let me pause to celebrate…

… first writing assignment for 19th century, challenging, but I drafted it without anxiety in just over an hour.  Is it perfect?  Absolutely not.  But am I o.k. with that?  Most definitely.  

This. is. progress.

thoughts on this semester

Thursday night I attended a fairly new Feminist Theology Reading group at a colleague’s home.  It is strange.  I identify as a feminist.  I did a fair bit of work in feminist studies in college.  And, yet, I don’t feel called to identify as a “feminist theologian.”  I am a theologian who is a feminist.  There was an opportunity at this gathering to check in about how it was going being a feminist in the academy, or the church, or whatever…  and it occurred to me that I’m not really wearing that hat all that much these days.  I had nothing to report. I don’t want to ride on hard-won privileges and fail to admit that there is much hard work yet to be done.  But I came here very much wanting a better understanding of the Christian tradition.  I wanted to fill in gaping holes in my historical knowledge.  I hope that once these holes get filled in, or once I have a better grasp of the wider arc of the history of doctrine, I’ll be able to engage my teaching and research with a feminist consciousness.  Really, I hope I’m already doing that. It is a good thing I’m participating in this group, however, because I’m way out of the loop and my consciousness has likely grown dim.  

Anyhow, as I was leaving the group a colleague who is farther along in her studies asked me how I was feeling about this semester.  When last we checked in, it was early in the previous semester and I was not feeling well at all.  I said “Well, I had my last of three classes today and I feel quite good about this semester.  I feel that all my classes are going to help me to work on very particular growing edges I know I have and they’re all going to be helpful with exam preparation.”  Her eyes bugged out, “Wow,” she said, “No one ever says that about coursework.”  This is the same colleague who responded to my declaration that I had fun in my interview for my fellowship program “Wow, no one ever says that about the interviews.”  O.K., I’m a freak.  

But I honestly believe this.  The truth is that I find this prospect simultaneously intimidating and exciting.  It might be nice if one of my three classes was a place where I got to work out of my strengths, but… what is Ph.D. coursework for if not to build new intellectual muscles, develop good scholarly habits, cultivate new skills and abilities?  Here’s what’s on deck this semester and some thoughts about the ways each class is going to help me to grow.  (I’ll check in at the end of the semester to see if it has panned out the way I am anticipating now…)

Monday-Wednesday-Friday- 2nd Semester of the Introductory Theology Class at my university- I’m t.a.ing again.  But… it is and will be different.  Different prof, first of all, lower keyed expectations.  I won’t be grading every week, phew.  But this does present growth opportunities.  First, the whole focus of the class is on ecclesiology and it is being taught by a comparative theologian who thinks big picture in terms of church.  Given that my primary doctrine of interest is ecclesiology, an introductory course taught by someone who will inevitably approach the matter very differently than I would is a GREAT opportunity.  Further, I will be lecturing this semester.  That scares me, a lot.  I’m signed up for, of all things, a lecture on “Eucharist, Racism, and Black Bodies.”  I do not feel at all qualified to give this lecture, but I think that given our current ecclesial context this is particularly good work for me to engage.  The lecture is late in the semester so I have time to get ready.  This is a growing edge for lots of reasons, but a good one… a very good one.  I facilitated my first discussion of the semester (this is what I do on Fridays) this past Friday and it went well.  I seem to have a very strong group.  There are a lot of men in my group, 9 men to 4 women.  That’s an unusual balance for this school, and I suspect that facilitating a group with that gender breakdown could also be a growing edge for me.  

