Blog — Toddler on the Tenure Track

Summer! That magical time of year when people who work in the field of education get to take a nice, relaxing ~3 month vacation… ha! In reality, yes, summer is a slower pace, but in my experience there is still a significant amount of work that goes on (and it’s often unpaid). I hear others talk about how wonderful summer is, because they finally get to work on all the things (usually research) that got pushed to the side during the school year. I guess I get that to some extent, but a huge part of me really balks at that mentality. If universities are paying us for 9-months of work, shouldn’t we, theoretically, be able to get everything done in those 9-months, or at least be in a position to pause for 3 months?

Academic LifeJillJune 20, 2019summer, planning, reflection, breaks, summer breakComment

Weekly Update: 6/10 - 6/16

We are. Still. Traveling. We’re coming up on the two week mark and I think that might be my limit. Or at least my limit of not having a consistent schedule.

Weekly Update: 6/3 - 6/9

This week Mike and I celebrated 8 years of marriage… by flying across the country with a three year old, which is probably the most fun way you could spend an anniversary. It actually wasn’t that bad. Everything went as smoothly as it could go, we didn’t have any major meltdowns, and the airplane snacks/drinks kept Ellie entertained for a really long time.

May 2019 Budget

Despite feeling like we were hemorrhaging money during May, we managed to stay within our overall budget. Makes me feel good about the amounts we’ve set for each line item and that our budget is flexible enough that it can accommodate “spendier” months.

FinancesJillJune 8, 2019student loan debt, budget, may, may 2019Comment

Back to Basics: What I Learned From My Month Focused on Sleep

Well, I made it through a month of focusing on sleep… not sure if I actually feel more rested than I was before, but I will say that I am 1,000 times more consistent with my sleep routine, and interestingly enough, my workout routine. So that’s a win. On the other hand, Ellie isn’t sleeping through the night and I’m in the process of figuring out some iron related health issues, so those two things probably have something to do with my energy levels.

Work-Life BalanceJillJune 6, 2019goals, goal setting, sleepComment

Back to Basics: My Plan for Implementing a Meditation Practice

At the beginning of May I mentioned that I’d be making an effort to focus on the things that make me feel like a whole person. You can read my initial post here. May was all about sleep (more on that later this week) and June is all about meditation.

Work-Life BalanceJillJune 3, 2019back to basics, meditation, goals, goal settingComment

Weekly Update: 5/27 - 6/2

Most weeks I try to reserve weekends and evenings (and holidays… like Monday) for non-work related activities. When the work week includes a holiday and a day long workshop, mixed with meetings and other events, it makes it hard to do much else. This week I had about 12 hours (not even 2 full work days) to get all of my non-meeting work done, which wasn’t enough time… so work crept into personal time.

Six Months of Blogging!

In case you haven’t been keeping track, as of June 1, 2019, I have been blogging for a full 6 months! 🎉🎉🎉 In these 6 months I have written 71 blog posts (including this one) totaling over 73,000 words. In honor of the 6 month mark, here are the 10 most visited posts from Toddler on the Tenure Track, plus a few insights on what I’ve learned since December 2018.

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillJune 1, 2019yay, blog goals, june 2019Comment

A Day in the Life of an Assistant Professor (May 2019)

Time for another day in the life post! This particular Monday was the inspiration behind my 2-minute Monday post from a few weeks ago.

Academic LifeJillMay 30, 2019behind the scenes, a day in the life, mayComment

Weekly Update: 5/20 - 5/26

With the long weekend and our birthday extravaganza on Sunday I’m a day late with my weekly update. As the end of the school year gets closer and closer my brain is feeling increasingly fried. Summer can’t come soon enough! Even writing these short little reflections is proving to be a mental feat. One of the things I worked on this week was writing the first draft of an introduction section for an article and I encountered all sorts of resistance to writing. It was subtle, so I didn’t even realize I was doing it at first, until I noticed that I kept searching for anything else to do besides write (it’s not often that I can convince myself I should be grading instead!).

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillMay 27, 2019weekly update, course prep, working out, meditation, goals, reflection, paper writing, may, sleep, birthdayComment