Validation

What a good morning. I slept in a little, took a shower and walked Benny to the bus. In the warm sunshine. Ahhhhhhh.... Then, I made myself a latte and read my emails. A friend emailed me as an encouragement to remind me that I only have two weeks left of school, and invited our family over for a BBQ and hanging out. That just made my day. To have something actually fun to look forward to is what is going to keep me going, I tell ya..... Time to go study...

I love how the college makes you register for summer and fall quarters when you're barely surviving in spring quarter. Maybe their way of keeping you coming back, is to snag you when you're in a stupor.....Anyway, I've learned my lesson about taking on too much, so this summer, I'm going to take Physics 111, which is a self-paced, 2 credit class. I don't even really have to go to class, except to take an occasional test. Sounds like a good summer load to me. Then, in the Fall I'm taking Anatomy/Physiology and Physics 114. That sounds a little nasty, even though it's two classes. They each have a lab. I hope I'll be OK. I know! I'll just have a ton of fun this summer, so I'll really be ready to get back to work. Maybe I'll get the A&P textbook this summer, and start reading it or something. Yeah, right. Like I'll really do that ....

Wow. Ben is just losing one tooth right after the other! I was actually looking forward to the day when he lost his top tooth. I knew he would look so cute.... Last time, the tooth fairy brought him $2, and Ben begged me to take him to the dollar store to spend it. He got a pirate set (eye patch, hook, etc.) and an Army guy set (dart gun, compass, etc.) I think the dollar store is going to be seeing a lot of him!! Just yesterday, I showed Ben a tooth fairy website, that made a sparkly, chimy sound when it came up on the screen, with the tooth fairy flying across. He kept wanting to see it again. Then, we printed out a tooth fairy coloring page, which he colored....He wanted to know if the tooth fairy was a boy or a girl. I said it is a girl. (Can fairies be boys? It just didn't sound quite right to me). Ben posted his picture on our front door to "show it off," he said. :)

Last weekend we had a garage sale. Well, Joe did the garage sale because I had so much studying to do. I put up the signs. You would not have believed the constant flow of people, just from putting up garage sale signs. There are some serious garage sale-ers out there. My husband is the funniest ever when it comes to having a garage sale. He becomes Mr. Salesman. He greets people like he's the owner of Nordstrom or something. Toward the end of our sale, he would tell each person "We've sold a ton of stuff today, so if you see something you like, name your price, and it's yours." He just can't leave people alone! Me, I like to just sit back in a chair, and let the people look at stuff, you know? But Joe - he just can't sit still. He was all sweaty, constantly running around re-arranging stuff in an eye-pleasing manner, and gabbing it up with every - single - person . I had an entertaining day. Name your price! Make an offer! Thank you so much, ma'am...

Sometimes I wish I had a laptop, so I could start typing as soon as I have thoughts I think are worth sharing......I had a pretty rough day yesterday. For the past several weeks, I have been listening to my Biology teacher lecture on evolution. Now, I assumed I would have to hear this type of material presented. What I didn't expect was the way in which it is being presented! The guy told us that if we did not have an open mind about evolution, that we were "stupid and ignorant." We should all have "open minds and be good, questioning college students." Suddenly, his lecturing and demeanor has changed. He is using brainwashing and intimidation techniques with the class. Yesterday, he said "if there is an Intelligent Designer, then he is either a moron or on crack." I realized how much it has been wearing on me. I got in my car to come home, and finally lost it. I feel so beaten down. So, discriminated against. I got in my car, turned on w...

I am taking a quick break between studying for a math exam and starting to type a Biology lab. Yesterday, I told Joe that I can't do anything except study for the next three weeks. I am feeling a feeling of a bottleneck, where the demands of all three classes are pushing me into this very small space. The good thing is, I will be able to burst through the opening of that bottle in about three weeks when this quarter is DONE!! FLY! BE FREE!! So, Joe and I talked, and he will graciously be taking over some of my usual household duties. I just can't do it all right now, and I'm not going to try. I have to focus and do well in these classes, so I don't have to re-take them! Thank goodness it's temporary... Oh-one more thing! Benny lost another of his bottom teeth yesterday, and the tooth fairy even remembered to give him some cash. :) She has been known to forget, and then - surprise, surprise! Oh my goodness! She must have left it here instead! That sil...

Kay and her father (Amanda and Chase) Kay and her fiancee, Buckley Kay and Buckley having a fight Kay on her way to the church Tonight I will see, for the third time, Amanda's school performance of "Father of the Bride." The first two nights have been so awesome, each one like a different play, really. I'm looking forward to the energy of the last night. In most plays, this is when the cast tries to do silly stuff, so it should be fun to see what they're going to do. Some of the kids are part of a comedy/improv group, so you can only imagine what they have up their sleeves.....All in all, I am very proud of my daughter and all of her hard work. I think the friendships she has developed will be long-lasting, and that makes me happy for her. After each show, the cast gathers in the commons area, where people can talk with them, and it was so cool to see all of her friends coming up to her and telling her how beautiful she looked, and what a great job she did. ...

