There's a hole in my pocket, dear liza, dear liza...

Do you remember the hole in the bucket song from Sesame Street? There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, there's a hole in my pocket, dear Liza, a hole! Then fix it dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry, then fix it dear Henry, dear Henry, fix it! (I loved that skit on SS, but now that I am older I realize the song probably existed long before SS and I just don't know its origin. Oh well, it is still a great song!)

Today there is a hole in my/our pocket because yesterday we slapped down a bunch of money on practically a whole new wardrobe for Harold. He got 7 shirts (two white and 5 colored), 4 pair of pants, 3 ties and a belt. We didn't pay full price for any of it, but it is still hard to pay that much money. The kid ringing up the sale said, "Wow, that [the amount of money we were spending] is more than my whole paycheck." This comment in turn made Harold feel really guilty. He has never, in all his years, spent that much money on clothes in one trip. I really wish the kid would have kept his yap shut. As I said before, we usually don't spend that kind of money on clothes, but let me just say that Harold was looking kinda sloppy. This is a problem because I believe that the better you dress, the better you feel and the better your chances are of getting ahead in Corporate America. We just happened to have a few extra bucks and I feel that Harold is a wise investment.

My comment on Friday about being married to a very cute guy is true and I want him to be able to feel cute too, you know? Okay, maybe he shouldn't walk around feeling cute per se, but handsome, confident, capable. I, for one, am looking forward to watching him dress in the coming weeks. I hope he puts his cologne on every day too, as a nice smell never hurts.

I know I need to start posting more pictures but here is my problem. I use my work-issued computer for posting and I use my personal computer to download my pics. I cannot download pics onto the work computer. But getting online with my personal computer is a real pain in the rear. Thus, the picture dilemma. But, if I ever get it figured out I will post soccer pics and pics of Harold looking super, duper handsome in his new threads.

The Fight against White Matter Disease

Yes, it happened today, just like I thought it might. I got the dreaded pop quiz. Some of you may remember that my first pop quiz in history turned out pretty badly because I had decided to go lunching with my husband instead of attend class? But guess what? Today's quiz wasn't so bad. I was so, so, so ready for it. The prof told as at the beginning of the semester that he likes to give quizzes on the documents that we are assigned to read. We read three documents for today's class and I read them over three times and also took notes on the highlights from each. So when the teacher told us to look at two of the documents and choose one and write about the significance of that document to the French Revolution, I had it in the bag. Here's hoping the TA that grades the quiz thinks so too. I actually was quite nervous and my mind went blank for about 10 seconds, but then I pulled through. I can feel my mushy brain beginning to come back together to make coherent thought again, it's kinda nice.

This weekend promises to be enjoyable. We have a baptism to attend, women's conference, and our new ward meets for the first time as a unit. Too bad the meeting will be in an old brown building instead of our 2-year-old pretty chapel that I have grown used to. I have become a bit of a building snob and cannot believe I am being asked to attend a building that is so.....brown. Pride goeth before the fall they say, so I better strip that pride off and embrace the brown.

For the record: I am sitting here at my computer and Harold sits nearby reading a magazine. I looked over just now and you know what? He is pretty cute. I caught myself quite a great guy, and handsome too. Lucky me.

Soccer Season

This year both kids played soccer and today was the last day of the season. Mack's team had a rough year, only winning 2 or 3 games, but my son is a hard player. He can run and run, he can kick amazingly well and he is a tough competitor. I have no doubt that kid has some serious athletic genes in his body, although I am not quite sure where he gets it from. He must be a genetic combination of all the talent on both sides. Then there is Sav. Last year she ran like no other, but she would run up to the ball and suddenly stop just short of the ball, so she always looked like she was right in there, but never really made too much contact. This year she was amazing. She played forward almost all the time as she could kick the ball away from anyone and made so many shots at the goal. Her team went into the tournament in first place. They ended up taking third place which was a disappointment, but I could not have asked for a better season to watch. Her games were always exciting. Her coach would always compliment her as well, he was great. I am so proud of my kids. They amaze me in so many ways and I am so proud of them. Just needed to show off my proud peacock feathers. As soon as I get pics from my dad I will post them so you can see the amazing duo in action.

