Brainstorming

Make-up homework assignment for my missed classes is to brainstorm the following:
What am I all about?  What things do I do?  What things have I done? What things do I know about? What things do I want to know about?

You wouldn’t think these would be hard questions. Ugh. So here’s my lists in progress:

I am all about getting closer to God, taking care of my family, traveling to new places, knitting, reading, my church family, having a good time, scrabble, piano, Dr. Pepper, photography, photoshop, chocolate, drawing and doodling, being organized, thrift stores,

I read, blog, sleep, play with my kids, volunteer for Hospice, take my kids to school and appointments, try to walk with my friends at least once a week, take pictures, clean house, iron my husband’s clothes, practice playing the piano, sing, grow herbs, cook, help with homework, procrastinate, do laundry, do more laundry, love my dogs, tolerate the cat, spend hours on Pinterest, go to bed late, watch sappy chick flicks,

I have fallen in love, been married for 11+ years, gone on a mission trip to Haiti, been to NYC, had to have a pet put down, cried, spent 5 days in Las Vegas without drinking or gambling, had poison ivy, been knee-boarding, gone skiing, lost all my grandparents, been snorkeling in the Caribbean, sailed on the world’s largest cruise ship, stayed in a bed and breakfast, never attended a public school until college, tutored algebra, worked at a radio station for 10 years, had 9 foster kids in my home at one time or another, made my own scarves, never broken a bone, driven a manual transmission and prefer it over automatic, painted every room in our house, demolished a kitchen with a sledgehammer and enjoyed it, had mono,

I know about foster parenting, being organized, photoshop, scrapbooking, Hospice, card-making, 

I want to know about crocheting, better writing, winter gardening, a fast and easy way to gain patience (lol), photography, lighting for photography, illustrator, better designing, using fonts, how to increase IQ, how to get along with annoying people, ways to cure insomnia,

And the best part of brainstorming is getting other brains involved…these lists aren’t long enough and I need some more ideas…. =))  Have you made any of these sorts of lists?  Do you know me and see something I totally forgot to add? 

Reflections Of A Scattered Mind

I have a new favorite game when the kids want to play a game.

I like it so much, that tonight I talked KC into playing it with me WITHOUT the kids. (LOL)  He was very accommodating, bless it. 

He’s actually been very accommodating all day…except for the parts of the day when he was doing his best to annoy me.  He’s really good at that, too, sometimes…

It’s usually on the days when I am craving chocolate and Dr. Pepper for reasons other than because I just happen to like chocolate and Dr. Pepper.  LOL…so I guess the being annoying probably isn’t really his fault.  =)  But I’m not telling HIM that.  ;-)

So something else I really love right now is this beautiful scarf that Aunt C made for me….it’s hard to tell in this picture (instagram is awesome but the quality is just not great) that the color of it is black and brown and white and grey.  (If you’re reading this, thank you again, Aunt C!! Love it and love you! =)

Speaking of Aunt C, here we are at California Dreaming in Greenville, SC last weekend.  Hindsight, I should have taken the picture before we left the restaurant and saved us from the harsh sunshadows, but it’s too late now.  Ah well. 

New topic: Today. I woke up at the usual before daylight time and showered because it’s Friday and I was supposed to have class.  They told us yesterday that it was going to be an early release day at lunchtime for my kids, because of weather, but I was still going to be able to get back in plenty of time, so I wasn’t worried.  So I get the kids all ready and we back out of the garage and I realize it’s sleeting.  Rut-roh…not good.  Get halfway to school and the phone rings that they’re cancelling and sending all the kids back home.  So I come home and check the college website and they’re still having class…grr.  So I get ready and then leave at 8:15 and call mom on the way to her house to see if she’s home because my kids are going to hang out there for an hour (okay, I didn’t tell her, I ASKED, but I was pretty sure she’d say okay, which is why I called on the way)…lol.  Mom is awesome like that.  =)  So I get there and prepare for a rushed drop off so I can head to school except between my house and moms, the school posted the announcement that classes after 9am were cancelled.  Grr again…but it’s not sleeting at mom’s so I decided to stay and visit for a few minutes since I didn’t have to go anywhere else.  Stayed there until about 9:45 when KC called and said it was so bad out that his plant had closed early and he was on his way home…that’s when Mom shooed the kids and me out the door because she didn’t want us to be out if it was beginning to get bad.  =)  She loves me like that…even when I forget to call her after I get home to tell her she can stop worrying because I made it and she has to text me to remind me that I forgot so I can remember and call then. 

