The Penguin Papers

Just a side note: I'll write on and off here for the next little while, hopefully with more regularity than in the past, but keep your eyes out for changes here at The Penguin Papers - a new look, a new home. I'm hoping to have this done within the next few weeks and certainly before classes resume, barring any major life interruptions. One can only hope. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

So, huh. It'll be October in just a few hours and just today I realized that it's been several months since I've posted. The summer flew by and I'm still wondering where it went, even though I know the answer to that question, anyway. My absence initially coincided with the flurry that was summer semester, the eight weeks of chaining myself to a widely varied number of nursing textbooks. Summer classes ended in early August so I began my "summer vacation" later than everyone else in the house. Now it's time to prepare myself for the grind that will be the remainder of my Associates Degree in Nursing program. I'm anxious to get started but also wary of what I'll become once classes begin. This summer was lost to the books. I spent easily 5-6 hours a day studying, sandwiched in between hour-long jaunts to my parents' pool to cool off with the kids. So, now it's time to gear up for October 20, when I start the remainder of my Associates Degree...

My very first. This one I got from my girlfriends list earlier today. These things usually make me giggle because it's so, um, junior high in a lot of ways, but I'm, um, junior high in a lot of ways, so I guess it's okay. Oh, yeah, must tag someone I suppose so I choose Jim , the lucky guy, with the proviso that whomever he tags must get back to me. :) And I nearly forgot - one word answers, please. Alrighty, here 'tis: 1. Where is your cell phone? Desk 2. Where is your significant other? Desk 3. Your Mother? Pool (thought I was going to say desk, didn't you?) 4. Your father? Driveway 5. Your favorite thing? :) 6. Your dream last night? School 7. Your favorite drink? Wine 8. Your dream/goal? FNP 9. The room you're in? Office 10. Your fear? Heights 11. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Clinic 12. Where were you last night? home 13. What you're not? tall 14. Sandwich? Quesadilla 15. One of your wish list items? laptop 16. Where ...

Yep, new title. I think it fits me better than the last one, which was a half-hearted attempt at coming up with something witty without a lot of forethought. We'll see how long I stick with this one. :)

Title change ahead. :)

Just a little mind dump today. I'm studying for a microbiology test that I'm sure I will do well on but still - I'm feeling a certain amount of pressure to do better than I have been doing. It's not like CIS class, where it's fun, I'm learning and I know I'll do well, but now the stakes are higher. When I was a kid I thought often about wanting to be a doctor. I can't say I'm sorry that my life followed the path it did - I'm happy with my life. I have a great husband and kids, supportive parents and siblings. But, as a teen had I had a little better idea of what I could accomplish I would've chosen a different path. More math, more science, and not be so wrapped up in the elusive teen girl things. I should've known (and did, down in my heart)that I was different - not your average teen girl. But sometimes the goals of a 16 year-old don't dovetail with truly adult goals/needs. So, I didn't go the med school path. Whatever. But, I c...

Powered By Miami Limo Now off to see the eye doc and be blind for the next few hours. Woohoo.

Yeah, what Jim said

And yes, the letter finally came a few weeks ago. I'm a nursing student, once again. Details later. Go me!

Jim and I are sitting in our respective cubes in our joint office listening to Christmas music. It's Christmas Eve Eve and tonight I had the privilege of singing with the worship band at church, and now my husband is treating me to the sounds of childhood. Since a first-grader I have spent the bulk of the Yuletide season preparing for a performance of some kind or another. As a child it was the all-school Christmas Program, for which much preparation took place. It seemed that for weeks and WEEEKKKSS classes were suspended for the joy of sitting in church in intense boredom until it was time for whatever group I was in to do its thing and then back to boredom in the pews. But, I remember, even as a young kid, being rocked by the emotion of the performance: being in front of a packed church, spotlights on, and hoping/praying that I would/could remember all of the lines or lyrics of whatever we were doing at the time. And loving every minute of it. Then, the high school years. Unles...

I am going to go out of my everlivin' mind if the letter doesn't get here soon!! What letter, you may ask? Why, the letter that will tell me whether or not I get to start the last part of my RN program in January or not! :) I was told when I applied to the program that I would find out toward the latter part of November and I'm probably hurrying it, thinking that letters should go out before Thanksgiving break. So, like an expectant dad in the waiting room, I pace in front of the mailbox most afternoons I'm home and dash for the 'box as soon as I get home from work. This will dictate what classes I will take in January. It will either be Some nursing class with clinical OR Microbiology and possibly Nutrition and Developmental Psychology. (The last 2 I may not have to retake since I took them in LPN school.) Registration is already open, so I want to get on with it and get registered for everything as early as I can get moving. Now it's just the classic hurry up...

A few quick notes: 1)Good weekend, got some things accomplished, got to spend some time with Morgann and both my moms, AND got my desk cleaned off for the most part. All good. 2)Church was good tonight. I'm really starting to feel comfortable with the band and feel like I have a place in it. 3)Great dinner at Mom and Dad Lehmer's. I ate too much. ;) 4)Nice note from Morgann on my hostess card at the Mary Kay party today. Very sweet. Good day.

