Outside my window:
Everyone is up in arms about hurricane Alex but outside the sky is blue and there are just a few towering fluffy clouds. It is only 86 degrees with 66% humidity; veritably mild for Houston this time of year.
I am thinking:
I am wondering where I am going to put all the stuff that was in my spare room, now my guest room. When I moved to Texas from Michigan I got rid of pretty much anything extraneous, how is it that I have a TON of stuff that I don’t know what to do with that I don’t use all the time, has it bred, did I secretly buy stuff with money I stole from someone while I was sleeping, how could this be. Hurumph
I am thankful for:
People who love me
From the kitchen:
This weekend I made dark chocolate malt-o-meal and it was amazingly good. It tasted like dark chocolate brownies.
I am wearing:
The usual, scrubs
I am creating:
A guide to the NCCI for my students with information on modifiers and CMS and their wily ways.
I am going:
Nowhere in particular for many days
I am reading:
The Magician’s Nephew by CS Lewis
I am hoping:
I will be able to recover from the disaster of needing a new engine for my car. I have had it less than 2 years and I just (4 months ago) put a transmission in the darn thing, now it needs a new engine. After this I will have a new car.
I am hearing:
The air handlers humming and the sound of some of my students talking in the hall (class got out an hour ago and they are still hanging about)
Around the house:
I need to do a deep clean and reorganization of my room, before the corner dust monsters get me
One of my favorite things:
When I feel deeply pleased with myself or have accomplished something of note I love to go to a swanky hotel bar and drink really fine bourbon and smoke a cigar all alone.
A few plans for the rest of the week:
Marinate and grill chicken thighs that I ran out of time for on Sunday
Words I am pondering:
“What good is a magic ring that lets you see other worlds if you are too afraid to look at them when you get there” CS Lewis “The Magician’s Nephew”
Here is a picture I am sharing:

I went kite flying and here is the kite

My summer as a slacker

Today is my last day of school for awhile. I have decided to take the summer off from the school I attend. Shocking, isn’t it? I have been going to college now for 6 years, year round nonstop. Why is this taking so long, you may wonder, the answer is that pesky thing called work. For several years I could only take 1 or 2 classes at a time. This period was seriously slow going for my education. For the last little while I have been going to school full time and now as I am almost done, I am taking the summer off. For the next 3 months there will be no crazed studying, no cranking out of 18 essays a week, no mass undertakings of writing about the minutia (with great zeal I might add) of health care and the business of medicine.
What am I going to do with myself? How will I cope not being constantly under a deadline, not having to produce hundreds of pages of writing? I don’t know but my guess is it will involve napping, reading , painting and with a little luck some travel. Who knows, I may get all wild and crazy and write some short stories.
Unlike public school teachers I do have to work over the summer. I may revamp some of my lesson plans in my spare time, or I may do no such thing. I like having the option.

There are so many things I WANT to do they are in no particular order:

1. I really want to do some in depth reading on Germanic myths and about the cult of Odin.

2. I want to refresh my Latin and translate at least 2 chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (yes I am that much of a geek that I have a few of the Harry Potter books in Latin),

3. I want to reread the Silmarillion (after reading about the Germanic myths to see how they are related),

4. I want to paint- I have been so busy I haven’t made a single painting since I started school full time.

5. I want to cook and try out new recipes.

6. I want to reorganize and deep clean my room and perhaps paint one of the walls a good color.

7. I want to tighten up Lily’s training.

8. I want to go camping.

9. I want to get some IT certifications so I can make some money doing tech support for roll outs.

More than all that though I want to have the weekend open before me to do whatever I want or nothing at all. I don’t want to think about schedules and plans and breaking down larger tasks. I want to be kid like (as least for 1 day a week) and just be. I hope I can be still enough to enjoy that.