There is no place like home.....

The good doctor and I spent the weekend hauling various things into the house and a lot out. The living room is coming together with the addition of the Susan's futon and my coffee table. The find of the weekend was a roll top desk from Craigslist. When I was ten years old I begged for a roll top desk for Christmas. I cut pictures out of a catalog and tried to convince my father that every ten year old girl needed a roll top desk. He did not fall for my pleading (and frankly, I don't blame him). So, now twenty years later I have purchased my roll top desk. After bringing the desk home from Wichita Falls we went to Lowe's and purchased new hardware for the drawers. This gave the desk a much more modern look.

This is a before picture of the desk that I yanked from Craigslist. I will upload a new picture of the desk when the house is complete and we post pictures.

I am headed to Midwestern with Susan tomorrow to solidify my registration for the fall semester. I recently had the opportunity to interview for a language arts position in Wichita Falls. This would have meant stepping away from my current course toward pharmacy school. When the call came in for the interview I was conflicted because if I were to take the job (this assuming it was offered) it would mean a more secure financial future. It would also mean we could buy one of these insanely cheap houses currently available in Texas (seriously....a four bedroom, three bath house, with an inground pool for $150,000....you can't buy a single wide in Lexington for that much!). It ultimately became a question of instant gratification verses long term goals. I've always known that I was destined to complete a PhD of some sort. I knew it wouldn't be in education (as in teaching), and after completing a master's in counseling, I knew it wouldn't be in counseling (I really have zero desire to be a professor or clinical psychiatrist). However, my mother (the genius that she is) has been saying to me for years, "Jennifer, you should look at pharmacy school...seriously, job security, the money....look at pharmacy school." After working in the counseling field for the last three years I have seen the true inadequacies of psychotropic medications and how people are affected by the fluctuations of medication. The one way I feel I can make the most difference is to study these medications and help to develop more effective pharmaceuticals. Hence...pharmacy school. However, to complete this, I have to complete a year of pre-reqs (stuff I never took as an undergrad...like chem, calc, physics, etc.). So, tomorrow begins my trek toward pharmacy school. My fall schedule will consist of calculus, physics, botany, zoology, and chemistry. Twenty credit hours, an insane schedule. But, when you have only a set amount of time (and a set amount of money) you have to cram as much in as possible.

I pray I am making the right decision. Education is the one of the few things that cannot be taken away. However, I hope I am not putting us in a bad financial position by taking a year off work (and potentially four years if I am accepted into pharm school). Sometimes you have to follow your gut instinct (and the advice of your mother) and eat Ramen noodles (and cat food) to make dreams happen.