End of my 3rd year

Well, I've made it to the end of my probationary period at work! Woo Hoo! I don't know that such a feat will actually change anything, but it feels good to know I've made it that far.

Things here are fine. Ken and I are dealing with house issues, namely the fact that we need to replace our front steps. What an ordeal! Quotes, quotes, and more quotes! Naturally, I would have gone with the first one and just gotten it over with, but being the savvy consumer he is, Ken checked around until he found a real deal. I just hope that it isn't too much of a "deal" (you get what you pay for is playing in my head as I write this).

Add to that the fact that we're also working on getting a new water softener and need to think about some gutter repairs and a new roof. I don't think all of this needs to happen at once, but it does seem a bit overwhelming when one puts it all together. Welcome to home ownership I guess.

Resolutions for 2011

The first day of classes is done. Overall, I have to say it went pretty well. I'm excited to say that I should be getting a new HP tablet laptop which will make grading in a paperless fashion much easier! That should arrive in a couple of weeks...or whenever the school orders it. One of my goals for the semester is to try to reduce the paper used in my classes. The laptop will help with this because it has a stylus feature that will allow me to actually "write" on the paper and save it for students. I've done this by placing all reading quizzes online. Now I just need to get the students to remember to get on there and do them.

Here are my other goals for 2011 -- some are work-related and some aren't.

1. Be more ahead in my course planning and in my grading.

2. Walk 3 times a week-- MWF mornings -- for at least 30 minutes on the treadmill.

3. Take a multivitamin every day.

So far, I am pleased to say that I am doing good on all of them. I tried to set my resolutions to be very manageable this year and not to say "I want to lose 70 pounds" or something like that which will discourage me early on. I started the walking at the end of December so it wasn't like I had to get going on Jan. 1. Even though it was the first day of classes, I managed to get up at 5 and walk.

Not much else new here. Another day of first classes for the Writing II students tomorrow. I have several in my Writing II class who were in my Writing I last semester. I hope that is a good thing. Sometimes it can go either way. More on that later.

Good-Bye Artemus

Artemus passed away on Saturday, December 18 at home. He had been diagnosed with feline leukemia in November, and so we knew all we could do was make him comfortable as there is no cure or meds for that. He rallied for a bit and was eating, cleaning himself, and even playing some. However, in the last few days, he had less of an appetite and was drinking almost constantly. We knew we'd have to make a decision soon.

On Thursday evening, Ken and I left for an Army conference in Denver, CO and received a call Saturday morning from our neighbor who was watching the cats. He told us that Artemus had pased away early that morning at home. I am so sad that I was not there for him as he passed, but I am grateful that God allowed him to be at home when he went. I miss him terribly as he was "my" cat, always cuddling with me while I was grading in the chair, following me to bed every night, and really being my shadow around the house. He was my "serious" cat, not one to give in to the silly antics of his fellow cats, even giving looks of disapproval to the other cats at times.

I just hope he knew how much we loved him and that we made his three years with us the best that they could have been. So long, my Moo Moo.

This week is insane. Yes, insane.

So I thought I was doing really good by getting so many portfolios graded early. Okay, that is a good thing, yes, but what was I thinking about taking on all this other stuff? On top of grading portfolios and final exams, I agreed to review another textbook (for $150 who wouldn't??) but that needs to be done by Thursday. Then I have the Division holiday party to get ready for Wednesday night -- we're hosting the 6-8 p.m. version with desserts & drinks at our house. So I've been making Christmas treats for a while now and need to make more this afternoon (and of course clean or something like it). Then there's needing to get final grades posted by Thursday, then graduation Thursday night, and then we leave for our Army Yellow Ribbon event in Denver, CO. Sometime in there I'm supposed to be doing some Christmas shopping and prep our house again for the two family Christmases we are hosting for family (Christmas eve & day). Not sure when all of that is going to happen. I'm sort of hoping for another blizzard so that graduation can be postponed and our trip may be put off for a later time. Fingers crossed.

More finals today. We'll see if anything grinds my gears today. Have a great day all!

What really grinds my gears...Part II

Ok, now it's the second final exam of the semester:

About a week before the final, I give all students a short prep sheet with some general concepts/ideas they should reflect on before the test. (This is in no way a "Cheat sheet" -- just some general questions to ponder about what they learned in the course). Three students just came up to me to ask what a word on the test means. Mind you, this word was on the prep sheet AND we discussed it in class. Methinks they didn't take any time with the prep sheet at all.

What really grinds my gears...

It really grinds my gears when a student shows up an hour late to take the final and all the other students are already done. So when I could actually be leaving and going back to my office getting work done, I have to stay in the classroom a whole hour because SOMEONE decided to come an hour late!

December is Beautiful!

December is beautiful! I love the cold grey days with the flurries swirling all around. I love that we have our new home and it's getting all cozy with holiday decorations, etc. We have 2 trees this year! Yes, I said it! Two trees! One in the family room and one in the formal living room in the front. Since we didn't put any lights up outside, we thought having a tree in the front window that could be seen from the street would look cool. Shoot -- we even took pictures. I'll post some soon. I'm at school right now, blogging while my students revise papers, otherwise I'd post some now.

Countdown to the end of the semester (not including finals): 3 days.