Oof...is it almost the New Year already?

Wow...time really flies when you're bogged down with life, right? Christmas was a good day. I got more than I bargained for, but none of it compared to just being home. It took a long time for Michael to grasp that notion, and he was often bothered when I said, "I want to go home." But no matter where I make my home with my own family, my folks' house will always be home.

My aunt who I haven't seen since my grandmother's funeral (12 years ago) came down from Paris, TN with a friend; my uncle (fabulous cook that he is) came up from Nesbit, MS. And my brother and his family were here. It was nice, but we missed my other aunt and uncle. We had a ton of food and three pies: pumpkin, chocolate, and pecan (I finished off the last piece of the pecan a couple of nights ago). I hope, after the New Year, that I can get back on my regular diet and start belly dancing again soon. My jeans are getting a little snug.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to muster up the energy to take Alex shopping and let her spend her gift card. I also need to find a place that does glitter tips so that I can get my nails done. I'm not sure how popular they are here.

The kids are supposed to start their new schools on Wednesday. Alex is excited, curious, but she says not so nervous. I don't know about the other two, but I think they're in for culture shock. The first being that the classrooms are all indoors.

My brother and his family moved into Shelby county from Atoka and my sister-in-law was shocked to learn that the kids return to the drudgery of learning on the 3rd rather than the 8th (earlier than Atoka schools). You gotta love her though. Anyway, I think I'm more nervous about the kiddies starting new schools than they are.

I have no plans for New Year's Eve, except to sit and relax at home, watching the annual parties on TV and hoping that there are some decent bands playing, toasting 2007 with the family, then sleeping till it's time for the Rose Bowl (GO BLUE!), ham, kraut (for prosperity), cornbread, fried potatoes, and black-eyed peas (for luck).

I hope you both had a wonderful Christmas, and that you have a good time ringing in the New Year. Miss you.

So

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas chicklets! Hope your holiday was filled with love and happiness. Since this was our first Christmas without children, it was a lot quieter and a lot less stressful. We're enjoying it even though we miss having the kids here. We saw and talked to them both this morning via iSight, the wonders of technology! lol.

So far this break I've not opened a book (for the Aesthetics class next quarter), or graded one paper (my students). This week I plan to finish my second arcade and lesson plans for the rest of this trimester for my classes. But then again, I did get a gift certificate to the Spa in the Mission Inn, so I'll definitely be there for a facial and massage.

Til next time, Do

Hey So!

I'm very glad to hear you made it safe and sound. From your post, it sounds like you had an enjoyable adventure! I have been shopping and shipping, but I have to admit, now that the kids gifts are sent, I really feel so much less stress than I usually do at this time of year. I keep telling myself it's ok, because next year both of them are planning on being here for Christmas, with fiancees, spouses and baby (in some combination of those titles lol). Ah well, as I've been shopping, I've been looking at the baby stuff. What I have bought are the beginning of the baby's library. Borders had Dr. Seuss, buy 2 get a third one free. How could I pass that up?! I bought 6, and will probably go back to get a few more. This child will have a bookcase of books before it's born! lol.

Right now I'm watching the movie "The Sicilian". The story is about Salvatore Giuliano, a second cousin of my husband's father. It really gives you a sense of the relationship between the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian people and the government in the 1940's-50's. It can be a bit dry at times, but a lot of the story is true. He was called the Robinhood of Sicily. He actually wanted Sicily to become a state of the U.S.!! There were a couple of articles on him in Life magazine in the '50's before he was murdered by the polizia.

Well, I'm off to work on my second arcade project. Did you check out the link I sent you on tatoos? Your project turned out really well. I keep thinking of other things to add to the one from class, but I'm really getting into the second one I'm doing. Next week I'm doing lesson planning, and I definitely am going to have my GATE students set up group blogs and work on arcade projects, I just have to work out the details.

Have a great holiday! I wonder what Freddie is up to????

Do

I'm here...

...and it was a long, tiring journey, to say the least. OH! And, no thanks to driving long hours driving, my brand new tat that was healing marvelously is now irritated and broke out. It'll have to be fixed when I go to Florida visit my sister and friends, one of whom is also a tattooist and inked my first tattoo. I'm super sad, but I have hopes it will heal again. My brother is heavily tatted, and he's offered up some advice that I'll run by my tattooist friend.

