Happy Frickin' Monday Y'all

Today was day #1 where all of our staff was in the same area, together.  It wound up being a horrible day.  From start to finish.  It started bad when I realized that the munchkin failed to turn in his homework on Friday.  Blah!!

I was running late, which is my MO lately.  I had to get gas, which like cost $650 to fill up.  Not really, but close enough...  I finally got to work, but had to fight with a parking space.  Why can't people park straight?  Is it that difficult?

I spent the morning printing to a printer that has since disappeared since 4pm Friday afternoon.  Who does that?  Who removes a printer that you've just told us all to sign up and print too?!?  I was so angry, because now I have print-outs floating out there in the black-hole of our network of printers.  Aaarrrgggg...  It just felt like everything I did or touched today went to crap.

I spent the afternoon taking the dep of a Plaintiff who was beyond buzzed!  I think he kept falling asleep in between my questions and his answers.  It took everything for me not to bust out laughing.

The day finished up with my nephew being admitted to the hospital for a bad infection (ears) and dehydration.

...Happy Frickin' Monday Y'all...

A Screeching Halt

All of my cooking, motivation...everything came to a screeching halt last week.

First the munchkin wound up with strep throat and then late last week I wound up with a little nasty cold.  To say I'm behind the 8-ball now is an understatement.  I was suppose to write a case eval statement today, but that didn't happen.  Instead I took a wonderful 2 hour nap!

Of course I'll "pay" for my weekend all week, but that has not been enough to get me motivated to do anything tonight.  Honestly, I'm just bidding my time to get back in the bed.

How was your weekend?

Productivity Stolen By Strep

I had hoped to get lots accomplished last weekend and this weekend as well, but that hasn't happened for various reasons.  This weekend I had this wonderful plan and was very motivated too....this is usually a recipe for success!

There is one thing that can derail my success and that started Thursday night when I returned from seeing my honey...my munchkin complained that his throat hurt.  He had no fever and no spots in his throat.  After a night of sleep I reexamined the munchkin who was still complaining of a sore throat, but everything remained the same so off to school he went.

After school and after work on Friday we opted to skip karate since the munchkin was still complaining of a sore throat and a general complaint of feeling "like crap." (His words, not mine!)  Plus he was looking a little rougher then he was that morning.  On top of all of that, a snow storm was kicking up too.  So off to the grocery store we went, ran a couple of errands, and instead of arriving at home after 9pm as we would have by going to karate, we arrived home at 7pm with an inch of snow already on the ground.

Luckily I had called Friday night and made a doctor's appointment for Saturday afternoon, because Saturday morning when we were suppose to be running additional errands I was feeding motrin to the munchkin for his fever, which developed over night.  So needless to say our weekend has been filled with lots of medicine (thanks to the diagnosis of strep throat), snow, and not much else.

The good thing, so far, is that my throat feels fine so as long as the munchkin can overcome this and I can remain healthy I'll gladly give up my productivity over my weekend!

It Is A Party Weekend!

This weekend was scheduled to be quite the party weekend.  Friday night was Chica's birthday party at a local bar & bowling ally.  I was so honored to be invited and put it in my calendar.  Last night was our 1st Quarter Team Party at the Big Guy (a/k/a the boss)'s house.

I had hoped that this weekend would be so eventful, especially since it is a 3 day holiday weekend.  This always leads me to develop some big plans of all the things I'm going to do and accomplish!  This list usually ends up much longer than time allows to accomplish.

But...Thursday night I could barely keep my eyes open while driving home during the start of a little snow storm from seeing my guy.  I'm sure the fact that I had been up since 3:30am had something to do with that.  Combine that continued tiredness and the fact that the snow storm was still going when the munchkin and I arrived home after Karate Friday night I opted out of attending Chica's Bar Birthday Party.  I felt bad, but by Friday night I'm exhausted y'all!!

Our team party was set to start at 3:00pm Saturday afternoon.  Of course I was an hour and a half late.  Opps!  As usual, I did not want to go, but had a great time once I was there and stayed over 2 hours longer than I had planned.  Yes, every time these plans and events come up I'm all like "I'm not doing this; this is the last one; etc." but in the end I am usually glad I have attended.

It may have been the alcohol I consumed at the party, but while it was still snowing (yes, the same little snow storm that had been going since Thursday night!) I saw a Kroger's and decided to do 98% of my grocery shopping at 10:30pm on my way home from the team party!  I do not know whether it was the hauling of the cases of Diet Coke or vegetables, but by the time I had everything hauled in my lower back was killing me...I blame this on the alcohol too.

After the necessaries were put in the refrigerator, I watched a little TV and then hauled myself to bed early this morning just so I could wake up 5 hours later unable to go back to sleep, which seems to be a pattern here of late, but that is a story for another post!

I Was Unprepared For Today, But Tomorrow Is A New Day

So my plan to start my new schedule today did not happen as I had planned. Even though I went to bed later than I had hoped it was still a decent time. The problem arose when hours later I was still awake. I finally fell asleep close to 3am.

