Merry Christmas

I made out like a BANDIT this year!


Between Brian's and my own family I ended up with all this swag

The complete list:

• Threadless Tee (image on my myspace background)
• Roxy hoodie
• DSM casebook
• Sister Hazel-Fortress CD
• Scrubs Season 7
• Fur lined boots
• Sex and the City COMPLETE series set
• Wii decal skin
• Body Butter
• Fancy clicky top sharpie highlighters
• Fancy post it highlighters
• Body butter
• Godiva hot chocolate
  
• Grey's Anatomy Season 1
  
• Across the Universe
  
• Step Brothers
• The Breakfast Club
• Sleeping Beauty
• Sixteen Candles
• Pretty in Pink
• Some Kind of Wonderful
• Burn After Reading
• Wall-E
• Animal Crossing - City Folk
• $6o in itunes gift cards
• $400 for new tires
• Red hand mixer (not pictured)
  
• Red Swingline Stapler (not pictured)
• Red electric can opener (not pictured)

Am I a lucky SOB or what? ooo, and look how cute my Wii is now!

Poor Kitty

So, I have to take my kitty to the vet this morning. I got her when I was around 13 or 14 and she was already a year or two old. I haven't ever taken her to the vet. She is now 13 (ish - not entirely sure), so this is DEFINITELY not a process she is used to.

She has to go though. She has been scratching at her ears a lot, shaking her head, and tilting it to one side as though she isn't quite sure what to do about it. She has also been SUPER clingy and wanting to cuddle with me a lot.

I think she probably has an ear infection.

She NEVER bites, and she was declawed some point as a kitten so I'm not worried about biting and scratching.....BUT.....the last time I tried to get her in her pet carrier she peed all over herself AND me.

Fun times

My new SHORT hair!

My Cohort

This is a picture of my cohort group with Ellyn. It was her last class on her last day before retirement. She was one of the most inspirational teachers I have ever had, and I know we are all hoping to one day be half of the therapist she is.


She kept telling us all about how special we were and how happy she was to have our class as her last. There was hardly a dry eye in the house...even the guys :)

P.S. My final today went great! Bipolar Disorder! woohoo for one I knew well! Just one more final and one more paper!

Avoidance

I'm totally putting off studying for my final exams tomorrow and Tuesday morning. I have been totally "phoning in" these last few assignments by not putting nearly as much effort in as I usually do.

Blah....I can't help it, my brain is totally checking out and ready for Christmas.

Just TWO more exams and ONE more paper to turn in and I'm DONE for a month!

I'm super stoked to spend some down time with Brian. He has been so patient with my super busy schedule this semester. Now it is my turn to work around his schedule for the next month :)

Close Call

So, on Tuesday, we had to call the paramedics. I teach the 7:30 class, and was sitting in the office prepping while the other teacher was finishing up her class that ends at 7:15. All of a sudden, she comes running in the office to tell me she needed to call 911. I look out the door and one of the clients is passed out in the floor. Apparently he had a preexisting medical condition called diverticulitis. He hadn't been feeling well earlier, but our guys only get 3 absences in the year they are there. He was so worried about getting an absence that he was just pushing thru the pain until he literally collapsed.

The guys were all really good, and did exactly what we told them. I had one out front to flag down the ambulance and one at the door telling my class to wait outside so the paramedics could come thru. I'm pretty sure the guy is going to be fine...I told my boss he definitely deserves a leave of absence!

Other than that, life hasn't been too exciting. I'm heading in to the final stretch at school - 2 more big exams and 2 more papers and I'm off for a month! I'm literally counting down the days, and looking forward to spending some much needed R&R time with Brian. He has been soooo very patient with my hectic schedule these last few months.

That's all for now. I'm off to go buy some things to make this Hawaiian Dessert recipe for a potluck my class is having. I'm not a huge fan of pineapple, but I was asked to do something kinda Hawaiian for dessert...I'm not sure that I could get away without some pineapple and coconut.

blech.

Stop Your Musterbation!

Ok, so I'm writing this research paper on Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) created by Albert Ellis in the 70's. It's based on Cognitive Therapy, and focuses on how our thoughts, emotions and behaviors are largely determined by our beliefs.

Anyway, Ellis proposed that people have this irrational belief that they "must" or "should" be a certain way or do certain things. As a result, we create these completely unrealistic expectations of ourselves and believe we are inadequate when we don't meet them.

He referred to this as our "musterbatory agenda"

God, for a 1970's therapist, this guy is cool as hell.

Conversation had with Jimmy after explaining the term:

Jimmy: Haha, musterbation, nice.
Me: loving it
Jimmy: Man 1: "you're never going to live up to my potential in this damn job!" Man 2: "Dude, I hate it when you musterbate in my face like that!"
Me: "Stop musterbating all over me, damnit!"
Jimmy: Sometimes I musterbate when I'm alone...please don't tell Kelsey.
Me: Don't worry, I do too. In fact, I do it in public sometimes.
Jimmy: She just woke up and I told her I was having a conversation with you about musterbating. She said, "with mustard?"
Me: Tell her she musterbates too.
Me: We all do it
Me: Come join the dark side...
Jimmy: Aaaah! Epidemic!

Musterbation is my new favorite word....and I get to write a whole 12 page paper about it.

Rock on.

Christmas Songs of Note

I love love love Christmas. Everything about it.

BUT, I get kinda tired of the same old holiday music year after year.

So, I thought I'd share my playlist of holiday music the doesn't suck:

• Barenaked Ladies - Elf's Lament - This song is just fun!
• Jason Mraz - Winter Wonderland -A fun twist on a classic song
• Sister Hazel - Merry Christmas Baby
  
• Guster - Donde Esta Santa Claus
• Chris Trapper - It's Christmas Time
  
• Ben Folds - Bizarre Christmas Incident Not so good for the kids, but great for adults!
• Jack Johnson - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - Another fun twist on a classic song
• The Kinks - Father Christmas
• Blues Traveler - Christmas
  
• Simple Plan - My Christmas List
• Barenaked Ladies - Green Christmas - Good for the kids
• Brian Setzer Orchestra - Sleigh Ride
• Chris Trapper - Black and Blue Christmas
• The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I don't want to fight tonight)
• The Dan Band - I Wanna Rock You Hard This Christmas - NOT one for the kids!
• Death Cab for Cutie - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
• Pearl Jam - Don't Believe in Christmas

Enjoy!

Christmas!

I finally got a chance to do my Christmas decorating. If it were up to me, I would begin in November, but Brian is super against it. He says we need to finish one holiday before starting another.

Oh well. I'll just leave my decorations up thru January. The next holiday isn't until February anyway :-P

Bows and candy canes...

Big bow on the front door

Santa

The Countdown

My "tree"

Santa Bear

A little Christmas in every space

My other "tree"

Even the spider got a makeover

Test My Memory

So, my cold is on its way out. Only really had 2 or 3 bad days, the rest have been pretty manageable, even without meds

I went to my class this morning and now I'm spending the rest of the day curled up under a blanket memorizing all of the criteria for all of the disorders. So far, all I know is Schizophrenia and the psychotic disorders. I still need to get through all of the mood, anxiety, and personality disorders.

I also have a 10 page paper due tomorrow, but I'm thinking I can crank that one out in the 5 hour break between my exam and that class.

Oh, what I wouldn't give for a photographic memory!