Should

Sometimes I spend time on my blog when I "should" be doing other things. Why do I do that to myself? "Should" on myself. HAHA. I just made that up, and it sounds really funny. "Should" on myself. If you put in another word instead of "should," I think it would mean the same thing, don't you think?

Anyway, I should be studying, especially since our lab was cancelled today, and it gives me an extra two hours. Eh.

I do have to mention that last night, I got a lot of shopping done. Both at the store, and online. I'm so happy. I feel like I have made some good Christmas progress, and it's not even December yet. I even got in on some free shipping deals. Cool! I even spent some time with the kids, and played a game with my son. :)

When I was out shopping, I saw an old friend from my old church. She wasn't super chatty, but seemed more like she was trying to act interested. Oh well. I felt like I was appearing quite unfriendly, because I have been having a lot of TMJ (jaw) problems, and was actually trying to save my jaw by not smiling too much. I felt so bad, I apologized and explained why I wasn't trying to be smiley. My pain was so bad this weekend. No matter what I did, I couldn't get on top of the pain. I just had to wait it out for three days. One night it was keeping me awake. I think I'm going to need to do something about this in the near future. I'll probably have to get braces or something. I already get enough comments about how young I look, and this is going to make it ten times worse......I'm starting to get wrinkles around my eyes now, though, so maybe the braces will bring the attention off of that. :) HAHA!

See ya. Gotta stop "wasting" time. Go have some fun while I'm "shoulding" on myself. :)

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Homestretch

I have some tests coming up in the homestretch of Fall Quarter. I have an A&P test on Tuesday, which I have been studying hard for this weekend. For some reason, it's hard for me to implant this particular stuff in my head. It's about the nervous system. On December 5th, I have a big lab practical (my last one). I am supposed to know all of the muscles, anatomy of the spinal cord, brain, eye and ear. It's A LOT. I've been working on it for awhile now, but I'm not ready for a test yet. And, of course, there is Physics. One more test in that. I just took one last Tuesday before the Thanksgiving "break." It was terrible. Everyone in the class thought so. This is the dumbest, most frustrating class ever. You can spend HOURS and HOURS working problems out, studying, and then you get to the tests and feel like it was all for nothing. I HATE it.

I also HATE that I have to spend all this time studying, and miss my kids. If I had known what these classes were going to be like, I never would have taken both of them together. Last night, I cried to my son about it, who just hugged me and patted me on the back, telling me it's OK.....It's not OK, but thanks, Ben.

Today, I'm going to get out of the house for a little bit with the kids. We're going to go get some Christmas gifts for my sister's kids. This year, we're continuing something we tried last year, and that is drawing names for the adults on my side of the family, and everyone buying for all the kids. I think I would like to just buy for the kids next year. It just gets to be too much, you know? We don't buy for anyone on Joe's side of the family, and this year, his parents asked that we don't exchange gifts with them. Okey dokey!

I wish I could do ALL of my shopping online. I pretty much did that last year. I had almost everything done before December 1st. It was awesome. If I did it right, I would hit a website on the day they were offering free shipping. I hate shopping at the stores. However, I do like stocking-stuffer shopping. It's way fun. I get these little, separate piles going in my cart. One for each kid. And, I keep looking for all the fun, little things I can find.

Joe didn't grow up getting trinkets in his stockings. Do you know what he got? Fruit and nuts, with maybe a candy bar thrown in. He would wake up to it hanging on his bedpost. HAHA!! That just cracks me up. What kid wants fruit and old walnuts in their stocking? I think he liked it when we got married, and I put little gifts in his stocking.......I made all of our stockings. Once I dig them out of our Christmas boxes, I'll take a picture of them.

This year, our kids are each getting one main gift, and some smaller ones to go with it, so they have some more things to open. It just happened that way this year. Joe wants to purchase a stereo for the "gift exchange" between us. Actually, I would rather have some things to open, but hey-he wants a stereo.

Frankly, all I can look forward to at the moment is the first week of December, when Fall Quarter is OVER!!! I'm going to go help in Ben's classroom, make cards, light candles, hang out in my house, make Christmas cookies, drink cocoa, cook, clean, wrap presents, write our Christmas letter, call friends, put pictures in the frames I painted in August, visit my favorite paper store, invite people over for a latte.....Oh, the possibilities.....

What Should You Be When You Grow Up

You Should Be an Artist

You are incredibly creative, spontaneous, and unique. No one can guess what you're going to do next, but it's usually something amazing. You can't deal with routine, rules, or structure. You're easily bored. As long as you are able to innovate and break the rules, you are extremely successful. You do best when you: - Can work by yourself - Can express your personality in your work You would also be a good journalist or actor.

