Life as I know it...

So, since I'm sitting here not sleeping (regular occurrence lately), thought I'd jot down a few of my recent ups and downs. It's been an interesting holiday - quite a roller coaster (both literally - at Disneyland - and figuratively w/my emotions). Crazy stuff.

So, I had so much fun in Disneyland! Really, I did, but it also made me think a lot about how much fun my husband would have had there with me. And being around several couples didn't help that. Not that it makes me angry - I love all my great friends I was with, but it did raise my awareness of my current social status. I struggled a bit at nights, but still had a fabulous time all in all. Then I got home...

Being at home alone after being with so many people for a week, it really struck hard. I had a harder time than I've had in a long while. Almost in a full panic one night....not so fun. And it didn't help that I was coming up on the holidays. I have kind of a love-hate relationship with this time of year. Lots of milestones, lots of joy, lots of tears.

Christmas ended up going well, though. After a lot of love, support, and help from friends and family, I was feeling much better. I got to spend some quality time with my in-laws, which was so nice. It really helped to be able to discuss things with them, and my nieces and nephews are so great, I can't help but cheer up around them. We had a great Christmas!

Today I celebrated (sort of) what would have been my 5th wedding anniversary. I worked most of the day, then my siblings took me out for dinner. So nice of them! We had a great time as we ate and talked, and then we played games at my sister's place. All in all, a pretty good day, considering. It's getting tougher as I prepare for bed - alone again. But I think I'll be alright. There are good, if painful, memories I have of this time. And, as a good friend has reminded me recently, it's important to remember the important and eternal things that this day really does symbolize. Alone or not, this day signifies good things, past and future.

Now I get to prepare for New Year's, also a tough time, as it would have been Gentry's 31st birthday on Jan 1st. I'll be thinking of him (which I do every day, but probably more at these times). I'll also be taking care to surround myself with people who help me feel happy. I'm very lucky to have good friends and family all around me. Couldn't get through life without them!!

Here are just a few pictures from my recent (first) trip to Disneyland!

Just in time for winter to start making an appearance, I am getting around to posting some of my summer pictures. I'll start with the ones from our camping trip up to Idaho, since I know Jenny has been waiting for me to put up these great pictures.

Marshmallow stuffing contest


Fun eating squeezy cheese


At an old pioneer museum

So, I probably won't take too long right now, but I had to share a little about my excitement. I am typing this little post on my new laptop!! It's a MacBook, and I got an amazing deal on it. If you recall from past posts, I was pretty much ready to throw my old Dell laptop out the window - so frustrating!! So, when I heard about this deal, I decided it was happy birthday to me. So far, I am really liking it. I am hoping that with this I can finally post some of my summer fun pictures here. Yay!

Well, I guess I am officially a year older. I appreciated all the birthday wishes yesterday. Totally made my day! I had lots of little notes, phone calls, and wishes of happy birthday.

Nothing too exciting went on - I worked an extra long day at work (covering for another teacher), went to dinner with my friend, then went to class until 9:45pm. Long day. :) We were going to go to Border's after class, but didn't realize they closed at 10:00. We went to Smith's instead to get a couple of things, then went home to sleep, or so I hoped. I actually did really well through the day, but when I got home, I fell apart a bit. Just missing my special someone - I'm coming in to my harder time of year, but I am hoping it will be a little easier this year, as it has been each year so far. I'll be coming up on the three year mark this Oct. 20th, so we'll see how that goes, too. Definitely not a fun time, but I'll just hope for the best.

I just have to say that, so far, it's been a great weekend! I went to my meeting this morning, then relaxed while I watched conference. And I finally got my internet working at home!!! We'll see how long it lasts this time. My computer is still painfully slow, but I am definitely happy to be able to get online. It's a big help with my school work. This afternoon, I went to CPR re-certification, which lasted a couple of hours. I'm ready if any of you want to pass out while I'm around, though. lol - but seriously, please don't. :)
After that training, I met up with Alicia and her dad, and we went over to the hot springs with my family. Our dad's went over to the preisthood session of conference, and we went soaking in the wonderful warm water. Ah...so nice, especially when it started raining! When the guys got back, the three of us went out to my FAVORITE Mexican restaurant, and I had one of my favorite dishes - enchiladas de mole. Delicious!

