It was bound to happen.
You know, the pressure of school.
It got to me. In a very big way. (As in, on the first day of my second summer class, an online class, I completely lost it. Lost control over emotions and such and ended up on a terrific crying jag. One worthy of Scarlett O’Hara, no doubt.)
So. I backed out of my second summer class.
And oh my goodness, did it feel good to QUIT!
Now, instead of a three week summer break, I get a seven week summer break.
Which is WAY more than fabulous.

I have two more weeks of my Anatomy and Physiology class, and as of July 1st, I will be FREE!
For SEVEN weeks!

What, oh just WHAT, am I going to do with myself?
Umyeah. I plan on spending a lot of time with my Simon, my Helene, and my Cici. Also, I am going to do some sewing, quilting, and crocheting. Oh. And I fully plan on going on some sort of vacation. Probably involving camping with my family. And I’m gonna RELAX and enjoy not having to do homework or study for ANYTHING. It’s basically going to be amazing.

In other news… (Cici News!)
Cici decided to show us what a tough chick she is and thought it a great plan to bring the evidence of her toughness right onto our back porch. A dead freaking mouse, people. Dead. Mouse.
Ummm. YUCK.
However. I was oddly impressed. Weird, I know.

Cici is now twelve weeks old and still my gorgeous Rhodesian Lady.

She basically has the cutest dog face EVER.

And did I mention that between 8 weeks and 11 weeks of age, Cici managed to DOUBLE her weight?
Umyeah. She went from ten to twenty pounds in THREE friggin’ weeks.

We are having fun with our Cici, however I have found that puppy teeth are truly taxing on my patience. She has started going on some short jogs with Tyson and she loves it… (The running part, that is. She’s not all that hip on just walking.) And we love it because a short jog makes for a tired puppy. And, it turns out, a tired puppy is a really good puppy.

Oh! And much to our surprise (not a good surprise, either), we have discovered that Cici is something of an escape artist. She has figured out a way to get out of the backyard and into the front yard. Yeah. It’s no good. Luckily, she shows zero interest in actually leaving our property, she just seems to want more area to explore. I don’t like it though and we are actively trying to make sure that she stops doing it by constantly checking on her while she’s in the backyard unattended. She isn’t getting out as much anymore and I think it’s because she’s getting too big for her preferred escape method. (She squeezes through some of the slats in our fence. These aren’t wide slats, either. I would never have thought that she could squeeze through… even when she was ten pounds. Just goes to show what I know about Cici’s determination.)

My kids are totally into summer vacation now and are, I think, a bit bored. We’re doing swimming lessons and they are looking forward to the end of Mom and Dad’s summer school. Because THAT’S when we get to go camping! Anyways. Enjoy the rest of the pictures. I’ve got to go. I have a feeling Cici is getting ready to do her disappearing act. (she’s been in the back for twenty minutes unattended…)

Happy Father’s Day!

A backyard sunset

Helene doing her Helene thing and Simon doing his Simon thing. Love it.

My baby girl has graduated.
From Kindergarten.

And to think that it was just last year that she graduated from preschool…
Of course, she was the most smartest, most gorgeous kindergartner there ever was and we are just so proud that she made it through the rigors of Kindergarten! ~sigh~
No, seriously, enough of my sortof-sarcasm… She kicked Kindergarten’s butt and is an amazing reader and really super great at math. I wish you all could have been at her graduation because her class did a dance and she was, of course, the star of the show. You had to be there to see it…. and even though I am a VERY proud parent, I am NOT exaggerating about my little diva performer. I honestly don’t know what to do about her sometimes. There is just ZERO stage-fright inside of her. I mean, there is just NONE!

In other news….

We made the big, huge, gigantic leap and added a cute little puppy to our family. On Sunday, May 23rd, we met her at the airport after her long flight from Texas. She was just as scared and nervous as you would think an eight week old puppy would be, but she soon found that we loved her already and wanted to make her feel safe and happy.

We named her Cici and after just a few days of being with us she is in full puppy mode and loving her new family and environment. She is a Rhodesian Ridgeback, was born on March 24th, 2010, and is just everything that we were looking for.

She wants to play with everything that she isn’t supposed to… Like my slippers, Tyson’s shoelaces, my clothes, her leash… I think you get the general idea. Most of playtime is spent redirecting her to play with “Cici’s toys”. (Aka: anything that apparently doesn’t interest her.) She is getting the idea though… I just think she is a sassy little thing that likes messing with us.
She has been amazing with housebreaking. Basically, we’ve had only one accident and that happened on the very first night she was here. She got the idea of the leash really fast and is already responding to “heel” and “come”. Obviously, she doesn’t always respond to those commands, but pretty much, she has me sold on the idea that she is just the smartest dog on the planet.

Yes, we are having a lot of fun with Cici, so expect more Cici posts and Cici pictures!
I am really busy with my summer Anatomy and Physiology class and already cannot wait for the end of July… because that is when my Summer officially begins! I get a whole THREE WEEK break before the fall semester starts and it already doesn’t seem like enough of a break for me.

