As for now, I�m doing okay. It hurts if I have to bend at a 45-degree angle, but other than that, I�m peachy, sitting here in my pajamas, listening to the thunder outside. I�m worried about my spider plant sitting out there in so much rain. I worried about drowning it, but I also don�t want to have to retrieve it, getting soaked and hurting in the process. As much as I don�t like day after day of grey skies and rain, I have to make concessions for thunderstorms. I�m not afraid of them, but I�m not of the sort to go frolicking naked in the trees or climbing water towers. I don�t throw caution to the wind just to be edgy in the face of dangerous things. I simple like to watch them, to hear thunder and see lightning. My gram is terrified by them, but that�s because when my dad, aunt, and uncle were kids, lightning struck their huge barn and burned it, and the animals inside, down to nothing.

Luke brought me home an application for B&N yesterday. They�re hiring for a ton of positions and it would make things so much easier if I could get a job with him, since his hours are so screwy that it makes it nearly impossible for me to get a full-time job and be able to get him to and from work with our one car. He can�t drive stick and we are reluctant to teach him, as we don�t have the money to pay for it if the clutch gets burned out. I�ve also filled out but have yet to mail the application for the Wisconsin Early Autism Project. I�d rather have the B&N position at this point, but I have a feeling that the WEAP would pay more, even if there were fewer hours to be worked. We�ll have to see.

I�m making pasta with chicken in Newman�s brand new vodka sauce. I�m interested in seeing how it measures up to the vodka sauces I�ve had in the past, especially to that of Venda Ravioli on Federal Hill in Providence. Man, I miss that place. Their lobster ravioli is sex on a plate, as is there squash with Gorgonzola sauce. You can buy containers of sauce and packets of fresh ravioli, take them home, cook them up, and eat gourmet in front of the television without hours of gourmet work. It�s been so long since I�ve had real Italian food. For some reason, here in the Midwest, Italian is considered exotic, while German and Norwegian is par for the course. There is an Italian deli down the street from us, but it�s not like home, where pastina is sold in every day grocery megachains and capicola is in the deli case. Sorry, but you won�t find me eating sauerbraten any time soon. Give me pasta al frutti di mare any day. I miss my grandmama�s pizelle and her cinnamon twists. At least I know that before too long, I will be home again.

I know it sounds silly, especially considering that I am a mere 1/8 into it, but I am saving the free miles from my boxes of granola in the hopes that I can save enough to make a trip home with Luke, possibly for the final move back. I have 5 of them so far, with a sixth on the pantry shelf. That�s 600 miles out of roughly 4,000. I keep forgetting to ask my dad if he still buys Kellogg�s granola so that he can send me the miles. I guess I�ll put it out there and ask if any of you readers buy the cereals with miles on them. If you do, shoot me an email, as I�d really like them so long as you just throw them away and don�t have plans for them. Home is important to me and the only thing keeping me away is lack of money to pay for plane tickets.