Testing My Time Management Skills With Online Classes

 

I have now completed year two of university. This year I pushed harder and took four classes per semester, as well as two additional 6 week long online classes in the spring semester. I discovered that I do not want to ever take online classes again, if I can avoid it at all. They were quite difficult in ways I didn't expect. I hadn't realized how much influence the physical presence of a professor can have. It is also more difficult to gauge their marking style or understand what exactly they are looking for in an assignment. As much as I may be introverted, I need people too. I learn best on my own sometimes, but there is so much that a professor brings to a class that you just can't get online.
 

The pace of the online classes was intense. I had deadlines every 3 or 4 days, even on weekends. Doing a single class might have been a lot more manageable, but I'm not that smart and I dive in head first. In order to balance the deadlines for two separate classes, I needed a good system. First I printed a blank calendar and wrote out due dates. Then I added family commitments or school functions. I didn't have a lot in May, June was crazy though. I looked at this calendar every single day.

Now, seeing when the Module items are due is only helpful if I have a way to keep track of what each module is. For instance, Module 1 did not have a chapter to read. Fortunately, none of the modules required more than one chapter. But keeping track of what has to be done for module 4, which might have been about chapter 7 doesn't help a lot. And you need to know the module numbers, because the assignment upload links or online quizzes are noted as the module number, not chapters or names. So, I made myself a chart for each class like this.

 

Angel always offers encouragement. 

 

I used this, as you can see, as a quick glance place to track marks. Especially helpful when I was trying to calculate my grades before the final. I did have to add the due dates to this form later in the term, because it was getting confusing.

 

Additionally confusing, and further testing my organizational skills, was the naming structure for assignments. All documents that we submit were in this format MyName_M##. For both classes. So I had a Wendy_M04 for both classes. And yes, I did accidentally submit a Psyc assignment to my Soci prof. What a nightmare! I believe that was the point where my professor decided I was an idiot and marked my work much more critically after that. Even when I had a better mark, his comments were quite condescending after that point. To prevent a repeat of that horrible mistake, I made a habit of changing the file name as soon as I had finished submitting it. I had separate folders for each class, and just happened to click the wrong folder. When you only get one chance to submit, this is not a good thing. So, each time I finished an assignment and uploaded it, I went into the folder and changed it from Wendy_M04 to Wendy_psyc_M04. No more mistakes.

 

Online quizzes are quite a bit easier, and they are open book also. But you do have a time limit and some test bank questions can relate to really small details, so you really do have to do the reading if you want to do well. It is a much better plan to flip back through the book to double check something, than it is to try to find the answers for each question. I like online tests because feedback is instant, but the questions can be a lot more difficult than if the professor wrote them, or chose them.

My psyc final was written online at the exam facility. It was great to know my mark before I left, but I didn't do as well as I hoped and I definitely felt instantly defeated. Conversely, my soci exam was on paper and he was 5 days past the cutoff for grades when he finally posted them. And I also don't know what my mark on the exam was, just the final class grade. You win some, you lose some. Right?

 

The most important thing that got me through all of this for the last two months, without losing my mind, was continuous work. I didn't have any chances to hand things in early, but I only had one quiz that I had to scramble to complete on time through the whole semester. Every day, I checked my calendars, did a little work every chance I could.

 

I read text books while sitting and waiting at kids schools. I did assignments while everyone was out during the day, or after everyone went to bed. I made sure I told the family when I had something big coming up or if I was falling behind. Having my mother here was a great help, because she could do up dishes if I didn't get to them or, most often, switch my laundry for me because I was notorious for leaving things in the washer during these classes. I'm not sure why.

 

For cleaning and school work, consistently doing at least a little bit, every single day, was key to completing these courses. I finished with an A- and a B+. Still attending field trips and volunteered every morning for half an hour to switch the home reading books in Angel's class. I cooked dinner almost every night and we still ate at the table, all together, almost every single night. I did my best to protect my weekends. Sometimes it meant staying up late Friday to finish enough that I would be on track for Monday, just so that I had Saturday and Sunday open. But most often, Sunday ends up being a day for laundry and homework. It has been that way since I started university.

