I should remind myself to not read the comments from the State Fair judges. The stuff they said, like critiquing my color choice for the lining of my mittens ("It could match better" on a lining...that nobody will see... and I purposely chose blue because it's my favorite color), or that I should have steeked a vest with crazy-hard patterning, or that my fair-isle is stiffer than the ribbing of a piece (uh, it's supposed to be)... It's insane. And not helpful at all. I'm just going to remind myself that every single item I entered placed. And just be happy with that.

Classes started back this week. It's weird to not be in class. All the students crawling over campus... and I'm a degree holder. Not literally, the piece of paper won't be in my hands for weeks, if not months, but I've done the work. I've passed all the classes. I walked across the stage. It's nuts. It doesn't seem real. If I think about it too long I get teary-eyed. I've actually done something at times I thought would never happen. 7 of the longest, hardest years of my life are over.

It's rather anti-climactic. It's not the *whoosh* of relief I expected. Instead it's a slow, gradual settling. A nice, gentle decline on the insane amount of stress I had somehow learned to live with.

I've recently had a couple of nightmares about walking into a class and having a research paper due that I knew nothing about though. Hope those stop soon.

Life is weird right now. I feel like so many things are in limbo. I'm at a strange place where I have to just sit back and go with what life gives me. Because major things have to happen before I can make any more monumental life decisions. I have to prepare for the GRE. I have to apply for grad school. I have to attempt to land an internship (which I might be really close to doing).

I finished school and my kid started kindergarten. It's definitely a life shift but it surprisingly required little effort on either of our parts. She's adjusting well and other than having a lot of time on my hands at work now, I'm adjusting too.