Weekend Update

Roger and I are sitting here Sunday night watching the Washington Redskins whoop up on the Minnesota Vikings. We had a pretty lazy Sunday. And we deserve it. Friday and Saturday were non-stop so we need a bit of a break. Friday I woke Roger up about 5:30 a.m. because I couldn't sleep. We laid down about 12:30 a.m. and I hadn't been able to sleep yet. So he woke up so we could talk about the 3F's, feelings, fears and frustrations. This is one of many things I miss about Roger not being home. I can tell him anything and he listens well and helps me see things the way I need to see them. We end in prayer and shed tears which always makes me feel better. We talked until 7:00 a.m and I got up and baked those red velvet cupcakes finally. Then we headed to the south steps of the Capitol for Tuba Christmas with Roger's dad and his sister Cindy. It was really nice. We try to go to Tuba Christmas every year. Here in Texas it can be outside, but in DC it has to be inside. After lunch at Waterloo, we ran a few necessary errands before heading back to the house to ice the cupcakes and so Roger could wrap all the gifts he picked up. It takes Roger a while to wrap gifts now so since he didn't want me to see my birthday or Christmas presents, I ran to HEB for some last minute groceries and to top off the gas tank for our two hour drive the next day and then I went to Michael's to exchange my cupcake stand because it was missing parts which made it unable to be put together. Upon my return he was still not done wrapping gifts and I finished icing the cupcakes. Then we ran over to my friend Susan and Tim's house to say hello, drop off some cupcakes and have a glass of wine. It was so nice to hang out with them again. They are definitely our kind of people.

Saturday we went to Smetana for the Wise family Christmas. It was a great day. We'll post the pictures from all these events at the end of Roger's leave and you'll get to see how much fun we had at my parents. Going home to the farm is always interesting and you never know what you'll end up doing. All the kids had fun and us adults too. The food was great. There's nothing like your own parents' holiday cooking. Fried turkey, glazed ham (real ham, not spiral, with homemade glaze), tamales, cornbread dressing, etc. Oh and all the desserts. We took a great group picture in front of one of my dad's tractors and then shot handguns in the front yard. I know, so country. This was the first time Roger fired a weapon in a long, long time and he said it felt good. And he did a good job too. Better than me. We fired a few different handguns, a couple revolvers, a .22, a .45 semi-automatic pistol and another one or two I can't remember what they are. I don't know how exactly it all got started. I was in the driveway hanging out with the youngest kids while they were playing in the sand and saw the gaggle of men, my mom and sister walking to the side yard with pistols and a couple of coffee cans. Of course I had to walk over and see what was going on. None of us had ear protection so we stuck our fingers in our ears except when it was our turn to shoot. I fired a few times before I shot one of the revolvers once and my left ear started ringing and hurting. So I decided I needed to stop. See, you never know what you'll end up doing when you go to the country.

Today we slept in really late. Roger cooked us scrambled eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast at noon. Roger watched football for a bit then we proceeded to trim some bushes, mow the grass in order to mulch all the leaves, fold cardboard, get the trash and recycle out for trash pick-up on Monday and to bring my plants inside from the freeze tonight. But our lawn mower refused to start. It was quite frustrating. I think if Roger could have picked it up and threw it in the street he would have. He finally gave up and we decided we were done with that lawn mower. We've had a lot of problems with it this year and we're not about to spend any more money or time on it. So after getting the trash and recycle bins out to the street we went in to watch more football and eat dinner. While Roger watched football, I decided to do some research on electric lawn mowers on his laptop in the living room with him. I was just interested in finding out about them because I'm sick of gas lawn mowers and wanted to learn about the performance of electric lawn mowers in preparation of maybe getting one in the spring. Roger moved over to join me in my research and we found a really good deal on a highly recommended one at Sears.com. The sale ended tomorrow and we thought about Christmas Eve at the mall and quickly decided to go tonight. So we drove to Sears and bought it. Now, this was pretty impulsive for Roger and I but I am glad we have it so we can mulch the leaves in the yard and I can mow the grass whenever I want to now and much easier than usual. I can't wait to try it out. We already use an electric weed-eater, edger, blower, tiller tool so we're used to using a corded yard tool. And we won't have to worry about mowing the grass early in the morning anymore because it's supposedly as quiet as a vacuum cleaner. And electric lawn mowers don't need any maintenance like tune-ups, etc other than blade sharpening. I'm glad about that because loading that gas mower in the truck by myself over and over again this year was getting very old. Hopefully I won't have to worry about that ever again. And, the best part is the touch of a button start and the fact that electric mowers give off no emissions which is great for the environment. I feel good about that.

