The Dining Room

Just about 18 months ago we were lucky enough to find an abode large enough to house all of our 'stuff' and even luckier to have several great friends help us move.

Over the past year and a half, my mother has asked me on several occasions to share pictures of my house. And honestly, I would love to. My only problem seems to stem from the fact that the entire house is never clean enough for pictures at any one time. Even when we have company, there's a room or three that is piled high with a disturbing amount of crud. In fact, much of the dissertation is in a box behind a large chair in the library at this very moment.

It came to me one day, after putting up my new china cabinet actually, that I could take pictures of each room, shortly after it is cleaned, and not worry about the rest of the house. Eventually I will photograph the entire house and family and friends far away will know what my house looks like.

Now, on to the dining room. The dining room is one of my favorite rooms in the house, yet it is rarely used. As far as dining rooms go, it is rather small. The oak table that I inherited from my mother (First it was my mothers, then my brother's, then it was my sister's, until she gave it back to him and he later gave it to me with the instructions that I could only have it if I promised not to bring it back!) is about four feet in diameter. The dining room is just big enough to fit this table with four chairs. The room shrinks a bit when folks are sitting at the table.

But what the dining room lacks in size it makes up for in storage. In fact, the amazing number of closets in this house just blows my mind! The dining room has two, built-in, dish or china cabinets. They are located on the outside wall and frame the dining room window. The cabinet to the left of the window is picture here on the left. You can see my aluminum canister set as well as my aluminum cake plate. The cabinet to the right is an exact replica.

The one on the left contains my Visita Alegre china that I purchased at an outlet mall in Lebanon, MO several years ago to the tune of 90 cents a piece. Fortunately I found a setting of eight pasta bowls, salad plates, cups, and saucers. I even found some nifty serving pieces. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to locate a full size dinner plate. So I use these brightly colored, make me happy plates, as my pasta ware. The top shelf contains a couple of my teapots, my Japanese dish set from Pier 1 that I found at the Salvation Army for $7 (W00T!) and a couple of very nice, treasured Korean pieces that Tree and PD brought to me several years ago. The bottom of this cabinet contains odds and ends: pickle and relish trays, Jewel Tea pieces, and a set of 12 Corelle dishes Crazy Daisy.

The open part of the second cabinet, located to the right of the window serves as my liquor cabinet (too dusty to be pictured!). On the shelves below you would find a collection of glass pitchers as well as an impressive collection of Corelle baking dishes of all sizes. Above, you will find assorted glassware. Left you will see a picture of my Grandma Josephine's Candlewick glasses with some Boopie pieces tossed in. What a treat. Not pictured are some gorgeous, heavy glass, orange goblets that my friend Shannon found and bought for me one day when we were adventuring south of town.

In one corner of the dining room there is a seven foot bookcase crammed with some of our cookbooks. This bookcase is just right of the pocket door that leads to the kitchen. To the left of that door is the new china cabinet. Due center along the back wall you will find my highchair from my childhood currently being used as a plant stand.

The walls of the dining room are decorated in primitive art from well known artists like Grandma Fran and Katherine Mangione. Funky plates and pottery also decorate the walls. Perhaps this is one of my favorite rooms because so many of my favorite goodies and memories are stored here.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Goodness

In an attempt to stay awake till 10:00 p.m. I decided to experiment in the kitchen. My students and several work-study students in the library reaped the benefits of my tasty labor.

I found them to be quite tasty and without the chocolate topping, they were just barely sweet. Give them a try and tell me what you think!

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Crispy Treats
What you need:
Cooking Spray
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 peanut butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup peanuts
3 cups Rice Krispie cereal
1 and 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

What you do:
Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray and set it aside. Spray a large pot with cooking spray. Combine the first five ingredients in the pot. Heat over medium high heat until smooth and bubbly. Add marshmallows and vanilla and continue stirring.

Once the marshmallows have melted and the mixture is smooth you may turn the stove to low. Keeping a little heat under the pot gives you time before the stuff starts to set up! Add peanuts and cereal and stir until everything is well mixed and well coated.

