ho-bag encounter

It’s too early for Spring...but it’s here – at least it’s here for now in the Ohio River Valley.  Temperatures have consistently been above 50 degrees (F) for two weeks, so now what?  The daffodils, Dutch iris, and snowdrops are blooming, my lilac bush has leaves, and the maple trees have their little red leaf buds.  Fortunately, my apple and cherry trees aren’t showing signs of life.  I’m A-OK with Spring coming early, but it’s tragic if we get a hard freeze once things bloom out.  Last spring, a late freeze destroyed most of the apple crop.  We had much fewer apples, but the survivors were bigger.  It was definitely not an even trade off.

My daffodils

happy Dutch iris

     

It’s on my mind to order seeds this weekend.  Having spent all winter drooling over the seed catalogs, I can’t say that I’m any closer to deciding what to order.  I’m half-tempted (perhaps 75% tempted) to plant some flowers in my raised bed this year.  Of course, there will be radishes, carrots, onions, and lettuce...but I think the rest could be pretty flowers...er, well, hopefully pretty.

     

I had a class this morning, and now the entire afternoon is mine to do whatever.  Retirement is grand, to say the least.  There is plenty (really, PLENTY) to do, but I don’t want to do any of it.  Sometimes I get like that.  Maybe what I really want to do is turn on the TV and fall asleep on the couch.  That’s a tremendous waste of a day and something I rarely indulge in, but it’s tempting.

 

Yesterday after classes, I stopped at the grocery store on the way home.  I only needed a few items, so it was supposed to be a quick trip – in and out – which it was until time to drive away.  I no more than turned the engine on to flee the parking lot, when a cart rolled up alongside my car (from behind) on the driver side and wedged itself tightly under the side mirror.  What the hell?  I looked in the rear-view mirror to see a woman getting into her big red-neck truck across the aisle – the only vehicle behind me at all.  I wanted to jump out and let her know of my displeasure, but guess what? I was trapped. I couldn’t open my door.  I rolled the window down and was unable to push the cart in any direction.  I could climb out over the console and get out the passenger side, but the passenger seat had groceries and other shit piled up on it (more than I wanted to move out of the way).  Ultimately, I climbed into the back seat and escaped out the passenger side just as the lady was driving off, I didn’t even get her license plate number...unfortunately.  Yes – she gave me a giant scratch on the back fender and the whole length of the back door.  A scratch on the front door resulted when I wrestled the cart loose from under the mirror.  It’s an old car, so it’s not the new damage that upsets me.  It’s the fact that she saw that it happened, she was fully aware it was her fault, and she just drove off without giving a shit.  I walked the cart over to the corral and secured it there for her...F’ing lazy-ass ho-bag.  She was at least 20 years younger than me, and closer to the corral too.

   

Next week is spring break for University #1.  I am grateful.  Enrollment is way down at University #2, so I don’t have much going on there right now – just three small classes.  Now is the time for me to update my CV and apply for more work.  Now is the time for me to get a jump start on some serious Spring cleaning.  Now is the time for me to shop for a dress to wear to Sarah's wedding.  But first....I’m going to go see what’s on TV and take a nap.          

rat's nest

Susie Homemaker, I am not.  As much as my mind wanders to imagine (sometimes) an immaculate, well-organized house – well, let’s just say my imagination is much more willing than my motivation and heart. 

Today, to celebrate February 1st, I finished packing up Christmas stuff and carried it all to the basement.  At that point, I should have whipped out the vacuum, gave the room a good sweeping and dusting, rearranged everything back the way it was prior to setting up the Christmas tree...but no.  After 14 trips down and up those basement stairs, old KyLady decided to sit down and do some desk work.  But oh Lord, my desk was wretchedly piled up – so bad that it was completely annoying and distracting.  So, I cleared it off, washed it off, filed papers that needed to be filed, paid bills, subscribed to e-statements for those businesses that send me WAY too much paper, and now my desk is marvelous.  Probably not for long.  At least 20% of the crap on my desk was Someone’s shit.  The file cabinet is right beside my desk.  He could file his own crap, but no, he wants the house slave to do it for him.  Where’s my house slave?

So, after screwing around with my desk, I was completely out of the mood to do any real work at it.  I started laundry, and then commenced to put clean dishes away out of the dishwasher.  And then...well, there were plastic food containers to put away, and the cabinet where they belong was in a desperate state.  I grabbed a ladder, clawed everything out of that cabinet of chaos, washed the shelves off, matched lids to the containers, and threw all the orphans into the garbage can.  I took a photo because in less than a week, nobody will be able to tell it ever looked as organized as it does now.

jealous?

