But, you see, I had this revelation a few weeks back that if I wanted my arms to not be flabby, I might actually have to do something with them beyond the daily typing and carrying of purse. (Sadly, those activities are not known to tone and sculpt muscles.) Since the semester is finally winding down, and I will only have one class this summer (only, ha!), I think I might have time now to work out again. is a big help, as he is willing to go with me.

Surprisingly, I was not all that sore this morning. I tried to take it easy on the weights, since I was so out of practice and I didn’t want to be in pain later. I think I may have overtaxed my elbows, but that’s not hard, and nothing that an ice pack can’t fix.

I’ve wrapped up research on my bilingualism paper, which means I need to organize my notes into an outline, and then I can write it up. It’s only 3-4 pages, so most of the research I did will go unused. I mean, 3-4 pages is enough to introduce the subject, say two things about it, and wrap it all up. While I may not be able to wrap my head around the theoretical, philosophical aspects of language (language is symbolism, metacognition, etc), I do now understand the issues surrounding my topic, bilingualism in the deaf community. Granted, I had a decent understanding of this before due to my job, but now I know a lot more.

Also for school, I have one more strategy to find and write up (24 are done), and my lesson plans for my ELL class are drafted but I feel they are lacking. My classmates think I have done too much, however, so I’m leaving them alone for the moment. I have no more reading left, which seems strange. The lesson plans for my literacy class were turned in on Tuesday.

For those of you keeping track, there are already 16 books on my list of 2010 Books Read (see Facebook Visual Bookshelf for the complete list).

There are a bazillion things I’d rather do, but a large portion of the weekend should be spent doing homework. I want to be done (with the semester) – finishing up now will help with that whole “just a weekend between semesters” thing that is killing me. It’s particularly rough to transition from semester to semester like that, since at the end of the semester I want nothing more to do with school, textbooks, classes, goals, assignments, etc., yet the beginning of the semester is full of those things (and staying on top of the homework through proper planning and follow-through is crucial).

That’s life though, right?

At the very least, this weekend includes a trip to Sam’s Club, cheesy tuna helper, a massage, a lawn seminar at Bachman’s, a hair appointment, and going out to dinner. And that only gets us through Saturday.

At any rate, I have been using my library a lot since they re-opened in January after a remodel. I love that I can look for my books online, request them, and then get an email a few days later saying they’re ready. It takes 3 minutes to go to the library, then, since my books are set aside and there are automatic check-out machines (and there’s never a line). I just returned Danielle Steel’s Amazing Grace, which I would have never purchased or even given a second look at. However, one of my fellow bus riders was reading it, and it takes place in San Francisco (always close to my heart), so I gave it a shot. I figured that Steel is quite popular and it was probably worth the time spent. I reviewed it over on livingsocial / Facebook if you’re really interested (which you probably aren’t).

But, on my most recent trip, I actually, gasp, went into the stacks! I had looked up online previously where the subject of books I was looking for was kept, so it was still a pretty quick trip (the selection of books at the individual branches still seems quite small compared to other libraries I’ve been a patron of, but the Dakota County Library system is quite large and has a lot more books – this means that it’s actually better to do the searching online and request books that are available throughout the system instead of limiting yourself to what’s available in your branch). I picked up four books on soapmaking.

I know. You think that’s weird. But here’s the thing. I bought some coconut oil soap on Amazon that my skin loooooved, but I went through it really fast (less than a month), and that was pretty expensive for soap (at $5/bar plus shipping). [In my defense, I'll have you know that my skin had absolutely no itchiness the entire time I was using that soap, and it cleaned really well, and now that I'm back on the regular stuff, my skin is less happy, and less clean - ish.] At the same time that I bought the soap, I also bought some coconut oil. I didn’t realize how much coconut oil I was purchasing (liquid measurements don’t really convert well in my head), and ended up with nearly a gallon of coconut oil. Good thing it has lots of uses and won’t go bad.

