I was very nervous about Anatomy and Physiology. Am I again going to be the old lady in the room? Yes. Is anyone going to talk to me? Yes. Will I have a willing lab partner? Yes! WIll I vomit in the first thing we dissect? No.

I have not done a dissection in mumble mumble (double digit) years. Our first day at lab, we dissected a rat. Way to dive right in. Thankfully, I did not pass out, especially since I have a massive fear of mice and rats. To conquer my fears, I decided to go on my own and dissect the rat by myself. I had a boy. He apparently had an impending bowel movement before death. That was one HUGE large intestine (That’s what she said). It was pretty cool, didn’t smell as much as I remember, and I didn’t get squirted in the eye or pass out or anything. Fortunately, we have only one other dissection (supposedly) this term (an eyeball or something). Unfortunately, now I see squirrels, chipmunks, etc in the yard and I want to start dissecting. Weird, right?

Fortunately we don’t have homework, just lots of reading and tests. The biggest problem with my class is it’s only 6 weeks. That’s right. 6. Weeks. Oy. I feel like I’m starting 30 minutes after the slowest person in the race and just trying desperately to catch up. Not because I don’t know the stuff, I actually know a lot of it so far from my previous classes, but it’s just SO MUCH in such a short time. Tomorrow we are supposedly getting a study list for the first test and I think that will help. Right now, I’m just trying to study or read at least an hour a day. If I can keep that up, especially more than an hour, I should start feeling better. And then it will be time for Anatomy and Physiology 2. Huzzah!

Lab and class are my mornings Monday through Thursday (stalker alert!). I’ve been trying to take care of house stuff in the afternoons. So far it’s going well. I’ve mowed, exercised, cleaned bathrooms, and done laundry on top of studying. I just have to remember that I can’t do everything in a day. I need to pick one thing–vacuum the first floor or weed, not both–and that’s all I do. If I can keep it up, I think I will feel less frustrated with my dirty, disgusting house and still be on top of the homework. I just have to remember that I’m only human.

In knitting news, I’m just about done with the shall, Maluka. She’s off the needles and I just need to wind in ends. Next up hand warmers and socks for the Husband. Otherwise, knitting has been slow, but good. I have knitting this weekend so I really need to remember to print out the sock pattern and maybe finally figure out the pattern for my hand warmers. Some day I’ll even get my latest FO up. Someday.

I feel like I have a very deep and philosophical post percolating in my head, but I can’t remember it for the life of me. Of all the things to forget, that one’s fine. I’d hate to forget to finish a project for work or feeding the kid, who by the way is now potty trained! Mostly. 9 times out of 10 she successfully asks to use the potty. The other 1 out of 10…KABOOM! Pee or poop everywhere. She’s like a tiny bomb spraying pee over everything she walks on. Or sits on. The poop sort of stays contained until it isn’t and then ew. No, super ew. Fortunately, she is still willing to do pull ups for gymnastics or going out when we aren’t sure of a potty.

Aren’t you so happy you came to read today?

Wait, no. “That’s Person of Interest”. Sorry

2013 did get off to a decent start and has overall been a much better year, but I kept getting sick—flu-like illness, bronchitis, cold, laryngitis, sinus infection, pink eye— OP had some health-related things, and a class that I didn’t take for a grade and only did homework in, but somehow was all-encompassing. I also decided not to take any vacation February through May, because I get two weeks of pay from HR and had just under two weeks left  and I feel guilty for going back to school and thus not taking in a salary which would just about get me a paycheck through the month of May.

Am I a whining enough yet? No? Don’t worry, I will be.

Thanks to all these things and a bit more, I have felt amazingly far behind on everything to do with my house. Outside is crazy wild and filled with weeds. Inside is disgusting. As soon as we start to get things taken care of, life interrupts. It was so exciting the weekend before last, because we actually got things done! I know! It was awesome. Then on Monday, through a confluence of events, it all went to pot. Darn confluence of events.