Fast forward through the rest of the day because it was annoying.  I was SOO productive all week and working on projects and then the hubby and kids are home earlier than planned and we all ended up being lazybones all day.  Grrr. 

I don’t know where I was going with that whole story. 

So I’ll just skip to class, which is what I’m thinking about right now.  Wednesday’s class, the teacher talked about the purposes of writing, and I figured out the purpose of my blog.  It’s reflection…and reflection isn’t typically written for an audience (think journals) so it’s just me rambling down my thoughts/random happenings/whatever, and it doesn’t matter if no one else understands it, since it’s mostly for my own benefit anyway. 

Also, in class on Wednesday, the instructor killed me.  He was demonstrating the invention of a topic and thesis and illustrations and he used me for an example of how dancing can be dangerous.  One girl got jail time, one guy lost his career, and I died from dancing.  Kind of ironic. LOL  He apologized after class about my unfortunate demise, and I don’t hold it against him…I’m just hoping it’s not a sign of my future in the class!  LOL

Okay, enough rambling for a night.  I changed my colors again and very nearly added something to the blog description regarding reflections of a scattered mind, but then I decided it wouldn’t fit in the space (even though it fits quite well in actuality) so I left the description alone and just changed the colors to ones I LOVE.  =)

I haven’t had a Dr. Pepper in five days.  I was hoping we WOULDN’T be iced in tonight so we could go out for dinner and I could get a drink…alas, it wasn’t to be.  I am still craving. 

Ack.  I’m going to stop talking now.  See ya.

Sapped

No school today, so I did what any good mom does on a kid’s vacation day—put them to work. 

Munchkin is getting really good at doing chores on her own and I have much less work now when I have to go behind her and finish up, K-man, however, is still clueless as ever.  Sometimes I wonder if he is just genuinely talented at acting clueless in order to have things done for him, but if he’s truly just acting, the kid could win an Oscar.  Argh. 

Needless to say, he was all about WANTING to help, but when it came right down to it, I did most of the work.  He used to be my OCD kid—everything in it’s place and lined up just so, as soon as he was finished playing with it.  Not anymore…he’s nearly as messy as his sister.  WAHHH…it’s a plot to drive me nuts. 

The sad part is….it’s working.  =O lol

It’s sucking all my energy just trying to stay sane.  Okay, so maybe the work probably has something to do with the sucking my energy, too.  And it sure is a lot of work keeping up with this huge house.  I am going to miss the space when we downsize, but I sure won’t miss the cleaning.  But we’ve got a lot of work to do to get to the point where downsizing is an option. 

If I can only summon the energy to get there. 

Weekly Review

Oh how quickly we do forget. 

Yes, I realize it’s Friday and I haven’t blogged since…uh…last Friday. 

Grr…I try so hard to keep these pesky resolutions, but this BI-weekly review is too easy to let slip.  It’s just been one of those weeks.  I kept thinking I will just blog tomorrow.  It’s been about 5 tomorrows and I just never got around to blogging. 

Snow day here today (all of 1/4 inch of snow—but there are portions of the county that are in the higher elevations, so it’s pretty common for us to get snow days without any snow that we can see). so the kids were out all day and thankfully college was delayed long enough for my class to be cancelled, so I didn’t have to shuffle my kids around so I could get to class. 

