I'm a dummy

A & W Diet Cream Soda has caffeine in it.  I shoulda checked!  That might explain why I haven't been sleeping very well the last few weeks and why I've been grumpy.

In the middle of last night as I was in and out of sleep, a little voice spoke to me: "Check for caffeine in the cream soda."  I did this morning.  And, yup, it's there.  What was I thinking?  So, no more afternoon cream soda treats for me.

Grumpy

So I guess it's time to bring back my grumpy kitty.  This is how I felt all day yesterday.  Why, you ask?  I woke up to what was dawning as a sunny day.  Yay for sunshine!

But the temperature was 9 degrees
 ...Fahrenheit. 

For you celsius people, that's....wait a minute....minus 13C (-13!). 

Right now the temperature here is 20 degrees F, exactly the same temp as in Oslo and Stockholm right now.


But I didn't really get grumpy until I started grading student papers in the afternoon.  Just explain to me how an assignment can say this:

"Your paper should be no less than 800 words, but you can certainly exceed that."

And half the papers stop somewhere around 400-500 words!  Totally failing to develop their topic.  And did I mention plagiarism?  Just a little thing.

OK, OK, I know nobody cares..........and that makes me grumpy, too!

(You can click on the strip to read it more clearly.)

Happy Mel-Day Indeed!

She may look like just a pretty face, but under that stylish hat (worn for the Oaks Race at Churchill Downs), there's a powerful brain and determination of iron.  Congratulations to #3 child, Melinda/Mindy/Mel for passing ALL of her written comprehensive exams for her masters in speech language pathology at the University of Louisville.  She graduates in May......just in time to go job-hunting.  Way to go, sweetie!

(Thanks to her hubby Mark for coining the new word: Mel-Day!)

Mark & Mel at their ring ceremony in Mexico May 2006.  (Aren't they cute?)



And here's another pic: Mel as a cowgirl in Mexico.  You think she might have a thing for hats?  She gets it from her father.

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Finally, my favorite picture of her: Paris 2001 in contemplation on the steps of Sacre Coeur:

(And, yes, I know we have you two other kids, but today is Mel-Day!!)