I'm waiting out the gap between my two Stark classes.  Usually, I just need this time to rest, and today is no different.  There's nothing more exhausting than feeling like a fraud, and it's something I do each Monday and Wednesday in Africa class.  No matter how much I've read on Africa, and I've read plenty, I never feel prepared enough.

Never again will I teach a class on a region I've never visited.  Never.

It's an absolutely beautiful day today.  I wish I was home.  It's opening day for baseball, too, which is always good news.  Rumor has it there's a free game at Canal Park this next Monday.  Unfortunately, I will be teaching a class.  And then, it's supposed to snow by week's end.  Gotta love Ohio weather.

I am having trouble getting a proctor for the exams for my classes that will be held while we are going to San Francisco.  If absolutely all else fails, I will have to let them have it for a take-home exam.  This is not ideal, but it is an alternative if nothing else works. I've posted a request with the school, hoping to find someone willing to do it.  No one has responded thus far.

Spring Break ended up being fairly productive.  I managed to get a whole bunch of my prep work done for my classes.  The two world classes are finished for the semester.  Africa is not, but I'm incorporating a few videos.  I still have two papers to write for gender, and then all of my non-research work will be finished.

Then comes the dissertation...

We also managed to get both the dryer and the vacuum we wanted, despite Target's attempt to derail us.  Yesterday, both Amy and I cleaned the house for most of the day.  We came up with a bag of like nine pounds of dog hair, dirt and cobwebs (not kidding) because of our awesome, ass-kicking, nearly ninja-like sweeper.  I also shampooed the carpets in the living room and the office, and they look much nicer.

For the first time in more than a month, we had sheets and blankets last night that were dryer-dried.  If you don't think there's a difference between dryer-dried and basement-clothesline-dried, I suggest you try the latter for a few nights.

If only our kitchen and basement weren't absolute disasters, we'd have a clean house.  The downright horrible thing I discovered, though, while taking out the trash last night was that our grass miraculously grew this weekend to be shin-deep.  That is distressing because it means that mowing the yard will have to happen soon, much to my chagrin.  That also means it's a matter of time until it's too hot, humid and bug-ridden to be outside of our house. 

Couldn't we just have three months a year where being outside is actually comfortable?  Please?  Is that too much to ask?

Then again, I could ask the same question (with different words) for our finances.  Couldn't we just have a few months where we're not worried?  Unfortunately, getting the vacuum, dryer and fixing the car, hitting the grocery and saving for San Francisco has pretty much ruined our budget until we leave.

Somehow, we are supposed to survive until the 14th on $17.00 of groceries. 

I'm not sure how.  Luckily we are currently stocked with a week's worth or so....