a new blog

Hello, Faithful Subscribers. I am starting a new blog about teaching writing with web technology. If any of you guys are into that, it's here:

http://blogs.tamu.edu/slpeters/

blog is done

I think I'm finished with this blog. Not blogging in general, but this one specifically. I'm not going to delete it because I really do like it and want it to stay around for awhile. It just doesn't fit anymore. I'll let you know if I start a new one. Meanwhile, if you've stuck around this long, I invite you to my family blog--sorry! You missed it!--Save it because I'll take it down in a few days. It's not very confessional and is warm and fuzzy and happy, almost without exception, but if you like kid stories and pictures, you'll like it. But I haven't posted new pics lately because all fifty of my USB cables are packed away in a mystery box.

I think I know what to do

My three commenters had wise words, and after considering my work habits and how much time teaching actually takes up, I have come up with a third alternative. I will teach again in the spring (and hold my breath for this advanced comp class again because it means small class size and only meeting on campus once a week, plus it's fun) and I will take the whole summer off. Teaching summer school really does suck up all my time, so if I take the summer off and I can use the fellowship to help with bills and pay for daycare. I'm more likely to benefit from that extra time than I am from the extra hours I would get if I didn't teach in the regular semester.

I am also happy to report that I have found a work space that is working out better than home--a local community college. I don't have the benefit of an office, but there are plenty of public spaces here where I can work. It's a lot closer than my university and it's much less distracting than home. I've been pretty productive since I started coming here. Working from home just does not work for me.

four things meme

Supadiscomama tagged me.

4 jobs I've had in life:
-choreographer for high school flag line (professional band nerd)
-sales associate for home interiors store
-really awful job at a family-owned diner
-proofreader for a man's Vietnam memoir

4 places I've lived:
-Hooks, Texas
-Arkadelphia, Arkansas
-My mother-in-law's house for six long weeks
-a too-small condo on the 18th hole of a golf course waiting for my house to be done

4 favorite foods:
-Mexican food--doesn't even have to be good Mexican food--I love Taco Bell
-hamburgers
-thin crust pizza with light cheese, extra sauce, pepperoni and jalapeno peppers
-anything with artichoke hearts--or just artichoke hearts right out of the jar

4 places I'd rather be:
-in my house
-Europe
-in bed asleep
-having lunch with my husband

4 movies I can watch over and over (difficult b/c there are lots):
-Ferris Bueller's Day Off
-Hairspray (the original)
-A Pyromaniac's Love Story
-Casablanca

4 t.v. shows I like to watch:
-The Daily Show
-Scrubs
-Ace of Cakes
-Heroes

4 websites I view daily:
-The Weather Channel
-Google homepage
-my class's Moodle page
I really don't need anything more because the Google page does it for me--my favorite parts of it are the Google Reader and wikiHow

4 computers I've owned:
-hand-me-down IBM Aptiva when I was about 12 years old--I told my students that I had AOL when you had to pay by the minute and they were shocked that such a state ever existed
-a couple of different HP Pavilions
-Dell something-or-other--my first plat panel monitor
-Tablet PC--I insisted that I needed this and convinced my dad to trade my HP laptop for his tablet because he never used the tablet functions--guess what--I never use the tablet functions, either

4 people to tag:
I know so many people have already had this, so I apologize if this is a repeat
-LeLe at The Kings' English
-Alice at Alice's Air (she probably won't get to it because she's busy with a new little baby and big sister, but you should go click on her anyway and look at the baby pictures)
-Sooz at H-Squared
Okay--that's just three but I need to work now :)

what to do with the fellowship

I've got a nice fellowship this year and I am not sure what to do with it at this point. I could always use more money to live on. Both girls are in daycare now, and it costs a lot. A whole lot. It would actually eat up the whole fellowship by itself. I saw my adviser yesterday and he said that he thinks I should take next semester off from teaching to take full advantage of the extra money. That would actually mean taking a student loan to pay for daycare, which is the way we would have to finance it if I didn't have the fellowship. And next year when I am hopefully wrapping things up and don't have that extra money, I will probably use loan money for daycare. So what should I do? Teaching obviously takes time away from dissertating, and I am behind where I wanted to be at this point. Having babies interrupts things and also makes for good excuses when I don't get things done. The fellowship is intended to facilitate the completion of my dissertation, and giving up my teaching for a semester would allow me to commit more fully to writing. But it can also be argued that reliable childcare does the same thing. I feel like that is a responsible use of that money. So I guess what it comes down to is a choice between time and money. In the end I know I could finish my diss sooner with that extra time, but in the big picture of the academic calendar, I'm not sure that it would equal graduating or getting a job sooner. Anyone else grappled with this decision?

the fate of the blog is uncertain

I'm not sure where the blog is going. It is possible that it has run its course, and a new incarnation may be necessary. It's also possible that I may stop blogging for a while. It's hard to explain. I somehow feel like this blog doesn't fit quite right anymore. I'm going to try a new post and see how that goes.

misplaced

That's what I am now. Don't try to find me. I can't even find myself. But I am in a better mood. And back on the blog.

School has started and moving has interrupted my normal preparations, so I must now crawl into Moodle and not come out for several hours.

Checking out

I'm checking out of the blog world for a while. Lots of things suck right now, and I don't want this to just be a whiny blog, especially since I don't think whining about it will make me feel better. I'll probably be back after fall semester starts.

update

Blogging continues to be sparse because I just have too many things happening right now. School starts in a month, and there are lots of things that need to be tied up by then or it's going to get really hard. I am doing no dissertation work. I'm just taking care of the kids and trying to pack up the house for our move. But our house is not done because the rain is incessant. So even though we've gotten an extension on our rent house for a few weeks, we still face the possibility of homelessness. And homelessness is going to be much more difficult to manage once the fall semester starts. The good news is, my husband's new job is working out well. The hours are still long and irregular, and he's driving an hour one way to get there, but he's around much more than he was before. Which is good for me and good for the kids and very good for our marriage. And he's happier, so it's good for him, too. And now Baby Belle is crying so blog post is over.

Belle is in my lap now so blog post continues. I've been depressed lately and I've attributed it to a lot of things--I'm certainly stressed out and still dealing with postpartum hormones. But another thing is contributing to the problem. My hands and wrists hurt all the time. It never stops hurting. This has been going on for a long time, and it got worse when I was pregnant. I read about pregnant women having carpal tunnel syndrome and that it should get better after the baby is born, but it hasn't gotten better. I have decided that this is a serious problem and I need medical attention. But I don't know when or where to get it. I have no primary physician right now, and I am trying to move to a new city and at the same time change insurance providers. I keep putting it off because the pain is manageable, but now I'm starting to wonder if I might be making the problem worse by waiting. I haven't decided what to do. Anyone had experience with hand pain?