Innards

I have been a blog slacker. This causes me great worry: will my readership dwindle? Will I lose touch with my peeps? Will my mom ever read my blog when it is not updated regularly?

It is enough to keep a girl up at night.

So I offer a series of excuses:

1. It is a lot of work to teach 4 writing classes
2. I had a lot of catching up to do 'cause baby Rio was captivating & distracting
   
3. We tore apart our bedroom
   

The third excuse is, perhaps, the most original and interesting. Yes, we entirely gutted our bedroom last week, starting with the ceiling and working our way to the carpeting and multiple layers of paneling. (Wisconsin interior design tip #125: What do you put over paneling? PANELING!) It was FUN -- and a lot of freakin' hard work. It became less fun once the insulation started falling down and we had gallons of loose cellulose "blown" insulation filling the room with dust and nastiness. But, we persevered (Rhonda taking over most of the work once Monday rolled around), and we are now ready for R's parents to come and help us drywall. Let us all say a prayer to the deities of your choice that we can actually drywall this funny, catty-wampus room.

On an entirely different note: we were watching Gray's Anatomy last night when I realized that I knew one of the patients. Ruthie, the over-zealous dieter and exercise fiend, was played by Maggie Siff who I know from Bryn Mawr. I rather idolized Maggie in college -- she always had the lead in the College plays whereas I was remaindered to the likes of a talking bird (yes, it's true). She also, I remembered last night, was one of the three people who took me out for a beer on my 21st birthday; she was older, cool and sophisticated. Sadly, Maggie/Ruthie died a rather gross death last night that began with vomiting blood and, subsequently, sending Rhonda to hide entirely under the covers while screaming "Oh my god! Oh my god!"

Maggie is an amazing actress and a very cool person. She has a recurring role in "Mad Men" -- a series about advertising execs in the 1960s. After years in the Philly and NYC theater she has taken the LA plunge; I hope that her career continues to skyrocket. Plus, do you know what this does for my status in the realm of six-degrees (of Kevin Bacon)?!