I for I'm Back!

I have been an awful blogger lately, lovely reader, and I apologize for that. I’m thinking of putting myself on a blogging schedule for consistency sake and to allocate specific time for me to write, so hopefully my blogging consistency will improve. We’ll see how that works out.

Duluth was great! The weather was crap—windy, rainy, and cold—but we still managed to have a good time. We felt as though we got to reconnect and relax a little bit, which is always good. We spent the majority of Saturday afternoon/early evening cuddling and napping, which was absolutely awesome and just what we needed! I also got a little homework done, and Music Man had a good time at the gig.

I have a couple awards to claim, which is always exciting! (For me at least; maybe not so much for you.)

Aladdinsane at She Don't Make False Claims bestowed the Beautiful Blogger award on me almost two weeks ago. I apologize, girly, for not getting to this sooner! Thank you so much for the honor!!

I’m supposed to tell you seven things about myself, and then I’m supposed to nominate 15 bloggers that I recently started following and enjoying. First, the seven things:

1.     I am obsessed with chewing gum, specifically sugarless gum. I fall for all of the gum company’s gimmicky tricks. If a new gum is out, and it’s not some sort of berry flavor (because, ewwwwww, fake berry tastes weird and gross), I just have to buy it and try it. I am a gum marketer’s dream. (Also, when I get sick of chewing a piece of gum, eight times out of ten I’ll swallow it. I don’t buy the “it takes seven years to pass” nonsense.)

2.     My dogs eat healthier than I do. We spend an obscene amount of money feeding our dogs a healthy raw diet, but we eat lots of take out and cheap, processed crap. I know I need to do something about my horrible diet (or lack thereof), and I keep saying that I want to try to eat healthier, but I never follow through. I have a seemingly endless supply of excuses. I buy all natural and organic soaps, shampoos, and other personal care products to take care of the outside of my body; I need to start doing the same for the inside as well.

3.     Downtime is very important to me, and when I don’t get it for a while (i.e. a couple weeks ago), I get anxious and crabby. I start to resent and get pissed off at the people around me for demanding my time, which I then feel bad about. Sometimes I feel like I get a little too overwhelmed with life a little too easily. When this happens, I just find people to be exhausting, and I try to hide away from the world as much as possible until my soul feels restored.

4.     I get really irritated when I go out to dinner with someone (or multiple people), and as we’re waiting for the server to come take our order, the person (people) I’m with asks me what I’m going to order. It annoys me to no end! Why do you need to know what I’m ordering?! You’ll find out in a few minutes when I order, so how ‘bout we let it be a surprise?! If I’m out with people I’m not close to or don’t know well (i.e. a work lunch), I get really anxious waiting and wondering if I’m going to be asked what I’ll be ordering. It’s totally irrational how crazy this makes me, but it is seriously one of my biggest pet peeves.

5.     I’m not a warm weather vacation kind of gal, and not for the reason you might think. I truly don’t give a damn about putting on a swimming suit; if people don’t like what I look like, they don’t have to look. I just hate being hot, because being hot usually means being sweaty and sticky, which makes me feel nasty and dirty (and not in a good way). I’m not going to pay money to go on a fancy trip just to be uncomfortable the whole time. This is why I also hate summertime in Minnesota. Sure, the sun is nice, but the heat and humidity can be downright brutal.

6.     I can’t stand when grown adults use words like “nummy” and “icky.” I don’t know why. “Yummy” is fine, but there’s something about “nummy” that really grinds my gears. It’s not rational; I know.

7.     I love bubble (or boba) tea. There’s a place about a one block walk through the skyway from my work called the Tea Garden that gets lots and lots of my money. A thirst quenching fruit iced tea (or tea slush) with tapioca pearls can just make my day. Their sea salt latte (which does not have bubbles and is hot) is also incredible.

Now, for the nominees…

My Life As Jane – She’s witty, funny, and sometimes uses drawings she’s made in Paintbrush to illustrate her posts, which greatly increases the hilarity factor.

Proud 2 B Purple – Squashy’s girl is a childfree (well, mommy to furry “kids”) adult student just like me! Her posts are refreshingly real—very open and honest.