While I was laying there awake, cursing my brain for not allowing me to sleep I never thought to get up and wash my workout pants to hit the gym first thing this morning. Opps!

So even though I was up at a decent time, showered and totally ready to go to the gym I had to wait until my workout pants were washed and dried. Add on to it the fact that I had several errands to run today and I felt the need to get a few things I would have done later in the week completed today in case we get hit with the big storm everyone is saying is forth coming and before I knew it I was walking back in the door at 1:30pm. Of course by then I was starving and didn't even get to crack a book until after 2pm (outside of what I read on the treadmill).

I remain focused and excited about putting this new schedule to work and pulling it off. Tomorrow I will be much better prepared to hit the ground running when I wake up, plus I will have a few more hours of sleep under my belt than I did this morning...or so I hope!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

Just getting started: 9, 15, 16

Needs attention: Nothing!!

Ready For A New Schedule

So the schedule I've been attempting to follow has been to get up around 7am, catch up with my on-line life as the munchkin goes to school. Then the plan has been to do some studying, which I always hope will be around 8am, but always seems to happen much closer to 10am. Not good. Then after studying for a while I figure I need to take a shower and hit the gym with the understanding or belief that I will come back home and study some more. Of course by the time I get back home it is like 4pm. Then either I'm whipping up dinner for us so when my aunt and the munchkin get here they can eat before he heads to his next activity (CCD, Karate, Cub Scouts, etc.) By the time they leave it is around 6pm or so and they are usually scheduled to return between 8pm-9pm and in all honesty who is ready to study starting from 6-8pm?!? Obviously this isn't working for me and with 3 weeks left I need to find a new schedule that works better than what I've been trying.

So tomorrow I'm going to try a new schedule of getting up between 6 & 7am, shower and get ready for the gym and my day. Then I'm going to hit the gym first thing before I attempt to do any studying. The last few times at the gym I have been able to read BarBri on the treadmill, so that is where I will start for the day, then come home and it shouldn't be later than 10am by the time I get home to study. This will give me a huge chunk of time before I need to take a break to get dinner. And since I will only be taking a break for an hour or two it shouldn't be nearly as difficult to get back to studying for a couple hours till the munchkin returns home and we get ready for bed.

I'm sort of excited to start this new schedule tomorrow and I'm very hopeful that this week is much more productive than the past weeks...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13

Just getting started: 9, 14, 15, 16

Needs attention: 7

Napping Is The Devil & Only Leads To My Failure

Okay...today ended up being an utter failure for getting stuff done...actually anything done. I totally own this failure outright.

Apparently instead of laying down at 10am for a 2 hour nap I should have showered instead, because the intended 2 hours turned into 4.5 actual hours. Therefore I never showered, never got dressed, never made it to the gym, never finished my shopping, and never got the studying I needed to get done today done.

My conclusion is that napping is the devil for me...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

Just getting started: 3, 19, 20

Needs attention: Nothing!!

Bright Eyed & Bushy Tail

Okay...this doesn't really describe me, but I am still amazed at myself and it is barely 9am!

Between yesterday where I got tons of stuff done (Just look below!!) and this morning when I actually woke up at 5:40am without an alarm and continued to accomplish stuff today I feel like I can claim to be bright eyed & bushy tail...or is it tailed?! I'm not sure which it is, but it feels like it is an old saying from my childhood, so I'm going with it!

I studied more yesterday than I have in a single day in a while. Yes, even I was shocked too! Then I hit the gym, increasing my time on the treadmill to 30 minutes, and then on to my treat! Yes...week #3 in my journey deserved a treat. Plus my salon had BOGO 50% off and I have bonus bucks that had to be used for the month of January! Work with me here people. I had my schedule all set...stop studying at 11:45am, make my way to the gym, workout for 30 minutes, hit the bank (ATM) and the post office, and arrive for my 1pm mani & pedi. Figured I'd be home by 2:30pm-ish.

Ready, set, go....and I was off! Everything seemed to be falling into place until I realized I hit the treadmill at 12:10pm instead of 12:00 and somehow I didn't get done with the gym until 12:50pm. Please don't ask where the other 20 minutes went, because I have no clue! Then I attempted to hit the bank, quickly, only to find 7 other cars in line for the ATM, so I drove by and headed straight to my appointment. I was back on schedule walking in right at 1pm. This is where it really went downhill. Finally at 1:40pm I was taken back for my pampering and since I had waited so long I was treated to a couple extras, which were nice, but not a part of my tight schedule, which now included the bank & post office post pampering...

Around 4:30pm I finally made my way back home. Shockingly another planning that didn't go the way it was suppose to... Of course this lead me to not finish #3 on my list, which should be taken care of today (I just need a couple more things...) and you may wonder what the hold up is for #17...well, that one I'm laying on my LSBFF who is apparently MIA from her email this week, but I will wait on both of them and maybe by tomorrow I will be able to add another "Nothing!!" to my To-Do List Tally!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18

Just getting started: 3, 17, 19, 20

Needs attention: Nothing!!

