School is in session

This post should be a short post cause I'm tired and need sleep!

School is officially back in session.  Our first class online was last week, our first on campus class was today.  Both of my classes have 13 students in there (including me) so they will be smaller and more open to discussions that most of us will feel comfortable in.  I'm not sure how I feel about the readings and assignments yet, but I have a couple more weeks to make an opinion on those completely. 

I start my new practicum tomorrow morning.  I'll be there Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 8am-4pm.  I'll be working in a Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility.  I won't put the name due to confidentiality.  I'm not 100% positive what  I will be doing, but it sounds like I'll be learning intakes, assessments, group therapy, family therapy, individual therapy, maybe some equestrian therapy and stuff with the ropes course.  The first few days/weeks will be spent doing orientation type stuff, but hopefully it picks up quickly and I learn quickly.  I'm terrified, yet excited at the same time.  Wish me luck!

Everything else in July

As you could see, my months of June and July were kind of crazy with the things I had going on...but the days I didn't have anything going on meant I sat at home on my couch.  The end of July marked the end of my summer class.  I got an A (high A) in the class and loved that it helped bring my G.P.A up from that B I had last semester.  I LOVED the class and wish that instructor taught more classes.  I would make the 3 hour drive just to have a class with him. 

The end of July also meant the 2nd birthday without Crystal.  She would have turned 27 on July 30th, so we had a birthday party for her.  I made some rum flavored cupcakes...okay there may have been a LOT of rum in them!  We had a little BBQ with family and friends and had a good time for the most part.  I stayed sober because I was driving and on new medication.  We left when all the drinking started because I don't have a desire to be around drunk people.  I'm over that phase of my life.  I don't mind if people have a few beers around me, but taking shot after shot after shot....on top of all those beers...just not my thing.  I guess someone has to be the grown-up.  Unfortunately Crystal's oldest son, Jaydan, wasn't able to make it to the party.  His dad had some car trouble up in Ohio and couldn't get the car fixed in time.  We missed seeing him, but understand the situation.  The following day my mom and I took flowers and a cupcake over to Crystal's grave site and left them there for her.  It's definitely gotten a lot easier to go over there and see her...if I have someone else with me.  If I go alone, I'm a sobbing mess.  I think the family needs to go visit her more often though because her grave looks crappy now that things have been taken down/stolen/etc.  Sadly my grandma is buried at the cemetery right down the road from Crystal, but I haven't been to see her in a while.  I need to start making a plan to go see them both more often. 

Okay so that marked the end of July (that I can remember).  Oh wait, the last day of July we got decent news.  Kyle finally got a rating from the VA.  He got a decent rating for a first try, but we found some discrepancies in the VA report b/c the doctor wrote incorrect information.  Now the VA is telling us that the information cannot be amended by the doctor and will forever be in there incorrectly.  We are going to meet with someone about everything next week to see what we can do and to see how to file another claim since they are saying his hearing loss and respiratory issues are not service connected.  Ummm pretty sure the hearing loss came from having an IED blown up right outside the door of his vehicle...and the respiratory issue is why he was medically retired to begin with.  Ugh I hate fighting the black tape to get anything done.  He's still not on PTSD meds because his psychiatrist went on vacation and apparently has decided she doesn't want to return phone calls or send the meds now that she is back.  I don't understand, but I know we have to keep fighting all the bullshit.  Oh another note, we are trying to get Kyle in to see his primary care doctor on post.  His liver enzymes are really high still and they are saying the ultrasound showed signs of fatty liver disease....therefore meaning someone needs to check it out.  The VA is the one who found all this stuff but they won't even address it or treat him for it.  Pretty sure I might sue the VA if my husband dies from fatty liver disease and nobody was willing to treat him for it.  Ugh.  I'm trying to stay positive though.  Lord knows he seems to be in a permanently bad mood about things.  He doesn't think he's acting different, but I can see it as clear as the words I'm typing right now.  He is also not sleeping well.  He tosses and turns so much that it keeps me awake half the night.  I just wish they would prescribe the medications and that they help him because he can't sustain himself on this level of anger with the world. 

So that was July....I'll move on to August in another post. 

Friday Blog Hop

Well, I realize it's Thursday, but tomorrow I'll be busy writing my final paper for this semester...therefore I won't have time to post this.  I finally finished my second attempt at my HBSE paper and submitted it this evening.  I had until this weekend to finish it, but I wanted to devote all of my energy to it today and just get it done.  So it's finished, submitted, and ready to be graded.  Now I am officially done with my Research Methods and my HBSE classes.  I have to write my final paper for my practice class and I will be finished with the semester.  My last day of class was yesterday, which was kind of bitter sweet because I'm going to miss my classmates.  We had a lot of fun this semester, amidst all the stress.  My goal is to work late into the night tonight and work all day tomorrow to get this paper finished.  Then I'll Saturday to proofread and edit the paper and submit it by 9:00 p.m.  Then I will be finished with my first year of grad school. 

Random thought...to calm me down and prevent from over stressing today, I baked a pie...from scratch (minus the pie shell b/c I had one in the freezer that I needed to use).  I made a pumpkin pie, and now I am getting everything ready to finish making dinner.  I'm using my hubby's recipe, but I'm making homemade enchilada casserole for dinner.  This is a big feat for me since I rarely cook.  I'm hoping everything turns out delish and it ends up being a wonderful evening. 

Frustrated

Not going to post anything super long or crazy here because I just don't have the energy.  I finally finished everything for my Research Methods and HBSE classes yesterday and last night.  I have spent the last week working on this paper for my HBSE class, and have spent the last 3 days working well into the night (talking 3-4am).  Got everything submitted and was relieved...among other things.  I figured I would take today to clean my house that I've neglected for about 3-4 weeks now...and then tomorrow I would start working on my final paper for my Practice class.  Well Kyle and I were pondering what to do for lunch and I got a dreadful email.  Without going into many details, I may have to find 12 new references and redo my paper that I just submitted.  I have a phone conference with my teacher in the morning to find out what the plan will be.  I'm so frustrated about all of this because the syllabus said we could use this database called 'Social Work Abstracts' and that everything from there would count as a social work reference.  Apparently that's not the case and we were only supposed to use specific social work journals.  I want to just say "oh well" and take the grade that I'll get if I don't change it...but this paper is worth 40% of my grade...meaning if I get lower than a B, I'll get a C or below in the class.  We can be put on academic probation for C's and below.  So I'm going to have to do whatever it takes to fix the paper...hopefully she won't make me do too much to it.  Then on top of everything else...I still have to do my other paper (12-14 pages) and get that finished this week.  I did a lot of crying today because I'm just so frustrated...it's days like this that make me wonder I chose to go to Grad School.

There is so much going on right now though, that I'll have to update tomorrow after I find out what I need to do.  For now I have a horrible sinus/stress headache.  I'm going to play farmville for about 20 minutes and go watch Army Wives.  They always make me smile!