The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades...

I met with my advisor yesterday who gave me the wonderful news that...

I have enough hours to graduate after this semester!!!

I am ecstatic. I am so ready to have that sought after piece of paper with my name on it. I'm ready to have a physical something in my hands to make all of the time, stress, & money I have put into the past years worth it. I'm ready for a sense of achievement.

Isn't it funny how a lousy piece of paper can make you want to shout from the highest roof-tops & dance "Singing in the Rain" style down the streets? That's pretty much how I feel right now. :)

I have, however, made the decision to stay one more semester (in the fall) to take some super easy classes to boost my gpa up a few more notches & study like a mad woman to make a good score on the GRE... which I need to get into graduate school. I'm ok with that... you've gotta do what you've gotta do, right? All I care about right now is making high grades & getting my shit together... I'm ready to put my big girl panties on & get on with it. :)

Things are going great, and they're only getting better
I'm doing all right, getting good grades
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades

~ Timbuk 3

Things that make me happy right now..

In light of my last (just a tad bit depressing) post, I thought I would make a list of things in my life that make me smile/laugh/happy:

~ My life. I have been so blessed with the most wonderful husband & amazing family.

~ My dogs. I love how they appreciate every little thing life throws their way. Even the smallest of gestures make their tails wag. I love how they act like everything is their favorite thing.

~ Thinking about May... & the semester being over...

~ Wake up with Taylor on Cosmo radio. I listen to them every morning on the way to class. Taylor, Victoria, & Kenny are hilarious. They always make me laugh.

~ My Del Sol nail polish. It goes on clear & turns hot pink when the sun hits my toes. So cool.

~ Taking pictures with my new camera. I'm still figuring everything out (it has a LOT of buttons), but I love using it.

~ Feeling needed, whether it is someone needing to someone to talk to or my dog giving me the "help" look when a ball rolls under the couch.

~ Riding my horses. It is so relaxing.

~ My DKNY "Be Delicious" perfume the hubby got me for Valentine's Day.

~ Spending time with my little brother. I guess mom was right when she said we would be friends one day... although at the time I didn't believe her.

~ Our new Tassimo coffee maker... the perfect cup every time!

~ Riding around with my husband. We always have such a good time together, whether he is singing off key to a "lame" love song or commenting on my driving skills. He always makes me laugh & I love going new places with him.

~ My new Buxom mascara... this stuff is amazing.

~ Being outside.

~ This kid. He always makes me laugh. I would love to babysit him for a day & see what all he had to say.

Sad News

Glynn County Woman Drowns Daughter, Tries to Drown Son, Kills Herself

That is a headline in the newspaper of my hometown today. It's so sad when your hometown makes the news over something like this.

I found out on Facebook (of all places) & the name sounded so familiar so I looked the story up on the news. It shocked me to find that I knew the girl who did this. I didn't know her very well. We met a couple of times. I did know her brother, who dated one of my close friends, from school & her mom, who worked at the high school.

I don't live there anymore, so I only know what I have seen on Facebook or in the news (neither of which are always reputable). What I understand is that the young mom (Julia, 21) drowned her 4 year old daughter in the bathtub, attempted to drown her 2 year old son, then tucked them into their bed, called 911 & told them what she had done & that she needed an ambulance, & (while still on the phone with the dispatcher) shot herself in the chest. When police arrived, they rushed them to the hospital & the 4 year old was declared dead on arrival. Mom died about an hour later while being prepared to be air-lifted to another hospital. The 2 year old son is (as far as I know) still in stable condition & expected to recover.

This is scarily similar to the Andrea Yates case from 2001.

My heart breaks for her family. This family has already been through a lot. Julia's dad passed away when we were still in high school after being sick for a long time. I'm so sad for them, especially her mother who is a very sweet lady. You shouldn't out-live your children... & especially your grandchild.

Later last night, I was disgusted & a little surprised to see people publicly bashing this girl. I know that when children are involved in things like this it makes people angry. It upsets me, too. It's not right & I am in no way condoning what this woman did, but why are people so quick to involve themselves in the slandering of a tragic event?

People are complex. Not everyone is strong. People do things that are inexcusable. I'm not saying it is right, but publicly crucifying this girl doesn't help anything. It doesn't help her family whose world turned upside down yesterday. It doesn't help her friends who will spend the rest of their lives wondering if they could have done something differently to stop this from happening. It doesn't help the poor 2 year old who had to go through this horrific incident & is now motherless.

No one knows what was happening in that home. No one knows what this girl was dealing with.
Don't speak ill of people you don't know or have any idea about what their lives were like. It is easy to be quick to judge & think you know the whole story when you hear something like this, but the truth of the matter is you don't. Her family didn't even know. People are good at hiding things. Some people struggle & hurt. It doesn't make it right to jump to conclusions & say terrible things about people you don't know. Who are we to judge others, anyway? Whether you are religious or live by the golden rule to treat others how you want to be treated, you know that acting in this way isn't right. People are too quick to throw others under the bus without knowing the whole story & too quick to act like they are a model person, mother, daughter, or son.

