Today was a difficult day. I have been running behind on so many things this week (paper grading, projects, dissertation stuff, housekeeking tasks, etc) that today I woke up a bit crabby, mostly because I knew I had a busy day ahead of me and no time to go to the gym. I dropped Stella off at Doggie Day Care before leaving downtown at 7 AM, followed by a speedy journey to SWIC and then I tried to get as much done as I could before my 9:30 literature class.

And it turned out to be one of those days that I can't make ANY students happy. The folks in this class are reading Adiga's The White Tiger -- a fabulous Indian novel -- and I can't believe how much they hate it! (the students last semester loved it!). I won't go into all the details but I have to use so much of my limited energy reserves to get them to pay any attention and it just sucks. Seriously, students. Give me a break! Give the book a chance and you might like it!

I had chemo at 2:30 PM which was not fun (not that it's supposed to be). I was grumpy because this was #4 and I wanted it to be #5 or #6 (I have to do 6 all together). I also have this weird "lump" above my breast and my oncologist couldn't look at it because she is out of town. I am sure it's nothing but it's just one more thing for me to worry about.

After chemo, I am now grading a huge stack of papers that I just have to get back to students by tomorrow so they can start working on the next part of their research projects (they need this assignment back to complete the next part of the puzzle). So I have to sit here at the kitchen table and just drink a ton of tea to keep my energy reserves up when I would much rather crawl in bed.

But you know what made my day! I posted two pictures on today's blog -- my good friend Jean sent me the BEST calendar EVER since 2011 is going to be MY year! (and this calendar is going to give me all sorts of new ideas of things to read! Thanks, Jean! I love it!). And check out the fabulous painting by my new friend Laurie! I can finally say that I own a real piece of art! I can't wait to find a frame for it! I am going to put it just above my desk so it will relax me everytime I look at it! (Thanks, Laurie, you seriously are the MOST talented person ever!)