Update

I haven't had much to say lately, but I thought I'd check in with the new surgery update. My second lobectomy was last week, and it went just fine until I went into a calcium deficiency-caused whole body cramp. I thought I would have to go back to the hospital, until I learned that I could just take a few calcium pills and it would go away. It was terrible, let me tell you! Anyway, the surgeon cut out the old scar on my neck and gave me permission to see a plastic surgeon for the new one, since the old one had keloided.

The good news is that the pathology report came back with no malignancy in the right lobe. Hooray for me.

The bad news is that I will have to begin a low iodine diet AND go off my synthroid in July, to prepare for the radioactive iodine treatment at the end of the month. This doesn't sound fun AT ALL.

On other matters, the girls turn two on Wednesday!

Jeff and I have had the last two days baby-free, and took advantage of it to spend an afternoon and evening with Tim and Valerie, up in Calistoga. I did something I haven't done in months: lie in the sun like a big fat hippopotamus.

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful

It's the first day of my summer break, and boy am I happy. As if a harbinger to this glory, I stopped by the local Goodwill this morning and found, right when I walked in, two old predecessors to the pinball machine. They kind of look like pachinko games, but are smaller. One is wood-framed, probably from the 50s, and the other is plastic. Both are in ok shape. Five bucks apiece!!! And then a pristine pair of Rocket Dog shoes, my favorite brand. Another five smackers. Dang, man.

Anyway, here I am at work, where I've rediscovered one very cool aspect of my job: interlibrary loan. If I send in a little form via email, I get, within a day or two, ANY BOOK I WANT. As many as I want. Boy do I have those librarians working. I do feel a little guilty ordering The History of Bathing or my latest request, Sperm Wars....

So I'm sitting here at my desk, which has an ocean view if I get on top of the desk and crane my head out the window, with a cup of free Starbucks coffee from the mess deck (cafeteria). I was able to score an Aeron chair from my tech support pal downstairs, who was too tall for it, so I'm sitting in real comfort, listening to Pandora (R. Crumb and the Cheap Suit Serenaders), with my 18" screen and super fast T-1 connection.

And the paycheck meter is ticking, though I have no real work commitments. I'm presenting a paper in Bloomington, IN in a few weeks, so that's the order of the day/week/month.

If any of you is feeling like putting an axe through my head, remember that I just finished grading 400 essays, I probably make 10-40k less than you, and for nine months out of the year I'm so overworked I'm surprised not to drool. Next week at this time I'll probably be crawling the walls....

No. That last part is not true. It will take about a month before that happens.

Yesterday we spent the whole day outside, with many large plastic toys and a lot of water. I rigged up my staghorn fern basket with some moss and wire, planted some lavender, and pulled weeds. I'm revving up the nerve to focus on the girls' room and get it decorated by their second birthday (June 2).

And I will start posting pictures here, soon. The yard is looking lovely. I particularly enjoy the way plants puff up when they get lots of water.