Resolutions?!

Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?! If so, what are they? I’d love to go on and on about what mine were… that’s if I had any. I don’t really have any resolutions because even if I did, I don’t know that I would follow through with any of them.

My one goal (maybe you can call it is a resolution) is to make it farther than I did last year with Project 365. Yuppers, my dear readers, I am going to try and attempt to be successful at it this year. Wish me luck! And if you are feeling the need to view some of my pictures, you can click on the link on the left side of my blog and visit it. I am trying a little something different this year though and instead of trying to post a picture every day, I am going to put my pictures into a layout at the end of every week and then post the layouts. I’m hoping that that keeps me more motivated because then I don’t have to get on the computer each and every night to post one. I know that that is something that got me last year so maybe it won’t this year… hopefully not anyways. And then at the end of the year (hopefully) I can just print out my layouts and have those to keep. Who knows? In any case, wish me luck as I try to keep motivated with this project as I know that my motivation sort of peetered out last Spring when I pretty much started taking pictures of whatever just to get my picture done.

Since I am such a camera loving picture taking kind of person and I love learning something new with my camera each day, I’m hoping I can keep up with it this year! Wish me luck!

Tomorrow starts 2010 and I’m thinking it will be a good year. I mean, its not as if I had a bad 2009, so I should be looking for a good year, but I’m not going to settle for anything less than a good year. I’m going to make it a good year by going into it positively, nothing better than some positivity, right?! Didn’t think so! I know a lot of people had a rough go of 2009, so I’m hoping that their 2010 goes better, but for me, things can stay just the same if they want. Oh, I’d love to win the lottery or something in 2010, but that’d mean I’d have to play it first and well, I don’t think I am THAT lucky, hehe!

Jay’s parents are going to come visit tomorrow. I was thinking we might go bowling, but don’t know if any place will be open. I sort of wanted to go today/tonight, but Jay didn’t think any place would be open this afternoon since most of them were probably setting up for tonight’s festivities, and I didn’t think it would be the smartest thing to take a five year old out for some moon glow bowling on New Year’s Eve when I’m sure a lot of older drunk people will be out. Maybe some other night. Ayden’s been really wanting to go!

So, I read Breaking Dawn (the last book in the Twilight series) for the third time this week. It only took me two days to read and it is over 600 pages long, but it was SO good! It was just as good as the first two times I read it. The last time I read it was just a couple of months ago too! And I don’t reread books… like EVER, so it is kind of a big deal that I reread this book THREE times! And I will probably reread it AGAIN at least once before the movie comes out (anticipated in the summer of 2011 right now). I can’t wait for the third movie to come out this summer… Eclipse was a very good book. I should know, I reread that one just before Breaking Dawn. I don’t know what it is about those books, but they sort of draw you in. Okay, so at least they sort of drew me in.

I like a big array of books though…

I bought the movies My Sister’s Keeper and Paranormal Activity last night after a failed attempt at returning Ayden’s hockey equipment (apparently I need to read my emails a little closer) because I was mad I had to go out and drive in the snowy weather that we had. I watched My Sister’s Keeper today and no lie, I had tears streaming down my face, like more than one tear, it was sad. I’m pretty sure that people have said the movie ending was different from the book ending, but I read the book so long ago that I don’t remember so it really made no difference to me. I remembered some parts from the book, but nothing that was so different that it deterred me from liking the movie. I think had I just got finished reading the book, I might feel a little different, but I didn’t so that’s fine.

I think Jay and I are going to watch Paranormal Activity tomorrow night. There is a good chance that Ayden might go home with Jay’s parents for the night since Jay is going home on Saturday for some tree hopping. I’d go, but really… I know that I wouldn’t have any fun and don’t really want to be ‘stuck’ keeping Ayden occupied while we are tree hopping and Jay plays cards. I’ll let Jay’s mom take care of that ‘job’ since I know that she likes it. As much as I hate ‘pawning’ Ayden off on the grandparents sometimes, I know that they do enjoy it because we don’t see them on a regular basis. It would probably be different if we lived in that area, but we don’t. Its like how when we visit my dad, I don’t mind doing things with both Ayden and Alexis because we don’t get to see her all the time.

Since I’m not curling up with my honey tonight to watch a scary movie, I just might have to curl up with my Kindle and start a new book. Not as warm or cuddly, but just might do, haha!

Hope you like the new look… I got bored and needed something new. That happens a lot with my blog, huh? You’ll deal, hehe!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Year in Review

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Christmas (Part Two)

Christmas day had us up by 9am (not by choice) and opening presents at Jay’s parent’s house… we all could have slept later (all being, myself, Ayden, and Jay), but I knew we had to be at Jay’s grandparent’s house shortly after 11am and that we needed time to open presents and get ready.

Jay got this beautiful hunting painting/picture to hang in our living room. I’ll have to take a picture of it once we get it home. I had to leave it at his parent’s house because I didn’t have room in my car for it and didn’t want it to break on the way home. Really nice though!

After opening presents there, it was hurry up and get ready to leave. We were at Jay’s grandparents for a couple of hours in which I stayed seated in one car not moving. I love that family to pieces, but there are just SO many of them… it’s almost chaos! I prefer to just sit and people watch… that and I hardly ever see many of them except on occasions where there are a TON of them… and we’ll I’m not an outgoing people person like a lot of them are. It is just overwhelming to me. Ayden was spoiled by his god father there… although because of the ‘family dispute’ the god father duties pretty much include getting Ayden a birthday and Christmas present, which is kind of regrettable, but oh well… I’m not a part of that dispute.

