Fun!

Just because I need my brain rot just as much as the average person....

I've been making things like this in the last few weeks!

They make me happy.  One is for J, the other one is for his little friend.  Bet you can't guess which is which.  The happy yarn just made me think of him, I could hardly stand it....and the flower is the most complex thing I've crocheted.  Ever.

So now that I've busied my hands with some fluff, I guess it's time to get writing again.

Progress, and lack thereof

So, next time someone points out to me that 3 years seems like WAY too long for me to have been in the list/exam/proposal/writing phase, I'll be sorely tempted to point out things like the following:

During that stretch I birthed and nursed an infant.

I left my PhD institution and have been teaching a 4-4 load at another for the past two years.

In addition to work, I have ballet lessons, art classes, and camping trips to think of.

Unlike my male counterparts with children, no one does the shopping, cooks my food, does my laundry, cleans my house, or watches my children while I write.  I do those things.  And write.

I did seven loads of laundry in 24 hours Thursday/Friday in a (so far successful) attempt to limit the stomach flu flying around out extended family, to just J.

And I'm going to graduate along with my entering PhD cohort (well, barring catastrophe I will).


It's funny, the folks in my ward don't say anything to the male students with young families about being in school for ages.  They just assume that the men are on track.  Then they hear me say something that allows them to mentally calculate "Whoa, she's been working on the dissertation for three years?" and assume that I'm behind schedule.

For what it's worth, I'm not.

/end rant.

I didn't post a "thankful" post....

I guess that oversight speaks to the chaos of my existence at the moment.

I spent Thanksgiving helping Ben clean up J's puke - though I have to admit that Ben really outdid himself in terms of stepping up so that I could still get work done. 

So today (and in the spirit of Thanksgiving), I'm grateful that I wrote my requisite pages, got to eat all my favorite comfort foods (soooooo many carbohydrates, I was in heaven!!), and now get to go choose and decorate a Christmas tree.

As chaotic, stressed, rushed, and full as my life generally seems to be, all of my problems are very first-world: finding ways to fit all the fresh produce into the fridge, getting the puked-on clothes immediately into the washing machine's sanitize cycle to attempt to contain the germs, worrying about whether or not the tree will stay strapped atop the Chevy or not....

I sometimes feel guilty that my life is so blessed when there is such poverty and suffering around the world. 

Today I'm trying to eliminate the guilt and just be thankful.