Tuesdays- A Seminar on Thomas Aquinas- It seems pretty darn important to know a good deal of this man’s thought.  If I’m truly interested in the church universal… um… he’s pretty important in many ecclesial circles.  This is one of those historical gaps that needs filling for me.  That said, am I super excited about slowly working through portions of the Summa?  Um, frankly, no.  This is not the most scintillating reading ever and it is requiring a lot of backdoor learning of philosophy 101 (but this is good, another growing edge), but the assignments for this course are structured to help improve our skills as readers of important texts and I truly need skills built in that area.  Further, Aquinas is one of those figures I need to know for my comprehensive exams.  So, hopefully I’ll bone up on my ability to navigate philosophy, learn about Aristotle (backdoor… like I got Plato through the backdoor of Augustine), get a good grasp on Aquinas’ teaching, and become a better reader in the process.  All good stuff.  This class is being co-taught by the man who may well end up being my advisor and by the historian with whom I worked so closely all last year.  Working with the man who may well be my advisor is another growing edge for me.  A good one.

Wednesdays- Seminar on Theological Anthropology- this class is fulfilling several requirements for me and it has been designed in a very creative way.  The main assignments, other than a big term paper (which itself is a growing edge, I’ll get to that), are all geared to helping us learn to teach for ministry.  At some point this semester I need to facilitate a half-hour class period around a particular text with a particular ministry context of one of m.div. field ed students in mind.  The first class period we were visited by M.Div. students in field work and read, before class, context statements and case studies from their sites.  One guy is working in an institution with profoundly physically and developmentally disabled folks and with less profoundly disabled folks who have been convicted of crimes.  I suspect I’ll be working with his context throughout the semester.  This allows me to do some more thinking on disability.. something my time in L’Arche led me to do much thinking about, but about which I’ve yet to pursue any formal study.  I have a knee-jerk anti-institution mindset.  I think that thinking on this context will really stretch me in important ways.  I also need to develop a four week syllabus chunk on how I would teach theological anthropology in an M.Div. level class.  It feels like this class follows well on my teaching for ministry seminar last semester.  I really want to be able teach theology grounded in the real practice of ministry, but I’m not at all confident that I have the first clue how to do that.  So… this is a big growing edge.  And syllabus design?  Gigantic growing edge.  And that term paper?  It is to be a constructive statement of my own theological anthropology.  I need to get much stronger about constructing my own theology.  No way around it in this class… gotta find a way to do it.  So… big growing edge.  Very excited about this class.  We’re reading a number of classical texts that I need to read for exam purposes and a number of intriguing contemporary texts as well.  

Thursdays- Seminar on 19th Century Theology- a requirement.  Not thrilling material for me.  But necessary… all of it… GIGANTIC, gaping hole in my knowledge when it comes to the 19th century.  I’ve read a bit of Schleiermacher and that’s it.  So, it’s all new material to me.  And a lot of it is philosophy (working Hume at the moment).  And the weekly assignments for this class are going to develop other particular reading and writing skills that truly need developing in me, as will the final paper.  This class is also taught by the man who is likely to be my advisor… and, again, it is a growing edge to work with him.  

So… wow.  That’s a lot.  But it’s all really good.  It feels like I’ll be doing precisely what I came here to do. 

There’s no class tomorrow because of the holiday, but I’ll be busy for much of the day… two writing assignments already and LOTS of reading. 

I didn’t get as much done yesterday as I had hoped, but I don’t feel as behind as I did after week one last semester.  

One day at a time.  Just because I haven’t done it before, doesn’t mean I can’t do it.  And just because I’m not good at it now, doesn’t mean I won’t be eventually.  I’m here to learn.  I’m here to learn.  I’m here to learn.  And this semester presents excellent opportunities for the fulfillment of that purpose.

and so it begins…

… the semester, with relatively low anxiety.  

I set modest goals for day one of the semester.  I had a baby at home with a fever and so opted for a half day.  In that half day I wanted to read, schedule an appointment, attend a meeting, go to the lecture for the class I’m T.A.ing this semester, and come home to care for baby and read for tomorrow’s class.  

Accomplished.  All of it.

I have a bit more reading to do tomorrow (re-reading and annotating, actually), but… so far, so good.

I felt so different at the first teaching team meeting today than I did at the first teaching team meeting in August.  

So far.  More Chill.

Thanks be to God.

