My plants are still awake, though.

I'm exhausted and in bed. My plants are still awake, though. Their bedtime is at 10. Look at them. 😍

My little cactus is blooming again. I love her crown of flowers.

This one isn't blooming again, but those extra - long spikes are new.

My little webby guy has a couple of new things growing off of him.

This bud is a lot taller. I think my Frizzle Sizzle is going dormant. If I water her now it's not supposed to be often. I might give her a drink tomorrow. I'm going to do some reading and see if that's a good idea or not.

New growth on the plant I beheaded. I still feel bad about that, though.

Lots of babies in progress. ☺️

Well today could have gone a lot worse.

Well today could have gone a lot worse. I missed my first class of the day, but made it to the second two. After class I talked to one of my teachers and also my adviser. We're all in agreement that I should probably drop a class. Two computer science and three math classes was just insane. I don't know why I did that to myself - unless I just really wanted to get extra ahead in case I mess up. What's crazy is that my last semester already won't be jam-packed so I'm ok. I'm really ok and it's hard for me to accept that. 😕

Although I haven't dropped a class yet, just knowing that I can has relieved some stress. I will feel much better once I do. Also, today I found another pencil so that was awesome. It's blue with white polka dots and the eraser is barely used. Score! I needed a win. 🙂

I have a ton of work to catch up on tomorrow and hopefully I'll feel ok enough to make progress. I'm already in bed so I'm resting up. We'll see how it goes.

Goodnight, friends! ❤️

How did I work in an office for 10+ years and never know this?!

How did I work in an office for 10+ years and never know this?!

100% me today.

100% me today.  I have been trying for HOURS to get myself to do anything from my to-do list.  Still failing miserably.  😫🙃

I am starting to think...

I am starting to think I'm having breakthrough depression caused by feeling utterly overwhelmed this semester... or either my antidepressant is losing effectiveness. In any case I think I'm going to be dropping a class within the next 3 weeks (before the academic penalty deadline). I'm staying as long as I can to learn as much as I can, but I am ready to be down to 4 classes. Clearly, 5 is too many right now. I don't need to push myself this hard. I'll still graduate on time.

I'm really hoping that will help. If not, I have a bigger problem than I thought. I really wanted to spend the weekend catching up on school work, but yet again I couldn't make myself do ANYTHING. This just won't do. Something has to give.

Anyway, I hope you all are doing well. If not - make some changes and hang in there. ❤

Facebook says this is my most loved photo from 2012.

Facebook says this is my most loved photo from 2012. It's honestly one of my favorites, too. I like it when I look happy. 😃

Time has changed us physically and I've learned a lot over the years, but I guess I'm always going to do shit my way. College in your 30's is no joke, but just as I've had to do for most of my life now I keep on keeping on and do what needs to be done. It's just a little harder with more years under your belt and the health issues that can bring. But I'm tough. If all goes as planned I'll be graduating again in May 2020 with TWO majors, and with Shadow, Shaun, and Kira by my side (and hopefully no one on my hip 😂😂😂). I'm looking forward to that happy. It's gonna be a BIG happy and I will have most definitely earned it. 😁😁😁

Plant Updates:

My Frizzle Sizzle is turning red and her bud is getting taller. I can't wait to see her bloom!

I ended up sorting my propagation babies and putting them in one tray. I already have several with both roots and teensy plants and hopefully many more to come. 😊

I was a lump yesterday.

I was a lump yesterday. The only thing I did was feed my animals. Well, I guess I did spend a few hours on the couch and I finally ate around 8 p.m. But by and large I stayed in my bed and depression won. It was strong and I couldn't fight it. 

Today I'm awake and I am rested. I'm actually about to shower. Then I'm going to school. I'm not 100% feeling it, but I'm not as bad off as yesterday so I'm fighting for it. I'm really glad it's Friday; I have a lot of school work to do and I could use the weekend to catch up.

I hope you all have a great day. I may not, but I'm going to try. ❤

My self-care is slipping...

My self-care is slipping and everything else is following suit. I tried for 2 hours to study for a quiz I have tomorrow. Couldn't make myself. I just want to get in my bed and stay there.

Thirty minutes later...

Thirty minutes later...

🎵🎶🎵"I just want to be close to you..." 🎶🎵🎶

Link

Nom has been watching him sleep...

Nom has been watching him sleep for the last 10 minutes. That's not creepy or anything. 😂😂😂 For real though - he loves Booka so much!

Shaun is getting a spa treatment tonight. We all love him so freaking much! 😍😍😍💗💗💗

 Shaun is getting a spa treatment tonight. We all love him so freaking much! 😍😍😍💗💗💗

My plants babies!

