It never ends

I decided to handcraft just about all of Christmas, and let me tell you, not a wise move. I have, thus far, stuck pretty closely to my craft calendar, but tonight I was supposed to get four pages done and I just finished the first one (12:48 am). I just have to remember that these gifts I'm working on now are for my mom and mother in law, so they will hopefully understand if there is some delay.

But after Christmas it doesn't stop either. I have several projects to work on, including an album that has been commissioned, Ian's birthday party invitations, and 5-6 baby books for people I know who are expecting in the spring. Lots of babies on their way.

Ian's birthday party is going to have to be held a full week before his birthday. The gymnastics place booked full a mere hour after I inquired about it. I am disappointed, but we are taking Ian to the monster truck show in Greensboro on his birthday (SO much cognitive dissonance you just don't know) so we can just make a day trip of that and not be hurried.

Then, soon after, I find out my exam results. If I pass everyone in the world will hear me whoop. So don't expect any loud noises that day.

Off

Ever had days when you feel like you're just misfiring on every cylinder, that everything you do or say misses the mark somehow? That's been my life for the last two or so weeks. I'm not sure why, but it's getting frustrating.

So here are the (brief) highlights:

Ian seems to be sick today, has a bad cough, but I was out sick two days last week so I at lesat need to try to get him to school this morning and hope that they don't call me to come get him. He's not running a fever, if he was I would definitely keep him home.

Finished all of my Christmas shopping yesterday. Also finished all of my dad's shopping for Ian. He gave me his credit card and just told me to pick out stuff for him. So we had a miniature spree last night. I also won my dad a digital picture frame off of ebay. He's notoriously hard to shop for and I think he's really going to be pleasantly surprised by this. He did ask specifically for a portable battery charger for his car, but he drives a relatively new Camry that he takes very good care of, and I don't know when he's ever had need of a jump. I think he just likes gadgets.

My friend Karen came to visit last weekend from Asheville. She's thinking she may want to move here, she's more than welcome. She's lived there her entire life and, unlike most of us other sane people, can't stand it up there. Crazy.

I found out yesterday that my great aunt passed away on Thursday. I don't think I've ever met the woman, but for some reason she bypassed her son, his wife, and all of the grandchildren and other great-grandchildren to leave me her mother's ruby ring. So that makes it my great-grandmother's ring. I'm floored. Evidently my dad was particularly close to her when he was younger and she wanted to leave something to his daughter. I can't wait to see it.

Scott got a new job that requires him to be there at 6:30, so that means getting up super early now so that I can get Ian ready for school. I'm tired all the time.

Alright, speaking of which, time to begin the process.

Crafts out the ass

Scott has some promising job opportunities in the wings, so hopefully our (nearly) six week dry spell is coming to a close. So far we've managed to do alright, but we're to the point where we're starting to feel the financial pressure. The sooner the better for him.

I've spent every spare minute of the last week working on my Christmas projects. I'm making so many of the gifts I'm giving this year that I've had to make a craft calendar just to make sure that I get everything done by the specific date. I'm making gifts for my mom, my mother-in-law, my Secret Santa recipient, my best friend, my aunt, and Ian's teachers. We're talking calendars, annual planners, Christmas albums ornaments, and jewelry, the whole gamut, not to mention the fact that I'm making 60+ Christmas cards.

After Christmas I need to finish an album for someone who commissioned the work from me. I have also been commissioned to make a coworker a bracelet, and I have five friends due in the spring and they're all getting baby albums from me. My dad also approached me over the weekend about giving me several hundred dollars to do an album for my granny. That one would be a massive undertaking. I don't know when I'm ever going to get to work on my own stuff. At least I enjoy this, though.

I am going to see my general doctor on Wednesday to discuss with him the things I need to be doing to prepare myself for the next baby. On top of the list is losing weight, of course. Next we need to wean me off some of my medications, and I need to find out the best ways to avoid things like hypertension and hemmies, all problems I had when I was pregnant with Ian. I'm very excited at the prospect of having another child, and to be honest if I was at the weight I want to be at I would be trying to get pregnant right now. But as it is we're shooting for next summer. Hopefully I can get a few lbs off by then.

Ian did so well in gymnastics tonight, better than he ever has. We've been on the verge of pulling him out for good so many times, partly b/c he has trouble paying attention and partly b/c we felt like they were short-handed (one teacher for 5-6 kids in a gym). But tonight we hid outside so he couldn't see us and he was SO much better behaved. I really don't understand it, but I'm not knocking it.

That's all the babbling for now. I have cards to work on.

It's over...for now

The exam is over and I won't speak of it again until I find out my results at the end of January. Suffice it to say that I fully expect to be back testing again later next year, but time will tell.

I spent the remainder of my weekend playing in my new scrapbooking closet, reorganizing all my supplies, and my mom and I took Ian to see Happy Feet today. Damned cute movie, I really enjoyed it. :)

Tomorrow I go back to work after nearly a week off. I know my inbox is going to be packed full, but that will be okay because it will make a short week go by even quicker. This weekend I have no plans (and hope that I will not find myself standing outside in the cold at 5 am waiting for a store to open on Friday morning - we'll have to see what the sales papers give me). I plan to get a good head start on lots of my Christmas present projects - I'm having a crop here the next weekend and hope to finish most of them by then. I take on too damned much. :)

Am almost done with my Christmas shopping, have to talk to my dad and find out what he and my grandmother want then hit the "buy" button on Amazon, then it will be done. We'll be picking up Ian's presents from the walmart layaway (good riddance) on Thanksgiving,a nd except for his stocking we'll be done. Bah.

