New Widget

You'll notice an audio player in the upper right hand corner of my blog, displaying an album Circle of Twins. This is music composed by my brother. Give a listen and tell me what you think. I'll pass the comments along. Personally, I love his music, the way it draws you in and excites you. As per his directions, you may need to turn the bass up on your speakers for the full effect.

First Snowfall of the Year!

This almost looks like rain, but these are really big snowflakes. It
hasn't accumulated yet, but it sure looks pretty when you are inside,
looking out!

My brain hurts...

Hi, my name is Jen.... (Hi, Jen!) It's been 1 day since I had a Diet Coke...

I made the conscious decision to (yet again) give up Diet Coke (this after drinking NOTHING BUT Diet Coke all weekend... Yup, that person who just emptied a 12 pk in 2 days, yeah, that was me)... So far, Advil (and copious amounts of water) has been enough to stave off the dreaded "detox" headache... At least, it was until I decided to fill my head with syllabi and reading assignments and calendar organization...

I could say that it is all my instructor's fault (for one of my classes), as the syllabus for that class was not available yesterday as it should have been (it wasn't attached to the message, and didn't get corrected until today), and as such, I wasn't able to know, in full detail, what my assignment is this week, and when it is due... Well, lucky me! I have an assignment due TOMORROW that requires a lot of reading and actual thought into preparing for it... Crap...

Yeah, I could blame it on my instructor, but it's probably more likely that the Diet Coke monster that lives in my head to at fault.

So, I'm giving up for the night... I have to have the assignment done and to my instructor by 11:00 PM tomorrow, so I'll have a few hours after I get home from work to formulate my responses. I'm so glad that the other class' assignment isn't due until Wednesday, and I already have that one done (or pretty close to being done...) I did that one yesterday while I was waiting for the other information to be made available...

I don't know what I was thinking that this would be easy... What a day to give up Diet Coke...

Allergies Suck...

So, I had planned this weekend to do a thorough clean on my house, so that I can focus solely on my school work with minimal distractions until Aaron comes home on the first (and he can attend to the house chores). So I started clearing everything out of my bedroom (you have to start somewhere, right?).

First, my husband is disgusting... I keep threatening to make him clean up "his side of the bed" but he always finds some way to get out of cleaning... Like coming up with an activity we can do together (keeping me away from my own chores in the process) or going to fly with a student... (sigh)... Needless to say, that when we finally "finish" that room with furniture and paint, etc, we may need to replace the carpet.

Add in the dog, and my carpets were pretty stinky. I have some carpet powder that is designed to help lift pet hair and odors from the carpet, so I decided to use that to get rid of the weird smell... It worked fantastically! However, at about 10PM last night, I remembered why I stopped using it. I've been in full blown allergy attack mode since then... I didn't get much sleep, my face feel numb from blowing my nose so much, and I still have a lot of chores to do today. However, once in allergy attack mode, ANY smell (good or bad) will set me off... I can't drink coffee, I can't do laundry, I can't clean my shower, I can't wash my hair... unless I want to sneeze...

Mr. Man needs to come home so he can clean and I can take some allergy meds and check out for the day...

Happy Birthday!

♫ Happy Birthday to Me, ♫

♫ Happy Birthday to Quinn, ♫

♫ Happy Birthday to Damon, ♫

♫ Happy Birthday to us! ♫

(and Happy Birthday to anyone else who shares this day)

I must be insane...

...or a glutton for punishment...

In addition to my full time job, my duties with the Pilot Wives Club, and my enrollment in school to finish my bachelors' degree, I have also agreed to serve on the Board of my Condo Association again. I've been on the board for the last year, but it hasn't taken that much of my time... However, I've been "selected" to be the treasurer... I say "selected" because no one else is willing to do it. I'm not wanting to, but I'm willing to if no one else does...

So, I'm hoping that something doesn't fall through the cracks with all my new-found responsibilities... That would suck... I guess I'm just going to have to see how much time being the treasurer of our board takes, as well as how much time I need to devote to my classes. I'm not sure when I assume the duties of the treasurer, but I know I start my classes in one week.

I think I'm going to have to adopt a zen attitude for a while... and just breathe...

Zoom...

I've been working away this morning and just happened to look at my clock.. I have a half hour before Lunch... This morning has gone by too fast... I have so much left to do this morning, that I will not be getting to. Oh well...

Yay Me!

I have been accepted to college to finish my degree! Hoorah!

I start my online courses on the 26th! SWEET!!!

Gone Again...

Took the man to the airport again this morning for the rest of the month. I very much dislike early mornings... After I took him to the airport, I went back home for a "nap" until I ACTUALLY had to get up for work... During my nap, I was having a very strange dream... Not sure of the details at the moment, just that it was strange, and that I would recognize that each time I woke up to the snooze alarm, and then go right back into the same dream... Weird... I must have some unresolved issues or something...