Reflecting My Way to a Resolution

Can one resolve to be more chill?

Last semester was absurdly hard, largely because I committed myself to the impossible [for me at least] at the beginning of it.  For that first month plus that I was ostensibly taking four doctoral seminars and t.a.ing for the first time, I was perpetually conscious of all that wasn’t getting done.  I couldn’t draw a complete breath.  And this triggered OLD anxiety and impostor syndrome thoughts that took what was admittedly hard and made it painfully hard… harder.  I knew this.  I knew that I just needed to breathe and do my best and trust God and not let the perfect get in the way of the good (yes, Debbie, I’ve been listening).  But I couldn’t.  It was too much.  And for lots of reasons being faced with too much is REALLY triggering for me. 

So I made that decision to drop the one class for which I had done the least amount of work and though I had never dropped a class in my life I immediately felt relief.  The semester continued to feel hard, but it no longer felt impossible.  And I began to be able to breathe again, and to trust, on most days.  Tearful conversations with professors faded away and productive work kicked in. 

I was haunted a bit by not having a clear and sharply focused research question yet (as in, for my dissertation).  This was fueling the anxious impostor stuff.  But… the work I did at the end of the semester, in that crazy paper crunch from Thanksgiving to December 18th when I clicked send on the last paper, opened up a lot of intriguing trails for further research.  I ended the semester feeling like I had done work on which I could build.  I still don’t have a sharply focused research question, but…  I’m doing generative work that I want to keep pursuing.  THIS IS PROGRESS!  And this is fine with me. 

I received tremendously positive feedback at the end of the semester.  It was hard to fathom how I could have begun the semester in such a weak and shaky place and end in such a strong place.  My brother says “What do you expect?  You always do really well.”  But… truly… this was HARD.  O.K., I always think that.  But…  I am dumbfounded. 

On the drive home for Christmas I began to think about the ways in which my poor assessment of my own strengths is a liability.  The unbloggable difficulty at the end of the semester was a part of what revealed this to me.  If I can just breathe, trust, and know my gifts… I can use them responsibly and sensitively and effectively…

If I could do so well in such a demanding semester, I think that I need to chill.  I need to breathe, trust… I want to resolve to do this in this new year, this new decade (I didn’t even realize we were rolling into a new decade until last last night).  Really, I suppose, this is a resolution about being not doing.  I want to be more relaxed. 

I don’t know, however, if my personality lends itself to this resolution. 

Any tips, friends, for how to cultivate such trust and calm in an anxious, wired woman?

Truly O.K.

Mags was sweet enough to call last night.  She caught me while we were on the first leg of our trip home for Christmas.  She was quite concerned about whatever the unbloggable thing might have been.  And, in reflecting on several of the comments left, I realize others of my might be quite concerned as well.  Truly, friends, I am fine.  Better and better as the miles between me and this semester get greater and greater.  That which happened is unbloggable mostly because it is too involved to get into and yet, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that big of a deal.  As I tried to explain it all to Mags I realized that, its just messy human stuff.  But… it’s not that big of a deal.  Thank you for your prayers.  All shall be well.

It. is. finished.

Turned the last paper in a few minutes before 9 tonight.  

I can’t return the graded papers until I get the high sign from the prof, but… it seems that this semester that seemed like it would never end has ended.  

Had kind of a bummer experience this afternoon which amplified a bummer experience from earlier this week, unbloggable, but that has taken the elation out of the being done.  

In any case, looking back on this semester, things for which I’m grateful?

