If everything stayed the same all the time, life would be boring, right? Right? I’m telling myself this is true after looking at my calendar for the next two months and realizing how … different it’s going to be. Starting tomorrow, I will be completing my middle school practicum hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I will only be at work Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Hopefully, I’ll be getting an hour or two of work done from home after school, but that’s not set in stone yet. Thankfully, my Monday afternoon volunteer tutoring will be done in two weeks (three Mondays, including today), and there are only two Wednesday evening classes left, and one Friday one. After that, I’ll be able to perhaps work longer days when I’m at work, so that I don’t eat up as much vacation time.

What this means for you, dear readers, is that I will probably be posting less often. I expect that my days at work will be busier, since I’ll be here less often, and I obviously can’t blog while at the middle school. Plus, I’ll have to be writing “reflective” journal entries on my practicum experiences, so I might not feel as much need to share.

However, there is an up side. Minnesota is in the season of dark from now through… March, which means that I leave home when it’s dark, and when I get home it’s dark, and therefore I can’t take any pictures to share with you until the weekends. Well, I should have a wee bit of daylight hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so if I’m able to complete any projects or my cats are especially cute, I should be able to share that with you sooner. We’ll test this out tomorrow, since I finished several projects over the weekend that I’d like to share, but it was grey and icky all weekend long.

In other news, I did not get to decorate my house for Christmas over the weekend. Someone had told me the weather would be better on Sunday, and I didn’t check on the accuracy of that. I should have, because Sunday was near freezing and there was a strong wind that made being outside miserable. However, that’s not the reason I was unable to decorate. The reason is, I was unable to find 1) lights to string up around the house, and 2) garland to hang on the fence. I was able to get an outdoor extension cord and a timer for the lights, but those really aren’t very exciting. Do you know how expensive lights are? Somewhere in the 90-cents/foot range. Do you know how much gutter we have to decorate? 200 feet. Yikes. Couldn’t find what I wanted at Home Depot in bulk (to bring the price down a bit). We also need approximately 200 feet of garland and 14-ish bows for the fence. I was told to get the fluffiest I could find (which makes sense, and is important since our fence is large and imposing), and what I found at Michael’s could only be described as stringy or emaciated. Home Depot only had lighted garland, which is not what I wanted. I’ll be checking Target and JoAnn’s later this week, but perhaps my plans to decorate the outside of our house will, again, not come to fruition this year. Seeing as how no one else in the house has caught my holiday spirit, it’s pretty much up to me, and, as previously mentioned, there are quite a few things that I need to keep track of these days.

Our two Thanksgiving dinners were lovely, as was the time spent with family. Days of sleeping in, however, did not come. I think that I have the most minor of colds. Something has been messing with my sleep (too hot, too cold, wide awake at 5 am for no reason), and I am slightly congested. Oh, and I have that icky need to clear my throat thing, though it’s minor and doesn’t happen often. So, instead of being well-rested after a four day weekend, I am actually quite tired today. Bummer. Life goes on.

Well, I hope that holds you over for the next day or three. We’re just going to have to play this by ear. But, rest assured, I have not fallen off the planet or succumbed to some disease, I’m just… busy.

Since I got home at a normal hour last night (instead of 7 pm on Monday, after which I needed to procure dinner), I had myself a normal evening, with the small exclusion of the fact that is away. I ate what I wanted for dinner (a roasted sweet potato and a glass of wine – it was tasty, and we haven’t gone grocery shopping in a while), watched what I wanted on TV (all caught up on CSI, CSI: Miami, and Law & Order: SVU), and sat in the middle of the couch. I multi-tasked by reading more research on Montessori methods (for my upcoming paper) while watching TV. I went to bed at ten, but stayed up past 11 reading. Both cats shared the bed with me, though I had to bribe them with kitty treats to get them into the room (apparently we’ve conditioned them well enough that they just take themselves elsewhere when it’s bedtime).

