Taking a break from the moving posts to give you an update on our March budget. Our biggest win for the month is that we paid off another one of Mike’s loans!!! 🎉🎉🎉 Only $81,795 more dollars to go 😂… better than $100K+ back in December 2018… so we’re making progress.
Read MoreSpring break was meh. My online class opened up on the Friday of spring break, which meant everything needed to be ready to go by then. I’ve taught the class before so this shouldn’t have been a big deal; however, I’ve also decided to ditch the textbook this term and do a decent amount of content revision. So, while I wasn’t starting from scratch, I did need to go through all of the readings, replace anything from the old book that was relevant with an article or other online resource, and then also had to get my videos ready for the first week. Sure, all this was self-imposed, I didn’t have to do it, but I think it focuses the course a bit more (which helps me out in the long run).
Read MoreWelcome back to the never ending multi-part blog post about moving across the country with a baby and 2 cats! By my count I’ve got at least 5 more posts in me on this topic… so get ready for a wild ride! In all seriousness, I’m writing this so that on the off chance there’s another me out there who is googling how to move across the country with a baby and two cats, that she will find these posts and see that’s it’s possible! For everyone else, you can skip on over these posts!
Read MoreBack in February I got an email from Leigh of Teaching Academia. Teaching Academia is a wonderful resource that’s dedicated to helping people navigate and succeed in academia. Leigh asked if I’d write a guest post about being on the tenure track with a kid and I (of course!) said yes! Given a few other recent scheduling posts on the Teaching Academia blog (here and here), we decided my post would focus on a week in my life.
Read MoreWe took an impromptu trip to the beach (very unlike me… the impromptu part, not the beach part). I was joking with a friend the other week that I needed a beach trip. While she couldn’t provide me with a trip to the beach, she did offer up a night in her guest room, free of charge. We took her up on the offer and had a family sleepover (last week), which was lots of fun. We tried to have all the kids sleep in one room (two 2 year olds and one 4 year old)… didn’t work so well! Doing a little local getaway made me want to go to the beach even more!
Read MoreWith housing squared away, one of our next steps was to figure out how we would move (ourselves and our stuff) from Ohio to Oregon. Mike and I had conversations about our various moving options, weighing the pros and cons of each.
Read MoreSunshine and blue skies have returned! Not sure how long they’ll be around so we’ve all been trying to soak up as much as possible while it’s here. There have been many trips to the park and working outside. I worked from home 4 out of 5 days this week, mainly trying to get grading done for one of my classes before the final assignments start pouring in for the second class. Grades are due on Tuesday of spring break and while I’ve already accepted the fact that I’ll be spending spring break prepping for spring courses, I’d prefer to be done with winter grades before spring break actually starts. One class down, one to go!
Read MoreIt’s helpful to know exactly where you’re going to be moving to (i.e., your physical address) so that when you plan your move you can determine how much stuff is going to fit in your new place, the exact directions you’ll need to get there, if a moving truck can easily get to your place, etc.
Read MoreStarted off the week not feeling so great. I had planned to be on campus on Monday but chose to stay home to try and get some rest, which meant cancelling office hours, rescheduling a research related meeting for later in the week, and not attending a workshop. While I didn’t actually take a sick day, I did try and get a nap in during the day… which didn’t work out so well. When I was trying to sleep Ellie was screaming, about what I’m not sure. All I know is that I got out of bed to see what was going on because it was kind of intense. I go into the living room and see her with her feet propped up on the couch, hands on the floor (in an elevated plank position) and screaming incoherently.
Read MoreIn early March of 2016 I flew from Ohio to Oregon for my one and only campus visit. The rest of March and most of April passed by before I received a job offer. In all honesty, I assumed that I hadn’t gotten the position and that we’d be sticking around the Midwest for a little bit longer. At ~8 months pregnant, that seemed like a good idea. I could take a leisurely approach to finishing my dissertation, enjoying our new baby, and recovering. But of course, the minute you “settle” for one thing, life says, “just kidding!” In late April I got the job offer... a month before Ellie was due.
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