Well, this semester/term is, as they say, a wrap. I'm not going to repost session goals here since most of you responded to those last week (thanks, Karen!). But it would be great if you want to do one last check-in for the "compressed" goals you set last week. I might even try to see if I can think of the one (or two or three?) most important TLQ goals that I want to meet for the holiday break (family, healthy, reading/writing?), just so I maintain my mindfulness.
(There are some of you that haven't checked in recently. Feel free to offer your last check-in on session goals here. I will read all of the responses!)
I want to thank you all for letting me host this group (and thanks to Karen for co-hosting with me). I've gained so much from this process . Because I was hosting, I made sure to read all of your updates, and I've learned so much from your thoughtful comments and insights. I didn't always feel that I had a lot of wisdom to offer, so I really feel as if I gained more than I gave. Many thanks.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell and Daisy have kindly offered to be co-hosts for next semester. Thank you! Elizabeth and Daisy, if you email me at sallyblanton27@yahoo.com, I will investigate how to add you as authors for the blog. Shall we start the weekend of January 9th? Or is that too soon? I'll let you two decide.
I hope you all have a good break in which you are able to give a lot of time to the TLQ things in your lives that really matter.
Cheers.
Last week's TLQ goals:
Amstr
1) nightly check-ins, including writing down food2) order shades
3) declutter bedroom
4) exercise 4x
aw
1. Do Table for Other paper2. Send Other paper to collaborators for final revision
3. Revise CR acc to manager comments (this is a very astute research guy, so the comments will definitely useful)
4. Do letter to editor for CR paper
5. Do letter to editor for Other paper
6. Submit CR
7. Follow up with all four archives people
Contingent Cassandra
1)continue to sleep and eat as regularly as possible (this is really vital, since I'm battling both periodic stomach upsets and a headache that seems to be stress -- rare for me -- rather than the beginning of the flu or something similar, or so I hope. Anyway, there are signs that I'm operating at the limits of my physical capacity, and need to be careful, since I don't have time to be too sick to work.)2) keep up with most urgent household/garden/financial tasks as necessary (bills that have to be paid, laundry as necessary, getting some bulbs back in the ground before a hard freeze).
3)professional project follow-up as possible/necessary (really need to get back in touch with instructors of an online class I'm taking to negotiate what I'll do to finish up; also need to do some follow-up on new and old projects, but that may have to wait until next week).
Daisy
Finish data/methods/results sections for 3 paper while I'm at the lab and have people to ask...
Earnest English
1. Get a lot of end-of-quarter handouts done for the week.
2. Plod through marking.
3. Keep calm for the service things on deck this week. Lots of relaxation and sleep and calming teas.
4. Work on holiday stuff.
5. Remember to send Snarkmaster a complaint about lack of communication in two ways by end of the week.
6. Figure out next steps on Family Project.
7. Move like water. Nothing, even telling Snarkmaster off, however stress-relieving that might feel in the moment, is worth killing myself over.
2. Plod through marking.
3. Keep calm for the service things on deck this week. Lots of relaxation and sleep and calming teas.
4. Work on holiday stuff.
5. Remember to send Snarkmaster a complaint about lack of communication in two ways by end of the week.
6. Figure out next steps on Family Project.
7. Move like water. Nothing, even telling Snarkmaster off, however stress-relieving that might feel in the moment, is worth killing myself over.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Continue to polish some of the posts (I have 32 in draft from the past week!) and get two out in the world.Relax between doctors’ appointments and let the mind wander.
Corral all the copies and iterations of PMM so that I can set up short, medium, and long tasks to fit the time in the break until next session.
Spend twenty minutes every evening readying for the next day, whether meditating or free-writing.
GEW
1) Prepare all syllabi for next semester2) Write fancy, new DH assignment for next semester
3) Do some additional reading and note-taking in preparation for revising what is now Chapter 3.
