oh my

Well, well... some time to write. We here at the G/S household have been a load of fun lately! Yesterday, I woke up at 6:30 to let the dog out and feed her...and promptly started in on my thesis work. Of course I did go back to bed for an hour or so, but really, aside from two appointments (chiro and orthopedist) and a few trips to Home Depot, I worked on it until 1am. So far on Chapter 2 (the literature review that has had me banging my head against a wall for the past year and a half) I have 45 pages. I expect this chapter to be 60+ pages when I am done, so I've got a little ways yer. I truly have never EVER used my brain and entire being as much as I have for my master's thesis, but this is it I suppose--the difference between your bachelor's and master's--this time I am giving back to my profession., not just taking...becoming an expert in something, actually doing primary research and not just lookin up what others have written and regurgitating it (although that is the purpose of Chapter 2). I have several incentives for getting done: 1) My family won't have to listen to me talk about how I need to work on it; 2) I will get paid more; 3) Any further grad classes will finally count to getting paid even more (I'm to my limit now until I graduate with the MAEd); 4) If I don't finish by January, I will have to pay another $1400 for the capstone course; 5) I can possibly start into more creative endeavors again, like making jewelry and making some $ from it; 6) My brain will be back...except for the fact that I hear it departs when you get pregnant and possibly for the next 18 years, so even though I'm not pregnant yet, don't expect much for the next 20 years or so =)

Stephen has gotten himself into quite a mess. To take you back a bit, we are redoing our basement (I'll post photos sometime) and in the stage of waiting for more electrical bids as it will be around $2000 to wire and any little less from a company would be grand). So in the waiting process, we decided to paint in the kitchen and hallway. After an expensive trip to Hirschfield's (where we purchased paint that is bad for us) we began our journey into secondary home improvement (the primary job being in the basement). Painting isn't easy. Tape, remove all the face plates, remove the vents (and buy new ones b/c the old ones were nasty), remove all the woodwork, prime, paint, try to miter some new woodwork *chair rails* made from plasticy-balsa stuff, put it all together, and voila, a nice new kitchen and hallway four days later. Then there was the table set in the kitchen with the hunter green paint that, mmm, didn't do much for the light blue and cream.

So began Stephen's journey. He decided to strip the paint, which may be easy on flat surfaces, but on chairs with the little dowels in the back part and non-straight legs, not quite. He was up until 1:30am and is still working on removing the paint right now. Let's just say that when we redo the cupboards in the kitchen, it will be a cinch compared to the bastard table and chairs. I'm more prone to spray paint or NEW tables and chairs, but Stephen, the hard-worker-and-good-follow-througher he is won't give up until they are done. And they will look nice. We hope.

Abbs comes back today at around 4pm. Can't wait...we have great Saturday nights, sometimes karaoke, always Saturday Night Live (unless she's grounded from it, just twice though) and it seems so quiet when she's not here. Things have been going well with her lately; she's really excited for 5th grade and is constantly asking Stephen and I for advice on boys and all sorts of other things. It has been so much fun to watch her grow into a young lady and seeing her become more independent and inquisitive. She's chomping at the bit to go camping in the pop-up and wants to invite a friend with sometime this summer. Lately she wants to golf and go curling with Stephen, croquet and biking. It's great to watch a child open their wings (so to speak, that sounds so cheesy, but it's true). Last week she had a plan for a "new self" at her new school next year (which as a good stepmomI would never indulge--the plan or the school =) what her fav. color will be, what her fav. bands will be, etc. Reminded me of myself....I was forever writing up little plans like that when I was about 4th - 7th grade. I was glad to see that her's didn't include anything focusing on body size...which mine too often did.

Anyhoo, I need to go get her Easter basket and (blech) peeps and (yea) chocolate for tomorrow morning. Stephen is making a hunt for her, something she completely loves. AND, we are going to the Universalist church with my parents, sister and her family! Will be the first Easter not at a Lutheran church! Makes more sense to me overall, but should be interesting. Thanks for listening, MS