If you have tried to register for a user account lately and it’s failed, it’s not you, it’s me. Or rather, it’s my blog. Or WordPress! Or something. Regardless, it’s broken and has been broken ever since some or other migration from one machine to another. Honestly, I’ve lost track. For as many times as our family has …

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A cheque book for the UK bank account we opened last week, and… More twisty ties! My cup overflows. I opened three bags of beans tonight (making a pot of chili beans tomorrow) and happily, deliriously, closed the remainders up tight with my twisties. No beans will roll around the cupboards tonight. The little things, …

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Not where we’re located at the moment, thankfully, though AC might be feeling that way as he’s right this minute spending the day at SFO waiting to catch a red-eye to the east coast, after his original flight got canceled because of the nor’easter that slammed us over the weekend. (Sam and I made it to PA just fine …

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Last night at the peer group critique event, the moderator gave us these guidelines for giving feedback to authors. He called it “the sandwich”: You start with the bread–say what you liked about the work. Keep it positive. Springy and moist, not too chewy. Then comes the meat–talk about what’s not working. But please …

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I used to go to academic conferences all the time. Two or three a year. I always wore the same professional clothing. In black. Because that’s what French scholars do. They wear black. Sometimes with a jaunty little scarf around the neck for color. Today I wore thigh-high red and black stripey socks with clunky black …

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Two anecdotes about creatures popping up in the house where I do not expect them to be: I got out of bed on Saturday morning to feed Camus, only to discover that he had had several “accidents” in various places on the living room floor. I gather my cleaning supplies (would that such accidents were a rare occurrence) …

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Bk at lowercaseliberty asked me if I would do this if he tagged me. I said, sure. Eight facts about me. Here are the Rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people …

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Well now. I started this blog back in February as a way for me to both update folks on my life and reflect upon my new role as mother-in-academia. Then AC and I decided to uproot our lives, move to California, and switch roles. We went from being a counter-culture family in Altoona (Stay-at-home-Dad and Breadwinning …

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