Baby, it's cold outside!

Ok. First things first. I can't believe it's been a year since I wrote last. Insanity! Life has been so busy and hectic...yadda yadda yadda. Same thing everyone says. School, kids, home, etc. Life happens. Apparently, writing didn't.

BUT: I'm here. Again. And I'm planning on writing more. It's cathartic. And besides, I enjoy it. So, for anybody out there reading...here goes.

So, where are we? Well, it's 2014, and we are currently barricaded in our house. The "Polar Vortex" (or whatever this bizarre weather anomaly is) has made it a balmy -8°F, which is-36°F with the wind chill. For those playing along at home, accounting for wind chill, we had an over 80° temperature swing in 24 hours. Needless to say, we are not leaving the house today. Maybe ever. We have food in the freezer. I even bought an extra gallon of milk and loaf of bread, like everyone else in the tristate area. In my moment of planning-ahead brilliance, decided to put it in the garage, figuring it's a suitable place. It's now frozen. Hey, at least we don't have to worry about it spoiling out there...

Polar Vortex? I don't know. Kinda sounds like something SyFy would come up with. Next movie, maybe?

Other than that, let's see. Older daughter is now 7 (almost 8), in 2nd grade...and pretty much tests the limits of my sanity on a daily basis. She's a typical  sassy elementary student, I know. But it really would be nice if she did ANYTHING that I've asked her to do without fighting me. I need to buckle in, because the preteen/teenage years should be a real blast.

Baby is almost 2...and wow. She's growing so fast! It's really hard to admit that she's now a toddler and starting to want independence. She wants to do everything her big sister does (naturally!). She protests having her food cut into pieces and fed to her - she HAS TO feed herself. Well, now that I think about it, she protests just about everything if it's not her idea. I think they call that being spirited (PC way to say she's a pain in the ass neck)? However, as they say, I wouldn't trade her or her sister for the world. As crazy as they make us, they also complete our lives.

Lastly, school. Ohhhh, school.  I was pursuing a Bachelors Degree in Psychology, until my advisor dropped a bomb on me at the end of spring semester. My university was in the process of creating a Masters in Counseling/Art Therapy, which is exactly what I want to do! My options were: continue on and finish the last 2 semesters of the Psych degree, or apply to the grad program, since I had all the requirements filled. I got my art portfolio online, took the GREs (great googly moogly, it really sucked doing that on short notice), got my reference letters, etc. I was accepted into the program, only to find out they were putting it on hold for a year so it could be evaluated and accredited by the Art Therapy people. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions! As it turned out, they agreed to put me in the Counseling program (Community Counseling track), and will switch to the new program once the University gets it's shit together gets it up and running. Finished the first semester of 3 classes with a 3.8 GPA. Not shabby, I'll take it. :)

So, in a nutshell, that's been our past year. Everyone is caught up and up to date... Stay tuned...