Time sure flies when you are having fun, or at least super busy! I am working on checking all the hot links in the documents for my Fall courses at ECU and clicked on MadChatter and saw the last time I posted was July 25th. Wow! What a busy few weeks it has been. I am sitting in the Woodfin Suites in Rockville, MD, right outside of DC. Steve is in an IT training session here so I decided to drive up with him and spend the week rather than being in our new condo with no furniture. Being here is forcing me to settle down a bit and actually get through my tons of email and get work done on my courses.

We flew into DC last Friday night, drove to Greenville on Saturday in time to check out a few car dealerships and drive the Hyundai Santa Fe, which I fell in love with. Haven't bought one yet though - maybe this coming Saturday. Had to at least drive the Mazda little SUV - didn't like it at all. Sunday we ran around to every furniture store open and laid on more mattresses than I want to even think about. I hate bed shopping. The washer and dryer were the easiest to pick out as was the pedestal table which is also a poker table - pleased both Steve and I. :-)

We closed on the Condo Monday morning, stopped by the utilities place to make sure the power didn't get turn off, and left for DC. We drive back down tomorrow and our bed, washer, dryer and table will be delivered on Saturday. The essentials - somewhere to sleep, eat and/or work on the computer, and a way to wash clothes. Will have to stop by the office to pick up the stuff I had sent there so we will have bedding and dishes. Saturday will be a busy one trying to get things done that I need Steve's help with as he flies out of Raleigh on Sunday. I better have a car by then or I will end up keeping the PT Cruiser we rented for the week. The car is cute, but the seats are really uncomfortable for these old bones of mine.

Then Monday I will drive all the way to Greensboro - other side of the state - to a meeting. Oh well, no one can say my life is boring!

I did finish the bio about Hepburn and Tracy - An Affair to Remember. I have been fascinated by the actors of that time period since I was a kid so I enjoyed the references to others I recognized. I think the reason Tracy and Hepburn stayed together for so long is no one else could handle their abrasive attitude toward others. They were not nice people!

Also read Richard Peck's The River Between Us. Can you believe B&N online has this listed for ages 5-12? I have a sneaking suspicion that should be grades 5-12. I do love Peck's writing, but I see adult appeal in his books much more so than I do child or teen appeal. They are written as reminiscences and that makes a big difference - it is the view of an adult looking back on his early years. But, I do love Tilly, the daughter who will never gain her mother's love as much as she tries and Delphine, the "free woman of color" escaping the war in a small Illinois river town. Delphine's poise and determination for a fifteen-year-old seems unbelievable today, but by New Orleans standards of the time she should have been already put up in her own home by a rich white plantation owner, like her mama had been. I enjoyed every moment of the book and would love to talk to a teen who has read it and liked it as well.

Okay - enough "fun" writing - back to updating course documents.