always room for cake

I'm reading my favourite book in the sunshine, and there's a dog sleeping at my feet. The only thing that could make this moment any better would be cake.

crock pot: a continuation

While I was at work today, having a terrible, exhausting day, my crock pot was merrily cooking away. I'd tried this recipe once before with less-than-expected results, because I couldn't find plain chili sauce and used sweet thai chili sauce instead, and also I cooked it on high instead of low. Now I know better.

Ingredients
3 pounds boneless pork shoulder
1 c. chopped sweet onion
6 cloves garlic, minced
1  12-ounce bottle chili sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp cider vinegar 
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp chili powder
salt and pepper 

Directions
1)  Trim the fat from pork. (Yuck.)
2)  Mix up all the other ingredients and pour over pork.
3)  cover and cook on low for 10 or 11 hours, or on high for 5 to 6. (Don't do it on high, though. It's totally not as good.)

My mom said you can save the extra sauce and freeze it to put over chicken and stuff, but I haven't gotten to that point yet, because I'm waiting for my rice to cook. I've tasted bits of the pork, and it's fantastic. It's super spicy, the kind of spicy that burns your tongue for a while after the taste is gone - that's why I thought it would be good with rice instead of pasta or something. Apparently, if you use pork shoulder, it will fall apart better. I get confused by all the kinds of pork so I only buy one kind, center chop, which seems to work fine. I can make it fall apart with my fork.

crock pot: a love story

Before I moved, my mom was all, "You should get a crock pot!" and I was like, "Meh." But you guys, I got a crock pot for $12 a couple weeks ago, and it is FANTASTIC! I love my tiny little crock pot. If something ever goes awry, and I have to actually cook a dinner when I get home from work, I think I'll starve. I love walking in my front door and smelling the lovely smells of dinner. I also love how when I try and take the chicken out of the pot with a fork, it all falls apart! So wonderfully tender.

Anyway, if YOU have a crock pot, here are some of my favourite recipes.

(I've tried and tried to change the teeny tiny "Read More" button, but I can't figure out how to make it bigger. You have to really want to see the recipes to find the button.)

the explosion would taste pretty good, though

Is there some well-known or secret phobia that describes the fear of exploding kitchen appliances? Presently, I am sitting on the couch while my new crock pot is merrily cooking garlic pork for me. BUT THEN! It made a really big sound. Not like a BOOM big sound, but a big sound for how small of a crock pot it is. So immediately I thought, "Good thing I'm so far away from it for when it explodes."

And then there was that time when I tried making cake in the microwave, and I was CERTAIN the whole thing was going to explode so I hid behind a wall. Also, sometimes my freezer makes a noise like a bunch of ice falling from the top shelf down to the bottom shelf, only the ice always already is on the bottom shelf, so what is that sound??

cougars ruin everything

The sun came out today. It's been weather from a Jane Austen book for the whole week, so when I saw the sun I gasped and ran to my car and drove to the beach. It was wonderful and peaceful, and I was quite enjoying myself until I had a sudden flashback to a staff room conversation from Friday.

Teacher 1: "There's more cougars on Vancouver Island than anywhere else."
Teacher 2: "I know what you mean. When I go for a walk with my son in the forest, there is no distance between them and us. They watch us."
Teacher 1: "They like the little guys. They can pick you up and climb up a tree no sweat."

I know I'm not a little guy objectively speaking, but relative to a cougar? I don't know! I've never seen a cougar in real life! Maybe they're three times the size as me so to them I am a little guy! So then my wonderful morning at the beach was ruined, and I had to convince myself not to run to my car, lest there be cougars about and all they were waiting for was for me to give chase. Sometimes my penchant for eavesdropping gets me in trouble.

Last weekend I had the best pork ever to exist in the world, and I got the recipe but the recipe called for a crock pot. So yesterday I bought a crock pot, and this morning I plopped all the pork inside, and mixed up the ingredients for the fantastic sauce. You know how when you're making something wonderful, you want to smell it while you're making it? I smelled it, and that was a mistake. That may be because there is cider vinegar in the sauce, and that stuff smells disgusting, and also it could be because I was supposed to use chili sauce but I used sweet thai chili sauce instead. I hope it works! I am so concerned.

