Yes, I HAVE been taking a break...

A big, long, fat break, to quote someone else's blog post about me!

However, it is January, the semester has begun, and it is time for me to begin blogging again. This week, I've been procastinating about papers. It's a bad thing - bad, bad, I know! And my students will start banging on my door come Monday.... But I just can't help myself because...

I have two new toys! One is a pasta machine - yay! Yes indeed, living 100 miles from everywhere ensures that you become accustomed to making your own gourmet food, and that is our case here. Last night we made lasagne from homemade noodles - it was surprisingly easy and even more suprisingly, good!


My second toy is a sewing maching - again, living 100 miles from everywhere means that one can no longer (as one did in graduate school) foist the mending onto someone else. So - I asked for a sewing machine for Christmas and got one. My first project was an exercise outfit that I could wear to the gym without embarrassment. It took me a week (it was a Simplicity Easy pattern) - and, well, it's a bit crooked. So I can't say I'm wearing it without embarrassment - but despite that, I AM wearing it with more than a bit of pride! (Oooo - another bad thing - pride, and I'm a theologian. Bad, bad!)