Taking a Break

Hi, all.

I'm hitting the road again for a week, and have been considering hanging up the FTTDS lists for a while now. I'll let you know for sure in the new year, but it's been 4 1/2 years of almost-daily lists. I might be done.

For now, Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happiest of holidays. And here's to a new year better than we expect.

xo
Ruth

Five Things that Don't Suck, Christmas Eve Edition

1. Hanukkah*
2. biscotti with breakfast**
3. baking bread
4. the good people at the NFL who scheduled the Pats/Jets game so as not to interfere with celebratory things
5. spending Christmas Eve with the Foleys for the first year in ages

*thematic for this year, but timing will vary. Still doesn't suck, though
**not that I'm doing that. Those are for the cookie boxes! So no. Definitely not eating them. No crumbs here. Nope. Nope.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Out for Breakfast Edition

1. Mary-Elizabeth
2. coffee someone else (who knows what they're doing) made
3. crisp bacon
4. french toast with caramelized apples
5. juice

Five Things that Don't Suck, Up and At 'Em Edition

1. a toasty warm house
2. Jed, who heats the disk we bought for Rudy a million years ago as a bed warmer, and tucks it in next to me, where it stays warm all night
3. a toasty warm bed
4. flannel sheets
5. five more minutes

Five Things that Don't Suck, Getting There Edition

1. mailing Christmas cards
2. starting on the cookies*
3. seeing if I can find some new-to-me jeans
4. wrapping Jed's presents
5. holiday spirit**

*which, um, perhaps I should have started on yesterday
**today's holiday spirit: rum

Five Things that Don't Suck, Off-Campus Monday Edition

1. Mondays that aren't the first day of a work week
2. the fact that Jed's next two Mondays will also be days off
3. long holiday weekends
4. the slowest day for grocery shopping
5. getting started on those cookie boxes

Five Things that Don't Suck, Rainy Sunday Edition

1. football
2. not having to play football in the rain
3. all of yesterday's snow and ice melting
4. maybe some popcorn
5. making some long-simmering Indian food for dinner

Five Things that Don't Suck, Let It Snow Edition

1. running out for essentials* with Clancy
2. being done with the shop for a couple of weeks
3. turning in final grades**
4. Favorite Neighbor Dennis and his snow plow capabilities
5. four warm throws for two people

*booze
**TODAY

Five Things that Don't Suck, Clancy and Julie Edition

1. Julie
2. Clancy
3. Clancy and Julie together in the same place
4. that togetherness happening today
5. how happy the dogs are gonna be

Five Things that Don't Suck, Wrapping Up for Christmas Edition

1. getting last-minute (well, last-minute for an online shop anyway) items out to happy people
2. making happy people even happier
3. the woman who wrote to let me know the tiny "Not Today, Patriarchy" tees I sent her were gifts for the flower girls at her wedding to her partner and they were both excited to see I was donating a portion of profits to Planned Parenthood*
4. pre-paid postage**
5. getting mail

*that note was a liberal artist's trifecta right there: marriage equality, indoctrinating young kids to believe in equality, and support for women's health
**it's like a dream, really, to just walk into the PO, go past the line, drop off packages, and say, "Thanks!" as you're walking back out again (Sorry, people in line)

Five Things that Don't Suck, Winter Break Edition

1. cocoa
2. naps
3. hanging out with the dogs*
4. seeing friends again
5. recharging

*who are also, generally speaking, napping

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Day on Campus Edition

1. finishing up
2. getting most of my grading done*
3. clearing the decks
4. reading for fun
5. not setting an alarm for tomorrow

*still waiting on one paper until Thursday

Five Things that Don't Suck, Finals Week Edition

1. not giving finals
2. not taking finals
3. meeting with students to help them finish off their semester
4. being so close to winter break I can see it from my house (kind of like Alaska and Russia)
5. not being able to see either Alaska or Russia from my house (brrrrr)

Five Things that Don't Count Entire Weekend at once Edition

1. an Elf/It's a Wonderful Life double feature
2. cocoa with Kahlua
3. and a snickerdoodle
4. cozy blankets
5. sleeping in

Five Things that Don't Suck, Octopus Edition

1. octopodes
2. how nobody believes me when I say "octopodes" is a word
3. the fact that it really, really is
4. suckers
5. intelligence

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Day of Classes Edition

1. snickerdoodles
2. or any cookies, really, but snickerdoodles are a perennial favorite
3. perennials
4. being so close to winter break I can almost taste it
5. getting my grading done early

Five Things that Don't Suck, Dad's Birthday Edition

1. my dad
2. his birthday
3. remembering to call him*
4. having already given him his gift
5. the love of reading

*theoretical but probable

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Day of (This) Class Edition

1. engaged students
2. even when they're tired
3. taking time to get to know them as people
4. even when I'm tired
5. how close they are to being able to go home

Five Things that Don't Suck, Let's Do This Edition

1. the last week of classes
2. not actually having classes today*
3. students
4. the whole "buckling down" thing
5. counting the number of times the alarm will go off before the end of the semester**

*helllooooo, tutorials!
**3

Five Things that Don't Suck, Chilly Sunday Edition

1. oatmeal*
2. coffee
3. cocoa
4. perhaps a mid-afternoon cappuccino
5. chicken pot pie

*Sorry, Julie

Five Things that Don't Suck, Early December Edition

1. getting your shopping done early
2. finding the perfect gift
3. prepaying postage so you can just drop stuff off (or have it picked up) without waiting in line
4. pretty much everyone at both of my regular POs
5. how excited one of my regular post office workers got yesterday when I asked for Wonder Woman stamps

Five Things that Don't Suck, Title IX Edition

1. figuring out how to make the Title IX/Sexual Misconduct board fit into my schedule
2. doing important work when I can
3. having a life that aligns as often as possible with my ethics
4. being a part of an imperfect campus which also happens to be the perfect campus for me
5. surprising people

Five Things that Don't Suck, You Know Who You Are Edition

1. generosity
2. weeping
3. gratitude
4. more weeping
5. inspiring others to gratitude*

*you're the inspiration, by the way. Not me.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Getting Ready Early Edition

1. Christmas shopping
2. getting ahead of it BEFORE the end of the semester
3. mailing things NOT at the last minute*
4. being less than 2 weeks away from the end of the semester
5. nog

*it helps that I'm at the post office approximately every day now

Five Things that Don't Suck, Giving Tuesday Edition

1. having the means to make donations to organizations who can do good in the world
2. making them
3. spending a little time with someone who needs it
4. getting outside my own head
5. cheerfully participating in Giving Tuesday, but not confining myself to one day

Five Things that Don't Suck, Back to Reality Edition

1. the last 2 weeks of classes
2. students
3. relaxed meetings
4. relaxed (eventually) colleagues
5. the light at the end of this particular tunnel

Five Things that Don't Suck, Ready for Some Football Edition

1. football
2. being ready for it
3. answering what is probably a rhetorical question
4. how much I still love my Tiny Little Man
5. a fire in the fireplace

Five Things that Don't Suck, How Is It Still the Weekend Edition

1. still having basically an entire regular weekend ahead of me
2. with a clean house
3. and happy dogs
4. and happy people
5. and time to nap after breakfast with my mom's family

Five Things that Don't Suck, The Day After Edition

1. cotton
2. clothing made from cotton
3. only wearing that kind of clothing all day
4. Jed, walking the dogs
5. leftover pie

Five Things that Don't Suck (Buying the) Turkey Day Edition

1. Rainbow Turkey Farm in Rehoboth
2. turkey coloring pages
3. making stock and gravy
4. making pies
5. not caring if I'm really not ready

Five Things that Don't Suck, Very Short Week Edition

1. when Tuesday is pretty much Friday
2. and I only have to be on campus for 2 hours
3. and then it's basically Thanksgiving
4. Thanksgiving being the best holiday
5. pie

Five Things that Don't Suck, Holiday Week Edition

1. having my folks here
2. getting to hang out with them a bit
3. 2-day workweeks
4. the pre-Thanksgiving work that doesn't count as the workweek
5. the luxury of choosing jobs I love

Five Things that Don't Suck, Important Stuff to Do, People Edition

1. hanging out with my folks
2. napping
3. chatting
4. ignoring the chaos around us
5. laughing

Five Things that Don't Suck, Parental Arrival Edition

1. my mom
2. my dad
3. the combination of the two of them
4. how relaxed I am despite the fact that the house looks like a cyclone blew through it. Or a dust devil. Or a cyclone followed by a dust devil
5. the first true sign of Thanksgiving

Five Things that Don't Suck, Friday Fun Day Edition

1. how close my parents are to MA
2. how funny they are
3. dragging the house out of chaos before they get here*
4. how happy the dogs are going to be
5. how happy we're going to be

*um...not terribly likely

Five Things that Don't Suck, Never Finished This Post Edition

1. the word "whoops"
2. getting enough sleep maybe once in a while*
3. only having about 3 readers to disappoint
4. realizing this stuff before tomorrow
5. fresh starts

*or so I hear

Five Things that Don't Suck, Catching Up Edition

1. calling my folks*
2. shipping out 12 boxes of happiness
3. printing even more tees
4. running a damn vacuum for a change
5. date night with Jed**

*who are starting their drive to New England TOMORROW
**the last one for a couple of weeks, but it's okay

Five Things that Don't Suck, Lonnnnnng Day Edition

1. coffee
2. some kind of campus-purchased lunch
3. Tylenol
4. being caught up with grading before my off-campus day tomorrow
5. how cool my students are

Five Things that Don't Suck, Equality Edition

1. surrounding yourself with people from as many different backgrounds as possible
2. listening to their stories
3. listening to their opinions
4. valuing those stories and opinions
5. growth

Five Things that Don't Suck, I Don't Even Know What Edition Edition

1. the freedom of assembly
2. working toward peace
3. working toward justice
4. understanding the whole "liberty and justice for all" part of the Pledge of Allegiance
5. how anger can stoke productivity

Five Things that Don't Suck, Early Saturday Morning Wake-Up Call Edition

1. Butler. Even at 6:45 on a Saturday morning, dammit
2. Gracie, who doesn't wake me up early but cheerfully comes outside with us anyway*
3. being up early enough to get a head start on all the stuff I need to do today
4. coffee
5. more coffee

*it's possible she's my favorite dog this morning

Five Things that Don't Suck, Veterans Day Edition

1. my dad
2. my brother
3. my father-in-law
4. 2 of my 3 brothers-in-law*
5. all who serve