It Isn't Failing To Plan That Gets Me...It's Just My Planning Fails

How many times must I say it...I fail at planning. Maybe I don't do it right. I'm not sure. But it seems when I plan something it falls through. It just doesn't happen the way it should. Maybe I don't cover all of my bases before I plan. I'm not exactly sure, but planning by me is usually an epic failure.

Don't believe me? Well, here is another example of one of my planning failures... A week or so ago I saw a recipe coming across on Twitter from Nathan Fillon (the actor in Castle) and it sounded pretty good. It was a Mexican Bean Dip recipe and I'm always up for that. So I made my shopping list after checking the fridge and cupboards and away I went Friday night after my weekly visit with my honey. So this morning I decide in addition to studying I also want to cook a few new dishes. Well...I actually decided that yesterday and I started on that with cooking chicken in my crockpot with salsa to use in a different recipe...but I digress... I pulled out all of my ingredients this afternoon to make my bean dip and my black olives are gone.

Yup...my munchkin and my aunt ate them Friday night with their dinner. Ugh... Okay, so I decided to make it without. No big deal and heck, it likely saved on calories too. So I move on from this, make the bean dip, reach for the bag of tortilla chips to eat some. Ummm...hello whoever left just crumbs in the bottom of the bag, but only rolled it down once giving an appearance of an almost full bag of chips...nice job! Luckily I had an unopened package of taco shells to use.

Not all was lost. I was able to eat my newly made bean dip and it was yummy sans black olives or chips. But come on...I don't need help with the failing part of my planning. Ugh....

Consider it done: 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18

Just getting started: 3, 5, 16, 17, 19, 20

Needs attention: 6, 9, 10

Planning Fails

So often I make big plans and so often they fall through. I'm not talking about major plans, but more about what I'm going to accomplish and when. For instance...my plan starting Monday morning was to get up a little earlier than I have been since I've been off "studying" so I could was my hair and have my mom braid it when she came over to get the munchkin off to school. Well, this didn't happen until this morning. But hey...it finally happened so that should count for something, right?

Or for the last 3 nights I've planned on going to bed early or at the least a decent time. Well, that hasn't happened yet. But tonight is another night.

Or another example was that I would get up this morning, totally motivated from staying up till 1am last night watching The Biggest Loser, and eat a nice, healthy breakfast and hit the ground running. I did wake up...motivated...and fixed a wonderful breakfast. I chopped green peppers, onions, ham and a little turkey to put in with my egg-beaters. I made a big bowl of a yummy breakfast all within my calorie target for my breakfast. Sat down to eat it, ate half of it, realizing that my egg-beaters were seriously expired and tossed the rest. Now I don't know if anything would have really happened had I ate all of it nor do I know if anything will happen from eating half of it, but once I had that information each bite I took was harder and harder to swallow. Of course now I sit here with the fear that I'll start feeling sick due to my inability to use things when I actually buy them versus letting things expire and throwing caution to the wind while consuming them.

So after a nice little argument with my mom due to her ability to go from 0 to 60 on the anger scale in mere seconds (my aunt and I have discussed her unofficial diagnosis of likely being bipolar) and consuming expired egg-beaters I sit here waiting for my second ocular migraine in the last 12 hours to subside so I can start another BarBri lecture.

Oh yeah...and we got 6 inches of snow since yesterday...isn't life just great on this hump day?!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

Just getting started: 17, 18

Needs attention: 10

My Mom Always Said My Mouth Would Get Me Into Trouble

Oh my, oh my...what a day!! I went to bed way too late last night and got up way too late this morning. Opps. I was up and out the door in less than an hour and off to pick up the munchkin. We went to the eye doctor, which ended up taking forever. Then I had to rush home, pick up one of his outfits for his pictures, and then rush off to get my allergy shot and then get his pictures done. This is where things started to go downhill...

We arrive in time for our 12:30pm appointment to learn the idiot who I spoke to earlier in the week scheduled us for 12/9...a Thursday. So they had to fit us in. By now I was beyond irritated. Most years we just wing it and wait forever and we are usually much later in the season. This year I attempt to do things by the book and it gets all screwed up. With extra time to kill that we really didn't have in our schedule my munchkin decides to con me into picking up a few things for him. I get him changed into his outfit and then we go back and wait. The couple who was ordering their little girl's pictures were odd. I couldn't put my finger on it. I kept getting weird looks from them and weird interactions with the dad/husband. I thought maybe I knew him, but couldn't recall him or something. Then it happened.

Apparently I'm the worst parental figure in the world and shouldn't be allowed around other people's children, because when the mom told the toddler that they had to get moving because dad was breaking out in hives because he was missing the Michigan/Ohio State game I say, "Just say 'Dad it is no big deal Michigan blows anyways'." Well you would have thought I told her to tell her Dad to F Off! Was it inappropriate? Probably. Was it detrimental? Maybe. Was it cause for the Dad to come out of his chair to threaten me? I don't think so. First of all the kid was too little to even know what I said and secondly if you don't make a big deal out of these things kids don't continue to repeat such things. It is when they get reactions do they carry it to the next level. So I apologized and I felt like crap afterwards. I suspect I've been black-marked at the studio not to be allowed around other people's children... That's okay, because I don't really like other people's kids.