My housecleaning strategy is ADD (attention deficit disorder).  I rarely finish any one thing before some other chore grabs my attention.  Probably, this is not the best strategy.  The project manager in me wants to create a detailed plan and task schedule with milestones, but then it would be too much like work.  Cleaning this house is pretty much an adventure, and I kind of like it that way.

Enough adventure for one day.  It’s time to do some real work.  Assignments need to be graded, discussion boards to catch up on, and I have to get a new class ready to open Sunday night.  The time to get busy is now...and I have a nice, clean desk.      

dress soliloquy

I’ve started shopping.  If you know me very well at all, you know that shopping is something I do by necessity, not because it’s something enjoyable.  Some people (Someone comes to mind) LOVE to shop.  Someone volunteers to shop for me all the time.  I’m grateful.  Since we’ve been married, we’ve never even once run out of paper towels, toilet paper, ketchup, laundry soap, or any other of life’s necessities.  That aspect of being married has been a definite positive for me. 

What am I shopping for?  *sigh*   *** really big sigh *** 

I need a dress.  Not just any dress.  Buying a dress is tough enough, but buying a mother-of-the-bride dress is daunting.  Just Google mother of bride dress and take a look for yourself at the stuff that pops up.  Lord, I just want an ordinary dress that is not too dowdy and not too flashy and not too ridiculously ornate...she’s getting married...we’re not joining a circus, and I sure as hell am not the one getting married.  Perhaps if I weighed 60 pounds less, I could see myself in one of those sleek little sheath numbers, or something flowy and romantic, but those styles are not happening on this body.  No way.  Perhaps I just need a Harry Potter invisibility cloak.  A decision has to be made within the next few weeks.  Really, I should probably just take myself to a dreaded mall and try some shit on. 

Women’s clothes are always modeled on young, pretty women who are what...size 2 or 4 perhaps – tall and leggy to boot.  So yeah – any dresses look fabulous on them.  But then you get somebody like me, and take that same dress in my size (what...something between 10 and 16...because women’s clothes are like that), well it might as well be an 8X for what it looks like on me.  This may be one of those cases where we need to go to a mall that has a bar...and have a few drinks before trying to shop...I need a designated driver, for sure. 

Part of the issue too, is that I am a tightwad.  The worst kind, so my brother tells me.  For both of my weddings, I bought a dress that I was sure I’d wear again for another occasion.  Never.  A dress worn in a wedding, no matter what it is or looks like, is always a wedding dress...or so it seems to me.  So, when I splurge on a dress for Sarah’s wedding, will I wear it again?  Surely Erin and Emily will get married someday.  Probably the dress will never be worn again; let’s be real.              

feathered friends

And just like that, Christmas is over, 2018 has arrived, and University #1 starts Spring Semester tomorrow.  My classes are built and open for business, with new “standardized” format and all.  They implemented a new version of Blackboard over the holiday.  It’s cleaner with a more modern look, really better for mobile devices no doubt.  I like it.  Standardization is good, but the changes for my students result in some extra mouse clicks to get around.  They will adapt.  I will meet one of my classes tomorrow morning...assuming we meet.  We have an ice storm moving in overnight which may cause morning classes to be cancelled.   

Last Christmas (2017), Sarah gave me a birdfeeder that sticks right to a window.  There it sat in the box on my shelf for nearly an entire year, but late last month, I took the screen out of the window beside my desk, cleaned the window, and attached the bird feeder.  It’s wonderful!!!  What a silly woman I was to wait so long to try it out!  The big birds, woodpeckers, and squirrels hog the big birdfeeder out by the tree.  My deskside birdfeeder attracts chickadees and my new favorite birds – titmice.  I love to watch the birds and squirrels while I work.

Tufted titmouse

   

Of course, Molly adores the bird feeder.  Her new favorite place is the window sill, but the birds do not come around when she is standing guard.  She has figured that out, so she oftentimes sits below the window and waits for the sound of a little bird landing on the birdfeeder.  Then she pounces at the window from below.  Every few days, I have to clean the Molly snot off the window.  Gross. 

