hello again

so it is my least favorite time of the school semester, finals. which for me usually means lots and lots of papers. I hate having to research and wrote papers on topics that i am only a little bit interesting in, or worse yet when i am not at all interested in the topic. it is very hard to stick with it and do a good job, not just throw stuff together and end up with a 'ok' grade. i like my a's, but i am willing to suffer a b considering that i know i do not put the amount of work into my classes that i should. anyways, this semester i have 6 major papers due. one of which has already been turned in, and the rest which i have barely looked at. all of which are due within the next two weeks, i am burned out on school already, or again, or whatever, i was really looking forward to this semester too, since it was to be my last, but then i learned that they screwed up my transcripts and i actually need another 11 credits to graduate, so there is another semester, one i really really do not want to do, but i will because i need to be finished, and i mean NEED.

on a side note, my sons are both doing wonderful, i feel bad because my oldest could not go visit nini today, but he would not clean his room, he assumed cause she was family she would be an exception, and he has pushed us far enough that there are no exceptions now, so home he stayed with mimi while everyone else got to go and see the big dump truck, a very important thing to an 8 year old boy btw, and he had to stay home and clean. it went ok, and now that he knows we are serious about his room i suspect that it will be clean in the next few days. at least this is what i am hoping for.

michael has gotten a job, it is great, but i am not used to be home all day with the baby and no other adult to act as a buffer while i am trying to finish up my homework it definitely makes things far more interesting than they had been previously. it had been quite a few years since i had had to deal with homework and kids that you couldn't just set in front of the tv or send outside to play for an hour or so while you finish up, needless to say it has a definite learning curve.

oh, and i am looking for a new book series to read, preferably one that is complete, so if you have a recommendation than please let me know, however you wish it doesn't matter, i suspect that most of you know at least one way to get a hold of me.

i guess that is it for the night, i hope you all have a good night, and someone to share it with. i know i do and i will

Wow

yeah, so just a quick note to say, that I know I have responsibilities in lots of different areas, but i will put it in order for you, family is number one and will always be number one. next is friends, then school, student government and vfw stuff is last on the important to do lists. so if it is between a report due for the vfw or a 15 page paper due for school, then the vfw loses. and if it is between that 15 page paper and doing something with my kids, then the paper loses. that is the way that it is, and that is the way it has always been. i do not appreciate people getting angry at me when they throw something at me at the last minute and it doesn;t get done. niether do i appreciate being told that i am not living up to my end of a bargain when i started a project because major things have been going on in my personal life and i will not let that effect my kids personally. so get over it because it is not going to change.

Long time no see

yeah, so i just realized that i have not really blogged for a while, so i thought hey, i have a few spare minutes, might as well get it done right. lets see, it has been an exceptionally busy month, mainly because we got t0 go on vacation over spring break, so nice, so fun. but before we get to the fun part, it is time to let me vent.

caution, may not want to read, so skip down a bit for vacation info.

ok, so as i have mentioned before i think, i am a member of asa, which is all well and good, except that this board cannot be made up of college students, they have to be middle school aged at best, at least that is what they act like. there is more in fighting than i want to deal with, we are supposed to be doing things for the students, but we never seem to be able to get things done because people cannot stop arguing things that are done with, or cannot stop arguing over which university or district is the best. i could not believe the way these people act, the whole group should go to a mediation, but at this point, the year is almost up so whats the point right, anyways, i just had to get that out because i find it ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.

vacation starts here

ok, now on to the fun stuff, we went to apache lake in the phoenix area for spring break, it was great fun. we rented a boat for a couple o days and explored caves and coves that can only be accessed by the water, we also got to see the two dams that are on either end of the lake, absolutely beautiful they were too. me being the clutz i am fell on the dock the first day we rented a boat, the bruises are great, they have been every color of the rainbow since i got them a week ago, till now, and yes, they are still there and probably will be for another 2 weeks or so, i bruise exceptionally easily, and i bet the people who saw me fall on my ass at the last abor meeting would be in no way surprised that i fell on a slippery dock, in the only hole none the less, oh well, it is what it is i guess.

anyways, we also went into payson and saw sara, michaels cousin at work, we were going o try to go back and catch a concert with her and her husband, and her brother and his girlfriend, but michael was not feeling good so we ended up going home instead. lets see, oh yes, we also got to see the cliff dwellings in roosevelt, though not up close because we got there about 15 minutes before closing time, so we did not get the chance of hiking up to them, that will be an adventure for a different day i guess, though i did get a few pics of them, like super zoomed up to.

we went to wet and wild phoenix, which could have been great except that my oldest son is a chicken and would not ride any of the slides without first throwing a tantrum, and then the actual pools were closed, so there was not really anything for the baby to do, he does not like water splashing on him, though he does enjoy sitting in it and splashing you. but i got to ride 4 slides, so it was not a complete waste, though 4 slides for the 100+ we payed to get it would argue that.

finally we went to the Renaissance fair, it was great fun, but exceptionally expensive, plus i had to interview people which i really hated, (i hope you are happy with that paper derek) but you do what you gotta do for your classes you know.

tomorrow i have to go to tucson and get my youngest son a helmet for his head, it is misshaped, just like his brothers was, so the helmet will make it be more normal than it would otherwise be. and then i also will be meeting a teacher at ua main, to see if she will let poor little undergraduate me in one of her graduate courses for credit, i hope she does and i hope she doesn't for different reasons, but those would be for a different blog.

