Gnomeo

Look what I got for Mother's Day!  I have been wanting a garden gnome for a long time.  Meet Gnomeo. I love him.

Digging in the garden

The Passing of the Granny Gear

 Traditionally, when one of the sisters had their 40th birthday we have showered them with gifts fit for a granny.  All sorts of stuff that people tend to need as they age.  Denture cream, prunes, granny panties, cat sweatshirts, etc.  As the youngest sister it was always very fun and enjoyable to be on the giving end of such presents.  Unfortunately my time for receiving has come.  The last day of my spring break we met in SL and had dinner at Cheesecake Factory (and experienced the worst and slowest service I have ever, ever, ever seen).  The food was good and the cheesecake was amazing, even if it did take about 2 hours for dinner.   Yohanna brought us all squeaky cheese and Gossner milk from Logan.  That was definitely the highlight of the trip! After dinner we went to the hotel and I was bequeathed the traditional granny panties and cat sweatshirt, along with a few other great and exciting gifts such prunes, Depends, Altoids, and of course a lovely turban, fit for a bald granny.  The weekend was fun but really quite a whirlwind.  I dragged Amy up with me for my torture birthday party.  Amy had come to visit us during our spring break and stayed for several days.  This granny party was kind of organized quickly and at the last minute.  I hope she didn't mind too much being a witness to this crazy tradition.  One thing that was different this time though was the lightening speed photo uploads to Facebook.  I'm pretty sure some of the pics of  Carol made it to Facebook, and maybe Linda, but mine were literally uploaded within like, 20 seconds of being taken. I was trying to be a good sport about it but, honestly, it is definitely more fun to be the disher and not the taker.

The Second Time Around

I have actually been visited this week by my inner blogging voice (or IBV) a couple of times.  I guess I just need to write about my adventures in my first couple of weeks back in college.  At the beginning the spring when I decided to go back to college it was really weird walking around on campus talking to all the people I needed to talk to in order to get my college plan worked out.  I took several trips to the bookstore and looked at the SUU attire, thinking that maybe I should buy myself a t-shirt or something SUU ish.  I just couldn't do it!  I guess in my head I'm still a cougar and it is kind of hard to change schools.  I don't feel any loyalty to SUU yet and so it's hard for me to even buy and wear a shirt that says SUU.  I'm still getting used to it and used to the idea that it's my school.  It's so much smaller, and they seem (at times) to not really have it all together.  Trying to figure out what I needed to do to get a nursing degree was quite a task.  I talked to advisers, registrars, the nursing department, admissions people, financial aid people (over and over again).  One person would tell me I needed to do "this" and talk to "that" person, who would just tell me that that was wrong and that  really needed to talk to someone else.  It is a good thing I had several months to get it all worked out, because it pretty much took that long to know what is going on.  I have had several friends tell me the same thing so I know it wasn't just me.  There are times when I feel like I am not back in college, but actually back in high school.

I think the other thing that made it weird for me is that I'm in a different stage of life now.  I am not really doing the "student" thing, only I AM doing the student thing.  It's weird.  I walk around campus and at first it brought so many memories back of my first time around, yet, I feel so different. I feel older, not in the same place.  Not in the "it's all about me" student mode.  It was really weird at first.  And on the first day of school, walking around with all the students between classes, now that was just WEIRD.  I felt like such a lemming (again).  Before I started school I just hoped that I'd meet some people so I would "have a friend" and not just be a loner in my classes.  I didn't want to feel like that "old lady" who decided to go back to school because of a mid-life crisis or something.