• dropping a class for the first time ever.  so necessary and so smart.
• not taking this class off my google calendar so i’d get reminders about it every thursday and then think “ah… i don’t have to do that.”
• managing to get through a whole very demanding semester with only one all-nighter. 
• forming quality relationships with several of my students
• getting into a non-anxious place about grading
• digging deep in Augustinian texts
• making some sense of Levinas
• caring more about learning than about grades
• committing to Living Church
• maintaining my weight loss
• crawling up and out of a very low emotional spot
• friends and profs who listened at crucial moments
• kev’s steadfast love and support
• caroline, caroline, caroline

silly sarah

when you write on your blog “i’m hoping to be done by 4″, you really should be explicit.  P.M. not A.M. 

but, oh well, you had a draft by 4.

when you say you’re DONE grading, make sure all the papers have actually been turned in.

but, oh well, that paper suffers the penalties.

and don’t start to brag about how you’ve managed to end the semester with less anxiety than at semester’s start before you’re actaully done with the semester.  because you know you’re just setting yourself up…

darn that murphy.  always right.  

but it’s a new day.  and you’re almost done.  and you’re going to be done.  so chin up, kiddo.

thus ends the pep talk for today.

This was the day I had hoped I would be DONE…

… and I’m close… as you might be able to tell from the frequently updated post below… but… I have one more BIG paper to write.  

I have a clear and detailed outline, a sentence at least for each move I want to make.

I cut and pasted notes into that outline last night.  There are few last notes I realized this morning that I’ve yet to review.  I might try to do that right now; or I might just do that if I have time after drafting and if it seems the argument is particularly weak at any point.

Heading to school as soon as possible.  Holing up in a carrel.  And typing like mad.  Hope to have a draft by my grading meeting at 4:00 (it was pushed later, thanks be to God.)

So this semester that seemed like it would never end… really is going to end.  I will revise and proof whatever I write today tomorrow.  I will turn it in no later than Friday.  And, I have a bit of reading to do for the fellowship colloquy gathering on Friday, but once this paper and that reading and the meeting this afternoon are don.  I’m done. 

LOTS to be done on the drinks and desserts end of things, but I’m eager for that.  My thoughts are more and more on Christmas and less and less on school.  This is a sign that the end is near!

(oh, and what I’m celebrating the most?! i have managed to navigate the end of a semester which began with much anxiety and insecurity- feelings that lingered for quite some time- with relatively little anxiety and insecurity!  thanks be to God!  partially because i was able read through last year’s blog entries I realized that there would inevitably be non-productive days in a time period when i thought i couldn’t afford non-productive days, but that such days are a part of my process.  when i felt such a day coming on, i didn’t fight it.  i did what i could, trying to take baby steps towards big goals, or just enjoying the company of family and colleagues, and didn’t beat myself up.  i let myself write even when it seemed I was writing crap and let myself truly revise.  and i let someone i respect review something i thought was crap to give me help when i needed it most.  and i didn’t have an ounce of anxiety about the grading.  i just did it.  now yes, at the beginning of these 2 weeks I was doubtful I’d get through everything.  there was anxiety there, but i made the plan and that helped reduce the anxiety.  but when the plan got thrown of… i just adjusted without much angst.  THANKS BE TO GOD!)

well…

no outline…

lots of new notes taken for the God and the other paper…

lots of notes and readings reviewed…

just. can’t. see. how. it. fits. together.

but it does. 

and so… what always helps… is sleep.  

i’m trusting God.  or trying to.

Sabbath Reflections- Before (In the Midst of?) the Final Push- Being Updated as the Week Unfolds

We celebrated Caroline’s first birthday in grand style yesterday.  I did little to no school work.  

I had given myself permission to violate sabbath this week and next as there is SO much to do and SO little time in which to do it, but I awoke this morning with my body screaming “Violate Sabbath?  Rest is EXACTLY what you most need right now.”  

I opened up Pages and looked for a creative template on which to map out what needs to get accomplished to see if I could totally rest today.  I chose a menu template.  And I titled the document “THE LAST PUSH: ON WHAT I’LL BE FEASTING THESE NEXT TWO WEEKS”.  Trying to frame this positively.  I listed the tasks before me as either “Salads and Starters”, “Entrees”, or “Drinks and Desserts”.  And then, rather than pricing them, I set dates and times by them.  I treated preliminaries- final reading, wrap up course work, etc.- as salads and starters and the paper writing, revising, and proofing as entrees and preparations for the baby shower I’m co-hosting in two weeks and a few other fun things (like getting my hair done for the first time since August) under drinks and desserts.  I realized in doing this that I do need to do some reading today, a fair bit of reading actually, but that’s o.k..