*the 3rd one certainly doesn't suck, either--he just hasn't served. He's still awesome

Five Things that Don't Suck, Post-Election Edition

Here are some charitable organizations that are going to need your support under the next administration. They do not suck:

1. RAINN, the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization
2. the ACLU, who will continue to help to protect the rights of the voiceless
3. Lambda Legal, protecting the LGBTQ community
4. Planned Parenthood, which provides basic healthcare to people of all genders, usually in very under-served communities
5. your local food bank, because increased costs in other areas lead to food instability

Five Things that Don't Suck, Election Day Edition

1. not getting political on the FTTDS lists
2. but also maybe not voting for the racist, homophobic, ableist, transphobic, misogynist xenophobe
3. getting a say
4. having that say
5. those little "I voted" stickers

Five Things that Don't Suck Whoops I Did It Again Edition

1. being too busy (in a good way) to worry about making a FTTDS list
2. the way Google Chrome insists that FTTDS is a spelling error when you and I both know it's not
3. getting some down time
4. but not too much
5. fuzzy slippers

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Day of Daylight Saving Time Edition

1. Daylight Saving Time
2. trying to be happy for all those people who claim they can get an extra hour of sleep tomorrow
3. having an extra hour to get stuff done, I guess
4. that Standard Time is now a couple of weeks shorter than it used to be
5. someday, eventually, seeing the sun after 5 p.m. again*

*ever hopeful!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Student Cancellation Edition

1. having a couple of hours freed up
2. getting grading finished before the weekend
3. being a morning person anyway
4. coffee
5. running errands before work instead of after

Five Things that Don't Suck, Running Late Edition

1. wah!
2. gotta go!
3. gah!
4. yikes!
5. byebyebyebyebyebyebye!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Lovely Wednesday Edition

1. warm(ish) weather
2. sunshine
3. not having too many responsibilities today
4. slow starts
5. slow finishes

Five Things that Don't Suck, Who Authorized November????? Edition

1. autumn leaves
2. my friend who likes to call stuff "autumnal"
3. snuggling up
4. building a fire for the football game*
5. stew

*unless it's a bye week but whatever. Rest up, boys!

Five Things that Don't Suck, You Can Google It Halloween Edition

1. Zita Johann
2. Elsa Lanchester
3. Evelyn Ankers
4. Gloria Stuart
5. Helen Chandler

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Sunday Edition

1. Wispride
2. the merengue
3. backbends
4. photosynthesis
5. those Viking helmets with the horns on them

Five Things that Don't Suck, Napping Edition

1. closing my eyes
2. comfy blankets
3. soft music
4. pillows
5. maybe not waking up until Monday?

Five Things that Don't Suck, Short Friday Edition

1. getting stuff out into the mail before the weekend
2. seeing some of my favorite students
3. being home for lunch
4. being home
5. functional alarm clocks

Five Things that Don't Suck, Sneakers Edition

1. arch support*
2. maybe still being able to walk by the end of the day
3. and not needing an ice pack
4. and letting my [expletive deleted] foot heal from whatever the [expletive deleted] I did to it
5. taking them off

*Fine. Fine. Whatever.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Off Campus Edition

1. not having to go to campus to pick up those papers I totally forgot to bring home with me*
2. sunshine
3. a warm sweater
4. giving the dogs a little cheese
5. magic markers


*theoretical, dammit

Five Things that Don't Suck, Chilly Weather* Edition

1. cashmere socks**
2. hot coffee
3. a nice, comfy throw
4. heated seats
5. pockets

*Look. I'm not a fan. But you gotta do what you gotta do when it comes to the FTTDS lists
**I'm serious. Try them.***
***unless you have a wool allergy. Then maybe not so much with the trying them.

Five Things that Don't Suck, A Little Writing Time Edition

1. time to work on a Very Secret Project
2. well, an hour. But that counts, right? Let's try this again:

1. time to work on a Very Secret Project
2. counting even an hour of work on the VSP as a thing that doesn't suck
3. having a job that rewards and encourages my creative life
4. maybe cleaning my laptop screen before I take it out in public*
5. dogs

*because dogs and noses and licking and stuff. Yes, it's gross. Dogs are gross. Too bad. They don't suck.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Vaguely Achy Sunday Edition

1. ice packs
2. having Jed around to walk the dogs
3. supportive (if ugly) shoes
4. magically fast healing powers
5. two strong feet

Five Things that Don't Suck, Anniversary Edition

1. celebrating 22 years on the 22nd*
2. having breakfast with Nan long before Jed's even out of bed
3. coming home for a nap
4. lazy, rainy days
5. Jed

*known in the Foley family as the "round" anniversary--it works for birthdays, too

Five Things that Don't Suck, Short But Long Friday Edition

1. a 3-hour campus day
2. getting caught up with everything else*
3. connecting with people
4. not always having to actually meet those people**
5. seeing Nan tomorrow

*SO theoretical
**an online shop is a great way for an introvert who otherwise really enjoys customer service to do retail

Five Things that Don't Suck, Busy Thursday Edition

1. how funny my friends are
2. how cool they are
3. how I can say, "I really don't have time to chat" and they get excited for me
4. BIG poetry news (sshhhh. Soon)
5. a flexible campus schedule

Five Things that Don't Suck, Busy Off-Campus Edition

1. being able to just drop things at the post office
2. groceries
3. printing more shirts
4. being a walking Etsy commercial
5. naps*

*pleasepleasepleaseplease

Five Things that Don't Suck, Long Tuesday Edition

1. being busy
2. especially when you're busy with good things
3. a really solid night's sleep after a long day
4. a helpful spouse
5. the thought that next week will be easier

Five Things that Don't Suck, Warm October Monday Edition

1. not yet having to scrape the windshield
2. bees up and about before 8 a.m. because it's warm enough already
3. going back to my natural, sock-less, existence
4. not yet being ready to make chili
5. chili

Five Things that Don't Suck, Sunday Brunch Edition

1. eggs benedict
2. crispy potatoes
3. coffee*
4. maybe one of those scone-like cranberry nut rolls they've got
5. jazz trios

*eventually

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Weekend Edition

1. scallion pancakes
2. not having botulism
3. sunflowers
4. how funny people are
5. bear cubs rolling up into a little ball when they fall over

Five Things that Don't Suck, Headache Edition

1. Fridays
2. nap opportunities*
3. Tylenol
4. caffeine
5. relatively short days on campus

*though not for a while

Five Things that Don't Suck, Hurricane-Free Edition

1. NOT actually flying into a hurricane because your flight gets canceled*
2. having the time off anyway
3. spending the week with other members of the family I love
4. my FL family staying safe
5. bonus dogs

*to be fair, I had only planned to fly NEAR a hurricane zone and it was before the hurricane was supposed to arrive. I'm not an idiot. Mostly.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Hitting the Road Edition

Note: I'm heading out for a week or so--flying into a hurricane because I'm an idiot--and I don't know what kind of internet access I'll have or even if I'll think to post. Hang out for a week or so. Make your own list (it's only 35 things over 7 days and the bar is low). Take a nap. I'll post if I think about it and have access. And I'll be back.

1. road trips
2. greyhounds in the car
3. Jed making a great effort to actually get out of bed
4. spending a few days with my parents*
5. house sitters

*assuming Hurricane Matthew cooperates with my travel plans

Five Things that Don't Suck, Turquoise Birthday Edition

1. turning 50*
2. laughing until you think you'll pee your pants
3. not actually peeing your pants**
4. how much light she poured into 45 years
5. love

*theoretical
**much

Five Things that Don't Suck, Short Week Edition

1. when Monday is basically your Thursday
2. and next Thursday is pretty much your Monday
3. seeing Mooge and Beej and the kids (most of them) Wednesday
4. seeing my folks Thursday
5. road trips

Five Things that Don't Suck, Brrr Edition

1. jeans
2. socks
3. perhaps a lovely jacket
4. building a fire for the football game
5. maybe a comfy throw*

*chenille is good. Or fleece. Or down. Or it being July again.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Poets Edition

1. when the poets come to visit
2. talking about poetry
3. and about other poets*
4. hugs
5. laughter

*only the good stuff, I promise

Five Things that Don't Suck, Early Friday Morning Edition

1. being up early
2. good parking spots on campus
3. caffeine
4. getting the house cleaned up for poets
5. poets

Five Things that Don't Suck, Student Retention Meeting Edition

1. bagels
2. fruit
3. some of my favorite faculty/administrators
4. getting things done*
5. learning tons of stuff

*at a meeting! Who knew?

Five Things that Don't Count, Random Edition

1. pillows
2. tea
4. not being tied down by arbitrary numbering systems
3. gentle rebellion*
5. the letter m

*I'm all for rebellion in general, but not at all for people getting hurt

Five Things that Don't Suck, Bad At It Edition

1. sending a friend a video of myself playing bad ukulele
2. well, actually, the ukulele is fine. It's my playing that is bad
3. but adorable
4. and fun
5. and in tune

Five Things that Don't Suck, Back At It Edition

1. being totally prepared for Monday*
2. probably having time to prep for Tuesday before I leave campus today
3. giving workshops in other professors' classrooms
4. student writers
5. all the other writers

*not even theoretically--actually totally prepared

Five Things that Don't Suck, Toasty Warm Edition

1. cool nights that are still warm enough to be remedied by a blanket
2. blankets
3. snuggling up
4. being married to a portable furnace
5. June*

*is it June yet?

