Friday, June 12, 2009

Quick checklist.

Short summer term taught: DONE.

Vegetables growing: DONE.

Kitchen ceiling painted: DONE.

Poem written in the voice of a medieval weapon of war: DONE.

Thing 1 nursed through swine flu gastro-intestinal virus: DONE.

Proofs of forthcoming article reviewed: DONE.

Two very useful works of scholarship read: DONE.

Now can I PLEASE have TEN MINUTES to MYSELF so that I can try to do some writing on this *&$%! book?!

7 comments:

Ink said...

Ten minutes? I think you have earned a whole afternoon! Kudos! (Seriously, impressive list...and good luck with the project.)

Renaissance Girl said...

Yeah, but remember how, on my post of May 24, I said that I'd be working any day I didn't have the Things? I haven't had, in June, a single day when I wasn't with my kids--except for those couple of days when I was teaching. Which is great, obviously--time with my kids is vital for my equilibrium, but I really, really need a set of hours all together to get any kind of scholarly work done, and haven't had any of that since my self-imposed start-date of June 1. Frustrating.

Anonymous said...

Poor Thing 1.

I can see how you need some space and time to do the writing thing, but it should make you feel a lot proud of yourself for being a mom first.

I hope life eases up a little so you can do what you need to get done. :)

Renaissance Girl said...

Anon--Thanks for your sympathies re: Thing 1.

It's not really a matter of choosing to be a mom first vs. a scholar first. I am a mom, all the time. And I'm also a scholar and writer, all the time. They are both 24/7 occupations. Both gigs have real demands attached to them. I'm delighted to spend days on end with the Things. But that means that I spend all night catching up on the real demands of my intellectual life, which makes me 1) sleepless and cranky, and 2) less resistant to the normal coping-challenges of parenting, which means I spend less QUALITY time with the Things. Yes, I'm a mom, but I'm also a person, and both parts of me need to have time, or else the energy gets all off-kilter.

Anonymous said...

Yes, of course, which is why I hope that other part of life eases up so you can do the important things of the scholarly life. That's all I meant.

Ink said...

Ooh, I've got it! Change your self-imposed start date to July 1 instead and then you are ahead of schedule! :D

(I do understand, though, honestly, and I hope that you find some scholarly time very soon.)

the rebel lettriste said...

How is it that when we are busy we are VERY busy?

Glad the veg are coming along!