2:00am Ramblings

I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping the last four nights. I have not been having nightmares, I have not been midnight snacking, I just can't stay asleep. I wake up every half hour or so, all night long.

-------

Grading is over until Friday. :)

-------

Me and my mom took a trip to the pet-store the other day, just because we couldn't think of anything better to do in the rain. While there, we fell in love with a Lhasa Apso. He was so adorable. The bow in his hair made him even more adorable. The fact that he was fluffy and squeezy added to that adorableness. For a split second, I considered an impulse buy. But, I thought better of it.

-------

I'm in the middle of planning a kitchen re-do for my mom. We are simply planning to paint, redo the floors and change out the cabinet pulls. Right now, her kitchen is seventies, complete with yellow laminate countertops. While I can't change the countertops right now, I'm planning something that will make them work (I hope). I'll post pictures when it's finished (probably late March, early April).

-------

I want to go to bed now, but House Hunters is on and I want to see if the couple picks house number two. (I would - it has wide, wide stairs and an angular living room.)

Bed is going to win though... Otherwise, I'm going to end up like this baby tomorrow.

Garfield without Garfield.

SO FUNNY!

Check this site.

and just for a hint:

What a week!!!

I spent some time in the ER yesterday. Everything turned out fine. No worries.

---

I love my job! But, I am in the middle of a painful grading marathon. I should have planned a little better when I was making my syllabus. I am in the middle of grading 88 four page papers (352 pages) that I collected recently ... I collect 88 more four page papers tomorrow. The downer: I have to have them all finished by Monday at 9:30am so my students have a chance to revise before the mid-term portfolio is due (next Friday). For some reason, I didn't realize that I was only giving myself a week to grade approximately 704 pages of writing. Que lastima!


---

I have exercised 6 of 7 days this week. This is an accomplishment that I am very proud of. I want to be healthy and fit, but I usually struggle to get motivated to workout. Since I have been grading so much, this is a true feat! I can already tell a difference in the difficulty level. When I first started, I couldn't run for more than ten minutes without feeling miserable. Now, I can run for 30 minutes without feeling bad at all.

I have set a new goal for myself. I want to run in a marathon. It will take a long time before I'm ready, but in a few years maybe?

---

Lots of people around me are having babies or trying to have babies. I am very anxious to start a family... First, we need to get settled. That's my other goal. :)

---

I managed to get some writing done this week.

---

I'm surprisingly satisfied right now.

On my "to submit" list:

Two brand, spanking new journals... just waiting for submissions. Are they on your list? They should be.

1. Packingtown Review "was founded in 2007 at the University of Illinois at Chicago by a group of Ph.D. students in the English department. The journal features poetry, prose, drama, literary scholarship, and cultural commentary and reflects the UIC English department's interdisciplinary approach. Packingtown Review publishes established and emerging US-American and international writers as well as English translations of contemporary and classic works, especially from lesser-known languages. The first issue is slated for publication in November 2008, and the second in November 2009. After the second release, the journal will be issued biannually."

2. Glass: A Journal of Poetry seeks new, original poems for its second issue, due out in June of 2008, and the third issue, due out December 2008. Their first issue will appear on March 1, 2008 and features 35 poems by 29 poets. Included in the debut issue are Rane Arroyo, Adam Houle, Joseph Hutchinson, Ryan McClellen, Lisa Fay Coutley, Tom Carson, Amanda McQuade, Allison Tobey, and Davide Trame, among others.

14 of the 365 reasons that I love you

To my husband:

14. I love that you sit through shows that you don't really like, just to be with me.
30. You have some pretty sweet shoes.
32. Your family is fun to be around.
80. You're spontaneous! Like when you suggested to go to the beach in March, 2006. Little did I know, I'd come back planning a wedding.
126. I feel safe around you.
128. I can't stop thinking about you.
141. You are always willing to help me with projects I am working on.
203. You were such an adorable little boy.
205. You offer me chocolates, even when the box belongs to you.
215. You can play the keyboard.
244. You love dachshunds as much as I love cats... I think that's sweet.
252. You look good in red.
324. You pump gas for me, so my hands don't stink and so I don't have to stand in the cold.
358. I love your sophistication.

There are many more reasons waiting for you to read again. Happy Valentine's Day! I love you so much.

Flashdance

I finally purchased a new pair of glasses to replace the ones I lost over a year ago. What am I most excited about? I have a funky, plum colored pair coming soon.

~

My mother has strange dreams. Usually, something happens after she has them. We were talking today about a dream she had about my grandpa a while ago. In it, he walked her to a local street and told her never to cross it. He was not alive in the dream, he just said he came back to tell her that. Then she woke up. Two weeks later, a woman was hit by a car while crossing that road.

~

The universe scares me. The actual universe. I was looking at some pictures of the crab nebula, an explosion that happened over 1,000 years ago but that is still visible and expanding. It's strange. I have so many questions that there are no answers to. What's scarier is that I'm actually thinking about the universe.

~

I know it is an unpopular choice, but I'm rooting for Hilary.

~

My favorite superbowl commercial? The bridgestone squirrel. The bug is the best part, followed closely by the littlest sigh of relief.

~

Have any of you watched the new gameshow, Moment of Truth? I'm addicted. I wish it came on more than once a week.