Home of Slightly Cracked Dreams

Oh yeah. It's all done. I could have done better, but I don't care because it's over.

Actually I probably will care tomorrow, but right now, on 4 hours sleep, caffine withdrawals and in the midst of a sugar crash, I don't give a damn.

We will now (hopefully) return you to your regularly scheduled blogging. And for me, hopefully sleeping.

Bah, who am I kidding?

You may have noticed I'm very quiet at the moment. My exam is coming up fast on Thursday, and today was the last day I had home alone to really focus. I'm pretty happy with how I'm going so far. I have comprehensive notes of everything I need to know, and am currently doing up the "correct" answers to some practice questions (I'm taking a break now) that I will the practice on under exam conditions over the next couple of days.

Tomorrow we're home all day (washing day!) and the girls are all excited about a full day of TV while Mummy works. I've hidden a couple of DVD's from the last stock up we did, so they'll even have something new to watch if they want. I hate doing this but really, one day isn't going to hurt them is it? Wednesday we're literally out most of the day, leaving the house at 9am, and home probably no earlier than 2:30pm. 3pm is more likely, so that pretty much rules out a whole day. At least the kids will be exhausted and go to bed early. I hope.

Then they're off to daycare on Thursday, so I can put in a few more hours study before my exam in the afternoon. We might even grab Pizza and head down the lagoon on Thursday night, just for something different.

So, if you don't hear from me for the next couple of days, you'll know why. I do have another hospital appointment on Wednesday, so I'll definitely update if there's anything to update. Although in big news, Hubby will be allowing me full naming rights from our shortlist. I've already picked, but I'm not sharing just yet. I might share the shortlist (if I ever find it again) next week if I run out of things to talk about (ha!)

And on that note, I'm going to go back to work. Yeah, I had a coffee at 10pm. I've got at least 2 hours before I could possibly crash.

I am still studying. Honest. No really, I've done some... yesterday.

I really need to do more. Sigh.

I got my assignment back last week. Not good, not good at all. I sat down and went through my assignment when I got it back, and was still disappointed. I did technically get the correct answer, but via the wrong channels. And for that I nearly failed. Not many of the comments were helpful, and some were downright wrong (comments on referencing). Still, onwards and upwards. I still have an exam to get through.

And roughly 3 weeks worth of work to do in ... 15 days. eeek.

So here I am, procrastinating once again. At least I'm not playing solitaire... yet.

That's how long I have to edit my essay. What a novel feeling! I've just finished the first draft, and am about to switch gears to Tupperware demonstrator for the afternoon. Then I'll have approximately 48 hours to edit, rewrite and stress about formating and referencing. Remarkable.

Phew! Am I glad today's over. It probably wasn't a stressful day by most standards, but I don't "do" pregnancy very well. I whinge and moan for 9 months, bascially.

So we were out the door by 9:10. Only 10 minutes late. Hubby to work, M&M & Kiki to daycare. Picked up a present from Big W for M&M's friend whose birthday party she's going to tomorrow. Got my nails done. Did a 40 minute round trip to deliver some catalogues. Went to a lunch/meeting. Home for food, to the library to study. Pick up Hubby, pick up kids, collapse on the bed.

But did you notice in there? I studied at the library! How amazing is it than in 90 minutes at the library, I can get more done than an entire week at home? Must make mental note. I think the library opens at 9:30 tomorrow....

Anyway, tomorrow is looking nice for study too. M&M is getting picked up at 10 for the party, and returned..... "later" (*insert evil happy dance here!*) Hubby is taking Kiki out of the house (or maybe Mummy will be visiting the library until they close at 12:45....) and the assignment will hopefully be done by the time M&M gets home. I know that's wishful thinking, but I've got detailed notes of the first 600 words. And, . . . that's about it.

I have great faith in my ability to pull cr*p out of my behind when I need to when it comes to assignments, but I keep ending up on either one of two extremes. Too simple, or too complex for the assignment (1st year law remember). It's difficult to explain without going into too many details, but if anyone has experience that may be able to help, my email is in the left sidebar, right up the top. See it? Thanks.

