HI all, well I'm still stressed... no way to avoid that.. lol... it's going to be like that till this semester is over, but I'm handling it better this week. I suppose it's just going to be a matter of managing my time better. Monday I paid my Grandma to come up so I could hide in my bedroom and get homework done. That helped tremendously. I didn't get it all done but I got alot done. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day or days in the week. I seem to be eating, sleeping, and breathing school these days. I thought it was rough last spring semester, but this one is worse. sigh. It's the online classes that are getting me. They are twice as much work as the seated ones. If I ever take anymore online classes they are going to be lit classes. I have one of those this semester and it isn't too bad. That dadgum philosophy class is a pain in the butt though.  Thank the Goddess for Dr. Lawson! His Hemingway class is my easiest. I read all the books for that class before the semester started so it would be easier for me, smartest thing I ever did. Wish I could have done the same for my other two lit classes. The books for those classes are anthologies so there's no way to know what the required reading is going to be. Fulmer's classes are driving me nuts. There's a ton of reading for his classes (I have two of them Educational Psych and Human Grown and Development) and a quizzes every other week. Then I have papers for both classes, a classroom observation, a game I have to design, and a lesson plan. None of it is hard work, there is just lots of it. My lit 2 class there are papers every other week, plus weekly reading, and then the online lit 1 class with tons of reading and posting analysis twice a week. I feel like it's a ton of work. There's light at the end of the tunnel though. I need 14 more classes to have both degrees and my certificate to teach. I'm going to do the same thing next semester, yea I'm nuts. If I survive this semester I can survive anything. Six more classes next semester and two in the summer, means I can do my student teaching in the spring of next year. My Grandma is paying for one of my summer classes and we are paying for the other one. I'm going to do my senior research and my internship (for my writing degree) this summer. If it wasn't for the writing degree I'd only need 12 more classes, but my Grandma desperately wants me to get it. I want it, but I want to be finished too.. sigh. I'm doing it more for her. Without her I wouldn't be able to earn any degree and she's done so much for me, I can do this for her. It's always been her biggest dream for me to become a writer, a dream I share, but don't see a steady paycheck in. Not to mention that writing is a bit like opening a vein and bleeding on the page. It's really hard to show people something you've bled over and have them reject it. Maybe someday I'll have enough guts to try to get something published, but these days I don't need the disappointment.

I have exciting news. I'm the new owner of Missouri Pagans. It's the other large group in Missouri. The old owner has been an atheist for a while and doesn't live in MO anymore. She was looking for a new owner so I contacted her. She gave it to me this week. I'm excited about it. I'd like to marry that group off to WOM and expand. Yea, I know, I have tons going on anyway and I'm trying to add something else. I probably won't do too much with it till summer. For one thing, I don't know what I want to do with it yet.

Speaking of WOM, we are having the luncheon this saturday at 11-11:30 at Ryans. We are going to be discussing the Samhain party. Kerry, my newest student, is all excited about it. She's doing the decorations and has tons of ideas. I hope everyone makes it out that is planning to attend. I'm going to go pay for the community center Friday. Amanda and Kerry have offered to help cover the cost, which I really appreciate. With three people covering it, that only makes it 25$ a piece. I just hope that we have a good turn out with the date moved back like it was. I still haven't found Roy so I'm starting to get nervous about having a DJ. He usually pops up when you need him most, but he sure does cut it close. He came by the house a couple of weeks ago while I was at class but Grandma didn't get a phone number or anything for him. I hope he tries again. sigh. Or I'm gonna have problems.

Other good news. Amanda/family, me/my family, and Kerry (I think) are going to the ren fair this weekend. I'm really looking forward to that. We are leaving Sunday and going to the festival Monday. We saved enough money out of our student loans to go and actually have a little spending money. I've got to get my homework done before I go though or I'm going to be hurting Monday night. I'm going to work on it tomorrow, I can't do it today because we are cleaning house today. As soon as I get done doing this and taking care of WOM on myspace, I've got to get on the house. My friend Lisa J. is coming over tonight with her new boyfriend to play cards and I really don't want her seeing the house look this bad. LOL.

On that note, I need to go.

Blessings,

Natalie/Em