Press into a greased (or buttered, if you prefer) baking dish. Cover with a single layer of chocolate chips and heat in a moderate oven for three to five minutes- just until the chips are melty. Remove from oven and use a butter knife to smooth out the chocolate chips.

Let cool and cut into squares. Enjoy.

Orion's 12th Birthday

Well folks, we're back! And the 101+ degree heat (with indices in the 115 - 125 degree range) didn't kill me. But not for trying! Thursday was Orion's Birthday and we zipped down Highway 13 to Springfield, MO and picked up Highway 65 and rode it all the way down to Conway. We were tired to begin with; cramming five days' work into three so we could run away took it's toll. So we took our time stopping in Gilbert for a hamburger and look at the river and again in Leslie to visit an antique shop. We arrive around dinner time and it was SO good to see Orion! He had been with Meme and MyBob for 14 days at that point and he must have grown another six inches! We had a quiet evening hanging out, watching TV, and snacking.

Friday was the day of the Party! Orion and Meme planned a Hawaiian luau complete with leis. What fun! The afternoon was filled with preparing for the party. The guests arrived around 3:00 to begin swimming. We had chicken, hot dogs, and burgers (thank you John for cooking!) with tater salad, chips, and a delicious chocolate cake (Wow, Meme! Very tasty!). I must admit, I stayed in much of the afternoon- only venturing out to view the cake cutting and present opening. I stayed inside, out of the sun, and worked on K.P. duty. It was just too hot!
Despite the raging heat and blasting sun, I do believe that fun was had by all! Orion's cousins and friends of the family all arrived to share Orion's special day!

(Orion poses with his brand new arc welder!)

Brother-in-Law Stew

Bean Curd Stew, affectionately known as Brother-in-Law Stew.

Last Saturday I had a culinary wild hair and started with Vietnamese Beef Pho for lunch and moved to a Korean comfort food, Bean Curd Stew, for dinner. This recipe is inspired by a tasty soup my brother-in-law made for me several years ago and again when I visited them last and is based on recipes from two books (*see below). It was so good that we ate two huge bowls each and there were no left-overs. My recipe follows.

Brother-in-Law Stew

What you need:

1 quart soup stock

3 to 4 Tablespoons of soybean paste

1 pack bean curd (tofu) diced

6 oz of thinly sliced beef1 small onion, sliced

3 green onions, sliced diagonally

2-3 garlic cloves, chopped (more if you like)

1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil

And an assortment of the vegetables of your choice, sliced, e.g. zucchini, potato. I used carrot (for color), sugar snap peas (because I had them), left-over bean sprouts, cabbage, and enoki mushrooms (canned ~sob~), one rib of celery (for crunch) and napa cabbage.

What to do:

Cut up all vegetables including the onions. Slice the beef if it isn’t already sliced. Cut the tofu to match the size of the cut veggies.

Heat pan, add oil, stir fry meat and garlic. When the meat is nearly done, add the soybean paste and fry some more. Add onions and soup stock and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam. Add remaining vegetables – adding fragile ones, like mushrooms, at the very last. Simmer over a low flame for a few hours. Dish up and enjoy!

Recipe inspired by:

Chang, S. (1997). A Korean mother’s cooking notes. Seoul, Korea: Ewha University Womens [sic] Press.

Marks, C. (1993). The Korean kitchen: Classic recipes from the land of the morning calm. San Francisco. Chronicle Books.

25 Bucks!

Shortly after Mother's Day we headed up the road a few miles to one of my favorite stores in the area, Highway 13 Antiques. I have found all sorts of goodies at Highway 13 Antiques: Candlewick glasses, embroidered pillowcases, cast iron, Corelle dishes, and so much more. On this particular day the boys found goodies for their blacksmithing endeavors and I found a CHINA CABINET!
I wasn't looking for furniture in particular. But I did need to find something for my teacups, they were stacked up on the roll top desk! I had looked at a wall mounted curio-type-shelf for $25 on previous visits, but didn't want to commit. On this particular day I found a lovely hutch of sorts, for $225. A rich maple with a honeyed finish tempted me; the "no-lay-away" sign depressed me. But one booth over I found another hutch. This one looked like some sort of office piece with blood or barbeque sauce all over the front of it. Honestly, it was beat to hell. (I wish I had taken a before picture...) The price was marked down to $25! Could that be right? I took the ticket to the cashier to ask if it was correct and to inquire if the seller of the maple cabinet would do a lay-away.