 

I would have to say that I think taking two short semester online classes was much more difficult than taking four regular semester classes.  These were regular classes, crammed into only 6 weeks of classtime. Very intense and highly stressful.

 

Yes, it is hard. This adventure may very well be the hardest thing I have ever done, in so many ways. But really, it's not so hard that I would ever quit. I make smaller goals. Make the most of my time off. And I just DO what I have to DO. I'm not superwoman, I am just me. I am meeting the expectations I have placed upon myself. Isn't that what everyone does?

What Lies Beneath.... Art's Bed

Sometimes late at night, when the house is deathly silent, I can hear it calling. It starts out slow and soft, then grows steadily into a pain-filled howl.  The sound echoes through the house and chills me to the bone.

I can't count how many times I've tried to find it. Just as the stories say, light can't touch it. Perhaps, it is only children that can see it at all.

After years of trying and failing miserably, I was lucky enough to find the location of the sound once.  The creak in the stairs is usually quick to give me away and the thing goes quiet. Having years of practice creeping around my home in the wee hours has allowed me to perfect the pattern finally.  Though I still got hung up by the squeaky floor board in the hall. I lost the element of surprise, but I definitely traced the source to Art's room. It echoed slowly out from under his bed.

Art must know about it.  I think he just might like it there, hidden away. It seems sometimes that he doesn't want me to find it.  Maybe that painful moan translates itself into a lullaby of sorts while he's dreaming. Like a soft love song whispered in his ear that soothes away the daily woes.

Or maybe it's completely opposite. Not soothing at all, but disturbing his rest. Perhaps it is not pain in his legs that sends him racing to my bedside at three a.m.  

I can't be sure exactly... 

He swears he's never seen it.

It's been a full week of this. The sound used to come and go, but this week is different. Seven nights it has woken me in sweats with that instant mom panic that grips you when you hear your child cry at night.  

Today, I declared war.

I tip-toed into Art's room, in the full light of day, hoping the beast would be sleeping since it's awake through every night. One by one, I slipped the toys out. Cars and trucks moved. Army men returned to their troops in the toy box. A few stray socks and a lost t-shirts given renewed life in the hamper.  

And there it was! I could see the face of this sleeping monster. I sped up my work. Quickly and carefully I uncovered the beast.  Stunned and silent, I fell backwards. I couldn't tear myself away. This thing, it wasn't horrendous, it was marvelous!  A true beauty of nature, right there under Art's bed.

It was light brown and fuzzy, incredibly soft. I stayed there a few minutes more taking in the moment, running my fingers through it's soft shag.  I closed my eyes, thankful for this glorious gift I had been given and I think I heard that beautiful creature say

"Thank you.  I've waited so long to be free!"

I've always believed it was just a myth, something that people just made up to scare their kids. But I'm telling you, I know the truth. It is real. It does exist. I've seen it with my own eyes.

I bet, if you are willing to try hard enough, you can find it in your kids room too. Start slow, just move one thing at a time. 

Be patient, 

And you too

can find

The Floor.

How Very Talented!

I aspire to make millions.  I dream of fame. I want to see my name in print.  And preferably not in the back pages of the news or on a most wanted list.  I will one day be published.

Turns out I have some competition in the family. I may be out done. Beaten at my own game?  No, not really. I will happily sponge off my children's millions, should they beat me to it. 

My Angel Baby is talented.  I knew this before, but I'm sure you didn't.  I am hopeful that she will hone her skills and use this productively.  At this point there are two ways it can go.

I may have the next world renowned artist on my hands or I may have the next most wanted graffiti artist.

I don't think I've ever had THIS MUCH permanent black marker all at one time.  Two walls?  Wow.  And of course, Art was just sitting there. Not even paying attention to what she was doing with HIS marker. But that's beside the point.  What you can't really see is all the extra pen and pencil lines, the smaller thinner marker lines, the highlighter marks (did you know that highlighters STAIN painted walls?).  No more avoiding the task, this is a bit too much to ignore.

I searched for my magic eraser.  Turns out it Magically Disappeared.  

Go figure.

I tried hairspray, I've heard that helps.  It does, and would be fine for a small mark, or even pen lines which are not as thick as this.  I started, and you can see that it the top left photo, but it was taking forever.

