December 5

Those who know how much I hate the word “plethora” understand how awful that meeting was.

1964

Yay! It’s snowing! It’s also 12:30 am, but who cares? We’ve got about 3 inches already. Oh, the silent beauty of the first snow - untouched by snowplows, shovels and booted feet. I got $3.50 at the Os which drags me up to $20.35 - not bad!

Somehow, as I see those innumerable tiny flakes swirling down, I can’t think about money at all.

I went to the dentist and found I have three cavities - rats! They’s all small, though. I hope it’s a Merry, Merry Christmas.

Comment 2022

Once again, I am caught between the mundane and the sublime. Snow-money-snow-cavities-Christmas, all in the course of ten sentences. My mind is still a bit like that, my writing less so (thank goodness).

To dispense with 2/3 of the topics, I still love snow, and I haven’t had a cavity in years.

I used to get a small amount of spending money, starting at ten cents a week when I was seven. This money could be used for whatever I wanted: candy, comic books, going to the movies. When I started high school and was old enough to babysit, I was put on a clothing allowance instead. My parents continued to pay for shoes, underwear and warm coats and jackets, but I was responsible for everything else. My clothing allowance was $5 a month. It’s a big reason I learned how to sew; back then it was actually economical to make my own clothes. Besides, at 5’9””, I found it hard to find clothes that fit. My babysitting efforts paid for the non-clothing everything else, which in November and December was mostly Christmas gifts. The neighbors who paid me $3.50 for six and a half hours were my best and more frequent customers. Most families paid $1-1.25 an hour. The Os were my favorites for other reasons: they stayed out much later than most people and lived right across the street, so I never needed a ride home. Our town was pretty rural, and being driven home by a tipsy dad was never fun.

Pro writing tip: if you ever need an example of a non sequitur, hoping for a Merry Christmas right after giving a dental report will certainly do.

1979

Last day of classes. My vague ideas on how to improve the course bore somewhat bitter fruit. There are the same numbers of successes and failures but the failures are very lost. The papers do look more interesting than usual. Making the project more rigorous will pay off, in the long run. Some day they’ll thank me. I hope.

Now to turn in earnest to my thesis.

1990

I finally had the brainstorm. I’ve been searching around, casting about, feeling bored and blah, never really being able to figure out what I wanted. It keeps coming back to my interest in technology and its effect on the family. It’s been there, growing, for more than six years, while costume history has receded more and more into the background. I am tired of costume history. It’s fun and interesting, but the “so what” is elusive. I really want to shift into domestic technology, but can’t do it in a textiles department. So…

I need to shift out of textiles.

I talked to the Dean about moving over the Family and Community Development. She seemed receptive, except she’d like to see me as interim chair of Textiles and Consumer Economics department first. That I am not sure of…for a year, maybe, to keep things going during the transition, but then I want out. Maybe a one-semester sabbatical? Then into FMCD. I’m really not due for a sabbatical yet, but I would need it to re-tool.

I like this idea!

It has nothing to do with the TXCE chair, or the department. It just isn’t me anymore.

Comment 2024

Campus politics. Ick.

2005

Today is a cooking day. I am going to cook like a crazy woman so we have lots of food in the freezer. I am going to let thought run through my head, but be very selective about which ones I act on. Very.

2020

An interesting day. Email and an amazing lunch of mac and cheese with bacon brats. Then two episodes of the British Baking Show, and three episodes of Bollywood Wives. A visit with a neighbor. Now much work, but so what? A lovely swim and then a short bike ride.

Comment 2023

I am pretty sure I caught COVID on that visit with my sweet little old neighbor. I was over at her place, helping her prepare for a meeting with her financial advisor, and her mask kept slipping down. I tested the positive the next week, and she already had. Her daughter had the nerve to suggest that I had given it to HER. If it hadn’t been for that, I wouldn’t even bother guessing where I got it (something people seemed to want to know, all the time).

This was my only bout with the virus. So far, so good.

Comment 2024

COVID caught me again last summer.

2022

A pause in the frenzy (I wish). I am sitting in a meeting, multitasking so at least the time isn’t wasted. It is 11:01 AM, I have been here less than half an hour, and I am already at the “just shoot me” stage. Should have brought my ear plugs.

I have a PLETHORA of little tasks to do in the next week. Little, but urgent.

Comment 2023

Those who know how much I hate the word “plethora” understand how awful that meeting was.

2024

Drawing class yesterday. We did some figure drawing using those articulated wooden mannequins. I took so long on the first one that I only had 8 minutes left to do the second.