Bring it on.

I'm taking on the president of my HOA. 

She's finally pushed me over the limit.  

I've had run in's with her in the past, mostly about our mailbox (there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with it, but she's determined to force us to get a new one because it doesn't match) and other silly things like a stray dog in our yard, and our grass being 1/4 of an inch too tall. Yeah, seriously. We had been on vacation for a week, and a citation was waiting in our box. Ridiculous. 

But today, i got one of her monthly emails.

She has been on a serious crime-watch kick, and has lined up self defense classes for the neighborhood for free. All fine.

But, she then added a list of "crime watch information" as she called it that was 10 pages long. 

This document listed every police call for the year of 2011, including what the call was for (domestic disturbance, rape, mental health issues, and attempted suicide were all included) and the ADDRESS where these things happened. Also, she included whether an arrest was made or not.

She also says she is going to start forwarding these documents to us monthly.

I can't even begin to tell you how much this bothers and disgusts me.  

It is an unbelievably blatant violation of all respect and privacy for everyone in our edition.  

I am furious.

I called the property manager, and they seemed pretty shocked as well.

I forwarded the email to them, and they are going to investigate and get back to me.

I can't undo the 10 pages she sent out already, but I'm going to try my darnedest to get future ones STOPPED.

Bring it on, lady, I'm done.

Loving these new tunes...

Been listening to both of these a lot lately. 

They have a very soothing groove, and I need that right now.

Things have been insane, and it's been a hard week.  

I have one last assignment to alter, and then I'm done for the semester. I'll catch everyone up on my life then. 

For now, I'm just going to keep jamming to these songs. 

And staying positive and happy, because things are finally looking up. =)

♥

Oops...

Let's face it, people.

I'm sure you were all taking bets on how long it would be before I missed a day. 

3 days.

I intended to blog, but crashed on the couch during the 11 PM news and woke up when my husband got home at 1AM.

Oh well. 

A double posting today, then.

Yesterday, I was thankful for...

Misty.

I got to chat with my good friend last night after way to long.

Our lives are pretty hectic, so it was really nice.  

We have been friends for several years, 

and even though she lives in Chicago now, 

I still consider her very close.

We share many interests, and always have awesome and interesting conversations.

I am looking forward to seeing her again (whenever that may be)

and I am so excited for her little man to get here in February! =D

And today, I'm thankful for...

Music.

The Civil Wars concert is finally here!

I'm so pumped, I've had my tickets since August.  

Music is a very important part of my life, and I'm thankful for that.

It's truly been a summer of music for us. 

We saw Amos Lee, 

Ray Lamontagne, 

and now the Civil Wars.

Three of my all-time favorites.

Man, i love Music.

♥

Mini-rant and what I'm thankful for today.

I'm going to climb up on my soapbox for a minute.

If you see something tragic from afar, 

i.e. someone get hit by a car or someone falling to their death,

don't

go home and facebook about it.

Really? A tragedy has hit that person and their whole families, and you are going to go put it up on your facebook to attract "Oh poor you" comments, and get attention from it?

It's totally cold hearted and selfish.

Okay, enough ranting for the day.

I have a ton of homework, and I am very sleep deprived, which makes me cranky. 

I almost never remember my dreams, but last night I had an extremely vivid nightmare that kept me up half the night.

So I definitely need a reminder of what I'm thankful for today, which is...

My mom.

She's coming over to take me out to dinner tonight for a much needed break.
She's also listened and been supportive of me for all of my emotional breakdowns in the last 6 months, and most of the ones before that, as well.
She has turned out to be one of the most important people in my life, and I don't know what I would do without her.

How cute are we in our Christmas Sweaters? =)

I'm so very thankful for her.
♥

It's finally November!

Well friends, I know it's been a while.

A lots been going on.

Here's the basic rundown.

As of Saturday, I no longer work at Family Video.

I am in a last chance, can't screw up, remediation class, with lots and lots of extra work, and I MUST succeed.

Or no degree.

Yep.

So, it came down to my job or the mountains of work I'm now taking on.

It's a very scary feeling, not having a job.

We'll be okay, as long as nothing super major happens that requires tons of money.

And the worst part is, I'm still not guaranteed a passing grade.

It's a whole world of unknowns right now, and that is very, very scary for me.

But,

because it is November,

and November contains Thanksgiving (which is my birthday this year, just saying),

I'm going to focus on the positives in my life.

for the next 25 days, I'm going to post one thing I'm thankful for every day.

Mostly for me.

I need to remember all of the things I'm thankful for.

So today, I'm thankful for...

Flowers.

Last week was my last week of work (which was of course hectic) and my first serious week of school (equally hectic.) To top it all off, I was sick.

Seriously sick. Like, barely functioning sick.

So, one night, husband brought these home to me.

I love them.

They've been on our table since, and 

they are so wonderful.

They are a nice little picture of brightness in my recently bleak little world.

I love flowers, especially in winter, and am especially thankful for them today.

More things I'm thankful for in the days following.

♥

Here we go again...

Well friends....

More bad things coming my way.

Over that same assignment as last time, from the same woman as last time.

Who is not my teacher.

So I'm not really sure why I'm being called to a meeting my her and my professor,

over my lack of quantity in my work.

I could go into the long, drawn out story of how I had 3 weeks less to work on it then everyone else, due to my prof changing my focus student halfway though, which was completely out of my control, and she totally knew it, but what's the point.

I'm getting screwed over here. 

End of story.

I'm kind of numb at this point.

How much worse can I feel, I was so depressed at the end of last semester that I could barely get off the couch.

I'm not going there again.

I've created a rebuttal for all of the things they said I did wrong, and I'm going to go in and present them with my head held high, because I haven't done anything wrong.

I'm also going to the dean of education, and presenting the same information.

I hope I can get through to someone.

How can one person be so determined to derail someone else's life?

If I can't continue at my school now, 

I WILL get my degree.

I am a good teacher.

It's all I've ever wanted to do.

I'll probably transfer back to BSU, and commute for a semester, which is all i should need.

This is where my strength is coming from.

Every day, I've been writing 

Romans 8:31 

on my arm.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

I'm pretty lucky to have an awesome husband who believes in me, too.

Because here we go again...

♥

Things of late...

It's been a while.

Sorry friends!

I've been uber busy. 

Here are some new events...

I (mostly) finished the class I was retaking.

What a relief.

I got (and still am) super stressed about work.

I work really hard.

A lot.

I love painting class.

And just painting in general.

It's been incredibly soothing.

I love my husband, 

and get to see him at least a little more since my class ended.

Which has been awesome.

And things are all around, average, normal, and decent.

I promise a more in-depth post soon.

I'm just enjoying life right now.

♥

I love painting class...

Some finished products...

Wine Bottles on a Tablecloth...

The same still life in monochromatic and color (don't judge my lemon, they are HARD)...

A quickly done still life (a bit rough, but I only had about an hour)...

And some works in progress...

the start of a still life, just colors blocked in and super basic shading...

And after day two, The bowl, apple in front of the bowl, front right apple in the bowl, and the back right apple in the bowl, all enhanced and shaded. (The front apple is my favorite.)

And our first potential house decor, a painting of the lighthouse we visited in St. Augustine, FL. 

If I like it enough, we will hang it in the guest bathroom, next to the blueprint Jamie bought of the same lighthouse.

Still needs some clouds, and detail work in the trees, windows, and railings, but I'm really happy with it so far. 

Taking this class=best idea ever.  

I'm so excited to discover a skill leading to something that I really enjoy, and that is relaxing and productive. It's great.

♥