4) Ask hubby if I can have a two-day writing retreat in January before term.
5) Make good progress on primary source (one of the many big novels I haven't read yet).
6) Finish Christmas present shopping, wrapping, and (when necessary) shipping.
7) Make Christmas cookies with the kids?
8) Make at least one doctor's appointment.
karen
1. Christmas presents ordered/bought/sent/listed for final purchase interstate.2. Value sleep, move like water, think in the body.
3. Create short, focused to do lists each day.
kjhaxton
1. the stockings and Christmas cards must be done.
2. scary project data needs to be coded and a plan made for analysis and write-up
3. gather references for scary and put them into reference manager software
2. scary project data needs to be coded and a plan made for analysis and write-up
3. gather references for scary and put them into reference manager software
JaneB
Survive!
Get all the new teaching for this semester prepped
Make decision about attending conference
Make some small better health decisions by putting myself first occasionally, even if that's just by shutting my door for ten minutes whilst I eat my lunch, or buying a more expensive but tastier and possibly healthier instant food for my quick evening meal (e.g. a fresh soup from the chiller cabinet rather than a tin).
Get all the new teaching for this semester prepped
Make decision about attending conference
Make some small better health decisions by putting myself first occasionally, even if that's just by shutting my door for ten minutes whilst I eat my lunch, or buying a more expensive but tastier and possibly healthier instant food for my quick evening meal (e.g. a fresh soup from the chiller cabinet rather than a tin).
Like GEW, I also want to say thanks for letting me host the group, and thanks to GEW for co-hosting. Even if I haven't replied as often as I wanted to, I've valued the insights from each TLQ participant and the sense that we are all in this together.
ReplyDeleteFrom last week:
1. Christmas presents ordered/bought/sent/listed for final purchase interstate. DONE
2. Value sleep, move like water, think in the body. NOT SO MUCH
3. Create short, focused to do lists each day. NOT SO MUCH
I'm ending the year conscious that attempting to do everything has not been a success this year. My wish for this holiday time - for me and anyone else who wants to share it - is for the chance to stop, recentre and begin with that which is important not because some else tells me that it is but because it is important to me.
Thanks again, Karen, and your holiday wishes sound just right. I hope you get a lot of sleep! :)
DeleteI'll join you in that wish. I have a lot less to knock me off course than many others here, but somehow it happens nonetheless.
DeleteAnd many thanks, again, for hosting.
So, I completely blew last week's check-in. My excuse is that I'm traveling, and have been pretty focused on work. The thing about the time difference is that work email starts coming in just as I finish the day's work, and I'm trying not to be totally defeated by it. (Hah!)
ReplyDeleteSo, goals from two weeks ago and session goals:
1. Keep making progress on references
2. Work on big deal thing - draft letter
I have been working madly on references, and Have dealt with most of the really messy ones(the ones that say, oh, find out who says that!). I'm on track, when I get home, to send the penultimate draft to the press for readers on Thursday (so it arrives in London Friday morning, and maybe gets off before the Christmas break.)
As for the big thing I thought I'd apply for, I decided not to--talking to people helped me realize that it was an impossible job. So, I don't need it!
Session goals:
I was on leave last year, finishing a book manuscript. I'm in to the "almost final revision" phase, based on comments from an editor. By the end of the session, I want to have submitted my manuscript to a publisher. That means one more round of revisions, and also fixing footnotes. In the midst of all that, while serving on a boat-load of committees, I am giving three different papers (four, if you count one in early January). Three of the four are based on the book and not too difficult, but still, they will be interruptions. I'm also trying to get back into the exercise routine.
I actually think I've done well on the session goals: the manuscript will go off later this week, not perfect, but good enough. I've done the papers, I've got back into exercise.
I have really appreciated having to check in to this group on a regular basis - it's kept me going. It will be even more important in the spring, when I have two new preps, so the teaching is likely to be stressful. I may even try to do a better job of setting a daily schedule: it will be useful as I try to keep going on my writing while doing my two new courses!