Five Things that Don't Suck, Lazy Saturday Edition

1. making some art
2. playing some ukulele
3. dinner with friends
4. okay, fine, so some grading but not a lot, and it's response papers which are fun*
5. long showers

*no, really, they are

Five Things That Don't Suck, Sleepy Friends Edition

1. having breakfast with the dear friends who stayed here last night
2. having lunch with a totally different dear friend because I am so lucky
3. said slumber party friends who will, I assume, eventually wake up
4. being happy-tired
5. eggs

Five Things that Don't Suck, Early Meeting Edition

1. the people at that meeting
2. how much we actually get accomplished
3. bagels
4. like, really good bagels from a bakery that knows what it's doing
5. making a very quick FTTDS list so I can get there on time

Five Things that Don't Suck, Off Campus Edition

1. pedicures
2. printmaking
3. ukulele playing
4. getting caught up on grading
5. a clean house*

*theoretical

Five Things that Don't Suck, Multigrain Cheerios Edition

1. round food
2. especially round food with holes in the middle
3. like jalapeño peppers
4. or bagels
5. or donuts

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Monday Edition

1. wondering if maybe it should be "Monday Random Edition"
2. the glorious mane I woke up with this morning*
3. the students I get to see today**
4. the imminent arrival of Jed's ukulele***
5. snail mail

*humidity is really good for my hair. Sorry.
**they're all my favorite, even the ones I'm not seeing today
***yes, Julie, he bought one, too

Five Things that Don't Suck, New Washing Machine Edition

1. not having to do laundry in the sink this week
2. or go to the laundromat*
3. being able to wear whateeeeever Iiiii want to campus tomorrow**
4. Jed getting up to meet the delivery people with me
5. a washing machine that lasts longer than 7 years***

*I'd rather do laundry in the sink, thanks
**<sweeps arm magestically to indicate all 10 of her outfits>
***HIGHLY theoretical, apparently

Five Things that Don't Suck, Allergies Edition

1. Sudafed
2. honey
3. Claritin
4. fluids
5. how pretty fall flowers can be

Five Things that Don't Suck, Early Friday Edition

1. when a student cancels so I can actually go to part of the Friday morning write-in in the library
2. working on my own stuff (perhaps)
3. being strong enough to carry the comical amount of stuff I need to carry to campus today
4. having a weekend clear for creativity
5. actually engaging in the aforementioned creativity

Five Things that Don't Suck, Belated Thursday Edition

1. being so busy laughing with house guests that you don't post a FTTDS list
2. the house guests
3. making cookies for tomorrow
4. eating some of those cookies tonight
5. cookies

Five Things that Don't Suck, Friendly Visitors Edition

1. having friends come to visit
2. a whole second family
3. beer*
4. how happy the dogs are going to be
5. how happy I'm going to be


*theoretical but probable

Five Things that Don't Suck, Just Another Manic Tuesday Edition

1. having a clean house*
2. being totally prepared for the Southard-Wrays to arrive again tomorrow*
3. TOMORROW!
4. the "Good Morning Acapella" ring tone**
5. ice cream

*theoretical
**google it. I'll ask forgiveness or gratitude later.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Cool Dry Monday Edition

1. warm days and cool nights
2. blue blue blue skies
3. really funny friends
4. a little writing time
5. bees, coming in heavy laden

Five Things that Don't Suck, Fifteen Years Later Edition

1. immigrants
2. their love for this country
3. their love (some of them) for me
4. the multiple, countless ways in which they have enriched my life
5. allowing tragedies to open your heart instead of closing it

Five Things that Don't Suck, Semi-Random Saturday Edition

1. when Clancy sends an email the entire contents of which read: "Bongos."
2. knowing that bongos do not, in fact, suck
3. blueberry bread in the oven
4. blueberry bread out of the oven
5. blueberry bread in my belly

Five Things that Don't Suck, Up and At 'Em Friday Edition

1. getting done with campus early
2. because there are no Friday afternoon meetings
3. getting on the road before the school buses
4. hearing Jed snore and knowing he's not waking me up, at least
5. bongos

Five Things that Don't Suck, Canceled Meeting Edition

1. when my first meeting of the day gets canceled
2. being able to sleep in a little
3. and have a second iced coffee
4. and play the ukulele
5. getting some calluses so I can play for more than 5 minutes at a time*

*theoretical, but getting there

Five Things that Don't Suck, Lazy Morning Edition

1. it's still warm enough for iced coffee*
2. dark, quiet rooms
3. getting a relaxed start to the day
4. teaching myself to cook something new
5. or ordering pizza**

*I know, I know. There are tons of New Englanders who drink iced coffee all year. I am most certainly not one of them

**Seriously, if you're trying to cook something way out of your regular range, just know that you can always order pizza. And pizza is delicious, so it's win-win. 

Five Things that Don't Suck, Finally (Maybe) Some Rain Edition

1. wet grass
2. puddles
3. clouds
4. knocking some of the ragweed out of the air, at least temporarily
5. splashing sounds

Five Things that Don't Suck, Labor Day Edition

1. laborers
2. unions
3. three-day weekends
4. the general concept of "the weekend"
5. reasonable working hours

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Sunday Edition

1. clean laundry
2. lazy dogs
3. trying out the basic vanilla bean ice cream recipe
4. getting some cleaning up done
5. not having to go to campus tomorrow

Five Things that Don't Suck, Long Weekend Saturday Edition

1. relaxed breakfast
2. hanging out with Jed
3. ukulele practice
4. Amanda Palmer's "Ukulele Anthem"*
5. making some ice cream*

*theoretically, but probably

Five Things that Don't Suck, First Friday of the Semester Edition

1. the fact that it's Friday
2. long weekends
3. loving my job, in that it would be okay if it were actually Thursday
4. the fact that it's not, however, actually Thursday
5. waking up without an alarm

Five Things that Don't Suck, Ukulele Edition

1. the word "ukulele"
2. being able to play Radiohead's "Creep."
3. or, say, anything by the White Stripes*
4. or "Tonight You Belong to Me"
5. Amazon Prime

*I'm thinking "Fell in Love with a Girl," but "Seven Nation Army" (or anything else, really) would also be pretty cool

Five Things that Don't Suck, First Wednesday Off Campus Edition

1. being able to ease into the semester, kind of
2. getting up fairly early today*
3. slamming through my to-do list
4. getting to ease the dogs into the new schedule, too
5. the new water bottle my friends bought me**

*theoretically to make getting up at 6:30 easier tomorrow than it was yesterday, because...ouch.
** ice lasting from 7 in the morning until well into the evening? Yes, please.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Jed's Birthday Edition

1. Jed
2. how much he doesn't suck
3. beards
4. beekeepers
5. fishermen

Five Things that Don't Suck, Rescheduled Lunch with Julie Edition

1. Julie!
2. how happy the dogs are to see her*
3. seriously, like, all the wagging
4. fries
5. catching up

*next time, Julie!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Sunday of My Summer Edition

1. still having Monday off
2. a slow* start to the semester
3. seeing people I really like
4. the epic nap I'm going to have on Tuesday afternoon**
5. learning stuff

*hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Gasssssp! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
**it's a thing

Five Things that Don't Suck, Ice Cream Saturday Edition

1. buying Jed a schmancy ice cream maker for his birthday
2. making ice cream "his thing"*
3. pretending it was all the dogs' idea
4. teaching Jed how to make ice cream
5. ice cream

*theoretically

Five Things that Don't Suck, Forgetful in my Old Age Edition

1. getting enough sleep*
2. Bugs Bunny
3. taking a left turn at Albuquerque
4. knowing how to spell Albuquerque
5. when titles and lists don't match

*theoretical

Five Things that Don't Suck, Lunch with Students Edition

1. students
2. especially students who come back to campus and immediately ask me if I want to meet for lunch
3. and then ask to bring a friend
4. feeling effective
5. being appreciated

Five Things that Don't Suck, Housefly and Panic Edition

1. not having a fly in the house ever ever
2. the dog who isn't terrified of houseflies
3. the dog who is, even though he's making me crazy
4. the knowledge that someone, somewhere, must still sell flypaper
5. naps

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Monday Edition

1. lunch with Julie*
2. calculators and calculator apps
3. the way Gracie takes the best dog bed in the house
4. even though the beds are identical
5. creativity

*Hi, Julie!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Full Week of Break Edition

1. being on campus occasionally (but regularly) all summer long, so it doesn't feel like it's a big deal
2. the courses I get to teach this semester
3. having time to continue to revamp next semester's 101
4. new things
5. old things

Five Things that Don't Suck, Slow Start Saturday Edition

1. the cool-ish, dry air on late-August mornings
2. reading some poems
3. Amazon's delivery vans*
4. heading to the lake later
5. getting a swim in

*if it comes via UPS, it gets here late afternoon; if it's on an Amazon van, it shows up first thing in the morning

Five Things that Don't Suck, Lovely Friday Edition

1. whatever that bush is in front of the neighbor's house, because it's covered with all sorts of bees
2. not needing air conditioning for the past couple of nights
3. Butler finally relaxing after the most recent housefly invader came to its inevitable end
4. tons and tons of reading
5. still having a week and a half before classes start

Five Things that Don't Suck, Kinda Damp Thursday Edition

1. condensation
2. dew
3. bumblebees out getting something to drink this morning*
4. snakes just sorta chilling out
5. the thought that maybe someday we'll get some significant rain

*probably water but I'm not gonna judge. It's 5 o'clock somewhere!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Wednesday Edition

1. snickerdoodles
2. the perfect skirt
3. dog ears*
4. watering cans
5. the word "braggadocio"

*actual dog ears, but if you want to fold down the corner of a page while reading, you go ahead and do that. Texts are living documents--they're conversations between writer and reader, and don't let anyone tell you what the proper way is to engage in that conversation. Except with library books. People who dog ear library books are jerks.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Pedicures with Mooge and Binks Edition

1. Mooge
2. Binks
3. the way the two of them sent separate fake-argument texts to me yesterday afternoon, one claiming Binks was horning in on our pedicure and the other claiming she was not horning in
4. cute toes
5. making a "bling bling bling" noise when I show Jed the new pedi tonight

Five Things that Don't Suck, Revision Edition

1. making things stronger
2. like lines
3. or individual words
4. or yourself as a writer
5. and otherwise

Five Things that Don't Suck, Lots of Sleep Edition

1. going to bed early
2. getting up late
3. waking up at 4 and telling yourself "No way"
4. having #3 work
5. a long shower*

*within reason. Water conservation is important!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Being Home Edition

1. the dogs and love therefrom
2. Jed and love therefrom
3. seltzer after a week of flat water
4. silence
5. knowing that the next gathering will be happening before I know it

Five Things that Don't Suck, Poetry Week Edition

Hi! I'm going to be at my favorite poetry week of the year starting today--so I might post a FTTDS list every day, I might miss one or two days, or I might miss all of them. It's a fantastic week and definitely does not suck, but it gets busy and my world is wondrously full for a few days. 