And then after spending our allotted time there, we headed off to my mom’s husband’s parent’s house for Christmas there. It was just us, my mom, Jim, my brother, sister, and Jim’s parents. We did gifts there, had supper, played a little bit and then had to head out because Jay needed to head back home to work and didn’t want to get home too late. Another day down… another busy day, lol!

Saturday, it was off to my dad’s house! My sister and I took Ayden and Alexis sledding! It was lots of fun, however lots of work having to walk up the hill as well! We had tubes and so the ride down the hill was pretty smooth! We all escaped injury free which was nice! Ayden obtained a small scratch on his chin, but nothing to fret about! After that, we went to Mickey D’s for lunch and then back to my dad’s for presents.

Ayden got this neat gun game from my dad and Wendy. I’m not so sure about the whole gun thing, but its a hunting game and he really likes it so who am I to complain. With Jay being the hunter that he is, it was bound to come around sooner or later.

Grandpa is trying out the game… getting himself some deer and bear! Ayden cheats and goes a lot closer to get them!My dad’s dog… Hunter! Poor thing is tethered too the kitchen most of the time he is in the house! Ah, but very pretty, isn’t he?!Is this not one of the cutest pictures you’ve ever seen?! Love it! Hopefully they stay this close as they grow up as well!

Saturday night I went out bowling with my friend Victoria and her brother and her brother’s girlfriend. I hadn’t been bowling in YEARS (well, if you don’t count the Wii), but it was good to get out and spend some time with my friend. We all pretty much sucked, but I did manage to score over 100 on my last game, didn’t think I would at first, but slowly got better… lets pretend that over 100 is a halfway decent score, okay?! Okay, hehe!

Ayden didn’t want to sleep over night at my dad’s house with Alexis that night so we headed back to Jay’s parents for one last night and then packed up Sunday morning before heading off to my dad’s parent’s house for our last Christmas gathering. Numero ocho!

We had lots of fun at my grandparent’s house and Ayden pretty much left my side the moment we walked in the door because his buddy Mitchell was already there. I was fine with that because it left me some time to catch up with my family. My dad’s family size will be very similar to Jay’s dad’s family in about 20 years… most of the cousin’s are still pretty young, but there are 9 aunts and uncles and so it is already pretty big. Just less chaos right now!

Here is my cousin Brandon… he had lots of fun opening the gifts my dad got home (since my dad is his god father). I think he liked the paper and bows the best though!Here are Rosie and Kimberly… they really didn’t want me to take their picture, but obliged after the first one I took didn’t turn out and they didn’t want a bad one, haha! They are growing up SO FAST!We did a white elephant gift exchange after all of the presents were open. It was hilarious to see the stuff people brought that they didn’t want at their houses anymore and all of the stealing that went on! There was a pizza pizazz, a chemistry set, a diaper, thermos, small pet carrier, etc… crazy fun!And after all of that fun, we still had to head home and open gifts at our house! The drive home was great! The roads were fine and the traffic not super busy and I managed to get almost all the way home before it got dark out which was the plan! It was great to just get in the house and relax!

Today I went to work for a little while and then we did a little bit of shopping. We needed to get a few groceries, stop at the bank, and then bought a few other things. Jay got some new work boots since his were really bad, Ayden got the maximus bakugan thing he really wanted for Christmas but didn’t get, and I got my new photo printer since mine broke just last week. The rest of the day was spent playing and cleaning. I did some laundry, put all the gifts under the tree (despite the fact that I want to take it down and put everything away), and relaxed.

We also got our ornaments for the upcoming ornament exchange next weekend, however I then found out that Jay has to ref a wrestling tournament next weekend and thus we most likely will not be going. I might have gone alone, had it been somewhere I know, however it is in Madison this year and I will not drive there by myself. Not to mention that it’s winter and I don’t want to drive home in the dark which would happen since the party doesn’t start until 1ish… and two hours there really isn’t enough, since I’d have to leave by 3pm to even get halfway home without it getting dark.

Jay suggested I drive to his parents and go with them… well that means an extra hour and a half in the car, and or going to their house the night before, sleeping over, and then most likely sleeping over the party night as well since we would most likely get home late and I wouldn’t want to drive back to Point after already spending four hours in the car that day. And really… I don’t want to spend two nights at their house for a party that really isn’t that important to me.

Not that I don’t want to see that part of his family because I do (haven’t seen them in a while), but not THAT bad… so Ayden and I will most likely not be going, unless something else comes up. But kind of sucks because now we have three ornaments that we don’t need. I suppose we could always save them for next year or put them on our tree, it’s not like they were expensive or anything.

I need to order my textbooks yet, but I have about two weeks to do that… time to relax for the night!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Christmas (Part One)

Boy have we had quite the busy last four days! It was SO great to get home last night and just crash on the couch and watch some TV (never mind the disarray my house is in right now)! The only downside was not being able to fall asleep until after 11pm, and I went to bed at 9:30! Ugh! And I had to get up early this morning for work, double UGH!

