Finalized

My divorce papers came in the mail today. Everything went through just peachy. I am officially a single mom now. I'm not certain how I feel about that... On one hand, I feel good. Free, I guess. But on the other hand, it's the end of a chapter in my life. A long chapter. It will be alright, just ... it's like the end of a book or movie... sometimes a bit sad and you aren't sure you want it to be over like that. I realize it isn't over, that I'm beginning a new chapter in the same book... but I don't know... it's still sad. Mostly for Bastian. He's the one who suffers the most for this whole thing. He is very tough, but sometimes he shows the wear and tear of the whole situation. It breaks my heart when he asks for Scott to come back and for us to be a family again. It's hard to explain it to him.

Just need time, I suppose....

Cheesecake!

I baked a strawberry cheesecake today. From scratch. Including the crust! Though to be honest, the crust was simple. Just crumbled up leftover gingerbread cookies from Christmas and half a stick of butter, mashed up together and pressed into the bottom of the pie pan. You could easily cheat and use a premade crust though.

This is the cheesecake recipe, in case anyone else wants to try it. (Modifications I made to the original plain cheesecake parts will be in parenthesis and italics.)

Cheesecake!

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice ( I omitted this and added 1 tbsp. strawberry extract instead)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Dash of salt
2 eggs

1 c. sour cream
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
(1 tsp strawberry extract)
(tiny bit of burgundy food coloring) 

In medium bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually blend in sugar, lemon juice (extract), vanilla, and salt. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Place crust on baking sheet (I didn't use a sheet, I had a thick glass pie pan) and pour in filling.

Bake on sheet in preheated 325 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean . To prepare topping, combine remaining ingredients. Spread over top of cheese cake. Bake 10 minutes longer; cool on rack. Chill 3 hours.

Back!

Well, the holidays were nice and the break was fantastic. Bastian is back in school now and life returns to a semi-normal state. As normal as it can be these days. I am very excited to be starting school on the 18th. I bought my textbooks the other day and am anxiously awaiting their arrival in the mail. Yay for Amazon. *laugh* To be honest they were much cheaper. Though I am renting one textbook from Barnes and Noble, since the book itself was $80 and I can't ever foresee needing the "ServeSafe Manual for Food Safety" as a reference guide on my coffee table. I figured it was worth saving the $40 to just rent it and return it after the semester is up.

I am not nervous about any of my classes this semester. I know I can ace them. This summer, however, I am on edge a bit. I have to take a few math courses and I have serious doubts that my GPA will survive the term in a healthy state. I'm not a math person. I'm going to have to put in a ton of study time. It will be worth it though. Once those math courses are out of the way I know I will be able to breath easier and breeze through the rest of the courses until I finally get that darned degree! *sheesh*