PT-LawMom

Lately I’m getting a lot of hits to my blog from people looking for gifts for law students. I have a few ideas. First of all, I’d suggest steering away from the traditional pens/leather goods route, at least until graduation. You’d be surprised how much stuff like this law students get for free from firms or at events.

Books
I have bought pretty much all of my books so far from Amazon (either new or, more frequently, through Amazon Marketplace). Most of us don’t have time to read for pleasure right now, but an Amazon gift certificate to help us purchase our books would be great!

Pampering
One thing I use a lot to ease the pain in my shoulders from hunching over my laptops and books is this microwaveable neck wrap from the Happy Company. They have a bunch of other cool pampering products as well, such as foot massagers, a tingly head massager (easier to use if someone else does it to you) and warm booties. Okay, now I want the whole page of products!! Ack!
Yoga DVD — I’m buying this one for myself in the hopes that if I get into it over the holiday season, I’ll actually keep it up during the year. This particular DVD has been highly rated by Yoga Journal for two years now.
Chocolate — how about some chocolate for the studying student? Or healther mixed nuts packets?

Useful Items
Book Holder — this book holder is not only sturdy enough to hold large textbooks, it also folds flat so we can carry one in our backpack for use in class or at the library!
Power inverter — for charging our laptop in the car
Rolling backpack — take the stress off our backs with a rolling backpack
Staple-free Stapler — environmentally friendly and definitely useful!
Delivery! — if you want to buy something truly helpful to a busy law student, how about subscribing them to regular delivery of paper towels, laundry detergent, etc., through Amazon’s Grocery service. I do this all the time because I save 15% if I order regularly and it all arrives with free shipping on my doorstep! Such a timesaver!
Great pens
iTunes Gift Card or, even better, an iPod. It’s so much easier to listen to review CDs on an iPod than stuck next to a CD player!

Finally, if you want a goofy gift, how about a marshmallow shooter? It’s the deal of the day at Drugstore.com. This boggles my mind but I can see how some people might think it’s cool. drugstore.com deal of the the day

Hopefully this list is helpful to those of you who have been searching my blog for ideas. There’s always the funny CafePress or Threadless t-shirt route as well. For law students with kids, definitely check out Redhead, Esq’s cute baby apparel.

This has just been one of those confounding days.

1) Rental car wasn’t ready to pick up when I dropped the Big Ass Truck off for repairs at the ass crack of dawn, so I had to wait 20 minutes (I KNEW I should have gone to Starbucks first!)

2) Traffic was fine until I hit the last exit before my exit (another 1/2-mile down the road). Then, of course, we came over a rise and stopped dead. Took me FORTY-FIVE MINUTES TO GO A HALF MILE!!!

3) Because I was then an hour late to work and my boss had a huge scowl on his face when I walked through the door (even though I had called), I had to work through lunch to make up the time (there went my study period!)

4) Debit card was lost during Thanksgiving. Pumpkinhead ripped the sticker off the replacement one so I didn’t have the activation number to call and they said I could do it at the ATM, but my pin didn’t work (apparently a new pin is on its way, but I still don’t have it).

5) Due to lack of working debit card and failure to foresee this, I had no cash to pay the babysitter. I could see the pity in her eyes as I wrote a check. I just

know

she was thinking, “Poor, broke PT-LawMom.” Sigh…

6) Met with supervisor today. Because I used all of my vacation days for silly little things like, oh, full-body bone scans and needle-in-muscle torture tests and now no longer have time available, I am in “dock time”, which is only for “emergency situations.” Therefore, I will not be able to work through lunch and leave early the days of my exams (which, after a nice, long day at work will run until almost 10 at night!). Nope, not even 5 minutes early. Meanwhile, my well-rested classmates will be doing a little jig as they walk into class. Yep, I will be stopping at the gas station on the way to work tomorrow for a lottery ticket!

7) Spent 14 hours yesterday revising my outline with my study partner. All of the printers were broken at school (WTF?!?!) so I said I’d print it at home so she could pick it up from me on her way to work tomorrow. Yep, you guessed it… totally out of paper. And of course Chapin is on a business trip tonight and Pumpkinhead’s asleep already. I did half consider dragging him out to the WalMart, but it’s freakin’ cold outside and I don’t think either of us are up for that.

Speaking of Pumpkinhead, the boy is suddenly in the most back-talking, tantrum-throwing, drive-me-insane stage!! I’d be really upset except that all my friends with kids the same age are going through the same thing so I know it’s just a stage. Still, his timing is not at all good.

Bottom line — this work full time, attend law school part-time, raise a kid and maintain a household thing is really, really, really overwhelming at times. I am praying, hoping and begging that tomorrow will be a better day!!!

The Perfect Post Awards were created by Suburban Turmoil and Petroville. I read many of the “perfect posts” each month and think, wow, what a great idea. Then last week I read a post that made me cry and laugh and touched me deeply and I thought it deserved this award.

So my November Perfect Post Award goes to LagLiv for her post entitled “Of Friends and Family.” For those who haven’t read her blog, LagLiv is a 3L with a five-month old who had some medical problems early on. She knew something was wrong and kept trying to get him help but no one would listen. When someone finally did take her seriously, it turned out that something was seriously wrong and, although the problems probably started at birth or very early on, she and her husband were accused of child abuse. Their infant son was taken away and has now been returned, but they have to live with a monitor 24/7 pending the outcome of the case.

During this enormously stressful time, she has managed to keep a level head and to put her child’s needs first above everything else. She’s had to put up with rudeness and confounded decision-making and through it all she has maintained perspective, continued to attend at least some of her classes and is now about to take exams. When I read this post, I was so impressed with how she’s handling this ordeal and I wanted to share it with all of you.

What do you put in your outlines? Do you include charts or other material you didn’t create? During my first semester, I did it all myself and then came in to watch classmates open huge, detailed outlines with charts and stuff that obviously came from an outside source. I sort of thought that wasn’t allowed, but maybe I’m wrong. What do you all do? Where do you find the info that goes into your outline, besides just your own notes, case briefs and recollections? When it’s every classmate for his/herself, how do you compete against someone who chooses to use the best sources he/she can find?? How do you know that what is in your personally created outline is fully accurate and complete?

Now that I’ve made my “Nice Girl” list, I need to add one more. Ugh. Yesterday I had to spend a few hours with some people from work. I totally talked. And talked. And TALKED. Why do I feel this need to fill in awkward silence? Why do I have to share so much? I am definitely have a post-social-event hangover today (regret, not liquor). This is why I’d rather stay home with my books. I do okay when I’m in a group of my peers, but I get all weird when I’m around the “popular crowd.”

Anyone else do this? I raise it because I bet if you do, it will be a stumbling block as an attorney. I don’t know about you, but I do fine when I’m at a group event speaking about what I do or what I know. It’s when I have to talk about social stuff that I fall flat on my face. How do you combat this? How do you mentally kick the little girk (girl/dork) inside who feels the need to babble when she feels uncomfortable?

This week’s roundup is up at A Little Fish in Law School.

The Weekly MILS (Moms In Law School) Roundup is the brainchild of Saramel (retired). It is hosted on a rotating basis at the PT-LawMom and A Little Fish in Law School blogs and is usually posted no later than Monday morning. Next week’s MILS Roundup will be back here.