Belated... Thoughts

[From Dept. of Speculation]

Oh the light at the end of the tunnel! There you are. Please, wrap me in your warm embrace and shield me from the horrors of the outside world.

No, not death. Christmas Break. Day one is in the books and it feels good.

I have been admittedly MIA the last few weeks, so I'm back for a quick hello and then business as usual. I have a whole bunch of posts lined up, so we're ready to roll.

This semester was really, really hard. The hardest in my entire 10+ year career, I think. Time was my greatest enemy; because Sawyer is so mobile and active and my husband barely gets home in time for a quick dinner before putting him to bed at night, I really don't get much done during the week after work. Weekends can be hard too, but I'll quit the excuses. I did the math and I graded over 6,000 assignments this semester, which equates to over 300 a week. Some are lengthy essays, some are quick graphic organizers to check off. If each took me an average of three minutes (ha!) that's over sixteen hours a week grading alone (or just more at the end of the grading periods). This was on top of really crappy sleep and other life issues. Bottom line: we cut down too many trees as a result of my classroom and I need to get my shit together. The other day I took a deep breath and my brain said, "Christine, you haven't done that in a long time." 

Tonight I ran into the grocery store for a bottle of wine and I got really self-conscious and didn't want to be that lady who's buying wine by herself on a Saturday night. So, I grabbed chips and coffee. So now I'm the woman drinking wine, eating chips, and anticipating a need to caffeinate through a hangover in the morning (all of this is incorrect, by the way; I will have one glass, won't eat the chips until tomorrow, and will be up walking by eight, headache free). Seriously, why do I care?

I've made a million peanut butter balls this week and have eaten about half a million. I use this recipe and it's the best one I've ever tried. My husband claims it's because of the vanilla, but I just think it's the ratio of powder sugar to peanut butter. Speaking of recipes, I want to make this Cheesy Bucatini Pie with Mini Meatballs this week. If Jessica makes it, it has to be great (I love how I use her first name, like we actually know each other). 

Listening to... Serial! I love it already. Truth be told, I'm glad she didn't just continue last season. I'm also listening to Jenny Lawson's Furiously Happy and it has seriously grown on me. The stigma of mental health is very sloooooowly fading away and I love her attitude. 

I also just finished Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill, another book by a Jenny, and another book about a woman struggling with anxiety. I really enjoyed it but the consensus at book club was pretty split. 

Tomorrow we're going to see Star Wars, finally. I only say "finally" because I feel like everyone has already seen it, despite it still being opening weekend. 

This will probably make sense to four people, but I really wanted to steal a sign advertising the yoga place my friend and I go to (it's one the size the realtors use to advertise open houses). The owner, who neither of us are in love with, is on the sign flipping the dog. Not long ago this friend and I were joking about going out late at night to draw mustaches on her, so I thought it was be hilarious to steal one and put it in her yard or wrap it up for a Christmas gift. Brilliant, I know. But then the wind blew them all away and I told her about my plan and she agreed that it was pretty great. And then today they put more out! I could have done it! Damn it! 

Eff you, company that handled Adele's LA portion of her tour! I tried to get tickets the day they went on sale and was put in the virtual waiting room for THREE AND A HALF HOURS! When I was let in I was promptly told they were sold out. 

I got on the treadmill to run a few miles this morning and it was not good. Ten minutes in I needed my inhaler and then after that I just couldn't get into a comfortable pace. I forced myself to do 2.5 miles, but after that I was done. Considering a few weeks ago I felt that I was Speedy Gonzalez and was stupidly entertaining the notion of a PR at Surf City I was pretty discouraged. A few hours later someone else posted about a less-than-stellar run and I commented that at least she did it. Practice what you preach, Christine.