Congrats on getting the "good enough" manuscript ready to send off! That's fabulous! I hope you're able to send it off and relax a bit over the break. "See" you soon!
DeleteCongrats, indeed, on the nearly-finished manuscript -- and on saying "no," preemptively, to the impossible job (and hurrah for friends who can help one make such decisions).
DeleteHope the Jan. paper goes well, and that you get a bit of breathing (and exercise) space before the two new preps take up too much time.
Coming by one last time this round to say thank you for the TLQ group once again. This was not a stellar showing for me, as I failed to post as frequently as I managed to do so. More out of embarrassment for being late and not getting things done than anything else. I am not sure still why this was such a difficult semester for me to get things done. I haven’t achieved any of the three goals I set for this session. Next semester I have an easier teaching load (4 classes but only 2 preps, and classes I regularly teach) and hope that the approaching deadline for a completed book manuscript will light a warm and glowing fire under me!
ReplyDeleteHappy new year to all. Looking forward.
I'm sorry this semester didn't go quite the way you'd hoped it would. But I hope you gained some wisdom along the way that will be of service to you next semester. Happy New Year to you, too!
DeleteWell, you're not the only one who didn't make as much progress as you'd hoped/planned. At least the break will allow some time for maybe figuring out why it was a difficult semester, and whether which of the difficult parts, if any, are at least partly under your control. It sounds like you, too, teach 4/4, which is hard; I don't know how I'd manage it if I weren't mostly teaching variations on the same class over and over again.
DeleteBest wishes for a restful and/or productive break, and a happy new year.
I love the "warm and glowing fire" phrase. It sounds so much more lovely than the standard urgent fire.
DeleteAmstr, Yes! May our biggest TLQ goals all be warm and glowing fires.
DeleteLast week's goals:
ReplyDelete1) Prepare all syllabi for next semester--NOPE. Did one but still have two more to go (and they are the hard ones because I'm making changes)
2) Write fancy, new DH assignment for next semester--NOPE. Not yet.
3) Do some additional reading and note-taking in preparation for revising what is now Chapter 3. YES.
4) Ask hubby if I can have a two-day writing retreat in January before term.--NO. I forgot to do this.
5) Make good progress on primary source (one of the many big novels I haven't read yet).--Hmmm. Not sure 50 pages is good progress.
6) Finish Christmas present shopping, wrapping, and (when necessary) shipping.--Just a few things left to do, I think.
7) Make Christmas cookies with the kids?--NOPE.
8) Make at least one doctor's appointment.--NOPE.
Wow. Not much done. Christmas prep sort of took over as always does. I'm trying to hold on to the last moments my sabbatical with a tight grip, but it's slipping through my fingers. That's just the way it goes, I guess. I want one more semester so badly, but I'm going to try to and focus on the gratitude that I feel for having even just this one term to work on the thesis and my official sabbatical project.
We leave on Friday for a two-week family trip. I know I'll do some pleasure reading. I also want to play lots of games with the kids and focus on enjoying our time together. I might also try to finish at least one primary source related to the thesis. When we get back, I want to make sure I get SOME thesis research/writing in before the semester starts.
Next semester is going to be a tough reentry. Over break I'll be thinking about how I can manage my time so that TLQ and my health/sanity aren't totally set aside.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
Christmas prep does have a way of taking over, especially when it includes planning for a family trip. Best wishes for a fun and restful holiday, and some time both to write and to concoct a game plan for keeping TLQ in sight as you reenter. While it's better than no sabbatical, a one-term sabbatical strikes me as less than ideal, especially when you're trying to finish a thesis -- just enough time to get a sense of what having more time feels like, and maybe to build some momentum on projects, but not as much time as you'd like to really accomplish something. Still, it sounds like you've made progress, and built some momentum; may it (with careful planning) continue!
