Graduated

Over the four years of my degree my children made it very clear that we should travel to Tasmania for me to graduate in person, rather than in absentia.  In fact, they declared that we had all earned a little graduation trip.  Indeed they were correct.  It is only with the support of my incredible family that I have had the freedom to pursue a degree and I think we all more than earned a little holiday to go with graduating interstate.

My University is located in Tasmania - they do an excellent job of distance education and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time studying with them.  We spent the first half of our trip in Launceston,  beginning with my graduation.  The ceremony was an incredibly uplifting and inspiring occasion.  I was particularly moved by the occasional address presented by a lecturer from my faculty.  She reminded us that we should not settle for our students to be limited by our perception of them.  Rather we should aim to inspire them to be the very best they can be.  She articulated all I believe about this with beautiful eloquence.

I also learned what the Latin on the University's logo means:  "the field is open to talent".  I liked that.  It tells me I should dream big.  I should aim high.  And I should step fully into the field I have chosen and the best educator I can possibly be.

And then we spent a few days just being tourists.  I'll post more about that soon.

DONE!

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It is finished. 

Four long years and about eleventy million assignments later and I have just submitted my very last ever assignment.  Actually it's more like about 63 assignments but it feels like millions.

I still need to get results back and commence five weeks of teaching rounds (I begin this Friday), but I don't expect any road bumps at this point. 

I kind of don't know how to feel now.  Empty?  Elated?  Excited?  Relieved?  Lost?  Maybe a little of all of those things.  This study thing has consumed almost my entire life for four whole years so it will take some time to remember what "normal" people do with themselves when they can just come home from work and do....nothing.  Oh, wait.  That's when people do housework and spend time with their families.  I think I remember something about that!

Miss Sunshine had a major "Done" moment last week as well, when she submitted her Studio Arts finals and journal.  What an incredible amount of work has gone into those amazing pieces, and the journaling.  And that focus statement.  Four thousand words.  The girl is amazing.

I'm off to do....I don't know what.  Work.  Read.  I guess I'll figure it out.  I might even get back to being inspired to cook again.

Done!!!!!

In Which My Words Disappear

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I've noticed a terrible development over the past 12 months, particularly.  When I am in the middle of assignment-writing and preparing for exams my conversational language seems to evaporate.  I just can't find the words for simple things and I am left waving my hands around hoping someone will figure out what was meant to be in my brain.  My children think this is wildly amusing.  My children's friends (specifically, the Year 11's and 12's at school) think this is wildly amusing.  Glad I could entertain you guys!  You'll be my age one day and your words will disappear too.  I promise.

Fortunately my written language remains intact.  Perhaps that's because I type just a little slower than I talk?  Or maybe because I can stop mid-sentence and think before I continue on?

As of the end of next week I will only have about six assignments left to write.  Ever.  Therein lies my hope to regain my conversational language....

I Don't Know How You Do It!

This is a statement that has been cast in my direction many a time.  The first time came when things were particularly difficult.  I won't go into the details.  Suffice to say co-owning a business is not good for a friendship.  Starting a new business at the same time was was not good financially nor emotionally.  I was brought to the bottom of the well and it was a dark place for me.  And I had people saying to me "I don't know how you do it".  The truth was, I wasn't doing it terribly well at all.  I was a mess.

When "I don't know how you do it" was again laid before me on Friday my flippant response was "nor do I".  After the morning I had yesterday I don't think I'm doing 'it' terribly well.  And truth be told I don't do 'it' terribly well pretty much most of the time.  Don't get me wrong, if I commit to doing something I get it done even if it kills me because I am a 100% kind of person.  Because of that I keep up with my study load, hand in assignments well and truly on time, I'm able to do my job at work with some kind of authenticity and competence and my family gets fed every day...more than once a day.  It looks like I'm doing OK to everyone else.