Long story short, the ugly, blood/barbeque stained cabinet was indeed $25. The owner of the maple cabinet couldn't be raised to answer my question so I left my number and bought the $25 cabinet. To my pleasure I discovered that the glass doors were intact and safely stored between cardboard. We were in Grace, the Kia, so we headed back home. Orion and I returned with Maggie, the truck, loaded the cabinet, headed home, and just about the time I finished the second cleaning (about an hour after I got home), the shop called and said "yes" to the lay-away. I was so tickled with my cabinet that I passed! Besides, the storage capacity of the blood/barbeque stained cabinet was twice that of the $225 maple piece.

So I cleaned and I scrubbed and I gave it the once over, twice over, and thrice over with Murphy's Oil Soap. The previous owners left a few wedding or anniversary napkins. While the hutch dried, I scrubbed the glass doors. A few passes of Old English Lemon Oil and I was looking at a nice piece of furniture.

It was so nice I decided to display my china, originally my mom's china from the early '60s, Midnight Rose! Take a look below. It's gorgeous!

Vietnamese Beef Pho

Saturday I decided I would experiment with one of my favorite dishes to order when I visit a Vietnamese restaurant, Beef Pho. This recipe is a combination of a couple of recipes from cookbooks* as well as my experiences dining out. I was so pleased with the turn out that I snapped a picture before I chowed down. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Vietnamese Beef Pho

What you need:

3 quarts beef soup stock

3 inch piece of ginger1 large onion, unpeeled and halved

3 whole star anise

2 inch cinnamon stick

¼ to ½ cup fish sauce (or to taste)

1/8 to ¼ cup Chinese black vinegar or Balsamic (or to taste)

1 tablespoon chili sauce

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 pound rib eye steak, cut super thin. I used the steak cut for bulgogi available at the Korean market

10 ounces rice noodles, soaked in a bowl of water for 30 minutes

2 cups mixed cilantro, mint, and Thai basil leaves

1 cup bean sprouts

1 carrot, shredded

½ cucumber, thinly sliced

1 lime, cut into wedges

What to do:

Toss homemade or store bought beef stock into a soup pot. Toss in the halved onion, skin on, the anise, ginger, and cinnamon. Simmer for 30 minutes to an hour. Skim off foam. Cool and strain. Return to pot and reheat.

Shortly before you’re ready to serve, soak the noodles in luke warm water for 15 to 30 minutes. Chop the herbs, slice the lime, and clean the bean sprouts. Set them aside.

Crank up the heat under the strained stock to high. Add the fish sauce and the balsamic vinegar to your taste.

Take four large bowls. Clear bowls allow for a lovely presentation of the different colors and textures. Divide the noodles, beef from stock (if using homemade), and raw steak (sliced thinly) among the four bowls. Pour the boiling stock into each bowl and top with the herbs, sprouts, carrots, and lime wedges. Serve at once.

* Henricksson, M. (2003). Everyday Asian. N.Y.: William Morrow.

Happy Birthday Orion

Happy 12th Birthday to Orion Teague Leslie, founder of Kilted Griffin Ironworks.

Last Friday

Last Friday I had the pleasure of visiting with several of our Indian friends (and our our one Vietnamese friend) for dinner. On Memorial Day the Indian Embassy visited the house and cooked up a storm. A mighty tasty storm! I knew I had to invite them back, but this time I would make sure that we cooked for them! I considered a huge, mostly vegetarian, Italian meal, but my friend Manisha, requested to learn how to make fried chicken, mashed taters, and particularly- gravy.

