Fitting it in

Somehow it is October- which has me thinking about Halloween. Last year, being the Mom of 5- and 7-year-old boys, I had things to do. We watched the relevant TV specials, went trick or treating, answered the door and even ate a little candy. The cool thing is that I (and my husband) also did class work! My husband's online class (Regression Analysis or something) meets each Wednesday at 6:30, but he was done by 7:05, as the lecture is posted ahead of time, and the time 'in class' is spent watching her complete a few examples. So the boys and I watched ScoobyDoo's Halloween and answered the door, and the moment my husband signed off, we headed out to the neighborhood.I met with my group for our project by IM starting around 8:30, just minutes after I said my good nights to the best pirate and mad scientist, and chatted for a little over an hour to see what issues we were having in moving the project forward. It is good to have these contact points now and again, but we are doing well I think. One thing I like about these meetings is the documents are always handy- we were talking about an example, and were all able to pull it up on screen for immediate review just by posting a url. We can also copy and paste other info we have- like emails from sources, and paragraphs we have completed already for an instant check. And documenting these sessions is a snap- just click save, and the txt file is there on my computer. In contrast, my across the street neighbor just started a Masters in Public Health at another school in the Texas Medical Center. She actually goes to lecture once every week, and has a study group on Saturday afternoons. They had class on Wed evening, and so she went. Her children (4 and 8) were obviously fine to be with their Dad, but my friend missed out. She is disgruntled at herself for even going to class, but (I think) even more mad that she was put in a position where she had to choose. Meanwhile, even during our IM meeting one member of the group had to get up to answer her door for "Trick-or-Treat", and it was no problem. Another group member IM'd the instructor to check on a point we were discussing, and got an instant answer. It just fit right in.