Fumbling Towards Normalcy – I love the name of Shana’s blog. Don’t we all feel, at one time or another, as though we’re fumbling towards normalcy? I know I do!

Anything Fits A Naked Man – Another fantastic blog name. Her blog is always beautifully written and I like that topics vary from funny, to heartwarming, to thought provoking, and everything in between.

Green Monkey Tales – Shannon loves writing and it shows. Like me, she has suffered unimaginable heartbreak, and her tales of her healing process and learning how to live a “new normal” (as I call it) are incredibly moving and inspiring.

I know I only did a third of the required 15, but I’m really feeling a little lazy and a lot brain dead today, and no one ever follows the rules completely anyway.

The second award I received comes from Kathie at Just a Happy Housewife

Isn’t it fantastic?!? Thanks so much, Kathie!! I agree with Kathie; every blog needs a little bling, and I’m super thrilled that she blinged my blog by passing this award to me. I like Kathie’s style:

           

“The only rule for this award is that if you accept it, please don't keep it to yourself.  Please pass this along to others and share the bling!”

This award is just for fun and to say thank you!  Thank you for entertaining, teaching, inspiring and supporting me.  Thank you for all that you contribute to the blogosphere!

I love when the rules are easy! I’m passing this one along to all of the blogs I’ve listed above and:

She Don't Make False Claims

Raised Queer

The End of the Rainbow: Life After Bankruptcy

The World As I See It

Making Stuff is fun

South of Sheridan

The Fabulous Bitch

After 'I Do'

Bloggin 2 Noggin

Dawning

just sayin'

The thoughts & travels of Rachel Cotterill

Take Me The Way I Am

Kathie said it better than I probably would have. Thank you all for inspiring, teaching, sharing, with, entertaining, and supporting me!! I’m turning comments off on this post so that you can go visit the wonderful bloggers I’ve listed above. As always, if awards aren't your thing, that's totally cool; just know that I enjoy your blog!!

P.S. I’m getting an A in Geology! I have the second highest score in the whole class. I’m gonna spend the weekend studying hard for the final quiz, which is on Monday, so that I’ll cement that A as my final grade. I am beyond excited that Monday is the last Geology class!

P.P.S.  I’ve created a buttons page. You can see it up above (*points to the top of the page*); it’s the one titled “My People!” If you have my button posted on your blog and I’ve somehow missed posting yours, please let me know!

A for Anticipation

Do you ever have those moments where life just feels completely out of control, lovely reader? That is what last week was like for me. Just a quick summary: Monday I worked and had class; Tuesday I worked, had a haircut appointment, then a doctor’s appointment; Wednesday I worked, had a dentist appointment, then the visitation for Music Man’s grandma, followed by a family dinner at a local restaurant; and Thursday was the funeral, followed by dinner at my in-laws’ house that evening.

By Thursday afternoon, I was exhausted! I felt as though I’d barely been home all week, which I really hadn’t considering that 9:30 was the earliest I'd gotten home all week, and all I wanted to do was sleep. I passed out on the couch ‘til around 5:30 when Music Man and I had to get ready to go to his parent’s house for dinner. It was nice to get to spend a little bit of time with my sister-in-law who was in town for the funeral. She and her husband are stationed in Hawaii (he’s Navy), so we don’t get to see them very often.

Most of the weekend was spent catching up on homework, since I’d gotten no time to do it during the week. Music Man and I did have a lovely little date on Saturday. We went out to dinner at a great local pizza place called Pizza Luce. They have the best pizza in the entire world, and the atmosphere is fun and laid-back. When we got home, we watched some "Six Feet Under" (we love NetFlix for watching season after season of TV shows we didn't watch the first time around) and ate the wonderful carrot cake we’d brought home from “Luce” for a late dessert.

I started feeling rundown on Sunday, but I pushed past it and went to work and class on Monday. This second Geology quiz was ridiculous! I really really really can’t stand how arbitrary this professor is with his directions on prepping for quizzes. Though I studied my ass off, there were many things on this quiz that I wasn’t expecting to see; things that weren’t mentioned at all in class and were barely mentioned in the assigned reading. It was frustrating to say the least!