1. reading good poems
2. talking about good poems
3. talking about all sorts of other things
4. going for a swim*
5. long walks

*or five

Five Things that Don't Suck, Getting Ready for Connecticut Edition

1. wondering if Connecticut can possibly be ready for me
2. movie night with The Wolf Man*
3. having someone else take care of most of the day-to-day all week so I can be a poet
4. being with other poets
5. these specific other poets**

*that's the movie, not some euphemism for any of the dudes in CT
**though I'll be missing some others, it's true

Five Things that Don't Suck, Stray Kittens Edition

1. the tiny kitten stampede that happens every time I walk out back and greet them
2. triangle tails
3. bobble heads
4. blue eyes
5. spaying and neutering your pets because these adorable little things are a tiny drop in a very large bucket

Five Things that Don't Suck, August Friday Edition

1. hanging out with the bees
2. doing a little cleaning up
3. petting some dogs
4. making some art
5. figuring out some poems

Five Things that Don't Suck, Campus Meeting Edition

1. liking the people I work with
2. working on the prettiest campus in the country*
3. having this one last thing to do before I'm a full-time poet for a bit
4. being a full-time poet for a bit
5. bagels

*not that I'm biased or anything

Five Things that Don't Suck, Pedicure Edition

1. cute toes
2. soft feet
3. whatever is in that green muck they put on your shins and calves
4. salt scrubs
5. that hot towel wrap thing

Five Things that Don't Suck, Seeing Julie Edition

1. Julie
2. saying hi to Julie*
3. having lunch with Julie
4. how easy it is for the 2 of us to meet in the middle for said lunch
5. how much laughing is going to happen

*Hi, Julie!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Hello August Edition

1. the fact that it's not September yet
2. long, warm days
3. slightly cooler nights
4. getting to see my poets again in just a week
5. still having another few weeks to sleep in a bit

Five Things that Don't Suck, Art Playdate Edition

1. teaching someone how to print
2. being good at it
3. watching people learn stuff
4. the satisfaction of making
5. seeing pride in what they've done

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Day of July Edition

1. the way that once a year around this time, I post something somewhere about a dry, comfortable morning
2. today being that day
3. still having warm sun
4. getting some [expletive deleted] rain* at some point
5. still having plenty of iced coffee season left

*please

Five Things that Don't Suck, Finally Some Rain Edition

1. not having flash flooding
2. the flowers getting a nice drink
3. not caring about whether the lawn is green or not
4. a cool, grey, little break
5. maybe knocking some of the pollen down

Five Things that Don't Suck, Whoops Edition

1. being so caught up in good stuff (again!) that I forget about the FTTDS lists (again!)
2. friends who check up on me because of it (Hi, Julie!)
3. balancing visual art and poetry*
4. getting ready to see poets again
5. how funny my friends are

*let me know if you're out there and know how to do that

Five Things that Don't Suck, Poetry Edition

1. poems
2. poets
3. words
4. finding them
5. making them better

Five Things that Don't Suck, New Designs Edition

1. art
2. figuring out how to make it
3. when other people really seem to like it
4. liking it myself
5. working on poems today (promise)

Five Things that Don't Suck, Sunday Brunch Edition

1. seeing Jed's mom
2. coffee in battered china cups
3. french toast
4. or some sort of eggs Benedict
5. or...pancakes?*

*or huevos rancheros. Or bacon. Or, or, or...

Five Things that Don't Suck, Power Edition

1. having the power back
2. getting it back before we fell asleep, so when all the lights came on at once we weren't blinded (and awakened)
3. watching Blue Planet on Jed's laptop
4. having AC available to us on a sweltering day
5. a little time in the dark

Five Things that Don't Suck, Toasty Warm Friday Edition

1. wondering if it can really be called "toasty" if it's humid
2. trying to hold on to this feeling for when I need it in February
3. the fact that it's not February
4. air conditioning that isn't on full blast
5. having one more day to play before the work starts

Five Things that Don't Suck, Super-Late Thursday Edition

1. my mom
2. my mom's birthday
3. remembering to call my mom*
4. buttered noodles with salt
5. kittens

*as opposed to remembering to make a FTTDS list for today

Five Things that Don't Suck, Wednesday Edition

1. one more dry day before the humidity starts creeping back in
2. having the windows open
3. the breeze coming through the aforementioned windows
4. both dogs lying belly-first into the aforementioned breeze
5. aforementioning things

Five Things that Don't Suck, Belated Birthday Edition

1. having a whole day (almost) entirely to myself
2. making some art
3. reading some poems
4. writing a poem, maybe
5. cake

Five Things that Don't Suck Quick Quick Edition

1. instant yeast
2. Polaroids
3. jackrabbits
4. banana bread
5. life in the fast lane

Five Things that Don't Suck, Sunday Edition

1. meeting a friend for breakfast
2. and a quick IKEA run
3. knowing exactly what you want from your quick IKEA run
4. getting that thing
5. getting the hell out of there

Five Things that Don't Suck, Home Alone Edition

1. that sweet-ache in my chest from saying goodbye to people I love after a long, lovely visit
2. knowing I'll see all of them again soon*
3. how much laughter there has been in my house over the past month or so
4. a really big guest room
5. napping

and some REALLY soon

Five Things that Don't Suck, Joey Edition

1. sarcasm
2. laughter
3. ice cream
4. coffee milk
5. love

Five Things that Don't Suck, House Full of People Edition

Note: I have so many houseguests I am running out of plates. So there's just not going to be a regular series of FTTDS lists this weeks. But life really doesn't suck in any way whatsoever.

1. poet hair
2. poets
3. writers in general
4. and other artists
5. laughing until you're hoarse

Five Things that Don't Suck, Southard-Wray Edition

1. visitors from faraway lands*
2. staying up way too late
3. getting up way too early**
4. coffee
5. definitely coffee, twice today

*or, you know. Pittsburgh
**Jed might disagree

Five Things that Don't Suck, Saturday Edition

1. the farmers' market
2. getting really good cinnamon rolls there
3. Jed telling me, with no prompting whatsoever, that my cinnamon rolls are better
4. how very right he is
5. really good cinnamon rolls

Five Things that Don't Suck, Expecting New Visitors Edition

1. being 100% totally prepared*
2. getting to see people I rarely get to see, except this year when I apparently get to see them ALL THE TIME
3. not being sick of them
4. them not being sick of me**
5. wine

*hahahahahahahahaha!
**yet

Five Things that Don't Suck, Thursday Clean Out Edition

1. donating stuff
2. dropping stuff off at the leaf dump
3. recycling
4. going for a lovely swim later
5. a well-earned shower

Five Things that Don't Suck, Roasty Toasty Edition

1. ice cream
2. iced coffee
3. iced tea
4. Italian ice
5. ice

Five Things that Don't Suck, Rainy Tuesday Edition

1. getting the plants a nice drink of water
2. the way the rain held off until after the long weekend
3. giving Joey stick shift lessons
4. and breakfast
5. when the coffee maker goes beep and life begins

Five Things that Don't Suck, Independence Day Edition

1. parades
2. floats
3. flags
4. freedom
5. understanding the responsibilities that come with freedom

Five Things that Don't Suck, Slow Sunday Morning Edition

1. how quiet and cool the house is
2. watching the bees waking up in the back yard
3. ceiling fans
4. a little music
5. the oregano growing like the weed it is

Five Things that Don't Suck, Moguling Edition

1. when people send me their favorite stuff to print on*
2. putting things in the mail in cool boxes
3. tossing a hello to Julie in here just because I can**
4. tissue paper
5. having time this weekend to work on some new designs

*no pressure or anything. Yikes.
**what are you gonna do about it? NOTHING

Five Things that Don't Suck, Friday Edition

1. a long weekend with Jed
2. and Joey
3. and the dogs
4. and maybe some friends and/or family members not listed here
5. fireworks

Five Things that Don't Suck, Home Alone Edition

1. Joey and Jed having a lovely day out fishing
2. me, with the house to myself*
3. lunch with a grownup
4. printing printing printing
5. perhaps an afternoon nap

*and the dogs, I suppose. It would be lonely without the dogs

Five Things that Don't Suck, Vaguely Damp Wednesday Edition

1. freshly baked blueberry bread
2. iced coffee
3. moguling for fun instead of on a schedule
4. sleepy greyhounds
5. maybe getting some rain*

*we really need it

Five Things that Don't Suck, Vaguely Damp Wednesday Edition

1. freshly baked blueberry bread
2. iced coffee
3. moguling for fun instead of on a schedule
4. sleepy greyhounds
5. maybe getting some rain*

*we really need it

Five Things that Don't Suck, Tuesday Cleanout Edition

1. being able to fully close the freezer door without trying*
2. having a place for everything in the office*
3. getting stuff out to Goodwill*
4. having a functional dining room on the days when I'm not printing* **
5. a couple of cool-ish days in a row

*theoretical, sadly
**are there any of those days left? Not that I'm complaining.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Summer Monday Edition

1. groceries
2. printing some of the orders that came in last night*
3. heading to the lake again
4. homemade pizza
5. Jed having the evening off from teaching

*thanks for posting the links, friends

Five Things That Don't Suck, Standing in for the Whole Weekend Edition

1. lake time
2. being in the lake
3. being near the lake
4. laughing
5. parties

Five Things that Don't Suck, ACTUALLY Getting a New Grill Today Maybe Edition

1. the sheer amount of sleeping that went on in the guest room yesterday
2. like, really impressive amounts of sleeping
3. feeling affectionate enough about the sleeping that I don't worry about previous plans for grilling dinner*
4. good conversations during the brief intervals in which Joey is awake
5. coffee

*that's what restaurants are for

Five Things that Don't Suck, New Grill Edition

1. getting a new grill
2. making Joey assemble it
3. the look on Joey's face when I told Jed I was going to make Joey assemble it
4. learning experiences!
5. having a grill for the first time in 2 years

Five Things that Don't Suck, Joey Upper Edition

1. history and the desire to learn about it
2. music
3. having a nephew who says, "Every once in a while I remember a joke you made when I was little and get it retroactively."
4. long visits
5. plans. Lots of plans

Five Things that Don't Suck, Home Sweet Home Edition

1. making the Pittsburgh/Attleboro run in under 9.5 hours
2. wondering how many parsecs that is
3. looking it up and discovering a parsec is a unit of distance, not time
4. wondering how far the Kessel run is and how it compares to Rt. 80 in Pennsylvania
5. Pennsylvania

Five Things that Don't Suck, Whoops Edition

1. having so much fun on the road that I forget all about the FTTDS list
2. forgetting about a bunch of other things
3. stealing the awesome dog that lives here*
4. good friends who take you as you are
5. knowing that I'll see them again really really soon

*well, who lives here FOR NOW. Tomorrow, he comes home with me**
**not really***
***unless I can figure out how to steal him

Five Things that Don't Suck, Getting Ready Edition

1. packing
2. clean laundry
3. being on top of things
4. the realization that I'll be with good but distant friends soon
5. road trips

Five Things that Don't Suck, Phew Edition

1. finishing two major projects that I'd been worried about
2. learning new stuff
3. realizing that perhaps other people have a more accurate idea of my skills than I do
4. designing a book cover*
5. using a 20 year-old pair of Jed's PJ pants to do it*

*!!!!!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Flag Day Edition

1. flags
2. the fact that I can remember a little "June fourteenth is Flag Day / Hang the banner out" poem from somewhere in elementary school
3. my brother
4. my brother's birthday
5. the possibility of not having "You're A Grand Old Flag" stuck in my head all day*

*theoretical

Five Things that Don't Suck, Can't Keep My Days Straight Edition

1. Tuesdays, even when you think it's Wednesday
2. unless it's Monday, though Monday doesn't suck, either*
3. or Saturday. Saturday definitely doesn't suck. Is it Saturday?
4. Sunday
5. Friday

*no it doesn't. If Monday sucks because you have to go back to work, don't blame the day. Blame the job.