All in all, a great day. Very relaxing, and heard some great talks. I could do with more of these...

ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz..........

Yup, that's about how my weekend went. A very nasty head cold attacked me, and so I spent the majority of my weekend in a menthol fog (thanks to my humidifier and Viks goodness) either sleeping or reading. I actaully managed to read 3 books, too: Spindle's End by Robin McKinley (a retelling of Sleeping Beauty - very good!), The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik (sp? - it won a Caldecott medal for illustrations, even though it's a couple inches thick. Very fun!), and Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. So, I guess you could call my time somewhat productive. :)

I actually even managed to pull myself from my stupor long enough to go with my friend to the USU/BYU hockey game Saturday night. We won (of course!), and it was a great game. It was good to get out of the house, but by the time the game was over, I was ready to rest again. My head (particularly one half of it) was pounding, stuffed up, and headed down the loopy road again. lol!

I am starting to feel a bit better, but I am still not 100% Hmmm...maybe I can justify blowing off another night to read....

I love books!

I just have to rant a bit about a pet peeve of mine that I have discovered lately. You see, USU often publishes little articles about all that they are doing to become more "eco-friendly", so to speak. Things like energy efficient lights, etc. Now, don't get me wrong - I am all for changes like this. My pet peeve comes into play when I look out the window at work each day and see a small river running down the street in front of us. And I notice that, yet again, the sprinklers are unnecessarily on. Not just that, but they are in need of repair and spouting more water than they would normally. Have no fear - the lawn over there is plenty "green". I'm surprised, though, that there isn't a trail of algae along the street to complement it.

I've seen this problem all over Logan. Almost every night, we get a lovely gust of canyon wind near where I live, yet people continue to put their sprinklers on and let the mist blow where it may - usually across a street or onto a lot of parked cars. How effective. You know, I have heard tale that Utah is considered a desert by some people. :)

So, the semester is well under way, and I am well...under. :)
I actually ended up dropping one of my classes, since I just had too much on my plate. Between full-time work, school, three callings, and a new position on the state UAEYC board, I think I can safely say I have plenty to occupy my time. But they are all good things, and I really do enjoy them. And, with one class off the list, I feel like I might be able to manage things. I even occasionally have time for a social activity or two. (Hey, going to the gym with a friend counts, right?)
So, to answer the above question - Yes, chances are I'm busy. But chances are also good that I'm happy and feeling productive.

I actually have had some time to do extra little things lately. If I really leave work when I'm supposed to (which might happen 1/2 of the time on a good week), then I can be home around 3:30 a couple of days a week, when I don't have class, etc. Now, you would think I would use that time for all the stuff piling up, such as cleaning my house, reading for classes, etc. Instead, I have been (not so wisely, perhaps) reading some great books. I read the fourth Twilight book, "Breaking Dawn", in a day, along with most of another book, "Fairest" by Gail Levine (author of "Ella Enchanted"). It's the Snow White story with a twist, and I really enjoyed it. Then yesterday I bought a new book, "Beauty", by Robin McKinley (author of the Blue Sword series) which is the Beauty and the Beast story. So far, I'm liking this one as well. So, even though it might not be the most productive use of the little spare time I have, I enjoy myself, and it is a good balance for the stress and busyness of my regular activities. So, I refuse to feel to guilty....most of the time. :)

I'll just be brief today. I finally got around to getting a new student ID card (my old one mysteriously disappeared this summer...it'll probably show up now that I've paid for a new one). This one is nice, though. They have changed the layout, and I finally have my married name on my student ID instead of my maiden name. Also, it shows that I'm a "grad student"...oooohhhh...the status! I am also now officially a contracted employee of the university, so they noted that on the new card, too, although I am not allowed to get a staff ID card along with a student ID card. I had to choose one or the other. And, it was either sacrifice my grad student library priveleges or else sacrifice my bookstore discount. I chose to keep my library priveleges, since my classes often force me to make use of them. Guess I can't have my cake and eat it, too. :)

So, back to the new student ID card. Because I have one again, I can make more use of the student computer labs (which is where I am now), and might actually get to update things online a little more often, if I use my time wisely. While I should still technically be doing homework right now, I chose to spend a little more time here. Maybe next time I'll even get around to posting some pictures from my summer adventures. We'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, here's hoping!

