I'M A STAY-AT-HOME DOG MOM!

At least for the time being, and it actually won't be too long. As you know (I think you know!) I quit my job last month and said goodbye to Chicago Shakespeare Theater. I closed the door on my 3.5 years there last Friday (photo above; my friend Andrea made a cake and a lot of folks showed up to bid me farewell.) and for the next two weeks I'm working at home, on my 3 syllabi, preparing for classes to start August 21st. I start teaching at McHenry County College and College of Lake County (fastest commuter in three counties. Literally.) on the 21st, and classes start at East-West University on September 25th. I picked up my textbook for EWU on Monday and it's going to be a very interesting, very civic and globally minded course. I'm really excited about it. Also, I've recently learned of a certain yarn shop that goes by the name of Loopy Yarns, and it happens to be located 1 block directly west of EWU. Interesting. Very, very interesting.

And speaking of yarns, I'm currently working on a lovely grey wool scarf for Trevor's friend Adam, who's coming to visit us from NYC on August 19th. Although it will be too warm for him to wear, hopefully he'll get a lot of warmth from it over the winter.

I'm walking my TWENTY MILE WALK on Saturday for the AFSP. Yesterday, Henry and I did a long walk to prepare (6 miles) and he's too pooped to do much of anything this morning. It felt pretty good to me, though, and I think I'll be okay for the big one this weekend. And if not, my teammate, Audra, told me that there are vans that can "assist" the walkers if they're having troubles. Hopefully it won't come to that, but it's always nice to have a safety net.

And enough about me, on to the Power portion of the Bork Power. Trevor traveled to the ATL this week (we still haven't rented that movie) for work, and did a terrific job of avoiding the shrewish new woman at Home Depot while he was there, so he made it back home unscathed by her wicked sharp tongue.

He's investigating bikes online, and has a bike expert in NYC hot on the trail of a 3Rensho (I think?) that Trevor can get to ride around the town! He really liked a good looking red and yellow model someone was selling on Ebay, but a sniper snuck in and outbid everyone during the last 30 seconds of the auction. Although, this NYC expert (I have just learned that his name is Sasha...) told Trevor that the Ebay bike wasn't a good purchase, anyway, so Trevor lucked out and will get a sweet bike for a good price, with this fellow's assistance. And hopefully soon, so that I don't have to worry about him riding his current bike to work with its terribly suspicious brakes. Even worse brakes than the purple people eater (a.k.a. my car), by the way.

We're still obsessed with Miami Ink on TLC, and are thinking about taking a road trip (in the winter, perhaps) to visit the shop for some new work. Trevor contacted Jay Ryan months ago about designing a new tattoo, but if he's not up to the challenge, I'm sure that one of our favorite television artists can help Trevor out. And it will be beautiful. We have an ulterior motive, though, because Miami is much, much closer to one Miss Rachel Power and we were thinking of jaunting over to Palm Bay to visit Rachel and Letty. Although, if we don't get to see them then, word on the street is that they're organizing a trip to VEGAS next year, and we are SO in! I've never been to Las Vegas and I cannot wait to see it and all of its bizarrity.

We did some investigating on line last night (well, Trevor did, I peeked over his shoulder) into purchasing some lights for the house from Design Within Reach. They sent Trevor a coupon for 15% off a purchase, and there are some lovely pendant lamps we've had our eyes on, so we might get them! And we're still itching to run to Ikea for the new bathroom sink and cabinet so we can finally finish off the bathroom (after we paint and get a new door, that is...), and I'm hoping that we can go the weekend after Adam visits. Fingers crossed!

That's about all of the news that's fit to print for now. I've got to get myself another cup of Joe and buckle down to do some work on my syllabi! It's really exciting. Seriously, I love that I'm going to be in the classroom!

Catch you all on the flip side...