"It's Out! It's Out!"

No, I never set out to be a paltry, once-a-week blogger. No, I always fancied the idea of being a daily poster - someone with the the determination and time to write something new and interesting each day. Well, that's an unrealistically high goal and was even when I was teaching at YDB in Detroit and had time to kill. But I usually managed a bare minimum of three posts a week and usually more.

Now that I teach at a job that actually requires both prep and bringing work home, things are a little more complicated. Now that my QE is looming just a couple of months away, blogging is more complicated still. Now that I have a wife who is forbidden to cook, clean, or do laundry, maintaining a blog is pretty far back on the priority list. Y'know?

Nevertheless, I won't abandon my loyal six readers. The blog must go on!

The big news is the same news. Suzanne is still on bedrest. She's at 30 weeks right now and we're hoping and praying she'll make it the next six weeks and get Baby X all the way to term. Neither of us relish the idea of her or the baby being Lifeflighted to Peoria for an emergency, premature birth. Suze feels fine and Baby is very active and energetic. Some nights we'll just watch Suzanne's belly closely and see it move and change shape as X turns this way or that way just under the surface.

My summer classes are going very well for the most part. Summer students are more invested generally than the regular Fall/Spring folks and so they're fun to work with. The compressed schedule is kicking my butt though. The paper turnaround has to be quick because, if I don't get them back within three or four days, I'll end up having two different assignments to grade and get back all at once. Gotta keep the papers moving off the desk because they're always more coming in. Today is mid-term so everything from here on out is the downhill slide. I handed out grades and only had one student freak out. Out of forty three people, that's probably pretty good.

QE prep is in the toilet frankly. I've watched all the movies I need to (although I have 9 or 10 more in my Netflix queue just to be on the safe side) but my reading is woefully behind. I have fifteen or so big books that I need to get to and I just feel like I can't. There are papers to grade, kids to play with, the house to clean, wife's feet to rub, etc. I suppose I could be reading right now - but, after more than a week of looking at the same post, aren't you glad I'm not? Suzanne suggested that I treat Friday mornings like a regular workday (I don't teach on Fridays) and leave the house to go read. It's a great idea and I think I'll do it - but it will have to start next week because tomorrow we're going to Peoria for Suzanne's appointment with her pre-term labor specialist. Busy, busy, busy.

Well, that's probably enough of an update for now. There's laundry waiting, grocery shopping to do, and Maryn just pulled a tooth so she's wandering the house holding toilet paper to her gums and wailing, "It's out! It's out!" Clearly, there are situations that require my attention.