Much of the work (tater peeling, corn husking, cake makin', and roll risin') was done before the Embassy arrived. But while Manisha and John slaved over a hot stove, the rest of us participated in a highly competitive game of Pictionary! Boys against girls. Yes, the boys won!

Dinner was topped off with a great Indian movie and chocolate mayonnaise cake. I had a marvelous time. I can't wait to have the 'kids' over again.

Bulgogi on Monday; Dak Bulgogi on Tuesday

I am discovering just how much I love Korean food. I love how simple, yet elaborate Korean dishes are. Simple in that may of the seasonings are similar from one dish to the next and the most delicious recipes consist of only a handful of ingredients. However, Korean food is complex in its presentation- there are many colorful side dishes to be created and a great deal of thought and energy is given to placing various ingredients in the most aesthetically pleasing of manners. Note: The picture above is only an attempt at creating a Korean meal for my friend Shannon. You may notice the Japanese sushi dishes as 'plates' and the accompanying bowls filled with various 'relishes' (a set of 22 pieces for $7.00 at the Salvation Army!), Meme's old Chinese soup bowls (free!) are ready by the pot of wonton soup, and bowls that John and I made nearly two decades ago hold the rice, bulgogi, and cucumbers. The only Korean items in this photo are the food and the chopsticks Tree and PD brought me from Korea years and years ago.

I was first exposed to Korean food when my sister married PD. Tree met PD in South Korea over a decade ago when she set out looking for adventure- teaching English in Korea. I believe my first Korean 'food' was kimbap, what most Midwesterners refer to as sushi. I was impressed by how quickly PD was able to make these seaweed and rice rolls. I believe I foundered on them that evening. Since then I have enjoyed bulgogi, kalbi, a tubu (tofu) stew of sorts, and a few noodle dishes at the hands of my sister and PD. And now that I live only 60 miles from Overland Park, KS I find that I shop at the Korean market whenever I visit and Choga whenever I can afford it!

Monday is not the first time we have made bulgogi. John has carefully sliced the beef super thin for our feasts on several occasions. The Oriental Supermarket in Overland Park provides packages of rib-eye sliced super thin, and we always make sure there's some in the freezer! We had a feast of bulgogi for the Lunar New Year this year, but the pictures were lost. But Monday was the first time that Shannon had bulgogi. Shannon hadn't been to visit in over six months (~sob~) and I hadn't seen her since Spring Break. One of my favorite things to do with Shan, other than antique-ing, is to cook. Shan's always up for a culinary adventure and Monday was no different.

After cleaning up the breakfast dishes Shannon and I got started in the kitchen. She chopped two bunches of green onions while I scalded spinach, bean sprouts, and zucchini. Within an hour we had the assorted side salads ready and waiting for dinner. Later that night John pan seared the bulgogi while we set the table. Orion loves bulgogi and can eat his weight in rice and steak. We had only a bit of beef left over, and as soon as the kitchen was clean, Orion was back in the kitchen consuming the left overs.

I was very pleased with my most recent attempt at the side dishes. They were delicious and slightly spicy. (Not spicy enough for a Korean or my friend Sally, but just enough to make my mouth feel pleasantly warm.) Since there was plenty of lettuce and sides left, John and I had a meal of dak bulgogi (chicken) on Tuesday night.

I only wish that my brother-in-law was here to share dinner! I know he would be tickled. This summer I plan to practice making bibimbap (but I will need to find clay pots that can be heated for that) and p'a chon, a tasty pancake with green onions (and squid if I have it!).

An Old Friend

During my tenure at the U of A in Fayetteville I made several wonderful friends. One of them is Shaila Rao. We lived in the same apartment complex; we suffered statistics together; and we became good friends. Shaila left during my second year at Fayetteville and I've not seen her since. We swap Christmas cards and occasional email, but I've not heard from her in ages.

I have been thinking about her a great deal lately, especially with the Indian Entourage visit yesterday. Well tonight, while grading the first Point of View Paper for my Foundations of Education and Field Experience course, one of my students cited a recent paper by Shaila on inclusion of special education children! How fabulous!

