M.J. Fredrick's Blog, page 75

Goals for the Second Week of December

 

Boring week, really. I'm hoping my student teacher comes every day so I can get some of the program prep done while he's teaching.

1)      Finish edits on Midnight Sun

2)      Prepare for PTA program

3)      Go to the farmer's market for Tamale Day

4)      Write 2 guest blogs

5)      Supernatural Sisters blog

6)      Finish Christmas shopping

7)      Get used to cooking again—the dh is back at work

8)      Keep up the house

Ask and You Shall Receive

I don't know what the saying has to do with the dog, but…

So I get a comp day today so my student teacher can have the class to himself. I get the feeling they're going to eat his lunch. I didn't want to take today–I wanted Monday, but he has a job interview Monday and couldn't do it, and next week we start practicing for the program so I couldn't really miss AFTER Monday, you know? Soooo…the dh is on vacation this week and we're going to some estate sales and Target and maybe out to lunch.

While I'm waiting for him, I've been working on edits on Midnight Sun that Trish read for me. I've got a ton of revisions ahead. I need to revise:

My NaNo book

My bodyguard book

A short story that Undone rejected

Gosh, it feels like I have one more, too.

Then I need to write the sequels to my NaNo book, and I have another short story started.

My brain, she must slow down!

Why Teachers Need Vacations

I LOVE that movie. This picture cracked me up.

I've been going 60 mph since I've been back at work. In the next three weeks, I need to:

Tutor 3 more times.

Do tutoring paperwork.

Do paperwork monitoring progress of my low students.

Write a script for the program, come up with dances and decorations and costumes and PUT ON THE PROGRAM.

Have two late meetings.

Grade.

Do progress reports.

Do lesson plans.

Get the kids to finish copying and illustrating their stories from this year so far into a book to give to their parents.

AND teach.

Dang, I'm tired, and I just had a week off!

Shopping

I've gotten all my out-of-town shopping done, and I've gotten a few things for myself, as well.

I got Volume 4 of GLEE music for $10, free shipping, and the third season of The Tudors, $15, also free shipping. I bought some Reeboks Easy Toners for $40, free shipping. I haven't had athletic shoes in an AGE. And I bought two more books.

The first is my friend Lorelle's VERY FIRST BOOK. She went through a LOT to get here, guys. She deserves all the success in the world.

The second is Holiday Sparks from Shannon Stacey. I read her first Carina book, loved it, and am itching to start the second. This is a novella, though, and not out until next week.

Have you bought yourself anything lately?

30 more pages to edit on STTA!

The Year of No Expectations

Yes, I'm up at a god-awful hour. TERRIBLE dream, couldn't go back to sleep. I wish I knew why my dreams were so vivid and so constant.

 

I've got to learn how to not plan my day, apparently, because every time I do, it goes in a completely opposite direction. The Thursday before Thanksgiving, for example, when I expected my student teacher to teach while I worked on paperwork (which is never-bloody-ending this year) and he emailed 20 minutes before school started to tell me he wouldn't be in for the next 2 days.

Or yesterday, when I knew he wouldn't be there, and I'd teach in the AM, write our script for our winter program in the PM, only to discover a student observer from the community college needed to finish out her observation hours for the semester and was going to spend the day with me. I got NO work done.

So today…no expectations. I'll take it as it comes.

Yeah, right.

Withdrawal

I'm back at school for 3 weeks. I get a free day off in there because my student teacher needs to have the class to himself one day, so I'm either taking this Wednesday while the dh is on vacation (he wants to go to estate sales) or next Monday when he's not. Guess which one I'd prefer?

Anyway, think of me today while I'm twitching from withdrawal.

No Twitter.

No Amazon Lightning Deals (and I didn't even buy anything this year!)

No Alex O for lunch.

No quiet, quiet mornings with nothing but the cats.

No anything good for lunch—back to packing one. Except maybe Thursday if my student teacher keeps the kids while I make a run to a nearby restaurant.

No sitting in my big chair with a Diet Coke and my 9:00 snack.

No. Nap.

Won't I be fun the next few days?

I know, I get another break in 3 weeks, but there's so much to do between now and then!

I finished NaNo, and a couple of hours later, got an R (not on the NaNo book, just to be clear). What an up and down life this is!

I'm editing STTA, so you get JDM for about a week.

 

NaNoWriMo 2010

Still need to write 2 scenes to finish the book, though. Later…

Goals for the First Week of December

Our leftovers are gone. Took 3 meals, split with my family, but they're gone. Good to the last bite, too!

Back to work. My student teacher isn't due back until some time Tuesday (he went out of town) so I'll be teaching everything tomorrow, and maybe getting observed. Woot.

1)      Finish NaNo (today, I hope!)

2)      Finish edits on STTA

3)      Start edits on Midnight Sun

4)      School Christmas party

5)      Write play for school, and figure out some dances

6)      Buy out of town gifts (I know 2, clueless about the third)

7)      Library/grocery store

 

The dh is on vacation this week, so I don't have to worry too much about cooking and cleaning!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!! You know what's funny? Road Signs, the book I wrote last NaNoWriMo, is set this time of year, up in the northern part of the country where they're having so much bad weather. The book is set in a blizzard, so I keep thinking right now Cam and Willow are somewhere holed up in a motel

 

I'm feeling mushy today. I had a fun dinner with the family last night, though we're eating over there today.

I'm thankful I get along so well with my family.

I'm thankful that though I'm enjoying having the windows open this AM, we're getting a cold front this afternoon that will make Christmas decorating cozy.

I'm thankful for a week off at Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for my husband, who likes to cook and will be cooking for the next week since he's on vacation. I'm thankful for him in other ways, too

I'm thankful my son got home safely last night, and every night he comes home safely.

I'm thankful we have a contract for my mother-in-law's house. That will be such a relief.

I'm thankful to work at such a great school, with such a great group of teachers and great kids!

I'm thankful to have five books, written by me, sitting on my bookshelf.

I'm thankful for my Nook, my iPhone and my baby laptop.

I'm thankful for online shopping!

I hope you find lots to be thankful for today.

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Things I Love and Some Things I Like

I absolutely LOVE Walking Dead, the new show on AMC. LOVE the post=apocalyptic atmosphere, the danger, the relationships. Last nights was by far the best, twisting expectations. Yes, it's gross. GROSS! And gives me nightmares. But I love love LOVE it.

I started reading A Marine for Christmas by Beth Andrews and I LOVE it. I love the screw-up heroine and her family, and while the hero is going to need some big-time redemption, I trust Beth to pull it out.

I love all the charts and graphs and stats for NaNoWriMo. They tell me when I've met my goal, how many words I need to meet my daily goal, average number–it is SO cool, one of the reasons I love NaNo.

I love having my windows open this week while I'm off. I wish it was a hair cooler, but still.

What are you loving this week?