By now it was well past the time that my munchkin needed another dose of his medicine so he was acting as boorishly as what his mom acts like while he was getting his pictures done. We finally get out of there and are off to find some CLR for the munchkin's bathroom and then to check out. From there we go to the dry cleaners, the grocery store and the salon to pick up a couple of things and to drop off my non-perishable foods for their food drive. Hey, at least I'm trying to help the unfortunate after I've damaged them with my mouth.

We had planned to meet up with my aunt and my mom for lunch, which I had not originally wanted to do due to my fear of not keeping my streak alive tomorrow, but after the morning and early afternoon I had experienced I could have used a drink and some high calorie foods. This is when the 2nd shoe dropped. Before we left the salon the munchkin announces he can't find his Nintendo DS. Excuse me?!? We rip the car apart and can't find it. I'm beyond livid at this point. Of course I was still mad at myself for my earlier transgression. I call the studio and they have it. We head back there and pick it up.

Finally we make it to "lunch" around 4pm and I order a jumbo strawberry margarita. Of course my statement of "the stronger the better" to the waiter was taken very seriously! Daym!! I could only drink 3/4ths of it and I was definitely a little more than buzzed. I scarfed down our favorite appetizer, a half of a huge shrimp-fajita-quesadilla, and then consumed Mexican fried ice cream. I probably should have ran a couple more errands after lunch, but I was ready to just come home and crash. I spent the rest of the night freezing, trying to consume as much of my water intake as I could in hopes of not totally blowing my weigh-in for tomorrow and trying to sober up a bit.

Now it is time to bring this not so great day to an end and hope that tomorrow is better and that I don't damage anyone else's children...

Consider it done: 1, 10, 12, 15, 18, 22

Just getting started: 2, 3, 7, 16, 27, 32

Needs attention: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45

Just Another Hump Day Over Here

I really started this week on a good note...well I woke up in a pretty good mood Monday morning and from there it seems to have went down hill and continued that way. Monday morning my guy called me and was in some bad space. It was nothing directed at me, but I knew that there was stuff simmering around him and he was being pulled into the folds of it. The unfortunate thing is there is nothing I can do other than talk with him to help and what's worst is that he can't just pick up and move out of the way of the tidal wave that is rising around him. I didn't dwell on the situation when I was busy with other stuff, but during my down time I often wondered how things were going. And I really wondered when I missed his call at 3:10pm, because I was stuck in court for my Externship.

My Externship wasn't all that great this week. I didn't get to do anything other than follow other people around and observe. This is good, but not great. Then I thought I had my scheduled all jacked up for Tuesday and perfectly planned by 12:45pm Monday afternoon and by 3pm that same afternoon my Tuesday schedule was blown out of the water.

Tuesday I had hoped to observe a trial from 9am until 10:30am when I needed to duck out a little early to attend my financial aid exit interview at school for 11am. Then Monday afternoon I learned that the trial wouldn't get back under way until 10:30am. Just great! So after discussing it with my LSBFF I opted to bail on my Externship for Tuesday morning and went to my exit interview. From there I headed over to my ortho follow-up appointment. Of course I had that scheduled for 1:45pm and had scheduled my munchkin's flu shot appointment (located 35 minutes away) for 2:45pm. So I headed to my ortho early and actually was in and out 17 minutes before my scheduled appointment.

Before my doctor's appointment I was able to make my way to Biggby Coffee and pick up a yummy Double Dark (Sugar-Free, Fat-Free) Hot chocolate and after my appointment I even had enough time to swing over to Buddy's Pizza for my uber-yummy family-size Antipasto Salad with their delicious ranch dressing! Then off to get the munchkin from school with enough time to fill out the paperwork to drop off his "stomach pills" (a/k/a Pepto-Bismal chewable tablets). Then we went to his doctor's and upon his discovering he would be getting a shot everything became a mess. I remember lots of tears, yelling, screaming, some "I hate you Mommy...You lied to me." statements, a few slaps at my hands as if he could just swat me away like a fly. And all of this was pre-shot!

Some how I got suckered into getting him a prize for handling the situation so well. After the shot I even remarked to the doctor that "this" (carrying on) was the reason why we couldn't do this at Walgreen's! Everyone except the munchkin found this funny. After picking up his "prize" we headed home, but only for the munchkin to point out that at some point, on some road I had a rock take a chunk out of my new windshield. Damn!

After having to call my wonderful insurance agent and then the glass repair place, plus fixing dinner I was worn out. I think the emotional toll of finding out that the tidal wave did scoop up my guy in the mix even though he was okay as a result that day didn't help either. The munchkin told me to take a nap, because I was so sleepy. Or it was maybe because he wanted both the TV and the computer for himself! I laid down at 6:30pm with only a few interruptions from my munchkin and my ringing phone. At 8pm my munchkin joined me in my bed. We finally fell back asleep sometime after 10pm and before I knew it I was waking to Hump Day!

