Winter's coming!!

Our last week has been rainy, cloudy, and downright chilly!! Brrrrr! The snow is making tracks down the mountainside rather quickly! I love looking at the snowcapped mountains but I would like it to stay there for a while! I'm not quite ready for all the slippery, wet, white stuff!!!
The trees are all pretty much in their full fall colors! This is one of my favorite seasons! I'm hoping for a clear day so we can go out and get some pictures!!
Today, Jim and I ran all of our grocery errands!! WOW!! I can't believe the amount of food we go through in a week!! Josh is pretty much at the age of being a "bottomless pit"!! He's ALWAYS hungry! I'm glad the shopping is over and the cupboards are stocked again. I also managed to get ALL my laundry done today as well! I feel like I'm on a roll!
Tomorrow, we are going to Jennifer's house. She and I are going to make cookies, rice crispy treats, brownies, and fudge to send over to Iraq. While we're doing that....Jim is going to get some of the "man chores" done around her house. He's been such a sweetheart to do that while her husband is overseas. On the good news front.....Phillip (Jenn's husband) is supposed to be home sometime around Thanksgiving. That's much earlier than expected and I'm sooo happy for her! We're all excited! J.R. is supposed to be home around then too. So is Heather's husband. We're hoping to have a big homecoming thing to celebrate. They've all been gone a year and it's been a looooong year at that!
Dave moved to Tennessee this week. We miss him a lot! We got to talk to him for a bit tonight and it sounds like things are going smoothly for him. He's still trying to adjust to the heat and it will take a bit. He says he's going thru fall all over again since things happen later Outside compared to here.
I'm still struggling with my English paper. I've written my professor and hope to hear from her before class on Monday. (That's when the rough draft is due) The whole "pop culture" thing still escapes me. Am I just getting old?
I've had family on my mind a lot. I miss everyone so much!!! We would like to travel this holiday season but I don't know if we'll be able to pull it off. I hope we can!
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!!

Busy!

I haven't posted a blog in a while. School has been keeping me pretty busy!!
So far, I think my hardest class is English. We've had to write 3 papers so far and I really struggle with it! My first paper was graded and I got 25/25 points! My second paper hasn't been graded yet and it's worth 100 points! Wow!! Now I have a third paper I'm working on and trying not to stress over. One of the things I have to do for this class is bring in a 'pop culture artifact'. I'm not really sure what that means! My thoughts are leaning toward bringing my cell phone. I take it anyway and keep it muted and in my pocket during classes so...it's not something I'd be likely to forget! Do you have any ideas of something I could take that would be considered pop culture?

I still absolutely LOVE my ASL class!! (American Sign Language) My instructor is awesome!!! We had our first quiz this week and I got 20/20 points. Our next quiz is next week and I'm really looking forward to it!

Well, time to hit the books!

I've been pretty busy with school so far this week. LOTS of homework in both math and English! We have another written assignment. It's a narrative on pop culture. I get really confused about the whole popular culture thing. I mean...I don't go out often, don't really go to movies all that much, I wear what's comfortable and not necessarily in style, and I don't follow the whole "star gossip" thing.
I had to think of something to write and decided on "Internet chat lingo and how it affects kids' schoolwork". You think that's an ok topic?? Josh had a writing assignment and asked me to read it over. It was grammatically atrocious!! Plus there were a lot of misspellings. (jus instead of just, ppl instead of people, u instead of you, etc) Even our commercials today play on the internet shorthand!! So, now I just have to think of what I want to say.
In math we're working on integers. Positive and negative. And absolute value. It's still pretty easy (thank goodness!!). I'm going to try to get ahead in this chapter too and get my test done early. The chapter one test was graded and I got 102 pts. out of 100. YAY!!!
Tonight is my sign language class. The test is either today or Thursday. Either way I'm ready!! Both Jim and Josh have been testing me. A girlfriend sent me a link to a really cool site. You look up the word you need and there is a little clip showing how it's signed. How awesome is that!!?! I've been playing around with it and trying to learn signs that I feel I need but don't know yet so I can communicate with my instructor.
I've had family on my mind a lot lately. I miss everyone so much!!! I guess the gray, wet weather has me feeling a little melancholy. Thank goodness I'm keeping a lot busier now or I'd really be a sad sack!!
Hope everyone has a great week this week!!!!

Busy weekend

I've been pretty busy this weekend! It's been rainy and gray for the last 3 days or so and I've been going a little stir crazy.

On Friday, I went out to Humpies with Jim and Heather. We were helping her with her homework assignment. She had to go out and meet (and talk to) someone she didn't know. It's for her counselling class. (She's going for her masters degree.) We chose Humpies because 1) It's a fun place to be! and 2) there was a band there we wanted to check out (Bullets 4 Daisies). We didn't stay more than an hour and a half or so but it was enjoyable!! The band was pretty good too!! Plus we met 2 ladies from Australia! They were loads of fun to talk to! I love their accents!!!

On Saturday, Jim, Josh, and I went and saw 'Rush Hour 3'. Funny movie!!! Then we went out to Romano's for supper. YUMMY!!! I always get the seafood linguini when I go there. I can't seem to get away from it!! It's SUPER YUMMY!!!

Today, I've been studying my signs and reading for English class. I took a break and went to the movies with Jim and saw 'War'. It was really good too. The ending wasn't what I expected but I think it made it better! Now, I'm taking a break and will go back to studying in a few minutes.

These days..

School has been going really well for me. (I LOVE my sign language class!!!) I ended up switching instructors and got a class in town so...now I have school 4 days a week instead of 3.

I turned in my first reading response today (on blackboard) for English. I am so nervous about doing well!! I guess I'm a little retarded when it comes to school these days but..I'm sure I'll come around when some of the "newness" wears off! I think I did 3 or 4 rough drafts before I took it to class...then in class, we had to revise it! Ugh! I just can't seem to leave well enough alone!!

My math class is going really well. I'm probably 2 weeks ahead of everyone and already took my chapter 1 test. I'm pretty sure I aced it. In a few more chapters I'm going to need all the help I can get!!!

And sign language! What a great class!!! We're doing the basics and have a quiz next week. My instructor is deaf and I think I'm going to learn a lot more from him because of it. I'm going to teach Jim what I'm learning so I have someone to practice with. I'm about a chapter behind due to switching classes but...I'll make it up!

Josh isn't doing so hot in school. We had open house last night. Jim and I met all his teachers (he's got some awesome ones this year!) and had only a few minutes to chat one on one with them. I'm going to arrange a meeting this next week with all of them. Josh just doesn't seem to care and we have been struggling with getting him to be responsible and do what he's supposed to!!! We're almost to our wits end!!

Next week, Jim starts a lot of travelling around the state. He's looking forward to going a few places he hasn't been! I think Red Dog Mine is the first place he takes off for. Then it's Nome, Prudoe Bay (twice), and Shishimea. It'll do a lot for what I call his 'Mighty Mouse Syndrome'. (He flies in...saves the day...flies out)

Other than that....fall is definitely on its way. The nights have been pretty chilly and the leaves are changing color so quickly!!! I love the fall colors but wish we still had a little more sunny, warm weather to enjoy.