Catch up...

Lots and Lots of things to catch my readers up to speed. So, I'll do what my friend Joy did...Ten things real quick:

1. Sorry I've not posted for real in forever.

2. Things have been CRAZY around here: power went out for 2.5 days during finals week, then visitors and Christmas.

3. Weigh in this morning put me at 156 again. It's HARD to lose when there's so much good food around at Christmas.

4. People wanted to see our Christmas tree...as pathetic as it is.

You might not be able to tell, but the tree only lights up half-way. We have the top off in an effort to find the bulbs that are out so that they whole tree will be lit. The red disc is an old CD marking the branch we think might be the problem.

5. Hehe...we gave up. It's packed away for next year. But, on the plus side, as my dear sweet sister-in-law pointed out - It can be one of my firsts for next year!!

6. I got a digital cam-corder for Christmas!

7. As a result of #6, I took a video of our house for those of you who haven't seen it. As soon as I can figure out how, I'll post it here.

8. I ended up sending out 143 Christmas cards. How many did you ladies send out?

9. I'm done with my pantry challenge. Anyone have favorite freezer meals? I'm hoping to fill my freezer with those for people in our church who need them, and for Micah and I to eat instead of boxed crud.

10. I have TONS of new year's resolutions. Mostly it's my 52 firsts and completing the Motivated Mom's sheet, but that sheet has 3 blanks for every-day tasks. One of my every-day tasks I'm going to try to do is blog....but don't hold your breath.

I repent :)

I'm back up to 156...things have been CRAZY for the last week or two. I'll have to let you know about it all in a few days...but I didn't wanna miss another weigh in.

I'll be back on the plan tomorrow...so hopefully I'll start losing again. :)

Winter Weather

So, I got this e-mail from my place of higher learning today:

Since the forecasted ice storm has the potential to disrupt final exams on
Tuesday, please read the entire message very closely:

* TO ALL
STUDENTS EXCEPT THOSE IN LAW AND PHARM D:
If Tuesday examinations are
cancelled, they will be rescheduled for Thursday, January 17, 2008,
currently
scheduled as the first day of the spring semester. These exams
will replace
classes scheduled for that day.

Your instructor will be
contacting
you as soon as possible to inform you whether your exam will be
moved to January
17, or whether some other alternate arrangement has been
chosen. Students who
will not be enrolled on campus during the spring
semester should contact their
instructors.

Faculty cannot reschedule
Tuesday exams for other time
periods this week because of potential
conflicts with other currently scheduled
finals.

* TO ALL
STUDENTS:
At this time, all Monday exams are on schedule, though university
officials continue to monitor the weather situation. Any decision to cancel 7:30
p.m. Monday exams will be announced by 6 p.m.

The university will announce a decision on Tuesday's exams no later than 6 a.m. Tuesday. A decision to cancel exams will be broadcast via area media, e-mail and text messages. Additional information will be available on our website.

Should Wednesday's exams also be cancelled due to weather, faculty will contact their students with their contingency plans. The make-up date for Wednesday exams would be Friday, January 18.

The safety of students, faculty and staff is paramount. No exam is worth a dangerous trip on icy roads or over slick sidewalks. Please monitor the weather forecast and road condition reports and use your best judgment.

Isn't that CRAZY?! I can't imagine taking my final over a month from now!! But, I have to admit - I'm kind of torn. No tests tomorrow would be nice!! :)

"Stick with what you know"

That's what is going to be on my tombstone.

I am a creature of habit. If something works, I'm going to stick with it until it doesn't work anymore. And, if I'm going to try something new, I've got to know it has worked for at least 2 other people and will work for me.

Isn't that awful?!

One year, 2005, I think, I had a New Year's resolution to try one new thing every week. 52 new things, that's it. AND, they didn't have to be hard things at all. Some examples include:

Wear leather pants
Read a comic book
Bake a cake - seriously.
Eat Sushi

I so cheated, too. I got married that year. There are A LOT of firsts that come along with marriage, and I counted them all. Which brought my total to 20. TWENTY!

I'm not sure why I'm so afraid to try new things...(I did in fact try sushi, and I LOVED it. I still love it. I beg Micah for it at least once a month)...but, it needs to change. I'm missing out on wonderful things!!

So, I'm trying it again. 52 new things to try. I don't require myself to actually do one a week. I try, but I'm flexible just in case an opportunity arises.

I'm putting the things above on my list again, cause besides the sushi, I didn't do them. Some other ideas I have are:

ride a mechanical bull
visit another country (even if it's just Canada)
cook a turkey
take a class or two (fun ones on like arranging flowers, storm spotting, or photography!)

And, of course, I'm going to count graduating from college, because I'm lame.

What ideas do you have me? I need a lot!!

Yahoo!!

So, I resisted the chocolate ice cream and milk late last night, and IT PAID OFF!!

Weigh in this morning - 154! :) I'm on my way, ladies!

Not getting my CPA

A weight has been lifted off my shoulders, I'm telling you!

So, I went to my graduation check a couple of weeks ago and found out that I will indeed be graduating in May! But, instead of being 3 hours away from meeting the requirements to sit for the CPA exam like I thought, I am 9 hours away!

No big deal, right? Just take the extra 6 hours and be done with it.

But, it is a big deal to me! I am SOOO burned out.

I came home almost in tears over this. I've put 5 years of work towards this CPA exam, and now I'll have to do ANOTHER semester? I don't think I can handle that.

I was chatting with whining to a wise friend of mine and the conversation went something like this:

Wise Woman: Why are you getting your CPA again?

Me: So that if something happens to Micah I won't have to sell my soul to
McDonald's just to feed my family.

Wise Woman: Think of it: you have 4
kids and you lose your husband and their father, so you think it will be good to
go back to work? They will need you to be there.

Me: Yeah, but what
option do I have?

Wise Woman: my vote is a bigger insurance policy.

So, after some talking and praying with Micah: it's decided. We can easily buy enough insurance on Micah so that I could pay off our house and raise 3 children without me ever going back to work. AND, what's more: we can pay for 10 years of that insurance just with the money I would have spent studying for and taking the CPA exam!

Isn't the Lord good?

I have been discouraged with school for some time now, and suddenly: I'm DONE in May. No 6 months of studying, no 4 extremely trying tests. I'm DONE.