With all of these things going crazy, feeling exhausted, and feeling crabby as could be I have experienced some heavy handed emotional eating. I bitched at a lot of people. There was tons of eye rolling and a desire to scratch someone's eyeballs out. It all descended on me when I got in my car tonight to drive home and had an overwhelming desire to sit in my car, in the dark parking lot, in the big city and instead of driving home crying my eyes out. I didn't do this, but I really wanted to. So instead I called up the aunt and met her and the munchkin for a late dinner. More emotional eating...go figure!

I really haven't gotten much else accomplished this week so far and I keep thinking about my streak and whether I'm throwing it away by the hour. I'm hoping tomorrow I will be in some better mental space, out of the eating phase and I can get tons done in addition to working on keeping that streak alive...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28

Just getting started: 7, 9, 10, 29, 30

Needs attention: 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 22, 23, 24, 31, 32

Is My Two-Day Headache The Cause For My Lack Of Motivation?

I had scheduled yesterday off from work since I had my annual eye appointment to get my eyes dilated, which I don't handle well for some reason. I suspect this is because I'm prone to ocular migraines. Knowing this I also knew that I needed to get my other errands ran before my 10:45am appointment.

Once I completed my errands and finished my doctor's appointment I came home with a headache. All I really wanted to do was take a nap and had every intention of making this happen, but my plan didn't happen. Instead I pushed through my crazy eye situation and drafted my weekly journal entry for my externship after which I headed up to see my guy. The entire time I had a dull headache, which has bleed over to today.

Even though I got up at 8:40am this morning I feel like I've accomplished nothing. I meant to go to the post office before they closed this morning and I forgot. I had planned on doing my grocery shopping tonight after I took my aunt and uncle to dinner, where I begged for them to help me with the fees for taking the bar, but it was cold and rainy plus I still had my headache so I opted to come home. I've gotten a few things done tonight, but not a lot of things, which totally sucks...

I enter every weekend hoping to get so much done, but it doesn't seem to happen. I think maybe my constant running during the week just wears me out so much that I have no motivation to get stuff done Saturday and Sunday. Or maybe it is because I have so much to do it blocks me from getting motivated. Maybe I'm just hitting senior-itis. Regardless of the reasons why, I know is it has got to change. Of course I still have my headache tonight and now my stomach is feeling a little bubbly too. Go figure...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 20, 21, 22, 32

Just getting started: 8, 15, 18, 19, 25

Needs attention: 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

What a Frickin' Day!

I got up a little later than I wanted, especially on mornings I need to go to court for my Externship, but I balanced things out without washing my hair. It was all good, because I washed it yesterday morning plus it was pouring outside with a nice wind blowing things around. I got on the road earlier than lately and then it happened...traffic!

The expressway I take to get into downtown is the same whether I'm going to work, school or my Externship. For months now there has been a lane closed going over the great big bridge. So can someone explain to me why, even months later, there remains a traffic jam south of the lane closure every single day? Once you do that can you then explain to me why this morning traffic came to a crawl 6 miles before the lane closure? And even on a normal day that crawl begins between 3 and 5 miles before the lane closure. WHY?!?

I make it to the courthouse and today would be my first day using my new found...er...obtained badge. This allowed me to go through the "attorney" line without feeling like I was committing a crime or something. I was so excited! So when I finally got up there I asked the deputy if I needed to put my badge in a little bowl to go through the metal detector. She looked at me like I was crazy! She then told me to just put it in my bag. I wanted to ask her if she maybe wanted to see it. Apparently she didn't care and the line was backed up behind me, plus I was running a few minutes late so I just moved forward.

Of course ever since I purchased my two new bras I now trigger all metal detectors. I don't know why...maybe it is because they are better bras and the underwire is stronger. I don't know, but apparently this gives every single metal detector screener grief. They wand me and it never fails that the stupid thing goes off on my ankles not my bra, but the only thing different on me going through now is the bra. I can't explain this. Regardless if I'm going to see my guy or if I'm going into court I now set off the metal detectors. Crazy if you ask me!

I get upstairs and of course the two defense attorneys are running late, but I'm always so happy that the our client and the co-defendant are always there. On time! Such good boys! I was so excited to bring this trial to a conclusion today. I've enjoyed it, but there is no reason why this 1.5 day trial should be on week #3 and into day #3. We go through the morning, call our 3 witnesses and then it is Co-Defense Counsel's turn. Apparently he did have a stroke because the fool put his client on the stand!! This was such a bad move! Both us and he had everything we both need for our closing and to give reasonable doubt. After hearing that crazy testimony I don't think it bodes well. There is still reasonable doubt to be had, but placing a defendant on the stand can certain swing things against you.

