April has arrived!

And so has Mark! Actually he arrived in Iraq about 6 days ago, but I first got to hear his voice yesterday. He's doing well, sounded good. I'm sure he'll be posting here pretty soon. They are waiting on internet connections to be set up in their "rooms" so as soon as that happens, I'm sure we'll all get to hear from him on a more regular basis. It sounds like he's going to be having 10 hour work days, lives 1/2 mile from where his office is set up, and has his own vehicle (not sure how he managed that one!) They are still in the process of being handed things over from the troops that are getting ready to leave.

Trying to keep things going here at home is proving to be a challenge. I have three vehicles that need to be serviced, but taxes are due and even though Mark's extra pay kicked in, I don't know how to get it transferred from savings to checking without messing things up that are already in place for this to take place. Needless to say, I sent Mark quite a few e-mails in the past few hours! I'm sure he'll know what to do, but that's the thing: I should be able to handle that by myself!

I'm a little frustrated with school right now, but I'm trying to weather the little storms that keep the water of learning unstable. Not the school work, per se, but the annoying changes that keep occurring since this is a new program. I really don't mind some wind and rain, that's to be expected, but I sometimes feel as if this program was not as well thought out as it should have been. Oh, well. I'm learning and growing and will be a licensed massage therapist someday, looking back on this as a little wave in the ocean of life. (How's that for you literary folk?)

Speaking of literature, I've read some good books lately (yes, in the midst of muscle cells, musculoskeletal pathology, and massage techniques, I do find time to sink my teeth into a nice book every now and then.) And I've also purchased some future reading.
Matthew Kelly's book "The Seven Levels of Intimacy" is a good self-help book for improving the relationships in your life. His thoughts dove-tail nicely with the law of attraction, but somehow have a more down-to-earth practicality to them.
Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen books are progressing nicely (I just finished the 5th book in the series and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of number 6 from Interlibrary loan, since our library system somehow missed that one.) They are different from the usual mystery/crime novel, and have me enmeshed in Italian life and intrigue.
I'm into the third book of Donita K Paul's dragon series (read DragonSpell and DragonQuest, now reading DragonKnight). This is a totally different fantasy world that has captured my imagination.
My future reading purchases were "'Tis" which follows "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt, "A Monk Swimming" by his brother Malachy McCourt, and "The City of Falling Angels" which is by the author of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," by John Berendt. "Angela's Ashes" and "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" were both recommended by other people, are both nonfiction that read like fiction, and are books that I probably wouldn't have picked up on my own. Obviously, they captured my attention enough to read more!

I've been healthy (no colds or flus lately), but still not motivated enough to establish an exercise routine in my schedule. I really need to do something like that when I'm done posting, actually. If I listened to Matthew Kelly (and mark3200) I'd know that this is something I need to do to become the-best-version-of-myself. So when am I going to start listening? Or when am I going to stop listening and start doing? Today's gotta be the day! I'll keep you posted!