Only a couple more weeks left in the classes I'm teaching, which equates to a mountain of grading. I had the writing class write in-class obituaries on Monday; poor timing, as we were just learning of the Virginia Tech tragedy, but as obitiuaries are often seen as a thankless job to be foisted upon the lowest-ranked copy editor, I felt it necessary to impart some wisdom on the subject. Frankly, I'm glad I did — the ladies really cranked it up for this one, and I learned interesting cocktail-party tidbits about Steven Spielberg, Reba McIntyre, and Ludacris, among others. Two ladies wrote about Oprah, and the two girls who sit in the very back row each wrote about a cast member from The Golden Girls, which made me giggle. Talk about a research job — one chose Estelle Getty! I'm happy to announce that the lowest grade on this assignment was 17/20, which shows how far they've come in not many weeks.

I'm working through the picture stories that my photo class turned in and they're all decent. It's tough to grade them on a technical aspect because the laser printer in our classroom is so shoddy, so I'm giving most of the ladies the benefit of the doubt, and I'm trying to save what I think will be the best story for last, so it doesn't wreck the curve for everyone else.

In the midst of all this the weather has gone from crappy and snowy to seventy degrees and beautiful, so we took a family break today and took baby to the park, where he emulated Monstro by climbing up the slide and getting sunscreen in his eyes. Those two are definitely related, no doubt about it. We came home and plopped baby into the bathtub — I bathed him while Monstro made mochas and snacks. What a guy! Baby is sleeping it off now, and I'm taking a grading break. Oh, and I wrote a script for a puppet show we're doing at church tomorrow — it announces the pancake breakfast we're holding to celebrate “The Week of the Young Child.” It was fun trying to think of things that rhyme with Young Child (Monstro is George in this script, while I'm Gracie). My favorite was “Dung MIld,” but Monstro won't let me say “dung” in church. Spoilsport.

Need to sign off and finish my grading because Mr. and Mrs. Beck from Beck's Blog will be gracing our town with a visit tomorrow. I'd call the mayor, but she just had brain surgery (the mayor, not Beck), so I'll not bother her this time. Next time, maybe. In the meanwhile, my brilliant friend Anne just started three blogs: Anne Jennings Paris, Another Brilliant Idea, and Annie Bobannie Books. Go check 'em out posthaste. You won't be sorry.