Close to noon everyone rested and the prosecutor inquired about a stipulation. The attorney I'm shadowing wanted to inquire as to how the stipulation would be worded before she agreed to it. Apparently this upset the very easily-irritable judge, because instead of letting this get worked out, potentially over a lunch break, and coming back to give closing arguments he opts to dismiss the jury for the rest of the day and we can all show back up tomorrow at 9am. Are you kidding me??!!??

Even though I didn't want to I opted to head over to work to get some stuff done and more importantly to be able to return tomorrow. Finally at 7:30pm I left work...exhausted and irritated. I got tons done, but this current project I'm working on does not appear to have an end in sight. It is due by the end of the month...

Hopefully tomorrow will bring a conclusion to our trial and more importantly we will get a quick verdict and that would be a not guilty verdict!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36

Just getting started: 11, 13, 14, 15, 19, 30, 32, 37, 38

Needs attention: 8*, 12, 16, 17, 18

*~~I still mention this because I'm still pissed off from last Saturday. Just saying...

Bad Mood

Earlier today I declared that I was officially in a bad mood. This sank in right after I called my allergy doctor's office at 1:15pm to make sure they would have my munchkin's monthly script for Ritalin ready when I got there for my allergy shot. When the assistant on the other end advised me they were closing in 15 minutes I was dumbfounded! The conversation went something along these lines...

j'lynn: Excuse me?

assistant: We will be closed. We are closing at 1:30pm.

j'lynn: I'm sorry, I thought you were open until 2pm.

assistant: Usually we are, but we got permission to close early today.

j'lynn: Seriously? So I guess I'm not getting my shot today.

assistant: Unless you can get here in 5 minutes.

j'lynn: Well that is completely impossible I live in [the town north of you].

assistant: Um...we got permission to close early today.

j'lynn: Guess I won't be getting my weekly shot this week, huh?

assistant: I don't know what to tell you.

j'lynn: I think you already told me; I'm not getting my shot this week.

Hello?!? You are a frickin' doctor's office. You cannot just get permission to close early! Needless to say this started my irritation for the day.

Then my ex-sil texted me asking if I knew of anyone hiring for a part-time job. I told her of the two places I knew hiring...Burger King & a gas station. After several texts back and forth she advised me she wasn't desperate enough to lower herself to work at such places. Excuse me?!? I love the fact that she is telling me on one hand how she needs a job pronto and no longer thinks spending the next 2 years getting her nursing degree is worth it and she would just rather have a job now, but even though she has no work history and no education and no degree past her high school diploma (from 1995) she is too good to be a cashier or work in fast food and she wants a real job!! Seriously?!?

At this point I declared that people were just pissing me off and I needed to unplug for the day... The only bright spots of my day were Alabama beating Arkansas! (Sorry Blaez & Legally Fabulous!) Plus the fact that Ranger's wife was finally going to have their baby.

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29

Just getting started: 7, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21

Needs attention: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 23, 26, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38

"The Track"~Am I On It, Off It; Or Just Stumbling My Way Around

The last few weeks I've been struggling to get into the routine of my new schedule. My schedule is pretty crazy right now. The way it is suppose to work is:

Mondays:

8am-3pm @ My Externship (of course this is not going smoothly for various reasons)

4pm-5:50pm @ My MBE Class

6pm-7:50pm @ My SBM Essay Class

Tuesdays:

8am-12pm @ My Externship

12:30pm-6:30pm @ My Regular Job

7:30pm @ The Gym

Wednesdays:

8am-6:30pm @ My Regular Job

Thursdays:

8am-12:15pm @ My Regular Job

1pm-1:50pm @ My Externship Class (Yes, we still have class for it!)

2:45pm-6:30pm @ Back to My Regular Job

7:30pm @ The Gym

Fridays:

8am-4:30pm @ My Regular Job

By doing it this way it allows for me to fulfill all of my requirements. (1) I must work 32 hours a week at my job. (2) I must do a minimum of 8.5 hours a week at my Externship for 14 weeks in order to fulfill the requirement of getting between 120-180 hours there to receive credit. And since I don't like being at the bottom of the scale I definitely want to do a minimum of 150 hours.

But doing it this way makes for a really long week and I've yet to have a "calm, normal" week to execute all of these things. Just this past week I really started to get in the groove of this new schedule. I was able to make it to each "appointment" on my schedule and only had one goof up and that was forgetting to take my black binder to my Thursday class...or any paper for that matter. Good thing my LSBFF is in class with me and she was able to give me a couple sheets!

Last week was also the first week in a while that I've been able to attempt to get back on track with my healthy living goals. I'm talking like a real good faith attempt not just "thinking" about it. I actually did really well Tuesday, Wednesday and the majority of Thursday, but since I had to attend a 3rd Grade Parent Informational Meeting at the munchkin's school Thursday night that lasted much longer than anticipated I stumbled on that track and ended up with Taco Bell for dinner at 9pm instead of going to the gym or eating something at home. I also didn't make it to the gym Tuesday because it was the munchkin's first day of school and I really wanted to come home and bask in his excitement for a few hours!

