Life is exhausting.

What a busy two weeks! The July block class I TA'd for is finally done. Book reports graded, final exams graded, grades entered, and I can close the book on it. They were an exceptional class - this professor is one of the few I've met who doesn't cut back on course requirements at all on the block schedule (compared to how he teaches it in the regular semester), and all but 2 of them kept up with everything to the end and earned As or Bs for a final grade. That's also the professor I've been working on a 3rd journal article with, and I have just a couple last changes he's requested to my part before I can cross that off the list (for a while!), too. The 2nd article was accepted for publication, so I get to see my name in print again sometime around the end of the year. We're planning on this one going out for review the end of the month, and in my opinion this article is a very solid one. It would be great if we could get a revise-and-resubmit request in time to add it to my C.V. for the pending job search.

For my own stuff, I've been working really hard on getting powerpoints put together for next semester, and I'm actually almost done! I was going to take them with me to work on while I'm vacationing in Oregon later this week, but I think I reached a point where I can ignore them - everything is completely ready for the first 12 weeks of class except writing the midterm exam, and I'd rather wait on that till I see how the class is doing with the material. I do still have 4 books I'm considering assigning for group book reports that I haven't actually read yet, but I can take those for my in-flight reading. There aren't very many books that would actually feel like a chore, as far as I'm concerned.

I need to get the house really cleaned up over the next couple of days. A young couple from my ward is going to house sit - just married in June and have now moved back here as he has graduated from BYU-Idaho and wants to start law school while she is already enrolled in nursing school here. Meanwhile, while they figure it all out, they're living with her parents (my bishop). They were thrilled at the idea of some privacy for a week, and I'm thrilled to know my cats will be taken good care of and the house watched over. Plus, it saves me $50 for the pet sitter. Of course, I told them to feel free to eat whatever they want, so it probably breaks about even there. I still feel better with married college-aged students watching over everything rather than leaving a key with my neighbor's daughter. (Not that she isn't responsible, but...) Anyway, the point is that the house needs to be cleaner for houseguests than for a once-a-day feed the kitties situation. Plus, it's always good to have some motivation to get everything all cleaned up at once - my typical pattern is to have one room clean at a time, and a semi-disaster everyplace else.

And lost in all of this is my dissertation, which is metaphorically gathering dust on the shelf while I spend my time and attention on the things screaming the loudest. I'm so not good at staying on top of long projects with nebulous deadlines. I'll hopefully cram in a couple of hours on it over the next couple of days (sandwiched around the cleaning!) - it would be pretty horrible to show up at my monthly meeting with my advisor and have done nothing since the last time we met. I'll probably end up bringing it along on my jump drive, planning to work on it a few hours over vacation - and I probably won't even open the thing once! I'll just feel guilty about it all week. ;)

We had another lake activity for the youth last Wednesday, and those are always a lot of work. This time, however, I just unilaterally decided we would do PB&J sandwiches instead of hot dogs. I usually get stuck doing the grilling, and I've been a little irritated at the youth not having good attitudes about any "service" they're asked to do - grumbling about their turn at trash pickup, complaining during service projects, etc. So I decided I didn't feel like dealing with hotdogs, and when they complained it could be a nice little reminder that adults sacrifice to serve them all the time, so they should quit complaining when it's their turn to serve. That pretty much backfired, as not one of the youth complained. They thought it was a brilliant plan, in fact. So I didn't get to make my grand point about their murmuring, but I also didn't have to cook hotdogs so I suppose I really can't complain. (OK - I am a little disgruntled that the one time I planned on them griping about something they didn't. They were back to normal this morning, though - Fast Sunday means opening exercises with the Relief Society, and I have yet to figure out why this is so traumatic to them that they feel compelled to complain every single month!)

So all in all, I am thoroughly ready for a vacation and some fun!