First Days of Classes Fall '09

Two days of first classes done. I am teaching 6 writing classes this semester: 4 Prep Writing I and 2 Prep Writing II classes. Luckily for me, all of the Writing I classes are on the same days (MWF) and all of the Writing II classes are on the same days (TR). The only bad things are the sheer number of students that I have right now: almost 23 in each class though of course not all students showed up for the first day of classes. Wednesday will give me a better idea of who is actually going to be in each of my classes and how many are going to stay there.

Once again, I forgot how exhausting these first few days really are. It felt good to be back in the swing of things, but by Monday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. when my last class of the day was over, I could barely keep my eyes open. I think it's the repositioning myself as the "extrovert" I have to pretend to be when in the classroom. All summer long, I've been able to be an introvert, keeping to myself most of the time, but for 4 hours solid, I had to be "on" in front of a group. When I came home that day, I actually fell asleep on the couch for about half an hour and didn't even realize I'd done it. One minute I'm watching the Nightly News with Brian Williams and the next thing I know, the local news is on. I'm not a big nap taker, but I just couldn't help it that day.

I don't yet have a good read on what my students are like. There are just too many of them and we haven't had our "getting to know you" session yet. That's coming on Wednesday. I also still have students asking me to let them into my classes. They are already so full! It's hard to say no, but the numbers are getting overwhelming. A result of the combination of a bad economy, high student enrollment, and not enough teachers.

Thinking about Kenny

It's a Thursday night, and I'm sitting around home missing my Kenny. Here are a few shots to bring him a little closer while he's half a world away.

Mt. Rushmore, March 2009.

With Brother Tom in our backyard. July 2009.

With Artemus. Sometime in 2008.

With Tucker in the Romeoville apt. 2007

Building sand castles with Audra at Backbone State Park, May 2008.

Meet Me in St. Louis...Louis..

Greetings from St. Louis. I was here with my friend Desi taking part in an Army Family Programs Academy conference. We drove here in a pretty fun rental car -- a Pontiac G6. On our way, we stopped in Hannibal for lunch at the Mark Twain Dinette. While there, we stopped at the Native American Trading Company so that Desi could peruse the goods as she is one half Cherokee. She purchased a really cool Beaver claw necklace.

We continued on our way until we got to St. Louis where we went to a reception for Army people that evening. We met some really nice and funny girls from a tiny town in West Virginia. This was their first trip out of their town of Clay, WV and their first trip on an airplane. They were pretty funny to listen to as they told their travel stories.

Saturday found us in conference sessions all day, but I entertained myself with some typing on the new laptop and some checking of email, etc. Once done, we escaped out into the scorching heat and humidity of St. Louis to explore the area around our hotel. We were in the Hilton by the Ballpark, so we had a view of the new Busch Stadium from our hotel window. We agreed it looks pretty darn good from the air conditioned room. But...we went out anyway. We were near a park that has a whole mess of mini Arches. From there, we had a picturesque view of the real Arch and some big white building (we think it's a museum of sorts but the name escapes me).

While taking some pictures, we were amused by two wedding parties that we saw taking a ton of pictures right where we wanted to take pictures. It was kind of annoying. I remarked how hot it was several times (much to Desi's dismay) and how I would hate to be getting married in this heat. She told me I would never make it as a soldier in the desert, and boy is she right! I can't stand the thought of Ken having to be anywhere where it's as hot or hotter than this. She then called us a couple of old married women and I said it's still weird for me to think of myself as being an old married woman -- probably because I've only been married about 5 months and Ken has been gone for 3 of them.

We wandered around the Arch and then thought we would try to go up it, but we found out that we would have had to wait about an hour and a half to get on the elevators. So instead we wandered around inside the base of it and went into some stores. I bought an Arch magnet and then we played a rousing of checkers in a little mercantile store.

We decided to go lounge in the air conditioned hotel for the rest of the evening. Great minds think alike! There we rested comfortably for our morning sessions the next day. On Sunday, it was back in the car and back to Iowa.

August Cometh

August. These days my time is spent trying to stay as busy as possible so the days do not feel as loney as they really are now that Ken's officially gone and in country. It also helps me to not think about what's happening over there. My recent projects have been taking on more roles in the Family Readiness Group (FRG) for the Ken's unit. This is essentially a group run by family members to help support those family and friends of soldiers left behing during a deployment. I started off as the newsletter person and the website person. Now I'm helping with more leadership duties and have taken on the role of Phone Tree coordinator which means making calls and keeping track of any problems that arise from calls made. It's proven to be much more time consuming than I expected and I find myself working on it about 3 hours a day. I don't know what I'm going to do once school starts. I will certainly not have as much time to devote to it then.

I can't write much else right now as I'm pooped from helping my buddy Lynn with some more flood cleanup at her house. We've really dug into her garage and today, our second day, found us making a dump run and cleaning out storage totes so that she can start organizing things into clean containers. It's really a rewarding project and we can see dramatic changes each time we work.

Tomorrow, I'm headed to my office to work on fall syllabi and to continue preparing my office for my new officemate. So much to do and so little time left to do it! In a couple of weeks, it's back to work and back to students. When August cometh, summer endeth.

