Elaine Marie 3 1/2 & Allan Mitchell 1 1/2
Friday, September 29, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
fun new professor
A new professor took over my Developmental Psychology class today. No more blonde girl who doesn't give a dang. (The blonde is demoted to being our TA now.)
This professor is actually a doctor. She says that she isn't gonna read charts to us like the blond girl, because she knows we can read the book on our own. The new professor, Dr.Clowers, is both Blind and pregnant.
The guy next to me in class passed me a note tcalling her the teacher of his dreams -He thought he could get away with murder. It was day one with the new professor and people were tip toeing out the door, when they realized she couldn't see them. It was like right out of a cartoon or something. Since people walk in super late to this class, Dr. Clowers could tell if the squeeky door was someone coming in or sneeking out. It was wierd. Her lectures are much more engaging that the blond girl though. Her personality is a lot like Pheobe on friends. She called neurons "Trippy" and said "creatures are like...wow!" This should make a more interesting class.
This professor is actually a doctor. She says that she isn't gonna read charts to us like the blond girl, because she knows we can read the book on our own. The new professor, Dr.Clowers, is both Blind and pregnant.
The guy next to me in class passed me a note tcalling her the teacher of his dreams -He thought he could get away with murder. It was day one with the new professor and people were tip toeing out the door, when they realized she couldn't see them. It was like right out of a cartoon or something. Since people walk in super late to this class, Dr. Clowers could tell if the squeeky door was someone coming in or sneeking out. It was wierd. Her lectures are much more engaging that the blond girl though. Her personality is a lot like Pheobe on friends. She called neurons "Trippy" and said "creatures are like...wow!" This should make a more interesting class.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
quick update
Quoting my history of the Rennaissance professor: "Your halo stays lit when your head is cut off."(looking at paintings of martars)
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I got some tests back
History of the Rennaissance: "Short Test" 75%
Developmental Psychology: First Exam, 86%
online Spanish: Last week's quiz I got 100%, This week's quiz I got a 84.% and I went ahead and did next week's quiz early 99.2%
My mom's birthday is tomorrow. Happy Birthday Berta!!
I have a book report due on Thursday... I've read 4 pages out of 100 so far. Back to homework for me.
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I got some tests back
History of the Rennaissance: "Short Test" 75%
Developmental Psychology: First Exam, 86%
online Spanish: Last week's quiz I got 100%, This week's quiz I got a 84.% and I went ahead and did next week's quiz early 99.2%
My mom's birthday is tomorrow. Happy Birthday Berta!!
I have a book report due on Thursday... I've read 4 pages out of 100 so far. Back to homework for me.
Friday, September 22, 2006
It's been a while...well not really
Another week has passed so I thought I'd update everyone. I'm pretty tired, so upfront I'm advising yall to ignore any type-o's.
I had a Developmental Psychology Exam today. The professor is a blond grad student girl who wears party dresses & strappy heels to lecture the class. She doesn't really lecture. She reads powerpoint slides to us, but keeps reminding us not to bother taking notes because the slides are ALL on the net and we can just print them all out instead of ya know, attending class and taking notes. With all that in mind, I thought the class was gonna be a breeze. I wasn't worried about this exam until she announced on Tuesday that in the last class she taught 70% of her class got D's because she writes hard tests. She said she uses the first test to gauge the class and then the next test will be easier. I don't want a D on a test, so I stayed up til 3-ish am studying last night and then I woke at 8am to continue to study. The test had really tricky questions. I'm hoping for the best. The partydress professor drops one test grade each semester completely. I'd rather do well on the first couple tests and be able to completely skip the final exam. I should know next week how I did.
On Tuesday I had a "Short test" in my History of the Renaissance class. I crammed for that one too, but I don't feel good about it. It was all essay with 50 minutes to write. I think I did pretty well on the part about Dante, but not the communes of Florence.
I have a 5-8 page book report due for this class next thursday. I got 'The Decameron' from the library this afternoon. I need to reead it over the weekend. I'm not not all caught up on past reading assignments yet, but I'm closing the gap slowly but surely.
