Almost Done

It still needs touch ups around their mouths and some other little details. But all the girls are drawn into the picture now. :) It should be completed tomorrow night, after I get off of work.

Grades: (All my professors did some grading over the Thanksgiving Break)
I got a 90% on my Antigone essay for Theatre History
I got an 88% on my essay about Mormons for my Sociology of Religion class
I got a 77.5% on my Personal Finance Exam.

Today was the big speech for my communication class. It was supposed to last 20 minutes and we made it to 19 minutes and 30 seconds, so a couple points will be taken off. We were told we had a "strong presentation".

update

I missed it, but I heard about it:
Right before Jim and the kids drove to fetch me from work, Elaine was whining and Allan told her, "Be quiet. Elaine a bad girl." He's really starting to make more sense.

I saw online: I earned an 88% on my Communication exam. That means I get to skip the optional final exam for that class. The final was going to be on a Saturday, so I'd have to miss work. I'm glad it worked out.
I got a 92% on my Spanish reading assignment last week.

We have to re-apply for food stamps. They expire at the end of December. I'm curious to see how my job effects our eligibility. The loans from Hope and Scott, should be counted as *loans* not "income", but we'll see how the govt. looks at it all when they check out bank account records and my income records.

We paid off one of Jimmy's tickets this week (for not updating his driver's license when we moved to this trailer) and we have one more to go. We'll have that one paid off early this coming week, once I deposit my paycheck. This ticket was for driving the Taurus with an out-of-date inspection.
It's so nice to have a dependable vehicle.

I talked to my brother and Berta on Thanksgiving. Mark sounded pretty busy with his girlfriends kids, but we talked for a good 15 minutes or so. He's been really sick with Allergies and the flu.

Dave wanted to come over and take the kids ice skating tonight. But the rinks were closed. I think it'd be fun to go right before we leave for the Christmas vacation. But I bet it's less crowded now.

My craft room/office is a pig sty. Mental note: work on that. I think I'll get more serious about cleaning in here after I've finished drawing those girls. I need to get that completed and to the customer, so they can have it framed by Christmas!

I bought Allan a water-proof sheet for his full-sized mattress. That'll make my life a little more worry-free. He already broke it in last night. ;)

Today was fun at work. My female boss had me hem some of her jeans, then we spent over an hour playing with a Bedazzler. It was a rainey freezing day, so customers weren't pouring in. Regina keeps complementing my sewing abilities. I mended a tuxedo while a customer waited the other day. I got major kudos for that one.

Earlier this week, I had to email the church with our wish lists for the Secret Santas. This year our secret santas don't go to our church, but wanted to help a family anonymously. We were told that they love to shop and all the specifics we can give them will be helpful. It's kinda awkward to try to sum our family up in a few paragraphs, but It'd be hard for them to shop for us otherwise (so says our Pastor's wife). So here's what we mailed the secret Santas:

"Allan
Size: 2T-3T. He'll be a solid 3T by spring.
Shoe size: 9 1/2. He has a few pairs of shoes already, but needs more socks.

Allan is interested in playing with his Cars & Trucks. He loves anything with pirates or swords.. His favorite characters are from Finding Nemo, Cars, and Spiderman. He loves to watch "The Backyardigans" and "Blues Clues" on TV.

Wishes: Allan has outgrown his hooded baby towels, so 1-2 towels for the big boy would be nice. I think he'd like the video, "The Incredibles" since he likes superheroes or the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. He'd also enjoy any Blues Clues video tapes. Allan is rough with his toys, so durability is pretty important. He would enjoy wooden puzzles, sturdy toddler books, or sturdy cars.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elaine
Size: 5T
Shoe size: 10

Elaine is interested in princesses, soccer & hockey, and drawing/crafts. She is learning to read. She loves watching the "Little Einsteins" on TV. Elaine is still very much into playing dress up and pretending she is a princess or Chef.

Wishes: Elaine asked for nailpolish, a jump rope and a yo-yo for Christmas. Toy food would go over really well. I think she would like the movie "Ratatouille", since it's about cooking. She would also enjoy the movies, "Meet the Robinsons" and "Little Einsteins Big HUGE Adventure". She could use some nightgowns. Any sort of reading games would be great.

_____________________________________________________________
Liss
Size: 16-18 (XL)
Shoesize: 11w

Interests: I go to college full time and I work retail fulltime at a Costume store. In my minimal free-time I work on the kids baby books, take lots of pictures, paint or draw. I love bold colors, polka dots and anything that's retro (1950's) or shabby chic.

