Getting in the Groove

So, I have been a little delinquent in my blog posting as of late. There are several reasons why, but the primary reason is, my computer at home died- the virus infected little bugger just was beyond repair. The tech said it would just be more cost efficient to get another one. So, that I shall. I have to wait until about next week when I have some money- the savings account is just off limits for...well anything. Since my computer has been on the fritz, I have had to use my time at available computers completing this first week of classes homework. I have found that my Law, Procedures, and Individual Rights course will be an excellent prep for when I take Criminal Law in Law School. I also might have found a new passion in my Computer Crimes course. It's been kind of a challenge to find the right balance between work, school, and home; but I am working hard on it.

I have also been searching for work in Atlanta, so that I can make our relocation jump. This is not an easy task, and I figure the earlier I start the better, and maybe I will get a bite in this HORRIBLE economy. Many places have implemented hiring freezes, so I figure I need to spend a little bit of each day searching for a job, until I find one. I have also been researching options that would allow me to have a somewhat flexible schedule- freelancing of some sort or my new genius idea (and I use that term loosely) Private Investigation work, so that I can attend Law School and not have to punch a 9-5 in the day time, creating a day where I would have to be away from the house from 9am-9pm. There's just a lot on my plate right now, and if the year goes as fast as 2008 did, I am in trouble.

And my mother is coming next month, to stay for a month, so I have to get my house in decent order before she comes with her white glove tests, she always seems to comment on how my base boards are not clean enough.

So, it sounds to me like I better sign off, and get started...

Resolutions

I really don't believe in resolutions because anything that you should do in the upcoming new year, most likely should have been started several months ago.

But there are always goals/resolutions that I would like to accomplish, regardless of the time of year, so here goes...

1. Secure my letters of recommendations for law school applications
2. Continue to search for a job in Atlanta, so we can move
3. Successfully complete my semester in grad school
4. Pay off debts with tax return
5. Continue to lose weight (15 lbs.)
6. Work out more diligently - what a shocker there
7. Be more stern when it comes to the Monkey and his sleeping habits, get him to sleep in his own room ( I definitely don't want to be making this resolution every year until he's 12)
8. Communicate more effectively with my husband and mother
9. Get the monkey involved in a play group- mommy and me class
10. Be a lot more grateful for what I do have, and a lot less resentful for what I don't

Blogosphere, welcome to 2009!!

Well, the holiday season is officially over and wow did it go by fast. The Monkey and I had a great time with my parents. He got an entire toy store that is being shipped back to our house. Most of it he didn't appreciate right now- the boxes and paper were his absolute favorites. But he will grow into most of his new toys and hopefully mom and dad won't be stir crazy by that point because absolutely EVERYTHING he has plays some ridiculous jingle...but it's for the Monkey, so we will have to endure. The amazing thing is the Monkey slept sooo well while we were gone. He even slept alone for a few nights. It was truly remarkable. I thought wow, all I need to do is live with my parents to get my son to sleep by himself...NOT, we'll have to come up with something else. But as soon as we got back, he went back to his old habits and cried bloody murder, every time I left the room. Oh well, that's one of my resolutions for the year, so we will work on it.

My mom and I surprisingly had a wonderful time together. No fighting or bickering at all, which is a milestone for us. My dad was great and really has taken well to the whole grandfather bit. (My mom too!) She bought all these shirts that say "when mom says no... call 1-800-Grandma!"

My husband was happy to see us return although his work load has kept him pretty busy in this new year.

And I am back at work and trying to get back in the groove and adjust myself back to east coast time.

Classes start today. I got all my books yesterday and I am ready to start a productive semester as a graduate student. *I did see a misguided student in the bookstore yesterday get arrested for trying to steal 10 textbooks and a book bag from the bookstore- not a good way to start the semester or the year.*

All in all, I feel good about this year coming up. I have big plans and I hope things just get a bit smoother and less stressful than 2008 ended up being. Now if I could only get my period... I would be perfect. Always been irregular, so I'm not all that concerned-but the hubby and I were a little reckless last month and there's always the chance. Hell, the monkey is a prime example of a true SURPRISE! Afraid to take a pee test, because that's just not the shocking confirmation of reality that I am seeking this week- at all. Talk about no stress...maybe next year.

