For whatever reason Picasa wont upload the pic I took of the leak in the Taurus, so you'll have to imagine it for now. Jimmy said that today he discovered the leak isn't on the tube, but instead it's somewhere near the T-juncture. He's doing what he can to buy us time until we can really repair it (probably January).
Via email and phone, I was informed that my history paper needs to be re-worked by tommorrow afternoon. Since it's a history paper I talked about specific years, towns and political movements that happened. But I didn't understand that I needed to cite ALL information, even if it's just an event's Date (like where I read about the timeline). My history TA, Richard, said it's "borderline plagerism". Scary sounding, huh?
So all day and tonight I've been looking up every factoid in my essay, to verify it's validity. The other drama is that I used Wikipedia as one of my original sources and my TA said that I should have known better because Wikipedia evidently is notorious for being corrupt. So I'm pulling all evidence of Wikipedia's definitions out of my essay. And finally, I've never written a double-spaced essay for a college level class until this semester in Sociology, so I wrote a single-spaced paper for history, thinking single-spaced was the norm. The TA was MAD that I wrote single spaced, making the paper twice as long as required.
Once I chop everything out of my essay and transfer it to double-spaced (evidently as required) the paper should still be the correct length, 10 pages.
For the record: we were never given any guidelines about format; just how many primary and secondary sources to use.
This whole ordeal has me feeling stupid for not looking up the typical college essay format online before starting the essay. I took English composition 6 years ago in highschool as dual credit... it's been a while.
Anywho,I need to finish reviewing Humanism in my textbook and add in some commentary about it in the essay. So I shouldn't be up ALL night or anything.
Tomorrow we have to go buy Jimmy some black slacks for his new uniform. I have to do an online chat for Anthropology reviewing an episode of the Simpsons by midnight tomorrow. I have a research paper for Anthropology due Friday, and my first Final is Monday night. Somewhere in there I need to finish the charcoal drawing I started two weeks ago. *sigh*
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
I'm exhausted...but I have bad and good news to share.
I'm still tired from Thanksgiving 'break'. I didn't get nearly enough of my textbooks read, preparing for research papers and final exams. When Jimmy picked me up from nightschool yesterday he had to pour water into the coolant resevoir because there is a leak in a hose. We found the leak and Jimmy went early today to purchase more hose for a replacement. He and I both tried, but we can't get the hose loose from the socket it's stuck inside. *see picture* I called my dad for ideas and emailed him pictures of what I was talking about, in case my language wasn't clear. He said we need cable lock pliers to clamp down and wiggle the hose loose from the socket. He said there is welding go-juice (my term not his) in the socket trying to hold the hose in place, so we have to work it up & down, side to side to work it loose. I thought we had that type of pliers, but Jim says there were borrowed. So we need to re-borrow or rent some pliers to get the job done. For now, we have gallons of water in the backseat because Jim has to be in Lewisville within the hour. He has a computer to go repair at Lewisville Massage. He's worked for them before. They go to our church.
Speaking of work, after we went for our WIC re-cert yesterday, Jimmy went to drop off an application at Cracker Barrel because the classifieds said they were looking for full or part time cooks, to work eveneings or mornings or weekends... that's the kind of flexibilty that could work around my school schedule! Two men form Cracker Barrel interviewed Jimmy on the spot and hired him immediately. He starts training Friday afternoon. It's the Cracker Barrel in Denton, like 10 minutes from our house. Jim's college roommate use to be a waiter there. The men told Jimmy that the schedules are very flexible. Since they mainly hire college students, schedules get re-shuffled at the beginning of each semester to accomodate. He asked for a certain amount of pay on his application, and it wasn't questioned in the interview, so Jim thinks he'll be paid close to that. The plan is for him to quit the Thrifty Nickel which he hates so much. He'd like to stay at the Elk's lodge for as long as the jobs don't conflict...giving the Elk's time to replace him if Cracker Barrel is a good fit.
