This post is going to be a bit like a diary entry, covering everything that’s been going on in my (Leslie’s) life for the past week.
Last week I started my third quarter of classes in the Marketing MS program at Simon. I am taking Econometrics and Marketing, both of which meet one night a week for about three hours. When these classes are over in the beginning of June, I will have finished all the core requirements for the Masters program and will only have seven more classes to take. It’s only the first week but already I can see that two classes while working full time is going to be a stretch, especially in the econ class where I am less confident in what I am doing. I would like to continue taking two at a time though, because then I will be totally done by next Spring and can graduate in June 2010.
With my classes, volunteering, and work schedule I am gone for over twelve hours three days a week, often leaving at 9:00AM and getting home around 9:30PM. I still love volunteering and don’t want to give that up, but it’s definitely been a strain to be out that late so often. Going to the shelter on Friday nights makes my whole week happier. I love seeing how grateful the animals are when we care for and play with them, and love seeing them placed into friendly homes. I was actually called about a part time job at the shelter but my class schedule doesn’t look like it will match with the times they wanted someone to come in. I am available most days, and my schedule will be changing, so I hope we can find something that works for everyone – but if not I am content volunteering one day a week.
This week is also “exciting” news on the health front. Ry discovered a lump in his neck a few weeks ago and thought it was just a swollen lymph node due to illness. When it didn’t go away after a week, and actually got larger, he went to get it checked out. After many tests and a few doctors visits it turns out he has a cyst in his neck that needs to be removed. They drained a little fluid, but there’s more that will require surgery. Tomorrow he’s going in for a pre-op doctors appointment, and Friday he’ll be going under the knife to remove the core of the problem. Luckily he has great health insurance with his job so the out of pocket costs have only been co-pays. He was also prescribed an antibiotic but our grocery store is doing a “free antibiotics” campaign so we didn’t have to pay for that. We are not worried about the procedure, but it’s still a stressful time and I can’t wait for it to all be over. We just need to get this taken care of so we can move on with life and not worry about it.
On the home front, we’ve still been searching for the perfect house. We’ve looked a few, and some have been really nice, but nothing has really stood out to both of us with the “wow” factor we’re looking for. The homes we’ve seen have ranged from built in the 2000′s in a subdivision, to log cabins, to old colonials built in the early 1900′s – even one that was built around 1850. We tend to like the open and light designs of the modern homes with the classic feel of leaded glass, fire places, and wood moulding of the older ones. So the search continues while we save as much of a down payment as possible each month. Originally we thought we could move at any time because we usually sign a “6-month opt out” contract with our lease, where after six months you can move out any time with 30 days notice, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case. We had done that every year we’ve been in the apartment because we never knew when we would want to move and where our jobs would take us, but unfortunately forgot to sign it this year. This means that we can move out in November when our lease is up or we can sublease if we move out earlier than that. It’s going to be a hassle, and it means we are in no rush to find a place.
On the gardening side of things, it isn’t going well. We got snow today, and it’s in the forecast for the rest of the week until Saturday. Last year I started things too late, especially the tomatoes, but this year I started too early. I think the tomatoes and pepper plants will be fine – they are still really small and need about another month to be hardy enough for outside. The beans and squash grew faster than expected and are already really large, but I don’t want to put them outside to freeze. And the spinach is “30 days to harvest” so that was definitely too early. I might have to pull a bunch of it out for “sprouts” and start over. This winter has been really long and draining; I can’t wait for the warmth and sunshine to be back for good.
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