One more week...

That's right, only one week of school left until January 15th! I had two icky finals last week and two more on Tuesday and Wednesday. I haven't decided what I'm going to do over Christmas break, hopefully get a job of some sort.

We went to a North Dakota/Denver hockey game last week, which was my first trip to a hockey arena. It was interesting and we had a good time...I might be persuaded to go again. I can't think of anything else new going on. We did get a shit ton of snow this weekend which ended any fantasies we had about the warm weather down here in Colorado. Actually, it's still better than Montana because the wind rarely blows.

That's all for now I suppose, sorry to be so boring!

Home again

Well, officially we've been home since Friday. We successfully spend one entire week in Great Falls without too much drama. We actually had quite a bit of fun and got to spend time with everyone we wanted to. My ex-step-sister Nicole recently became a Pampered Chef Rep, and my mother has jumped head first into helping her. For me this meant sitting through three parties in three days. It definitely got old, but I did get some free stuff.

My mother and I had our moments during the stay. We both have very strong opinions (as most of you know) and they happen to be opposite most of the times. I'm not sure how that happened with her strong influence on me growing up, but it did. And she doesn't like it much. Usually we can have a decent debate about an issue, but she got pretty upset with me a couple of times. (and yes, I do enjoy getting her wound up) For example, we had a conversation about work, pay, retirement, etc. I told her I felt that CNA's at nursing homes are undervalued and underpaid. After all, they get yelled at, hit, and shit on all day. She took that to mean that I undervalued her work somehow and proceeded on her in-public rant about all she sacrifices for her job (weekends, evenings, vacations). Then she told Nicole the next day that I said people at McDonald's should make the same as her. Never mind McDonald's was never mentioned. Maybe the alcohol had something to do with it. Sometimes I think she's disappointed that I have opinions of my own, even though she taught me to have the strong personality I do.

We also got to spend some time with Marlena which I had not done in some time. It always reminds me that no matter how different we become, we will always be friends. I can count all of my friends on one hand and I thought about all of you over Thanksgiving.

We went out too much, drank too much, ate too much-a fairly normal vacation. I managed to get hardly any homework done, but I am catching up now. Only three more weeks left in the semester.

Thoughts and love to Sara who lost a good friend of hers last week. RIP Maggie!

fun goings on

Well, I don't know if writing papers and preparing for a stats test is actually fun, but I'm certainly giving it my best effort. This update is my break time.

We took Hailey back to the vet today, after she chewed her bandage off twice since last week. Luckily he did not yell at us and the wound seems to be healing. I feel so guilty. She gets hardly any attention and hasn't fetched her frisbee in over two weeks. Then we put the lamp shade on and she looks at us like her life is the most awful doggy existence ever. Hopefully she can play on Friday.

Which reminds me, we are headed to Great Falls for a week long "vacation" on Friday. By vacation I mean doing homework in a novel environment. Actually, I hope to finish the bulk of it in the vehicle. We'll see. Oh, I almost forgot to talk about my advising appointment last week. I have official permission to teach an undergraduate section of the gerontology class next fall! This development makes me especially happy because I get 4 credits for it.

I did a little bit of shopping today and successfully spent the rest of my birthday money. I bought a small wine bar to free up some much needed cupboard space. And best of all, it was on sale at Dillard's from $350 to $90. I was a good little bargain shopper.

Lastly, Bernie and I have set out weight loss goals for June. I hope to see 125 (137 now) and Bernie hopes for 150 (I don't have permission to post his current weight). I think we can do it. The main problem (like everyone else I suppose) is that we love to eat.

Dog Days

Hailey has had a ruff couple of weeks. I took her hunting with me back in ND and the morning after the first day of hunting her paw swelled up like a club. A piece of wood or a thorn pierced her paw and went half way in. This is what the Vet. in ND told me after x-rays. The infection area on the paw swelled up so big that it burst and left a big wound on her paw. Last week we took her to the vet again and they cleaned and wrapped it and told us to come back next week (yesterday). Then yesterday they knocked her out and sewed shut the paw. So far its been 3 trips to the vet. Let's just say those pheasants better taste real good cause the cost of them keep going up.

Here is a picture of her with her e-collar (lamp shape) on so she doesn't lick it.

I was browsing my photo library and wanted to share this classic

Crunch Time

I'm definately feeling it. It's over halfway through the semester and the big projects are looming. This week I have to spend two days in a nursing home to collect data for a needs assessment I'm doing and complete what's shaping up to be a fifteen page paper for a different class. My brain is feeling a bit academicized (no, I do not know if that is a word), but it's exciting at the same time.

However, I have been reconsidering the whole PhD plan. I have always harbored fantasies of being a professor, but a dissertation may be too much. And I am surprised by how much I miss direct practice. I really, really miss my residents! Instead, I will probobly complete an MSW eventually. I should be able finish that in a year or less and then I will be eligible for a state license. I suppose I should finish the degree I'm working on now first...

Bernie has been in North Dakota hunting for the past few days so I have been flying solo...which translates into lots of homework and HGTV. He's coming home tonight and I have informed him that he's taking me to dinner for a little socialization. After all, the research shows that socialization and goal-directed behavior are protections against the development of Alzheimer's Disease! That's the kind of shit swimming around my head at any given moment.

In other exciting news, I bought two baby plants last week and potted them today. Before we moved, I had two plants. One in particular I had grown successfully for two years. They were not going to live through the trip, so I gave them to my mom and cried a little bit. So now I will try the whole plant mommy thing again and try not to get so attached. I also got tree/shrub and flower books so I can start planning for next spring.

goings on

Wow...I'm really bad about the regular updates. Actually I told Bernie I was not going to update until he contributed, but here I am.

Things have been busy lately with the visitors we've had. My dad was here for a week and we are currently entertaining my mother. Needless to say, she is the more exciting of the two. We have been doing plenty of shopping and also toured Anheuser-Busch yesterday in Ft. Collins. Today we ate too much Mexican food and shopped in Boulder. Tomorrow it is on to Denver for the tall shop search. She wanted to buy me fancy salt and pepper grinders today at one store, to which I reminded her that the only time I could tell the difference between regular salt and kosher salt was on my margarita glass, and I can buy that already made. She has been doing her normal thing, making friends wherever she lands. I dropped her off in Greeley (per her request) yesterday. She wandered around and succeeded in making three friends, including a Mexican couple who told her to contact them anytime she needed anything in the future. Where did I miss that gene?

I also bought a new computer yesterday...a Macbook pro. The new OS comes out next week and I get to update for only $9.95. For those of you who have been closet Mac fans all along, the time has come to switch. The new OS will run Leopard and Windows.

Plans are in the works for a trip to Great Falls over Thanksgiving, pending Bernie getting the time off.