I'm doing well in Spanish. On the first two quizes I've gotten a 98 and 100.
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I picked up a magazine called Sew Simple. It's pretty new. This is only the third issue ever. I like it. This issue explained how to make a purse, some curtains, a shirt and how to do some techiniques. I think I'll ask Santa for a subscription.
I started altering a shirt Margo gave me. It was too big on her, so she handed it down to me. It's 2sizes too large, so I'm making the siloette more hour-glass.
I want to make some headbands soon. Different types. I need to figure how to stabalize the cotton fabric... what was that stuff called in the drawer in the Costume shop? I think it started with an 'I'. Interfacing? Something like that.
In the last 6 days Allan has peed in his potty chair twice. I've had 2 major messes to clean in their room this week from his potty training confusion. If I say "let's go potty" he does run for the bathroom now. So he knows what that means. But he wants to sit down with his underwear still on. Jimmy got tired of Elaine calling Allan's briefs, "Panties". After a little correction, she calls them Allan's "shorts" (like they are boxers, but close enough).
My Dad's shoulder is hurt really badly. He hurt it moving something that was too heavy. He's had a bunch of tests and might need surgery. He has his arm in a sling and is in mucho pain.
Today (meaning the day that ended 30 minutes ago) was Scott's birthday. I told Jimmy to call his Dad, but he forgot. Jimmy worked early Wednesday and Thursday and tomorrow is an early+long day at the Elk's lodge. He's been pretty tired. With that in mind, it's been kinda cool that twice this week Jimmy loaded us all up to go fly kites at the park. Allan skinned his knee today going down a slide, and he keeps running off. But otherwise, everyone had fun. It's been really windy.
We invited Kenny and Dave over for a Sunday afternoon of guy time. Jimmy's making a lasagna and we want to watch some videos with the boys. We've been talking about having Dave & Kenny over for a movie, but we needed to stop talking about it and actually make the plans. Kenny has 'Waiting' and we have 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'. It should be fun, if the guys can make it. They get busy with hockey on weekends.
I know what you're thinking, 'Hasn't Jimmy been making lasagnas on Saturdays for the last month? Why Sunday this time?'
Tonight is the anniversary of our first date (sept 21st). We are celebrating both our 4th wedding anniversary and 5th First date anniversary this Saturday. We want to make dinner together at home and then go out to the Sneak Preview of 'School for Scoundrels'... If we can't make it to that, then we'll hit the $2 theatre. There were a couple cute movies showing at the cheap theatre this week. All we had done for our anniversary thus far was dinner with Jim's folks at Chubby's. This will be more of a date.
I almost forgot to tell yall!! Jimmy's computer's harddrive crashed last Saturday night! All information was lost. As far as I can tell the last time we backed up was June. So photos since then are all gone. After consulting Steven, Jimmy decided we needed to buy a new harddrive. Jimmy's having to re-install all the programs on that computer. So for now I can't post photos on my blog. Luckily all my school work for this semester has been on my laptop, so I didn't loose any of that. I'm also happy that the best pictures of Hope & Scott's visit were already published on this blog, so we can always re-obtain those pictures.
I had a Developmental Psychology Exam today. The professor is a blond grad student girl who wears party dresses & strappy heels to lecture the class. She doesn't really lecture. She reads powerpoint slides to us, but keeps reminding us not to bother taking notes because the slides are ALL on the net and we can just print them all out instead of ya know, attending class and taking notes. With all that in mind, I thought the class was gonna be a breeze. I wasn't worried about this exam until she announced on Tuesday that in the last class she taught 70% of her class got D's because she writes hard tests. She said she uses the first test to gauge the class and then the next test will be easier. I don't want a D on a test, so I stayed up til 3-ish am studying last night and then I woke at 8am to continue to study. The test had really tricky questions. I'm hoping for the best. The partydress professor drops one test grade each semester completely. I'd rather do well on the first couple tests and be able to completely skip the final exam. I should know next week how I did.
On Tuesday I had a "Short test" in my History of the Renaissance class. I crammed for that one too, but I don't feel good about it. It was all essay with 50 minutes to write. I think I did pretty well on the part about Dante, but not the communes of Florence.