I may have it. You never know. At this point, I just hope I pass. And thank goodness for leftover Pizza. Yeah, the menu plan is a bit slack this week.

I'll admit I've been really slack when it comes to uni work this semester. Well, I thought I had. I had read about half the readings, done a lot of the preparation for the on campus sessions, but still felt unprepared. Once in the room however, I realised that I was still far more prepared than about half the students, and still one of the more vocal members of the group.

I did realise, however, that I am now really behind in the assignment that is due on Tuesday. I took great notes whenever it was mentioned on the weekend, I've dug out all the instructions, and to be honest, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by it all.

I've broken it down into parts, but it's still the getting started that's stopping me. Well, that and the list of 30 or so readings to do before I start. And I kind of have to do those readings before I decide on the angle of my essay.

Well, this isn't getting it done is it? Does anyone have any tips for getting started?

That's right. Flying is stressful. Not the actual flying part, although watching a news story about a plane crash while flying doesn't build confidence.

No, the stressful part is the fact that a) there is only one flight a day to my local airport, and b) I did not have ONE FLIGHT leave on time the whole weekend. When you're catching 4 planes in 4 days, and have certain connections to meet, flights leaving on time is important. I've caught planes before, lots of times. It's the short connections that stress me. Anything under 2 hours is not long enough in my book.

My first flight was only a few minutes late. Congestion at Brisbane we were told. Oops! That's ok, I had a 50 minute change over in Brisbane, plenty of time to be 5 or even 10 minutes late. Which we were.

Second flight to Sydney, well. Apparently it was windy in Sydney on Friday, so one runway was closed. This meant certain flights were cancelled. Thankfully not mine. Although this did mean a certain amount of juggling was required to get everyone from the cancelled flights onto other flights, including mine, meaning we left late. And had to wait to land. Half an hour late.

Coming home the flight was scheduled to leave at 8:30am. To be checked in by 8am, I needed to leave the university at 6:13am on a bus to the train station. I thought I would have plenty of time, but I got on the bus, walked straight onto the train, changed trains and never had more than a minute of waiting on a platform before arriving at the airport and checking in by 7:55am! Phew, that was close.

Apparently not. Still windy, so one runway again, meaning incoming flight was 30 minutes late. Not to worry, we should only leave 5 minutes late.

Or not. Due to leave at 8:30am, we boarded the plane at 9am, which was when we found out what the problem was - lack of runways, so a delay. Oh and by the way it's really windy in Brisbane too, so landings are delayed, so we need to take on extra fuel (operational requirement of Brisbane airport - fair call I say. I've seen Die Hard 2). And as we're waiting, waiting, waiting, I'm starting to panic. I only had 40 minutes in Brisbane to change flights. Thankfully I had no luggage checked to worry about, but still, I didn't have a watch so no real idea of the time. I eventually was stressing so much, cause Hubby had told me about Kiki being sick, but I didn't know how sick, I asked what the plan would be. By this stage it was nearly 9:30, and even with a 60 minute flight, making a 10:35 flight would be tough. Thankfully there was nearly 30 people on the plane for the connecting flight. Holding the other flight until we made it would be cheaper than accomodating us on other flights and overnight (one flight a day remember). She did say that often if there's only one or two people they don't hold the plane.

Strangely thankful for school holidays, I relaxed a little, and we finally took off at 9:45. Not only had Virgin held the plane for us, but they'd moved the plane once all the other passengers were on board to the gate next to our arrival from Sydney, to get everyone (and luggage) on board quicker. Taking off 15 minutes late from Brisbane we were just 15 minutes late getting home.

But boy do I NOT want to go through that again. I'm also thankful next time I do that trip I'll just be going from Brisbane to Sydney. There's like 500 flights a day between Brisbane and Sydney. And I'm sure that's not much of an exaggeration.

So am I the only one, or does this sort of thing stress out other people too?

