June 13

In the doldrums, sort of

1965

I slept about 5 1/2 hours.

1978

My lettuce sprouted today, two days after they were planted. X chewed my ear off. He's in a panic about his job because of the statewide job freeze. My feeling is there is nothing we can do about it, the outcome is extremely unclear, anyway, so it's best to just ignore it. But he has this idea that the whole world is going to cave in if he isn't the object of constant adulation. I am learning a lot from him about how not to act. 

1988

This is Kiddo 1’s last full day of school. Tomorrow is just a half day, and then summer starts. She's ready and I'm ready. This early entry into first grade has worked out fine. Mrs. K is more rigid and less imaginative than I wish she could have been, but Kiddo has survived that and still learned a lot. I hope next year the work is more interesting and challenging. Next week we are off to Connecticut. That means this week I need to 

call Rising Sun 

call the Post 

stop the mail

call the University Park police 

2004

Sunday

I had a good night’s sleep. Breakfast was not a Slimfast shake, but cereal and fruit. We are running quite late, and I suspect that lunch will be Slimfast and my time in Chicago will be limited. We just sat on the siding for a very long time, and had been an hour late leaving Toledo. So my guess if that we will be in Chicago between noon and one, at best.

I am feeling sleepy now, It is a gray and lazy-feeling day. Yes, I did some work. 

3:08 There was no time in Chicago - we were about 4 hours late, and I just walked across from one track to another. I did do some resistance band exercises - all upper body - and some squats. Tonight when the bed is down, I will do crunches. I had a Slimfast shake for lunch.  (Good thing I packed it, too!) I am reading and thinking about critical thinking in preparation for my paper on Tuesday. I have no idea what I am doing!! Really; I can’t find my abstract. So it’s a mystery.

2016

No morning pages yesterday or today. Yesterday was a choir Sunday with an 8:30 call, and I was working on the footnotes for the boys’ fashions article. Today, with the article done and submitted (hooray!), I did two blog posts instead. So yay me.

I have also finished Fauji, SRK's first big acting role. Little baby face Shah Rukh! It was interesting. Even then you can glimpse his intensity and potential. Was my teaching or scholarship ever like that?

So now it's a short break before General Assembly, time to transition into my leave, which will last seven months. So it is time for a somewhat delayed weekly review.

I have been listening to Anne Tyler’s “Spool of Blue Thread”, and must admit that more than halfway in, the only character I care about is the one she killed off.

Comment 2023

No, my early teaching and writing did not show signs of genius. I was too frightened. Confidence came slowly.

2019

It's a rainy, slightly warm day. I'll be going to campus later, but have a few things to do at home first. Writing goes slowly, but it goes. I am losing weight slowly, but it also goes. If I could keep going for a few more months, I will be done with the proposal and my knees will stop bothering me by fall, if not sooner

I am a little worried about the two weeks of vacation travel. On one hand, yay Connie and Star Island. On the other hand, no scale, lots of food and beer opportunities. And Star Island desserts!!

My next writing task is adding the material on advice from Gesell/Ilg and Spock. I wish I could remember how I managed notetaking and writing for the last book. This seems so herky-jerky; I am also almost convinced that I am doing it very differently this time. "Different" as in "wrong". But maybe it's because I am writing something that has so many more dimensions. Kind of reminds me of my dissertation, and imagining the first four chapters in a Lazy Susan. Did the order matter? To me? Not so much. But I think the order does matter to the reader.

2019

Such a busy day! I accomplished everything on my list except the dusting. Nice weather despite threats of rain. So proud of my kids writing and beautiful thoughts!

Comment 2023

I often tell my kids they write better than I do. They really do! Not sure they believe me, or if they think it’s just Mom talk.