Holly’s Happenings

Yes, I do get frustrated fairly easily these days, but with some things I honestly think that there isn’t anyone on the face of this earth that wouldn’t get frustrated themselves! Like the current situation I’m going through with the kids’ school district!

One of my biggest complaints with this school district has ALWAYS been their complete and total inability to have any type of communication with students parents! It’s so easy to pick up a phone and give parents a message about something that involves their children, but for some reason, it’s just not possible with this school district!

Right now we’re going through a situation with them where we’ve been chasing down a letter than was sent to us going on 12 days ago. The letter is something that is very important, something that should have been received in our mail box no later than a week ago today. But because of a screw up by the school when they were inputting the kids’ information into the computers, they somehow TOTALLY screwed up our address! for our house number and street name it should say 1122 S. Holly’s Road, but for some reason or another, they entered it as 1122 Holly’s S. Road, and for our zip code it should say 43558, but for some reason they put 43528. Now keep in mind that we filled out the information on the cards and paperwork for the school correctly, but for some reason they are incapable of reading something and entering it the way it’s written, they instead choose to put it into the computer in what ever way they see fit.

We finally found out last Thursday that the letter was returned back to the main office for the school district and waited until late Friday afternoon for someone to take two freaking seconds to contact us and let us know exactly which building we needed to go to in order to pick this letter up, since we were told that because it was delivered back to them as undeliverable they legally could not mail it back to us. By the time they got back to us on Friday with the information it was too late to go pick the letter up then, so we made arrangements for my husband to pick it up this morning. GUESS WHAT?? When he got to where he was told to go to pick the letter up, he was told that it had mistakenly been mailed back to us on Friday! EXCUSE ME! You specifically told me on the phone that you COULD NOT mail this letter back to me! We SPECIFICALLY made arrangements to drive all the way out to hell and back to pick the friggin thing up on the next business day only to be told when we get there that you MAILED IT?? And guess what? They mailed it to the screwed up address again!

I swear to God this school district is ran by complete and total ASSTARDS! They’re more worried about not letting a child wear a shirt to school because it’s the incorrect shade of a color or about not letting them wear a vest to school because the stitching INSIDE of the vest is a different color, thus making it not a solid color resulting in a detention for not wearing a solid colored vest. EXCUSE ME, when does the stitching INSIDE of a piece of clothing have ANYTHING to do with the color of it? Especially if that stitching isn’t visible except for if something happens and the collar of it happens to fold back a little bit?

Maybe you all should spend a little more time on giving children the education that they are LEGALLY entitled to rather than focusing on reasons to punish them that don’t affect their education. And maybe, just maybe, you should worry about making sure that these children are truly educated, rather than pushing a failing child through to the next grade, or allowing a child who failed their ENTIRE senior year to graduate, just so that you can pad your numbers and give teachers bonus checks that they in NO WAY deserve!

Against my better judgment, both kids went back to public school this year. Since I waited until the last minute to make the choice about where they were going to go to school, they started a few days late. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I don’t think this is the best decision I’ve ever made, because I really don’t think it is! But due to finances and other things going on in our lives, we honestly didn’t have any other choice right now.

Amazingly, the first week for both kids went pretty good. They are both adjusting well to their new schools and they both did bring home and do homework EVERY night. While it’s not that big of a deal for my daughter to do this, it IS a big deal for my son! He is, without a doubt, your typical slacker! He does only what needs to be done and gets by on the seat of his pants! But he also knows that if this doesn’t chance this year, the seat of those pants is going to be VERY sore! To put it bluntly, I’M DONE! There is no reason for him to be slacking off the way he is in school, he’s intelligent and totally understands the work, he just doesn’t like doing the work.

As for my daughter, she is really enjoying her new school and making new friends! She also was put into the advanced band class, which is TOTALLY cool! And she’s very excited over a paper she brought home to me on Friday. Although she is only in the 8th grade, because she’s in advanced band, she gets the chance to go out on the football field and march with the high school band during a half time show. To say she’s excited about doing this would be a complete understatement! The only “bad” thing about it is the fact that the sheet music for marching band is VERY small and she was having a difficult time reading it.