I had to email her! Shaila, I miss you!

The Indian Embassy in the 'Burg

What did you do on Memorial Day? Did you have a picnic or a barbeque? Did you go out to dinner with family or friends? Did you have a good time? We did!

While the 'Burg is a tiny town of about 14,000 folks, and the University of Central Missouri is considered a small university, we do have a handful of international students. UCM international students have to be some of the nicest folks on the planet. Every fall they cook (yes, cook!) for anyone at the university that wants to come and enjoy a global meal! Every spring they host a multi-cultural talent show.

These international students have to be some of the hardest working and generous students I've had the pleasure of knowing. Several of them volunteer to cook for the Newman Center (Catholic Student Center) on a regular basis.

Manisha, pictured below is a graduate student in Speech and Language Pathology and works as a graduate assistant in our department. From time to time Manisha has brought me samples of her marvelous cooking. And during the past year, she and Orion became good buddies as she helped him on several occasions with his (cursed) cursive, reading, and writing.

Manisha and I are always talking about cooking together, and getting together to have dinner, and yet this past semester was so busy, I had absolutely no time. Finally, we picked a date! I made it a holiday in hopes that I would be home!

(Manisha cookin' up Chicken Curry)

I picked up Manisha and three of her friends at about 1:30, just as it started to rain! Thank goodness we weren't having a picnic! We got to the house and I showed them around and they went to work in the kitchen.

(Manisha, Sadiq, Tanvi (in the back), and Towino smile as they work in the kitchen)

(Sadiq and Tanvi peel potatoes for samosas. Sadiq later made six quarts of lhassi: strawberry, blueberry, and plain)

I was so impressed with how hard they worked and how much fun they were all having. Manisha showed off her "management skills" by organizing everyone and creating chicken tandoori, curry chicken, samosas, pakoras, vegetable Basmati rice, and she applied henna to my hair!

My friends Sally and John arrived at about 3:30. There was nothing for us to do but sit back and watch these students cook up a storm.


Around 5:30 John left to retrieve four more students from campus: Mona, Ankita, and Poorvi (Tanvi's identical twin), all Indian students, and Phat (a young man from Vietnam). Now there were six to eight 20-somethings cooking in my kitchen at any give time!

(No room for me in the kitchen!)

(Towino was only invited for his onion chopping skills! Or so we were told!)

After roughly five hours of cooking we were ready to eat! I couldn't wait! My house smelled great! There were 13 of us eager to eat, eat, eat!

(Manisha stands ready to start the meal!)


(Clockwise from top: curry chicken [short pot], Indian soup made by Sally [tall, shiny pot], 10 pounds of tandoori chicken, samosas, pakoras, and vegetable rice in the center)


(Ankita samples the pakoras)

(Orion and Poorvi fill their plates)

(Sally contemplates all the tasty choices)

I had such an amazing time. Of course, I haven't posted any pictures of myself as my hair was covered in mud and I looked rather scary. We all laugh, visited, ate, and had a marvelous time. I ate too many samosas to count and ate two more before bed! Oh my!

I was impressed by many things yesterday. The first being the amazing taste of everything that was prepared. John and I agreed that this was THE best Indian food we had ever eaten. Yum. The second being that my kitchen was clean before we even sat down to dinner! All we had to do after dinner was put away left-overs and toss the dinner dishes into the dishwasher! Thirdly, I was so tickled by the friendships that these students had forged- their cheerful banter, singing, and joking filled the house. It was a great feeling!

Thank you Manisha for bringing your friends to my house and for cooking for my family and our friends. Thank you Sadiq, Towino, Tanvi, Ankita, Poorvi, Mona, and Phat for your culinary talents, your hard work, the great fun, and a taste of India.

House Sittin'

Four night down and five to go.

I've been hanging at friend's house while she is away hugging grandchildren. It's my job to keep an eye on her dog and two kitties. And I have to say, I love the pet door. They come and go as they please. But I swear, there's a bird in the house today. I hear it, but cannot find it. I am certain with two kitties it won't "be" in the house long.

