Domesticated Me

For over a week I've been at my sister's house feeling like a lump on a log. Not that I've been that lazy, just outside of my normal surroundings and pretty much staying inside. One of the reasons is because it's so freaking cold in S.E. Idaho! Yes, I know I went to school here for three years...but I think a body purposefully forgets (or just wishfully hopes it never has to experience that environment again) until it's shocked into remembering. And no, I don't miss the feeling of frozen nose hairs the moment you step out-of-doors. 

Like I said, I haven't been lazy, this girl's been busy! Preparing lesson plans, assignment sheets, calendars, deadlines, etc. for the class I teach next semester; as well as writing abstracts and submitting papers to various conferences around the world -- yep, I said around the world! Unfortunately I didn't get into the one in Dublin, and I didn't really expect to, but a girl can dream! I also worked on getting research materials for my thesis from Amazon.com ($150 later and there's still a number of books I didn't purchase...but wanted to!) -- thank goodness for Inter-Library Loan.

All that mind sweat and I also cooked, did some light cleaning, and minor dog watching (watch her dogs sleep, eat, play, bark, follow me around like shadows, etc.), and I began to feel domesticated. Honestly, I loooooove to cook, but it's tough to do it for one person, so I enjoyed dusting off those muscles and trying to guess when she'd arrive so I could provide a hot meal for her upon her getting home after a long day (I failed more often than succeeded). I didn't clean too much, but fell back into the routine of cleaning the kitchen, since that was my unofficial "chore" when I lived with her.

All-in-all it's been a pretty relaxing and productive vacation, but I still feel like there's so much more I could have done to prepare for my last semester. Oh, well. What's done is done and now it's time for full speed ahead!