I'm not pregnant anymore!

After I missed the CLEP cutoff score for one test, I was so discouraged I cancelled the other, on Tuesday night. Then I realized I wanted the baby to come, since I didn't have anything to hold out for. I remember saying, "Ok baby, come now!"

Well whaddaya know, the baby came five days early, and I definitely would have had to cancel that test because I was in labor!

The next post will have my labor story. I want other women (and men!) to be able to read it to be inspired, or encouraged.

CLEP Update

I missed passing the CLEP by one point. Granted, the school I attend has a rather high cut-off for the passing score. The test creators suggest a passing score of 50; my college requires 63. And of course, I scored 62!

This is bad for morale. I am going to retest for this one in six months, but I have another test due in August that I absolutely must pass then or I have to take the class. Same with the retest on the first test. It's my last chance to try to pass it before I need to take the class without falling behind.

Bother.

On the bright side, the beer is done! And I must say, it's almost finished. We (the two of us) have drunk at least 2/3 of the batch in two weeks. We didn't even wait all the way for bottle conditioning. I was impatient and opened one up early. And it was pretty darn good after just a few days of conditioning, so I put more in the fridge. And that just lead to more. Now I have four in the closet for long-term aging, to see how it ages up, two six packs to give away to friends, and assorted bigger bottles (an old swingtop wine bottle, a 22 oz) and two 12 oz in the fridge.

I would start another batch immediately but it is not going to work budget-wise till next month, since I need to buy a pot for boiling.

Exhausted, Confuzzled, etc

I am so tired. I've spent the last five days visiting friends in a town I used to live in. I've not been doing all that much, but it's exhausting. Tomorrow morning, I'm babysitting for a friend who is working on finishing her dissertation. Her children are so high energy. I don't know how she does it! Hats off to A and J, parents of U and O. :)

I have two CLEP exams scheduled. One is on the 17th (developmental psychology) and the other is on the 21st (US History I). The baby is due the 26th. I'm hoping the baby does not come early. Then July is a free month! Most of August, too. August 25, I take the TEAS test and in September I pass in my application to nursing school, and start school again. Then in the spring I should start the nursing curriculum, and then it'll be time for a lovely summer break all over again. I will appreciate summer break much more next year, I'm sure of it.

When should I tell my friends about my blog? I am writing to no one right now. Just me and the keyboard and the whole world. I haven't decided that friends should read it yet. Perhaps it will never be known that I have a blog here. This is my third blog so far in about seven years.

Grades

I got my grades for the past semester. Somehow there were another five As, sitting all in a row there on the page. I have worried about grades in the past. I've worried that an A- (or God forbid, a B!) would mar the record. I would not feel this way if the first two college classes I took resulted in an A and an A+. Chalk it up to easy classes, but it was the beginning of a little obsession. Sometimes I tell myself I really don't care, and I just want to make it through. But then when I think about the reality of the 3-point-something rather than the big 4.0, I just don't want to think about it.

This is a testament to my parent's homeschooling, for one. It was not particularly demanding, as far as book-work goes. But we did get all kinds of education that cannot be taught out of books. I often think to myself - I know that word because Dad used it or I know about that phenomenon because we were exposed to it casually on family outings or work adventures. I finished 12th grade at 16, failing miserably at math and just wanting to finish the official school work. The reason finishing early was possible was because everything but math was well above average. Though my parents didn't have a lot of money when I was growing up, they somehow bought a library from a private school that was closing. We had a whole room, plus more, full of books, and the purchase also included a nice microscope. We also had lots and lots of tools at our disposal. My oldest (younger) brother was welding by the time he was 12 or so, and he rebuilt a bus engine under my dad's supervision when he was 14. We had access to handtools, sanders, saws, airtools, welders, etc.

What a good education I've gotten. Thanks Mom and Dad :)

Checking Grades on Saturday

Is a complete waste of time. Seriously, do I think my profs are going to post grades on the WEEKEND?!

I'm 1/4 into a nursing program at a university (4-year degree). I apply this summer and am informed of acceptance (or not) in the fall. Also, my husband and I are expecting a baby this summer. Sometimes I am afraid of the future. How will it work out?

But I also should reveal that I am not tuned into reality; "working out" to me means maintaining a 4.0. Last semester was my first year of university. Before that, I had gone to a community college and taken a math and writing class. For some reason they give A+ at the community college and I happened to get an A+ in algebra and an A in writing. This made me super-pleased, having never attended a school before (I was homeschooled and didn't really finish highschool. I "finished" but not officially and not very well). But I warned myself that my GPA would drop the following year when I entered university. For good or bad, I managed to pull off a 4.0, despite the fact that I had morning sickness through part of it. This is kind of bad, because now I expect it to happen again. So, the question is, will I 'fail' this semester and get an A-? One A- is enough to mess it up (I've done the math).

Am I entirely ridiculous? Yes. Can I stop it? No. Not really. So far one professor has posted grades (out of 5), and it's an A. What lies ahead? Doom and gloom with a little minus symbol after a letter? Sometimes I wish I had one B, just so I couldn't worry about maintaining the little zero after my GPA.

Someday I will look back on myself, after I've grown up, and laugh at myself.