I tried baking soda.  It works for everything.  Even this.  But I don't want to spend weeks scrubbing a few inches at a time as it works just as well as the hairspray. 

So, next comes the beautiful SOS steel wool. Had to giggle as I remembered someone, some time ago, suggesting that you never use this on your walls as you will damage the paint.

Ummm.... Hello?

Isn't it damaged already?

(Seriously. Do you even have kids?)

I scrubbed and scrubbed.  This was definitely much more effective and certainly faster.  After getting the left side wall clean (and the other miscellaneous pen and pencil marks since this is not the first attack on this wall) I started at the top of the ladder on the right.  Cleaned outside the ladder, above the top rung and also up behind the top bunk where her little hands could reach but my camera can't see.  Half way through that middle section of the ladder, I got the brilliant idea to spray the hairspray WITH the SOS. 

I'm telling you...  

THIS IS THE WAY TO GO. 

Little scrub, little spray, scrub a little more, wipe clean.  Pretty much that easy too. Really wish that I would have figured it out sooner, but still happy I figured it out at all.  Now I know for next time.

And I just KNOW there WILL be a next time.  I'm just too darn busy some days to see everything.

 Side Note #1

Just after writing this first draft, I headed to the school to get the kids.  First person I spoke to had the same advice. He knew JUST the thing to do. "Go to the hardware store... this stuff won't damage your paint. Well, do you have latex based?"

Side Note #2

You wonderful readers have pushed me to my first ONE THOUSAND page views.  We're having cake.

Thank you 

Thank you

Thank you. 

What Else Can You Do?

Please soothe my burning throat?

I'm really not feeling well.  I've got a terrible headcold and a sore throat. Today I woke up with almost no voice. As much as my family may enjoy the break, I'm hoping this doesn't last.  Yesterday, I was hopeful that this would pass quickly.  A good night's sleep would have me back on track today, or at least closer to it.  But no, of course, that would be too easy. 

Summer is coming, the nights are brighter, the boys don't fall asleep as well.  At 11:15 I screamed down the hall "That's the last time I will see you out of your ROOM!"  It wasn't the last time, though.  And NO, I don't think that screaming at my kids all night has anything to do with my lost voice. haha.  

The Angel Baby has this same bug that I have.  She's so stuffed up and tired looking it breaks my heart.  Last night while I was cooking dinner she fell asleep on the couch.  I quietly so those few words that I hate to HAVE TO say.  "Better let her sleep. She's tired and sick. She needs it. It'll be okay."  Yep, it was. GREAT. She slept until 10:30.  Then she was ready for the party and kind of ticked that there wasn't one.  

I did finally manage to crawl into bed somewhere around 1.  But I woke up a bunch of times anyway.  I am wiped.  After taking the boys to school this morning, I crawled back in bed.  Miss Party Animal kindly slept until almost 11 am. 

AND SO DID I.

After getting up, I got her and I dressed and got the boys lunch ready. Today will be a no-nap-for-princesses day, but at least I got some sleep this morning.

Being in this foggy state, I have accomplished very little.  Miss Angel Baby is being extra... special... today.  And I'm ready to go insane.   I decided that I should at least get the dishes done and kitchen cleaned up.  I avoided the dishes last night since I thought a good sleep would fix me up.  Even if it didn't work out that way... those stinkin (almost literally stinky) dishes were glaring at me from the dirty countertop.

The perfect workspace?

I had to change the water a few times.  I had to sit and catch my bearings after the hot water gave me dizzy spells a couple times.  I had to work around the extra chair and the Angel Baby washing dishes with me.  It took much longer than normal.

I stopped to dry a few things a second time (making space for more washing), when I reached over to grab more from the drain rack I realized that Angel Baby was taking clean things and throwing them back in the dishwater.
Then she started swinging the soaking wet dish cloth around, trying to 'give' it to me.

I felt my last nerve snap.

"JUST STOP! MOMMY WANTS TO FINISH THIS QUICK!"

With her beautiful little smile, 

ear to ear and oh, so proud, 

She starts clapping and says 

"Helpful!"

Oh, crap. What do I do now?  She is 2, she is not sabotaging my secret plan to take over the world one stinkin dish at a time.  No matter how crappy I feel, I can't say no to that!  