I ended up getting 43 out of 50, which isn’t so bad. The professor was baffled that scores didn’t improve very much on this quiz. He’d thought this was an “easy” one and that everyone would do better since we should’ve known what to expect. The trouble was that we didn’t know what to expect! I studied all of the diagrams he wanted us to memorize and my class notes from his “lectures.” (I use the term very loosely.) I also studied my notes from the textbook chapters we'd been assigned to read. Still, a lot of the exam was foreign material. It has become quite clear that the professor has checked out. Once or twice every single class he’s mentioned something about retirement, making it clear where his focus lies and it’s not with educating us on the wonders of Geology.

We tried to get the professor to explain what our scores meant in terms of letter grades, but he told us he’d have to go home and figure it out based on grade distributions from quiz one and two combined. He said, “You’re all doing probably about 10% better than you think you are.” Based on that, and knowing I got the second highest grade in class on both quizzes, I can assume I’m managing to pull an A for the class. At least I hope so. I’m gonna be really pissed if my 4.0 GPA is ruined by a class I didn’t even want to take!

The only reason I took this class was that my degree plan advisor insisted it was the best option to get the required science lab out of the way. I still have to take some biology classes, and was set on taking one of those with a lab, but she’d insisted that Geology was the quickest and easiest way. It might be the quickest, but it certainly hasn’t been the easiest. I'm thankful that there are only two more classes and one more quiz left!!!

I spent yesterday and Tuesday sleeping the days away; finally too overcome by allergies and exhaustion to do much of anything else. It’s times like those that I’m thankful for paid time off of work and FMLA paperwork that protects me from losing my job because of “unplanned absences.” I was able to catch up on my blog reading a little bit yesterday. I didn’t leave very many comments, because I didn’t have much to say, but I am happy to be mostly caught up with reading the blogs that I follow. I hope to be back to commenting soon!

Music Man has a gig in our favorite North Shore city this weekend, so we’ll be spending Saturday in Duluth. We are both sooooooo excited! Not only does this mini-getaway provide a much needed break, but it’s also one of our most favorite places in the whole entire state. (It was the first stop on our North Shore honeymoon back in 2008.) We splurged a little bit and reserved a large suite in a hotel in Duluth’s Canal Park, which is one of our favorite locations in all of Duluth.

Depending on the weather, we’ll probably walk the boardwalk along Lake Superior Saturday afternoon, maybe grabbing a few sandwiches from one of our favorite cafes to eat as a picnic lunch along the way. We’ll do a little shopping at some of our favorite places in Canal Park, and then we’ll probably retire to the hotel for a nap before the gig. Right now, rain is in the forecast, so we might just end up doing a little shopping and retiring to our suite. We have a lakeside view, so we’ll watch the rain on the lake and will chat about life and everything under the sun; just enjoying each other’s company.

I love that, though we’ve been married for almost two years (and together for four years), we never seem to run out of things to talk about. I suppose it helps that our families seem to provide an endless supply of crazy drama (unfortunately). But, we also truly enjoy spending time together, just us. No matter what—rain or shine—it’s going to be an incredible weekend!!!

We’ll have dinner at Fitger’s Brewhouse, which is the location of the gig. Fitger’s is Duluth’s local (only) brewpub, and their beer and food are fantastic; the historic building lends a unique atmosphere as well. I might end up heading back to the hotel to do homework instead of watching the gig, but we’ll see. Music Man is, of course, fine with that; I’ve seen the band perform countless times, and homework needs to come first.

(I have two chapters of the textbook to read and about a dozen labs to work on. The labs aren’t due for another week, but I’d like to at least attempt them; that way, should any questions arise as I work on them, I can get the questions answered in class on Monday.)

Sunday morning we’ll find somewhere fun to have brunch before making the three hour drive home. I can’t wait! I am so excited to spend part of the weekend in my favorite city with my most favorite person! The excitement and anticipation will get me through these next couple days of work, and hopefully over the lingering exhaustion that seems to cling to me as a result of the nasty allergy season we are having.

L for Life & D for Death

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”

~ John Lennon

This is one of my most favorite quotes, because it is so true. These words have been ringing in my ears this week, because life (and death) has been happening despite my plans, which has turned me into quite the busy bee.

