QueenChristine

So being ill with some head infection of goop and nastiness meant I’m actually getting “enough” sleep which is a good thing… it also meant I laughed out loud at the nurse practitioner when she told me to cut back on some things and relax. I told her I’m a grad student with six weeks left and my husband’s unemployed… there’s no where left to cut back. Add to that the stress of having my therapist seem pointless this afternoon and it just ends up being a sad sad story.

So I was totally excited to whip out my trombone this week and play for the various classrooms at school. They were really excited to get to hear the sound, see the shiny metal, and feel the vibrations with their hands. Needless to say, several also wanted to taste it but had to settle for practice buzzing their lips. The faces of the children are blurred out so you can’t see the tears streaming down their faces (and so you can’t tell who they are).

So I’ve looked at several books of Monday (easy) crossword puzzles and have about decided to spend the $7 or so to get in the practice. I’ve also been checking out some how-to books but the $15 seems prohibitive since I really only have the prestige need of completing one. I also need to think about what is cheating. I know looking up the direct hint would be… but what if I know, for example, an actor’s first name but not last? Or if I know the word but am unsure of spelling? I guess it’s a slippery slope I’ll keep examining.

I know I just wrote about it under be a better wife, but I’m so proud of my cooking I just had to share a little more! Look at those yummy chopped up onions, peppers and mushrooms. They even got seasoned with things like cumin and if that’s not fancy I just don’t know what is!

Yesterday this also went on the list of “But I don’t WANNA do it.” It seems that friends at work have started this campaign to go everyday at 2:30 to run (or walk really intentionally) up the Mountain (which if you’ve ever seen a mountain you would call a hill). The point of this story is that I got there before my pals but thought I was after them so I went barreling up at top speeds… only to have it occur to me a pretty good ways up that I was probably ahead. I caught them on my way down and had a friend join me for the return trip which was also nice. On a side note I figured out how to take video with my phone and then how to sync it to the Mac here at home so I can get all those pictures and videos onto the web for the world to see. Yay me!

So it turns out that I can do things I don’t feel like doing… I know it doesn’t sound that amazing but sometimes it is. Thursday night I actually chopped and baked and generally managed to put together a multi-dish super impressive and tasty meal. I also managed to sing to my dogs in a silly fake French accent while doing it a la Little Mermaid. It did cheer me up, especially when Roger LOVED eating it! Hooray for food.

Today was a bad awful rough day any way you cut pretty much. To top off the pain grief and agony, I got an invitation I cannot accept:

Dr. Bill is organizing a community development program in Argentina this summer and extends her invitation. The trip is scheduled to take place on May 17, 2008, through May 27, 2008. The Community Development program will take place in the Andes Mountain in a village comprised of seventy (70) families in a compound. Students will help in the following areas: build corrals for their Llamas, assist in gardening projects for the little children, and participate in painting the school house among other projects.
The cost of this trip is $2500. Costs include the air flight to Argentina, 3 meals per day, lodging and 2 nights in Buenos Aires. We ask that interested students pay a deposit in the amount of $1700 during the first week of March. The remaining balance is required by the first week of April.

Something I’d love to do, a time I can actually go, a great deal on air-fare etc. I even have the passport. It’s the week after graduation and would be a lovely and purposeful celebration. However, coming up with $2500 in basically two weeks with hubby still jobless is beyond impossible. Oh for the future days of real money coming in when I could say, why yes, I’d love to go… and actually go.

So, we’re off to a great start this week, spent time with puppies and my favorite guy. We walked for 45 minutes and did two miles. Not to shabby and not to sweaty, which is always good for lazy old me. Oh, and now we’re going to go eat Italian with our friends and re-consume all those calories he he he.

So, I’m obviously to cheap/poor to actually subscribe to the NY Times. So, now I’m in search of practice to figure it all out. I really don’t know where to start but figured I could pretty easily let myself commit to looking around so I can count some progress.

Graduation is officially May 13th at 2pm. I’m gonna get there and then do the licensure thing. Hey, that’s another thing to add to my list I guess. Always nice to get letters added after my name and particularly nice to already be getting snail mail spam about doing my PhD!

It requires a test after graduation to get my Licens which would make me ever-so-much more marketable. That also means more studying right as I’m finally done with school but I really feel that it is worth it in the professional realm of things as I then accumulate hours towards my LCSW, Licensed Clinical Social Worker which is another three years out with a ton of hours required. But, this goal will hopefully keep me motivated in the short term.

So, today I really got cracking, I totally cleaned my two rooms for the week, did some tangible romance with candles, and if I walk the dogs a second time in a minute I’ll be totally hitting the mark since I cooked twice yesterda (and made brownies). Yay me!

So this is a hard to define goal… I’m going with thinking of some way to calculate it but for now I’ll count progress as adding myself to LinkedIn and to Facebook. I even hooked in 43things.com to facebook to keep up with myself with some simple reminders. Lets see if that leads to minor celebrity :)

A. Domestic Improvement – Did neither more cooking or cleaning in any given week, guess I need to focus.

B. Partnership Improvement – I haven’t checked in with the budget formally, but have done better with less spending, I have walked the dogs twice a day for about a week so if I can hang on to that one I can drop it.

C. Romantic Improvement – I’ve got one week to go with this and I’ll call it done on both self-esteem and tangible love… yeah me!

Maybe it’s just weird but it occurred to me that I keep meaning to try and become a notary public. Seems like it would save time and be a handy thing when you need it. What’s sad is that the thirty dollar fee is what’s stopping me. I guess it’s just always time and money right now, time and money.

I earned 500 grains of rice and am excited to try to expand my vocabulary while making the world a little bit better place. Besides that it doesn’t hurt to be a little more self aware in the sea of societal ills!

So, the plan is for this goal to be specific and measurable; I’ll start out by putting in one hour a week of nonschool/nonwork writing. I’ll work on outlining for now, count poetry work, and let it all lead up to the glory that is Nanowrimo! We’ll see how it goes from there. I think I’ll theme on the myths of my childhood i.e. how I misremember growing up… my version of my little life.

so I just gave my 300th and I’m ready to strike out on my way up! Go go go!

So proud to have given my 300th cheer. It feels good to give and to receive!

So, seems silly but I’ve always wanted to say I did it. Not that it proves anything, but I do consider myself to be pretty up to date. I mean, my addiction to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me has to be doing something for me. Besides that I love word games. On the downside, sometimes I totally blank on things I don’t care about or find the easy way out. This will be an interesting little challenge. It may take several puzzles, but I’m well on my way.