1-18-18

There is a new app that compares what you look like to major works of art.

Geez. This is what I have in store for me.

Well... it looks like I'm well on the way already.

Today is Aza's 30th birthday which makes me feel really old.

My baby girl is 30.

That's her on her baba below.... in Alexandria at 4 months old.

1-17-18

Picture perfect postcard from the snowy south. We got the day off, and I took Teensie outside to put her paws in the frosty goodness. I think we got 2 inches or so. I actually woke up at 4am to watch it come down it was so amazing.

1-15-18

I had coffee today with a former student who is now teaching geology at the university. It's nice when former students become colleagues and friends. Geez, my eyes look tired and puffy.

It's Monday a Holiday, MLK Day so I don't have to teach, but all the Mondays after today I will teach.

1-13-18

The pottery studio was open today (Saturday) for us to throw pots for the Empty Bowls project. I painted these tiles for a different project to raise money for the local arts association. I used cobalt, so the decoration will turn out blue. They will be given out to new members of the arts association.

1-10-18

Woke at 4am.

Realized I'd left some folks off the mural.

Researched and printed.

Made bullet coffee and slurped it down.

Left house at 5:30am.

Painted for an hour.

Got home by 7am.

Workers had started on the side porch.

I tried to take a nap-- no good.

Headache.

Got to school by 11am (again) for meeting.

Did lunch.

Got praise from students and department head for mural!

1-9-18

Today was nuts. I spent the late afternoon and evening working on my mural. Five hours total.

This photo above taken of furniture we bought over the weekend. I can't wait for the weather to cooperate so I can lounge out there.

This photo taken this afternoon. We are getting a new floor for our porch. Dan had to pry up all the floorboards with had gaps between each.

1-7-18

The weekends are never long enough. Today we went to church and then I came home and reviewed a manuscript, reviewed a dissertation proposal, and then it was dinner time and I was tired.

Here is a photo of Dan planting an azalea in the church yard.

1-6-18

We got this shelf today! I put some pottery on it and it looks really nice.

It's .3 degrees slanted to the left though.... which doesn't sound like much, but it amounts to enough that I can tell. Picky about things being parallel.

Today I interviewed a potential PhD student while Dan helped me move a bookcase into my office and load up books on it. It's bigger so I'll have more room for books I need to bring from home. It was nice getting the help.

1-3-18

Today I had a mammogram and ultrasound in the morning, and then had to rush to school and look for my key, then paint one more person on the mural, then meet a colleague at the bank. Quite a rush.

1-2-18

Today is today.

My memory has been so bad lately, it's hard to go back and fill in this blog after the fact. Hell, it's hard at the end of a day.

Today. What did I do today???

Thinking.

I had a meeting at 10:30 at Panera Bread.

Then I had a meeting at Mama Mochas.

Then I came home and worked on the mural.

It was very very cold today.

We ate left overs. Tamales.

I ate a piece of cake.

Teensie discovered how fun it is to play with TP.

We watched an episode of Black Mirror.

I updated my blog.

Squirt got home. Finally.

Jes is OK (She got hurt on NYE but she's ok)

Tomorrow I have my annual stupid stupid mammogram. I hate those things and they are no good anyways.

1-1-18

Today my son left for Oregon. It ended up taking him over 24 hours to get home due to a flight cancellation in San Francisco. I cried when I dropped him off at the shuttle- my last child to fly the nest again. We won't all be together for a year unless we can all manage the reunion this summer. Hopefully!

Sister and niece and nephew left too... and it was a sad new year's day.

12-31-17

New Year's Eve--- party tonight at Nana's.

I worked on my mural- Dan helped me hang it, and then he went and walked stairs with Michael.

Here's a sneak peak

At the party were my parents and brother Will and sister Sta and Kels and lots of friends. We left before midnight to get home.

12-30-17

The Cefaly thing makes my face hurt really bad where I've circled. Not sure about this thing.

12-29-17

Got the Cefaly today. Not fun. Hurts so much. Not sure about this electrocution procedure to treat my face pain.
Went shoe shopping with Jes today before taking her to the shuttle to the airport. One more gone. Not good.

12-28-17

My nephew is in town-- with my niece and sister.

My new year's resolution. 

12-27-17

Aza had to leave today.

It was so sad taking her to the shuttle to the airport.

We took this photo before she left-- my parents in the back.

My family.

12-26-17

The game of the season is Catan. I'm not very good at it, and Dan is "red."

See the squirt bottle?

That's to keep Teensie off the table.

12-25-17

Christmas morning traditional breakfast!

We ate, opened gifts, then went to Nana's for dinner.

12-24-17

Squirt arrived!

All my kids under one roof at last.

I played piano for the Christmas eve service at church and then when I got back, dinner was ready because I'd put it in the crock pot. The girls came with me to church, and my mom and dad were there too. I played something like 15 songs.

12-23-17

My student came over with her three children for milk and cookies and presents today. Her 4 year old daughter got my SLR camera and went crazy taking photos of everything. She snapped this one. We ended up working on her IRB for a while. Jes and Dan and Aza played with the kids while we worked. They are leaving to go back to the middle east, so I may not see them again. She is expecting a baby next month.

Today-- let me see if I can recap...

Aza and I went to Old Navy and Hobby Lobby and World Market.

Then we went to Publix for groceries for tonight, tomorrow night, and Christmas morning.

We entertained my student and her kids.

I fixed my mom's necklace with the leather I bought at Hobby Lobby.

Jes and Aza made dinner.

We ate dinner then watched the last episodes of Freaks and Geeks.

12-22-17

I had a day to myself. Dan and Jes drove to ATL to do some stuff and pick up Aza. They were gone for about 12 hours. This is what I did:

Wrapped all the presents and put them under the tree.

Sewed this patch on the baby blanket for my student.

Vacuumed the entire house.

Cleaned all three bathrooms.

Cleaned my office!!!!

Made cookies.

Made three candles.

Practiced my music for Sunday.

Mended Jes's sweater.

Fixed Jes's necklace.

Cleaned and put away every dirty dish in the house.

I felt so productive! 

12-21-17

Dan and I went to the art museum today and this installation was really cool. I'm not sure of its utility--- it makes me think of corn oil and maybe plastic being made from corn instead of from petroleum. Is that done?

I finished the 1900s section of the mural. It's huge. You can't tell from this photo but I had to stand on a stool in the kitchen to get far away enough for the shot.

12-20-17

Jes and I went to the pottery studio today and she threw a pot and I worked on trimming. Then we went to lunch with my friend Jo. I brought her a gift-- a candle I made in a pot I'd thrown and decorated and glazed.

12-19-17

We got invited out to dinner tonight at The Hound. I had a vegetable pot pie thing that was really good. 

12-18-17

I picked this little thing up today. I like the way it came out.  Below is the photo of it after I glazed it. The brown clay makes little flecks come through. I wonder how it would be on white clay.

12-17-17

Sunday. Working on the mural is great--- I finally have time. 

12-16-17

12-15-17

12-13-17

Saw the doctor today and then drove all the way back to Alabama. He wants me to take a bunch of new meds and finally confirmed that my neuralgia was caused by my neck being hyperextended during my thyroid surgery in 2002.

12-12-17

We voted, then hit the road, and drove 8 hours to North Carolina and spent the night with our friends from college. Shell and I were roommates. She introduced me to Dan!

12-11-17

We decorated for Christmas. Teensie's first Christmas.

I felt really nervous today for some reason. Probably because we leave tomorrow for North Carolina. Or maybe because tomorrow we vote for Alabama's next US Senator.