Sewing Snob

This week, I decided to get started on my T-Shirt quilt that I have been wanting to make for awhile now. I started it Monday and due to my ever growing OCD, I finished it last night. I am super happy with it but my body hates me for spending the majority of the week sewing...

My favorite pieces...

My new machine that was given to me... I love it!

The early stages of the project...

Oo Oo, The Sweatest Thing

One thing I have to say about my grandma living with us is how much family history I have been learning. My grandma is/was kind of a hoarder but in a good way. She kept a ton of stuff, including letters that my grandpa sent her when her was in the Marines. She also kept all of the letter she sent to him. Reading these has really been great and I hope you can enjoy them. You can see where I get my great spelling from...

Climbing Uphill

This last week I have felt like I have been climbing an uphill battle. My mom has been in Mexico with some OVS students so I've been trying to step up and help out more with the house and grandma. Friday Night I was on LAX sleepovers (some of the kids fly home alone when they go on break and someone has to stay with them). The couple kids I had were fun and it was a pretty easy night. Got the kids up early Saturday morning and sent them off with the bus driver to LAX by 6:30am. I made it home before anyone else was up. When Grandma got up she was super confused and the she progressively got more and more confused as the morning went on. Since the Dr diagnosed her with having a series of mini-strokes and because she was so confused, we thought she might be having a stroke so we took her to the hospital. We spent most of Saturday morning in the ER but by the afternoon, she was more alert and apologetic for "being so difficult" as she said. Sunday morning she woke up a little confused again and was worried that she might be having another bad morning so she went back to bed. My dad and sister went to church and I stayed behind to make sure she got up ok. She didn't end up waking up until close to 11 which meant I missed church on my only weekend off in February.

Monday was a fun day. Amber and Ryan had jury duty so I got to watch the girls for a bit in the morning before taking Sage to school. Aspen and I hung out for a few more hours before I dropped her off at Gina's. Grandma really liked seeing the kids in the house. She actually ended up having a really good day as a result. She ended up having an appointment with Dr Amordiguy who said that she needs to get more sleep and that her episode on Saturday was probably a result of not enough sleep. Tuesday she ended up sleeping in until about 9:30 which made me miss my first full day of school this semester. When she finally got up, we had to rush a little to get her ready to go to the Dentist. She's been getting sores in her mouth because her dentures don't fit so they put in a soft pallet to make them more comfortable. Unfortunately that meant that she was without her dentures for almost three whole days. It was really hard to see her without her dentures. She just looked and seemed so sad and depressed that it just ate away at me. I ended up studying in my room for the majority of the evening.

The rest of the week has just been emotionally an uphill battle, but I do have to say that I feel slightly stronger because of it. It's kinda like working out. You have to tear down the muscles in order to build them back up stronger. But have you ever pushed it too hard and you just feel wrecked for days after? That's how I feel about this week. My emotions have been pushed to their very limit and it is taking me a little while to get back on my feet. But I am getting there.

Please continue to pray that we can find some answers to my grandma's confusion. My mom wants to hire someone to come in a couple days a week to hang out/make lunches for my grandma so please pray that we can find someone reliable that my grandma can feel comfortable with (if you know of anyone who needs a job, let me know). I'm hosting at camp this weekend so I am hoping that I can recover from my week long uphill battle and come back refreshed and ready for another week.

My Papa!

My Papa is still the strongest man I know! To celebrate turning 50, last Saturday he set another California State record for bench press by lifting 407.5 lbs. The American record is 418 lbs and he assures me that he will be breaking that soon! Love you Papa!

What's New?

What do people ask you when you see them? Hi! How are you? What's New? What kind of question is that? And how are you supposed to answer it? I mean, sometimes (depending on who's asking you) you can actually fill people in on the daily changes in your life. But to be honest, it's so hard to fill someone in in the two minutes of shop talk that you usually get with them.

So What's New? Well, my grandma moved into our house yesterday. She has been having some trouble remembering things for the last couple months and has been having some health issues and she can't really live alone anymore. My mom went with her to the neurologist on Wednesday and got some semi-good news. Well, the scans showed that most of her medical issues and mental issues can be attributed to mini-strokes that have been occurring for some time now. While that might not sound like the best news ever, it's actually the first real concrete answer we have gotten about what's actually causing her problems. For now she is living with us and trying to gain some weight and sharpen her declining brain functions. Please be in prayer for her. Pray that her meds will work and reverse the memory loss. Also pray for her because she is slightly depressed from crazy family stuff.

On a more fun/happy note, I about died in my Math and Fine Arts class today. My professor (who happens to be the head of the Math dept.) came into class and started lecturing. It didn't take long for me to notice that the back of her skirt was tucked into her tights. Now it was a long skirt so it's not like her butt was hanging out for the whole class to see, but you could definitely see up to about her knees. I really wanted to tell her that her skirt was messed up but I didn't really know how. Normally I would whisper to someone to let them know without embarrassing them too much, but she literally lectured the whole time. So what did I do? Absolutely nothing. I know, I am a jerk and I am sure one day something like that will happen to me. I just hope someone is nicer then me (and the other 29 people in my class) and they'll let me know.

