I scored 7 packets yesterday! Woo-hoo! I got there about 9 and left at 4:30. No time for much of a walk, just out to the mailbox and back. Then we went to Atlanta to the High Museum to see the Terracotta Soldiers. There is jazz on Friday nights--it was fun and interesting.

Everybody is being nice to me since I had a meltdown a week ago; maybe I should do it more often! Not really. I still feel bad, but I like being surrounded by pleasant people.

Wednesday night we were invited to dinner at the Porters last night. They are our neighbors in Kenney Ridge. She is a retired professor; he is associate dean (I just found out) and an expert on coral reefs. They had invited former dean Anderson, a genetics professor, and his wife Margaret, as well as our minister, Dave, who used to be a geologist before he became a minister. And they invited us, especially Ray because he is a scientist. So there were a lot of scientific discussions, including some that were interesting. Did you know they have the complete genome of Neanderthal man--and could clone him? If you shouldn't clone humans, is it okay to clone Neanderthals? How about chimps, who have exactly the same DNA as humans, except for one chromosome pair (#2)? Also, in what ways might humans evolve? Karen thinks they are done evolving, since the things that kill us off these days generally happen after reproduction has occurred.

Anyway, it was wonderful to be invited to dinner. I offered to bring something; she suggested salad (this was late Wednesday). I didn't really have time to go shopping for salad ingredients, so she said dessert would be fine. Then I spent an hour looking through cookbooks for something I could make quickly with ingredients I had on hand. A regular cake has to be cooled and frosted, but this chocolate-ginger cake is served with whipped cream. Plus, it's delicious and relatively healthful--no butter, only 1/4 c. oil (it is a small cake, but big enough for 8 and we were 7). So then I had to get to work early enough to leave in time to come home and make it. So no time for racquetball, although we did have a nice long walk--and then walked to and from dinner of course. What a lovely evening for walking in Kenney Ridge!

Beautiful weather in Athens yesterday--our garden is growing wonderfully--Captain is working a lot and enjoying it. Lettuce is the most ready to harvest, but some other greens are coming along--Chinese cabbage and bok choy!

self-portrait with snow (that's a solar light)

I only scored 5 packets yesterday. I kept dozing off. But we did play a little racquetball in the morning. Ray won. I had to be home by 5 for my on-line class--I could have started another packet but didn't want to leave it unfinished, so just came home. Visited some interesting web sites with cutting technology for my class, e.g., bumptop.com. I'm not feeling like I am learning that much from the class, except my own limitations. It may be the $800 price tag that is coloring my vision.

The Captain continues to plant things--we are looking at 32 tomato plants this year! We have been harvesting lettuce already. And I think we will start eating some of the Chinese cabbage soon. It was a beautiful day here, almost too hot for working outside.

I was annoyed because Ray didn't have supper ready until 8:00. I just get so crabby when I don't eat. I would have planned to do something different, but he said he would take care of it while I was at class. And I am still waking up earlier than I would like. I wasn't sleepy enough until after 10 and then woke up again at 5. So now I will have trouble staying awake at work again! I don't know if drinking a Coke helps or not.

I had a great time last night working in the sound booth at the Classic Center for the Dancing with the Athens Stars fundraiser. The guy who actually ran the sound system is union and was enjoyable to work with. They raised $93,000! Isn't that crazy? It was also a fun and excellent show. As a side benefit, it lets you know some of the "stars" in our community--like Courtney Gale, the police officer who was stabbed two years ago and near death, who danced beautifully to "I Will Survive."

Not so much fun scoring essays, but I did pass the qualifying test for fifth graders, with a 72 (actually a pretty good score, higher than previous tests), and scored 3 packets. Hopefully, I can get back up to scoring 6 packets a day and still have some time for cooking and the rest of my life. We did play one game of racquetball, although it was really hard for Ray not to beat me too quickly. I have also gained a pound or two in the week I didn't play.

Sunday's speech at the Fellowship went well. I was asking for additional pledges to meet our budget after cutting staff and reactions were pretty good. We got about half of what we needed Sunday and the rest will come in this week---hopefully!

Also, Ray and I went to see Heidi Hensley at the Melting Point. It was fun. The only people we saw there that we knew were Herb and Myrna (Myrna taught Heidi). It was mainly new songs, which I thought were pretty good, and some covers...including Beyonce...?