Report cards are due on Monday. Guess what I'm doing today? Not report cards! Because I finished yesterday! I am totally a report card pro now. Starting on Monday I get to teach English 7, which I am SO EXCITED ABOUT, and also I get a prep every day, which I am EVEN MORE EXCITED ABOUT. It's going to be amazing.

it'll take me at least a week to dig up all my dolls from the cemetary

All within the past two hours I guzzled down a giant cup of juice, and then a giant cup of gingerale, and then a moderately-sized cup of milk with my cake. (The milk was with my cake; the rest were independent of the cake.) And yet, I am still thirsty! I feel like the roof of my mouth is leaking saliva to quench my throat's bizarre, desperate need for moisture.

Meanwhile, I watched another musical.

10. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) - Judy Garland, Tom Drake. This one was pretty good, except for something that was actually completely terrible. There's this one scene where the little sister comes in screaming, claiming that the boy that Judy Garland likes hit her and knocked out her tooth and caused her to get stitches. The whole family freaks out, and Judy Garland goes over to his house and punches him for attacking her little sister. But then, you guys, it turns out that the little girl was LYING, and instead he actually SAVED her after she pulled a prank that almost KILLED a bunch of PEOPLE. She gets found out, and doesn't feel bad at all, and everybody laughs about it and nobody punishes her!
      Other than this scene, I liked the movie, but I hated that scene almost so much that it completely ruined the movie. Anyway, it's about this family who lives in St. Louis when the World Fair comes, and the two oldest girls are in love (one with a boy in New York, and one with the next door neighbour), and then the dad gets transferred to New York and everyone is devastated, and then the little girl pulls a dangerous prank and tells a HORRENDOUS lie and everybody laughs, and they don't move after all.
      There were some good things, though: Judy Garland has a lovely voice, and I liked that she fell in love with the boy next door, only he didn't notice her at all, until she enacted a scheme to get him to fall in love with her back, and it totally worked. That never happens in real life! It was nice to see something I always wish to come true come true.

i outsmarted myself and i don't even mind

Today was a snow day. Not really a legit one, because an hour after I called all my students to tell them the whole thing was off, I drove to school and didn't even die. Now it's 5 degrees and the sun is shining, but it's too late to take it back!

I was very productive - I went to school and marked a bunch of stuff, because I hate marking and never want to do it after a whole day of teaching, then I went to the library, and then I came home and watched a movie. Then I noticed that my apartment is really messy, and simultaneously decided I wanted cake. So I said to myself, "I'll mix up the cake and put it in the oven, and while it's baking I'll clean my apartment!"

Everything mixed up okay, and then I started picking things up from the floor. Then my body was like, "Hey wait a minute, I'm still sick over here," and I felt light-headed. So I got some juice and sat on the couch and went on the internet, because hello, I'm sick, and a sick person can't clean an apartment. So now I have cake and I didn't even have to clean anything.

baby step to four o'clock

This morning I departed from my mainland home, to embark on the long  journey to my island home. The terminal was fairly empty, as it usually is when I make a reservation in anticipation of it being busy. I went in to get coffee, and all the dudes behind the empty food counters looked aggressively bored. Each stared at me in a lazily challenging fashion as I passed - You want to give me something to do? Well, do ya? The Rocky Mountain Chocolate guy shoved a tray of fudge in my face - SAMPLE, MISS?!? I declined because he was somewhat terrifying, plus it was a bit early in the day for fudge. (Nevermind the fact that I sometimes have cake for breakfast.)

After coffee was acquired, I hurried back to my car, lest the ferry depart thirty minutes early and without me. Then, as I drove up the ramp, I worried I was accidentally going to Victoria; then, as the sun blinded me, I worried I would accidentally drive into the ocean instead of onto the boat. Now I am sitting in a row by myself, with the exact location of my car written on my hand, and the captain just assured us all that we are indeed traveling towards Nanaimo. I can't worry about anything else for approximately two hours, so I think I will read my book.

not so grinchy now

I finally decorated for Christmas, you guys! First I vacuumed my apartment, and to do so effectively I had to move the giant box with the Christmas tree my parents sent up with a friend when she came to visit, and suddenly I had a thought: Hey, how about instead of moving the box around, I take out what is inside of it?