Anyhoo...we stopped over in Oklahoma for a couple of days to visit with another very good friend whose 10-year-old daughter is best friends with my 10-year-old daughter. It was good to relax and just veg out in front of the telly. I caught up on Heroes and watched The Lost Room, which was super freaky but awesome. It was nice to have some one to watch these shows with who likes to pause and chit chat about it as we watch. It's amazing we got through the shows and movies we did, and did some Christmas shopping too -- all that and I got to sleep till noon. We also rented The Lady in the Water (super awesome) and The Devil Wears Prada (I love Meryl Streep).

Alex and I left Victorville on the 17th, stopped in Kingman AZ for a few hours to visit a high school friend of mine who has long been convinced Alex should have been hers because they both have red hair. Mwahahahahah. After getting back on the I-40, we made it to Gallup NM before my ass needed to wake up. We checked into Quality Inn (nice room) then had dinner next door at The Cracker Barrel. Yummy.

We woke up on the 18th with a dusting of snow on the car, were on the road by 7:30, and got to Oklahoma by 8 pm. Our "hostess" had to work the next day while her kids had school, so Alex and I were left alone with the chihuahua from hell. Chihuahuas...not just ankle-biters anymore. When they got home, we did some shopping, rented movies, and relaxed the rest of the night and all the next day.

This morning Alex and I had help from my friends oldest boy (he's 26) loading our car, and we were on the road by 8:30, made all of two stops, once for gas, and once for potty break and food. We made it to the Memphis area and my folks' house by 4:30. It's good to be home.

Off to wait for my sweetie pie (who told me one of my presents, the schmuck -- ahhh, ya gotta love him) to come home. I hope you all have Happy Holidays and Merry Winter Solstice from Tennessee!

New Pet!

Say hello to Prometheus!

Do

Here's the new tat. Lower back, and yup, it hurt -- it's over my spine.









Mary was the smart one...her's is on her shoulder. Her first, and she lived...Mwah-ah-ah.

1 down, 1 to go

I haven't had time to get out much lately. The last theater trip I took was a few years ago when I saw Phantom; the last movie I saw in the movie theater was The Da Vinci Code (before, the last movie I remembered seeing was Tristan and Isolde, but Michael's purchase of TDVC dvd corrected that). The last time I visited a museum was last summer when two friends and I went to The Huntington (my favorite).

I've not read (or heard of) the book you mention, Do. But I might have to check it out. Speaking of books: I need to go to B&N tomorrow and pick up a birthday gift. I think I'll get her The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. It's a fabulous read; even my son (who was 17 when I suggested he read it) fell in love with Charlie. He thought Charlie was cool.

I hung around the desert after I finished the semester in the writing center to attend two parties. One was tonight: the annual tutor Christmas party (which actually started today with pizza and pictionary); and the other is tomorrow night -- a friend/coworker's birthday party. I dragged Mary with me and Alex tonight; her boyfriend, Blue (he was her fiance), worked late, and I didn't think she should have to sit home by herself. We had a gift exchange, and the rules were that if we liked what someone else had, rather than pick an unopened gift, we could steal it. But, after a gift was "stolen" twice, it was no longer up for grabs. There were 17 gifts, 17 participants, and everyone was just too damn polite until number 13 decided she really wanted the M&M car that shoots M&Ms out when Red's hand is pulled down like a lever (number 13 ended up losing it to number 5). It was so on! All that thieving between tutors, teachers, and guests pushed politeness right out the window. Even my 14-year-old had her gift taken, and then stole someone else's. I was last to go -- yep I was number 17! So, I stole my daughter's original gift back -- from my secret santa.