First, the good news…

I got approval to reschedule the public speaking competency! I have to complete it on the scheduled date this summer (not sure when that is yet), unless I want to pay for it again and receive a blemish on my transcript. It’s just one more thing to add to this summer’s pile of stuff, but I should be able to get most of it done on my three weeks off in May, so it shouldn’t negatively affect my already crazy summer schedule too much. I am just relieved at this point to have more time to get it done correctly, and I am committed to making sure I work hard on it during those three weeks that I don’t have classes.

I had my annual exam with the doctor yesterday. As I sat in the room in that teeny, tiny, uncomfortable little “gown,” I wondered why it is that I got undressed so quickly. I know how doctor’s appointments work: you wait in the waiting room, you’re called back, and then you wait in the exam room for at least 15-20 minutes. So why is it that having to get undressed for an appointment compels me to play beat the clock?!

I mean, in the time I’m going to spend waiting for the doctor, I could not only get undressed, but I could also get re-dressed and probably reapply my makeup as well. Yet I tear my clothes off in a race against time that exists only in my head as though the future of the world depends on my ability to undress in thirty seconds or less. I know this every single year; yet I repeat the process.

The appointment itself went good, as it usually does. My doctor is really thorough yet efficient, so the “check under the hood” was quick and painless. She told me that, if the test results come back normal (which they should), I can move to having that exam performed only once every three years. While I don’t mind the procedure so much, it’s not my favorite thing, so this was good news to me.

I had made the decision that I wanted to get off of my anti depressant, which I’ve been taking for over two years. Life has changed so much since then, and I feel as though I’m at a good enough place to see how I function on my own. It was never my intention to take the medication for the rest of my life. My doctor had recommended it as a way to get through the incredibly stressful time right after my sister’s death; when we were planning a wedding, dealing with living in a hotel for a month as a result of a dryer fire, and dealing with the deaths of Music Man’s grandpa (a about two months after my sister) and my grandma (five months after my sister).

The doctor was really great about coming up with a conservative schedule that will slowly wean me off of the medication with hopefully little to no bumps or side effects along the way. Worst case, the tapering off won’t work, which will be my signal that the medication is still needed. Best case, I’ll have weaned completely off the medication in six weeks, and will hopefully be able to deal with my lingering seasonal depression on my own. We’ll see what happens. I have to admit that I am a little nervous.

We also talked about switching up my migraine medication since the old one doesn’t seem to work, as evidenced by my Emergency Room visit back in January. She wrote out a prescription for Imitrex, which I’m not thrilled about. I’ve heard both good and bad reviews of Imitrex, and it doesn’t seem to work for a lot of people. I know everyone’s different, so we’ll just have to see how this works for me. She wrote a backup prescription for Vicodin as a “rescue medication” if the migraine doesn’t take well to the Imitrex, because the Vicodin has proven to be a good rescue med since the Emergency Room sent me home with some back in January.

I totally forgot to ask her for a referral to an allergist, but I’m going to try a few other OTC things before I go the allergy shot route. I’ve had the shots in the past, and they were time consuming and not incredibly helpful.

Now, on to the not so good news…

Music Man’s grandmother passed away on Monday morning. She was 92 years old, so she lived a long and happy life, and we saw this coming. Music Man was able to go to the nursing home to say goodbye to her on Saturday. He’s not sure if she knew whether or not he was there (he’s choosing to go with the idea that she did), but it meant a lot to him and his mom for him to be able to see her one last time. We are having a very short family only visitation tonight, followed by a family dinner. The funeral and burial are tomorrow.

I also have a dentist appointment tonight, which I’m hoping will be done by 6 o’clock so that I can make it to the visitation on time. I could reschedule the appointment, but I’ve already rescheduled it like four times, and Music Man told me I should just go to the appointment. I’m really hoping I’ll make it to the visitation on time, because I want to be there to support my husband (even though I’m getting the impression that he doesn’t need a lot of support right now) and I don’t want to look like a schmuck to his family.

I just hate funerals so much. (Who really likes them, right?!) Ever since my sister’s funeral, I am much more sensitive to death and much more uncomfortable (and sometimes emotional) at funerals. Sometimes, I even get panic attacks. The plan is for all of the grandchildren and their spouses to be pallbearers though, so I must gather up my strength and go.

