Day 80

Did I do it, did I actually do it? I completed all my homework for the week before Thursday! This is a first and I am excited, and I am going to start expecting this of myself from now on. I exerted better self control, and used relaxing music to help keep me focused… I did it even with extra obligations for this week. Part of it was that I finally decided that even though Mr. B is gone doesn’t mean my life has to stop. I have things I have to get done before he gets home. I also reminded myself that if I got my homework done early on I would have more time to enjoy myself this week (and it has been so nice outside!).

So what am I going to do the rest of the week? Tomorrow I am getting a massage, that spot on my back is still just killing me. I walked, stretched, and did an Epsom salt soak but it still hurts to move. I am so glad to have a masseuse friend to trade favors with, she rocks! I am also working this week, I got some contract hours that I wouldn’t have been able to work if I hadn’t have completed my homework. I can work on my knitting project again too. I haven’t worked on it for over a week now and I feel bad. I need to have it completed by the end of the month and I want to get started on my next project. I was going to do some more yard work, but I’ll have to save that until my back recovers. I am also going to clean up the house really well. The living room/dining room/kitchen aren’t so bad and are pretty quick to clean, but I got behind on folding my laundry when I was sick and never took the time to catch up, plus it’s something I can do while I watch a movie with Little Monster.

For now, off to bed. I feel accomplished and now I need to rest.

Day 79

Crazy/busy prime-number day: yoga, studying (while eating lunch), counseling, studying (while picking up Little Monster from school), yard-work/home-work/play time and dinner with Little Monster, my homework, and now...breathe.

I think I stretched a little too far in Yoga doing the extended side angle pose…my “gluteus medius” is SO sore (yeah, I looked that up just so I could tell you specifically what I hurt). It may not have been so bad at first, but it definitely felt worse after I did yard work. It does feel good to have the front of the house clean and ready for warm weather. My neighbor helped me get the sprinklers ready and showed me how to shut the water supply off/on in case we get another cold weather storm.

I am trying to get all my homework done before the week gets further along…I want to enjoy the super nice weather we’re supposed to have at the end of the week. BUT, I want to make the effort to get it completed so early in the week from now on, I sure feel accomplished! I only have one assignment left for this week and it should be pretty easy. I have to read an online article about relationships and then write a 1-2 page paper answering specific questions about the article. I already found the article I want to write about…so that is my project tomorrow evening.

Day 78

What a busy day. I had intended to spend two hours this morning preparing and shipping a package, but it took me much longer than I anticipated and then it occurred to me that I forgot to have Little Monster sign a card…so by the time I was done getting everything ready for the package it was 1:30 pm. During the process of preparing the package I got a message from Mr. B that made me very excited and distracted for the rest of the day.

So, but the time I picked Little Monster up from school the only thing I had accomplished was getting the package prepared. We went straight from school to the post office. I learned that it is much much cheaper to use the flat rate boxes when shipping to APO/FPO addresses ($15 difference with the box I shipped today). I could send 2 flat rate boxes for the price of 1 regular box. The flat rate boxes are free and I can have them delivered straight to my house, which is amazing! (I have a whole stack of Priority Mail boxes in the spare room.)

I felt pretty bad for not getting anything accomplished today so after Little Monster went to bed I settled in and read a whole chapter for my computer class AND took the quiz for the week. Tomorrow and Wednesday I will be busy throughout the mornings and then Little Monster gets out early on Wednesday and Thursday so I am glad I got that finished so early in the week! I am proud of myself and I hope that I can finish my psychology homework early enough that I can get started on reading for next week. I had wanted to be ahead by the end of Spring Break, but I instead decided it was my week to pamper myself.

Day 76

The day is almost over.  I am so proud of myself.  I got a 100% on my 2nd Psychology exam.  I was fairly pleased with my score on the first exam, but I was able to do some additional review today (whereas last time I was pressed for time and did not review prior to the exam) and it helped significantly!

