PT-LawMom

My office looks like a bomb hit it, my dining room table is covered in laundry that needs to be folded and I have a closet full of gifts I picked up the day after Thanksgiving or bought online that need to be wrapped before a certain sneaky kid finds them. Fortunately I had the forethought to send his main present to my mother’s house.

But before I tackle all of this, Pumpkinhead and I are going caroling in the back of a hay-filled pickup truck at church tonight. Then tomorrow it’s shopping with my mother (for my bazillion cousins!) and meeting up with my cousin for lunch to give her the portrait I had done (I hope she likes it!!!) At least I found time to frame that last weekend.

Last night we all went to sleep at 8:30!! Pumpkinhead and I came home and laid down on the couch to watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas. By the time Chapin arrived home at 8, I was passed out on the couch with Pumpkinhead sitting on top of me. Chapin said, “That’s it, we’re going to bed early!” So we all went upstairs for baths and everyone was in bed and asleep by 9. I feel MUCH better this morning. Now it’s off to find warm clothes for caroling tonight. Hope everyone else is recharging, too.

I might be a little overconfident here, but I think I did reasonably well on my exam (I hope I’m not jinxing myself!). Not knock-one-out-of-the-park well, but well. It helped that the teacher took some of the questions directly from some of the online study materials I used to prepare. I did not do as well on the essay part, but we had an excess of time and that helped me go back and revise/refine as much as I could. My problem there was just terminology recall (bad medicated brain!!!), but I think many of my classmates had a similar issue. Closed book sucks! My favorite part was the very open-ended policy question (1/4 of our grade!). I think I wrote a convincing argument for an issue my professor is passionate about so hopefully that will help a bit. You should have seen the looks on everyone’s faces when he handed out this exam. His past exams have been majority if not completely multiple choice. Many of my classmates just packed up and left when the exam period was only half over.

I did go to bed last night at 9:30 because I could barely keep my eyes open. Then I woke up at 4 to start studying. Unfortunately Pumpkinhead followed me down at 4:30 and refused to go back to sleep no matter how much I fussed or begged. And of course Chapin was away on business last night.

So. Finally got Pumpkinhead off to school and started studying. I was doing well this weekend with practice tests, CALI exercises and reviewing my notes. Now, however, I’m looking at more of my professor and his colleagues’ practice exams and freaking out a bit. How on earth can the man expect us to cite UCC and Restatement provisions (and the comments!!) if we can’t bring anything in to the exam? ARGH!

I am going to get dressed now and head to school, armed with a Sugarfree Red Bull, some cheese sticks, an apple, my Mnemonics cards and my notes and hope that I can get into a zone before the exam. I may need to hide out in my car but I don’t want a flat tire or other problem to prevent me from getting there on time. It’s a good half-hour or more from my house so I need to get started. Wish me luck?

Monique at Mommy and Law School wrote a wonderful review of our first book club selection in the comments here and she suggested the following for our next book:

I noticed you have a book club selection, you might look at Carolyn 101. It is a great read. Small and detailed, lots of good advice from Trump’s previous right hand.

She addresses questions sent to her from working women and mother regarding everything from life/work balance, working with an ego like Donald Trump to managing your career.

Just thought I would suggest it.

Carolyn 101 got good reviews for its solid career advice and it apparently has good advice for working mothers so I say we try it. My other suggestion is This is How We Do It by Carol Evans.

Thoughts from the Peanut Gallery? Other suggestions?

I got home after a long day at work and a very rare but nasty yelling-at by one of my partners IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE HALLWAY! And I swear to God, I didn’t even do anything! It was a miscommunication (his fault!) and he just flipped out. Have I mentioned that I really, really, REALLY want that paralegal position?? Pray for me, send good wishes, pin a voodoo doll — just send some luck my way! (After I recovered from the hell that was my morning, I took 2 minutes to go downstairs and get a lottery ticket so I’ll take luck just for that! Then I could attend law school full time and have only that to get stressed over.)

Anyway, that episode really dragged me down and then he made me work through lunch and stay a half-hour late. I barely made it to Pumpkinhead’s school on time. Actually, I made it at 6:35 so I had to pay $5 for each minute I was late.

My point? I am tired. Sooooo tired. I drank a VENTI Nonfat Sugar-Free Cinnamon Dolce latte on the way home and I still feel like a mack truck hit me. I have Law in a Flash cards laid out in front of me and I Just Can’t Look At Them! I was up at 4 a.m. so maybe I just need to go to bed now and wake up early. Thank the Lord, I have the entire day off tomorrow before my four-hour exam in the evening. I can’t even think straight to figure out what I will do tomorrow. The only thing I know for sure is that the darn housecleaner comes tomorrow so I have to “clean for the cleaner.” On the plus side, hair and makeup aren’t standing in my way. I think I’ll sleep now, get up at 4 to study and then take Pumpkinhead to school as early as possible!!!

Wish me luck on my Contracts exam! Any tips or awesome charts/mnemonics/random tips to send my way? Send ‘em to PTLawMom at gmail dot com. It’s closed book and my professor is a bit of a sadist because she went to an Ivy League school and, therefore, has to torture her students like she was tortured! So obviously I need all the help I can get!!!

