Hi, my name is Erin, and I'm a geek.

So I am all fired up about one of my classes! Yay me! The crappy thing is that it is my required English class and not my Anatomy class. Hmmm...

But it doesn't mean anything. It's not significant. I mean, I have always loved writing.

Writing + Reading + Decorating = Me, Blissfully Happy!

Who doesn't get more excited about a creative class than a science class? Right?

So tonight I went to my English class and I was practically skipping. I think I smiled at every person I passed in the halls.

I am such a dork.

I refuse to give in to my inner geek. I refuse to be one of those annoying, usually older, students who talks constantly to the professor. But, um, is it too late? Have I already been talking too much in class? Do I even have an "inner" geek or am I just a full-blown geek?

I am loving the idea of really working on my writing. I think I worry too much about what it is I want to say, about the finished product and not enough about just being creative and enjoying the process of writing.

So I just walked in the door. Jonathan had the light on for me and the kids are in bed and I am already overflowing with ideas for my next assignment. I will get around to memorizing the anatomical regions this weekend. I promise I will.

school girl

Meaning me, not Blue. I start classes today. I wonder if Jonathan will take a picture of me on my first day of school.

Today will be a bit crazy. I decided last night to take another of my prerequisites along with Anatomy. I just need to get through the prerequisites as quickly as possible to get on the wait list for nursing school. "Hurry up and wait," right? So today I am meeting with an advisor after picking Blue up from kindergarten to try to get into an English class. And then racing home to drop the kids off with Jonathan so I can go to my Anatomy class. Then, if I can get into the class, the English class starts tonight! I just hope I can get in to see an advisor in the hour I have this afternoon. We'll see...

I know that does not really sound like a crazy day. But everything tends to take so long with the kids. Just getting everyone buckled into the car takes so long! I guess life at Glenbogle house will be a lot crazier with me in school.

Last night after Jonathan got home from work I ran out to take the English placement test. So I can qualify for the class I need to take. When I got home, Jonathan heated up a big bowl of pasta for me and Blue asked, "How was school, Mommy? Tell me all about your day!" I felt so loved.

and now for some words from ee cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings;and of the gay
great happening ilimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any - lifted from the no
of all nothing - human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

big day tomorrow!

Tomorrow my Bluebird turns five years old. AND she starts kindergarten. I feel so old.

So we just gave the kids their bath and picked out clothes for school for the very first time. It is extra important that Blue look awesome since tomorrow is also picture day.

Then we all piled into Lion's room for a story.  Lion and I both have bronchitis so for the past three nights he has been using his nebulizer. He hates the nebulizer. I think all the sounds it makes freak him out a bit. So before bed Lion sits on my lap while Daddy reads Richard Scarry stories very loudly so we can all hear over the noisy nebulizer.

We asked Blue what she wanted for dinner on her birthday and she chose shrimp and vegetables (meaning raw veggies with dip) and ambrosia salad. How cute is that? I bought some sparkly Italian lemon soda and a little tiny birthday cake for four. And tonight Jonathan went out and bought her a Disney Princess bicycle so we will give her that after dinner! I cannot believe my Bluebird will be old enough to learn to ride a bicycle!

On Saturday we reserved the picnic area at our neighborhood pool. Blue is having a Little Mermaid pool party. But now Blue has absolutely no idea when her birthday actually is! So every day has been "Is it my birthday today?" To which I try to (patiently) explain (for the umpteenth time): "Your birthday is Thursday, which is also the first day of kindergarten!" And then she invariably asks, "Is tomorrow my Little Mermaid birthday?" And I sigh and try to patiently explain that her birthday is one day, her Little Mermaid party is two days later. She just doesn't get it. I just feel bad that the excitement will reach its climax this weekend and then there is no more birthday for a whole year.

Edited to add: After getting ready for bed, Blue spent ages in the bathroom brushing her hair and putting on chapstick for school tomorrow. She is so ubergirly. She rocks.

how I spent my summer vacation

I am dealing with some form of the flu. So bear with me.

To recap, Jonathan made it home from Detroit. We flew to Virginia with the kids. The trip was all kinds of sickness.

• my mother-in-law (who we were staying with) got sick
• we were planning to visit my grandparents down in North Carolina for three days, but my grandma's appendix burst so Jonathan and I left the kids at his parents and drove down to see her for a few hours
• we returned to Virginia the next day to find the kids sick
• the kids were sick for the rest of the vacation -- Lion had a respiratory infection and Blue had an ear infection
• on the flight home I started to feel sick, too

So, the situation now: the kids are slowly, oh-so-slowly, getting better and I am still coughing and sneezing my head off. The worst thing about being sick, for me, is that I fluctuate between thinking 1) I should just sleep and concentrate on getting better and thinking 2) that I need to get off my butt and try to get some shit done around here because lying around resting doesn't seem to be making me feel any better. And then I grow exhausted and out of breath and wind up sleeping for the rest of the day.

Blue's birthday is next Thursday. And it is also her first day of kindergarten! Then on the 25th I start class, too. I passed the Biology placement test so I am able to skip basic Biology and take Human Anatomy and Physiology this fall.

We are still working on potty training Lion. Man, that boy is stubborn! I think he has been associating potty training with starting preschool--well, actually I know he has been. Actual conversation, as I changed his diaper before bed the other night:

me: Lion, you have got to stop pooping in your pants! Don't you want to be a big boy?
Little Lion Man: I don't want to go to preschool!
me: You don't?
Little Lion Man: No. I don't want you to leave me there, because then I going to be so sad.

I talked to Jonathan and we have decided that (since there is probably no way Lion will be potty trained in two weeks anyway) preschool can wait a few months. In the meantime, Blue and I will be in school and those are some pretty big changes in Young house!

So now the incentive for potty training is a camping trip with Daddy. Lion is excited about the idea. He is very big on Daddy lately. "Daddy and me are both boys," he tells me all the time. He is thrilled when he and Daddy wear the same color shirts. And he has decided he prefers burgers over nuggets "just like Daddy!" So maybe the idea of spending a weekend alone with Daddy will entice that kid to poop in the potty. We'll see...