If I start saying no now, she may never want to help later....

Heaven help me, she's the only hope I've got!

Busy Week. Let's Make A Plan!

I have a lot of stuff going on this week.  Partly from work, partly from home and hugely because there is no school Friday, so I have less time to get MORE done.

On the bright side, I have already done (or had help with) the majority of my regular weekly cleaning.  The kids rooms are taken care of too.  I just have to complete the office space set up now.

So, first step -  freezer inventory.  What do I have that I can cook for the rest of the week.

Step 2  - master list for errands.  When I go out, I want to get everything I need in one trip. I do not want to have to run out again.

3. Get some laundry going!  Keep up to that, one load a day and I won't go crazy. And I won't lose my Sunday to Mount Washmore again this week.

I had a relatively productive day, especially considering I had almost no sleep last night.  I did get all my errands done, I also bought some items that will be good for Macboy's lunches.  Things he can make himself or we can make fast, so I can keep my momentum going longer in the morning.  Instead of stopping at 11:30 I can work until 12.

I am going to put Angel Baby in her room again for naptime the rest of this week.  She is back to waking up at her earlier, more normal, time in the morning, so I am hopeful that we can reinstate the afternoon naps.  Even if she doesn't sleep, we were both benefiting from the quiet time.

Today I also got most of the furniture place for my 'office'.  At some point in this process I hope I stop feeling the need to add quotes to 'office!'  I have a need for some shelving.  I asked the Trucker if he could do it in a simple way.  If it can't be done by him in less than 5 minutes, I don't want his help.  It would mean he has already complicated what I asked for.  I need a couple peices of wood, a certain length. (I think I'll just do it while he's at work tomorrow)  I don't want permanent, or even pretty.  I just need functional.  And I don't want 'ideas' involved. Just do what I asked you for.
He said he'll try to make something work for me on the weekend.

Since I have a list in place, I know what laundry to start in the morning.  I know what to take out of the freezer too, while I'm in there.  I have no cleaning that I need to worry about. Art is a fan of the vacuum so I plan to give him that job on Friday.

I hope to be ready and able to WORK all of Wednesday and Thursday.  No, scratch that...

I WILL be ready

Some Days You Shouldn't Ask

More specifically, TODAY.  

When I am running down the list of the furniture I moved, the organizing I've done, the million things I've accomplished, it is not advisable to interrupt and ask 

"What's for dinner?"

I did have dinner options ready, I just hadn't started yet. teeheehee. (sounds good, right?)  It was a quick prep day, taco pie.

And there you have it, the details of my day as the trucker would prefer to hear it.  I'm smart enough to admit that it is probably ALL he heard out of everything I said today anyway.

The problem with asking about dinner today is that it came out during our discussion about reclaiming/creating my home office.  You see, I've never really had an 'office' here.  I have a portable workstation, a binder that keeps me together and a laptop. Most of the time, my office is in my dining room or living room.  But there are supplies that I need, paper and pens, I have a bulletin board and whiteboard, the big calendar, the printer... and so on... that were residing in our guest room/office space.  

My oldest son, Macboy, is 11 now.  He doesn't want to share his space with his younger brother.  I lost the argument with the trucker a few months back about the boys sharing their space.  I had even tried a 'private' space for each boy. One had a large closet, the other had a play area under the stairs.  But, my attempts to keep them sharing were all in vain.  My dearest trucker has 6 sisters. No brothers.  I bet all of the sisters would agree with me, but he is the only boy and always had his own room so he just doesn't get it.  I always had to share with my sister... why can't the boys?

We finally agreed that he could SLEEP in the guest room. Not every single night, but some nights when the younger one was being difficult.  It didn't take long before it was every night, except if we actually needed the guest bed for guests. 

A few weeks go by and he has taken over the surface of the dresser and the bedside table is buried under lego and books.  

Trucker, always the helpful sort, decides to swap the contents of the guest room dresser with Macboys clothes.  Just three days before, I cleaned out the top drawer for my growing stock of office items.  Now, my office supplies (well, half of them) just got relocated to the CLOSET of my youngest boys bedroom!  A week or two later, when I was complaining about the placement of my things... it was suggested I quit my job.  Seriously!! Ummm.... okay?