But don't let that fool you into thinking that I'm doing "it" well.  I've been home on school holidays for four days and my children have barely seen me.  I've got one final mid-semester assignment to complete this week and that has consumed my time.  Miss Sunshine is trying to organise her 18th birthday party and I keep saying "yes I want to see...no, I didn't mean right now".  When I was vacuuming on Saturday (read first time this year - just kill me now) I had a little 'moment' with some tears because I'm not doing this bit of my life well either.  House cleaning?  You've got to be kidding me.  When competing against being at work on time, submitting assignments on time, getting dinner on the table somewhere close to on time and getting kids to be where they need to be on time housework doesn't even rate a mention on the 'urgent' scale I run by.  It simply doesn't exist until some 'urgent' reason presents itself....like people coming for dinner.  Which hasn't been in our experience for quite some time thanks to aforementioned assignments.  My extroverts are dying the slow withering death of starvation from people time.  I have three of them shrivelling up alongside the dust bunnies keeping them company.  Since having someone for dinner (which I'm going to cook anyway) means cleaning as well we're just skipping the whole people-over-for-dinner scenario.

On Saturday it all got to me.  My grief over the loss of close community has been accentuated by the stuff I'm not doing well, and the fact that there is just nowhere to go with it.  I have a friend who had a conversation about house paint colours with her Dad and two days later the man was in her house painting her walls!  That's what I'm talking about - love with feet on.  And I ached a little more because you just can't develop that kind of community in the space of a couple of years.  That's lifetime stuff. 

So here's a suggestion for those of you who know someone that you "just don't know how they do it".  Because she's not doing it.  I'm here to tell you there's a whole bunch of stuff in her life that just isn't happening.  There's stuff you can see that looks pretty good but that's not the whole story.  So....ask what you can do so she can get on with "it".  Better yet, don't ask, just do something to bless her.  Get that woman's house key off her husband and go clean her house.  Make her and her family a delicious, healthy meal.  Paint her walls.  Clean her windows.  Weed her garden.  These are the things that will bless the woman that "you don't know how she does it". 

These are the things that will help her feel like she might just make it. 

Love with feet on.

Death by Assignment

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The picture above represents exactly how I'm feeling - like I'm in my own little world but things still seem to get through all those holes!

I'm in the middle of the mid-semester assignments.  I seem to no sooner get one out of the way before the next is right upon me.  When you miscalculate the timing things get a bit panicked!  I like a good 2-3 weeks to really invest in the work I need to do.  My current assignment?  Ten days.  With things like, oh you know, a parenting crisis, a whole-day intensive on the weekend, work commitments, a student free day so all the kids will be home tomorrow, celebrating a wedding this coming weekend.  Really people, if this could all just be spread out a bit that would be awesome.  Like, one thing at a time.  Whoever said women are good at multi-tasking has a lot to answer for!

First term school holidays are just around the corner, at the end of next week.  Already!!  It feels like the year just started, but the timing couldn't be more perfect.  For the first time in four years I won't have to work on assignments over Easter.  Praise the Lord!

And thus begins life at full speed (and Daniel Fast menu)

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Life in our house is back running at full speed.  Uni started back this week and already I have an assignment looming and due in 3 weeks!  Just as well I have but one book left to be reviewed.

And on that note I am very excited to have surpassed my goal of reading 20 books over the summer.  Since today is the last day of summer I can now confidently report I have read a whopping twenty-nine books!  Yep, a really good summer.

To add to the current speed of life I'm finding that fasting does not make more time to spend in prayer.  In our case it has meant less for two reasons.  First I am having to put a lot of time into planning our meals.  Secondly, whatever I'm cooking for us often has to be supplemented with 'normal' meals for the kids so I'm doing a bit of doubling up in the kitchen.  I found a new Australian Women's Weekly mini cookbook at the newsagent today, simply called 'Vegies'.  On a quick flick through it looked to have some tasty things we could try next week.  Below has been our plan for this current week.

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Toast Sliced banana	Quinoa salad	Vegetable Curry Brown Rice
Tuesday	Banana & Raspberry smoothie	Toast Tomato & avocado	Bean nachos
Wednesday	Banana & Raspberry smooth	Potato wedges	Roast vegetable bake
Thursday	Toast tomato & avocado	Leftovers	Roasted vegetable medley
Friday	Toast banana	Leftovers	Chickpea & Vegetable casserole
Saturday	Fruit salad Smoothie (banana/raspberry)	Potato wedges Avocado salsa	Tofu & Vegetable Stir Fry
Sunday	Toast tomato & avocado	Leftovers…toast… potato wedges…	Minstrone Bread
Snacks	Fruit, mixed nuts/seeds, hommus/guacamole & carrots, popcorn

For those who might be concerned I again cooked chickpeas and borlotti beans the Nourishing Traditions way to add protein and bulk to most of our dinners so that we're getting as much protein as these particular omnivores can seem to find in a day.  I must confess, the other day while watching TV there was an advertisement for KFC burgers.  Now I don't like KFC and we never eat there, but I suddenly found myself thinking those burgers looked really good.  Then again, on the same night Dh stood over a pan of chocolate chip slice to breathe in the aroma.  I think we've both hit 'desperate'!

