Snug-bugs!

Here's a bonus pup pic. I just wrote a paper on my laptop on the coffee table, and the pups congregated behind me on the sofa, so they kept me warm, sweet things!

Bit by bit I'm getting all the final hoops jumped through. It's nerve-wracking, but each project/deadline met is one more domino fallen, and a step forward. 

Still trying to shake off a head cold. More puppy snuggles needed, clearly!

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: brrrrrrr!

Praline is usually the last to slow down, but she is cold, poor lamb!

Ode on a cough suppressant

I would like to personally thank the pharmaceutical company who created the cough syrup that just afforded me a much-needed handful of cough-free hours in which to sleep, but this will have to do. This is the best I've felt all week. Now I'm going back to sleep. 

Feeling slightly better,

But still semi-crap. At least I got better sleep last night. I have to go to a class in a couple if hours and I dread getting out of the house. Ugh. 

Did I say never stopping? Sick. Stopping.

I awoke in the middle of the night on Monday and my throat felt kind of funny.  Managed to get back to sleep, but woke up before my lab on Tuesday morning feeling like absolute dung. I dragged myself in to the lab at school and did the first portion of my practicum for the semester. Got to the lab and one of the admin people asked if I'd like to re-schedule and no, thank you, I was already miserable and out of bed, I was going to stick it out.  I made 9 of 9 points, so that's a start.  I hate to risk exposure to anyone else, I wash my hands frequently, etc, but it's a most unforgiving system and I'm not giving a whit of indication that I'm slacking.

Lucky for me my noon class was not meeting, so I came home and made some garlicky soup and piddled around the house until time to go back to school for a test at 6pm. I think I most likely made an A on the test, to my amazement.  I'm the kind of person who doesn't really benefit from last-minute study -- my anxiety level at that point is generally so high that absorption will be next to nil.  I have to study regularly and try to cement that information by repeated exposure wherein I have a better overview grasp of things. Even so, I like to read through the high spots the day of the test to refresh my mind on certain details, but I felt too badly to do that yesterday, and thought I'd be phoning it in on the test.  Turns out I actually remembered quite a bit, through the fog.  So, yeah. I expect an A.

Today I don't have classes, don't have to be anywhere. Slept a little late and on/off. I've reached that point where my sinuses are running like faucets, but if I lay on one side, the sinuses on that side fill up and if I roll over, all the fluid shifts. Bizarre. I'm waiting for that moment when you know the sickness is passing.  Waiting.  This is boring and maddening, because I feel like I should be doing something. I think I'll pop in a movie and doze with peaceful music and doze while it plays. Since my nearly fatal bout with pneumonia, I know better than to mess around when I'm sick.

Also, cold weather is coming, and for the first time, I knew before I heard the news because of weird feelings in the knitted bones in my face. That's one thing I didn't consider with the surgery last December, but I still would have done it. I have to go to one class tomorrow afternoon, but other than that, I don't have to be anywhere in the next handful of days, so I hope to get well-rested and past this terrible cold.  I've got stuff on hand to make beans and soup, the kibble bin is full and the puppies have a more than adequate supply of treats for a month or so, so I'm well fortified for the present.  I just hope I don't run out of nose tissue, which I will do, at this rate.

Busy busy busy never stopping

I'm getting out of bed in ten minutes, but I'm enjoying the moment of snuggling with soft, wArm and loving puppies, my good little darlings. I've got so much stuff to prepare for next semester, and so much to do to wrap this one up. I have a side project that absorbed my whole weekend, other than a few hours devoted to study. I can't believe how quickly the time is passing and how much is crammed in to my days. The beginning of the semester 12 weeks ago seems like another planet. Or at least another continent. It's great and the time is filled with promise, but it's incredibly stressful. 

It's too late to start with your heart in a headlock

You know you're better than that

Off to start my day. Onwards and upwards, and all that stuff. 

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: slutbun!

Chuy is a colossal tart, an absolute love-sponge. He is sweet, cuddly and adorable, so it works out. I dote on my girls, but Himself says Chuy is the most spoiled. That's okay. I love my little beefcake baby boy!

Ugh. It's so hot.

Saturday was in the 80s here, and now at 1:40 AM it's 70. Had to turn on the AC because the house was so stuffy. Remind me to move to a place with seasons, someday. Meh. 

I was just wondering:

Is "Heavens to Betsy" like "Ground Control to Major Tom?"

On the verge of something wonderful!

Nothing external, but I had a major epiphany yesterday, and I think I'm about to finally get my mud in a ball, car issues notwithstanding.  I'll tell you more about it later, but I'm feeling happy and optimistic. I'm still going to study though, just in case.

For now, the exquisite Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor, singing the Pie Jesu from Faure's Requiem, doing it As It Should Be Done.  He is the best Countertenor in the world, in my opinion. Exquisite!



I hope your day includes something you find beautiful which gives you enthusiasm!

Almost 8am and 23 degrees...