Speaking of work, after we went for our WIC re-cert yesterday, Jimmy went to drop off an application at Cracker Barrel because the classifieds said they were looking for full or part time cooks, to work eveneings or mornings or weekends... that's the kind of flexibilty that could work around my school schedule! Two men form Cracker Barrel interviewed Jimmy on the spot and hired him immediately. He starts training Friday afternoon. It's the Cracker Barrel in Denton, like 10 minutes from our house. Jim's college roommate use to be a waiter there. The men told Jimmy that the schedules are very flexible. Since they mainly hire college students, schedules get re-shuffled at the beginning of each semester to accomodate. He asked for a certain amount of pay on his application, and it wasn't questioned in the interview, so Jim thinks he'll be paid close to that. The plan is for him to quit the Thrifty Nickel which he hates so much. He'd like to stay at the Elk's lodge for as long as the jobs don't conflict...giving the Elk's time to replace him if Cracker Barrel is a good fit.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Charcoal Portrait - "matt"
This is the beginning of a new portrait. It's for my pastor. He had one of the highest bids at the church silent auction. He wanted the drawing to be smaller than my norm, so this one is gonna be about 11"x14". Small ones are hard, because I have to really zoom in on details.
Cinderellas.
He's been copying Elaine all this week: drawing, dancing and dressing up. This photo is gonna pop up when he runs for governer.
Macho Macho Man
What do ya do when he just keeps putting it back on? I swear just a minute earlier he was playing with a firetruck. He was mad that the sleeves weren't on him right.
Friday, November 17, 2006
A Reprieve from Stress...and Holidays are coming!
ahhh *Relief* I turned in my history research paper this morning. I stayed up late for days working on it, after the kids had gone to bed. We were told to write 10 pages, but no other formating guidelines (font size, margin size, etc). I gave up at 9pages of research and commentary+3 photocopied pages of related artwork that I discussed in the paper + the works cited and cover page. I felt like it's a 'B' paper since I gave up at 9 pages. THEN I got to class and noticed that most the classmates around me had double-spaced their papers. Apparently that's the norm in the history department. So, in actuality I wrote like an 18 page paper without realizing it. I hope I didn't still get a B.
I finally understand that there is a wierd point system in place in both my Sociology class and my Anthropology class. Apparently I'm doing better than I thought in both. I got 68 "points" on my Sociology midterm and was freaking out until my professor told me that only 300 points are neccesary for the class. Evidently 68 points is not the same as 68%... she wrote "good job" on my test, so I guess I'm doing something right.
I also had an online Spanish quiz tonight, that I got a 90 on. Now that those tasked have been mastered for the time being, I can kinda relax. I have 2 more huge papers to write for other classes by the end of the semester. But they aren't immediate worries. I'm already working on them, but taking my time. There are like 3 weeks left of school.
Current priorities:
Finish the Youth Newsletter
Finish painting the hallway -already have the supplies, might as well finish the job.
Do the charcoal portrait that I planned to do last weekend.
Be supportive for Jimmy and the kids. (these are in no particular order by the way.)
Jimmy is looking for a fulltime position somewhere. He wants to stop working at the Thrifty Nickel, but he's waiting for something better to come along. This bully co-worker was about to take a swing at Jimmy last week because Jimmy wouldn't move our car, for the guy to use that parking space. Jim was sitting in the car, with the window down. The guy approached him and raised his fist, but saw the Big Boss and didn't swing. That was last week. Jimmy avoided the bully today. He just doesn't want to get dragged into anything. He doesn't get enough hours at the Thrifty Nickel for it to pay off. And the job takes a toll on the car, driving around delivering the papers. Everything is still going great at the Elk's Lodge though. He's happy the two days a week when he's cooking.
Jim is gonna go job hunting on Saturday, after I give him a haircut. Soon I'll be done for the semester, so any job he lands now would begin about the time I'm on Christmas break and can watch the kids. I can plan my Spring class schedule AROUND his work schedule- I never register until a week before the semester starts. The only exception is that I know I'll need to have some time available for painting for the theatre in the Spring.
Speaking of Holiday breaks, Thanksgiving is a week away. Last I heard, my mom and brother are arriving in Denton at 6am on Wednesday morning. The bus station is 5 minutes from our house. Jimmy has to work at the Elk's lodge at 7am that day, so we're praying that God's hand is evident in how the timing works out. If the bus is on time (or even up to 20 minutes late) Jimmy should be on time to the Elk's lodge. I joked that once Mark and Berta are here, they'll have to wait 2 more hours for my kids to wake up (Warning: Elaine is not a morning person). The church is giving us a Turkey again this year, so that should help feed the extra mouths. I think we are gonna try making pumpkin pie this year for the first time. That should be fun. We have cans of the pumpkin filling and a pie crust is easy to make. I guess that's my update for now. toodles.