Little Monster was sent home from school yesterday with a fever.  He had complained about a sore throat the night before, but I was having an asthma attack and he tends to “copy” people whenever anything is wrong so I didn’t think anything of it.  He didn’t have a fever so I sent him to school…but it just over an hour later that the school called to tell me he had a fever over 100.  I took him straight from school to Urgent Care because the nurse said strep was going around, sure enough, Little Monster has strep throat.  He had a fever until midnight, he was so hot and miserable.  I bought him sprite and popsicles to help sooth his throat (he thought that was pretty special) and I also bought him some chicken noodle soup.  I also rented 2 movies for the weekend.  He loved being pampered. We changed into our pajamas and cuddled up to watch the movies.  Despite him being sick and me having to read homework, it was a pretty relaxing day.  Today he had no fever, but we hung out and cuddled while watching movies and TV.  He’s definitely feeling a lot better, but his throat is still sore.  He was disappointed that we won’t be able to make it to the Circus this year.  Even though he’s feeling better I still have to keep him at home until tomorrow so he doesn’t spread his germs all around.

Because of him being sick I didn’t get a lot of sleep.  So it’s late, and I’m sleepy.  I’m going to bed.

Day 74

Time is passing, passing quickly.  The weather has been absolutely crazy since last week.  Rain, snow, crazy crazy wind…and all winter it’s been overcast which is so unusual here.  Oh wait, it’s Spring now.

I had a hearing test, everything was normal.  The next step is to see an ENT next to see if they can figure out what’s wrong with my hearing because of allergies since nothing is wrong structurally.

Little Monster has said some of the funniest things the last couple days. He asked me what a stripper was (I’m sure I probably mentioned one at some point), so I told him I’d have to figure out how to answer that one (I have my answer, now I just need to remember to talk to him about it). He also asked “what with black makes white” and I told him “an eraser, now go to bed” (he kept asking me random things to stay awake). He also was invited by a boy for a sleep over tomorrow night, but the boy’s mom hasn’t called me. I told him to make sure to give the boy his number and tell him that his mom needs to call if he wants him to come over. I met the boys mom in December and I really like her, I’m hoping that they’ll call so we can chat some more…but I would get a whole night to myself! I don’t even know what I would do. Probably my psychology homework I’ve put off all week. I am protesting after Spring Break. It was nice to not think about school all last week.

The section I had to read for my computer class this week was all about networking and so I was finally able to figure out why my computers weren’t connecting. Now I can access all my files that are on my desktop from my laptop. Technology is amazing.  I need to upgrade the RAM in my desktop though, and I need to move it where I can have it connected directly to my router instead of wirelessly (since it’s my central storage device).  I like my network to be fast.

I am keeping very busy, with doctor appointments, lunch dates, school, counseling, errands, cleaning…most of my time is designated.  Right now, this is my designated “me” time. That starts when Little Monster goes to bed until I decide to go to bed. I try not to do any homework after 5, but I ended up doing that last night and finished my computer project in two hours (w00t w00t!).  I got a lot of good information tonight about some things I was researching. Yay!

Yeah, that’s it. And now, I am going to bed.’

Day 69

I only have two more years in my twenties.  I don’t feel old exactly...at least not because of my age.  It’s funny, when I was growing up I remember thinking 30 was so far away, heck, 20 seemed so far away.  Now most of my friends are 30 or older and it’s a bit surreal.  I never thought 30 was old though…but…my dad will be 70 at the end of this month and I’m not sure what to do for his birthday.  I keep trying to think of what to do and I haven’t been able to come up with anything.  I want to do something with music.

For my birthday I made myself a fabulous breakfast and ate and watched TV in bed.  I stayed in bed until 1pm and then I finally decided I should shower and get ready for the rest of my day.  I wasn’t going to stay in bed so long, I had planned to do some weeding in the garden, but it was so incredibly windy.

That night I had the babysitter come over and I went out to dinner with some friends.  It was really great to see the girls.  We went to my favorite sushi place, but I was so disappointed by the service.  Mr. B & I have always had the best service, but we always went in the middle of the week when they weren’t very busy.  I was disappointed that they sucked so bad when I got all the girls to go with me (Murphy’s Law, right?).  Despite that, we had a really great time.

I wasn’t going to do anything for my birthday, but then I decided that I really needed to get out of the house so I wouldn’t be depressed about Mr. B not being here.  My friends were amazing!  And Mr. B was fabulous too…he had one of my friends pick up flowers and a necklace that he picked out for me; both the perfect shade of purple (the necklace is amethyst, which is my favorite).

