Facts

1. It’s really hard to sound coherent when your boss calls to ask a question while you’re taking a nap after work.

2. It’s nice to have a boss who doesn’t equate confusion with stupidity. 

Emily

Crazy afternoon

I procrastinated a bit yesterday — other than running three and a half miles and getting unduly angry over a stranger’s ill manners, I didn’t accomplish much.

Today was shaping up to be equally useless, but after a three-hour nap this afternoon, I decided it was time to start catching up, so in the past hour and a half, I’ve done two loads of laundry; cleaned the stovetop, counters, and kitchen table; swept the kitchen floor; cleaned the refrigerator; picked up the clutter from my office floor; cleared one of my desks; and started the process of rendering a little beeswax we harvested last weekend.

I still have to clear this desk, clean the bedroom, sweep the carpets, clean the living room, clean the rodents’ cages, feed a bunch of scraps to the hens, clean the bathroom, take out the trash, Photoshop a bunch of images, burn a CD of photos, update three Web sites, and read the Lesson.

If I get all the housework done before dark, I think I’ll go wash the car and then treat myself to a slushie.

Emily

What women think

Note to the guy who kicked over a little kid’s water bottle while I was jogging at Reed Park this afternoon: You might have thought you were impressing your girlfriend, but trust me — women do NOT think boorish behavior is hot. They may giggle or defend you to your face, but secretly, it makes them uncomfortable, and they think: “I am dating a loser who embarrasses me in public.” And then what they think — especially if they happen to be as supermodel-cute as your girlfriend — is: “I get hit on at least twice every time I leave the house. Why am I putting up with this loser?”

Seriously, dude: You looked like a jerk, and you put your girlfriend in a really embarrassing position. You had a chance to save a little face, and you totally blew it. Speaking as a woman, I can guarantee you that she is going to remember that for a long, long time.

If I were you, I’d go into some major damage-control mode right about now. Send her a dozen roses right now, and go out of your way to do something seriously classy in the next day or so. And by “seriously classy,” I am not talking nice-dinner-and-overpriced-champagne classy. I’m talking join-the-Peace-Corps or rescue-a-litter-of-kittens-from-a-burning-building classy.

Yeah, you’re welcome.

Emily

Hard Day’s Night

I am exhausted. But it’s the same kind of exhaustion I feel at the end of a marathon … or after a day spent doing preservation work at a historic site somewhere on Route 66.

It’s the kind of familiar, comfortable, oddly satisfying exhaustion that you have to earn. The kind that makes dinner taste better. The kind that makes the shower more relaxing, the bed more comfortable, and the morning sunshine more welcoming. It’s a blissful exhaustion that comes from a long day — or a long week — of hard work undertaken with right motives.

Hope your week was as wonderful as mine….

Emily

Folk Thursday: The flowers

When
will
they
ever
learn?

I’m not in the habit of turning Folk Thursday into a crusade, but after reading a few articles about neonicotinoids and their suspected role in Colony Collapse Disorder, I’m making an exception.

Please take a few moments to explore the links above, then sign this online petition asking the federal government to follow the wise example set by Germany and France in banning these neurotoxins. There are plenty of ways to protect crops from agricultural pests without murdering millions of innocent bees in the process.

If you live outside the United States — or if you just want to take another step to make the world safer for honeybees — you can help by buying organic products instead of conventionally farmed products whenever possible.

I thank you. More importantly, those cute, fuzzy, hard-working little girls in my backyard thank you.

Emily

Riffing on Dolly

Normally, when someone is very nice to me, I reward that person by making him the Hello Dolly pie that Sara invented.

Two of my new colleagues who have been very nice to me do not like coconut, so Hello Dolly pie would not impress them.

I could just make French silk instead, but I’m lazy, so I decided to riff on Sara’s recipe a little bit. What I came up with actually tastes remarkably like no-bake cookies:

1 prepackaged graham cracker crust (get the Keebler “extra serving” kind if possible)
Handful of Teddy Grahams or similar (I personally like the Honey Maid bees)
1 stick butter, melted
1 c. quick oats
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350. Cover bottom of piecrust with Teddy Grahams. Pour butter over Teddy Grahams. Add oats, chocolate chips, and nuts. Pour sweetened condensed milk over the whole mess. Bake until browned and bubbly.

I’m not sure it’s as good as Hello Dolly pie, but Ron loved it, and it’s a nice alternative if you’re dealing with one of those poor misguided souls who won’t eat coconut….

Emily

Restoration

“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.”
– Joel 2:25

It’s been a decade since an unsupportive administrator, a duplicitous colleague, and an unruly bunch of tough, street-smart kids shattered my confidence, my dreams, and my heart.

This afternoon, in a single instant, Zaphod gathered up all of the shards, welded them back together, and gave them back to me with a single offhand compliment.

This afternoon, in a single instant, I became the teacher I wanted to be 10 years ago.

This afternoon, in a single instant, my obedience was rewarded, and Life restored to me the years that the locust had eaten.

That instant stands as one of the happiest moments of my entire life.

Emily

Empathy

Sometimes you meet someone by chance, become instant friends over some small, stupid detail, and spend the rest of your friendship marveling at all the other small, stupid details you have in common.

My friend Laurel and I met online several years ago and became friends when I called her for an article I was writing about Afton Station, which she owns. We bonded over our shared affinity for Archie McPhee products — specifically, the miniature pink plastic Cadillac fins they made a few years ago for decorating toilets, bicycle helmets, computer monitors, or anything else crying out for a touch of streamlined class.

Since then, we’ve discovered a litany of commonalities — everything from trivial stuff (we both love sushi; we’ve both grown our own mushrooms from a kit) to big things that actually shaped the way we think (both our moms were Christian Scientists when we were little) — and we always laugh when we discover a new one.

So it was that I checked her blog this evening for the first time in several days and found this post lamenting the recent loss of a small, largely insignificant sign from a fencepost in east Tulsa. Not four hours earlier, I’d thought of the sign, with a sad sigh, as I drove past the spot where it had once hung.

Reading Laurel’s blog entry on the subject, I felt exactly the way I’d felt the evening my best old college buddy and I experienced a Gift-of-the-Magi sort of moment involving an out-of-print book we’d been trying to track down for years.

Next round of sashimi’s on me, Laurel….

Emily

Saturday in the (River) Park

I’d promised myself that if the heat wave ever ended, I would start running again. I hadn’t run a step since Nov. 18, but the temperature got down to 80 today, so I pulled on my Brooks Adrenalines and put in just over three miles at River Parks, alternating between running and walking.

I had a good workout and was surprised at how easy it seemed in spite of the long hiatus. Given my late start, I’m not sure I’ll be ready for a full marathon this season, but I’m pretty confident I can pull off a couple of half-marathons by November. I’ve been trying to convince Zaphod and the Mac Fanboys* to put together a marathon relay team to promote our school at the Route 66 Marathon, but they aren’t having any of it. (Weenies….)

In honor of my efforts today, I think I’ll have some pasta.

Hope you had a good Saturday, wherever you are.

Emily

* The Mac Fanboys are my officemates, who share my enthusiasm for Apple products. This, incidentally, is their ringtone. Clever, no? (And wouldn’t “Zaphod and the Mac Fanboys” make a killer band name?)

Folk Thursday: Jewel

Always liked this song….

Emily