One could argue that our party started two weeks ago when we drew names for secret santa. Imagine how hard it is to bring a gift without being seen when you work everyday with the person you're gifting to. The rules: 3 gifts -- 2 small ones and 1 larger one for today when we revealed ourselves, and at least one gift had to be a book -- any book, even a used book. Today, we broke down furniture (gasp -- did I just say the f-word?), packed up books, stacked computers on tables that are being kept, took posters and pictures off the walls, all in preparation for the new "work stations." We were done by 11, ordered pizza, tried to guess who our secret santas were, found out whether we guessed correctly or not when we received our final gifts, then played Pictionary. I guessed correctly, by the way, and got a little wallet, the 2007 Almanac and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Is there a theme in there? I have to say, the Almanac was my favorite.

So, tomorrow, I get to do laundry, pack, try to meet up with a friend, get pictures done with Mary, do some shopping, and go to another party. We English nerds are quite the party animals.

Blue is apparently completely jealous of all the time Mary and I have been spending together. Last night we got tattooed (yep I did it again, but I think I'm done for a while), and he's hardly said two words to her since then. He got home last night, went to bed without dinner, and apologized to her this morning. But tonight, I took her to the tutor party with me, and he came home and did the same thing. He even asked her if my daughter and I left yet. Whatever...I'm outta here in about 30 hours.

Ibsen, Munch, and Middle Schoolers

Ah to be able to go to the theatre or museum again. My h. and I were talking about how we don't have a "life". In the sense that is of a life outside of jobs and home. We rarely go out and when we do we can't go out for long, especially if it is in the evening. Why, you ask? My dear 90 year old mother in law. She is a wonderful woman who had a difficult life, and my h. and I feel lucky to be able to make her later years comfortable. Unfortunately, it has gotten more difficult because of the stress we are both having with work, and the fact that she doesn't like to be alone when it is dark outside.

This Christmas is going to be weird because it will be the first without our children at home. My daughter and her bf. are having his family visit them in Boston. My son and his gf. decided they wanted to spend this one holiday alone before the baby is born. On the other hand, it will be a lot less stressful not having everyone here. I told my h. we need to really relax this year bacause NEXT Christmas everyone will be here lol. But really, even though my m-i-l takes care of herself, not being able to go out alone without worrying, or go away for the weekend, or having to worry about what we are going to do for dinner every day is taking its toll.

And then things happen like this. Two of my students from last year came back to visit (they are in hs now). They both apologized for being obnoxious and difficult when they were in my class. And they both admitted that I was right about hs being very different from ms in the sense that they are now lowly freshmen in a large school (our ms has about 725 students as opposed to the 3000 in hs.). Oh yeah, I didn't say "I told you so", just not necessary. One of them said I need to read "The Time Traveler's Wife". Have either of you read it? Even though I have a stack of books next to my bed to read, I think this is one I'll read first over the Christmas break. My student said she wanted to talk about it! Do you believe it?! Well it feels good to have students come back to visit like this, makes me feel like all the stress is worth it in the end.

Well I've got papers to grade and I'm ready for bed, looks like the papers will have to wait,
Buono notte,
Do

Ibsen, huh?

So today is Edvard Munch's birthday. I was looking around at his paintings -- again -- and came across Two paintings that reminded me of your post: this one, titled "Henrik Ibsen In The Café Of The Grand Hotel." And the one below is titled "Props For A Scene Of Ibsen's 'Ghosts.'"




"The Scream" is, of course, one of his most Beautifully haunting Works, but he has many others that deserve as much attention: "Madonna"; "Vampire"; "The Kiss"; and "The Dance of Life," to name a few.

Its Monday

Howdy do.
Russ and I went to UCLA last nite to see the New York theatre company Mabou Mines perform Ibsen's Dolls House. I was absolutely astounded by their production. Check out the link above and go to "productions" to get the gist of it. Anyway, at the end, when Nora leaves Torvald...well, today that's not so schocking right? But in the 19th century it was unheard of... to leave ones husband and kids...so to make up for the fact that leaving one's husband is just so passe, they reintensified the schock by having Nora, standing atop what looked like a "box" at the opera, surrounded by red velvet curtains, and so obviously 10 feet higher than her midget (yes midget husband...read the production bit), peel of her garments: gown, petticoats, bodice, and finally when she was standing stripped and sinewy, she pulled of her curly blonde wig to reveal a completely bald head. And she looked androgynous. It was intense. Her little husband (all the men were played by midgets) was left sobbing in a dolls size bed. I dont know if you guys have read Ibsen, but this interpretation was intense. Now I want to read all his plays again.