Hoilday Travels

Well, tomorrow I'm off to my parents in Vegas for a week with the monkey. My husband won't be going with us because he wants to stay with his mother, nephews and niece for their first Christmas in Florida. However, that means that he will miss his son's first Christmas. I'm not upset really, Monkey doesn't really understand it anyway. Besides I have NEVER spent a holiday away from my parents- and they don't get to see my son very often so we did the math and it was more economical for me to travel there on frequent flier miles versus my parents buying two tickets to come here, which is always expensive due to our small airport.

I don't know if I told you this but my mother and I have a very contentious relationship. She is very opinionated and likes to be extremely involved in my life. I am an only child, so all of her interests, care and worries are rolled into me- and it can make for a very stressful situation. Especially since I am VERY independent almost to a fault and HATE to ask for help with anything. I like to do it on my own if at all possible. My mother on the other hand tends to treat me like I'm still in high school- in need of a curfew and an allowance (she asks all the time how much money we are spending and what we spend it on, etc.), which has the tendency to drive me NUTS. My father is the complete opposite and just lets me handle my own things without any grief or interference. He just likes to know I'm alive and well and really doesn't care about the particulars, he definitely doesn't want to argue about them.

My parents haven't seen my son since August, so they should be happy to see how much he's grown. I am a little disappointed that my husband won't be there, but it's just a week and he's not really big on holidays anyways. He's not a scrooge, but he doesn't treat it like it's a massive extravaganza either.

So, I'm going to visit and hopefully a yelling match will not breakout. She says that she has a surprise for me/something to tell me for when I get there. It's probably going to be a membership to Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig because she is a total weight Nazi- and thinks I have been over weight for too long since the baby. I do have an extra 20lbs. to lose, but her pestering me about it everyday is not working. "How's your weight coming?" are words I've grown to despise.

I probably won't be blogging much during my visit- and will start fresh upon my return.
Happy Holidays- and a Joyous New Year.

SALAD, glorious SALAD

That last post I made me want to comment on something else. I don't know if I have mentioned this, but I am in LOVE with salad. I mean I like salad more than any other food. I eat a salad a day, if not more. If I ate chips or cake as much as I ate salad I would definitely be a prime candidate for gastric bypass surgery. It's often my snack, my lunch and my dinner. Now, I do like to indulge my salads with all types of fixings, which don't always make them very healthy, but oh, are they good. I have had a salad from most restaurants around- and I can honestly call myself a salad directory- I can tell you what salads are offered where and who makes what the best, but I love to make them at home-Like my Greek salads:

I start with a large mound of romaine lettuce, cut very finely...I hate large chucks of lettuce that won't fit into your mouth. Then I add fresh feta cheese and cherry tomatoes, red onions slices, and rings of yellow, and red bell peppers. I don't like olives, so those are omitted, but I do like a little crunch, so I add chow mien noodles ( you know the crunchy kind) instead of croutons. Then I place some nicely marinated grilled chicken or salmon on top, and finish it off with Ken's Steak House (and only that brand) Greek vinagarette and I have the perfect meal. Oh, my mouth waters just thinking about it, but alas I just had a small one for lunch today, so I can wait until I get home to have another.

I also like to switch it up and go for a Cobb Salad effect, with bacon bits, fancy shredded cheddar cheese, garlic toasted croutons, again with the onions and bell peppers, but topped off with Ken Steak House Buttermilk ranch dressing.

And the list continues, I use crab meat, shrimp, mandarin oranges, nuts, even crumpled Ritz crackers as toppings. I love almost all of Ken's dressing choices and even if I don't have any left I will use vinegar and oil- yummy.

The obsession and need for salad continues even if the only thing I have is lettuce. I've come across times when there were no other fixings to go on top and I had to result to just lettuce and dressing- and the funny thing is, it wasn't bad at all. Oh, SALAD, I do LOVE you SO.

Don't you think

With an obesity epidemic raging through this country that grocery stores would be inclined to charge less for fresh produce. I went to the grocery store last night and I spent 4.99 for a pack of romaine lettuce- almost $5.00 for three stalks of lettuce hearts. I was crushed. The tomatoes were no better, $1.69 per pound for tomatoes. Something my parents grew in the backyard in the summer time. And don't get me going on the price of a bell peppers- and I tend to like red, orange and yellow peppers which really required a loan application at checkout. I can't believe it. Fresh produce can bring you to the poor house, but you can get a hungry man dinner, complete with mashed potatoes, a whole chicken, corn and bread for about $3.00. NO wonder people can't eat healthy, they can't afford it.