Wishes: V-neck work-appropriate shirts. A black button-down sweater. Head scarves. Socks. A Wok (for stir fry). Paper for a 12x12" scrapbook. A Fine Frenzy:'One cell in the Sea' CD. I'd love to receive some Queen-sized sheets that have simple pink roses on them (our bedroom is all mix-matched shabby chic).
_____________________________________________________________
Jim
Size: 2X Tall shirts, 38"x34" pants
Shoe size: 13

Interests: Cooking, Baking from scratch, making pasta from scratch, computers, flying stunt kites, sodoku.

Wishes: He wants a small wooden cutting board for chopping veggies. He also wants one of those magnetic strips that sticks to the wall, to store cutting knives. He'd like metal mixing bowls. He'd like the book "A Year of Living Biblically" by AJ Jacobs. He'd like "The Simpsons Movie". "

Thanksgiving

I made dip for snacking during the football game.

I made this Turkey. It ended up a little dry, but not bad. Jimmy made gravy to help it along.

I've lost 17 pounds since I've had my job (about 6-7 weeks).

Went to the park to wait for Dave... lasted about 5 minutes all the equipment was freezing cold.

Daddy's gloves, helping Allan catch the ball.

Tonight I added another girl to the drawing:

Drawing in Progress

*FAST* update

Elaine isn't sick any more. But I am. I have sinus drainage and fevers.

I bought Allan new socks and underwear.

I worked all day today, I'll work after class tomorrow and work a half-day on Wednesday. The shop closes at 1pm. I get Thurs off from school/work. But I work Friday. I'm glad I put the tree up early, since I normally do it on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Elaine's class is having a Thanksgiving meal tomorrow. I made a quiche for her to take. ( I was assigned an "egg dish" by the teacher).

Elaine got her report card-
She is "DEVELOPED" in understanding directions, enjoys listening and responding to books, counts by ones to 10 or higher (she can could to 200), counts concrete objects to five or higher, demonstrates safe practices and appropriate use of science materials, makes observations using 5 senses, identifies and follows classroom rules, understands the roles of community workers, uses a variety of materials to create original artwork, uses art as a form of self expression, responds appropriately to fire drill, developed a sense of personal space, expresses interest and self-direction in learning, respect other people's space and personal belongings, shows increase levels of profieciency, control and balance in physical movements, demonstrates increasing ability to use scissors, pencils and art tools, and can start,use and exit software programs.

She ranked as "STILL DEVELOPING" in sharing ideas, taking turns listening and speaking, participating in classsroom jobs, understanding the basic needs of all people for food, clothing and shelter, aware of healthy routine behaviors, beings to recognize and select healthy foods, begins to be responsible for individual behavior and actions, begins to develop friendship with others, and begins to use technical terminology, such as "mouse", "keyboard", "printer" and "Cd-Rom".

Poor thing got a lower grade at making friends and talking about computers... this is OUR kid? lol.

Tomorrow I have a Spanish assignment due, a play review due, and a major exam in personal finance.... so I gotta get back to homeworking.

Put up the Tree

I decided that since we will be out of town for a good portion of December, I would put up our tree a week earlier than I normally do. This way the family can enjoy the tree all together, even if it's at Thanksgiving.

He was actually a good helper this year. :)
She could read his name.

She took a break to eat Alphabet soup...thus the slimey face. But I love Allan's expression here.

1am and caffinated...might as well blog.

Tonight after work, I ate the dinner Jimmy made, sewed some work that I brought home with me, and then brewed a pot of coffee. I had to do some homework, and I expected it to take longer than it did. So now I am pretty hyper for 1am.

Backing up: At the shop today it was just Rick and myself. I felt like I was bothering Rick whenever I asked him a question. He seems surprised whenever I have to ask him the same question more than once. For example, I asked him tonight which order three buttons get pushed to 'void' a purchase on the cash register. He said that he thought I'd know since I watched him do it ONCE earlier in the day. My mind doesn't retain info quite that fast. So when he answered my question tonight, I made a note on an index card. Now I can refer to that instead of bugging Rick. I have to study for my job, just like it's one of my classes.