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning (love those middle of the night things), K-man woke up with a horrible sore throat and was having trouble breathing.  We almost took him to the ER, KC got dressed and everything, and then I guess the hot tea and advil kicked in and he sat up and said, “Yeah, I think I need an x-ray.”  The little twerp.  But his breathing was better so we decided to hold off until the pediatrician’s office opened the next morning.  So he was bouncing around and acting normal on Wednesday (except he said his throat still hurt) but he didn’t go to school so I went ahead and took him to the doctor.  Strep.  Joyful, joyful.  I don’t want my kids to be in pain but it’s a little annoying when they don’t act sick (ie: jumping up and down and excited that they don’t have to go to school because they want to watch movies and play with their toys.  LOL. 

Anyway, Monday’s class was the in class writing assessment.  It’s where you have to answer a question in a five paragraph essay in the 50 minutes of class time.  I guess they want to make sure you aren’t going home and getting your Great Aunt Betsy to write your papers for you to turn in, and that you actually know how to write.  Unfortunately for me, time constraints totally stress me out, and I totally blanked and then had to scramble to get something written.  Don’t know how that’s going to turn out, but see this blog post?  I am REALLY good at BAD writing.  *crazy face*

Not letting it stress me out though…it is what it is. 

Weekend was nice.  My friend turned 27 on Saturday and had a pizza on the grill party…it was fantastic and I just might have to borrow her idea for my “getting old'” party.  =) LOL  The level of awesome of her party had nothing at all to do with the beverages…okay…well, maybe a little.  Hahaha….sometimes I have superb self control.  Saturday was NOT one of those days.  ROFL. 

Anyway, that’s the story since I last posted and now it’s another weekend.  Hopefully I’ll have more to say before NEXT weekend.  =)  =)  I’m TRYING.  Honest. 

Oh and I’m still having crazy dreams…I don’t know why in the world I have suddenly started having sleeping issues but if this is what getting old does to you, I need to find that fountain of youth. 

Maybe I’ll just go dream about it now. 

Que Sera Sera

So I guess I spoke too soon…enter exhibit A

Note the under eye bags and giant Dunk-uccino.  Another night of crazy dreams (following a couple other nights of crazy dreams) and waking up at odd hours with a headache. 

Last night we went on a vacation in the mountains.  In our cabin on the side of the mountain, I watched the storm out the window and cringed helplessly while three giant trees fell on the cabin.  I was immediately very relieved that none of the family were hit by the trees and that the cabin owners were outside right away cutting up the tree and removing it.  But then we were leaving in the car and I was driving along a four-lane road down the mountain using my knees, when a bus pulled up in the lane along side me and turned off it’s lights, leaving everything in the dark.  That’s when I realized my lights were off, but my hands were tied (hence the driving with the knees) and I couldn’t get to the lights to turn them on.  I panicked, screamed at KC to please reach over and turn the lights on or else we were gonna wreck because I couldn’t see diddly squat.  Then I woke up with my head pounding in tandem with my heart and I tossed and turned for the remainder of the 3 hours left until my alarm buzzed. 

Good morning, coffee and dark circles. 

That’s what I get for saying it was getting better.  That’s how it always works!  LOL. 

But the professor let class off early today, so I only had to work at staying awake for 35 minutes instead of 50.  I’ll not complain.  TGIF. =)

On the topic of class though, it’s basic English class, right?  So I should be fine…except…I was thinking about it on the way home and I have been practicing HORRIBLE writing (AKA mindless typing/brain dump) for like six years on this blog.  I am going to have to do some serious work on decent writing skills…I’m pretty sure the professor will frown on using DOT DOT DOT to continue related…or unrelated….thoughts…..BWAHAHAHAA. 

First writing assessment in class essay will be on Monday…FINGERS CROSSED.  See?  There I go again.  UGH. 

