Small Changes: B & A

So I told you that we got rid of one piece of brown furniture last week. Slowly but surely we are downsizing, "redecorating" (as it were), and adding color - and space - to the house, both inside and out.

Here's a small example: the side room.

Before

After

G's rules for plants in the house specify that they must be fake. This one looks real, though, right? I love the magic of technology. In looking around the house, as long as I've done the old lady dusting routine, you really can't tell that the plants are plastic.

The bad news is that Lucy has lost one of her main ninja bunny hiding spots (behind the brown chair). Of course, that's the good news, too.

Here's to small changes! 

All the Haps

This was yet another week of little-to-no blogging (OK, no blogging) because of the head not being above the water.

The head was quite a ways under the water. There were little, frantic air bubbles racing to the surface.

But! I gave my last presentation of the semester yesterday, and only have one big paper and a couple of small assignments left. Which is to say I may be passing this semester of grad school.

I can't speak for my students, though. I brought them donuts this week to try to calm the lil beasts (they, too, are turning in big papers and giving presentations in my classes) and it looks like if I throw in homemade cookies next week, that just might do the trick.

It's beautiful here, though.

Here are a few happenings of late:

I gave two presentations at a conference last weekend! Done and done.

Our new fence goes up today, our yard has been mowed, and the Got Junk peeps handled this on Tuesday. Notice that the back deck is gone! As well as that enormous tree trunk.

This will be another summer of back yard Before and After posts, so more info on that later, but suffice it to say that we removed layer upon layer upon layer of landscaping stones and bricks. It filled an entire truck bed!

We also got rid of one of our chairs in the side room, to make more space for a summer full of visitors (and, let's be honest, just to make more space in general). One more honkin' piece of brown furniture removed! That's progress!

It has taken Lucy a while, but she approves, in case you're wondering. She now has an extra play corner of crap until mama puts up a pretty, decorative plant and shushes her back onto the hearth with her bought friends.

I usually do all my writing and grading at the standing desk. Sometimes it's hard to concentrate.

This week marks my last one of getting up at 4:00 a.m. to finish major projects every day. I plan to do nothing but sleep this weekend.

That is all.

TGIF, people!

Remind Me - Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?

While the AR trip was good - let's face it, time with Gama is the best - it pretty much ensured that my head won't be above water again until approximately 2035.

It's the usual. I hesitate to whine to you about the things you've heard so many times before but OK here we go.

Milton papers and presentations. Forever. I'm basically living in hell <--- that's not metaphorical; I'm studying hell in Paradise Lost.

All the grading. All the needy students and their needy needs. And I'm giving two presentations at a conference this weekend. I'm thinking that now would be the time to, you know, develop some slides or talking points or something.

And, for some reason that totally eludes me, G and I thought that this would be the perfect time to have people tear out our deck, remove a series of stumps from the back yard, replace our fence, and trim trees/clean out our chimney. Oh, and we have an appt soon with Got Junk to remove 1,500 paving and landscape stones from our back yard, some furniture from the house, and enough wood planks (left for us by the previous tenants when we bought the house) to build someone a log cabin. I might throw Lucy in the truck for good measure.

I've taken to cleaning the rabbit cage just to procrastinate from it all.

This is the time of the semester when it feels the most like things won't come together. I really won't be able to write the last few papers. I won't be able to present on Milton with clarity. At work they'll decide that I don't make a good boss after all. And my needy students will revolt.

I'm bringing in donuts next week. We'll see if that helps.

In the Beginning

Happy Easter!

I'm in Arkansas, celebrating with Gam. We have a big day of church and Southern-style potlucks ahead of us, so I got up at 4:00 (yes, I know) to catch up on grading and homework before the day begins.

I'm all about these quick weekends in Arkansas because I want to be able to see Gama regularly and this is the "easiest" way to do it, yet "easy" or any version of "convenient" are not at all the right words to describe the Arkansas experience.

Yesterday we went on a road trip to see the first church I ever attended.

 

Papa was a country preacher, in addition to many other things, and he preached here the first few years of my life. I can remember going here (there's an outhouse in the back; no indoor plumbing) and I particularly remember hearing the traffic on the road outside mixed in with our songs and his sermons.

 

I remember laying in Gama's lap and looking at the pictures in her Bible before I was able to sit up and pretend to pay attention on my own. She had one of those Bibles that has famous paintings of religious scenes in a few sections throughout the text, and I would stare at the angel protecting Isaac from sacrifice, or a rendition of Noah's arc, while church was going on.