Technology, what a blessing, and yet what a curse at the same time. In an instant, we can communicate with someone in the remote desert wastes. On the other hand, when technology chooses to cease to function properly (see later paragraphs for SEVERAL specific examples), our world seems to come to an end. So many other pros and cons, but since the cons seem to be on my mind as of late, let me share with you some recent moments of frustration.

As you may notice by the extremely long stretch of time since my last post, I have not had much chance to spend time here as of late. This is, primarily, due to my still non-functional home internet situation. Seriously, just don't even get me started. I could rant for days about the attitude of neglect towards residents of the trailer court these days. Just because it is technically closing in 2011, it seems that university housing has decided we deserve a permanent place on their backburner. Well, I'm definitely getting heated up. :)

So, I am actually writting this when I really should be madly working on homework and/or work, since it's piling up like there's no tomorrow. Ah, school is definitely back in session. Which brings me to my next technology woe. I arrived plenty early to my first class, set up my laptop (also struggling these days), and played Free Cell diligently untill my teacher arrived. As it got closer and closer to the time for class to start, two things came to light. First of all, no other students were joining me, and I have since discovered that I am the only student registered at the Logan site (I have several classmates at other sites, as it is a distance ed broadcast class). So, I prepared myself to be the center of my teacher's attention for a good part of the time. Not really what I had in mind. Secondly, the technology which makes it possible for these classes to be broadcast across the state to my other classmates had also ceased to function. Instead of a view of our instructor, the other sites saw a pixelated jumble of part of the computer screen, part of the instructor's face, and probably parts of the technology ghouls hard at work. And, since my teacher was not the most technology savvy soul, we made little to no progress in the technology area as we plodded through a syllabus we couldn't see and went on to watch a video made in 1996 (yet another long story). I think we were assigned some readings, as well, but since I haven't been able to look at the syllabus, I really don't know.

Which brings me to one final technology woe. All of my classes are distance ed, meaning all are broadcast across the state, and much of our homework/readings/etc. are posted online. And, since I have no online access at home, this is FRUSTRATING!!! And that truly is an understatement. And, as a result of these woes, you do not find me using this short amount of online time to catch up on the massive amounts of online material I have to process, but instead updating my blog so that the world can sympathize with this disgruntled grad student.

Kudos to the wonders of technology.....

Well friends, I'm sorry for the lack of recent news. My home internet isn't working (again!), so I'm limited in my internet access. It's really a royal pain. I have lots of fabulous pictures and news that I need to post, but it'll have to wait until I can take time to go somewhere with wireless access. I probably just need to take a trip over to the main part of campus where they have wireless all over. Then I can just sit down and go to town. We'll just see what happens. In the meantime, I'm having a great time playing this summer, and I'll have to update this with all the great times when I get a chance.

So I went out and played with my new camera. (This was a while ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting some of the pictures.) It was probably a little too late at night, and we were probably all a little too sleep deprived, but we sure had fun as we played on the little kid toys and took crazy pictures. As my sister has often mentioned, there is often no rhyme or reason to why I take the pictures I take, but thank goodness for digital cameras and the ability to delete the horrible ones and play around with the good ones! :)

I got to have my nephew, Devan, sleep over at my house on Saturday night. He was so excited when I pulled out the sofa bed (he knows what that means). We enjoyed watching a Veggie Tales movie together, then I had the adventure of trying to get him to calm down enough to sleep. He's just so cute! So, I'll include some pictures of him at my house that night. Yay!

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything here. I've been having too much fun playing. :) I've been camping the past two weekends, and I'm going again this weekend. Hooray! I also get to go to Lagoon this week with some friends and family. I wish I'd have my camera - oh yeah, forgot to mention that I have bought myself a new digital camera (it's being shipped, hasn't arrived yet), so I'll probably have lots more fun pictures to post in the future. Hooray again!