I think I have transitioned pretty well.  The people in my classes are nice (some of them were born after I graduated from college, so there's that).  Overall though it has been ok, and I do have a friend.  So that's good.  One thing that is very different is that this is the first time I have been to school with  my last name at the BEGINNING of the alphabet instead of the end. I am always first!  I was always last or second to last back when I started with V.  Now that I'm an A, things are kind of nice!  The other difference is technology.  Since I'm married to a techy guy I can use the tech stuff pretty well, but there are always new systems at different places.  I've had to figure out how things work in the library, how to print stuff from the computers (why won't my prints print???!), and having the girl there look at me like I'm a total idiot.  (I told her it was my first time there and she was  NOT helpful at all. Seriously.)  And, then there's Google!  Why was Google not invented the first time I went to college!? Google is the best for help on homework!  Not to mention YouTube videos to help with hard concepts etc.  There are some advantages to going to college now.  But it's different, that's for sure.  It's a fun adventure and there are days when I think, "Why in the heck am I doing this?  Why am I here?  What did I get myself into?"  But I don't regret it.  And I'm glad I'm here. And learning is kind of fun, in between all the boring stuff and trying to balance life stuff.  But most of all, it is fun to be accomplishing something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I get so excited when I finish a class and see progress.  And in just a couple of years I will look back and say, "I did it!".

SUU campus

35 Aprons

I JUST finished my last apron.  (Well, actually the last 4.)  I wanted so badly to get them done today. Here they are.  Whew.  It's good to get this project done. Now on to the next one.

College Round 2 - Update

I am avoiding studying anatomy right now.  You'd think I'd be more diligent at blogging considering it's really easy to sit down and blog when I really should be doing something else.  Like studying.  Or laundry. Or 10 other boring household tasks.  I guess the guilt was just getting to me finally.

Summer update:
As far as school goes, I have finished another class, it was Biology.  The teacher of the class wrote terrible quiz and test questions and I was seriously worried that I would get the first C of my life in that class.  I studied WAY more than I thought I would for that 100 level 2 credit biology class.  It was HARD!  The textbook weighed something like 50 pounds and had 1200 some odd pages.  The course had lots and lots of biochemistry and molecular stuff that was completely new to me.  Add that to a professor who is very set on "critical thinking" which to him meant trying to trick the students and asking them questions on the test that did not resemble anything from the textbook.  I was glad to get that one done.  And I got a B+.  And it's over.

Another important victory for me happened after writing a letter to the department chair of SUU.  I wrote a letter a couple of months ago trying to see if I could take my required anatomy class online since I had taken that class in person many years ago.  I was told that I had to make this request in writing.  Also, on this letter I asked about a required human development class that I was required to take and was trying to get out of.  She answered the part about the anatomy class but did not address the other class. I called to talk to the secretary about the anatomy class having a different course number for the online class to make sure it would transfer since the one in the transfer guide had a different number. (Can't be too careful.  Everything must be documented. Too many people have been given the bait and switch deal with these people.)   I asked about the development class and the dept. chair called me back. I told her about my development classes and my Family Sciences minor and she actually said that should count for the prereq (miracle of miracles!!!)  I then immediately wrote her an email confirming all we had talked about to get the whole thing in writing.  Must get things in writing.  So, since I got that class waived, I only had to take 4 classes at BYU this summer.  I had planned to take a nutrition class but now I can take that at SUU instead of development.  Since I have a full schedule I won't have to pay extra for it.  WOO HOO.  Small victories. I have lost enough battles it's nice to finally win one.  So instead of 11 prereqs I only have 10.  And I mean classes, not credits.

So now I am working on my 4th of 4 classes which is anatomy.   I saved the best for last.  I have taken the first lecture exam and will take the lab exam on Friday or Monday.   (Hopefully they will have my favorite muscle on the test:  the tensor fasciae latae.)   After that I will be halfway done with the class.  When I get done I will have what is left of the summer (Maybe 3 weeks or something...) to relax, and I don't know, read a book for fun or something.  I start school in the fall and I have 12 credits.  I have another semester after that, during which I can apply for the nursing program.  It's pretty exciting.  And crazy.  And expensive!  But I am glad I am doing it.  It is a good goal to look forward to and I'm happy (most days) that I have gone down this road.

Statistics and Percentages

I almost got an A- in stats.  You know what is funny?  HILARIOUSLY funny (not)?  I had to get 88% on the final to get an  A-.  To get a B+ I had to score somewhere between 60 something and 87.51%.  Seriously.  It was hard to study because I knew that I probably couldn't get an 88.  But to get a 60 would be no big deal.  I got a 86 and missed the final percentage for an A- by half a percent. Sad.  On the up-side.  The class is done and I'm 100% happy about that.

