First week done

* Oh my goodness this week has felt long. Well, both weeks since I've been back have felt LONG, last week because of the meetings and the end-of-the-week freakout from the city. But this week was just long because of it being the "shakedown cruise" for this semester. Fortunately, still no major problems. I did have one person (a freshperson) who was slightly freaked out about their lab schedule ("What day of the week is 'R'?") but luckily that's an easy question to answer. (Lots of universities use R to designate Thursday, if they have to use a one-letter abbreviation. Or maybe R is for Ruh-Roh, because Thursday is my longest teaching day of the week)

* I feel like I need to do something relaxing and slightly celebratory this weekend. Depending on how things go this afternoon/evening, I might either make Skillet Mac and Cheese again (yes, it was that good, it's going in the regular rotation) or something like onion soup. I did my big grocery shopping (at Voldemart) the other day and they had bags of sweet onions on a decent price. (Yes, I know most people like stronger onions for things like soup but sometimes the harsher onions don't agree with me). That also means I don't have to grocery shop this weekend - I have just over a gallon and a half of milk in the fridge and that should keep me for a while. (Milk is often the biggest problem because Green Spray resists carrying organic milk, which I really prefer, so that's one thing I have to hit the wal-mart for.)

* I do want to trim around the yaupon hollies in the front yard, and at least make a stab at the north garden. If it's not too hot when I get done for the day today....I'm also going to take all my bags full of yardwaste to the dump. I'll have to pay for it but I just want them gone and I'd rather pay the $14 than get told, "No, you're back on the agenda, there are GARBAGE BAGS in your backyard." Also, with as hot as it's been, I really don't want that stuff to turn into silage.

ETA: the city landfill is open until noon on Saturdays. Awesome. (Most everything else city shuts down on Saturday). I can take my stuff then AND if I get some trimming done this afternoon that can go.

*Yeah, I'm really going to have to toe the line yardwise for a while, there's a nasty little clause in the letter from the city saying that if your yard is in violation again in the coming six months (and I presume that means it gets extra scrutiny), you HAVE to appear before the board. Bunch o' busybodies. And also, I suspect this stuff is very unfairly applied; it seems some people skate through with various violations (There is one street which is really too narrow and curvy for safe on-street parking, but because the person who owns the apartments on that street is Big and Important, nobody says boo. I'm just waiting for the inevitable horrible head-on collison when someone who is trying to thread past the parked cars can't get out of the way of someone who is barreling along in the opposite direction....)

Also I will just note in passing that the neighbors to the south of me have grass in their front yard that is a foot tall. I thought maybe my mowing Monday would set off  the chain of neighborhood peer-pressure, but it seems not to have worked. (And yes, the neighbors are in town; I've *heard* them - they have a teen who likes loud bassy music)

* I have poison ivy on my arms (not bad) and a hurty/itchy spot close to one eye that I suspect might be poison ivy. Oh well. It'll go away eventually. The blisters are slowly healing up; it seems that keeping them covered and keeping antibiotic cream on them speeds healing. (I have a Hello Kitty bandage on each index finger this morning. I wore SpongeBob bandages yesterday because they matched what I was wearing better. No, I don't own any allegedly-flesh-colored bandages at the moment. I figure if I'm going to have an injury, I'd rather cover it up with a piece of pink plastic with Hello Kitty on it than a piece of pinkish brown plastic that's still obvious that I have a bandage on. Perhaps that leads people to look at me a bit strangely but I don't care too much at this point.)

* I want to get back to working on the Queen Chrysalis but seeing as it's crocheted, tightly, out of slightly scratchy and hard acrylic yarn, I think I better wait for the blisters to be 100% healed, because they are right where I would carry the yarn to tension it. I've even had to be kind of careful about knitting when the blisters were at their worst.