A good couple of days
Yesterday I felt very loved. Had two students stay to watch The Madness of King George with me (the final "exam" in that class was a paper due at the beginning of the exam period, 8 am last day of finals week). That was fun. Then four of my MA students collectively gifted me with a book and a poster in farewell. A PhD student (not technically mine, but I've done a lot of advising since geographically hir research is in my area, though chronologically somewhat later) gave me a dish garden and took me out to lunch. I went to the graduate commencement and had a surprisingly good time as I sat by one of my senior colleagues (JH) and we snarked sotto voce during the proceedings. The only bad thing about the day was that I was on campus for 14 hours, so over 16 hours away total, and didn't get home till nearly 10:30. Juno was definitely ready to see me and have her dinner - SO's commencement went even later and he has a longer commute to boot.
Today I've done quite a bit. Usual shopping (Target plus two grocery stories). Our neighbors finally (after over 2 years) finished reimbursing us for the expense of the fence between our yards - they'd paid about half their share shortly after it was put in, and we'd never bugged them for the rest, had basically given it up. So that was a pleasant surprise. I got my hair cut, also cut SO's hair (with the clippers - wow, those were a good idea). Went to the public library and picked up several books, including a couple on curtains/draperies/shades. Since I'm not yet employed, I can put my time to good use by doing some painting, upstairs at least, and thinking about window treatments downstairs to replace the fantastically ugly curtains in several rooms (there when we bought the house). May or may not make curtains right now, depending on expense, but can at least consider options. I have those papers from yesterday to grade, still. Maybe this evening.
Tomorrow is the 3rd annual Herb Fest at the farm where we get our CSA, and we'll be going in the morning (there's a chance of afternoon rain). Will pick up this week's bag, too, so I don't know what the weekly haul is yet. SO's colleague and carpool partner may come along as well; SO had tried to interest him in sharing the CSA this year, but his wife wasn't excited about the unpredictability of the offerings. Not sure if we'll bring Juno or not; I think leashed would be okay, since it's all outside and normally it's all right to have a leashed dog on the farm. That should be fun, regardless. If I don't finish grading tonight, maybe I'll get some of that done tomorrow afternoon. I started doing job apps yesterday, too, and hopefully can get to those tomorrow/Monday.
Menus for the week are not completely set, since what we get in the CSA will affect veggies, at least. Tonight it's sausages, leftover oven fries, and leftover black bean salad. For other nights, I'm planning Mexican grilled chicken with tomatillo salsa (for SO), hamburgers for me those nights; skillet barbecued chicken at SO's request; chicken piccata; potato salad; green beans which I bought at the supermarket b/c they were on sale and looked very nice; and doubtless green salad, probably cooked greens, and who knows what else from the CSA.
Finally, THANK YOU to iulia_linnea, who wrote a wonderful Charlie/Draco story for a prompt of mine. She was only asking for ficlet prompts, but " A Decent Man" ended up at over 10K. Wow. It's full of great characterizations, magical creatures, and general goodness. Mild NC-17 and not epilogue-compliant, if anyone cares about that. Go read and give it love!
Today I've done quite a bit. Usual shopping (Target plus two grocery stories). Our neighbors finally (after over 2 years) finished reimbursing us for the expense of the fence between our yards - they'd paid about half their share shortly after it was put in, and we'd never bugged them for the rest, had basically given it up. So that was a pleasant surprise. I got my hair cut, also cut SO's hair (with the clippers - wow, those were a good idea). Went to the public library and picked up several books, including a couple on curtains/draperies/shades. Since I'm not yet employed, I can put my time to good use by doing some painting, upstairs at least, and thinking about window treatments downstairs to replace the fantastically ugly curtains in several rooms (there when we bought the house). May or may not make curtains right now, depending on expense, but can at least consider options. I have those papers from yesterday to grade, still. Maybe this evening.
Tomorrow is the 3rd annual Herb Fest at the farm where we get our CSA, and we'll be going in the morning (there's a chance of afternoon rain). Will pick up this week's bag, too, so I don't know what the weekly haul is yet. SO's colleague and carpool partner may come along as well; SO had tried to interest him in sharing the CSA this year, but his wife wasn't excited about the unpredictability of the offerings. Not sure if we'll bring Juno or not; I think leashed would be okay, since it's all outside and normally it's all right to have a leashed dog on the farm. That should be fun, regardless. If I don't finish grading tonight, maybe I'll get some of that done tomorrow afternoon. I started doing job apps yesterday, too, and hopefully can get to those tomorrow/Monday.
Menus for the week are not completely set, since what we get in the CSA will affect veggies, at least. Tonight it's sausages, leftover oven fries, and leftover black bean salad. For other nights, I'm planning Mexican grilled chicken with tomatillo salsa (for SO), hamburgers for me those nights; skillet barbecued chicken at SO's request; chicken piccata; potato salad; green beans which I bought at the supermarket b/c they were on sale and looked very nice; and doubtless green salad, probably cooked greens, and who knows what else from the CSA.
Finally, THANK YOU to iulia_linnea, who wrote a wonderful Charlie/Draco story for a prompt of mine. She was only asking for ficlet prompts, but " A Decent Man" ended up at over 10K. Wow. It's full of great characterizations, magical creatures, and general goodness. Mild NC-17 and not epilogue-compliant, if anyone cares about that. Go read and give it love!