I’m off to study now…. That is unless Cici makes me go play with her again!

… And the worst semester is over.
~sigh of freaking relief that should be heard round the world~

I did it, too…. I mean, I got all the A’s that I wanted/needed.
A true miracle, if you ask me.
I went into my Calculus final with an 87% in the class. That meant that I had to get a 95% on the final in order to get an A (an 89.9999%) in the class. Well, I guess I pulled it off and I was nothing more than shocked and relieved when I saw the A posted on my online grade sheet. What a freaking nightmare. I do feel like I understood the class though, and I hope that I truly did because in the Fall I am taking Calculus II and I am totally intimidated by it already.

Moving on…
My kids are getting bigger, bossier, funnier, and talk-ier by the day and I still can’t believe that they are both in school from 7:45am til 2:45pm. This is just insane to my old stay-at-home-mom mentality. Don’t get me wrong, I love it… and they love it. It’s just that it came quicker than I thought it would. But, that’s what I get for having them within twenty months of each other and then not having anymore after the fact. If I do say so myself, they’ve certainly morphed from adorable babies/toddlers to super cute kids.

They have two weeks left of school and I am still trying to figure out what to do with them over the summer. I know we are getting them a dog…. at this point it’s just a matter of when. We are looking to get a Rhodesian Ridgeback and are finding it difficult to find any that are close by. I’m hoping that the addition of a new dog will keep them busy because I sure as hell know that it will keep Tyson and I busy! I guess I should clarify and say that we are getting them a puppy. And from what I can tell, babies are easier to deal with than puppies. Wish me luck….

I’ve already started summer school and I’m taking Anatomy and Physiology I. I figure that I am utterly insane to take a class like this over eight weeks, but desperation makes people do insane things. Long story short, I am looking at eight weeks of of a two hour class four days a week and six hours of study time every day of the week. Love it. Again, wish me luck…..

Remember how I said that I was doing some interesting things to get more energy into my life? Well, about six weeks ago I went full vegetarian and am trying to go completely vegan. Most days I adhere to the vegan lifestyle, but sometimes it gets hard because eggs are EVERYWHERE and cheese is just really freaking good. I’m also trying to cut out refined sugar… Again, a very tough thing to do as it is quite literally in almost EVERYTHING. (including swedish fish, which I am totally obsesssed with.) Has this change worked?

YES!

On more days than before, I am feeling better, more energized. I’m no longer dozing in classes, which is HUGE. I still have days where I feel worn out, but certainly not as much as before. Other things in my body seem to be working better as well, and I feel like I look better. Gone are the dark circles under my eyes. Gone is the perpetual tired look. I’m also not breaking out near as much or near as bad as I used to… and it’s only been six weeks!

Me, after I dyed my hair much lighter (okay… blonde) and with very, very little makeup on. In fact, I think I only have a tiny bit of powder-foundation on in this photo. A month ago, I would have NEVER posted a picture like this.

I do have some way to go, however, because I do want to be full vegan. I am learning how to cook that way and shop that way, so very soon, I think, will I be where I want to be. I do fully expect that I will cheat on the cheese front every now and again because, whoa! I just love cheese sooooo much. But I’ve gotta say that I don’t miss the meat at all. I also don’t miss most of the dairy products out there. I’m not missing eggs so much because you can buy egg replacer… but when you buy things pre-made from the store it is hard to get things that don’t have egg in them. As far as refined sugar is concerned, that is going to be an on-going process and I think I’ll get there over time. A lot of time. I mean, refined sugar is in MOST things nowadays. I’m also trying to shun white flour totally. It’s not so bad, but I do get a white bread craving that is annoying.

Anyway, I hate to bore you with my new eating regime, but it is working for me so I thought that a little bit of this kind of talk wouldn’t hurt anybody.

So… life for me is still busy, I’m going to be starting up Project: Nello Runs here in a few weeks and I am excited. I think I’ve given my RSD relapse enough time to completely go away and am eager to see if another go at the running thing will bring on another one. If it does, then I guess I’ll have to stick to walking… boring old walking… but I’ll find something to do if it kills me!

Time for bed.
I’ve got a day tomorrow!

ps… loving this song:

… is almost over.
Thank HEAVEN.

Basically, I’ve hated almost every stinking minute of this semester.
I started off the semester on the completely wrong foot, and never quite recovered.

I would say that due to all the stress surrounding my health at the beginning of the semester, coupled with my complete lack of motivation from day one, was the reason for my downfall. I bet, however, that I could have rallied after I found out that my optic nerves were back to normal, had it not been for the complete and TOTAL relapse of my RSD. After that lovely incident, my fate was sealed.

I’ve spent the ENTIRE semester in catch-up mode and also fighting to scrape a low A in each and every one of my stupid classes… even my beloved Spanish. Why? Absences. And, also? It’s real hard to study and do homework when you are either in pain (foot or head, take your pick) or are fighting to stay awake. The only reason that this semester was soooo much harder than the last was because of that. I have a lot of hard classes, but it shouldn’t have been as tough this semester as it has been.

