…is me.

I’m itching to get some good, old quality camera time, but, alas, there is the little problem with all the books and the questions and the projects and the paper-writing. Oh, yeah, and the highlighter fumes. Instead of playing paparazzi to my superstar child, I’m lost in a bad book while he learns to speak by repeating commands at me until I look up, dazed.

“Ma-ma?  Eat!”

“Ma-ma? Na-na!”

“Ma-ma? Book!”

“Ma-ma? Up!”

“Ma-ma! S**t!”

Yeah, it happened. Thankfully, I have sacrafied another book to the gods of lifelong learning and this time have only one more to go.  Firing up iCal and glancing at my schedule (yes, I schedule these things, or I wouldn’t finish), I found I have four chapters to read for each of four nights, then three essays to write each of three days and finally one essay and a summary of my learning for the last day.  So, in eight days or so, I’ll be finished and no one will have to hear about the insanity of taking 12 grad credits in six weeks again.  Happy day for us all, don’t you think?

Speaking of classes, I’m reminded of tuition and that leads me to this: I found out today that the stupid stimulus payment I was going to use to pay for these classes came in signifigantly short of what I expected–apparently because we got that huge adoption tax credit, we don’t get the standard amount.  Boo-hoo.  Poor me.  Oh, well.  I think it’s another stooopid idea, anyway, Mr. Bush.

And just so you know, I won’t let my bitterness about the stimulus payment get me too down.  I’m going to be celebrating the end of the year and end of my classes with a nice giveaway contest–another $20 Amazon gift certificate will be up for grabs.  More info later, though, after all the fumes have cleared.

Until then, Happy Mother’s Day.  I’ll be reading and checking my tracking numbers for the gift I bought myself :)

Tags: classes, Contest, mother's day, stimulus payment

I’m SO excited for this week.  It always starts out great with Best Shot Monday, but not only did I get all my backed-up grading done this weekend, but I’ve there’s also all this great stuff going on in blogland.  Please, read on!

First, I want to remind you of my little contest going on this week.  If you want to take part, make sure you get your post up by this Friday at 8 p.m CST.  Oh, and remember to link back to me–it will get a few more people involved and help spread the sunshine even further!   And speaking of the contest–would you all try to help me test the poll to the left?  It’s a test run of the plugin so that I know that it’ll be working when the poll phase of the contest is up.

Second, I remember that a few of you were interested in participating in Karen’s postcard swap last August when I mentioned that I was getting mine ready.  Well, she’s doing it again.  Postcard Swap 2008:  The Love Edition is in the planning stages, so get your heinie over to Chookooloonks and sign up by Wednesday, January 16.

Finally, I’m taking part in a Pay It Forward exchange that Starfish turned me on to.  (Starfish, by the way, is the one of the nicest bloggers I know–J frequently sports the coolest hat she knitted to keep his then-bald little head covered.)   If you’d like to take part, be one of the first three to comment mentioning that you’re signing up for the PIF exchange.  You’ll have to agree to the this pledge:

I, [insert your name here] will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange, and who make the same pledge on their own blogs.

Did you say it aloud?  Come on, put your hand over your heart and say it like you mean it!

I’m not quite sure exactly what your gift will be, but right now I’m leaning toward a set of notecards (so, technically not handmade, but originals).  Oh, and you won’t get stuck with something with my son anywhere on it.  I swear!

And C, I’m getting to you later this week, I swear!  Note to self:  work on avoiding repetition.

Tags: Best Shot Monday, card swap, Contest, photo, photography, PIF

Winter. There’s something special about all that snow and ice, but that specialness wears off sometime after the holidays when there’s nothing but small celebrations like Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s days to look forward to. The gloom can settle in, making it hard to see what’s just so special about the everyday.

Us snowbound folk can’t claim to be the only ones who have predictable periods of gloom in our lives. Sometimes the clouds gather not in the sky but in our heads even in the sunniest weather.

And sometimes we’re lucky. Sometimes we notice a sparkle of light and sun in the most mundane moment, and it beats the gloom into submission. For me, sometimes it’s a student’s silly comment or the sight of T bringing me a special, unexpected treat. It could be a sky of beautiful stars, or if I’m lucky, a startling northern lights display. Maybe it’s just the breathless giggle of a very happy and very ticklish little boy.

What brings out your inner sunshine when the gloom takes over?

First, write a post about your sunshine or take a picture of it and provide us with a caption.

Then, when you’re finished, link the entry to this blog and leave a comment on this post by 8 p.m. CST on Friday, January 18.

On Friday, I’ll post links to all your entries and ask readers to visit your blogs. Everyone will get a chance to vote for a favorite entry through a poll like the one on the left through 8 p.m. on Tuesday, January 23. The blogger with the most popular entry according to my very unscientific poll gets a measly $20 Amazon gift certificate.

And, at the end of this, I think we’ll all be winners :) Good luck!

**EDIT**

After thinking about it, I shifted the dates just a little bit so that I didn’t interfere with Stacy’s Thursday theme, which happens to be winter. So, comment and post by Friday, January 18; voting is over by Tuesday, January 23.

Tags: blogs, Contest, depression, gloom, happiness, sunshine, winter, writing