Now if I chose to sacrifice the quality of my lettuce and other vegetables, I could go to Wal-mart and get them cheaper, but my Wal-mart has AWFUL produce and there are always flies and such buzzing around that it makes the whole produce section look the back alley of a restaurant. So, I refuse to buy wilted lettuce leaves which will inevitably ruin my entire salad experience, so I am forced to be robbed without a gun at the local "designer" grocery store. It's just a real; shame.

Corporations and the Environment

OK. , I'm not one of those super obsessed environmental folks that won't buy anything unless its recycled, has a compost pile in my backyard (mainly because I don't have a backyard) or clogs the rear bumper of my car with environmental dooms day stickers about how our children will need to wear gas masks to go out and play, and save the Polar Bears. It's not that I don't care about the environment, it's not that at all, but for one thing, I can't afford to just go out a buy a hybrid because its energy efficient, I can't swap out all my appliances for new energy savers no matter how much I would like, and frankly I can't always remember to carry in the cloth bags into the grocery store in addition to the diaper bag, car seat, oh! and the baby of course. But I do try to be conscious of my environmental footprints and monitor my energy consumption. My husband and I carpool, I try not to get plastic bags when it can be avoided- like when I'm shopping by myself and I just can't manage the monkey, his diaper bag and a paper bag I need carry. I stopped buying bottled water, which isn't really that big a deal since I hate water, and I recycle the plethora of aluminum pop cans (I'm from the mid-west and you will never hear me say SODA) I consume during the day.

Now, to the reason I explain all of this. My job uses an inordinate amount of paper, and I mean massive, extraordinary, mind blowing amounts of paper. My boss alone kills about a rains forest a day due to her compulsive need to print every single email she receives and attachments everyday, which amount to the hundreds. She prints so much she needs a printer in her office and still sends about 3 massive print jobs for me to print out per hour *yes she has made me an accomplice to this carnage.* The rest of the corporation is no better. Every month there is a board meeting, which consists of 9 members and everyone of them receives this large Webster dictionary sized booklet on the corporations action and consent items. The people don't even read the thing- every month. What really baffles me is the information is published on our website and can easily be viewed from a laptop. I mean people will copy large sets of papers and find an error in them, chuck them in the recycling bin and copy them all over again. It's good that they recycle but, I'm willing to bet that we are adding to the air pollution with the massive amounts of energy required to breakdown all that paper. Last time I checked, recycling took place in a large factory with most likely large amounts of coal emissions. I've tried to speak up and mention that maybe instead of copying all this paper, each board member be asked to view the docs on their corporate laptop decide what they want to print out, if anything. Then it wouldn't be the fault of the corporation, but I was quickly dismissed and hailed an environmental nut bag, which we have already determined is so not true.

If all corporations are as wasteful as mine, we are never going to make the kinds of environmental leaps that are needed to help this planet, without some serious legislative and legal requirements. Just my opinion.

300 and counting

It's only been 14 days and I have 300 views. That's not an astronomical amount but it's pretty good.
Thanks for tuning in and here's to many more.

Luv,
America's Next Top Law Mom

Books I wish I had time to read...

“Ivy Briefs: True Tales of a Neurotic Law Student,” by Martha Kimes.

"The Audacity of Hope," by Barack Obama...Again

"Dreams From My Father," by Barack Obama...Again

"Cross Country," by James Patterson

"The Private Patient," by P. D. James

"Dashing through the Snow," by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark

"A Mercy," by Toni Morrison

"The Rise of Barack Obama," by Pete Souza

"Midnight," by Sister Souljah

"Outliers," by Malcolm Gladwell

"Why We Suck," by Dennis Leary

"The American Journey of Barack Obama," by The Editors at Life Magazine

"The Pagan Stone," by Nora Roberts

"The Appeal," by John Grisham

"The 6th Target," by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

"Deadly Gift," by Heather Graham

And many, many, more.

In love with Bookworm

If anyone is not familiar with the internet game Bookworm, you should get familiar and fast. I am so addicted to this little game.

*Just a small description*
You are given 3 minutes to find as many three letter or more words that are located within a block of scrambled letters. you gets points for the amount of words you can form and bonus points for words that contain more than 5 letters.

I know it sounds elementary, but it is sooooo addictive and a blast to play. Much better than solitaire. You can find it here. Worldwinner.com is a pay to play site, that I have joined but you can probably find it free somewhere- the internet is very plentiful.

Not enough hours in the day

Wow, I could literally read and evaluate other people's blogs all day. There is so much information out there and so many interesting people in the world with interesting takes on what's going on in the world. Even the mundane everyday blogs about a dad cleanng up his daughters puck in the middle of the night has me captivated. If only I didn't have an actual job to do, or a child to take care of, or dinner to make- I could read this stuff all day. It's so addicting.

