Grading, Bills, All That Junk

7:20 am

                Good news is that I am close to done with grading the quizzes. I should be able to finish them this morning. Bad news is that I then have to move onto the lab methods and materials and results. And somewhere in there revise the jumping lab again so the steps are accurate and really clear. And pay bills. Note that I have had that on the todo list for a long time. It is a problem. I must must must find a way to simplify that process. I am not stupid. I am even capable of doing things I don’t especially like (as in going to the gym every day). So why can I not take care of bills in a timely fashion? I need to find some sort of system that works regularly and I can keep going. I will have to really think about it. Right now one of my solutions is to set up automatic bill pay for as many as possible. That way at least they are not late and incurring late fees etc. I just have to figure out for the other bills (those that can’t be paid on-line) and how to keep up with entering things in Quicken, since at this point I am WAY behind with that. It will mean some long days/nights of entering sometime soon.

                Nicer thoughts: I finished carding 2 sets of batts. One is an interesting orangey blend, the other is a nice soft brown. Now it is just a matter of spinning it…. and maybe getting more angora spun before the next 2 fairs. Actually more angora for the Hartsbrook fair, then more things knit for the Big Brother Big Sister fair. I’ve been working on the mittens but I think I had better put those aside for now.

                I’m in a pretty crappy mood and have been for several days. Looming dark? Missing the girls? Too much work? Maybe any or all. Last night I got home around 6 having texted the suggestion that we go out for cheap Chinese. I had in mind the little place near Moan and Dove, but K didn’t want to go there. So we went to Panda East and instead of cheap Chinese we spent $50 and got stuff I didn’t even like that much. And now we have tons left over to add to the left over casserole, the rabbit stew and all kinds of cold cuts/etc left from his retreat at the farm. I guess the good news is that I need not cook all weekend. It just all better get eaten.

                Crapola. I would like to go out to the sunroom and spin while listening to Enders Game. Except that it is nearly finished so I’ll need to get to the library to get another CD. And it is too cold to knit out there. Carding is more do-able in the cold, just bundle up, but spinning is harder. I have my wheel in here, so that is fine, it is just harder to listen to something I want because it will annoy K. Well, I will finish the quizzes and that will be satisfying. First I had better do the bunnies. I THINK it is warm enough that waters will not be frozen. I have tons of bunny stuff I should do. And anything I don’t get done this weekend will not get done next week as I must teach all three labs and will not have much home time. I suppose I could set things up so I could pluck inside since that is one of the things that needs to get done. Of course that assumes I will not have to spend every second getting the reports graded.

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Lazy Day and CARDING

7:40 am

                I love the time change! I am having one of my “lazy mornings” and it is still only 7:40. I even managed to meditate this morning, though I spent most of the 20 minutes coming up with things to say in a research guide for the students. I did not do my stretches today and I will not run – what a lazy bum! But I might take the T to Misty Bottom for a walk later. What I will also do is happily card while I listen to Ender’s Game. And maybe move the table downstairs – while I can still open the bulkhead.  And pluck some rabbits. And MUST DO’S:

·         Laundry

·         Empty dishwasher

·         PAY BILLS

·         Call accountant, Leader, furnace people, chimney sweep

·         Write out grading rubric and START GRADING

But first I will eat my oat bran cereal, get dressed, feed buns and start carding. As usual I am kind of obsessed at the moment. I have carded up a bunch of orangey colors and need to make a decision about what to combine. Sunday I started blending some nice fine brown wool with some kind of bright and lumpy orange angora. I will finish that first and re-card it because it is not blended very well. Then, in the daylight, I can look everything over again and decide what to blend so that once I have decided I can do it even if the light is bad. I will probably end up with several different combinations which will give me lots of things to spin. Oh, and L wants some white and dark wool spun up so she can knit some patterned gloves. And I really need to get things ready for the next fair. I hope I am inside, I have not heard back from them yet.

                So I am hoping this is a nice day. The week is a busy one. Not only the usual busy-ness of labs, but I am also collecting and fixing water for the instructor for the 160 labs. And next week is the jumping lab…… we’ll see how that goes. The Post-doc is supposed to be writing it up. I think we will have to give upon using the LITS flips because I just can’t get the computers to work with them. Though maybe I can meet with the librarian about it on Wed. It, also, is a bit of an obsession with me.

                Funny to have Thanksgiving coming and we have already had ours! Makes for an unexpected Free Time which is wonderful. K will leave Tues, L will arrive Wed, I’m not sure what we will do. I was just thinking that if I must take K to get a ride to work Tuesday morning, I might just continue on and take Mom out to lunch at that lovely tea house. Though it would get me there awfully early. I would have to find something to do, maybe in Worcester (there is an art museum there I think) until closer to lunch time, say 9-12.

