In my 15-minute embroidery session this morning I did half a Secret Project motif in coral stitch, but I am going to take it out because the stitches were too close together. Hopefully I can finish that in tomorrow's session, then I will only have one motif left for the embroidery part. That one is French knots and stem stitch, so it should go quickly.
Dropped Kitty Mama off at the groomer to get those awful mats removed. Picked up Kitty Son's special food at the vet's office which is just downstairs from the groomer. Came home, made tea, and now I'm working on one conference paper and the research grant proposal, both due this week. We have a Skype conference at 2 p.m. to go over the grant, so I need to get some serious writing done for my part of the research.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Pictures
Works in progress: Tricia Wilson Nguyen's spot sampler on top left, the mate to Youngest Daughter's pillowcase on the top right, silver and silk fan in front.
and a secret project (embroidery part is 13.3/18 done)
and a Bey (bad phone shot, but he's still cute):
and work-work in progress: two conference papers, one grant, one revise and resubmit, one journal article, three class preps.
and a secret project (embroidery part is 13.3/18 done)
and a Bey (bad phone shot, but he's still cute):
and work-work in progress: two conference papers, one grant, one revise and resubmit, one journal article, three class preps.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Yay!
Out of grading jail!
So far today I've graded finals for two classes and revised two conference papers. I think I deserve a bit of a break. Time for tea!
So far today I've graded finals for two classes and revised two conference papers. I think I deserve a bit of a break. Time for tea!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Popcorn time! and various miscellania
Spouse and I went with his sister and her husband to see The King's Speech. It was a wonderful film, and we enjoyed it very much. The time just flew by. Definitely something I would see again.
I've gotten through a lot of the grading, and only have the finals left to do. I should get those done tomorrow, and then I can put this quarter aside and get ready for the next one.
Another grant is going in this week, and one next week--so that's four external proposals and one internal so far since January. The "hit rate" on external grants, especially NSF ones, is less than 10%, so there's not much chance I will get any of them, but can you imagine if, by some miracle, I won them all? I'd have to work night and day! Not likely, though.
The Secret Embroidery Project is coming along nicely and I have about 2/3 the embroidery part done. I was working on it last night while watching Amadeus and Spouse finally asked me what I was doing to make those popping noises (French knots. Lots of French knots). I am pretty pleased with how it's turning out, so far. If I had a better camera, one that took close-ups, I would post some pics.
Kitty Mama goes Monday to the groomers to get those mats cut out. They've got to be uncomfortable. She had the rips tonight and was just tearing back and forth from the sun porch to the kitchen. I think I know why--when I was testing the south kitchen wall to see if it could be skim coated yet I saw a yellow tiger kitty slipping into the garage. She probably can see it from her perch on the mantel and the computer desk in the sun porch, and wants to go outside and run it off her "turf". She is still a pretty active kitty, for her age. I was cleaning behind the television yesterday and fished out one of her "cheese mice"--she's been attacking that, and meowing very loudly while running around with the mouse in her mouth. Kitty Son follows but at a distance; he doesn't want to get cuffed.
I've gotten through a lot of the grading, and only have the finals left to do. I should get those done tomorrow, and then I can put this quarter aside and get ready for the next one.
Another grant is going in this week, and one next week--so that's four external proposals and one internal so far since January. The "hit rate" on external grants, especially NSF ones, is less than 10%, so there's not much chance I will get any of them, but can you imagine if, by some miracle, I won them all? I'd have to work night and day! Not likely, though.
The Secret Embroidery Project is coming along nicely and I have about 2/3 the embroidery part done. I was working on it last night while watching Amadeus and Spouse finally asked me what I was doing to make those popping noises (French knots. Lots of French knots). I am pretty pleased with how it's turning out, so far. If I had a better camera, one that took close-ups, I would post some pics.
Kitty Mama goes Monday to the groomers to get those mats cut out. They've got to be uncomfortable. She had the rips tonight and was just tearing back and forth from the sun porch to the kitchen. I think I know why--when I was testing the south kitchen wall to see if it could be skim coated yet I saw a yellow tiger kitty slipping into the garage. She probably can see it from her perch on the mantel and the computer desk in the sun porch, and wants to go outside and run it off her "turf". She is still a pretty active kitty, for her age. I was cleaning behind the television yesterday and fished out one of her "cheese mice"--she's been attacking that, and meowing very loudly while running around with the mouse in her mouth. Kitty Son follows but at a distance; he doesn't want to get cuffed.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Grading jail
Final grades are due Monday, so I guess I am back in grading jail for the next couple of days.