Maybe it's because I was so anti- social networking sites and blogging that now that I have finally been converted to a participator, I am just purely addicted-like a kid with a new toy on Christmas. And just like that kid, I could possibly be burned out on the whole thing in about a month, and really never mess with again. If that is the case, I am having fun now and enjoying my new cyber toy. On the off chance that the bug has bitten me for life, then I look forward to indulging my verbal voyeurism for many years to come.

Happy Blogging.

WARNING- I'm a really open person

For anyone who may be lurking around my site, I want to let you know that I am extremely blunt with all areas of my life. I need an outlet to get these thoughts off my mind somewhere. So, if you are not interested in hearing all aspects of my world, this may not be the place for you.

I love my husband very much, but I am angry with him a lot, so I talk it about it a lot- we are true opposites attract. I love my mom to death, but we often butt heads and I speak about that too. And other areas that I have a strong love/hate thing going

I am very opinionated and don't like to bite my tongue, so be aware, and feel free to comment if you like. I can take whatever you got. I promise. And if I can't well, there's always delete.

And of course, I am anonymous for all intense purposes, so what's the harm.

My husband and I are just not seeing eye to eye on things these days and I am so angry about it. He thinks I'm just complaining about everything, and I just want him to be more considerate of my feelings on the subject of money. I admit I am not the best person to take along if you want to take a risk with money. That's why the stock market is way too scary for me- and as things look nowadays I was about right.

But he just wants me to have faith that all will work out in due time, but it's hard to feel that way, when everyday it seems like it's something else-bad- is happening. And to me this is not the time to be taking a risk with anything. Yes, his business is breaking even and covering the expenses at the lab, but our household has paid a high price because there has been no extra to contribute at the home front.

We agreed that would do whatever we could to make this venture successful for one year. And that year is up in January. I don't want to seem like a dream crusher, especially when we are going into debt to pay for my advanced education, but I just can't take the up and down stress of the whole situation. I'm not cut out for it. Plus, I feel like I was better off in my life 10 years ago. Life is supposed to get better with age, not worse. And I know that you have to make sacrifices for what you truly want in life, but for how long.
I mean our essentials are paid for, but I'm not used to just "making it". My parents have since told me that they did have to struggle sometimes when I was a kid, they just didn't let me know about it, so I hope I get to do the same for my son- or by that time we won't even be in this situation. And I guess when I phrase it like that I'm just complaining about the extras I don't have anymore, which can sound rather selfish and bratty, but I can't help it. Plus, I know times are tough for everyone, and there are others a lot worse off than me- but I can't help but to feel angry for my situation. It's a vicious cycle of anger and guilt that I'm just tired of.

Day One of Many

I'm new to this blogging thing so please forgive me if I seem to ramble at first, I will get the hang of it eventually.

Where to begin? As it states in my profile description I am a twenty- something, married, mother, who aspires to attend law school. As it stands right now, I am in graduate school obtaining a master's in criminal justice. I have taken a real round about way to law school. But it's my road and I will get there eventually and at my own pace. The major obstacle at this point has been committing to a time to begin law school, especially since my life keeps getting in the way (getting married, and then having a baby, working and keeping up with the bills); starting law school keeps getting pushed back- and in the meantime I am trying to maintain my presence as a student and continue to advance my education. I don't want to have forgotten what it takes to be a student, especially since I have other areas of my life that I will have to juggle.

But I have decided that in the fall of 2010, I will be embarking on my law school education. So, from now until that point I will be communicating about the road to that point and the upcoming decisions that have to be made which include:

- What happens if I don't get into my #1 choice school (Georgia State)
- Will I attend full-time or part-time?
- If I go to law school full-time, how will I contribute to our financial obligations?
- Can I get a scholarship?
- How will I balance my family, professional and educational life- now that I will have to leave my online classes behind and actually physically go to classes?
- How will I cope with my mommy guilt?
....and many many many other things

Right now, I am going to begin to prepare (again) for the LSAT, my previous scores were pretty bad and I took them back in 2005, so they will be 5 years old and not accepted at most institutions.

Finding answers to some of these questions is what brought me to the blogging world, when I found others who were offering insights on some of the same issues, so I too decided it wouldn't hurt to document my process, so that someone else, who may be seeking some advice can possibly learn something from my journey.


So, that's me and I hope you enjoy your view into my real world adventures... Stay tuned.