Five Things that Don't Suck, First Day of CORE Edition

1. meeting a bunch of incoming first-year students
2. my friend who made jokes about the Jimi Hendrix Orientation and Registration Experience
3. how nervous the students are going to be
4. how much less nervous they'll be afterwards
5. new adventures

Five Things that Don't Suck, Weekend Edition

1. waking up on my own schedule*
2. getting to the PO before it closes**
3. checking on the bees
4. getting some more art supplies
5. being a person who needs to get more art supplies

*which is exactly the same schedule as when Jed's alarm wakes me up, but whatever. It feels more luxurious this way.
**theoretical but probable

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Friday Edition

1. potstickers
2. the word "microcosm"
3. sterile bandages
4. Uniball Vision Elite multi-color packs
5. dogs wearing bandanas*

*or driving goggles and leather helmets

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Thursday Edition

1. dandelions
2. naturally* good hair
3. baby manatees
4. great big manatees**
5. little kids who pronounce "r"s like "w"s

*or unnaturally
**I'm holding my opinion about adolescent manatees. I think they probably don't suck, but you never know with teenagers

Five Things that Don't Suck, Getting Poodley Edition

1. how long my hair is
2. getting it trimmed up a bit
3. summer, which means it doesn't need to see a blow dryer afterwards
4. and thus, the (straight-haired) stylist being unable to make it ridiculously curly
5. calling it "Getting Poodley" anyway

Five Things that Don't Suck, Chauffeur Edtion

1. being available to help out
2. flexible schedules
3. lunch out with my mother-in-law
4. a full afternoon of moguling
5. or, you know. Napping

Five Things that Don't Suck, Starting Off Right Edition

1. mown lawns
2. clean laundry
3. a clear moguling to-do list
4. poems
5. groceries

Five Things that Don't Suck, Brunch Edition

1. good coffee made by someone else
2. Jed being awake enough to join us for breakfast*
3. pancakes?
4. waffles?
5. eggs?**

*theoretically
**decisions, decisions

Five Things that Don't Suck, Elephant Edition

1. those ears, man
2. trunks*
3. sucking water up through your nose to give yourself a refreshing shower**
4. round, stampy feet
5. tusks

*weird yet awesome
**theoretically

Five Things that Don't Suck, Cool Friday Edition

1. moguling...so much moguling...
2. temps in the 70s when I need to iron*
3. starting the pitcher of iced coffee
4. putting together pizza dough for the weekend
5. pizza for the weekend

*why does moguling require tons of ironing? I'd like to register a complaint.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Back on Campus for a Meeting Edition

1. meeting with people I really like
2. helping other people I really like
3. the people I really like
4. people in general
5. bagels

Five Things that Don't Suck, Back on the Road Edition

1. home
2. being home
3. driving with Jed and the dogs
4. sleeping in our own bed
5. not having to get up early on Thursday*

*sorry, Jed

Five Things that Don't Suck, Third (or Fourth, Depending) Annual Edition

1. writing a FTTDS list (almost) every day
2. doing so for four years
3. blogging them for three years
4. how far I've come
5. how well it works

Five Things that Don't Suck, Memorial Day Edition

1. remembering the fallen
2. not having any immediate fallen
3. reflection
4. understanding
5. not creating any more fallen

Five Things that Don't Suck, Graduation Edition

1. snazzy flat hats*
2. pomp
3. circumstance
4. combining the two to make MAGIC
5. paaaarrrrrtaaaaays

*which make it easier to pat graduates on the head and tell them, "Good job!"

Five Things that Don't Suck, Greensboro Edition

1. comfy comfy comfy beds
2. coffee
3. how cute I look on no sleep*
4. the dogs, who are apparently behaving themselves in Manassas
5. Jed's reaction to short-sleeved shirts***

*red, watery eyes are apparently wrinkle-fighters**
**or maybe it's the lighting. Whatever. I look GOOD 
***dismay. Pure dismay.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Brief Stop in Manassas Edition

1. how well the four dogs get along
2. taking a mini road trip with just Jed for a couple of days
3. relatives who don't mind adding a couple of tall dogs to their pack while we're gone
4. seeing the Upper side of the family
5. hugs

Five Things that Don't Suck, On the Road Edition

Note: I'm traveling for the next few days, so FTTDS lists might be sporadic. Or nonexistent. Don't worry--things don't suck, and I'll be back.

1. road snacks
2. how good the dogs are in the car
3. how good Jed is in the car
4. driving
5. getting to see a whole bunch of people we love--like, tons of them

Five Things that Don't Suck, Packing Edition

1. house sitters
2. going to see Mooge and Nino (and the clan)
3. Opie and Fini, who love hanging out with Gracie and Boo
4. Binks, World-Renowned Dog-Sitting Niece
5. Putting as many nicknames as possible into one list.*

*Lambo. Toast. Grilla. 

Five Things that Don't Suck, Clearly in Vacation Mode Edition

1. forgetting to do a FTTDS list because you don't always need the reminder of the non-sucky things
2. lazy weekends
3. road trip preparations
4. mailing out packages to make people happy
5. packing

Five Things that Don't Suck, Allergic Husband Edition

1. Breathe Right strips
2. Zyrtec
3. Sudafed
4. water
5. tissues

Five Things that Don't Suck, Friday Edition

1. still occasionally getting that "Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday" song stuck in my head*
2. doing some thrift store shopping
3. hanging out with the dogs
4. sleeping until Jed's alarm goes off**
5. pretending that Jed only has one alarm

*not because I like the song but because I like the people who made fun of that song with me
**the first real sign that I'm figuring out I'm on summer break

Five Things that Don't Suck, Artistry Edition

1. the sheer number of donkey pictures available via Google image search
2. the knowledge that I am likely not the only person looking for them, today or ever
3. donkeys in general
4. thievery*
5. making stuff

*of ideas and techniques, not donkeys. Please do not take any donkey that isn't yours. And if you steal an idea, either change it so much that it's unidentifiable or figure out a way to give the person credit.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Sunny Wednesday Edition

1. hanging out with Foleys tonight
2. lemon cake
3. putting Foleys before lemon cake because I have priorities*
4. making some art this afternoon
5. learning new things

*I also have lemon cake.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Jerry Foley Edition

1. laughing at your own jokes
2. turning all sorts of words into verbs
3. whipped cream, and lots of it
4. devotion to family
5. loving fearlessly

Miss you, Sir.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Cool Monday Edition

1. seeing Nan for lunch
2. or breakfast
3. diners that serve breakfast all day
4. eggs benedict
5. mostly the seeing Nan part, though, really*

*it does so much non-sucking that it makes the list twice!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Not-So Lazy Sunday Edition

1. when it's warm enough that the bees are up and out before I'm awake
2. having a little quiet time before the day starts
3. moguling
4. maybe running a vacuum (?) maybe (?)
5. date night

Five Things that Don't Suck, Squirrel in the Fireplace Edition

1. how calm Gracie is about the whole thing*
2. having extra towels on hand I can use to block the fireplace doors so the squirrel will think it's night
3. my take-charge husband
4. ...who climbed out on the roof at 10:30 last night to drop a rope down the chimney
5. not having a squirrel in the fireplace anymore**

*we won't mention Butler. Butler is sensitive.
**theoretical, but it's been quiet in there since about 7 this morning and Butler is very calm, so I'm hopeful

Five Things that Don't Suck, Friday Friday FRIDAAAAAY Edition

1. summer break, when every day might as well be Friday
2. or Saturday
3. or, I suppose, Monday
4. doing all sorts of printing today
5. trying new things

Five Things that Don't Suck, Moving Day Edition

1. how completely prepared our niece will be
2. how totally packed and ready
3. an efficient, quick, painless moving situation
4. how certain I am of this
5. college students

Five Things that Don't Suck, Almost There Edition

1. having just five papers left to grade
2. coffee*
3. in a mug**
4. on a slow-ish morning
5. where I didn't have to wake up until I was ready to

*instead of tea
**instead of a travel mug***
***although neither tea nor travel mugs suck, for the record

Five Things that Don't Suck, Finally Sunny Edition

1. the sun. Just sun, sun, sun, sun.
2. how busy the bees were yesterday
3. how busy they'll be again today
4. being almost done with campus for a little bit
5. poeting

Five Things that Don't Suck, Late-ish First Day of Finals Week Edition

1. getting up when I wake up instead of with the alarm
2. meeting with students
3. hugs
4. how full the library is
5. getting the grading done bit by bit

Five Things that Don't Suck, Mother's Day Edition

1. my mom
2. Jed's mom
3. all of our mom-like people
4. the fact that someone on NPR yesterday morning used the phrase "mom-like person"
5. flowers

Five Things that Don't Suck, Oh My Heart Edition

1. a former student flying up from Atlanta to say goodbye to me before she heads back to China*
2. having the time for a long but not long enough chat in my office
3. flowers
4. hugs
5. the way she said, "Please remember me" before she left

*who does that??

