Studying and studying and studying...

The title of this blog pretty much says what my last few days have been like. I haven't been the one studying, my husband has. When Darling Husband and I met, we were 2 successful college graduates who were well-entrenched in the fields of our choice. After 8 years of being a sports writer for a major local paper, DH decided that he would never make enough money doing it and he hated his editor. So he quit. Almost 2 years ago. He didn't know what he wanted to do instead, but he knew he didn't want to stay at his job with the paper any longer. I guess you might need a little background here. . . Since DH and I met, I have always made more $$ than he has. I'm a nurse, and there's a nursing shortage right now, so I have luckily been able to cash in on that. I work about 20-25 hours a week and have been able to earn enough to keep us living in the style we had become accustomed to. The last year has been hard though. DH has taken a stab at a couple of things: technical writing, vending machines, delivering mail for the USPS none of which worked out. About Christmas time last year, he decided to go to paralegal school. It was a winner and he was very good at it. His teacher even had him substituting for his own courses! I was really looking forward to DH finishing school and having a steady job when his teacher put the law school bug in his ear. So now, he is studying endlessly for the LSAT, which he's taking on December 1st. We bought a new house recently and had a third child, so the burden on me has gotten progressively heavier. About 2 weeks ago DH announced that he needed $1200 for a prep course. Talk about heavy burdens. There was no way I could come up with that kind of money in 10 days! DH took it personally, like I didn't want him to take the class or something. Hellooo? We have bills to pay and 3 children to feed! It's just getting so frustrating that I am working so hard BY MYSELF to keep us afloat and DH seems to think that the only thing for him to do is study and play his computer games. I'll tell you what, Darling Husband, if I'm signing up for 3 years and $100,000 in debt for law school, I better not see another computer game until you graduate and pass the bar.

The Screaming Banshee!

Well, it has officially happened. I am the screaming banshee. As the child of screamers and spankers, I swore off both activities when I became a parent myself. I have kept both of those promises until recently. I still don't spank, but the last 2 nights in a row, I have been the screaming banshee. A little background: for the last 4 1/2 months I have been, effectively, a single parent while my husband worked full-time swing shift and studied for the LSAT. From the time I got home from work at 11:00 am, I was alone with my 3 little men until about midnight. For a while, I really had it together: chore schedule, menu, evening routine with the kids... but since we had houseguests a few weeks ago, all the careful planning has gone to hell in a handbasket. My 2 older boys, Brandon and Nathan, aren't quite sure what to do. Last night, after asking them about 20 times to please clean up their toys, I let it rip and hollered at them. My 4 and 2- year-old looked at me, dumbfounded, before bursting into tears. The thing about yelling is that it doesn't make them obey, it's just an immature way for ME to release MY frustration. Once I calmed down and told them that the toys would all be going in the trash if they didn't pick them up, they dutifully put their things away. Also, how can I expect them to treat each other nicely and control themselves when I am setting such a bad example? But, I did what I could to smoothe things over. I apologized. I told them I was sorry for screaming at them and that I would try to do better, which was something my parents never did. When they were sayng their prayers later, Brandon blessed me to 'talk nice.' Hopefully, I can remember that little plea and keep myself in check. :-)

Almost Halloween!

You know, as a kid, I never liked Halloween. In fact, I dreaded it every year, mainly because my mom dreaded it. She hated getting 5 kids outfitted for Halloween. I distinctly remember being forced to be a pirate when I was a cute little 7 year old GIRL. But now that I'm a mother, I enjoy it. I love getting cute costumes for my boys and taking them around trick-or-treating. My two oldest boys are really into Star Wars, so this year Brandon is going as Anakin Skywalker. Whenever anyone new asks him what his name is, he tells them it's Anakin. Nathan is going as Yoda. I can't wait to paint his face green. Ian will probably go as Elmo, even though I found an adorable baby Chewbacca costume. It was $35! I can't see spending that much dough on something he'll only wear once. He looks cute in everything, though. I will be going as a mommy. I still hate dressing up. Thanks, Mom!

What a weekend!

Yikes, the title of this post does not indicate a good weekend. I have recently taken on a second job on the weekends so that we can get some bills paid off so I haven't had a whole day off in about 2 months. It was a long and exhausting weekend plus it rained all day on Saturday, so I was slogging through the rain to see all of my patients. Yuck! This morning, at 6 am promptly, my two oldest boys Brandon and Nathan came down and crawled into bed with us. Nathan then proceeded to get a bloody nose all over me. After cleaning both of us up, it was time for the alarm to go off. So I got up and got ready for work. Again. I just told my husband to give his notice at work, if he wanted to. He's been checking groceries for about 5 months, while he studies for the LSAT. He quit his job with the newspaper about 1 1/2 years ago and he's been trying to decide what he wants to do ever since. He decided to go to paralegal school, and while he was doing that, he found he really enjoyed it and was really good at it. So then, he set his sights on law school. The grocery store job was mainly a filler while I was on maternity leave, so now that I'm not, it's just a pain. Our schedules are totally opposite and we never see each other. If he quit, we could both have easier lives. Anyway, here goes another week!