updatarama

Sorry I've been so non-updatey. Things have been busy, and I also haven't been teaching as much as I was in for the past year. Here's a quick look at what's been going on (and more updates to follow, on specific subjects).

Here's the general update on life. We are almost done staining the house, though I think we're on hold for a few days until the likelihood of rain blows over. It looks pretty good. I about cried when I laid on the first few strokes--it looked so orange! But it mellowed as it dried, and now it's a nice warm brown (semitransparent). The inside of our house still looks like the set from That '70s Show, but that's ok. One step at a time. We're going to do the main bathroom this winter, and JC's family is giving us a clawfoot tub that they pulled out of his great-granny's house a few weeks ago! :)

Our garden is doing well, though we've made minimal progress on the (grass-free) "yarden." The yarden deserves an entry all its own, but let's just say that, due to my husband's grass allergy, we're trying to replace our yard with flowers that we can walk on and alternative ground covers, like ajuga and clover. Some day, I think I'll start a business selling plants that are great for ground cover, but hard to buy--violets are a good example. I'll call this business "Please Tread on Me" and use that Revolutionary snake thing as an icon. The veggies are looking good--we planted late, but already have a few tomatoes, a summer squash, a pickling cucumber, and a bell pepper.

I had my wisdom teeth out the week before last, and my mouth is still a little sore. Apparently they had a hard time getting them out. It was seriously painful. The craziest thing about the wisdom teeth is that I didn't have *any*, not even the little nubbins where they would form, when I had my last Xrays two years ago. My former dentist thought I would never get them. Then six months ago, there they were on the Xray, bigger than any of my other teeth! I've also grown an inch this year (after being an even 5' since I was about 16, I'm now 5'1", no cheating!). When I told my friend Jack about this, he said, "Marriage. It's a growing experience." That's one way of looking at it.

After I had the wisdom teeth yoinked, we spent a few days in the Canaan Valley with my in-laws, in a rented "cabin" (four times the size of my house...). I was happy to recouperate there, and to spend time with JC's family. They're good people, and I was grateful to them for taking care of me.

In other EXCITING news, my manager's manager approved my trip to Ghost Ranch for the writing festival in October!! Ghost Ranch is, if I'm not mistaken, Georgia O'Keefe's old house or something, in New Mexico. A good writer friend of mine, Colleen Anderson, offered me a tuition scholarship, and now my work is going to pay for my plane ticket and let me take three days as "personal development." That's about the coolest thing ever. The workshop I'm hoping to take (need to get my registration in before I will know for sure) is called "The Sacred in Everyday Life," taught by Laura Apol. It sounds sort of like what I'm into, yes?

Ok, I'm going to stop rambling and go write a few letters that I've been meaning to get to. Ciao.