Long Time No See (Welcome to Crazy Town)

I couldn't even log in to my blog today at first because it made me enter my password since it has been so long!  I changed my password awhile ago and didn't remember it.  Yeah, it's been that long. So, what have we been up to these days (and not blogging about it?)

We have been up to:
Piano lessons x 3, dance lessons x 1, kids in school x 4, part time job x 1 and college classes x 2. And we just started soccer x 2 and we have been babysitting an extra kid after school x 1.  And we have Let's Play Music x 1.  And YW x 2 and scouts x 1.  And sewing classes x 2  I think that's it.  So, basically instead of blogging I have been driving around all over the place and doing homework (not housework... that's another story.)

It has taken me a bit of time to figure out what my college path will entail.  Since I am non-traditional, there are a lot of questions about the classes I have already taken, what will count, what I have to take etc.  The problem is that 1. most of the classes I have taken only count for electives so I have to re-take several classes (which is dumb) and 2.  The people at SUU don't know what to do with my situation.  Literally.  I go there to talk to *insert person here* and they say, "you need to fill out this form/go talk to someone else/write a letter/call the secretary blah blah blah...".  Then I do that and the run-around just keeps going on with the next person referring me to someone else who fills in another piece and then passes me along to someone else. It has been quite frustrating really.  I think I finally have things figured out though so now I'm on the road.  I'm actually more than just on the road. I have completed one class (a re-take actually), introductory psychology.  I did it through BYU Independent Study.  Right now I'm working on statistics (blargh) also through BYU.  This summer I decided not to attend SUU because the classes are SO dang expensive if you take them one by one. Instead I have 3 more BYU classes to take online during the summer and in the fall I will start at SUU and be ready to not have to pay for classes a la carte there.  I'm almost halfway through stats.  I will be glad for that. I don't find it to be fun at all.  And I keep thinking, "who would choose to study this for their life?  UGH!"  I have requested my 2nd exam and hope to get that taken next week.  Sometimes when I am slogging through regression lines and residuals I think to myself, "what have I done.  I'm totally crazy to be doing this".  And then I repeat in my mind what I have told myself many times:  I don't have to do it all today.  If everyday I do what I have to do "today", then in 3 years I will be done and will have conquered this.  And just in case you are wondering, next fall I am going to have all the kid stuff but I won't be working part time or doing sewing classes. That should free up a few brain cells, hopefully.

One more year of Youth

So I just turned 39.  I have one more year before the big 40.  I really can't believe it actually. I can remember so vividly when I turned 20.  30 is more of a blur. I was probably sleep deprived with all the kids and I just don't remember being 30.  I have to live it up before the next birthday.  And by living it up I mean going back to college which will make me feel young (or old).

Now that Kathy and Sam live close by we always have  family around to party with.  Kent had to go to SL for the week before my birthday. I had bought a corned beef brisket to make for St. Patrick's day, but since Kent was gone I saved it.  We cooked it up on my birthday and had roasted potatoes.  Kathy made a yummy cake and we had a good time!  I got lots of chocolate, and smart Kent had picked up a bunch of awesome stuff for me when he was in SL at Bath and Body Works.  Ya can't go wrong there.

Another Milestone!

When Ian was a baby I decided to try to donate blood.  I had been just on the border of weighing enough to donate, and had never done it.  So I tried.  And I failed!  They stuck me and everything but I just couldn't bleed fast enough to fill up the bag.  So they couldn't use my blood, and it was a total waste of pain and suffering. I had never tried again.  Well, 10 years later, I definitely weigh enough to donate so I decided to try again.  I made sure I was very hydrated and I went to donate.  And I did it!  I was so proud of myself for filling up that bag!  Now I keep getting letters and junk from the red cross.  They want me to come and save some more lives again, since I did it so well the last time.  So I have to wait my 4 months and I am going to go and do it again.  (Sorry if the pic grosses you out.  I figured that since nobody even reads this I'd post it, for MY posterity.  They are used to my fascination with blood and guts.)

BINGO word!

I made personal scrabble history!  I have never used all 7 tiles before.  Finally, my chance came.  AND it was on a triple word score WITH Z and Q.  WAHOO!  It was worth 75 + the 50 point bonus = 125.  It was so exciting.

