D'oh. Totally busted. Just got this email from Jeff:

I tried calling a little while ago to let you know that we're ditching the wedding we were suppose to go to. I got a busy signal and Frances and I both laughed. Good for you! Doing things when you're suppose to be doing other things often just isn't valued enough. Skip on.

This week my name is Madam Skipsalot.

No no, you see. I went to work this morning. I braved the torrential rainstorm (the water was tumbling down everywheres, just buckets of it and I'm sad that it's let up some) and my stalling truck and my worries about everything and I went.

People always say, when I tell them I'm sick, especially if this is a lie, "you look really sick." With a funny icky look on their face. I got a lot of that this morning. And then I got the whole force of the catalog department willing me home. Go home! Drink soup! Watch bad TV! Take your germy looking face and skeedadle! Round about hour 4 of this I gave in and said You betcha! So home I went.

But not before I put on my brave teacher face and went to class and that was good too--I made some stupid jokes and they just died laughing. Which pleases me. And this one goofy kid said, "We missed you on Wednesday." And made a mopey frowny face at me. Aw Dee, you the cutest. And then this other goofy kid said, "You look sick." Knuckleheads. I gave 'em back their damned tests FINALLY and everyone wanted to know what smarty pants Grey got (this boy. If I were one to have crushes on 18-year-old boys I would absolutely have a crush on him, I have to say. Damn, y'all. Daaaamn) because he wears the smartiest pants in all the class and he was very pleased to tell everyone that he got a 98%. So I had to say really loud, "Congratulations Cam! You got 100%! Yippee!" Because I need for the quiet nerdy kid who is quietly super to get some recognition sometimes too. And Cam glowed.

So. Now I'm going to the lake with Bash. It's been fun, but I'm through with the lazy bones whiney pants I been wearing.

And then I'm going to get takeout Chinese because I haven't had it in forever and I love takeout Chinese.

And then I'm going to go to the bookstore and pick out one new novel. Because I want to and I can.

And then I'm going to listen to the radio in the dark at my own house, drinking a beer or two and smoking and then I'm going to write.

Chim-chim-cheree.

P.S. I had such a crush when I was a kid on Dick Van Dyke as the chimney sweep in Mary Poppins. This was my second serious crush. The first was Linus and his blanket from the Peanuts gang. I still have a crush on Linus. Oh Linus.

P.P.S. I forgot to give the Nobel Committee props for bestowing the Peace Prize on Jimmy Carter. I also have a long-standing crush on good old J.C. Yay to the peanut farmer!

Apologies for the excessive use of the exclamation point in this post. The exclamation point is practically my least favorite punctuation. I am also no fan of the semi-colon. Overrated. Overused by smarty-pants types. That is all. The end.

Yay Jimmy Carter!