whiney...

everyone seemed to be whiney this morning! now that they're all gone, i'm feeling a bit whiney myself!

i'm still tired, would love to go back to bed. my back is killing me, but i don't have time to go to the chiropractor today. i have assignments for school that i don't feel like doing, but they're due today, so i have no choice. laundry is (as usual) overwhelming...there has to be a better system, or actually "a" system, that i can follow. it's raining and getting colder as the day goes on...not a big deal, until you consider the fact that we have a first round soccer tournament game this evening out in the crud. today would be a perfect day to have chili simmering in the crockpot for dinner, hot coffee brewing all day long, and snuggling up in bed under my comfy blankies in my pj's with thad and watching all of the recorded things on the dvr that i haven't had time to catch up on...but i can't because i have laundry and assignments to do. wah. (see? i'm whiney)

so instead, i'll skip the tv, snuggling and chili, and settle for my joffrey's "jamaican me crazy" coffee brewing in the pot...it smells divine. hopefully the caffeine and taste will lift my mood, my headache, and give me a burst of energy so i can do these dreaded assignments!

homework drama...

when you have a smart kid and they don't apply themselves...it's super frustrating! the homework drama ends now!!! (well, actually as soon as all of the incomplete work is finished...) i can't handle being organized with my homework assignments and take care of someone's who is perfectly capable of doing it for themself.

i'm finding out more and more how much "fun" parenting can be. boy was i wrong when i thought the terrible twos and horrific threes were bad...just wait until you hit the pre-teen and teen years...much. more. drama. period!

thank goodness i have another baby around right now, so i have one "easy" one to be thankful for when the tough stuff comes along with the non-baby ones. lol

oh well, it's nothing a maple butter blondie and a couple of white russians can't cure...ahhhh!

things i want to do...

seem to always get pushed aside for things i "need" to do. especially now that a new semester has begun, my time is yet again spoken for in ways that i don't "want" it to be.

i want to sew some things, i need to sew some others. i need to knit some things, i want to knit some others. i want to paint some stuff, i need to paint the walls. ...you get the jist.

so how does one figure out how to juggle it all? i'm not sure yet, but if you have any suggestions, i'm all ears! time management and organization are not my strongest skills. help! lol

i think that the first focus needs to be the nursery...paint the walls, paint the armoire, sew the dust ruffle, rocker cushions, curtains, etc. and hang (and buy) pictures for the walls.

so my goal is to do something every day to work on the nursery. i washed the fabric ready to be sewn yesterday. today i think i will cut the fabric for the dust ruffle. i want to make it tailored looking, so i think i'm going to do box pleats at the corners and not gather it. tomorrow's goal will be to sew it together (if i don't do it today)...after i get back from doing some of my practicum hours for most of the day...

maybe not 21...

i still haven't heard back, but they have to get approval for me to take that last 3 credits this semester. i pray that i can get approval, but if not, it will work out somehow anyway. maybe i can talk them into letting me take a 1/2 semester class for the second half. i might email the dean if they tell me the answer is no, and plead my case with her. i know i have a "history" of incompletes/extensions, but there have been extenuating circumstances with all three semesters i've been going to school so far! (nick's headaches/surgery/missing 78 days of school...me being pregnant and in bukus pain...me giving birth via c-section...don't those count as exceptions to the norm? i think they do, but oh well if they don't...)

so a new semester has begun. i've turned in my first assignment (a few days late, thanks to my books coming almost a week late), and i'm ready to be finished already. i am however convinced that i must be a major glutton for punishment though because i am considering starting my master's degree this summer if possible...we'll see.

...back to the books!!!

21 credit hours...

...that's 7 classes!!! it's going to be a tough semester, but i'm excited that i will be able to finish and graduate this may! fortunately (or unfortunately actually) two of those classes are me finishing up my "incompletes" from the summer semester when i was in so much pain and couldn't sit at the computer for long periods of time to complete my coursework...so those two classes are already more than half-way finished. a third class is my "practicum" which is going to be me going to the school and shadowing the guidance counselors, checking in with my professor about it weekly, and then writing a paper when i've finished all of my hours of shadowing. (thankfully, i think i have someone to watch thad on tuesdays and thursdays so i can go in twice a week and get the hours finished quickly.) so basically, i'm taking 4 full classes. two of those are psych classes, and two are general studies electives that i had to take. i'm taking children's literature, which should be really fun, and women in leadership, which should be insightful because it deals with issues that pastor's wives (and other women in church leadership roles) deal with...i could've used this class years ago, it probably would've helped me cope with some stuff a lot better than i have through the 15+ years we've been married and in ministry together!

so here we go, a full semester ahead....wheeeeeeee!!!

i did it...

i made my first official knitted diaper cover!

go over to my "katee did it" blog and check it out!

freecycle rocks!

