This has been a pretty strange day. I slept far later than I intended to—about 10:30. (Those of you who know me in real life know that 8:00 am is sleeping in for me, so 10:30 is like coming out of a coma.) Yesterday was a long day—about fourteen hours between the two jobs—and while I don’t mind the hours, I do mind the fact that when I get home I just can’t get to sleep. My mind is just buzzing with all the stuff I have to/need to/want to do and I just can’t get to sleep, which is ironic, because if I could just get to sleep, I could sleep in until 8:00 and still have all day to get stuff done.

I watched a new episode of The Big Bang Theory online, and then tried to do a little work online. Because I’m doing something I like, my brain decides that that would be a good moment to fall asleep. My laptop is on the dining room table, which is not really conducive to sleeping, and about two o’clock in the morning I fell out of the dining room chair and onto to the floor. In the process, my head slammed into the wall, which probably explains why I have had a terrible headache all day.

In all the packing I’ve been doing lately, I found some videos from the Kalamazoo Public Library and a couple of books from the Portage District Library, so I decided to return them. I left the house around noon and went back to work first, because they had some clearance underwear that I had set aside for myself. A buck a pair for Jockey underpants, plus my employee discount, is all it takes to make me a very happy person these days.

I went to the Kalamazoo library, and of course, the Friends book store was open so I took a peek. I don’t normally like to go in there on a Saturday, because it’s generally pretty crowded, and the aisles are pretty narrow, so I made it a quick visit. Ten minutes and a $1.50 later, and I had a book of poetry and an interesting looking book called Myth or Legend? Twelve Authorities Investigate the Flood, Atlantis, Troy, The Golden Bough, Stonehenge, Tristan and Isolt, Tara, The Blessed Isles, The Holy Grail, Lyonesse, Theseus & The Minotaur, St. George and the Dragon. It is apparently an American paperback reprint of a British hardcover that was published back when von Daniken was having a field day, but this looks like it has some bona fide research to back it up. It looks like a fun read to throw into my bag and carry with me.

Afterward I headed to Meijer to pick up some groceries, which means picking up the things I forgot to get when I went shopping last night without a list. Because my time here is limited, I kept the list limited, but picked up bananas on sale, along with some huge russet potatoes. I don’t really understand how they market produce these days. They had a five-pound bag of tiny little russet potatoes for $2.50, but they had an eight-pound bag of these gigantic russets on sale for the same price. Bigger potatoes and more of them for the same price? I don’t get it. But I got them. I also picked up a three-pound bag of onions.

Then off to the other library (no browsing), and then to home. I baked four of the potatoes in the oven for quick meals later this week. (I like to slice them in half, sprinkle an herb mixture or bay leaves down the middle, and then wrap them in foil.) I also sliced and caramelized the entire three-pound bag of onions, which will go in the freezer in small containers. I have no idea why I did this (although the house smells really good now), but I think I will make some onion-barley-mushroom soup for my mother later this week.

I also took the time to get some writing done on this blog, which I’ve really been missing. Not just blog writing, but any kind of writing. I think that’s why I’m having trouble sleeping at night: I’m spending so much time packing and getting other moving crap done that I haven’t set any time aside for reading and writing. I feel better now, so I think the time I spent posting this (which I got from Wil Wheaton’s blog here—jeez, that was a long time ago) and this were well spent, in addition to the time I spent writing what you’re reading right now.

A follow-up to the alien pencil abduction story: A few minutes after I hit “publish” on that post, I looked at my teaching bag again. On the other side from where all the cool pocket are is a zipper. Pull back the zipper, and there’s a pocket. Open the pocket, and there were my pencils. I’d put them there because it’s the only outside pocket on that side, and it’s always easier to just let kids help themselves than to stop what I’m doing, run across the room, and get a pencil for a student. After I found them there, I remember finding that pocket and thinking how useful it would be for that very purpose, and I remember putting my pencils and some index cards in there.

I guess the aliens read my post and felt bad about driving me crazy, so they put the pencils back. Wasn’t that nice of them?

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