In Canada, this is the Thanksgiving long weekend, and there is a nice small turkey awaiting to be spun on my rotisserie (if it fits, I'm not sure yet), and there are leaves to be raked by a boy who likes earning his chips (cashable for things like time on the computer to play), and aside from cooking I'm in the middle of clearing out junk, while Jim is moving stuff from upstairs to basement. 

I am also doing editting on books I plan to publish on LuLu and thinking about what, if anything, to write for the CBC Radio short story competition.  I like to try to submit every year since it is prestigious and worth trying, but it all depends on muse and time.  Also coming up is Nanowrimo, starting Nov. 1st.  Sometime after that (usually end of December) is the Toronto Star Short Story competition and that's one I do try to keep submitting to.  I was Judge's Choice Winner one year for my short story Candles which is available for you to read on my Short Story page of my website.  There's also an Ottawa Citizen short story contest and for me to enter I need to get a library card, but since I don't plan to be using the library any time soon, I'll hold off on that one.  I think doing the CBC and the Toronto Star is enough really. 

I'm also thinking about the challenge for credit courses I can do.  It looks like there's likely 3 if not 4 (which actually could be 5 since one is worth 6 credits, i.e. 2 courses).  To do all of those is half a year!  So definitely considering these.  I was going to do the first of the French challenge for credits but I think I'll wait until I'm done my full time/part time training through work first, because that way studying for the challenge keeps my knowledge up after.  So that leaves the English prose ciritiquing and writing course.  That definitely seems a good thing to challenge and the background reading a good refresher from my short story editing course I took years ago.  I've been debating which course to take next, given funds because these are very expensive two months right now with no help on it, unfortunately.  So, the next course will be related to Internet and Communications.  It is an elective one, and is a prequisite for an even more interesting physchology of internet communications and wonderfully, doesn't involve an exam, just participation and essays, something I'd like given I'll be studying for my French language exam.

Now, this evening I check my Athabasca student page and tah dah!  The results were in.  I got 88.5% on my .NET exam!!!  I'm so happy, this is just great.  Gives me the ooph I need to keep going.  A part of me said if I failed this I wouldn't bother, but no, I did fantastically and this wasn't a first year course, it was a second year one.  So okay, given that I need to have 2 years of my 4 year degree completed to be a CS (computer scientist) I'm thinking the light at the end of the tunnel is a pin point in the distance, but at least now I can see it.

So now, let's see.  I sold my old car's winter tires, which was great, and almost sold my stand alone dishwasher but got jerked around by someone I was trying to accomodate (lowered price 'cause she had to pay someone to pick it up), she made two appointments and didn't show up, and in the meantime I had to turn down a legitimate buyer and now there's nobody wanting it.  I'm pissed off.  But I know that somebody out there needs this and they will see it, maybe after the long weekend and the tons of assorted dishes Thanksgiving generates, lol.

Ontario has an election coming up on Wednesday.  Little guy was sick for a couple of days last week so I took the time while I was home to vote in the advance polls so I didn't have to rush around on Wednesday.  As the parent of a child on the Autistic Spectrum and given the *ahem* fun time we've had with the school board policy lately, and remembering the current Federal PC party and the very unhappy memories of the previous PC provincial party, you can guess it was important to me to make sure my vote was heard.  In my riding it'll likely not do much, but there was also a referendum that needed to be responded to so in my unwaivering optimism, I did vote my heart and conscience, and next time Jim will be a citizen and able to work for and vote with his conscious too!

Money.  Lots of expensive things:  a $1250 test I'm likely paying for myself, $135 for son's Saturday course (this time with a biology slant), and two months of his developmental worker 'cause the money I get isn't enough so that's like $520 or so.  $2000, sigh.  Given everything happening right now and knowing there's likely no help from various sources (being a pariah does have its drawbacks, sadly it's affecting my son), I have been doing fill in building cleaning for the company Jim works for.  Yeah, scrubbing toilets isn't the most fun thing (do men pee out their ears or something?) but, it is good honest work and doesn't involve saying "hi can I help you please?".  It's a little few extra dollars in my pocket and that really does make a difference.

Remind me to get an oil change.

And now, off to more nice long weekend stuff, have a great weekend,

Cathi