i got rid of everything i pulled out except for one pick-up tomorrow morning. i love that "one man's trash is another's treasure" so we can pass things on to be reused and recycled. there's so much more to go through, so many projects taking up garage space, and things to get rid of...at least it's a start.

i think the next thing needs to be to paint the "new" dresser and thad's armoire so i can get them out of there and make space so we can get to the weight/strength machine to get a good picture of it...so we can sell it on craigslist.... then we can make room for the treadmill we want to get. (we never use the machine and are thinking dumbbells would be a better investment/space-taker-upper) if i can get the stuff to make nick's papasan chair cushion, we can get his chair out of the way too. wow, the space we'd have if those three things were gone!

think i'll head in there now to do some painting...

and i went with choice number 3!

i went out into the garage for a little while last night, with laptop in tow, and posted a ton of messages to my local freecycle with stuff to get rid of. now i hope there will be takers so i can get rid of a bunch of this junk. if you need children's vhs movies, let me know i can hook you up! i also have a bunch of things that i am either going to offer for barter or try to sell on etsy, there are a few old "country woman" magazines, and a ton of handmade crocheted doilies and other handmade linen type things that i acquired from freecycle quite awhile back and have realized i really will not do anything with them and it would be better for someone to enjoy them than for me to have them stored in my garage where i haven't touched them since i got them. i can't wait to go through all of this junk and purge a ton of it! i need to simplify my life, and there's once place i can start. if i can actually make some money from some of it, i will be ecstatic!

after i take care of some other pressing matters this morning, i plan to pull out the handy dandy sewing machine and start on a few projects i havne't begun yet. i have quite the list. check out my "katee did" blog to see the progress of things i'm making...but don't check for a couple of days, give me a chance to actually "do" something! :)

okay, hoping today is a good day. maybe miracles do happen.

sigh...

i'll be glad when today is over, it's been so bleh. i'm stressing and it doesn't seem as if anyone wants to work with me like i need them too. i'm tired of dealing with people, especially when they won't give even a little. oh well, this too shall pass, right? it always does. i'm just overwhelmed this week, i guess that's what i get for having 3 weeks of almost bliss...

i need to do something productive to get my mind off of stuff...do i knit, sew, or clean in the garage?!? choices, choices...

oh yeah, my mom called from the ER. my dad (step-dad) fell today and hit his head, had a hard time getting up, drove himself to the doctor and was told to go to the ER. i think he's okay, but it didn't help my mood...

bleh...

kids are back at school and i almost feel depressed about it. i like having my kids around, and i like not having to get up and go to work every day. i'd love to homeschool, but they're already too assimilated into their lives at school, so i'd hate to change that around, especially with one entering high school next year. oh well, cest la vie...

so what have i done today? absolutely nothing! i slept in after the kids left because i've been toting around a headache for 3-4 days now. i guess i need to get to the chiropractor, but i hate to spend the money on it...but i'm useless with this headache, so it's probably worth the cost.

okay, that's enough of my funk...

...i'm off to get some stuff done. thad's asleep, there's a pile of laundry on my loveseat in the family room, and i have some errands to run...maybe i'll feel more useful once i get something accomplished.

off to take some excedrin first...

cloth diapering...

i've started really looking into cloth diapers (will probably end up sewing my own for the most part) and i found this contest to win free diapers

baby good buys is giving away a bum genius package! it would be nice to win it, just to get me started and try out some premade cloth dipes!

resolutions?

i don't usually do well with following through on my new year's resolutions, so i'm not going to set myself up for major failure. but there are things that i want to accomplish this year, so i'll list a few of them here (in no particular order, just as they come to mind)...

1. graduate from college in may and get my fl certification
2. lose weight following the transitions lifestyle system (i would like to be in a size 10, maybe 8, by 2010)
3. become more organized in every aspect of my life...(sort/purge/organize everything at home, get finances in order to be set to buy a home, manage time better, etc.)
4. build my unfranchise so that one of us can stay home with thad indefinitely
5. take time to do things "i" like to do...sewing, knitting, reading, decorating, etc.
6. spend more time with my kids, doing things besides watching tv or griping at them
7. go on more dates with my hubby
8. do the couch-2-5k program and begin running with my hubby
9. grow spiritually more than i have in a long while
10. take time to smell the roses and become as "green" as possible

new year, new blog...kind of...

i just added a new blog to my list of blogs (that i don't keep up with very well in the first place!)...

i added a creative blog for things i make, sew, knit, cook, etc. it's "katee did it" for my "kateedid kreations". i'm thinking of selling a few items on etsy eventually, we'll see how it goes. i've just been so inspired to sew, knit, etc. lately (now to find the time...) so i wanted to have a place to post that kind of thing separately in case i do start getting too crazy with it.

so check it out from time to time, it might be kind of fun to see what all i do through the year.