Today Was a Good Day

Today was a good day; not in the 1993 Ice Cube sort of way, but in the I have the best family sort of way. Seriously though, the whole week has been good.

The kids and I spent two days in northeast Ohio visiting grandparents and great-grandparents. I went to a holiday party and had a blast! A good friend from Kent State, who I had not seen in over five years, hosted a holiday party with her brother. It was a great night of catching up with old friends.

Today, Scott and the kids and I braved the swarm of last-minute shoppers and went to Target to spend some gift cards the kids received from Quin and Zoe and money from Gigi and Aunt Sandy (I only yelled at one lady to "smile" after she glared at Jackson and me...true story). The kids purchased some great gifts including: A cabbage patch doll and keyboard (Ivie), barbies and playdough (Aida), and a shot gun and battleguns (Jackson). Thank you Zoe, Quin, Gigi, and Aunt Sandy and Uncle Steve!

The kids spent the evening playing with the various toys. Tonight Ivie is sleeping with her cabbage patch doll, Aida with one of her barbies, and Jackson has his shot gun under his pillow. No joke.

Aida surrendering Dinosaur to Jackson. Dinosaur took a bullet to the mouth. Poor thing.

Isn't she lovely?
Sharp shooter Jackson taking a break from his hunt to smile for his mother.

Jackson aiming at our refrigerator. I promise you, it was NOT my idea to buy a shot gun with styrofoam bullets that actually discharge from the gun.

Ivie's cabbage patch doll looks like her: Blue eyes and curly blonde hair!

Aida eating edamame. Doesn't she look grown up?

Civil Procedure v. Life

Have you ever thought about how someone gets into federal court?

Didn't think so. For most people, this question is completely unnecessary and irrelevant to daily life. But for me, a second-year law student who just spent three weeks intensely studying civil procedure, that is all I have thought about. Even as Scott is discussing work, football or the kids, I'm thinking, "Now if I filed a lawsuit...against Scott... for $80K...for negligently watching football all of the time...and then I move to MI, would I be able to sue Scott in the Southern District of Ohio?"

Seriously!?!?

Yes. Seriously. These are the typical thoughts that go through my head.

Tonight I took my civil procedure final. Boo. Hiss. Thumbs down. CRAP...that was a hard test. Even though I have been dreaming about civil procedure for the past three weeks, I still do not feel like I knew the material well enough to do well on the exam. After three intense hours of twenty multiple choice questions and one essay with two questions worth 100% of my final grade, I walked out of the room in tears. I think I shed a few tears because of the let down of intensity and I also shed some tears because of my classmates "post mortems".

I usually leave right away to avoid getting trapped in any how-do-you-think-you-did conversations. However, tonight I had trouble uploading my exam file and had no choice but to listen to a few post-test conversations: #Fail...literally. After hearing a few classmates discuss what they wrote and didn't write, I could feel the tears building. I know better than to listen. They do not know any better than I do, but nonetheless, this time, after this particular exam, my emotions got the best of me.

On my way home, through my tears, I received some encouraging words and amazing support(thanks G-dad!). When I got home, Aida and Ivie were both awake. Two huge hugs and two huge smiles, plus the encouragement and support, put it all in perspective: I can do this. I'm doing great. I haven't failed yet. My kids are my world. I'm doing this for them. And in the end, when I receive my J.D. (because I will), it will be the people who have surrounded me and supported me and my children that will matter. And that's all.

I now have to continue studying; next up is Constitutional Law and then Evidence. For the next two days I will think about my constitutional rights as a wife and mother and how it is against federal law to gamble across state lines as Scott is discussing football and studying VegasInsider.com (Don!).

Here are those beautiful people that put life in perspective:

This Doing Nothing is Making Me Tired

"This doing nothing is making me tired."

I'll give you one guess as to who said this: (tick, tick, tick...ding, ding, ding)

As a second-year law student with three kids, this clearly was not me. Rather, Scott, today on his second day off and realizing he still has two more days off says: "Wow...this doing nothing is making me tired". Love him.