my time is up and now i must go. love to you all

Graduation

I so did not want to walk, but it would seem that I have no choice in the matter. Everyone wants to see me and celebrate, I just want my important and expensive piece of paper, and a little bit of a break before I continue on for my next important and expensive piece of paper, it would seem that you can never have to many of them. . Anyways, today I went and got my cap and gown, and a few tassles, and of course that wonderful thingy that you put the degree in. Yay!!! =0/ notice the sarcasm people, notice the sarcasm. so now on a special day in may i get to walk down an aisle shake a bunch of hands, a plus to this is that i actually know the people who the hands belong to thanks to student government, and be forced to do this all in front of a large amount of people i do not know, nor do i wish to know them. you know the person is trips and falls and makes a general fool of herself when forced into uncomfortable situations, that is me. so i feel blessed to be able to do this AGAIN.....not. ok, i have vented enough for the moment at least. laters all.

AZ Tuition Hearings

Tonight i got to stand up in front of hundreds of people and share my story about trying get a higher education while being a mom and and a wife to a vet. I got to tell others stories about how they pay both their tuition and the tuition of their children, and about how, when these tuition increases go up, they are going to have to give up their education so that they can pay for their children. This is something that students of no age should have to chose. The horrible part is that everything I said, all of the stories I have told, they will not matter, because the ABOR do not have a choice but to allow tuition to be raised, the state has cut back our funding to the point where if they did not raise tuition than we would not be able to have the great education that we are currently recieving, that is of course if the University was still able to stay open. Arizona Legislatures need to get their heads out of their asses and realize that the universities and the students that go to these universities are the future of our state, without them this state will continue to fail, the economy will continue to decline, and people will not want to live here or raise a family here. What would the state do then I wonder, I do not know, and I would rather not find out.

NCLC

OK, so this weekend i am in Tucson for NCLC or the National Collegiate Leadership Conference. It is interesting, I have learned some new things, and reinforced other things, so that is good, I have also met some new people, which is never a bad thing, at least that is what i keep being told, or reminded by Andres, or happy President here at ASUAS. but the people i met are not horrible, so that is always a good thing i guess. I got a new shirt, for sleeping because it is freakin huge, and i learned about different service projects around Tucson, a few that I would like to try and extend down to Sierra Vista. I have one three community service projects, though they offered more, you cannot do you hours with service projects alone, which sucks because i would have. anyways there was beads of courage, which gives beads for certain things to children in the hospital for a long term, those who are being treated for cancer for example, so every time they get there blood drawn they get a red bead, or an xray would be a glow in the dark bead, and then when they are all done with their ordeal, when hopefully they are healed, they then have a strand of beads, sometimes a really really long strand, that they can use to show their story with. it gives them a way to know what has happened to them. the next one i did was bens bells, and that one is a random act of kindness, you go and you make these windchimes, and then twice a year they take them and hide them all over tucson, and a few other cities, and then when people find them, they take them home. this one was started by the parents of a young boy who died, it was their way of dealing with their grief, and now it helps others for various reasons, it was really awesome. the last one we did was the boring one, it was necessary, but it was still boring. it was done by the majority of the conference attendees, and it was packaging rice, for two hours we sat there listening to a dj who sucked balls, and did a work line packaging rice, i opened the bags, 100's of bags, and have had it reinforced as to why i am going to school, so that i do not have to do that as a living. but it was for a good cause, every bag went to a family who needs help, so i would do it again, so long as i chose it and was not forced into it. the workshops have been interesting, in the first one i learned that i am green, then orange, then gold, and finally blue when it comes to the personality color thingy, and the second one allowed me to watch people tear up boxes, always a fun thing, people making fools out of themselves. today i will learn how to make a awesome powerpoint presentation, or at least i hope i will, and then i am not sure what else, but we will see. alright, laters then isa got to back and find a new place for the car. sad i liked it where it was, oh well.

Movies

ok, so on twitter i promised a blog about the movies i watched yesterday. so here it is, short and sweet so that i can get my homework done, at least that is the plan, we will see if i can stick to it.

first we have Sherlock Holmes. I liked it, and i can not wait for the second one, because there has to be one. Watson is amusing, and Holmes is just a bit crazy, but that is what makes him who he is, and i want more. just as a side note, previous to this i have not enjoyed anything to do with sherlock holmes other than the old board game 221b baker street. so that can tell some of you at least how good a a movie i found it to be.

next we have a bloody valentine. and let me tell you, this was a great slasher flick, and probably the best vday movie i have ever seen. the ending was a bit secret windowish, but it was good, and it kept you guessing for longer than it should have due to trickery with the cameras an such, definitely one to buy and watch every vday, a new tradition has been born. i want to see the original as well, the remake was good, but i also like the older movies, so we can watch and compare etc.

the last movie is 9, from my beloved tim burton. he did not write it, or direct it, but he did have some sort of hand it. but it is not one that i will be buying, it was a good onetime watch, and had a descent story to it, but it is not one that i would want to watch again, it is no nightmare.

i guess that 2 out of 3 isn't bad, now i am going to retire to my books, and then watch public enemy and the new halloween, i have been putting it off, but with the second one out i have decided io might as well give it a try, halloween is like my all time fave horror series, so i have to watch this one too, if nothing else just to say that i have.

i am going to leave you with two pieces of trivia you may or may not know. 1 bones was in boogeyman, and 2 bella was in cold creek manor. wonder who did or didnt know that, whatever all, laters.