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Day of Classes Edition

1. the urge to just laugh and laugh and laugh
2. hugs. So many hugs
3. meetings that maybe aren't as contentious as they could be
4. not having my alarm go off at 6:20 for a good long time
5. reading what I know are going to be some really good student papers*

*and then not reading any more student papers until sometime in September

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Off-Campus Thursday for a While Edition

1. breakfast with colleagues
2. making a much-needed thrift store run
3. not having too much moguling to do today
4. time to revise
5. preparing for tomorrow's grading

Five Things that Don't Suck, Rainy (Again) Wednesday Edition

1. rain*
2. not having to mow the lawn
3. snuggling in this afternoon
4. being all caught up with both grading and moguling for a little bit
5. deluding myself into thinking I'll take a nap this afternoon

*at least here in the northeast. We need it, people

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Day of 060 Edition

1. my international students
2. they're mine, I tell ya
3. talking about writing with people who want to talk about writing
4. seeing them grow and develop over four years
5. having one of them occasionally come back and see me

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Week of Classes Edition

1. the urge to put "Last Week of Classes, BIATCH!" in the title of this post
2. my amazing powers of self-restraint
3. knowing that my alarm is only going off 3 more times this semester*
4. the end of the Sunday night blues until August
5. loving my job as much as I do and still being able to celebrate break

*today was rough, man

Five Things that Don't Suck, Busy Sunday Edition

1. going to Blick for art supplies
2. printing a ton of tea towels
3. and a couple of t-shirts
4. and a handful of aprons
5. spending half an hour listening to President Obama's White House Correspondents Dinner first

Five Things that Don't Suck, Sunny Saturday Edition

1. bees
2. butterflies
3. puffy clouds
4. sunshine
5. spring green

Five Things that Don't Suck, Short Day Edition

1. when I get a short work day on a Friday
2. or any other day, really
3. having 2 more poems to write for the month
4. having time to revise
5. not having to set the alarm tomorrow*

*or, possibly, this afternoon. Ahhhhhh...

Five Things that Don't Suck, Pre-Coffee Edition

1. remembering to make coffee before I do things like get lunches together, because then it will be ready for breakfast*
2. remembering to put water in the machine*
3. how happy the dogs are when they get cheese while I'm making lunches
4. remembering to hit the "on" button on the coffee maker*
5. when the half and half doesn't curdle when it hits the coffee**

*theoretical
**so very very sadly theoretical this morning

Five Things that Don't Suck, Winding Down Edition

1. a tiny break from grading
2. printing some cool shirts and stuff
3. getting caught up on other things*
4. keeping up with a poem-a-day even when it's been this busy
5. being 4 days away from revision

*theoretical

Five Things that Don't Suck, Feeding the Bees Edition

1. creeping Charlie
2. dandelions
3. tulips
4. forsythia
5. violets

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Monday Edition

1. Prince wrote "Manic Monday"
2. "Gloomy Sunday" is behind us and we won't have to worry about it for almost a week
3. 'Til Tuesday
4. S-A-TUR-DAY...NIGHT!*
5. "Friday I'm in Love"

*totally gonna have that stuck in my head all day now. Sorry, friends, if the same happens to you.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Summer IS Coming Edition

1. dragonflies
2. lily pads
3. long talks into long evenings
4. iced coffee*
5. creativity

*I know, I know, as a New Englander I'm supposed to drink this all year long. But no.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Moguling Edition

1. suddenly having the word "onesie" in my vocabulary
2. how TINY they are (!!!)
3. cracking myself up
4. when people want our work*
5. having weird hobbies

*everyone calls it my shop, but I can't do it without Jed

Five Things that Don't Suck, Prince Edition

1. "Kiss"*
2. "Purple Rain"
3. "Let's Go Crazy"
4. his guitar solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the George Harrison tribute**
5. "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man"

*you can just play that one song five times if you want and stop reading the list now
**seriously, people. Seriously.

Five Things That Don't Suck, Stuff People Called Me Yesterday Edition

1. amazing
2. badass
3. goofball
4. fancy
5. funny*

*I also got called a bitch, which also doesn't suck, but sometimes I just run out of room

Five Things that Don't Suck, Date Night Edition

1. Wednesday night movie nights
2. with curly fries
3. and beer
4. at the cinema pub
5. not having to get up at 6:30 tomorrow

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Edition

1. violets
2. being old enough that I no longer get fooled by violet candy
3. how much quicker my drive to campus is when the public schools are on vacation
4. seeing some really good students today
5. puppy toes

Five Things that Don't Suck, Student Presentations Week Edition

1. how smart my students are
2. and funny
3. and creative
4. how much of that I get to see
5. how this week really brings it out in them

Five Things that Don't Suck, Sunny Sunday Edition

1. feeling like we might actually have spring this year*
2. iced coffee season
3. only having 12 more on-campus class days**
4. phone calls from friends
5. visits, too

*we didn't have winter, really, but it wasn't spring either
**how is that possible??

Five Things that Don't Suck, Lazy Saturday Edition

1. not having a woodpecker come bang on the gutter at 6 in the morning
2. not having to roast the aforementioned woodpecker on a spit*
3. having a mostly unplanned weekend
4. time for naps
5. naps**

*I love nature. But seriously, dude. Give it a rest. 
**These are usually theoretical in their lack of sucking, but please see above in re: the damn woodpecker.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Welcome to Wheaton Day Edition

1. saying hi to incoming students and their parents
2. writing poems on demand*
3. coming home for a good long nap
4. good long naps
5. weekends

*mostly limericks**
**probably not dirty ones

Five Things that Don't Suck, Going to See Poets Edition

1. it's never the same visit twice
2. getting to see people I don't get to see anywhere near often enough
3. how often I've been able to see them this year
4. being ever-blessed with friends
5. hugs. So many hugs

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Wednesday Edition

1. the first good night's sleep in days
2. a full, but not packed-so-solid-I-don't-know-when-I'll-pee sort of day
3. getting some shirts printed tonight
4. thinking about other creative options
5. tea

Five Things that Don't Suck, Let's Talk About Art Baby Edition

1. Matisse
2. Frida Kahlo
3. Anne Sexton
4. whoever made the bowl we bought at the Attleboro Arts Museum years and years ago
5. Louis Armstrong

Five Things that Don't Suck, Surprise! It's Grey and Windy Again Today Edition

1. being beyond the power of the weather to affect my mood
2. ponytail holders
3. windshield wipers
4. balloons
5. electric lights

Five Things that Don't Suck, Lazyish Sunday Edition

1. having some time to make art
2. considering Instagram
3. considering octopodes
4. the irony of the fact that you can google the plural of octopus and "octopodes" will come right up, but Google Chrome doesn't recognize it as a word
5. computers

Five Things that Don't Suck, Sun Sun Sun Here It Comes Edition

1. birds singing and flitting about and doing other birdly things
2. open blinds and blue skies
3. dogs sleeping in sunny spots
4. not getting soaked every time I walk the aforementioned dogs
5. the potential for May flowers*

*and thus Pilgrims

Five Things that Don't Count, Late Edition

1. clocks
2. typing at 80 WPM
3. faking my way through the entries
4. running shoes
5. having a toothbrush at the office

Five Things that Don't Suck, Rainy Days and, Um, Thursdays (?) Edition

1. how resilient the daffodils are
2. getting set for the weekend
3. not being worried about a little water
4. or a lot of water
5. getting the flowers ready for the bees

Five Things that Don't Suck, Spoon Size Shredded Wheat Edition

1. fiber
2. cinnamon
3. a little bit of our own honey
4. feeling fueled straight through the day
5. not having to think about breakfast

Five Things that Don't Suck, Back to Cold Tuesday Edition

1. warming up the car before I go out there
2. sweaters
3. that the Sox had an away--not a home--opener yesterday
4. volunteering for stuff I really want to do
5. gloves

Five Things that Don't Suck, More Snow in April Edition

1. early release days
2. spring snow tends to melt pretty much immediately
3. I really do like those boots
4. being able to get to the post office and grocery store before it hits*
5. last call for cocoa

*but while kids are in school and parents are at work

Five Things that Don't Suck, Snow in April Edition

1. being so much of a professional FTTDS listmaker that I can definitely make it through this one
2. much-needed nitrogen working its way into the soil
3. probably not having to shovel*
4. cute red snow boots
5. the knowledge that we've barely seen snow this year, so fine. Whatever.

*not much, anyway

Five Things that Don't Suck, National Greyhound Adoption Month Edition

1. needle noses
2. the softest ears imaginable
3. sweet, gentle dispositions
4. tongues that don't fit into their mouths
5. giant chests*

*to hold their giant hearts**
**okay, so it's really because they need huge lungs for that high-speed running they can do. But they're also very, very loving dogs

Five Things that Don't Suck, Damp Friday Edition

1. the flowers getting all the drinks they need
2. and the other plants getting them, too
3. the knowledge that all this pollen is feeding the bees
4. and that the rain is knocking it down for a little while
5. being almost--almost--done with department meetings for the semester after today

Five Things that Don't Suck, Another Off-Campus Thursday Edition

1. sleeping until 7:30*
2. not being at AWP
3. maybe finally finishing up the fabric printing for Mooge
4. haircuts
5. coffee**

*Wooo! ParTAY!!
**I know, I know. I'm obsessed with getting a 2nd cup of coffee, but most campus mornings, I get tea. It's the little things, people.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Wednesday Edition

1. indoor plumbing
2. beets
3. Kitchen Aid heavy-duty mixers
4. scoop neck tees
5. peanut brittle

Five Things that Don't Suck, Tuesday Edition

1. having a 1-day break from grading
2. beginning to get the house in shape
3. being caught up (for now) on editorial work
4. writing the occasional poem again
5. reading the occasional poem again

Five Things that Don't Suck, Sugar Hangover Edition

1. salad
2. asparagus
3. carrots
4. maybe a tangerine
5. water

Five Things that Don't Suck, Easter Edition

1. candy
2. being old enough to buy my own candy if/when I want to
3. seeing the Foley clan
4. getting that second pie made today
5. going to bed early

Five Things that Don't Suck, Easter Pie Edition

1. chocolate cream pie
2. with real whipped cream
3. lemon meringue pie*
4. crust rolled in graham cracker crumbs
5. the way putting "pie" after any word makes it sound dirty

*whipped cream optional but probably pretty weird. You do you, though.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Getting Ready to Grade Edition

1. getting a jump on the grading before the weekend hits
2. not being able to grade a lot because the site is going to be down
3. being totally okay with that
4. maybe getting control over the rest of my life
5. possibilities