I, on the other hand have been frantically outlining fourteen weeks of cases and notes in preparation for finals. I have two out of the three outlines completed; one more to go. My goal is to have it done by Monday. I will be very happy when this semester is over. I'm tired.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was fabulous! Circumstances (i.e. my upcoming finals) lead to us staying in Columbus. I missed my extended family, but Scott and I and the kids had a really great day. We cooked (yes, WE. I made my holiday-famous green bean casserole) just the right amount of food which included: green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, collard greens, stuffing, rolls, and an amputated turkey. Yum.

Kids peeling potatoes

The Amputated Turkey

Scott bravely asked me to go the store on Tuesday to use his gift certificate his company gave him for a free turkey. I proudly, as the wannabe-stay-at-home-June-Cleaver-wife, accepted my responsibility. While at Kroger, I saw three bins of frozen turkeys. I glance, skim, and select. We proceed to the checkout where I successfully use the gift certificate for a free turkey. #success

Fast forward to Thanksgiving morning:

Me to Scott: "That turkey looks funny."

Scott: "Hmmm." Scott: "Um, honey you bought a turkey breast."

Me: "What does that mean?"

Scott: "No dark meat."

Me: "Is that ok?"

Scott: "Yeah, but I like the dark meat."

Me: "Oh...well...that's ok, right?."

In my mind: "OMG...I feel terrible. I am so lucky this man puts up with me!" #Fail!





Despite our turkey's legs being amputated, the turkey was delicious! Several hours later, Scott confessed that he was now over the fact that he wouldn't be eating a juicy turkey leg, thigh, or wing this Thanksgiving.

Me to Scott: "I feel really bad about that sorry."

Scott: "Yeah, that kinda sucked."

In my mind: "Oh, I thought we were past that."

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope your day was filled with laughter, family, friends, love and an abundance of things to be thankful for, including dark meat on your turkey.

Feeling a little nostalgic

This week has been busy as usual. I keep thinking (hoping?) today is Friday, but quickly reminded that I have one more day to get through the week. I am looking forward to this weekend: My cousin, Rachel, is coming to visit! Yay! I've been outlining and reading like a mad law student lady to get ahead of my assignments so that I can enjoy the weekend. After this week, I have one more week of class...OMG!


I'm starting to feel a little (emphasize little) better about finals. My outlines are just about done (except for editing, but editing helps me learn). I don't know all of the rules and concepts yet, but I know in the next three weeks I will. One thing about my second year is that I am now confident that my brain can in fact absorb the astronomical amount of information that my professors shove into our minds. My brain will not only absorb it, but I can understand it and apply it.


I met with the Office of Professional Development yesterday. What a good meeting! The director seems to be very positive about my non-traditional approach to using a J.D. He gave me some great ideas and is going to give me some contacts of people who are doing what I want to do. The talk rejuvenated me and reminded me of why I am here in the first place. My personal career goals have been buried by contracts, torts, evidence, and my classmates' bulldozer approach to getting into the biggest and most well-known law firms. That's not me and after my talk with the director yesterday, I am reminded of that, who I am, and what I want to accomplish.

So to the nostalgic part (I got side tracked): I found old pictures on Scott's computer yesterday. We've had his computer for several years, so there were lots of pictures of Jackson and Aida as a baby. OMG...time has flown by! I miss those two being so young! So here are a few of the pictures I found:

Aida about 6 months

Aida about 12 months

Jackson (and us as a family of 3) about 18 months. Doesn't he look like Ivie?

Jackson around 18-20 months

Jack about 6 months with Nana.

Another Week

So it's Monday. I really dislike Mondays. I thoroughly enjoy my weekends with my family and Mondays represent another week of busyness. It is for these reasons I dislike Mondays.

This weekend, we did nothing! This whole semester, we have had just about every weekend planned (not complaining because the weekends have been spent with family and good friends). This weekend we slept in, roamed around a messy house, cleaned out the garage (in an attempt to get both cars in it), went to the candy store, watched football, and generally just relaxed. It was very nice.

We also celebrated Scott's birthday on Saturday. His birthday marks the end of the end-of-October/beginning-of-November string of birthdays and anniversaries. Again, we didn't do anything special, but he seemed to enjoy his day.

