End of the Term...

Off with the old, and on with the new... It's the new term at school, and grades are due in the morning. For me, that means I've been grading last-minute redemption assignments from students and fielding phone calls from parents, emails from students, meetings with administrators (and counselors) trying to help kids pass second quarter. That (theoretically) ends tomorrow morning when grades are uploaded. I am giving a handful (one handful) of incompletes, which will have to be changed, but a manageable amount for me and the registrar. One hates to extend that deadline too far, or the natives get restless, and let's face it... there's got to be a deadline somewhere. Most of my students are sophomores, so that deadline is still off in that sunset, a bit, though.

There was a bit of a glitch today, with the new semester, when I couldn't get the grades to print. I had to get John to come get Asa and fetch Max. I worked on getting grades to print for an extra hour, set up the entire new set of grades, and then came home and worked on printing... all to no avail. Finally when I remembered an old issue we had (way back when--maybe four years ago, perhaps even longer... you know you've taught a long time when you start remembering and trying old fixes for issues!) I just started to randomly try old fixes for the printing issue. Low and behold, one of them worked. I could have kissed the printer I was so happy to find a relatively low-tech fix for a troublesome problem.

By then, it was almost 7 pm. I was glad I'd taken the hour after work to sit with the boys and watch the "bishes" on Facebook with Asa and Max. They adore "Fishville" on Facebook. I don't know if it's just because they can watch it, or because it's there, but they enjoy watching the "bishies." Max, especially. He's also interested in the animals on any farm, island, or animal game. He's endlessly fascinated. We toured many an island on "Island Paradise" this evening. He's spot on for "goat," "chicken," "sheep," "peacock," but "turtle" is a bit difficult for him. He also sticks his tongue out and spits for turtle, which is quite a charming thing. I don't quite know why that is the sound for turtle. He's delighted with the sound a goat makes. He wanted me to repeatedly goose the goat. That was his favorite; and pop the bubbles in the "bishes."Asa just wants to make sure I kill the fishes so we can scoop them out. Xandri is endlessly disappointed that she never gets to see a dead fish... To each his own, I suppose. I'm just grateful we don't have to actually *own* all of these animals.

After we'd determined to eat "mom" macaroni-n-cheese (which is *not* macaroni-n-cheese from a box) we ate grilled cheese sandwiches (don't ask me how these things happen) and then the kids had a half an hour to play with the wii, make a huge mess of their bedrooms, half-heartedly clean it up, and then make me cross. After they got in the pajamas, they went to bed, and I can now hear their father saying good night now that he's home from scouts, and my adventure in motherhood is now done! Another Tuesday night survived. Whew!