Day #2

No shots of reviving libations tonight. This shortened week at the beginning of the school year always has me going many directions at once, and shifting gears among my various roles multiple times during the day (often at light speed).

Here's what that looks like: today Mom drove an early run to school, Teacher went to a meeting, Mom went back to retrieve the elder child, Professor worked on her syllabus and class blog, Mom picked up the younger child early from school and took both girls to elder daughter's doctor's appointment, Teacher/Mom took both girls and went to a dorm meeting, Mom brought everyone home and supervised homework and made dinner, Professor tried to finish the opening lecture before Teacher goes back to the dorm...

Why am I risking paralyzing you with boredom by listing all of those activities? Well, it was in interesting counterpart to content of my morning meeting, for one. The theme of our faculty meeting this morning (today's is always reserved for some kind of professional development work, either a speaker, or workshops, or the like) was the culture of distraction, and focused on the ways burgeoning technological advances impinge on our time and ability to focus. The point is not just that we adults are multi-tasking within an inch of our lives, but that our children have actually been brought up NOT to pay attention in a singular, focused way. As teachers, then, we need to find ways to help them learn this skill. Our speaker talked about creating quiet spaces in our daily lives, noticing the layers of distractions in our daily routines, and being more thoughtful about our curriculum planning. This sounds like a great goal for the year, in fact. I had already said to R that I needed to find a way to head off the serious stress before the stomach ache arrives; finding them quiet spaces sounds to me like a part of the process.

(Another reason to write out that mind-numbing list above is exorcism, frankly. If I tell my day, maybe I won't continue to gnash my teeth about it.)

Despite all this running about, I am mid-three-needle-bind-off on the hood of the Apres Surf Hoodie, and after that, it's a small matter of sewing in the sleeves and applying the neckband and i-cord bindoffs. I am glad to see that the end of this project is finally in sight, though I have enjoyed working on it. It's been OTN a long time. The French Market bag is also as close to done as THAT --it needs its handles kitchenered and then a serious felting. After that I'll see whether I think it needs a fabric lining...