Ah, the good old days. Hard to believe it was about 10 days ago!

We have had 80 degree highs several days this week, although it seems to be cooling off again. I have to admit, I don't really want it to be that hot. It's hard to sleep. I slept a little better last night, although I still woke up at 5. What's up with that? I should be sleeping later since the time change. I didn't go to sleep until about 11...

We finished up scoring the High School retest yesterday, and immediately started training for the fifth grade. I thought I was getting the hang of it and it would be easier and less stressful. I did well on the Ideas section, 11/15, but then on the practice test after organization, I did terribly, only 6/15! I will do style this morning, then some more practice essays and see how I do. Of course, fifth grade is slightly different. But it's not like there's a pattern--some I score too low, some too high. Sigh.

Ray's Mom has been sick, some sort of 24-hour bug, we think. I am certainly hoping nobody else in the house gets it, especially me!

I have to make a "speech" on Sunday, twice. I have only a couple more months as President, and I can't wait. However, I think we will weather the storm. We are launching an appeal for a "13th month" of pledges--give whatever you would normally give in a month, one extra time this year. We have also cut staff. Laying people off in this economy is really stressful. All this while launching a search for a settled minister. And I have some challenging people on the Board with me. I guess they don't really know they are keeping me awake at night. They probably behave like that all the time and it doesn't bother them. Running my meeting for me. Interrupting each other.

Here's to spring!

Enjoying the warm weather

What with the warm temperatures, the time change and everything going on around here, I didn't sleep so well last night. I finally got up at 5:40, which unfortunately was 4:40 a few days ago. I am trying to get to work right at 8 or soon after, because today is the end of the retest project. Hopefully I won't fall asleep. I scored 6 packets yesterday, which is about $100. Pretty good.

I met all the family for lunch at the Sultan--except the Sultan was closed (the proprietor was at Food Safety training). Quickly racking my brain on the spur of the moment (there are a lot of fast food restaurants around there, but not much else), I came up with the cafe at Barnes & Noble. The one woman working while we were there prepared our sandwiches and drinks quite effciently and we all had a good time, before I rushed back to work. I left right at 5 and came home. Ray made dinner while the rest of us enjoyed a second day of drink and snack on the porch!

We had a momentary crisis when our satellite TV seemed to be frozen at 7:59, just before Dancing with the Stars, the one thing Elsie had warned us she would want to see. But turning it off and back on solved the problem. Elsie and Vanessa (and Ray) watched it (Vanessa did go to bed before the end of the 2-hour premiere). I was up here, throwing away old papers to make room to archive 2008. The taxes are in the mail!

BIG UUFA Board meeting tonight, starting at 6:30 with Dave's evaluation and moving to the budget crisis solution, a controversial bylaws change and a social action grant proposal.

Ray's birthday

black with sequins (and veil)

Yesterday was Ray's birthday, a lovely warm day. I gave him racquetballs. He got cards from his mother and my mother and his sister Debbie. My parents want to get him a book he had asked for, but they couldn't remember the title or the author's name (Coyne). Amelia has ordered something and it will probably get here today.

I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast (they were pretty good--I have started adding a little cornmeal when I make pancakes, it seems to make them extra tasty). Gramma Lynde enjoyed sitting out on the porch in the sun most of the day. We didn't have to be at the Fellowship this morning, so just stayed here and in fact did not leave (except for walking) all day. This is fortunate, because with the time change, it would have required some rushing around, which we enjoyed not doing. Ray said he wanted to go to a movie, but somehow the day was too short. We did some weeding in the asparagus patch (which I can still feel in my back).

We had our drink and snack on the front porch, and Paul and Tanya and Miles and Don stopped by, with dogs. It was very pleasant. We introduced knock-knock jokes to Miles, who is about to be 5. We were astonished he did not know about them. Of course, then he had to do some himself. "Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Fence." "Fence who?" "House." Which reminded Ray of "How many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb?" "fish." Needless to say, Miles did not get that either. Our favorite knock-knock joke is still interrupting cow, but of course Miles did not think it was as funny as we did. I am sure he has been entertaining his parents ever since!