Shannah’s List of happy things for December 14th:

• It is my last day to go to CU until next year! 
• I graded 9 portfolios yesterday.
• I should finish grading Comp portfolios today and be able to submit grades for that class.
• I can bring home with me anything for Basic English, so I can submit those grades whenever it suits me.
• The winter storm they’re predicting won’t be here until tomorrow, so I won’t have to drive in yucky conditions today!
• I got to pick Karen up from school yesterday, so we had a nice chat in the afternoon.
• Last night’s meatloaf tasted very yummy!
• I watched TV last night that was actually funny (The Office, 30 Rock, part of the SNL special).
• I got a good night’s sleep last night.
• It’s Friday!!!!!

Yep…there is much to be happy about today.  Have a great day, Xanga friends!

So much to grade…so little time.  I didn’t get a single portfolio graded yesterday because I spent the entire day grading submissions or emailing and meeting students for Basic English.  It’s becoming more clear who is likely to finish and who isn’t.  Sadly, some of them will join me again next semester.

I did take a short break to watch my nieces.  But instead of going to their house, I ended up riding along with them to some doctor’s appointments and watching the girls in the car.  We watched Peter Pan and they had lunch.  Then they went on to the next appointment, and I went back to Cedarville for a quick lunch and a meeting with a student.

Last night I met up with a friend while Eric was at orchestra rehearsal.  They are leaving our church, and she wanted to tell me herself.  I had suspected that was her news for a while now, but it was nice to have my suspicions confirmed.  It seems like the new church will be a better fit for them, and she was really excited about the new ministry (which had 140 people show up for its first “official” service last week!).  But I am sad to see them go.

Today will be mostly dedicated to grading portfolios.  I do have to run and pick up Karen after school (they are a one-car family today, and Erik’s got the SUV), so that’ll get me out of the house at least once.  But really, my goal is to knock out a ton of grading so I can close out Comp tomorrow.  I’m almost, almost done!!!

Happy Tuesday!

I just got up a few minutes ago.  Eric is still in bed.  He said last night that his nose had been running less, but his throat was hurting a bit more.  He got up a couple of hours ago to take Advil and then came back to bed.  I think he’ll be going in late today or maybe taking the day off.  We’ll see when he gets up!

Classes are now over.  I always reach a point at the end of the semester where it is time for each class to move on, and I had definitely gotten there yesterday.  On the other hand, it was so nice to be able to just come home last night instead of driving to UD. We didn’t do very much, of course, but it’s much more fun to do nothing at home with Eric than in class in Dayton!

I brought home 5 portfolios to read today.  I have learned that if I just force myself to start reading a few per day, I’ll be done by Friday with no problem.  I’ve also figured out that if I read them in order from (what I expect to be) worst to best, then by the end of the week, when I’m tired of grading, I only have good ones left to consider. 

I also hope to get a haircut and run some errands today, but I think I’ll plan to do that in the afternoon.  Maybe if I grade in the morning, I’ll be more likely to actually do it!  We shall see…

The end is in sight…

The weekend was very good.  We got a bunch of Christmas shopping done.  I washed and ironed clothes.  I cleaned my house.  We had a Christmas party at our newly-cleaned house on Sunday night.  And, because Eric is fighting a cold, we spent a lot of time relaxing, too! 

It was also so nice to have time to clean my house, to not have a Monday drive to UD hanging over me all weekend, to be very close to finished with my classes for the term.  Even though I have to grade papers all week, and help my Basic students finish up their stuff, Finals week is always much more laid back and enjoyable than any other week of the term.  Ahhhhhhh (*deep, lung-cleansing sigh*)

Happy Monday to you all!

I think I finished my grad paper yesterday.  I worked on it all day (9-9), with a couple of breaks, but I think it’s as good as it’s likely to get at this point.  I might hold on to it until Monday just for “checking,” but we’ll see!

Other than writing/revising, I did go to the grocery and the bank.  That was my one trip out of the house.  And I did clean up the kitchen and take out the garbage (I guess you could count that as another trip out of the house. )

Unfortunately, I did not respond to or grade anything my students had turned in.  So I’ll be pretty busy again this morning (since I’ll lose the 10:00 hour to a school meeting).  Oh well…

Sadly, I have little else to say today.  Happy Friday!

 The day:

• My drive took over an hour both directions.  There was little traffic on the way down, but the roads were pretty bad.  Having spun my car once, I don’t like driving on bad roads. 
• My Basic students have finally decided to kick themselves into gear and do their work so that they can finish on time.  So my workload in that class has gone up significantly again.  I spent the entire 3 hours from my arrival in my office until lunch working on grading, organizing, keeping up with my Basic students.
• After lunch, I had conferences with my Comp students.  The other two days of conferences, I managed to stay on time, but yesterday, I got way behind, more than once.  At one point, I had 2-3 people backed up in the hallway.   Needless to say, I got out of my office very late (after 5:00), but I do think the students walked away helped…which is always good!
• The drive home was in the dark, with lots more traffic, and only slightly better road conditions.  The roads were cleaner, but the winds had caused drifting in a number of places, so we still couldn’t go much above 45 consistently.  And with many more people out, you have to be much more careful.  I didn’t get home until about 6:15. I was hungry by 5:30, and my mom left a voicemail on my cell phone
  which I didn’t want to answer while driving (at least in those road
  conditions), so I had to listen to it beep at me for about half an
  hour.  I was more than ready to get home!
• The entire drive home I was trying to prepare myself for the evening: get home, make dinner, run out again to meet a friend, coming home to crash. 