This Friday marks my semi-annual foray south to convince my lecturers I’m doing enough work to complete the assignments. This is rather an expensive proposition, between flights, getting to the campus, accommodation etc etc. All up I think this trip will cost me at least $500 in airfares, travel and accommodation. Now accommodation does include all my meals, but you can guarantee other expenses will come up. Like the fact I have to leave at 6am to catch the plane home – no self respecting university would serve breakfast before 6am on the mid-semester break!

The reason I add all the associated expenses up like that is because at times like this, when I should be studying furiously, I’m instead pondering my blog, and whether or not I like the new layout. $500 (on top of fees and text books etc) is a lot of money and I hope it would motivate me into trying to catch up. It doesn't seem to be working...

So in response to the title of this post, the state of the study is dismal. I have a ton of work to do and just no motivation. Basically 5 sessions left to prepare for (of a possible 8) and just not enough time, which means I don't want to start, cause I'll never finish - right?

I wonder what Hubby's doing for lunch?

I was 14 when it was first suggested to me I would make a good lawyer. A friend of my father’s and I got into a big debate, and he commented that I argued like a lawyer. It was that seed that motivated me to study Legal Studies in high school, and ever since I have harboured a dream of studying law.

Of course getting into a law degree isn’t as easy as it sounds. It has taken me 9 years since finishing school to get my act together and do it. It’s not that I’m not smart enough to do it, it’s just that everyone wants to do it, so they only take the smartest. I’m sure it makes sense in their head.

For my birthday last week, friends gave me a book, “Anonymous Lawyer”. I highly recommend both the book, and the blog. The book tells the story of an ‘anonymous lawyer’ who is the hiring partner at a large firm in LA, and his career aspirations. I won’t go into too much of the plot, suffice to say it was hilarious.

What isn’t hilarious, is the fact that this is how the majority of the population I encounter view lawyers. And while I’m sure some exist like this, in my experience the lawyers I have encountered have been nothing short of normal (slightly crazed) people who work hard, play hard and have a lot of fun along the way.

So while it’s amusing to read so much about the apparent injustice of associates working conditions, and why lawyers might be uptight, bitter people (and don’t get me wrong, after only 1 subject in a law degree I can understand why lawyers are jaded), it’s not something I’ve seen yet in my experience.

Maybe it’s just An American Thing? Or is it worldwide? What have your experiences been like with lawyers?

Well after six long weeks of trying to get into, stay in or just start a routine, it seems the time has come to put all my organisation into practice. My weekly plan I devised earlier will be put into action. Now I have finalised the daycare situation, the week will go like this:

Monday: Grocery Shopping & Library storytime
Tuesday: Baking/kitchen day
Wednesday: Playground/swimming for kids (cleaning for me)
Thursday: Spend the morning with Grandma (while I study)
Friday: Daycare for kids/study for me

This is similar enough to my previous plan that I feel it will work, while allowing me flexibility. I always shop on a Monday, and we go to storytime. Tuesday is good for baking because I've shopped on Monday and can make snacks for the rest of the week. Wednesday used to be daycare, so an effort will be required to get us out of the house to one of the many underutilised playgrounds in the area (although some are better than others), that will hopefully afford me a few moments to read before coming home for a major cleaning session (you know, floors etc)

I have a few more things I'd like to do before the semester gets too far underway, mostly things like a study program, more work on my Home Management Binder and a cleanout of my study. I will also need to to do some serious work to make sure the Tupperware keeps happening. It's been a few months since I've done anything really, so it's almost like starting again, although amazingly I booked 5 parties in 2 days this week.

I think that's all for today. I have quite a few bits planned for today, and I'd like to get stuck into the main bedroom. At this stage it's really the only room that needs more than a "quick 5 minute tidy" which is driving me up the wall. Although it's been hard at the moment with two dogs following me everywhere.

and I passed. Ok, I more than passed. I got a distinciton - 77%. I'm stoked. I'm over the moon. I found out at midnight last night and then I couldn't sleep. Which was.... fun. But I know I wouldn't have been able to sleep knowing I could have known my score and not known at the time.