I finally understand that there is a wierd point system in place in both my Sociology class and my Anthropology class. Apparently I'm doing better than I thought in both. I got 68 "points" on my Sociology midterm and was freaking out until my professor told me that only 300 points are neccesary for the class. Evidently 68 points is not the same as 68%... she wrote "good job" on my test, so I guess I'm doing something right.
I also had an online Spanish quiz tonight, that I got a 90 on. Now that those tasked have been mastered for the time being, I can kinda relax. I have 2 more huge papers to write for other classes by the end of the semester. But they aren't immediate worries. I'm already working on them, but taking my time. There are like 3 weeks left of school.
Current priorities:
Finish the Youth Newsletter
Finish painting the hallway -already have the supplies, might as well finish the job.
Do the charcoal portrait that I planned to do last weekend.
Be supportive for Jimmy and the kids. (these are in no particular order by the way.)
Jimmy is looking for a fulltime position somewhere. He wants to stop working at the Thrifty Nickel, but he's waiting for something better to come along. This bully co-worker was about to take a swing at Jimmy last week because Jimmy wouldn't move our car, for the guy to use that parking space. Jim was sitting in the car, with the window down. The guy approached him and raised his fist, but saw the Big Boss and didn't swing. That was last week. Jimmy avoided the bully today. He just doesn't want to get dragged into anything. He doesn't get enough hours at the Thrifty Nickel for it to pay off. And the job takes a toll on the car, driving around delivering the papers. Everything is still going great at the Elk's Lodge though. He's happy the two days a week when he's cooking.
Jim is gonna go job hunting on Saturday, after I give him a haircut. Soon I'll be done for the semester, so any job he lands now would begin about the time I'm on Christmas break and can watch the kids. I can plan my Spring class schedule AROUND his work schedule- I never register until a week before the semester starts. The only exception is that I know I'll need to have some time available for painting for the theatre in the Spring.
Speaking of Holiday breaks, Thanksgiving is a week away. Last I heard, my mom and brother are arriving in Denton at 6am on Wednesday morning. The bus station is 5 minutes from our house. Jimmy has to work at the Elk's lodge at 7am that day, so we're praying that God's hand is evident in how the timing works out. If the bus is on time (or even up to 20 minutes late) Jimmy should be on time to the Elk's lodge. I joked that once Mark and Berta are here, they'll have to wait 2 more hours for my kids to wake up (Warning: Elaine is not a morning person). The church is giving us a Turkey again this year, so that should help feed the extra mouths. I think we are gonna try making pumpkin pie this year for the first time. That should be fun. We have cans of the pumpkin filling and a pie crust is easy to make. I guess that's my update for now. toodles.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Basketball Dominoes and Dinner
Yesterday morning we woke early (for us) and made it to a birthday party in Lewisville. Our church friends, the Mathews family had their second birthday party in the last month. This one was for their son Gavon. He's Elaine's age. The had the party at the Lewisville Recreation Center. We've been there before for a birthday party. It's really great because the Rec center does all the set up, clean up and keeps the kids active with basketball, soccer, baseball, hockey and sometimes a parachute game. Elaine had lots of fun. Allan threw a little fit because he wanted to keep the one baseball bat, but the older boys wanted it too.
After the party, we went to lunch with the Mathews family and their extended family. Since we all go to church together, we know all the extended family and serve with them in different volunteer duties around our church. An uncle is a minister at our church, an aunt works around the office area, etc. We ate at Cici's Pizza. Elaine didn't want any pizza, just "leaves" (salad). Allan ate lots of garlic bread.
By now, it was 2ish and we had plans to go to a dinner party at The Mathew's house at 5pm, so we rushed home for Allan and Jimmy to grab naps. By 5pm we were back with the Mathews clan.
We are trying to get to know eachother. Jimmy works with both Trisha and Mike Mathews out in the K4C (kids for Christ) and I serve with Trisha in the church nursery. After dinner (mmm Lasagna) we played Dominoes for a few hours and took care of all the kids (between us there are five kids). It made for a long day, but we got to bond more with some great people. I've been telling Jimmy he needs more freiends his own age...and I've been saying that about myself since I had Elaine. When we can afford to, we'll invite all 5 of the Mathews over to our place for a dinner/dominoes night.
After the party, we went to lunch with the Mathews family and their extended family. Since we all go to church together, we know all the extended family and serve with them in different volunteer duties around our church. An uncle is a minister at our church, an aunt works around the office area, etc. We ate at Cici's Pizza. Elaine didn't want any pizza, just "leaves" (salad). Allan ate lots of garlic bread.
