A big ol' "Praise the Lord!!"

Remember that meltdown I had over the weekend? (You don't? Well, I guarantee ya, my family does.) Turns out, it was quite unnecessary, as most of my meltdowns usually are.

Saturday's meltdown was mainly over the fact that I was nearly 5 weeks behind in Algebra. At the beginning of the semester she gave us a schedule and told us that in order to finish all 180 topics by finals week, we needed to do 12 topics a week. Okay, no big. Except that the website told me I had 231 topics to finish, therefore I needed to do 16 topics a week. To someone who isn't mathtarded and doesn't have 3 kids and a husband and two jobs, this probably wouldn't be a big deal, adding 4 topics a week, but yeah, well, haven't we already established that I am a big whiney baby? Yeah. It was a HUGE deal. I could never get caught up and just got steadily further and further behind. A few days ago I emailed my instructor, something I should've done a long time ago because turns out, the company who runs the website updated the cirriculum and added 51 extra topics and the instructors didn't realize it. She told me they would be removing the extra topics tomorrow, so now I'm only about a week behind!!! I'm happier'n a bulimic in a room fulla tongue depressors.

This week I only have to do this and last week's Algebra topics, write 8-10 questions/comments about Edgar Allan Poe and "The Fall of the House of Usher" which will be no big deal since I just wrote a paper over both and maybe, just maybe I'll get a week or two ahead in Lit as well. I do have to go to Macro tomorrow night, though, since I missed last week because of the fundraising auction and will miss next week to see my daughter's stage debut.

I got my grade for the last Macro test, by the way - a big fat 64%. But hey, you'll see me shedding no tears. I have a 73% in the class. You really can't get more average than that. One more bad test, though, and you'll see tears, though. I'm still praying that something miraculous happens in that class.

Four weeks until finals. I can hardly contain my glee at the mere prospect of this hellish semester ending. I am going to try to enroll for next semester tomorrow. If things go the way I want them to (ha! Like that happens often) I will take 13 hours next semester:

Intro to Mass Communications - The class all MassComm majors are supposed to take their first semester. Oops. It's only my third. It's one hour a week. Like Freshman Orientation only more mass-ly communicative. Or something like that.
Beginning Photography - I am so stoked about taking this class I can hardly stand it.
Photo Lab - Even more stoked there's a lab!
History of Film - This is one of those 3-hour, one day a week classes, but instead of 6-9 like Macro is this semester, History of Film is from 1-4. I won't be missing any evenings with my kids!
Creative Writing - This is the only class I'm taking that isn't actually a course requirement, so it's actually counting toward nothing other than the fact I want to take it. I need to do something fun and for me next semester and since getting lipo and a boob job while in Disney World on the Tower of Terror with Zach Braff who just happens to like kissing my face is out, I'll just take Creative Writing.
Survey of American Literature II - Part Deux of the AmerLit class I'm taking this semester, same instructor and my only online class next semester. I just hope and pray she runs Part Deux like she's running Part Uno (yep, I know I switched languages - because I don't know how to spell the French word for "one")(I can say it, I can't spell it)(Yes, I know where Google is on the Internet)(No, I don't want to look it up) because it's predictable and I'm learning something and I'm almost enjoying it, strangely enough.

So there ya have it - let's just hope I don't fail Macro and have to take it again next semester.

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Monday Abby stayed home from school because her face was all swollen up from her sinuses. She's always had allergies and sinus issues, but never this bad. She laid on the couch with warm washcloths on her face all morning, watching SpongeBob through two little peepholes, bless her little heart. She's better, but still not 100%. She does not have silver snot, however.

Today, when I got home from work, after I met Mrs. Principal so she could load up the time machine, I went in to change clothes and realized I had the beginnings of a headache. The internet was having issues with both computers, so I took that as a sign from God that I needed to veg instead of solve linear equations. And veg I did. When KD and Sam walked in the door from school (Ab was at play practice) I was semi-conscious on the couch. Sam curled up next to me and KD crawled into the recliner. I dozed off and when I woke up I looked around and didn't immediately see KD. I finally found her curled up in the chair, tears streaming down her face. Of course, feeling horrendous maternal guilt for dozing when there was obviously an issue with my youngest child, I hauled myself up off the couch to figure out what was wrong. She quietly said her eyes wouldn't quit cwying and her tummy was wumbly and her head huut weal bad. I scooped her up and sat down with her on my lap and felt heat emanating from her. Bless her little heart, she was running a fever and hey, just send that Mother of the Year trophy to my post office box, will ya?

All three of us were cuddled up on the couch - Kady soaking up my extra pats and rubs due to extreme guilt and Sam pouting because I won't let him skip school and repeatedly saying that I was punishing him for being the healthy child - when Paul and Abby got home. Paul took over Kady duty while I threw in a load of laundry and made Paul a lovingly microwaved homemade meal of Schwan's chicken pot pies. Fortunately Abby can nuke a HotPocket and Sam thinks Tyson chicken patties are manna from Heaven.

Kady's crashed on the couch right now, still slightly fever-y and I guess she won't be getting that flu shot tomorrow. And while I'd love to stay home from work yet another day this week, I guess I'll take Mom up on that offer to stay with KD tomorrow while I run back and forth across the county, going to work, going to the school to pick up Abby and Sam, taking them to the dr's office for flu shots, taking them back to school, enrolling for next semester, working at the college THEN going to my night class. I'm already tired just thinking about it.

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Yesterday was our Thanksgiving dinner at DHS. Today they put out the leftovers in the kitchen and I wasn't in the mood for turkey so I just heated up some broccoli rice casserole only to discover that the warmth I was feeling in my guts was from the jalapeno peppers the preparer had added to what would've been a perfectly good casserole WITHOUT the peppers. Omg, that was a bad, bad trick to play on unsuspecting government employees. We're already cranky as it is - adding jalapenos to broccoli just adds to the agitation.

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It's the first full week of November and I have already managed to fill up every single weekend until the end of the year. HOW does that happen?? Between son's birthday, 3 parades (in one day, no less), parties, volunteering to take pictures of children with Santa at a drive-thru state park light display event thing, finals, youngest daughter's birthday, a trip to Branson to Silver Dollar City because that's where the real Santa is and we can't miss seeing the real one, and oh yeah, Christmas, I'm a busy girl until 2008. Who am I kidding, it's going to spill over into 2008.

BUT in 2008 there will (hopefully) be no Macroeconomics.