This article made me sick, but similar scenes are probably playing out all over the country. I think that people are in for a shock when the immigrant laborers leave for more accepting climates and suddenly, GASP, they have to pay a living wage and benefits if they want anyone to work for them. Or, OH NO, they actually have to pay a bit more at the local diner or nail salon because, you guessed it, the cheap labor has left the building. I’m not saying that the exploitation of these workers is fair or just, but I am saying that those who oppose immigrants (legal or illegal) often don’t realize just how positive of an effect they have on the local economy. Even the border states have found that the economic benefits come out ahead of the economic losses when they tally it all up.

Mr. Reza says he can’t understand why America accepts global flows of companies, money and jobs but not workers. Why faith in market forces seems to have been eclipsed by fear of immigrants. Or why the country cannot set up legal channels to let jornaleros come and go and not be hassled. “They actually are people with a work ethic that would make the Puritans proud,” he said.

I told you I couldn’t resist my own blog. Just bought the Gold Box deal on the Gaiam balance ball chair for my home office ($59 as I type, but full-price is $99 and normal sale price is $79)!

Anyway, my point is that as I was returning to Amazon’s main page, I saw this neat tote bag. You purchase the sack and feed schoolchildren in developing nations for a whole year. Not only do you get a really sturdy bag to tote your heavy casebooks in, but you are also encouraging others to contribute every time you walk around with it.

“The FEED bag is a sturdy, reversible bag made out of natural burlap and cotton materials. The design of the bag was inspired by the big bags of food that I have seen being distributed to schools around the world. Besides being a cool bag, it is a tangible way to make a difference in the fight against child hunger. Every FEED bag sold will feed a child for a whole year in school!
Thank you for your support of the FEED project! With your help we will be making a big difference in children’s lives around the world, one child at a time. So wear your bag with pride!”

And, if you’re looking for something to put in those bags, check out the great used study aids available through Amazon Marketplace!

Didn’t watch it, but after reading this article my only comment is that I’ve always liked John McCain.

Stealing a post from Ana and reviewing 30 days of search history to see how people find my blog:

For the person searching my blog for a “Wife of a Law Student” shirt, try this

I want this one for me and this one for my little monkey, Pumpkinhead.

For the person searching my blog for what to get his legal secretary for Christmas, cash is always good. Or a gift card (Amazon? See sidebar) if you think cash is gauche. If you want to get her a “serious” gift, Kelly at Lawyer’s Right Hand recommends an investment in her professional development. I would suggest paying for a NALS certification. It will make her feel more confident and ultimately benefits you and your firm as well. Don’t buy her gels, lotions, perfumes or bath products. Don’t buy her clothes. If you don’t want to give money, how about a gift certificate for a nice restaurant near her house so that she and her significant other can go out to eat? You could also go with a spa certificate, although there are some (crazy!) women who aren’t into that. Hope this helps. In my personal experience over the past six years, I’ve always received cash or gift cards. If you need any more ideas, please click on my Amazon links at left.

For the person searching my blog for the cost of raising a child, BabyCenter actually has a calculator for this. That said, I’d say better not to look!

For the person who wants to know if it’s easier to get into law school part-time, the answer is NO! We’re smart enough, we’re good enough, and gosh darn it, our professors actually prefer us over the baby daytime students! That said, this article about the disadvantages is fairly accurate.

For the people searching for broke law student, you found me. Ditto for the people searching for law school diaries.

I really want to know what a “law school attack outline” is! Sounds vicious.

For the person searching for how to evaluate their legal secretary, do it nicely. Nothing in a review should be a surprise. Talk to your secretary before filling it out, if need be, and remember that your evaluation affects her compensation so please be as generous as you can be.

For the person searching my blog for the “negative impact of immigrants on America”, boy did you pick the wrong blog, buddy!

For the TWENTY people collectively searching for “Thanksgiving MILF”, “In-Law MILF” or “Lawyer MILF”, what the fuck?!?! Same for the FORTY-FIVE searches for “Aquadots Recipe.” On a similar note, I don’t know how you got to my blog searching for how to stuff THOSE up THERE! Ew!!!!

Finally, you can and SHOULD visit Ruben Navarette here.

I think Ana’s blog searches are much more interesting!

So I spent all morning studying with my study partner while Pumpkinhead attended church with my parents and Chapin went off to the casino with his buddies (he turns 30 tomorrow). When I left church, my intention was to head straight home. But then my mother (really sick!) begged me to get her some groceries on the way home. When I dropped them off, I only stayed 5 minutes (again, with the intention of going straight home and studying). But then Pumpkinhead kept saying how pretty all the Christmas decorations were in the neighborhood (darn neighbors trying to outdo each other!) and begging me to put up the tree. I said next weekend and he whined a bit but then stopped pushing it.

Unfortunately my tendency to procrastinate got the better of me. I put the dirty boy in the bath and then snuck up to the attic to get our 6 year-old fake tree. When Pumpkinhead got out of the bath, I told him he could come downstairs and see his surprise. This was his happy reaction:

So then, once I got him dressed, we decorated as quickly as I could push him. I think the tree looks fairly good.

Now he’s laying on the couch next to the tree watching cartoons and I am about to dive back in to my CALI lessons and BarBri StudySmart practice tests. I WILL study hard today! I really am a night person so I’m just getting started. See how good I am at rationalizing away my slacker behavior?

P.S. I love this ornament (a gift from Chapin).

P.P.S. I have GOT to stop visiting my own blog. I keep getting distracted by the Amazon lightning deals in the sidebar. I almost bought the 50% off KitchenAid mixer today… but then I remembered that a) I don’t cook and b) I’m trying to lessen my carb intake and mixers are really only good for baking yummy stuff. Oh well….