Touchy Feely

Some time ago Harold and I were at our friend's house, Wade and Ann. At some point during the evening Wade commented on how girls/women seem to have less physical barriers with eachother than boys/men. I thought about that for a while, and agreed but thought maybe he was being a little overly sensitive, but that I had seen girls being more touchy feely with eachother than men are.

Fast forward to my English class today. I sit down and proceed to diligently study as I am finding out I am deathly afraid of the pop quiz. As I read I hear two girls talking and I look up to see that one is massaging the other, with her left hand, to the side. But she is rubbing the shoulders, carefully shifting the other girls shirt when it slouches down a bit far, rubs some more, again with the shirt shift, more rubbing....all the while they are talking about Relief Society. Hmmm. So, I curiously watch, remembering the conversation with our friends, and try to analyze what is going on here. The one girl obviosly is trying to soothe her friend who is a bit stressed out. In fact, as I sat there I truly wished Harold was there as the longer I watched the backrub the more I felt the tension in my shoulders. This scene continued on for about 8 minutes. I have to admit, despite really needing a back rub myself by the time they were through, I was kind of grossed out by the whole thing, and I am a girl. I wonder what the boys were thinking. I wonder if they were thinking that the girl was cute and they wished they could help her out or if they were wishing their big buddy to the side of them could reach over and soothe the stress a little. Am I alone in this? After today I am with Wade 100%, girls need to stop touching eachother so much. Hugs are fine, the occasional soothing arm pat to say, Hey I know you are stressed, it's going to be okay. Those are fine. But the 8 minute backrubs have to stop!

Did I gross you out? Well, then you feel my pain. I am still trying to get over it myself. And Harold, if you read this I am sorry because I KNOW this will gross you out. But I might need that backrub, I am still super tense as a result of the whole affair.

The Harold campaign.....my Monday

The campaign continues. Harold, we know you are out there......

Here is a quick (and I use that term loosely) run down of how my classes went yesterday:

Before class: Went to the library and printed off Wikipedia reports on 18th century artists, i.e. Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough and Jacques Louis David. Since my history prof hinted at a quiz that would involve identifying pieces of their art I had everything printed in color so that I could study the art, at .35/page I was bugged.

1. Native American Lit: Only one guy read more than chapter 1 of the new book so the discussion was seriously, seriously lame. It was so quiet in there. I was embarassed for us all but since I hadn't read more than the firt chapter either I had no room to judge.

2. Biology: More student presentations. We have to write down the names of the students presenting and their topic and turn it in at the end for 10 points. I spent the entire time reading my wikipedia print offs for history.

Lunch: I had brought tuna, crackers and an apple from home. It was seriously cold and rainy outside but I stayed outside to eat in an effort to spare others the tuna smell. But alas, I didn't have any gum for afterwards so I hope the apple took my tuna breath away. Also, I wanted a chocolate milk. The machine didn't have any so I ended up buying what is called "Cookies and Creme" milk. I figured it was just a slightly different flavor from original chocolate milk. I took one swig and the thickness and sweetness overwhelmed me. I looked at the ingredients. Whole milk. Yikes! Plus the entire bottle was 500 calories. WHAT? I thought I was doing myself a favor by not buying a candy bar. I took two more small drinks, couldn't get past the sickeningly sweetness of it and chucked the rest.

3. History: Darn that guy, no quiz. I was seriously trying to memorize works of art and their political significance. My brain doesn't latch on to this stuff quite as quickly so it was a real effort for me. Darn him. He is such a tease that guy. I am starting to get annoyed.

4. Short story: We discussed more Leslie Norris stories and I literally almost cried in class. One of his stories is called, Shaving. Apparently a lot of people read it in high school as it is highly anthologized into high school texts. I never read it before but it was a very touching, intimate story of a son who shaves his father who is dying of cancer. Also, the teacher handed back the quick from last week that I missed. I talked to him after about my concern that 1. My first quiz grade was AWFUL, and 2. I never took the second quiz. He assured me that he grades on improvement so the good news is.......there is no where to go but up!

After school: I ran some errands, bought Cocoa Pebbles at $1 per box, 8 of them, for Harold. Plus a bunch of Pop Tarts too. I had gone to the store the other day and they were having a deal. I purposely didn't buy the pop tarts because even though I don't really like them, if they are in the house I eat them. But Harold complained so off I went. A lady in my ward saw my cart and asked if my Cocoa Pebbles were Weight Watcher friendly. Of course I blamed it all on Harold, what else could I do? Tell her that I had already bought Honeycomb on Saturday and that I had planned on eating it all myself? Of course not. But seriously, I do prefer Honeycomb, but I won't be eating it. I try not to eat cold cereal because for me it is more of a treat/dessert than a meal.