Let's rewind back to Wednesday... we left Point after Ayden got done with school on Wednesday and had a safe drive back 'home'. It went well and the roads were great. The traffic wasn't too bad until I got to Appleton at 5pm and hit the busy part, but even then I was able to make it through the probably three mile stretch of road that I hate (over the big bridge and around the four curves) until I hit my exit with little trouble. I exited off easy enough and we made it to Jay's parents house. Jay stayed in Point to work because of the impending snow storm. Kind of a bummer, but it all worked out.

Wednesday night went well enough... we had supper and watched Criminal Minds and went to bed. Christmas Eve morning, we had to head off to my mom's house to open gifts. I think we made it over there shortly before 10am. Christmas Eve and Christmas day were pretty crappy weather wise, not too snowy, but more rainy and sleety. Thankfully, Point didn't get too much snow and Jay was able to join us by noonish at my mom's house.

Ayden had lots of fun opening gifts (and got spoiled beyond belief this year)! It was a great way to spend the majority of the day. In our pajamas, opening gifts, eating yummy food, and relaxing. Jay got the game Monopoly City and we played that. It is a little different than regular Monopoly and takes a little bit to learn (still not sure if we had all the rules down pat) but it was fun! Jay and Casey ganged up on me towards the end though so that I would lose. At first I didn't thinkt that their plan was going to work since the property that they built stuff on is rarely landed upon, but sure enough, one time... and I had to land on it and pay Casey pretty much EVERYTHING I had! No fair! But it was fun. I still say that Monopoly Deal is more fun though! All 'regular' versions of Monopoly take such a long time to play and this city version is no different... we probably played for a good hour or more. During this time, Ayden was busy playing with all his new gifts with my mom! Ayden got a scooter from my mom and Jim for Christmas… he wanted to try it out right away, but of course my mom’s house is WAY too small for that sort of thing. He is able to use it at our house though around the basement which is nice! No waiting until Spring here!Uncle Casey got Ayden some Bakugan for Christmas and he loved them! He definitely got enough of those for Christmas… it was a good thing we didn’t get him any! Okay, here’s the story behind his clown picture and why I look SO excited to get it… OR NOT! This clown is really mine (given to my mom when- or before- I was born from one of her friends as a gift), however I WILL NOT take it with me. I don’t have anything against clowns (I mean I have the movie IT), but to have this clown hanging in my house… I don’t think so! So, it stays hanging at my mom’s because she won’t take it down in fear that it will somehow reappear hanging up, I mean that would be freaky! And so, since I won’t take it, she took a picture of it so I could finally ‘take it home’ with me! Great, right?! Or not! Maybe you have to know us… My brother and his girlfriend… aren’t they super cute together! Becky totally spoiled us this Christmas and got me the cutest jewelry!My mom and Jim’s dog… Misty! She is getting up there in age, it will be sad day when she is no longer around, maybe my mom will get a third cat, haha! After my mom's house, we had to head to Jay's mom's parent's house. This year it kind of sucked because they weren't eating supper until 7-7:30ish and I knew that my mom's parent's (and family) would be done eating by then... so we kind of missed out on supper Christmas Eve night, but had plenty of snack foods to tide us over. We opened gifts at Jay's grandparent's house and visited for a while before we had to hit the icy roads to go to my grandparent's house. Ayden trying out his swimming goggles and flippers! You should have seen him trying to walk in those things, it was hilarious!!! Jay’s cousin Quinn! He is the happiest baby that I have ever seen! We only see him a handful of times a year because his family lives in Iowa, but he is so friendly! Once there, we got the picture thing under way and it went much faster this year without all of the extra ones that people usually took. And believe it or not, we had all the gifts open BEFORE 9pm! I was amazed because usually we don't start until then. Actually, I think we started around 8:30 and if we would have gone one by one or a little slower, it would have taken a lot longer. I was glad though because then the kids could play with what they got and people could visit a little more versus just watching everyone open their gifts. If we wouldn't start so late, I wouldn't mind maybe going a little slower since this year we really sped things up, but since it was already past bedtimes for the kids, I'm glad we went as we did.My family! Aren’t we adorable?! I asked my cousin Amanda to take some pictures for me (and she so kindly obliged- thanks again!) and I kept looking at her, and telling everyone too, because I wanted a good picture with my camera. Well, one of my aunts go frustrated that I wasn’t looking and she kept calling my name and said something pretty funny and my sister and I just cracked up! Needless to say, we did end up looking at my aunt for a good picture for her too!And my whole family… me, Jay, Ayden, sister, brother, mom, mom’s husband, loved the ‘forced’ smile on my mom and brother! Too funny!

I think we made it home just before 11pm that night… and crawled into bed before another full day began!

Christmas (Part Two)… will come soon!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Merry Christmas!

Even though it is not Christmas yet… I wanted to wish everyone a great holiday and safe travels! Since I am going ‘home’ for four days and will only have limited computer access, I probably won’t be posting until Monday again or Tuesday if I get lazy on Monday.

We have three laundry baskets over flowing, two pieces of luggage, and snow tubes to trek home with us. Not to mention whatever Jay packs to bring…

It wouldn’t be so bad, but it means more clothing than the normal weekend trip home, plus two baskets are filled with gifts, and one with snow stuff. And this all has to fit in my small car… okay, well I am making Jay bring one basket of gifts home because really I don’t think it would all fit in my car, even if we tried.