What Should You Be When You Grow Up?

Let's See..How Honest Should I Be....

I have something to say that I did a good job of not admitting to anyone last night, in case I "ruined" anything for anyone (because I probably would have cried).

This was the worst Thanksgiving I have ever had.

There.

We went to our movie, which was fun. That was fine. We saw Bee Movie. Then, we went over to Old Country Buffet. We waited for quite awhile, which is what I expected (maybe an hour?). But, I had never been to OCB before. I am not trying to be rude when I say this, but if we were wanting to go to a soup kitchen, redneck convention and a nursing home at the same time, we would have visited OCB. There's just no other way to describe the scene.

Once we got our table, we sat next to this family who had probably picked up their grandparents from the nursing home (which is a sweet thought), and were feeding them in their wheelchairs. We got our food from the buffet, and finally sat down. Then, the elderly woman started making these gutteral, phlegm-produced, growling-gurling sounds. Loudly. I tried to ignore it, but my family couldn't. I got sick to my stomach and could barely eat. My family was trying to contain their laughter, which was quite embarassing. My husband almost choked on his turkey.

Finally, the family left. I tried to get the woman's noises out of my head, but it was difficult. My appetite was gone. I then tried to stay positive and get my son stuff to eat and drink. But, then I kept seeing dirty people in their sweatpants (dressed for the big meal, I guess) filing in, and the condition of the restaurant, I couldn't hold it together anymore. I could feel my body stiffening, and I was trying to not touch too many parts of my body on anything (like the dirty handle of the chocolate milk dispenser), thinking about the hundreds of people cycling through there. I had previously told my son a lot about how you can dispense soft serve ice cream, so of course I had to get him some. He wanted to do it himself, which grossed me out, because everything at the ice cream center was sticky and messy. At the sprinkles station, there were dirty spoons in a couple of the containers, and when I touched one, it was sticky. EEEEwwwwwww......I tried to check out the desserts for myself at that point, and just didn't have the stomach for it anymore.

I got back to the table, and my husband sensed my waning enthusiasm. I just shook my head, because at that point, I would have cried. I told him I should have stayed home and cooked. He said it was just fine. Well, no it wasn't. How lame is it that we were not invited to anyone's home, and it's been this way for several years? How lame is it that every time I try to open my home on Thanksgiving to people who need somewhere to go, it never works out? How lame that we're sitting in a filthy restaurant with dirty people getting grossed out and wanting to leave? Knowing that I have to be responsible for making things memorable for my little family, why did I waste this year doing this? Why did we ever move away from the closest thing we had to family in San Diego? Well, now I was getting on a sad roll as you can tell........

My husband asked if I was going to get dessert. I said, "not really." So, he asked if I wanted to leave. I nodded. And, we left. We got home and the kids wanted to play a game. My husband, who never plays games, actually joined. I think he was possibly trying to redeem the day. We tried Cranium, but it was too hard for my son, so we switched to a lower level Cranium game called "Cadoo." Apparently, it was the right level for my husband. hee hee :) Just kidding. He didn't do so hot. At the end of our second game, our son burst into tears because he had to be timed to answer a question, and it frustrated him. The game time was over.

After that, we watched TV for the rest of the day.

Yay.

I think I'll go cry now.

Where Do You Belong?

You Belong in Paris

Stylish and expressive, you were meant for Paris. The art, the fashion, the wine! Whether you're enjoying the cafe life or a beautiful park... You'll love living in the most chic place on earth.

What City Do You Belong In?

Thanksgiving Plans

It's been interesting to talk with people about their Thanksgiving plans. This one gal I spoke with is hanging out with family outdoors in tents, smoking their turkeys and drinking beers. Another guy said they deep fry their turkey. Another soaks their turkey in brine overnight and cooks it.

Us?

We're going to Old Country Buffet, baby!! We've talked about it in the past, and this year we're doin' it. I hope there's not a long wait, but I don't care. If I was cooking, I would have sore feet from walking/standing in my kitchen for hours. And, I'm sure we won't be waiting THAT long. The only thing I will probably miss is the leftovers we eat off of for the next few days after Thanksgiving. It's kind of fun, and the food always tastes so good the second and third time around.

It is our tradition to see a movie as a family, too, so we're going to see "Bee Movie." I'm looking forward to being with my husband and my kids after all of this hard work since school started. We need this.

