Word of the day: reify

reify

Main Entry:

re·ify

Pronunciation:

\ˈrā-ə-ˌfī, ˈrē-\

Function:

transitive verb

Inflected Form(s):

re·ified; re·ify·ing

Etymology:

Latin res thing — more at real

Date:

1854

: to regard (something abstract) as a material or concrete thing

(Thanks, m-w.com.)

This is an example of one of those things that stresses you out again and again, but then only takes 2 seconds to resolve. I've seen this word lots of times in the last 8 months, and have read it a number of times in the article I'm currently reading, and it bugged me that I didn't know what it meant. And the energy that I had put into finding the meaning was a FRACTION of the energy that I had previously put into being bugged and stressed out that I didn't know what it meant.

Sigh.

I'd like my dignity back, please.

Do you ever look back on recent events in your life and wonder, "Who is the IDIOT that's been living in my body and interacting with my friends recently?!"

Well, that's the question of the hour around my house right now. Seriously, I'm cringing. Eep.

Here's hoping that the REAL Margaret gets back soon and takes over again. And that her friends won't hold her absence against her.

Aaaaaand it's gone.

Today I just want to be done with school and have a job with a salary and paid vacation time so I can go to Paris.

sigh

It comes and goes...

...but today is a day that I feel like YES, I really could enjoy a profession as a professor and researcher! :) I'm writing a research proposal for one of my classes, and I'm getting all excited about it, and that's a good feeling. I just hope that the excitement lasts long enough for me to get the proposal done by 4pm, which is when it's due. :P

And sure, I could have been working on it all last week, but hey - it was Spring Break and I had places to go and important people to see! And, you know, laundry to do...

What does the universe have against my pants?! ...or maybe it's just me...

On Saturday I went to visit these dear friends, who have not, at latest report, had their baby yet. The main purpose for my visit was to return their 4-inch memory foam mattress topper that I have been sleeping on since August. I no longer need it because (drum roll please!) -

I bought a bed!

And Daniel was confused about why this was such a big deal until he realized that yes, this is actually my first major purchase. So yes, it was a big deal. But that is a different story. :)

So after chatting and chatting and chatting, Crystal invited me to have dinner with them, and we sat down for some yummy potato soup. And oh - it was yummy! And at one point, I picked up the serving bowl full of hot soup to serve myself some more, and it was one of those moments where things move in slow motion and are just etched in your memory...

Crystal said something about how the bowl was really hot, and I made some comment about how I could totally handle it...and then the bowl sliiiipppppppedddddd and thick hot soup was all over the table and my lap!!

The two funniest moments:

Me, frantically trying to do SOMETHING, but kind of frozen in time and space, watching the soup drip and ooze: Oh my gosh you guys!! Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh


Crystal: Is it burning?
Me: YES!

Oh man, and I think I said, "Oh my gosh" about a million times. And as I sloshed out of my seat and headed for the kitchen sink, trying to hold the crotch of my running pants up so that no more soup would hit the floor, at the same time not allowing it to rest against my skin and burn me, Crystal ran out of the room, and I was thinking, "Ouch - this hurts! and I've offended poor 9-months-pregnant Crystal with my unending stream of 'oh my goshes' and she had to leave the room!"

And I slopped the soup off my pants into the sink and wiped them down, and Daniel said, "Um, how do we even start to clean this up?" as the soup continued to drip from the table onto the plate that I had put on the chair to catch the drips before I realized JUST HOW HOT the soup was that was all over my hands and my gut.

And then dear sweet Crystal came back into the room - NOT mortally offended - with the pair of pre-pregnancy running pants that she had just dug out of a box for me to change into. :) And she said they were too long for her anyway, so I could keep them if I wanted - nice! :)

Oh my gosh. What a mess! We were all cracking up and cleaning up, and then Daniel said, "So, would you like some more soup?!" :)

Fast forward to this morning. Here are the key facts:

1. I've been wearing those pants of Crystal's around my house since Saturday - they are so comfy!
2. Since it's Spring Break, I somehow managed to stay up until 4:30am this morning, even tho I knew I had a 10am meeting with a classmate on campus.
3. I was NOT reading a book until 4:30am, I was surfing the internet and creating a blog for my sister, who just started homeschooling her kids last week. (NoSurf, I gave her your name and number. I hope that's ok. :) )
4. I had been to the library earlier in the evening to get out the 3rd book in a series that I am rereading this week, but the library didn't have the book, and apparently it's impossible for me to leave a library without a book (gasp!), so I checked out an Agatha Christie that, amazingly enough, I haven't read yet, and I really did want to read it!

So now you have to imagine me, at about 9:20 this morning, in those comfy pants, trying to squeeze in a few minutes of Agatha Christie while I ate my knock-off Cheerios. And please don't ask why I felt that the best place to do said multi-tasking was sitting cross-legged on my bedroom carpet, especially since I have a gorgeous kitchen table and chairs. Perhaps it's related to fact #2 above.

At any rate, I'm sure you can imagine the scene - I try to turn a page, with my cereal bowl in hand...the tippage...the spillage...the dread thought of milk in the carpet-age...and my incredibly-slow-on-4-hrs-of-sleep reflexes...watching the milk soak into those pants, and the carpet, and my t-shirt...those pants...that Crystal dug out for me because of my last slippage moment.

Awesome.

At least this time it wasn't burning, eh, Crystal? ;)

Open letter to the guy sitting in his car outside my apartment

Please turn your music down. Surely there is a volume at which you will be able to hear it and I will not.

Thank you.

I'm awesome.

Ok, I'm off to class.

Even though I'm woefully unprepared because I fell asleep this afternoon trying to do the reading for class.

And I wouldn't have fallen asleep this afternoon if I hadn't stayed up much too late last night reading this great book that Barbi lent me.