What I’m about to say is shameful, and I know it’s an awful thing to think and say out loud, but it’s how I feel…

I don’t get why people are so incredibly sad when old people die. It’s a fact of life! Music Man’s grandma lived to be 92. By today’s standards, that is a long life!! I don’t understand the carrying on that surrounds losses like these. I mean, I get that losing someone you’re close to is hard. I understand that no one likes to have to say goodbye. I know that my mother-in-law will miss her mom (and misses her dad) and that Music Man will miss his grandma (I also miss mine), but people have to die sometime, and preferably, it’s when they’re older.

Not to mention the fact that Music Man’s grandma has repeatedly said that she’s ready to go. She wanted to be reunited with her husband. She has missed him and grieved his loss every single day of the two years she’s spent without him by her side. A loyal Christian, she was ready for God to accept her into his Kingdom of Heaven. Her last weeks were spent suffering as she got increasingly more ill, and in her last days, she was purposely kept incoherent (with the help of meds) so that she could be “comfortable” while her body just shut down. We should all be at peace now, because she’s finally at peace and her suffering (both physical and emotional) is over.

Don’t get me wrong. I think we should most definitely honor old people after death by looking back on and celebrating their lives, but I guess I just can’t get too broken up over someone who’s lived a long, happy life. I am always stuck thinking about my sister, and I know that’s where a lot of these feelings come from.

She was only 19 years old when she died!! She didn't just die either; she was murdered! She left this world far too soon. Her death was unexpected, shocking, and tragic. It made sense to cry and carry on over the loss of her, because it wasn’t supposed to happen so soon. That’s not the way things should work! We had to shop for special clothing to cover the marks left from her murder. Her casket had to be positioned opposite the usual way (i.e. her head was on the right instead of the left when viewing the casket from the front), because there was bruising and smoke damage on the right side of her face that they just couldn’t cover up good enough.

We will never know what she could’ve accomplished, how her life would’ve turned out, or what person she would’ve grown into. She will not get the opportunity to finish college and work her way through a career until retirement. She didn’t have the opportunity to celebrate her 21st birthday, nor will she celebrate the other milestones—25, 30, 40, 50, etc. We didn’t get a chance to prepare ourselves for her death or to say goodbye while she was still living. We just have to hope that the impact we had on her while she was here was enough for her to know and remember how much we loved and cherished her.

That is a tragedy worth getting torn up about. The death of a 92 year old woman who, by her own admission, has lived a happy and fulfilling life? Not so much. I'm sorry. I know I sound like an awful, horrible, no good, very bad person right now.

Grandma’s funeral is tomorrow. I will fulfill my duties as a pallbearer and will support my husband as we say our final goodbyes, but I choose to celebrate her life instead of mourning her death. Based on her beliefs, she’s in a better place now. She is finally at peace, and for that, I am thankful.

P.S. Lovely reader, I am really really really far behind in replying to comments you’ve left for me and in commenting on your blogs. I wholeheartedly apologize. Know that your comments mean the world to me and that I have not forgotten about you. I’m doing my best to get caught up quickly!

G for Guest

Hello, lovely reader! I'm guest posting over at Out of the Extraordinary today. It's not like the usual stuff you find over here. I'm talking about god and faith, so it's a little deeper than you might be used to. Please go over and check it out, and while you're there, spend a little time checking out Janet's blog too. I love the concept of her blog; she writes about finding the extraordinary in everyday life. I think we all could learn a lot from doing that more often.

Thanks so much, Janet, for hosting me on your blog today!

S for Smattering of Thoughts

To say that I am overwhelmed by your absolutely wonderful responses to me being chosen as BON would be a complete understatement. You all sure do know how to make a girl feel good! I loved each and every one of your incredible, kind, funny, witty, amazing comments! I appreciate all of you who took the time to stop by and offer your congratulations and to spread the comment love!

I have tried to reply to each of you personally. If your email address is attached to your profile, you should’ve received an email response from me and I’m working on visiting your blog if I haven’t already. (Unless you commented last night or this morning; I haven’t gotten to those yet!) If not, I have visited (or will be visiting) your blog. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart—you all really made my week!!