OK. I feel like I am treading water, with my chin barely above the surface. These classes are killing me. I really didn't expect it to be like this, but it is. And it sucks. I have learned a very valuable lesson to not take three classes (especially with their kind of hours) ever again. It's taken too much of a toll on me and my family. Soon, my opportunity to register for summer and fall quarters are approaching, and I am only going to take one, two credit class this summer, and only two classes at a time from now until I'm done. I have a few weeks left, so if you are reading this and you are a pray-er, you can ask for strength to maintain this pace until the end of the quarter. Also pray that I get half-way decent grades in Biology and Math (they count big time)......

Because I'm so busy lately, I think of all these things that I want to put in my blog, and don't seem to get a chance to do it....So here's some snippets of some things... Snippet #1 There's nothing like.... A good chewy molasses cookie Ripe, juicy strawberries dipped in sour cream and then brown sugar Seeing the first goldfinches of the season Hearing hummingbirds buzzing in the backyard Sitting in the warm sun in silence Getting an 85 on a math test, after bombing the last one Having your 16-year-old come up and hold you for a couple of minutes Helping your 13-year-old with math and actually be able to do it Reading books with your 6-year-old in bed and cuddling and kissing afterwards Getting an encouraging card in the mail from a friend you haven't heard from in a long time Snippet #2 My biology teacher made me cry yesterday. I won't tell the whole story, but he really seemed to be picking on me, and when I was defending myself across the room, I couldn'...

AAAAAAAHHHH!! I'm so excited!! This morning, Joe said my mother's day gift is tickets for me and the girls to go see West Side Story at the 5th Avenue Theater!!!! WOO HOO!!! I fell in love with the music of West Side Story in 7th grade choir, and I've only seen one stage performance of it at Carco Theater almost 20 years ago....I CAN'T WAIT!! I just bought the tickets online, and was able to snag orchestra level seating (not super close, but fairly good). The hard part will be waiting until June to see it - but I just bought a CD of the 1957 Broadway performance on Amazon, to help get me by.....Oooh - I can just see the part where the gangs are doing the dance scene snapping their fingers and moving in formation....Oooh-I can just hear the song "Tonight....tonight...." It brings tears to my eyes!!

I did not take a shower today. Do you ever wonder why we stink in the morning? Kind of random, but I was thinking it. Why do you have to shower everyday to wash the stink off? And, how did they do it back in the pioneer days? I mean, man, Joe is not allowed to even think of getting frisky without taking a shower first. So, can you imagine the smell of those pioneer people?! Eeew. I didn't take a shower because I cleaned carpet. All frickin' day. Who said it was a good idea to own a carpet cleaner anyway? It took me forever to clean my upstairs, and I don't have a super huge house. In fact, as I was cleaning, I thought I will never buy a bigger house than this. I don't want to clean it! Furthermore, maybe owning a house is overrated with all the work it takes to own one. So, back to the carpet. I was a determined woman to finish my upstairs today, which is quite a feat with three children. After one child bugging me to take her to the mall, and anoth...

Sigh...I am just about finished cleaning our master bedroom. For some reason, our room is a way station for just about everything: laundry yet to be folded, junk nobody knows what to do with, paperwork galore and lots more miscellaneous crap. Usually, when company is coming, we do a pretty good job cleaning the rest of our house, but if we run out of time, everything gets thrown in our room. My mom couldn't even sleep in our room when she came to watch the kids, because it was the only room in the house that didn't get cleaned! See - those of you who thought that my house always looks good are finally hearing the truth ! HAHA! Anyway, it's been piling up for some time now, and quite a mess after last week, when we re-did our bonus room and had to find new homes for all of that crap. Guess where the temporary home was for all of the bonus room crap? Yep. Our room. SO! For the last couple of days, Joe and I have been going through everything we don't want in our room a...

I haven't written too much about school lately, because I'm really struggling. My computer class is fine, but Biology and Math are killing me. I don't know why everything's so hard this quarter. I was working hard before, but I was nailing stuff. Now, I'm working even harder and not doing as well. I've been going in for extra help with math, but just when I think I've caught on, we move on to some new material. Ugh....The other day in math class, I literally looked up at the ceiling and prayed for God to help me. I thought: do I seriously have 5 more weeks of this? I don't think I'll fail these classes, but shoot - I hope I can make it...

At church on Saturday night, our pastor mentioned in his message that we can treat God like a drive-thru: "I'd like one miracle, two healings and a side of fries, please." Then, this morning, I read an article about prayer that said the same thing (maybe God is trying to tell me something?). It said that our culture is used to "instant" stuff, like fast food, microwaves and the internet. The article went on to say that our relationship with God is not like microwave popcorn, but like growing a field of corn. I thought to myself: "EEeww. Process. I hate process - it's too slow!" I don't like things to go slow. I get ansy and frustrated. I like things to go fast. I don't want to wait to become closer to God. I don't want to wait for my marriage to grow. I don't want to wait for my emotional healing. I don't want to wait for friendships to develop. I don't want to wait for God to show me what He wants me to do. I want it now .....