I have a 5-8 page book report due for this class next thursday. I got 'The Decameron' from the library this afternoon. I need to reead it over the weekend. I'm not not all caught up on past reading assignments yet, but I'm closing the gap slowly but surely.
I'm doing well in Spanish. On the first two quizes I've gotten a 98 and 100.
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I picked up a magazine called Sew Simple. It's pretty new. This is only the third issue ever. I like it. This issue explained how to make a purse, some curtains, a shirt and how to do some techiniques. I think I'll ask Santa for a subscription.
I started altering a shirt Margo gave me. It was too big on her, so she handed it down to me. It's 2sizes too large, so I'm making the siloette more hour-glass.
I want to make some headbands soon. Different types. I need to figure how to stabalize the cotton fabric... what was that stuff called in the drawer in the Costume shop? I think it started with an 'I'. Interfacing? Something like that.
In the last 6 days Allan has peed in his potty chair twice. I've had 2 major messes to clean in their room this week from his potty training confusion. If I say "let's go potty" he does run for the bathroom now. So he knows what that means. But he wants to sit down with his underwear still on. Jimmy got tired of Elaine calling Allan's briefs, "Panties". After a little correction, she calls them Allan's "shorts" (like they are boxers, but close enough).
My Dad's shoulder is hurt really badly. He hurt it moving something that was too heavy. He's had a bunch of tests and might need surgery. He has his arm in a sling and is in mucho pain.
Today (meaning the day that ended 30 minutes ago) was Scott's birthday. I told Jimmy to call his Dad, but he forgot. Jimmy worked early Wednesday and Thursday and tomorrow is an early+long day at the Elk's lodge. He's been pretty tired. With that in mind, it's been kinda cool that twice this week Jimmy loaded us all up to go fly kites at the park. Allan skinned his knee today going down a slide, and he keeps running off. But otherwise, everyone had fun. It's been really windy.
We invited Kenny and Dave over for a Sunday afternoon of guy time. Jimmy's making a lasagna and we want to watch some videos with the boys. We've been talking about having Dave & Kenny over for a movie, but we needed to stop talking about it and actually make the plans. Kenny has 'Waiting' and we have 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'. It should be fun, if the guys can make it. They get busy with hockey on weekends.
I know what you're thinking, 'Hasn't Jimmy been making lasagnas on Saturdays for the last month? Why Sunday this time?'
Tonight is the anniversary of our first date (sept 21st). We are celebrating both our 4th wedding anniversary and 5th First date anniversary this Saturday. We want to make dinner together at home and then go out to the Sneak Preview of 'School for Scoundrels'... If we can't make it to that, then we'll hit the $2 theatre. There were a couple cute movies showing at the cheap theatre this week. All we had done for our anniversary thus far was dinner with Jim's folks at Chubby's. This will be more of a date.
I almost forgot to tell yall!! Jimmy's computer's harddrive crashed last Saturday night! All information was lost. As far as I can tell the last time we backed up was June. So photos since then are all gone. After consulting Steven, Jimmy decided we needed to buy a new harddrive. Jimmy's having to re-install all the programs on that computer. So for now I can't post photos on my blog. Luckily all my school work for this semester has been on my laptop, so I didn't loose any of that. I'm also happy that the best pictures of Hope & Scott's visit were already published on this blog, so we can always re-obtain those pictures.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
My Day. A Recap.
I feel like I blogged a lot today, but since Jimmy was at work all day and I was just doing housework, school work and watching kids... blogging lets me pretend I'm having adult conversation. *shrug* At least it's mentally stimulating.
Kids
Tonight Allan put himself up in a chair at the kitchen table. He wanted to eat dinner there. He was messy, dropping dry spagetti on the floor. But he used his fork well and stayed seated (he has tried to climb to the center of the table in the past).
Elaine and I had Allan sit on his potty chair at least 10 times this afternoon. Whenever she had to use the restroom OR if Allan wet his underwear, then he had to sit on his potty. Around 8:30pm he finally trickled a little into the potty and was rewarded with lots of cheers and praise. Then around 9:15pm (right after Daddy got home from work) Allan peed for real in his potty. Again Elaine and I clapped and cheered. Allan smiled SO BIG and clapped for himself. we put him in a diaper for bedtime.