I digress.  The point is, I had all this oil, and there were only two ingredients on the magic soap bar: coconut oil and lavendar oil. I figured.. what the heck, maybe I could make my own soap at home. And then things got complicated. The internet didn’t really explain it to me, and I was getting confused, and decided that books were needed. Mostly, I needed some clear explanations that would convince me this is a bad idea, and I could just buy the expensive soap and be happy. [I'm really hoping to fall out of like with the idea of making my own soap. Really. I don't need that in my life. But for happy skin....]

So I’ve had these books for a few days, and not a single minute of time to even crack them open. I’d like to read an introductory section at least. Thankfully, after tonight’s class I am on Spring Break for 10 days, and have very little homework to do (though I think I will be doing more than I assigned myself, I don’t have to get anything but one paper done).

In the commments… please try to convince me not to try to make my own soap at home (or, if you like, tell me I should – whatever makes you happy).

• Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart: A Novel. 1994.
• Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel. Handbook to Life in the Aztec World. 2007.
• Alvarez, Julia. Before We Were Free. 2004.
• Anand, Mulk Raj. Untouchable. 1990.
  • Alternate (not on list, but I had to read it for another class): Singh, Khushwant. Train to Pakistan. 1994.
• Bales, Kevin. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. 1999.
• California Historical Society. Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience. 2000.
  • Alternate: Wakatsuki Houston, Jeanne. Farewell to Manzanar. 1983.
• Colman, Penny. Rosie the Riveter: Working Women on the Home Front in World War II. 1998.
• Ferriss, Susan. The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement. 1998.
• Flood, Josephine. The Original Australians: Story of the Aboriginal People. 2007.
• Freedman, Russell. Children of the Great Depression. 2005.
• Gruzinski, Serge. The Aztecs: Rise and Fall of an Empire. 1992.
• Hamermesh, Daniel S. Economics is Everywhere. 2005.
  • Alternate: Coyle, Diane. Sex, Drugs and Economics: An Unconventional Intro to Economics. 2004.
• Jiang, Ji-li. Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution. 2008.
  • Alternate: Min, Anchee. Red Azalea. 1999.
• Kehoe, Alice Beck. America Before the European Invasions. 2002.
• Kerber, Linda K. Women’s America: Refocusing the Past. 2003.
• King Jr, Dr. Martin Luther. Why We Can’t Wait. 2000.
• Le, Samantha. Little Sister Left Behind. 2007.
• Lemann, Nicholas. The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America. 1992.
• Moody, Anne. Coming of Age in Mississippi. 2004.
• Park, Linda Sue. When My Name Was Keoko. 2004,
• Philip, Neil. The Great Circle: A History of the First Nations. 2006.
• Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror: A History of Multiracial America. 1994.
• Ung, Loung. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. 2000.
• Yang, Kao Kalia. The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir. 2008.
• Zia, Helen. Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People. 2001.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this list. What did I forget? (Remembering that we weren’t supposed to include traditionally taught or focused on, so yes there’s nothing on Europe or the Cold War, etc. This is meant to be a supplemental list, and just a starting point.) What would you add? Have you read any of the above? Other thoughts?

Jane Eyre is a similar story to Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, but I think I like the Jane Eyre storyline better. Of course, Jane Austen’s writing is much preferable to Charlotte Bronte’s in my opinion, but that’s just me. I haven’t actually read an Austen book that I didn’t like, though her short stories were insufferable. and I were talking about how authors really are good at one thing and not so much at the others. Austen should have stuck with books. Fitzgerald, on the other hand, should have stuck with short stories (I finally gave up on The Beautiful and the Damned). Other authors we discussed were good at screenplays, first drafts, etc. And yet they all seem to try one of the other formats. Oh well. Just goes to prove that they aren’t complete geniuses, but simply people who are very good at a specific thing, just like the rest of us.

I have a headache this afternoon. The printer broke as I was printing envelopes, and is out of commission until the repair man comes. Tonight is having some friends over, and after dinner I’m going out to buy fabric for the rollerblinds (unless my headache doesn’t go away, in which case I’m going to “take to my bed” like someone in one of Austen’s books) and go to the gym (barring headaches, which are only made worse by going to the gym in my case, though argues that it’s helpful because it opens up blood passages or something).