You see, shortly after this last school year ended, she left her eyeglasses, that had already been replaced twice, on her desk and one of the dogs got a hold of them and totally destroyed them, and right now we aren’t in the financial position to be able to replace them. Fortunately for all of us, it had been a year since her last eye exam so the insurance would cover a new exam as well as new glasses for her. And amazingly I was able to get her an appointment at the eye doctors VERY quickly (i.e. the very next day), and through some strange twist of fate the eyeglasses they said would take about two weeks to come in actually came in two DAYS later…LOL!

Let’s just hope the rest of this school year goes as well as the first week of it has. Personally, I’m not going to hold my breath, because it would be a complete miracle if it did!

OK, so we moved into this house almost 5 months ago. My oldest child did not change school districts, nor did his bus number even change. But the frustrations that we’ve experienced because of his school transportation has been ridiculous! First, it took them over 2 weeks to change his bus stop from the old house to the new house. Then, once they did get it changed, he some how got bumped back to the old house, so the bus stopped stopping here. Once we finally got that fixed his bus driver went on a 2 week vacation and the sub driver started off by showing up over 20 minutes earlier than his regular driver did. The day after that, my son was out at the end of the drive on time and the bus drove right past the house without slowing down or stopping. Finally, on the third day with the sub driver, things seemed to be back on track, albeit 20 minutes earlier than we were used to. Once his regular driver came back from break, we were back to the time that we had been used to the bus coming.

Shortly after Christmas break, they split my sons bus route, and he once again missed his bus because it came 20 minutes earlier than normal. After that day, we were ready at the earlier time again. Things have gone well for almost two months, until this morning. I leave the house by 7:00 to take my daughter to her bus. As I got about a mile or so away from our house I looked in the rear view mirror and noticed a bus with flashing red lights. I looked at the clock and it was 7:02 AM so at first I thought that it couldn’t be my sons bus. Well, I was WRONG! Once again his bus showed up more than 20 minutes earlier than it had been with absolutley NO notice. So, I get on the phone and call the bus dispatcher. Sure enough, they’ve once again split the route and his scheduled pick up time is 7:03 AM. When I explain that his bus has been coming at approximately 7:25 AM I’m then told that’s not his normally scheduled pick up time and that he needs to be ready and waiting for the bus at least 5 minutes before his scheduled time of 7:03. I say that’s not a problem, but that some sort of notice or warning about the changes would have been appreciated, especially since we live about 20 minutes from his school and when I ask if it’s possible for parents to be notified of changes like this, I’m told “We don’t that”. EXCUSE ME? You keep changing the time my son gets on the bus, substitute drivers keep driving past the house without slowing down or stopping, what do you want me to do, set up some sort of digital signage that will let your drivers know where my house is and let me know when your drivers are close to my home?

Ok all you parents with teens, getting our kids up and ready in the mornings is bad enough, but having to have them ready 20+ minutes earlier with NO warning to me is asking a little too much, what do you think?

Yes, I have another headache today! So far it doesn’t feel like it’s going to go to the migraine stage, but it’s not a mild headache either. I don’t know what it is that’s causing me to have headaches to much lately, but I’m very sick of them!

We’ve had a couple of decent days weather wise here in NW Ohio, but that’s about to come to a VERY abrupt halt tonight! The current temperature right now is 45 degrees, but according to the weather man, it will be 60+ degrees COLDER tomorrow morning when you factor in the windchill! Yes, you read that right, I did say 60 (SIXTY) degrees. They’re calling for a morning temp, with the windchill, of 15 to 30 degrees BELOW zero! And we wonder why we’re all running around coughing and sneezing? But that kind of cold is just INSANE! Thankfully I don’t have class or anything tomorrow, but if my daughters school isn’t delayed or closed, I’ll have to take her to the bus stop tomorrow. Personally, I hope it’s at least delayed because I really don’t want to go out when it’s THAT damn cold! Tomorrow will be a good day for me to curl up in the recliner, grab my blanket and school books, and just spend the day studying! Especially after hearing my marketing teacher tell us today that we’ll probably be having our first exam next week.

