If you hear a thump outside...call 911

My 32nd birthday was last Thursday and I planned to write something very pithy, meaningful, inspiring and insightful. Yeah, that didn't work out so well. I had nothin'.

So, in lieu of an inspiring birthday message - I bring you my tasks for today. We had a massive thunderstorm this weekend and I decided I probably needed to clean out the rain gutters sometime soon. So this afternoon I climbed up my very rickety ladder to the roof and balanced on the edges of it and pulled mud and sticks out of my gutter. (How does MUD get in the gutter?? Does it bounce up there??) Then I decided that my lawn was looking pretty bare, so I pulled out the grass seed and sprinkled some around. Then I needed to hook up the hose to water the new grass seed so that it will sprout. (This was turning into a major afternoon by this point.) :-) :-) Anyway - hopefully soon I will have new fescue and my gutters will run clean. (Ah, the joys of home ownership.)

This weekend I am going to finally dig my new flowerbeds. I've got a friend with a rototiller, so I hope I can borrow it. The weather has not been cooperating, but I think this weekend will be good. (I only hope I can find the keys to my dad's truck! I need to haul some dirt and compost.)

Back to thoughts about my birthday. It felt quite international. My parents called me from Africa and my sister called from Thailand. (She actually lives in India, but she and my bro-in-law were in Thailand for business and R&R.) My brother was the only immediate family in the States and he called from Florida. (He was actually on the beach! The bum...) :-) :-) Aunt Susan called from Oklahoma. I was able to eat lunch with the people my parents are visiting in Africa. (Yes - you read that right. My parents are visiting friends in Africa, but those friends were in my town for a few days visiting their son and his wife. So we had lunch in Manhattan while my parents were at their house in Nairobi. Crazy world.)

So, I'm thirty-two now. Honestly, I hope 32 is better than 31. Thirty-one was pretty crappy. The signs are not so good right now. I had a very discouraging meeting at work today. There are some indications that my district is not going to cough up the money to hire some new teachers for my department. This means that classes will be between 26 and 33 students. (Yes, 33!!!!) It's insane and no one can be expected to teach effectively under those circumstances. I'm considering selling my house, moving in with my parents and just hiding under my pillow for a year!