Category: NaBloPoMo

Now I’m tucked into bed, but just a short while ago, I had the thrill of a second-row seat at the Cirque du Soleil Ovo show. The opening night performance can be described in one word: beautifulmagicalsexyfantasy.

I’m a fan for life! What live performances have thrilled you?

God may have given us memories for December roses, but Kraft gave us Sure-Jell so we might have local strawbs in January!

Are you planning to do some preserving this summer?  I'd love to hear about your canning/freezing adventures!

In which I rely on a meme to fill in for pictures.

Christina tagged me, and it has been so long since I did a meme, and she is such a sweetie, that I had to comply!  The trick is to tell you ten things about me that you don't already know.  This may take a while as I'm pretty wide open on my blog, but you'll think I just zipped this list off since you're reading it after I'm done.  Does that make any sense?  I just woke up from a nap, so I can't be sure.

1. I used to prefer cats to dogs.  I thought cats were cooler because they're more independent and aloof.  Now I wouldn't trade for a cat for anything.  Anyhow, I've got little Coco, who is sort of like a cat.  Not the independent and aloof part, but the sit-on-my-lap-while-I'm-reading part.

2.  Even though I have a nice big desk in my home office, I usually write in my comfy chair.  I've got enough room for a cat-dog to sit with me in my chair (which, yes, I'm sitting in right now!).

3.  I have a scar on my right knee from getting stitches after I dropped a glass bottle when I was a young girl.  My mom was having a tag sale when it started to rain.  I was helping bring stuff in, dropped the bottle, got cut, saw the blood and ran and hid in the bathroom for a while.  My white knee sock turned bright red.  It was gruesome and wonderful the way wounds can be when one is a little girl.

4.  I'm reading Tony Horowitz's Confederates in the Attic on the recommendation of a friend.  I may teach it in my war-themed Composition 102 class.  It's time for me to replace A Star Called Henry.  Suite Francaise is in the running, but then I'll have too much material about World War II.

5.  If I don't make the bed in the morning, I feel like chaos may ensue.

6.  I was born in a blizzard.  Don't fret, my father was able to drive my mother to the hospital in plenty of time for my arrival.  

7.  I have always believed that I am a laid-back person.  Neal informs me that I have a terrible temper.  I'm not sure I agree.

8.  Live performances, especially plays, especially Shakespeare's plays, are the most satisfying form of entertainment to me.

9.  I was once a runway model, if you count a runway in a mall. 

10.  I daydream a lot.  One of the reasons I like spinning and weaving so much is for the productive daydream time.  Is it still daydreaming if your body is working?

Phew!  That took a really long time, and now I have to take my dogs for a walk.  Cats don't generally require walks, which is nice when it's cold or rainy or a girl just feels like getting back to that nap.  I usually see something cool on my walks, though, which is nice on any day!  

If you read this and want to play, consider yourself tagged!

I had plans to take pictures today, but got so caught up in baking and warping that I forgot. I’m hoping the adorable dogs will distract you!

Now we have a giant bowl of clean strawbs in the fridge. The one from the deck I showed off last week? Stolen. I waited a day too long for it!

 I'm so excited to share that a grant that I and two of my colleagues wrote was funded.  We are going to conduct research about outcomes and our college's writing program; I won't bore you with the details.  Now, in addition to writing this new draft of my novel, crafting, biking, and gardening this summer, I have a research project to keep my mind active.  

Before I moved to New Mexico for graduate school, I was a grant writer for a college in New York.  My colleagues and I there wrote and won millions of dollars of grants.  This grant is a small one, but it is the first one I've written for a project of my very own. I'll tell you this: it is a much bigger thrill to be funded for a project I will be conducting myself than for one I developed for someone else!

P.S. this picture was taken at the end of Fall 2009 semester.  I asked students to freewrite for their portfolios about what they learned and would take forward into the rest of their writing careers, then share a key word or phrase on the board.  After they all left the room, I stood for a few minutes and gazed at it in pride.  I was really pleased with my students!

 The "Tough Girls Club" as I've dubbed my little adventure gang, took a bike ride to the lovely little town of Collinsville yesterday.  This time I took Trixie Trek on the ride.  We enjoyed lunch on the patio at LaSalle Market, and I had the pleasure of bumping into a woman I last saw in high school.  We started kindergarten together, and after years of not being in touch, we reconnected through Facebook.  It's pretty cool to see the amazing adult a childhood classmate has become!  I'm often irritated by Facebook and have logged off for months at a time, but I'm lured back by the pleasure of getting back in touch with folks from the past.  

 

I missed yesterday, but with good reason: I got two phone calls that brought excellent news I had hoped to hear. I was so busy going “woo!” and “hoo” that I forgot about the blog. I have to wait a little longer before I can share either bit of news, though.

In the meantime, now I’m spending a lot of time on the deck, enjoying the lack of humidity almost as much as Tilly does!