I’ve probably told you before, but I’ll tell you again. I’m taking Cell Biology, General Chemistry II, Calculus I, and Spanish IV. I took my biology final this morning and I’m afraid that it didn’t go well at. all. I’m thinking I’ll be lucky to have gotten a high C. Realistically, I am pretty sure I got a 70%. I think I’ll be able to scrape the elusive A in the class…. but that all depends on how badly I did on the final. My other three finals are next week and I’ll be completely finished by next Wednesday. I. Cannot. WAIT. I’m pretty sure I’ll get the A’s in Chemistry and Spanish, but Calculus is a big question. I’ve been fighting all semester to get an A in that class all because I got a 70% on the very first test. I find out tonight what I got on the last chapter exam, and if I got an A on it, I will go into the final with an A. If not…. well, it’s going to be a rough go and it may not even be possible to get the A. (Seriously going crazy about that right now, so I’m not going to talk about it anymore thankyouverymuch.)

Why, why WHY am I am sooo hung up on getting A’s?
Believe it or not, it’s not because I am OCD. It’s because I want to get into pharmacy school on my FIRST attempt. And it’s tough to get into pharmacy school. So a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. And this semester? Well. It. has. completely. reeked.

I get a whole THREE day break before I start summer school.
Yes. I realize that I’m crazy.
But you have to realize that I’m desperate. And aging.
The sooner I get into pharmacy school the sooner those four years will pass by.
I’m thinking that I’ll be about 38 or 39 by the time I’ll be able to call myself of pharmacist.
Now you see my desperation, not to mention the fact that I’m aging fast.
Umyeah. I try not to think about it.

Moving on…
I had better get a nap in before I have to go to Calculus class tonight seeing how I only got about 2 hours sleep last night due to my last minute push to study for the disasterous biology final that I had this morning.
I promise that I’ll be back blogging very soon.
With pictures.
And some very funny stories about what I am doing to get some energy into my body.

Stay tuned.

I went to the Doctor yesterday afternoon and….
My optic nerves are finally BACK TO NORMAL!

YAY! YAY! YAY!

I didn’t see that one coming. Not.At.All.
Because I still see all the nasty haze in my vision.
Yep. All of it.
And the Doctor has zero clue if it will go away.
He says that it “might” but that it “might” be “a while”…
Or… the damage “might” be permanent.

And.
This also means that the EVIL medication actually worked.
EW.
I HATE the EVIL medication. And I was really, really looking forward to flushing the remainder of the bottle straight down to Hades… but, alas, that is not going to happen.
However, I do get to “taper down a bit”. Apparently this means that I get to take a little less of the EVIL than I have been and see how I do over the next three months. Hmmm….

Whatever. I’ll take it.
And I guess I’ll take the diagnosis of Pseudotumor and wear it proudly, even though it totally sounds fake.
Because. The medication worked! (Holy CRAP! Something worked on me!) I am NOT going to go slowly blind! I am ELATED. And I only care a little bit if the vision damage is permanent. Just as long and the damage has STOPPED. Just as long as the headaches have stopped and the balance issues have stopped. I’ll take the haze and the weird sounding diagnosis…. As long as it really is over. As long as I really don’t have to worry about this anymore.

Because.
Didn’t you know?
I am SO DONE with ALL the health stuff.
And today was SO great to be able to check one off of the list.

Now…. If only this relapse of RSD would just go away I would be…..
Well, I would be just this side of “normal”…
Which would be NEW.

**I am so happy to have normal optic nerves again!**
YAY for treatable Pseudotumor!

So… I’m gonna have to repeat week three of Project: Nello Runs because RSD has for sure found this latest after-school TV special to be very, very interesting. (AKA: RSD, my RSD, has relapsed. I’m still not sure why it has relapsed, but I am fairly sure that it has. I’m not sure to what degree and for how long, either.)

Fun for me.
Yeah, right.

I’m hoping that this will, obviously, be NOT long.
Because, guess what?
IT HURTS!
It’s like, all of the sudden the ground got, like, ten THOUSAND times harder, on ONE of my feet. (The right one, if you were wondering.) So, putting pressure on my right foot, like, really sucks. It hurts a lot. And, I really try not to do it. But, that makes walking and standing really awkward and difficult.

Enough of the depressing RSD talk.

Umm… so, remember when I posted those videos of Drunk-Girl the other day?
Well, SNL, I believe, has found a somewhat replacement for her….
Meet SNL’s version of “Jersey Shore’s”, “Snookie”. (I, out of good conscious, cannot bring myself to link to either of those things, because, WHOA. The show is just WOW and the other is also just HOLY MOLY.)

Here you go. A present from me (and by “me” I mean SNL) to you:

Anyway. Hope you enjoyed that.
I know I did.

I’ll let you know when I get to start week 3 again….
And when the BURN stops…
And when the relapse goes away…