By now, it was 2ish and we had plans to go to a dinner party at The Mathew's house at 5pm, so we rushed home for Allan and Jimmy to grab naps. By 5pm we were back with the Mathews clan.
We are trying to get to know eachother. Jimmy works with both Trisha and Mike Mathews out in the K4C (kids for Christ) and I serve with Trisha in the church nursery. After dinner (mmm Lasagna) we played Dominoes for a few hours and took care of all the kids (between us there are five kids). It made for a long day, but we got to bond more with some great people. I've been telling Jimmy he needs more freiends his own age...and I've been saying that about myself since I had Elaine. When we can afford to, we'll invite all 5 of the Mathews over to our place for a dinner/dominoes night.
Ouch!
Allan took on our bedframe and came out worse for the wear. *pout* I tried putting bandaids on it, but he just peels them off. We're keeping it clean and hoping for the best.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
I got some grades back
I got an 82% on my History of the Renaissance midterm. I think the TA deducted more points than he should have. He said that my essy about Valla sounded like a "confused answer" but Valla himself was confused. Even Valla never had a conclusion to whether human's have free will or not, so of coarse it sounds like circular logic in my essay about him. Grr ~ But it's still a B.
I got an 86% on my Anthropology of American Culture midterm. It was a downer though, because online it says my grade is 91%... I had to hunt and find that it's 91 out of 105 possible points, which is how I figure it's really an 86. ~ another B.
To remind yall, I got an 89% on my Child Development midterm and I STILL haven't recieved my midterm back for Sociology. I kinda expect B's across the board now.
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I talked to my mom this week. She and Mark Jr. are still coming for Thanksgiving in a couple weeks. Dave called to make sure he was invited to the festivities, since it is creeping up so fast. Of coarse Jimmy's brother is welcome! Our siblings will get to meet, which is cool.
I cleaned most of my office today. I still have a junk box to sort sometime, but it's not a pressing issue. I have research papers to write and the clutter was making me batty... I kept getting distracted. I checked 10 books out of the library for my history research paper, so I'm gonna be reading a LOT this week/weekend.
I got an 86% on my Anthropology of American Culture midterm. It was a downer though, because online it says my grade is 91%... I had to hunt and find that it's 91 out of 105 possible points, which is how I figure it's really an 86. ~ another B.
To remind yall, I got an 89% on my Child Development midterm and I STILL haven't recieved my midterm back for Sociology. I kinda expect B's across the board now.
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I talked to my mom this week. She and Mark Jr. are still coming for Thanksgiving in a couple weeks. Dave called to make sure he was invited to the festivities, since it is creeping up so fast. Of coarse Jimmy's brother is welcome! Our siblings will get to meet, which is cool.
I cleaned most of my office today. I still have a junk box to sort sometime, but it's not a pressing issue. I have research papers to write and the clutter was making me batty... I kept getting distracted. I checked 10 books out of the library for my history research paper, so I'm gonna be reading a LOT this week/weekend.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Dresses
I sewed this sundress for Elaine from some fabric my mom bought for us in June, when she visited. I also made a smaller dress for the little girl in the background of this photo. She's Gracie, Allan's church nursery buddy. I think my mom spent about $4 on the fabric and I got two dresses out of it.
That's annoying
*Explaining out-of-sequence photos*
Two of the photos I posted this week have disappeared from my blog. One was my happy Halloween card to yall ("Yall" meaning my family) and the other was a picture of Elaine in her cinderella dress. So I'm gonna hunt them out in my 'puter and repost them. But I felt like explanation was neccesary for a Halloween card published on Nov 3rd.
*More cruddyness*
Jimmy is still sick. He worked this morning at the Elk's lodge. When he got home this afternoon, he took the nighttime cough syrup by mistake and slept until like 8pm. Then he went back to sleep around 10pm for the night. Earlier he talked to our pastor about an internship that is available working at our church. The job isn't what he understood it to be... it wouldn't be a good match for him right now.
For History of the Renaissance, the TA has like 20 tests still to grade and he said he might not even have them graded for class tomorrow (the test was last Thurs). I have a research paper due for this class mid November. I just changed my topic. I'm gonna write about Passion Plays. I should be able to talk about that for 10 pages.