Five Things that Don't Suck, Fluffy Baby Animals Edition

1. puppies
2. baby chicks
3. tiny otters
4. teeny little penguins
5. kittens

Five Things that Don't Suck, Reading Edition

1. Jussi Adler-Olsen
2. Maggie Nelson
3. Jo Nesbo
4. Edna St.Vincent Millay
5. Lucille Clifton

Five Things that Don't Suck, Just Another Tuesday Edition

1. talking to my folks
2. hanging out with my international students*
3. going to a brown bag lunch with still more international students
4. having a very colorful bag (not brown)
5. clementines

*okay, okay. TEACHING my international students

Five Things that Don't Suck, Back to Classes Edition

1. being pretty well rested considering how busy last week was
2. Jed having a snow day
3. the strong possibility of an afternoon nap
4. talking about writing again
5. writing again

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Day of Spring Break Edition

1. the first day of spring
2. looking back on a really restful, productive week
3. being (almost) ready to head into the rest of the semester
4. how much fun it's going to be between now and May
5. how smart and engaged my students are

Five Things that Don't Suck, Belated Luck o' the Not Very Irish Edition

1. looking down while walking the dogs this morning and finding the bracelet I thought I had lost forever last night
2. the fact that nobody else picked it up
3. waking to a new order from the shop
4. breakfast with a friend I haven't seen in decades
5. prepaid postage

Five Things that Don't Suck, Mad Skillz Edition

1. learning new stuff
2. figuring out how to pretend to be okay with being bad at it long enough that you start to get okay at it and then, with luck, good at it
3. stretching your brain
4. concentrating so much on something that everything else goes away
5. reading glasses

Five Things that Don't Suck, Not Irish But Married an Irishman Edition

1. snakes
2. beer of any standard, beer-colored color
3. 3-leaf clovers
4. whatever color you damn well feel like wearing
5. my Irishman

Five Things that Don't Suck, Mid-Week Edition

1. crocuses blooming under the dogwood
2. daffodil buds
3. the possibility of it not raining all day maybe
4. printing some fabric
5. having ideas for repeating patterns

Five Things that Don't Suck, More Moguling Edition

1. selling something to a stranger*
2. getting told I'm an inspiration**
3. doing whatever I want today because it's break and I've met my obligations
4. not even turning the lights on if I don't want to
5. telling myself I'm going to nap even though I'm probably not

*THIS
**though you might want to set your bar a little higher there, it still feels nice

Five Things that Don't Suck, Spring Break Edition

1. having so many t-shirt orders to fill that it didn't seem like I was on break yet
2. forgetting to nap
3. getting caught up on regular life stuff today*
4. the number of people waiting for me to get more shirts
5. small-time success

*theoretical

Five Things that Don't Suck, Daylight Saving Edition

1. waking up at the same time I always do, no matter what the clock says*
2. having an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day, when I need it most
3. the promise of spring*
4. long slants of light
5. getting a nap if we need it

*I suspect the vast majority of people talking about losing an hour of sleep LIE. Or maybe it just pays to be a heathen
**and SUMMER

Five Things that Don't Suck, Sunny Saturday Edition

1. the bees are back*
2. watching them clean out the hives
3. hoping for honey this summer because this past year has been missing something
4. mint
5. long, warm days

*well, technically, they've been here all along--but they're back outside

Five Things That Don't Suck, Friday Before Spring Break Edition

1. jeans
2. relaxed cups of coffee
3. at, say, 8 a.m. instead of 6:30
4. or maybe not jeans. Maybe PJs
5. preparing to push forward to May

Five Things that Don't Suck, Off-Campus Artist Day Edition

1. the pile of t-shirts and such on my dining room table, waiting for me
2. cards that are ready to be sewn
3. having some time to do some of it*
4. not really knowing what comes next
5. doing whatever it is anyway

*t-shirts, sadly, have to wait to the weekend because I need 4 hands

Five Things that Don't Suck, Rushed Wednesday Edition

1. race cars
2. jet planes
3. short words
4. abbreviations
5. speed walking

Five Things that Don't Suck, Sunny Tuesday Edition

1. my weekly phone call with my folks
2. my folks
3. opening the moon roof on the way home from campus
4. getting this list in under the wire before I have to go to campus
5. learning new stuff

Five Things that Don't Suck, Week Before Spring Break Edition

1. focused, engaged students who have certainly not already checked out
2. not having any meetings on Friday afternoon
3. being able to look forward to a whole week of reading, writing, and art
4. and maybe a little sleeping in
5. focused, engaged professors who have certainly not already checked out

Five Things that Don't Suck, Another Random Sunday Edition

1. Lynda Carter
2. education for the sake of being educated
3. blueberry muffins
4. NASA
5. dinner and a movie

Five Things that Don't Suck, Missing Cats Edition

1. little paws reaching over to tap your hand because you have stopped petting
2. kittens that sleep under your chin
3. purring
4. how really stupid and adorable kittens are when they're not climbing straight up your pants leg*
5. lap cats

*ow ow ow...but even then, they're pretty adorable

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Edition

1. honey
2. butterflies
3. Benedict Cumberbatch
4. dactylic names*
5. spreading the knowledge of poetic measure, one foot at a time

*BENedict CUMberbatch; ELeanor ROOsevelt; JENnifer ANiston

Five Things that Don't Suck, Mogul Day Edition

1. having all my grading done by Wednesday night so I can mogul on Thursday
2. using "mogul" as a verb
3. moguling
4. how very quickly the word "mogul" becomes one of those words that just doesn't look right at all
5. the way brains work

Five Things that Don't Count, Come Again Some Other Day Edition

1. it's not snow
2. if an old man is snoring, it is at least happening out of my earshot
3. the daffodils need a drink if they're gonna come up all pretty
4. puddles
5. humidity is really really good for my hair

Five Things that Don't Suck, Democratic Process Edition

1. living in a democratic republic
2. knowing the difference between that and a democracy
3. getting to the polls early
4. voting
5. the cool sticker you get

Five Things that Don't Suck, Unseasonably Warm Leap Year Edition

1. birds in the maple*
2. sun through the sunroof**
3. not having to wear a jacket...in February
4. not having to actually leap
5. being able to leap if I want to

*loud!
**or anywhere else, basically

Five Things that Don't Suck, Sunday Edition

1. Jed feeling well enough to take the dogs out this morning
2. being able to wait out my sinus headache meds before I have to do anything
3. not really having to do anything because I got caught up yesterday
4. not having a headache*
5. art

*temporarily theoretical

Five Things that Don't Suck, Poet Lunch Edition

1, Carole
2. Nan
3. Gray
4. me
5. apple crisp

Five Things that Don't Suck, Binky Lunch Edition

1. not being in the house with Flu Boy at lunch
2. not being in any sort of meeting
3. not grading
4. hanging out with my lovely, smart, funny, talented niece*
5. nieces and nephews who go to college in Massachusetts**

*well, one of them, anyway
**listen up, future college students!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Health Care Workers Edition

1. nurses
2. nurse practitioners
3. visiting nurses
4. certified nursing assistants
5. nurse managers

Five Things that Don't Suck Almost Missed Wednesday Edition

1. a dog who knows she needs to go out a 2nd time before I leave for work, no matter what the routine is
2. giving up my 2 minutes of blogging time for that dog
3. doing well enough that sometimes I totally forget about the whole 5 things thing
4. rain instead of snow
5. soup

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Tuesday Edition

1. daffodils
2. Michigan
3. socks with pictures of cats* on them
4. recycling
5. milk stout

*or dogs. Or fish. Or almost anything else you wanna put on there. 

Five Things that Don't Suck Vikings Edition

1. women with shields
2. and swords
3. and pretty sweet hairdos
4. tall, pale men
5. pillaging*

*okay, so that might suck a little bit, especially if you're the pillagee and not the pillager. But TV-based Viking pillaging does not suck

Five Things that Don't Suck, Weekend Mogul Edition

1. new card designs
2. launching the web site
3. doing the folding, sewing, photographing bit
4. how much I love the damn things
5. getting better at waiting

Five Things that Don't Suck, Restorative Edition

1. dinner with friends
2. a mai tai
3. a second mai tai
4. not having any more mai tais because that is a level of drunk you no longer need to experience ever again
5. a very, very long night's sleep

Five Things that Don't Suck, Cookie Day Edition

1. chocolate chips
2. cinnamon
3. butter
4. sugar
5. happy people

Five Things that Don't Suck, Just a Thursday Edition

1. happy surprises
2. tea
3. travel mugs
4. a good pair of gloves
5. sleeping until the alarm goes off*

*theoretical

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Wednesday Edition

1. seeing Julie today*
2. seeing Mary-Elizabeth tomorrow**
3. maybe getting much of my grading done today/tonight
4. not arguing about grades
5. even when someone really really wants to

*Hi, Julie!
**Hi, Mary-Elizabeth!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Professorial Edition

1. not quite having to grade just yet
2. breakfast meetings*
3. the assurance that the aforementioned meeting won't run long** because I have to be in class
4. class
5. those sport coats with patches on the sleeves***

*get 'em over with, I say!
**for me, anyway
***wear 'em with jeans, grab a pipe, and you've got instant academic credibility, my friends!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Whoops Probably Should Have Done a Valentine's Post Yesterday Edition

1. how refreshing it is to have one blog that doesn't go all hearts  and flowers on Valentine's Day*
2. a husband who doesn't believe in the day**
3. a husband whose boss DOES believe in the day and sends all her employees home with little boxes of chocolates
4. a husband who is wise enough to share the chocolates
5. half-price chocolate day

* *cough*forgotwhatdayitwas*cough*
**not really my thing either

Five Things that Don't Suck, Four Below (Fahrenheit) Edition

1. knowing that the kitchen pipes will thaw now that I've remembered to open the damn cabinet doors*
2. putting a note in my calendar for next December in the hopes that a more timely reminder next winter will help us avoid this situation
3. running water in the bathroom**
4. mad survival skills
5. building a fire and snuggling up for a while

*Every year, we forget about this. Every damn year
**and everywhere else, thus giving new meaning to the phrase "everything but the kitchen sink"

5 Things that Don't Suck, Saturday Shut-in Edition

1. snuggling
2. hand-knitted, measured-to-fit socks
3. fingerless mittens, also hand-knitted*
4. the fact that Chrome apparently doesn't recognize "fingerless" as a word**
5. warm, delicious beverages

*can't type with regular gloves/mittens on, people! And made-to-order is a plus!
**can't work at Google without fingers, apparently. Doesn't seem fair.

