Thursday Miscellany

* Where have I been, where have I been? I'll tell you: this Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing Resources took a lot out of me. I didn't really want to even see my blog for a few days after that monstrous post!

* And this is the kind of thing that one doesn't proclaim publicly on one's blog with all the creepers out there, but Randy and Jesse, our 19-year-old, have been gone for two entire weeks at Canoe Base in Minnesota's Boundary Waters. This is a Boy Scout High Adventure camp; they both went as adult leaders. And so, you know, life is just weird when some of your people are missing. You kind of feeling like you are floating along in limbo.

* But today! Today they come home! Actually, we all thought they would be coming home tomorrow, but apparently our menfolk miscalculated the days. They drove about 14 hours yesterday and will drive the last 7 or 8 today.

* And then Jesse leaves to go back to college on Tuesday. I am watching several of my friends go through taking a child to college for the first time and remember how incredibly hard that was two years ago. I am always sad to see him go, but it sure is waaaaaaay easier every year! I can hardly believe he'll be a junior!

* Ew. My junior year is what I always think of as my "black year" in college. It was very unpleasant. I am so grateful that year wasn't an indication of how my life would turn out, or how I would turn out.

* Back to happy things. I have been working on lesson plans furiously, mostly for my American Lit class, which is another reason I've neglected my blog.  I am so excited about it! I love my students, and I love American Lit. I'm not the slightest bit ready for everything to start back up again, but I haven't figured out yet how to be on permanent summer break.

* And speaking of lesson plans, I must get back to them. I love these quiet morning hours before anyone else is awake.



I work a lot in my office. Somehow, several weeks ago, the tarantula got moved into my office. It was supposed to be temporary, which in our house sometimes translates into months. Or years. My constant battle these past few weeks has been keeping the kitty away from the tarantula. My fear is that she'll poke a hole through the top of the cage, and one day I'll see a large black spider scuttle across the floor.

Don't you wish you had a tarantula on your window seat?