I brought it on myself, I think.

For the past (almost) year, I've been back in school, taking anywhere from 10-13 credits per semester, and maintaining a 3.6 GPA. (Which I happen to think is pretty good considering my age AND all the distractions I have in life!) What I think is interesting is that although I had a lot of homework, and sometimes it was a struggle to get things done, I never felt like the work was hard. That I had to think very hard to get it done. (well, except for the last 2 chapters of the algebra class I was trying to teach myself while in Europe!)

But about the time I came back from Europe, something happened. I'm not sure exactly what, but things are not going so smoothly. No, it's not related to the adoption. I'm only taking 2 classes, but one of them is supposed to be 15 weeks and I'm taking the condensed course in 7. It's a 3 credit class, so normally about 6 hours of homework per week if it were 15 weeks. Instead that one class is closer to 12 hours of homework per week. Oh, and it just happens to be about the philosophers like Aristotle, and those guys. Some of you may have noticed this before I did, but I've just discovered I'm NOT a deep thinker, and most of this material is WAY OVER MY HEAD! Based on my current grade, with only 3 weeks left in the class I'll be lucky to pass it.

Then there is Algebra. It's not COMPLETELY over my head yet. I've actually been o.k.  until this week, when we've started slopes and intercepts, and junk like that. I intended on spending a lot of time with the tutor this week, but I haven't had time! Alas, I have to take the ACT's this weekend, the practice test has A LOT of slope problems on it! UGH!

Here is what THIS week was like for me:

Monday:

• Drop Angela off at school 
• doctor appointment for me
• 2 hours of class
• meet with handman guy who's going to do some handyman type work around here. 
• 4 hours of homework before I gave up and went to bed.

Tuesday:

• Drop Angela off at school
• 2 hours of class
• shop for Angela's birthday party supplies (who committed me to this party, anyway? Shees!)
• 4 + hours of homework
• drive 50 miles round trip to pick up guardian dog.
• spend an hour introducing guardian dog to the other dogs, making sure everyone gets along without problems.

Weds:

• Drop Angela off at school
• Drive 60 miles round trip to take said dog to eye specialist to get her eyes certified for breeding (they're perfect, THANK YOU GOD!)
•  Come home and make house presentable for meeting with Angela's social worker
•  Dean take Roman to different vet for different certification. (I'm sure you're dying to know this, but Roman had an appointment with the vet's HAND so he could get a semen analysis done. Fun! NOT!) 
• 4:00 Tyler calls. He can't find a ride to our house, so I drive 40 miles round trip to pick him up so he can join us for Angela's family birthday dinner at Applebees
• Go to said dinner (wait around for Dean and who went to wrong Applebees)
• Stop at Target on the way home and exchange too-large birthday gift plus pick up gifts for a couple people at school that I forgot about.
• Drop Angela off at home with Dean
• Drive 40 miles round trip to bring Tyler home
• 11:00 p.m. start my homework, and stop fighting my closing eyes at about 1:00 a.m.

Thursday:

• Drop Angela off at school
• Run back home because I forgot information that I need for the next appointment.
• Bring TWO dogs to the vet for hip and elbow x-rays (necessary for breeding.) 
• Bring both dogs back home
• Fill out additional paperwork that must go BACK to vets later today.
• Run to school for 2 hour class.
• Run forms back to the vet clinic so they can send off xrays to the necessary places ASAP.
• Go BACK to the other side of town to spend 2 hours with the math tutor. (huge help! THANK YOU GOD!)
• Run home for a couple hours of homework time (waiting for rush hour to end to do next item)
• Rush hour over, so drive 50 miles round trip to bring guardian dog back to her home.
• Get Angela to bed
• Look around and realize there is a party here tomorrow night (Angela's sleepover with friends) and my basement is a disaster. 

BUT WAIT, IT'S ONLY THURSDAY! Silly me, there are a couple days left this week!

Friday:

• Drop Angela off at school
• Go to doctor appointment for me
• Drop off sports camp registration that I've forgotten about and is now overdue but they said they'd take it. 
• Pick up stuff for my brother's dog that he can't get up there, bring it along on Friday.
• Try to remember to follow up on Monday's appt. which means scheduling another one!
• Stop and get Angela a birthday gift. (almost forgot the gift!) pick up a movie for the kids to watch
• Dean will come home from work and make Angela's cake, cuz she's been asking for HIM to make it. (smart kid knows mom sucks at baking.)
• Decorate for birthday party.
• HAVE birthday party
• While these lovely young ladies are enjoying some quiet time in front of the movie (AFTER the fun stuff we're doing!) I'll be putting in some homework time.

Saturday:

• Up at 6:00 a.m.
• TAKE THE ACT's!!!!!! 
• Dean and Angela's PCA will send overnight girls home around 8:-9:00 a.m.
• When test is done, come home and pack for Angela to go to camp.
• Dean's family reunion on the other side of the city.
• Make middle of the night Walmart run for whatever Angela needs for camp that I had forgotten about.

Sunday:

• Drive 4 hours to Northern Minnesota to bring Angela to camp.
• Hang out for a little bit while she gets aclimated. (ROFL, she's been saying all week, "You just drop me off, right?" as in "Don't even think that I will be seen with my MOTHER at camp!"
• Drive 45 minutes to my parents home and spend the night there.

Now, you might think that once I drop Angela off at camp, my life will settle down a little bit. NOT ON YOUR LIFE!!!! In fact, it will get MORE hectic for about another 2 weeks. That's when my very difficult class is done and I can breathe a tiny bit easier.  But just a tiny bit, because things will ramp up pretty quickly again about the 4th of July.