Speaking of Easy

I find that I have a much easier time figuring out what to write about when I have a guide and this one seems like a good guide for the purposes of this blog. So, I’m joining Sunday Bookends for the first time, inspired by Boondock Ramblings!

What I’m Reading

Such a Bad Influence by Olivia Muenter.

I’ve been working on this book for the past month. I’m a little over half way through and really should be done with it. I found it through the podcast, Bad on Paper, where the author serves as one of the hosts. I’m really enjoying it. It has an interesting premise and a I definitely want to figure out the mystery part of it, but I have such a hard time finding time to read at the beginning of the school semester. I really just have to commit myself to MAKING the time to read. I hope to finish it this month. I have a couple of books on hold at the library and I want to not have too many out at once!

What I’m Doing

1. Working. A lot. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are my “all-in” days with First-Year Experience at our regional state university. Think: meetings galore, supporting student employees and faculty, and juggling both brand-new initiatives and tweaks to the old ones. Tuesdays and Thursdays? Whole different hat. I kick things off with a public speaking class at our community college’s satellite campus, then check in on two online sections of the same course. By afternoon, I’m teaching two Argumentation and Advocacy sections and holding office hours at the regional state university. Technically, there’s a “break” in the middle of the day—but let’s be real, that’s just when I’m tackling online course prep and grading. Add in students adding/dropping, tech hiccups, and mandatory trainings from both schools in the first few weeks, and yep… it’s a lot.
2. Girl Scouts. This week was another busy Girl Scout week. I feel like this whole last month has been a lot of Girl Scout work. Girl Scouts is a volunteer position, but it often feels like another job. I serve as a troop leader, but also a Service Unit representative and a leader for our Teens Take Over group. It will calm down now, but the beginning of each month will always be full of Girl Scout responsibilities. I wish I had more help with it, but my co-leader is a college student and has been sick and busy the first few weeks of the semester. My parents are super supportive, but also very busy and this isn’t a priority for them. So, a lot of it falls on me for my troop. But, my daughter only has two more years, so I will keep plugging along and savor the chaos while I can.
3. Community Debate for High Schoolers. We are getting ready for our first league tournament for the Community Debate team. Next Saturday, we’ll have four of our ten competing and I’m looking forward to getting started!

What I’m Watching

1. Giants Baseball. I’ve been watching quite a few baseball games lately. We love the Giants and follow them on TV. They’ve had a decent run of it the past few weeks, after a long dry spell on offense. So, its been mostly fun.
2. Murder She Wrote. I always have Murder She Wrote on in the background when cleaning, doing work at the house, etc.
3. Unknown Number: The High School Catfish. That was a wild and unbelievable ride.

What I’m Writing

Only one post this week on my blog: Friday Favorites. But, I have also worked on my sabbatical application this week (not due for a couple of weeks, but last year I missed the deadline because of the review process didn’t get done in time, so this year, getting stuff in early), an assessment timeline for FYE, and I’ve written more emails than I care to think about. 🙂

What I’m Listening To

I have been doing mostly shorter podcasts because I haven’t spent much time driving and all short trips. So, local NPR news daily, the California Report stream, and of course a little bit of Cabot Coverage in there. I’m working my way through their episodes, so I’m not necessarily listening to the newest, but always listening to an episode or two a week.

That’s about it for me. I may try to focus on reading this afternoon. My husband returns from Texas tonight and I have a lot of laundry to fold and put away as well as some meal prep I would like to get done before the chaos of the week ensues, but maybe I can fit in some reading as well. The Giants were on early (watching them lose to the Dodgers right now, unfortunately), so I won’t have a game to watch tonight. Maybe that will make reading more likely.

What about you? What have you been up to this past week? Let me know in the comments and if you end up doing a post, be sure to go to the comments on Boondock Ramblings so people can find you!