Too Excited about the End in Sight

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I had a moment where I realised I was a little bit too excited about being nearly half way through the last term of the year.  In six weeks' time Uni will be finished.  School will be finished.  I will have six weeks of relaxing ahead of me.  In six weeks' time I will only be arguing spending time with my own children.  I might find the energy to cook properly every night.  And clean the house from top to bottom.  Twice.  And I will definitely be ploughing my way through all sorts of fun books.  In six weeks' time Christmas will have been planned, implemented and enjoyed.

Alright - I don't really care that I am a little too excited about the end of the school year.  I can't wait to have a proper break and I can't wait to just "be" for a little while.

The Importance of Managing Stress

Our view from the cabin

 

The importance of managing stress usually smacks me in the head at the most inconvenient times.  Do you find that too?  You know, those times when your kids a cracking apart all at the same time, or when you have time-pressured deadlines looming which require a significant time commitment to meet them.  The events of the past term have converged and put me in a bad spot.  I'm sure you know what it feels like when you're overwhelmed!

When Dh suggested we join him on a trip to Echuca (business for him) I was reluctant.  In my head this was bad timing given all I need to accomplish over the school holidays for Uni.  But I agreed.  He loves to have the company, the kids had nothing better to do and my study is quite portable.  Dh organised a cabin right on the Murray River where our view was stunning, relaxing and intriguing.  We watched the water level rise a number of centimeters while we were there.  Just quietly and subtly, but it still rose!  We took a little trip on one of the paddle steamers (not the one below!), which came all the way up to where we were staying and then turned around to return us to port.

The 'Emmy Lou' on a tourist jaunt

 

 I returned home on Wednesday feeling a little less stressed and ready to get into some work.  Who would have thought that taking time to relax when you feel like life is most busy would be the answer to the issue of feeling stressed and overwhelmed?  It was so worth it.

 

The Definition of a Holiday?

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I have decided my definition of "holiday" needs a little work if I am to survive the busyness of my life with sanity intact.  Over the past three years I have had two weeks a year where I've work and Uni have ceased at the same time.  Two weeks where I've had no responsibilities other than...well...the enormous task of mothering.  And wife-ing.  I know, it's not a word, but let's pretend for a moment!

I've just had a mid-semester break from Unit, during which time an assignment was due so it wasn't really a break.  I'm about to head into school holidays during which time I'll be studying and beginning end-of-semester assignments.  So not so much of a break.  December 13th is looking really good to me right now!  No work, no Uni.

So what do I consider a holiday?  It can't be about not having to be working on something important because that never seems to end, if it's not things outside of family it's my family that needs attention.  Time to stop and snooze.  Time to read a good book in a day.  Time to say "YES!" to spontaneous plans with friends.  In amongst all of that I need to feel like what I'm doing is worthwhile to someone else as well as me.

And every now and then a chance to be away from home really helps too.

I'm planning to take the Christmas/summer holidays this year without studying, since I only have six units (instead of 8) to complete next year.  I need to stop and do something the things that make me feel like I've had a break.  Rejuvenation, renewal, rest.  All so very important!  As well as being able to say "no" the first time instead of later!!!

The End of the World...errr...Term

We had a long weekend here in Victoria this past weekend.  I realised how weary we've all become when a single extra day to the weekend had us all beginning Tuesday with "I don't want to go back to school".  We love our school.  We love being there.  But we are all so ready for a break!  On our staffroom whiteboard the anticipated end of term is hailed with big letters in the square for that day.  And we affectionately call it the "end of the world".

Before then, however, Miss Mischief has exams today and tomorrow and Miss Sunshine and I have exams next week.  All week for her, just two for me.  Two is enough!  I will be doing my exams at Our School with the Year 11's and indeed Miss Sunshine will be doing exams at the same time as both of mine.  She's oh so thrilled.  I think it's fun to tease her about, because she gives me such a good reaction.  In reality, I think she will feel a little comforted, but would never admit such a thing.  My Deputy Principal tells me my exams have arrived.  Now I just wait for the day to arrive too.