I have all sorts of things bouncing around in my head lately, lovely reader, so you’re going to get a smattering of the contents of my brain today.

·      Geology Update: We had our first quiz on Monday. I had taken the day off of work in order to study and to hopefully catch up on my public speaking competency, but I ended up getting a horrible migraine instead. After spending the day nursing my head, I didn’t study as much as I would’ve liked. I went to class miserable with the lingering effects of the migraine, and was surprised that I even managed to make it through the quiz let alone the entire evening.

The quiz was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and I’m proud to report that I got 31 correct out of 35 total possible points! The instructor had informed us that most people either do pretty good or really bad on the first quiz. He was right; there were plenty of “dismal” scores and unhappy students. I know this because he wrote out the distribution on the board, so we all got to see that 1 person got 33 points, 3 of us got 31 points, a few people fell into the 30-26 point range, 4 people got 25 points, a staggering 6 people got 19 points, and 2 people got 18 points.

The instructor had organized the quizzes from highest to lowest score in order to write the distribution on the board, so that’s how he handed them back. People caught on quickly that this was the case, so as the stack of quizzes in his hand diminished, people got more and more worried as they waited for their quiz to be returned. Sadistic and cruel, but I understand that he didn’t exactly need to waste time randomizing the order of the quizzes just to pass them back to us.

Apparently, it’s too early to tell what letter grade equivalents are, because he grades on a curve; however, that curve is based on the combined score of all quizzes. So, according to him, we all still have a chance to “catch up.” He also announced that he doesn’t give D’s or F’s unless he “really hates” you, so we shouldn’t worry too much about that. Great. Lovely. Well, I’ll just keep on keepin’ on and will work as hard as I can to earn that ‘A!’

I’m officially half way through Geology! Only four weeks left!!!!!!!!

·      As much as I hate to do it, I’m going to drop the public speaking competency. With April 17 only a little over a week away, I am just not prepared, nor will I be. I’m trying to get in touch with my student advisor to talk about my options. Ideally, instead of dropping it completely and losing out on the money I’ve already paid, I will transfer to the summer or fall schedule. Then, I’ll take the four weeks off between the end of this semester and the beginning of summer semester to get all the work done so that I’ll be ready to go when the next competency date hits.

I’m not entirely sure that transferring to another date is an option, but I’m really hoping it is. I knew when I registered for the stupid thing that I probably wouldn’t be ready, so I just shouldn’t have registered for it at all. I was feeling pressured about having to drop Psychology and anxious about being behind schedule. I shouldn’t have made a decision when I was feeling so much pressure. Oh well, live and learn.

This is all completely my fault, and I accept that. At this point, I’m fine with cutting my losses if dropping the competency is the only option. I can’t continue to stress about or lose sleep over this. I have to face the facts: despite my best intentions, I’m just not ready. I kinda feel like a failure at this point, but I’ll get over it.

·      The weather in Minnesota was beautiful last week—spring has arrived!! It was so nice outside that I got to drive my car with the sunroof open last week. (It’s been a little chilly this week.) I’ve never owned a car with a sunroof before, so I’m learning a few things. Such as, when the sunroof is open, the people around you can most likely hear you (even if the car windows are up), because if it’s nice enough for the sunroof to be open, it’s also nice enough for car windows to be open.

So, if you shout something like “Green means go! Stop texting and drive, douchebag!” to the big SUV in front of you, that driver might hear you. Apparently, people do not like being called douchebag; unless, of course, that guy had a hand injury that prevented him from waving at me with his full hand. Somehow I doubt that though.

Also, the people around me can hear my music, which the guy at the bus stop the other day seemed to appreciate. It’s always nice to find another person who shamelessly enjoys Lady Gaga; dude did exactly what she said and "just dance(ed)," and he had some moves! However, when I’m belting out a tune at the top of my lungs, people can still hear me. I shouldn’t wonder when people turn and stare. The look I got the other day said, “You are not the next American Idol!” Which, ya know, I already knew, but it still stung a bit!

In my defense, Beyonce’s “Halo” isn’t exactly in my key. Then again, I don’t think many songs are in my key. I probably don’t even have a key. Okay, never mind. Also, I’m sure it looks odd to see a middle aged white woman belting out Kanye West’s “Gold Digger,” but that song wakes me up and gets the blood pumping on the morning drive to work! So, yeah, I guess I need be cognizant of the fact that people can hear me if I don't want them staring and/or pointing and laughing.

