The Story of My Life

Mental Break ( + Book)

I've been stomping around the house this morning, griping at G and Lucyfer about having to jump back into the fray today. I really needed Spring Break to be more of a "break" than it was. A lot of work came in for the side job, which ended up taking about 2 whole days. I managed to grade projects for one of my classes (2 more days) but not the other, so now despite all my hard work, I still feel under-prepared for the week.

I hate being Type A.

The good news is that I have a draft of the Virginia Woolf syllabus for my independent study in the fall and I meet with the prof about it this afternoon!

The good news is that Lucyfer is 100% back to normal. No more tum tum issues!

The good news is that although I'm in over my head this semester, I only have to cling to the flotation device for 5 more weeks.

How was Easter? When we lived in VA, we would visit an extended branch of the family and spend the day together. G's parents still go, and I miss it a lot. This part of the fam is eccentric and fabulous. My favorite part of the Easter festivities was the lamb cake. My MIL made sure to send me a full account yesterday:

Step One: The Wet Dog Look

Step Two: Determine that the dog is a Chihuahua. Add Snickers eggs.

Step Three: Voila! I have no idea what this cake has to do with the resurrection or anything but it's the best.

I did manage to read for fun, though. Priorities. This latest book was a treat to read. I highly recommend it and also recommend that you watch the movie, "Julie and Julia."

My Life in France by Julia Child

With the help of her nephew, Julia recounts the years that she and her husband lived in France (and also other parts of Europe) while he worked for the government. She paints such a beautiful picture of the culture and the food and their daily lives, and what she calls "the generous pace of life" in France. It's enough to make you want to move there immediately. Or at least open a bottle of wine and dig into a rotisserie chicken or something.

Julia's zest for life and passionate enthusiasm for food, travel, and adventure are precious and contagious. I appreciate her tenacity. I appreciate that she found her life's passion relatively "late" - in her thirties. I appreciate that she didn't let difficulties affect her humor; she was able to take them in stride and still be her authentic self. She valued learning and never accepted that to be an expert meant there was nothing left to discover. She appreciated the differences in people (and in cultures). And man did she love food. I think I gained ten pounds just reading about it.

And with that, I must feed Loo Loo Bell and make myself put down the coffee and get ready for the day. <colossal sigh>

TGIF people!

Two at a Time

Can I just take a moment to say how utterly and completely disappointed I am that tomorrow is the Friday of Spring Break? How could it almost be over? How could I have spent so much time grading and still have so much left to do?

Two at a time, is how I have graded projects since 7:00 this morning. Most of the time, standing up either with this view:

 Or with this view:

See the furry lil photo bomb?

I'm taking a page from G's book and trying to stand more. It's short lived. When school starts up next week, I'll be a sitting machine until May. But that's OK because next semester will be different.

In between grading the sets of two-projects-at-a-time I've been doing productive things like washing the dust off my plastic house plants, doing endless loads of laundry, watching the 10+ inches of snow melt, trying to drink more water, ordering new silverware and a new bookshelf online, reading (for fun! But briefly!) and monitoring my lil teaching assistant.

She's doing so much better, by the way.

I think it's because she has reinforcements:

I gotta say, I'm usually all about Fridays. But not tomorrow.

Not tomorrow.

Spring Storm

Look who's home sweet home! She's frisky and feeling fine. Just to "keep things moving" (in her tummy) we have to give her pain meds and "force feed" her some critical care every few hours. And by "we," I mean, "G" has to do that while Loo Loo Bell and I both freak out in our own ways.

But, she's good! We're good! All is well in dawrighthouse!

A bun by street light. She hearts car rides.

It was in the seventies yesterday. So warm that I opened up the doors and windows. I snapped this while taking a walk around the neighborhood.

And today there was a blizzard. As in, highways closed. As in, cars spun out all over the roads. As in, white out conditions.

Life in Denver.

This was my "view" while grading:

Speaking of grading, that's how I've spent several hours today. Not for my classes, but for the side job. I'm officially over it. Every morning when I wake up, my brain launches into work mode and I have to spend like an hour talking myself down and reminding myself that I don't have to be anywhere. That I can make coffee and leisurely set about my day.

And now I get to do all of that with this one. So happy.

Lucy's Parents (+ Book)

Lucy is still in the animal hospital. We loved her up after I got back to Denver last night. I went to see her this morning and she was doing great. However, it depends on how her x-rays go today, as well as blood tests and her overall behavior. Maybe she'll come home today. Maybe not.

We know the schedules of all the vets. Such an awful thing to know. I much prefer to go about my life and never think about the vets or their rotations.

I would love to say that we're resting in God's grace and goodness. I'd love to say that we're radiating peace and joy.

We're not.

This is how G and I handle rabbit stress.

Source

 As productive as it would be to catch up on grading right now, it's all about diversion. Since GIRLZ WEEKEND is behind me, I have no choice but to dive head-first into books. I read this one over the weekend and recommend it:

The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn

A few years ago, journalist and program manager Kathleen Flinn returned from a vacation to find herself laid off before she even left the airport. She decided to take a big risk. She stepped out of the rat race, withdrew her savings, moved to Paris, and enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu (arguably the world's most famous and historic cooking school). Each chapter ties life experiences (or lessons) in with cooking school lessons, and finishes with a recipe. This was such a good vacation book to read. I'll keep this one and I hope to even try some of the recipes (in the summer, of course. My days of freedom are so numbered right now.)

In some ways, this is my favorite type of book to read for fun. I enjoy reading about people stepping out of their "normal" lives and carving a brand new, often scary, path. I have always found these books fascinating and motivating. We live in a unique time and country; many of us really do have the possibility and/or opportunity to redefine ourselves and change our lives if we are willing to just do it.

She has at least one other book published; it focuses on cooking (in the regular kitchen, not gourmet style) without incorporating processed foods.

I'll sip on my large Sonic DDP and think about it. :)

Not Even a Little

And just like that, I'm waiting at the airport. I'm thinking about all the times, over all the years, that I have waited for one flight or another at either of the Washington airports. The answer: a lot.

On the way to the airport, A-peep jokingly asked if I miss Northern VA (she knows the answer).

Not even a little.

It was a good season while it lasted, but give me a snowy spring in Denver any day.

Speaking of home, this one has been in and out of the vet's office the past few days. <insert emoji eye roll here. Also emoji of girl holding her temples and stressing out.>

Remember how things move very quickly with bunnies? So quickly, that often by the time we even realize she's acting different, she's already pretty "sick"? Well, we and the vet think she has GI stasis, which basically means that her tummy is slowing down. She could have something stuck in it (very unlikely in her case) or it could just have slowed down for some mysterious reason (more likely in her case) and it makes her uncomfortable. Her already-large tum tum gets even larger and she gets uncomfortable.

As soon as G dropped me off at the airport on Friday morning, he took her to the vet, and she's been there, off and on, ever since. She's doing much better but we don't have the all-clear to take her home yet. We're hoping to go get her after I land so that she and I can enjoy Spring Break together. I had planned to split my grading with her.

Cross your fingers.

She hates the vets and the techs, but don't worry. She's not alone.  She has her main squeeze.

As for me, I'm kicking back in the airport, enjoying an adult beverage (or three), people watching, and reading for fun. For fun.

And replaying fun memories from the weekend.

Real talent.

Veggie kim chi! YUM.

Back to reading.