School
I got caught up on reading for my Child Development class. I'll have to re-read my notes before the test on Thursday, but I feel good about it. I had the lights off in the living room tonight while I watched "Kill Bill vol.1" and worked on my Psyc notes on my laptop. Elaine said that it must be raining because it was dark inside (last week she noticed it gets dark during daytime when it rains). For about 2 hours tonight Elaine pretended to be carrying an Umbrella. She held her hand out and mimed an umbrella. She added a REAL knit hat, scarf and jacket to her pretend play. Elaine wanted me to hid under her umbrella and I did for a little while. She kept chasing Allan with her imaginary umbrella so he wouldn't get wet. The funniest part was when we'd stop for potty breaks or to eat, she'd realize after a while that she was not 'holding' her umbrella anymore. Elaine ran back to where she last 'had it' and picked it back up!! That girl has an imagination on her!!!
She also drew a bunch of pictures of cars with her washable markers this afternoon. She said they were for Allan's wall. She even drew him a firetruck.
Housework
I did a load of dishes and 2 loads of laundry, then vacuumed. No painting today. I sewed a second curtain panel for my office yesterday (Thursday afternoon). Today I steamed both panels with our iron and hung them. There are still some wrinkles, but they look good. I used that same Eeyore Toille fabric from the first panel. My office is so ME -Eeyores everywhere.
There was a HUGE event at our church tonight: The Fall Festival. Shiloh isn't doing a Halloween Party or a Fall Picnic... instead they combined the budget for both and had a HUGE blowout. There are bounce houses for adults and kids, hamburger eatting contests, Free food for anyone in the community who shows up. I was signed up to volunteer for an hour tonight at the church, but I had to cancel because Jimmy was working tonight. The church teens have a lock-in tonight, so Micah is at that. Jim's already in bed and I can't sleep. My body is tired but my brain is like 50% awake. I think I'll play on the stickerplanet website. I've been getting emails from them all week.
Kids
Tonight Allan put himself up in a chair at the kitchen table. He wanted to eat dinner there. He was messy, dropping dry spagetti on the floor. But he used his fork well and stayed seated (he has tried to climb to the center of the table in the past).
Elaine and I had Allan sit on his potty chair at least 10 times this afternoon. Whenever she had to use the restroom OR if Allan wet his underwear, then he had to sit on his potty. Around 8:30pm he finally trickled a little into the potty and was rewarded with lots of cheers and praise. Then around 9:15pm (right after Daddy got home from work) Allan peed for real in his potty. Again Elaine and I clapped and cheered. Allan smiled SO BIG and clapped for himself. we put him in a diaper for bedtime.
School
I got caught up on reading for my Child Development class. I'll have to re-read my notes before the test on Thursday, but I feel good about it. I had the lights off in the living room tonight while I watched "Kill Bill vol.1" and worked on my Psyc notes on my laptop. Elaine said that it must be raining because it was dark inside (last week she noticed it gets dark during daytime when it rains). For about 2 hours tonight Elaine pretended to be carrying an Umbrella. She held her hand out and mimed an umbrella. She added a REAL knit hat, scarf and jacket to her pretend play. Elaine wanted me to hid under her umbrella and I did for a little while. She kept chasing Allan with her imaginary umbrella so he wouldn't get wet. The funniest part was when we'd stop for potty breaks or to eat, she'd realize after a while that she was not 'holding' her umbrella anymore. Elaine ran back to where she last 'had it' and picked it back up!! That girl has an imagination on her!!!
She also drew a bunch of pictures of cars with her washable markers this afternoon. She said they were for Allan's wall. She even drew him a firetruck.
Housework
I did a load of dishes and 2 loads of laundry, then vacuumed. No painting today. I sewed a second curtain panel for my office yesterday (Thursday afternoon). Today I steamed both panels with our iron and hung them. There are still some wrinkles, but they look good. I used that same Eeyore Toille fabric from the first panel. My office is so ME -Eeyores everywhere.