Good day. Woke up late, thought it was 8ish judging from the fullness of my bladder (confession: it's a rare night when the necessity to void rears it's ugly head later than 2am) but when I came upstairs and Morgann was already sitting in front of our kitchen kiosk. I thought *she* was up unusually early until I noticed the clock above her head, which read 10:21am. The younger monkeys were at their dad's this weekend, so it was me, Jim and Morgann in the house by ourselves today and it was really good. We all worked on housework which forced the issue of when I was going to clean off my very neglected desk (it looks so much better now), and then Morgann and Jim went futon shopping. This is actually a big occurrence in our household because it means Morgann has decided that she is going to be here for a while. And while I'm somewhat mourning the loss of my Office, I am glad that she has decided to be a fulltime member of the family - a long-overdue decision, to be sure. ...

Good day at work...which is special considering that work has been extremely stressful lately. But today was a good day. Tomorrow I shall blog about finally achieving an item on My List...you know, the list of things I've always wanted to accomplish if given a chance.

Hmm, I'm going to try this....http://nablopomo.ning.com The first entry is one I actually wrote at the beginning of September but wasn't able to post until now. 9/8/07 63%. Okay, 63% of 18 years, roughly, the portion of time Erin will spend growing up, being a kid at home. She began Junior High school this year and I was okay with it up until Open House night. Now, if you don't know what Open House is, let me tell you that it can be an evening fraught with anxiety for a parent, especially if their child is starting a new phase of their education. Which Erin did, and it must be known that her mother was a bundle of nerves. But, I get ahead of myself. This entire last summer I watched, with a glow of joy and pride, a young girl beginning her change from being an awkward kid to a budding young lady, coming into her own with all the changes and accomodations inherent in all pubescent girls. She is becoming a woman. So, I was okay with that, accepting the inevitable and marvelin...

Look - New! Improved! page template. Only the 3rd one I've used with only 5 posts to show for the entire blog. I keep thinking that one of these days I'm going to write my own template (if Blogger allows that?) but then I also think I'm going to post on this damned thing, so there you go. At any rate, this particular template was inspired by my friend Shannon 's latest post about her trip to Outer Banks, NC. Looks like a great place, glad they had a good time. Today I finished reading, or in my husband's language, obsessing, about a new blog I discovered just a few days ago. Julie is funny, smart, insightful, and knows how to swear with such expertise that puts me, a champion pottymouth, to shame. Julie and her husband Paul have navigated the waters of infertility, ART, and raising a preemie son with grace, humor and aplomb. Can't wait to read more. Life goes on here. We had a parenting shake-up earlier in the summer resulting in my ducklings coming home to ro...

I'm not in a good space today. Maybe it's just hormones; I never know when the old period is going to show up. Anyway, I feel sad, irritated, and bitchy. I hate feeling this way even when I feel the reasons behind it are justified. So, Jim now has a blog. My discovering this was actually somewhat of an event. A few nights ago he was typing away at something which in and of itself is not unusual. He's always got a post in his head for the Salon, the email list he started many years ago, or something related to work. I'm used to waking up in the morning hearing his keyboard clacking away. I asked him if he was posting in his blog, just jokingly and he said no. I didn't think anything else about it until later when I found an email in my inbox entitled "I lied". Apparently he's had the blog for 2 months and I never knew. The content of it is not an issue; he's been writing about faith-based issues that he has and how he is working through them. The is...

I'm not sure who originally wrote this, but it was posted on my fave message board and I found it to be a rather timely piece and quite funny, considering my mood of late. Dear Mr. Thatcher, I have been a loyal user of your Always maxi pads for over 20 years, and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core or Dri-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or Salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your Revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants. Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from "the curse"? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my "time of the month" is starting right now. As I type, I can al...

So, it's just over a year late and I finally decided to change the color of this silly thing to blue instead of pink. I didn't end up participating in the 3-day last year for various reasons, mostly because I chose to go back to work because now the goal is to get our debt paid down so that I can..... (drum roll, please......) Go back to school. Yep, I've decided to launch myself into academia once again and finally (FINALLY!) finish where I left off in pursuing my RN after I had to quit when pregnant with Jon and Gloria. Other than that, life is continuing to roll along. We're heading right into birthday season with the twins on March 18 then Morgann on the 27th. Big one for Morgie this year - 21! She's had sort of a bum year with lack of employment and now a lack of vehicle but hopefully her 22nd year will hold better things for her. I can't say I think all of her choices so far in adulthood have been good ones, but I'm proud of her for hanging in there an...

So, one of the fun things about setting up a blog is finding all the different templates that are available. I thought, since this is about training for the 3-Day that I would choose something with a pink theme. I hadn't bargained, however, on Pepto-Bismol pink. I'll keep it for a while, just for giggles, though. Damn, though - it's PINK! So, yeah - I'm going to take a 60-mile walk over a 3-day period in September of this year in St. Paul, MN to raise bucks for Breast Cancer. I hadn't know about the 3-Day until I met a great gal who had participated before while researching the Walk for a news article (Hi reporterbabe!). After reading what reporterbabe had to say about the Walk and her enthusiasm for it, I let her know that if she wanted to try it again I was game for doing it with her. It wasn't too long before we were scheming to recruit more team members from the parenting board we belong to (www.Sybermoms.com), hoping to get a few more people involved. It sn...