What I've done, and what I'd like to do...

This week is always odd around a university town. It's finals week for both the college in which I'm employed, so students are either working madly or in a total state of relief and relaxation, and much of the population is packing up for their imminent move to wherever they'll spend their summers. Even though I'm not really a part of it anymore, that bittersweet mood lingers in the air--made even more poignant by the gorgeous buds springing up everywhere and the lands turning bright green.

Plus, there are more parking spots.

This past weekend was really nice. I woke up fairly early on Saturday morning, and drove over to Em's place to spend the day. Noah was so incredibly joyous all day long; the happiest I'd ever seen him (and I wouldn't call him an unhappy kid by any means). We giggled and sang and played and got cupcakes (the carrot ones were okay, but nowhere near the PB Cup or Grasshopper or the Elvis banana one) and took a walk down Em's beautifully-gardened Westminster, looked at photos and wedding things, chatted and vented and played with her little boy some more.

I called Neil to say I was on the way home, at about 9, and asked what he'd been doing. "Napping. Moving things around, watching TV, things like that," he said. He's been planning to get a big HD TV soon, with profits from this concert fossil he sold on eBay for a ginormous amount of cash, and when he told me he wanted our living room to be completely clear along one wall for the new TV and a new, bigger cage for Sean, I couldn't envision it. Our second bedroom was overflowing with stored tubs already, and every wall in our living room was occupied by shelving, our desk, wall art, etc. I didn't want to completely clog our second bedroom, making it impossible to navigate, just for the sake of a TV. Neil said to trust him, that he'd handle it, and I warily said he could try.

So when I opened the door late Saturday night, I couldn't believe my eyes. That boy had done it! Our living room is now beautifully uncluttered, with a whole free wall and an empty coffee table to use as our TV stand. And to boot? The second bedroom was completely rearranged, and he'd made it so it was even more efficient and, somehow, had more space to use! I have no idea how he did it. He even amazed me further Sunday morning, when I was catching up on sleep, by moving my scrapbook shelves in their entirety to the second bedroom and Phoenix's cage where they used to be in the living room.

We were chatting Monday during lunch about Sean's new bigger cage (he was living in a 10-gallon and an adult beardie needs at least a 40-gallon), and how we were planning on going to Osage Beach this weekend to a big pet store (since Columbia in its infinite stupidity has no big pet store) to get him one. I remembered vaguely that Jeff City had a large PetSmart or something in the strip mall with Old Navy, TJ Maxx, and Goody's, and I suggested we first try there. Not only that, we decided, but we wanted to go that night--what's a trip to Jeff City on a Monday night when there's no TV to watch?

We left at 6:30, and Neil drove us to the [what turned out to be] Petco. We meandered around for awhile, getting excited about the various accessories we could add to our planned desert environment. We found a 40-gallon reptile cage exactly like the 10-gallon one we already had, for about half the price we expected, so we splurged on other accessories (like cacti, colored sand, a bigger hide object, a fancy day/night timer, a pooper scooper, and an infrared night heating bulb). Petco also had adorable little feisty gray beardie hatchlings, teenier than I had ever seen Sean.

We couldn't wait to set it all up, so we began as soon as we got home with the Cardinals game on in the background. The sand is orange and white, and Neil structured our two driftwood pieces together so Sean can perch at his usual height. We'll get a new, bigger driftwood piece when the reptile convention comes again in June (and hopefully catch the Cards/Phillies game live and in person on that day too). We were planning on introducing Sean to his new cage this morning, after his cricket feeding, but we couldn't wait. I woke him up on a fake schedule by turning on his light, and moved him over and plunked him in the new sand.

He was really confused, but curious, and went around licking the cacti and the driftwood for awhile, until settling into his usual perch position. This morning, he ate his crickets like an old pro, so we're hoping he's pretty acclimated.


I hope to be productive this week, as I always aim to be. I didn't swim yesterday after getting about 4 hours of sleep Sunday night, but I'm anxious to go today as long as the storms hold off.

So, this week:

1. Finish Undeclared Netflix
2. Finish Notaro book
3. Watch Betty (3 eps), Desperate (4/27 & 5/4), Bachelor, Hills & Aftershow online
4. Write AmyZ & Betsy
5. Swim 4 times this week (Thursday's unavailable lap swim may make that impossible. Swam: Tuesday, Wednesday)
6. Finish clementines
7. Go to Wal-Mart for small shopping trip
8. Dinner menu:
-Pasta w/ fresh mozz & garlic marinara / Deli bread
-Chicken fried rice (Chicken Helper) [--marinate chicken?]/ biscuits
-Boca burgers / Potatoes o'Brien
-Pierogies
-Bertolli skillet meal/biscuits
9. Get bread & sandwiches from Dad's freezer/sew on buttons/talk to him about gardens this weekend
10. Get rid of some newspapers
11. Call The Gown House to see what they have to try on
12. Visit Lane Bryant/Cacique
13. Start Julia Child book
14. Finish Grey's EW & Figure magazines
15. Tape another deck of cards (Done: 3)
16. Clean up dining room area
17. Petco to see about Sean's background/more crickets
18. Financials, & pay all upcoming bills when Neil's paid
19. Look for back issue: Figure weddings? Or, try to find the next issue @ B&N
20. Fill in Wedding Info into wedding planner
21. Send Neil's MO tax
22. Enter PBS books/send Clean PBS book
23. Start Fry & Laurie or 90210 Netflix