Our poor Riley, this guy has been so sick today!  The only thing we can figure is that he got into something that he shouldn’t have.  He’s thrown up a total of 4 times today, the first time was the GROSSEST thing I’ve ever seen in my life.  We finally gave him a small amount of rice and he’s sleeping really peacefully right now.  And yes, I know he’s sleeping I keep checking his breathing…LOL!  So please keep Riley in your thoughts!  I’ll post how he did over night in the morning!

Football this weekend has had it’s good points and it’s bad points.  I’m happy that the Packers and the Patriots won!  I’m TOTALLY bummed that the Colts lost, but they also played one of the worst games I’ve ever seen them play!  Right now I’m watching Dallas and the Giants ans as of right now, at the end of the 3rd quarter, the game is 17-14 with Dallas leading.  This is definitely going to be a close game!

My first few classes at school went well.  I only have one class left that I haven’t had yet and that is my Tuesday night English comp class that is at my son’s High School.  It could have shot myself the other night when I realized that I scheduled a class for the same night of the week that my ALL TIME favorite TV show is on!  Yes, I’m talking about American Idol…LOL!  We have watched American Idol as a family for the past few seasons, it’s been the one thing that the four of us will drop what we’re doing and sit down and watch together.  I’d definitely have to say that we’re American Idol addicts…LOL!  BUT, at least I’ll be home on Wednesday nights to see who gets sent packing!  And I can always watch the performances online too!

Yes, you heard that right!  In case you didn’t realize it, you only have six days left to buy my Christmas gift.  And if you live a LONG way away, you have even less time than that to either hand deliver it or ship it to me, so you’d better get busy!!  I’m waiting!  LOL!  I’m kidding around!  At this point in time the ONLY thing I want for Christmas is for this God awful cold to be GONE!  I’ve been so miserable these past couple of days.  My nose is running, my eyes are watering, I’m sneezing and coughing non stop.  It’s just a good thing for you that you can get my cooties through a computer monitor, isn’t it?  LOL!

It’s been a crazy few days, that’s for sure!  We had no snow on the ground by the time it was time for me to leave for the family get together this past Saturday, so my daughter and I headed out and went.  Honestly, I’m very happy I went!  My mother and step fathers reaction when they pulled up and all of their children, grand children and great grand children were standing outside to yell “HAPPY BIRTHDAY”, was priceless!  Mom instantly broke into tears, she had no clue that we had been planning this!  My step father was basically speechless, which says quite a bit…LOL!  They were so excited to see everyone and the hugs and kisses seemed never ending…LOL!  But I guess that’s to be expected when there are more than 30 family members in one place!

I should have left my sisters house about an hour earlier than I did, because by the time I did leave, the roads were a MESS!  It normally takes me about 45 minutes to get from my driveway to my sisters house.  The drive home Saturday night took an hour and a half.  It wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fact that my daughter was tripping out for most of the drive.  I’m the type of person that puts 100% of my energy and attention into driving if there are bad road conditions.  My daughter was a chatter box the whole drive home.  I know it was because of how bad the roads were and the fact that she was so nervous.  I’d try to talk to her as I could, but finally had to tell her that she really needed to be quiet so that I could focus on my driving.  But we made it home safe and sound, with only 3 times that I got scared…LOL!

From the time the snow storm started Saturday night to the time it finally stopped on Sunday, we ended up getting right around 8 inches of snow.  It was really pretty, and we had a few times during the day on Sunday that we had near white out conditions because it was snowing so hard!  It turned out to be a good thing that I didn’t have anywhere to go, for more reasons than one.  Besides the snow, I also ended up having my cold kick in early Sunday evening.  And by dinner time Sunday night, my daughters school had already delayed school for the next day.  By the next morning her school had canceled, but as of 6:00 Monday morning, my son’s school still had not even delayed, even though every other school in the area had at least delayed, if not canceled, which meant he would have school.  That was so ridiculous!  The roads were still in horrible shape and my county was still under a level 2 snow emergency.  I made an “executive” decision, and I kept him home Monday.  It was so stupid that they didn’t at least delay.  The sidewalks were not cleared so kids that had to walk to bus stops or to schools ended up walking in the streets, it was freezing cold and the snow was blowing, they put the kids’ safety in jeopardy!  I know many people think that because my son rides a bus rather than walking, my decision to keep him home was stupid, but it was my call to make and I still feel I made the right decision!