My Musical Journey

A few weeks back I posted a note on Facebook asking my friends to help me with my musical journey by sending a list of what they consider the “top 10 essential bands”.  Only a few of my friends responded, but I have a lot of music at my fingertips from years and years of my husband & I collecting.  I started by listening to Green Day…

One of my friends posts questions fairly regularly and today she asked: “do you have a theme song for your life?”  To be honest, for many years I considered the song “Unwell” by Matchbox 20 was my theme song (lyrics), but it’s not anymore.

So now I’m trying to figure out if there’s a song out there that would work as my theme song.

Maybe during this musical journey I’ll find my new theme song?

Day 65

It’s Spring Break!

Yesterday I watched “The Adjustment Bureau” and had a nice conversation with someone I haven’t talked to in several years.  We had a falling out.  I’d never had a falling out with any of my friends before, but the situation taught me a lot and I am glad that she got back in touch with me.  It’s nice to “find” a friend again.  I also did some work on applying to the University, but I still have a lot of questions.

Today I did yard work from the time Little Monster went to school until the time I picked him up from school.  I met another one of my neighbors, she was helping me figure out what to do with my weeds…after we spoke she went home and then a little while later she came back with some weed killer for me.  She volunteers at her friend’s nursery and in exchange her friend gives her yard & garden supplies…so she brought me over one bottle, and then came back a few hours later with even more! How sweet of her!  I also got to talk more with my immediate neighbor.  My landlord told me he was from Belgium, but he’s actually from Yugoslavia originally.  He’s a funny guy.  I thought he was a lot older than he is though…he’s the same age as my mom and looks like he’s a lot older than that.  He’s a really nice guy and he’s friends with the owner of my house, he “watches out” for me because he knows my situation.  I thought that was really sweet.  Anyway, one of my flower beds is weed free and I’m going to spend Thursday spraying for weeds in the backyard and on the front lawn and then weeding my other flower bed.  As big a pain as the lava rocks are, I think they’re really pretty.  After talking to my neighbors I am more firm on the idea of planting a vegetable garden in the back planter box.  Tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and carrots.  I really want to see if I can grow some corn or spinach, but I’m not sure what kind of work that is.

Tomorrow I’m working on my application for the University, completed my FASFA, and I’m going to look up some scholarships.

I am trying to get ahead on my reading for my classes so that when I start back up next week I’ll have a jump start.  I am planning another trip and having everything done early will make it a lot easier to leave.

Little Monster & I have kept up on walking, we walked after school yesterday & today.  Just to the mail box and back (we’re at the end of the street and the box is at the other end), but it gets us out.  And it’s been rainy when he’s gotten off of school both days.  It feels good to get outside after it’s been such a gloomy winter.

Alright, off to read some psychology and spend some time with Little Monster (and my knitting).

Day 63

My weekend was very up and down emotionally.  Friday night I got some baddish news that made me pretty much a wreck…but then yesterday was pretty great.  Little Monster & I got out of the house with a friend and then came home to cuddle and watch cartoons together.  Last night Mr. B called and we were on the phone for over an hour talking about the future.  Those conversations are always my favorite and I am so glad that we were able to talk so long.  Our phone conversations are usually quick “I Love You” and “Goodnight.”  Maybe 5 minutes tops.  So it was a treat.

Today Little Monster and I were up early, I did end up sleeping a bit in the living room after we got up…we ate breakfast together and then watched some more cartoons.  Then we met some friends for lunch, they came back home with us and we had a good visit.  We were planning to spend some time outside, but it ended up being very cloudy and a bit chilly when it was supposed to be such a nice day.  The weather cleared up after they left, so Little Monster & I took a walk through the neighborhood…but we took a special walk.  I told him to bring his skateboard so he could practice and he had so much fun.  It took us an hour to go a mile, but that was because Little Monster was practicing staying on the board.  I am planning to get us some bikes for his birthday this summer so we can take rides together and then ride back and forth to school at the beginning of next school year.  Until we get bikes I’m going to try and take regular skateboard walks with him.  I really am working on getting back into the exercising routine.

Day 60

Thank you to my friends who came and helped me out today.  My windshield wiper fluid will spray now and the squares for Mr. B’s quilt are almost ready to assemble.  But the best part, company.  I do appreciate not being alone all day…and I think you’re pretty awesome people.  Love you guys.

Earlier today my goal was to talk in my blog about my good traits/qualities, because it’s good to have a positive self image, but I’m too tired.  I should have written it earlier (before I was exhausted).

