Almost Back to Real Life

5 more days...5 more, that's all, that's it, 5 days left until my first 6 credits of grad. school are complete!

I C.A.N. N.O.T. wait until Sunday when I have no more homework, no more books, no more videos, no more postings, no more waiting with anticipation to see how I scored on my papers, oh yeah...NO MORE PAPERS TO WRITE!! 5 more days- I can do this. Right?

Of course I still have to complete a paper and submit edited work to my portfolio with a written rationale by Sunday; my goal is to finish everything by Friday. However, these tasks will be a piece of cake compared to how much work I've taken on since January 5 when my Adventures in Graduate School began. So what am I doing right now when I should be writing a paper?? I'm blogging, of course! I needed a distraction and reading about the daily "going ons" of other people has provided a lovely distraction.

I am in need of a distraction for several reasons:
1. The weather is beautiful! It's clear, blue skies and 86 degrees today. We've BBQ'd the last two nights, have set up the patio with our table, lounge chairs, and fireplace and are eagerly awaiting our long summer days. This type of weather makes focusing on writing papers REALLY challenging. At least I'm indoors and at the computer...that's close enough to completing my work, right?

2. I went shopping today for my assistant. Tammy was expecting her first grandchild in about 2 weeks. Last Wednesday her daughter called to tell her there was no heartbeat and she was being rushed to the hospital for inducement. Her daughter delivered a stillborn baby girl in the wee hours of Thursday morning. I have since been collecting donations from co-workers and today went out and purchased items for a beautiful "care package". I bought an iron bird bath accompanied by several beautifully blooming plants, a Willow Creek angel of remembrance, a garden plaque, and a charm bracelet type key chain containing the following charms: pink baby footprints, an April birthstone, a cross, the letter E (baby was named Emma Lee), and an angel. I've also had all of my students make cards for Tammy and her family. It feels amazing to do something like this for Tammy, but the reason behind it is just plain tragic. I can't imagine being 2 weeks away from my due date and losing Jake.

3. (On a more positive note) I have maternity portraits on Saturday. I am looking sooooo forward to this experience. Who knows if I'll have another child or not, and this is something I've always wanted to do. Keri takes AMAZING pics and I'm almost giddy with excitement over this. I also booked a mani/pedi on Friday afternoon in preparation and bought some cute new clothes, got a haircut and I'll be going in for a much needed brow wax!

4. I had to get those prescription strength thigh high stockings to try to control my cankles. They really make me feel old and frumpy and I don't like wearing them- at all! Literally, these suckers are so strong that the first day I wore them it took me over 10 minutes (per leg) to get them on. Bending over is NOT easy to do these days and I wasn't adequately prepared for the time commitment it took to get those suckers on. I'm sure that watching me would have been hysterical. I felt like all I did was sweat and roll around on the bed grunting while trying to get enough of a bend to pull these nasty things up! I felt like a tick about to pop. Sad. Just plain sad. Nothing makes a woman feel sexy like support pantyhose...UGH! Anyhow, I wore shorts today (without my stockings) and my ankles are swollen to the size of apples and I needed a distraction from feeling F.A.T.

So there you have it. My reasons for needing a distraction may not be the same reasons you need one, but this is my life. 5 more days of school, 8 more weeks of pregnancy, 8 more weeks of some serious cankles and wrestling with my support thigh highs, 7 more weeks of work before summer break, and a partridge in a pear tree!

On another note, the long wished for House Fairy never did arrive, but she sent her Storage Unit cousin who granted us one 5x10 storage unit to make room for Jake. To date we still have to get a display case out of the nursery, clean the carpet, and place the furniture where we want it. Once all that is done I'll post pics. of his room...I promise that I haven't forgotten about that.