Yesterday was busy

I did get a lot done yesterday:

- Taught my three classes
- Wrote an exam for next week (and made the "form B" too - this is a big class and by moving the questions around on the exam, it cuts down on the risk/temptation of students to look on someone else's paper, or at least, if they do and I don't spot them, it hurts them)
- Graded an exam I gave
- Graded a set of homework from another class
- Made up the online homework for yet another class
(I teach four different classes in the fall; it is kind of a lot. At least this year it really feels like a lot)
- Graded a set of labs but that was easy because this "lab" was just "fill in the data sheet" and I only had to verify that the numbers they got seemed reasonable
- Updated all my classes on the LMS (BlackBoard)
- Got a gift bag and mailing box for my niece's gift (It is going out in the mail this morning; her birthday is Friday)
- Went to the bank. (My mother sent me a check*, she and my dad had the tradition of paying my brother and sister-in-law's homeowner's insurance going back to when they were in a tight squeeze after their kid was born, and they always wanted to be "fair" to me, so they would send me a comparable amount. This will help out with the cost of the IRS thing)

(*She is doing fine and she told me about some of the funds that have come in to her from my dad's estate so I don't feel bad about accepting the check. If I didn't know about the money that had come in to her I would, but she will be amply provided for)

- Got home, mowed and edged the lawn. (I was eating dinner at 8 pm after all that, but that's OK). I think I will need to buy a new edger; I think the motor's starting to go on my current one. That's fine - I am going to replace it with one of the ones with rechargable batteries like my mom got this summer, it is much easier to work with and you don't have the worry of "don't chop the cord"

One thing that did happen while I was mowing: earlier in the day, I found a cat's collar (purple, with a name tag - Rosie - and an identification number - on it) on my porch. I figured the cat either scratched it off or pulled it off, and I wondered what I'd do with it. Then, while I was mowing, I saw the new neighbor in the big house opposite me on the corner (they are doing extensive renovation but are also living there) out talking to ANOTHER neighbor (the one with the little dog that looks like a beagle/Jack Russel mix) and he had a couple cats rolling around on his lawn. So, even though I tend to be anxious of people I don't know, I figured: well, the worst that's likely to happen is for him to say "no, sorry, not one of my cats'") I picked up the collar and walked over there.

Yeah, Rosie was one of his cats, and he was happy to get the collar back, but really, what else would I do with it? I figured the ID tag cost money because it's one of those "registry" things (ID number) and I'd want to get something like that back.

This morning early I need to write my Sunday school lesson and do piano practice, but after that I am free.

I'm going to Sherman. I have some cash on hand, and have told myself I can just get craft supplies or make up or whatever small nice thing I want without guilt. And I need to go to the natural-foods store to get some good food.

This semester has been very tiring. A lot of that is that stuff is blowing up in my personal life, and that makes it really hard.

(Hm: Still looking for life lessons in things, I just thought "Maybe this is a lesson in 'look, this is what some of your students have to deal with'" though I do tend to already be sympathetic to those students who have child-care issues, or are going through a divorce, or are having health issues. And people have been telling me in all of this "Sometimes life does just dump on you, and it's not because you did anything to deserve it or that you're being taught a lesson" and I suppose, yes, but I think a lot of us tend to take that attitude, or maybe just a lot of us raised Protestant tend to look for "why am I being punished, what do I need to change?")

But yeah. I need to take some time off and have some fun after these past few weeks. And I do need to watch it: I find when I'm under other stresses, I get more worried about work, and I get my head so into the "one inch picture frame" that I feel like everything has to be done THEN.

One thing the counselor mentioned is setting boundaries about work. She even thought my 7 am to 4:30 pm Monday on campus was too many hours. (I don't know. 9 to 5 is what eight hours? 7 to 4 is only one more hour. But then again, I guess most 9 to 5 workers got a full hour at lunch - I mean, thinking back to the "original" 9 to 5, like the Dolly Parton movie - and I usually take about fifteen minutes to eat when I'm up on campus)

But yeah. I do have to be careful of "workaholism" in the sense of obsessing about work and worrying about things like "but if I'm not 100% perfect, they might find a way to fire me!" (which is neither true nor reasonable, but I am That Kid who believed her Permanent Record always followed her). Someone I follow on twitter linked this (Harvard Business Review; may be paywalled, there are a limited number of free articles per month) and yes, I can see the "ruminating" about work becoming a problem for me at times.

(Also: the idea that "loving your work" makes the bad effects less seems....a bit dysfunctional, because I remember the bad old "follow your bliss" mindset, and also, I've always disliked the "do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life" because no matter how good a job is, there will *always* be bad parts to it, and it does seem like they're saying "If you feel like you're working, then you're doing it wrong or you chose badly")

But yes. I do maybe need to start gently setting some boundaries - both for myself and that I express to others - about work. The idea that someday I will be retiring, and I don't want it to either be a giant shock of WORKWORKWORKWORK and then nothing, or let myself get conned into doing all kinds of thankless volunteer tasks because "I need to be busy." Oh, I probably DO need to be busy, but maybe I need to learn to be less busy than I am. When I look around my house and go "this place is a mess but I don't have the time or the energy to clean," and when I'm mowing my lawn until 8 pm on a Friday night....that might well mean I'm letting myself get too busy at work.


Edited to add: and yeah, I ordered myself a Creatable World doll. I went with the slightly-darker skin tone with curly brownish hair (either meant to be mixed-race, or perhaps Hispanic, I suppose. Maybe she will be Sam's little sister; Sam has about the same skintone it looks like). I liked that doll's clothes best and the longer wig, in the photos I've seen, IS cute on the doll.....I still want the dark-skinned doll with the long wavy hair, but that one seems not to be available yet. I checked the Target website in hopes of "maybe I can pick one up when I shop tomorrow" but it says in big letters "NOT AVAILABLE IN STORES" so fine. (I ordered from Amazon, it was a bit cheaper there)

Maybe I start looking around for Skipper clothes now; supposedly the dolls are Skipper sized but maybe a bit slimmer. Yes, mine is going to be a girl. I'm not sure of the name yet. It will have to be something that goes well with Sam/Samantha if she's going to be Sam's little sister....

I dunno. I just like the newer articulated dolls. I never played with fashion dolls as a kid, partly because my main concern with clothes as a kid was "how much trouble will I be in if I get this muddy;" as an adult my attitude has changed. Also, I disliked how "static" the dolls were (if you were lucky there were click-knees, but the arms were just that weird rubbery stuff that actually kind of resisted the movement of clothes over them when dressing and undressing the doll) and the modern articulation is REALLY a step up, in my opinion, even if some people complain about how the joints look (and yes, they are not perfect, but what do you want on a small doll?)