Happy Thanksgiving

Good Blog

As you probably have seen, I include a link to the yet-to-be-published book "Mad Church Disease." This book is being written by Anne Jackson. I found her blog (see "Flower Dust"link below), and I wanted to mention it, as something cool to check out. She is an awesome, hip, Christian writer, who is honest and cutting edge. She talks about church, women's sexuality and her colorful past. I highly recommend reading her stuff.....

Some things I didn't have time to mention before...

Yeah. So, here's a few:

1. Ben was dared to cut his hair with his scissors at school. He did it. He cut a hunk out of the very front. And, I never even noticed. I had seen Ben when he got home from school, and for a few hours before I went to class, but I never noticed it. Joe had him confess to me when I got home from class that night. Apparently, Joe noticed it and Ben initially lied to him about it. Then, he fessed up and Joe made him tell me when I got home. It was hard not to laugh.

2. A couple of weeks ago, I was the first car to arrive on the scene of an accident. The two cars involved were sitting in the middling of the road. As I attempted to squeeze by, I rolled down my window to ask the gal inside if she was OK, and if she had called 911 yet. She was upset, and I noticed her two little ones in the backseat crying. Once I saw her kids, I had no choice. I had to stop. I pulled over to a safe spot, and ran back to the mom. I called 911 and helped her get her kids out and went to the side of the road. She borrowed my phone to call a friend, and I waited with her until help came. It felt good to help.

3. I got a 98 on my first lab practical. I only missed one!! I won't mention what I got on my last Physics test. Let's just say the teacher lets us throw out a test with lowest score, and that one's the one. Somehow, I still have a B in the class. That means I must do well on the next two tests. We'll see about that.

4. The play "To Kill A Mockingbird" was great. The artistic interpretation of the set design was fabulous. Most of the actors were superb. A couple of the children did not project well, so that was annoying. Overall, I thought that the pace of the play was too fast. I realize it is important to keep up the pace so things don't drag, but there were certain meaningful and dramatic parts that were lost, due to the pace. That was somewhat disappointing to me. But, it was fun to get out to a play and be downtown. It looks like that theater will be showing "The Diary of Anne Frank" next year, so we will go see that, for sure.....

5. Did I ever mention that I never finished reading my Bible in 90 days? Nope. Wanted to, but didn't. I almost got through the Old Testament, though. Maybe next summer, I'll just start where I left off before.

6. Melanie started gymnastics last week. She's been exhausted, but is enjoying it.

7. Amanda will be testing soon to get her license. With the extra practice, she is driving very well now. We need to teach her to parallel park in the truck, and then she can do the test. We're letting her test in the truck because it's automatic. After that, the stick is what she will mostly drive. She's been getting spoiled driving the truck, but we thought it was best for her to gain confidence in that first. Did I ever mention that I can't WAIT for her to drive?!?! I am so SICK of driving kids places, it's not even funny. Joe and I will sometimes leave at the same time - one person picks up one kid, and the other person picks up the other. It's INSANE. So, I can't WAIT until I can send Amanda to pick up Melanie, or she can drive herSELF. Oh HAPPY DAY!!!

Yesssssssss!!

Got my A&P test back today. 94% BABY!! I was one of 8 A's out of the whole class!! I went into that thing studied up and prayed up, so I give credit to God for helping me recall everything I needed to. He was so with me - I could feel it strong during the test. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"

I See Dead People....

This morning, I went over to another community college for a "Cadaver Lab" in association with my Anatomy and Physiology class. There were four students and the teacher during our time slot. We donned our gloves, and were asked to unwrap the shroud from the body, as well as pull the skin (already cut) back. As we were shown various parts, focusing on muscles, we were able to feel the different tissues. The cadaver was female, and her face was covered with an orange plastic covering. It sort of shaded her face, but you could still look closely and make out her facial features. She even had painted fingernails!

I was excited to see the cadaver, but got a slight twinge of nervousness, as we lifted back the shroud. The only thing that bothered me was the odor. When we first lifted off the shroud, the smell of formaldehyde was quite strong. I tried to not think about it too much, but it was so strong, I could have possibly gagged. I talked myself out of that, and continued enjoying the observation. It really was a cool experience. We noticed that her lungs didn't look so hot. Perhaps she was a smoker, or maybe a coal miner? I also noticed some spots on her chest that definitely looked like skin cancer.

Did you know that a lab can keep a body for up to 15 years? Pretty cool to think that, if you donate your body to science, it would get a lot of use and be viewed by so many people! In medical school, each student apparently, will get their own cadaver, and slowly dissect it over the course of a year. In that case, there would practically be nothing left, so you couldn't use it much more. Sometimes, though, they will take a limb with a certain group of muscles, and "plasticize" it, so it can be used as a permanent model.