I think I have redeemed myself a little with Rick though. A woman came in at 5pm to reserve a Toy Solider costume for her son. The costume we have for a child toy soldier is Red, yellow and white. The only hats available that look right for the toy soldier are old UNT marching band hats. The woman said it would work, but wished that UNT's school color (green) worked better with the red costume.
After the customer left, I told Regina that I could easily change the color of the helmet's front triangle patch, if I just had some red fabric to work with. This summer, I did the EXACT same thing in my Costume one class for the production of 'Alice in Wonderland'. My costume professor, Barbara, had me change two UNT marching band helmets from green to red. I told Rick it'd take me around 30 minutes to do the job, if they wanted it done. Rick pointed me toward a box of scrap fabric and said, get cracking.
I ended up taking the sewing project home with me, since the shop was about to close for the night. While Jimmy finished cooking dinner, I sewed down the new red triangle patch on the marching helmet (the trick is using a needle that is curved like a fishhook). It took about 40 minutes. I *do* get paid for my time sewing at home. [Last week they had me mend a Snow White dress at home, and I saw that extra hour and a half on my paycheck.]
Right before we closed up shop for the night at 6pm, Rick said that he has many of these marching hats and that if my col0r-swapping job looks good, he might have me change more of the helmets, so he'll have more variety at the shop than just Green UNT ones. What I lack in cash register memorization, I make up for in creativity and nimbleness with a needle.
When Jimmy drops me on campus tomorrow, he is gonna drop by the shop and drop off the hat for me. The customer is picking it up in the afternoon.
I talked to Dave, talked to Jimmy, talked to Hope, and talked to Rick&Regina. It seems like we have an idea of what our Christmas break will be like. The store is open the Saturday before Christmas and they NEED me to work, so my family can't leave for Florida when we were hoping to (Thurs or Friday).
Since I can't get those days off from work at the shop, Rick proposed that I get extra days off from the shop AFTER Christmas instead. So that is the new plan. I will work Friday and Saturday at the shop, then we will leave for Florida that same Saturday night. Jim will drive through the night (at least til we are out of Texas) and then Dave can take over driving. We will get to FL some time on Sunday the 23rd.

The costume store is closed Dec 23-26th, and Dec 30- Jan 1st (so there are just three working days between the breaks).
The new plan means I can take off from work on the 27th & 28th on top of the regular Christmas break (and possibly the 29th).We could be in Florida from Sunday the 23rd through Friday (or up to the following Tuesday, if I get Saturday the 29th off from work).
Dave's schedule will play a part in deciding how long we stay in Florida, because he has a job to get to as well. The joy of cellphones is that I can call the rest of my family from whatever state I am in.

I just looked online... I earned an 86% on 'Exam 2' for my Communication class. With the 96% I earned on the first Exam, that means that I don't have to take the optional final exam. The final exam is only necessary if I need to replace a previous test grade. So that's a final exam I wont have to worry about. That's a nice feeling considering that this is one of the classes I need to graduate (not an elective). The homework I was doing tonight was for this same class. Myself and four classmates have to give a speech in class after the Thanksgiving break. I re-wrote the speech tonight, including all these requirements we just heard about in the last week.

Elaine went back to school today. She was feeling mostly better. Allan was worse today. His nose has been running all day, he's been coughing and has a little fever (which means his immune system is working). He keeps climbing up in my lap while I'm writing this. He woke up about 40 minutes ago and hasn't fallen back to sleep. :( I think I'll go lay down with him to make him go to sleep.

I'll work on the charcoal drawing for Jill's boss Thursday night. :)

Elaine is VERY sick

Jim drove me to work this morning and as we pulled up into the store's parking lot, my cellphone rang. Elaine's school nurse said Elaine was outside at recess grabbing her stomach and complaining. The nurse said that from where Elaine was grabbing on her tummy, Elaine could be constipated. I told the nurse that Elaine has been throwing up off and on all weekend and that she is fighting off a cough. The nurse said Elaine needed to get picked up from school. Jim went to fetch Elaine and I went on to work.

Elaine has all her allowed unexcused absences for the semester. From here on all her absences have to be verified by a doctor (or if we can't take Elaine to a doctor due to scheduling/monetary reasons, we can take Elaine to the school for a short examination from the school nurse and then bring her back home to miss that day of class). Elaine is on Medicaid, but getting an appointment with a pediatrician usually needs some advance notice. I think if Elaine's not better, Jimmy will have to get Elaine to a doc later this week.
When Jim picked me up from work tonight, he said that he thinks he's getting what the kids have. Allan is still only occasionally feverish, like me (I had fevers off and on all day at work). But Jim and Elaine have more cough symptoms and tummy aches on top of the fevers.

I started a charcoal drawing this weekend for Jill's boss. I'm not too far along on it, but all the spacing is worked out. I have an Exam tomorrow. So I'm off to memorize my review sheet.

Elaine is SICK

She through up like 8 times last night. She felt feverish and had trouble getting to sleep.