Getting geared up

I ordered my first online class last week.  I have gotten my course packet in the mail and am now waiting for my textbook.  I had hoped to get it on Saturday since it is a 3 day weekend but I didn't get it.  Hopefully tomorrow?  The reality of this "project" has hit me, I'm still super excited to do it but right now I'm in the "how is this actually going to happen" phase.  It has been such a busy weekend just with life that I'm not sure how I will squeeze this school stuff in.  I may just have to disappear and go to the library on Saturdays so I can get this class done. My goal is to have it done by my birthday.  That's just over a month, so I gotta really bust it to get it done.

Back to School

Ever since Emilia was about a year old I started to think that the career path I picked was the wrong one.  Actually, I think it started just after I graduated. I felt like the Recreational Therapy path I picked wasn't really going to get me anywhere.  There weren't a lot of jobs in it and the jobs that were available (nursing homes and the Utah State Hospital) didn't pay that well.  After I got my Bachelor's degree I thought a lot about whether I should go get a Master's or continue to pursue my career.  Since Kent had a lot more school left and I didn't really have a plan I just decided to work and support us.  So for the last 14ish years I have pretty much wished I would have just gone to nursing school.  At BYU I feared nursing school because I saw two of my sisters go through it.  And BYU has a reputation for having torturous chemistry classes.  The other thing that was a real stumbling block to me at the time was the fact that I didn't have a car.  There were lots of clinicals in Salt Lake and the area all around Provo.  Looking back, I don't feel like these were great reasons but at the time they were what I saw as obstacles.  It's easy to say that those weren't good reasons now, because I wish I would have had the guts just to make it happen.  All these years it was pretty much impossible to do it.  I had even more reasons.  And the main reason was my desire to be a mom; which is a great reason.  But I always wished I could make it happen, I always felt like I wasted my freedom, youth and resources by doing something that was a "waste of time."  And I felt stuck.

Now I have a measure of freedom again.  All my kids are in school.  I have more time during the day.  I still wish I had done it when I was younger, but wishing isn't going to change anything so I need to just stop regretting and just do it now.  This means forking out a LOT more money this time around. Tuition is more expensive.  And I will be doing a lot of the prereqs one by one, which costs more than being a full time student.   AND it is a lot harder to get academic scholarships when you already have a degree.  AND I have a lot more to balance, with family and kids etc.   But I want it.  I missed the boat the first time and I am making a choice not to miss it the second time around.  And it will be hard.   And some days I will hate it.  But I want to do it, and I'm going to.  Thanks Kent for supporting this.  I'm excited for this new journey I'm starting.  I'm going to pay for my first online class today.  Bon Voyage.

Job

I realized when I was writing my post about what we did this summer that I forgot to write about my job.  I guess I should write a little about it.  It's kind of a long story.  Let me sum up.

In the spring I started working one day a week, subbing for a dental assistant who was pregnant.  She was working full time and wanted to have an extra day off.  I did that for several months.  I had let the boss know that I was really interested in working part time doing dental assisting and hoped that when the girl had her baby I could maybe work part time. He really didn't want to hire two part time assistants.  Then there was a position that came up at the front desk for the hours I wanted.  He asked me if I wanted to do it.  I hesitated.  I prefer assisting. I reluctantly decided to do it, and am still hoping that the girl who just had her baby might want to also come back part time.  We shall see.  Right now I do scheduling and billing and a bunch of other junk.  The timing of everything wasn't the best.  This job came open right as the summer started so I ended up working a lot more during the summer than I had planned.  I had really wanted to be home more to do more fun stuff with my kids.  I guess there are always trade-offs.  It will be interesting to see how this evolves.  I am still trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up.  I can't decide if I want to go back to school.  It's a big time and money commitment.  Right now I'm trying to decide what I want to do.

Surgery

Gotta make sure the cap looks just right.