So, we didn't buy a car on Friday. Turns out the great deal the area Mazda dealers were having was non-negotiable. So we have decided to get one of our other first choices which is the Hyundai Santa Fe SE. We already test drove it a few times and did some preliminary research but we did more research Friday night and will test drive it again tomorrow. They have some great rebates right now, plus a military discount and Hyundai's come with a 100,000 mile warranty which is unbelievable. I feel very comfortable with the Santa Fe which I didn't feel as comfortable with the CX-7. And in the process of doing all the research on it, Roger found out that Hyundai donates a certain percent from all their sales to pediatric cancer centers across the country. I was already impressed with the vehicle but knowing this made me even more impressed. So maybe we'll buy a new car tomorrow. Maybe.

My Crazy Life

This is going to be a rapid fire, all over the place and long (sorry Steph) post. I'm feeling it today. I'm feeling overwhelmed and freaking out a little bit inside. I got back to Austin last night. Thought I'd be fine and be able to get back to the grind with no problems. I had so much to do last night that I went to sleep really late. But couldn't actually fall asleep. I guess my body got used to sleeping next to my husband. I just could not fall asleep until right before my alarm went off. Then I hit off instead of snooze so I overslept. I don't know how or why I woke up when I did on my own, but I'm glad I woke up at all. I usually get up around 6am and head out by 7am or 7:30am. I woke up at 8:30am! I was gone by 8:50am and arrived at school about 10:45am even after stopping at my favorite kolache bakery in Caldwell. And I didn't even speed too bad, only 4-5 mph over the speed limit where I could. I was starving since I didn't have time for breakfast and really needed some comfort food this morning. I know worldly things won't solve the problem, but it sure felt better as I was eating my favorite kolaches, poppy seed. Yes, that was plural. I had two! It's okay since I've lost 10 pounds this semester, probably from stress.

As I was approaching the parking lot I'm assigned to I could see both buses I can ride driving off. I only had to wait about five minutes for both the #1 Bonfire and #5 Bush School buses to arrive. I jumped on the #5 and arrived on campus with 15 minutes to walk to the building. I got to class on time but didn't have enough time to use the restroom. Thank goodness I didn't have to go too bad, like normal. Sorry. We covered problems people were having with their research paper and got our book reviews back before the professor left so we could do an evaluation. I am not happy with my grade, 79, C+. This is the first C I've made in this class. Of six assignments, I've made 3 A's, 2 B's and now this C. And I thought I did so well on it too. I was actually pretty pissed off about it.

After we finished our evaluations, five of us stayed in the classroom and discussed our disappointment with our grades on the book reviews which led to discussion about our final paper and overall grade in the class. Everyone else is graduating this December so they are freaking out more than me. One girl sat with me and helped me figure out my grade in the class so far. I have an 87.9, B+, which is not bad. I actually had no idea what my grade was because I had not calculated it. So I'm feeling a little better about that since it means if I make an 80 on my final paper, I'll make an 88.1 in the class. If I make a 70 on my final paper, I'll make an 84.8 in the class. AND if I make a 60 on my final paper, I'll make an 81.5 in the class. IF we calculated it all correctly. So I'd have to do really, really bad on my final paper to make below a B in this class. I know I have to make at least a C in the class since it's a class for my major, but I think I only need a C in it to keep my GPA above the minimum for my major.

I'm usually not a person who figures out the minimum I need to make on a test or paper to pass a class, but I do not want to take this class again or pay for it again. My other problem is I'm an overachiever and I care about my grade in this class and what my professor thinks about me. Although I have an "I don't care" attitude, deep, deep, deep down inside, I really do care. I wish I could be like that sometimes, but I can't. I wasn't raised that way. Darn hard-working, respectable parents of mine are to blame for that. SO I made an appointment for tomorrow morning and Sunday afternoon at the University Writing Center for help improving my paper. I'm going to spend tonight fixing all the little problems so I can use all of my 45 minute appointment with a writing expert on the bigger issues.

Once I turn in my final paper for my history class on Tuesday, December 4th by 5:00pm, I will finish reading two weeks worth of assignments for my anthropology class for the final on Wednesday, December 12th. While I was in DC our grades were posted for the third test in that class. I made an 83, B. I'm cool with that. I have an 88 so far in this class and I'm not worried at all about it or my final grade. Plus if I go to the local natural history museum, I can get two bonus points added to my final grade. So you know I'll be going to help my overall grade any way I can.

Now that I got all that off my chest, I feel better. Wow, this blog is good for something. Thanks for reading my ramblings. And thanks for all your prayers. I'll try to post this weekend if I get time about my wonderful time in DC with Roger. It really was a blessing to be with him especially when he received his MEB. I was so happy to be able to be there to see one step of the process and meet so many people that have helped Roger to get to this point and make it through this whole process. It was great to get to celebrate with him. I'll tell you more about it all when I get a chance. Until then...pray for me to make it through this next two weeks and keep praying for Roger to be able to come home to me soon. I love you all and appreciate your love and prayers so much. I hope you all know how much I do. :)