I've taken my Sociology midterm, but wont have the grade for 2 weeks (at least). Our class only meets on Mondays, and my professor is in Boston this coming Monday. I have a research paper coming up for this class in November too. I need to change my topic. --Right now it's "The Dowry System in Renaissance Italy and the resulting Infanticide compared to abortions and Infanticide in the United States in present times" ...you see why I want to change topics so something like... "drugs in school" or "divorce rates in college students" or like "why is it hard to have children while writting a research paper that the professor wont remember to grade until the last week of school." (did I mention that I haven't recieved ANY grades back in this class so far? She doesn't know how to work the machine that reads scantrons! I have no clue what my grade is... no one does.)
In Child Development I got a 89% on the midterm. I had a 88% on the first test, so it's par for the course. We have another test coming up fast, mid November. I like the class more now with the blind professor, but for the most recent chapeters she has been reading straight from the textbook, so it's kinda boring.
I'm on track in my physics lab. There wasn't a midterm. I can still get an A for the semester.
Two of the photos I posted this week have disappeared from my blog. One was my happy Halloween card to yall ("Yall" meaning my family) and the other was a picture of Elaine in her cinderella dress. So I'm gonna hunt them out in my 'puter and repost them. But I felt like explanation was neccesary for a Halloween card published on Nov 3rd.
*More cruddyness*
Jimmy is still sick. He worked this morning at the Elk's lodge. When he got home this afternoon, he took the nighttime cough syrup by mistake and slept until like 8pm. Then he went back to sleep around 10pm for the night. Earlier he talked to our pastor about an internship that is available working at our church. The job isn't what he understood it to be... it wouldn't be a good match for him right now.
*Frustrated*
Tonight was my last midterm. It was in Anthropology. I know, you're thinking "she should be happy!" I was happy until I started checking in on my online classes in general. I did this Spanish practice quiz and quiz on Halloween night, and tonight I realized that I did the work for next week... meaning a Zero on a quiz for this week....mumble grumble dang deadline. I was able to go ahead and do the practice quiz late, which has minimal influence on my overall grade, but at least I got an A on it. So I know I'm okay on the subject matter. In Spanish I got a 91.5% on my midterm over all regular verbs (-AR, -ER, -IR). As for anthropology, I am so so glad I did the review sheet! I finished the test in an hour with 30 minutes to spare. It was half essay questions. I feel good about it, but don't know my grade yet. I'm waiting for it to be graded. That's where I'm at for most my classes.For History of the Renaissance, the TA has like 20 tests still to grade and he said he might not even have them graded for class tomorrow (the test was last Thurs). I have a research paper due for this class mid November. I just changed my topic. I'm gonna write about Passion Plays. I should be able to talk about that for 10 pages.
I've taken my Sociology midterm, but wont have the grade for 2 weeks (at least). Our class only meets on Mondays, and my professor is in Boston this coming Monday. I have a research paper coming up for this class in November too. I need to change my topic. --Right now it's "The Dowry System in Renaissance Italy and the resulting Infanticide compared to abortions and Infanticide in the United States in present times" ...you see why I want to change topics so something like... "drugs in school" or "divorce rates in college students" or like "why is it hard to have children while writting a research paper that the professor wont remember to grade until the last week of school." (did I mention that I haven't recieved ANY grades back in this class so far? She doesn't know how to work the machine that reads scantrons! I have no clue what my grade is... no one does.)
In Child Development I got a 89% on the midterm. I had a 88% on the first test, so it's par for the course. We have another test coming up fast, mid November. I like the class more now with the blind professor, but for the most recent chapeters she has been reading straight from the textbook, so it's kinda boring.
I'm on track in my physics lab. There wasn't a midterm. I can still get an A for the semester.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Why not?
If the dress still fits, wear it. (since last Halloween, she's gotten taller, but not much wider.)
Elaine's turn at the camera.
For Elaine to cooperate with picture-taking, she had to get a turn with the camerra -she even made me hold her lollipop so the camera wouldn't get "sicky". Not bad for an un-planned pic.
Allan and Jimmy with a Firetruck
The firemen at the Fall Fest last night let Elaine sit in their firetruck, but the picture turned out super duper dark, but we have this pic of Allan and Jimmy. :) The normally firetruck-obsessed Allan was more interested in stealing Elaine's candy while she was occupied in the truck.
Running with a Balloon
Our church Friends, the Matthews, had a birthday party after church on Sunday. Kids were allowed to wear Halloween costumes, but we just put Elaine in her Cinderella dress. We didn't want her to rip her costume-y dress on the play equipment. Her favorite part of the party was the balloons.ps. i just trimmed her bangs the night before.