Long Days, Long Nights

Lenten thanks, Day  30

Thank God I don’t live in Iowa!

Lenten thanks, Day 31

Today is my mother’s birthday. She would be 100 years old today. I’m glad I had some time in my life with her, and thankful that most Americans no longer buy the products of the people who murdered her. But I do wish my son, who came along just a year after she died, could have met her.

Time to quit complaining because a minor cold has caused me to fall so far behind that I’m working every day to catch up and still falling further behind! Things could be worse: way worse.

Take a look at this incredible footage from Iowa:

Those are just two of the ten tornadoes confirmed to have struck the state. Makes a little hailstorm seem as nothing.

Seeing this news reminded me that I haven’t seen the $650 supplemental check that was supposed to be forthcoming from The Hartford. Just sent off a reminder to the claims adjustor, but I’ll bet he has his hands full with other issues just now. Many other issues, no doubt.

I’m still playing catch-up with the work that piled up while I was sick. With Blackboard deciding not to play nice with anyone who had the temerity to update their browser, student papers have gotten lost in the vast tide of e-mail that floods my in-box every day. Yesterday I tried to sift through all that stuff, but evidently lost some of them, since several students who never miss a deadline turned up with no papers. That means that on top of the full class of papers I have to read today—also belatedly—another four or five dreary freshman comp papers will come thudding in today or tomorrow.

To gild that lily, the chronic insomnia is back with a vengeance. Haven’t had more than four hours’ sleep in a good two weeks. Yesterday after I planned to spend the afternoon reading the rest of the comp papers so I could spend today reading the journalism papers, but after lunch I was so tired I couldn’t hold my eyes open. So laid down for an hour’s nap. Two hours later M’hijito called and jarred me out of a comatose sleep. By then it was 4:30 and I was so groggy I could barely move around the house, much less think clearly enough to read an awful paper, figure out what’s wrong with it, try to explain what’s wrong with it, and try to attach a fair grade to it.

He invited me to dinner. Shouldn’t have been driving the car, but I never turn down that kind of invite. On the way to his place I realized nooo, right about then I was supposed to be headed to evensong. So when I got to his house I e-mailed the choir director to weasel out of that. Really didn’t want to cop out, but I wouldn’t have been much use in those parts.

So while M’hijito shopped for food and then cooked it, I read two papers, both of which were pretty bad. Still was too stunned to eat much…couldn’t get around all of the wonderful dinner he fixed. Then back home to read the rest of the stuff. Finally into bed around midnight.

Dropped two Benadryl by way of drugging myself back to sleep. It worked: slept till 7:30 this morning.

Guess I need to get off the coffee again. And off the wine, which probably doesn’t help things. And off the whine, too! 🙄

A perfect storm of stoont papers doesn’t hold a candle to a perfect storm of 165-mile winds.