DeleteI'm so so glad you got a sabbatical this fall. I'm bummed it wasn't a whole year, but what a good thing to be able to take time.
DeleteI hope the re-entry isn't as bad as you anticipate.
Have a fantastic trip with the fam, and I hope you get your January writing retreat.
First, many thanks to GEW and Karen for hosting, and for the thoughtful reading, whether manifested in individual replies or prompts for posts in following weeks.
ReplyDeleteI pretty much did my session check-in last week. The good news is that both the stomach upset and the headache receded with a good night's sleep and a bit of room to breathe. I do need to figure out what I can do to stave off the stomach upset that seems to come at the end of the semester, and no other time (I know there's such a thing as situational depression; apparently I've discovered situational indigestion). So all I need to do now is grade, grade, grade, and negotiate and complete the end of the professional-development opportunity that I (probably unwisely) took on early in the semester (after I'd written my TLQ goals, but I still think it was a good idea to focus on tracking the most TLQ-ish of the TLQ).
So, last week's (deliberately modest) goals:
1)continue to sleep and eat as regularly as possible (this is really vital, since I'm battling both periodic stomach upsets and a headache that seems to be stress -- rare for me -- rather than the beginning of the flu or something similar, or so I hope. Anyway, there are signs that I'm operating at the limits of my physical capacity, and need to be careful, since I don't have time to be too sick to work.)
2) keep up with most urgent household/garden/financial tasks as necessary (bills that have to be paid, laundry as necessary, getting some bulbs back in the ground before a hard freeze).
3)professional project follow-up as possible/necessary (really need to get back in touch with instructors of an online class I'm taking to negotiate what I'll do to finish up; also need to do some follow-up on new and old projects, but that may have to wait until next week).
Accomplished:
(1) yes, especially in the last 72 hours or so.
(2) pretty much yes; still working on bulbs, but weather continues unseasonably warm
(3) got in touch with the instructors today; we'll see what they make of my very long email (like many professors, I suspect, I'm not a particularly well-behaved student; in my defense, there were also some parts of the class that weren't very well-designed, and there are also some things that I just plain do differently from standard, for good reason, and will probably keep doing that way, which gets complicated to negotiate when my class is a bit different from the one envisioned by the "standard" approach, and at least some of the instructors teaching the class have no experience with that class and quite possibly less teaching experience, period, than I do, and seem to be spouting back boilerplate standard advice, and so on; yes, there are some emotional/frustration/resistance reasons I haven't finished up this class. But I need to do something, if only to finish the cycle of saying what I can/am willing to do, getting an answer, and saying "no; sorry; can't manage that this week; I'm afraid I'll have to drop out" -- which I am free to do, with no real repercussions, just as there is no real reward for finishing).
I'm up for the next session, whenever the moderators decide it should start. Break priorities are, in order:
Delete--work on sleeping, moving, and eating well, in that order.
--make progress on basically any combination of household/financial tasks that would lead to my apartment being less cluttered/more orderly and/or my finances in better order (but I do have two things in particular in mind that would represent significant progress; let's call them taxes and boxes. We'll see what progress I've made on one or both by the time we return).
There's plenty more, from various bits of professional-project follow-up to computer/website stuff to course prep (will I incorporate some of what I've been taught in the online course on online teaching, if only to be a good sport/team player? Do I have time to do that and not let the truly-TLQ stuff above slide? We shall see.) But all (except perhaps the computer stuff, which *could* wait until summer) have a TRQ or at least an other-people-involved element, so I'm sticking with the two above as the ones to monitor.
I have taken online courses about how to teach online, and while they are useful for learning the mechanics of a new learning system, and I do usually get some ideas, I have also found the feedback to be especially "boilerplate" as you say.
DeleteIt's great that you'll prioritize the non-other-people-involved things over break. Best wishes!