FHE: Mackson gave a lesson on the Word of Wisdom to pass off an assignment in his Faith in God book. Together Mackson and I pointed out that Harold's love of Shells and White Cheddar is probably not a good thing. It was funny, watching Harold's face as I was dissing his favorite food. Of course Harold is WAY too nice to point out that I was 1. Drinking a soda, it was diet, but still, and 2. That I was also downing chocolate chip cookies. The funniest part of his Shells and White Cheddar is that it reminds me of that song, Knights in White Satin. Does anyone know the tune? If so, sing Shells and White Cheddar to it, it fits.

It's official: I belong to a new ward, the Maples Ward. We had at least half our ward stripped away and the townhomes across the street from us are now with us. Our new bishopric are all younger than me, which is a little odd as I am not THAT old. I admit I was feeling a little traumatized yesterday. I actually bawled and bawled during sacrament meeting: during the songs, during the sacrament, when our old bishop spoke. I took Janet's advice and wrote a note to our old bishop and told him exactly how much I appreciated him. I feel better now and ready to get on with the business of meeting the new ward family.

I am at school now. I have lots of homework to read, as I mentioned before weekends aren't exactly homework friendly for me. Of course weekends weren't homework friendly when I was single and trying to have a social life either.

On a crazy note from yesterday: My good friend informed me that when her cat dies she is going to have it cremated and spread it's ashes to the four winds. I told her that if she EVER does that, that I need an invitation to the event. A cat funeral. I have a cat, but when he dies there will be no cremation. Sorry Tiger, I wouldn't have myself cremated either dude.

I am also starting a campaign: I am calling it my GET HAROLD TO COMMENT compaign. Harold says he reads my blog but has yet to comment and he doesn't have sign on rights either so he isn't allowed to refute anything I say. Therefore, I want to see if he really reads this blog. Harold, are you out there? For all of you who want Harold to comment, please leave him a short note encouraging him to do so. Let him know you care.

More than words

I sit here not dressed, not showered and my teeth are fuzzy. It is 1:50 p.m. As a child you never think this kind of inactivity would bring you joy, but oh the joy I feel at this moment. It sure has been a nice day. I have been looking forward to it all week, lying in bed until I absolutely cannot lie there any more. In fact, the only reason I got out of my bed was because my friend Karen stopped by, bringing me gifts from a recent quilt fest she attended. Thanks Karen! Plus Karen delivered a really scholarly looking jacket that didn't fit her any more. I must admit, I think my new jacket will look very impressive on campus.

Harold just left for his meeting, his last bishopric meeting with our bishop. I don't know what today's changes will bring, but I am pretty sure we won't have the same bishop. I cannot describe to you the feeling of heaviness this brings me. I have had some really great bishops in my day, some really great ones. But this bishop has been an anchor for me and my family. He is an amazing person, so down to earth. He has been fun, loving, helpful and empathetic when things have been hard for us. I will miss him, so, so much.

When our ward split last time, one of the ward boundaries was our street. The people who lived across the street were no longer in our ward. You know what, we never really saw those people again. Maybe at Wal-Mart, or at the mailbox but that was it. Our lives weren't intertwined in that meaningful way that ward members are intertwined with one another. I think those people will be back in our ward again and I don't know a soul who lives over there. Now, in my defense, we have townhouses across the street. Our literal across-the-street neighbors total 16 townhouses, quite literally right across the street from us. So, it is hard to keep up with their comings and goings.

This may sound stupid, but I have to tell myself that I know the church is true, no matter what happens. I hope and pray our bishop is as meaningful to us as this last one. Bishop Ballard, I know you don't read this blog, but if you did I would want you to know how much we love you. You have been an influence for calm in our lives. Your quiet love and acceptance of us and all our quirks and faults has been steady and unfailing. Thank you.

I told you so

I have had many inquiries and now I need to tell you officially: I missed two pop quizzes on Wednesday. Do the math. Two classes=two pop quizzes. What are the chances?

I don't want to say I'm bitter, although I am. I don't want to say that I should have known better, because I did.

