Early Frost, Soup and Grading

So it's freezing cold in our house! Yes, really. The thermostat in the hallway said 60 degrees this morning, but it felt like it was 20...probably because it was only 35 or something outside. I forgot to bring the plants in last night, but I think they're ok. They seem to still be green at least if that is any indication of their health.

I spent the morning making soup for a potluck we're having at school today. Like I needed one more thing to do, seriously, but I felt bad because I haven't taken anything in lately and boy do people in my department like to eat. I think that should have been one of the questions during the interview: can you cook and how often can you bring food in? So I made the Zuppa Tuscana that I made for the open house in July. It seemed to be a big hit then, so I thought it might score me some points with the department people too. I may even make some breadsticks to take along. We'll see.

Not much new otherwise. Tomorrow is our midterm break for students. This means students don't have to go to class and we don't have to teach (thank goodness!). However, all faculty have to go to in-service meetings all day. Poop. So much for my day off. Oh well, at least there's a free lunch and I don't have to teach.

I have been swamped with grading lately. I forgot how much time grading actually takes. I should be working on it now, but I was taking a break to respond via email to students' drafts for my classes this evening. I'll get back to it soon. In the mean time, here is a picture of Ken doing his sword line at a wedding we went to last month. Sharp huh? Can you find Ken? He's wearing green. Actually, he's the third one back from the front on the right. Did that even make any sense? I have no idea.

Here's shot of the cat perch Ken hung up in the basement for the cats. It used to be in my apartment in Normal where Tucker would lounge on it constantly. We don' have a good place for it upstairs right now, so he hung it downstairs. The cats now get to sleep downstairs each night because their knocking on doors at 3 a.m. was starting to get a little annoying. They can get to this perch by jumping on the Rubbermaid totes which are located beneath it. It's an adventure. Tucker likes it already, as you can see. It's amazing to me that he can even fit on this thing anymore.