However, I did have to decide for myself what to eat, would have had to kill any bugs that dared show themselves (none did), take the trash out to the curb, and settled for a phone conversation with . The cats and I miss him, and it’s a good thing he’s coming home today.

Marriage was a very conscious choice. I chose to marry because the future with him looked so much better than the future without him. I don’t need him – I am a complete individual and can take care of myself. I want him, which is, I think, better than need. (Apparently, two days apart and I’ve gotten sappy – can we blame the Celexa for that? I thought not.)

He gets home tonight around when I get home from work. We’ll need to acquire some dinner, and go grocery shopping, and I’m still working on my paper (class was cancelled tonight). Nothing special, nothing exemplary. Just everyday life.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

[Sidenote: Celexa and I have gotten over our differences, for the most part. No naps Monday or Tuesday. I feel normal. It hasn’t helped me the way I wanted yet, but there are five more weeks before I can make any sort of judgement on effectiveness. Also, I will be away from my computer tomorrow at a training, so don’t expect to hear from me. But I’ll be back on Friday.

You’ll be happy to know, today I am prepared to blog about things other than side effects. Yay! I have been feeling relatively since Saturday. I’m still dealing with muscle tension, uncontrollable yawning (strange, strange side effect), and the need to take a daily nap (every day since last Saturday except Wednesday, when I had to go to class), but my head is clear. I feel like myself.

I had Friday off of work due to the state holiday, and did absolutely nothing all day. It was fabulous. got final confirmation of a trip he has to take for work (he’s gone today through Wednesday – boo!), so I decided not to do any homework over the weekend. I can do it while he’s gone. We don’t really spend time apart like this – only three times since we’ve been married have we not gone to bed together – so it’s not something I’m used to.

We finished three projects over the weekend. I know! Like seriously finished. We put the panels in the door of the buffet I haven’t shared yet (you might have to wait another week – the only sunlight I’m home to experience is on the weekends). I put drawer liner in the drawers of our dining table (which I also haven’t shared). And, we fixed the filtered water spigot in the kitchen that hasn’t worked in a year and a half. We also further ghetto-fied our house by scraping off the peeling paint, priming, and painting over the bare patches (it’s a lovely look, with the old paint faded and darker, and then the spots of lighter paint…). And raked/mowed up another 5 bags of leaves. Thankfully, all the leaves have dropped off our trees now. I even remembered to take pictures of our trees in their current state, including the one we’re having taken down, so that I have before/after pictures of the tree trimming.

bought a spray gun attachment for the air compressor, and on Sunday we tried out using it to put poly on the trim for the basement. It worked well, and will save us 20+ hours of labor (6 hours per coat by hand x 4 coats versus 1 hour per coat), so that’s $50 well spent.

I worked on some Christmas sewing projects and will hopefully have pictures to share of completed items by the end of the week or early next week. I did not work on ‘s quilt, switch out my summer/winter wardrobes, vacuum, or do any seasonal decorating, but I did get some laundry done, and spent lots of time with . I also got several quality naps in. Our basement couch is fabulous for napping on.

I’m hoping to get through today without a nap, since I have to leave work early to go tutor, and won’t get home until 7, and will then need to feed myself and the kitties. If I take a nap after that, I might as well just call it a night, and that would be a sad day. I have a research paper that needs to be written, kitties that will need attention, and a veritable cornucopia of sewing projects.

Or, in this case, makes one realize the importance of something one took for granted.

That would be my ability to pay attention to anything.

Last night, after sitting at my computer for an hour and only writing one sentence (I also copy-pasted a sentence, so maybe that counts as two sentences), I gave up my efforts and searched the web. I wasn’t looking for trouble, just validation that I wasn’t going crazy. Indeed, many people had terrible side effects the first two weeks, including being unable to concentrate, muscle tension (this is terrible – must get a massage soon), and sleeping problems (woke up at 3:30 this morning, which was nice because it gave me enough time to fall back asleep before having to get up for the day). Today is day 5, so I’m almost halfway there, right? Clingin’ to a prayer.