                My friend’s daughter has gone off to her boarding school. My friend emailed her snail mail address. I think I will write her a letter. I also must write to L and it would be nice to write G since she does like mail (though from me, maybe not so much). But first: get dressed and eat oat bran. Then: CARD!

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corgi concerns

7 am

                I’m quite worried about the corgi boy. Saturday night he was clearly not feeling well, and I noticed a rather large swelling or mass on his belly. Last night I showed K and found a second smaller one. I’m hoping he can bring Tigger in to the vet today. Of course, if it turns out to be something awful, well then what? He is getting older and we have to get used to the thought that he will not be around forever. I think I’m ok with the concept, I’ve seen so many critters come and go, but K will be devastated. It will be far far worse than having the girls leave home. He is just so utterly attached to the dog. The other issue is, that whatever the vet might find, I know vets, and she will probably tell about all these procedures that could be done, without really going over the advisability of them. In other words, surgery, treatments, whatever that could cost many hundreds and might not even help that much. But K’s first reaction will be to do anything. And it is not for Tigger’s sake, but for his own. After all, why would Tigger opt for anything that would be unpleasant or uncomfortable? Well, we will have to see. It is tricky because as of now he is still very robust and seems happy. It is not like he is really old and feeble.

                On a more cheerful note, I am quite proud of myself for fixing my small table. Well, I put new legs on it, we’ll see if that means fixed. I am going to bring it and all the carding stuff inside because it is getting too cold out there. And maybe after that I can straighten things up out there. Right now I have one of the big tables there which takes up most of the room.

                Damn, I better go. I want to get to work early so I can have time to run and do a decent bit of prep for lab before lecture.

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ToDos and Dones (microwave!)

6:15 am

                My turn to get all kinds of things done 6-7, but it is because it is really 7:15… daylight savings has ended. Nice early starts, but it will be quite miserable this afternoon when it gets dark so quick. I really will need to get the spinning/carding stuff set up inside.

                Lots of household stuff needs to be done today: laundry, dishwasher, bill paying. I had a very long list that I wrote out fri night and I think the only one I managed to do was install the microwave. And I’m not even sure it was actually on the list. The other biggie I must do today is look at the stupid hot water faucet that K has been bugging me about. Of course he wants to just call the plumber. But it seems like a small thing to call the plumber about. Even if I cannot fix it, I would want to think of other things to combine. It may be time to get ourselves a new upstairs toilet since that one has been having trouble.     I don’t even remember the things that I did include on the list. Paying bills I know that one. And starting in on grading the labs the students turned in weeks ago. And later this morning I need to go to a friend’s for a little “send off” for her daughter. Not that she will probably be there. I imagine she will be hiding in some way as she is not exactly happy about going. I am going to pick up some frierhoffers coffee cake to contribute. I did manage to get out to pick up a few things for L which I will pack up today to send Monday.

                K went off to his friend’s to watch a football game last night which was nice. I basically just cooked while he was gone. Seems like we barely spoke all yesterday. Well, I was pissed about how hard it was and how long it took to install the stupid micro (as L said when I mentioned it – “why do you need a microwave?” good question). It took no kidding about 30 minutes just to get these two screws out of the stud. And there were various hassles all along the way, as these things go. And of course K’s reaction was that we could have hired someone so I shouldn’t complain. But it would have cost a good $100 so that was good. I did think about the reality that in many ways it is much smarter to find something you love to do, get paid well for it, and then pay other people to do the tedious annoying things that you don’t have much experience/skill with. The whole specialization thing. But it goes against my NE independent nature. I want to be able to do things for myself. It’s just that if all my time is taken up by doing all these maintenance things then I don’t have time to do the things I like. I did manage, after the micro, to card a bunch more, though I have not yet settled on a combo to card together and spin. The test bits I made are not that inspiring to me. I’ll play more today when I can. After I do buns. And eat. And tidy the kitchen. And pay bills. And get some laundry going.

                Tigger just burped and it reminds me of how worried I was about him last night. He was looking really uncomfortable. I think his belly is bothering him. I hope K will take him in and find out about getting him re-tested for worms.

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work and storm

7:30 am

No time to write this morning as I must feed buns, eat breakfast, get dressed and get out the door by 8:30 to get a ride to work with K. Once there I will run at the gym then get a move on for the day. Must start grading the feeding kinematics lab. Must finish getting ready for the practical. Must think about the library. Must continue to get ready for the jumping lab. It has been like this all week. And doing bunnies takes extra long because I am feeding them the branches that fell in the storm. I guess I’ll take the bus home today, as K comes home early. All week I’ve been staying late and getting a ride from him at about 6. Long days. I did manage to do a tiny bit of carding last night. Night before K’s friend came over to shower and do a laundry and it was nice to sit and visit with him. This weekend: NOTHING! As in planned that is – lovely time to do a few nice things. Of course it will get sucked up by grading, messing with firewood, and things like fixing the faucet and installing the new microwave.

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