Last week's compression goals:
ReplyDeleteFinish data/methods/results sections for 3 paper while I'm at the lab and have people to ask... MOSTLY DONE
I'm quite happy with this term's TLQ work that I got done. I still failed sadly at a few things, most notably exercise, but I think I managed to start a few really good habits concerning food, and regular paper reading particularly.
I would be game to start January 9th, will be in contact to set up access and organizing things :)
My goal for the next three weeks before we start up again is to do ALL the revisions for all three papers that I submitted this term, and get them done. Two are accepted pending revisions, and one is a revise and resubmit, and all the reviews are incredibly helpful so I'm excited to get these done and gone.
Have a wonderful holiday everyone!! See you in January!
Daisy, it will be so great to have three papers finished before January! Fantastic.
DeleteI hope you enjoy the holiday season!
Thank you very much for hosting this TLQ session, GEW and Karen! I was not able to be a regular participant, but ‘belonging to TLQ’ is always helpful - every time when I visit the site, always I find other friends also trying to accomplish their goals in their own circumstances. I then feel I am not alone.
ReplyDeleteThe most important session goal of mine has been finishing the draft of a paper. It is still in the stage of being built and I am still struggling with my conclusion. Moreover, another deadline of one short article is coming soon. I am not sure I can manage these writings…All I can do is only to do my best.
Another problem about which I have been worrying is my sabbatical. I may be able to take one-year sabbatical in 2017. I do want to take it, this is the first and last opportunity for me. I am planning to do my research in UK. My husband is not happy about this, however. Also I am afraid that I can take care of my two children very well without my family’s help, at least I can do in my country (I am thinking of taking them there, because my husband cannot take care of them by himself because of his working situation). There are so many things to negotiate, about my work during my absence, my children’s schooling, and my elderly parents. There are so many things to prepare for and I need to persuade so many people. I am in totally different situation from when I was in UK as a student years ago, who was confident in herself not because well-experienced but just because knew nothing…
You might not understand my confusing writing, I am sorry, but I just want to write about this. Thank you, if you read this.
I am certainly would like to join the next session. Thank you for offering hosting, Daisy and Elizabeth Anne Mitchell!
It sounds like you are making progress with your writing! Congratulations! My writing is always a lot slower than I want it to be, too, so I understand how it can be frustrating.
DeleteI hope your sabbatical plans for 2017 work out. Having children in the mix definitely complicates planning!
Yes, like Amstr, I understand how we/things plod along much more slowly than we'd like. It's always true for me. I must just keep chipping away.
DeleteSabbatical is a wonderful thing. The extra complications of family and other people sure does change things, but I hope you are able to get the support you need to pursue it.
Glad you'll be joining again in January!
Thank you for your warm comments, AcademicAmstr and Good Enough Woman! I am trying to find a way to settle things down and take my opportunity! Some are definitely difficult, but there may be a way, I hope.
DeleteThanks KarenH and GEW for hosting this time! It's been delightful to meet up with you all this week.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm making some good progress with habits, especially exercise and cleaning the darn bunny hutch. :) This semester has been jam packed with getting ready to teach and teaching, and I appreciated the weekly reminder to think beyond the urgent stuff.
Last week:
1) nightly check-ins, including writing down food--yes
2) order shades--I did email the shades place
3) declutter bedroom--ha!
4) exercise 4x--yes
Over the break, I want to maintain the exercise habit. I've been using the Couch to 5K app to run (I am so not a runner), and it's been amazing to have easy access, high return exercise available. Once I get grading done, I'm looking forward to refocusing on my writing habits.
I've just tentatively arranged for a job starting in January (probably ending in the summer) that will be mostly administrative and will allow me to be creative (with the music side of things). I'm looking forward to the more regular schedule.
I think I'm saying good-bye to the academic world for a while (teaching and publishing). It's a bit sad, because I've spent so much of my life in academia, but I think it's time. I'm hoping to stay academia-adjacent through freelance editing. (This is not good-bye to this group, though. I'll at least lurk and possibly participate in the next go-round.)