Then Friday things got crazy at work and this led me and two of my co-workers to decide to go out for lunch and a lunch consisting of chips & salsa, a strawberry margarita, and a shrimp quesadilla isn't really conducive to a weight loss goal for the week. Normally this wouldn't have been really too bad, but I also apparently drank less than 24 ozs of water that whole day. Then Saturday rolls around with all its yummy church festival food and lack of any water for the whole day and then you start to feel like you haven't just stumbled on the track you've actually left the whole damn track in a cloud of dust!

I just didn't picture this semester's schedule being filled with so many necessary distractions, especially in the beginning, nor did I imagine that I would be having such a horrible time trying to adjust to it. Even though this week was still successful (Hello! A loss is a loss and I'll take it!!) I am longing for a week to follow the plan that I've set up for myself without any disruptions.

Today's Stats...

Starting weight (7/8/09): 363lbs

Current weight: 321.8lbs

This week's results: -.4lbs

Total weight lost: -41.2lbs

I'm hoping to be able to get through the entire week running on the track and not running away from the track in defeat.

It isn't going to be easy this week though...I have major coupons that are expiring Tuesday at one of my clothes stores and I really want to use them!! But since my LSBFF and I are attending a seminar at 5pm Wednesday night and then doing dinner after I had thought I would work an hour later on both Tuesday and Thursday to make up that time in order to get my 32 hours in, but then what happens to my coupons and equally important what happens to my plan to hit the gym those two nights. I guess we will have to wait and see how this all unfolds, but I'm trying to stay positive that I can get it all done and have a very successful week!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 25, 30

Just getting started: 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32

Needs attention: 4, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 24

Middle Of The Night Update

My plan of attack for this weekend was to get all my personal stuff done Saturday and do homework all day Sunday. I set the plan up this way, because of the schedule we had Saturday with pictures and the festival. I definitely thought this was a very doable plan. However I probably should have started on getting more of my personal stuff done before 10pm Saturday night. Opps!!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 25, 30

Just getting started: 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32

Needs attention: 4, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 24

From Cake-tastrophy To Security

So, I had this plan of blogging this weekend. I was going to devote one day to my Externship experiences this past week, another day to work experiences this past week, and a final day to life in general from this past week. I did not expect to have the day I've had today, which now takes precedent over all of those for tonight's post!

I got up this morning around 10:15am when my guy called. He has been sick for about a week now, but he definitely sounded better this morning than he did last night. After I hung up from him I called my friend "A" back as she had beeped in during our call. After chatting with her I called my aunt to see if she had my munchkin's shoes from last year that he never wore (the jerk gave us the wrong size and of course this wasn't discovered until we tried to break them out a couple months into school). I decided I was going to sell these to "A" because she needed shoes for her son, they were the perfect size, and I know she has like no money. Plus how much am I going to really get for them at a yard sale?!?

After that was all settled I called my other aunt to find out how old my uncle was going to be tomorrow. Of course my uncle answered the phone and he started talking and talking and talking! Almost an hour later I hung up, because my aunt was beeping in. Of course I had not learned how old my uncle was going to be during that hour, but I had deduced he was going to be 55! My aunt was calling to see if I wanted to have lunch with her & my munchkin. I was totally up for that, but I hadn't even showered yet and I needed to get my allergy shot and pick up a birthday cake for my uncle. I hoped in the shower as quick as possible, raced off to get my allergy shot and then went on to the bakery before meeting them for lunch.

At the bakery I ended up with a Cake-tastrophe!! There were no chocolate cakes! WTF?! How is that even possible? I was shocked! So I ended up having to piece things together to end up with what would satisfy what I wanted/needed. Of course this ends up with me buying a shit load of cakes! I ended up buying a carrot cake, which was way bigger than I wanted. Of course this didn't satisfy my two requirements~~chocolate & a "birthday" look. I had planned on getting cupcakes for the kids, so I settled on getting a pack of 6 cupcakes which were actually chocolate ho-ho cupcakes. Now for the birthday look, I went with what they call a "cake slice," which is like a quarter of a round cake all decorated...birthday like. I sure hope the family is up for a lot of cake tomorrow....

Then I met up with the munchkin & my aunt for lunch. We had a blast! Then I came home to get started on some of my things. When I was hauling in all of my cakes, my former neighbor and her husband pulled up. They were moving her niece out from next door. We chatted for a bit and then she went back over to continue to help everyone with moving the niece out. Since I hadn't accomplished much by then and the fact that even though "A" was suppose to come right over to pick up those shoes and over 2 hours had passed and she still hadn't shown up I decided to lay down for a nap. After three phone calls and a knock on my door, I decided to give up on my nap.

The knock was from my former neighbor, again, asking to borrow some cleaning supplies. In the next few hours things would become drama filled in the neighborhood. An hour and a half later my former neighbor showed back up at my door, shaking and crying. There were a series of text messages between her and her niece. They basically indicated that the niece was going to be contacting the police and show back up to the house (her & the boyfriend went to a birthday party earlier in the day for one of her two sons that she no longer has custody of) to force their way back into the home. My former neighbors waited for 2.5 hours, but no one showed up and according to the local Sheriff's Department no one had called. They decided to leave and within 15 minutes the niece & her boyfriend showed up at the house.

