I've been able to catch up on sleep, and I've got a handle now on the rest of the quarter, both in terms of the grad class and the survey classes. That feels good. Last night I goofed off a bit after the kid went to bed and let the husband do the kitchen (that's now his job anyway). It took me longer to fall asleep than I'd liked for it to have, and I didn't get as much as I wanted to, but at least I was somewhat relaxed. That's a plus.

The focus still, for the remainder of the quarter is to just survive and do good enough. I've already got the final exams made, so that's a plus. I only need to spend about 5 minutes at the grocery getting a couple of things today, so that's good. I've got to go for a run and spend some time writing. I can write in between cooking batches of bacon, actually, when I get home.

What I need to do is finally finish that article. I can spend my office hours then for the rest of the quarter doing the syllabi for next quarter, setting up on the on-line class for next quarter, and writing. And then grading as things come in.

Sleep is the big thing. My attitude has shifted so much in the last couple of days because I've gotten more sleep. I still feel like I'm on the verge of just crying all the time though, but that's other stuff I guess. I'm sure once I eventually get caught up on sleep that will help.

In terms of sleep, this is what I've decided to try because I have actually really screwed myself over with this article that was due two weeks ago. I'm two articles behind already at this point. But I was getting less sleep than I should, waking up to try to squeeze work or cleaning in before class, then working or cleaning at night after dinner, trying to work out, getting up at 4:30 for that, and I think what I did was just exhaust myself. Now, I still should be reading at night rather than watching tv, but I've decided, at least for the rest of the quarter to focus on at least 8.5 hours of sleep. If that means not getting up early to work out or work, then so be it because I feel like I'll get more done during the day if I'm rested than if I'm trying to squeeze more work in. And I'm going to commit to 20 minutes of writing a day until the article is done. Seven days a week. It can be revision work or new words, but at least 20 minutes a day for the writing.

Rather than feeling hopeless about all that needs to be done, I realize that if I'm getting sleep, there is enough time to do stuff, and if I'm rested, I can get it done faster. I can focus better on the grading and stuff, too. I'm still worried about how bad this article sucks though.

And I've gotten sucked into this horrible body image thing the last couple of days. It feels like all of my clothes, even my new ones and stuff that I love and have made me feel good about myself in the past--it feels like everything is ill fitting and frumpy. All of my make up feels wrong and dated. I don't know. It's somewhat disheartening.

Anyway, the skies are a little brighter today. And I'm going to go run some errands.