Many things

Several weeks/months have gone by since I last posted. I'm dealing with diabetes in my 13 year old cat. He's on insulin. Believe me, that's a challenge. We have numerous trips to the vet to check blood sugars. I want to get another cat but am not going to unless we can get the diabetes under control. I've learned I'm not afraid to give him shots and he's a cool patient.  He knows I'm not out to hurt him.

Other things going on...not taking classes this semester.  #1 daughter is a Senior (EEK! How did that happen??!) in High School this year.  Still in Marching Band. #1 Son is going to play football this year too.  Busy times for all!!

I decided today to give Weight Watchers a try again.  I've been lamenting my weight again and decided that the best way to fix that is to do something about it. I am really tired of being overweight.  I'm not "lazy", as I've heard recently, but I could stand to change a few habits. The good thing about Weight Watchers is that I don't have to give up any food. I can make this work, I know I can.  I need to do this for me. Nobody else.

I may or may not post things about WW on my blog. It all depends on how I feel. I'm rather laid back about posting lately anyway. I'll try to keep up and get back into the habit of writing. I can drag myself away from the games I like to play (they're mindless and time consuming!!) and get to my blog to write. That's my goal. 

I'm not crazy--MUCH.

Oh I'm not crazy.  Much.  
I signed up for another round of classes which start next week.  TWO classes this time in five weeks.  What is my issue?  I'm crazy...yep.  I'm taking History and Humanities.  The Humanities will fulfill my requirements for that.  I still have two more history classes to take to fulfill my State of Texas "Core" requirements. I'm going to be very busy.  Not sure when I'll get finished with school (probably not ever if I don't learn to type!) but I'm taking classes because it makes me happy.  
Right now, I'm listed as being in the "Teaching" program. I'm not one hundred percent sure I want to be a teacher, but again, I'm not sure.

No catchy title

School is nearly out for me.  Hooray!  I'm tired of this class and it's only the next to the last assignment.  I constantly feel like my professor doesn't like my writing, but I KNOW she's only trying to help me. I like writing but have realized that my writing has never been what would be considered "good."  I was told by a friend that my writing is "like a fourth grader's 'What I did on my Summer Vacation' essay." It's hard to take criticism like that. I feel incredibly stressed by that sort of criticism.  I know I'm not a professional, but that's why I take class.

I will be very glad to get this class done.  I'm questioning whether I should take another class.  Online is very hard.  I'm not really disciplined.  I set out with good intentions, but feel that I've let myself down by not carrying through with them.  That goes for my return to martial arts as well.  I have every intention (highlight the "intention") and yet, I have yet to jump into my car and go to Houston. I have yet to go out to my garage and kick my "BOB" around.  Instead, I watch my intentions sit there in the "must do" pile and be shuffled off to the side.


On the bright side, I did start seriously exercising and attempting to eat right again. I am not perfect in my food intake, this I know.  I had eggs for breakfast this morning. My trainer would like me to have egg whites instead. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as a snack, then a salad with grilled chicken for lunch. That, at least, was sort of healthy.  I had salad dressing on it (Fat free Ranch is still salad dressing, especially when it's not measured out!). I refuse to beat myself up over any of it. I worked out Friday evening (and went for a walk with hubby!), Saturday and ten minutes today..  Gave up on that workout when my right knee did slightly more than 'twinge'.  It gave me a serious warning that I'm heavy and that I need to be gentle with myself. I listened.




 

Writing is not the easiest thing

I am struggling with school.  That's a minor understatement.  I like the class, but am highly frustrated.  I wrote an "evaluation essay" on a printer for my last paper.  I was ill when I wrote it, so didn't spend a lot of time on it.  I gathered my data, found the thing I wanted to evaluate, then wrote my essay.  I submitted it a day late on the first attempt, which was our "pre-writing".  This was to show the instructor that we listened to what she'd said in class.  She kicked my assignment back, gave me a list of things I needed to correct.
I rewrote the paper barely in time.  I'd been out of work for a week, had gone back and was trying to get caught up there, PLUS get my assignment turned in on time.  The assignment was due on March 5th.  I wrote the paper on Saturday or Sunday and turned it in to the instructor.  It was early, but there was not ever any comments nor a grade on it.  I finally wrote to her and asked why.  She didn't answer me for a week, then posted back that because I had "plagiarized my paper and hadn't cited my sources properly, I got a lower grade.  She wrote all sorts of notes to correct me.  The next assignment was to write a Rhetorical Analysis.  The pre-writing for THAT was due March 23rd.  We had Spring Break the week before and I turned into an ass.  I decided that I wasn't bloody well going to write anything, so I didn't. I know I was being immature, but I was pouting about the fact that she said I'd "plagiarized" my last paper.  When I got around to thinking about the paper, it was nearly time for hubby and I to leave for Las Vegas.  I promised him that I'd leave my school work at home and not worry about it or stress out for the time we were there.  I was planning on taking a minus five points on the pre-writing, but when we got home, it was late and I was tired.  On Saturday, I spent more time doing household chores like laundry, hosting a cousin and my mother-in-law at dinner and just spending time with the kids again.  I didn't write the paper.  I didn't write it Sunday.  I didn't write it all week!  I wrote my instructor and asked her if I could still turn in my assignment even though I hadn't done the pre-writing.  She told me that if I didn't follow the first part of the assignment, she didn't want to look at the rest of it.  That's how I interpreted her email to me, anyway.

