Ups and Downs: Today's an Up. Yay!

I hate this up and down stress and energy business of mine. But, surprisingly for nearing the end of the quarter, I feel oddly calm. Monday was awful. I hate going to the doctor. Yes, I know an unavoidable side effect of being knocked up requires that I go regularly. But as I think I've stated before, I'm terrified of doctors. (And while I used not to be afraid of dentists, after my third root canal, which ended in surgery that involved cutting bone and a doctor who couldn't get my mouth numb, I'm terrified of dentists and haven't been in about 7 years now and I think I might have a cavity). Anyway, at my last appointment, they told me they were drawing blood. Then I'd go to the specialist, then they'd do my exam and then the next ultrasound. Ok. Got it. So I thought Monday was just going to be bloodwork and I'd make it to my first class. No. I get there, they see me 30 minutes after my appt time (there's only one nurse and one doctor, and I think that's the problem--otherwise I really like this place), and the nurse tells me that they're doing the full exam today. It took everything in me not to cry. Look, no one likes the girly doc appt, but I was totally unprepared. THEN I had get the bloodwork done. They took 8 vials of blood, and needed more, but I started to clot because my body was like "um, ok. That's enough for you." I'm also terrified of needles and a bit put off by blood. So the phlebotomist kept flicking and squeezing my arm.

I didn't have time for lunch before my 12:30 class. 2.5 hours I spent at the doc when I was expecting a 45 minute appt. Anyway, such is life. I let the noon class go early so I could go eat before my 2 hours of office hours. Plus, the J was hungover from the superbowl, so he tried but was no real help. He did have lunch waiting for me in the student center though. That was nice. But I'll have two more appointments in the next month. Gross.

(Funny: one of my colleagues said, after I was explaining my trauma of the day, "oh hunny, by the end you'll have so many exams that you'll just wonder 'why did I even bother closing my legs today?'" That made me laugh loudly.)

Enough of that. Who cares. it's probably TMI anyway. But Saturday, when we went shopping, again (I bought all of those wonderful workout clothes Friday and stuff), but after another very uncomfortable evening sitting on the couch and another terrible night of sleep, we decided that I needed somekind of pillow for the couch and another pillow for my legs because the one I had I suspected was behind my back and hip problems. So I bought a "husband pillow" for the couch and chair, and then this for my knees.  OMG. It's so wonderful!! I've gotten so much better sleep now! If you're a side sleeper and sleep with a pillow between your legs or side sleeping makes your hips or back hurt, I totally and completely recommend that pillow. It's so fantastic.

Anyway, yesterday, I found that I was surprisingly productive. I brought my own lunch, so I didn't have to leave to go get something. I got about 28 essays graded (out of 48), so that leaves 20 today and then hopefully I can get started on the Lit class's responses and then finish those in the morning. I'm ahead in my reading for the week right now. And for whatever reason, even though Modernism and PoMo are so far outside of my field, the last couple of weeks in the survey class are the best for me because I do really well at teaching those areas in the survey class. I think because they're the movements I'm least invested in and can have fun with them. So I really don't have to do anything for the survey class for the remainder of the quarter but stay on top of grading. Also, 11 people dropped in one section by Friday (a record for me--I told you it was just a bad class), and while it might not look good for me, it's been a god-send because the class dynamic is so much better now! I hate to refer to people as "dead weight," but damn, apparently there was a lot of it, and the other students recognized it and commented on their own about it. There's a ton of grading coming up in the Lit class, which I had some poor timing with the end of the quarter because I'm going to NOLA with the parents for a marathon/half-marathon (the J won NCO of the Year in his unit, and now he has to go to a competition that weekend and can't run), and there are only two days left in the quarter after that, so I have to come back Sunday night. Sheesh. But, and this is fabulous, and why I'm feeling kind of good right now, next week we have a 3 day break. And I'll be ahead! So my plan for break is to get the office cleaned out for once and for all. I'll worry about the nursery business later, like over spring break or something. The J will be out of town, so I'll have about four days to take care of stuff. Hopefully I'll continue to have energy, and I can get some stuff done. I also plan to work on next quarter's syllabus then, too, to get that business out of the way.

The office needs to get cleaned because we're planning on buying a bigger bed by the end of the month and we need somewhere to put the current bed, so we're planning on turning the office into an official guest room/office. As always, I have plans. Whether they come to fruition is a different story altogether.

That being said, I think I'm going to do some reading now. I love that there's no pressure at this moment for me to read, which makes it so much more productive. And I want to finish this book by tomorrow for the lit class so I can get the final novel we're doing read this weekend, so I'm done except for grading with them, too.

Have a great day all!