Hello hello

Zaporah just jumped 3 feet into the air to catch a piece of sting she tossed up- no lie. And not a simple jump, but an Olympic-gymnast-not -even-a-cat's-body-should-twist-and-flip-like-that kind of jump. Meanwhile, HayZeus is looking down from his perch giving her the "Excuse me, WTF are you doing" look (as if he's completely sane). One of these days I'll catch it on video so y'all can see the craziness that happens in this house on a daily basis. I need to get a job just to get a way from these nut cases, I swear.

That might not be too far off though. Last week I took the state exam to be certified as a Nurses Aide. Now that I'm on the state registry I'm elligble to apply for CNA positions, which are rather abundant around here. I applied for a bunch on Monday and have already had two interviews and have been offered a job contingent on passing a background/reference check and a TB test. I'm sure there will be a drug test in there somewhere, which should be fun. Last time I had to take one I technically didn't pass it because I take benzodiazopenes occasionally for anxiety, but a note from my doctor got that cleared up. I only want to work 15-20 hours a week, maybe more when I'm not in school. It's at a private duty/home health type place, so I should be able to have some decent flexibility. So that's neat!

All in all things have been going really great around here. I didn't get accepted into UNCC's BSN program, which I expected as it is crazy hard to get into, but I'm still working towards becoming an RN via an associates degree at the college here in Concord (CCHS). I'm not in their program yet, but if all goes well I'm hoping to get in for the fall semester. I've also been accepted into a Masters of Public Health program at Des Moines University (DMU - it's an online prgram), which I've been trying to do for a couple years, so I'm actually working on an associates and a masters degree at the same time. Yeah, thats how I roll. It's like going backwards and forwards all at once.

Of course it's going to take me a while to chip away at the Masters degree because I'll only be taking one, MAYBE two classes every trimester so that I don't overload myself. Because I already have all my liberals and co-reqs done for the nursing program at CCHS, most of my semesters are only going to consist of 5 or 6 credits, so I should be able to take one 3 credit graduate class too. Plus, DMU works on trimesters, so I'll be able to get in a class or two when I'm not in session at CCHS. Joe and I decided that we'd sit down prior to each tri/semester and go over my options to make sure I'm not taking on too much.

It sounds crazy and confusing and too busy, but it's not. I'll probably be taking 6-9 credits a semester and working about 15-20 hours a week. This is doable. It's not like I'm raising a gaggle of kids and working 2 jobs while I go to nursing school (that was my mom), nor do I have a daughter that will follow me around bugging me and not letting me study or sleep(that was me). However, HayZeus could be a problem....he likes to "help" with my homework:

I did not help him pose for these, by the way. He got that pen in his paws on his own. Crazy cat.

So I guess that's the skinny around here. Things are well - I've been feeling absolutely fantastic, Joe is still enjoying his job, and we're both digging the weather down here. We are planning a trip to Michigan at the end of June/beginning of July, so we're looking forward to that. In the meantime, we love visitors! :)

time for an update

Hello hello, it's been a while. Let's see, where to start...

I guess I'll start with our holidays, which were quite lovely. We spent quite a bit of time with Joe and Sara and the kids, which helped give it that "Kirkwood Chaos" kind of feel. As odd as it was to be away from the rest of our families I really didn't feel all that disconnected. Of course we missed them, which is an everyday constant, but I was surprised to find that it wasn't particularly exacerbated by Christmas.

We spent Christmas Eve at our house munching on hors' devours (or however that's spelled) and opening the gifts that had been sent down by my Mom and our Aunt Kae, as well as the ones Joe and I had bought for the kids. Christmas morning was quiet for Joe and I, but Joe and Sara's crew returned for Christmas Dinner that afternoon and the kids did what they could to destroy my house. In the end I found that they were actually rather gentle with the place. :)

On the Monday after Christmas my Dad and Teri arrived for the week. It was great to see them and I think they thouroughly enjoyed being away from the snow and in 65 degree weather. I spent Tuesday with them helping them shop (they didn't see the point in hauling gifts in their luggage) and we all got together for dinner that night. On Wednesday, New Year's Eve, everyone came over to our house and did the munchies/presents thing again and then had a HUGE Christmas dinner. We then rang in the new year and spent the next day playing Joe and Sara's Wii, which was a trip. I was extremely sore the next day - who knew that bowling and snowboarding on a video game could be so intense! We had so much fun having bowling tournements and competing for the best times on the sports games. Dad and Teri left on Friday and we were sad to see them go.

Since then things have been rather calm around here. I should probably mention that just before Christmas we adopted a friend for HayZeus, who was becoming a sednetary, lazy old bum. After a few days of adjustment they became friends and are constantly playing - I woke up a few nights ago at about 3 am to the sounds of them playing/wrestling in the bathtub!! In the few weeks we've had her, little Zaporah has whipped HayZeus back into shape - he's running and jumping and playing like he did before his surgery, albeit with a slight limp. We got them a kitty condo for Christmas and they love it - HayZeus spends most of his day lounging on the highest platform gazing out the window while Zaporah enjoys the little cave below. :)

Last week was a rather...down week. Not in the emotional sense so much as the activity sense. I got another mild upper respiratory infection (I had a nasty one for a week just after I finished the antibiotics for my previous illness), which slowed me down a bit, but I was mostly bored. When I don't have anything to do my time management skills and motivation go right out the window, so I was lucky to even get around to making the bed. I shook that by the end of the week though and starting classes this week has already put me back into "do" mode.

I'm taking more classes at CCHS this semester. I didn't get into UNCC's BSN program, but I'm reapplying for the fall semester. Nursing programs are very competitive, so it wasn't really a shock that I didn't get in on the first try. I've also applied to CCHS's associate degree program and to grad school (for my masters in public health, which is my ultimate goal anyway). First one to accept me wins!! :) I know that an associates degree isn't ideal given my circumstances, but really I'd just like to be able to get a good paying job sometime this century. Given my ultimate career goals a BSN isn't vital, although it's admittedly the best scenario. Anyway, we'll see, but in the meantime I'm taking a Spanish class, medical terminology class, and a mystery class the registrar hasn't figured out for me. Because I'm a freshman at CCHS I'm not allowed to take anything above a 200 level class...but since I have a million transfer credits there are literally no 200 level classes that I can take. Seriously, I've already gotten credit for every other lower level class I'm elligable to take. So we're trying to appeal and get me into a 300 level biology class. Given that I have a minor in biology I'm hoping they'll see that it's probably something I can handle. Yeesh.

So I guess that's the skinny around here. We took lots of pictures at Christmas, which you can view on our shutterfly sight: http://adventuresofmaryandjoe.shutterfly.com/

Ciao!