Anyway, school was on time for my son today, my daughters school delayed 2 hours, and after I got her to the school bus I crashed!  My cold was horrible and I just needed sleep!  I was able to get a little rest today, on and off.  My best friend suggested that I try drinking hot green tea to help with my congestion.  I’ve drank 4 cups and I’m not as congested, but I also took a dose of cold meds that I found in the cupboard…LOL!  I’m feeling OK tonight, just worn out!  It will definitely be an early to bed night!

Yes, that’s probably the reason you felt the floor or the ground tremble…LOL! Smarty pants! But seriously, I’ve been thinking about school since it’s almost time for me to go back. I loved being in school, it made me feel like I had a purpose and a reason. But I’m starting to second guess my original major. As much as I enjoy graphic art, I’m starting to find other things that I enjoy as well.

One of the majors that I’ve thought about is Marketing/Advertising. I think it would be something that I not only would enjoy doing, but something that I could do well. I’ve also thought about Accounting and Real Estate. My sister has a friend who just purchased a real estate franchise, and they’ve been talking to her trying to convince her to get her Real Estate license back. She was talking to me about it and we started brainstorming about going into business together. I’m just not sure I could actually be a sales person though, I’d much rather just stay in the office and take care of the paperwork and billing!

I’ll admit that I’ve enjoyed my break from school, but it’s time to get serious about getting things ready to go back to classes after the first of the year. As much as I enjoy graphic arts I’m beginning to wonder if it’s the right direction for me to go in. I’ve checked into a couple of different business types of careers and I am leaning more towards getting a degree in advertising or market research, which I think would be more along the lines of something that I would be more interested in. I’d love to have a job that allows me to research what types of products people actually like and what I can do to make those products even more appealing. And who knows, maybe I could still dabble with my passion for graphic arts on the side.

First, an update as to how our week without my hubby is going. As I said yesterday, I was up shortly after 3:00 A.M. The kids had a doctors appointment at 8:15, so they didn’t go to school in the morning. Brat gurl was having a rough morning, she cried on and off for quite a while after daddy left. Brat boy simply couldn’t wake up. He slept in the car all the way to the doctors appointment, slept in his chair in the waiting room and dozed on and off while we were in with the doctor. The reality was that I knew if I took him to school after the appointment, he would get into trouble for falling asleep in school, so I made the decision to bring him back home with the warning that he was to go straight to bed and get some sleep.
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Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most technology savvy person in the world. Yes, I have gadgets, but I’m talking about bigger things. I’m very happy that my school does have technology savvy people working for them because they keep the schools intranet software up to date. That allows me the ability to check my grades, my school email address and the school’s blackboard where any messages or updates for my classes show up. So, even though I’m not that savvy, I “know” people that are.

If I were in a position where I needed my own intranet software, I would definitely consider Epazz! Epazz offers a 30 Day free trial of their software with no strings attached, you just contact them to get the information for your set up. If you don’t like what they offer, you simply cancel before your 30 days are over. But I have a feeling once you see and try things like their in depth personalization, their enhanced communication that allows better communication between users and the fact that Epazz works with you from start to finish, you will be so happy with their service that you’ll want to stay with them!

As you may have read in this post, I had an incident with my eldest child at school yesterday that resulted in his getting a 2 day suspension from school.  I went to his school today to talk to them about my concerns and am pleased to say that I left the school feeling better.