I did horrible on my weekly test for my computer class, but I wasn’t paying attention 100%.  I have to finish up my weekly psychology homework tomorrow (while Little Monster is at school) and then buy some windshield wipers.

Day 59

Oh my goodness! Today was a productive and fantastic day. I had trouble getting out of bed, but I did…after getting Little Monster to school I came home and started working on an Excel project I had for my computer class and I was feeling overwhelmed. I didn’t work on the project for long because I had to leave for my advisement appointment.

Turns out… I won’t have to take any more classes. There was just a simple computer error making it look like I was ineligible for graduation. So, after 11 years, I will finally graduate with my Associates, YAY! Now comes the hard part…where am I going to go to finish school? I decided I’m going to go ahead and apply for two Universities and for financial aid at both schools and then decide from there. If I apply at one of the schools I have to wait until Mr. B gets back or take online classes, since I’m taking online classes now that’s not so bad. Choices choices.

I’m trying to decide if I should walk for graduation in May…Mr. B said it would be good for Little Monster to see me walk, but I don’t feel like I should walk just for an Associates.

What do you think?

I also got my phone fixed. I’m not exactly sure why, but my camera wasn’t working. I did a battery pull like I’m supposed to and it didn’t work. The lady that helped me just turned off my wi-fi, did the battery pull, and it started working. So that’s good too.

When I came home I go to work on my Excel project again and I’ve been working on it nearly non-stop since 2pm and it’s done…and it looks pretty. I have little prior Excel experience and so I’m pretty proud of myself.

Next week is Spring Break and I’m going to get ahead on my reading for school…but I’m also going to go outside and do some weeding. There are a lot of weeds in the “garden” (rocks with rose bushes) and by the driveway. I need to call my landlord and just ask if I can do away with the stupid rocks between my driveway and the neighbor’s driveway. Dirt is just fine by me (and the neighbor agrees). We’ll see how that works out. I also want to do a little more Spring Cleaning.

Well, I’m off to spend some time with Little Monster before he has to go to bed.

Day 58

I give up.  First thing in the morning I’m going to go pick up the prescription the doctor gave me for my sinuses.  I thought I was getting better, but this sinus pressure is ridiculous and it’s been three weeks now.  My head hurts so bad.  Time for me to use my neti pot again.  Hopefully it will help at least for tonight.

Today I went to yoga, but I forgot to get my phone looked at when I was done.  The camera stopped working sometime Friday and I have not been able to get it to work since then (and I didn’t want to drive into town just for my phone).  Tomorrow I have an advisement appointment to figure out why my Speech class isn’t counting as a speech class; I need to get it to count so I can graduate in May (the deadline to apply for Graduation is the end of this month).  If they won’t accept my class I’ll need to take a speech class this fall.  I hope it doesn’t come to that.  When I go in I’ll get my phone looked at.

Okay, I’m not feeling so great and I have a lot to do tomorrow.  I’m going to get Little Monster to bed and go to bed myself.

Goodnight.

Day 57

The days keep passing by.  I’ve been busy with some extra work this weekend.  It’s nice to get a paycheck every now and again, even if it is only on-call contract work.  I finally cleaned my house, it hadn’t been touched since I got back from my trip and it desperately needed a good pick-up.  Wednesday I’m planning a more thorough clean (baseboards, blinds, light switches…yeah, I know I’m crazy).

Last night it rained super heavy and it was nice to listen to the rain as I fell asleep.  Last summer (2010) Mr. B and I were in Georgia and it rained there a lot.  I remember countless nights laying in bed, listening to the rain (and frogs), snuggled as much as we could be (because it was so hot) and falling asleep or talking while the rain was so peaceful outside.  I say it was peaceful, even with the loud rain and even louder frogs, but it was relaxing.  The rain has always had a calming effect on me.  I could be having the worst of days and be super anxious and then if I were to hear the sound of rain all of that would vanish and the rain would bring me relaxation.

Tonight I decided to pamper myself and gave myself a pedicure.  I started with a sea salt scrub/massage, then I used my pedi egg and a filer to smooth my soles, then I clipped and filed my nails, and then painted my nails…ending with some massage oil and socks.  I sent Mr. B a message and told him I felt like I had princess feet. I’ve never had a professional pedicure, I think that’s how I’ll pamper myself next.  I already decided I’m going to go pay for a manicure.  I wanted to pain my nails, but I remembered that I don’t do such a good job painting my dominant hand (my non-dominant hand is not very steady).  I am reminded today that I really do like to be girly.  It makes me feel sexy.  Yeah, I said that.  Sometimes I feel pretty blah and plain, but when I do girly things I don’t feel so blah.  Why is that?