I phoned my former neighbor and park security. Back outside in the very cool temps security advised the niece & the boyfriend that if they enter the home now they will be arrested. There were lots of raised voices and finally within an hour everyone went their separate ways and I was able to close my door and lock it for good for the night. Too bad it was already close to midnight and I've accomplished very little. Good thing I have Monday on my side!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 5*, 6, 7

Just getting started: 3, 4**, 8, 15, 25, 28

Needs attention: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34

*~~I called, left a message and there was no return call. Guess I'll have to find my own way Tuesday morning by just showing up to a court and rolling the dice!

**~~I called, left a message and there was no return call. Do you see a pattern here?!?

There Is Always Something

So in the last 24 hours I have learned that my munchkin is not getting the teacher he wanted, because the teacher received a promotion and is no longer at his school. I had to tell the munchkin tonight and he was very upset over it. He was sort of cute, because he just keep saying with tears running down his face, "I've been waiting a year to have Mr. 3rd Grade Teacher. That is all I've ever wanted." I don't know where he gets his flair for the dramatic from!!

In other news I talked to my OB/GYN about my ultrasound from a couple weeks ago. It is not good news. He wants to go in, look at the cyst that has grown (from 3cmx4cm to now 5cmx6cm), and remove it. I'm totally not down with this. It scares the shit out of me!!! The cyst doesn't bother me. I don't have any pain, complications and don't even realize it is there, but he still wants to take it out.

On top of the idea of having a surgical procedure, it becomes a question of where in the heck to fit it into my schedule. I have to take the MPRE on 8/6, my externship & my last semester in law school starts on 8/23. My semester should end early December. Then I'm looking at PMBR & BarBri starting the end of December. Then taking the Bar the end of February. Where the heck am I suppose to fit in a surgical procedure????

Why is it always something? Why can't life just run smoothly?

Consider it done: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26

Just getting started: 3, 11, 22, 27, 28

Needs attention: 13, 15, 18

A Lost Saturday

Last night I knew I had to attend my Tax review, which was scheduled for 9am this morning. Do you think that got me to bed at a decent time? Um...that would be a negative! I still thought maybe if I went to bed at 2am, which seems to be my usual bedtime I would make it there with no problem. I thought I would even have time to run and get fill up and pick up a diet coke too! What was I thinking??

Needless to say, that didn't work out for me. I live approximately 40 miles from school so when I got in the car at 8:40am and started driving I thought maybe I should just attend tomorrow's afternoon session and should just turn around. Then I decided to just go for it...if I was too late I'd just punish myself with going tomorrow instead. Plus I had no desire to get dressed and go up to school tomorrow, so that was a huge motivating factor for me!

As I pull up to the school I see that our parking lot is locked. I park on the street and realize I'm only running about 15 mins late. Cool! I walk up to go inside and realize that everyone in class is sitting on the side steps listening to the lecture. Prof. Tax Guru didn't ensure that the school would be open so our review consisted of us sitting on cement steps, outside, for almost 2 hours. Are you frickin' kidding me?!? WTF?! I just busted my ass, drove like a crazy woman to sit on cement for almost 2 hours? Ugh...

After the review I headed back home, but upon stopping for gas I realized I didn't have my driver's license with me! WHAT?! Thank goodness I didn't get popped for doing 85 up the expressway on my way up! Believing my license was at home, I obeyed all of the traffic laws and came straight home. I look at the only other place my license would be (in the case I collect quarters for my Friday night visits) and it isn't there. Just great... I look in my wallet again and there it was stuck behind my health care card. So I did have it with me the whole time. Had I known that I would have stopped off and watched the munchkin at his Soccer Striker Clinic...

The rest of the day was not productive at all. I felt like I would start something and then without finishing I would move to something else. Needless to say I've accomplished very little today. Well except that little nap!

I've had a headache the past couple of days, so I decided to lay down around 3pm for a little nap, thinking I would be up in time to run to the meat market before it closed. Well, I thought wrong. I didn't wake up until close to 8...long past closing time for the meat market. Guess I'll be getting up and getting dressed tomorrow regardless since I have to go to the meat market...

For all intents and purposes though I consider today a lost day with not really accomplishing much other than sleeping and eating...

I did accomplish my weekly weigh-in this morning and I'm happy to report Today's stats:

Starting weight (7/8/09): 363lbs

Current weight: 318.6lbs

This week's results: -1.8lbs

Total weight lost: -44.4lbs

I am only 1lb away from here, the lowest I've been since starting this journey a little over a year ago. Now if I can get below that point I'm back on my way of actually losing weight versus what I've been doing for the last several months, which is playing around with the same damn 8lbs...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 16

Just getting started: 5, 9, 17, 18, 19,

Needs attention: 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22