“The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.” Eugene Delacroix

Several things going today. First an imaginary letter to my students.

Dear students,

I ran your paper through turnitin.com and although it is cited; I still got a 90% match. Although it is against APA standards to copy and paste that much of your paper, and I don't think you used any critical thinking skills...it still is not plagiarism. But don't think I won't dock points for lack of original content.

Why oh why have I had so much problem with this lately? I need to get T-shirts printed.

SD was going to have a birthday party at either the paint your own pottery place here or the bowling alley. It was unfortunately not meant to be. So we have decided on a sleep over. We are going to invite her friends over to spend the night and have pizza and ice cream. The theme of the party is High School Musical. So...on July 25th there should be approximately 12 squealing 11 year old girls spending the night at my house. I think I should pull a sicky and stay at a hotel. Let HH figure it out. Or would that be too mean? >:)

SD asked me the other day why sometimes I call her my stepdaughter and sometimes I just say daughter. The differentiation comes with how well I know the people. For example among my friends etc. I say stepdaughter. However if we go into a shop or I am dealing with someone I don't know well I just say daughter. I don't feel like going into all my business with them. When I explained that to her she asked why I called her SD on the blog instead of just D. I had to think about it. For one, her mom occasionally reads this blog, and I think it would be disrespectful to her if I was bragging all over the place about my D when she is really an SD. Second, keeping a blog has been a way to keep my sanity through out the Ph. D. process and because it is like a diary it seems imprudent to represent information incorrectly. It seems more organic to call her SD. However I hope it doesn't hurt her feelings. She is very sensitive and it in no way reflects my feelings for her personally.

SD and I went to water aerobics today. She smiled and giggled the whole time. I wish I had a water camera that would let me capture that face. Her giggle warms up an entire room.

Two final agenda items...school...the life and times of a Ph. D. student taking a summer sabbatical is not as exciting as it might sound. Unless you are interested in reading about going to the pool, painting pottery, and attending library functions. If not ...then there is very little to report. I took two courses online that I didn't have to take but wanted to this summer. I didn't really tell anyone that ...HH knew, but not really anyone else. I just felt like taking courses. Maybe that is silly...I am not sure, but personally enjoy classwork, and feel like a bum when I am not in class.

HH are having a battle. Lines have been clearly drawn. I have commandeered the front of the house including the living room, office, guest bath, and guest bedroom. He has set up an embassy in the master bedroom. Neutral ground has been established in the dining room. The topic of the battle involves the purchase of a new car. All of our cars are paid off. They all work perfectly well. Why should we purchase a new vehicle? We don't need a new vehicle. But this happens... HH starts looking at trucks. Then he gets the truck fever to buy.

Enough! I am going to invade the kitchen. There is some Gatorade calling my name.