Thanks to all of you who've been around through the past years of my dissertation work, article writing, and figuring out what I'm going to do with my life. I could not have accomplished as much as I have without your support.
I hope you will stay with us! I'm sure you'll still have plenty of TLQ to attend to. Congrats on the new job!
DeleteIt's been great to see you accomplish so much. You are my north star as I move forward.
Thanks GEW and karen for looking after this latest iteration of TLQ, and thank you everyone for showing up. I as often have been rather erratic in attendance, but it's great to have this place to attend! Daisy and Elizabeth, thanks for taking on the next round.
ReplyDeletelast week's goals
Survive! well I am still here, so... but I had to take Thursday off sick which threw THIS week into disarray
Get all the new teaching for this semester prepped yes, I had all the last bits prepped
Make decision about attending conference made for me by taking the Thursday off
Make some small better health decisions by putting myself first occasionally, even if that's just by shutting my door for ten minutes whilst I eat my lunch, or buying a more expensive but tastier and possibly healthier instant food for my quick evening meal (e.g. a fresh soup from the chiller cabinet rather than a tin).ish
It's been a long haul this semester; thank you for listening to my whines and sharing your own struggles as fellow-haulers!
Glad you are still limping along, JaneB. So sorry it's been such a totally crap academic term for you. I hope you are able to recuperate and recalibrate during the holidays.
Delete(I have emailed you for a bit of direction on how to invite new contributors. In the meantime, I will keep poking around on the blog to try to figure it out.)
What am I going to do without TLQ to check in with? This term has been so crazy and intense that TLQ really kept me thinking about short-term and long-term health, but I wonder with the unstructured time I'm going to have starting next Monday I almost need TLQ more to keep me on track. I've so enjoyed TLQ, looked forward to checking in every week, been delighted to see people take up "move like water," and enjoyed all of you immensely.
ReplyDeleteI've learned a lot about myself this term: I'm not lazy and so I need to stop thinking of myself that way; grading isn't as bad as I think it is (I knew that, but I know it even better now); I need time off and this is not laziness but good sense for health, perspective, and better work.
Over the break, I need to catch up with the holidays, grade, reassess eating plan, read, write, work on the office boxes, work more on the relaxation and stress reduction book, and enjoy time with the Absurdists. Before all that, I need to get through this Finals week.
Last week
1. Get a lot of end-of-quarter handouts done for the week. DONE
2. Plod through marking. STILL DOING
3. Keep calm for the service things on deck this week. Lots of relaxation and sleep and calming teas. MANAGED SOMEHOW with bouts of insomnia and some freakouts, but it's done now. The teas were the easiest approach here.
4. Work on holiday stuff. SO BEHIND
5. Remember to send Snarkmaster a complaint about lack of communication in two ways by end of the week. NOT YET
6. Figure out next steps on Family Project. YES
7. Move like water. Nothing, even telling Snarkmaster off, however stress-relieving that might feel in the moment, is worth killing myself over. MOSTLY: I even managed to reschedule something to make things easier during this last week. This is progress because I sometimes just think I should plow through no matter what, as if it would be a mark of weakness to make things easier on myself.
TLQ-ers, have a great holiday! I'll miss you! Let's start up early in January, okay? This is SO helpful for me -- it kept me going this whole deranged term!
"grading isn't as bad as I think it is"
DeleteThis might be very profound, EE. I always feel that grading wouldn't be so bad if there weren't SO MUCH of it (in our discipline, especially). But if it's not bad is small stacks, maybe it doesn't have to be bad in larger stacks? I'm going to keep this in mind next term.
Glad the group has been useful for you. I always enjoy reading your posts. Perhaps I'll pop in to put up a Happy New Year post in case anyone wants to check in about "vacation" TLQ?
Cheers!