Hard to motivate oneself to get out of bed, and that studying won't do itself. I have three toasty little furballs glued to me, and it's SO hard to make myself get up!!!

On Veteran's Day, we say thanks.

Thank you to all who serve and have served. You are our brightest and best. We are proud of you, and we are in your debt. 

Early to rise...

Early for me on a Monday, at least. I'm up reviewing my chapters for Family Health Assessment. I don't know what to think of how ill do on this test. I fared poorly on the last one. Onwards and upwards, anyway. I dread my lab this week.

I have three major tests this week and a project due for another class. Not overwhelmed, or anything!!!  Still, I'm feeling oddly optimistic. 

The pups have completed their morning ablutions and are asleep again, lucky little squirts!  

I managed to pull some weeds this weekend, and I've vowed to get after them in earnest and rout out a burgeoning bunch of sticky goathead burrs with the prongs that poke out in every direction. There's something therapeutic about weeding...

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: we snuggle!

No lap shall go unpopulated!

More later, but for now, yesterday's sunset observed on a long drive home:

Just had a lovely lunch at Simply Deli in Stephenville

Monte Cristo crepe sandwich with a Nutella crepe for dessert.  Wonderful!!!

 http://www.simplydeli.biz/

It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while I manage to get my mud in a ball.

I wasn't working much, but it's amazing how just leaving off that little bit of a job has cleared the decks for a greater volume of study.  I feel less tired and distracted by unnecessary stressors, and I feel poised to finish the semester strong. 

Today I've already studied for 3 hours and I've taken 5 quizzes (made a 100 on all except the 80.95 on the Patho quiz, and I'll take that), and with those quizzes no longer hanging over my head, I'm ready to study through the weekend.

Tomorrow I have a bit of a drive to a locale with a mock trial on a nursing malpractice suit.  This will be educational, and I'll get extra credit in two of my classes for my pains.  I'm also going to use that time to listen to some patho audio lectures, so the 4 or so hours of driving will be put to good use. It's great to have the technology to make this all easier.

I have tests in 3 of my 4 classes next week.  I will allocate 4 hours each for Saturday and Sunday study, and then I can study Monday morning, and I should be in good shape. 

I have a few more minor hoops through which I must jump for by December 2, but at this rate, I look well on-target for everything. I'm really excited.  I'm going to do a mock exam on Himself this weekend in preparation for my practicum. I'm nervous about Family Health Assessment, but I think that is normal, and I hope that I've laid a pretty good foundation for everything.  Now if I can manage to continue to focus while surrounded by bounding pups who believe that if a lap is formed, it must be populated by a furball.

It's cold at nights but very nice during the day times now.  I haven't turned on the heat in the house yet, but I busted out the electric blanket last night (THANKS, Mom and Dad!), and Chuy for one remembers his only winter with an electric blanket.  No sooner was it out warming up about an hour before I got into bed, and he was ON it.  Chuy is all about his comfort.  Also, he's a beefy little rascal who doesn't have an abundance of fat, so he chills more easily than the girls.  Praline has her own little nuclear power plant, and Mochi is slightly padded but maximizes body contact with preferably a person, but another canine will do.

I splurged about $12 on a few pots of perennials for my flower bed, and when I get home from class today, I plan on poking about there and getting those planted and established.  I'm really pleased with the salvias and rock rose I have in my yard-- they've thrived with little or no watering through a very dry year. It's good, therefore, to get more established during the mild winters here so that they have a goodly root system to stead them through the dry times.  The salvia I bought are a gorgeous dark blue.
I also noticed that I have a beautiful little shock of volunteer lantana by a tree.  Volunteers are welcome.  Far be it from me to drive away something with the audacity to bloom in my yard (with the exception of briars and dandelions, and even then, sometimes...), and I know the bees need the sustenance. 

Feeling positive. :)  Feeling much less stressed.  We'll see how I feel on Monday!

Proof positive!

Life continues incredibly busy.  This is my second week not to be working on Wednesday, but extra study time coupled with lowered stress level has already borne fruit: I made a 90 on my test yesterday, which was only the second A I've made on a test in any class.  Honestly, sort of aiming for the middle of the pack here - I'll be content to end up in the big middle of stuff. 

People speak of the bell curve, but there's sense in the analogy of the profile of a python wot swallowed a goat.  Middle of the road is fine by me.

Awwww!

I LOVE I can has cheezurger!

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: still in bed

Yay!

Wednesday edit - I tried posting this from my bed late on Sunday morning (RILLY late, since we'd also had an extra hour of night), but for some reason, it didn't finalize.  Anyway, Praline is rarely in a DEEP sleep, and she bounds out of bed at the slightest suggestion of ANY activity.  She is so lively and fun-loving.   My sweet pup!

An Illustrated Guide to Gun Control

Here is a link to the Illustrated Guide To Gun Control. 

Whoever wrote this must be a genius.  :P

I registered for Spring semester yesterday

Clinical day is scheduled for 6:45 am to 6:00 pm. Ugh.