I had an, if not eventful, then expensive Saturday.  I’m not
feeling very well at all so I mostly laid low.  But I did venture
out and go to the Farmer’s Market
and the Book Thing.   Then I went up to Notre Dame to buy my
master’s hood, cap, and gown (this is where the expensive part begins)
– $113.   My hood is blue and white, the gown has weird extra
parts hanging off the sleeves, and the cap is a little bigger and
padded.  So I think that I will feel sufficiently “masterful” at
my graduation.   I don’t have a picture of what I’ll look
like so here’s a picture of who my degree is enabling me to teach:

EDIT:  I decided that I
probably shouldn’t have a picture of my students on here without their
permission.  So I deleted it.  I’ll have more to share later
via other ways!

I also travelled “way out” to the White Marsh Mall – it’s only
about 15
miles but it’s way out in the suburbs and feels like a major journey to
get there.  But I went on a mission to buy a new pair of
Birkenstocks.  My other ones lasted me 7 1/2 years and have
completely worn out.   (This picture is from last fall, after
I wore them in the rain for 24 hours on the ill-fated Young Adults
camping trip – where it rained INCHES the first night.  I had to
take a picture of them before I pitched them, for memories’ sake.)

So here’s what I got (to the tune of another
$105).

I ended up buying the narrow pair – I’ve never had a pair of narrow
shoes before but they fit the best.  So now I just need to break
them in before summer is fully upon us.  They feel so stiff and
uncomfortable compared to my good old friends!

And in other news, my tomato plant has a tomato, still very green
but a tomato none-the-less!  And I bought a yellow squash plant.

And in other, other news, tonight I watched Because of Winn Dixie.
It’s a wonderful movie.  I would highly recommend it to
all.   I cried a lot at the end.  That may partially
have to do with the fact that my throat feels miserable and my body is
tired but also because it’s just a wonderfully acted and expressed
movie.

So that’s that.  It’s really easy to spend $250 in a day if you just try!  Blessing to you all.