UGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I am definitely ready for the end of this semester. Although I have enjoyed learning, the workload has been absolutely ridiculous. I guess the combination of the classes that I am taking makes for a lot of homework. I spend so much time on my homework that my 5 year old has learned how to do her own laundry, haha, just kidding, but i do have a ridiculous amount of homework. I feel like I am neglecting my family most of the time. They are watching movies, I am doing homework. They are playing games, I am doing homework. They are going to the mall........Ok you get the picture. The stuff that I have learned this semester will be invaluable, but I can't wait for it to end!!!!!

Black Friday

I have been black friday shopping many times, but I have never seen anything like what I saw this friday. I made the massive mistake of starting at Wal Mart. We pulled into the parking lot at 4:45 am to find a parking lot that was filled to the rim with cars. For those of you who are familiar with the east york store, then you can visualize the insanity when I tell you that every parking space from Sam's Club all the way past Wal Mart and around Panera Bread was filled. This should have been my sign to run!!!!! Not me though, being the eternal optimist, I decided that it would be better inside. haha! When we entered the store it was jam packed. No matter which way we turned there was a sea of people. Looking back now, It was pretty hilarious. If aliens were watching us they would probably be confounded to figure out this yearly ritual. Well 1 1/2 hours later we made our way out of the store with almost nothing that we went there for and a lot of stuff that we didn't. Oh well. We spent the next several hours driving around to several stores in search of the greatest bargains. Although we didn't find anything amazing, it was a pretty fun day, hanging out with my girls.

New Moon

I guess that it would be safe to say that I am a Twilight fanatic. I saw New Moon, the latest movie released, twice this weekend and loved every second of it. Although movies based on books are never as good as the book, I believe that they did a good job this time sumarizing the book without messing it up too badly. Maybe the director of this latest insallment actually read the books, because it seemed like the important stuff was there even if it was a little different. I am so excited for the next installment to be released in June. I wish I could see it now!!!!!!

Thank You for Smoking

I really enjoyed the movie "Thank You for Smoking". It was very informative and entertaining. I was intriged by the Nick Naylor character and especially the relationship that he has with his son. I believe that the movie is thorough in it's illustration of the power of argument. This theme is the main focus throughout the movie and is especially evident when Nick says, "If you argue correctly, you're never wrong." This ties in with Nick's relationship with his son and how Nick creates a connection with him by teaching him about this very powerful tool which empowers and inspires.

Ouch!!!!!

My husband had some friends over yesterday to help him finish some work on the patio and to hang out and watch some football outside. I guess we can all just assume when there is a gathering of men and work and football, beer won't be far behind. Well all the guys were sitting out back watching football and sipping (ha, yeah right) on their beers, when our friend Wes took a drink out of his beer, which had recently become home to a yellowjacket. Ouch!!! Yeah, you guessed it. It stung the inside of his lip. I heard my name being called from outside, followed by, "You've got to see this". As you can imagine, I was a little nervous. Wes's whole lip and half of his face were swollen beyond recognition. It was the craziest thing that I ever saw. Apparently Wes was allergic to bees. Two Benadryl, some ice, and a car ride later, I had him at the emergency room. Everything is fine, he came back after the ER visit, so I can laugh about it now, right? Hahaha, it was the funniest thing that I ever saw. Holy cow, well I know that the guys were snapping lot's of pictures with their camera phones, so if I can get ahold of one, I will definitely post it here. I guess the lesson here is that Bees like beer too!

Coupons

Well it's happened folks, I am officially addicted to coupons. It started out as a way to save a little money. Now I spend hours figuring out how I can get things for free or for very little money. I even carry around a binder with all of my coupons, so that I won't miss that great deal. Yep, I'm that person. The one that you see in the grocery store, who tells their children, "no, we can't get that, I don't have a coupon". Hahaha, I'm not sure how the addiction began. Maybe when I got bags of cough drops for a quarter, or glade candles for free. However it began, I am hooked now. So look out grocery store manager, no matter how hard you try to hide it, I will find it! Happy Shopping!

Volleyball Banquet

My daughter Brittani is a Freshman at Suburban high school. She played volleyball on the JV team this year and last night was the banquet to celebrate the season. It was a lot of fun. It was held at the Wisehaven Banquet Facility. The food was great and after everyone ate, it was time for the awards. The coach wrote a poem about her players and added a little humor to the evening. The girls all recieved their letters and small gifts. The most fun was when the senior girls presented the rest of the players with awards that they called "Most Likely Awards". My daughter received, "most likely to play an entire game with her mouth open", hahaha. I guess she can't focus if she closes her mouth. The seniors each gave a speech and it was really touching. I suppose the best part was seeing the comraderie between the girls and how much they loved the game and each other. I imagine that I will be attending many more of these over the next 4 years. Go Suburban

Peer Review

I had a lot of fun in class today. Peer review was a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Everyone had unique insights and I found it to be very helpful. I guess the hidden bonus was that we got to know our classmates a little better. I liked hearing about their ideas and what interested them about the assignment. I feel like I am much more prepared to finish my paper now. Yay!

Halloween

I love halloween and am sad that it is over. My youngest daughter Addie had such a good time dressing up like a princess and trick or treating. When she was tired, we came back home and she really enjoyed passing out candy to all the other children. Everyone sits on their front porches and neighbors talk to each other. It's a lot of fun. I made a bunch of food for my mom, brother and sister and their families, so that everyone could enjoy the evening together. I am sad that it is over, but am looking forward to thanksgiving. I really love this time of year.

Scheduling

I think scheduling is more stressful than taking the classes. I am a nursing major so I was trying to make sure that the classes that I took would have a reasonable enough workload for me to maintain my 4.0. Any other health career majors know what I am talking about. The competition to get into clinicals is ridiculous. They warn you that a B could mean that you wasted your time and money because there is no telling when you can get in to clinicals. Ugh! The stress of beginning a new semester, with new professors and new expectations is really intense. If you make a wrong course selection it could have serious repercussions. Well good luck to everyone. Hopefully I will find enough hours in the day to study.