Finals: the Calm Before the Storm

It's that time of year again.
The last week of class.

Next week, I have class on Monday and Tuesday to collect the final papers from all my students.  Wednesday through Sunday are my days of giving finals, or to describe it accurately, watching the panicked looks on the faces of my students as they attempt to write some semblance of a non-shitty essay in one hour and 55 minutes.

Finals week as a teacher is just as stressful if not more so than my student days long ago.  Yes, instead of studying like crazy and writing papers I'm simply grading.  But my grades are due December 23rd, and I have 125 final papers and 100 finals to grade between Monday the 16th and Monday the 23rd.  Huzzah?
On top of that, students have been bombarding my email and office hours with excuses, pleads, late work with no explanation attached, and promises that they'll get it in "as soon as possible".

 It's been a crazy semester with five classes, and I'm going to relish every minute of my Florida break the minute I step on to that airplane on the 24th.
In the meantime, my Christmas knitting is down to 2 projects.
Two.
Deux.
Dos.
The Toasty in Tofte mittens have to be finished by next weekend, when Scott and I head up to do Christmas with his family.  I'm completely finished with one of the mittens, and the other mitten simply needs the (entire) lining.  I'm thinking if I don't get a lot of knitting done on these over the weekend, I can bring them to my finals.  I don't like grading papers in front of the students, and it would mean I could just sit in the front of the room and keep an eye on them while getting some solid knitting finished.  This one shouldn't be too difficult to finish on time.
I'm a little worried about the Cafe Cowl.  Not bite-my-nails worried, but at least the little tiny bird in the pit of my stomach going, "When are you going to do this?  You have a million papers to grade and an entire frickin' mitten lining to do.  You're mildly screwed."  I honestly have no idea when I'm going to plug away at this, but luckily it's simple enough that I can also bring it to my finals if the mittens are done this weekend.
Yep.
No problem.
It's fine. :)

::ahem::

This weekend, it's all about knitting, finishing grading late work, and getting organized for next week.  Then, come Monday it's time to buckle down and get my coffee maker ready.

Bring it on, finals.