A couple of days...

It's Friday and today I stayed home from work. Between being out in the cold air on Monday night and then talking for six hours straight on Tuesday, I developed a hard, painful cough -- no goo, nothing to actually cough up -- just an incredibly loud, dry bark. That's not the only reason why I stayed home though. The girls had the day off from school for PTC and Suzanne left for Michigan to go hang out with her sisters -- so I took the day off to hang with my lovely daughters and recover my bad case of Barkitis.

It's a beautiful fall day. No clouds, plenty of light, yellow leaves all over my lawn. It's nice. I turned back a batch of papers yesterday and that always makes me feel lighter. I don't collect any more major assignments for another week or ten days so I have a few moments to just breathe. So maybe I'll finish that book I started on my flight out to Arizona or maybe make a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Perhaps after the girls go to bed, I'll watch the Coen brothers' version of True Grit that I bought cheap at Wal-Mart. (I love it. Have you seen it? You should. Hie thee to the Redbox.) Having just a few moments free is a very refreshing feeling.

But then, they're not really free. Every moment I am doing anything else, that means I am not working on my dissertation. That is a whole other ball of wax that I won't go into now. (By the way, "ball of wax?" Who came up with that disgusting phrase?)

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It's Saturday now. I started writing this post yesterday and then had to actually do something with my day so I saved it as a draft and now I'm back. Yesterday, we went to Ottawa, looked around at the Book Mouse, a surprisingly nice and well-stocked local bookstore, and then took in an afternoon matinee of Puss in Boots. We ate lunch at Obee's (sandwiches and soup, my favorite) and then came home for some down time.

Today has been pretty mellow. We woke late, ran a few errands, took naps, and I mowed the lawn. The weather was nice enough that I grilled cheeseburgers outside. (I "grilled out" as the Duggars inexplicably say.) As soon as it was over, however, I cleaned up the grill and bundled it away into the garage for the winter. Same with the mower. It has seen its last mow for a few months, I think. It's already snowing in Idaho so I'm sure it will be here soon.

The other thing that happened today was that we had out chimney repaired. When we moved in, the previous owners told us not to build any fires in the downstairs fireplace until it had been looked at by professionals. Well, three years later, we did that. They came by and installed a new flue and cap so now we can have all the cozy fires we can stand. We never spend any time in our basement so maybe this will change things. Chimney Guy did say the whole thing will need a new crown in the spring. They siliconed the cracks and holes but he said that's only a temporary fix for winter and it will need redoing when things warm up. Sigh.

There's always something to spend money on when you own a house, you know? I was thinking how it must be some sign of adulthood that I have a chimney guy, a tree guy, a lawnmower repair guy, an exterminator, and a carpenter in my contacts list. (I used to just have my dad for all that but now I have this small squadron of dudes I have to pay.) It kind of sucks. But, on the other hand, we have this warm, cozy house with lots of space, tons of yard and privacy, and a really nice kitchen. So I should probably be grateful for what I have rather than complain about what I have to pay to keep it nice and functioning.

Anyway, it's starting to get late and we have church in the morning. Fortunately, these days Maryn and Avery get themselves ready for church without much help. So all I have to do it suit up and get Parker in some kind of church attire and we'll be on our way.