My Swirling Brain

Well, where do I even begin? So many thoughts are swirling around in my head right now. I love writing and sometimes wish that this blog was more of a creative writing outlet for me, but I also know that so many people read it to "catch up" on our lives and perhaps they don't want to read my creative writing. I also know that I don't have a lot of time to properly write and I do want to keep people informed. So, I guess here goes. It's going to be quite the smattering, but that's okay. I never promised anything spectacular, and I guess you can always choose to move on! (But I really hope that you won't!)

The first thing that is clawing to get out of my brain right now is the great reality that I'm done with my Psychology 255 exam! That's right, folks, yours truly has gone back to school. And you know what she figured out? Online courses are NOT for her! Oh, they look good in reality, and many people do them with great success! But me? Not so much. I think any more schooling by this girl will be night classes or weekend courses. Why am I taking these courses? Well, let me enlighten you!

Turns out that I finished my degree in nine less credits than teachers in BC finish theirs. In order to get Permanent Certification-and a nice little pay raise-I had to somehow make up these nine credits. Did they care what I took? No! Did they care WHERE I took them? Not really! I simply needed nine credits that I did not already have. Fun. So, Kev and I decided I would go the online route. It seemed easy! I signed up for Canadian History, Child and Adolescent Psych, and Computers. I thought it would be a breeze! I got the stuff in July and meant to start them then...I really did. I just found myself needing a break! I DID do some reading, and then school started. I had done one assignment. Yep, one. Computers was not so bad...an easy course really and no final. Piece of cake. It was the History and Psych that were really getting me. So, I signed up for the final for history. And STILL I procrastinated. It would go all right. I got another assignment and some discussions. Then I got the notice. My final was in two weeks! Eek! So, I started working like a mad woman and managed to finish that course in October with a B. Amazing, really.

Then came Psych. I started it in November, I really did. I read the first two chapters and looked at the first assignment. And then life got crazy. Volleyball was taking tons of time and other things were happening. I didn't have time. So again, I signed up for the final. I got a lovely letter on November 23 informing me that my final was going to be December 8th. So, I did what seemed impossible. I read 12 chapters in a week and a half. I just took the final on Saturday and I'm feeling okay about it. Here's hoping! And here's to relief! Yay! I'm done. I still have a few assignments to do, but that's the easy part! So, after the final on Saturday, I found myself crashing, hard. Seriously, I think I spent about four hours just lying in bed that afternoon and I still fell asleep quickly that night! I was wiped!

Another thing that's been on my mind lately is Facebook. I have read so many entries bashing Facebook and venting the evils of it, but I have to disagree! I used to be one of those people, until I joined. I don't do it to gain hundreds of friends. I have rejected many people, wondering why they want to be my friend when they don't really know me in real life. I don't do it to be creepy and spy on people. I do it because it has brought me back together with people that I missed for many years. A case in point is a friend from so long ago, J. She and I met when we were probably about 8 or 9. Our families used to go to a resort each summer. One day we made friends with one another in the pool and we were inseparable for the rest of the week. Then her family went back to the state she lives in and we went back to our home. I didn't think I would see her again. Then, the next summer we were outside of our motor home eating dinner at the picnic table. A girl rode by on her bike and stopped. "Stacy???" she said. "J????" I replied! And it was on again. We were inseparable. Our families decided to meet and our parents hit it off as well. We spent most of the week either at their cabin or in our motorhome. A new friendship was born.

Then, we all grew up. We sort of stopped the family vacations. We still exchanged Christmas cards with their family and they with ours. My dad saw them quite a bit on travel, but J and I simply lost touch. Then, this summer, I joined Facebook. J's dad found me, and added me as a friend. Then I saw that J was on there and added her and the rest is history! She and I have become so close again, and I can't imagine not having her in my life! She may be at that resort next summer with her family and Kev and I might go there as well and see her! She has been there for me this summer through some particularly tough times in my life, and I have been there for her as well. We send each other messages probably every other day, play Scrabulous, and share the joys and sorrows in our lives. All because of Facebook! There is no way we would be in such great communication without it, for she lives thousands of miles from me. Yet I can see pictures of her weekend excursions, share prayer requests with her in my tough moments, laugh with her and experience joy with her as she shares some great thing that happened to her today. Hurray for Facebook!

I had a great weekend! Once my final was done, I really enjoyed simply relaxing. The one downer was that apparently the bank thinks there may have been some fraudulant activity on our account. Debit card skimming is rampant up here right now. They SAID they tried to call us today to tell us about it, but they had to freeze the account until they could contact us. Unfortunately, we did not know that! Today I was in line for $10 worth of groceries and found myself getting the message "LIMIT EXCEEDED" from my card! I knew that was impossible, but did the checker? Did the lady behind me? "Try it again!" I said! Same message. Grrr. So, I paid with my credit card and quickly called my hubby. I'm glad the bank is so on top of things, and we have it all figured out now, but seriously, it's a bit embarrassing! This is the second time. Last time I think they brought down an entire ring of organized debit card crime. It's getting pretty bad up here. I have decided to try using cash. At least I know my numbers won't be skimmed by some random machine at the check out in some random store. That's the scary thing! They are having a tough time figuring out how these criminals are doing this! It's so frustrating!

The highlight of the weekend, well, there were a few. Last night Kev's hockey team played an amazing game! They came back from behind to win! The even better part was that Kevin scored, my friend Michelle's boyfriend scored, and Serenity's husband Chris scored! It was great! We were so proud of them and when Kevin scored his goal he looked up at me right away. Hmmm...my heart melts a little bit every time he does that. *Sigh*

The other highlight was my date tonight with my sweet hubs! He said we could do whatever I wanted and I wanted to see "August Rush." I had heard it was good from a few friends that went, and they were right! It's a tear-jerker and it made me smile, wide! Even though I knew what the ending would be I still loved it and I'm smiling even now, an hour later! GO SEE IT! It will make you smile and feel joy.

We are just 20 days out from our cruise! I'm really starting to get excited now. We have been looking for hotels to stay in the extra night that we have in Fort Lauderdale, and it's making it all seem VERY real! We were watching "Little People, Big World" today on TLC and they were showing the Caribbean vacation the Roloff's took. As they were swimming in the crystal clear blue waters I said, "Honey! That's us in about three weeks!" Yippee!

On a final note, we're so happy for all of our baby-making friends! Two gorgeous little girls have joined the world in the last few weeks. Congrats to Ryan and Laura on the birth of little Pito and to Brent and Michelle on bringing gorgeous C into the world! Wow, they are BEAUTIFUL little girls! The best thing for me, was that I felt total joy for them. I have to be honest, I wasn't sure how I would feel. I remember finding out that Laura was preggers on the same night that we told them and we were so exicted about how we would be able to do things together with our babies. That very night was the night that we lost our little one. I wasn't sure how I would feel when Laura finally gave birth but as that moment came closer and closer I felt nothing but incredible anticipation! And then their daughter was born and she is GORGEOUS and Laura and Ryan and their other little one are SO happy and I was so happy with them! We can't wait to meet little Pito and congratulate her on her entry into this amazing family she has. And with that came great joy on my part. God is good. He enables us to see the reasons that he has for things. I do. I see the reasons, and I am thankful and hopeful and joyful. All at the same time!

Well, I do have to work in the morning. Ugh. Actually, hurray! I love my kids. They are so much fun. It's the getting out of bed part that I'm not so fond of. Ah, well, at least there's always vanilla bean coffee with french vanilla creamer to wake me up!