I've been using my time here to work on the literature review- reorganizing and including articles I've recently found. I need to go to the office and print a few things so that I may also attempt some of the smaller data analyses that I prefer to do by hand: item analysis for the questionnaire, coding of the interviews, and agreement rate between the two questionnaires.

I thought my friend's subscription cable would distract me, but so far I haven't found anything to watch. But I love the music stations. Great genre choices and no commercials.

Back to work! Tomorrow I plan to play a little.

Beautiful Legs

I hate shaving my legs. Really, I do. I went for nearly two decades without shaving my legs only to start again a few years ago. Why? I don't know. I ask myself that every spring when I remove my winter coat!

This spring I thought I would try something new. I read a review about Nivea Sun-Kissed Beautiful Legs Gradual Tan Moisturizer (a very long name for pigmented lotion!) and thought it sounded like it might work. If used daily, it is suppose to increase the days you can go before shaving again by softening stubble and subtly darken your legs. They have moisturizer for fair skin and medium to dark skin. I picked up a tube for fair skin at Wal-Mart for about $7 a few days ago and decided to give it a whirl.

After exfoliating, shaving, and drying off completely I tossed on a very thin coat and waited for it to dry before dressing. The lotion is smooth, doesn't smell atrocious, and goes on easily. But if felt like it took forever to dry. Honestly, I didn't really notice a change. But I didn't expect to. I mean, isn't that what "gradual" is all about?

Day two I forgot. Rather, I didn't make time for it. The fact that I even have a beauty regimen (albeit mascara and lip gloss) totally slays me. But I did notice that my legs were slightly darker. Darn, I should have taken before, during, and after pictures!

Day three I hopped out of the shower, dried off, and rubbed in a second application. I was careful, or so I thought, to apply the lotion evenly and to let it dry before dressing. By the time I got to work I could definitely tell that the 'tan in a can' was working, but drat if it wasn't a bit darker around the ankles, and lighter on the backside of my calves! But I was uber careful! Crap, I hope nobody noticed! That night I gave my legs, particularly ankles, a good exfoliating, in hopes of riding myself of some of the uneven tan.

Day four I abstained... Really, no pun intended!

Day five, today, I didn't bother- too many other things to do.

Ultimately, the jury is out. The tan is gradual. But not as gradual as I though or as Nivea predicted. I got a day five tan with the second application. (Of course, when you're this pasty, everything else seems like an Amazon tan.) I think I am going to wait till I shave again, and who knows when that will be, before I go with another application. I was very careful the first two times to apply the lotion evenly and not to rub it off before it dried, but my legs tell a different story. Next time I will avoid ankles, but remember the tops of my feet. Perhaps I'll even take photos to "blog my shame"!

Has anyone out there tried Nivea Sun-Kissed Beautiful Legs or any other 'tan in a can' product? Share your story in the comments! You can always post anonymously!

Lash Blast

My beauty regimen usually consists of washing my face in the shower and slapping on some moisturizer with sunscreen (when I remember). If I happen to put on make-up it usually consists of mascara and tinted lip gloss. I seriously resist putting on foundation or powders. But I digress. Regardless of how much make-up I plan to wear or what effort I am willing to give, I always try to slap on mascara. The 30 seconds it takes for each eye is well worth highlighting my unusually colored eyes. (They're hazel, ma. Not brown. And almost green, if you make me cry. And nearly topaz if I am up to no good.)

Well, last Friday I made another trip to the city to visit Costco. This time I brought along a friend and we had a marvelous time. However, I think we both worked up a sweat shopping! Well, I had a coupon for $3 off Lash Blast mascara by Cover Girl. Being that I have been a Maybelline Full N' Soft (about $4.50 to $7.00 a tube) customer and a Neutrogena Weightless Volume (roughly $6.00 a tube) customer for decades I wasn't quite ready to buy a three-pack of mascara that I had never tried. Unless the price was well worth it. It was. The Costco price was $13.99 for 3 tubes of Lash Blast mascara. With the coupon it was just about $3.66 a tube. What a deal!

