back on track

Hi there world. It has been a while since I posted. Grad school and a trip to the emergency room sure got in the way.

I have officially finished my 1st semester in my masters program. I took 5 classes and received a 4.0! Not only that - but I learned truckloads about counseling and interviewing, and am almost convinced I am doing what I want to be doing. I am growing more nervous about actually working with clients, but every time we do a faux-client interview, my nerves disappear during the session. I am nervous about how I will affect people, but confident in my ability to listen and glean information.

I am taking 2 courses over the winter - 1 about counseling people with addictions and substance abuse, and 1 about counseling children who have been abused. I am looking forward to both of these classes a lot.

In three weeks my next semester starts - the semester in which I have to figure out my thesis, and the last one before we start seeing real clients. I take all of these classes with the same 25 other folks - a wonderful group of people who I have become really close to. It's a great group. Lots of energy, and really funny.


As fas the emergency room goes... on Dec. 13th I experienced some awful abdominal pain, and my husband took me to the ER. Turns out I had an ovarian cyst which ruptured and caused massive internal bleeding. Fuuunnn. I had surgery that night, and then spent the next 2 weeks in bed recuperating. Today is day number 2 that I am back at work, and day number 2 of exercising again. I can tell you - it sure made me appreciate my husband, my family, and being healthy. Not an experience I'd like to have again, but it did happen conveniently between semesters, at a time when I could take off work, and while Adam was home.


I love making resolutions, and so I usually don't do them at New Years, because I do them all the time. This year, however, I did decide to tackle an overall characteristic in as many ways as it affects my life: RELIABILITY. I am notoriously awful at this, and it makes me feel like a less-good-person. I truly desire to be the type of person who can be counted on, and who follows through.

My obstacles are that I have a hard time saying no to people - so that will be key, if I feel like I can't realistically follow through. Meanwhile, there are a few things I said I'd do in the past that I need to finish:

1. Sew a friend's shirt button back on
[do it tonight]
2. Knit a friend a dog sweater
[start by looking up a pattern and setting aside yarn for it]
3. Help my cousin with his curtains
[waiting on him to give me fabric. when that happens, set timeline/deadline.]
4. Help a friend with his curtains
[set date to go with him to buy fabric.]
5. Finish painting my aunt's chairs and dining room table
[4 down, 2 to go + table. return current chair to her, start on design for next]
6. Follow through with Fern's Garden about my felted coin purses
[take photos and email prices to her]
7. Follow through with the LB Farmers market about a place to sell my items
[ask M if he wants to share booth, call J to ask about their costs again]