My plants babies!

And so it begins. 😁

I don't know what this is, but she looked awful at Wal-Mart. She's perking up now and putting off new growth!

My Firesticks and a really large "brain cactus."

Still waiting for this Frizzle Sizzle to bloom. That little bud is growing!

My Haworthia is opening up (finally!) and some of my Lithops have split! 😃

Throwback to the Valentine's Day when...

Throwback to the Valentine's Day when Shaun hid Dove Dark Chocolates around my room. I found some of them more than a year after they were hidden. Yes, I ate them and they were still delicious, but more importantly, just seeing one was such a sweet reminder of how amazing he is. 💗💗💗 I still feel every day like I'm the luckiest girl in the world that he chose me. 💕

This child's nightly rolling ritual.

This child's nightly rolling ritual. He loves going to bed. I can relate. 😂😂😂

Just going to talk about my day. 😃

Just going to talk about my day. 😃

In Differential Equations I found out that I made a 44 on the test. I am not shocked. I know I need to work hard to recall the Calculus I took 2 years ago. If I don't get right I'll just try the class again. Understanding it at least somewhat now will help me later if it comes to that. 

Speaking of that class:  Things were a bit more casual today. We worked some problems at a nice pace instead of break - neck speed and that was better. Also, my teacher was dressed a bit more casually and wearing Puma's and it really made my whole day. 😃

After that I went to a degree audit meeting. Turns out that me and JSU are on the same page about what I have left to do and when I can graduate. So I'm pretty sure that this time next year I'll be working on my last semester. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

After that I went to the Student Symposium and that was pretty cool. One girl did research about conservation of snails so OF COURSE I'm all about that. Another guy presented on soil and carcasses. That was neat; he said "soil species" and that just blew my mind so I'ma Google that later. 😃

Then I went to the Kissing Booth on the TMB lawn. I got lots of lovings! I was a little bit disappointed that the shelter canceled on the sorority who set it up, but the girls made up for it by bringing their own dogs. 😃 I'm always up for meeting ani-pals! ❤️ 

Now I'm home chilling with my animals and waiting for my Valentine to get off work. We'll probably stay in because who needs the crowds, (and Shaun is still fighting off some kind of respiratory sickness), but I really can't complain so far. Today was eventful in a good way and I enjoyed it. Happy Day, friends! ❤️

This is how much...

This is how much I have to stretch to kiss Shaun because of our height difference. 😂😂😂😍😍😍

Shaun has been sick for about a week now.

Shaun has been sick for about a week now. I'm glad he has someone to take good care of him. These two kill me dead with how precious they are together. 💗😍💗😍💗

I've been sick all weekend.

I've been sick all weekend. Kira said she was sick this morning. Now Shaun is feeling even worse than before. Ugh. 😭

I have some good things to share...

I have some good things to share as well as a couple of bad things. Most everyone is doing well, but I lost an Echeveria Ester and my Royal Flush. 😭 I only watered my Royal Flush once in the time I had her. I guess the timing was completely wrong. 🙁

I think this bloom wants to make a friend. 😍  Under it is one of my beheaded plants. I still feel bad about that.

Looks like my Frizzle Sizzle is working on a bud. 😁

I just adore my table of funky cacti. 💜

This is my surviving Echeveria Esther. The other was in the same pot, with the same lighting and water, but she rotted and I don't know why. 😭

My babies after I put them into different dirt. They have noticeably grown, and I'm so excited! They were previously in the "granola dirt" and in separate pots, but I didn't want to repot them all individually, so they ended up in a tray together, temporarily.

Even this Propeller Plant noticeably grew after a change in dirt. That makes me so happy! 😊

When I was working on my plants the other day...

When I was working on my plants the other day I put my babies in some different dirt.

The good news: They have grown a noticeable amount in 2 days time.

The bad news: The dirt was dusty and it made my nose itch. Now I'm sneezing and my nose is running like crazy. Woo. 😕

Geometry study buddy. 😍

Geometry study buddy. 😍

Or he's a distraction. Whatever. 🤷🏻‍♂️ 

He chased Faith back to her bed. He said "Mind ya business!" 🤣🤣🤣

(Yes, he's acting out. Don't ask groundhogs about Spring - ask Nom. 😂😂😂)

I'm 99% sure I just failed my Differential Equations exam.

I'm 99% sure I just failed my Differential Equations exam. I'm not terribly upset because it's a hard subject and I have time to retake it if I need to. It helped a lot to take Linear Algebra twice; I felt like I really understood it the second time around and understanding is what I'm going for. I'm still going to do my best, but I am no longer interested in beating myself up for not getting it perfectly the first time around. I'm doing things that most people won't even try, so... 🤷🏻‍♂️ #TiredOfStressing #TakingCareOfMe

I'm trying to study...

