll be fine.

And so, yes, we'll see. :-) I am confident it will all be not only alright but exactly as it should be. Okay, so I don't know yet what it "should" be, but I've got my eyes open to see it when it's made known to me. And I plan to greet it with a smile. :-)


But with

It's a Jungle Out There

The show is Lipstick Jungle, and I must say, it sure does make for a fun hour each week. No heavy thinking; no tears or worries, just fun.

It’s about three female friends in NYC—a magazine executive, a movie studio executive, and a fashion designer. Watching it each week, though, makes me miss my friends I saw there in January. It’s odd, too, the ways in which we can match our lives with those on the show. Okay, except for the fact that none of us is a top exec or had a fabulous Manhattan apartment. Sure, there’s that.

But back to those three: two are married, one of those struggling, one of those oh-so-wise. And indeed, I see some of my friends in those ladies. And the third? Well, she’s single and going through a transition time in her career. She’s also the youngest of the three (as I am among my particular friends.) And she’s cute and fun and spunky. Yes, I can say it’s nice to associate with her—the cute, fun, spunky one. See, as a kid, I always had to be Sabrina, you know, the smart one, when it came to Charlie’s Angels. ;-) (Albeit, on the show, the single one on LJ has started dating a bazillionaire. As if. Sigh. ;-) Of course, he’s not all that perfect; he has issues too.)

Anyway, as I said, the show’s a lot of fun. I just watched the latest episode, and a couple of the lines really struck me as gems.

For the first, the magazine exec gal is having a hard day: she’s just learned that it’s her in-house rival who’s behind a bad sexual harassment suit. And so, after the end of the work-day, the movie studio exec drops by her office, finding her at her desk sipping from a coffee mug . . . and holding an open bottle of wine. As she pours more into her cup, the movie exec asks, “What, are we out of creamer?”

Later, the designer, who’s just made the dress for an actress starring in the movie exec’s movie (the premiere is that night), is consoling the actress who’s gotten bad news about her now-ex-boyfriend. She’s gotten into the designer’s liquor cabinet and is having a melt-down at not finding bourbon (although she’s clearly found and enjoyed lots of other things). Pulling more bottles out of the cabinet, the actress asks, drunkenly, “Can I mix vodka with gin?” The designer responds, “Not after Labor Day.”

It’s a great show, and a lot of fun. I miss my friends each time I see it, but I also know I get to look forward to our next book chat. Besides, as I told them, if we all lived in the same city, oh the wine we would go through! ;-)

Happy Independence Day

To Texas!

Naturally, then, I flew my Texas flag today.

I also finally got my Obama sign up in the yard. ME! A political sign in my yard. Not only is that a first, but I also have, for the first time, contributed to a campaign. Barack now emails me pretty regularly, and most recently he's been asking me to make phone calls. Come on now, I've just now for the first time given money and put a sign in my yard. (I ordered shirts too, but due to overwhelming demand, they're on backorder.) Who knows, though, maybe I will make a call or two before Tuesday.

But even if I don't call, I will, at least, type: vote on Tuesday, Texas. (I can tell you, personally, that the Obama yard sign with my Texas flag waving in the background looks awesome--quite a nice match.) So my urge: Obama for President. Prefer red and the elephant side? Well, McCain's a given. Make this a decent race. Vote Obama anyway. In Texas, you can do that.

Happy Spring Break!

Spring, of course, does not officially begin for another few weeks. But for me, Spring Break is here. (I know--incredibly early, but I have no say in such things.)

I used the weekend to wind down, run errands, and tackle some things in the house. But the rest of my "break" will be devoted to writing.

One of my errands brought spring to my car. The last two days have been beautiful---up into the 70s and sunny; naturally, then, I drove around some with the top down and the warmth of the sun on my head. Ahhhhhh. But my car so far had been missing something.

See, the Beetle comes with a bud vase as part of the dash. So many people have asked me, "do you have flowers in your vase?" And always, I answered in the negative. But no more! I now have some great orange/red tulips there. As soon as I got them, I put them in the vase, and I tell ya, they made me smile all the way home. :-) (I also picked up some really cute wild daisies for the summer, and I'm hoping my sister can find some silk bluebonnets to bring me when she visits.)

Another errand over the weekend involved me finding a new pair of jeans. The ones I wore on Saturday were nearly falling off. That's a good thing in that my "operation make me over" year is working well. But it's bad in that during the time I was gaining over the last eleven months, I wasn't wearing jeans much once summer hit, so I skipped a size before I finally bought the ones that got me through the fall and winter.

And so now I have a great pair to see me through to the next size, of which I have plenty of clothes. I suspect it'll be another five or six weeks before I'm in them, but I'll get there.

My other errand involved looking for new shoes. I really need new running shoes (for walking, not running), so I tried some on at Breakaway--the local running store here in Midtown. They needed to get a couple of other pairs transferred from their other location, so I'll head back this week to try again. I'm also going to get some shoes for spinning or a new pair of cross-trainers. We'll see.

Ah---as for the things tackled here at home? My friend Susan was the great inspiration, so I'm tackling closets. (Thanks, Susan!) I got my pantry (which is huge) in tip-top shape as well as my linen closet. I still need to get the guest closet done to clear out space for my guests coming in less than two weeks.

I also attacked the moss that's grown on the brick patio in the back. I've tried this by spraying vinegar onto the moss. I think it's working, but I'll have to wait to be sure. I really need to get the moss gone as it sure does make it slick when wet. And if I can do this with something as natural as vinegar, I'll be doubly happy.

Anyway, it was a good weekend. Getting some sun on my head was nice, and I loved driving around and, for the first time this year, seeing the blooms of the redbuds. Yes, spring is just around the corner, and the weekend gave me the umph and rest I needed for writing motivation for the upcoming week. Not that nice weather should distract me too much. Oddly enough, even though it's spring break, we have the possibility of snow in the forecast for Tuesday. Wacky weather, indeed.