Well, I am sitting in the lounge at Drury waiting for Patrick's class to end and thought I'd dash off a quick blog update. I've registered for all 7 of my classes for next semester and am now considering an 8th. I'm considering the 8th class because they may not offer it again and it's one I absolutely have to have to get my English degree. Not to worry two of my other classes aren't going to be that big of a deal. One is another practicum and the other is 4 Saturday meetings at 9 hours for the class (yes that's 8a.m. to 5 p.m.).  So it's only like having 5 classes really and I'm in 6 full on again this semester... I dunno... I need to find out if they are going to offer it again in the fall, because if they are that's when I need to take it. I really don't want to kill myself any worse than I already am this next semester. I'd planned to take something in the fall to fullfill that requirement and have been fighting with Drury about it. The fact that they went and offered this class when they weren't before agrivates me.. sigh... I'm so close to being done I can see light at the end of the tunnel... They screwed me a new one too.. had a meeting with the education/education advisor (NOT George), this was the guy who is in charge of education here in town. He told me that I absolutely cannot take the masters classes I need this summer and that I can only take them after graduation no matter what George says. Drury does allow students to take ONE masters level class upon approval before they have a bachelor's but they will NOT allow me to take those middle school curriculum classes prior to having my bachelor's in my hand. Needless to say I didn't take that news well. sigh. That adds an extra semester onto my school. They only offer those classes in the summer. So I'll be in school taking the master's classes for my certification after I graduate. So this coming summer I'm back to the original plan and doing a summer internship for my writing degree and writing a book for my senior research for both degrees. I guess I shouldn't complain, it was what I'd originally planned, it's just that I thought I was going to be able to get done sooner. Next year I'll have five classes in the fall and two (counting my student teaching) in the spring. I hope.  Cross your fingers and your toes that nothing else goes wrong. Please Goddess and thank you! This puts me not getting my certification in time to teach the following year but I didn't really expect to be able to walk right into a job out of college. I don't know too many people who have. Hell, my mom had to sub for a year before she got one. Subbing is the plan now. I'm going to spend that next year subbing and maybe taking the praxis for highschool so that I can be certified for both middle school and highschool. Patrick is impatient for me to get a job, but he's decided that he's going to take this extra time to work on another certification. Probably in social studies. It's fairly simple to get cross certified if you want to spend the time on it, so that's what he's planning to do until he can quit working and have the time to take the classes he needs to finish his biology degree. He's going to try to get his work schedule switched so that he can have mondays and tuesdays off instead of wednesdays and tuesdays off. All the biology classes he needs are being offered on monday nights. That won't be till the fall semester, but that's the plan right now.

Oh new news on Dayanera. She's switching from HeadStart to Laquey child development starting next week. Laquey school district is hiring her an aid that is just for her. She'll be going all day to Laquey mon-fri... it's going to be a big adjustment for her, but we think it was the right decision. She's not going to get to spend as much time with her Daddy as she is used to, she'll have to get to know new kids and new teachers... I think it's going to be rough at first. She's just started to make friends at Head Start and care about the people there which is a big thing for her. I'm sad about moving her, but Laquey offers way more resources than Head Start can. I'll keep you all updated on how it goes.

The Samhain party went ok, we didn't have as high attendance as we did last year but it was still nice. The girls from Practically Enchanted were there and donated some really nice stuff. I love my cauldron! Kerri did an absolutely wonderful, outstanding job on the decorations, and Amanda was invaluable when it came to the music. It was nice and we all had a good time. I appreciate all of the people who came, my friends are so wonderful. I dunno if I'm going to do it again next year, it's going to depend on if I can get any help and if I have to pay for everything again. My husband isn't too thrilled with the cost of that particular event. I appreciate Amanda and Kerri splitting the cost with me to rent the center. That really helped. Maybe next year we can do some fund raising or something to help cover the costs of the party.. we'll see.. am not making any promises, too many people say they'll help and then don't.

Well, I think I'll end this now. Hopefully Patrick's class will be getting out soon. I'm dying to go home and have some dinner. I want to snuggle up on the couch and vegetate. I have to spend tomorrow cleaning house and getting ready for Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a happy turkey day!

Blessings,

Natalie/Em