Catching Up

Woohoo!
I've just finished a few intense days, returning from France and all that entails, two grocery store trips, four loads of laundry, cleaning, greeting family, paying bills, etc...
But I also needed to finish a training course for my online teaching. The training began on May 15 and lasted until today, May 24.
Of course, I was traveling in France. I didn't want to spend extra time inside doing a training course. But we had been warned that if we did not complete the training, we would not receive classes to teach in July.
So I did a few of the modules while in France.

This is a wall in the Paris airport made of actual living plants. I thought it was incredibly cool. 

Monday, I thought I would get a bunch done, but with the grocery and the laundry and the general exhaustion, I did not.
That meant that Tuesday was wholly devoted to working on the training, and this morning, just a few minutes ago, I completed the training.
Phew!
What a relief.
Now I'll have time to visit other people's blogs, read a book -- oh, wait. I still have grading to do for the class I'm currently teaching, plus I have to prepare for the in-person college course that begins next week.
Still, what a relief that I finished the training.
Thanks to everyone who visited and commented while I was traveling in France. I can't wait until I am over there full time, writing leisurely posts about my life in France.

This was the Tuleries Garden with the Eiffel Tower in the background on our last evening in France. 

Busy, Busy, Busy

Don't cry for me, Argentina!
But awful timing has me waist-deep in papers to grade this week.
I teach four classes at one college and two classes at another, and all six classes turned in papers this week. So my days are spent teaching and grading, along with pigeon-holing workouts in between.
Think fondly of me and any blog posts I might have been writing if I weren't busy grading.
But wish me a quick green grading pen and perfect student papers.

Here's a photo of a friend of mine who's on the Appalachian Trail and took a copy of my book with her.

My novel, The Summer of France, is on sale on Kindle for 99 cents Friday through Sunday. If you haven't read it, I hope you'll give it a try and spread the word to your friends who love reading.

Morning Chaos

I returned from my run this morning as the sun had just started to rise. I held a package of three toothbrushes that I stopped and bought at the grocery store as I got near mile five. Then home again to make it six miles.
(Yes, we had an emergency need for toothbrushes enough for me to buy some during my run.)
As I opened the back door from the crisp morning air at 7:40 a.m., I expected to smell coffee and to see Grace in the kitchen.
She must be running late, I thought as I headed toward the bedrooms and bathroom. But my nose didn't pick up the scent of her shampoo which usually emanated from the steamy bathroom.
I saw darkness in her room and I stuck my head in to see her still in bed.
"Grace, it's 7:40," I told her.
"What?" She looked up confused and stunned.
She got a new phone Friday night and apparently she didn't get the alarm set for Saturday morning.
As I'd left the house an hour before, I thought I heard her alarm going off. We later figured out it must have been from her old phone, which lay on the dining room table.
Oops.
Since she had only 20 minutes to get ready and drive to work, I fixed some coffee and an everything bagel that she could take with her.
She texted a few times about how gross she felt, but I told her to shake it off.
I spent the rest of the morning grading papers, but when I finished, I had a satisfying hot shower, unlike Grace this morning.
I feel like Grace might have given this look much of the morning.

She's appearing as Nancy in the show Oliver next weekend. She gets to sing the song "As Long As He Needs Me."  

Commitments

My schedule this semester, teaching six college courses, is hectic on some days and totally open on other days.
But nature abhors a vacuum, so on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I don't have classes scheduled, when I could use the day to take walks with friends, to write my novels, to grade papers and answer students' questions by email, something usually comes up that requires my attention.
On Tuesday, I made the mistake of posting on Facebook what a fabulous, carefree day I was having. My daughter immediately began to beg me to bring her lunch at her work place.

I said no, but she continued to beg, and by that point, my day was ruined anyway. If I went to buy lunch then took it to her, an hour of my day would disappear. If I didn't take it to her, I felt stingy and mean.
Wednesday passed in the blur of four classes starting at 8 a.m., a quick gym workout, then a 4-hour evening class.
But before I pulled myself out of  bed at 5:45 this morning, I already knew that the day had filled with errands, the biggest one being a drive down to Athens, Ohio, where my boys go to college. The drive is beautiful, but I'm not going to enjoy it or even to spend time with the boys.
Instead, I'm driving down, picking up the car that needs a brake job and driving back.
Yes, my family is sending me after the car with the faulty brakes.
So a three-hour drive for me this morning followed by an afternoon of grading papers.
Hope you get some time to enjoy yourself today.

Free Time

Like a wisp of a breeze on a still day, I feel it.
Like the far away whistle of a train in the night, I hear it.
Like that spot on the horizon that draws closer, I see it.
Freedom is nearly mine.
I give finals today and tomorrow. Then I have to grade the finals for five classes and turn in my grades.