My plan seems workable, assuming that when I review my notes I actually have done enough research to make an argument, in all three cases.  I’m fearful that I haven’t.  I won’t know until I get started.  I’ve budgeted a day (or a part of a day) for reviewing notes and outlining, and two days for writing for each paper.  And separate time for revising and then proofing.  I am dubious right now that I will be able to get this done.  But… this is not the only time I’ve ever felt this way.   

Earlier this week I was lacking focus and feeling overwhelmed and I took an hour to read through the blog posts from the last 2 week push of the fall semester last year (before the big long push to bring Caroline into the world).  I realized that I was as dubious then as I am now, perhaps more so.  I also read that I had WHOLE days of fruitless work that sucked all the confidence right out of me.  But… I also read that I achieved my goal precisely- ending on the very day I had planned.  And I was reminded of the sheer elation I experienced at that time.  So, I can do this.  

I have new challenges this year that I didn’t have last year (tutoring students anxiously working on their final papers and grading a stack of long papers and helping to care for a one year old), but… God is good.  And this will get done.  If I need to take an incomplete I can, but I really don’t want to.  I want that elation.  I want the break.  

So, I’m back here now.  I’m going to post my menu and come back and cross things off as they get finished.  

And I’ll record this journey.

So next semester, or next year… I’ll see how it was done.  

And any cheerleading y’all want to do is welcome! (That is, if you’re still there considering how dead this blog has been!)

I started this post before church.  There ended up being a dinner after church to welcome the pastor back from sabbatical.  I was at church from 10:30-4.  Maybe God wanted me to honor sabbath today.  I’ll only be doing a bit of reading and will be shifting the plan around already!

Salads & Starters

Read Farley and Kinast for Clearer Understanding of Theological Reflection – Sunday, 12.6  began to seem like this was unnecessary… read for a few hours… moved on

Review City of God 19, Finish Cary, - Sunday, 12.6, Monday 12.7

Chase Down a Few More References - Monday, 12.7

Chase down even more references- Monday, 12.7

Yes, I’m adding things to be able to cross them off.  

Return Library Books  - Monday, 12.7

Evaluate Student’s Outline - Monday, 12.7,  first thing

Design Slides for Final Teaching For Ministry Presentation - Monday 11-12, 12.7 a colleague in my group offered to do this with me.  phew.

Attend Final Constructive Lecture – Monday, 12.7, noon

Caroline’s Doctor’s Appointment -Tuesday, 12.8, 9 a.m.

      four shots!  most ever!  she’s a trooper though!  and so big! 30.5 inches!  90th percentile!

Teaching for Ministry Project Meetings  - Tuesday, 12.8, 1-3, Wednesday, 12.9, 11-12

Format Handouts for Teaching for Ministry Presentation- Tuesday, 12.8, evening

Write Letter for Teaching for Ministry Presentation- Tuesday, 12.8, evening

  well, i delegated that rather than doing it.  the formatting took until nearly midnight… off to bed.  MUCH to do tomorrow.

Meet with Students – Wednesday as scheduled

   only one student scheduled… but i got a panicky request after i had already come home for the day… did a lot of e-mail consulting all afternoon… 

Final Augustine Discussion  Thursday, 12.6 2-4? cancelled, phew.

Final God and the Other Class – Monday, 12.14, 1-3

    i think i might not make this class.  sigh.  told the prof i might not make it.  have his blessing not to.  think i won’t.  

    crossed this off Sunday, 12:50 p.m., IF, by some freak chance, I DON’T need the time for writing, revising, proofing, grading… I need it for sleeping.  I believe this will be the ONLY class I’ve missed all semester.  Not bad friends.  Not bad.  