So I did. It's a small tree that came equipped with its own lights, pine cones, and cranberries or something, but I added some little purple balls to it. Also, I artfully arranged the bouquet of flowers my family sent me in front of it, so you could see all the Christmas things I have in one picture. (I have lights, too - I'm not sure if I'm willing to put in the effort to put them around my window. You know, getting up on a chair, sticking those clippy things into the wall, plugging them in... ugh.) So here is my new Christmasy apartment, for your viewing pleasure.

how festive everything feels now!

the purple balls add so much, I think

see how large it looks from this angle!

ooh with the lights off

can't you just hear Charlie Brown Christmas in your head as you gaze upon my tree?

these are my flowers!

Also, presently I am baking a cake for my staff Christmas party tonight. As soon as I closed the oven door I had a frightening moment of wondering whether or not you could bake a cake in a glass container, since all the cake-baking containers my mom used were tin or whatever. I had visions of the bowl exploding in my oven, shooting gobs of cake batter all over my new Christmas tree. However, my mother informed me that it will be okay, so now I can enjoy the smell of baking cake in my apartment.

Also, this morning I drove three hours round trip for the best cheese in the world. IN THE WORLD. Spicy cheese! All the stores in Campbell River have two kinds of cheese: cheddar and mozza. Boo. I bought six packages of cheese to hopefully last me a long time, because it was quite a drive. While I was there, this little black kitten literally climbed up my leg and into my arms, and then started purring and swatting at my bangs. My heart swelled and I again considered getting a cat for my apartment, because sometimes it's really nice to be sat on and purred at, you know? I don't know where I'd put the litter box, or if my tiny apartment is big enough for a cat, or what... but I was sorely tempted to abscond with that little black kitten. A lady passed by while I was petting it and said that the lady in the store said it was a barn cat in training, which made me very upset, because this little cat clearly liked snuggling and barn cats don't snuggle. Reluctantly I put it down and bought my cheese, and then spent the whole drive back thinking about getting a cat. What do you think? Is a tiny apartment too tiny for a cat? Will my cat be lonely because I am at school for a long time always? Conundrum.

i think i'm coming in second, though

I've just finished preparing notes for my first ever parent-teacher interviews. Every year at school apparently there is a contest to see which teacher gets the most interviews, but the winner is really the loser because who wants to have the most interviews. It's not really a crown I desire to wear. Also, I wasn't told until it was nearly too late that I need to schedule in pee breaks for myself! It was actually too late for Thursday, so I have 16 interviews in a row, from 4 until 8; I got to Friday in time and was able to block of a 15 minute section of time for me to get a cup of coffee from the staff room and catch my breath.

All the cupboards in my apartment keep closing on me. At first I only noticed it in my plates cupboard, because when I was putting my dishes away I kept bumping into it with my shoulder and getting angry; recently I heard a crack when I opened my bathroom cupboard, which did something mysterious and destructive to it because whenever I open it now it tries to slam shut. We wrestle at least 3 times a day now. I have a feeling that one day I'm going to snap and rip off all the cupboard doors. Then I DEFINITELY don't get my damage deposit back.

oh coffee you conundrum

When I linger over it in the morning, it takes forever to drink my coffee. When I bring it to school with me, I take big swallows in a hurried manner, so I can chew gum to get rid of my coffee breath before my students come in. (No gum allowed, not even for teachers.) I guess in the morning my attention span isn't even long enough for one gigantic cup of coffee. At least I turn my gears on when I get to work.

Speaking of work, I was there for a million hours on Saturday writing report cards, and then again for 5 more hours on Sunday finishing report cards, so I think it's only natural that I really don't want to go back there today.

Oh wait. Thinking about work has made me take large gulps of my coffee. CORRELATION.

orchard of the strangest fruits

So this is what happened. I opened the front door of my HOME home and was confused because the stairs didn't look familiar. I've been away for a month and I can't even remember what my house looks like. It was a sad, strange moment for me.

Thursday and Friday I was at a teacher's conference and it felt like I was at camp! Mostly because all the staff stayed at the same hotel on the same floor, and we went out for dinner together and sometimes ended up in the Tim Horton's line-up together. It made me realize that I really feel like part of the community at my school, which makes me happy. Now that they are all back in Campbell River and I am at home I miss them, and it's not going to be the same when we get back because some of them I never see because we're on different floors and have lunch at different times. But instead of being sad about that I'm going to be glad that I work with such great people.

