cell phone frustrations

I've noticed the past few days that my cell phone has been freezing and acting strangely. Tonight after the phone froze and gave me a new error message I decided to contact my cell phone provider and find out what my options were. I went online and I called the warranty people and basically discovered i'm s.o.l. My only options are to see how long my current phone will last or buy a new one.
Needless to say I am very irritated and upset.
Please pray that God will bless my cell phone and give me many more months of good usage out of my current phone. It has only been a little over a month since I got this new phone and I really do not want to shell out the money to buy a new one.

My snuggly J bug!

Productivity

Today has been marked for nearly two weeks now as Thesis Day. I planned to take off from school (before I knew it was going to snow) and spend the day working on my thesis. While I have been avoiding my thesis for awhile I also knew that I really needed to get some work done b/c I was starting to get really stressed over not getting anything done.
Since the weather was snowy outside I decided that I would not drive anywhere to work. (1st mistake--esp. since the roads were not bad AT ALL).
I slept about an hour later than I planned, ate a leisurely breakfast, watched some tv, chatted on the phone, and THEN sat down to work on my thesis. Not a good start for my "work day".
Once I actually got to work I sat for what seemed like hours and had nothing to show for it. Many of the articles that looked like they would fit my topic but could not seem to be found on any database. I cannot express how very frustrating this was. At one point I called my parents and ended up talking to my brother who tried his best to help me and agreed to help me when I got to the writing phase of this project.
Overall I realized that I am tired of my thesis and I have hardly gotten started :-/

On other notes,
I am very thankful for the wonderful snow and supportive friends and family I have in my life. If it were not for those blessings I would not be able to do all that I do. In all of my frustrations earlier God convicted me of all the blessings I was ignoring. Probably the biggest one of all was the very thing I was complaining about--the opportunity to get an education, to further myself.

to do lists

I dont have long to post tonight b/c I am determined to get something accomplished. Today has been a Monday--nothing awful or amazing--just a Monday.
I have an enormous amount (or so it feels like) of stuff to do. Taxes, research, lesson plans, etc.

Say prayers friends for myself and all others feeling overwhelmed.

Relief!!

Last night brought many kinds of relief. Relief that the week was almost over. Relief that this next graduate class was not going to be an insane amount of work. And probably the biggest relief of all--insight into my thesis topic!!!!! I cannot tell you of the amazing rest, peace, and joy my body felt after talking with my professor and deciding upon a thesis topic (basically its a twist on my old one that I liked!). I very much feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I am no longer dreading doing research and putting together a plan for weaving this into my instruction at school. Wow--God is good!!!
On other notes.
This afternoon is my friend D's 6th birthday. Through a mix of conversations and a new-found friendship I am going to go attend and probably help with her birthday. I am excited to help her celebrate and am looking forward to continuing to develop those friendships. Not to mention--kids just rock my socks!
At some point during the afternoon/evening my most wonderful friend and former roommate will be coming for a visit. While she is not coming entirely just to see me I am excited about getting to see her and spend time with her. At this point we have no real plans. All I have to say is watch out world because my sister and I are going to be on the loose together!

thoughts, ramblings, and a bit of conviction

While it is only Wednesday it has been a very long week all the same. I had a workshop and a somewhat productive day on Monday. That night I was able to spend some time with my sweet Espinosa girls. They were super fun to play with and behaved so much better than in other times I have been with them. After I put the girls to bed I received a phone call from my assistant letting me know that she was sick and would be out for at least two days! Not exactly what I wanted to hear. I quickly rearranged my plans to accomodate and went to bed in plenty of time to ensure that I could get to school on time and have enough energy to deal with my kiddos on my own. Tuesday went okay schoolwise and after tutoring I rushed home to rake leaves out of the ivy and flowerbeds for Grandmother. I only raked for an hour...but was very tired afterwards. Although I did not get even half of my to-do list completed I still felt okay with what I did manage to complete.
Today has not been such a wonderful day with my kiddos. They have tried everything they can to do anything but follow directions. I blame the weather!
This evening after tutoring I am hoping to head home and get to work on my overwhelming and unescapable to-do list. Hopefully I can get a good start on some housekeeping tasks and also on my work for both school and grad school.
As always prayers are appreciated!

As for convictions....while I am not the world's most consistent blogger I am a regular blog checker. I love to check on the blogs I read, many of whom I do not even know. In reading some of these blogs I have been convicted lately of my lack of blogging about the things that really matter the most. Far too often I feel like my blog has become an extention of my to-do list and/or a place to vent all of my frustrations. While neither of these two things are wrong I have come to realize that even they need to be done in moderation and along side with other elements of my life. I am not promising a complete change or overhaul of my blog. I do not know yet exactly where I want these thoughts to take me. I do however know that somehow and someway I need some change (for the better) in my life.

side note: I want to post more pictures....anyone wanna hold me to that?

unsure

Well I received my answer from my principal this past Friday--no go on my thesis project. While I was relieved at the time to simply have an answer I have realized since then how frustrating it is to have to start the whole process over again. I have no clue honestly where to begin. This feeling of hopelessness leaves me with a lot of stress! I have noticed a constant nagging within my gut, a physical sign of this task looming over me. Please be in prayer friends. I want so desperately to pick something that I can feel confident about and even be excited about. This is something major I will have to work on for the next 7 months and I really need to get rid of this feeling of dread as I work on it.
Thats all for now... I need to run before the computer dies.