Once More, Unto the Breach

or something like that.

School is back in full force. Please, see my excitement........

(crickets. crickets.)

The tests. Oh, the sheer number of exams that await me.

There is much to do & even less time to do it in. I foresee not a whole lot of sleep in my future & an even greater amount of caffeine. Heh, everyone thought I was an addict before.

The "D"word is almost final. Almost. Maybe. In some far off world. Place or time. ::sigh:: I was promised that a certain signature would happen this week (ahem, its Thursday). And that everything would be final so that, you know, child support would kick in March 1st, J's health insurance would have an official 'must be done' date, my car could be transfered to my name.... You know, small stuff like that. Odds and ends, really.

::slow burn, people. slow burn::

(and no, I'm not bad-mouthing my soon-to-be-ex-husband. I'm merely expressing my feelings.)

Anyway. Lot's of "stuff" going on. And that's about the only word for it. Anyone ever had a season like that? Just a lot of "stuff." And it all requires your attention, though some of it you would gladly chuck out the window. Some good. Some bad. Some, you just stare at going, "What... the hell?"

And then there's the added fun of the single mom "stuff." Some good and some bad. That puts a whole new spin on everything you do, say and think.... I think. I've got hours of material on that one. But, suffice it to say, no matter how much help you get (and I've had a solid support system with deep roots)... in the end, it's all on you. You're the mom.

And that's a heavy burden.

Yes, it does change (a lot) when you divorce. The other parent isn't there, in the home. So guess what? If you're anything (at all) like me- you start qestioning every. single. freaking. decision. and then totally up the years of therapy that you become convinced your child is going to require at some point.

::sigh::

Slightly off track, I did get. Anyway. Moving on.
Like I was saying. Sorting through the "stuff."
What fun.

Leaning on prayer.
Learning from Sarai (or, Sarah... if you would prefer). My dear, friend. Yes, she is.
Living in the moment.
Learning to listen.
Learning to speak.

And End Break

I'm officially back at school this month- it was a lovely 2 month break. But it's over now. Back to fighting my way to my degree of higher learning. Yea. Just in time for Jacob's seasonal allergies to come roaring back in for another visit. How precious. And can I just say that this 6-something in the morning routine that my son has blessed me with for the last couple of days had better leave with the allergies.

Cause, yeesh.

It's not pretty.

And neither is confining a 2 year old inside cause he's so off-the charts allergic to the crap that's floating around in the air. It makes for a sad, sad little boy.... and a tired mommy. Let me tell you. I hated seasonal allergies when they used to haunt my every step- I despise them all the more now. Poor sick, snotting, coughing little boy.

All This & Really Not Much

You know what's sad?

I had to put to rest my dear, loyal AOL email address. I've had this email address for 10 years. That's commitment, people. The evil enemy spam finally did it in. Eesh. I hate spam. Grrr.

So, I've stepped into the brave new world of other email providers and went with another service. I like it so far.

But, with changing the email comes the oh so fun joy of having to get that new address out to all my nearest and dearest. That's a royal pain in the back end. I sent out a mass email, posted on facebook & I'm still not sure I've covered all the bases. And there are all couple of those email subscription thingys that I keep forgetting to change over.

In other news, little Jacob is on the mend. Thank goodness. And I got another B on another paper. Whoo-hoo! And I'm about half-way finished with another paper. I might be taking a break to blog at this very moment in time!

A Little of This. A Bit of That

Not a lot going on to report, this fine Monday. I didn't watch the Golden Globes last night. ::sigh:: In all honesty, I really had no idea what was up for the winning and who had been slighted (probably again) this year. I used to keep up with all that jazz, not s0 much anymore.

On the school front news, I'm plodding through papers. I may lose my mind before this is all over. I happened to have submitted a paper a few moments ago.... (that & the fact that J is sleeping right now allow me to hop on the bloggy and update all 5 of you). If I've said it once, I've said it many, many times- I sooo should have gotten this mess done in my early 20's when I had way less responsibility wise. I'm rather sure that will be my mantra for the rest of my life. Did I mention that as soon as I get my undergrad done &, you know, GET A JOB, I'm going to belly-flop into my Masters? No? Well, I am. Wheeeee!

On a totally different note- are there any good television shows? I ask cause with BSG gone, the Sanctuary season finale (which I didn't really love) this past Friday & new Army Wives not till April, I'm at a loss in the tv world. Though, I suppose that's not a bad thing. But, what are you watching? Anything to recommend to a woman who watches wayyyyyy to much of Bob and Larry sometimes?