There is SO MUCH grading (especially now -- I'm surrounded by paper and then there are the things I accepted only online!), and it is so tempting to try to ignore it! I know I often feel like I have to choose between grading and service or grading and research or even grading and prepping. It's no surprise that grading sometimes takes a back seat. But I have to stop with that bad attitude because it doesn't help me actually get it done.
DeleteThanks, GEW, for your kind words now and throughout! I'd be delighted if there's a New Year's post! Thanks for all your hard work on TLQ! It's been awesome, and I look forward to the next iteration. This really really helps.
First, I would like to join everyone in thanking GEW and Karen for co-hosting this session. This group has been a very important impetus for my actually getting things done, but even more importantly, making me feel that I am not alone in my struggles to do what is important over what is shouting in my ear.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for reading and commenting, supporting and caring. It means a lot to me.
I summed up my progress on my session goals in last week’s check-in, so I won’t repeat myself.
Last week’s goals: Continue to polish some of the posts (I have 32 in draft from the past week!) and get two out in the world. No. I thought and edited and filled in some gaps, but didn’t publish anything. I’m okay with that, though. I will get there.
Relax between doctors’ appointments and let the mind wander. As it turned out, I only had one appointment, in New York CIty, which is a distance away. The nice thing was that DH went with me, which made going much less stressful.
Corral all the copies and iterations of PMM so that I can set up short, medium, and long tasks to fit the time in the break until next session. I started, but did not finish, this task.
Spend twenty minutes every evening readying for the next day, whether meditating or free-writing. Yes, I managed to get this done every evening. It is very helpful for my transition from sleep to wakefulness, from home to work.
Analysis: The appointment in the city took most of my day, between driving over an hour to pick up the train, then transfer to the subway, then walk to the hospital. Then the reverse walk, subway, train, drive, home. The staff were all very nice, which made the procedure a bit more palatable, but still rather long. I have to say it was much nicer to have DH’s company.
Some of my time was spent on decorating our house. We rent a rather well-worn, long-unloved house in an urban neighborhood (although we are beginning to dream of After Tenure, and buying a place), so we haven’t put much effort into holiday decorating. Our No. 1 son asked if we could break out of our Scrooge mentality to do something this year, and with his help and a few inexpensive decorations, we look much more festive.
Yesterday was the anniversary of my brother’s death, which hit me harder than I expected. We had to take our car for repairs, then walk several blocks up a steep hill to catch a bus to campus, so I was already grumpy. The first thing I saw when I sat down on the bus was the running crawl of the date. It was just a blow to the heart to remember the early morning call. I called my sister in the evening (she is three hours behind me), and we had a long talk about how we are doing, which helped immensely.
I hope everyone has a lovely break, happy holidays, and a happy 2016 to come. I look forward to catching up with everyone in January.
Glad you are enjoying a bit of holiday cheer around the house, and I'm so glad DH could be with your on your hospital appointment/trek.
DeleteI hope that you, too, have a lovely break.
Thank you so much to all, to GEW and Karen as brilliant hosts, and to all for the sense of community. It's taken a lot of iterations of this group to finally feel like I'm making progress on TLQ stuff on a more regular basis. Or perhaps this semester was different in other ways. Not sure.
ReplyDeleteThis last week or so:
1. the stockings and Christmas cards must be done.
2. scary project data needs to be coded and a plan made for analysis and write-up
3. gather references for scary and put them into reference manager software
I've done the Christmas cards (made 32 prints and selected the best 20) but with several quirks along the way like forgetting that with block printing you get a mirror image. I've done two of the stockings for holding lots of wee Christmas gifts for two people The advent calendar (25 mini stockings) is on hold. I think that puts me in the realm of about 37+ hand crafted items which I'm quit pleased with.
I've started on the scary project data, done 44/200 questionnaires. I'm still working on the references and sorting them. That's the next couple of day's job.
I hope you all have a lovely break from whatever you need a break from, and time to do the things you want!