So, as I said to a friend online last night, I now feel actually capable of doing this thing. I mean obviously I knew I was doing ok, but this is great reinforcement. So of course I'm more motivated than ever to get back to uni. I'll be ordering my 4 textbooks this week, and am down to a week and a half before we start up again.

Of course I still have absolutely no sign of reliable daycare on the horizon. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Ok, so after yesterday's post, I sat down and worked out my weekly plan. It will be of course subject to change depending on the day I get the girls in for daycare (at this stage it will be either Tuesday or Friday):

Monday: Grocery Shopping and Library Storytime
Tuesday: either daycare or baking day
Wednesday: Playground/swimming (cleaning for me)
Thursday: Spend the morning with Grandma
Friday: either daycare or baking day

That looks much more achievable. I have time for cleaning, 11-12 hours automatically set aside for study, and plenty of things to keep the kiddies amused. Monday morning is a big one for the kids, we're on the go from 8:30 to 12pm, so they both will sleep/have quiet time in the afternoon.

And now that I've done that, I can stop and relax for the rest of the weekend. Ok, well, maybe after I get a pile of ironing done. And the shopping list for tomorrow. And clean up the kitchen. And the bathroom. yeah ok. I'm going.

In my last post on the subject, I discussed the amount of work I'm supposed to be doing each week to keep on top of my uni work. With the return to study a mere 2 weeks away I'm now at the point of tryng to schedule study into my weekly routine. Of course, I'm sure it would help if I had a weekly routine. Just at the moment it seems something like this:

Sunday: menu plan & grocery shop
Monday: washing and cleaning
Tuesday: get out of the house before I go mad
Wednesday: washing and cleaning
Thursday: get out of the house before I go mad
Friday: washing and cleaning
Saturday: ironing and cleaning.

Do we see a pattern here? Yeah, probably not good. The problem is that since we've got back from the UK at the end of May, I haven't been able to get regular daycare for the girls, so am often running around doing things I used to do on my days off with kids in tow taking me twice as long. Of course with the kids growing up it's harder to contain them in places like the supermarket.

Before I went away my weekly plan looked like this:
Monday: Grocery Shopping, Library storytime, clean out the fridge, empty the bins.
Tuesday: Baking day, Rubbish bin out, kids to playground/visit Grandma or friends
Wednesday: girls in daycare, clean bathrooms, tidy kitchen etc in the morning, to the library to study in the afternoon
Thursday: Rest day, swimming lessons/visit to the lagoon (it was summer then)
Friday:girls in daycare, repeat Wednesday

Yeah, so obvioulsy a bit more structured than now. I'd like to get back to that structure, but it's not going to happen anytime soon while I have the kids home on a regular baisis. Or more the point, having them not-home on a non-regular basis.

Of the 16 hours I'm supposed to find each week I used to find half of them on the days the kids were at daycare. 8 hours spread over 7 days is much easier to find than over 2 hours a day.

What I did learn last semester doing a take home exam with two sick kids and dealing with morning sickness, was that I CAN study when the children are home, I just need to be creative. If I can set myself up in the dining room, I can read and be there for the kids, they can "help", and do their own thing, while I do mine. Of course there are night times, but hubby tries to dib at least some of that time for himself.

And then there are weekends. Obviously catch up time wherever necessary. Which is always. So I guess what I'm saying is, a study routine is going to be really hard to implement until I have some sort of weekly plan happening with the kids. Might work on that today I think.