This morning, it was Jim's day to run the sound for children's church. So we couldn't skip. I took Elaine to 'big church' with me. She started coughing, so we snuck into the 'Cry room' which overlooks the main sanctuary. There are toys, books and coloring activities in the Cry room for noisy toddlers to play with. Elaine ended up throwing up in the waste basket. :(

It was a good thing that we all made it to church though. Brenda handed me the certificate with info about picking up our *free* Thanksgiving dinner supplies. Jim has to go fetch the food for us next Saturday while I'm at work.
Also next Saturday is a potluck dinner at the church for 20's & 30's people. So we'll be heading there as soon as Jimmy picks me up from work next weekend.

Did the math...

Jim and I looked at my paycheck from tonight and realized that I must have received at least a 50 cent raise since last month.
At work they've begun training me to use the cash register. I do better when I'm not being watched. I get nervous or something when Regina is standing right over my shoulder. But on the other hand, I feel nervous if both Rick and Regina are out of sight... what would I do if I had a question? I am getting the hang of it.

I'm kinda annoyed with my new bank. I went to the ATM on Sunday (Nov 4th) to deposit my last paycheck. A check I wrote hit the bank on Monday, and my account wasn't credited with the deposit from Sunday yet. You'd think that if deposit and a check both were processed by the bank on Monday, they'd be nice and type in the deposit BEFORE the withdrawal. Meanies!! The bank charged me a $22 fee.

We got a form to order Elaine's Pre-K school pictures. I've had the form sitting in my office for 2 weeks, but hadn't read it until today. They are WAY overpriced. But I'm considering it.
I might just get some 5x7's for us and the grandparents. It's $16 for two 5x7 portraits. We'll need at least 1 photo for us, 1 for Dad, 1 for Berta and 1 for Hope/Scott. For an additional $16 I could also get four 3x5 photos of Elaine.
It's a consolation that the photo turned out cute. Her posture isn't grand, but she is super smiley and wearing that green/pink dress that she loves.

Elaine has a little cough. She and Allan have both had fevers off and on for two days. Allan doesn't seem phased at all. He just is randomly warm once or twice a day. Elaine on the other hand is coughing a lot and whiny.

Grades and stuff

Recent grades:
Theatre History Quiz on the Italian Renaissance: 95%
Personal Finance budget assignment: 88%
Sociology of Religion exam #2: 65% (I got an A on the first one)

I heard from Amy at work (who moves to Illinois today) about a grant from the US Government. I need to look into the info to test it's validity. But Amy said there is a grant that can pay off up to ALL of someone's student loans as long as after graduation they get a job that is directly related to their new degree.
Amy majored in chemistry at UNT, so working at the Dance& Costume shop didn't do her any good. But in Illinois, she's gonna have a chemistry-related job and apply for the grant to cover her student loans. I'm gonna keep an ear out, to hear how all that goes for Amy. It seems like that with the BA degree that I'll have in Theatre tech, working at a Costume shop (the theatrical makeup counter) would qualify me for the grant. Like I said, I need to look into this grant, and see how to connect the dots.

I have to write a 3 page paper for Sociology of Religion after I get off of work tonight.

p.s. What is aspirational about this Barbie? What girl WANTS to be her??

"Barbie Doll and Tanner Scooper Dog Set Description:
Barbie's dog eats and makes a mess. Tanner, Barbie's dog, eats and ejects waste from her body! (Yes, really.) But Barbie can pick it up with her special magnetic scooper, and Tanner will eat it again-- just like your real dog! This fun set includes 11 1/2-inch poseable Barbie, Tanner the dog, and various accessories. Tanner is soft and fuzzy and her mouth, ears, head, and tail really move! You can also open Tanner's mouth and "feed" her dog biscuits. When Tanner has to go to the bathroom, Barbie cleans up with her pooper scooper and trash can. Gobble up this one while you can!"

Spoiling Me

After church today Jim took me to Payless to find me some new shoes. My blue flats started rubbing the skin off the top of my foot. Each of my green sneakers have a hole on the side near my pinky toe. The holes are like the size of a nickel. It was time for new shoes. So we tried the Payless, which didn't have *ANY* 11Wide shoes. Then we tried Target (no wides), some other shoe store near the Mardells (no wides), DSW Shoe Warehouse (no wides), some trendy shoe store in the mall (nothing over a size 10) and then finally a different Payless in the mall. The second Payless store actually had 11wides!

Jim was so relieved that he told me to get more than one pair. He had three reasons. 1)To save us from this hunt in the future. 2) Because comfortable shoes mean my feet wont hurt from standing on my feet all day at the store. 3) Because the shoes I liked only cost between $12-18 per pair.