These are things I learned at the conference:
- apparently I am a stream-of-consciousness talker
- when I don't get enough sleep I walk into glass windows because I think they are doors
- some tips on differentiating learning for my math class so my genius kid won't get bored and rude
- my habit of drinking hot sugary coffee several times during the day is THE WORST thing I could do for my voice
- keynote speakers = boring 99% of the time
- Tim Horton's breakfast sandwich = amazing 100% of the time (sidenote: I just tried "samwidge" and then "sandwidge" before getting it right. Something is wrong here.)

These are things I learned from being at HOME home for 8 hours:
- I have the best puppies in the world
- television is not as overrated as I tried to convince myself it was
- a new pet peeve is people planning my day for me because I am an independent grown-up and can plan my day for myself
- I miss having other people in the house when I'm going to bed
- it tastes better when someone else makes the coffee
- sometimes I really don't feel like talking

most of them are truly inconsequential

I'm not sure how I feel about today. Physically I am feeling better, thanks to all the crap I'm putting up my nose and all the water I'm drinking. (That sounded a little bit like I am talking about cocaine, but I promise you I am not. I have this steroid spray from my doctor, and then the Wal-Mart doctor told me also to use this Vics Vapo-rub stuff you inhale, and then I'm shooting salt water in one nostril so it comes out the other nostril and SOMETIMES MY MOUTH. That part is disgusting. Just so that you don't think I'm doing drugs out here in Campbell River.) Also, it was raining this morning but then for a couple of hours it was raining AND turning sunny, and the view from my classroom window was completely spectacular. Also, I woke up with wonderful hair. WONDERFUL HAIR. Then I explained the surface area of composite objects very clearly and in steps, and someone brought cake for the staff room at lunch!

But then my grade sevens were very unruly, and they keep eating even though they KNOW they are not allowed to eat in my class when it is not break time, and it's a new fad or something to eat these stupid super hot peppers on the sly, so then they burst into tears and need to get a million drinks of water while I am trying to teach them about ecosystems. Then my dinner was gross because I ran out of milk so I tried to substitute with cream in the sauce, but that didn't work out, and I put in too much garlic. Then I vacuumed and found a SPIDER and also hit myself in the face with the vacuum.

Now I need to pack my lunch but I don't feel like it, and my throat is scratchy but I am so sick of doing stuff to make me healthy again. I am tired of taking vitamins and pills and gargling and snorting salt water and inhaling menthol and steroids. Also I'm a little concerned about the spider.

a gentle, gentle, gentleman

Today was a good day. Even though I had to give several lectures on tidiness and respect and felt like a parent for much of the day, when the last bell rang and all the kids shuffled out I felt quite peaceful. At lunch I was joking with some of the staff, and then chatting with the VP about a course we both teach, and it suddenly seemed strange that one month ago I did not know any of these people that I see and interact with every day. Now they're such a big part of my life! It's weird.

This is a scene from Socials class today:

Miss W: "The grade eights get two lockers, I'm pretty sure."

Student: "You're wrong!"

Miss W: (sigh) "When you need to tell someone they're wrong, what's a better way of saying it?"

Student: (sheepish) "You could say-"

Miss W: (cleverly) "YOU'RE WRONG!"

Student: (laughs) "Okay, you could say-"

Miss W: (even more cleverly) "YOU'RE WRONG! How does that make you feel?"

Student: "Okay, you could say, 'Sorry, you might be wrong.'"

Miss W: "Yes, thank you. Nobody likes to be wrong, so say it nicely."

Student: "Especially women!"

Miss W: "WHAT."

I can honestly say I have never seen a student more afraid of me than that student was in that moment.

In his defense, I know he is a good kid and didn't mean it disrespectfully - he probably heard something like that said somewhere else and it got a good reaction, so he thought it would be funny. He was so terrified when I came out to meet him in the hallway (which was where I had banished him to), he was almost crying. He said, "Miss W, you didn't let me finish. I was going to say, 'Especially women, because they are usually always right, so it... so...'"

I said, "Is that really what you were going to say, or did you make that up right now to try and make it better?"

Then we had that conversation about respect and women and blah blah blah, and it made me feel very parent-y. I do not think he will say anything like that any time soon.

