Spring Break...

is not much of one, so far.

My brother and his wife came in Saturday night, and, Sunday, we got out in the yard and cleaned up.  We cut up limbs that had fallen down, and I have so much stuff for the burn pile, plus two big piles to burn in the front yard.  Mike and Linda cleaned out the front azalea bed; we cleared out the space in front of the garage; didn't do much in the back yard except cut up a huge limb that fell late last year.  I managed to get a climbing rose bush planted at the corner of the front porch. The yard looks so much better.  I'm hoping that we can all get together in April to plant the butterfly garden I want.

My mother and two of my sisters showed up on Sunday.  Mom cooked cabbage; Jeri brought red beans and rice; Mary brought me a bookcase and some chotchkas from my sister Lydia, all in keeping with the bee theme, except for a beautiful star ornament to hang in the back yard.  I feel lucky to have my family members.  Really, I love them all, but I know who I can depend on.

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I've been grading papers...gee, that sounds so familiar!  Why should spring break really be a break?  I have midterm grades averaged for three classes.  I have two sets (well, really three) of papers to grade and two sets of drafts to read.  I'm hoping to get the papers graded and grades posted by Wednesday so I can spend some time gardening.

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The repair shop didn't get in the parts for my car, so I have no idea if they'll be able to repair my car this week.  I'm kind of ticked about that...I don't have three consecutive days for car repairs when I'm working; these guys aren't opened on Saturday, but I'm not taking my car to the Mazda place in Bossier.  The last time I had to have my car repaired, the Mazda dealership kept my car for ten days--they didn't bother to tell me that one of their mechanics quit.  Every time I called, they told me "We'll have it ready tomorrow."

I probably should go to the store tomorrow, just in case.  I hope I can get the car fixed and inspected before I have to go back to school.

Springing Forward...

Written on March 7, 2009

I hate daylight savings time.  Let me just get that out of the way.

I do like more daylight in the evenings, but I hate the whole changing the clocks twice a year, especially in my car.  If cars didn't have digital clocks, maybe I'd feel differently about it, but when the time changes, I have to get out the manual and figure out how to set the clock.  I don't like having the wrong time staring at me while I'm driving, so I become obsessive about fixing it.  I'm wishing the car clock had a stem, like a wristwatch does, so I could do this more easily.

The other thing I don't like about DST is that my cats aren't on it.  They'll keep waking me up on their own internal schedule.  Doesn't matter if the clock reads 5:30am; if they want me up, they're going to find a way to get me up.

I'll bet we don't really know what time it is anymore because we've sprung forward and fallen back so much.  Einstein is right; time is relative.  Too bad I can't live on my internal clock; I'd be in perpetual nap time.

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I finally finished the assignments hanging over my head (Saturday) and went outside to clear the herb garden.  I love my herb garden.  Fresh herbs make foods more flavorful, and I like not having to pay for them since they are so expensive (even the dried herbs are expensive these days).  Now to get the vegetable garden dug up and planted, which I will do next weekend. 

Teaching summer school online is the only way to go!  With only one class, I can spend more time on my gardens.  Inevitably, of course, I have to work on my fall classes, but not having to drive into the "big" city saves me so much time.

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Now to get the front garden cleared out and plant some flowers.  Today is also bread-baking day.  I'm out of bread, and I hate paying the ridiculous prices for that airy stuff that passes for it.  I have a great recipe for French bread that makes four loaves.  It freezes well and goes with anything I cook.

I might be done with schoolwork for the day, but it seems that I've made myself quite a to-do list here.  Better get started!

New Semester Looms...

I'm ready for at least the first two months! And, of course, I have all kinds of projects in the works that I need to hop on.

But this is the last weekend of the break. The good news is that I only teach on campus on Mondays and Wednesdays, so I have a semester of four-day weekends. Maybe I can squeeze in a couple of trips to Austin--I might be able to go to SXS, which takes place the week before our spring break. That would be great, since I've never been.

My students have already begun signing on to the course sites, so I'm hoping some of them will be prepared Monday and will understand the mechanics of the class. This might fall into the category of "wishful thinking," but I can hope, at least.

Course-wise, I'm ready. Mentally? I'm not sure.

The paperwhites are blooming, as is the Japonica (Flowering Quince). Weird weather!

The End of the Semester Looms Large...

and, as usually happens about this time, I got a phone call from the bookstore asking me when and how many days I could work next week (which is finals' week, of course!). Since I'm not giving a "final," in the true sense, and since I have until August 6th to turn in grades, I think I can spare a few afternoons to pack books in boxes. Besides, the extra money is good.

So, I'll go in Monday and work for about four or five hours, then maybe I'll go in Wednesday; maybe, if I don't feel like sleeping for two days, I'll go in Thursday or Friday--but I think I'll try to get my grades posted by Thursday. Then, I can run by the school and turn in a printed copy of my grades on Friday and work at the bookstore after that. Sounds like a plan.

My children sent me flowers for my birthday, which was a wonderful surprise, since they've never sent me flowers before. AND they had them delivered to the school (the day after my birthday)! More than made my day special (and the day after, too). I usually celebrate my BD all week, so I don't mind getting a "late" present.

Today I stopped by Mr. Lester's and bought two boxes of peaches. I've made two batches of peach honey--when I use pint jars, one batch only fills up two-and-a-half pint jars. So, I have about five pints. I cut up about four pounds of peaches, though, covered them with sugar, and will use those for peach preserves tomorrow. But I still have one whole box of peaches and about 1/4 of another box. These had just been picked; they are crunchy, almost like apples, so I'm not getting many soft peaches out of these boxes; I think I need to let the rest of them sit for a day or two.

I had pancakes for dinner; I haven't cooked pancakes in years, but, tonight, I just decided I wanted some. That's the best part of living alone--you don't have to worry about cooking for anyone but yourself!