She still uses the same Bible. Today I'm going to sneak a peak at those pictures.

Happy Easter to you! He is Risen!

TGIF, people!

Now, that is a Good Friday.

The Brightest and Most Glorious Light at the End of the World's Longest Tunnel

Guess what, loves? It's official! I will graduate next spring!

Cheers to me!

I met with my grad advisor yesterday and since I used to be an advisor (a million years ago in another life) you know I was prepared with my transcript and requirements and questions, and questions to double check those questions.

And?

I'm all set.

As in, dassit! Two classes in the fall, and a hellacious portfolio/thesis/Defense of Everything next spring and then this girl is done with homework forever and ever, amen.

Want to know the funny thing? Even though I have a year left - and it's not going to be an easy year - part of me feels done already. I think that's because I have my teaching style figured out, and I know the professors for my remaining classes, and I know the writing and grading styles of the committee who will oversee my graduate defense, and I'm all settled into the consultant job. I'm even settling in to being a boss again. (Take that either way you want: a boss as in, I supervise others, or a boss as in, I'm an amazing individual.)

The only new thing waiting for me is to be done with one major component of my life - school! Then I can fill in that gap (hopefully) with free lance work.

I'm also excited because this is my last semester of a crazy long night course. Some of my days go from about 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. and after about three more weeks, those days are over. That's a major load off, literally, because I won't have to schlep all of my books and my laptop and all of my meals with me for entire days at a time.

Now, don't get me wrong. My days of whining and complaining and venting about homework and papers and writing and reading and revising are nowhere near over, loves. We have a whole 'nother year of that.

So, drink up.

April Showers Bring Bun Flowers

On Friday morning, my self-described gay princess coworker and I were talking about our weekend plans. I mentioned that I scheduled a MASS-ahgze on Saturday morning and he sighed, gazed into his coffee, and longingly whispered "privilege..." He's the only person I know in this ultra liberal college environment who mutters that word with an envious tone, which is a breath of fresh air.

I may or may not text him a series of pics when I go to the spa. It goes something like this:

It occurs to me that Easter is in a week and I haven't bombarded you with bunny decor. Why didn't anybody say anything?? Here you go and my apologies for this serious lapse on my part.

So there you have it.

I meet with my advisor tomorrow just to double check that I'm on track to graduate next Spring. Because if that's the case, I'm locked in to my last 2 literature classes in the fall. And then that's it! Other than a grueling last semester of a graduate portfolio and observations of my teaching and defending my work and my teaching philosophy, I'm pretty much home free!

Cross your fingers for me.

Well, THAT'S New

Hello, loves. It's been a while since I've checked in. Head above water and all that. But it's beautiful in Denver and tomorrow's Friday and it looks like I just might pass my classes this semester.

So, I've been around the block a few times as a college teacher, and as a result I'm usually not pleasantly surprised by things anymore. What I mean is, if there are surprises, they're not good. At times they're really negative. But lately I've had some humorous moments in the classroom and I thought I'd share.

The student population at my university is very diverse and multi-cultural. I never assume that English is anyone's first language and over the years I've learned to speak slower, write on the board more, simplify my slides and exercises, and try - try - to cut down on the idioms and sarcasm. No promises there, but I'm at least aware that I need to be more aware.

In one of my classes this semester, about half the students are from various middle eastern countries. In the past, there have been some, how shall I say, cultural issues because some male students have been disrespectful to me and/or amazingly dishonest with me. This semester, though, ladies and gentlemen alike are simply wonderful. They have brought me home-cooked food and asked about my trip to see Gama for her birthday, and even delicately asked about my "teeth" and my "mouth". You gotta love it.

But that's not what I've been pleasantly surprised about.

It's what they call me. They call me teacher.

I'm clear that I like to be called by my first name, but I understand that perhaps this is too informal for students. Sometimes I'm the very first college teacher that these students have - Lord help all of us - and a first name basis just feels awkward. In which case, they call me Mrs. W------- or Professor W-------.

Yeah, I know.

So, we've been in class for a million years and these middle eastern students say, "Excuse me, teacher. Does this look correct?" When I answer them they say, "Thank you, teacher!" When they email me they write, "Hello, teacher! I hope your mouth is better, teacher!"

It makes me feel like Jesus.

As in, hello, rabbi. I have a question, rabbi.

That's all kinds of blasphemous, but every day it happens and everyday I feel like I should be walking the dusty alleys of Jerusalem with my disciples in tow. I would look at them and say, "Who do you say I am?"