I got a pair of Brown & Red sneakers, dark Grey knit slip-on flats, Burgundy knit slip-on flats and a pair of Cream slip-on flats. Jim called them an investment in my comfort. :) I like how he thinks.

p.s. The highest midterm grade in my online Spanish class was a 92, so everyone's grade was curved by 8 points! That puts me at an 82.5 for my midterm, up to a B. :o)

about working

On day two of finishing the window display for Thanksgiving, I gave my bosses a good laugh, by wearing my hair in braids like the wig on the Native American mannequin. Regina cracked up!

A woman tried on this princess gown at work the on Thursday. She had it zipped half way up her back and the zipper wouldn't budge up or down. Some fabric got tangled up into the zipper all gnarly. Amy CUT the woman out of the dress!! (fumbling with Amy, my fingernails scratched her forehead). The woman STILL wanted to rent the dress and pick it up for a party on Saturday. She's rented and worn the same dress from the shop 4 years in a row for the same occasion. Rick said he wanted me to put in the new zipper by Saturday. I've only sewn one zipper by machine before, so I was nervous about working on this ball gown. I started sewing it into the dress with the sewing machine at work, but it wasn't going well. There are these round golden beads that hang like dingleberries all over the dress. I broke two sewing machine needles when I couldn't dodge beads, right next to the zipper. I ended up hand sewing in the rest of the zipper, since we were down to one sewing machine needle. I was super proud when I finished the zipper, given my nervousness about working on the ball gown.

Rick brought most of the Santa's down from the attic. I had to go through all their accessory bags to make sure every one had white gloves, a hat, bootcovers, a belt, glasses, a wig and beard.
The shop is switching back to a Dance focus, with Halloween being over. So we've been consolidating the costume that are out on the racks and bringing out more formal and dance wear.

I went to the Hearts & Heroes AIDS fundraiser last night for my communication class. The mayor was there and a lot of city council. The man who signed my form, said he doesn't care how many hours I put down on the form, since my group worked really hard compared to some other volunteers who showed up.
We helped winners from the Silent Auction carry their items out to their cars. I moved this mirror made of Italian glass and held my breath most of the way. :)) Only 3 of us from my team showed up at the event. So I'm pretty curious what the other two girls were up to.

First Day of November

I got my grade back for the Theatre History midterm. I got a 98%, only missing one question.

I went to work after class at 4pm. At the costume shop we have returned to "normal" instead of the special October hours. Instead of closing at 7pm and cleaning until 8pm, the store isn't open past 6pm. And it closes at 5pm on Saturdays. The store is not open on Sundays at all. The biggest change is that customers aren't wall to wall arguing over a pair of cat ears. Jimmy was able to pick me up from work by 6:30pm.
At work they had me re-doing the window display. It was kinda interesting. Taking apart mannequins at their wrists, arms, torsos and hips is interesting enough as is, but I also learned that the center of a mannequin looks like the layers of a jawbreaker. There are rings, like when a tree's trunk is cut open. Very neat. I switched them from pirates into pilgrims, a turkey and an Indian. There will be more Indians when i can finish the job tomorrow morning.
I felt kinda silly at work. I assumed I'd still wear a uniform at the shop, but evidently those were just for October. I wore a T-shirt to class that has some paper mache glue stuck to the hem. It's permanent, but I like the t-shirt, so I still wear it to school all the time. I felt like a slob wearing it at work though. I think I'm gonna shove my painted clothes to the back of my closet and hope that I do better at grabbing a clean shirt in the morning.
Oh! That reminds me, this weekend sometime Jim is taking me to Payless to get some new sneakers. I've worn a big hole in the sides of my green&lavendar sneakers.

I checked with Rick about my schedule. Amy's last day is Tuesday, so they'd like me to work as much as I can between now and then, so I can learn from her before she moves away. He said for me to let him know if I ever have any schedule conflicts that I need to work around. He was really nice about it all. Sounds like they will cut me slack for when I have school activities or whatever.
This Saturday I have to volunteer at that AIDS fund raising banquet for school. Since it doesn't start until 8pm, I should have plenty of time to get there after the shop closes at 5pm. I also have to go watch a play on campus next week, so I can write an essay about it. Again, it doesn't start until 8pm, so I should have no problems with that.

p.s. Jimmy says the new van gets better gas mileage than the Windstar. :) The router we got from Steven stopped working, so we might have to fetch a new one from him this weekend, if we want to get internet back on my computers.