This week was spent celebrating my birthday, which isn't until next Friday. We went out to dinner on Tuesday, and I got my birthday card from Aaron yesterday. I also know of one gift that is on it's way now, so I'm counting it in my "birthday week", even though it's not here right now.

Cryptic...

I don't want to jinx it, but I am in the process of doing something that will add to my current stress/work load, but it will be good, in the long run... Hopefully, it will all culminate in me starting this new thing the week after my birthday, which is a little over a week and a half away... If all goes well with it, I'll post what it actually is... until then, I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best...

Am I getting old...

...or is society getting worse?

I find it EXTREMELY difficult to listen to anything on the radio anymore... The lyrics for a lot of new songs are suggestive and vulgar and insulting to a lot of people (or maybe just me)... What ever happened to telling a story without swearing through the song? And I tell you, I am far from being a prude (or at least think I am). I don't think that anyone should be listening to what is played on the radio... It used to be that if you wanted a song with bad/suggestive lyrics, you had to go buy the CD with the black disclaimer sticker on it... If I have to hear that "I wanna take a ride on your disco stick" song one more time, I think I MAY just blow up my radio...

This doesn't take into account the other trash that is being played... Songs like Miley Cyrus' new song, where she looks like a tramp in the video... I cannot stand that song... I want to rip my ears off when it comes on the radio... Other songs like ANYTHING from Taylor Swift, can be left off the radio as well...

Another part of my radio rant is about what they play and when... It seems like EVERY station out there (in the same genre) plays the exact same songs in the exact same order, but at "slightly" different times... Case in point, I can be listening to our local "mix" station, and can hear that stupid song by Mariah Carey (you know the one..."why you so obsessed with me?..." at least 3 times a day... It seems it is on every morning as soon as I get in my car to go to work, when I get in my car to go to lunch and when I get in my car to go home... I find it hard to believe that in this day and age where everyone is a "clear channel radio" etc, that the local DJ's are playing anything by choice anymore... I'm sure that some big-wig at clear channel is picking canned playlists to be played by the local stations... I say this because I can listen to practically any other radio station online, and hear the same songs in the same order. I listen to one station via iTunes at my desk, and I can go upstairs to my boss's office, and the same song will play on her radio about an hour after I last heard it, and then I can go to the admin's office and hear the same song about an hour after that... We all listen to different radio stations via different methods... This shouldn't be happening...

The only way to avoid any of this is to listen to something with no lyrics... Solo Piano usually does it for me when I've gotten fed up with the other crap... It takes almost two weeks of non-stop listening to solo piano to determine that I've listened to the same song repeatedly...

The only other station I turn to when I'm tired of the crap on the radio now is to listen to a 90's alternative station... They still repeat songs at a pretty regular interval, but at least it's music that I like... Which is where my original question comes in... Have I just reached the age where I cannot assimilate the new cultural items into my psyche? Have I become the adult that thinks that all music that isn't what I was listening to when I "was your age" is not "music?" Probably...

I've also become tired with crap on TV... The dramas are OK, but the comedies are stupid, at best... It's gotten so that we watch the Science Channel (or the like), just to get some substance to our TV watching... At least, that way, I learn something new (like how to extract water from Elephant dung - sorry I know that now, because, ewwwww! but if I ever get stranded in Africa, I have one additional source of water), and don't just lose a half hour of my life (yeah, thanks "Cougartown"). But, even then, you take your chances... Everyone is going with reality TV now, where they have to bleep out every other word... What ever happened to the polite times where the worst you would hear is "shoot" or "darn"? I think I'm going to blame my bad language (cleaned up on here, because my relatives read my blog, and it's embarrassing to know your grandma just read you swearing on the internet) on the fact that society is screwed up, and if you don't swear like a sailor, then something is wrong with you...

I think I may have to just turn off my TV and radio for a while and just read a book or something... People in society are starting to piss me off...

The joy of the weekend...

...is easily shattered...

It's amazing how everyday stresses will pile on and pile on until you start a screaming match with your loved ones break...

So far, the only way to salvage this weekend, was to watch "Lonesome Dove" on DVD. Which is an excellent series, btw...

Aside from the peace that was brought on while we watched the struggles going on on-screen, I am worn out from all the other things that have gone on...

Tomorrow doesn't look like it is going to be that much better... I imagine that this week is going to be hell... It's the first full week of a new month, the first full week of a new quarter and our annual member & board meeting this week... It's a good thing that Aaron is coming with me to Anchorage for the later half of the week, or I wouldn't get to see him at all this trip, for all the extra time I need to put in to work to see that it all gets done, and gets done right...

I wish I had time to breathe... I guess that was this evening with "Lonesome Dove"...