For three weeks, I will not have to go to work. Not until Jan. 3.
I can almost feel my body collapsing in a heap just at the thought.
Now, I know that compared to many people, I don't work that hard. Some people are doing manual labor or standing up all day. They wouldn't complain about sitting in front of a computer answering students' emails or grading a stack of papers while munching on popcorn.
And I am truly grateful for my jobs, which help pay for one kid's college and next year two kids' college tuitions.
The thing is, teaching at two colleges means that their breaks don't coincide. So when one college is on spring break, the other is still having classes. And this summer when the one college took a two week break before summer quarter, the other college took the week after. I eeked out five days and darted down to Florida and back.
So since last Christmas, I haven't had time when I wasn't teaching.
Until now.
If I'm smart, I'll go ahead and prepare for winter courses next week. Then I could have two whole weeks not to think about teaching or work.
And what will I do with that time?
Well, a lot of basketball and swim events, plus Christmas shopping and baking and cleaning. Plus, I plan to read a lot and take many walks to Caribou Coffee.
Sometimes, maybe I will allow myself to collapse in a heap, learning a lesson from the cats.
How about you? Will you have any time to relax during the holidays?

Falling Behind

I started the month with the intention of writing 50,000 words toward a new novel as part of NaNoWriMo. I did so well the first five days, writing 1700 words every day and documenting my progress along the side of my blog.
Then came the weekend when I needed to grade essays from four classes. So those took priority. Then when I had finished those by Tuesday, I had a book from the library that was only a two-week loan. I had two days to finish it, and I really liked the quarter of the novel I had read, so that took precedence.
I still have a bit of the novel to finish (it's a day late now but worth the dime)and I have another class of essays to read, but I'm going to hop back on this writing idea and see how much I can catch up in the next few days.
Technically, at 1700 words per day, I should be at 18,700 words by today. Instead, I'm at 8527 words. Just a little over 10,000 to write.
I'm sitting at Caribou Coffee with a skim berry white mocha and they're playing Christmas music.
I can do this.
Hope bout you?
Are you behind on any projects?

Work Overload

Earlier this week, before the sun's heat became ferocious, Earl and I were sitting on the front porch when one of us mentioned iced tea. I volunteered to get some, but he shooed me away.
"Get your work done," he said. "How much more?"
And it seemed like such a simple question. How much work did I have to do before I was finished, able to read a book, walk to the coffee shop, have a glass of wine, relax?
For my husband, who works at a newspaper, each night he finishes his work. Sure, there's more when he returns the next day to put out another paper, but when he walks through the night or rides his bicycle along the bike path dodging rabbits, he has safely put the newspaper to bed.
For me, I see no end in sight.
I tried to list what was waiting in my paper grading cue -- both online and in person.
I had the 3rd essay for my in-person class, and most of them had already turned in their final essays. Then the two online classes had submitted assignments Sunday night. Plus their final essays were due Wednesday. Then I had the two classes from the other college and they had all submitted assignments Saturday night. One class did rough drafts, while another submitted two writing assignments, plus I had to grade their online discussions...
The number of students waiting to hear from me seemed too enormous to continue.
But once I slogged through those, I'd be finished, right?
Well, no, because more assignments are coming in on Saturday.
But the quarter is coming to an end.
True, grades are due Saturday for three of my classes, 9 hours worth of college teaching completed for Spring Quarter followed by a two-week break. Woo hoo!
The other college though meets during that two-week break and takes its summer break the week afterward, when I begin teaching again, 11 hours per quarter this summer.
So when will my work be done?
I think I get a break from both schools around Christmas time.
Let's do lunch then.

Take A Breath

Sorry for the long silence, and it isn't due to March Madness!
You know I was grading papers all week. I finished my four classes and turned in grades Saturday morning at 7 a.m. before I got Tucker to his Zones swim meet. He swam until noon. Then I had papers to grade for my other two college classes which aren't on spring break.
Today Grace and I left the house at 4 a.m. to get her to Rochester by 11 a.m. so she could catch a ride back to college. I got back to Columbus around 5 p.m. after driving 13 hours and drinking lots of caffeine.
I hated being so busy during Grace's spring break. I didn't even take any pictures of her, including the new highlights she got on Friday.
Things should settle down by tomorrow (I spend my life thinking "Once things settle down...") and I want to write about my mammogram (Oh, Joy!) and Dream Girl and crows that dive in rivers to catch fish and spring crocuses and that darn writing class I'm supposed to be taking.
Thanks for being patient with me!

