End of the semester slump

*FYI, new post on the fiction blog*

It's the end of the semester. On one hand, I am that much closer to graduating. On the another hand, scheduling/getting everything in for graduation in the spring is a nightmare. I have to turn in paperwork to rearrange my degree audit so it fits correctly, substitute classes for another requirement next semester because they canceled the class that was for that requirement, all while trying to stay on top of my classes for this semester. The reason they canceled the class is because of recent professors over the past year passing and one professor leaving at the end of this semester for a different university, so they are now somewhat short-staffed and having to juggle things around.

Heather has deployed. The co-grandparenting began this week. Liam has done something that I find hilarious though... He has made my dad talk in a funny voice. You have to understand, my dad is former military; there was no funny voices in our house from him unless he was trying (painfully) to impersonate Will smith singing Men in Black (just to embarrass me). So when he or mom posted a flickr video on Liam's facebook page (yes the baby has one, but just so his parents can keep in contact while overseas) of Liam' reactions to Dad and Earl (both out of camera frame) it was hilariously cute.

I have come to the conclusion that SSU is a petri dish of disease. In the past few years, we've had cases of MRSA, flu, mono, etc. This year is no exception. In my dorm alone, we've had the stomach flu in a couple of the girls, and now one of those girls has strep throat that morphed into tonsillitis. I am very susceptible to this, so are several people in the dorm. When I was 2, I had to have my tonsils and adenoids out because I got strep/tonsillitis so many times. This was during the time when they just cut them out, before the laser procedure. So much to my surprise, I was told a few years ago that they had grown back! When I got Mononucleosis my freshman year at SSU, they swelled up so bad that I could not even swallow liquid vicodin (didn't know it came in that form until then--tastes NASTY). My mom took me to the doctor, who gave me the choice of either going to the ER and getting an I.V. of steroids to take down the swelling, or chloraseptic spray. Being the needle phobic that I am (even with a tattoo), I chose the spray.

I am a little worried though since I found out about her having strep/tonsillitis. Since I will be around my niece and nephew this next week, and having been around Maddison this past weekend (which I could've been around patient X while the strep was in incubation period, which they can still be slightly contagious) I am worried about passing on the germs to them. Hopefully me acting like a uuber germaphobe until I go home Wednesday will keep them from getting it.

These past two weeks, I have started volunteering at Sierra's Haven, a local animal shelter, for my community service hours requirement for a class I am taking. I am kicking myself for not starting this sooner. They have me in the cat rooms, socializing with them (petting/playing so they get used to people), brushing them, generally making sure they are okay. I have the claw/puncture marks as proof, lol! My back and shoulders, my right thigh and my hands are covered in them. I have a few favorite cats (Wrigley, Morris, Muppet, Bennie, Persha, Sparkie, Hugo, Cheese Cake, Oswald, Foster), some of which will greet me by jumping onto my back. Bennie is kindof sick right now though :(

Many of the cats in the "kitten" room have at least a cough, some have loose stool... From what I gather, this tends to happen at some shelters when they have an overabundance of animals (over 200 cats). Well, Yesterday when I went in that room, there was some bloody loose stool on the floor, which apparently had been there after taking the cat they had already spotted with this problem out and given it medicine. So they had me and another watching the litter boxes to see if we could catch the sick cat. Well... we caught a cat with a problem, just not that one! This cat, Kaylee, sweetest cat. Slightly grumpy towards other cats, but sweet to humans. She went in the litter box, and we noticed some white things in her "waste." Turns out these things (that started to move!) were worms! She was taken out of the room to be given a de-worming treatment and then brought back in, all of the litter boxes were cleaned out. Cut to Bennie. He had been perched on my shoulders for a while. I thought he had farted, so I took him off, and checked to make sure he hadn't left anything behind. What do I find? You guessed it, a WORM! Creeped me the F&*% out! I picked him up, got someone in charge so they could give him the meds. Shortly after I left that room, washed my hands repeatedly. I made sure to ask them if the worms the cats had were transmittable to humans. Thank God they are not, but I still get wigged out when I feel a slight movement of hair on my hair or neck!

Tomorrow afternoon, I will be going to Jenkins, KY for a mission trip for my community service requirement. We will be helping out a convent put together food boxes. I should be back on campus Saturday evening sometime. I will let you all know how it goes. A little tidbit of info about the convent we're going to be at though. Apparently, when Mother Theresa was in Jenkins KY, she was at this convent!

Well, I will update you sometime next week. Depends on how hectic things get with Thanksgiving. I still can't believe most stores and some people I know already have Christmas stuff up!


Laters!