The plan is for him to stay here thru tomorrow and work a little bit and then trek home for tomorrow night into Friday sometime and then come back to work. Honestly, I’d prefer he just stay and work because the weather people say it is supposed to snow into Friday and I don’t really want him driving home on bad roads. I definitely get how he wants to see his family and its Christmas and all, but I do worry about him driving in bad conditions (despite the fact that he plows it in all the time). He’ll have been working, for who knows how long, and then has to drive almost two hours. I’m a worry wart, I know… I just don’t want anything to happen to him.

So I will finish packing up my car, go get gas, then off to pick up Ayden from school to start our trek home!

Criminal Minds new tonight?! Will have to check it out…

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Grad School GPA

IS A 4.0 (so far)!!! I’ve NEVER gotten a 4.0 GPA in ANY semester of college as an undergraduate, NEVER all A’s (because A-‘s do not count for 4.0) and well that screws up everything. So, getting a 4.0 my very first semester of grad school is very awesome, in my not so humble opinion because really I am excited about it. I had three classes, two labs, and one clinical practicum slot, and I managed to get all A’s in them! We need to get a B or better in the class for it to be considered passing so I think I did pretty well.

We are allowed to retake one class in the program if we get a grade under a B, if we get two under a B, then we will be dropped from the program. Quite nerve wracking I would say, but so far, we’ve had teachers who want us to do well and will allow us to retake/rewrite assignments/tests that are under a B in order to achieve the B grade. And I know that some of the other professors will allow it as well according to the second and third year students.

Next semester, we will have two second year students in our ABR I class because they ‘failed’ it when they took it. One of them ‘failed’ by one POINT… not by one percentage, but one POINT! I would have been super upset if that was me and I know that that particular student is/was. According to the second years, that particular professor is HORRID! Super super hard tests! Thank goodness that that professor is going on sabbatical this coming semester and we will have someone different. However nice that is, unfortunately, we will have her next fall for ABR II and will not know how she tests until then and hopefully we will learn enough from the professor we will have for ABR I this spring to help us make it through the class.

Really, I’m not worried (at this point) because the second years all had to rewrite their hearing assessment exams their first year and us three first years didn’t have to do any. So either, the professor really made the exams that much easier (which I doubt) or we just learn a little better. So, hopefully I’m being positive for a good reason, right?!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

That doesn’t look so good!

So, I told you when I went and got my tragus pierced… and I’m pretty sure it’s not healing like it should be. I’m pretty sure it isn’t infected, as it doesn’t hurt (unless I get it caught when I pulling off a shirt and it pulls on it a bit, but that’s with any piercing), it isn’t red, and it isn’t draining, oozing, or whatever. I can play with it and move the ring around and it doesn’t hurt. However, there are these blister like things formed on the front and back side of my tragus around the piercing. The only on the front side is not very large and probably not noticeable unless you were looking for it, but the only behind the tragus has gotten much larger since the last time I looked. Once again, not something you would notice, unless you were sitting looking at the side of my head and pretty much into my ear.

Part of me wants to take a pin and try and pop it, however trying to see it holding a mirror and having enough light is hard enough, so that is pretty much out of the question and I know that Jay wouldn’t do it. Part of me wants to just leave it alone so it doesn’t get infected.

I showed Jay, and as I suspected, he was thoroughly icked out by it (seriously it doesn’t look THAT bad), but I’m a ear girl, so this sort of stuff doesn’t bother me. He said I should go to the doctor to get it checked out.

Part of me thinks I should, but I don’t want to make a big deal out of nothing. He said I should also maybe go back to the place that pierced it, but I don’t think they would be able to do anything for me, other than say I probably didn’t take care of it right and should go to the doctor. I think I’m going to see what happens in the next week or so and if it doesn’t get any better, go to the doctor and see if they can do something (other than taking the piercing out and letting it grow shut).

It looks like the one on the front is going down and so thought things would be fine, until I looked at the back one. Hmm… like I said, don’t think it is infected because it isn’t presenting with any normal signs, like pain, drainage, redness, just look like blisters… interesting to me, probably TMI to you, but oh well.

I can sleep on that ear, talk on the phone, wear head phones, etc… so I’m hoping its really not that big of a deal and the bumps go down within the next week or so. I know that one of my friends had her tragus pierced and she had to take it out because it wasn’t healing correctly, hope that this isn’t me too! Boo!

In other news… I cleaned the basement this afternoon with the help of Ayden and Jay. Looks good now! Also got the laundry done and Ayden’s clothes packed. Slowly moving closer to going home and looks like the weather is going to be in my favor Wednesday night! At least I have that to look forward too!

A new paranormal state is on tonight! Until then, I am going to get Ayden some ice cream for dessert, pack some of my clothes, and try not to worry about my ear. Be thankful I didn’t try taking pictures, haha! Just kidding, as much as I love ears (and their abnormalities), I wouldn’t subject you to something like that, or would I? You should see the chunk of ear wax Ayden has in his ear (that I SO badly want to get out)… it looks like a purple gusher (you know, the fruit snack thing), seriously it does! Now doesn’t that sound appetizing! He’s had it in his ear since before his birthday since his doctor said something about it when she checked his ears at his well child check up. At that time she could see his ear drum, but shortly there after when I brought him into the clinic on campus to look for myself, I couldn’t! Oh so I wish I could dig in there and just extract it… but he doesn’t like me digging in his ears, trust me, I’ve tried! Maybe after I learn irrigation this coming semester (or summer, can’t remember when we learn it)… lol!