·      I really wish I could figure out why I’m so damn exhausted lately! I seriously feel like I could sleep for days and days. I suspect allergies might be the culprit, which makes me glad I’m going to see the doctor for my annual checkup next week.

That’s it for now, lovely reader. I’m thinking about starting a Flashback Friday in which I’ll post old blog posts from my myspace blog; particularly posts regarding Music Man and I meeting, falling in love, and getting engaged. I figure it will be a good way to preserve some of those memories here (Also, I’m trying to figure out a way to save those posts in order to delete my myspace profile.), and it might be entertaining for you. Let me know what you think!

B for BON (Blogger Of Note)

This is a most auspicious and exciting day, lovely reader! The wonderful Pam and Sandy, founders of WOW (or Words of Wisdom), have chosen me as today’s Blogger of Note (or BON)!! You might remember the post I did a while back where I expressed my excitement over WOW and my views on “Bloggyland.” I am thrilled to report that WOW seems to be catching on! The community is growing every single day, which shows that people wanted this community and want to see it grow!

For those who might have missed out on my previous post, WOW focuses on “blogs of substance;” this concept is explained in WOW’s “What is a Blogger of Note” post. The basic idea is that WOW wants to put the blog back in blogging. They focus on bloggers who write posts that contain good content: posts that make people want to join in on the conversation, that make readers laugh, think, cry, and want to comment. The blogger doesn’t have to be incredibly profound; they just need to focus more on writing and sharing their thoughts than branding themselves or wooing sponsors (i.e. making money).

For my regular readers, the fact that I am today’s BON should tell you a little bit about what WOW is looking for. Writing. Plain and simple. Writing. That’s all I do here. I’m not profound (usually). I do not have any groundbreaking, Earth shattering advice or knowledge to impose upon you. I’m not special or extraordinary in any way. I’m simply here to share my life, my thoughts, and my experiences with you, lovely reader.

For those who are new, whether visiting from WOW or elsewhere, welcome to my little home on the internet! I am excited to have you here, and hope you enjoy the time you spend wandering around my little blog. I will warn you in advance that I tend to be verbose. I just can’t help it; I like writing, and words, and giving every single little detail when I tell a story.

My “About Me” page sums me up pretty nicely, but I will give you a short introduction anyway. I have been blogging here at “A” for Effort (“B” for Blog) for a little over six months now. Last summer, I decided to return to school to make a career change from the corporate world—specifically finance—to social work. This blog documents my journey as a thirty-something adult student, starting college all over from the beginning (it’s a long story). I also post about my life, my thoughts on random subjects, and my family (which includes the hubster, whom I refer to as Music Man here, and my “kids,” Wiggly and Bug).

Sandy and Pam asked me to pick out three of my favorite/best posts for you to enjoy, lovely reader. What a task that was! You see; I am my own worst critic, and as such, think most of my writing is complete garbage. I’ve always had a hard time accepting compliments. (Self-esteem issues? Me?! NO WAY!) I am consistently amazed that there are those of you out there who not only come back here repeatedly to read what I’ve written, but also leave wonderful, genuine comments.

Here, in no particular order, are some posts that I feel are a fairly good representation of my writing style and the kinds of things you’ll find on my blog:

Meet my “kids,” in S for Smart Puppies. (Note: Cute picture alert!!)

I for Idiot (M for Moron): Apparently I is one. Will give you a little insight into why I’ve decided to pursue a different career. (Warning: Some “adult language” is used. Viewer discretion advised.)

In E for Examining Differences, I expound on the differences between adult students (i.e. me) and some of my younger classmates. (Snark Alert!!)

Please take as much time as you’d like exploring my blog archive. Then, if you haven’t done it yet, please do go check out WOW. You will not be disappointed!

Thanks again to Pam and Sandy for honoring me as a Blogger of Note! If you’re visiting from WOW, thanks so much for stopping by! I do hope you enjoyed your visit and that you’ll come back again. To my lovely loyal readers: thanks again for stopping by and for being you; I heart each and every one of you!