Normal...

Elizabeth's post made me think about my "normal". Normal is to go to school. I've been in school for eleven-hundred years. I'm beginning to think that I may never get out, although May will be beautiful--I will GRADUATE. At the same time, however, it will be a huge transition. I will no longer be...a student! I suppose I'll always be a student, in that the day I stop learning is the day I die. If I am ever so arrogant that I think I can't learn anymore, it won't be long before I am sorely humbled...
Okay, so what else is normal? Coffee in the morning. Without coffee in the morning, I feel less functional and strikingly abnormal. Coffee just has that lift that is required to make it through all days, good and bad. My new favorite store is "McGinnis Sisters," which has amazing produce, phenomenal fresh fish--the tuna is gorgeous!!--and you said it, coffee...YUM.
Another normal thing is for Bryan to take normal food and make it abnormally beautiful. He can take pasta, olive oil, garlic, and cheese, and combine it into this magical creation. Yea for being married to a chef! I made us egg sandwiches the other day, which was slightly abnormal because he's better at making food for us, but I enjoyed doing something fun "culinarily" for my husband. I'm getting better at making stuff--I made spiced pecans for this killer salad that we had at church for a meeting last week, and everybody went "nuts" over them...^_^
Hmmm, it is normal to read until my eyes fall out of their sockets. I have a lot to read!! I have quizzes and assignments almost every week, but this helps me get all the info in, as opposed to doing my usual style of procrastinating it "done" at the last minute.
It is becoming more normal to read the Bible and pray with my husband. What's cool and something that I'm realizing more and more, is that when I take the time to read and pray with Bryan, it makes all the other things that need done seem more do-able, which is ironic because when I don't read and pray, it's because I have "too much to do." If I don't have a basis in God, though, everything else is "meaningless" anyway, right?
So, what's normal with you? ^_^

Dancin' in the Dark...

...And I was, last night. ^_^ Yeah, I thought I'd make a comment about how it was unfortunate how so many people had lost power, and then I said, "Bryan, do you think we'll see any of the after-effects of Ike?" After he said, "No", our electricity went out. Stayed out all night! The winds were blowing like crazy. Thought that we might have a tornado, since the sky was really light, but it didn't turn yellow so I figured we were safe. Of course, we live out in the country, where NObody else is, so we were a little nervous. At any rate, the worst we saw was a tree waving at us as if we hadn't seen it in years. It did not break the window, so we were happy. ^_^
So what did we do? Our earlier plans were to watch the Steelers crush the Browns. Although we did not watch the game, Steelers were led to victory anyway. Go Heinz-Ward!!! Instead of watching the game, therefore, we sat around and did stuff that they did in olden times--sat around playing guitar, read, played cards, and yes, danced in the dark. I'm so glad we took those dancing lessons!! I recommend this for ALL married couples--dancing lessons are wonderful and romantic. Husbands, you will score points. ^_^
Anyway, we woke up this morning without power, still, so we went out to eat for breakfast. That was nice. We went to one of those places where the servers do everything but put an IV in your veins for your coffee. In other words, every other sip, there she was with the coffee pot. I think I averaged about 2 1/2 cups all together.
Electricity is on at school, so here I am, awaiting another class. I'm looking forward to class because I'm coming up with some ideas for a group which I might lead at practicum. I'm excited!! I will definitely be reading books for more ideas, but in the meantime, my creative juices are flowing like crazy.
Here's love from PA!! ^_^

I published a book!! ^_^

I published a book with Lulu.com, which is an independent publishing site. I haven't bought an ISBN yet, so I can't sell it through other sites until I do so, but it can be bought at lulu.com. The actual address is http://www.lulu.com/content/3860098
Yea! This is actually an activity book for parents and children, in which parents ask their kids a set of questions, and then their kids draw their answers. The book is for kids ages 5-12, with specifications on certain questions and subquestions. I've been wanting to do this for a while. My inspiration was my own childhood, times when I would ask my mom, "What if the world were chocolate?" and I don't think I ever drew what it would look like! Research shows--which is included in the book--that free-form drawing encourages higher self-esteem and being able to work better in a group. I hope that children all over the world are encouraged to draw, despite the level of artistic talent they may or not have.
This is fun. I got my book in the mail yesterday. I hope other people like it as I do. ^_^ Love to all!

Did everybody have a Happy Labor Day? ^_^

The only "labor" I went through was running through the sprinklers at a water park with my friend's sons. We had a blast!! The sprinklers were awesome. They had some that were shaped like flowers and trees, and every once in a while the water went down in pressure, just long enough for us to get right in front of the sprinklers, and then they'd get up in pressure again. It was so much fun!! Plus, there was a really nice pool and some fun slides. What a great place to bring kids!! Will and Ben, 4 and 1 and 1/2, respectively, had a blast. Plus, Whitney and I could talk while watching the kids run through the water in delight. Plus, I got to improve on my tan. ^_^
After the park, we went back to their house and had hamburgers and hot dogs, nice Labor Day classic. It was the perfect day!! Did everybody else have a good time? Love to all! ^_^