mitrailleuse à la kinda slowly waning doldrums

Well the AC is on. This is the second day all summer I've had it on during the day but tho it got down to 87 outside last night, it was muggy as... well muggy as Aub*urn actually. nyernt nyernt. When I opened the sliding door to check about turning off the AC at about 12h30am I got a shower of humid earthbreath instead and decided to be decadent and leave the AC on all night. Crazy! Of course we keep our thermostat at 84 or 85, but at least the AC takes the humidity away. Saturday was the first day it was on all day long. Usually just before bed the windows are opened and left that way until the following late aft/eve. Partly to save money and partly b/c the cats curl up in winter postures if the air is on for longer than an hour or two and partly b/c they are also bored b/c no outside noises and no window-wells to sit in. It's a whole big thing, as are most things in my life. Anyway Saturday it was left on b/c I was home the whole day for the first time in ages. I am usually in and out doing stuff, at least a few errands, so it seemed hotter in here than normal. Feline lethargy was no different than most days so I imagine it was just my impression from not going in and out. I just said in an email to one of you that it's lucky these kits are Alabama-raised or they'd be melting, but really having them lying as still and flat as possible on what they perceive to be the coolest household surfaces all day long is almost the same as their melting I guess. It's like self-melting or something.

I splurged on a new computer battery. Stupid. And yet since it arrived I have emptied my gmail inbox by 50% and have actually completed one blog entry and started another (you can see later if this one comes to fruition - I'm running slightly late for a workshop on campus as I go back and edit a bit... might have to just save it - gah! the let-down of a new blog entry getting saved to drafts instead of fulfilling its destiny right away! so sad). I justified it by potential school and tutoring use. Yeah, I know.

Syllabus workshop today. "The Graphic Syllabus." I really don't want to go but I hope going ahead will help jumpstart my pro-school momentum; also no gym all weekend so biking in there will make my body and head happier exertion-wise.

Very fun 2-month-long birthday celebration this year. Jessica and Dean -completely unplanned coordination I'm sure- gave me extra birthdays: Jessica a couple of weeks ago and Dean the other day. I was pretty busy in May anyway plus did get a nice bulk of cards, etc., so it was nice to get fun gifties down the road when I really had time to enjoy them. Plus they probably helped my mood extra since I've been doing mostly nothing the last couple of weeks and needed some occasional jolts out of my blah. I neglected to take pix of Dean's incredibly fun Edward Gorey postcard book slash calendar but you'll have to trust me that it's fantabulous, accompanied by the ubiquitous homemade Gandy Kronenbourg postcards :)

Jessica sent a plethora of fun. Best you see:

Honorable mention: melamine plates upper right, quilt fabric and a fun Jessica-made batik pencil bag lower left next to a restock of Jessica-washcloths (yay). Upper left is an extremely fun t-shirt.

The Target gift card in the middle I immediately used on a new popcorn pot. I accidentally left my *snif sob snif* old Revereware popcorn pan in the oven at the old house. At least I guess that's where it was. That's where it was stored most of the time, at least in summer when less baking was going on. Anyway I've seen neither hide nor hair since the move and was starting to be quite sad. Revereware copper-bottoms really are the best popcorn pans; take it from me. Luckily, tho Target did not have any Revereware, I found what seems to be the second-best popcorn pan:

Isn't it perty??!! It's Farberware and it's dishwasher-able (the one drawback to all my Calphalon). And in case you need convincing about the popcorn:And that's even with the electric stove! I had been nervous about popcorning without gas for the first time in 4 years but it went quite well. Since we're on a cuisine roll, I was going to show you perhaps the prettiest tortilla española I've made in a while but I just realized it's not on the computer yet so you'll have to wait.

Psych!