Christmas is saved by the little troll prince ;)

I have had a difficult time getting into the spirit of the season this year and today I woke up with the same lack of enthusiasm. I was getting stuff ready to make rolls and then I remembered a christmas cartoon that used to watch at christmas time when I was growing up. To my delight I found the video and put it in the VCR while I was working in the kitchen. I can't explain it but that video helped me remember the magic of christmas. The video along with commercials for rock star barbie, lady locks a lot dolls, and other toys that I longed for as a child flooded me with precious christmas memories that I had almost forgotten. It has been fun hanging out with the fam playing games and watching movies...and after all isn't that really the best christmas gift? Well Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Devilishly Delighted

I found out yesterday that a certain individual in my program failed last semester and would not be returning to the program. I know it is terrible to be glad for something like that to happen to someone, but I am relieved to say the least. The individual was a loose cannon and I felt that she could do an immense amount of damage to the vulnerable population that we work with. Of course the news came with a certain amount of delight because this person totally bailed out of a group assignment and caused a fair amount of drama in my life and I am... and always have been an ANTI DRAMA kind of person! I am reserving my full comfort that she is finally out of the program till school begins again, because this girl has an amazing ability to slide by! It is sick that I can almost see her thinking of and planning some kind of catastrophe that will hold her otherwise unaccountable for her actions once again??? But I guess I will just wear a half satisfied grin for now. Life has been pretty hectic and I have been just run run run all week. I have been having to go into my internship almost every day this and last week, and it sucks cause it is seriously cutting into my supposed VACATION! It is starting to hit me that four months from now I am going to be walking across a stage receiving my masters degree, and I still am no closer to having a post graduation plan than I was seven months ago before my program even began! I went to the company party the other day and the supervisor asked me what she would have to do to keep me in agency after I graduated... I didn't know how to answer her because I honestly didn't know where I wanted to be in four months. Ah well cross that bridge when I get to it! This holiday season has been the wierdest yet... I was somewhere today and saw a sign that said tree days till Christmas, and I just looked and thought oh that is wrong... but then I realized that it is true! My house still lacks that Christmas feeling (our tree is still on the front porch waiting to be put up) and just yesterday my mom pulled out some decorations. It is sad actually because this is going to be the last Christmas before my little brother leaves for two years on a mission, and it seems to be such a disenchanted Christmas. I got so busy that I broke the tradition of mailing my old teammates cinn rolls:(...I sent choc covered cinn bears to some of them instead? I will still make cinn rolls for the fam cause I have been doing that for MANY years, and it is fun and kind of therapeutic (plus my cinn rolls are friggin awesome!)... although the tradition mysteriously seems to have been borrowed?

Bah Humbug...

I am really having a hard time feeling the Christmas spirit this year... Christmas really snook up on me and has left me with a lot of good intentions! Life has been busy around my house, and we don't even have a Christmas tree yet! I feel like Christmas is going to come and go before anyone does anything about it? It is hard as you get older I think, because Christmas is so disenchanted! Yeah I am fully aware of what the real "reason for the season" is, but I am just not feeling Christmas-like. People keep bringing stuff by, and sometimes I think aren't they a bit early... but then I realize that I am a bit late! I have to take some of the responsibility for my lack of enthusiasm cause I just don't feel like doing anything Christmasy??? Maybe this week I will have a change of heart?...but for now BAHHHHHHHHHHHHH Humbug!

A little weight off the shoulders... in more ways than one!

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It has been an interesting week. I thought that I was going to walk out of class on monday night and be pretty much through with the semester ,but it didn't quite happen that way :( I found out sunday night that we got an inadequate grade on the group paper for my class, and that we had to redo it... Actually the teacher was pretty fair (we were so burnt out with that whole paper, and group situation, and we pretty much just wanted to be done with it!) Honestly no one read completely through that paper... AND IT SHOWED! Moreover we were behind the eightball...(if you only knew how funny that is!)The semester was finally over at three in the morning on friday when we sent the professor the revised paper, and all I care is that I passed that stupid class! I am not going to have as much free time over the winter break as I previously would have hoped (I have some new and some kinda chaotic cases at my internship... and even though school is technically out, my clients lives can't go on hold!) I think keeping busy will be a good thing, as long as I can relax a few days a week,having appointments and things I have to do will be good for me! Well the other weight off my shoulders is my hair... after over three years growing it out I chopped off 14 inches (pictures are included for dramatic effect! Well I think that is going to be all from me for now, I only have 23 minutes of battery left on the good ol' laptop and I am sitting in a car down the street from my house(so I should go before someone calls the cops about some crazy woman sitting in her car on the computer doing who knows what...:0

Even the smallest seed can sprout and grow...

I got a letter this week from a girl that I used to work with at my old job. I was so excited when I saw the letter. When I left a year ago I didn't get to say goodbye to her because she was having a really difficult time and was hospitalized after multiple suicide attempts (she has occupied my thoughts often). My heart really went out to this girl, wondering if she was?, and if she was... where she was? It was nice to get the letter and not only know that she is alive, but know that she is somewhere safe where she can get the help that she needs. This particular girl was the inspiration behind my grad application topic of kids falling through the cracks of the system. It is crazy at what all can happen in one year! It just gave me greater hope that even the smallest seed planted can sprout and grow! It is one of the greatest rewards of this line of work; to know you truly made a difference in someone else's life. My intership is about to get quite a bit busier... I know that I have been somewhat coasting through this semester at my internship, and time was over due to step it up a knotch, but I more than doubled my case load today! (goodbye endless free time over winter break!) I am taking over a couple cases from the crazy counselor (who is leaving!) and then I got a new referral today bringing my total to 5! I know it will be a challenge, but I think it will ultimately create a richer learning experience for me. Time will tell all I suppose...