Read for that class? – God willing 

  not gonna happen so might as well cross it off.  i REALLY hope i make time to read the rest of that book soon.  for lots of reasons… 

Have coffee/tea with a friend coming to visit my school- Friday 12.12 8:15 a.m.

Entrees

Review God and Other Notes and Make Detailed Paper Outline - Monday 12.7, afternoon

    update Tuesday noon-  i have my thesis.  i have a rough outline.  working on the details.

    update Tuesday 6:00 p.m.- more detailed outline in place, started color coding my notes, have generated a source list (color coded), have started attaching notes to different parts of the outline… still a ways to go… but underway… still haven’t written… but this should make writing easier… theoretically

    update Wednesday evening- between a budding sinus infection in me making me noisy (and miserable- so hard for me to sleep when congested…) and therefore waking caroline up repeatedly… i was up most of the night.  i finished the color coding and not organizing, slept for a few hours this morning… went to meetings on campus… came home and tried to write… 

Write God and Other Paper – Tuesday-Wednesday 12.8 and 12.9, Friday 12.11- all day.  

  Wednesday evening update- the good news- I have the first two points of my outline drafted.  the bad news- the bulk of my argument is in the remaining points of my outline.  The minor stuff is all I have written.  And I may have to axe a lot of what I wrote.  But I’m glad I have something.  I’m trying to be centered and not freak about going into Thursday without a complete draft.  Trying.  Need to sleep to kick this sinus infection.  And it will just have to get done on Friday.  That’s all there is to it.  Sigh. 

Saturday early morning (1 a.m.!) update- I finished a 29 page (supposed to be 25-30 and I still need a conclusion!) draft!  Woohoo!  And my Augustine prof offered to review my draft and give me feedback this weekend (even though it is a paper for another class, not for his class, but because i am dealing with augustine he can likely be helpful!  what a relief!  this should be a huge help.)  So I’ve sent the draft off to him for feedback.  And tomorrow I’ll move on to other things. Like… the paper for my Augustine class.  

Send God and Other Paper to Augustine Prof for Review- Friday, 12.11

Revise God and Other Paper  -  Monday, 12.14, a.m.

   monday, 12.14, 8:00 P.M., i have a quite polished paper ready to go.  i could send it.  but i worked on it ALL DAY and think i should review once more with fresh eyes in the morning… so almost done.

Proof God and Other Paper – Monday, 12.14 

   SUBMITTED, Just a few minutes late, THIS MORNING, Tuesday, 12.15!!!!!!!!!!

Review Augustine Notes and Make Detailed Paper Outline – Saturday, 12.12, Sunday, 12.13

   Notes reviewed.  Outline/Thesis?  Um, no.  Please God do your thing while I sleep, thanks.

   accomplished by midday Sunday!  started to come together in the head around 3 a.m… too tired to even lean over, grab a notebook and take some notes, trusted it would be there when i was ready to get up… IT WAS!  tempted to now sort my notes into the outline, but… first some significant last work on my teaching for ministry paper must be done.

Write Augustine Paper –   Tuesday, 12.15 or Wednesday, 12.16 

    notes sorted into outline… ready to go… please let it come FAST

     update Thursday, 12.17, after a few hours of sleep, i have a 30 page draft on which i worked, with breaks, from 9 a.m. until 4 a.m..  of course i hate it now.  can’t stand to look at it.  and yet keeping thinking about it.  bad combination.  i think, for the sake of actually being able to meaningfully revise it that i have to wait until tomorrow.  so i’ll rest and do drinks and desserts today.  maybe literally : )

Revise Augustine Paper – Wednesday, 12.16, Thursday 12.17

Proof Augustine Paper – Thursday, 12.17

   9:00 P.M. Friday evening DONE, DONE, DONE!  Felt good about it this morning, less so tonight… but… friends, DONE.