So, I've got nothing today. No great insight, no good links to share, no stress. So here's what will sure to become a regular style of post: much ado about nothing! Enjoy

• It's now 4 days until my uni results come out. It's so very frustrating that everyone else has theirs and I don't have mine yet! You can expect more stressing about that over the next few days. D-day is Tuesday.
• My washing is slowly getting caught up. I guess I should do some more today (can you feel my enthusiasm?)
• The $250 savings challenge has stalled because we just have no money. Wait, I just raided DH's stash found $1.30 so that can go in as well.
• The house is a mess. I plan to clean today. Honest.
• My pregnancy belly is about to pop. Honestly, it's all baby, baby.
• Miss Nearly 4 had a fantastic day at daycare yesterday, and is all psyched up to help me clean out the car with our new dust buster. Seriously.
• Miss 2.5 spent the night with us. I have bruises on both my stomach and back. We need a king sized bed.
• I am going away next weekend for my 10 year high school reunion. I'm terrified but excited at the same time. Did I mention I'm 20kg heavier now than I was back then? Most of the people going haven't seen me in that long.
• To attend aforementioned high school reunion, I, my father and my two delightful children are driving 1300km. Won't that be fun?

Ok, that's all I've got for today. Have a great weekend, and I'll hopefully be more inspired tomorrow.

Grab a cuppa, this is a big one.

While I regularly enjoy the break from uni, the inevitable happens. Firstly, I get excited about the next semester. Then I try and figure out what I’m going to do THIS time to make sure I get everything done. Yeah yeah yeah. It’s the same every year and it never happens.
But still I plan. This year is no different. I have dreamed for 13 years of doing this course, and now I’m finally doing it I intend to do it well. So guess what! I have a plan.

I’m still fleshing out the details, but the general rule is home study should account for three times the contact hours of the subject. Being an external student, I add those contact hours to my total. For the majority of my courses the contact hours are 4, which means I want to find 16 hours a week to study. (3 x 4) + 4 = 16. You with me? Great.

Firstly, the lecture. The lecture is provided over the internet within an hour of it finishing on Thursday at 5pm. It’s a 1 hour lecture, so I need to listen to that. Generally notes are provided, but I always add to mine. The advantage being that I can pause the lecture to do so. There goes 2 hours.

Tutorials. I attend 16 hours worth of tutorials over two days in the middle of the semester. That doesn’t mean I go unprepared. For each 3 hours worth of tutorials per week, there’s a good 2 hours preparation. Answering questions, constructing arguments. Another 2 hours gone.

Reading. Being a law student, reading long, picture-less texts (I was a business student in a former life – they like charts and diagrams and pretty pictures) is the major part of the degree. As is taking copious notes. This is by far the largest part of the week. Something in the vicinity of 7 hours. We’re up to 11 hours. Only 5 more to allocate.

Assignments. These are harder to plan for without knowing their nature. Seeing as how the subject this semester is focussed on legal research, I gather they’re going to be researched based, and require a fair bit of time. Initially 3 hours a week will be allocated, the extra reading time if available (as in, if I’m up to date on the readings and have leftover time – ha!)

Finally exams. There will likely be an exam at the end of the semester. Initially 2 hours a week will be devoted purely to reinforcing prior weeks learning, listening to past lectures. These hours will obviously increase after all the assignments are finished, and once the formal semester is over and until the exam.

So there you have it. My plan of attack for the semester. Now, for my next trick: fitting into my already heavy schedule.

that my first blog post is done whilst procrastinating a uni exam. It is due at 5:00pm this afternoon, and I have some 650 words to write by then. 450 if I subscribe to the +/-10% rule, which, to be honest, today I just might.

I say it seems fitting, for my other blog Procrastination Alley is well used to such posts. Although it has waned a little lately, I am sure I will resurrect it soon. The reason it was ignored so long was a couple of months consisting of on-campus uni work, assignments, a 6 week overseas trip a take home exam, and finally, a totally surprising, but totally welcome positive pregnancy test. The exam will be over this afternoon. FINALLY.

I don't think I can tell you how excited I am to finally be able to focus on myself, my kids and my house again, while study will take a backseat for 6 weeks. And I know that sounds insane, but I feel I'm suffering more than the kids (after all they get to watch lots of tv) with the lack of time with them, and the house well, it's definitely suffering. Even hubby commented that this weekend he was going to sort out the washing situation. I have (no joke) an entire bedroom of clean clothes. Every time we get dressed we head in there to find something to wear.

Now this is already way longer than I intended, so I'll go and set the kids up in front of the tv, and hopefully, hopefully get the exam done in time.