Somehow I banged out a paper: 5.5 pages single-spaced at >3000 words. And turned it in a day early. 

Now I wait for the grade I receive from my peer. I can't say that I like the idea ; all it takes is one over-zealous goody two shoes classmate giving a crappy grade. Stoopid. Whatever, it's done. 

I turned in my certification application last week, which hopefully will be a shoe in. If accepted, my summer is in the toilet while I work on national certification. But, hey, it's more acronyms after my name.

I turned in my tuition voucher request last week as well. 

Will force myself to work on continuing education units to keep license(s) current; brain will turn to oatmeal and dribble through my ears.

Even more unmotivated to apply for grad school after attending an info session. Gatekeeping old guard says that because I didn't work in a psych unit and lack formal experience in their opinion, I wouldn't have enough experience to apply for the graduate level in that field. I bristled so hard at that, especially as I deal with patients with mental health concerns on a regular basis in my current role. You better believe I ended up getting vocal with their admissions team; now I wait to see if they recommend that I pursue a different discipline instead. Harumph.

In happier news, we got a cat from the shelter this weekend. Per the shelter, they found him frozen nearly to death (93°F, which is significantly less than the 100.4-102.5°F they typically run) and he was in the equivalent of the animal ICU with half his tail amputated; given this trauma, he's surprisingly resilient. He's in that hide under furniture mode, but he's super friendly and loving when he emerges from underneath the couch. He gives head bumps, purrs contentedly, and rubs along everthing; he even curled up next to me when I was working on school. He's a bit spooked by my younger child, but I think that's only because she's a noisy little thing and he's super sensitive to noise. It'll be okay, I think, especially after he builds up his cat mojo/confidence, marks up his territory with his scent glands, and we catify our living space a little more. My hope is that he will be a calming influence for my family as a whole and that we will be good for him too. 

All in all, hoping for a good week and to finish the last of this stressful quarter in peace.