fengshuisweetheart's shout trail with Pepper Jelly - Help.com

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So sorry it took me so long to respond!! I am so busy lately with the kids and school that it is taking up all my time….

Yes, the site is a mess and is only getting worse, I think. Though I still come here once in awhile to help those who seem sincere and to connect with some friends…..

I’m glad that your twins are loving the swimming lessons. That is a great thing to get them into at this young age. Great for them to know how to swim….or at least not be afraid of the water….LOL

Hi! I just thought I would check in to help.com and see how everyone is doing. It looks like the site is still a bit of a mess. But troopers like you are still here! Yay! Hope all is well with you? How are classes?

I’m swamped with classes and other responsibilities… and we started swimming lessons, so Tues and Thurs nights are a rush… but the twins are loving it.

Well, take care, I’ll stop by later.

Hi! I just thought I would check in to help.com and see how everyone is doing. It looks like the site is still a bit of a mess. But troopers like you are still here! Yay! Hope all is well with you? How are classes?

I’m swamped with classes and other responsibilities… and we started swimming lessons, so Tues and Thurs nights are a rush… but the twins are loving it.

Well, take care, I’ll stop by later.

Hi!

I am sorry you had such a scare with your son! Is Bennett feeling better now? Hope that you are finding solutions. And you already have so much on your plate! Well, I’ll be thinking about you!

(I have been hit or miss here and will be hit or miss over the next month– overwhelmed with work. (The other side of the PhD is the tenure track job –which I am thankful for– but feeling overloaded with))

Thanks, got your shout. I am only taking one online course…it’s a “touch base” course with the director of the program.

Yes, I think I will stick with it. I hope so anyway. I just feel so burned out right now…

Wow, how nice to adopt. There are so many kids that need loving homes. We have considered adopting if the pregnancy thing doesn’t happen real soon. Children at that age are adorable, too.

But, I am actually working hard on an assingment….looking stuff up online and couldn’t resist checking out “help,” so I need to get going on that.

oh, and we live about an hour north of Grand Rapids MI– in a small college town that doubles when the studdents show up in the fall. It is beautiful here– lakes, rivers, lots of pine trees… I used to wake up in the morning when we first moved here, open the window an say “we live where we vacation” (one of my goals in life) ;-)

You can do it!!!

I am first generation grad student and first PhD on my dad’s side (2nd on my mom’s). (However, I had a lot of support– my family saw it as a way not to follow them into not so fun jobs.)

I think most online profs know that students are under time constraints. As long as you are making the deadlines, I do not think anyone sees it as a problem. Profs often work up to deadlines for presentations/journals, etc. too, so they understand the pressure.

For my upper level course for ed majors, I just want to feel that my students are engaged in the work and display interaction with the other students and the texts for the class.

To be honest, my pregnancy lasted less than three months: I am an adoptive mother. I was called and told “There are 15 mos old twins– if you are interested you need to fly to Russia next week.” We met them, came back and did paperwork, and within two months went back for the court date and to bring them home. Their names are Julia and Andrew– not rhyming or anything… but cute.

Yes, I really like my job, when I have time to contemplate it.

Another baby! well, perhaps at a certain point, as the kids are growing older and can help it doesn’t add work?!? :-)

Ohhh, well, then I want to be an “endurer…” :) Yes…I do dream of a Ph.D.

Interestingly, NOBODY in my family has gone to college. My husband has, but my parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, etc….NONE of them….so they are not supportive because they don’t find education necessary.

As far as dividing my time….I think I’m pretty good at it. I try to do things kind of “ahead” so that I won’t regret it later if a child is sick or something…with a family, you never know when something could come up.

But I guess my question is: For example, during the semester, for one of the courses, we have to do weekly reflections. They are due by 5 pm on Friday. BUT, the semester is 16 weeks long, and we only have to do 8 reflections. I have done 4 reflections, so I am half way done, and I am “ahead of the schedule.” However, I ALWAYS get them in RIGHT at 5pm on Fridays….I always wonder, when I do that sort of thing, if the prof thinks that I am “barely hanging in there….” or not taking their course into enough consideration by “procrastinating” until the last hour….

I understand about expectations and deadlines. That isn’t the issue. I have never turned anything in late or tried to get an extension. I think the expectations are good because they make a program outstanding instead of mediocre.

Yes, as for our schedule: every minute is ‘counted.’

How wonderful to have twins!!! Did you name them ‘rhyming’ names? Or ’same first letter’ names? Did you know right away you pregnant with twins? And, yes, it is a fun age….someone once said that kids are little scientists, and it is so true…it’s fun to watch them and to realize what/when/where/ they are ‘discovering.’ And they say the cutest things!! :)

You may find this crazy…but even with all that is going on in my life, we are talking about having another baby!

It sounds like you have an interesting, fulfilling, and hard-earned career. One of my best friends has a Ph.D. and I would really like to get there, too….

Well, it was good to talk to you. Thanks for shouting me back. Where in Michigan do you live? You don’t have to give out that information if you don’t want to….I am just interested b/c we spent a week last year “touring” a bit of Michigan.

Hi!

My twins are 3: a boy and a girl. They are wonderful– and I love this age when everything is new and they are learning so much.

Yes, I am a writing professor at a mid-sized university. I also teach an upper level course for teachers of writing. I teach online classes, so this is my “break” as well.

Wow, your family is certainly on a tight schedule!

I think there are two types of professors: those who struggled through like everyone else, and those who were able to move straight through their grad school without distraction. The latter are sometimes puzzled, I think, by folks who are having to divide their attention between real life and study. The former are quite sympathetic, but also know that they have to maintain certain expectations.

I hope you will hang in there. Someone once told me that folks who have their PhDs are the ones who can endure. Having made it through the process, I see how true that comment was.

Btw, how old are your two kids?

Hello, nice to hear from you :)

I just started my grad degree in May. Before I began this program, I thought surely I would continue even farther and get my Ph.D., but now I’m not so sure. It is not easy. My cohort started with 16 people and already 2 have dropped out. More talk about it every day.

My husband has gone to ‘nights,’ so he works from 5 or 7 pm til 3 or 5 am. I get up with the kids at around 6:30 am and get them ready for the day. I have to get him up at 7:30 so I can leave for class and he takes our 2nd grader to school; our kindergartener goes in the afternoons….and then he stays home and watches the 3 year old. So, we are both not getting any sleep.

And I should NOT be on help so much…but I use help for ‘breaks’ in studying…

Well, I will look forward to talking to you again sometime. I noticed you have a Ph.D. What is it in? When did you get it? You must be a professor….you teach, but with a Doctorate, it isn’t elementary school! :) Maybe I could ask your advice one of these days about a ‘professor’s point of view….’ (how they tend to view people like me/people barely hanging in there….)

Well, I’ve chatted enough….need to get back to highlighting my chapter. :) Thanks for the shout.

Hi! I noticed on the one survey that you are working on grad shool with 3 young kids– wow! I am hardly holding down my teaching job with 2. Hope it is going well for you!