This year seems to be the surgery year.  Since Kent had his gall bladder out in February we met our insurance deductible and I decided it would be a good year to have my endometriosis taken care of.  I did a lot of research about doctors and felt like I really needed to go to a specialist instead of a regular OBGYN.  They are great for babies and simple stuff but I wanted a doc who first of all did excision, not ablation and someone who knew what they were doing.  So many times doctors don't get all the adhesions and then it just comes back.  I read about this dr. at McKay-Dee up in Ogden and I had some email consultations with him. He agreed to do surgery on my endo.  He was pretty booked out and I ended up having to wait a couple of months to get in for surgery.  I had the option of doing it at the end of July or in August.  I wanted to get it done before school started, and our house was supposed to be done at the beginning of July.  The house was done in mid-July, which was fine.  The problem is the loan.  Our loan got stuck SOMEWHERE and EVERYWHERE and we haven't been able to close.  Our builder was so nice and let us move in to our house before we closed.  So that's what we did last weekend.  The next Monday Kent and I went up to Ogden and met with the dr. for a pre-op visit.  We hung out in Ogden, which wasn't very fun for me because I couldn't eat anything.  But we did get to go to the mall, and it was nice to get away from our messy-just-moved-into house.  Let me say, these last few weeks have been really. really. really stressful.

The surgery went great.  Everything went as planned and we got discharged a couple hours after the surgery.  We had to make the journey home afterward and that wasn't my favorite, but thanks to painkillers it was ok.  Now I just have to chill in bed for a few days and try to not work on putting away boxes and getting stuff put away.  It's good to have some of these things over with.  We are ready to settle in (and close on the house!).

Change

Nope, my voice isn't changing.  And I am not going through the "big change"  (though at certain times I think that might be nice.  Aw, who I am I kidding.  I have heard it is pretty rough.  Maybe they should call it the "big bad change").  Ok enough digression.  Onto the point. I just got a new calling on Sunday.  I have been the chorister in Primary for only 6 short months.  I was really looking forward to staying in there and "playing" with the kids for awhile and helping them get ready for their program in the fall.  I guess that was not in the grand scheme of things, unfortunately.  Sit down for this one.  I  I just got asked to be the Young Women President.  I am excited about it for sure, but my head is still spinning. I really have no idea what I am doing.  I have been out of YW for 18 years.  Yeah.  That makes me feel old.  But not old enough to have such a "grown up" calling.  That's the weird thing.  Sometimes I still feel like I am just a kid and I am not old enough or mature enough to be in charge of stuff like this.

Superhero Emergency!

Ya gotta love it when you kid tells you at 9:00 pm that they need a superhero cape for school the next day because it is "Superhero Day".  And it has to be a PLAIN color, "no monkeys or anything"  (Darn, I have all sorts of monkey fabric just kicking around).  Um, sure, I will just go to the fabric store at 9pm scrounge around and find something that will sort of work and whip that superhero cape out by 10:30.  Now who is the superhero?  I need to make myself a supermom cape for super moments of superMOMness.  Do you think she will appreciate this someday?

 (How do you like my pink fuzzy pants? I love them, thank you very much.)



Super Emilila!

I even made her a star hair clip 2 minutes before she had to walk out the door for school.  Now THAT is last minute!

The Red Shoes

 This is a story about shoes.  Red shoes.  I have always really liked red shoes but I have never had any.  About a year ago I really started wanting red shoes.  Kent got me some for christmas in 2010.

Unfortunately, I felt like Cinderella's evil stepsisters trying on the glass slipper when I put them on my feet.  And standing up was a total joke.  Yeah, too small.  So we had to return them.  :(

To overcome the returned-red-shoe blues I took my shoe money and bought these beautiful red shoes.  Love them.  Wear them all the time (except when it rains because they are leather).

Even with my lovely red Mary Janes, something was missing. I still longed for some red heels.  And then one day I found some. And I didn't even have to buy them online.  And they fit. (Well, almost, they are 1/2 size too big but hey, that is as close as I can usually get).  So I bought them and I love them too, just like a parent loves their second child as much as their first.

And now I am happy. I am so happy that I am smiling like a complete dork. I am stupfied with happiness.

 

The shoes

Birthday Stuff

I had my birthday last month.  35.  Wow.  I guess I am getting to that age where they start giving you warnings like: If you have babies after the age of 35 they are more likely to have birth defects and complications etc.  And I will have to start checking the 35-44 box on surveys instead of the 25-34 box.  For some reason 35 seems like a big birthday to me.  I keep telling people that am almost old enough to have a mid-life crisis.  And only 5 more years until I have to start getting annual mamograms.  *gulp*.

