Chocolate High

You might or might not know that I gave up chocolate for Lent. Since the Season is over now, I'm devouring anything that remotely resembles, smells or looks like this wonderful delight. I sure am glad that research says a small bit of dark chocolate is good for your health.

Bad thing is I think I gained back those 10 pounds already... That stinks.

Another Speed Bump in My Education - I Think...

OK, so I have good news, some better news, and some frustratingly bad news about the whole nursing school thing...

GOOD NEWS - I got accepted into the Lanier Tech Practical Nursing program, and if everything goes according to plan, I should start this summer quarter. It's a good thing in that classes are Monday and Tuesday nights and Clinicals are Saturday from 7AM to 7PM.

BETTER NEWS - I got approved for a HOPE Grant, so my tuition is covered, and I get an extra $100 per quarter to cover my books. Down side to that is that some of the nursing books can cost upwards of $200 EACH! Guess I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, huh?

BAD NEWS - My advisor and the Dirctor of Admissions are both on Jury Duty this week, and I can't get an answer from anybody about the really frustratingly bad news (see below).

FRUSTRATINGLY BAD NEWS - I have been told that credits that are more than 2 years old will not be accepted, and those classes will have to be retaken. This means that unless I can get a waver, then I'm going to have to RETAKE ENG 101, MAT 101, PSY 101, and AHS 101. Yes, it's been more than 2 years since I took these classes, but looking back at my transcript, it really pisses my off that I made an A, a B, an A, and a B, respectfully, in each one of those classes (side note: AHS stands for Allied Health Science). Please keep fingers and toes crossed and hope that I don't have to take these stupid classes again.

A Day at the Aquarium

Today, we took Mother to the Georgia Aquarium . My original plan was to be out and about this morning by 10AM so that we wouldn't be rushed and stuck in Atlanta rush-hour traffic going home. Well, even the best laid plans get FUBARed. I got logged onto the GA website around 8:45, and there were plenty of tickets available for the 10AM, 11AM and noon slots. By the time Mother got her act into gear, the next available tickets were for the 2PM time slot. Great, just what I wanted to do - take 2 tired girls into a packed, noisy environment.

Anyway, we got to the GA a little before 2PM, and everything went fine getting through the line. Since it's Spring Break, the place was packed to the rafters! Emmy had to go to the potty as soon as we made it into the atrium, so we went. Unfortunately, so did everybody else in the fricken place. We eventually made it in - me with Jilly, Mother with Emmy. Quite funny, let me tell you what.

We made our way through, and I noticed that the doors were open to the Grand Ballroom. I was not going to miss this, so we went in, and it was wonderful! I guess somebody finally got it through their thick skull that it would be a good idea to have the ballroom open for more seating during normal hours. It was quiet, and the views into the whale shark and beluga tanks were fantastic. Even though there were other people there, it wasn't elbow to elbow, and the girls had great views of the many schools of fish. Thankfully, Jilly finally fell asleep (hooray for quiet!).

We wandered through several of the exhibits for the next hour or so, and it was funny to watch Mother with Emily - the elder generation trying to point things out and tell a story or relate a point, and the younger generation flying by with only the slightest glance at an object. I guess that's probably commentary on today's society, in general.

Anyway, we made it through almost the entire GA, when Emily hit the wall and her tantrum button flipped into the "ON" position. Needless to say, we didn't make it through the tunnel and to the Big Tank. I really wanted to go so that Mother could see Jilly's reaction to the fish going everywhere. Oh, well... I guess we'll save that for another trip.

"I Do Myself" - Part Two

For Christmas, Mother gave me something called a Shark. It's like a DustBuster, but a million times better. Anyway, I had it out this morning and Jilly started shrieking. I thought it was because she didn't like the noise. Nope. She wanted to clean the floor.

I guess she got my Meme's cleaning gene.

Your Source for Silly

My wonderful brother-in-law has a blog that is hysterical. He illustrates "The Adventures of Super Viagra", and it's quite entertaining.

That's my two cents.

"I Told You So!" and "I Do It Myself"

As the mother of two wonderful girls, I marvel at their abilities. Every time I turn around, one or both of them is doing something that either sends my blood pressure through the roof or dissolves me to a puddle on the floor. Here are examples of both instances that happened within about 10 minutes of each other.

Dee Dee, my Mother, is coming into town this evening for a visit. If you know Mother, then you know that she usually spend more time cleaning my house when she is here than she does actually enjoying her time with her granddaughters. Anyway, I'm picking up the books in Emily's room, and the next thing I heard was the patter of little bare feet in the kitchen. I step out of Emily's room and immediately fly into panic mode as I see that the gate to the stairs is wide-the-F&$# OPEN!!!!! In the .00000001 seconds it took me to get down the 15 steps, Jillian comes around the corner of the dining room with the "I'm so proud or myself" look on her face. The little monkey had gone down the steps BY HERSELF!!!!! I remember the first time that Emily went down the stairs by herself - Adam at the bottom of the stairs, and me about a step behind. After I got over the shock, I was in a puddle on the floor. My baby isn't a baby anymore.

On the other hand, there is Emily. She's too smart for her own good sometimes, but other times, I don't think she has a lick of sense in her head. For lunch today, she went into the garage to get a diet orange soda out of Adam's "beer fridge". She brought me the can and told me that "Daddy lets me drink it with a straw all by myself". OK, I thought, maybe she's big enough to not make a mess. She took it to the table with the requisite "Mommy's upon pain of death" speech. No sooner did I turn my back when I hear "Mommy, I need a towel". I think my BP shot up about 50 points.

I gave up alcohol and chocolate for Lent this year. Damned if I'll give up either of them again! I'll be glad when Sunday gets here. After today, I really need a drink.

Rocky Top?

When I was growing up, the big question was "Alabama or Auburn?". Since I started my existence on this glorious planet on the Left Coast, I threw folks by responding "UCLA". As I got older and understood what the Alabama - Auburn rivalry meant, I became aware that there was also the Alabama - Tennessee rivalry. Last night I shocked myself.

I was channel surfing during a commercial - as I always do - and remembered that the NCAA Women's Semi-finals were being broadcast on ESPN. I flipped over, and discovered that the UNC - Tennessee game has just started. I decided I was going to watch, just because I have this thing about dynasties in sports that interest me. Case in point - Coach Pat Summitt (www.coachsummitt.com).

One of the ESPN commentators made the remark that Pat Summitt would most probably reach 1000 wins before she reaches 200 losses. I checked her website, and after last night's win versus UNC, she now has a record of 913 wins and 177 losses - that's 83.8 %! This does not include her international W-L record (63-4). Add this in, and she's 976-181. Amazing when you consider the winningest coach in NCAA history was UNC's men's basketball coach Dean Smith (879-254 when he retired in 1997). Damn, it makes me proud to be a woman!!!

Anyway, I watched the game as silently as I could, so not to wake my slumbering spouse, realizing that every tick of the clock was another milestone in Coach Summitt's history making career. When the final buzzer sounded, I found myself doing something my Alabama friends would find insulting... I was singing "Rocky Top".

As I patiently await the women's National Championship game on Tueasday night (CBS @ 8:30 PM EST), I'll remember it's OK to root for Tennessee against Rutgers. It would be nice to see Pat Summitt raise Championship Banner #7.

Until August, that is. My blood does run Crimson and White, ya' know.