Things that are Harder than They Should Be

1) Using my Chromebook.  It doesn't allow for annotating pdfs, isn't compatible with Skype or Blackboard, and continues to shock me with its various limitations.  A whole lot of those limitations made themselves distinctly visible in the last two days as I did all the recommended trouble shooting prior to starting my professional development online course.  Yes, Dylan fixed my virtual connection to our desktop, which fixes the Blackboard issue, while addressing virtual connection issues I was already having (like not being able to hear things through my computer that the other computer was doing).  It's still too slow and jerky to be my go-to for computer, but at least I CAN feasibly do it.  Basically, all my plans for being able to use my computer up in the lounge after Kaylee and Dylan go to sleep or out at Starbucks while Kaylee is in school were all blown out the window.  Stupid computer.

2) Entertaining a Toddler during Spring Break.  Dude.  Seriously.  I was wiped out by 9:30.  Part of the problem is that she was up at 7.  SEVEN!  And I had been awake from 3-5 for reasons passing understanding.  So, there was a sleep deprivation issue.

3) Getting Back into the Habit of Homework & Classes.  It's just 5 credits, one term.  Just 3 frantic months to get my license renewed.  But holy hell.  I felt like I was reading a foreign language while I was reading one simple 7 page summary article of a much larger report on the new engineering design standards.  I got through that... until there was the pre-test on what I currently know about the Next Generation Science Standards.  Ummmm... I've been out of the classroom for 3 years already.  And, well, I know nothing about them, except that they're there, and they're better than the old standards.  That knowledge, however, only got me a 53% on the pre-test.

4) Falling Asleep.  Refer to Number 2.  Yeah, not sure why, but even when I'm NOT taking naps (and I've been trying not to, because that same toddler has decided to go back to 1.5 hour naps, instead of 3 hour naps, and my REM cycle just doesn't mesh with that), I still can't fall asleep, or stay that way for long.  I've had one decent night's sleep in a week.  And even it was full of crazy dreams.  Like, a herd of cats had taken over the cabin during the winter, and we got all the grown up ones into new homes, but as the summer went on, we kept finding tiny baby kittens.  And my mom decided to adopt one.  I caught her snuggling with it and feeding it butter and jam (we eat a lot of bread and jam around here).  Now, that dream is weird any way.  But if you know my mom, it's really, really weird.

5) Completing my first assignment for the class I'm taking.  More than just getting back into the rhythm of homework.  The whole online school thing, where I had to be logged into specific websites, set up profiles and portfolios for submitting work, dealing with the dumb computer and it's file formatting issues, etc etc.  It took 2 hours to submit something that took 20 minutes to write.  And let's not forget the 2 hours of trying to read the 7 page article because there was a toddler... and funky page formatting when I finally found a work-around to the not being able to annotate pdfs thing... and then trying to focus on it while crazy jazz is playing in the background because the only quiet place I could go to work was the lounge...

6) Writing this blog post.  I had like 4 other things I was going to put on this list.  But I've forgotten them.  My guess would be the previous 5 things have something to do with that.

I'm going to bed.  I was going to knit to wind down, but I think I actually need the sleep more than the winding down.