I Have Not Abandoned The Blog...But Time Is Short

While slightly annoying and sometimes infuriating, I believe that some, when they hear that I am a part-time bookseller, full-time mother, and full-time graduate student...they stop at part-time bookseller and assume the other things are not considered real time sinks. I compound that by attending classes online. It never gets old, explaining that just because I do not step into a classroom...does not mean: 1. my school is somehow not a legit university. Please look up Sam Houston State University (it is not one of those for profit online money sinks...it is a real school, with a large campus, full academic programs, full extra-curricular programs, and pretty rigorous coursework). 2. Because it is online, it must be easy.  Hello... I read up to three books and write one to three papers a week, like any other graduate student and if you have never attended a graduate course, then you truly have no idea how stressful, difficult, and time consuming graduate work is. 
It is not easy to explain to someone with no interest in academics what the demands are for someone seeking a graduate or higher degree...
Sometimes it is like explaining something to a person who speaks Japanese in English.   
     - Hey, if I get a comma wrong I could lose a letter grade.
     - Too many B's can sink a student's ability to get accepted into a PhD program.
     - They do not just let anyone in, there are a finite amount of spaces and you have to bust your butt to get them... 
     - Teaching college is NOT like teaching primary school.  There is nothing wrong with being a teacher who teaches k-12.  These are vitally important positions, usually filled by patient, skilled, and dedicated people... but comparing the two jobs is like saying an Apple and Broccoli are the same thing...they are not so if you do not have any experience with either, it is probably a bad idea to assume you have any concept of what a person has to do to pursue an academic career. 
Ok...got that out.
So over the last few months I have been insanely busy. I am finishing up my last year at Sam Houston, an experience that has been both stressful and enlightening. As I prepare for my comprehensive exams this Spring and get ready to graduate, I also have to apply to PhD programs...write many introduction letters, send off forms, fill out questionnaires questionnaires questionnaires questionnaires complete strangers who are experts in their particular fields and beg them to allow me to work under them for a number of years in the hopes that one day I will have the same position that they have, research, write... and so on. In between that... I have to go to work, worry about selling my house, worry about other problems, raise my son, and be a tolerable wife to my really patient and loving husband. 

I have neglected the blog and really have not had the time to update it....

But... I have had some wonderful experiences...going to disney and Harry Potter... visiting family, eating at great places, spending time with the people I love, writing amazing papers, reading amazing books.  I will be really really busy for the foreseen future, but I will try to update now and then.