Tomorrow we’re going to go get a storage unit and move a bunch of the stuff from our house that is already in “storage” to official storage. That’s the first step before being able to do lots of other things, like painting, fixing the windows, installing carpet, etc. I’ve got a paint color picked out for the spare bedroom (a lovely shade of “linen” I believe), as well as an idea of the fabric for all the rollerblinds. Once that room is clear and the floors are clean (our cleaning lady, aka Grandma, is coming today), I can hem all the curtains with my new machine and then get to work on making pillows out of the leftover fabric. Our kitchen is looking excellent (if you haven’t read my post from yesterday about it, you should, because that was a ton of work!), we have curtains in the downstairs that I love, and I think we’re generally on-track. I decided not to do too much with the furniture refinishing before the move. Everything will get sanded and primed and painted white, but that’s it. I’ll deal with picking accent paper, hardware, etc, including the top coats of shellac that will make them durable, after the move. Often furniture like that gets dinged up in a move anyways, and really all we need to do is have them look presentable. So it’s the bare minimum for them. I’d do more if the list of things to do weren’t so long, but that’s the way it is. There are only 24 hours in a day.

Yesterday I bought an issue of “Everyday” with Rachel Ray, or whatever her magazine is called. Like some others have said, I have a love-hate relationship with the Rayster (I don’t think I can call her “Rach” as she calls herself). I find her completely obnoxious and then suddenly found that I’ve watched (and enjoyed) an entire episode of her show. The magazine I didn’t like at all. I’m bringing it Tuesday to SNB and hope that or can get some use out of it. There weren’t any recipes in it that I wanted to make, except for a reference to Alicia Silverstone’s “Crispy Brown Rice Squares” that I might have to try (but the recipe wasn’t in the magazine – it’s on the website).

Anyways, back to work and attempting to make this headache go away.

Sad. I like none of the other candidates.

Have I noted how cold it is today? We got home last night and the house was 54*! cajoled the furnace into working and we woke up nice and toasty this morning. But it was -14* outside upon leaving for work. I let my car warm up a good long time in the garage before leaving. It will not be happy when I arrive back at the Transit Center tonight and want to use it to get home.

I’ve got about 50 pages left in Darcy and Elizabeth: Days and Nights at Pemberley, and I really want to know how all the ends of the plot lines are going to be wrapped up. I mean, I would sit here at my desk and read until I finished it if I thought I could get away with it. I’ve definitely been enjoying this book. It’s not nearly so much smut as some people think (though it has its share, I think the contrast is in to the original Jane Austen, which is beyond chaste), and I have appreciated how many plot lines there are and the intricacy of the story. I’m wondering if there will be a third book, but I’m not exactly sure what else the author could do with the characters at this point. It may be time for it to end.

It has been painfully dry this winter. We have a humidifier in our bedroom which has helped my sinuses significantly, but my recent skin sensitivity to lotions and soaps has made keeping my skin happy quite difficult. (Most recently, Dove Sensitive Skin shower wash and Eucerin, both hypoallergenic, have been rejected by my skin.) I’ve been alternating between baby oil, baby lotion (which is not that moisturizing), and Eucerin (even though my skin isn’t that happy with it, I have yet to break out in a full-scale rash). Yesterday morning I just didn’t have the time to put anything on, and thought nothing of it. Last night after getting back from the gym, I checked my legs and noticed that not only did I need to shave, I had turned quite amphibious during the day and it was a little painful (that was the polite way of saying my skin was dry and scaly). I attempted to remedy that situation and after showering coated my skin with Eucerin, sensitivities be damned. I avoided showering this morning and put on another coat. I decided that little red bumps and even an itchy patch or two would be worth it and probably healthier for my skin than for it to be that dry. My hands and cuticles have cracks and so forth all over. Papercuts are dangerous in this weather, in that they could easily turn into something much worse that won’t heal until spring. [Author pauses to put on Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream.] has it much worse, however, since she has to wash her hands about a billion times each shift she works.

A coffee break is calling out to me. It’s really more of a hot cocoa day, but I think I’ll get coffee anyways.