Molly is standing guard

Big news.  Sarah is getting married.  Soon, actually (in just a few months).  I’m excited for her and her fiancée, and for our family to be expanding.  She is stressing over getting things planned and arrangements taken care of, but I’m sure it will all be lovely.  She and I have very different views of weddings, but it’s OK.  Perhaps it’s partly a generational thing, or just a difference in our personalities and tastes.  If I had to get married again...nope, I can’t even go there.  I love Someone dearly, but if something happens to him or he jumps ship for somebody else, old KYLady will NEVER remarry.  Of course, I said that after the first time, and here I am.  Never say never, but this time I mean it with all certainty. 

Erin and Emily have applied to several graduate schools and are finishing the last semester at their respective universities in May.  Sadly, they are scheduled to graduate on the same day.  I’m already disappointed that I can’t attend both.  Someone will go to one and I will go to the other, probably Erin’s.  Someone stresses out to drive in Louisville traffic.  Hell, I hate driving in Louisville traffic, but it’s not nearly as scary as driving in Houston.  I hope both get accepted to their #1 picks.  We should find out before spring.  It’s possible that they could end up at the same university for graduate school.  We will see.

For now, I welcome 2018 and look forward to all that is coming (that I know about, at least). 

                

It's beginning to look

Indeed.  It is beginning to look a lot like...you know...Christmas.  It is only December 14^th, so I’m much less behind with things than usual.  I’m so much ahead of the game, in fact, that I’m taking my lazy ass to the mall today to start Christmas shopping.  Oh, yes, there are some items on order from Amazon, and some more to order...but I’m going to do in-person shopping today.  If you knew me, you would disbelieve what I just stated.  I HATE shopping (unless I’m in a rare shopping mood). Which I’m not, which is also why I’m procrastinating by writing a blog post when I should be kicking things into gear.  What I really need is some inspiration (or at least perhaps, some motivation).   

Our front door

I think today, I’m going to the liquor store. That will be my inspiration or motivation to get up and get out.  It’s been on my mind that a little holiday cheer is just what we need in this house.  The house is pretty much as decorated as it’s going to be, my classes are caught up for the moment, so it’s time to start enjoying the season – I love Christmas! 

I’m going to bake some cookies this weekend. Little brother, Mike, hates shopping as much as I do. A few years ago, he asked that we stop exchanging gift cards – we always exchanged gift cards because neither one of us knows what the other really wants.  We had dinner together a few weeks ago (to celebrate our birthdays jointly), and he reminded me that we aren’t exchanging gifts, but suggested that if I were to bake some cookies for him, he would not consider that to be a violation of our no-gift policy.  Little brother is a bachelor, and he doesn’t have patience to bake.  I will make some cookies for him – his kind of holiday cheer.  His favorite is basic chocolate chip, but I also know he has a passion for Mexican wedding cookies.  I will have to hunt up a recipe for those. 

Erin is coming home next week.  She requested that we bake and decorate sugar cut-out cookies while she is home.  This is something I used to do with all my girls around Christmas time.  It’s sort of a tradition for us, though we haven’t really done it with all of us together for many years.  Sarah used to love to decorate cookies, and was meticulous about making them look...well, almost too pretty to eat.  Almost. 😊  We made stars, angels, reindeer, snowmen, and Christmas trees.  This just reminded me that I have no idea where our cookie cutters are.

OK, enough for now.  It’s time for this old lady to put a hair-dryer in my hand and get me ready to go shopping.  To the mall!  This post is toast.  

time change

I should go to bed…but well, I just made a nice cup of tea and have decided to blog a bit.  It’s not that there is nothing better to do…God only knows.  It’s going to be a heavy-duty weekend, one of those with a mountain of papers being submitted, but at least it’s mostly interesting stuff.  Meanwhile, there is training to do…much self-paced training.  My pace has been no pace…standing still. 

My plants are freezing on the back porch.  I know they want to come in.  I brought in the dracaena earlier this week after performing a bit of drastic surgery on it.  I chopped off its tallest stalk and cut it into three pieces which are now (hopefully) taking root.  Tomorrow afternoon, after my class in the morning, I’m bringing all those babies inside.  My Christmas cactus is blooming, I noticed. The kitchen will be a jungle (again).  

The days are short after the time change.  I HATE IT!!  It’s been an odd fall.  We’ve had lots of warm weather, but now it’s been chronically cooler, so perhaps there’ll be no more Indian summers.  Some trees are still beautiful with red, orange, and yellow leaves.  That’s very unusual for this area, for this time in November.  The maples in our yard are bare, but the oaks are still leafy, maroon and bronze.