The happy ending:

• When I walked into my house, dinner was already mostly done.  My husband had cooked exactly the supper I was planning to make (pork chops, rice, green beans, & applesauce).  It smelled yummy, and it tasted great! 
• My friend called to cancel our chat because she didn’t want to go out in the traffic and weather last night.
• Eric and I curled up on the couch and watched a move (The Holiday), then went to bed. 

Now that is a good way to end a day!

It took me over an hour to get to CU this morning.  The beginning and end of the drive were not great, but between London and S. Charleston, I actually was driving 50 mph pretty consistently.  But most importantly, I made it without harm!

Eric decided to get up early this morning to beat what was sure to be an evil drive in.  So we were up at 5:30 this morning.  I just got up because I was awake, made his coffee and lunch, and then did about 40 minutes of very good work on my grad paper.  I was much pleased with my productiveness! 

Yesterday I did 5-6 loads of laundry (even folded and put them away!), had lunch with a friend whose really struggling right now, and generally attacked a number of little projects that I just needed to get done (sending emails, making gift lists, cleaning up my kitchen, etc.).  So it was a good day, overall.

Okay, off to my work.  I have a little less time than usual to catch up my grading for Basic before class time.  Such fun, huh?  Later!

Not much to say today, really…

I had conferences all afternoon yesterday, and I actually stayed on schedule.  The students also seemed very helped by my answers to their questions, too, but we shall see about that when they turn their portfolios in next week!

I talked to Karen on my way to UD last night, ate dinner, dropped off some books at the library over there and went to class.  I did have some trouble staying attentive, but it was the last class and after finishing up my paper, I will be totally done with it!  I still haven’t registered for next term, but I’m sure I’ll figure that out very soon…

Today I have exercised, had breakfast, gotten ready, started the laundry, played a game, sent various emails, cleaned up the kitchen, and cancelled an online account I didn’t want anymore.  I’m having lunch with a friend, and I plan to spend the rest of the day working around the house and on my paper (or on grading).  So, obviously, it won’t be terribly exciting, but definitely productive. 

Later!

Hallelujah!

The Christmas program is over.  Praise Jesus!  There were a lot of very stressful moments, and there will be a meeting or two, I’m sure, to discuss the issues raised by the weekend’s activities.  But it is now over. And last night was the most relaxing evening I’ve had in a long, long time!  And most importantly, God did bless, and a number of people responded to the gospel, including a lady who is dying of cancer, a friend of one of the choir ladies.  God is so awesome!  Thanks for all the prayers.

Unfortunately, I don’t have much else to say since the program pretty much filled my weekend.  Friday night, we went straight to the church after a light supper and crashed into bed after the program.  Saturday was a pretty relaxing day.  I got a number of things done before heading to the church again.  Then yesterday, after church, Eric and I went out for dinner (Chinese) and to a bookstore.  We had a nice time hanging out together!  Then a bit of resting, hanging a little garland, and grading was all we did before heading to church for the final performance.  So that was the weekend!

This is the last full week of classes for the term at CU, and tonight is my almost last grad class.  This week is all about revisions and conferences and final “fixes” to my students’ papers, so I don’t have to lecture or do much prep or anything (how nice!).  I love the feeling that comes when you realize the end is truly in sight!

I’m exhausted today.  The roller coaster ride this week has been has worn me out emotionally.  I did not sleep wellT last night, so I’m just plain tired.  And this week feels one day too long…

But enough whining.  It is a beautiful morning, and my husband is fabulous.  The Christmas program should go really well this weekend, and there are supposed to be lots of unsaved people there.  Please pray for us, if you think of it this weekend, especially that we would see God work in an amazing way.

Yesterday was a busy day, which I spent almost entirely at the church.  I got there about 10:00, and we started working on the light cues and other technical details.  Then there was an epiphany for the narrators (the drama was reduced to two people, both of whom were struggling with being comfortable with their lines), and we created a teleprompter yesterday afternoon.  It worked great!  It turns out that it’s also nice to have a role in this program that doesn’t require much of me.  I don’t have to call the cues, just make sure the teleprompter keeps scrolling along.  How nice! 

Today I’m still heading for CU.  I wish I didn’t have classes today, but they must be faced.  I’m glad we have only 5 class days left (including today).  Anyway…happy Friday to you all!