before you know it, it will be February!

i haven't quite figured out where the time is going - but it certainly isn't waiting around for me to catch up. Nothing has necessarily changed in the Schultz household, well - okay - that's a lie. A few things have occurred which deserve an honorable mention.

We'll work our way backwards.

I had a birthday on Friday and spent it going over my course evaluations from the spring semester and planning for my fall semester by ordering books and thinking about how I'd like to arrange my schedule.

It is rare that much celebrity news ever impacts me, however, the day before my birthday, my world suffered a terrible blow. Michael Jackson died. I'll save my soap box for some other time, but i'm learning that the world we live in is pretty fickle and self-serving. If it serves their interests to bash a star even in death, they'll do it. And that made me sad. Michael Jackson was never a perfect person and even in that imperfection - he was an entertainer that the world will NEVER see again.

And for that loss, I am still so sad. He was never "Jacko" to me - or "wacko jacko" or any of the other crappy terms people put on him. I laughed when South Park did their episode of "Mr. Jackson" and his wishing tree, namely because of how me and my family imitated it all of the time. I cried when the news stations began announcing that he died. And I played his music in my car, singing and dancing and crying for the rest of the day.

I've watched numbers of videos since his death and I've laughed at the memories and the fun that he had in making videos that entertained for the music as well as the comedy and the mini-plot. I reveled in the dance scenes, as various movements came to my memory. I will miss Michael Jackson. I never went to a concert. I owned a few albums. I tape recorded MANY videos, short movies and documentaries and watched them over and over again. Those memories are some of the best because they are from my childhoood and shared with my siblings and cousins. Such a good time. Such a loss that he is gone from pop culture. I am happy that he can rest in peace now and finally meet his Savior to know that he was always loved and watched over - no matter how lonely he felt in this life. I'm glad he will live on through his music and through my memories. that's for sure.

Prior to MJ's death was Father's day. We spent it up at Michael's job after we went out for Father's day dinner. We got Michael a book that he'd wanted and Becton put together a picture slide show for daddy. It is uploaded below.



So I tried to get Michael's initial reaction [spoiler alert if you haven't finished the slide show!] when the last few slides were appearing, but it didn't work. Needless to say - he was incredibly excited and his exact words were "SHUT. UP. Are you pregnant?!" and I said, "yup." He asked me how long I knew and I told him since Weds. He was surprised that I held out on him for 5 days. I was surprised too. Part of me wanted to tell him immediately. Part of me wanted to see if I could wait and surprise him. Once he knew, I started telling my family. I still havent' told many people, to be honest... and I'm not sure why.

I'm still wrapping my brain around it, for the most part. My mind has gone into "multi-task" mode and so I'm trying to plan and prepare for as much as possible.... balancing my work schedule, Michael's work and military training schedule and then Becton's "i'm a toddler now" schedule is a lot going on in my brain. To add one more person to the mix will be a challenge if I don't start working on it soon.

I haven't purchased a planner yet for 2009-2010 so my brain won't fully function until that time. there is a lot to do to prepare and plenty to keep me busy until Michael leaves at the end of July for 5 and a half months. I'm sure I'll get through it - I'd just like to not have as much to juggle and balance. But that's life for you - it never slows down or waits for you to catch up. So all you can do is adapt.

More updates later.