ok people

here is what i should be doing:

1. working on my lecture on south asian immigration to the u.s. for thursday
2. grading papers
3. reading "the namesake" for class on thursday
4. writing my gramma jo a letter
5. wrapping bailey's birthday present

here is what i am doing:

1. blogging
2. making italian wedding soup for my friend mel who i am going to hang out with tomorrow evening

last week, for the second half of the week my boss was out of town attending a conference in new york city. at the end of every day, i wrote him an email filling him in on the happenings of the day. i started to think that the format would be good for blogging. you know, spend some time on sunday mornings recounting to you, dear reader(s) (?) what i did that previous week. sadly, i have not implemented this new system, nor do i think i really have enough exciting stuff to write about after only one week. so let me try to piece together some stuff over the last few weeks:

1. my friends higgins and bobby got engaged. i have known higgins for almost a decade. can you believe that? bonkers. i met bobby shortly after they started dating while we were living in brooklyn. i love bobby. he's the (non dairy) cheese and higgins is the (wheat) macaroni. really. they are great together. not only does bobby have gastrointestinal problems like me (what could be better?), he loves buddha, and he is also secretly in love with our cat larry. because they are all outdoorsy and athletic they ran up the stairs in philly like rocky and then got engaged. here are a few pics of them:





2. last saturday i helped jes's folks completely demolish the bathroom connected to their bedroom down to the wood studs and wood floor. i got there right before 10am and I did not walk into my house until 8pm that night. It was intensely physically demanding work, and my hands and wrists and back and hips hurt so bad i could almost cry when we were done. not only was it hard work, it was completely rewarding work. it was amazing to see the bathroom when we were done and to think "i helped do that." i think i most definitely impressed her folks with my strength and perserverance, or at least made them laugh when i would curse at the tile or concrete as i slammed it with the sledgehammer. they began to call me "donna the destroyer." when we were done, jes's dad and i had the most delicious pbr in a bottle i have ever had, and her mom had a dirty martini. they also fed me lunch AND dinner. both were divine as usual.

3. on sunday i ran errands and did some work in the morning and afternoon and then went to a superbowl party with kim and sarah. it was at their friend lynn's house. lynn is adorable, a lawyer (ooh sexy) and she has one of the prettiest houses i have ever seen in grant park. i mean its like the kind of house you just walk into and feel at ease. there was all kinds of good food (as is often true at sarah & kim's friends parties) and kim and i downed a few crown royal & cokes b/c that is how we roll. i am pretty sure everyone in the room except me was from mississippi or louisiana, but i just said "yall" a lot and smiled. somewhere in the third quarter we headed back to sarah and kim's to watch that TERRIBLE lesbian show we watch every sunday night as some sort of community service or something. then we put the game back on JUST IN TIME to see the game winning touchdown they threw to lexipro (i know that is not his name but that is what i call him). both kim and sarah (more kim than sarah) were ELATED that eli (a NOLA boy) won. i liked how lexipro cried when they won. i like when big football dudes cry. reminds me they are human.

4. this morning i got up as ASS CRACK (i.e. 5am) to finish preparing for class and to get ready and head to the polls to vote. it only took 15 minutes (sweet!) and there were these cute gay boys behind me in line who JOGGED to the polling place. where do you think they kept their i.d.? ew. sweaty i.d. i even took a picture of my vote and my voter reg card with my phone just in case my vote gets "lost." i had a day filled with meetings and teaching, and then after work i headed to this pharmacy to pick up a chicken flavored suspension of larry's heart medicine which is 1/3 the price of the pills. he seemed to like it ok. i am a little timid squirting the 1ml of chicken flavored meds in his mouth but after i did, he licked the syringe, so i think that is good. i was supposed to go over to dawn's tonight to hang out and give her 3yearold son bailey his bday present, but now he has a fever. the last two times i was supposed to see them baby cade had a fever and then dawn had a fever. i am going to try again on friday i think.

5. i feel like sickness is all around me. my students are sick, my coworkers are sick, my coworkers kids are sick, my friends are sick, and my friends kids are sick. i am just trying to drink my juice, take and emergenc every so often and keep up with yoga. i am hoping that will keep me healthy.

yall i wish my blog was scratch and sniff b/c if you could smell how good this homemade wedding soup smells you would fall over. i hope mel and his roomies like it.

what else can i tell you? one or all of the cats is shitting in the hallway. i bought some odor and stain remover and sprayed it all over the hallway and that very same day someone shit right on top of that odor remover. i sprayed it again and no one has pooped yet (knock on wood). so we'll see. maybe its a delayed reaction. i don't think its b/c anyone is sick, and i KNOW its not b/c the litter boxes are dirty, so i am chalking it up to "we miss jes." what if i just pooped in the middle of my office every time i missed jes, or every time i had to have a meeting with someone i don't like. wouldn't that be hilarious (and terrifying if you know me).

i am thinking about doing a little shopping. maybe i will wait until jes gets home for her next visit. i think i just need a few more shirts for work and maybe one more pair of pants. now that i am wearing teacher clothes five days a week i am realizing i have some stuff i never wear. so i want to get rid of it and replace it with stuff i will wear. not a total overhaul. maybe just a few key pieces. i also think i need to get some black work shoes that are not boots or shell toe adidas and are comfie and easy to walk in. i also need to get more formal brown shoes. again, i plan to take my time with this, but i think i have mentally commited to spending some money on this stuff. yes, this is my process. please don't make fun.

ok that is it. i have nothing else to say really. hopefully i will have more to report soon. i am going to a prom with kim on saturday. we might wear tuxedos. that has to yield a few good pics, don't you think?

happy fat tuesday.