Yes, he is still serving the suspension, I had no intention of trying to dispute that.  I did, however, speak to the Dean of Students (a.k.a. Mr. S) about my concerns over my son not being allowed to use the restroom.  Mr. S agreed with me that teachers that have the “no bathroom pass” policy do not have the right to deny a student use of the bathroom, unless prior history has shown that said student has a history of abusing bathroom privileges.  I was right in my thought as to why he was given the 2 day suspension vs. a lesser punishment, it was because of his use of profanity.  If he’d have simply walked out of the class without saying anything and used the restroom, then went to the office, they would have “had his back” on the referral and he more than likely would not have been punished.  I was also able to find out how he is doing in his classes.  He is failing one class (World History), he has a D in one class (keyboarding), and all his other classes have a C or better.  Overall, not too bad for him.

So, that’s the update.  Whether or not the bathroom policy will be discussed with the teacher involved in this incident, I’m not sure.  But I do know that my son has been told that if it becomes necessary for him to use the bathroom in this class again and he is told no, that if he feels he “HAS” to go, that he is to walk out and keep his flippin mouth SHUT!  LOL

Current Mood: Alarmed & Confused

I had something happen to one of my children today, something that makes me angry for a couple of reasons.  First, I’m angry at my child because of what they did, secondly, I’m angry at the teacher for creating the situation that caused what my child did.

I’ll stop beating around the bush and tell you what happened.  My eldest child is 14 and in the 9th grade.  I’ve had many problems with this specific child over the past couple of years that has entailed several detentions and suspensions.  It came down to the point that I had no other choice but to home school him for about the last half of last school year.   With my being in school myself, and his home schooling being done via a computer and the internet, it didn’t work out very well because I couldn’t trust him to do his work while he was home alone.  He did, however, do his work well enough to pass the 8th grade, which was a HUGE relief to me!

My husband and I decided that, even though it went against out better wishes, we had no other choice but to enroll him back into his home school district this year.  Much to our amazement, the school year for him has gone wonderfully!  That was, until I received a phone call today, which made the words “Here we go again” come out of my mouth.

We received a phone call from his school letting us know that he had been suspended for 2 days for using profanity towards a teacher.  To say the least, I was not one bit happy, but I do not discuss things that make me mad while I am driving, so when I picked my son up from school I told him that we would talk about it when we got home.  That didn’t work though, he really wanted to tell me what happened, so I told him to go ahead and I listened.  He was in his 7-8th period class and HAD to use the restroom.  He went up to the teacher and asked her for a pass to use the restroom and was told, “I don’t give out restroom passes”.  He then told the teacher that he either had to use the restroom or he was going to pee his pants, to which the teacher replied, “The only way you are leaving this classroom is with a referral”, meaning a trip to the office and more than likely a detention, if not a suspension.  He said he knew that he would rather take the punishment then stand there in front of his peers and pee his pants, which I agree with 100%.  So he went to his desk, grabbed his notebook and proceeded to walk out of the classroom.  This is where my son, in my opinion, went wrong.  As he was walking out of the room he back mouthed to the teacher.  According to the suspension report he said “Why don’t you do us all a favor and f-ing croak”.  He claims he said “Why don’t you do us all a favor and frigging quit”.  He swears he didn’t use their version of the “F” word, that he said frigging.  I DO NOT condone him back talking to the teacher and being disrespectful, I do not tolerate that here at home and I don’t tolerate him doing it out of the home.  For doing that I feel he was 100% in the wrong!  BUT, I do feel that if he had been allowed to use the restroom, none of this would have happened.

My question is, do teachers have the legal right to refuse to allow a child to use the restroom?  There have been numerous medical studies that have proven holding urine or feces can cause numerous health problems, and if done regularly can cause irreversible damage.  With those kinds of facts, how can it be acceptable for a teacher to not allow a child to use the bathroom?  Especially if that child is willing to stand up in front of their peers and tell the teacher that if they aren’t allowed to go to the bathroom they will pee their pants.  NO teenager that I know of would say a statement like that in front of their peers unless they meant it, and my son is not the type of child that would purposely say something to embarrass himself in front of his peers.