That isn't all. My foray into skipping class also got me into trouble with Dale's mom for being a bad influence, since he was with me. But, in my defense, I am pretty sure that Dale was not skipping class, I was just being a bad example. Sorry Janet. But, again in my own defense, and not to totally out Dale or anything, but I am pretty sure he has skipped class before and not because of anything I said or did. Sorry Dale, I didn't want to take the bullet on that one.

I am off to do a few drug collections. They are "random" tests this time, which is always fun. I get to ask three unsuspecting employees of a local store to pee on demand. I hope they can, because it's Friday and it is date night and I got myself some plans. Double date with Matt and Julie tonight. We haven't doubled for so, so long. I am way excited as both M & J are hilarious and fun. So, is it too much to ask for these people to pee quickly and without a trace of marijuana, cannabinoids, amphetamines and methamphetamines? Please don't test positive, I haven't got the time!

Another paper

Today I have to write another paper, this one for Native American Literature. I am not sure of my thesis but I will be sure of it in the next few hours because I have to get this darn thing done today, in addition to work, more security duty at the book fair and soccer. Why am I taking time to blog? I have to, for my mental health. For some reason typing this stuff out is therapy for me.

On a reasonably good note, I got a 30/30 on my paper for biology. The reason I am not more excited about my grade is because on Blackboard it posts the average grade for this assignment which is 29.33. So, it isn't like I am standing out amongst my peers. But, I am not going to complain, an A is an A is an A.

We have had car troubles: a flat tire yesterday and a dead battery today. Harold had to jump start my car this morning and I am half hoping that it won't start when I have to go the book fair, that way I can reasonably cancel and not feel bad about it. Oh how I fight the demons within.

I was told that Belgium is off the market. Too bad, as I was up to about $4.27 in donations.

Off my high horse

Today as I was driving into school with my next-door neighbor we were talking about skipping class. I was telling her that there was no way I would skip class all willy nilly because I need to save my skips for when the kids need me for whatever reason. So I went to my first two hours of class, then had my lunch break and remembered that Harold and Dale would be meeting up for lunch. Then I got a wild hare/hair and called Harold up and said I was going too. This means I was going to skip History. Now, my history prof never has had his first pop quiz, which he keeps threatening. I am sure he probably decided to drop that bomb today and now I have already dropped my first quiz. Then I didn't get back to campus until about 2:20. My English class started at 2. Oops. I felt totally weird waltzing into class that late, especially since it was going to take me 5 to 7 minutes more to walk there from my drop off point. So, I went to the bookstore, looked at cookbooks. Went the library and figured out how to use their computers and printing services, then found a nice bench in the shade and waited for my ride home.

Let me just clue you in about me. Whenever I get all high and mighty like that I ALWAYS end up eating my words very, very soon after. Today was no exception.

NOTE OF THE WEIRD: A girl sitting next to me in biology asked if I had any extra water as she was mildly coughing. I have a water bottle, but I have drank out of it. Is this what you mean? She was aghast. Did she really think I had extra water bottles around for circumstances like this? What a weirdo.

ANOTHER WEIRD NOTE: Next year in India they are coming out with cars that run on AIR. Seriously, air pressure. So the fillup price is about $2 at your local air compressor.

YET ANOTHER WEIRD NOTE: The country of Belgium is for sale on E-bay. I have a couple of bucks if anyone wants to chip in the rest of the $10 billion.

Quickie

I am in between homework assignments so thought I would say HEY!

I was on the phone with my friend Ann who says, "Hey, I guess you are working at the book fair today." Crap! I had totally forgotten about it. I told the book fair guru lady that I could help Tues and Thurs of this week during the lunch hour. Picture hundreds of children ages 6 through 12 looking at books, but mostly eyeing the cheap crap like erasers imprinted with what looks like a dollar bill, pens with big fluffy things on top, stupid posters that have kittens sitting on buildings and the saying, "bright lights, big kitty." STUPID! Anyway, the book fair is actually pretty fun especially last year.