Teaching for Ministry Presentation- Thursday, 12.10, 11-1

Write Wrap-Up Teaching for Ministry Paper –  Thursday, 12.10,  every window

   phew.  one out of three drafts done.  on the day i hoped to have it done, even.  that said it is TWICE as long as it is supposed to be.  and was written in a fairly casual, stream of consciousness fashion.  the revisions are going to be demanding.  but… it is a draft.  and it, in crude form, meets the requirements of the assignment if not the highest expectations.  and… if i could crank out a 14 page paper in approximately 6 hours… these 25 pagers, which are harder, admittedly, not due to length but to the carefulness with which I want to make the arguments, they can come too, in the minimal time that remains for them.  

Revise Wrap-Up Teaching for Ministry Paper – Saturday, 12.12

    still need to trim more out of it and create a one page prospectus for a class design to take text out of the main paper, but too tired to finish tonight.  

Proof Wrap-Up Teaching for Ministry Paper-  Sunday 12.13

   e-mailed around 8 p.m. Sunday evening.  a little over 12 hours early.  ONE CLASS DONE!

Grade Constructive Papers – every evening 12.11-12.15

   Sunday, 12.13 update- 2 papers graded, 12 to go.  at about 20 pages each… sigh  

   Monday, 12.14, 12:01 a.m.- 3 papers graded and sent to prof, 1 and 3/4 more done- seeing lots of progress, really gratifying, but really time consuming… still don’t have a paper from one student.  supposed to take 10 pts per day late off.  she had an extension until saturday morning at 9 and has made NO contact with us to ask for more time… she can’t afford a starting grade of 80.  So frustrating.  I’ve invested a lot of time in her.  

  Monday, 12.14, 10:45 P.M. Shipped another 3 off to the prof earlier this evening, got two more done after that.  Still have no paper from that one student.  I’m frustrated with her, but also grateful, this means only 13 20ish pagers to grade.  And I’ve done 8!  So I’ll definitely get this done tomorrow.  But man… almost an hour per paper!

  Tuesday, 12.15 4:45 P.M. DONE! DONE! DIGGITY DONE!  AND I got all the grades entered on-line.  Some might get tweaked after our meeting tomorrow, but… friends, I NEVER thought I’d be done with the grading for this semester.  And I’m DONE.  

  I’M NOT DONE!  Boo hoo… just received that paper I was waiting for last night.  Sigh.  

   interesting developments with that late paper, prob can’t talk about it… grading on hold.

  DON’T HAVE TO FINISH GRADING THAT PAPER!  Just have to wait to send papers back!

Constructive Grading Meeting –  Wednesday, 12.16 3:15 p.m.

   must figure and enter participation grades, attendance grades, etc. on-line BEFORE that meeting

Desserts & Drinks

Watch the Biggest Loser Season Finale- Tuesday, 12.8, evening

  while working, i promise.  SO WORTH IT!  FRIENDS, EVEN IF YOU DON’T WATCH THE WHOLE SEASON THE FINALE IS INSPIRING TO SEE!  WATCH THE NEXT ONE IN MAY!

Place Tentative Order with Caterer for Shower  - Wednesday, 12.9 missed the manager yesterday and she’s off monday and tuesday!  shoot!

Share Quote with Mom of Mom to Be, Make Any Adjustments Needed – a.s.a.p.

Place Official Order with Caterer – Monday, 12.14

   mom of mom-to-be took care of this, phew!

Prepare Present  and Shower Activity for the Parents to Be  - Thursday, 12.17

Hair Appointment – Thursday, 12.17

   ah… cut and color… much better… ended up counseling my hairstylist but got a free eyebrow waxing and a discounted do, i’ll take it!

Bake – Friday, 12.18 a.m.

   made chocolate peanut butter balls for the shower, first time ever, think they turned out GREAT.  thanks for the recipe, kelly!  i needed a break after the all nighter.  back to work tomorrow.

Fellowship Colloquy Gathering  - Friday, 12.18, 2-4

Host Shower – Saturday, 12.19

(Christmas prep somewhere in those last few days too…)