Done!!!

I am finished! I submitted my students' grades on Monday at 8am and turned in my last essay at 3:30 when I went to listen to the last of our classes paper presentations. It is such a surreal feeling to be finished with classes. I have completed 39 doctoral credits in three years. That is an accomplishment, I just don't know how to feel about moving into the portion of school that is not controlled by deadlines. I am very worried about trying to complete the last phases of my program on a nice time line to be done by May of 2013.

I am setting a goal for myself to try and get one DQE book read a week this summer. My intention is complete as much of the reading this summer and write my exam this fall to submit for defense by Christmas. We have to write a paper based off a reading list, so it is a little different than most PhD programs I know.

Once that is complete I am hoping that with the research that I have started I could dig into my dissertation without much delay.

These are my plans, now it is God's time to laugh. :)

0-2 So Far, But Spring is Looking Good

Well October was the month of proposals for me, and so far I am 0-2 with one still hanging out there in limbo. My proposal to teach the History of American Women was not accepted, and I am waiting to hear back from my chair to get some feedback. I told her I am in no rush, proposals for Fall 10 courses aren't due until February/March. The second proposal that I am still a little unhappy with was to spend a month teaching in Florence with a colleague of mine in the art history department. We worked our tails off to create a class down to the minute detail, but another thorough proposal was accepted. I was happy to see that it went to another pair that had a very clear aspect of what 4 weeks in Florence would entail. I think I wouldn't be as upset if I knew I would have a shot at wherever the location for summer 2011, but considering the hubby and I have put off having kids long enough, this was probably my last shot for the next 25 years to do something like this. I don't think he'll agree to me moving overseas for a month with a new born, maybe a small child, but we'll see. The last proposal that is hanging out there is to present a paper I co-authored at a conference in San Diego in March/April of 10. I would love to add that to my CV, but right now it seems like an after thought.

One good thing is that my spring semester is really falling into place. I have 2, count them, 1, 2 courses left to take in my program, and they are not being offered on the same day! I can actually finish my program without having to deal with trying to rearrange things like I was worried about for my current semester. As for teaching, I was only offered one course instead of two. I was a little upset with this at first until I remembered last spring I had the same offer. Our students don't take as many humanities/writing courses in the spring based on their schedules. I was able to pick up a second section days before the semester started. On the other hand spring means developing courses for our online summer group. I had two that were basically guaranteed for me. I went to the supervisor and selflessly offered myself up for a third course and she was thrilled! They have been trying to figure out how they were going to balance the courses with the handful of ID people that they use. Yeah me! This means, when I get the contracts, I will be a little bit a head monetarily this spring then I had anticipated. Spring should be interesting, and hopefully distract me for a while from trying to figure out what to do in the fall while writing my DQEs.

Summer Lovin'

I've been off for a month now, and though I have not completed any projects yet, I have started numerous ones. I have my kitchen under construction, and with the help of a friend it is now painted. I have the cabinet bases to still paint, and the doors, but one step is complete, so I am very happy to have that behind me. The hinges have been spray painted (they were brass and my hardware is nickel), and I have drilled holes for the hardware I got for free from my SIL who didn't care for it. I have material to make a Roman shade for the window, but that is the last step. I am hoping that by Monday night the cabinet bases and all wood will be painted. I can take care of sanding and painting all 17 cabinet doors and 6 drawers individually, but to have all of the contents of my counters in my dining room is driving my OCD into overdrive. I can deal with it for only so long. After all our handy work is done we are going to replace the appliances and range hood with money saved from our tax return. With the little financial windfall I have coming in from work, I think we will finish up the whole kitchen by putting in new flooring, sink, facet, and counter top. Those were going to be the 2009 tax return, but if we can finish it this summer and enjoy a completed kitchen, all the better. Then the tax return can be all about the only room in our condo that hasn't been updated from all its 1980's glory, the bathroom. That one has to be a professional job. We only have one bathroom, and cannot have it torn up for more than a few days before my husband and I need counselors.

I partially read one book for my DQE group. I couldn't finish it in time. I got pulled into some meetings just before our group met. I am now developing 3 courses over the summer. I am loving the money that I will get. It is nice because this fall I will not be a graduate assistant, and with these 3 classes I have made up the money the part-time assistantship paid me all year. On top of this there is a lot of rumbling around the office of more courses to develop this coming school year! So much so that I am helping train another course developer.

I also got my doctoral program planning form approved by the graduate school on campus. This means that I have 9 credits, or 3 classes left to take in my program. I have the dreaded stats this fall, all by its little lonesome, and in the spring I have our capstone course where we work on our dissertation proposals and I will also take a history research seminar to replace an ed research course. This is all really falling into place. I feel like things are going a little too well. I appreciate the good, but I am too much of a pessimist to not stop and look for falling shoes. I am not looking for the bad, but want to catch it before it becomes a big issue.

I'm Back

I know it has been a while since my last post. I will try and keep this short. I finished my semester, all of my work turned in, with little time to spare, and yet this procrastination was rewarded with A's from both of my professors. This is slightly disturbing to me, I feel like I should be punished for my slacking, but I guess that school is just coming way too easily for me. On top of this, grades don't count at this level any more. No employer is going to ask my GPA, just verify if I indeed received my PhD.

I am still figuring out my fall semester, but hopefully now I will be able to get this taken care of. I was on vacation last week, one wonderful week in the Caribbean, and a very interesting weekend on Miami Beach, was needed to help recharge my batteries and get me focused on a summer of reading DQE books.

There are other things running through my mind about what to write, but I will save that for another day. I did join Twitter while procrastinating the last weeks of school. I find it to be similar to a stream of Facebook status updates, and just as addictive. Check out my page if you are interested.

Finals Week

I know you worry when I don't post updates on my to-do list. So here it is:

• 12-15 page historiography - due Monday
• 3 page book review (still need to read that book) - due Monday
• Add a paragraph or two to the Title IX paper - due Monday
• Finish grading the last 6 portfolios and about 6 projects - Grades due Monday
• 1 Final exam (which is now a take home!) - due Friday
• Grade 19 lesson plans

Once that is done, it is sweet freedom until classes resume August 31st. When all this is complete I will have 30 doctoral credits! I still haven't gotten this fall figured out, but my advisor doesn't seem to be worried about it. He told me that we can figure it out during finals week, which is next week. I am a little paranoid, but that is my nature. I like to have things like this planned out. The last conversation I had with Pablo made me happy. He told me we would look for a master's course that would cover, leaving me with 9 credits left to take! I don't want to get my hopes up, but that would be fricking awesome.

Summer for me this year is beginning to look more interesting. I am going to watch my youngest nephew this summer, about 4 days a week. He will be two this June and is just a riot at this age. Since my other jobs are 10 month contracts, I am free this summer. I will be trying to get my DQE books hammered out this summer. On top of that, there might be two more courses that I can develop online. If the money is anything like this past semester, that would be fantastic. Speaking of development. I still have one more course to finish up, which I can do next week. The course doesn't begin until after Memorial Day, so I have a little more time to finish the second half. I just need to light a fire under my own behind, then get on the professor's case.

Lastly, I had a doctor appointment yesterday. No I don't have the swine flu, I just went for a check up. I am officially down 24 pounds since surgery. I am happy with that, but I am trying to figure out how my height shrank one entire inch.