Last year I watched a girl finger most of the books in the place and suddenly she is outside showing the recess lady her purchases. I had not seen the girl go through the line so asked the other lady who was there about her. The other lady was sure the girl had not come through the line. We talked to an administrator about it and I was sure I could identify the little thief and we set off to look into each of the classrooms. Well, I never did find her. I would have known her if I saw her but I never did. Well, the next day the same girl comes in. She doesn't know that I am onto her. I watched her like a hawk. She fingered all the books again, slowly making her way around the room, over and over again. Then when the lady at the cash register was busy with multitudes of children fingering the cheap erasers this little girl takes off, with a fancy, expensive book in her hands. At this point she was at the front of the room and I was in the back. I went tearing after her, literally running, and stopped her in the hall. When I turn her around to look at me she is terrified and says, Just take it, just take it," and hands me the book. I asked her to tell me her name and she would not. I kept persisting and she finally tells me her name. Well, I went back in and the other book fair lady and all the kids in the room are dead silent. I realize at that point that my running from the back of the room must have really shocked everyone. I guess I don't look much like a runner. Anyway, all the kids were so amazed that I caught a shoplifter. Turns out she gave me a fake name, The little sneak. She was good, too good for a little 9 year old girl. We figured out her real name, and reported her to the principal. Then after the book fair was over I was walking by the front office to turn in my visitors badge and there is the little girl again, calling home because she is "sick." I just gave her a sidelong glance that basically said, "I know who you are, and I know what you did and I know you are only calling your mother because you know you are SO BUSTED!"

I really did feel bad for the little girl, she was starting her life of crime at such a young age. But on the other hand there is a certain thrill in capturing a thief red-handed. Hey, wait a minute, now that I am taking my Native American Lit class I wonder if that red-handed phrase is a bigoted one based on Native Am's. Anyway, I don't think police work is in my future, but I did enjoy my moment of glory as a Book Fair Security Guard. The kids feared me before, but now they really fear me.

Blog annoyance

I posted earlier today but got some lame error message. This has happened before but when I came back later my post was there. Not this time. How annoying.

Here is my concern: What is the proper blog etiquette for responding to comments? Do I respond w/i the comments section? Do you all come back and check my responses? Or should I email you directly? Here is my decision: I will respond w/i the comments section if you ask me a question or if I feel you need a personal note. So, check back as I may have responded to your comments.

The program went well yesterday. Of course there was nothing to be worried about. The children always do well and I am always amazed at the command of the spirit they have. Is that a proper thing to say? I am not sure. Maybe command isn't the right word but they surely can bring the spirit with them wherever they go.

On an interesting note....our bishop announced yesterday that we would be having sacrament meeting only, combined with another nearby ward at 4 p.m. next Sunday at the stake center. Interesting. Harold tells me I am not to say a word about it (in fact he warned me that if I told a soul what he told me that he would "NEVER TELL YOU ANYTHING EVER AGAIN!"), but here is my hint to you...We have about 650 people in our ward. Of course I will update you with all the interesting news next week.

As for school. It was fine today, a little tiring. I do really well during the first two hours and during my lunch break, but the last two hours really drag for me. It starts with history. My professor is a bit dry. I can tell he is quite intelligent but he is hard to listen to and it is extremely difficult to take coherent notes in his class. I am VERY worried about his tests. He is still threatening a pop quiz, but nothing yet. I am thinking he might spring that one on us this Wednesday.

Tonight there was a very strange smell just outside our back door. Harold had me come out and sniff around. It smelled very gas-like. He said he checked the propane tank and we have been out of propane all summer (No BBQs for us, darnit) so it wasn't the propane tank. Then of course we start thinking natural gas. I call my dad and ask him what natural gas smells like and my dad says, "If you have any reason to believe it is natural gas, get out of the house right now and call the gas company from a neighbor's house." YIKES! I was super freaked. I went next door and called a couple of neighbors who could also smell the gas-like smell. A couple of people said it didn't smell like the gas from a stove so it probably wasn't natural gas. It took about 20 minutes for the smell to clear, but it did. In the meantime I was having visions of my house going up in a big ball of fire. Harold made a joke to our neighbor that if our house exploded while we were in it to call 911. I didn't think that was funny...at all. However, we survived and I have no idea what that smell was.

We watched Akeelah and the Bee for FHE tonight. Very nice, feel good movie. I thought it was based on a true story and to my utter dismay it was not. How disappointing. If an underdog story isn't based on a true story, I am just not that into it. But, rent it anyway if you need a clean flick for the whole family.