Prayers for Christchurch, NZ and those affected by the earthquake.
Prayers for Christchurch, NZ and those affected by the earthquake.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Two weeks at home!
My Friday meeting got canceled, so I could come home a day early. Yay! I still have grading to do, and a final to give (online), but I do not have to physically be on campus until the new term starts March 7th.
The break couldn't be any more welcome. By this time in the academic year, most everyone is pretty run down and ready for some time off. We really only have a week between terms, once finals are done and all the grading is completed, and that's not enough time to recharge one's batteries. This spring quarter I am teaching three classes, and one of those is essentially a new prep because I haven't taught it in four or five years and there's a new book. So while I may be off campus for two weeks, I'm not "off work". I also have a journal article review overdue, two student MS proposals to read and comment on, a grant proposal due March 2, and two articles to write/revise. I will still be busy!
Still waiting to hear from the Provost on tenure. I haven't gotten any indication that the answer will be "No" so I am cautiously optimistic. Blech. What a long slog this is.
One of my students went home to China to spend the New Year with his family. He brought back silk bags for each of us in the class, with a matching set of beads inside. Mine is bright, beautiful blue. So cool!
Okay, the news in brief:
The break couldn't be any more welcome. By this time in the academic year, most everyone is pretty run down and ready for some time off. We really only have a week between terms, once finals are done and all the grading is completed, and that's not enough time to recharge one's batteries. This spring quarter I am teaching three classes, and one of those is essentially a new prep because I haven't taught it in four or five years and there's a new book. So while I may be off campus for two weeks, I'm not "off work". I also have a journal article review overdue, two student MS proposals to read and comment on, a grant proposal due March 2, and two articles to write/revise. I will still be busy!
Still waiting to hear from the Provost on tenure. I haven't gotten any indication that the answer will be "No" so I am cautiously optimistic. Blech. What a long slog this is.
One of my students went home to China to spend the New Year with his family. He brought back silk bags for each of us in the class, with a matching set of beads inside. Mine is bright, beautiful blue. So cool!
Okay, the news in brief:
- Eldest Daughter starts her new job Wednesday. I am excited for her!
- Son has finished his MS proposal and is waiting for comments from his prof. He bought me the 1991 Hallmark Star Trek Enterprise and 1996 Voyager ornaments! How sweet! I am excited! Pretty soon I will have enough to decorate the whole tree in nothing but Star Trek ornaments...how geeky is that?
- Youngest Daughter is on the mend from the flu and has learned not to take codeine on an empty tummy.
- Dad is coming tomorrow to finish the kitchen walls. Then I need to decide on a paint color. Hmmm.
- Got new shoes, no more wet toes!
- I'm on a Bernard Cornwell kick. Currently reading his Grail series. Really cool.
- Hoping to make a trip to Delaware in early May to see the Plimoth Jacket at Winterthur. They've posted an online view of it here and a pdf of the multimedia presentation accompanying it here. The pictures are marvelous, but I know from having seen the companion coif in person that there's no substitute for seeing it for yourself.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Well, they're in
Both grants went in Friday at least 2-3 hours before the deadline. Right away I saw a problem with the one I am PI (principal investigator) on--the document detailing the facilities we have at the Uni was the wrong version. So we did a file update, and I figured we were done.
Spouse came home from work and took me out to dinner to celebrate because I was just utterly exhausted and didn't feel like cooking. While we were eating, I got an e-mail from my colleague, saying that he had looked at the budget for my grant and his salary figures were off by $7K. After a lot of messaging back and forth, we figured we would have to submit an amended budget on Monday. Sigh.
Yesterday was just a lost day. I was too worn out to do much, so I just worked on setting up some embroidery projects. One is a secret, because it's a present for a friend. The other is a silk snail (found here) that is a kit from Thistle Threads. Some of the proceeds from the snail kit go to the Fashion Museum in Bath, UK to help mount antique embroidered gloves. And, I'm working on the mate to Youngest Daughter's pillowcase.