Visit to Wisconsin

Last weekend, I took a trip up to Appleton, WI to visit friends Lynsey and Jeremy and their son Jack. It was a great visit and we did all sorts of fun Wisconsiny-type things, including a trip to a cheese store (yay!!!), a visit to a Farmer's Market downtown, and lunch at a restaurant called Pullmans. At the cheese store, Lynsey and Jeremy introduced me to the wonders of cheese fudge -- yes, cheese fudge! I never knew such a delight existed! We bought fresh cheese curds, these ropey-type cheese things, string cheese, and of course cheese fudge. In the evenings as we relaxed and chatted, we sampled from the fine cheese platter before us. I made sure to buy some to take home with me.

Our trip to the Farmer's Market amazed me with the almost 3 blocks of vendors. We each tried some Gelato, bought some kettle corn, and ate a BBQ pork skewer. Fabulous! Later in the afternoon, Lynsey and I took off for a lovely lunch at a local restaurant called Pullmans which overlooked the river. Naturally, we sampled some of the cheesecake! Then we headed off for a little shopping!

Before I knew it the weekend was over and I had to head back to Iowa. I was sad to leave them all, including Rigby the dog, who became my new BFF while I was there. Jack and I also became buddies and spent a lot of time playing with all of his fun toys in the basement. Believe it or not, during the whole weekend, I only managed to get one picture from the visit. Here I am with Lynsey and little Jack. Lynsey says she has some pictures of me, Jack, and Jeremy dancing downstairs to some Beatles music. Will post those sometime in the future.

There was one other surprise to the weekend! Lynsey and Jeremy surprised me with a sign whose story dates back to the nineties and some early college days fun. I'm thinking about putting it in my office.

Finally, the day after I arrived home, I received a call saying that I had flowers to pick up. My Kenny did it again! It looks like he's going to send me flowers pretty regularly while away. He's now overseas and will be making his way to his next more "permanant" destination soon. The last time he was deployed, he arranged to send me flowers once a month to help the time pass and let me know he was thinking about me. I got my "July" flowers on Monday with a very sweet card. What a guy!

Farewell to a Friend

This is a sad post. Yesterday, Mom and I had to put our cat, Reilly, to sleep. He'd developed a tumor on his side and had held on as long as he could. When his personality started to change and he no longer acted happy and comfortable, we knew it was time.

He was about 11 years old. I remember when I picked him out at the Humane Society in Waterloo. I was only about 20 years old, but you had to be 21 to adopt a pet. I remember calling my dad, who was still alive then, asking him if we could get him (I was living at home at the time while an undergraduate). As Dad often did for me, he said yes, and Reilly, the orange cat, came to live with us.

He was a loving, friendly, and playful cat. One of my happiest memories of him was when he was small. I would throw a Christmas bow down the hall at my parents' house and he would "fetch" and return it to me. We played like that often. It was fun to have a cat that played fetch. He loved to sit on laps and be cuddled and was overall just a wonderful cat. I felt guilty leaving him behind in Waterloo when I moved to IL.

I'll miss you, Reilly cat. I'll miss seeing you at Mom's house, miss how you liked to sit in the living room window and watch for people to come, and miss how you always waited until we let the dog out to be extra playful. You always knew to roll around on the floor as soon as the dog went outside because you'd get a good scratchin'. You were a wonderful pet and member of the family. I hope you are resting peacefully now. Know that you were very loved. Thank you for loving us back.

July 2009: At a Glance

Can it possibly be July already? I swear (and I am not one prone to too much swearing) that my summer is flying by way too fast. Well, the month started off with a family wedding on the 4th of July. Brother Tom's daughter Tracie married her intended, Cory, in a beautiful lakeside ceremony on the 4th. It was simple, elegant, and very touching. I was sad that Ken couldn't be there with me as he was still in Indy doing his pre-deployment training, but he was there in spirit, and the couple let me take some wedding cake home for him. Here is a picture of Tom and the beautiful bride on their way to meet the groom.

Then the month really kicked off when Ken was able to come home for his last leave before heading "over." We had 3.5 lovely days lounging around home, puttering around the house, and spending time with family. The visit went way too fast, but we were both grateful for the extra time we could spend together before the long haul really kicks in. I received a short email from him this afternoon saying they'd made it as far as Ireland and would continue on their journey as soon as some small details pertaining to the trip were cleared up (sandstorm, etc.).

I only have 2 weeks left of teaching my summer writing class. Then it's time to think about what I need to do to get ready for my 5 fall classes. I am planning a getaway soon though to visit friends Lynsey and Jeremy and their son Jack in Wisconsin. I am excited to see them again and excited to spend some time actually talking and hanging out with them. That's what summer's are for, right?! It's a bit of a drive up there though, so I think I may stop by the library beforehand and get some books on CD for the roadtrip. Before I know it, July will be wrapping up and August will be here again, and with it, the busy-ness of the fall semester. Hopefully, that will make the time go faster, and before I know it, Ken will be home again to share in the adventures.