Tomorrow I plan on doing LOADS of homework as I have my first english paper due on Friday and I am in a group that has to lead a discussion on Wednesday in my Native American Lit class. (It is on disenchantment, it is actually pretty interesting.)

Bundle o' nerves

Harold and I went to bed last night around midnight and as I was going to sleep I told myself that this was the ONE day this week where I could stay in bed until at least 8 a.m. I would get 8 hours of sleep, or more if I was tired enough. Well, at 6:30 I awoke and haven't been able to get back to sleep since. Why? Today is the Sacrament Meeting Primary Presentation. I did not have to write the program, I did not have to pass around parts (due to being out of town that weekend in Boise), and the talk I usually give has been reduced to about 1 minute (excellent!). So, why am I a bundle of nerves? Every year this happens, I get so worried about how the program will go. Will the kids sing? Will the parents be pleased? This year my biggest worry is that the kids won't remember when they are supposed to stand. Why the heck do I care? If they don't stand up when it is time, someone will gently remind them. But for some reason this is freaking me out. Okay, Jeanna, breathe. One big cleansing breath in through your nose, now breathe slowly out your mouth.

Yesterday we were on moving detail. Harold helped my sister Amy and her husband Justin move from Sandy to I think West Jordan. I was at my parents helping my mother put away knick knacks into curio cabinets. I had the easier job, I'll admit. When Harold was done we went with my parents to R.C. Willey to scope out an entertainment center and a new television. Even when Harold worked at RCW we never bought furniture there. He had a pretty decent discount as I recall but he was on straight commission of 5% and we were barely scraping by at the time, so no extra cash for new furniture. They found some stuff they like but they are thinkers, ponderers. They had to go home and picture the items in their house. So, no new purchases. Which is too bad because being there when someone else drops that amount of money down on new stuff is almost as exciting as doing it yourself.

I wrote my talk for the program when we got home and put together a game for sharing time, a review of the past year so far. Today will be a good day. Even though I get completely tied in knots before the big program, the kids really are amazing and bring a spirit to sacrament meeting that is unsurpassed. Now, if I can just get my stomach to understand what my logical brain already knows.

We are going to Abbie and Scott's for dinner tonight. What a great relief that this dinner date fell on the same day as the program. It will be so nice for me to go somewhere else for dinner and just relax. Thanks Abbie and Scott (and Dale)!

TGIF

I am tired, worn down. School is hard dangit. I have been barely holding it together, the kids, soccer practice and games, the primary program coming up this Sunday, I have sharing time this week as well, I have had one paper and one pop quiz, lots of reading to do, the stress of having a professor ask the definition of plot (I know what it is, but I have a hard time with definitions when put on the spot, I always have), husband, work, my second job doing urine collections (I'll save that blog for another day), etc.

Plus, how do I stay on top of homework over the weekend when I am supposed to work, clean the house (with the whole family {I don't want Harold thinking I was implying that I clean it myself}), help my mom (which I was supposed to do Thursday, but was too tired to do), prepare my talk that I give before the primary program (about 2 minutes long, no biggie), prepare sharing time (I may just do a video), etc. etc. Is there anybody out there who can give me some advice on how to juggle this mess?

Thank goodness it is date night, I need a little breather. We are going to dinner with the bishopric tonight so that will be interesting. I guess Harold is technically part of the bishopric since he is the exec. secretary. It's a good thing that everyone there already knows I am a bit of a grouch. If not, they will find out soon enough. :)

Happy weekend!

This one's for Jeff

Today while getting ready for school I decided on a simple t-shirt and some gray velour pants. (It's not as bad as it sounds.) I asked Harold whether or not the pants looked like they were supposed to be capri length or if they indeed looked like they had shrunk after purchase, which they had. Harold said, "You look kind of casual." Okay, is it just me or isn't school a casual affair? I am not going to Harvard in the 1940s. Has it been so long since Harold has been on a college campus that he forgets what it is like? Oh wait, Harold works on a college campus. But, he works at UoP where they are "business professionals." They come directly from work to the classroom, so of course they are dressed nicer than at a regular day school. So, again, Harold made me feel as if I was somehow violating the honor code by being so casual. Harold, if you are reading this (apparently Harold does not read my blog as often as he should) what the heck? Are you trying to make me feel like my intelligence level is somehow lower than your average bear? Okay, maybe that wasn't politically correct because I know bears are reading my blog and I don't want to offend any of my close bear friends.