So what else? I'm enjoying my laziness. Tonite I watched four movies in a row...because I could! HA.
Catch you later...I'm so glad we are hanging in there with our blog
Fi

News and more news...

I got a phone call from my daughter with news. They had an ultrasound and the doctor says they're having a girl. We were all kind of hoping for a boy, but as long as it's healthy right? If the doctor is right, she'll be Kayleigh Marie.

So she went in for her appointment, got ready for the ultrasound and her doctor asked, "What are we looking for?" Jenifer answered, "We're kind of hoping it's a boy." He asked, "Did you bring any Fritos?" She said, "No," and he typed on the screen: "It's a girl," and said "If you had brought Fritos, you could have had anything you wanted." He must do stand-up at night -- he shouldn't quit his day-job.

She called me back, and said, "Sonie, I've been looking at this stinkin' sonogram picture, and it looks funny to me. I think he took a picture of its bum." She's so cute. You gotta love her. My sister-in-law is getting the "family blanket" ready for the new baby. Yet she still asked if I wanted it for Jenifer after I made it clear, when I handed it down to my nieces (it's a pink quilt made by one of my good friend's grandmothers), that when my kids have babies, it comes back to us and stays within this side of the family. So when her girls are old enough to have babies, it gets passed on to them -- again -- for their babies. I have thought about what we do if two of our kids (this includes kids-in-law) are pregnant at the same time, and, yeah, I have no idea what we'll do. I guess we'll elect someone to make another one (or more).

The quilt was actually made for my friend when they thought she was having a girl but had a boy instead. So, they gave it to me when I was pregnant with Alex. I tried to give it back when she finally did have a girl, but she refused it, saying that it belongs in our family. I love the things that are kept, taken care of, and handed down from one family member to the next. I'm so nostalic; maybe it's the rum and coke. Off for another one. Just wanted to share.

Rawr.

My only day to relax...

It's Sunday and I planned on doing absolutely NOTHING today, and that's just about what I did. I woke up around 9, ate, watched Dead Man's Chest (Johnny Depp is absolutely hawt) with my kid, Mary, and Mary's boyfriend, Blue, and I dozed during the movie. Around noon, I decided it was time to shower and dress for the day, I worked on Christmas card stuff, played some WoW, watched a sneak peek at the new HP movie, tried to watch Christmas with the Kranks, but Alex got bored (and the book is better, thought I'm not a fan of John Grisham), so here I am.

Hopefully when I get to Tennessee, I'll be able to relax. I had a dreadfully dramatic quarter, and it started over the summer. My mom and sister came for a visit, and my mom had a horrid cough. When she got home, it got worse, and after weeks of being told it was all sinus related, she finally found a new doctor and discovered it was what I had suspected: pneumonia. They almost hospitalized her, but didn't need to. During all the testing, they found a black spot on her lungs, so it turns out she has the beginning of emphysema. The notion that she might have to tug an oxygen tank behind her scared her out of smoking, and she quit cold turkey.

While my mom and sister were visiting, we got a phone call from our oldest daughter, who was living in Nashville with her mom, letting us know that she's pregnant. Her mother and everyone else around her lectured her, and advised her what she should do, when they should have just hugged her and said, "I love and I'm here for you." We couldn't hug her, and it wasn't enough to tell her over the phone "We love and we're here for you." That's all she needed to hear. We don't trust her fiance either.

After my mom got better, my brother got news that his spleen is 5 times larger than a normal spleen. They still haven't determined why, or even if that's normal for him, but they did find, after weeks of testing, that he had gall stones and his gall bladder stopped working. He had surgery a few days ago to remove it.

Michael's businesses weren't doing as well as we would like, and after all of the other drama, we decided that Tennessee is where we need to be. He and the babies left on the 7th, passed the truck carrying our stuff somewhere in Arizona, and then, whaddya know? More drama!