And in the midst of all of that I'm doing an extra day at work to spend the day on curriculum documentation.  Despite how that sounds I'm very excited.  It's the teacher-geeky part of me that comes out.  I really enjoy unit and lesson planning.  Lots of teachers find the documentation part of curriculum tedious, but I love the brainstorming about how we want to convey God to our students through the integrated studies topics we cover.  Fortunately this will contribute to some of my exam preparation since it covers all  the humanities subjects I need to delve into. 

Who knows, after next Friday I might just have time to .... well ... clean.  And bake.  My family won't know who I am if I start doing that!!!!!

So much in Such a Short Time aka A Mother's Job is Never Done

So much has happened in the last couple of weeks.  I've finished my teaching rounds for the year.  I had such a ball.  The kids were gorgeous, the teacher I worked with was wonderful to learn from, the school was amazing.  And now I have to go back to reality.....which means not teaching.  Just helping.  Always an adjustment.


It would be a terribly boring list of things to recount all that has been accomplished and dealt with.  Suffice it to say some of it has been pretty difficult and Satan has again reminded me of the fact that I am doing what I need to do in the most challenging of ways.  You know, 'cause it wasn't already a challenge to organise transport and afternoon routines for the kids who have been without supervision after school for four weeks.  You know things are slipping when you think rum and raisin chocolate is a necessity at the end of the day.  Every.  Single.  Day.

Then I read posts from Frances and Jen Hatmaker about the end of the school year.  And I laughed and laughed about all the things mothers just can't do at the end of the year.  Oh my goodness you gals are singing my song and I'm not even half way through the school year here!  My son is getting jam sandwiches (because that's all  he'll eat right now) and has to do his own baking so he doesn't have to eat crackers for morning tea.  The kids all have to put their own notices on the hook on the notice board so I have some hope of knowing what is going on.  Seriously.  How are we going to make it to the end of the year?  I do not know.  I need a day off.  Roll on next Friday!

A Plodding Kind of Pace

I'm meant to be studying for an exam at the end of the next week, but I'm all stuffed up and my brain is too foggy.  I've been coming home from school and keeling over.  Today I slept between getting home and taking Mr Busy to church.  Yesterday I just sat and grunted at anyone who looked at me....and napped on and off most of the evening.

Yesterday's exhaustion was also, in part, due to an excursion to the Melbourne Aquarium.  My Year 1 student demonstrated his scientific prowess as he named almost all the different sharks they had there.  He met a few new types as well that weren't in his shark book - very exciting for the shark obsessed!

I have come up with a new food dilemma.  If you aim to only eat what makes you feel good, what happens when cooking what would make you feel good (old fashioned, homemade chicken soup) is well beyond your physical capabilities?  Fish and chips was all I could muster.  It was only us girls who needed dinner and no one was going to make me some soup.  It didn't make me feel good - I knew it wouldn't.  There should be somewhere you can get chicken soup when you're not well enough to make it!

Tomorrow, barring a miraculous recover, I am planning to stay home to study and nap alternately.  I would love to go and enjoy the Year 12's final day but I don't think I could gather the necessary energy to do so.

More Nigella Inspired Planning

My week with Nigella's inspiration about my kitchen was very successful.  We adored the crisp chicken cutlets.  Dh was particularly fond of the redcurrant lamb chops.  I preferred the lower-sugar teriyaki chicken....although that will still need to be saved for rare occasions I think.  Tonight we'll have a roast lamb which will receive some Nigella Express treatment.  And next week we'll spend some more time with the Queen of Quick and Satisfying.

To top it off I've been re-watching some of my Nigella DVD's.  Sometimes a girl just needs to relax and find a reason renew her relationship with the kitchen!  Particularly one that now has a dishwasher that appears to work properly.  I feel spoilt after 4 years with a dud.

Study is nearly over for a while.  My final assignment is awaiting approval from my study partner and then I need to prepare for an exam.

In the mean time...shopping lists and thinking about sugar-free snack food....

A Nice Mid-Assignment Surprise

I am in the middle of semester-end assignments again and am only now, as the semester is nearing its end, receiving feedback from assessments completed 4-5 weeks ago.  It feels like 'too little too late' in many ways.  Getting the mid-semester assessment results gives me a bit of a guide as to how I'm going and an opportunity to see how I need to improve or what I need to focus on.  Mental note for assessing my own students in a couple of years time - quick turn-about times are very important!