Let's see: At school today I had a pop quiz which I didn't fail but I came very, very close to failing. Lame. The teacher wanted to test us on whether or not we remembered the details of the story. Mostly it was T/F but there were a few one-word answers as well. Here are a couple sample questions: What did Nick eat for dessert on his first night? Nick had trouble sleeping, T/F. Nick put the fishing hook through the crickets head and out through his abdomen, T/F.

Am I going to one of the world's finest universities? What kind of questions are these anyway? I am so attuned to having to focus on Feminist, Marxist, etc. interpretations of texts that I am not really eyeing the minutest detail. So, I am a bit bitter and when the teacher suggested that he may let us drop a quiz, I assured him that I thought that was an excellent idea.

Another interesting tidbit about today happened in Biology. We were talking about protons, neutrons, and electrons. How the P&N's make up the nucleas and how the E's are in the shells around the atoms. Two electrons make up the first shell but then each shell thereafter requires 8 electrons to make it a "happy camper" (my professor's words, not mine.) He was referring to the fact that the positive and negative forces of the P's and E's needed a balance so they are stable and don't need to find another type of atom to attach themselves to. A girl in the class was completely baffled. The professor explained again and asked if she was clear, she was not. I wanted to yell out, "Did you read the text?" Hello!!!! Some other guy wanted do know why two oxygen atoms attach and how come it can't be three. Because two oxygen atoms are "happy campers!" DUH! They are like a happily married couple, they are completely content on eachother and don't go looking for a third party to make themselves happy. Okay, those are my words, maybe I should teach the class. :) Yea, right.

So, this entry was just for Jeff, who protested the fact that I was foreshadowing my own phasing out of blogging daily. Jeff, I hope this entry satisfies.

The Writing On The Wall

I am sure you all saw it.....the writing on the wall that is. Now that school is in session my time seems to have vanished. I am seriously enjoying being back at school. Of course nothing of significance has happened yet. I have my first paper due on Wednesday 9/12 about "How Biology Impacts My Field of Study." Hmmmm. I could pick so many things to say with that. I could use English as my field of study and compare hypothesis and experimentation to analyzing literature. I could use Nursing, which of course has its base in biology. I have considered using motherhood as my field of study and writing about how biology affects motherhood. Or womanhood, I would kind of like to go there. We shall see, but I have to write the paper tomorrow so I will make that decision pretty quickly here.

I will also of course be doing about 10 loads of laundry tomorrow. I had to hand wash underwear in the sink today just to go to school. I know TMI...but it's true. How is it that I can find 4 tops but no bottoms? I should write a paper on statistics and how it affects my underwear count.

I hope I don't lose any of my audience with that little revelation.

Other than school things are okay. Harold and I had an incident this week where it was made very clear to us that our children will not escape this world unscathed by the hands of evil influences. The take home message is this: Be vigilant in living the gospel and teaching it to your children. Do all you can to protect them from the world. Then, after all you can do...know that the Lord atoned for all of us, for our sins, our suffering, everything.

Love to all!

Going back to school myths

1. Flip flops are against the BYU Honor Code: No, they are NOT against the BYU Honor Code. Dang Harold for freaking me out on my way to school for my first day back. I was saying how I was wearing flip flops and hopefully the rain would dry up because I had not taken that into consideration when dressing. Harold then tells me they are against the code. Holy crap, I am in honor code violation on day 1? Thanks honey.

2. I will be the oldest person on campus: No, all four of my four professors are older than me. But, I was the oldest student in four out of four classes. Yikes. But, I looked good anyway.

3. Buying books will cost $500: No, $280. Yikes again.

4. Parking passes are free: Nope, you have to pay 60 minutes of your time to get one. Worth it? I am not sure yet and since I will be carpooling the majority of the time, I opted not to get one for now.

5. I won't see one friendly face on campus: Not true. There were several friendly looking people, okay most people looked friendly. But, I also ran into a friend's husband on campus who works there and it was such a relief to see a 'friendly face.'

6. Spending only $280 on books means I won't break my back carrying them across campus: No again. Schlepping across campus carrying 100 pounds of books was harsh. I carried them from about 12:30 until 3:05 minus about 100 minutes of class, so that means I was in pain for about 55 minutes.....but since I didn't get my exercise in yesterday I am going to count those 55 minutes as an intense workout.

