Spring Break--Having a Plan

This week is my spring break. The kids are in school, Hubby is gone on vacation, and so I have lots of hours in the house to myself. It. Is. Wonderful. But, unfortunately, I cannot just luxuriate in the silence or lie on the floor, staring at the ceiling in relaxed bliss. I can't even curl up on the couch with a book. No, I have stuff to get done, including two (out of three) batches of essays*, several sets of quizzes, and a chapter draft for the dissertation. Plus, there is all manner of housekeeping, gardening, and bill paying to which I should attend.

In order to get said stuff done, I figured I should have a plan, especially for the grading which I really want to ignore but cannot. Here is the basic plan that I came up with last Thursday:

Grading:

• Sunday evening: grade all quizzes
• Monday during the day: grade paper revisions 
• Each day, M-F: grade five essays from batch one during the day, and grade two essays from batch two each evening after the kids go to bed
• Sunday at the end of break: the remainder

PhD:

• Do a lot each day

How has it been going, you ask? Well, it's Tuesday afternoon, and I have graded all of the quizzes but only two essays. Out of about 45 or 50. (Wow, typing those numbers just spooked me, big time.) And I wouldn't say I've done a lot for the PhD but rather a little, or maybe a medium amount.

What have I been doing instead of grading? Oh, I don't know--taking morning walks with the dog, cleaning out the pantry, tidying my environment, drinking tea, talking to the cat.

But unless I want to be totally screwed on Sunday, I better get busy with the grading. And if I want to have a decent chapter draft by Friday, I need to step up my game on that front, too.

I will happily accept any advice for how to milk this break for all its worth so that it seems both productive and vacation-like (rather than unproductive and not-so vacation-like).


*The third batch will just have to wait until next week.

Spring Break

I am on spring break, which is otherwise known as "the teaching hiatus of my 18-week semester during which I catch up on grading."

I have several things on my "To Do" list:

1. Grade stray essays
2. Grade 50 argument essays
3. Read for dissertation
4. Write a little bit for dissertation (even five pages would be good)
5. Read and prep Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde
6. Spruce up the house with some new towels and a new shower curtain
   
7. Spring Clean, and, most importantly
8. Have fun with family, and
9. Drink gin and tonics before 3:30 in the p.m.

So far, I've done about 7-8 essays, a little bit of dissertation reading, and have had some family fun. Right now I'm drinking a gin and tonic and it's 3:39pm.

Not too shabby.

But I only have a little bit of time for work left since the we're heading to Ojai for a few days at the end of the week. I've heard that Ojai charming. I'm just hoping that it's warm enough for the kids to swim, bike, and picnic.

Today's To Do List

1. Take the Boy to school.
2. Take the Girl to school.
3. Shower.
4. Volunteer at the Boy's school.
5. VOTE!
6. Write this blog post.
7. Find passport.
8. Find power adapter for UK electrical outlets.
9. Pay bills.
10. Pick Boy up from school.
11. Eat lunch with the Boy.
12. Pick Girl up from school.
13. Drop kids off at my mom's.
14. Go to my actual office at my place of employment to upload info for online course for next semester (after locating FTP disk).
15. Turn in book orders for spring (which are overdue).
16. Go to travel agent to pick up train tix.
17. Come home and clean (if there is time)
18. Get kids.
19. Make dinner, do bath, etc.
20. Watch election returns!
21. Celebrate!
    

No wonder I never get anything done.