Anyway, you know that horrible assignment that required semiotic analysis of a printed text compared with its movie counterpart?  The one I was stressing over?  The subject that saw me have a little meltdown as I began the second assessment task with no knowledge of whether I understood anything?  That one?  I got a distinction.  A DISTINCTION!  Really?  I have no idea how.

As I opened the returned document I was just praying that I'd passed.  That's all I really wanted...just not to fail.  And there was - that beautiful little DN sitting at the bottom of the marking table.

You cannot imagine how excited I am.  It feels like the first time I got a High Distinction.  I may as well have for all the anxiety this assignment caused!

I'm thinking something special for breakfast must surely be the first order of a celebratory day!

Bunyips and Other Mysteries

photo credit:  booksdirect.com.au

I bought this book the other day.  My Yr1 student has a bit of a 'thing' for bunyips at the moment.  And the Loch Ness Monster.  And Pacman.  And sharks. And Battleships.  And Traffic Rush on my iPad.   Anyway, the day he asked about bunyips we googled a bit to see what they looked like.  When I came across this book I knew it was a 'must have'.  Really....Jackie French and Bruce Whatley...it's going to be good!  I ordered the book and it finally arrived so I took it to school and we read it together during 'silent reading'.  Our reading isn't so silent, since I'm reading out loud.  And the other kids on the table are often listening in and peering over pencil and texta pots to see the pictures. 

Emily was a hit.  The big bad bunyip was super duper.  My student was a happy boy.  I might have even won a few brownie points that day.  That might have also been the day I declared myself to be Steve Irwin and that I needed to wrestle a crocodile off to the safety of the teacher's desk.  I haven't seen the crocodile hat since.  It had been on this boy's head for two solid weeks, apart from when we wrestled it off him during class time.  Thank you Steve Irwin!

Emily and her bunyip have also entertained my nieces, who were here for the day last weekend.  Really....it's a great book.  A bit of a Christmas theme runs through it, but none of us really cared!

As for the next two weeks....no bunyips, emus or crocodiles will cross the threshhold on this side of my picket fence.  We're on holidays.  I have two full, whole, blessed weeks.  To study.   And spend time with the children.  The thing I'm looking forward to most?  Having time to enjoy cooking really yummy and meals that are perhaps time consuming in the preparation.  And I'm looking forward to just being able to take my study at a slightly slower pace.  I'll only have two weeks of the semester left when I go back to work so I might even be able to get a little bit ahead.

The best news of the week came when my boss announced some new teachers joining our Secondary school next year.  One of them is my sister-in-law.  She'll teach Miss Sunshine and Mr Busy.  We're all incredibly excited.  Four months until the beginning of next year seems a long way off!

Cosy Corners

We've been doing a fair amount of furniture moving lately.  Shelves from Dh's office have come home.  Miss Sunshine wangled an old desk along with the shelves.  Her desk was homeless.  A cute little thing, just about my size.  So rather than settling into a comfy lounge chair with my feet on the coffee table this has become my corner.  The shelf houses my Uni paraphernalia and the desk is just the right size for the space.  And it's better for my shoulders.

And one of those days I'm going to get that quilt hanging over the bannister custom-quilted.  I made it a few years ago now and have never managed the time to get it quilted.  One day.

When Children are a Blessing

My precious niece playing with playdough.  Even little people are amazing.

You know you have amazing kids when they let you have a cry on their shoulder and make you a cup of tea.  And then steer clear of you. 

And when your children organise themselves to supervise the inexperienced one when baking, which is required for homework, and leave you out of it, you know you've got amazing kids.

And when they forgive your unreasonable outbursts quickly and seek to comfort you as their response....yep, they're amazing kids.

I had a little meltdown yesterday as a result of pretty severe study stress.  That semiotic assignment I offered up to anyone interested (and no one took up!!!) has come back to bite.  Now it's a unit of work "showcasing what you have learned".  Uh oh.  Fortunately for me the unit coordinator has taken pity on us and provided an example of what the assignment would look like if she were required to do it.  She had fun.  I am not!  But I am managing to get through it little by little with more hope than I had last week!  For the first time I am thinking perhaps a mere pass would be quite sufficient.  Miraculous even.

