The morning after

I hope every ones 4th was an enjoyable one. We did not go anywhere to see the fireworks. The weather channel forcasted Thunderstorms early evening and to continue through out the night. Needless to say they were WRONG! So.. instead we set up some lawn chairs and watched as the neighbors did their displays and the gated community across the street really put on a show. They had the mack daddy of all fireworks. The mortar kind. Never saw one police car try to enter that community. Maybe cause they couldn't get in? haha...



Earlier we enjoyed dinner with both sets of parents. Chris' parents hosted. The Salmon was wonderful. I know, not your typical grilling food for the 4th but trust me no one complained. My kids were even into it.



Chris got a call from the Mimi's Rescue on Thursday letting us know that the two kittens we are adopting were going in to be spayed that day and that we should have them either on Saturday or Monday. We originally thought that one of them was a little boy, but nope. It's a girl. Which is cool. We wanted two females to begin with. So at this point in time their names will be Belle ( Katie picked that one) and Cuddles (because it is exactly like the cat Chris had as a child that was named Cuddles) We are so original aren't we? I will have to post some picks as we take them. Belle is a Flame Point Siamese and I am not sure what the other one is but she is cute.

Oh.. I almost forgot. If you choose to go see a movie this weekend. I highly recommend Hancock. Seriously, this is a funny and touching movie. I don't think there was ever a time that I wasn't laughing or teary. It is that good. My whole family enjoyed it and it will be a movie that we will buy when it is released.

YES! I have a week off from school...

I just completed both my courses and I have to say that I am pleased with the outcome. I received a 90% in Algebra. I worked my hiney off for that and I am so glad it is over with. I received a 92.87% in software applications. If it wasn't for the trouble on one of my projects I probably would have gotten a perfect score of 100%.
Oh well.. I am happy all around. So I won't have classes again until next Wednesday the 2nd. Which will be Business Law and Interpersonal Skills. Those should be interesting. My books are due to arrive any day now. Can't wait to skim through them to see exactly what we will be doing.

So.. how am I going to celebrate my time off? Hmm... playing Sims, swimming, being absolutely lazy and not sure what else. I have been working on putting together fund raiser packets for Regalo Boutique to send out to the elementary schools in Sarasota County. Why not right? Chris and I have even discussed possibly getting involved in different flea markets this season. In Florida during Season the Flea Markets are booming. So we'll see.

Checking in...

I haven't been exactly on the ball with posting the last two days. I had homework to finish up. I am not a procrastinator.... really I am not, but when it comes to my school work I am somewhat a perfectionist. I need to know there is nothing else I can do before turning the projects in. So.. Mondays and Tuesdays are pretty much all about me agonizing over whether or not the projects are worthy. I know my world is weird. I am weird.. I will never deny that!

Last night I decided to treat my family to a movie. We went to see Iron Man in the early evening. That was the best $50.00 I spent to enjoy an evening with my family. There are more movies on our list to see at the theater. We don't go much unless there is a must see movie that can not wait until it comes out on DVD.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal skull

Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian

WALL E

Hancock - I saw this preview last night and it looks good. Will Smith stars

Harry Potter 6

There are a few others but they escape me right now.

Gotta run... new week in school starts today and I want to get a jump on my assignments.

Can you tell I have been busy?

There is so much that has gone one that my head is still spinning.....
Ok, let's recap.

1) My son, Jeff, turned 17 this past Sunday. Although I did have a post planned my computer decided that for whatever reason it did not want to cooperate. Therefore it was inadvertantly erased. ARGHH!!! We celebrated it by surprising him with a trip to Busch Gardens. It was not easy by any means trying to coordinate this and allowing him to bring a friend that also was not aware that we were doing this. I really appreciate Patricia's mom for playing along. The kids actually thought we were going to the Aquarium in Tampa. I have to give Jeff credit because he did not once complain about what a crappy time that would be. He would have probably faked enjoying that trip if we actually went through with that.
Jeff has come a long way in the last year. I am so stinking proud of him. He is saving money to buy his first car, he is maintaining his grades very well and has taken on more hours at work. And on top of that he helps me around the house more since I have started back to school.
He has made one request for his birthday next year. He would like to travel to Europe. Specifically Germany, since that is most of our heritage. His father and I have taken his request into consideration and if all goes well we will be setting it up in the very near future. Chris is actually wanting to travel to Europe since his best friend, Phil is in England. I think this will be a great family getaway.

2) My last week of the first term in school finished last Tuesday the 22nd. I am extremely happy to announce that I currently have a 4.0 GPA!!! This achievement did not come easy and of course certain enjoyable past times have suffered. This blog is one of them.

3) Although I do get a week break in between each term, I have spent most of that week catching up on items needing my attention and making time to just relax.

4) My daughter, Katie, came down with the flu this past week. This poor girl was miserable. I feel bad that I may have been the one to give her the bug. I tried so hard to stay away from my kids when I was sick.

I can't promise that I will be posting regularly. But I will try to post once a week. Thanks to all that have stuck around. I really appreciate that. My next two classes have already started and I can already tell that this too is going to be another ten weeks of pulling my hair out!

First Post of the new year...

I know.. I suck... Still trying to find a "balance" with family,work,Regalo Boutique,school and my blogging:) I am doing pretty good with scheduling everything I want to accomplish. Chris bought me a scheduler and I have been using it.

I am going to lose more weight this year. Hopefully I will reach my goal and by the summer I will want to be seen in a bathing suit.

Devote more time to the online store. Chris will be picking up more of the slack so that I can put a lot of my attention to my schooling. There are a lot of new products and girls. We got Linda Jackson cosmetics. I will let you all know when the new products are up.