This is so sad. I'm sad for Julia. I'm sad for her family. I'm sad for the 4 year old little girl who will never see another birthday, make new friends, go to her first prom, get married, or have children of her own. I'm sad for the 2 year old little boy who will have to deal with this again when he is old enough to understand what happened to him, his sister, & his mom. I'm sad for everyone involved.

It makes you wonder how many people are 1 bad decision away from something like this. How many people in our lives do we think we really know, but really haven't a clue? What really goes on in the back of people's minds? It's frightening.

How can a person get this far gone & no one has a clue?

I can't stress enough that if you know someone who is going through a hard time, get them help. Talk to them. Take them seriously. Open the door to remove them from a bad situation. Do anything but nothing.

http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2010-02-16/story/police_glynn_county_woman_drowns_daughter_tries_to_drown_son_then_kill

SnOw DaY!

I got my snow!

We got about 3 inches Friday night. It was pretty much the highlight of the year, so far. Matt & I were running around like 2 giddy kids on Christmas morning. He hasn't seen snow since he was in kindergarten (20 years ago!) so we, of course, had to do all of the conventional things one does in the snow:

Have a snowball fight... check

Walk around & listen to the "crunch" noise it makes... double check

Make a snowman.. check

Make a snow angel... check

Take massive amounts of pictures... check

My South Georgia dogs took to the snow immediately. They had a blast playing in it all night & then again this morning. I got a few videos of them that are pretty funny. Macy & Abby wanted to eat it & Norman got pretty good at catching snowballs in his mouth. Fancy got a chance to play, too, but just for a little bit since she has been sick & is finally starting to feel better. She preferred to walk around with a snowball in her mouth.

It was still on the ground Saturday morning, but it melted about as fast as it came the night before.

All & all, it was pretty much amazing. Snow is magical. I hope it doesn't wait another 20 years to show itself again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53UKS_6HBCw

All work & no play makes Michelle a dull girl...

It seems like all I have been doing lately is school work. It's like I can't get ahead. I work & study & lose sleep only to go to class the next day & have even more loaded up on my plate. Why can't professors realize that their class is not the only one their students are taking? (136 power point slides for one chapter? Is that really necessary?) It's almost ridiculous. I feel like I am being spread to thin & there aren't enough hours in the day for all of the reading, studying, typing up lab reports, collecting bugs for my entomology collection, homework, flash-card making... & still getting enough sleep to function. The only thing that keeps me reading, studying, typing, etc. is knowing that there are only...

21 class days until Spring Break!!!

I don't care if we don't even go anywhere for the break. Not having to go to class is enough of a break for me!

In other news, the weatherman apparently thinks we have a chance of snow tomorrow afternoon... 2 to 4 inches, to be precise. The last time it snowed here I was 3, so I'm a little doubtful. I wouldn't mind a light dusting, though. I would love to take a few pictures of my dogs playing in the snow (something they have never seen).

I wouldn't really mind being stuck at the house all day, either. I have plenty to do here, including cleaning, laundry, school work, studying, cooking dinner.... the list goes on & on. We will see how it turns out... maybe I will be pleasantly surprised.

Hilarious!

The week is over half way over! It's down hill from here. I have a little studying to do tonight, but at the moment I am procrastinating on TFLN. Here are a few gems:

-The liquor store lady asked about three times if I was sure about buying two fifths of everclear. i told her I wanted to be on cops.

-I've decided that my new worst fear is that I'll end up on "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant."

-There is a distinct lack of front teeth here.

-I swear God or herbie drove my car home.

-Just woke up in the beanbag bin at walmart.

-I was at circle k buying gas and this girl in a papa johns uniform comes up and is like " I've got a bunch of extra pizzas. Large peperoni for $5." then she went to her trunk and pulled one out. It felt like a drug deal for a fat person.

-I just got a ticket for the snow penis we made in our front yard.

-I don't get why Lindsay Lohan doesn't just blame her bad behavior on her twin sister from the Parent Trap. I mean nobodys seen her since.

-Woke up to an overdrawn credit card. did you order the dawsons creek boxset last night?

-You need to leave class, get on facebook, and start untagging IMMEDIATELY!

-Dear yesterdays makeup, Thank you for always being there when I stay up late binge drinking on weeknights and am running late to work in the morning. You're the best.


Thank you, TFLN, for keeping it classy.

Quote of the day...

"Time is a monster that cannot be reasoned with. It responds like a snail to our impatience, then it races like a gazelle when you can't catch a breath."

~ Joe Wenteworth from Simon Birch