When I moved, my mother sent with me a book filled with recipes and tips, and one of her tips was, "If you are starving while waiting for your dinner to cook, that is a good time to eat your vegetables so you are healthy and don't spoil your dinner." While waiting for my chicken to cook this evening, I ate a box of Cracker Jacks. I'm pretty sure that's what she meant, right?

skies are going to clear up so i can take pictures

Now that I am in possession of a camera AND batteries AND a memory card, the skies are gray and gross. Isn't that just the way life is.

I have had two, count them TWO, dinner successes. Well, of course eggs and stuff always work out for me, but I mean trying out actual recipes that my mother sent along with me so I could eat actual meals with more than one food group in them. I made honey chicken with rice last week and it was delicious, and tonight I made sweet and sour meatballs and rice and it was also delicious. I am so awesome. Although, have you ever MADE meatballs? Pretty much the most disgusting process of all time. I can now understand why my mother does not eat ground beef after smooshing it around into the shapes in which I eat it. You have to roll it up into little balls, like you're making cookies, except instead of yummy dough cookies it's gross meat cookies with leftover blood still inside. And for some reason the ground beef I bought from Save-On was different than the ground beef I see at home - it's all rolled up in strings instead of in crumbly bits. Like beef shoelaces, or brains. So basically I was making cookies out of bloody shoelace brains.

(It's a good thing I made the meatballs yesterday and ate them today, and then wrote this after I ate them, because I just grossed myself out.)

I started giving lollipops out in my glass for random good behaviour, and what that means is that I am a GENIUS. Intermittent positive reinforcement is the BOMB, you guys. Every time one of my students says anything or sits properly, "Can I have a lollipop?" And I give them a stern look and say, "No. I will give out the lollipops randomly for awesome behaviour." For example, a boy in my grade nine math class who'd never understood rotations before randomly was able to get it (through no fault of mine, it was just a random epiphany), so I gave him one. Then in Science it started raining and all my kids were fascinated by the rain falling on the kids outside, so I let them watch for a couple minutes before returning to work, and one girl said, "That's like abiotic rain interacting with biotic kids," which is what we were just learning about! So I gave her one. And then I accidentally rolled up my overhead screen all the way and couldn't reach it with any of my improvised tools, so one boy volunteered to stand on another boy's shoulders and get it down for me, so I gave them one for being creative and helpful. Now all my students are trying to be creative, helpful, properly-behaved epiphany-havers. It's great.

master chef, o master chef, wherefore art thou not in my kitchen

I made a mistake on dinner. I forgot to freeze my ground beef in one-person sections, so I had to thaw out and subsequently fry up a whole pack tonight. However, I brilliantly came up with two days worth of meal plans that used ground beef. I would have mac and cheese and ground beef tonight (a delicacy, to be sure), tacos tomorrow, and then freeze whatever I had left. Super good plan.

However, just before dinner I got a call from my landlord saying he’d come by shortly to fix some stuff, and then I called my super to arrange for him to come by in a bit to pick up a spare key so he could let the fire people in to do an inspection, and I think I was distracted. After frying and seasoning the ground beef and doctoring up my macaroni, I poured the mac into the beef and started stirring. It wasn’t until AFTER I’d started stirring that I realized I had forgotten to separate the beef into sections for tonight and tomorrow, and I’d already mixed it up too much to separate, so I muttered a curse word (that’s a lie, I shouted a curse word and almost tore my hair out in frustration – living alone seems to make mildly upsetting things REALLY upsetting) and decided that I’d have to have mac and cheese and ground beef for dinner tonight, lunch tomorrow, and dinner tomorrow. GROSS.

Plus, the ratio of mac and cheese to ground beef was not acceptable. It’s like 60% beef to 40% non-beef. I think I’m going to have to make up another box of KD to mix in to the debacle, and just throw away what I can’t eat. I am so disappointed, you guys. I had it all planned out.

i know i felt like this before

Today I am discouraged.

I had a grand plan that now I think was a waste of time, and I'm overwhelmed by moving stuff, and I can't get my butt in gear to learn Math 9. I had an awful dream about my future class (I think there were actual piranha-children involved), and the realtor hasn't returned my call about apartments.

However, I got an email this morning that my semi-colon and apostrophe posters have been shipped, and now I'm going to sit in the sun and drink coffee. Maybe that will fix things.