Okay, enough ear talk!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Resigned…

The weather being predicted for later this week is not looking favorable for Jay to attend Christmas with us. I'm bummed, totally! But I figured that if I resigned myself to the fact that he probably won't be coming home with us (at least for Christmas Eve), I will be super excited if he can join us, right?! Does it work that way?

I suppose I should just be grateful of the fact that he is here for Christmas where so many other families cannot be with their loved ones for Christmas for a variety of different reasons. And I know that I will not be the only one affected if we do get snow and Jay has to work. It's not as if other people won't have to try and drive in it and/or decide not to and stay home. It's just a very bummin' situation... and I've been bummin' the last few days so it doesn't really brighten my mood any.

We had a very uneventful weekend, much like last weekend... I suppose that that is okay, but I am really looking forward to being gone for a few days. I'm starting to go a little stir crazy without having really anything that needs to get done. That, and I've been thinking a lot lately about a few things and its really starting to get to me. Need to relax the brain and just have fun!

So that is what I am going to do this week. Today... getting the laundry done before Wednesday, starting to pack, and then cleaning and organizing the basement because it's a MESS! See for yourself! At least the front half is! That is what I get for letting my child have free reign of all of his toys, lol! As if I wouldn't let him have free reign!

The part that gets messy… And the part that stays mostly clean…

Or maybe if I get really ambitious, I will even redesign my blog, not that it needs it since I just recently redid it probably a month or so ago. Maybe I will redo my Project 365 one since I'm considering starting that up again at the first of the year. Think I can make it a little farther than last year? Who knows? I thought maybe I'd give it another go...

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Snow… snow…

…DON’T COME! Please let Jay be able to come to Christmas Eve and Christmas without having to worry about work and snow! PRETTY PLEASE!

Won’t keep my fingers crossed, but is it too much to ask?!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

In a Funk…

I’m in a funk today…so here are a few pictures from today to tide you over… enjoy! CIAO! LOVE ME!

MAJOR Vent, Minor Gripe

MAJOR VENT: It's AGAINST the law to NOT wear your seat belt... and SEAT BELTS SAVE LIVES!!! So, why on God's green earth does my fiancé CONSTANTLY NOT WEAR HIS!!! IT DRIVES ME INSANE!!! Especially since his brother died in a car accident and wasn't wearing his seat belt!!! (*Side note, not saying his death could have been prevented even if he was wearing his seat belt as I don't know every specific of the accident) However, shouldn't that be enough to MAKE YOU WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT!!! And what makes it worse is, well two things, he's a bad influence to our son, and he puts up such a big hissy fit when I tell him to put it on! Seriously, I put my seatbelt on even before I start the car, its just that simple! ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT!

Part of me just wants to scream at him that his brother DIED IN A CAR ACCIDENT! WEAR YOUR DAMN SEAT BELT! But I don't want to be THAT mean about it. And I don't want to make him feel bad about bringing his brother up. My next recourse is to go to his mom and tell her to tell him to wear it because I know she will be upset by it, however, I don't think it would change anything other than making her upset knowing that he doesn't wear it and worrying her. You know?

Oh, and then when I tell Jay to put it on and we get into the same argument about why he should, he always goes into, well they can kill you if your in an accident too. What about them getting stuck and your car is on fire and then it explodes and you can't get out and die. WELL HELLO! If your car is on fire, you probably hit something hard enough that if you weren't wearing your seat belt you would have been thrown out the windshield or hit your head hard enough on something you'd be unconscious, so in that effect, the seat did save your life. UGH! It just bugs me like none other when he doesn't wear it, which is about 95% of the time and ALMOST ALWAYS when I'm not in the truck with him. When I am in the vehicle with him and notice it, I do say something and he puts it on. I just wish it was habit for him as well! I admit, that before my mom's accident all those years ago, my dad was never stringent on us wearing our seat belts when we were with him (my mom always has been), however after that, I ALWAYS wore it ALL the time and whether or not it was my mom's accident that caused my dad to start wearing his or not (since they were already divorced how many years when it happened), my dad now always wears his as well!

UGH! What is a girl to do?!

(UPDATE: Jay wore his seat belt on the way to the store this afternoon without me having to say anything. Maybe I’m getting through to him… or maybe not since he didn’t wear it on the way home from the store, ugh again!)

MINOR GRIPE: So during Thanksgiving, my sister, cousin, mom, grandma, and two aunts were discussing what Christmas Eve supper was going to be and my mom's husband brought up the idea that we shouldn't have a sit down supper, but maybe something more like make your own subs, soup, and other appetizers, like meatballs, little smokies, etc... We all thought it sounded like a good idea. I mean, we have pretty much the SAME thing every year anyways, and this way it wouldn't be uber crowded come time to eat like usual, the family isn't getting any smaller. And if someone wasn't hungry at that time, then that's fine too. Graze all night long if you wanted. Doesn't that sound good? Anyways, apparently (I say apparently because I don't know for certain) one of the aunts that was no longer present did not 'like' that idea and we are back to the SAME OLD BORING Christmas supper. (At least I'll still get 'my soup' at my mom's house and Jim's parent's house). Ugh! Next thing I know, we'll be doing ALL the pictures we usually do after deciding upon not needing to do half the ones that we do every year because they are always the same. I like the family ones and the ones with our great grandma, but all the of the god parent ones... really?! And I think we didn't do the stairs one last year either, however that one is cute looking back at seeing us all grow on the stairs, hehe!

