Has anyone (being family members) received a package from me recently? Because I’ve sent
a few into the postal world in the past month and haven’t heard a peep
about them.
(This is basically a shameless request for gratitude! But a truly curious request too.)
(Do you remember the movie when they yell that? I think it’s some
cheesy kids movie with animals wearing sunglasses (?) but I don’t know
which one.)
Today it got up about 84 degrees (at the airport). And even now it’s still 77. It felt like a perfect Alaskan summer day – warm but no humidity. I went running when I
got home and enjoyed it. But tomorrow it’s supposed to be rainy
and back down in the 50s again. Poor me. So cold!
Here’s the forecast: “The cold front is headed our way. It will bring us windy weather and
perhaps some rain and a thunderstorm overnight. We’ll be back in the
50s for the rest of the week, and 40s by the weekend. Overnight lows by
Saturday will drop below freezing.” (From the Baltimore Sun.)
I guess I’d better not get flowers for the back porch yet.
I see these women at school wearing high heeled shoes and boots and my
feet just ache looking at them. I used to wear some moderate
heels when I worked at East and if I needed to be dressed up at
Habitat. Now, I don’t even consider wearing anything else to
school and rarely wear any other shoes on the weekend either.
Even to church, all I usually wear are my Danskos. I
have a great pair of Doc Martin lace up shoes but when I wear those, my
feet ache by the end of the day. And they don’t with
Danksos. And besides, I am now so incredibly lazy that the
thought of leaning down to tie a pair of laces is just too much.
So, tonight, I have plunked down $130 to purchase two
pairs of Dansko sandals from Sierra Trading Post. I may not keep
them both but I decided that because around half the school year, we
are roasting due to no air conditioning, Dansko sandals are a good
teaching investment. Plus, I’ve been stressing about finding some
new summer shoes and I’ve been looking off and on for about 6
months. And, I have a big tax return. All good reasons to
justify spending a bit of money on shoes. I’ll keep you posted on
whether or not I
like them.
Here they are! Teaching comfort and style for the hot falls and
springs of Baltimore. Hip Hip Hooray! Thankfully, we’re
allowed to wear sandals to school.
P.S. This post is yet another reason why I wasn’t supposed to
marry Brian, no matter how many hints were dropped my way
(*cough* *Aunt Zona* ). His wife, Gayleen, loves to wear heels
and he finds that really attractive and sexy. Good for him, good
for her. Never would have worked for me!
Currently Listening
A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keeler
I love public radio!
Or at least so thinks a guy on MySpace! 
Yes, that means that I do have a MySpace profile but don’t waste your
time trying to find me – I only joined because my friend Julie begged
us all too. Anyway, today I got this message from a random guy
named “Frenk” who told me that he liked my profile and did I like him
too? Well, seeing as my profile consists of my picture, my
first name, my age, and that I live in Baltimore – I can only assume
that he is basing his “liking” of me on my picture. I must be
pretty darn cute to attract a 24 year old from the Eastern Shore!
(And BTW, he is pretty good looking himself but I’m not planning on replying to him. Don’t get too excited.)
So Sunday night I watched “The Three Amigos,” that really old Steve
Martin movie – I think it’s from 1985. I don’t know how I managed
to live this long without seeing it – according to Kristen, it’s
practically a sin. 
I asked Mom
and she thinks that she first watched it in Glennallen so maybe I was
at college by then. Anyway, one of the lines (and there were more
than one) that I instantly recognized was Steve Martin yelling down at
Martin Short and Chevy Chase, in a high voice, pretending to be a bird,
“Look up here! Look up here!” One of my brothers says that
a lot – maybe Jon? Anyway, a light bulb came on in my head!
Another piece of pop culture mystery solved!
And that, my friends, is all that my mind can handle at 10:00 at night
on a school night after covenant group. I have some deeper, less fluffy thoughts
running round my head but they’ll have to wait for another night when
I’m not about ready to fall asleep at the keyboard. Love to you
all!
I was determined to file my tax return in February – so I did, a whole four hours before it turns into March. Nothing like putting off things until the last minute. (And nothing like e-file to make it possible to put things off until the last minute.)
On March 10th, I will be receiving:
$2,744!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This will make my summer possible. Hip hip hooray!
Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday (a note especially for those of you whose
churches may not be all that focused on the church calendar). Not
that mine has mentioned it much either this year. Anyway, I think
I’m going to go to an Ash Wednesday service tomorrow night at the Cathedral of the Incarnation (Episcopal) that’s just up the street from my house.
Kristen and I were discussing last night what we were going to give up
for Lent. Two years ago I gave up reading fiction – which was
harder than I thought. Last year, I think Lent blew by me, as I
was consumed in the cloud of grad school and student teaching.
Last year, Kristen gave up radio in her car – a hard sacrifice for her
because we love NPR so much. This
year, Kristen is giving up websurfing. She will let herself check
her e-mail and read the Baltimore Sun on-line (our way of getting news
because we don’t have a TV). Otherwise, no Internet.
I think that I am going to give up all forms of sugar. I haven’t
been eating dessert (other than a couple times of deliberate cheating)
since January because Lora Graham and I were doing that together.
But I think I am going to forgo sugar altogether. That means no
sugar in my tea, no jam on my toast, no honey on my oatmeal. I
may be miserable, I may feel much more healthy, I don’t know.
I’ll keep you posted.
Any other Lenten fasting plans out there?
So here’s my summer plans.
School ends – June 16th! 🙂
Fly to MT and hang out with Dad – June 21-27
Back home to enjoy being on vacation in Baltimore – maybe go to the beach?
ASP 30th Anniversary Reunion in DC – July 7-9 (my Apt. 4 roommates will be there!)
Fly to Anchorage – July 10 or 11
Counsel at Tanalian – July 15-24
Back to Anchorage and hang out until around August 5th or so
Fly to Portland to see the newest Judge baby! 🙂 – stay there and hang
out with Mom, Chris, Katie, ?, and the Wilsons until around August 14th.
Fly home and take a week to recuperate.
Report to school on August 21st.
Whew!
Any comments anyone? Does this royally inconvenience anyone? (Or even mildly inconvenience for that matter?)
I’ve had a quite a weekend of confronting much of the sadness of race
relations and poverty in Baltimore and our country – through two movies:
1. Glory Road
2. Boys of Baraka
(This is a independent documentary about a Baltimore public charter
school for middle school boys that actually operated in Kenya. It
won lots of recognition at the most recent Sundance Film
Festival. I sort of doubt that Spearfish will be getting it
anytime soon and possibly not Anchorage either. But once it’s on
DVD, I’ll buy it and we can all watch it together. You can watch the trailer at the website at least.)
See them both. I don’t have time to write more now but I need to
put some of my thoughts down on paper so I’ll be back.
Salmon and Souvlaki 