Pictures for Tuesday's class

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A teaser :)

The soccer season ends next week. Deirdre's team has been unbeaten this season. I hope I didn't just jinx the rest of playoffs. I, of course, have not seen any of the games as they are all on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This week was an added game on … Monday—the other day I have class. BUT next week is fall break at the U, so no matter what day the game(s) is on, I can go. Hopefully it won't be on Wednesday though, I have Service Unit meeting and since I won't be there next month (Parent/Teacher Conferences), I need to be there next week. AND I am the SU Director and in charge of our next activity.

All the years of going to soccer games and I wait until most likely her last year in soccer to try and get pictures. Not only that, but I have to recruit Jeff into taking said pictures. D has played goalie the majority of this season, which I think is a responsible position. She has always played defense and goalie a few times, but in the last six games at least she has been THE goalie.

About to drop kick the ball. I think that is our silver van in the background. :)

Watching the action at the other end of the field. The tournament has been at Wasatch Academy's fields and the coach and girls hate their fields.

This was just a teaser for everyone. I have tons to "report." I'll be back soon.

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In front of the camera

When I received my paperwork for my scholarship to the U, it included a request for a 4 x 6 picture. I don't take pictures. I stay on the back side of a camera and take pictures. I faxed in everything requested, except a picture. Today I received a request for a picture. It was nice to know that they had everything else. I was a little worried, not enough to call and check, just enough for me to wonder at 2 in the morning. You see at the College of Education there is a bulletin board that has all the scholarship recipients each on their own plaque. The plaque includes which scholarship they received, a picture, and a short bio. It's extremely nice of them to do this.

So, Jeff took a few pictures today out by our tree(s) and then used Photoshop to get rid of the lovely extra red I have on my face, the zit that just appeared a few days ago, and I have no idea what else. Oh, yes I do the extremely lovely black circles under my eyes. I figured if a bunch of strangers were going to see this everyday for a year, then I could at least put it on my blog where even more strangers or worse close friends could also see it. So there you have it. If you scroll down on the right side is the latest of moi. At least I don't look like Jabba the Hut like I do on my driver's license.

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.

More updates without pictures

I'm not exactly sure where my camera is at this point in time—suffice to say somewhere in the house. I am typing this with a very loudly purring cat curled up on my arm. Greymalkin has been making herself known a lot lately. When Eddie died, she decided to get on our bed for the first time. Now that Rocky has died, she has to be on one of us almost all the time. We probably won't get another cat for awhile, because each time we lose one, Greymalkin changes her behavior.

There is really not a whole lot to report. You know if anyone actually reads this blog. The remodel hasn't had anything new happen for a few weeks. Jeff is finished with the spring semester on Friday, so maybe things will start to happen. BUT, softball starts really soon, so nothing might happen. D and I have another four weeks of school. We both finish on May 22, just in time for Memorial Day weekend. The people around here have a major problem if students have to continue into June. I've grown used to it—you know that 17 years being here thing, but it still seems strange to not go until June.

I finish at the U this week. I have classes on Wed., and Thurs., and my term paper for one class is due by 5 on Friday and everything for the other class is due on Saturday. I don't know how to go to school and not work full time, but this semester has been hard. I won (earned) a scholarship for next year, so I have to take three classes a semester. I haven't decided if I will take the summer off or not. I registered for a class for the summer, but can always drop it. The class I would take in the summer is one I could take in the fall, but I found a class to take in the fall to replace it. I don't know whether to work on the house and lesson plans for next year over the summer or do those things and take a class. So many decisions. Jeff and I have to talk it over, plus I need to talk with my adviser at the U. The department I am earning my degree in is a part Ed. Psych., Education, and Linguistics. With all the budget cuts, it is being absorbed by the College of Ed. No one in the department is happy. I, however, need to find out how this absorption affects my degree program.

My mother remains in a care facility receiving physical therapy twice a day to help her nerves regrow. I am clearly not the best daughter in the world. My sister would be calling my mother everyday to chat. I just don't have that in me. My aunt calls my mom and visits too. Obviously I can't visit, but I just don't have that much to say. In my mind (and I have thought this for a long time—three years) the wrong daughter died. The one who called everyday and checked in was not me. I will go to my grave believing that my sister should not have died and if anyone was going to, it should have been me.

I did get the book my mother wanted and will try to ship it off this week along with the Girl Scout cookies she ordered before her surgery from hell. I also need to round up the scrapbooking mysteries I have been reading lately and send her those as well. They are pretty lighthearted and entertaining to boot. I wanted to send her a cd player, but she was afraid it would be stolen. My parents have learned, from Jane's long stays in nursing homes, that if it is something valuable it will probably be stolen by a nurse. Actually we have know this since my grandfather died back in 1979. His wedding ring was stolen in the one week he was in a nursing home. Hard to believe that in June it will be thirty years since I graduated from junior high and he died (one week later).

Well more later. This will be a hectic week, with finishing school, soccer games, Scouts, and all the other activities that are part of our lives.

And the remodel continues

The latest update. I don't have better pictures right now. I haven't taken any (you know gone over the weekend) lately. The new wall is up (just studs right now). The old hall wall from the back of our bedroom closet is partial gone. We walk through the old closet to get to our bedroom. It's sort of a maze right now. The electrical has been a problem for Jeff as he tries to figure out what wires go where and power what. As stated before, our electrician wasn't the best. It's pretty exciting to see the way the area is shaping up.

And here is Jeff relaxing on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. He worked all weekend on the house, but had to read The Color Purple for class on Monday. After only four and a half years Rocky and Greymalkin have declared a slight truce. We gave Rocky a reprieve right before Thanksgiving. He actually has perked up.

On to me:
I was accepted into The University of Utah. My classes start on Jan. 14. I will be taking two classes Spring semester: one on Wednesday and the other on Thursday. On days that D and I have gymnastic meets than I will travel up to SLC three days in a row. I haven't figured out how I will make it through the next couple of years, but somehow we will manage. When I leave school on Tuesdays, I will have to be prepared for classes on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I need to move Scouts to Tuesdays. I will miss Service Unit meetings unless they are moved, and worse I'll miss Stamp Club for Feb., Mar., and April., maybe even May depending on my finals schedule. I can do this—at least this is what I keep telling myself. Wish our family luck for the next two years.