We survived!
The alarm went off at 6:30, I hit the snooze until about 6:50 and the day got started.
I woke up Andrew to get him moving and everyone but Aidan got up in an act of support to see him out the door. I made eggs and toast and Andrew opened up his Schultuete. I put a much-debated cell phone into it and he was happy! Other gifts inside included a little clip on storage thing for the cell phone, an ipod looking radio (thank you $1 store) and a watch ($1 store again!). Of course, no Schultuete for Andrew is complete without the Starburst...which were plentiful. He left for school happy and relaxed. Thomas even made a point of driving him...which was a big deal for Andrew. I worried about him a lot during the day. What class was he in?
What was he having for lunch? Was he reconnecting with old friends?
It turned out fine.
He was a little bummed when I picked him up...but that's only because I embarrassed him by showing up in my VW van. He calls it the...turdmobile. I know, I know...I should put a stop to that. My VW has evolved over the last year and is covered in the kids' handprints, inspirational sayings and...some yogi bear decals that embarrass the kids.
I can't help myself. I love decorating the van. I'll have to grab a picture this weekend and post it. I know it sounds nuts, but I have expressions like "Dance like no one is watching" ... "A dream is a wish your heart makes". You name it...you can now find it on my van. I have had people walk up to me in parking lots to tell me that my van made their day...which really makes me feel great...and...I have watched people in cars swerving to get a good look. Bottom line? I love it. It's fun! Andrew? Not so much! Turdmobile it is! LOL I also dropped $200 on books for the classes that I'm taking.
My semester started today. shudder. I am really excited to get started again, but also...I'm nervous. The medical terminology course is offered as both an on-campus and distance learning option. I decided to take it online. I actually worked with the professor who is teaching it back when I was teaching the labs in the department and so I think this will work out for me as a format. The anatomy class and lab is on-campus...it includes a cadaver lab which is...interesting to me but...also scares me a little! I started reading from the anatomy book. It's called "The Human Strategy: An Evolutionary Perspective on Human Anatomy".
I was really skeptical until I got reading. The book is so well-written that I felt really inspired by it. I was helping Andrew with his homework while I read, and after he finished what was required of him, he opened up his social studies book and read until I finished. I hope my studying will be a source of motivation for the kids...it would be nice if we could all study together. In any case, after reading the first chapter about evolution and adaption, I decided that once again I'm going to try to trudge through Darwin's Origin of the Species. Last time I tried this, I just couldn't force myself to read it anymore. I'm going to give it another try. This revelation was met with eye rolling and pronunciations that I am "such a geek" from Andrew and Amanda. Good example maybe? Or geek. I don't know. In any case, I am cautiously excited...I really hope that I'm able to balance my studies with the kiddos needs this semester. A year ago when I tried a class I had to drop it because they come first...and it wasn't working. This year they are older, our lives are running much more smoothly and the dust seems to have settled around here. I'm crossing my fingers that this all works out! Another really nice thing from today?
I went out to get the mail this afternoon and you could have knocked me over with a feather when I sorted through the mail and found a postcard from Barb (my internist)...who was on vacation last week in New York. I sent her a postcard from Regina, Saskatchewan and from Germany....and it felt really good to be though about. Though I know it represents a blurring of the boundaries, she and her husband are coming to Oktoberfest with us in ...October. LOL We are also going with the same couple that we went with last year. It should be a lot of fun. On a final note...I made some of my blog entries private...as in ...can only be read by me and my husband. I went back and reread a lot of my entries and I realized that although I was working through my feelings about certain issues...cancer, parenting, marriage...and other struggles...that my blog entries could be construed as being too negative. I don't feel negative. I don't act negatively. I just work through my thoughts and feelings by putting words down on paper (or typing them into the keyboard LOL!) As I sifted through my blog entries over the past few days, I started really feeling self-conscious. Sorry for that...It probably won't be long before I'm complaining about the kids' school, discussing the difficulties of parenting teens and am crying about my anatomy class! LOL Until then, I'll try and maintain some veneer of normalcy...no, really! As a final note, I leave you all with the video of Zoe on our last night in WI. There was a dance for the kids and Thomas and I let our kids dance and stood nearby to supervise. Of course, our teenagers stood away from the crowds trying to look cool and NOT dancing...but ZOE? She is so crazy about dancing! She dances in the car, dances in the house, dances on the bed...and here she is..dancing at the teen dance. LOL For some reason, the video came out sideways. I have no idea how to fix it, so...you'll have to tilt you heads! All of the other moms were just going nuts over how cute she was! (Not that I'm a proud mom or anything!) LOL