Although my grade point average is a 3.8 so far, I want to do better. I would like to qualify for as many scholarships as I can so I do not have a big debt at the end to pay off.

Chris and I would like to buy a house but with the market the way it is and the financial institutions becoming stricter it looks slim at this point but we'll see.

Jeff is saving for a car. He works hard so we may help him out and Katie is growing up so fast. I swear that girl is going to start puberty early. She is only 8!

So we shall see what 2008 holds for this family.

I am beat...

and I feel like I have been run over by a semi. I have a feeling my migraine marathon is returning full steam on. All weekend I had a slight migraine. The kind that linger to let you know the mother of all migraines will be showing up shortly. No pain pills are available but Chris did get some muscle relaxers for his TMJ and he only needed one. I may try it to see if the tension goes away and then maybe I won't get a full blown one.

School is actually going smoothly. I am still learning the ropes on navigating through my classes. I haven't really connected with any of the other students other than in discussion boards which are quite similar to forum message boards. This coming week has me nervous because we will actually be beginning the course. The first week was to get familiar with everyone and the course material. Now it's time to really sink in.

Work is work... Apparently the techs are hyping mad because health insurance premiums have gone up 40% again. That's four times in two years people. It's getting a little ridiculous. I opted out of the employer insurance almost a year now. It's cheaper for me and my children to get it privately. Seriously!!! I am telling you guys that everything is going to go up in price, not just gas. I am positive that gas prices will reach if not exceed $4.oo a gallon here shortly. I am sure the western states have already felt that pinch. Ok.. gotta go the migraine is full blown now:(

See ya all tomorrow....

This student role is not bad at all.

So, I am officially ahead of the game and have already done my homework and submitted before the due date. I so ROCK!!As my son told me and I have a feeling he was being a little too condescending, the little twerp.
I have also started working into the next weeks work just so I can be more familiar with the subject the next time I have a seminar. I would much rather be prepared and not out of the loop like most of the students in yesterdays seminar. I was trying to pay attention to what the teacher had to say or rather type since it was like being in a chat room and although there are 30 students taking this particular class only 15 showed up for the seminar. This is all new to me and it's awkward trying to comprehend some of the material but part of that is my fault because I am so eager to learn I am traveling at a faster rate and may be a little to far into the game. So I will try and slow my pace down a tad or two. Thanks guys for all your encouraging words and please if I may ask keep them coming because it helps me strive to do good:)

First Day of School

and I am mentally drained. Not that it looks hard or anything it's just learning to navigate through the site and get familiar with the tools of communicating not only with the instructor but the other "classmates" as well. I will have my first "seminar" tomorrow night and that is basically being online live with everyone attending the class. We will basically be going over the syllabus of the course and what the instructors expectations are. I really think I am going to do well.

The clock is ticking...

and I am trying my best to go over the schools' website so that I can familiarize myself with everything before my first class starts. I will actually be in an hour long "seminar" with my professor and the rest of the online gang attending her class. We will be conversing back and forth through AOL instant messenger. That will start tomorrow at 8pm. At 7:30, my advisor will be calling me to help me log into my class to make sure everything runs smoothly and that there are no problems logging on.
Does anyone know where I can get my hands on a cheap Microsoft Word software. I thought that this computer had it but it only has Microsoft Works and it is not compatible with what the school requires. I hate having to wait to the last minute but I am pretty damn stupid when it comes to what I think is STANDARD software. Your help will be much appreciated. Ok.. I am off to pull out my hair. Wish me luck and I will be sure to post about my first night:)

I think I got my message across...

with Jeff. We had a serious discussion on the responsibilities of the teenager and what is expected. My son is smart but is a typical boy. If it's not interesting to him he feels it is not important. Well he did feel that way. Now he understands what I EXPECT from him and what I say is law:)

He felt overwhelmed taking two college level courses and was always tired and being only 16 he was starting to feel burned out. I told him that I would have no problem at all helping him out. Helping him to prepare for quizzes, tests and helping him overall in making sure he stays on track. He seemed to have a huge weight lifted off. I don't know why he thinks he has to do it all on his own and he never has asked for help. Why do guys not ask for help? I ask for help all the time ( doesn't mean I get it, but I will ask).

I constantly ask him 1) do you have homework and 2) do you need my help in studying? Now I think I have finally gotten the message burned into that thick skull of his.

I am going to kill that boy...

my son is slacking off on his school duties.. I got a call or rather a message was left for me by Jeff's Honors U.S. History teacher. He states that Jeff is not completing his class assignments. I confronted him about it and Jeff states that he has dozed off a few days and did not take notes. WTF? Dozing off? This kids goes to bed at 10pm every night and gets up a 6am every morning How can he possibly be tired? Jeff says it's not that he is tired but bored. Wonderful.. so how am I supposed to make History class interesting? Needless to say, he is grounded until report cards come home. I hate to be so stern but he needs to realize that school is important and now matter how boring the subject he has to give his best effort to succeed. Any suggestions people?

10 days and counting...

until the hustle and bustle of waking everyone up early in the morning for school. Jeff and I picked up his schedule today. I can't believe he is a junior. Where the hell does the time go? My baby will be in first grade and we have Brittany that is forgoing high school and getting her GED before she turns 18 in October.
I was looking over Jeff's schedule and OMG is he going to be busy this year. Honors Algebra 2, Honors Chemistry, Dual Enrollment English and AP Honors World History. Not to mention Orchestra and an Aerospace Engineering class. Jeff says that he will be building a rocket in that class. Great.... just what I needed to hear.