Lists

Things pissing me off right now:
1. Pictures of tiny animals on social media sites.  Why? Who cares if a sloth fits in your thimble or if a mini hedgehog fits in your pocket.
2. People over 15 who use "lol" all the time. All the time! Actually, that has been on my shit list for years.
3. 1980s high waistlines coming back in style.
4. The saying "It is what it is." Don't say it. It's redundant, therefore, just don't say anything.
5. Christian fundamentalists who write Bible verses on people's Facebook statuses.
(I'm noticing much of my high blood pressure issues have to do with social media. So I should just get off, right?!)
6. Pictures of your ultrasound as your profile pic. Just no.
7. Anything prepared with mayonnaise. Come to think of it, boxed mixes, too.
8. Long academic papers.
9. People who say "...gave a present to Johnny and I" and think they are being grammatically correct.

Things making me very happy right now:
1. The discovery of this picture from 1993:

2. Marzipan and green-chile chocolate cake (not together).
3. Cottonelle toilet paper. It's the best.
4. Quart-sized Mason jars full of ice, water, lemons, limes, and cucumbers.
5. Qualitative research.  Heh heh.
6. The servants in "Downton Abbey."
7. Buffalo meat.
8. Taking turns reading out loud to each other from "The Indifferent Stars Above."
9. One more week left in the semester.
10. Avocados.

Title-less post

I am such an awful blogger. My mind swims with things to say minute by minute- but I never think it's good enough to put in a blog. I have to think more about what this blog is supposed to be for me- a journal, a map, a bulletin board, a creative tool?
My perfectionism is a stumbling block. I'm my own worst enemy sometimes...

And this-

How funny. None of us are able to handle looking into the Arkansas sun. At least the baby has enough sense to close her eyes. Front yard, Graham Street, Prairie Grove. 1978.
I am actually showing off my "new shoes" in this photograph. Trying to look nonchalant about them.

Ides of March Randomness

First day of my spring break and I'm up, of course, at 6:30am. This week has seen me wrapping up two mid-term essay tests, administering a mid-term to my own students, finally finishing an eight-month long project, sleeping erratic hours, thinking I was having a stroke or heart attack Thursday night from stress, doing my knee rehabilitation exercises, drinking copious amounts of El Salvadorian coffee....
The Bradford pear tree blossoms are shaken loose by the wind and accumulate alongside the driveway like piles of snow. Sometimes I look out the kitchen window and blossoms are drifting past like fat snowflakes.
Another of my dad's birthdays has come and gone; I think about the presents I would bring him in the past: lemon pound cake, homemade barbecue sauce, a bottle of wine that we opened and drank at lunchtime and he told me he'd come to the decision that the book of Revelations was only a metaphor...
How many of my own shortcomings have been highlighted in the past couple of months, while I've wrestled with feelings of inadequacy and the years disappearing under my feet.
Trying to take comfort in little things: the basket of antique rolling pins, piles of yarn, bookshelves crammed with my favorite books, the row of glass bluebirds on my windowsill.

http://particularpoetry.tumblr.com/ 

I only have one school-related project to work on during spring break- so I hope to recuperate somewhat, get some reading in, drink lots of coffee, listen to music, find what has been buried beneath the stress...

The Nancy Drew inventory

Just for fun, and because lately two different people have asked me, I thought I would inventory my Nancy Drew collection.

"Blue covered Nancy Drews:" The blue-covered Nancy Drews were published between 1930-1961. They are pretty hard to find. I have two of them. I wish I could find more!

The Ringmaster's Secret 1953

 The Mystery of the Ivory Charm 1936

"Yellow Nancy Drews:" Beginning in 1962, the Nancy Drews did not come with a dust jacket, and the spines are yellow. These are easy to spot and can be found at yard sales, junk shops, antique stores, etc.

The Secret of the Old Clock (1) 1959

The Mystery at Lilac Inn (4) 1987

The Clue in the Diary (7) 1987

The Sign of the Twisted Candles (9) 1968

Password to Larkspur Lane (10) 1966

The Mystery of the Ivory Charm (13)- 2 copies: 1936, 1974

The Clue in the Jewel Box (20) 1972

The Clue in the Crumbling Wall (22) 1973

Mystery of the Tolling Bell (23) 1973

The Clue in the Old Album (24) 1947

The Clue of the Leaning Chimney (26) 1949

The Secret of the Wooden Lady (27) 1967

The Secret of the Golden Pavilion (36) 1959

The Moonstone Castle Mystery (40) 1963

The Mystery of the 99 Steps (43) 1966

The Secret of Mirror Bay (49) 1972

The Secret of the Forgotten City (52) 1975

The Sky Phantom (53) 1976

The Thirteenth Pearl (56) 1979

My favorite Nancy Drew book is #13, The Mystery of the Ivory Charm. I'm not sure why- I've just always loved it! I have three copies that James bought on eBay for me a few years ago. Two yellow spines and the coveted 1936 blue-tweed cover.

I think today is the first day I've been able to fathom the thought that I might make it through this semester. The "side job" of research assistant is taking up all my time. But I just turned in one of the last drafts yesterday so hopefully all that will be over soon. I had been working out really hard this semester and then suddenly, my knee started feeling weird. Last Wednesday in boot camp, we crawled across the floor and spun and raced and jumped---and that's when my knee started hurting. I ignored it. I worked out on Thursday and Friday, and then I ran all the way to the lake and back on Sunday. Then I started thinking the knee thing might not go away, and maybe I should not have run on it. Monday I did boot camp and walked a mile, Tuesday I did weight lifting class and a little cardio BUT ON ONE LEG ONLY...by that afternoon I was convinced I'd hurt myself (it takes me this long to think about things). So I began icing and heating the knee, I bought a complicated knee brace. I skipped boot camp yesterday, I'm skipping Zumba today (but I went to Tai Chi!) and I have a request in for an appointment with my doctor. My sister Erin has had knee trouble before and now I really, really sympathize with her. I can do just about anything with a hurt shoulder or back, but I can't even walk with this knee! I am bummed about gaining back the weight I've lost, and undoing all the fantastic endurance I'd built up. I'm scared, too. And frustrated. I'm in the best shape I've been in for years and now THIS.

Running

I would go over to my Grandmother's house after school and go on a long run with my dad down Bartholomew Road.  He'd say, "You're lucky to be so young, it takes you a couple of days to get in shape. It takes me weeks!" He was younger than I am now.