Well, I have fifteen of the twenty papers that were due at 11 am today. (Well, actually 14: one person called up pleading car trouble and PROMISED PROMISED PROMISED her boyfriend would come by later and take her diskette with the paper on it to the library and e-mail it to me. There are so many possible ways that something can go wrong there it makes my head hurt a little, but I'm going to try to be trusting for now. [why she did not ask her boyfriend to drive her to the library so she can send it herself, or to print out a copy and bring it to me, I do not know.])

Anyway. I'm being a bit avoidant. I've read 1/3 of the papers I have so far but need to get to the others. But here's a meme. (Been a while since I did one). I saw it at Set Free, a knitting and contemplation blog of a female minister that I read periodically.

Ten simple pleasures, for me:

1. Coming home on an afternoon when I don't have to go out again, and finding several interesting new issues of magazines in my mailbox.

2. Putting CDs in the CD changer and just working on something - knitting or sewing on a quilt - as the music plays.

3. A totally clean house.

4. Going out in the backyard and seeing that the herb plants and flower plants and tomatoes are all flourishing.

5. Getting into bed at night with an hour "to spare" before I need to sleep (to get my "bare minimum" for the next day) and being able to read a good book.

6. Not having to set the alarm clock. Not having to get up at a set time. (I'm an early bird, but those 5 am wake up times during the week do start to wear on me.)

7. Taking a big stack of quilt books, or knitting books, or craft magazines, and just curling up on my bed and thinking about projects I could do.

8. A Sunday when I can go to church and am not responsible for (a) teaching Sunday School or (b) eldering or (c) making some kind of announcement. I don't mind doing any of those, but it's nice to have a Sunday when I can just go and be a worshipper without thinking about my (many) responsibilities.

9. Used book stores, antique stores, "individualistic" boutiques (where the choice of stuff for sale represents the taste and interest of the owners rather than some corporate focusgroupped thing). Shopping in places where serendipity still exists.

10. Having the time to cook good food for myself. (I went home at lunch today and made a big big salad and washed up some strawberries I had bought. It was good, and you know? It was faster than going through a drive-through would have been. But of course, that's partly because I live less than 5 minutes from where I work).

and two additional ones:

11. The Farmer's Market (which is set to open Friday, yay!)

12. Getting e-mail that's not spam, or getting real mail that's not bills or ads or junk from "debt consolidation firms" or "payday advance" or "check cashing outlets*"

(*those always make me think of:

Mr. Burns: Simpson, eh? How can I help you?

Homer: Mr. Burns, you do this [loan approval] personally?

Mr. Burns: Oh, it's a hobby. I'm not in this for any personal gain, heavens no! By the way, are you acquainted with our state's stringent usury laws?

Homer: Us-ury?

Mr. Burns: Oh, silly me! I must have just made up a word that doesn't exist...)

(Incidentally, those check-cashing payday-advance-loan places are RAMPANT here. Even more widespread than auto-parts stores or dollar stores. It makes me a little ill because I know what kind of business principles they use and it feels to me like they're preying on people who either made bad decisions or had a run of bad luck.)