Day 55

My day has been very odd and emotional. Perhaps a large contributing factor was my lack of sleep.  I think all in all I got 4 1/2 hours.
It was a beautiful day outside, so I took Little Monster to the park to play.  We weren’t out for very long when it got super windy.  Since I’m not completely over my cold yet I had to call him in.  So sad.
I taught him to play Scrabble today and it was a lot of fun.  We discovered that it’s possible to score 160 points with one word, “zoned” with the “z” on triple letter score and the “d” on double word score (could you imagine if it had been triple word score?).  We had a lot of fun with that.

*edit: Someone pointed out that my math was incorrect; after two nights with only 4 hours of sleep each, my brain wasn't working correctly.



Other than that we didn’t do much today…it was nice to get out of the house and it was nice to play together.
We also took a picture to send to Mr. B (included below).

Day 54

Little Monster took his Justin Bieber backpack to school yesterday.  I was so proud of him for deciding he didn’t care what the other kids said.  Today he took Spiderman.  He told me he wants to alternate since Spiderman is his favorite and JB is his second favorite.  I have such a great kid.  I did talk to Mr. B about the backpack and he agreed that we need to let him be his own person (even if we’re afraid he might get picked on) and that he shouldn’t have to give up the JB backpack just because the other kids teased him.  I love my husband.

I am getting a lot farther on my knitting project.  I feel bad that I haven’t finished my nieces’ and nephews’ Christmas presents STILL but I can knit while I’m doing my homework and I can’t sew while I’m doing my homework.  I need to buck up and finish them this weekend with Little Monster.  I have some new projects I want to get started so I need to start finishing things first (to be fair, this knitting project has taken 7 years so I do have a priority to finish this too).  Why do I keep putting these things off?  Little Monster wants me to knit him a scarf when I’m finished with this blanket for his cousin.  I’m a busy momma.

Monday I’m going to go put in an application to work at my favorite coffee place.  I was going to go today but I decided my homework was more pressing.  (Yes, I can set priorities, even if I really want my favorite drink.)
Well, back to the homework grind.  I hope everyone is having a spectacular Friday.

Day 52

It’s very windy today.  Sunny, but a storm is blowing in.  While that describes the weather, it also describes my mood. 

Little Monster had a good morning though, and it seemed like he was going to have a good day based on his disposition.  He was pretty excited about taking his new Spiderman backpack with the matching lunch bag (I packed his lunch today, I don’t do that often because he tends not to eat what I send him with).  I got an email back from his teacher saying that she talked to the class about laughing and picking on others and what to do if someone laughs at or picks on you.  Like I suspected, she didn’t know anything about him getting made fun of for the backpack.

I had a rough night last night.  Maybe it was because of Little Monster’s experience, but I tossed and turned all night, when I did sleep my insecurities played out in my dreams.  I think I was more tired after sleeping…

Day 51

Little Monster was sobbing when I picked him up from school today.  When we got in the car he told me that he needed a new backpack and that he didn’t want to go back to school.  We just bought him a new backpack yesterday.  I realized that when I saw him with his teacher he had his backpack facing himself so no one could see the picture.

At the beginning of the year he picked out a very plain blue backpack and a couple months ago I offered to buy him a new one (the one he chose is also very small).  He declined, but then last week he decided to take me up on my offer.  I was sick, so we didn’t pick up his new bag until yesterday.  I took him to the backpack section and told him to pick anything he wanted and he picked out a black bag with purple piping and a picture of Justin Bieber.  I asked him if he was sure he wanted that one and explained that I was afraid he would get picked on or made fun of because girls mostly like Justin Bieber.  I offered alternative bags just to make sure but he wanted the Bieber and he was so excited to take it to school and show his friends.

He told me that the kids laughed when they saw his backpack.  So, I took him to the store and helped him pick out a new bag.  A Spiderman bag with a matching lunch bag.  He wasn’t as excited about the new bag, he was sad.  He didn’t want to surrender the JB bag either, he wants to keep it for other things at home.  He asked me not to make him take it outside…it breaks my heart because he was so excited about the JB backpack.