I'm trying to study for my D.E. exam but my Celexa is hitting me hard and I can't concentrate due to drowsiness so let me tell y'all what happened today.

When I was on my way home from school I guess there was an accident on 21 and traffic was diverted off to some road I'd never been down.  Traffic was moving at a snail's pace and it was a LONG ROAD so I ended up having time to observe what was going on around me.

In the car ahead of me a lady was driving with a dog (it looked like a black chow).  I'm guessing it was her dog.  So he seemed to behave pretty well in the car - he stayed in the front passenger seat just looking out of the window.  At some point we were stopped in front of a field with donkeys in it and I saw her urge her dog over to her side of the car.  She had her arm out pointing the donkeys out to him and I thought that was so precious.  He came and looked at them until we passed by and then went back to his side.

Well a bit later there were some horses in a field and she did the same thing.  This time the dog leaped out of the window and ran up to the fence.  Cue a heart attack for me!  The horses came towards him; I guess they were friendly and curious.  But then they ran away like he was barking or something.  The lady seemed pretty calm the whole time and she let him run for a minute or two before getting out, opening the car door, and calling him back.  He jumped in the car and they continued on their way.

I don't know why he chose to greet the horses; maybe it's because they were a lot closer to the road than the donkeys were.  In any case... had my dog jumped out of my window I would have FREAKED THE HELL OUT, which - I know - would be the exact wrong thing to do.  I must be getting cautious in my old age because now I seat-belt my dogs in place.  😂

But anyway, I'm glad that story didn't have a tragic ending.

I have a few succulents...

I have a few succulents that etiolated for various reasons; a couple stretched before I bought lights, but most of them were, sadly, purchased that way. I know that arrangements of plants are pretty, but it just doesn't seem good for them especially when sitting in places like Lowe's and Home Depot for an extended period of time.

So... since you can't un-stretch a plant it's usually recommended to cut its head off (😮😥☹️😭) and also cut the plant near the base and let those two pieces dry out, then you re-plant the head and treat both like nothing happened. 😬 The section of plant that you removed from between the base and the head usually has leaves so you can carefully pull those leaves off and 🤞🏻hopefully, propagate them into baby plants.

I never had the confidence to try this... until today. I hope I haven't damaged my plants in a bad way, but I was really careful and they are pretty tough.

Here is my tray of leaves that I would like to propagate. If all goes well I will have lots of babies in a few months. Babies that I don't need or have room for, but I couldn't throw them out like trash. Supposing they live, they will be up for adoption with the only request from me being that you try your best to take care of them. Of course I catch feelings for basically every living thing so these would be my grandchildren and you really have to love them. That's the rules. 😂😂😂😍😍😍

I don't even care if it's only 9.

I don't even care if it's only 9. I'm in my bed. I didn't sleep well last night and didn't get as much done today as I would have liked because by this afternoon I was dragging. Oh well. Gonna rest up and try again tomorrow.

Goodnight, friends. ❤

Check out these babies in progress!

Check out these babies in progress! (Plus a few more pics.) The babies are propagated from my own plants. I think they'll be getting new homes in the spring. 😊 I added pics of the adult plants so you can see how they will turn out. Also... that funny yellow bloom just keeps getting weirder. 😂😍

I deserve more and I'm taking it.

I could use some of this in my life. If I've come off harsh to any of my friends or family lately (and I'm sure I have), it is because I don't have either the mental or emotional space to deal with what you're tryna throw at me. I'm doing a lot and I'm putting myself first so I can keep doing a lot.

I'm focused on my health, school, my relationship with my husbang (because we are good and can withstand another year of school as a priority), and helping the kids (who are almost 19 and need to be working towards functioning as adults) - in that order.

If I have little to nothing left for your causes, your wants of my time, your problems, or your feelings, then SO. BE. IT. I'm done sacrificing myself to everyone and everything leaving only a crumpled mass of stress, tension headaches, migraines, and psoriatic flares for myself (and my husbang). I deserve more than that and I'm taking it. Unapologetically. It doesn't mean I don't love you, though. ❤

This shoe fits.

This shoe fits.

Seriously - if I ever give you something, you're special. I have things I want so to give them away is usually a big deal to me.

Advanced Calculus exam in an hour.

Advanced Calculus exam in an hour. Yes, this is what it looks like - paragraphs of text with more symbols and letters than numbers. Wish me luck. I will need it. 😳