Ten Things Tuesday

This isn’t exactly exciting, but here are ten things on my to-do list.  I figure, if I write them down, they’re more likely to get done…

1.  Register and inspect the Puck.  It’s that time again, and I’ve had the form for the registration renewal on my desk for almost a month.  I may make a trip downtown to do that today.  Then again, I may not.  I’ll call Ed this afternoon to find out when he can fit me in for an inspection, and if, at the same time, he can rub out the new scratch on my front bumper caused by little girls on bicycles…

2.  Cycle laundry and switch out fall/winter clothes for spring/summer clothes.  I’ve got about five loads of laundry in the baskets in front of the machines in the basement, and will have a few more before the clothes migration is completed.  Sigh.

3.  Process progress reports for my failing students.  I’ve got fewer this term than I had last, but I still have some, so I’ve got to pull out the forms and get writing.

4.  Go to the grocery store.  We’re low on milk, and I had to scrounge around for dinner last night (I found a container of my homemade spaghetti sauce in the freezer, so we had that).  I want to make a quick trip into our local specialty food store, too, to see what kind of local produce they carry.

5.  Organize my desk.  It’s just about mid-term, which means that it’s the high season for paper on my desk.  Mr. Chili commented last night that the herd of paper is starting to encroach on the kitchen, and I can’t have that.  I’ll collate and organize and wrestle whatever I’m not using right now into the files where they belong.

6.  Vacuum and do a light housekeeping.  Really, the house doesn’t look that bad, but there are some spots on the kitchen and hall floors that need to be wiped up, and it’s never a bad idea to vacuum.  I’ve got to change the bag before I start, though; I think it’s mostly full.

7.  Water the house plants.  I’ve got four ficus trees that are looking a little thirsty (which is part of my reason for vacuuming - they’ve dropped some leaves over the past few days), and there are a couple of plants that need some attention - pruning or transplanting or the like.  I’ve got a lot of plants, too, so it involves quite a lot of water-hauling.   I’m hoping that, in the next two weeks or so, I can move most of them out into the yard to begin their annual summer camp.  Let God take care of ‘em for a while.

8.  My April In-Service work.  TCC requires periodic “staff development” work from its employees, and last month’s assignment for the faculty was to visit another professor’s class and comment about his or her ‘best practices.’  I did the visiting part, but I’ve yet to write up my essay.  They’re not due until the end of this month, but I’ve got to get on that.  I dislike saving things until the last minute.

9.   Make up a new step pattern for class.  While my participants don’t seem to MIND that all my patterns are old, I’m starting to get a little sick of the same things every week.  I’ve got the opening sequence for a new pattern, but I’m hitting a proverbial wall after about count 24 (a typical step pattern has a count of 64).  Here’s hoping either my muse comes to visit or I can fake it well enough to get through the rest of the pattern before too long.

10.  Plan.  I have about five weeks of classes left, but only two or three class hours of instruction remaining (the rest of the time is being taken up with exams and student presentations).  I have to prioritize that time - decide what the students still need to know and what we can just gloss over.  I’m also hoping against hope that I can get a guest speaker to come to the class, but that’s not looking too likely at the moment.  It’s much easier to schedule guests in the fall than it is in the spring.  I wonder why that is…?

Oh, and by the way; I’m going to post the answer key to last week’s Ten Things Tuesday tomorrow.  It was a stumper entry, and I just can’t leave you all hanging like that!  Tune in tomorrow!