Gracie, on guard.

Erin and Emily will take the GRE tomorrow (for Erin) and Saturday (for Emily).  Both are sweating it.  They should have taken it months ago but didn’t get around to registering.  I hope both do well enough to get into the schools where they want to attend.  If they don’t do well enough on this first attempt, there won’t be time to retake before the application deadlines for applying to graduate schools they hope to attend.  It’s exciting and a bit scary to think that my little girls will be graduating again in the spring (God willing, of course).  Four years have zipped by, just like that! 

May 2014 - hoping to repeat in May 2018, though not on the same day (hopefully)

The holidays are upon us before long.  With all there is to do with my classes, training, and recertification preparation, how will I ever find time to clean this abysmal house, decorate for the holiday, and Christmas shop?  I love the holidays.  I just wish we could slow the clock down a bit so there could be less rushing around.  Erin is coming home for Thanksgiving, but Emily has to work extra-long hours over Thanksgiving holiday, and Sarah rarely comes home.  ☹  I’ll just have to go visit her.  

University #1 ends December 8^th, and then there’ll be four weeks to prepare for Spring semester.  University #2 never takes a break between sessions – they cater to nontraditional students (working adults) who just want to get it done ASAP.  That’s how it should be, really.  Time is money with most things.    

come to Jesus

KYLady is taking a bit of a break tonight to catch up her life on this blog.  This is a break from what she should be doing – writing announcements for her classes, planning next week’s assignments and in-class festivities (i.e. lecture\discussion for Monday, and “something” for Wednesday), and grading papers.  With more classes at one time than she’s ever had (13), and more students than she’s ever had at one time (number unknown, but I think maybe around 160), it’s a lot to juggle.  Only three of these classes are face-to-face; the rest are online. 

One of my classes is a group of high school kids – upperclassmen (ok, and upperclasswomen…to be politically correct).  I go to their school three mornings every week and they are getting credit for a college class, which in theory, will save them (or more likely, their parents) money.  A student who enrolls in all the courses for fall and spring could potentially graduate from high school with half an associate’s degree at no cost to them.  All the credit hours are transferable to any public college in Kentucky. It’s a pretty sweet deal. 

However…most of these kids are not mature enough to do college-level work.  It’s not that they aren’t smart enough, it’s that they don’t know how to manage their time, or how to organize their commitments – high school kids have a lot of stuff going on.  They also have this thing where they sit with their friends in class, and socialize.  A month into the semester, it became apparent to us faculty that about 75% of the students enrolled in a college course were failing because they were not turning in assignments, not coming to class prepared, not studying for tests, and/or not coming to class at all. 

Anyway, we’ve all had multiple “Come to Jesus” meetings with them…with limited success.  Finally, early last week, the high school announced a change in policy: for all college courses, students’ parents will be receiving mid-term grades…even for students who are already 18 years old.  I’m not sure how that is possible with FERPA regs.  Regardless, my students have indeed found new incentive and motivation to do their work.  Toward the end of the week, there was a flurry of emails with apologies, pleas, and promises to make up late assignments.  It is good, other than an avalanche of work.

Now that we are officially into fall and the nights are getting cold (though still no frost, fortunately), it’s about time to give up on the garden.  I picked a sack of peppers and stuffed them for our dinner tonight.  I pulled up the last of the radishes.  There are still a few carrots; I’m going to wait until frost is predicted, and then those will be harvested.   Some of the late cabbages have small heads.  I’ll just let those grow for a while and see what happens.  The sun’s angle has changed and neither the garden nor the raised bed get more than a few hours of sun these days.  Tomorrow, I’m picking the rest of the green beans.  Soon it will be time to bring the house plants in from the porch.  I love my plants, but they’re too much for our little kitchen.  I’ll cut back the big ones and trim the vines before bringing them inside. 

Someone and I went to visit little Alice today (and of course, Alice’s mother, Katie, as well).  Alice is adorable – smiling now, and rolling over.  Katie loves to dress her up so that she looks extra cute.  Alice doesn’t seem to mind all the extra ruffles and frills.    

Alice is Princess Leia

Last weekend, I got to spend a little time with Erin and Emily.  Next weekend, I’m meeting Sarah in Berea.  She has a very big gig there.  I’m looking forward to visiting Berea again and hearing Sarah.  I hope we can spend a little time together too…if she has time, and if I can make time.