And another minor gripe going along with Christmas Eve at that grandparent's house... my grandma sent out a list of what she would like everyone to bring for food. All fine and dandy, because well its not like we should expect her to make it all. I mean, I ask people to bring stuff for Ayden's birthday parties. What I do have a little gripe with is what she asked me to bring... cookies! Maybe she thought they would be easy, buy them from the store and actually I am tempted to do that. I am NOT Betty Crocker and actually don't really like making cookies. Its the constant checking on them and putting more and more trays into the oven that I don't like. Like I have time to make cookies on or before Christmas Eve? I do have time, but it would be Monday or Tuesday of next week and then the cookies would be 'old' when I brought them and not fresh. But what bugs me a little more is that my sister doesn't have to bring anything. I've had to bring something to some family function or another for at least three years now... my sister and I are three years apart in age, um... so shouldn't she have to bring something? Should it really matter that I have a significant other and a child? Is that the going rate to get 'sucked into' bringing food to family functions because in that case... my brother and his girlfriend have been dating for over two years already... um... what about him? Like I know it shouldn't bother me, it's only cookies and that's besides the point. Its the principle of the whole thing, you know? And, like I said, its only a minor gripe... oh well I suppose. Enough of that, I’m over it, just needed to get it out!

At least we finished our Christmas shopping today, that’s a plus, right?!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Wednesday Wonderfulness!

I (we) did it! We found what we wanted to get Ayden for Christmas! And spent only a little more than we (I) had originally planned! Yesterday, I needed to go to Walmart for a few things and asked Jay if he wanted to come with me and he decided why not, not like he should have stayed home and worked on some studying or anything. I thought that maybe we could look around a little bit to see if there was anything we might like to get Ayden. We perused for a little while not really coming up with anything and getting increasingly frustrated because I was really wondering what we were going to get our little guy when Jay happened upon something pretty cool (and cheap) and that took us off! We got Ayden done. Can I get a... OH YEAH?!?! I was so happy!

I was also able to get a few other things. I keep thinking up people that I can get gifts for... I really need to stop! But I think I have everyone 'accounted' for. Jay came up with some ideas for the last few people we need to get gifts for and I will take care of one of those people either today or tomorrow. He is in charge of the last two... man things needed... you know, like hunting or tools, stuff apparently I am not that knowledgeable out. And who am I kidding, I'm not! I almost smashed my finger off this weekend trying to hammer my necklace holder together. Oh well, that's what Jay is for! Speaking of that, I really should have him check my oil level because I think I am due for a change by now. Not too far overdue, but who knows?

Study session with the class at 10:25 today... probably won't go until noon like the class is scheduled for, however who knows since we haven't actually had class in like three weeks (well at least with the professor). No one went the day before Thanksgiving, except Katie and Amy, then we had a guest speaker, and then there was the snow storm last week. So maybe everyone will have lots of questions. Hopefully it is helpful. And then it is study time with Katie and Amy until 2pm when our test is. I studied a little bit last night, but knew that I would get the most out of studying with Katie and Amy after class today... and really, in my eyes, two hours of studying for a 50 question multiple choice test is PLENTY of time! Wish me luck!

So, instead of studying last night, I spent my time (after Ayden went to bed) reading a book on my Kindle. Ah, I LOVE IT! It's so light and easy to hold on to and it definitely reads like a book. The ink on the screen looks just like it does on a paper and not like it would on a computer screen. After reading off of a computer for too long my eyes start to go buggy and I was worried about this, but they use something called electronic ink and it reads so much easier than a computer. I'd say so far the only down fall that I can see is that you have to 'turn' the page a lot. The screen is about the same size as your average paperback book, so lots of 'page turning' which involves just pressing a button. It really isn't a downfall, but if I had to pick one, that'd be it. Oh and the fact that you have to buy the books, where as at the library they are free, lol. However, the one I am reading now I was able to download for free which was really nice. It's a James Patterson too. Not his typical kind, but good none the less and his books always read fast because they have such short chapters!

The only part about Christmas that I dislike... the wrapping, the wrapping of the non box like gifts. I am not a good wrapper, even with the ones that are in boxes, I SUCK! Lol and so I try to make Jay take over in that department because he is really picky about the way his wrapping turns out. Really, it just gets ripped off in the end anyways so what is the big deal. I think I am going to have Ayden wrap the gifts that he 'bought' for people because I know that he really likes to do that and its not the appearance that means anything, its what inside, and really it isn't even that because that is not what Christmas is even about. But, I do like giving gifts so that also helps. Its not so much the getting that I care about, I like to give!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

One and a half…

…more days… until I can say I am D.O.N.E. I was supposed to be able to say it today after I was done with my morning exam, however… that damn snow storm we had last week pushed my second exam back until Wednesday at 2pm. Ugh! And I really need to be studying some more for that stupid exam that will take place at 2pm on Wednesday after a hopefully good review session at 10:25 and then two hours of studying from noon-2pm before the exam. I will get the most out of my studying during that time because it will be with my friends and I can study for stuff that I don’t want to better when people are asking me questions. And plus, despite the fact that I should be studying some tonight, I have practically all day tomorrow to get some studying done as well!

My weekend home alone with Ayden was marvelous! It actually couldn’t have gone better! Jay was gone hunting with his boyfriend… they really needed some quality time together, haha! Ayden and I did some major grocery shopping on Friday night. I actually cooked some halfway decent meals this weekend believe it or not, lol! I have been in such a rut lately with cooking that I needed to get out and get some stuff where I could feel like I was making some sort of substantial meal for us to eat.

