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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Lessons: The Prequel

I don't have time to learn new things.  Curse you, schedule.  Instead of something new, here are some explanations of past lessons that were learned early on.

1. As much as you love your new spouse, you will miss your parents terribly.
I learned this as soon as we drove away from the airport after our honeymoon.  I was so used to getting to ride home with my parents and regaling them with my adventures.  That didn't happen; I rode one direction with my new husband and they drove another direction.  I cried.  It was awful because there was proof that I wasn't going to live with my parents anymore.
Sidenote: I still cry some times.

2. The first time you go grocery shopping, go together.  You'll need the moral support.
It was the first time I had to shop as a wife, the first time I was in charge of feeding someone and keeping a home.  We needed food for the week, but we also needed the cooking basics: flour, sugar, vanilla, spices, milk, etc.  That list was long enough, but that was the food list alone.  I had another list for cleaning supplies like paper towels, dishwasher tablets, Windex, etc.  If you can imagine a list that starts unrolling and never ends, that's what I thought this list was.  Lyndon offered to come with me and saved me.  He found things, thought of things I hadn't, and helped me keep track of everything.  Altogether it took a very long time, but I would have been there until the wee hours of the morning if Lyndon hadn't been there.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Lesson #22: Oh hello, stress. Thank you for punching me in the gut.

Whatever you do, I don't recommend being a full time student, a new wife, and have two possibly three jobs at the same time.  Things might get a little out of hand.

That's right, school has begun.  While I'm grateful for the chance to finally do something with my day, I'm not enoying having to do 53 things a day.  Let me break it down.

School: I'm taking 8 classes.  That equals a lot of credits and a lot of hours.  NCC expects that for every hour of class you're in, that means two hours of study time.  16 hours a day.  That's how much is expected of me for just school.  There isn't enough time in the day to accomplish actually going to class and then doing 16 hours of studying.  It seems a little ridiculous, does it not?

Jobs: Because we only have one vehicle and Lyndon's schedule isn't very consistent, me having a solid job off campus is a little unrealistic.  In order to add to our income, I'm taking stats for the volleyball team and doing their laundry.  It's not as gross as it sounds...the laundry part.  I also might be working in the success center as a tutor.  While none of these jobs are incredibly strenuous they're still things that take time.

Wife: The responsibilities haven't changed but I have less time to do them.  That one is pretty basic.

All together, there's a lot to do and not enough time to do it all.  I came to this realization on Friday when it felt like everything I had to do was about to rip me to little shreds.  In the midst of this attack, Lyndon stepped in and fought them all off like my knight in shining armor.  Okay maybe that's not entirely true, but he calmed me down and helped me plan things out for the day.

It's good to have someone sane around to help you when you go insane.
And I'll always think of him as my knight in shining armor.