So, this is what I am going to do tomorrow.  I will either go into the school or call in, and this is what I plan on saying/asking.  I will let them know that I am not trying to fight the suspension, that I feel that my child was in the wrong for using profanity and disrespecting his teacher, but that I do feel that if my child would have been allowed to use the restroom that this entire situation never would have happened.  I also plan on asking why he was given an immediate out of school suspension, rather than an in school one, when this is the first problem he has had in school.  During his 9th grade orientation they STRESSED that these kids are coming into school with a clean slate, that nothing they had done prior to the first day of school this year mattered.  So if his problems in the past 2 years didn’t play a part in this suspension, and this is the first time he has gotten into trouble in school this year, why a 2 day out of school suspension, when in his handbook it clearly states, “An assignment to the  Behavior Intervention Center (BIC) is usually made by a dean as a result of student misbehavior.  BIG is used to remove a student from the normal classroom setting to provide a “timeout” to consider their actions.”  Wouldn’t something like that have been more appropriate for a “first time offender”?

Anyway, I’ll let you know what happens when I go to the school tomorrow.  After just now reading his student handbook and little more in depth, I have my thoughts as to why he received a 2 day suspension right off the bat.  I’ll go more into detail about it when I find out.

For now, I have to get back to my own homework!

You know, I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to numbers and basic math, I’ll breeze through it!  I’m an odd sort of person in the fact that when I need to quiet my mind or when I can’t sleep, I count.  And I’m not talking 1, 2, 3…, I count by 7’s and 9’s and higher numbers!  I’m not kidding!  So it really surprised me that I was struggling to much in my accounting class!  It’s just basic math, you just have to know where to put the numbers so that they all add up!

My Accounting class is a one day a week, 4 hour class.  The book weighs, what feels like, 40 pounds.  I like the class for the most part, but it irritated the crap out of me that our homework for the class is all done at an online site.   If I wanted to do my work online, I’d have taken an online course!  Today before class we all were talking before the instructor showed up and it turns out that better than 75% of the class is having major problems getting access to this site, on top of that, we also found out that the website cannot be accessed on Macs.  Now, you tell me, if a school is going to require that ALL of the homework for a course be done online, shouldn’t it be accessible by ALL computer formats?  Not just Windows?

So, being the person that I am, I volunteered to bring this up to the instructor when she got to class….LOL.  See, the thing is, the homework online matches up 100% with the assignments that are in the book.  That way, you can do them on paper, then just enter your answers on the website.  So my theory was, if so many are having problems with this stupid website, what would be wrong with those who are having problems with the website doing the work on paper and turning it in?  Shouldn’t be a problem, right?  OH NO!  The instructor is giving those who are having problems accessing the website one week to get it straightened out AND do 4 weeks worth of homework, PERIOD!  Now, I would be OK with this if the instructor were going the extra mile to help the people in the class out who are having the problems, but she’s not.  She said it is up to us/them to figure out what the problem is and fix it, or take the time to come on campus and use what few computers there are in the library and get it done.  Now, I am one of the few that are fortunate enough to not have any problems with the website, and I do have all of my homework done.  But I looked tonight, it has taken me over 4 hours to do the homework for 3 chapters, and I have one more chapter to do before class next week.

So, I’ve kind of volunteered myself to be the class advocate.  I’ve put in several phone calls this evening leaving messages asking people what can be done to help my classmates.  Do I have the time for this?  No, not really.  But at the same time too, I don’t want to see my classmates drop a class because the instructor can’t or won’t help with this website.  They’ll have to take this class eventually, and from what I understand every accounting 1 class is done the same way.  So, here I am, doing things I don’t have the time for, but things that will make me feel like I’ve done something to help.

Current Mood: Esctatic

I got home from school a little while ago and there was an  email in my inbox from an address that I had never seen before, but the title of the email was OCC Saturday Morning Grade Report.  OCC are the initials for my college, and Saturday morning is my Algebra class.  I didn’t want to open it because I knew after reading the title that it was my grade for my Algebra test that I took Saturday.  But I also knew that there was no way I wasn’t going to open the email because I was dying to know how I did.  When I left the class after the test Saturday I felt fairly confident that I had passed the test with at least a B.  Imagine how blown away I was when I read this:  Homework             10/10    100.0% A+;  Test         92/100     92.0% A-    Then imagine how much more blown away I was when I read THIS:  Grade: A- (92.7%) Total Points: 102/110 Class Rank: 3

I have an A- for the class so far and I’m ranked 3rd in the class, there are like 25 people in the class!!!!!  I don’t even know what to say right now, I’m so blown away!!  I did peek into my hubby’s email to see what he got, and it’s not good.   Although he also got an A+ on his homework, he only got a D- on his test.  I feel really bad, I know he’s going to take it hard!

