3.7 G.P.A.

Well, I have two A-'s: one was a 93% and the other was because I missed two classes and the second miss lowered my grade automatically to an A-. This means a G.P.A. of 3.7.

A much better start of graduate school than I did the last time or when I started as an undergraduate. Grad school last time back in the fall of 1991 started with both classes as incompletes. One because I asked for it and the other because Professor Wine insisted I rewrite my final paper. As an undergraduate I started in the summer of 1987 with one class and received a B. In the fall of '87 I had 3 classes: Anthropology 150, Geography 1??, and Geology 102. I also had a wonderful personal trauma that quarter in November that messed up the end of the quarter. I received 2 C's and one B. So clearly two A-'s is a better start. I'm not thrilled with spending money to earn A-'s, but I can handle it. When I told a former student, who is currently a senior, what my grades were. She commented that I had stated earlier in the semester that I wasn't paying for college only to earn something lower than an A. I changed my tune. I also have had to get used to minuses and pluses. UIC didn't give those—only straight grades. So, if I had been attending UIC instead of the U, I would have received two A's. Ooh, that thought makes me feel even better about my grades.

I must have been really tired last night when I posted, because I just had to edit several spelling errors in it.

And the countdown continues—one week from today is the last day of teaching. My juniors should be handing in research papers today. So far I have nine out of the 63 I should have. I have already warned them that they should plan on signing up for summer school.

Tonight is D's orchestra concert. It's the final event of the year. The orchestras, bands, and choir all perform. Plus the students in the art class show off their work. Yesterday, the orchestra anand advanced band played for the fifth graders from Ephraim and Manti as a recruitment event. One of my Scouts, Samantha, will be in advanced band next year as a seventh grader. Josh, the band instructor, has beginning, intermediate, and advanced band instead by grade as the orchestra is. This means that students are at their ability level instead of grade level. Of course Josh has as many students in beginning band as there are in all of the seventh and eighth grade orchestras.

This is a busy week for us—orthodontist and dentist on Monday, Scouts and a game on Tuesday, Arts night today, a game tomorrow, free on Friday, and "Innovations" at Ballet West on Saturday.

First game and more

Well we lost 11-6 against Moroni. But, they had an extra week of practice. Until last Wednesday the people in charge of city league games weren't even sure there would be a team at the Filly level. There is no team at Fox (7-9 grade) this year, only six girls signed up.

The team looked good. Our catcher was crying after the game, because she missed a few balls and one major error. But, it was the first game. D did a great job at first base. She, the pitcher (Megan), and the SS (Olivia) had some great in-field plays. If you saw her leg you would be extremely impressed. From knee to almost ankle is missing the first layer of skin plus some gashes. She really did a bum job yesterday playing baseball.

For Scouts we made scrunchies. D had done them in FACS (Family and Consumer Science) and was happy to be able to teach a class on how to make hair scrunchies. JoAnne (really Malynn) and I brought our sewing machines to the meeting. I had thread, pins, and ribbon. I thought I had the elastic that was needed, but I didn't. So JoAnne ran down to the local fabric store and bought some 1/4" elastic. She was already to write a check out from the troop when the owner tallied up the amount of 60" of 1/4" elastic for $.51. Surprisingly, she would not take a check for only 51 cents. :) The girls made their scrunchies for their Design It IPP. I have a feeling that now that they know how easy they are, they may make some over the summer. I have the lucky experience of wearing the one D made first. Hurrah!!

Turning the news to me—I received an A- in my harder of the two classes. I was soooooo happy! I reread the articles before the final and reviewed my notes, but it seemed that I could not remember anything, so I only got an 87% on the final. I received a 93% on the final that I spent all day and night doing. The final was 35% of my final grade. I was pretty thrilled with an A-. As a matter of fact I wasn't sure I wanted to open the e-mail that told me my grade. It's been 12 years since I did any schooling that had a grade attached, so I should feel good. And you know what? I do. I'm not some 22 year old going to school full time—I teach all day, drive the 100 miles each way to class, run a Scout troop, and try to have time for my family. I should pat myself on the back for a job well done.