No Time for Cleaning

I'd like to give a shout out to working moms; no, maybe not even moms, but working women. I don't know how you've done it all these years. Of course, as a stay-at-home mom for years, who still managed to work from home, I don't know how I did it all those years either.
Here I am at Friday of the week and I still have essays from two full classes to grade. I could look at the bright side -- that means I've finished grading four classes worth of homework.
Yesterday, I worked from 9 to 1 then again from 2:30 to 5. But, of course, I'm teaching four classes online this quarter, so when I actually get home, more work is waiting.
Then there are groceries to buy, dinner to fix, and kids to talk to. Meanwhile, the essays waiting to be graded pulse silently in the background, taunting me.
I haven't vacuumed for...well, awhile. I could be doing that right now instead of writing a blog post! I've offered the boys 10 dollars per room they clean, but they have to follow my carefully constructed list of cleaning steps. So far, they'd rather be broke than clean.
My husband Earl is a real trooper, doing the laundry to keep us all in sweet-smelling clothes.
In addition to the waiting essays and the gathering dustballs, TurboTax is downloaded ready for me to complete our yearly taxes by the end of the month so I can submit it to the financial aid gurus and hope Grace continues to get some help with college expenses.
Saturday is shot, filled with swim meets and basketball games.
I'll get around to grading all of those essays, and I will finish our taxes, but the dust balls are just going to have to rally, maybe start some sort of wagon train to head out west, cause I'm not sure when I'll get around to sweeping them in that direction.

Based on a photo from:www.fourth-millennium.net

More Wine, Less Whine

Okay, I want credit for not whining last week about all of the essays I had to grade. You may recall that last year as the quarter grew to a close, I was hyperventilating about all the work I had to do.
This fall, I taught six classes. I started with five, but one teacher quit in the middle of the quarter and I took over his class, so that landed me with six classes. Each started with 25 students, although some of them dropped out before the end.
I tried to arrange my schedule a little better. I had my in-person classes turn in papers the week before finals. My three online classes turned in their final essays a week ago Sunday. Then all six classes turned in essays for their final exams last week.
I graded and graded and graded. I didn't complain, right? You didn't see me whining on my blog.
So now, I want a little credit. Grades are finished and submitted to the system. I've carefully downloaded everything into an Excel document for the school secretary.
I'm finished!!
I think a round of applause is in order for me.
Six more classes begin on January 3. But, I'll think about that tomorrow.

Good Things; Bad Things

There are some very good things about my job. For instance, this fall I teach 15 hours for one college and eight hours for the other college. That's about 23 hours per week of actual class time where I have to be gone from home and instructing students. And this year I'm actually making a decent living at what is essentially a part time job.
The bad thing is that the grading and class preparation are always hanging over my head. If you're going to become a college professor, pick a subject other than English. With English, there are all those papers to grade. I wish I were a math whiz. I'd just have students color in the circle of the correct answer then I'd watch those answer sheets whir through the grading machine and I'd be finished.
I grade papers and answer emails every day. I don't take off Saturday and Sunday, or Monday through Friday. Those papers are always hanging over my head.
Except for this week.
The one college I teach at just finished on Friday. I worked like a mad woman to grade all the papers, enter the grades in the gradebook, then into the online system then to make copies for the registrar and the Dean. Now I'm finished and classes don't start againg until...Monday.
But, hey, for this weekend, I'm free!
My four classes at the other college turn their papers in online by Sunday at midnight. I had already graded their papers for last week, so until Sunday at midnight, I am ignoring any papers that get turned in and any emails that come into my college mailbox. I'm not even checking my email there.
Suddenly, for two whole days, I have freedom from grading.
I ran with my friends this morning - 8.5 miles -- because I felt so liberated from my responsibilities. I sat on the front porch and listened to NPR.
My only commitment for the day was a graduation party, which I attended for half an hour. Now I'm back to my computer.
My goal is to make some revisions to my novel -- to go at it with gusto.
And I'll tell you about some major changes that I have to make because of a lack of preparation, another time.
For now I'll focus on the good things. I have time to work on my novel and I have a gorgeous day to sit on my front porch while I work. A nice glass of wine should make it just about perfect.

Relax

I spent the entire day grading essays, answering emails and juggling the 20 hours of classes I am teaching this quarter.
I took a break around 8 and flipped on the television. I could watch a rerun of the movie The Holiday, I could go back to grade the remaining six essays, or...I spied on the bookshelf beside the couch -- Emma.
So I popped in the movie and now I have a calm evening, kids gone to their various activities watching Emma. What could be better?