Turns out he started having problems with our Jimmy in New Mexico. We have good friends in Oklahoma, and he was able to nurse the truck to their house. I'm relieved that he made it somewhere I know my babies will be taken care of. They have a little girl who is our little girl's best friend. I'm glad they got to see each other because we didn't think they would. He's done some work on the truck, guided by my dad over the phone, and intends to nurse her into Memphis tomorrow morning. Once they're at my folks', he and my dad will start getting the Jimmy up and running.

Alex and I plan to leave on Sun. the 17th. I have those stinkin' boxes to ship out and the converter boxes to return yet. Then, I have to figure out how to stuff everything else, including my daughter, into that little car (no chance of strapping her to the hood and trying to pass her off as a deer). I'll figure it out. Mary and Blue have offered their garage for anything I can't take with me, and they'll ship it out. Leave it to a move like this to let you know who your real friends are, right?

I went to check the mail yesterday, and the new resident was there. It was weird to knock on my own door. The good thing is, we know him and he's a cat person, so he's keeping Suki and Puck. Yay! But he did tell me last night that Suki will have nothing to do with him. She knows who momma is, and I told him he's going to take some getting used to. She'll be fine.

Okay, Alex is nagging me to go rent some movies. Damanding little teeny-bopper, that girl. The next two weeks will be quite the adventure with her.

Trying to get into the holiday spirit...
So!

Later Saturday evening

Good evening ladies,
I started to reply as a comment to your post Fi, but then I realized that I had more to write. From starting out as one who never "blogged", past the "get to know you" posts, to post class "I have to check the blog", this has been a unique and extremely pleasant experience. I can only attribute that to the committment we have made to this assignment, to the sense of humor we apparently all share, and the trust that allowed us to post without fear or trepidation. I've shared other classes with both of you, but not until this one have I gotten to know you better, mainly as a result of the blog and Prof. R's pedagogical style.

Fi, I can only imagine the difficulty of finding a relationship that works these days. Having been married to the same great Italian since '74, I think if anything happened to him, I'd just keep myself busy with books, traveling, music, writing, gardening, maybe a doctorate (lol yeah right).

So, when are you leaving for Tenn? And have you definitely decided on another tattoo? I've started going through you arcade. I've always been fascinated by them, starting with Queequeg (sp??) in Moby Dick. There is a NGC Taboo episode on tattoos that traces the history from the Pacific Islanders.

Now it is late again, and a certain other person says he can't fall asleep while I'm up on the computer.
A domani,
Do

Hi on Saturday

Hey guys...it's saturday night and I'm at home feeling blue. I do this at the end of each quarter. ONce I get over the elation of the end of the quarter, then I realise I wont be seeing my buds again...sigh. Do, I left without saying goodbye...but I know I'll see you around. I'd like to keep the blog going if you guys are up for it. Wow, So...I cant believe this move you are doing...what a drag...I'll miss you but we'll stay in touch in cyberspace...I hope.
Here's a giggle, I drunk-and-mailed an ex last nite (really Im not a total alcholic...I really only need a couple and Im under the table.)Anyway, he sent me back the most pompus email saying he would like to be friends but he hoped I had no amorous intentions. I felt like emailing back...Oh stick it up yer arse. I just emailed him in the first place because I thought he was funny and so much time has gone by, I hoped we could be friends. Oh well. As my friend Jen said "I'll slap the shite out of you when I next see you!"...she said I deserved it for even thinking about being friends with him. I guess I do overromanticize my exes, but only because I feel when youve been so intimate with someone and they touched your life in some way...well, when you get older cant you just be freinds and be grateful for knowing each other. I mean it wasnt a horridly awful break up...he lived in London then moved to LA...but he was fickle, he liked to have a tantrum and say it was over. Well, after the 6th time of doing that I thought "oh screw it" and had a fling. Like Ross from Friends says "we were on a break!!!!!" He didnt quite see it like Ross!
Ahh my life is in session
Well ladies miss you already
Blog baby Blog!
Fi

I can breathe a little easier now...

Note to self: send Michael to his mother's in Dallas when I arrive in Tennessee.