Unfortunately, I still have that paper to write, and it’s due by 6 pm tonight. The internet suggested B vitamins to help with concentration and energy, and since has been a bit sick lately, I thought that justified taking some Emergen-C (which is chock-full of B vitamins). They haven’t worked.

On the bright side, most of my work projects (currently) are short things, so my job performance hasn’t been affected. That’s something.

Caffeine would be nice right about now.

I think this lack of concentration is causing me to over-share, both here and in real life. Really, if I actually shared the stream of consciousness going through my head right now, y’all would be frightened, and probably very confused.

, I might need some coping mechanisms to get me through this. I have a 5-7 page research paper that needs to get written before Thanksgiving. I think I can get the research done, but how can I force myself to concentrate enough to actually write the thing? Any ideas? Caffeine is NOT an option. New Age Instrumental music hasn’t helped. I suppose I should try my white noise app. I’ll give that a shot when I’m not on phone duty this afternoon.

I’ve got J Lo’s “Superlady” (Papi) running through my head (from those car commercials). Earlier it was the Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice.” No matter that I only know a quarter of the lyrics to either.

Haircut tomorrow night. Have I already mentioned that? New stylist (I broke up with my old one – hadn’t been to see her in a year and a half anyway, so I just un-friended her on Facebook and that was that), and it’s a man. No good can come of this. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a man cut my hair who did what I asked; they always do what they want. Why is that? So I will have to press my case and be firm: I have been growing out my hair for 10 years now, and would like to continue making progress towards my butt. I think I’ll have to take before and after pictures of the back length. Anyway, he’s only my temporary guy – I need a haircut badly, but am trying to see if the salon I really want to go to has a Groupon deal or something fabulous like that.

Now I really am babbling for no reason other than procrastination. I’ll stop now.

This, too, shall pass (oh, talk about a first world problem).

That’s what I’m doing. Need to get that reflection paper written – I think my powers of concentration are mostly restored. It’s not ideal, but it’ll have to do. I woke up at 4:30 this morning – not happy about that. I blame most of that on the time change, and only some of it on the Celexa. I mean, I wanted to wake up earlier, so I could get to work on time (as a general rule, it sounds like a good goal), but 4:30 is overkill. Haven’t really adjusted to the time change yet.

Alright, I take back my earlier comments about my concentration ability. Still shot.

Oh, if only I had been blogging when I first went on Prozac. Y’all would have been entertained.

Tonight, for the first time ever, I will be voting in a non-presidential election. We have 15 candidates vying for 3 spots on the school board, and a levy to vote on as well. You can probably guess how a future public school teacher feels about that.

After we vote, I’m making Stir-Fried Beef, Broccoli and Yams. I love sweet potatoes.

I may need a nap after that. It’s what I did yesterday after tutoring (and eating dinner). I was beat. Lots of good stuff at tutoring yesterday, though none of the kids whose names I know were there.

OK, that’s all I’ve got. It’s taken me half an hour – I keep getting distracted by inconsequential things, like my hair. Ooh, shiny! Anyway, happy Tuesday!

OK, look, here’s the deal. I have a 6-8 page paper due tonight at 10 pm. It is not yet written (though my outline is, finally, complete). [Editor's note: Can I explain this paper a bit? Just so you can understand what I've been dealing with? Basically, summarize 400 pages of reading into 4 pages, making sure to include at least 14 points of comparison. Then you get the remaining 2 pages to include contemporary research and implications for the future. Oh, and the rubric, which ideally should include objective measures, is almost completely subjective, with the exception of the aforementioned "14 points of comparison." You really cannot use the word "excellent" to describe what excellent means; you especially cannot do it in every single box of the "excellent" column.]

After that’s done, I have 200 pages of reading, after which I have to write a 2-3 page reflection paper (which is then due Wednesday).