There was a HUGE event at our church tonight: The Fall Festival. Shiloh isn't doing a Halloween Party or a Fall Picnic... instead they combined the budget for both and had a HUGE blowout. There are bounce houses for adults and kids, hamburger eatting contests, Free food for anyone in the community who shows up. I was signed up to volunteer for an hour tonight at the church, but I had to cancel because Jimmy was working tonight. The church teens have a lock-in tonight, so Micah is at that. Jim's already in bed and I can't sleep. My body is tired but my brain is like 50% awake. I think I'll play on the stickerplanet website. I've been getting emails from them all week.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Allan throwing a fit while I'm trying to take pics to show yall the paint job. The wallpaper was covered with a KILZ primer to kill the stains and the wallpaper pattern. Then I painted everything but the wood trim Jade Green.
I re-painted the doors white to cover up more smokey-dingeyness and crayon marks from the landlord's kids. I like how crisp the doors look now.
giving it a shot
Jimmy ordered all my Spanish books from online and they arrived yesterday. (he also meant to order my last Anthrology book- opps). So this weekend, which includes today since I don't have classes on Fridays, I'm gonna give it a shot at catching up on ALL my reading assignments. In a perfect world, I'll even get ahead for the coming school week.
I'm also trying to seriously pottytrain Allan this weekend. He pulled off his diaper again this morning and I had a stinky mess to clean in his room. Now he's wearing his train-themed underwear that Hope got him. My current plan is to sit him on his potty chair EVERY time Elaine goes to the potty. Their metabolisms shouldn't be too different. And seeing Elaine 'go' might help concrete the idea in his mind.
in other news: Our modem crapped out on us more than normal this week, so Jimmy went to replace it. He rented on from Charter for $2 ea. month. Not bad.
Steven gave us a wireless router for my laptop, so Jimmy bought me a thingy to make my computer work with the router. I can use my laptop in any room in the house now. The best reception seems to be the living room, but it works fine in my office too.
I'm also trying to seriously pottytrain Allan this weekend. He pulled off his diaper again this morning and I had a stinky mess to clean in his room. Now he's wearing his train-themed underwear that Hope got him. My current plan is to sit him on his potty chair EVERY time Elaine goes to the potty. Their metabolisms shouldn't be too different. And seeing Elaine 'go' might help concrete the idea in his mind.
in other news: Our modem crapped out on us more than normal this week, so Jimmy went to replace it. He rented on from Charter for $2 ea. month. Not bad.
Steven gave us a wireless router for my laptop, so Jimmy bought me a thingy to make my computer work with the router. I can use my laptop in any room in the house now. The best reception seems to be the living room, but it works fine in my office too.
Friday, September 08, 2006
cleaning up
I cleaned up my blog's links. I got rid of ones that are inactive now. Like Micah and I don't use our Xanga's anymore and my homepage had all sorts of bugs in it, so I gave up long ago. I also rearranged the links to put the most relavent ones up top. More people will be curious to find my myspace than to see my scrapbooking gallery. :)
I'm doing laundry all day today and I hope to finish painting the kitchen tonight.
I'm a little saddened that I missed the season premeire of 'House' on Tuesday. I was at the park with my kids, 2 extra kids and my inlaws and I totally spaced that I was missing my favorite show. I hope to catch up on the premiere somehow...maybe they have clips on the show's official website. I gotta check that out.
I'm doing laundry all day today and I hope to finish painting the kitchen tonight.
I'm a little saddened that I missed the season premeire of 'House' on Tuesday. I was at the park with my kids, 2 extra kids and my inlaws and I totally spaced that I was missing my favorite show. I hope to catch up on the premiere somehow...maybe they have clips on the show's official website. I gotta check that out.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Exerts on Behavior
Exerts from ‘Miss Manors Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior’ by Judith Martin, Galahand Books. New York
P.687
Death
“There is a great variety of interesting things not to say. There is practically no limit to what imaginative and ill-meaning people will think of to increase the suffering and impair the dignity of the bereaved.”
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p.689
“Dear MISS MANNERS:
My father-in-law died recently. He was a lovable, happy man and his death was indeed a loss to all his family and friends.
