Hey all!

It is Saturday night and I am sitting in my living room, listening to music from the Glee soundtrack, smelling the turkey burgers Lynn is making. (I forgot about the broccoli and overcooked it, thereby ending my contribution to dinner tonight.) The cats are prowling around the apartment, chasing their tiny brightly colored rubber balls. It is pretty lovely and domestic all the the way around.

I have a week and a half left in the term and a metric ton of projects and tests left to do. All of my professors assigned "cumulative" projects that couldn't be started until we'd covered most of the material, which means that we heard about these giant projects last week. Fun times in SDEP land. We grouse a lot as a group, but we're getting it done. Next term I'll be student teaching at the same place I am now, but for twice as many hours per week. Only three courses next term, which I suspect will be nice. Then over the summer I plan to take a geography course (blah) and a sign language course (yay!) and work and cuddle the kitties. Then I'll have a whole year more left in my program. I can totally do this. (Rinse, wash, repeat as needed.) I can totally do this.

My mom is in Jamaica this week with her best friend from home, Eileen. And then she and I are going to MEXICO to see Lizzy, and I think that this is the only thing keeping me moving in the right direction. Poor Lynn will have to help me find a swimsuit, pack, send me to the airport and then be content to look at pictures and hear my wacky stories when I return. Good sweetie.

I love you all, and I hope that I'll see each one of you sooner rather than later. I'll be in Portland ALL summer long and still open for visitors!

-Essie