This morning, I got up, made coffee and then moved my laptop to the dining room.  I turned on some music on Pandora and listened to that while I read the notes I'd made from the video I was analyzing.  I wrote my paper *and* turned it in.  Yes, it's late and no, I won't be pulling a grade off the pre-writing, but it means I actually did what I needed to have done.  Now I just have to wait until I see her comments.  Sadly enough, my partner in the 'peer evaluation' didn't bother to send me her paper.  I sent her mine today.  I'm sure she's shaking her head and asking "why is she doing this at the last minute?"  Because she's not responded, I used my sixteen year old daughter as my 'peer'.  She's pretty sharp.  She knocked my paper down a peg or three, told me that there are a ton of edits to be made and that was that.  She told me to reconstruct my thesis statement, which I am thinking about.  The video was a lecture by Daniel Pink, who is a motivational speaker.  You can view it here (click).  Mr. Pink is an interesting speaker.  I enjoyed his video.  I enjoyed his use of humor and logic to describe the state of motivation in this country.   Definitely caught my attention. 

I turned in the pre-writing.  I have a bad habit of not editing my work before I turn it in, so it's probably so full of holes, the Titanic could sail through it unobstructed.  I will rewrite it tomorrow.  I'm not touching it again today.  I did run spell check on it and I did read my daughter's comments.  I also had a couple of people I trust read it.  One of them was out all day at a run she'd signed up for months ago, so I'm sure she hasn't seen it.  One of them is a gentleman I trust immensely.  He won't feed me a line of bs.  He tells it as he sees it.  

Now it's just a waiting game to see if she even recognizes that I turned it in and that I TRIED.  Try is all I could do this morning.  
Tomorrow it's all about the edit and rewrite.

Las Vegas

I am on my "honeymoon". 21 years ago, we got married, but never took a honeymoon. We went to Las Vegas this year and are totally enjoying ourselves!

Life moves on

I am presently taking classes at the local college and they are proving to be very challenging.  I'm taking a "Composition and Rhetoric" class in order to get myself back into school.  It's definitely a challenge, especially as I've been ill for the past two weeks.  I'm better, but not 100%.  I can't hear out of my left ear (a bonus when my husband snores all night!).  I went to the doctor yesterday and found out that I have fluid behind my ear drum.  He was supposed to have prescribed a steroid for me, but when I went to the pharmacy last night, there was nothing there for me.  Needless to say, his solution of pinching my nose closed and blowing is NOT fun--it hurts and I'm not really excited about the popping in my ear.

On another front, I also went to the eye doctor this week.  I haven't been able to see clearly unless I'm in extremely bright lights.  This has been ongoing since I had my LASIK three years ago.  I had a touch up in 2010 and we *thought* everything was good.  Little did we know that there was another issue looming.  I now have cataracts.  Both eyes.  This did not make me a happy person.  Neither did shelling out nearly 800.00 on glasses.  I had to get bi-focals because I'm nearsighted, but I'm also having distance issues as well.  I got the "progressive" lenses, which means that they will darken in the sunlight.  It's a good thing for me, because I am not going to sit out in the sunlight and torture my eyes any further.  It's possible that the UV rays from sun exposure caused the problem.  It'll be really hard to say.   What is frustrating is that the eye doctor told me that normally, LASIK lasts 8-10 years.  I am not even sure I can complain to the doctor who performed the LASIK.  He's so successful, he has people sign waivers stating that they understand corrective lenses may still be required.   What disturbs me is that I don't recall him testing me for cataracts like Dr. D did.   Oh well.  At least I know I'm in pretty good hands.  I have a pair of glasses on order, will wear them and will deal with being back in glasses.
 

Quick fly-by

Just a quick fly-by. I'm taking an online English class.  Composition and Rhetoric.  I hope I do as well as I want to.  I have to get my butt in gear and study more.   There's a lot of reading with this class.  I have to work on my second essay, which is due on the 13th.   I have to write a memoir.  I submitted my first "pre-writing" assignment, but I'm not sure I followed instructions to the letter.  My professor is pretty fair about her expectations of us.  I really want to do well.  I just need to work harder at it.

On the exercise front, I'm taking Belly Dance classes with Alba twice a week. I've been dancing consistently since the first of the year.  I think I've missed a total of two classes so far.  One was for my son's first concert and one was for working on my pre-writing assignment. I nearly didn't make it to class tonight because of I popped a rib out sometime this week (Monday night to Tuesday). I was in major pain until late this morning/early this afternoon.  I took some ibuprofen that finally kicked in.  I danced but boy, I tell you, some of the rolls were a little challenging.

My daughter went to class with me tonight.  She did pretty well.  I was proud of her for going, despite the fact that she was frustrated.  I'm glad she went.  I hope she decides to go with me again!!