I'm pretty boring, aren't I? :)

And here we are

So tomorrow begins the fun. I took this entire week, save Monday, off to study for my exam. I probably studied about 7 hours total everyday, which really technically means that I didn't HAVE to be off work. However, I'm not one of those people who can come home from a full day of work at 6:30 and immediately start studying. I usually don't get started until Ian is in bed, around 9 pm. And then I can't get anything done at work because I just can't concentrate when I'm being interrupted every few minutes with a phone call or other noise.

So what I did this week was stay up till ungodly hours of the night, studying, then slept late every morning. This is how I work best. I am most productive at night, and I am SO not a morning person. I don't feel ready for the test, but I never thought I would. I do, however, feel like I did a good balance of everything to prepare, and hopefully it's enough to get me a passing score. I won't know till January 26th.

In other news, Scott set about working on my scrap closet. That bitch is done, save for me throwing my stuff in there. I'm so excited I can't even stand it. Saturday night we're supposed to be going to Durham for a tree lighting thing, but I plan to stay up very late Saturday night getting that thing organized and put together.

Sunday we are taking Ian to see "Happy Feet", and the rest of the day will be spent playing in my closet, hehehee. Jatana is coming over Sunday night to hang out for a little while. And then it's SHORT WEEK!!!

This is both good and bad. Good because I honestly don't feel like working a full week after the hell I've been put through for this test. Bad because I have a week's worth of work to catch up on in much less time. Oh well, at least it will keep me busy. Busy is good - makes the day go by. But I am well aware that my coworkers have been cutting me slack and not giving me much work to do because of my test, and all that is going to change next week. I damn well better pass this test this time - no mercy after this.

Alright, back to my review and hopefully to bed in an hour. Our instructor in our review course told us that we had better not study on Thursday night, but I knew even then that I would be. Whatever, if reading this material means I get a few more questions right I'm all about it.

Nightynight. I'll report back when the nightmare is over (40 more hours!!!).

Whooo!!!

Wow! That review class was an absolute riot! Well, not really, but it was a big help. It showed me all the places I am lacking, though, and I have SO much work to do in the next (not even) two weeks.

Still no news on Scott with the job thing. He's trying, but these things take time. I saw an ad in the paper last week: Crabtree mall is hiring elves. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHEEEEEEEHEHEEEEEEE HAHAHAHAHAHAHEEEEHEEEE

I went to my mom's Friday night to get some studying done; I honestly was ready to stay the entire weekend just to get that time away to devote to studying. Unfortunately, I woke up at 1 am with back pain; I thought it was from the bed I was sleeping in at my mom's - not exactly the most comfortable. I got up and took two tylenol and watched some TV, but the pain was getting worse so I took two more and tried to lay on the couch and sleep. I went to take a hot shower around 2:30 am and that helped a little, so I went back to bed but woke up 30 minutes later in more pain. My mom had gotten up by that point (she sometimes does) so I asked her if I could try to crash in her bed. I tossed and turned for about 30 minutes before I finally got up at 4 am to tell her I was heading home to get my stronger pain meds.

So here I am at 4 in the morning driving dark back country roads home, no cell signal. Despite my desire to go 75 mph, I'm glad I restrained myself b/c I saw three deer on the side of the road as I drove through. I still made it home in record time (amazing how light traffic is at that time of day on a Saturday), took a painkiller left over from my surgery and a finnergin (nightynight) and fell asleep in the tub. I had figured out about halfway home that it was NOT back pain from sleeping wrong, but another damned kidney stone. This one bothered me about a month ago at work, so much so I had to go home, but it had not bothered me since so I thought I had just had bad posture that day or something. Nope. And this one has NOT moved either. The last one I had took 3 and a half years to pass, and it wasn't even NEARLY this high up. This one is about as high as they can possibly get without still being IN the kidney.

So anyway, I slept all day Saturday b/c of the no sleep thing from the night before. I managed to get some studying done that afternoon, but it was nowhere near what I would have gotten done if I had been at my mom's. I studied all day today, then took a break at about 9 to watch Desperate Housewives, and that bitch hit again with a vengeance. I drank three cups of coffee with my Oxycontin so that I could stay awake study, and now (3:23 am) I am high and wired.

I'm planning to go to work tomorrow b/c I need to settle something out with my boss first thing, but I'm also calling the doctor b/c I cannot live this way, especially not with this test coming up. I think I could seriously stay up the rest of the night but that would not be good for work tomorrow (that's assuming I can make it the rest of the day; pain is okay right now but you never know when these bitches are going to rear their ugly heads).

But let me tell you - oxycontin - GOOD stuff. For once I can relate to Rush Limbaugh.

Off to my Crappy Vacation

Not really feeling up to it, but I am leaving tomorrow evening for Charlotte for five days of unadulterated financial planning review!!! Woohoo! Hope I can keep my shirt on for all of that.

I'm still in lots of pain; went back to work today but could only make it half a day before the pain was too much (it was either medicate to the point of not being able to work or hurt so that I could work but just barely). Unfortunately I will have to cope with ibuprofen only tomorrow in order to make the three hour drive. I hope, though, that ibuprofen does the trick b/c I can't afford to be medicated during my review courses.

Anyway, I'll be returning on Monday evening, and hopefully I'll be able to check in online periodically from the internet access at the hotel. No laptop for me. :(

Everyone have a happier weekend than I.