I guess I don’t have that much to say today.  Yesterday was a
low-key day.  I worked around at home for the morning and then ran
errands in the afternoon.  I got my oil changed, went to Kohl’s
and Kroger and then ran home.  I got dinner ready (we had baked
steak so it took a long time) and then Eric got home.  I had a
rough morning, so he was very attentive when he got home. He’s so
sweet!  I felt very loved (and the flag-waving was great!). 
Then we talked along while before we went to bed, which I desparately
needed.

This morning was much better, thankfully!  I put a pork roast in
the crockpot for supper tonight, and we have to be at the church at
7:00 for ministries.  I am definitely NOT ready for drama tonight,
so I need to work on that soon.  Other than that, my comps are
optional work days this week, and we’re on the last two sections of the
book in Basic.  Great fun! 

We left about 4:15 for the farm.  I got home as quickly as
possible from CU and finished packing.  Eric had gotten home,
mowed the grass, and was finishing his shower when I got home.  Of
course, we hit rush-hour traffic, but it wasn’t a bad drive even with
that.  We got to the farm between 6:30 and 7.  When the guys
came in from milking, we had supper and then just chatted for a while.

Pam (MIL) had a meeting on Saturday in Canton, and Larry (FIL) and
Allen went to get fertilizer in Ashland.  Eric and I drove into
Amish country and bought fresh cheese (it’s the BEST ever!).  Then
we came home and hung out until everyone got home.  I worked on a
monologue for an upcoming service and Eric mowed the lawn.  That
night, Grandpa & Grandma Powell came out, and we had dinner with
them.  Then I helped Grandma figure out how to use her new cell
phone, and we all just visited for a long while. We talked a lot about
their recent vacation to Hawaii.  Lots of pictures, videos and
stories from that!

On Sunday, Pam and Allen went up to church early and Larry wasn’t far
behind them.  Eric and I were a bit late for Sunday School. 
It was an unusual service; Pam was in charge because the pastor was on
vacation and there was a missionary speaker.  Then we went home
and had a huge Easter-style dinner to celebrate Easter/birthdays on the
Hogue side of the family.  About 1/4 of the family has birthdays
in April!  They also deep fried a turkey (those are okay…but I
still prefer oven-baked) and Eric and Allen tried to deep fry corndogs
while the turkey was cooking.  Apparently it worked, though the
hot dogs were still a bit cold they said.

Then we mostly sat around and talked until 5:00 when Larry & Allen
had to go milk.  Later, Pam, Eric and I went for a walk around the
farm and then came back and cleaned up the house. By then it was
getting later, so I packed up the suitcases and we loaded up the car
and said goodbye.  Of course, there was much chattering before we
actually left.  I was really ready to go…I was exhausted! 
In fact, I kept dozing off on the way home (good thing Eric was
driving!).  We got home just after 10:15, so I got ready for bed,
returned a phone call that needed to be answered quickly, and then went
to bed.  I slept like a log!

Now it’s today…Eric has the day off, so he was planning to work
around.  I think he enjoyed having one day where I went to work
and he slept in!

Fridays are a good thing!  And today I have workshops again, so my
classes won’t be too stressful (I hope!).  We have a school
meeting at 10:00, though, so I do have something to fill my time. 
I’m leaving CU as soon as possible after my 2:00 class because Eric and
I are leaving for the farm as soon as we can.  It’s hard to
accomplish because I have to leave most of the packing until after work
(because we need to shower, etc., today), so then we end up fighting
rush hour across the city.  But hopefully, I can leave straight
from class, so I can be home early enough for us to miss the worst part
of it!

Yesterday I had lunch with my friends.  The soup and bread turned
out great!  They brought salad (yummy!) and homemade carrot cake
(also pretty good!).  Then we just talked for 3 hours.  Since
I had cleaned up the house before they got there, I didn’t have a lot
that needed done in the afternoon.  So I read a book.  I
actually finished one that I had been reading, but I read at least half
of it yesterday.  Then we had dinner (I finished the book after
dinner), and Eric and I took a walk in the neighborhood.  Then we
watched a little tv and went to bed. 

I wonder if Karen and Erik liked any of the houses they saw yesterday…

I got the garbage out this morning…just so Kim knows!

It was so nice to have a relaxing Wednesday night instead of the normal rushing around.  Neither of us were particularly hungry, so we just scrounged up supper for ourselves. And then we mostly watched tv all night (mostly Mythbusters on Discovery Channel ).  Then we went to bed!

Today I have friends coming over for lunch.  I’m making soup/homemade bread.  They’ll bring a side and dessert.  It’s always fun to host them, but I have lots of cleaning up to do before they arrive!  How does a house get so cluttered in such a short time?  Oh well…

Workshops are very laid back, so I’m glad that my workload will be
minimal this week.  I’ve now officially caught up all the grading
that I’m aware of.  Now I just have to show up at the scheduled
times and lead my students on to brilliance.  Okay…not exactly,
but it sounds good, huh?

Last night, Eric grilled our chicken (which was yummy!) for
dinner.  Then I cleaned up the kitchen a bit (not much really),
and made/sent our small group newsletter for this week.  Then we
started to watch a movie we’d gotten from Netflix (The Big
Bounce).  Not that good really.  Some funny lines, but
overall, not worth it.  Oh well!  Then, (after some great
flag waving!) we read for a while and went to bed.  I had trouble
falling asleep, but eventually I made it!