Like a Spell From the Devil

I broke out the shorts today, guys. And you know it has to be a heat wave for me to bust these things out of the closet, thanks to my unfortunate knees. (Although a kind friend once told me that nobody has nice knees. I couldn't really comment on that, since I don't especially notice the knees of others; perhaps that means nobody notices mine?? One can dream.) A memo came out at work today mentioning no visible undergarments (I guess I have to take my see-through blouse/neon bra combo out of circulation) and NO FLIP FLOPS. Which, I guess, is apt for a workplace, but come on. I'm sitting down the entire time. Nobody is looking at my feet. It's too stinking hot to shove my feet into shoes.

I think Vancouverites have a bad rap for being all "wah it's too cold" when it drops below 20 and "wah it's too hot" when it gets above 24, but I can assuredly say that never have I ever complained about how cold it is. I revel in the cold. Thusly I feel entitled to complain about this stupid heat. I'M WEARING SHORTS.

My brother offered to grill me a steak tonight, and I turned him down in favour of toast and a smoothie, because it's too hot to eat anything that's been on a grill. I concocted this recipe, and I can't tell if it's good or disgusting and I'm just so desperate for something cool that I will drink anything.

(Sidenote: I just got super deja vu from typing that last paragraph. Strange.)

Here it is for you to try:

2 cups of water (I estimated)
1/2 cup of milk (I did a big splash)
handful of frozen strawberries (or other kind of berry)
splash of lime margarita mix
2 tbsp or so of sugar (I just dumped some in)

And blend. I know the water/milk thing seems gross, right? Someone may tell me that all I've done is add milk to a virgin margarita, and I wouldn't argue with that person. I just thought I was being clever adding margarita mix to a strawberry smoothie.

Tired Out My Knees Down to the Bone

I just returned home from another trek to Campbell River, my soon-to-be-home. I was finally able to meet with the teacher I'm filling in for and get his materials, which prompted a middle of the night freak out: what am I doing? Who in their right mind hired me for this job? Why did they think I could plan these courses I've never taught before? How am I going to teach Math 9 when I don't even know how to use a graphing calculator? What am I going to do with myself in a town that only has 2 Starbuckses? (Although, on that last point, I don't even really like Starbucks anymore, and have made the transition back to Tim Hortons - of which there is one. Also, in theory I will be so busy staying ahead of the kids in Math that I won't have time to leave my apartment. Plus it's not like you'll find me club-hopping on a typical Friday night.)

Mom and I stayed with a family friend and her daughter, and I spent much of the weekend playing "I Spy" and making fairy clothing out of leaves. While that is fun in moderation (who doesn't love a good game of "I Spy"), I am super exhausted. I was literally in bed last night at 8:00pm. And right now I'm about to have a forbidden afternoon cup of coffee to keep me awake during the movie my family is going to for my mom's birthday. (Knight and Day, finally something not in 3D. I've heard it's terrible, and I'm not really fond of Tom Crazy McCrazerson Cruise, but I'm kind of looking forward to it! Naturally I will share my thoughts with you afterwards.)

Now I'm looking for apartments and my eye infection came back. I was so diligent about not wearing make-up and using those stupid drops, and my eyes were perfectly normal for a day, but this morning they were sealed shut again. Boo. But I'm going to sneak candy into the theatre! (Not that that's related in any way, or that they even bother to check anymore. I remember the old days, when they'd check your purse for contraband. Now, even if I'm wearing a giant bag with candy sticking out, they don't seem to care. It kind of takes the excitement out of it.)

We'll Live on Coffee and Flowers

A recipe that is as good as I am feeling right now:

1 tsp instant coffee
2 tbsp of boiling water (or enough to dissolve the coffee)
a bunch of ice cubes
milk
caramel syrup or something

Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water. Add ice cubes and stir around until the water is no longer hot and the ice cubes are pretty melted. Add in milk to the top of the glass, and caramel syrup or chocolate syrup or whatever to make it awesome.

SO GOOD.

I let my hair air-dry this morning, so I feel like a lion. Nobody really understands what I mean, but if you superimpose my face on to this lion's face, that would be what I look like. (I tried for like 10 minutes to create that via photoshop, but it wasn't lining up and I have to go to work.) (Later: I did it! It might be creepy, so maybe peek through your fingers. I don't think I look this creepy, but at least now you have the general idea of what my hair looks like.)

If you haven't yet stood outside and basked in the glorious sunshine and blue sky that is happening right now, I think you should. Consider it a personal favour to me.