february — Blog — Toddler on the Tenure Track

February 2019 Budget

What I’m most excited about in this month’s budget is the fact that our grocery bill is the lowest it’s been since we started tracking our spending in 2016. We budget 20.48% of our monthly income to groceries (which amounts to $935). This is still more than we’d like to spend a month on groceries (for 2 adults and 1 toddler), but we are also realistic about our spending. I don’t want to set the budget at a number that we’re going to consistently go over each month and have to figure out where to pull the extra money from. I’d rather set it at a number we can consistently achieve (based on our average from the past year of ~$900) and then slowly get it down.

FinancesJillMarch 5, 2019student loan debt, budget, february, february 2019, groceries, grocery billComment

Weekly Update: 2/25 - 3/3

This was a week where pretty much everything went the way I hoped… no major curve balls thrown my way, which felt really nice. After feeling like I couldn’t “catch up” from our January trip, it was nice to finally get to a place where the pace of work feels more manageable. So… the 5 day/4 night conference trip that we all took in January had about a month long impact on work/home life. Is that worth it? I’m not so sure. Granted, it would have looked a lot different had I not been teaching or teaching fewer classes or if both classes were 100% ready to go before the term started. Certainly helpful to think about for future conference travel and the ripple effect it has on stress levels returning home.

Weekly Update: 2/18 - 2/24

Had my last 9-5 teaching day this past Friday (until next term) and it feels nice to know that I get a few weeks off from being on for 8 hours straight. Slowly but surely I’m infusing more research time back into my schedule as prep for my online course winds down. I’m curious to see how prep for next term’s online class goes since I’ve taught it once before. Fingers crossed that it’s not as intensive as this term. I’m continuing to do a decent job at putting boundaries around work time, not letting it slip into personal/family time. On a lot of days this means that all the things I wanted to get done don’t actually get finished… which is okay because they’ll be there tomorrow and the next day and the next day.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillFebruary 24, 2019weekly update, course prep, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, february, paper writing, writingComment

Weekly Update: 2/11 - 2/17

Progress this week. I’m feeling more and more like a whole person again. A person who is more than just a professor. In addition to grading and course prep and office hours and writing papers and meetings (and all the other things that go along with academic life), I did puzzles with Ellie, I had pizza with friends, I worked out, I vegged in front of the TV with Mike, I wrote for the blog, I read a book for fun… and so many other things that often get pushed to the side when work gets hectic, but are all very necessary for my version of a sustainable life.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillFebruary 17, 2019weekly update, course prep, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, service, february, paper writing, writingComment

Weekly Update: 2/4 - 2/10

Blue skies outside right now and I can’t help but think of Pete the Cat… “The birds are singing. The sky is bright. The sun is shining. I’m feeling alright.” Not sure about birds chirping but I am feeling alright about this past week. Yes, there were long days but once I was done with work, I was done. I didn’t come back to it after Ellie went to bed or on the weekend or in the early hours of the morning.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillFebruary 10, 2019weekly update, course prep, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, service, februaryComment

Weekly Update: 1/28 - 2/3

This week was better than last, but still not ideal. I went to bed at ~1:30am on Thursday night in an effort to finish course prep so that I could have all of Friday (for the most part) to work on my 3rd year review that is due on Monday. While I got course prep done and was able to have the day for third year review work (which included working until ~9:30pm), staying up late, skipping dinner with the fam, and sitting hunched over a computer all day is really no way to live. As I look at the coming week and my ever growing to-do list I’m struck by the fact that there is really no possible way to get everything done (which I have to remind myself time and time again) and that academic life is just a perpetual cycle of triage.