My college education

On the night before Halloween, my daughter's Brownie Troop had a lock in at a preschool one of the troop leaders own. During this lock in, one of the little girls named Hanna who is best friends with me, took all the letters out of the little put the letter back where they belong toys. Well she quickly lost interest, so I stayed behind to put them back in. While I am doing this, I am sitting on this cool rug that has the states on it in different colors and all named in big letters. So Kathy sees this and gets a picture, and cracks to everybody, look this is Shane's college education you hear about! Ok that was hilarious, I will give her. But now, after all that, I had to play with legos last night for one of my classes! It is for technical writing and we are on an assignment which is writing directions. Me and my partner built a helicopter and a landing pad, and now we have to write the direction down how to rebuild it. This should be fun!

The Mail

So I got the good news that Mom is gonna need me for the USPS mail project this year! That is a big payday and I need it pretty badly. I am hoping that between this year and next, I will be able to pay my house off before law school. That will be a stressful three years I know, but the house being paid for would remove a great deal of that stress I do believe. I am looking forward to a couple of weeks of hard running and then the big payday! I have decided the treat that we are gonna allow ourselves is to get the carpet in the living room and the tile in the entry and hall way replaced with a nice laminate flooring we have found that we like. I am so excited to get the opportunity to do that!

Just what I needed day

So I have been kinda caught up in the grind here lately. Between work, school, school work, and having a wonderful family, I have been kinda neglecting myself and my need for unwinding time. Not purposely, just haven't really had time. So yesterday, I was able to have one of those days. One of my gripes, is that I get couped up inside doing things all the time. I mean with the semester in it's last throes, the professors are trying to get all the stuff they said they would get done in at the very last and I of course have procrastinated on a paper so I have that on me, and I had a ton of filing at work that I have been too busy to get to because I have a ton of other work. So when Jason called and said they wanted to go out to Devil's Den State Park and invited us along, I was pretty excited. A day out was souding awfully good. So I got up early and got over to the office and finished the filing and lawn mowing fairly early and was able to get back for a shower and change so that we could head out and have a good time. And we did too! Just exactly what I needed, get outside, play and hike and have a good time with my wife and our good friends! The mood on the way home was so light and cheery. Kathy and I joked and laughed ( well we do that all the time, but it was even funnier and laughier than usual) and had a great time on the way back. We stopped at a little dive restaraunt on Main Street Vanburen and had dinner, then we came home and hung out till i passed out! Perfect day for Shane.

Umm it's not amazing, it's my job

So I get this every once in awhile. I like to hang out with Lauren every chance I get to get one on one time with her. We may just watch some tv or we may go fishing or sometimes we go to the movies or the park, but at any rate, I give Lauren my undivided attention for a few hours and she loves it! Some people hear that and tell me how amazing that is that I do that! I don't find it amazing at all, it is my job! It is a pleasant job and I love every minute of it, but that is what you are SUPPOSED to do! And I will tell you what that does for you as a parent. One of the things that irks me is that parents want to be their childs friend now a days and will not correct them when they need it. I am not that parent. Those parents are afraid the kid will get mad at them or something. Not me. I do all the correction she needs! And here is a shocker, she never gets mad at me. In fact, in almost all cases, she winds up in my lap loving on me within half and hour of me getting on to her or spanking her or whatever needed to be done. Kids like boundaries and rules. It gives them a sense of security to know what will happen and what is expected of them. Geez people, if you just invest your time in a child, they are a endless resource of love and happiness!

Isn't it strange?

So I was driving down the road the other day and just kinda started thinking, like I always do, and it dawned on me. Before I began dating and then married Kathy, I was a totally different person. Before Kathy and Lauren, I was not a holiday person. They were just days off work for me. I never participated in Halloween, I did like Thanksgiving, never decorated for Christmas, all these seemed like wastes of time to me. But, I remember, our very first Christmas in the house, I couldn't wait to do the yard ornaments! I am a very fortunate man in that my parents spoil me! Glenn used to decorate their house in the country and it was sooo gorgeous, but when they moved to town, they had too much stuff to put in their yard. So, I got the benefit of that and was able to decorate my lawn with stuff! But my favorite thing is that Kathy and I host Thanksgiving. I love to have everyone over, Kathy cooks up a big ol' meal, with the moms pitching in too ( not a meal without Momma's dressing and potato salad!).

But I have strayed from my point. I have changed so incredibly since the girls have come into my life. And I believe it is all for the better. I use to be a pretty selfish guy, most everything was about me. Having my girls, now I think mostly of them and how I can make their life better and easier. And I get the benefits of them spoiling me too! Just last night, I came home to a meal fit for a king that they had both cooked for me. As I sat and savored the 15 bean soup and mexican corn bread, it made me realize that this is what life is about. Yeah, I don't have the unfettered freedoms I used to when I was single ,but who the heck wants that! Not me!

So close!

So I finally sat down the other day to work out my spring schedule for school. I got my degree plan out and started to fill in where all my classes were gonna be and it dawned on me. Once I am done with spring, I only need 5 classes to graduate! I could easily get that taken care of by taking 1 class in the summer and the last four in the fall! I became ecstatic at the thought of finishing my bachelors up! I think alot of my family and friends thought I was not nearly excited enough about my associates degree, and that may be true. But I promise you, when the time comes for me to walk that walk for my bachelors, excitement will not be an issue! I got a little giddy just thinking about it while typing!

Hidden Blessings

Sometimes, unbeknownst to us, we have blessings that we don't see as blessings. For example, I was feeling a bit ill yesterday. I had been up for a good part of the night with stomach problems, so as a result, I was asleep on the couch when everyone else got out of bed. I wound up staying home from work to try to catch up on sleep and hope the stomach problems would stop. Well little did I know, but my wife and mother suddenly had it in their heads that since I am not lazy and never miss work, I must be hella sick! I have to admit, this annoyed me. I was harped on for harped on by my Mom to get to the doctor, and eventually my wife got in on the act. Well I eventually acquiesced, but with much reservation. Well one of the things that came from the doctors visit was that I decided to write down all the health issues I was currently having and bring them all up while I was there. I did that and I even talked at length with him about my anxiety. He thought about it and discussed the idea of prozac with me. I have a huge dislike for pills and especially pills like prozac. I decided that my anxiety had gotten to the point I had to try something. so here we go!