On Saturday, I read a lot because I really wanted to finish my book, but in between reading, Ayden and I got another Christmas gift knocked off of my list, made two different kind of cookies (seriously, just take them out of the wrapper and put them in the oven kind, I’m so not Betty Crocker), played out in the snow, and had rest time on a big bed of blankets we made in the living room. It was a good day and the weather was nice for playing outside as well so that made it all the more better.

Oh, we also made a necklace hanger for my necklaces. My jewelry box was overflowing with them and instead of just getting a bigger one like I thought I might do, I decided to hunt around the house to see if we had some materials to make something for my necklaces and in fact we did. We had just the right size piece of scrap wood in the garage… pounded some nails in it, Ayden painted it, and then I hung it on the wall in the closet. Works pretty darn nice if I don’t say so myself and I only smashed on finger while using the hammer. It didn’t bruise or anything, but definitely hurt for the remainder of the day Saturday. I also stayed up until 10pm Saturday night to finish my book… my first 1000 page book… completed! Yeah me! It was good, but kind of stupid ending I think, I don’t know.

I needed/wanted to finish my book Saturday night so I would have all of Sunday to study for my final that I had this morning and Ayden was such a GREAT boy on Sunday and let me get some studying time in. He played so well by himself when I told him that I needed some quiet time to study. I couldn’t have asked for a more well behaved child. I will take it while I can get it because I was expecting to be begging Jay to get home Sunday night, but I wasn’t. And to make things better, Ayden is being great tonight as well! I don’t mean to make it sound like he is the child who never listens etc etc etc, but like every child, he has his moments. Some days are better than others, but it has been a while before he’s had to solid great days where he’s been super well behaved.

My final today went well. It took me two hours to complete it… ALL WRITING! It was long! There were really only two parts that I wondered a little a bit about. I think I was over thinking things by the end of the exam and might have gotten them wrong, but the exam was worth 111 points and even if I got both of those questions wrong, I would still get a 101/111 on the test which is a 91% and factoring in that I got a 100% on both the previous tests… it would give me a 97% in the class. I would really like to have gotten a 100% on the final as well, but I’m pretty sure that that isn’t going to happen. I need to get a 85% (possibly 83%) or better to pass the class since you are not allowed to get anything lower than a B grade in any class. To get an 84% in the class, the lowest I can get on the final is 60/111 points and I KNOW I did better than that.

For my final on Wednesday, it is 50 questions long and I can get 35/50 points and still pass the class since I got a 99% on the first test. At least I hope I am figuring these totals out right. Neither class has the grades weighted in a certain way so I think I am. In any case, I would hope that I can get more than 35 points on the test… 40 would be my lowest hope which is 5 questions wrong and seeing I did WAY better on the first one than I thought, I’m thinking this second one shouldn’t be too hard.

Off to start another book… is that smart before my final on Wednesday?! Lol!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Christmas Tree Time!

I might have shared some of these pictures already, but can’t remember… so here you go again!

Picking out our tree at the tree lot! Of course we had to go when it was snowing out, but that is okay! We found the perfect (cheap) tree and called it ours!

Ayden and Daddy carrying the tree into the house and getting it set up while Mommy sits behind the camera and says whether or not it is straight or not, hehe! My two favorite boys took care of all the hard work!        

Christ tree lights… in bokeh! Trying something new and sort of like how it turned out! Some a little different that I had seen on a few different websites and gave it my best shot! Worked for me!

Enjoy!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

It’s starting to look a lot like…

…a WISCONSIN Christmas! And I say Wisconsin because if I just said Christmas, people could be all like, well Christmas here doesn’t look like that, hehe!

(Written Tuesday) The snow is coming! It hasn't quite started yet, but it is definitely on its way! They are predicting a good 6-10 inches, maybe even a foot! For the first snow of the season... THAT SUCKS! I'll deal with the snow, I live in Wisconsin for crying out loud, I really don't have any choice. Every winter I deal with the snow, but that doesn't mean I can't whine a little bit about it, does it? Hehe! What I really hate is driving in it and I only drive city streets! Sometimes I think that is a little dangerous than those deserted country roads. Definitely not more dangerous than speeding down the interstate at 60 or 70 mph, but city roads are not always the cleanest and people drive STUPID in the winter. And since we haven't had any snow yet, people haven't become accustom to driving the snow and haven't put their winter thinking hats on in regards to driving and me... I'm just extra cautious because I really don't want to end up in an accident and they save sometimes the overly cautious people are bad at causing accidents as well.

So... I'm ready for the snow, as ready as someone who doesn't like it can be. I'm prepared to have to drive in it tomorrow morning if NEED be, but I'm kind of hoping that I don't have to. I'm thinking, more likely than not, school for Ayden will be cancelled since we are still supposed to be getting high amounts of snow in the morning hours. That is fine since he is signed up for the snow days program through the Y. Its just the fact of driving him across town to get there. I have class from 8am-noon tomorrow, and then a final from 2:30-4:30. My 8am class is simply a review hour which could be postponed until Friday if need be during our lab time. My 9am and 10:20am classes are the last class period for those. My 9am class is our presentation time. Given that Madison is supposed to get hit worse than us, there is an even bigger chance that that class may be cancelled. I'd have no problem with that seeing we wouldn't have to do our presentations then and they can't really reschedule our class. My 10:20am class is also a review session, a review session for the final I have later than afternoon. I'd really really really love that review session because I know it will help for the test we are taking. It is my hope that if we don't have a review session, he might send us some review questions to look over and our final might be post-poned until Thursday or Friday. I mean, I'd love to get it done tomorrow, but if the weather is really that bad, I don't want to be going out and driving in it. I'd rather be going out and playing in it!

