RBOC

• If you want a FREE copy of my memoir, all you need to do is be willing to blog about it and help spread the word, people!  (Obvious topics covered:  choosing single motherhood in my 20s, miscarriage and infertility, high risk pg)  I have room on the list.  Just shoot me an email or let me know in the comments how to get a hold of you.  Really.
• My summer feels too short.  Not enough time to get all the projects done.  But I'm enjoying it.
• Have I mentioned that I have an honest-to-goodness diagnosed sun allergy (polymorphous light eruption, if you want the fancy jargon)?  It SUCKS.  Like, if I forget to put sunscreen on my FEET I turn into a big patch of itchy hives.  Or, more commonly, a tiny patch of skin by my ARMPIT that sneaks out of a tank top.  Oy.
• One of the best things about having all these books done at once is that now I'm really able to start new and shiny things.  I have a fiction project, a memoir project, and a couple critical projects.  No poetry, which is, uhhh, odd, but whatever.
• Cooked waffle eggs and meatloaf meatballs, courtesy of Weelicious, this weekend.  Yum!
• After peaking at 11:00 pm, Tiny Boy has started going to bed earlier again.  Last night was the normal 8:30, which was still late, considering he didn't nap.  I am remembering all too well how and why I don't like 2.5.
• I resent the fact that I need to be on campus in a few hours for a dissertation defense, particularly of a dissertation that should not be defended.  And her director, who is a big player in this field, should know better.  That is a whole other rant.
• Remember, FREE books, people!  Email me!

Nostalgia

Have I told you about my deep love for the Hanna Andersson catalog?

While I don't like the prices that go along with the images, there's something about those chubby babies in primary colors that makes me all melty inside.

I might just have to buy Tiny Boy a summer hat.  The era of cute baby clothes is quickly drawing to a close.

He goes to PRESCHOOL in less than a month.

I think I understand why so many people have babies about three years apart.

Gulp.

A New Era of Parenting Problems

1. Tiny Boy has figured out how to get out of his crib.  This might be the end of nap time.  Or maybe he'll stop doing it after a while?

2. Also very interested in using the potty (I haven't had to clean poop out of a cloth diaper since maybe January?), uses it regularly at daycare (and often stays dry).  But what this means is that bedtime becomes an insanely protracted game of in and out of pajamas and the crib to use the toilet repeatedly.  And more times than not, he goes...that's what's so infuriating.  Why he can't just do it ONCE AND BE DONE WITH IT I really don't know.  This whole thing usually goes on for about an hour.  But unless I want potty issues to become a power struggle--which I don't--I really don't see an option.

These are good problems to have, I suppose, and certainly beat the not sleeping issue.  But ugh.

Looking for Recs

I've been working frantically on book proofs--nothing like working with not one but two publishers who are BEHIND SCHEDULE who dump work on me the same fucking day.  I kid you not.

But oh my goodness my book cover is the most beautiful thing ever.  And amen for having a colleague who has design skills and generosity.  I'll probably take it down but here is a sneak peek.  Allegedly this thing will be available for purchase by the end of the month.  (I have my doubts, but it is starting to look book-like.)

[bye bye cover art; sorry, if you haven't seen it yet, you'll have to wait!]

But the real reason for my post is that I figured out that if I watch 30 minutes of TV/film per day, which is generally what I do when I'm not completely overwhelmed, over the course of the summer that's A LOT OF MOVIES.  So recs, please?  I'm halfway through Dallas Buyers Club and loving it.

Also will happily accept book recs of the literary fiction sort.  Just finished The Ten Year Nap, which I'm teaching next year and Salvage the Bones is next on my list.  Mostly I read essays and poetry, but I could use a mental break, and I've given up declaring that I will read all of Virginia Woolf's novels over the summer.  Just not happening.

And on that note, it's time to go to bed.  Tiny Boy, who has been sleeping very well lately, decided that 5:30 am was a good time to wake up this morning.  Yawn.

Taking the Day Off

I had hoped that everything job-related would be finished yesterday so I could call it summer but alas there are details (and more details) that will linger for a while.  I wanted a clean slate so I could start miscellaneous summer writing projects.  Big projects. 

But yesterday afternoon, after a meeting with a colleague (whom, I have to say, I like and respect very much) I found myself, again, in the throes of something resembling a panic attack.  (The residual effect, no doubt, of the absolute unbloggable mess I seem to be in with a junior colleague.)  So I decided that regardless of the semester being not done, I'm taking the day off.

I am not checking email.
I am not making phone calls to set up summer camps and appointments.
I am not writing letters of recommendation.
I am not making decisions about programming for next year.
I am not doing anything that makes me feel beholden to anyone (at least not until I pick up the kids at 4:30!).

What I have done so far today:  made a list of movies I'd like to watch over the summer and put them on hold at the library; cleaned up (parts of) my kitchen; watched I Don't Know How She Does It (Netflix told me to, and it was a pretty good idea); read a novel; uploaded pictures of kids; snuggled with my cats.  And in a little bit I'm heading out for a massage (this was scheduled weeks ago) because I'm so physically tense I can barely turn my head right now.

The rest of it?  It will still be here tomorrow.

In Lieu of Doing Real Writing

Having trouble getting going this morning.  We just got back from a trip.  My grading is 75% done; I've read all the work but need to crunch the numbers.  I don't want to start my BIG SUMMER WRITING PROJECT until I've dealt with book proofs, which I still don't have.  There are other misc. admin tasks that I also can't do, until I've talked to some colleagues about some things.  That is, much of what I need to do, I can't do.  And I can't really just call it summer and take a break until I'm FINISHED.  So I'm in a weird middling unproductive space.  Maybe I'll take a walk...