I started class this week (it's just a two-week course, every morning from 8-noon, and lots of homework in the evenings), so that's keeping me busy for now. I also joined a gym in town (just $10 a month!), and last night I walked a 5K on the treadmill while I read my textbook (boring). I was proud of myself! I'm hoping to go at least a three or four times a week.

Well, there's my summer fun so far. I'll have to post lots of fun pictures after I get my new camera. Yay!

Well, I went and changed my hair. I'd been thinking about it for a week or so - just kind of wanting a change, but not sure what to do. So, when I went in for my appointment yesterday, I told my friend that I wanted something shorter, but that was all I knew. I told her to just do something fun and cute. It was her last day (she's moving for a couple of years), and I was her last appointment, so she was excited to just play. We both had a great time, and I think my hair turned out really cute! Now I just have to get used to styling it a new way.

So, I would have posted this earlier, but I was waiting to get a picture off of the camera. Back on Monday, I got a call from an old friend of mine. She served a mission with me (she's Filipina), and we've kept in touch. When she got married, she moved to California, but I still hadn't seen her (for over 5 years). I got a random call on Monday around 7:00pm, and it was her, telling me she was in Salt Lake! She was only going to be around one more day, and I had to work Tuesday, so I randomly drove to Salt Lake that night. It was so great to visit with her! We talked for over an hour (all in Ilonggo, too, which was so fun!), and we just had such a good time together. Her husband took a picture of us(yes, she is pregnant - 5 months along), which I need to forward on to my mission president and his wife.

Honestly, when I left the Philippines five years ago, it was with the idea that I may never see any of those great people again in this life, so it was such a treat to visit with her. It seriously made me miss the people over there, and the food, since we reminisced about some of our favorite dishes and some of the more daring things I tried. (I'll save those stories for another time). Anyhow, here's a belated cheer for a great night (didn't leave SLC until around 11pm). Hooray!

So, last night my computer decided to go beserk on me. It's been working so well lately - I even finally got my internet up and running at home. Then, last night, it suddenly won't connect to the internet and the virus check program starts acting weird. I tried restoring to a couple of days ago, but still no luck. Grrr! So, I decided to just shut it off for a day or so, then I'll see if it's decided to be my friend again. If not, I may be soliciting some advice from those more tech-savvy than me. So, here I am writing this on the computer at work (don't worry - I'm clocked out, just killing time before I go somewhere). I would much rather be at home relaxing and playing online, but I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

Well, I can literally say I feel like I'm in a zoo when I'm at school this week. We are investigating wild animals, and I was in charge of dramatic play for the week. So, for some Memorial Day fun, I spent a little over an hour at the preschool setting this up. I think it looks like a blast! I also have out some animal masks/hats and stuffed wild animals, as well as cameras and a cash register. We'll have to see how the kids like it.

So, I am in serious need of some cleaning motivation. My house is just begging for me to spend my free summer hours giving it some TLC. It's tough, though, to want to clean my house during those precious free hours. I wonder if there's some magic motivation potion out there for me. lol!

I have made a start, but my poor trailer just won't hold all of my junk. I'm such a pack-rat! :) Also, those blasted dishes - oh the evils!

I really do have a goal to attack this place - hopefully tomorrow since I have the whole day off with no huge plans other than spending some time with family. Hmmm.... I feel some loud music and vacuuming coming on! :) We can at least hope.

So, it's obvious from the hour of this post that it's past my bedtime, and therefore past my coherent train of thought time. So, thanks for bearing with my random ramblings - I guess I'm hoping that if I put it in writing, the cleaning might actually take place. Here's to the hope!

So, I went to see Prince Caspian yesterday (and it was great!), but I have to comment on the lovely group seated behind me at the theater. (If you detect sarcasm, you detect correctly.) The group included parents, grandparents, and several children. First of all, why in the world would you bring young children (including an infant) to Prince Caspian!? Hello - the whole movie is a series of battles - did they watch the previews?