7. I won't be able to fit my big rear end into the seats that are made for tiny 18-year-old girls with anorexia: Wrong again. My last class of the day was quite comfy. The first three I was praying the person next to me would pull their desk out of my left side so that I could sit comfortably. Once they did it wasn't so bad, but the schlepping of the books made me seriously sweaty during one of my classes in addition to my bad onion breath from my sandwich at lunch, I was worried for my neighbors.

All in all a great day on campus. I am loving my class choices which are 1.) Native American Literature, 2.) Biology 100, 3.) History of Civilization from 1500, and 4.) The Short Story.

My Biology professor in particular is going to be great and this is a huge relief for me. I already took bio 100 years ago but did quite poorly but now that I am considering nursing I need to get a better grade and need to understand basic biology before I move onto physiology and anatomy.

So, to all my blog fans out there....Thanks for your support and love. I get so much pleasure from reading your comments. I feel your love.

Labor Day Weekend

We had a blast in Boise. We really like Boise a lot, not just because there is family there but because it is such a nice town. On Saturday we floated the Boise River. I think it is the Boise River but now that I am forced to remember the name of it, I am not quite sure. It doesn't matter, we floated a river okay? It was so fun. It took us nearly 3 hours. We had a 6-person raft and 5 tubes and 12 people ranging in age from 3 to 37. I guess that means Harold was the oldest person there, interesting. So, Harold had a lame tube that was misshapen and he wasn't able to really sit on the thing, he could only put his body through the middle and go along that way. He was fine, until he hit a "rabbit" (which is what Chase calls rapids) and was really more of a fish shelf then a rapid anyway. But, the tube was lame, as I said, and he got flipped over. I didn't even see it. I was on the raft, trying to help kids transfer from raft to tubes, etc. and Harold comes paddling up with a seriously distraught look on his face. I asked if he was all right and he told me what happened. He got himself resituated on the lame tube and continued on. From that point on he was ahead of us but thought he was behind us for some reason and was trying to catch up the whole time. I think getting flipped off the tube made him completely disoriented.

At one point Mack and his cousin Dallin were on a tube and got separated from the group. They got really behind and we were starting to freak out a little (okay I was freaking out a little, I am not sure about the others), as they are only 8 and 5. We ended up stopping in the brush and waiting for them, but the current was strong enough that David and Jill (Dallin's parents) had trouble standing still and grabbing the boys. But, they did it! We also had some trouble with trying to fight the current. Every time we tried to avoid running into the brush on the sides, we ended up hitting them head on. I suggested to all the adults that we do a brush up course on river rafting by watching River Wild (the movie) and trying again next year. Meryl really knows how to steer a boat, she is amazing. :)

Oh, and I forgot to tell you that when I transferred from a tube to the raft, I had to have David hoist me in. The rocks were slippery and I was bare footed and couldn't get a grip. I am not sure what he grabbed to get me into the raft, but I ended up doing a major face plant on the bottom of the raft and it took me WAY too long to right myself. Yes, my big ole butt in cut off jeans was hanging in the air. Nice.

So, we went to dinner that night with the adults and the two babies who had been left behind while we rafted. One of the babies ended up hurling all over the place, it was really quite gross but so funny too. And the restaurant had no mops. What? No mops? They had to use all kinds of cloth napkins and a squeegee. Crazy. But little Mitchell was laughing afterwards so all was well with him. The food was great by the way, we had gone to Johnny Carino's.

Then on Sunday we did the church thing and went to David and Jill's house for a super, super yummy dinner of homemade rolls/roast beef sandwiches and salad. YUM! Plus, Jill made homemade blueberry pie from handpicked Oregon blueberries and homemade ice cream. I have been spoiled, but I was so grateful to eat again since last week all I had was applesauce and bread.

On Monday we just hung at Jeff and Carrie's until we went to pick the kids up at D&J's house (they had spend the night there).

So we are back home and my big news is.....I start school tomorrow. WOW! I am so excited. My sweet new visiting teacher brought me a notebook, mechanical pencils, pens and highlighters. She is super cute, is she not? So, I am going to BYU today to scope out my classrooms and to buy a parking sticker. But, on another good news front my next-door neighbor works at BYU and she is going to be able to carpool with me. SWEET!!!