I told you earlier that if I had the time I would take a photo of the art project that I’ve been working on this weekend.  I took the photo then went through heck and back trying to get a USB port on my computer that would actually work.  After much frustration and a few things flying across my room, I finally found a working USB port and was able to get the pictures off my camera.

Now, please keep in mind that prior to this art class I had never taken an art class in my life, except what we did in elementary school.  In now way do I even feel that I am remotely artistic.  However, I’m actually pretty happy with how this project is turning out, I think it’s kind of neat!

So, without further adieu, may I present my first art project..

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Although I have some school work to work on today as well as a test to study for, my TV is already tuned into the pre game show.  Today is the first football Sunday of the season, and I am PUMPED!  The only thing that bums me out is that I’m not playing Fantasy Football this year.  This is the first year in 6 years that I wasn’t able to put a team together.  Everyone that I’ve played with the past few years either already had a team or didn’t want to play this year. :(  *sigh*

That’s OK, I have a lot on my plate as it is, so it’s for the best anyway!  Speaking of having a lot on my plate, you know already that I’m going to school and working a day or two a week, on top of the house and family stuff.  But what I haven’t told you yet is that I have my first meeting this week to work on my schools news paper!  I’m not sure yet what I’m going to be doing, I may be writing, I may be working behind the scenes, it’s still undetermined.  But it’s something that I really wanted to do!  So keep your eyes posted, you may just see my name in print

As you may or may not know, I am taking a basic art class this semester.  No, I’m not taking it because I REALLY wanted to, I’m taking it because it’s one of the required classes for my major.  However, I really have come to enjoy the class!  The instructor is an amazing artist who is very patient and explanatory with those of us who aren’t naturally artistic.

Anyway, this is what I need your help with.  Part of my grade for the semester has to deal with 30 sketches that I have to draw outside of class.  What I have to do is choose one very basic and simple item and sketch it 30 different ways.  The different ways can include using different mediums such as charcoal, paint, etc, it also includes drawing it in different moods, such as angry, happy, etc.  You can’t add anything to the object to change it’s mood, you have to change how you draw it to change it’s mood.  What I need from you are suggestions as to what I should choose for my object.  I have semi decided to use this coffee cup that I have that has a neat, but simple shape.  This is a picture that I found online that looks exactly what the one I have here at home looks like.  What I like the most about this cup is that it is very simple yet not totally plain!  But I was wondering if any of you had any suggestions of something that is just as simple but maybe a little more interesting?  Some of his past students have used things like a roll of toilet paper, a sandal and a light bulb.  My problem is that I have so little artistic ability that I can’t choose anything that is complex.  So give me your suggestions and I’ll let you know what I decide on by Tuesday!  THANKS!

Current Mood: Cool

And, although I’m fairly sure I didn’t ace it, I am just as sure that I passed it with at least a B! I love basic math, and that’s pretty much what this first chapter and test in Algebra were about. It was like a reintroduction to adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions, with a few a’s, x’s and b’s thrown in….LOL! Oh yeah, there were some story problems too…..BARF!