Five Things that Don't Suck, C-c-c-c-old Friday Edition

1. friends who ask for poems to buoy them
2. warm boots
3. a big dog who likes to be used as a footrest*
4. heated seats**
5. a good scarf

*take off the warm boots first, though, please
**I do not recommend using the big dog as a footrest while driving

Five Things that Don't Suck, Going to Campus on an Off-Campus Day Edition

1. getting out of the house early
2. getting errands done
3. having most of the day to work on my own stuff
4. knowing that most people don't have an off-campus day in the middle of the week
5. time

Five Things that Don't Suck, Truck Day Edition

1. a truck full of spring training equipment heading to Florida
2. not having weather delays*
3. how soon pitchers and catchers are going to report
4. the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel
5. just the sound of the word "spring" in "spring training"

*on this end, anyway

Five Things that Don't Suck, Back At It Edition

1. warm boots
2. the knowledge that my office will be toasty*
3. getting to see fun students
4. and maybe rewarding myself with a mocha
5. afternoon naps

*possibly, like, middle of a pizza oven toasty but beggars can't be choosers

Five Things that Don't Suck, Another Snow Day Edition

1. Jed having a job where he also gets snow days
2. blueberry muffins
3. firewood
4. slippers
5. PJs

Five Things that Don't Suck Super Bowl Sunday Edition

1. having the Panthers as my back-up team
2. homemade pizza
3. with a salad, because health is important
4. and maybe a beer
5. going to bed at halftime if I want to*

*one of the few advantages of the Pats not playing this year

Five Things that Don't Suck, The Day After Edition

1. neighbors helping neighbors dig out
2. our neighbors' dog Molly, who was so shocked to see me in their back yard (checking for storm damage for the neighbors who couldn't get out) that she barked at me like I was a total stranger, then bent herself in half wagging when she realized who I was
3. ice melt
4. those really long scrapers/brushes that let you push alllllll the snow off the roof of the car without having to drag any of it toward you*
5. not having to be anywhere in particular

*seriously, you need one of those things if you live where it snows. Just trust me on this.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Not Yet a Snow Day Edition

1. all-wheel drive
2. the hopes that someone is out there sanding
3. the knowledge that if the roads are bad by the time I have to leave I can call off classes myself and nobody will bat an eye
4. being out in the world anyway
5. heated seats

Five Things that Don't Suck, Fine, Etsy, You Win Edition

1. my actual Etsy shop, SentimentalAsylum 
2. being a greeting card mogul*
3. maybe selling enough cards to keep me in supplies
4. and/or to keep me from drowning under a tidal wave of cards**
5. having fun

*because I'm pretty sure that's a thing
**because, really, one person can only send so many

Five Things that Don't Suck, Or at Least Not In All Situations Edition

1. jellyfish
2. sharks
3. cobras
4. little creepy crawly bugs and stuff
5. slugs

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Tuesday Edition

1. comfy socks
2. Thom Gunn
3. lambs
4. no longer having pop tops*
5. whippersnappers

*google it, whippersnappers

Five Things that Don't Suck, Ridiculous Weather Edition

1. Heat Wave*
2. The Other Heat Wave**
3. Some Like It Hot
4. The theme from Sesame Street
5. Good Day, Sunshine

*burnin' in my heart...
**she certainly can can-can!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Lazy Sunday Edition

1. bribing ourselves to do errands*

2. laundry

3. not watching football*

4. maybe taking a nap

5. running a vacuum

*muffins!

*next year, Pats!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Seeing Friends Edition

1. breakfast with one
2. lunch with another
3. hanging out with Jed for the rest of the weekend
4. possibly in jammies
5. movie nights at home

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Friday Edition

1. rain instead of snow
2. boots
3. the book Hitchcock/Truffaut*
4. crickets
5. quiet

*I can't speak for the movie, but I'm betting that's pretty stellar, too

Five Things that Don't Suck, Mrs. Fix-It Edition

1. fixing things
2. making them work
3. not having to get new ones
4. paying attention
5. new skills*

*MAD SKILLZ

Five Things that Don't Suck Fine I'll Go Back to Campus Edition

1. getting to see students
2. the hugging*
3. not having to grade anything yet
4. having a short warm-up day
5. my office

*not as much hugging as after summer break, but still plenty of hugging

Five Things that Don't Suck, Denial Edition

1. having the syllabus and stuff ready so I can pretend this is just a regular day during break*
2. casually checking my email like I do every few days during break anyway
3. not paying attention to the fact that I'm laying out clothes for tomorrow**
4. getting a good night's sleep***
5. remembering how much I really do love my job****

*but certainly not the last one. No no no. Not possible.
**Oh these? I don't think I'll wear these tomorrow--these are work clothes. But I'll just put them here so I can look at them if I want to.
***it's important, so I can enjoy my continuing winter break tomorrow
****Now that one is actually true

Five Things that Don't Suck, Last Monday of Winter Break Edition

1. not having my alarm go off at 6:30
2. being well-rested and (almost) ready
3. running errands and taking care of things for myself
4. that ever-elusive second cup of coffee
5. changing things up for the semester

Five Things that Don't Suck, Snow Edition

1. winter storms that actually give most of New England a pass for a change
2. Favorite Neighbor Dennis, who plows everyone out
3. the friend of our neighbors across the street, who is digging them out*
4. new shovels**
5. cocoa

*thus sparing us the job, but also because yay for friends who show up to make sure  people with disabilities are being taken care of

**TWO of them, so we don't have to fight turf battles over who gets to use "the good one"

Five Things that Don't Suck, Janet Rousseau Edition

1. rewriting song lyrics
2. staying up too late talking
3. art--all the art
4. having your own unique take on things
5. letting that take drive your sense of humor

Five Things that Don't Suck, Random Edition

1. having just the right pen*
2. getting some writing done
3. vegetarian chili
4. some of the movies where Matt Damon is marooned in space
5. slippers

*the definition of which is going to change from person to person and that's cool. You do you.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Weather Edition

1. the ways in which it looks like that massive, multi-day storm is going to pretty much miss us this weekend
2. being in the habit of not freaking out about long-term forecasts*
3. thinking about snuggling up all weekend anyway because why not
4. waffles
5. maybe making some of the prints I've been thinking about

*this is New England, people. Maybe--MAYBE--trust the 24-hour forecast and take everything else as subject to change

Five Things that Don't Suck, Haircut Edition

1. growing out my hair so basically it looks exactly the same after a haircut as it did before*
2. how it only takes about 15 minutes including the wash and blow dry
3. the deep amount of fascination my straight-haired hairdresser has with my curls
4. referring to the whole process as "gettin' poodley."
5. poodles

*no awkward "settling in" phase

Five Things that Don't Suck, Good Lord It's Cold Edition

1. coffee
2. more coffee
3. retaining feeling in my face
4. scarves
5. heated seats

Five Things that Don't Suck, Is This Thing Still On? Edition

1. easy drives
2. with people you love
3. and dogs that are good in the car
4. and happy music
5. sleeping in your own bed

Five Things that Don't Suck, First Road Trip of the Year Edition

Note: Five Things is hitting the road for a week or so, just 'cause we can. I'll post when I can. Meanwhile, feel free to make your own list for the day.

1. driving
2. how happy the dogs are just sniffing around at rest stops
3. getting to hang out with family
4. knowing the difference between relatives and family
5. singing along to Flight of the Conchords

Five Things that Don't Suck, Final Christmas Party of the Season Edition

1. not letting the calendar stand in the way of a good party
2. or a mediocre one, for that matter*
3. packing for VA
4. the nice people who take care of our house
5. the nice people we'll see in VA

*it'll be a good one today, though. Don't get me wrong 

Five Things that Don't Suck, New Tires Edition

1. being even more prepared to hit the road
2. the comedy inherent in a "buy 3, get 1 free" sale on tires
3. 80k treads*
4. prepaid tire rotation**
5. getting some reading done while I wait

*I am officially old, because I get excited about things like this
**and this

Five Things that Don't Suck, Winter Bees Edition

1. honey
2. knocking (gently!) on the side of the hive to see if they're home
3. having them buzz back at you
4. mild winters*
5. spring

*knock on wood, people

Five Things that Don't Suck, Making Art Edition

1. printing on fabric
2. or on paper
3. or writing a poem
4. or singing
5. finding your creativity

Five Things that Don't Suck, Silver Lining Edition

1. it's warm inside
2. we don't live on the Cape, where there was apparently snow again this morning
3. warm, comfy sweaters
4. Tazo Berryblossom White tea*
5. only going outside by choice**

*I said yesterday that it's like drinking a cup of warm Boo Berry cereal, but in a good way. And I stand by that assessment.
**unless you count taking the dogs out, and since we chose to have the dogs we have, I suppose taking them out is part of that larger choice and anyway it helps ensure I get a little sunlight and move around a bit and jeez maybe I should have thought a little more carefully about #5 this morning

Five Things that Don't Suck, We Had to Get Snow Eventually Edition

1. when the snow is all pretty and fluffy and stuff
2. how happy it makes Butler
3. not needing boots
4. being able to "shovel" by just pushing a shovel lightly across the driveway
5. melting

Five Things that Don't Suck, Coffee Edition

1. espresso*
2. americano
3. caffe latte**
4. cappuccino***
5. macchiato****


*not "expresso," people. That kind of sucks a little, sorry.
**personal favorite
***very close second
****I'm going to get super-snobby here and say that I mean a real macchiato, espresso barely "stained" with milk, not whatever that thing is that Dunkin' Donuts puts out into the world. Although that might not suck--but it's also not a macchiato.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Lunch with Clancy Edition

1. seeing Clancy*
2. a long-ish drive with just me and whatever music I want to listen to**
3. the actual lunch, which is probably going to be pretty darned good
4. coming home to Jed
5. maybe making some art this afternoon

*Hi, Clancy! Thanks for having lunch with me!
**and getting to do it again on the way home

Five Things that Don't Suck, Happy New Year!!! Edition

1. recognizing that passing from one arbitrarily designated day to the next isn't really enough in and of itself to facilitate change
2. figuring out some changes anyway
3. (relatively) clean slates
4. the opportunity to have second Christmas with the Foleys now that everyone is happy
5. when Jed gets up with Butler in an attempt to let me sleep in a little