I apologize for the lack of linkage, bloggage, quality-anything-age.
I'm not getting ANYTHING done outside of work and other responsibilities.

the kid thing at church is still difficult. I still dread Wednesdays. What do you say to a child who can't stop making flatulence jokes about his brother - in a church youth group no less?

everyone in my department is teaching an overload this semester. Everyone is exhausted.

we are doing program review, which the other academicians will understand is one of those 'what fresh Hell is this' situations.

I got "guilted" into cleaning my house and hosting a meeting Monday night (someone played the old "but you're SINGLE, you don't have to worry about other people" card and I was to tired not to fall for it).

I have the horrible meetings to dread coming up next week (on my birthday, as I've said before).

there's just the endless parade of grading, prep, etc. etc. regular work-stuff. (I don't use graders, which is maybe a foolish choice, but when I did in the past, I always wound up getting people who NEVER returned the graded stuff to me on time, and then the students complained about how long it took to get their graded papers back).

I have to help out with a recruitment thingy on campus this Saturday (and lose half the day to it).

I have to teach Sunday School on Sunday and also give a "moment for mission". Yes, those are both comparatively small things, but I find that each new item added to the list of things I have to remember to do adds to my stress all out of proportion of its time requirement.

and yesterday, I received a ton of paperwork from the national office of a group of which I am the local chapter president (yeah, it's a convoluted sentence, sue me, I'm too tired to work out something grammatical). It was supposed to go out in January. I received it yesterday. They need it by March 1. Not filling it out is not an option. Sending it in late is not an option.

I have not yet begun my income taxes.

I have three papers to rewrite, two abstracts to write, a research student who keeps poking his head in my office to see if I have any new project for him to start, a pile of unanalyzed (and unentered) data on my desk...


You know, the times I've called my mother up, in tears, because I just needed to have another person hear what a crushing load I have in my life, have become less frequent over the years. But last night, (after skipping out on a committee meeting that was supposed to begin at 3 pm but had no other members showing up as of 3:15, so I said "my time is too valuable right now" and left) I had to call her.

then I cleaned house some.

I hope my house will still be clean enough come Monday. I do still have to do the kitchen floor, the bathroom, and probably sweep the dust up again before then.

I have hardly touched my knitting in over a week. I'm figuratively cowering in a corner, wondering what blow will hit me next. What responsibility that I blithely agreed to back in September will show up to bite me in the butt.

And once again, I'm doubting the whole blog thing. I have nothing of interest to say. I probably have no readers left. I mean, would you read a blog where the only things ever posted are "I knit one row on my vest last night"?

I can't go on living like this. I thought things were supposed to get EASIER after tenure. (Part of this is the fault of those who left the church I belong to - everyone who remained has had to do three times the responsibilities).