The hubby and I studied some last night and then I kept going over some of the basic principals on our way to class this morning. I know what we went over helped me, and he said it did help him some as well. We also did several “warm up” problems in class and the instructor walked us through how to do them after we did them. The only thing I really messed up on was one that went like this: If a=(-3) and b=4 and c=(-6) solve the following problem, 2a - 4b/2c. (I don’t know how to make fractions on here, that’s what that’s supposed to be…LOL) what you ultimately get is 2(-3)-4(4)/2(-6), that gives you -6-16/-12, which gives you -22/-12, which simplified is 1 and 5/6. What i goofed up on was not remembering/knowing that a negative over a negative gives you a positive number. But thankfully we did that problem before the exam, so when it came up in the exam I knew how to do it….LOL! The other one that got me was this one: {(7-3)²-3}/9-16 divided by 8-4 (Once again, not sure how to make a fraction OR the divided by symbol). What threw me off on that problem was the 9-16 divided by 8-4, that actually means that you do 16 divided by 8 first, then you have 9-2-4 on the bottom, which gives you this fraction: 4×4-4/9-2-4, which gives you 12/3 which is 4….LOL.

Anyway, enough of that gibberish! I have MANY things to do today including taking several items to the dealership that they need for proof for my loan. So, I’ll be around on and off. Have yourself a GREAT day!

BTW, this was the first class of the new class that I enrolled in after realizing that I simply wasn’t going to be able to deal with the instructor in the other Algebra class I was taking.  I’m THRILLED to report that this instructor ROCKS!  He is a special ed teacher at a nearby school, so my thought is that he knows that you have to start with the basics in order to teach someone something new.  He explains things in such a simple way that it really does make it easy to understand, yest he doesn’t come off making you feel like a complete idiot, which is how I felt with the other instructor.   So HUGE kudos to this instructor for making Algebra fun!

OMG, it just hit me that I have my first test tomorrow.  In Algebra, of all classes.  Can you say YUCK!

School is going good though, I’m really enjoying it!  And I’m finally caught up with my work after missing 2 days of classes last week while I was sick.  I think my Accounting class homework gave me the most grief!  It wouldn’t be so bad if the work was done on paper and you could look back and use what work you’ve done to help you with what you’re currently doing.  But all of the homework for this class is done online and you can’t go back to the work you’ve previously done for help with the next problem.  I did find, however, that if I take notes and write down what I’m doing as I’m doing it that helps with later problems!

I think my favorite class is my English Composition class!  I turned in the rough draft for my first essay this week for peer review and another copy to my instructor for his review.  We’ll get them back from the instructor on this coming Wednesday, then the final draft is due the Wednesday after that.  I got some good reviews from the peer reviews and some great ideas from my peers on how to improve my essay.  I love to write, as if you couldn’t already tell that, so I think that’s why I enjoy this class so much!  I have 4 more essays that I’ll have to write for that class this semester, so there is going to be much more writing.

I also REALLY like my art class.  It’s just a basic drawing class, but the instructor is awesome!  He’s shown us some of his own personal drawings, which are mind blowing, but he doesn’t get frustrated with us in the class when we can’t figure out how to do what he is having us do that day.  Eventually I’ll get around to taking pictures of the things I’ve already done in class and when I do I’ll post them here so you can see them, as long as you PROMISE not to laugh….LOL!

Well, not actually gone, because I’m doing it from the comfort of my own home at my own desk. Which is why I love shopping online so much! The temperature outside today is a balmy 90 degrees, with humidity nearing 60%, in other words, not my kind of weather! Since my financial aid will be here in the next week I’ve decided to go ahead and start shopping for my laptop. I know what I need and I know what I want, so the next thing for me to do is find out where I can get it for the best price.

Now, being the shopper that I am, as well as a penny pincher, one of the first things I did was look for online coupons that will save me some money or enable me to get something a little better. The first coupon I found was at BestBuy.com. They have several laptops on sale and several models that are offering an additional $150 off, which would allow me to upgrade to more memory and still get a laptop at a decent price.

Next I headed over to Dell.com to see what they had to offer. The only thing they are currently offering is $350 off an Inspiron desktop over $999, and since I’m not looking for a desktop that won’t help me, but maybe it will help you! Finally I headed over to Overstock.com where I found several coupons; one offering 7% off my total purchase, once for $40 off any purchase of $350 or more, and another offering free shipping for new customers with orders over $50.

I plan to keep shopping because I haven’t quite found exactly what I want yet. But I’m definitely going to watch for online coupons that will help me save some money, because we all know that saving money is definitely a good thing!