Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Cinnamon!!

Howdy!

I'm burning a "Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin" candle so the apartment smells dandy. I love the smell of cinnamon. I can't smell the pumpkin at all (and I'm Ok with that).

I've been making steady progress with my Christmas cards. It's a nice way to take a break from grading and other prep work. Last year I put them off too long and I scrambled to get them finished which led to me not enjoying the process. I've slightly altered my list but didn't take many people off it. I had a lot of extra cards from previous years so I haven't had to buy many cards.

I forgot to mention that I watched the movie "Black Swan" last week. I remember how strongly they promoted the movie and now I understand why. It was a combination of horror and soft-core porn. The main character is a ballet dance (Natalie Portman) and she loses her mind while preparing for the production of Swan Lake. I kind of regret putting it in the mail...I want to watch it again so it's going back on the Netflix list.

Life has been stressful as the semester comes to a close. I still need to revise two final exams and write one from scratch. Unit plans are slowly being submitted too and I need to start tackling them too. I'm hoping to start grading the handful I have tomorrow night so I don't have all 27 staring at me this weekend. I have administrative tasks to accomplish too so all the grad students end their semester properly and make preparations for the classes they teach in the spring. I feel like I have to hold their hands more than I should....bleh.

The audit of the summer program sucks. S-U-C-K-S. The lady lied...I was told their requests would not be time-intensive. Bullmalarcy. I had a huge email with many questions waiting for me on Monday morning. They wanted quick answers and sadly a lot of the questions pertained to accounting...I had to bother the secretaries for some answers. I just want that audit done.

I'm excited for the weekend. I've always enjoyed the departmental Christmas party. I have collected a few cool items for a White Elephant gift. I'm going to try and talk Jon into bringing a White Elephant gift too so he can enjoy the event. I have other stuff we can easily wrap up for a gift. Not sure if he'll be willing though since he's new to the crowd.

On another note...dry skin is not fun. I don't remember ever having as dry skin as I do this winter. I should probably be more diligent with lotion. My arms are especially bad.

OK, enough procrastination. I need to whip up a presentation for tomorrow since my health class would like to review for their final exam. Luckily it's simple content so it shouldn't be rocket science (except for those that rarely come to class).

Adios!

2 comments:

LeAnn said...

Tally ho! Pumpkin really doesn't have a smell, so I'm not surprised about your candle. I witnessed your progress with the Christmas cards when my card came in the mail. No offense, but did you screw up the stationery for everyone or just me?

Black Swan is on my long list of movies to see. Being that I have no life outside of school and no DVD player yet, I am missing out on a lot of movies.

I think the weeks before Christmas are stressful. I can't wait for the next week and a half to fly by. I'm burnt out and ready for time away from school stuff. Although, it's depressing to think I'll have approx. 75 papers to read and grade after Christmas break.

I can only imagine the pressure and annoyance that the audit provides. It should be over before too much longer, right? The Smith Family Christmas party will be weird without you and Gavin. It seems too early for it. Isn't it usually closer to Christmas or after Christmas? It's been awhile since I've done a White Elephant thing. Although, I heard that there was going to be a White Elephant gift exchange at the Smith X-Mas Party.

I'm 100% with you on the skin problem. I've never had this bad of a skin problem during winter. I think that's why I had to go to the doctor a few weeks back. My skin isn't adjusting to the change in weather very well. I've learned that I have to lotion in the morning and at night to keep my skin semi-happy. I've been using strong lotion too. Good luck to us both.

I'm going to try blog tonight, but no promises. Ta ta.

gavsmom said...

I think 4-5 appeared to go through the printer the wrong direction so not all were backwards. I just randomly picked the letters out of the pile and you were a lucky recepient.

When did they decide on the White Elephant gift thing at the Smith party? That wasn't advertised very well.