Buh-guh-uhhhh...

Goodness, it's been almost a whole month since I last posted, and that wasn't even a real post! (No, I was not able to recover those six pages, but I got over and and wrote them again. *Sigh*) I'm so busy all the time, and when I'm not busy, I'm either playing catch-up on all the stuff I've missed while I was busy (grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry) or chilling out so I can function the rest of the time. Those of you who know me "in real life" see me occasionally on Facebook; those of you that don't... well, you're probably not even reading this blog anymore because of lack of updates!

Since it's late at night and I can't phrase anything in an interesting way, I give you a little update, in the form of a list.

1. School (college classes) is going all right. I'm not able to keep up with all the reading, but the papers and projects are going just fine, and I like being in class because of the discussions we have. Very interesting (nerdy, English-y, teacher-y) stuff.

2. Other school (middle school) is also going well. Parent-teacher conferences were Wednesday night and all day Thursday, but I'll save my ruminations on that for the reflection journal I have to keep for one of my education classes. If the entry is any good, and would make any sense to someone not in my classroom, I might post it here.

3. Halloween is in a week! My second-favorite holiday ever. I sort of invited myself to go trick-or-treating with a friend and her kids (two of them, 4 and 7) because no one I knew, to my knoweldge, was doing anything fun on Halloween to which I was invited. Anything in town either costs to much, is overrun with old people (like the charity masked ball) or involves heavy drinking at one of the "clubs." No thank you. So I will be Snow White and traipse around with (I think) a princess, a bottle of glue, and a guy with a sword. Yay!

4. NaNoWriMo is also coming up! Yes, I'm going to attempt it despite all my crazy business. I may not reach 50,000 words (for the first time in five years! *wince*), but I do still want to write something during the month of November, and try to make at least some of the write-ins. What is my novel about? Look at my Halloween costume! Yes, another retelling. (Two years ago I did a modern-day Pride and Prejudice, which turned out... eh. All right. Still unfinished, so apparently not good enough to continue after November.) I'm not sure where I'm going with it, but at least I have sort of a plot and a handful of characters.

5. Yes, we've lived in this house for 3 months, and I still cannot see the top of my sewing table. There's always so much to do (especially when it comes to cleaning) and so little time to do it! Luckily, I don't have to sew anything for my costume. I just miss it! I'd love to make even a pair of PJ pants, or hem a curtain, or something! Until the day when I can get to it, though, I'll content myself as best I can with knitting (much more portable, doesn't take up nearly as much space) and other random crafting. (I'm fashioniong a poison apple for Halloween, and I bought stuff to make a Fall wreath for the front door, too.)

6. Sune is wonderful and adorable, of course. She had a bath tonight and is all fluffy and pretty. If she wasn't a mutt, she would be a lovely show dog, I think. She just... makes me happy. I want to snuggle her all the time. (Geeze, if I'm this bad about my freaking dog, how bad will I be when I have a real kid of my own?)

7. This coming week is Red Ribbon Week (sort of like Spirit Week is for high schoolers, but with a "Say no to drugs!" theme) at the middle school. Each day has a themed dress-up day, and I'll try to take pictures of my outfits during the week. It's like a whole week of Halloween for me, so you know I'm thrilled!

8. (Hey, this is Thing 8! Could this count as an 8 Things Friday, just a day late?) I miss blogging. I do little mini-blogs (micro-super-mini!) on Facebook, but it's just not the same. Maybe I could start doing some Wordless Wednesdays like some of my blogging friends, and a Linktastic Thursday/Sunday/Whateverday. That's minimal-ish writing effort on my part, but still some form of blogging and communication with all three people still reading this thing. We'll see, I guess!

Please, please help - Computer problem

Please leave a comment or email me if you know how to do this, or could talk to someone who does. I emailed myself something from school, then opened it today and wrote 6 more pages. However, instead of clicking "Save" when I did "Download File" file from my Yahoo mailbox, I just hit "Open." I typed and typed, and hit CNTRL-S occasionally. It looked like it was saving (the little mouse thingy went round and round). Then I closed it and restarted my computer. Obviously it is nowhere to be found because I'm an IDIOT. WHERE IS IT? Is there any hope of finding it? Restore? Temp files? Anything??? Or shall I do an afternoon's work all over again? Please help! I'm going to go to the corner and cry now.

8 Decades Friday

Yes, you read it right. Not 8 THINGS Friday, 8 DECADES Friday.



Last Sunday, we celebrated my Grammie Joan's 80th birthday.



She was a school teacher (elementary) for thirty-some years, I think, and seems to have taught at least a full half the population of the tiny town where she's lived for fifty-something years. Many people that came were taught by her, as were their children.



Dean of Women at Quincy College in Illinois. Mother. Teacher. Rancher's wife. Grandmother. Catholic. Friend. She was and is many things, and is well loved in the community and by all her family.

Happy 80th birthday, Grammie!