Go! GO! go!

And the hits just keep on comin'!

On the plus side:

• This is the last week of classes at ISU
• This is the last week my classes cook at MCC
• I don't have to grade any more weekends
• Chris sent me REALLY cool birthday presents - Let's Go Canada!

• I got flowers for my birthday (Thanks Billy & Adam)
• I got gelato and Sur la Table gift cards - (Thanks Lori & Rob)
  
• The weather is still nice
• My corn is tasseling and I've got LOTS of tomatoes
• We get a new A/C unit next week (along with a swamper)

On the MINUS side:

• I have lots of grading to do for MCC
• My ISU final is due Monday at 5PM
• I need a vacation!!!

Ok, so life is pretty good right now. I hope everyone is hanging in there - I can see the end from here. May 12 is graduation and the end of my OYO contract with Mesa. Let's hope that this culinary thing pans out and long-term possibilities will develop!

Take care everybody - I'll write again next week!

Jenny

It's my birthday!

Amazingly, it's been only 2 weeks since I posted. I might almost be getting the hang of this blogging thing. Watch out political pundits!

First of all, Happy Easter to everyone! I hope you all had a good holiday and ate easter eggs and chocolate chickens until you felt like you were going to pop! That's what the holiday is all about right?

Easter for us was pretty quiet - but Travis threw me a birthday party on Saturday night, much to my surprise. Betsy got me a birthday crown and balloons, and Lori and Rob brought Gelato. Vince made pigs in a blanket, Ed brought cheesecake, Brian brought Macaroni Salad. We smoked a duck and a chicken, drank the homebrew, and played darts, too! It was a lot of fun!
Thank you Travis! I'm going out for Martinis and Manicures at Furio tonight (since I teach tonight from 4-7), and Travis and I are going out for dinner next Saturday night at House of Tricks. I'm making this birthday last all week! Might as well with the big 3-0, eh?

As far as work goes, I have only 3 weeks of class left, and really, that's a good thing. This semester has been crazy (see previous posts for details...)! Fortunately, I can see the end from here. I have a few assignments to write up, a couple of presentations to do, and of course I'll have a huge mass of grading to do! Fortunately my Iowa State Class ends the first week of May, so I'll have lots of time to grade during finals week. At least, that's the hope.

Graduation at Mesa Community College is May 12, then I will start summer contract work at MCC on June 5. I'll have a couple of weeks to get some yard work done, and hopefully stain the concrete on the back patio. I am starting a stats class at ASU on May 30; it meets from 1-3 PM Monday through Friday. There's not much else to do during June, right?


In the meantime, I have to keep plugging along. :) Here's a pic of my garden flowers - a birthday present from my parents. How cool - flowers that last for months and months! This is a fuschia vine - very exotic looking on my patio!

Have a good week and stay cool everybody!

Jennyany

The Home Stretch

It's Monday, and you know what that means! You don't? Me neither. All I know is that we are officially on the downhill at this point. I have 5 weeks and then I can hang it up this semester. WOW, was that fast or what? I guess I better get cracking on the assignments I need to grade and give to my students!!

Travis and I were busy wrapping up projects this weekend - taxes, working on the door, returning pans to calphalon, taking the Golf to the shop, all the good stuff. We also tried our first batch of homebrew this weekend. Hmmm, looks like we're back to the drawing board. It's OK, but we made a couple of mistakes, but I think we know what to change for the second batch. (For you homebrewers out there, I think our wort was too hot when we pitched the yeast, and I know we didn't get enough "flow through" with the hops. We tried to contain them in a muslin bag and it was too small.)

I am hoping for better results with the next batch - this is definitely a hobby where you learn as you go along, and I am enjoying the Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charles Papazian (the father of homebrew in the US). It's a chance for me to review all my chemistry from college. Who knew? I recommend it for anyone wanting to get into homebrewing - I never had this much fun reading my chemistry books!

So as we cruise along, we're also thinking about when to install our sod, staining the concrete, summer vacation, and all kinds of other distractions. I'll post pictures as we get any of these projects done, but that means developing film, and posting, and sheesh, all that work! ;)

Have a good week, and don't forget that AZ doesn't change with Daylight Savings. We don't need any more sunlight, thanks. So all of you in KS & IL, we're 2 hours behind now. Those of you in Washington, we're the same time zone as you - at least until October!

Best of luck and Cheers!

Jenny