Update

First and foremost - HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BRO!
Okay, now for a quick update...
I'm about a month and half into my program and so far I like it. We are down to five people in my class which is SO nice because we get more one on one time with the instructors. One thing I am noticing is I don't like to tell people what I am in school for, they look at me like I'm crazy. So here is an explanation for those of you who have a one track mind and the only image you can conjour up is an ugly one. I am in a MEDICAL massage program. MEDICAL meaning there is some scientific proof behind this method of healing. For those of you who know me, research is my thing so I would not have taking this route if it was not morally or ethically sound nor if there was no proof behind the method. I am NOT a masseuse. I am a massage therapist. There is a difference. We are similar to a chiropractor and a physical therapist; we just use a different modality. We are expected to know all the bones, muscles, their origins, insertions, and actions. We take Anatomy and physiology, which just so happens to be the core in Kinesiology, the undergraduate degree I currently hold and soon down the road I'll hold a master degree in exercise physiology. Medical massage has gotten a bad rap over the years. Slowly but surely things are changing and more people are understanding that massage is a useful modality for certain sports injuries, low back pain, even cancer. We increase circulation not only in the circulatory system, but in the lymph system as well. As you can see it is not a crock. The best part is is the program is faith based, which means I have prayed more in the last month and half than I have since high school. At a point in my life where I feel lost and back to square one, deciding to attend this school is a blessing in disguise. The instructors and my classmates are supportive and I feel like at least here I belong.
So if anyone ever needs to explain what I do, I'm in the medical field, helping people.

In a Nutshell

Okay, so this is everything in a nutshell. We have not posted recently because we've had a lot going on. Mom and I have been discussing off and on putting the shop on the market. In August we or rather I committed to a decision; we would list the shop for sale. So, I went to a realtor that had sold the shop 3 times over, put all the paperwork in. The next day the business that was underneath us made us an offer we couldn't refuse. They would take over our rent for the space. This was the only thing we were really worried about. In the last month I had used close to half my personal paycheck to cover the bills for the shop, I reached my breaking point. Plan changed and we decided to close a shop that had been in the town for over 30 years. We cried for last three weeks we were open and I felt like such a failure.
     In May I had taken a job I knew in my heart I shouldn't have said yes to. On top of being upset about how things were going with the shop, I was completely miserable in my job. The week before closing our doors at the shop, I quit. I took a part time job that paid way less than my full time job. I was that unhappy, I wanted out so badly. So that is everything that happened in the last few weeks of August. Plus I started medical massage school in September. So far I love it! I am not as stressed and I feel like I'm waking up. I'm realizing how much I missed in the three year fog. You know what though, I don't regret buying the shop, I do wish things had been better economically, but that was a risk that my parents and Jarvis and I took. We would NEVER have been able to accomplish what we had without my mom and dad, NO WAY. They were the main reason we lasted as long as we did.
     So know everyone keeps asking us, "what are you doing with your spare time?" I have to chuckle at this question because we don't really have that much more spare time. My mom's house has one roomed filled with product that we have yet to finish going through, it's October and I have finally caught up on the large pile of laundry and the never ending pile of dishes, my home is slowly but surely getting cleaned and put in order and we are very close to finally starting on the upstairs floors. So I have SOME spare time, but not a ton. The hardest part is finding things to do with myself. The last three years I have worked 7 days a week for most weeks. I felt stressed 99% of the time, but I always had something to do and somewhere to go. My life was work and shop. I was tired most days. I'm now finding that in order to feel like I'm contributing to the household I have to keep up on laundry, dishes, and learning to cook. Those are not all bad things and for the last week I've felt like I'm on my way to feeling more stable. Thank you to God, my supportive and loving husband, and of course my wonderful parents, for being my life lines for the last three years. And this is hopefully the start of more entries and more projects getting done around this wonderful home. Here is to a second chance and starting over (I am back to square one in regards to my career).

I am Mountain Woman hear me ROAR!

Okay so I know I haven't posted in awhile, but it just so happens that I got home early enough to spend 2 hours shoveling my car out of 3 foot burm and I figured..."What an accomplishment. Spend 9 hours at work, come home and un-bury the car...I should post about this" like anyone cares...BUT I DO because I am all alone yet again to deal with bad weather, broken water heaters, non-draining showers, and dripping faucets. God bless Superman who is my father and the source of sustenance who is my mother; without them I would have a flooded house and an empty belly. So while I am here typing I might has well complain, my one moment so please let me vent. Since my last post Jarvis has started a job that requires night shift hours so of course as I leave to go to work, he is coming home and when he leaves for work I am just coming home. For the next few months I get to see him for a whopping 6 hours before he leaves to go back to work...may I say that the days he is off I am once again on my way to work either at the shop or the school. With Mom and I alternating weekends off I do get to spend a whole day with him so that is a little better...okay back to my venting. Whenever Jarvis is home nothing happens. As soon as he starts his week it's like God says..."Oooo she's alone lets see what happens if I make the water heater bust a water converter, or clog the shower, or toilet, or how about I make it rain cats and dogs, ooo even better lets make it snow 2 feet!" Proof that God has a sense of humor. I may vent, but in the end I guess it makes me even more independent...like that was a problem in the first place. Jarv always says I have become soft after I started dating him, but who can fix a water heater, or un-stick a snowed in car, un-clog a shower or toilet, or kill spiders the size of my palm...yeah that's right ME!!!!! Soft my A$#! I can make a meal out of nothing and have had to do it on many occasions. I'll give you soft, come to my door threatening me and I will beat you down with my shovel, that's right my shovel! Guns, I have 'em but my bro's would be a little disappointed I didn't use my fists first! I am Mountain Woman hear me ROAR! Speaking of shovels here are 2 pictures of my car endeavor... Not very good pictures but the first one was where it was parked during the entire storm. Burm high on one side and not on the other and about 3 feet of snow on top of the car. The second is where it is parked now until tomorrow evening when I have the time to get to the gas station to put gas in it. I shoveled that driveway for an hour and half at 3 in the morning! Soft? I think NOT!

*NOTE: Okay so 3 feet is nothing compared to what we had last winter, but hey still an accomplishment especially after working all day.