My Law School Mojo

"Where in the world is Megan's law school mojo?" (Sing to the tune of Carmen Santiago)



Seriously, where is it? It seems as though I've misplaced it. I keep expecting to find it in a jar or something, like in Peter Pan (marbles...). I was on a roll, then I gave myself 1.5 days away from my law school studies and I lost it; maybe it is in Pittsburgh. Wherever it may be hiding, I REALLY need to find it. I only have three more weeks of classes and then finals! Yes, finals! A friend from high school posted on FB yesterday (yes, FB, I know I ranted about it in my last post, but it is good for some things right?) how she missed the days of being able to study for one day prior to an exam. She also missed not worrying about finals until that day before. I responded, "Me too!!!". When I was a student at MU in my Atmospheric Science program, I was the worse student (I really was. It is amazing I was allowed to attend law school). I would not think about finals until the end of the semester, then I would spend the day or two before finals learning the material. I didn't have the best grades, but I made it. Now, fast forward to law school: Three weeks before classes have even ended and five weeks before my first final, I have almost reached full-blown panic mode. Insane if you ask me.


I have done all of my reading, I have my outlines caught up for the most part, but I am still insanely worried about my exams. I blame it on my lack of law school mojo and all of the other fun things going on in my life.



For example, Scott, the kids, and I drove up to Kent last weekend, then Scott and I went to Pittsburgh to witness two of my most favorite cousins get married (not to each other :-). We had such a good time. The kids had a good time. Not to mention it was my birthday, our anniversary, and Aida's birthday.



This weekend, my in-laws and the cousin who got married are coming to Columbus to hang out. Scott has to work all day Saturday, Jackson has his football banquet on Saturday, I have a baby shower to attend, and Aida's princess dance party is Sunday morning. All of this other stuff is way more fun than law school and distracts me...in a good way! I would much rather hang out with my family then decipher the meaning of the U.S. Constitution and figure out why Plaintiff X can or cannot bring suit in the Middle District of Tennessee. Not to mention trying to figure out whether to object to impeaching the credibility of a witness.




So after this weekend, I have promised myself I will buckle down and start officially studying for finals, whether I've found my mojo or not. But if you happen to see it, send it back my way. I could really use it.

My cousin (the bride) with her new husband and our grandparents.

Scott and I overlooking downtown Pittsburgh.


Jackson and I overlooking downtown Pittsburgh.

The Internet and Social Media

I am going to rant, so just bear with me. I have so many other things to worry about in my life, but for some reason I get sucked into the Internet and social media only to get pissed and irritated at the stupidity of people I've become acquaintances with over the years.

Before I begin here is my disclaimer: If you are family. This does not apply to you. If I've known you for more than ten years and we've talked more than twice in the last ten years, this does not apply to you. If I've commented, positively, on any of your statuses in the last year, this does not apply to you.

So maybe it's my fault. I know I don't have to friend everyone and usually I don't. There are lots of people from high school that I just simply don't remember that I have politely ignored their request. I like Facebook to catch up with old and new friends. I'm happy to hear about your kids, jobs, school, and nights of partying. I'm happy to see pictures of your kids, weddings, vacations, and nights out on the town. What I don't want is your daily rants about society, politics, how much you dislike Obama and how black people are abusing the system. I also don't care to hear about all the praying that you do (because you are SUCH a good Christian/Jew/Muslim). I also don't care to see pictures of you and your significant other tonguing each other right after you wake up in the morning. Lastly, there is no reason, as grown adults, that we should be spelling "ur" "u" or "jus". If you are SO smart that you know how the country should be run, please, please, make yourself look a little smarter and spell out simple words.

In general, I find Facebook and the Internet very annoying. The Internet is just a anonymous forum for all the racist, homophobic, sexist elistist to post their politically-incorrect thoughts. Those that are little more brave post their racist, homophobic, sexist elitist thoughts on Facebook. I recently decided to spend more time on Twitter and I find this a much better forum. Most of the people I follow on Twitter I don't know. This is refreshing.

I'm sure seven years ago before Facebook was open to all us commoners it was a much better place. Now Generation X and Baby Boomers have cluttered its pages with political rants and religious commentaries. Why can't we just use Facebook for fun? Post a few pictures, tell us what you're doing and where you're going. Tell me something funny. Show me something funny. Let me know when your favorite team wins or loses, but for goodness sakes stop with the controversial, uncomfortable crap.

If you don't "like" this, unfriend me. If you don't "like" the pictures of my kids, unfriend me. Facebook is about catching up with old and new friends, not making your old and new friends feel uncomfortable.