Speaking of YD, she has a bad cold, poor baby. I hope she gets better soon!
Spouse came home from work and took me out to dinner to celebrate because I was just utterly exhausted and didn't feel like cooking. While we were eating, I got an e-mail from my colleague, saying that he had looked at the budget for my grant and his salary figures were off by $7K. After a lot of messaging back and forth, we figured we would have to submit an amended budget on Monday. Sigh.
Yesterday was just a lost day. I was too worn out to do much, so I just worked on setting up some embroidery projects. One is a secret, because it's a present for a friend. The other is a silk snail (found here) that is a kit from Thistle Threads. Some of the proceeds from the snail kit go to the Fashion Museum in Bath, UK to help mount antique embroidered gloves. And, I'm working on the mate to Youngest Daughter's pillowcase.
Speaking of YD, she has a bad cold, poor baby. I hope she gets better soon!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
A word to the wise
Never, never, never attempt to write two grants to the same solicitation. Seriously, I mean it.
It's enough to drive one nutsier than one is already. The due date is Friday, and we are up to version 13 on one grant and 18 on the other. The grant teams are 10 and 7, respectively, and guess who is doing most of the work? The Little Red Hen Triangle, three diligent and masochistic professors who are madly writing and rewriting and formatting and reformatting to get these things in.
Not that we have much chance of being awarded the grants, but if you don't try you have zero chance. So, after these go in, I will start on the third proposal, due March 2. That scream you hear periodically is coming from my general area.
Since the beginning of 2011 I have sent in two conference abstracts, an internal grant proposal, and will have two more grants submitted on Friday. That's pretty darned good. I should have two more grants in by the end of May, and two journal articles (plus I have two revise & resubmits to finish). Unfortunately, I have to teach three classes this Spring which will be a bear. One of them I haven't taught in three or four or more years, and the book has changed. So, that's basically a new course prep and those take a lot of time. Ugh.
In other news:
It's enough to drive one nutsier than one is already. The due date is Friday, and we are up to version 13 on one grant and 18 on the other. The grant teams are 10 and 7, respectively, and guess who is doing most of the work? The Little Red Hen Triangle, three diligent and masochistic professors who are madly writing and rewriting and formatting and reformatting to get these things in.
Not that we have much chance of being awarded the grants, but if you don't try you have zero chance. So, after these go in, I will start on the third proposal, due March 2. That scream you hear periodically is coming from my general area.
Since the beginning of 2011 I have sent in two conference abstracts, an internal grant proposal, and will have two more grants submitted on Friday. That's pretty darned good. I should have two more grants in by the end of May, and two journal articles (plus I have two revise & resubmits to finish). Unfortunately, I have to teach three classes this Spring which will be a bear. One of them I haven't taught in three or four or more years, and the book has changed. So, that's basically a new course prep and those take a lot of time. Ugh.
In other news:
- The Dean has send his recommendations to the Provost for tenure. They have to let us know by March 15, but they could do it sooner. I am guessing they will wait until the 15th because 1) one tenure candidate is expecting to be denied, so she lawyered up, and 2) another tenure candidate is very weak and no one thinks he will get tenure. Waiting until the 15th postpones the inevitable tenure denial appeal.
- Eldest Daughter is interviewing for a nice job (we think--salary has not been disclosed yet). Wishing her success! She's doing fabulously in her studies. Almost ready for her capstone project!
- Son is diligently working on his MS proposal and I think it looks great. No bias here, I'm DrMom and if I say it looks great, it looks great. :-)
- Youngest Daughter is diligently working on her Russian and Polish and Linguistics, and contemplating a summer abroad again. Sigh. I think it's great but I wish I could go too.
- KittyMama needs a grooming again. Poor thing is covered in mats. I try to cut them off but frankly, I am afraid of her! KittySon is fine, loves the Omega 3 oil he gets every day for his dry skin, and follows me around like a puppy when I am home. Last weekend he actually SAT ON MY LAP. Amazing. He usually snuggles close, but this time he climbed right up on my lap and slept for over an hour.
- Last weekend we had the floor replaced in the kitchen, FINALLY, and a new built-in dishwasher installed. We've always had a portable, but those really rip up floors. Anyway, I kept going out to the kitchen to look at the floor. Spouse was wishing I was going out there to make food. Silly boy.
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