Early December, waiting on news and planning holidays

It's December now, and the weather has decided to make this known. The roads were a bit nasty last night; I'm glad Tadhg was driving. If I had been going myself I think I would have called my in-laws and apologetically canceled going to dinner.

I'm awaiting word from IU on whether I've been accepted, how much of what I took in Georgia will transfer, and when I can register. SCAD took forever and a month to get my Rising Star transcript out. I've decided to go for a Bachelor of Arts in History, with a minor in International/European Studies. I'm nervous, but I'm really looking forward to it. I'm slowly getting things together, working on getting a space cleaned up so I'm not just doing my homework in the living room, etc. I have a list of classes that I've looked up and a few backups in case they fill up before I can get to them. Unfortunately, one that I am really interested in has already closed. :( It's full, with 8 people on the wait list.

Work is going fairly well. I think I am finally making headway with my second graders as to discipline and behavior, which means we can make swifter progress with the actual reading skills. Huzzah! This week they'll be working to earn their holiday pencils on friday.

On the medical front.. well, shoddy weather makes things hard. I have an appointment with my rheumatologist in about two weeks so we'll see what is up there. I'm still using my chair when I go out to the mall or am working at another school that requires going from class to class. Outside of that, it varies. I had a sinus infection for a while, followed by a nasty stomach bug, but am finally germ free. I hope.

I did the early Black Friday stuff, and was actually able to get most of what I was hunting for. My biggest savings item was a king sized featherbed at Kohl's. Normally they are $200, and I paid $45. *snoopydance!* It's made the bed much warmer and nicer. I also managed to net a couple of Tadhg and my favorite style of blanket, and found a lot of gifts for other people. I have a couple of projects I'm still finishing, and I think.. two gifts left to find. Then I just have to wrap stuff and get it in the mail! :) The only things I can't do -early- are the baked goods. Stale cookies, not so much..

If you want to get me something for Christmas/Yule (or my Birthday!) and do not know what to get, gift cards to Amazon.com are always welcome. I also have a wishlist with Amazon here. You can have them shipped to my address directly, and if you buy something using the button on the wishlist page, then it will remove it from the list so no one double-buys. (I can't see what has and hasn't been purchased during the holiday season, so don't worry about spoilers!) Our current address is in South Bend. If you have a different city listed, then you have the old address. Please reply to this post if you need the new one. :) Mawmaw, I sent you things that are not on that list because I know you don't do straight store shopping online.

Ok, now that I'm done being all commercial and stuff... I'm trying to get some schedules together so I can plan out who I can see when while we are in Atlanta. Tadhg won't be there as long as I am, because he has work over part of winter break. We are planning on going to visit my great-grandmother if we can get transportation up there by borrowing my parents' car or something. She gets tickled pink when we do, and Tadhg isn't able to get down to Georgia very often. Mom's going to try and get back to me later today about her schedule and what is going on. We aren't getting into Atlanta until the afternoon of Thursday the 27th, and he flies back out early morning on January 1st.

Greetings!

The holiday season is coming up fast. We had beautiful weather the last few weeks, but it's gotten much colder. We're starting to get some of those solid gray days. We had our first snow flurries of the season on Tuesday. The didn't stick to anything and were generally of the size that people who grew up here don't even acknowledge, but it still counts. ^_^

The house has gotten a bit chaotic. I'm working on getting it cleaned up so I can really do holiday decorations this year. Part of the cleaning is going through stuff that didn't get unpacked. T_T Like most of my sweaters. I really need those now!

Work is going great. :) If you missed it, I'm now tutoring elementary school students (K-4) in reading (and writing, spelling, etc.) It would be nice if the job had a few more hours, but I really like it. We primarily use the Wilson Reading Program. I see most of my students by grade level for just shy of an hour, three days a week. Kindergarten is split into morning and afternoon; they get half an hour each. We work in small groups, and it's awesome to see the kids make gains.

I hope to start college classes again in January. I'm still waiting on some pending paperwork. Oh, the joys of chasing that stuff down. I'm still debating between an English major and History major, but I'm starting to lean toward the latter.

I've been getting around alright, but the weather shift brings the problems that it usually does. I see my rheumatologist next week and am going to ask her to shift my medicines some. She'd lowered one of them, and that's just not working. I have had to use the cane a little bit around the house this week, but for the most part don't need to. I alternate between using my cane and the wheelchair when I'm out doing things. The kids at school think my lightup wheels are neat. :)

Speaking of all the stuff around the house, I'd best get to it!