Ah well.  Whatever will be, will be.  ;-)

Hey, Hey

I survived the first class…it’s not going to be as bad as I feared.  LOL.  The majority of the class are in high school (like a dual enrollment program) so I feel like an old person in there, but it’s all good.  Haha.  The second class doesn’t start until February, which is a little odd, but also fine, since it gives me more time to get used to being in school again—break me in easy.  =) 

I’m still tired, but I think it’s getting a little better.  I’m wondering if it was because I wasn’t sleeping very good (probably a DUH-observation)…I kept waking up with weird (and somewhat panic-inducing) dreams somewhere in the vicinity of 3:30am and then tossing and turning with a headache until time to get up…which equals exhaustion in daylight hours.  I have no clue what was causing that, but I have slept better the last couple of nights, so maybe it’s okay again.  I also sort of had a scratchy throat and stuff, so maybe the sleeping problems were caused by a cold or something.  Who knows…I’m just happy it’s improved a little.  Of course, last night doesn’t count because I couldn’t stop imagining horrific first day of school scenarios and had trouble even GETTING to sleep…but that’s hopefully going to be better now that the first day is done. 

I’ve done better on drinking more water….and just a little better on less Dr. Pepper.  Not so much on the blogging more often (obviously), but the year is still young…I have all year to work on it.  LOL. 

Busy now on getting the neglected to-do list of the home improvements completed so that we can get this house on the market in the near future…I was just sitting here and looked up at the ceiling and remembered we need to add “Finish Painting the Ceiling” to that list.  YICK.  Ah well.  We’ll get there.  Just gonna be busting our behinds to do it right before we list it, but that’s how it is in EVERY house we’ve ever lived in….lol.  Bad habits are hard to kill.

Anyway, it’s time to get scrounging around for something to fix for supper so I guess this will be all for now.  So long. =)

Yappy Hew Near

Welp, it’s 2013.  How in this crazy world did that happen?  All I know is that, if the first three days of it are any indication, I’m gonna be one seriously mixed up chick this year.

I can’t seem to get my days straight, thanks to midweek holidays and the kids being out of school.  The good news is I’ve been able to sleep in almost every day.  The bad news is that my brain seems to have stayed in bed long after I’ve been up. 

I can’t even think straight to write this post…but I give up on erasing these paragraphs…they are just gonna have to be what they are…*sigh*

In other news, I haven’t felt great the last few days…almost flu-like, achiness, but don’t seem to have any other flu symptoms so I’m hoping this dreadful tiredness will soon pass.  I took two vitamin C packs this morning and it did seem to give me a kick in the energy boosters and the house is now tidy, vacuum cleaner fixed, floors dirt-free, dishes done, counters sparkling, laundry somewhat done.  And then my boost ran out and now I’m sitting on the bed contemplating either a nap or working on my scarf on the loom I got for Christmas. 

I’m not sure yet which will win, but since it’s chilly enough in here that I’m cold in all my layers, I’m thinking a nap under the blanket will possibly be the winner of this little internal debate.

Before I go, a couple of Yew Nears (FYI: that’s my mixed up New Year) Resolutions:

• Blog at least twice a week (I’d say once a week, but that’s pretty much what I was doing last year and I’d like to at least set the bar a LITTLE higher…lol)
• Drink more water and less Dr. Pepper (boo, hiss)
• Make A’s in my classes…and keep my jittery nerves under control to navigate through being back in class for the first time in nearly 12 years. =O
• Find some cool new stitches on the knitting board…ones that will not take forever and a day to accomplish, but will still look cool. 
• Make peace with the person I’ve become…(did I really put KNITTING on my resolution list?  Yow…lol)
• Travel somewhere new.
• Discover a universe in which quiet kids does not equal uh-oh………okay….next resolution: to not put impossible things on my resolution list.

Speaking of quiet kids….I have not heard them in quite awhile and they are still upstairs….I am 99.9 percent sure that I should quickly go investigate before the house burns down or some other very uncool event transpires. 

So long.