Oh…and because Eric and I are going to the farm for the weekend, we
don’t have to go to church tonight for ministry stuff.  I’m VERY
glad to have a relaxing evening (no grading, no ministries, nothing!)
to look forward to. 

So  I finished reading ALL of my papers for the week (okay not quite all, but the ones which remain I still have to print off my email and there’s only 1-2 of those).  Now I just have to put grades on them, and I’ll be done grading until they turn in their final projects.  YEAH!

I detected a bit of sarcasm about the Dog Whisperer and Nat’l Geographic.  I’m glad that Trisha has seen the show.  I like it because he tells the dog owners that they’re stupid for treating their dogs like people (but he doesn’t use those words and he has a spanish accent so it sounds better) and then he shows them how to fix themselves and the dogs just stop their issues!  And as Eric says, it’s better than those nanny shows because parents should know better than to let their 3 year old swear at them, but he actually solves real dog problems that you can’t always figure out how to fix. 

Anyway, yes, we watch educational tv instead of sitcoms, reality shows, and dramas.  Truthfully, I don’t watch much on Natl. Geographic, but we do like numerous shows on HGTV, TLC, History Channel, Discovery, Animal Planet, and Travel Channel.  Like I said…I’m weird.  It’s okay; I’ve known for years!

I was a grading maniac yesterday, and I finished all the papers for Wednesday’s workshops. Today I hope to finish the papers for Friday, and then I won’t have to grade again until they turn in their final portfolios!  YEAH!

I took a trip to WalMart as one of my grading breaks to get milk.  I managed to spend very little money, which is unusual for me at Wal Mart!  Today I have a dentist appointment that will be my escape from grading for a bit. 

Last night, Eric mowed the lawn and then we talked about some landscaping ideas he’d gotten while he mowed.  I think it’ll be fun…a lot of work, but fun!  Then we had dinner and went to Home Depot.  We bought some yard tools and water softener salt.  Then we came home and I doofed around for a while (I figured I earned it with all my grading!) and watched The Dog Whisperer on National Geographic Channel.  I know…I’m weird.  Oh well!

I really like spring, but I wish it could rain and not be grey outside!  Oh well…I guess that’s April.  At least the sun is supposed to come out again later today.

Not that exciting of a weekend, really.  Eric and I worked around on Saturday.  We did get some yard work done, which was great.  And he even dug out some fountain grass that I didn’t want anymore, so now I can do something better with that space!  And since it was Easter weekend, we had a drama thing for church, so I had to be at the church for a bit on Saturday night and Sunday morning.  After Sunday’s services, we went to Cedarville for Easter dinner with my parents.  Deb’s brother and sister-in-law were in town, so they had dinner at their house.  But Chris did yard work (including fertilizing) which ruined Deb’s plan for an Easter egg hunt, so they came over to have that at Mom’s house. Actually, it was nice to be able to see the girls on Easter without having them be the center of the entire afternoon. We actually got to sit and chat for a while, which was very nice.

Today, I have to grade.  And I must be good about working on it.  I have workshops this week, so I meet with groups of students about their papers.  Workshops make grading a bit easier because I can work in smaller batches, so that’s nice.  I also need to get more milk, so I think I’ll use that as my excuse to get out of the house for a while later today. But now I must go grade!

It’s a rainy Friday in Columbus, but I did get to walk outside today.  And it’s still going to be in the mid-70’s, so I’m okay with a little rain.  We had a big thunderstorm at 5:00 this morning which woke me up.  I hadn’t been sleeping well already because my jaw has been bothering me, but I also remembered that our bedroom window was open.  So I got up and closed it. 

Yesterday I had lunch with a friend, then met Karen and the girls at the mall.  When I got home, Eric and I hung out for a bit before getting dinner (grilled brats…I love warm weather!). Later we went to Home Depot.  We’re going to try to do some container gardening this year, so we bought some pots and seeds to get started.  I don’t know if we’ll get anything to grow, but it should be fun to watch!

Today I’m going to get a massage.  It was a gift for my birthday from Eric, but I’m just now getting around to going.  I’ve never had a massage before, so it should be interesting…and fun, I hope!  Other than that, I haven’t decided what I’m going to do.  I’ll let you all know if something amazing happens, though!

I’m now on Easter Break until next Wednesday.  Classes start on Tuesday, but I don’t teach on Tuesdays, so I don’t have to go back until Wednesday.  I like that.  And I’ve given myself the day off…no grading for me today!  Last night was church stuff, so we were pretty busy with that.  Come to think of it…I should go clean the kitchen from dinner last night.  We had omelettes.

I have options of things to do today: I have a variety of errands I could run, and I have a couple of different people to hang out with.  I might also run to the mall or to a bookstore.  I really need to call and make a dentist appointment, but I had to wait since they don’t open until 9:00 (I think).  Anyway, I can call them now.  I also need to schedule a massage.  Eric got me a gift certificate for one for my birthday, and I haven’t done it yet.  I think I’ll call about that today, too!

It’s going to be a beautiful day, so I’m very excited about that.  Though it seems that there hasn’t yet been a month in 2006 that has had weather like it’s supposed to.  It’s warm in the winter, cool in the spring, today is more like May.  It’s just crazy!