Well, well, well...Will wonders never cease? I bet you thought I was done blogging, didn't ya? I can't believe how many things have happened since I last posted! Where to begin...

Let's see - Tyson & I flew to Arizona to see Kathy & Laura & co. We had a SUPER time & got to party, do karaoke, have fun with the kids, shop, go to the movies (we saw P.S. I Love You, which turned out to be more tear-jerker than romantic comedy, like we thought it was), jam out in Mark's music room, go horse back riding & do a photo shoot (I'll edit this later & add a couple of those pics) with Mark's Harley & with Hart, the horse that used to be Kathy's that is now Laura's & that is the first horse to ever throw me. I'm not even sure you can call it that - it was more like she ran so fast & weaved to & fro until I just lost any ability to cling on & went tumbling. I felt like a huge dork & Tyson didn't help matters by pointing & laughing & asking "Did anybody get that on film?" before inquiring if I was okay or not. He now thinks he has bragging rights, since he rode the same horse & managed to stay on. We also got to play Deluxe Encore, the board game I've been wanting eeryone to play where you have to sing songs with certain words or phrases in them. I thought I'd be awesome, but it's a lot harder than you'd think when you're put on the spot like that! I won't even waste my blogging space to detail the nightmarish flight (on Christmas Eve, nonetheless) other than to just say that it really sucked & I got patted down twice by security - ok, I did ask for it the second time, JK!!

So, we flew back on New Year's Eve. Lisa & Allen picked us up at the airport & we all went out to pizza, where I made my big announcement - are you ready for this? Ok, most of the people reading this already know, but it's still crazy exciting for me, thus the big presentation...I am going to college!!! I decided while I was in AZ that I needed to make a decision about what I needed to change in my life & this was the realization that I came to. I am going to get an LCSW degree, which stands for Licensed Clinical Social Worker. It sounds like I want to work for CSD or something, but that's not it at all - it's so I can go into private practice as a family/child therapist. It turns out that what most people don't know (including myself, until I started asking questions) is that it's very rare for a psychologist to actually practice therapy. They're generally more into research & testing & writing, and it's more about the biological functions of the brain & how that affects human behavior, where as the sociology focuses more on environment & relationships. I went to Rogue Community College to ask the financial aid dept. some questions & it turns out that my placement test from 1998 is still on file & usable, but unfortunately, this means that when I moved & didn't attend classes, instead of the classes being dropped like I thought they would be, I actually flunked psychology by not attending! (Ah, the irony...) So, what I had to do is to pay to take the psychology class over (starting a week late by this time) & write a letter of appeal to the financial aid dept. explaining the circumstances. The good news is that they approved my appeal & kicked in $ for the class & I'm now on academic probation until I can pass this class with a C or better & then I can ask them to remove my previous grade & replace it with my new one. So, I've been attending a Psychology 201 class every Thursday night for almost 3 hours a night since January 17. I really love it! No surprise there - I always loved learning. I just let the social stuff get in the way in high school. I will start school full time in the spring term (3/31) & still don't know for sure what I'll do for part time work as income, other than keep the transcription contracts I have. I plan to discuss my options with an advisor next Tuesday & get registered for whatever classes for spring at that time. I've already applied for a couple of scholarships & have some great letters of recommendation (one from my therapist, who is also an LCSW), but there are some scholarships I can't apply for because of my low GPA. These have a 3/1 deadline & I won't get my psychology grade until 3/21. Major bummer!

The new girl is working out great - she is just as smart & hard working as I thought she'd be & I adore her. I've told her what's going on so that we can have a little more time to train, but I'm not planning to give my notice at work until 3/1.

There's even more stuff (SO MUCH MORE!) that's been happening, but I just don't have the time to go into it all right now. I will try (I know, I've said this before!) to keep up on this so that I can get y'all caught up on all the important stuff. Thanks for being patient with me!!!