After seeing the cadaver, I went to my favorite paper store for some "paper therapy," after all this studying and test-taking. I really needed that. I wish I could say I have time to make something, but I don't. I'm looking forward to a month-long break starting in December.....

Fall Madness (I mean, Fun)

Concert pics are so hard to get with the poor lighting, but the girl on the left is our Melanie at her junior high Fall Concert last week. She plays the violin!



Amanda also had a Fall Concert at her high school. She played a solo part for one of the pieces the orchestra played. If I can figure out how to upload videos, I'll post her solo. She also performed her first concert for the youth symphony a couple of weeks ago. It was a costume concert, and they played all movie music! SO cool.



Ben was so eager to carve his pumpkin this year! Here he is scooping out the guts (which didn't smell very good, by the way). I think this pumpkin was on it's way to being rotten.



This Halloween happened to be AWANA night, and they had a carnival-type party I took Benny to. He wore the costume pictured below. The carnival was such fun for Ben. I had signed up to bring a cake for the "cake walk," so Ben had asked me questions about what a cake walk is. So, the moment they announced each cake walk, Ben would leave whatever he was doing and run in there. He DID end up winning a box of cupcakes! Yay! He also played several games, one of which was the "fishing game," where the kids casts their line over a curtain and wait for the "fish" to tug on their line. I encouraged the fun of the game by shouting "Do you feel the fish biting? OH! You GOT one! Quick! Reel It in! Reel it in!" The look of determination on his face was priceless. He kept coming back to it over and over again, until finally he asked "How does it do that?" SO cute. Ben asked me to guess what his favorite thing was. Was it the fishing game? No, he said his favorite thing was painting his pumpkin. He took a very long time to paint this thing. Entirely brown. It had a face, but it a brown face. Still not sure why. He was so proud of it, he brought it in this morning to eat breakfast with him, while he rubbed it and said what a great pumpkin it is. Anyway, the party ended last night with a costume parade with prizes to a boy and a girl in each age group.



LUKE, I AM YOUR FATHER......



Is that you, Ben?

Seven Things

OK. I just got home from taking my big A&P test (I nailed it - thank you very much!), so NOW I can do my "Seven Things."

1. I love watching "House on the Prairie." I can't believe it is still on TV, and if it happens to be on, I am glued. I love to hate Nellie Olson, love to watch Charles sensitive fathering and love the meaningful storylines. I also love, love, LOVE "Bonanza."

2. My maternal grandfather's family lineage can be traced back to the pioneer families of the Mormon church (I have seen the family's name in the actual Mormon history books). This grandfather is still considered a "Jack Mormon." My paternal grandparents were Christian Scientists. With this background, I praise God that He took me by the hand and led me to the TRUTH.

3. I once choked on a Gobstopper when I was 13, as my father had just left the house (I would have been home alone). He happened to come back, and performed the Heimlich on me. I learned that you should never drink milk with a Gobstopper in your mouth.

4. I have given birth the regular way (my oldest) and via C-section. The reason I had a C-section with my middle child, was because she was footling breech. In fact, her little foot was in my (ahem) birth canal wiggling around! With our son, the doctors wouldn't let me have him the regular way, so we scheduled his C-section delivery.

5. Speaking of babies, when my girls were 10 months and 3 years, my mom gave birth to my brother. I got to be in the delivery room, and even held one of my mom's legs as she pushed him out. His head acted like a cork for the amniotic fluid, so once his head popped out, it squirted all over my sister (who held the other leg). Somehow, my third sister got a picture of it - you can see the fluid squirting out in middair!

6. In jr. high, I was at a friend's huge slumber party (I think it was Halloween). We were making prank phone calls, and at one point, we were laughing so hard, I started peeing my pants! It started to come out a little, when I looked up at my other friend and noticed that she had a big puddle going on the floor. So, we turned and started racing each other to the bathroom. I sat on the pot, and she sat on top of me and started peeing on ME!! We peeled off our clothes and jumped in the shower, while the girl who was giving the party cleaned up the pee (which trailed from the kitchen all the way down the hallway) before her mom found out!

7. When I was a kid I had two ventriloquist dolls (I still have one of them-her name is Missy). I read a book about ventriloquism and got kind of good at it. Sometimes I would do little "shows" with younger kids at the church I grew up in.

If you just read this, you are tagged! So, you have to either email me your "Seven Things," or post them as a comment. Have fun!