However, I felt very left out during the period when he was ill and during the funeral arrangements. My husband and I, at this point, were married sixteen years. But he and his sisters became again a united family, with their spouses and their children almost excluded. Even at the funeral mass, we sat behind them with the children, and they all went together in the limousines to the cemetery. I know of no tradition warranting this behavior. Maybe I’m being petty, but I loved him and wanted to be included in their decisions.
GENTLE READER:
Yes, you are being petty. Grief often inspires other odd emotions, and pettiness –the jealous assertion of one’s own claims as a mourner – is one of the commonest.
Another such auxiliary emotion is the one your husband and his sisters have, of trying to recreate the original family unit during this tragedy. You were not a part of it, no matter how much you loved your father-in-law. Even in the happiest of in-law relationships, the pretense that a parent-child bond acquired through marriage is the same as the blood bond is obviously phony. Miss Manners has never met anyone yet who didn’t feel awkward about addressing in-laws by the same paternal title as parents.
Of course it would have been flattering if your husband had turned to you at this time, rather than his sisters. But he didn’t. Do you think this is the time to hold a loyalty competition?”
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It's been a long tiring week. I still need to buy textbooks for three of my classes and I'm two weeks into the semester, so it's needless to say that I have catching up to do. I'm just feeling drained emotionally and physically. I have a lot of homework all due next Tuesday and Wednesday, so we are gonna order the rest of my books and have me play catch-up all weekend. I also started catching up on laundry. We haven't been home enough to wash even one load in the last two weeks. We've spent a lot of time in Garland or otherwise with my in-laws. Not to mention that I babysat two kids at my house this week and watching a total of 4 children did not leave me energy for housework. The good news is that I spent just about 2 weeks with my inlaws around daily and we all got along great. The only time Hope stepped on my toes was when she was making some mashed potatoes at my house and I asked her to use the fat-free butter. She went ahead and used the real (full-fat) butter and then added cheese AND sour cream. I was just pleased that I didn't have to cook, so I simply went easy on the potatoes at dinner. I teased Hope about it. Scott really really liked the Grass-Fed steak. Jimmy is really proud about that since it's coming both from his father (who he seeks approval of) and a Food Scientist (who should know good food when he eats it).
Monday, September 04, 2006
sigh
We went to early church on Sunday (the 9:30am service) because Scott had warned us that the hospice worker didn't expect Pawpaw to live through Saturday night. Within 15 minutes of our arrival in Garland, Pawpaw let go at 12:03pm.
Off and on for 6 or so hours I watched all the kids in the backyard. It was a break in the hot nasty weather, so it was best to keep the kids outside away from the stressed pets and the logistical events after a death.
Today we all went for funeral clothing. Jimmy is gonna be a paul barrer along with his cousins and brother. The service is Wednesday morning.
It's been exhausting to watch the kids all day at a home which isn't Allan-proof. Not to mention the emotional drain of it all. *sigh* Little diversions are helping. I painted a birdhouse last night and tonight I'm gonna start a charcoal picture. I just need to let my mind space out on a project. I had a real good cry earlier. That helped a lot. There's just anxiety in the air and I had to cry out some tension. I feel a lot better than I did earlier. I'm gonna email my professor about skipping history class tomorrow. I'm just drained. We all are.
Off and on for 6 or so hours I watched all the kids in the backyard. It was a break in the hot nasty weather, so it was best to keep the kids outside away from the stressed pets and the logistical events after a death.
Today we all went for funeral clothing. Jimmy is gonna be a paul barrer along with his cousins and brother. The service is Wednesday morning.
It's been exhausting to watch the kids all day at a home which isn't Allan-proof. Not to mention the emotional drain of it all. *sigh* Little diversions are helping. I painted a birdhouse last night and tonight I'm gonna start a charcoal picture. I just need to let my mind space out on a project. I had a real good cry earlier. That helped a lot. There's just anxiety in the air and I had to cry out some tension. I feel a lot better than I did earlier. I'm gonna email my professor about skipping history class tomorrow. I'm just drained. We all are.