The Boston Tea Party

It bears a scary resemblance to the real thing, doesn't it? My sister Lindy introduced me to www.simpsonizeme.com, and I couldn't resist Simpsonizing myself. Ha ha, that's funny--I think I like the cartoon version better! Speaking of funny, today was a funny day. I had class this morning, then this afternoon I helped Dr. Hardeman grade tests and papers. We were grading some tests from his Constitution class, and some of the answers that the students put were soooooooooo funny, but the sad thing is that they weren't trying to be funny. My favorite was the girl who wrote about how the British increased taxes on tea, and then when they shipped it to America, they (the British) dumped the tea in the harbor, and afterwords everyone had the Boston Tea Party. :-) Dr. Hardeman and I were both rollin' after that one. I think it was that same person who, when asked who James I was, said, "A bi-sexual king." Needless to say, they didn't get the best grade in the world. Dr. Hardeman was pretty sleepy again this afternoon. I was reading a paper to him, and he fell asleep after the first paragraph. But I kept reading, and then he woke up after I finished and said, "That wasn't a very good paper! Let's read it again." So I read it to him again, but he fell asleep again, and when I reached the end he woke up again and said, "It didn't get any better." Maybe he is listening subconsciously in his sleep?

After work this afternoon, I hit the road for Monticello. The weather was perfect today--still a little warm, but quite a bit cooler than it's been. Tomorrow should be even cooler and more fall-ish. It was a beautiful day for a drive up through the cornfields (that are no more) to Monticello--much better than the last time I drove up there in the middle of the tornado. The people on the Piatt County Museum board are so nice and appreciative of my efforts to write a grant for them. We'll be applying for a grant through the Illinois Humanities Council, and hopefully we can get them a consultant to help them develop exhibit plans and fundraising ideas. They really are very kind people, and we had a good time chatting for a while tonight. After meeting with the museum board, I couldn't resist going to my new favorite place, introduced to me by Mrs. Finet (one of the museum board members), the Brown Bag. It's a funny name for a restaurant, but their food is divine. I had a yummy Hawaiian croissant with ham, pineapple, and cream cheese, and the best part was the dessert. I had PRALINE PUMPKIN PIE!!! Can you think of anything more delicious, or can you even fathom a more perfect fall treat? It was divine. They have a lady who makes all of their pies each day, so it was nice and fresh. It had a light caramelized brown sugar and pecan topping, which was the perfect compliment to the pumpkin pie filling. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It was sooooooo good! I think I'll be heading back up to Monticello this weekend for the Historic Barn Tour which is the museum's biggest event all year. I think I'll need to grab some lunch at the Brown Bag while I'm there! It takes about 50 minutes to get to Monticello from Charleston, but it's not too bad of a drive--if it's not dumping rain.

After getting back from Monticello, I had to go to our weekly HA meeting. I think everyone is getting really annoyed of everyone else, and to show you how serious everyone is about school, I, quiet Tiffany, have become the class clown! I provide the only comic relief anyone experiences anymore. Luckily there's usually something funny and random to say to keep everyone at least a little happy. Everyone is just stressed out. The way I see it, we all just need to chill down and relax about everything. If you don't have time to read every word of every book, then skim what you can, and move on. Everyone's obsessiveness about our assignments is kind of getting on my nerves, but I'll try to be nice. At least Kristen and Dan still laugh about stuff--they seem the most sane out of everybody. Well, I'm off to take my nightly nap, and then it's another wild and crazy day tomorrow. Dan wants to make pasta for me after our class tomorrow afternoon since I helped him and the rest of the exhibit team with their Photoshop trauma over the weekend, so that will be fun. Even though Wednesday is a two-class day, I don't mind because my afternoon class, Material Culture, is my favorite of all classes, so it will be a good day!