This, that, and the other thing.

More than a month has gone by since my last plea I posted. lol What the heck, man? Let's see if I can recall anything of importance that happened over the last couple months.

Did I mention that in October I thought the kids needed some extra time with their dad? They now go see him every other week (that part's the same) Wednesday night thru Sunday night. (That part changed.) I can tell they love to see him and it makes picking them up a WHOLE lot easier ... they had more time, so there's not as much crying about wanting to stay with daddy, etc. The hard part is the first 2 or 3 days once they get back home. I'm not sure what happens there, but I think anyone who has to do a custody schedule/swap will agree that somehow, there's something that throws their whole universe out of sync.

My youngest brother left for his mission on November 29th... enough time has already passed that he's passed through the MTC and whisked away to California! You never realize what a well oiled machine the church is when it comes to sending missionaries away until you've got a missionary in your family serving one. Daggum. We've been able to talk to him a couple times (pretty cool that he went to California and was able to call then and just 4 days later call for Christmas... lol) - he's in a very small town in Northern California, near the coast... My guess is that it must be something similar to a retirement community. He said the members there feed them almost every day - and for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, he had PRIME RIB AND FRESH CRAB LEGS! LOL What the fetch!? He sounds so grown up ... I wonder how long it took him to kick the sarcasm out of his tone? hahaha  .... I miss him, but I'm so happy he's on a mission. I really think he needed that. Quite honestly, I'm looking forward to using his time away as a sort of ground zero for my own life. HA!

Speaking of my life ... No, I'm not going to delve into details of October and November. Most of y'all know enough about that without me even having to say about that. But I will say this .... I'm still tossing a few coins in the air about what I want to go to school for... but considering pretty much EVERY degree requires math and english and some other crap as pre-reqs, that's where I'm starting. I finally gain NC residency back in March and I guess I'll get rolling into the summer semester for that. I've narrowed it down to a few options ...

Durham Tech has an Opticianry Program, and they allow students from all over the state to do Distance Learning. You do everything online and go to Durham once a month for a couple labs. Once you submit that you're either enrolled in a math and english course or have already taken and passed an english and math course, you're accepted. They start their programs in January and August. It takes 2 years,  you get an associates degree and then you take State Boards to get your Optician License.

Rad Tech - I've seen at least two programs in Charlotte. The school that my sister went to for nursing has a program for Rad Techs. I haven't done nearly as much research on that one... I know this would take me about 3 years or so to finish.. and I think the reason I didn't do as much checking in to this is because at the time I refused to think about 3 years in school. Now I'm open to it .. don't prefer it, but it's whatever. lol I think the salary would probably be higher for this field.

I also thought about a Paramedic program, but haven't even checked to see if that's a course available anywhere around here. Whatever I end up doing, I know it's going to take some time, I might as well accept it. I want to have something I can later say "I did that! I went to school and I found a way of life for me and my kids. I did that!"

I'm not in any hurry to date or get married again. At this age, there's really not a whole lot available for me. lol They're either too young or older... and ... just no. I have a lot of hesitations and quirks and I just want to deal with what I have right now.

Coming soon ... Christmas pictures, details and a year in review... lol Can you handle it!? haha... >:-)

The single mom.