I got it home and there it sat. For about four days. Then I tried it yesterday and again today. Holy smokes! These are eyelashes worth batting!

I love how the Maybelline mascara adds volume, definition, and color. The Neutrogena mascara does the same, but in a more subtle, nearly natural kind of way. The Cover Girl Lash Blast does all that and more. I am impressed! Think fake eyelashes without faking them! I love this new mascara! My only complaint would be the shape of the tube- ultimately the feel of holding the brush. The barrel so fat, it's kind of hard to hold on to.

I'm not divorcing myself from Maybelline or Neutrogena products. I love them. In fact, Maybelline Full N' Soft mascara just received a very positive review in Real Simple last month. And on the off chance that I use a powder foundation, I have been using Neutrogena Mineral Sheers Powder Foundation and I love it. Oh, and this summer I have been using Neutrogena Healthy Defense Daily Moisturizer (SPF 45). I'll let you know what I think.

Long Underwear, Down Comforters, and an Evening Chill

Weather in the 'Burg is so interesting to me that I find that I comment on it on a fairly regular basis! But I cannot help myself!

Last week things warmed up a bit! We had lower 80s and upper 70s. The humidity was wicked, but there was still no real need to start up the a/c unit. Then the thunderstorms rolled in! And on their heels, a cold front. After a few evenings of storm watching and enjoying several magnificent lightning displays the cold front arrived!

The lows this weekend were 40! My bedroom thermometer read 60 degrees this morning! And I was most grateful for my down comforter, which I haven't quite had the time or energy to put up yet!

Princess Lucky Underpants...

Happy Birthday to the prettiest princess this side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge! I can't wait to see Shannon in June when we can celebrate her birthday properly with a pizza from Monetti's.

Mother's Day Bonus

Some of my friends call it the Texas Two-step, but I've heard it referred to as the green apple splatter or quite simply the runs. We call it "Number Six." But Shannon calls it "The Bonus!" The Bonus, indeed! Whatever the case, something did not agree with me Saturday and I spent Saturday evening calling Earl on the porcelain phone. Mother's Day consisted of 7-up until dinner!

What did YOU get for Mother's Day?

Oh, I did get an awesome pedicure from Orion!

Slowing Down

I've graded everything that has been turned in. I had several stragglers show up in my inbox this morning. But they've been taken care of. Now I must post grades to our computer system, complete my annual faculty report, and prepare for my classes on Monday! I should be home in time for dinner at 7:00 p.m.

Hooray!

Last night was our Bowling Banquet and my predictions were correct! Several patches, awards, medals, and good natured heckling rounded out the evening. I had the honor of having the highest handicap series- I am not sure exactly what that meant, save that when they combined my handicap with my actual scores from a game I scored like a "real bowler!" Additionally I earned second place among the women for having one of the lowest games of the season; Sal earned first place! Go Sally!

But the biggest honor, at least to my thinking, Most Improved Woman Bowler went to both Sal and me! Sally, having bowled for only a year, earned Most Improved New Bowler by raising her average 10 points! Go Sally, Go! I raised my average a mere 4 points this year (I had a fall slump, and my averaged dropped down to 99 or so! It was February before I got my average back up to where it was last spring when we ended (102) and I believe those last two big games in April bumped me to a 106! All that aside, those 4 pins were just enough to get me Most Improved Veteran Bowler for 2008-2009! Hooray!

After two weeks of play offs it was good to see everyone and enjoy a meal together. We had dinner at Nathan's Grill in the 'Burg. This ends my third year of bowling! And there's still so much to learn! I've decided I might need to buy my own bowling shoes and maybe even a bowling ball for the next season! Unfortunately I'm having trouble finding a scary bowling ball with skulls and crossbones! I know that would be key to intimidating my opponents AND raising my average!

Grading Blindness

Eleven hours yesterday.

Nine more today.

Need I say more?