After that, I can begin research on my paper on Montessori methods in urban classrooms, 5-7 pages, due before Thanksgiving (guess how I’ll be spending Veteran’s Day, a work holiday).

Oh, and I’ve been trying to figure out when to do my practicum (I finally have a placement!) while still working. And I’ll need to take a break at some point this weekend to deal with yard work (bonus: we get an extra hour this weekend because of Daylight Savings – so that totally fixes that problem of when I’m going to get everything done). You know, before it snows.

So this is all the blog posting you get this week. No Friday Fill-Ins. No updates on life (well, here’s a short one: when I haven’t been in class or at work, I’ve been working on this paper, except for 45 minutes yesterday that I frivolously spent at Ulta, and some time before bed watching a bit of TV). No pictures. No crafting. No communicating with anyone outside of work and . You’re lucky I took this much time to let you know I hadn’t actually fallen off the face of the planet. And now I’ve got to get back to things.

I woke up with a headache. That’s never good. I took Advil when I got up. Took some more with lunch. My headache is mostly gone – it’s kind of hanging around in the background, pretending to be a wallflower, much like half the students at a junior high dance.

I spent 3 hours last night doing research for a paper that’s due Friday. (We didn’t buy candy. We turned out the lights, closed the blinds, and hid in the basement. Didn’t even carve pumpkins this year. Maybe next year… though I am not a fan of Halloween.) I really need to draw up an outline next. We’ll see.

I had some mindless tasks to do today, so while I was taking a break from the monotony (sometimes you just can’t stare at the screen any longer), I fooled around and came up with these fabric groupings. I’m still working on figuring out a color scheme for the living room / dining room. I’ve technically narrowed it down to yellow, with pink and green accents, but having a fabric in hand would really help pick out a paint swatch. Oh, should I add that this color scheme has not been approved by all household members (but, to reiterate the logic, the exterior of the house will be blue, the kitchen will someday be green (currently blue), and the master bedroom (visible from the dining room) is rust orange, so there aren’t that many colors left; I figured I should tie in the green kitchen since it’s at least partially visible from both rooms, and didn’t think that I’d get the OK to paint the walls pink). Oh, also… we’re looking at mostly pillows for the couch (and a starting point for picking out paint color), and maybe curtains for one small window, since the piano bench and dining chairs are already recovered (apparently never took a picture of the piano bench, but I used this fabric). Though, to be honest, I’m not married to the recovered items, and they can be re-done at any point in time. It’s a beautiful thing, what one can do with Scotch-guard spray and a staple gun.

Option 1 - Fun and colorful. I had a hard time getting all 3 colors together in this one, because the pink and green prints didn't have any yellow in them at all. But I think I made it work. I already own that bottom-center green print (it was a mistake made by the company that they corrected, but told me to keep it, all 3 yards).

Option 2 - Grown-up and muted. Much more low-key, though those polka-dots certainly cheer things up a bit. I own the bottom-center green one here too. And yes, the two on the left are identical, just different colorways. Not as much yellow here, but I don't need too much if the walls are yellow. (I'm thinking just the backs of all the pillows, or something.)

Option 3 - Bold and Modern. I cannot tell you how much I am in love with that top-left floral. Unfortunately, they only made that colorway in home dec weight, so I probably shouldn't try to make a quilt out of it, or something equally silly. I linked to it below, because this little clip totally doesn't do it justice. I own the elephants and the yellow stripe. I feel like the prints are tied together best here (with the possible exception of the yellow), with a good balance of small and large scale, single-color prints and multi-colored ones. Feel free to disagree though.

Joel Dewberry Heirloom Rose Bouquet in Sepia (fabric.com)

Haven’t had much audience participation lately! Let me know what your favorite combo is in the comments! Feel free to include other opinions as well, like the silliness of that elephant print, or the inappropriateness of pink zebra stripes.

Also, feel free to commiserate with me on the hours I spent (and still need to spend) doing homework, and on the headache that seems to have gotten over its shyness and maybe had some of the punch to drink.