yeah, yeah... i hear ya

I haven't posted in forever.

I don't *really* have time to post today, either.

I need to hop in the shower, or more accurately for the literalists among us, I need to go wash my body in the shower.

I also need to water the veggies and annuals this morning. There is a "chance" of spotty thunderstorms today, but with the amount of heat we'll be getting, that's a chance I'd rather not take.

I also need to go pack my book bag. No class since Thursday and working on homework for four different classes at different times throughout the weekend has a tendency to make my desk a tad jumbled.

School is going well; I find myself enjoying it more than I thought I would. Oddly enough, most of my preconceived notions have been turned on their ear in this first week.

I thought I would prefer my two online courses over my two campus-based courses. Not so much. I actually like going to class more than being left to my own devices.

I thought I would hate Beginning Algebra I, or at the very least, like the other three courses way more than math. Turns out that of the 4, algebra is my favorite class thus far.

Who is this guy?

at least the ground is thawing a bit...

...even if my mind is not

I'm feeling a bit frozen in time. Encapsulated by my lack of direction. I need to move forward, but my compass is spinning in circles, and I don't know which way to go. I didn't really have a grand plan when I left my job before Christmas. I was totally okay with that.

I didn't expect to be working at my dream job by now or anything, and I'm not in a financial panic yet. I still have a little more breathing room. I'm just a little disappointed. I took a big leap into the abyss, and now have an opportunity to do pretty much whatever the hell I want to (within reason, of course), yet I'm like the proverbial 5 year old child. "I want to be a firefighter." "No, now I want to be a race car driver." "I think I'll be a dentist."

Oy-freaking-vey!

I thought I had it figured out. Then, while watching TV sometime in the last couple of weeks, I saw a commercial for a school that I won't mention (for reasons I won't delve into), and it started me on a Google search for some answers to a few new questions. Turns out I could accomplish way more by attending a community college for WAY less money than the other program I was all set to sign up for. It would take twice as long to earn my degree and sit for my license, but I would be sitting for my RN versus my LPN. For a little more than half the money.

Okay, same direction, different path. I can do this. Then something changed. Some voice in the back of my mind said, "You really love 'this'. Are you sure you want to head in that direction, when this one is now open to you for the first time?"

I hate those voices sometimes.

So now I have a whole slew of questions I need to ask myself. A whole new set of answers and ideas to consider.

Being a grown-up kinda sucks, don't it?

yawn

Oh goodness, I am so tired. And cold. And tired. Did I mention I'm cold, too?

According to my browser, it is currently 6 degrees outside, with a "Real Feel" of -3 degrees. I don't care who ya' are; that's just damn cold. Suffice to say, I am SO ready for spring!

Yeah, I know, I haven't posted in a while. I've thought about it a handful of times, but just never did. The good news is, the "new & improved" office is 98% complete! I've combined my office/guest room with Cody's office to make one large office for the both of us.

The other room is pretty much on hold right now, unfortunately. The guest bed is leaning up against the wall in there right now waiting to be taken to it's new home. Once that happens, I'll be able to finish cleaning up in there and hang clothing rods to turn it into a giant walk-in closet. Okay, maybe not giant to the rest of the world, but giant to the two of us!

After that, I'll be able to turn the clothes closet in the guest room into a storage closet. This house is seriously lacking in storage space, and being able to install out-of-the-way storage shelving will make a HUGE difference!

Since I can't do much more with either of those rooms for the next couple of weeks, I can now focus my attentions elsewhere. Like what I'm going to do with my life. You know; stuff like that. I've picked the choir music from church that people have turned in over the last few weeks, and that all needs to be filed. I also have to sort through the practice CD-RWs and clear them off for future use. Pretty innocuous stuff.

I've only got one more Sunday off from choir, so I need to get crackin' on "lesson plans" and figure out what direction we'll be heading in once rehearsals start back up in February. A few people have inquired about whether or not we'll have any kind of choir program at Easter, and truth be told, I have no idea what the answer is.

In addition to all that, I need to be studying math some more. I have an appointment to check out a school on Wednesday, and if that meeting goes well, I'll be taking an entrance exam in the near future. I'm pretty rusty on my simple math since I have relied on calculators for so long. On top of that, I have to refresh myself on certain equations and such as well.

Then I have that whole "job" thing to look forward to. I'll be waiting until Wednesday to follow through with anything on that front though. I need to find out the average workload for a student at this particular school before signing on to a new job. Making sure that there are enough hours left in the day for homework will be a pretty important factor in any job I seek.

Added to the joyous list above is the fact that I simply have to get my weight back under control. My pants are all too tight, and the scale has reached a number that I'm extremely unhappy with. So now I have to try and fit in a bit of exercise, too. With me not working, there really is no reason for me to not exercise. Don't get me wrong; I could totally give you a whole list of excuses.

aruba, jamaica

ooh i wanna take ya to bermuda, bahama, come on pretty mama

Yeah, I wish.

It's still cold. There is still snow on the ground. I'm still not a fan of either.

Now that we've dispensed with the obvious information, let's move on.

