I need more down time...

(edited 01/09/06 to add some stuff at the end.)

It's amazing how when you stay as wound up as I tend to stay on a regular basis, it is a painfully deliberate and conscious effort to just chill out. Remember what Ferris Bueller said about his friend Cameron being wound up so tight? When I first watched that, as a teenager, I thought, yeah, that Cameron, he's a nerd. Now, I'm searching for my own rare gems. Let my people go.

Yesterday, my husband took his teacher certification exams. For those of you that don't know, he had a massive stroke 11 years ago, when he was 22. He's had mild aphasia and limited use of his right side ever since, and his work history has been sporadic, at best, since then. He began walking and talking again within a few months of his stroke, and lived with his mother during his recovery time. A year later, he could read children's books and speak in longer phrases. Two years later, he got his driver's license back, and the year after that, he moved back out to live on his own. That's about when we met. We were both in college at the University of South Florida, and I was envious when he beat me to a B.A., shortly after our marriage. In spite of his academic achievements, finding a job where he stood a chance to excel was tough, and I've been the working parent for much of our marriage.

Last fall, when our children officially went from being homeschooled to private schooled, I overheard the principal mentioning a shortage of strong teachers. As my husband had done much of the homeschooling for our own little ones, was college educated, and looking for opportunities to get out and do things, I volunteered him, and set up an appointment for them to work something out. Since then, Daddy-O has taught intermediate social studies for the school part time in exchange for tuition. It was only after the first month at the school that he realized how much he enjoyed teaching, and discovered what could be a lifelong career. If he could teach part time in exchange for tuition, he could teach full time as a career. We began researching certification options for non-education majors in our state, and discovered the PACE Program, in which people with degrees can get certified to teach in their field by passing the Praxis II exams, getting hired, and completing a 3 year program while teaching in public schools. He began studying for the exams, and felt pretty good about his level of preparedness.

So, on the test results (which we won't have back for approximately four weeks) rides in part whether or not we become a two-income family, or remain a single income family of five. Granted, he can always retake any particular exam he did not pass, but I really think he will do it this time. After testing from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm, he was ready for a break. And seeing as I won't take time off for myself to chill, I was more than happy to take that time for him! So, Maher drove up, and we all went bowling (I beat the snot out of everyone else, of course!), and then came home for a Trivial Pursuit: 90s Edition battle royale. Beer was consumed (by me and my husband, at least), competitive insults were hurled, and a great time was had by all. Nice! Why can't I do this when I'm feeling like I'm about to crumble? Who knows. Maybe it's a mom thing.

And then today, I spent from 9:30 am until noon fighting with Skype to see if I could get it to record calls, checking on my children (who were climbing all over pallets of vinyl siding in my warehouse) every few minutes. //Blech//

Then I took them home, and came back to fight with Skype, Audio Hijack Pro, LineIn, and Wiretap from 1:00 pm until 2:30 pm, still with no success. //Ick//

Then I typed up some quick notes, and shoved my headset mic into the computer to do an interview with another podcaster who had asked me to do a bit for his show, and his internet connection crapped out in a painfully frustrating way. //twitch twitch//

So, I went back to fighting with Skype to try to record, and (angels singing, heavens opening), got it to work around 4:30 pm. //sigh of relief//

Jason, with History Podcast had been sweet enough to offer to be available for some practice Skype recording, and we had a great chat. What a nice guy! //Ahhhhhh... this day's not so stressful after all...//

So, at 8:30 pm, after feeding, bathing, and tucking in my darling little angels, I went online and attempted to purchase Skypeout credits. It indicated that a confirmation code was sent to my email address. It is now 10:10 pm. I have clicked on "get mail" about three million times in the last 100 minutes. //eeeeehhhhhhhhhh//

I think that my head is going to explode if I don't wrap it in duct tape immediately, or maybe I just need medication. Either way, the twitching is slowly returning, and going to bed now may be the only way to make it stop.

...............

10:40 pm
And now, after realizing that it's too late to call my stepdad, taking down my entire recording setup, shutting down my mac, blogging for the past who knows how long, and deciding to give up and go to bed, I check my email. There are a zillion confirmation codes from the ass-clowns at Skype, and I'm homicidal. Happy new year.

...............

Edit Monday, January 9:

So, after a bit of reflection, and after carefully retrieving my head from my rear, I realize that yesterday was not all bad.

1) The conversation with Jason was nice.
2) Matt added a link and nice words about my blog, which I'm sure he regrets after reading this load of crap.
3) An old college pal of mine now living in Seattle left me a comment on one of my MySpace pictures: "I forget, sometimes, how really foxy you are. Rawr!" Yeah, baby. You got it. Getting virtually cat-called by a gay guy rocks, because I feel no disloyalty toward my husband for enjoying it so much, plus Q-boy has STYLE with a capital S, T, Y, L, and E. Bam! And he called me foxy. It's been a few years since I've thought of myself as foxy, but I guess I am a little foxy in a Mae West sort of way. Va, va, voom, baby!
4) The 4th nice thing about yesterday is not blog-friendly. But it was nice.
5) I emailed libsyn support last week complaining that I couldn't give separate titles to my category feeds, even though my listeners could supposedly subscribe to them separately. This morning, I got an email from libsyn telling me what a great idea it is, and that they'll be adding it in as a user menu in the next few days. I'm a genius! Really, I'm just amazed that I'm the first person to ask about that. Can I really be the first to want separate titles listed if I list several feeds separately but under one umbrella site? Amazing. So, all you libsyn podcasters: you're welcome.
6) And today, I am registering myself for a retreat next weekend at the convent. Smooth. Next weekend will be nice. I'll get my down time, after all!