Things to do:

1. Clean the house
2. Return the cable boxes
3. Get my car serviced (which Michael was supposed to do before he left -- I'm lucky he fixed the tire that kept losing air)
4. Load up my little sporty Spectra (try to get everything to fit)
5. Ship out 5 boxes (so far) of stuff that Michael left behind, which could have gone in the Jimmy with him.
6. Plan my trip (it helps to know where I'm stopping the first night -- the second (and maybe third) night will be with a friend in Oklahoma)
7. Finish Christmas shopping
8. Pack up the writing center for the new "work stations" (because we can't call it furniture) :-/
9. Christmas party with the tutors.
10. Friend/fellow tutor's birthday party.
11. Maybe get tattooed (again) with Mary (no matchy-matchy thing)
12. Try to go to Vegas to see a friend
13. Leave for Tennessee

Whew! *collapses into chair*

I'll still be available online. Visit the blog (visit my blog -- wow that looks conceited), email me, and I'll probably keep my websites up, and keep working on them...especially the ARCADE. I see potential for developing a thesis...perhaps. I could be wrong, but I see it, dammit, and that's what counts. O.o

I will miss all of the fabulous people I met in 658 (and 609). I'll miss all the fabulous people I work with. (I won't miss the desert).

I must find a way to take the scent of the creosote with me, and take it out when it rains in TN.

So stay in touch, try to keep me posted on how your graduate studies go, and your theses.

CONGRATULATIONS again Freddie!

Hope to see you both somewhere in cyberspace.

Breathe

Whaaaaa class is overWell chicklets, take a few deep breaths there is a little time to relax. I don't know about you, but when I left class tonight, I really felt a bit sad about it ending. This has been such a great experience, one of the best classes I've had in the MA program. Then as I was driving off campus, I realized that I didn't really say goodbye, especially to you Sonya since you are off to the wilds of Tennessee. It really just felt like another night going home from class. Everyone's Arcades look really interesting. I plan on spending time going through them all. My challenge now is to figure out how I can use the OOOs and the Arcades with my students. I know they will be really excited about it, especially those who want to learn a little about html. Tonight I am the best example of the definition of exhausted, time for bed. Do

Final assessment`

It’s come down to this: blogging with Freddie and Donna has been a refreshing change from blogging alone. It put into perspective how asymmetrical collaborative writing projects could work, and I was also able to see how students could use something other than discussion board or email to bounce ideas off of each other. I think, in its microcosmic form, it’s a more relaxed way of having class discussions. It’s been freeing, and a good place to practice some HTML for the web projects. Freddie, Donna, and I used it more as a sounding board – a place where we could tell the world where to go when we needed to, as well as a place to talk about some things to do with the class projects. I’ve become a blogging fiend I think, and I don’t want to stop.

Ladies, Ladies, Ladies

Hi Chicas.
Sonya baby, I feel your pain. I have moved FOUR TIMES in four years. Not because I wanted to but because my bf took advantage of the boom in the housing market - which came to a screeching halt sometime last spring - and moved us in and out of houses like we were running from the law. I finally put my foot down and refused to move my stuff out of a cottage that I have rented on and off for a number of years (we lived there briefly last year while we were in between Russ's projects). So now all my precious furniture, books and nic nacs live in my "studio"- a place where I can escape, meditate, write, keep the telly on all night, and have the dogs on the bed.

Do - I will find out about my thesis prop on Wednesday....consequently, I will either gloomy or elated in class. So what was my process...I think you asked that in a repsonse to the guy in the tire post. Frankly, I had absolutely nuthin' at the beginning of the quarter but my favourite class throughout my grad process was rhetorical theory. In particular I was fascinated by 20th century rhetoric. For my final paper I wrote a bibliographic essay on the theories of Jurgen Habermas and how they have been appropriated by compositionists. So, while I had kinda skirted around the idea of Nietzsche and rhetoric for my thesis, I ended up going with Habermas. However, my interest in Nietzsche was not put aside as I started reading, (suggestion from Dr R) about the debate between Habermas and Foucault (Foucault...big Nietzsche fan) and how compostionists use of Habermas seemed to fall short in some way --according to a paper Dr R wrote while in her doctoral programme.