So, as we first sat down, they didn't have enough seats for the whole family, and it was a whole (loud!) conversation about how in the world were they going to find places for everyone. Next, one of the kids proceeded to throw a tantrum because he wanted popcorn. The infant threw in several cries along the way as well. We made it to the previews, though, and things seemed to be starting to settle down. Then the seat jiggling began. At least one kid (or more - I gave up looking back) went back and forth behind us several times, pulling back on my seat every time they passed. If I sat back, my seat got pushed forward. If I sat forward, my seat got yanked back. Obnoxious!

Even with all of this, I really did enjoy the movie. At the end, though, we were yet again disgusted as several people just left their trash scattered throughout the theater. Come on people - it's just common courtesy to take out your own trash!

So, here's to a good movie, even in the midst of a crowd of obnoxious people. And here's hoping you have a better experience! :)

I'm sitting here watching a news report on the problems with teenagers and cell phones, particularly regarding the obscene messages/pictures/videos that are being sent. They even referenced a 5th grader who had been involved.
So, I feel like getting on my soapbox tonight. Why in the world do these young kids even have cell phones?! It's ridiculous - if parents so feel the need to give their child a cell phone, give them a basic one that doesn't include text/pix messaging. For crying out loud, if they can't drive, why do they need a phone?!

I know so many teachers who are frustrated with the problem of cell phones in their classes. In my opinion, it's an issue that shouldn't exist. Honestly, where are the parents in this whole thing?

So, there's my two cents. I'm quite disgusted with the problems that have arisen. Granted, I'm a huge texter myself, but I'm also an adult! :)

Obviously, it's time for me to be in bed, but instead I am still up, not doing anything in particular, but not ready to hit the sack yet. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I need to clean my room... I can barely find room to snuggle under the covers at this point. My goal for next week, aside from teaching, is to get my house a lot cleaner, particularly my bedroom and bathroom. The living room actually isn't too bad. For now, though, I'm too tired to even pull myself off of the couch and go in to bed. Isn't that sad? :) I'll have to post some clean house pictures on here if I make my goal. We'll see....

Speaking of pictures, I am seriously looking into getting a small digital camera. I've been looking at the Nikon Coolpix - it's on sale at Sam's Club right now, and I almost bought it today, but decided to ponder the idea a little longer.

Well, enough random sleepy thoughts for tonight. I'll try again when I'm a little more coherent. :)

So, I just found out this great news - check it out!

ELED 6150 - Foundations of Curriculum - A
ELED 6190 - Theories of Learning and Models of Teaching - A
ELED 6360 - Research in Reading - A

Seriously - I got a 4.0!! I totally wasn't expecting it, either. I was just hoping for a B in that second class, so it's been a good night. If it wasn't so late, I'd be calling to celebrate, but I decided I'd just post here instead. Totally made my day! I'm here doing a little happy dance (in between typing, of course), but since you can't see me, you'll just have to use your imagination. Hooray!

So I am thoroughly enjoying my free time right now. Granted, I am still working, but I can have fun in the evenings. For example, tonight, after work, I went with a friend to buy fabric for a lap quilt we are going to make together. Then, we went to Costa Vida for salads, then went on a walk around the temple block, then we ended up at her house in our pajamas, crocheting while we watch Star Wars IV: A New Hope. I hadn't seen it for a few years, and we just had a great time relaxing. I have really missed it! And I love that it is relaxing without necessarily being lazy and sitting around doing nothing. Instead, I am being able to do some of the little things I enjoy doing in spare time - because I finally have some! :) It's great!

Trust me, this merits big, bold, capital letters. I AM FINISHED WITH FINALS! It felt so good to submit that last (blasted) paper today. I am looking forward to a break for a while. Yes, I'll still be working, but I won't have any classes until mid-June, and I am really excited to be able to socialize a bit in the evenings and catch up on my reading. (Oh reading, my dear old friend, how I have missed you!) I'll have to post my reading adventures here as I enjoy them. For now, let's just hear three cheers for making it through the semester...

So, I spent all evening cleaning at the Children's House (we do deep cleaning in the middle of each semester and even deeper cleaning at the end). I am beat, but I still have oodles of homework to finish...gotta write that massive paper. I really need to quit putting it off, but it's hard to do when you're just tired at the end of the day. However, today was the last day with the children, so hopefully I'll be able to have a bit of a break.