20 lashes with wet floss

I know it's been weeks since I updated you on what's going on around here, so here goes...

First, THANK YOU to everyone for your support and encouragement as I took the gigantic step into higher education. I'd like to let you know all the hard work (and ignoring stitching, my blog, television, Facebook, and email) is paying off! I have received grades of 93.3%, 100%, and 100% respectively on my first three math quizzes. I'm allowed to take the first test either Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday next week and I'll let you know how that goes, too.

As for happenings around here, there isn't a whole lot to tell. Daisy came for a 4-day stay last week and was much better-behaved than last time. She didn't de-squeaky-fy any of Kasey's old toys, nor did she have any accidents in the house. She was a very good girl and spent most of her time sleeping.

I have to say that my semester has a much more relaxed feel to it than it would have had with all the pressure from the English class I originally registered for. My Grammar class is nice because there are only twelve of us, and five are English teachers renewing their certifications. I really enjoy the discussions we have. That being said, I spend about twelve to sixteen hours a week on my math class. Because we only have half the class time of a typical class, the onus is on us, the students, to do alot of the work at home, online. Now I know that I will be trying to take as many classes on campus as I possibly can! Distance learning is great, in theory, but I don't think I will get as much out of it as I would attending in person. I certainly won't take more than one online/hybrid class at a time, that's for sure.

And, yes, you read correctly; you weren't hallucinating. I said I've been ignoring stitching. I haven't stitched at home since August 18th and I'm still working on Blue Bayou by Northern Pine Designs. Forgive me for not posting a picture, but I'm writing this on my school laptop and don't have Kodak Easyshare loaded on this machine. I've been trying to go to the Barnes & Noble and Borders stitching groups, but school takes first priority.

I was talking to Carol B-C tonight and told her I know I'm entirely immersed in "school mode" because I don't think about stitching. In fact, when she and I got together Saturday night at Starbucks "to stitch" I worked on my Grammar notes while she stitched on Kind, Fond Love. Okay! It's official! I'm a nerd and a dork!

In case you're not linked to me on Facebook, I'll explain the "dork" comment. My youngest brother, Ben, uses three computers at a time. I told Mom "If I ever need three computers running at once, shoot me!" I call it "Dork Mode" because Ben is our resident computer dork. He lives online, even worse than I used to. He uses his desktop computer to run the game he's (getting paid for) working on, one laptop for IRC (technical, computer dork, chat), and one laptop for AIM chat. Why he doesn't download Trillian or another program that combines all the messengers (like *I* did), I'll never know. Whenever I have both my school and "play" laptop running at the same time, I say I'm in "Dork Mode."

Kasey's been doing great on campus and is somewhat of a celebrity. I was walking through the library last week and someone passed by, looked back, and said to the person beside them, "That must be Kasey." I thought it was very funny. I'm at a complete disadvantage, though, because people can tell right away who I am but I have no idea who they are.

Speaking of Miss Celebrity, I picked up a school newspaper at the activities fair this morning. Guess whose picture (ID Card) was smack-dab at the top of Page 3 in the article on the new, plastic (formerly paper) school ID cards? Unfortunately, no one contacted me to ask the back-story to her ID, so I'm sure people are wondering why there's a dog on an AACC student ID card. I know the article was about the school's new ID cards and they probably decided that they couldn't get in trouble for showing a dog's ID card (you know all those privacy laws), but a caption saying Kasey is the first student service dog on campus at AACC would have been explanation enough.

All that aside, I'm doing well, although I still have this &*%$ catheter in my chest. The surgeon's office called me last week to tell me the graft is on order but they don't have it yet. Until then, I'm stuck with this &*%$ catheter. I hate it!

Until next time...and I'm not saying when that will be...Ya'll take care and be safe!

Love,
Beth