Electronics Crisis

Last year, right around this same time, in the middle of grading final exams, my computer stopped working. Guess what? It happened again on Sunday. The screen just went black and it turned off.
That evening, as Tucker was begging for more time on his XBox, I asked him to work his magic on my computer. Whenever anything in the communication world goes down, I turn to Tucker -- television, cable, DVD player, computer, iPods, phones. He's my go-to guy.
So, he unplugged everything, blew on it and plugged things back in.
It worked. For about three days.
Yesterday, it succumbed again to the black screen.
I had deduced that the problem was either the battery or the cord, because when the computer came back on Sunday, the battery charge was very low, okay, nonexistent.
So this morning, with the black screen facing me, I unplugged and replugged. I took out the battery and replaced it. I turned to Tucker. Nothing worked.
I had grades to finish for the other college where I teach, so I completed those on Earl's computer then hoisted my computer into its bag.
I took it to IT department at the college.
The computer geeks there suggested that -- since the cord had been kittenized -- I should probably start with a new cord. The kitten chewed on the cord when he was little. We have it wrapped in electrical tape and it has carried on for nearly a year.
This evening, after some amazing swims at a swim meet, Tucker, Grace and I returned home.
"Can I have more time on the XBox?" he asked, his hair still wet and his trunks soaking through his shorts.
"Fix my computer," I ordered as I picked up a dish towel and began to dry the "clean" dishes from the dishwasher.
He unpacked it from the case and 30 seconds later said, "Mom, I got it to work."
I walked in and, sure enough, the lights were glowing and the battery was charging, slowly but surely.
"Can I play XBox?" he asked again.
"Have at it," I said.
Could it be that he does something to the computer so that he can fix it and gain more time on his video games? Very possible. For now though, he's just the electronic miracle worked.

Finals Week

Here it is, the final week day of finals week. That means that I've been grading papers all week.
I've just finished grading the last essay that students turned in Sunday night. Now I can begin grading their final exams -- which are also essays.
Essay grading can be truly tedious. I have a list of comments that I insert, reminding students how to use MLA format, where to put commas, etc. Still, it takes a long time.
This is the farthest behind I've ever been in finals week. By this time, I've usually added up the grades and turned them in. Graduation this week and a visit from my parents put me behind.
So when I got up at 6 this morning, I gathered my computer and my coffee cup and headed to the front porch, my portable office.
And here is my view as I grade papers, looking up from my laptop:
And when I look to my left, the direction where I can see the downtown skyline in the winter, here is what I see:
So, although I am stuck grading papers. I can't complain about my little house in the treetops.
And, I'd better get back to work because I am expected for a family get together in Dayton this afternoon.

Still Hyperventilating

This is a stack of the papers I have to get graded, and it doesn't include my online classes or the blue books I received Monday or will get tomorrow during finals. A blue book is a composition book that I have students write in during class.
This weekend, I graded like a mad woman. I took time out to sit through one basketball game and one swim meet. Of course, I can grade in between events during the swim meet. I skipped another swim meet and basketball game to grade. Right now, I really wish I taught math. The answer is right or wrong, there's no in between, no analysis. The only thing I'm hanging on to is the fact that it has to end. Grades are due next Monday for one college and the following Monday for the other. I'm bound to have nearly two weeks without grading over Christmas break.
I scheduled two distractions this week. One was yesterday, lunch with Marcus. Last year, Marcus and I had lunch together once a week. We read each other's works in progress -- he's writing a screenplay and I'm writing a novel. We talked about my life with teenagers and his life preparing to marry a (practically) teenager. Last summer he got married (she's actually 26 and he's 40). We both took on a lot more classes, which cut down on our writing and meeting time. Plus, my husband doesn't work during the day any more, so it seems weird to tell him I'm having lunch with Marcus. I did tell him yesterday, "Do you mind if I have lunch with Marcus?" which seems rather wimpy of me. He said he didn't mind, "as long as you don't sleep with him." That was not a problem for me, and I told Earl that Marcus has the 26-year-old wife along with a 19-year-old sister-in-law living with him, so he is covered. Marcus makes me laugh. He's very sarcastic and self effacing, in spite of being "overly muscled" (as I told Earl) and having looks similar to a Calvin Klein model. I was going to take a picture of him, but the camera battery was dead, so let's pretend that I had lunch with this guy.
I only spent about an hour at lunch, but today, I've scheduled a longer break, pledging to spend the morning Christmas shopping with my husband and then having lunch before I dive into grading papers again. I'm looking forward to spending the time together, but I do feel anxious about getting the papers done. I promise not to look at the time on my cell phone while we're together. I'm going to relax and enjoy myself. I'd better include a picture of him too.Maybe I take my husband for granted, like most wives do. I'm more likely to clear my schedule for lunch with a friend than lunch with my husband. But, while I grade papers this afternoon, he'll be the one driving Tucker and his friends to swim practice, cleaning up after dinner and bringing me a blanket when I'm hunched over my papers. He's the one I want to go to France with this summer.
So I'd better get grading papers. Each paper represents another dollar going into that France fund.