I was quite relieved this morning. As of yesterday afternoon, the school I have been considering attending had not updated their website to reflect any new dates for admission testing. The last date listed was yesterday, and I just was not prepared enough to feel comfortable taking the test that soon. So I spent a fair portion of yesterday afternoon and evening thoroughly *convinced* that I had missed the last opportunity to take the test for the spring class, and would have to wait until fall.

Waking up and checking their site this morning, I was able to take a deep breath. They have scheduled two more dates, which means I have not completely dropped the ball yet! In addition to that, I learned from my brother a couple of days ago that there is at least one game for my Nintendo DS that focuses strictly on math. I have a couple of those "brain games" already, and while they do include some math problems, I'm excited to find these other games that don't have all the other distractions.

I can't believe I just talked about being excited to do math. I sat on the couch with Cody the other night working on fractions, and though I made more errors in simple math than I'm comfortable with, I was encouraged at being able to at least do the problems themselves correctly.

Yeah, I know. Not exactly exciting stuff here, folks. I'm just trying to type my way into an awake and alert state of being.

ode to puppies

you stare
you whine
you beg, plead and pace

i believe you
i interrupt myself
i stop what i'm doing

we walk together
you gang up
you tumble into me

you freak
you spaz
patience isn't yours

i open the door
i chain you up
you run out into

the driveway
the driveway
must sniff

go to the grass
go to the grass
the ever-loving grass

do you thing
get back in
too cold to stand at the door

ruh-roh

See, I got all busy doing nothing yesterday, and totally forgot to write today's post! Damn you, facebook!!!

I had intended to clean the kitchen and possibly the living room yesterday, but got entangled in a web of facebook friend-poaching and, before I knew it, it was time to go meet my friend for lunch (Panera Bread - So yummy!).

I really don't have anything terrible profound to write about today, but I do want to keep the ball rolling so that it doesn't come to a screeching halt!

I feel like I have so much to do today without the time to do it. In reality, I don't *have* to be anywhere until 8pm, so I have all the time in the world, really. I just want the downstairs clean and put back into whatever passes for order in this house. Cody's family will be coming over for dinner tomorrow afternoon/evening, and my goal is to have almost all of the cleaning done before we leave for a party tonight. That way I can prep food in the morning, then clean the bathroom and be done. Time to sit on my butt and relax before family starts showing up and the dogs go crazy.

My poor office. My goal is now to have the office project done by next weekend. I dare not say more, as I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I am going to surprise Cody with. He has been off work all this week, but when he goes back to work on Monday, I'll be going to town on cleaning while he's at work.

Being unemployed certainly has some benefits! It's so much easier to get housework done when Cody isn't here, especially when I get up to no good! If he's not here to ask questions, I have the opportunity to accomplish a task without him knowing so that he sees the finished product and is more likely to be agreeable than if I try to explain it ahead of time.

'Tis infinitely easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.....

a free post in my dashboard

So after scheduling today's post yesterday, I saw in my "dashboard" a draft for a post that I started writing in October! When I started reading it, I knew exactly why I was writing it and can luckily remember enough details to finish the story. So that takes care of at least one future post for me! I just have to take the time to finish writing it.

I've also been saving a post in my reader as unread so that I could write a post about that. So I finally copied and pasted it over here to try and speed up that process. Not to mention it also gives me the freedom to not have to constantly click "Keep Unread" every time I scroll by it...

So this post will make day three, plus the two mentioned above, which brings us up to five posts! That's almost as much as I've posted this whole year!!!

I have a lot I *need* to write about as well, so that should be worth at least another week. In addition to all of that, I've been invited to participate in the "One Word" thingy by Bethany, which is vaguely intriguing to me. Hmmm.... maybe I'll be a writer when I grow up?


P.S. @Pete - I love it when you're random. It's the glue that binds all of us together!

way too cold...

...to put laundry away!

I had set the laptop aside to get dressed and get a little housework done. Since a lot of what I've got at the top of my to-do list hinges on getting my laundry put away, and my office (where my clothes are) is currently an ice-box of death, it turns out I've got time to start another post after all.

I really do need to get that damn office cleaned out. Since starting the planning and implementation of the Christmas concert at church, my office has spiraled out of control! The guest bed is piled with clutter of all sorts: books to be shared/donated, music the choir has performed that needs to be filed away, music that needs to updated/arranged/listened to/copied/distributed for future performances, files to be filed, files to be sorted/shredded/set aside to start another pile somewhere else, CD boxes that need to be tucked back into their obscure corners, etc. ad infinitum... Let's not forget that the bed itself needs to be stripped and taken apart to be donated to someone, somewhere, at some point in the near future...

Since I'm so limited on space in that office, our guest bed is going to be given away and replaced with an air bed (post-Thanksgiving sale, baby!) that can be folded up and stored in a closet. While I've lived here, that bed has been used on a total of two occasions, aside from when I was sick, so I think it will be safe to rid myself of the damn thing. Hopefully once I get everything that is currently hiding under the bed put into a new storage location, I'll have enough floor space to move around and *gasp* actually get some work done in my office from time to time!

For now, I'll settle for getting all the debris cleared off...