I’m hoping that the summer classes are light enough that I can get things done around the house. I’m not holding my breath, because then I’ll be annoyed when I don’t have time to eat bon-bons and knit. Or, um, clean, mow, weed, and get projects done around the house. I’ll be busy all the time cleaning and stuff. No bon-bons for me. Yup. Nothing relaxing. Anyone take classes over the summer? Are they a time suck? I suspect it depends on the class. Either way, I’m hoping removing the work element for the most part will give life a bit more breathing room. If not, I’ll just complain more often!

I won’t tell anyone anything. Unless they offer me Kielbasa. Then it’s all over.

Or maybe it was Debbie Gibson?

Anyway, so seasons change, and it’s changing for me. I am officially leaving my job and going back to school. Yay! My last day is May 17 and I start school the week after. Crazy, right? I’m excited and scared and about 20 other feelings. I’m worried it’s a mistake, but worried if I don’t try I will regret it. What if I can’t find my classroom? What if I have to give a report and then realize I’m only in my underwear!?!

Did I mention what I’m going to school for? No, see I just got a C for a coherent post! I’m going back for nutrition with the intent to get my dietitian certification. That’s about 3 years of school. I hope anatomy class doesn’t make me faint. At least anatomy is this summer so I’ll get it out of the way.

It’s going to be tight financially around here for a while. I’m trying to figure out how to save and cut money corners. I know I should do coupons, but I dread that. Plus, do I get coupons in the mail? Do I have to find them online? How else can I save?

I’ve also started researching food options. I’m going to be out and about at classes most days and I won’t have access to refrigeration. I will have ice packs, but that’s it. When I was a kid I had PB&J every day because everything else would go bad, I think. At least that was what I was told, but maybe it was financial reasons. Anyway, can I pack more than PB&J? From what I’ve seen online, I can. People do meat, cheese, sushi, and more. So, will I die from food poisoning if I do as well?

Also, I need breakfasts on the go. Smoothies? Muffins? IVs? Augh!

Yeah, this post is a little chaotic, but that’s where my brain is right now. So, if you have answers, I’d love to hear them. At least I have time to figure it all out. I hope. Maybe. It’s really only about 4 weeks. I definitely need to go to sleep. *sigh*

I’m surprised the neighbors haven’t called social services yet.

Anyway, it is such an awful experience that we put it off as much as we can, leading to sharp, nasty nails that look like she’s been on a deserted island for years. With all things we need to do that OP objects to (baths, diaper, medicine, etc), once we find a distraction or way around the issue, we’re good to go. We just haven’t found the way around this one, yet. Or have we.

Who knew these cute little toes would cause so much drama!

Let me back up. I was what you might consider a tomboy from about 7th grade until well into college. I never wore dresses, heels, make-up, etc. I still don’t do the make-up, really. Okay, sometimes I do and only look like a clown half the time. The other half, I pay someone to do it for me. However, to this day, I will not, nor do I ever plan to, wear nail polish. I think it’s disgusting and just looks wrong. Except on you, it looks lovely on you. Okay, no. No it doesn’t. I just don’t like the stuff. At. All.

The other night, at gymnastics, my daughter pointed out another girl’s blue toenails and it made me start thinking. Ever since they did the letter N at school, OP has begun to mention nail polish. Not often, but enough to make me think it could be our way around the utter gall we have for cutting off her nails. So, we told her that if she is very brave and lets us cut her nails without all the hoopla, we would put on nail polish that she picks out.  (I’ve included her fingernails because while she let’s me do it with the TV on, I figured including it could help her get the idea with her toes.) She is utterly excited, and we’re going to look for a non-toxic, kid-friendly (Piggy Paint or something similar) this weekend with her help. She wants pink, blue, and green if you are curious.

I’m dying inside because I HATE nail polish, and I suspect it will get all over everything. But if that’s the deal I must make with the devil to get this to work, it’s one I’m willing to make. It could be worse. I could cut off her feet.

Wait until I ask you to get my legs waxed!