(Wednesday night now!) I didn’t get a chance to finish this yesterday as was my plan. I got home last night and ended up being preoccupied with a few other things and then didn’t get to bed until way later than I wanted and then had to get up way earlier than I wanted to as well.

This week was supposed to be all planned out, but as we all know, our best laid plans always go awry!

On Monday, Jay and I got a super good surprise from Alltel! Originally we were not supposed to be able to upgrade our phones until April. Jay called a while back to see if we could upgrade for cheap if we changed our plan to the smartphone plan. As it turned out, if we chose to do that, at this time we would only be able to upgrade one phone. I told Jay he couldn’t upgrade if I wasn’t able to. I know, I’m so nice, right? Well, I thought it was only fair. So we were resigned until waiting for April… I mean it really isn’t THAT far away.

So, we get the mail Monday and have a flyer from Alltel. I’m all about to throw it out without even opening it because I reckoned it was junk mail like we normally get. Turns out it was their Christmas gift to us (and probably lots others) that we could upgrade our phones NOW for the cheap price and no upgrade costs! How sweet is that? And it had both of our numbers on! The first Alltel store we went to wouldn’t go both of ours because they weren’t a ‘corporate’ store, so we went to a different one it town that was and they were able to. I was all set to get the LG Touch because I really wanted a touch screen. I think they are the coolest things… and then I tried using it. I still think the touch screen part is pretty cool, but as far the QWERTY touch keyboard, not working so well for me…

…so instead we both went with the BlackBerry Curve. I got the red color and Jay got the black and we also upgraded our plan to the smartphone plan, which is only costing us about $20 more per month which I thought was worth it. Jay really wanted it so he could check the weather on his phone (mostly the radar) while at work, and I wanted Facebook on the go! And let me tell you friends… I’m addicted already! Having my email right on hand at any moment and Facebook as well… hmm… maybe this wasn’t such a good idea! Lol! Meet my newest friend!

And so, the snow storm hit like the dickens last night! We got more snow than I know what to do with! Jay has been working since 2am (it is now 6:45pm) plowing. He should be home soon, but then will eat, sleep, and go back out probably around 2 or 3am again to make sure everything is good for the next day. Apparently we are supposed to get another inch or so tonight? I haven’t really watched the weather at all.

As predicted, Ayden didn’t have school today and after consulting with my plowing fiancé, he said to stay home and stay off the roads. Also, the plows didn’t go past until almost a half hour after I would have left to go to school anyways. And… it turned out that the campus was closed down anyways, but the email didn’t go out until after I would have gotten to school. Ugh, the timing of some people, lol!

I emailed my professors and so forth that I wasn’t coming in at like 5:30am when I got up and got ready for the day. I should have called Jay before I showered and then went back to bed, but I didn’t. Oh well! Ayden and I spent the day at home and played in the snow TWICE! We went out for an hour and a half in the morning and then another hour and half in the afternoon and it was SO much fun! It got a little windier this afternoon, but we both will sleep well tonight! Enjoy some pictures that I took while we were outside! And just look at all of that snow! Yesterday we could still see the GREEN grass!

Here Ayden is standing ON TOP of the pile that is in the last picture!See that pile to the right of Ayden… that is just from OUR half of the driveway. I told Jay that we can’t get anymore snow because he would have no where to plow it… his response? Well, we have the whole other side of the road to push it (although if I recall, he’s told me in the past that that is illegal?!)… oh well… he’ll be doing it, not me!

Because of the closed campuses today (state wide), my final that was supposed to be this afternoon will now be next Wednesday afternoon. Good because I was so not ready for it studying wise, bad because I really wanted to get it over with today and not have to worry about it anymore. Oh well, more study time for me!

Oh… and then… us first years were to meet with a prof of ours for next semester about scheduling our lab time. Turns out his schedule is pretty much PACKED and because of one of our stupid classes, we can’t have the lab during his only open period. What does that leave… a lab possibly on a CLINIC day! We do not have classes on Tuesdays or Thursday because those are clinic days. His only open slot is from 4:30-6:30 on Thursday or 1:30-3:30 on Fridays (which we need to get special permission for because that time is allotted for faculty meetings). If we have the lab on Thursdays, that means whoever has the afternoon clinic slot that day (1-4pm) will get done with clinic, have a half hour, then have a two hour lab. That means they will not get a chance to write their reports until after 6:30pm! I do not want to be THAT person! I would be okay with it if that slot were the rotating slot because then each of us would only have to deal with it 4-5 weeks of the semester and not the whole thing, but I’m really pushing for Friday and so is Amy because she has four kids she needs to take care of after school (although I don’t know why her husband can’t?)… but it’s not my place to ask or wonder about. So, keep your fingers crossed that we can do Friday afternoon and that the Thursday afternoon slot is the rotating slot. I would really like a morning slot again.

Enough school talk… I’m ready for a new episode of Criminal Minds today and then clocking out early since I did so late last night!

CIAO! LOVE ME!