Nope not me

Well I thought I would take part in MckMama's Not Me Monday.

So here it goes—

I did not start counting down last week until the end of the school year. Nope not me.
I did not read all day yesterday instead of reading rough drafts of research papers. Nope not me.
I did not feel happy that we lost our last soccer game, which meant soccer was finished for the season. Nope, not me.
I did not find out that I threw out D's flower girl dress when I purged closets last fall. Nope not me.
I did not tell my juniors to sign up for summer school, because they hadn't done rough drafts for their research papers. Nope not me.
I did not miss Stamp Club so I could spend some time with my family. Nope not me.
I did not procrastinate and write my 12 (turned into 20) page term paper for school in one day and e-mail it seven hours late after spending the night up writing. Nope not me.
I did not just look in my planner to see what happened last week, because it's pretty much a blur. Nope not me.

That was fun. Head on over to MckMama's blog to play .

Mother's Day and more

If you are reading this, then you noticed that I updated the header. I got tired of the same old same old and tried something new. While looking for quotes on writing I found a several that I really liked, but not enough to have permanently on my blog. So from a few of my favorite authors are the following:

"Almost anyone can be an author; the business is to collect money and fame from this state of being." ~A. A. Milne

"Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any." ~Orson Scott Card

"I hated school. I don't trust anybody who looks back on the years from 14 to 18 with any enjoyment. If you liked being a teenager, there's something really wrong with you." ~Stephen King

I really have to agree with Stephen King. Mother's Day was a very relaxing day. I did nothing, but read. It was very nice. I called my mother, who is HOME! Yes that is right. She has been shipped home. She starts physically therapy today after a break. One of the things she wants them to do is teach her how to walk with a cane when she can't feel the ball of her foot. Jeff called his mother. See sometimes we are good children.

The first softball game is tomorrow! Unfortunately D slid during a baseball game at school and really scraped up her leg and knee. It's so nice to live in a small town. She called me at school, because Jeff wasn't home. I can't go get her, so the secretary who lives in our neighborhood took her home. Jeff came back just as they were going to go drive around Ephraim looking for him. He took her back to school after cleaning it up and bandaging it. Poor kid.

My freshmen and sophomores are writing alphabet books. "A is for Arthur who was king of the Celts." The sophomores are doing them for the Myths and Legends unit they are finishing. The freshmen are doing them for the books they just finished reading Literature Circles. I did this idea a few years ago with sophomores as a book report on the book they were reading. It takes a fair amount of work to do it right. I have these students working in groups (Lit. Cir.) or pairs (soph.) or for those who hate working with someone else they can work alone. I needed something to do for the last week of school in those classes and borrowed the idea from D's seventh grade lang. arts teacher who had them write alpha bios. They were due today, but I found out about last night at 7:30. URG save me from pre-teens. She stayed up and did it, while Jeff and I went to bed. I cut her paper for her and left her to it.

We are making scrunchies at Scouts tomorrow. They should be interesting to say the least. Cutting, pinning, sewing—what fun.

Memories from March and April

I totally forgot that I had a bunch of pictures on my camera, so I was pleasantly surprised when I looked at the chip and found 150 pictures that I hadn't even remembered. The first one is our last day of Cookie Booth at WalMart on Saturday, March 28. We did pretty well for cookie booths this year and sold out of a few varieties.

The following weekend found us in Reno for a Moody Blues concert. We stayed at Circus Circus, which we enjoyed last year, but found ghastly this year. There was some major wrestling tournament going on the same weekend and the place was full of boys of all ages. Our room was right next to the fire stairs and people were using them, because the elevators were so slow and full. Unfortunately people didn't realize that they could be heard through the walls. I swear every person who came down the stairs had to jump the last couple of steps.

This is from before the concert at the really good (and expensive) The Steakhouse at Circus.

Justin Hayward and John Lodge near the beginning of the show. In the background you can see Gordon Marshall on drums. I had to look up his last name, because I couldn't remember it and read a really interesting article about him at a website in England. If interested you can read it here.

Dino shuffle

"Question" This song always ends the show.

The very end.