And for light relief Miss Sunshine and I have undertaken online IQ tests.  She's looked at them because she's doing Psychology at school this year.  Guess what?  I'm smarter than her.  YES!!!!  According to the test I took I'm pretty smart.  I'm not going to try any others, I like the result from that one.  On weeks like this one a girl needs to reminded that she's no dill.

Study Leave

I'm sure you've noticed my posts have been irregular at best, thin on the ground is probably more accurate.  I've got three assignments due in the next 2 weeks and one about two weeks after that.  I'm going to take a short break from posting.  More to the point, I'm letting myself off the hook completely.  No "hmmmm haven't posted in a while, what should I talk about?" kinds of thoughts.  I'm just going to get these assessments done and then I'll come back.  Eng of August at the latest.

See you then.

On Giving and Pilgrimages

screenshot from 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'

After our series at church about stewardship and making a decision about how I would respond to that I figured that would be kind of 'it' for now.  After all that thinking, angst and finally a decision, I have received the very thing I wanted at the beginning of the year!  Just yesterday I was told that some extra funding had come through for one of my students, so as of next week I will be working four full days a week again.

Which brings up another issue - cleaning.  It's one of those things that doesn't require any great skill or knowledge, just time.  Because it doesn't take skill or knowledge I balk at the idea of paying someone else to do it.  But I don't have time.  Nor a love for the doing of  it, truth be told.  It seems I have passed on this genetic trait to all of my children because none of them have a love for the doing of it either.  Then again, perhaps Mr Busy would like to earn some extra money.  Lawn mowing through winter is not terribly lucrative.  And it's tough when you're the only one who isn't legally old enough to get a job and earn some money.  Especially when the lure of hot chocolate or the best hot chips you've ever had are dangled before your nose each Sunday.

A thought to ponder this week came from Sunday's sermon.  Life is not a journey, it's a pilgrimage.  And it takes a great deal of responsibility.  It's amazing what happens when that responsibility is absent. 

By the way....and completely off the topic....have you ever seen Penny Dale's 'Ten in the Bed'?  It is the cutest version ever and perfect for teaching kids to count backwards.  I see a maths assignment in the making!  For Prep children what's more .... way more fun that analysing semiotics!

Menus, Learning and Balance

I've just realised Thursday is well on its way out and I've not posted a thing since last week.  I wonder how that happens?  Let's begin with the week's menu plan!

Monday: chicken schnitzel, vegies
Tuesday:  tomato and bacon pasta
Wednesday:  sweet & sour pork, rice
Thursday: lasagna
Friday:  osso bucco, mashed potato
Saturday:  roast chicken, vegies
Sunday: chicken wonton soup, salt & pepper calamari

I had two thigh fillets left on Monday night so I put those aside and made my nephew's curry coconut soup again, and with glass noodles that made a perfect lunch for me for two days.  I'm going to have to plan out lunches a little more carefully next year.  Miss Sunshine is already looking forward to having access to things like a kettle, microwave and sandwich toaster at school.  She is sure to become quite inventive after enduring 11 years of sandwich eating.

I've spent the day with Dr Seuss today.  It began with an assignment task description.  I thought I was going to use 'The Cat in the Hat', but after a day with him I've decided the 2003 movie version really isn't all that appropriate for Year 2 students - thanks very much Mike Myers.  I think I've settled on 'Horton Hears a Who' instead.  It is a beautifully engaging story with themes that are really appropriate to 7 and 8 year old's.  The second assignment requires us to create a unit of work around the text/movie so it needed to be wholly appropriate!  Besides that, the movie is gorgeous.  I've seen bits of it - I need to get a hold of a copy to watch it.  Did you know you can view 'A Cat in the Hat' in its entirety via YouTube?  Amazing.  I wish that one had been appropriate.  It would have been so much simpler!

I've also learned to use my 'snipping tool', something I thought was a HP feature but apparently it's a Windows 2000 gadget.  It makes copying an image from anywhere oh so simple...a wonderful thing in the midst of complexity in other areas of life.

 screen shot from the 2003 movie 'The Cat in the Hat'

I suspect the coming few weeks will be filled with the frenzy of preparing for an exam and assignments, as a full time study load demands.  With that frenzy comes a lack of balance in life that just seems to be necessary for a short time.  I think I need to re-institute plans for the girls to cook dinner.  They've gotten out of it so far this year.

What do you do to help keep your equilibrium when you have no choice but to be out of balance for a while?