21 June 2002 - 9:29 a.m.

Haven't done one of these in a while...

1. Do you live in a house, an apartment or a condo? Two-story house with a picket fence. Really. Word is that it used to be the carriage house for a now-defunct mansion in the neighborhood, but we haven't tracked down the documentation to (dis)prove this one way or another.

2. Do you rent or own? Own.

3. Does anyone else live with you? The Beautiful Young Man, a moggie and a doggie.

4. How many times have you moved in your life? TX to Taiwan, Taiwan to MN, MN to MA, MA to KY, Richmond to Berea, Berea to Hyde Park, Kimbark to Cooperstown, Cooperstown to Blackstone, Blackstone to 54th? (I can't remember anymore), 54th? to 53rd, 53rd to Ann Arbor, Division Street to Main Street, Main Street to Royal Oak, Royal Oak to Farmington Hills, Farmington Hills to Detroit (the carriage house apartment for a non-defunct mansion), Iroquois to Burns, Burns to our friend Mary Ann's vacant top floor, Mary Ann's to Nashville. So that makes...18, more or less.

5. What are your plans for this weekend? a "Jazzercise Plus" class if my legs are up to it, a Three Pipe Problem meeting, a cookout, a church service, and a "Tying Nashville Together" rally.

That's just the scheduled stuff. Somewhere in there I also want to repot my basil plants, read more Greek poetry, finish up the text for Twenty Times Better, mail off the copy of Scieszka's Squids Will Be Squids I picked up for my new nephew (born on Monday), pull together the diary entry that's been forming in my head, pull together the rendition of Dar Williams' "I Had No Right" that's been forming in my head, pull together two magazine submissions, and demolish the stack of bills and enclosures and to-read-laters next to my home computer.

And what I ought to do but know I'm going to put off: plan the Sunday school class I'm going to teach in a week, buy a new pair of jeans, sort out my outfit for an upcoming wedding, schedule a bath for the cat, wash the replacement rice cooker, find a mouthguard, write up meeting reports, choose a birthday present for the BYM's aunt, write a half-dozen letters, practice scales and alphabets...

And what will probably happen? Some of the above, but very likely also napping on the sofa and getting engrossed in some book completely unrelated to any of my current projects...

Treated myself to "pate campagne" (which another customer mistook for pistachio bread) and fruit salad at Provence this morning - having gotten up at 6 to donate blood, only to be told my iron was too low (by just 2%! Arrggh!). I have been feeling tired lately but had chalked it up to sleep deprivation and accumulated aggravation.

The BYM has been coping with his share of messiness too, some of it literal. There was some especially vehement swearing from downstairs around 1 a.m. yesterday morning. when I reached the kitchen, the first thing the BYM said was "Open the door, grab the dog and DO NOT LOOK at what's on the shovel." Apparently Abby had decided to catch a possum and then dismember it. Ewwwwwwww...

It sometimes strikes me as odd that we live within city limits (within walking distance of the projects and the mayor) and still wake up to choirs of chirping birds. And a couple of nights ago I pulled a firefly out of my hair.

One year ago:"...it's a good life. I'm a lucky woman."