It rained so much today that I drove over a fully submerged speed bump.

I was going slow and saw the yellow paint, but the whole time I was saying to myself, "This can't be good for my car. This can't be good for my car."

Today would have been perfect: day-off, almost finished book, plenty of laundry to make me feel productive, pouring rain on the other side of the windows.

That is, until a certain someone turned his bright blue eyes towards me and pleaded with me to drive him to class, twice. You see, if he drives, he has to park about a block away from his building; if I drive him, he ends up about 10 feet from the front door.

I tried to give him a cost-benefit analysis. If he drives, only he gets soaking wet. If I drive, we both get wet walking from our front door to our car (and back, for me). I should have known better than to try to outsmart a lawyer.

So that brings me back to driving my car into hazardous conditions. And tromping through the small ecosystems that used to be our sidewalks. And walking into a tree branch (my head was down to keep the rain out of my face).

But now I'm back, with dry clothes and my still unfinished book.

party's over.

My first party was a success!

This weekend I threw a party to finish off our summer reading program. I was volunteered, well maybe even forced, to head up the party planning.

It was full of pizza, games, and twisty balloons. The party, not the party planning.

For once, I didn't have to station myself at the balloon area. Instead, I was running in crazy circles organizing games, talking with parents, overseeing the cake cutting, making sure no one killed anyone else.

I got a little worried when we started with about 15 people total, but the kids kept sneaking in throughout the afternoon. I think they may have even multiplied when we pulled out the balloon dogs and hats.

I have to say that I'm rather proud of myself, although I'd have to credit my success to years of following my mom through her own crazy parties. As fun as it was, I'm glad that there aren't any more parties in my near future.

Can someone please mail me a jar of homemade applesauce? I just cannot handle feeling the weather cool (even if it is just down into the 80s) and the leaves tempting to turn without the taste of fresh applesauce.

I've considered planting my own apple tree outside my apartment window, but I don't think that it will grow big enough to give me applesauce before we move.

I've been thinking about making something pumpkin (cheesecake, bread, bars) but there's one necessary step between summer and pumpkins that is missing: applesauce.

Chunky, warm applesauce straight from orchard to kitchen to mouth.

on the news

I was almost on tv today!

Okay, well I could have been on tv today, except that I decided that sleeping-in was better for my overall health and wellness.

But the point is that a tv station came to my work this morning to do a special about study skills and homework. Fortunately, one of my co-workers who is much more knowledgeable and talented (and has a tv-worthy wardrobe) stepped up to do the interview.

If I would have gone into work early this morning, I would have been able to watch the lights-camera-action. Instead I'll be watching it on the news next week. I'm okay with that. I've never had stardom in my future goals.

And like I said, sleep is clearly important. That and mopping up my bathroom floor from yesterday's plumbing disaster (I should thank my husband/plumber for keeping me sane for that one).

But you can still have my autograph if you want it. I'm practically famous.

A Taste of Oregon

This is a special guest post from the Aspiring Esquire.

Over the last few days I have become aware of the fact that my wife really really misses Oregon. So, in order to curb my wife's increasing state of homesickness, I have developed a three step plan to make today more like a day in Oregon.

Step 1: Wear my Oregon ducks shirt. I am sure there are plenty of Oregonians wearing duck colors today.

Step 2: Discover that Geron's favorite take n bake pizza place (you know that one that started in Oregon) has now opened in VB, the first one in the state. In fact they had their grand opening this weekend. So I went ahead a bought a five meat stuffed pizza. Sounds good huh.

Step 3: Watch Oregon State play football on espn. Okay I have to admit this one is more for me than for Geron.

Well, our bikes and lawn chairs spent the night in our living room last night, accompanied by several extra containers of water. But the world looks the same outside this morning, except perhaps a bit wetter and more grayish.

Okay, lets be honest, I haven't actually been outside yet today. I spent the morning on the couch, watching tv and drinking apple juice while Ryan went to class.

But I hear that there was no more than a few small branches that blew around last night, even though I heard a lot of wind blowing against my window while I was trying to sleep. While I was a little disappointed to see my alarm clock glowing this morning (I was hoping to have no power and therefore get the entire day off), we are thankful that we avoided the storm.

Only three more months of hurricane season :)

Off to buy flashlight batteries, pop tarts, and toilet paper, along with everything else I can think to eat this weekend.

We're hoping that we end up with just a windy day at home eating granola bars this Friday. But we're also prepared for the possibility of losing power for a few days or even being forced to go inland for the weekend. I don't want to think about that too much.

I'm trying not to freak out about the details of hurricane winds. It's a good thing I just received a new book in the mail to keep me distracted.