To cut a long story short, I pulled that thesis propsal out of my $%^&! I didnt even have 1 paragraph at the midterm and I was freakin' out because I was DETERMINED to get going on this thing (and have been feeling a sense of urgency lately). So, if it doesn't get approved this time. I wont be too blue because it was all rather a rush. HANG ON! WHO AM I KIDDING! I'll be utterly disconsolate (sp???) *deep breathe fred*

Well anyway, better do some arcade stuff. How are yours going?
See ya this week
Fi

Sunday in the afternoon

What have you got to lose?? Another windy day in southern California. Don't you just hate when adults act like children? My neighbor (and I use that term very loosely) came over to me yesterday when I was fighting the Saturday battle with the plumbago and purple hopseed on the hill between our front yards. He started with "I'm really tired of having to clean up after you". I said "Excuse me?" He mentioned some dead oleander that was his which was laying on my side of the property line that I had pushed back over to his. I told him all the dead oleander plants were his and I wasn't cleaning up his dead stuff, I had enough of my own. He then said that if something was on my side of the property it belonged to me. I said that was fine with me as long as the reverse was also true. Now what is he going to say or do when he sees the rug he had in front of his gate, blown down the hill and under my plumbago by the wind????? (evil laugh).Well, back the The Arcade.
Have a pleasant evening,
Do

Ah CARP not CRAP

I feel your pain So. When we moved to CA from NJ, I had to pack up my whole house by myself (unless you count the help of an eight and a five year old). My husband was already here working and I didn't have any adult help. I couldn't imagine doing it now, but youth has its advantages lol. Can you take time for a Warcraft break?

Contrastvery effective So. I have to believe your use of size and color is a result of working on your arcade.

As I work on my arcade, I can't help but think about how I can use this concept with my students. I was sharing some of it with one of the teachers in a video on it and he was very interested in the project as well. Once it is "finished", which I don't believe will be by the end of this class since I intend to keep working on it until ???, I will translate the process and concept into middle school speak. I could see assigning an arcade to a group of students, perhaps on a story (we'll be reading To Kill a Mockingbird soon), or on poetry. Actually, I could see this as an ongoing project from the beginning to the end of the school year, something like a class arcade of topics we discuss.

Tonight I just don't have the patience to change font/color for one or two words. I think, in addition to the html color code list that I have, I'm going to create a list of code for font/color combinations that I like. That way, I can save time by just copying and pasting. Not before Christmas break though lol. Do

Nulla Dies Sine Linea

Packing, Projects, and Pizza...

I have had it! I’m pooped from all the packing, I want to finish my projects, and I can’t wait for some pizza!

It is ammmaaaaazing how much CRAP people accumulate when they live in one place for any extended period of time. Ten years worth of dust, ten years of junk, ten years of memories in each dust bunny, box, and bauble. We’ve had an open trailer for three days, taking sh**, or poo, as Freddie would put it, to the dump and the stuff Mary’s taking off of our hands to her garage. I’ve devoted all of today -- minus the few hours I had to work -- to packing more crap, breaking down beds, and determining what else I can have Michael and our boys take out to the dump.

I’ve had tantrum number 2 today -- every time I move to another area to pack, I feel like I make a bigger mess than I started with, and I look over at my laptop, open and waiting for use, and am reminded of all the work I still have to do on the Arcades and the stuff for 609 (thankfully, I just need to fix and finish the proposal for 609, add a couple things to the annotated bib., and write up the stuff for my “homes”).

I’ve given myself a time limit. Today I pack, load, stress, cry on Mary’s shoulder, and pack some more. The truck just got here for us to load up with our stuff that we’re keeping; otherwise I think we would have had more done. Damn the construction down the hill! Tomorrow, I work on projects, stress, stop to give packing/loading directions, cry on Mary’s shoulder, and work on projects some more. I have to get most of it done then because Sunday is…

DISNEYLAND OR BUST!!!

I’m just glad that we found a home for the cats, but I’m still worried about my baby. Puck’s pretty resilient (he takes on Rottweilers and sends them running away with tail tucked between their hind legs -- well he would if they had tails), but Suki is strictly indoor and quite sensitive.

Okay, break’s over…back to the enslavement that moving out of state imposes.