Holy Christ, the house was loud today. The dogs have rawhide now, at least, so Mack’s curled up next to me on the couch while Pete ran off to the office with his. N is under the covers giving a running commentary on the Puppy Bowl reruns. M, S, and T are dropping off friends then hitting Pick and Save for Super Bowl supplies. I think we’re having pizza then cutting up the cake pictured below.

So I wrote at 7PM last night. What’s happened since then? Let me think. Last night I lifted weights before reading the first chapter of Ballard’s Crash. I’m not sure I’m up for the book now. I mean, Ballard’s excellent, but to move from Fante to Ballard, well, and a slew of other similar books in my recent reading history well, you know what I mean. Maybe I’ll check out the Ace of Cakes book for a couple days of easy reading until a book calls me. This morning I was up by three-thirty but not in a bad place. I did the online circuit and drank coffee until N woke at six. We watched cooking shows until M was up and I hit the gym for the 7AM opening. I did 625 calories on the crossramp, followed by abs, then hit the supermarket for flour. Pick N Save has a shitty tea selection, too, rendering necessary a drive to Grafton’s Sendik’s. The tea supply isn’t completely cashed, however, so I should be good for another week or so, and I’ve always got Twinings. After showering and eating breakfast I started the “from scratch” cake and frosting and cleaned out the baking cabinet. You know what I’ve discovered? Loud music goes well with baking. The dogs went fucking apeshit while S’s friend Ray was over, but I managed to tune out the distractions and wrote tomorrow’s reflection on the role of church structure in the Pre-Constanine church. I’ll need to revise in the morning, though, as I hadn’t read the chapter in detail and I put together my assertions based on, well, skimming and bullshit. Too loud around here today. Glad the visitors are gone and the dogs are calming.

This week looks busy but manageable. Assessment is the wild card. I’m not sure about this transition from rubrics/performance assessment to standardized tests. I could add another activity Wednesday…I think we’ll go that route. But then I’m not sure what to do Friday. We’ll see. And I have a busy Friday, afternoon meeting, and a couple other concerns here and there. I’m worried I won’t sleep. Melatonin? Doesn’t always work. Alcohol? Worth a shot. Tonight is the Super Bowl, after all, and as an American I feel obligated, or at least licensed, to knock down a beer or two.

Colts in a blowout, by the way. Have a good start of the week. The bathtub calls.