Whoops, I hear my little human alarm clock sounding from the other room! Till tomorrow (hopefully), please enjoy the following picture montage. I call it.....

Entertaining and Corralling a Toddler in an Airport When He's Bored & the Plane is (Very) Late

Happily, I can report to you that everyone got on the plane, fairly happy and content & had a great ride home..... In other words, J had a bottle upon seating and fell asleep until about 20 or 30 minutes to landing. Ahhh, Serenity.

Typical

So, when my buddy got his Spanish speaking video camera home on Tuesday night, he jimmyed with it for a minute & wouldn't you know it, he got the blasted thing to work.

Typical.

Anyway- Wednesday Wendy came over and we shot the video. Yes, that means that the camera worked!!!!!! Oh, glorious, glorious day! Oh, happy day!

.... But then Wendy tried to upload the video to my pretty, pretty pink precious.

DUHDUHDUH.... (please hear music of doom... seems to be a theme with me)

It didn't work.

Typical x2.

Poor Wendy found herself dumped into the sea of frustration.... I think it was a little chily. She seemed a little .... oh, what's the word? Miffed? I'll spare you the gory details- it ends with Wendy taking the video camera to her abode and uploading the video to her computer & then trying to send me the video.

Again, I say trying.

Typical x3.

Wendy finally decided to put the video on her flash drive & I went by her work on Thursday to upload it to my pretty, pretty pink precious.

And guess what happened next?

It worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I submitted my video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the villagers rejoiced... until they realized that we have a baby shower happening tomorrow & a ton of work to do to make the village presentable.

"Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work I go....."

Doomed

On the heels of yesterday's post about learning to discipline myself & get things done, I thought I'd get started in the right direction by scratching a certain video off my list.

In one of my on-line classes, I wrote a paper about homeschooling... and now I have to "give a talk" about it. Which basically means, I have to stare into a camera and spout mindless fact for 7-8 minutes. (Don't even get me started on the arbitrary number.) Anywhoo, this video has been hanging over my head like the sword of Damocles for months.... and months.... and a few more months. It's pathetic, really.

HOWEVER, in February or March I finally borrowed a friend's video camera & roped someone into shooting it and asking the required 2 questions.

(BTW, I had to borrow a video camera because the camera I was going to use crapped out over the Christmas holidays. It's my parents camera. The funny part of this story is this: the charger no longer charges the battery & we can't find the right charger any longer.... but the hilarious part is that we used this camera to tape the first few months of J's life.... on a tape, that's still in the camera- that has no juice... So at some point, we're either going to find the right charger thingy or I'm prying that bad boy open and getting that tape!)

Moving on- I couldn't get the video up loaded to the pretty, pretty pink precious. So, I called Beth (camera owner) over and begged her to figure out how to upload it. And darned it she couldn't get it either. ::sigh:: So, she took the camera home with her and tried to upload it on her pretty, pretty MAC precious.

And guess what happened next?!

The video disappeared. Ya, who heard that right.

::le sigh::

So, that brings me to last night. I borrowed yet another camera (it's special) and corralled yet another person to assist me. I should have known it was a lost cause when a phone call to the camera owner didn't go through.... Yeah, this camera has "special instructions." Lovely.

Why me?

Finally, we get said owner on the phone and Wendy (super-dooper friend) was walked through the camera instructions. Okay. Got them. Ready to shoot. (The special instructions were, don't turn the camera off once you turn it on, because it won't turn back on for some amount of time. You'll have to disconnect the battery, the power supply & then turn around twice and spit, all while doing the hokey-pokey.)

But then.......

It started blinking instructions in Spanish.....

::whimper::

At this point I'm berating myself for not paying more attention in my high school Spanish classes.

We call the camera owner, AGAIN, and compel him to come and translate this mess. Of course, this was after Wendy tried to read him what was on the screen. Later, it was proved that she was REALLY off. I probably should have been the one to read it, but I was laughing too hard.

The camera owner ambles over to my humble home & we eventually decide that this is a lost cause... namely after the 5th time the stupid camera shut off.

::double le sigh::

Can you guess what's coming next?

That's right, I'm borrowing another camera today & Wendy and I are going to try this again.

Wish us luck- we're going to need it.