Anyway, on to some fun stuff.

I went fabric shopping on my birthday and here's what I got.  I went a little crazy, no?

This is going to be some Easter skirts for my girls.  You'll see this again.

This was just some stuff on sale that I liked.    I think some of it will become aprons.

I loved this canvas stuff and decided to get some for an unknown project. (It has since been turned into a JoeyPocket baby carrier for my friend Kathi.)

Opening my present.

I got a bluetooth!  (I am saying, "hey, gimmee a call".)

January Update

Most of my posts have been photos lately and I haven't really posted any updates.  (Not that anyone cares or even reads it but I AM going to get this blog printed someday dangit and I like to have records.)

Soooo...

• It was brutal torture for all parties involved getting the kids (and me) back in the swing of school. We had developed quite a habit of staying up late and sleeping in late. That doesn't really work with the school thing so the first few days we had some really grumpy people around here when it was time to get up and get ready for school.
• Having a break from all our normal life stuff was really nice. I didn't have to run kids all around or run myself around.  Cleaning was pretty much optional, and even more pointless (which isn't a good thing necessarily).  It was great to be able to just stay home if we wanted to, or go out if we wanted to.  I really enjoyed the relaxed schedule. I didn't enjoy the fighting though.
• We are still doing piano and art lessons for the big girls and I am deciding whether to sign Ian up for soccer or T-ball in the spring.  (Do they have T-ball in the spring?) I am still not totally "up" on all the sports schedules.  My older girls have had no desire to play sports even though I have encouraged them to TRY it over and over. They would much rather write stories and draw pictures. They actually loathe P.E.  Partially because their teacher is really "strict" (SHE'S SO MEAN MOM!), and partially because they inherited their mother's lack of sports ability.  My cousins are all good at sports. I think they got all the sports genes.
• I have a few things I am hoping to accomplish this year. I hesitate to call them resolutions because I stopped making New Year's resolutions a long time ago... I think they are actually kind of pointless because we all know that we just cross out the year and put the new year in the old year's place anyway. 
• This year I AM going to print out my blog posts from 2007-2010.  I have to upload and edit them and then have them printed. I have never done it before so I don't know how long it will take. I have just kept putting it off. 
•  I am going to work on my real paper scrapbooks this year. I need to add lots of pages to Adele's and Ian's and some to Emilia's and Elise's.
• I want to read lots of books this year.  Right now I am working on the 3rd Fablehaven book.  I hope to finish Fablenhaven, and read The Immortal Life of Heniretta Lacks, maybe Bitter is the New Black , The FitzOsbornes in Exile, which is the sequel to A Brief History of Montmaray.  Emilia wants me to read Gregor the Overlander and if that is good I will read the whole series.  Some friends of mine are starting a book club this year (probably) so I might have to give another book club a go.  My last book club fizzled and died.  * If you have any book recommendations please leave me a comment.
•  There a few are other things I need to do this year, and goals I have but they aren't really the "post it to your blog" types of things so you will just have to wonder. 
• Kent and I are getting really excited for our cruise.  We are leaving in just a few weeks and we are SO excited to escape this freezing land and go to the BAHAMAS where it will be 80 degrees and kid-free.

And Ian will take us out of this post with a little "Eye of the Tiger" on the spoonguitar.

31 Mile Relay

I took part in a relay with some people from my dental office.  They split the race into 10 legs and each person ran a couple of legs.  Here we are. 

We took 10th place out of 28.  Pretty good for amateurs.  We wanted so badly to beat the team we just called "Black" because they wore black but we just couldn't catch them by the 8th leg.  They ended up winning 1st place so I guess our goal was unattainable.

That's Elise cheering for me.

I beat that guy. I felt bad though, I led him astray because I went the wrong way.  Sorry guy.  The volunteers said, "go to the church".  Well, there's a church on every corner so that can get a bit confusing...  We ended up taking a 2 block detour.

SO glad I finally  made it.  I was so tired after running UPHILL on both of my legs.  (ha ha, both of my legs)

Here we are with our great plastic medals. It was a lot of fun and I think we are planning on doing it again next year.