Just a Little Whinging, That's All

Tomorrow I get to meet a classroom-full of this semester's Intro to Fiction students. I am excited--or would be, if I didn't feel so disorganized.

I feel a little bit like I'm sliding into this semester sideways. I have all my materials to teach the first class (thank you summer course!), and yet somehow I still feel so unprepared. I am only taking one class myself, and so my own course load will be quite manageable; but. But.

Somehow I know--predict--fear--that this will be a semester where I am continually scrambling to keep up and get things done on time. Including my manuscript. Especially my manuscript.

66 pages of new fiction to write, and then revisions. Can I manage this?

As I type that question, I realize the answer is actually "yes."

So breathe deep, and enjoy it before it's gone forever.

[I will try not to post too many complaints about grad school. Promise. Just I am staring at this huge mountain I have to climb this year and it is overwhelming.]

Settling

This evening I am making dinner for my husband.

Often we cook dinner together--which is quite nice and romantic--but there is something so wifely about having things in the works for him when he comes home, and I know it will be harder for me to do once the semester gets started and the homework, teaching, and writing pile up.

Overall, this has been a good day. Except for a trip to the library, I have crossed everything off of my to-do list: household chores, preparation for class, even writing. (Not enough writing, perhaps; it never feels like enough. Ah, deadlines. Ah, bad habits.)

I wonder how things will change once classes begin again on Monday? I am relishing this last week of simply being--being with Keith, being home in the apartment--but I am also starting to look forward to the structure the school year brings. Sort of. Part of me is over this whole grad school thing; now that I'm married, it can feel more than ever like a hump to get over before "life" starts. (A HUGE hump with a very scary deadline, I might add!)

But that isn't true, of course. My life is here and now. And really, I am so grateful for it--every part of it. Grad school included.

Not Quite a Yarn Along

I certainly have things to post about for Ginny's yarn along--I cast off one honeymoon sock, cast on a shawl, and I could even take a picture of my stash stacked all prettily in the bookcase. (We have our books unpacked now. It feels quite homey.)

But to be honest, I don't feel up to digging out the camera and chasing the light and snapping and uploading and so on. I feel like going back to bed. Which I might do after grabbing a bite to eat. Or I might just rouse myself and head to the Social Security office to get my name changed officially, or call a friend to go out for coffee or something, in the hopes that doing something would give me a little more energy. We'll see.

(Note: as evidenced by the lateness of this post, I did, in fact, get out and about today with my dear friend Evangeline. Yay!)

But I will tell you one thing: I've been itching to make my first sweater, and I have just the yarn for it.

I bought it at Pittsburgh's Handmade Arcade--local wool, yay! It's sport weight, and I have 3 lovely skeins of it. The question is, what sweater to make? I've had my eye on Deco for a while, but now I'm not so sure. Does anyone have neat ideas for a sweater that an extremely adventurous sweater newbie could handle?

Honeymoon Socks :)

Phew! It's been a few weeks since I last participated in a yarn along--I haven't had the time to blog or knit. Not that I'm complaining. :) Keith and I spent last week on the shores of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. It was pretty rainy half the time, but that's okay. It was still a beautiful honeymoon.

I brought along some yarn for a pair of socks, only to decide that the pattern didn't suit the variegated colorway I'd chosen. So of course I had to buy some new yarn at a store in Halifax. I cast on the same socks in the new yarn while waiting in the airport for the flight back to Pittsburgh.

And yesterday I finally checked out the sequel to the Mazerunner from the library. It's taking me a bit to remember who the characters were and what they did in the last book, which I read back in December/January, but I'm getting there.

Lots to do--I'm hoping to get the kitchen completely unpacked today, and Keith has requested iced tea (his first such husbandly request!), and I have ... um ... a lot of writing to do. Gulp. Please pray for me, if you are so inclined.