Today, I just threw in the towel.  I finally gave up.  

I had a conference call on Skype.  I was sitting on a selection of Mario plush toys and using the top of my new filing cabinet (which has not yet been given a home) to support the laptop. I had to set my coffee between a couple of Sega cartridges and had a heck of a time trying to find a pen and a flat writing surface.

I need my office back 

I need my office supplies in ONE spot, in ONE room 

This is what I'd LOVE

I took Macboys dresser into the guestroom, switched the contents back where they should be.  I brought up the smaller dresser from the basement and swapped the larger one out of there. I donated the large dresser immediately.  After returning from Goodwill, I moved the lego landslide upstairs.  I moved my office items downstairs. I moved almost all of our play area from the basement and divided it between the two boys.  

I moved three dressers today, including hauling one up a set of stairs and one to my vehicle.  I moved a large rolling cart down stairs, and I took about 50 trips up and down those stinkin stairs moving the office down and the play area up.  

With a toddler underfoot all day and two boys after school too. 

This is what I get :)

 All I wanted to say was

I really DON'T CARE what 

YOU make for dinner!!!

But I didn't get a chance.

The only help I've asked for, is no more help.  And after a full day of moving everything all over my house...
My boys have clean rooms but I STILL don't have my office.

I Am The Messiest Cook I Know

Last night, I made spaghetti for dinner.  In selecting the vegetables that were going in the sauce, I found the sweet potato in the drawer that we didn't cook with Christmas dinner.  So, being the

Brilliant 

woman that I am.... I decided to make soup from the remaining vegetables that were hiding in the crisper, wanting desperately to be used before being thrown out....

Of course, at the same time I was browning my beef, starting the sauce for the spaghetti....

My poor husband, who doesn't often eat pasta by choice arrives home to competing 'aroma's' from the kitchen and wonders if he should have grabbed take out on his way home. 

I can see the fear in his eyes as he tries to politely ask whats for dinner... So far the only thing RIGHT in the kitchen is the beef that is browning for my meat sauce.  Now, we normally compromise when I make spaghetti, if I grate cheese for the topping, he eats the sauce without complaint as a topping for buttered bread.

OOPS, Sorry Honey!  I didn't take the bread out of the freezer.... "Do you want toast? Do you want me to run to the store quick?"

Sweet man, he says no....

I puree my veggies for the soup, have it simmering nicely and the sauce for my spaghetti is simmering also. I'm somewhat grateful that I am suffering a stuffy nose as I am sure that the competing smells were not all that pleasing.  Boiled up the pasta and we finally sat down to dinner. It seems that quick spaghetti sauce took FOREVER to cook?!?!?!?

Hubby goes to get his plate. Asks where the noodles are... I've only made enough for the kids and I, purely out of habit... In more than 15 years, I can't honestly remember ever seeing him eat spaghetti sauce WITH noodles.  So I just didn't make him any....

By the end of the evening, I had no energy left and could not force myself to do the dishes.  I finally flopped in bed and vowed to deal with them in the morning.

How in the world did my kitchen get buried?  

It was so full this morning, I could barely find the counter or stove top. 

Factor in a one pot soup adventure, one pot for the spaghetti sauce, and a frying pan for the meat.....

My poor starving man who didn't eat with us, so no dishes from him....

Where did the dishes all come from?  There were no spoons in the drawer!  Spoons?  I have roughly 35 spoons in that drawer! And we ate spaghetti....not the soup.... 

Glasses?  Coffee Mugs?  I think my dishes smelled my cooking and tried to commit suicide by jumping out of the cupboards....

A full, and I mean seriously packed, load through the dishwasher, and still about 45 minutes spent washing dishes.... and I finally had a counter.  Albeit a filthy counter.  I scrubbed the counter top while my coffee was brewing...wiped off the top of the dishwasher. 

And the front

And the sides??  Oh, man...

Stove top next. yuck.

It's a good thing I get distracted easily or I wouldn't have noticed the pretty speckled pattern on the wall from the red spaghetti sauce and the orange soup splatter on the wall beside the stove...

If I take longer cleaning up my kitchen

than I do actually cooking the food...... 

I have a problem, don't I?