Back in the Habit

Spring semester started last week and I can now say that I am quickly getting back in the habit of being super busy. How you might say? Well here's my current daily schedule as it stands:

Monday - Day of rest/Homework day. Babysit my neighbors kids in the afternoon. Homegroup in the pm
Tuesday - School from 8am - 1pm (at the earliest... it can be anytime really from 1 - 4). Tutoring from 6:30-7:30pm
Wednesday - Take my neighbors kids to school. Catchup day. Whatever I didn't finish over the weekend that may be due tomorrow. Housework. etc. Babysit my neighbors kids in the afternoon. Youth Group in the evening.
Thursday - Take my neighbors kids to school. My school from 8-4pm. Tutoring from 6:30-7:30pm.
Friday - Housework. Cleaning the house for the week to come. Getting ready for work. 2:30pm work.
Saturday - Work
Sunday - Work; 5:30pm get ready to do it all over again.

Despite already feeling the need to play catch up in every aspect of my life right now, school is going well. All of my classes (not the online ones) I share with this girl named Amanda who was in my Calc 1 class last semester. It's nice to go to class and know someone. It's also nice because I know I can't ditch that often because she may think I am a slacker. So far my classes are good. Calc 2 is hard but I think I am understanding the concepts and keeping up with the homework so far. Logic is dumb and the professor is an arrogant D-bag, but I am trying to have a good attitude about it. Math and Fine Arts is awesome! It's pretty much a class about geometric shapes that create art. It sort of feeds my OCD monster a little which is kinda fun! My online classes are good despite there being a lot of work that I am already a little behind in, but I plan on using today to catch up.

I've been fighting a cold these last two weeks which has taken a lot of energy out of me. But other then that, things are ok. We had a plumbing issue yesterday which was a pain in the butt. Lately it feels like the shit just keeps piling up on us (pun sort of intended but also very true), but God is still faithful and continues to provide our literal daily bread.

Report Card

Official Grades

Class Description Units Grading Grade Grade Points COMP 101 COMPUTER LITERACY 3.00 Letter Grade A 12.000 ENGL 330 INTERDISCIPLINARY WRITING 3.00 Letter Grade B+ 9.900 MATH 150 CALCULUS I 4.00 Letter Grade A+ 16.000 PSY 345 IND WITH DISABILITIES 3.00 Letter Grade A 12.000

99 Red Balloons...

Maybe they weren't red and there were definitely way more then 99, but last week I filled the president of OVS's bathroom with a TON of balloons. Every year as a staff we play Secret Santa and this year I was lucky enough (haha... lucky...) to get the President. Luckily (for reals) my mom's friend Keri got his wife so we decided to mess with them a little and gave them both the same presents everyday, including filling their offices (or office's bathroom) with a bunch of balloons. It was super fun and I really enjoy our staff Christmas parties... It's nice to see everyone without the kids around.

72 Aqua Balloons...

Keri and I buried behind over 200 balloons... We loaded these bags into a school van and then drove them over to the school.

My best friend the Air Compressor... I couldn't have done this without you! I blew up the first 100 or so with the AComp. before getting some back up to help tie the balloons. We drove the 200 balloons over and still ended up blowing up an additional 100 or so balloons... All I can say is Praise the Lord for young, healthy lungs!

They Like Me... They Really Like Me!

Monday I finished my Calculus final finishing out the Fall 2009 semester! I ended up getting 51/50 on my final meaning that I scored above 100% on all three exams in the class. My professor even offered to write a letter of recommendation for me. I'm not trying to brag or anything like that. It's just so nice to feel like you are good at something. It's nice to feel like I am smart and I can get through this last bit of school.

Yesterday I met with an Academic Adviser to check on all my transfer credits and see how my General Ed and graduation requirements are going. Since I transferred from another Cal State school, all of my units transfer but the requirements are different for the two schools so I had to petition for a couple of classes to count in certain sections (which the adviser helped me fill out the paperwork and I turned it in after the meeting). If my petitions are approved, I will only be missing 3 classes to complete my Gen Ed which is nice. I also need 120 total units in order to graduate (40 units have to be upper division which I think I have around 15ish) and by the end of the Spring semester, I will have 112. So where does that leave me for school? Well, I have to meet with the Liberal Studies adviser to develop a contract outlining my course of study (Liberal Studies with a Math Concentration and a possible Minor in Foundational Math). The goal of that meeting will be to try to incorporate what I have already been taking and what I need to take (in order to pass all three levels of the Math CSET) into a course of study so I can graduate. If (When...) I pass the CSET, I can apply for a masters/credential program for Math.

I can't tell you how nice it is to feel supported at school. I actually feel like there are people there who want me to succeed and want me to graduate. And I finally feel like I am close and can actually finish school. This semester was a little hard just because of my bad attitude towards Computers but once I got over myself and just did the work, it was much easier. Looking back on this semester, I can honestly say that I like school again and I am excited for next semester! I know it's going to be a lot of really hard work, but I think I can do it and I am excited to try!

Math Suicide

I just registered for my classes for next semester and I went with option 1. I will be going to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30am - 4 or 5pm (depending on the day). I have registered for 17 units but 5 units are two online classes and 2 units are Math labs that usually only help better my understanding of concepts discussed in class. I have 7 classes (again, two are online and two are Math labs), 6 of which are Math classes. It might be Math suicide but I couldn't resist the Tuesday/Thursday schedule.

Two more days of class this week and one final on Monday and I am done for the semester!