New Year, New Semester!

I have decided on my schedule for next semester. Now, I should have had this decided like a month ago, but with my major getting cancelled and my plans changing I needed to revamp things a little.

I was super lucky to be able to fit a huge chunk of my classes on only Tuesdays and Thursdays, I might have one class on Saturday or Monday and Wednesday. But here's the line up:

Intermediate College Algebra (TR 11:00-12:40)

Humanities through the Arts (TR 1:00-2:15)

Introduction to Geology (TR 2:30-3:45)

American National Government (TR 4:00-5:15)

Ethics and Values (T 5:30-8:30)

I'm on the wait list for a few other classes because I would rather take Astronomy or Oceanography over Geology. Also, I need to get into a health class so I'm waiting for one to open up to get into. Overall it will be a super busy semester because I'm hoping to have 18 credits! 

My summer financial aid is up in the air right now, so I'm hoping to get as much as I can out of the way now so I can have a lower bill come summer if I don't get a lot of financial aid. 

My grant got dispersed a few days ago, so now it's just time for book shopping!

Moving Time!

So we officially sold our contract today! It took about a month to find someone who would take it over, but at the same time it took until about two days ago to get an official move in day at our new apartment.

We are downsizing a little bit, but I love the idea of a separate living room and kitchen AND a washer and dryer in the house! The laundry is shared but I only need one day for laundry right now so it will work out just fine for us. Landon and I will have to wash dishes by hand again but for how close it is to school, we can deal with that.

Hopefully moving day goes well, we have been getting a lot of snow that has been melting but than freezing that night. So the roads and the stairs are super slick, I'm a little worried about moving safely. We will be going out and getting some salt and some friends are bringing shovels just in case. 

We have some family/friends helping us move this weekend and they are very good at helping people move. So we are very happy about this. The plan right now is to get as much packed tomorrow as we can and then have the boys pack the truck and us girls clean and finish the packing. 

The plan sounds like it will go great, lets hope it actually goes as smoothly!

 

Busy Bee

Cleaning.

Packing.

Condensing.

Deciding.

Working.

This is what my week has consisted of.

Posts will be back on track when school starts back up. For some reason that's when I feel like I will have more time... Ha! Lets see how that goes.

Christmas and Such

I realized that it has been quite a long time since my last post, so this one will be extra long!

Finals and come and gone, and grades have been released. My grades were not a huge surprise, (A, A-, B+, C) I knew coming out that it was going to be up in the air in whether or not it was a B or 2 C's. So happy surprise to see a high B. 

My long work week has been a little rough on my sleep. I'm getting a lot better at forcing myself to sleep in the daytime or at night even if I don't feel the immediate need to do so. I also had Christmas Eve night get switched to an on-call shift, which was great and I got to spend the night at home with Landon.

We also went to Rand and Debbie's house last night for dinner and loved spending time over there. All the kids were enjoying various things, Emmitt and Kimmy were into the Harry Potter movie that was on, Rebekah and I dropped a present off at a friend of hers, and Adam was sleeping and then liked being held. 

Landon LOVED my faces for each present.

Dinner was amazing and probably the most healthy Christmas eve dinner I have participated in. Chicken, Squash, Asparagus, Rolls, Salad. I'm probably missing something, but the Squash was the perfect substitute for potatoes which we can't eat a lot of on our diet so it was very nice. We left before dessert but got sent home with some Cheesecake that we will probably eat tonight for dessert. 

Nom-nom-nom Candy!

We started opening gifts last night from each other and Mom and Dad Ostraff. We received a well needed mattress pad and 72-hour kits, among other things. Our gifts to each other were mostly candy and little things because our big present to each other this year was the Kinect. 

I told him to make a rage-ful face to match the games name.

This morning we had some Sara Lee Coffeecake (No Coffee in it I promise!) which is a tradition of my family, and finished opening our gifts which included a few more from Mom and Dad Ostraff, and all the gifts from Mom and Dad Rickard and company. We started at 6:00am and finished just in time for Landon to head off to work. Landon received many books that he had been wanting and I got some clothes that I have been needing. I don't feel like doing an itemized report of gifts so I will just say there was more than that under the tree though.

Yoga Pants!!

Landon has gone to work today where he is enjoying the holiday pay and will return shortly to me so we can spend the rest of Christmas together till I have to work at 10:00pm. 

This is how the color Lilac makes me feel.

Hope everyone's holidays were great and that you enjoyed the blessings that this time of year brings!

He got some little animal Post-its. A total Landon gift.

Hat.

I made my first hat yesterday. It's not the best but my wonderful husband will wear it because he loves me. 

End of the Semester

Schools out for the Summer... er, I mean winter. 

Yes, today ended my 15 weeks of school. Which is super exciting, I am supposed to have learned the components of a cell, why the earth shifts, welfare policies, and which race is more likely to have a 4-year degree among many other things. What did I learn this semester?

• That you should never take two science classes in the same semester.
• The walk from GT to LA in 10 minutes is horrible. (but not as bad as the walk back) 
• My computer hates the library.
• When I need the shuttle it takes 20 minutes.
• When I'm okay to not take the shuttle, it takes 2 minutes.

I guess I might retain some random information from the classes I stated but overall I plan to make room for more relevant information for my career. Not saying I don't need those, but I think the welfare policies should take much higher precedence over cell composition. 

Also, I learned I can make an awesome lunch, heres the proof:

Awesome!

Almost there...

Okay three exams down and one to go! 

So far it's a B on physical science, C in biology, and not sure about social work but I think the presentation went alright. Tomorrow is sociology and then I'm all set for the semester! Grades should be available on the 23rd, so I will know right before Christmas, yay!

Let's hope it all works out great, I'm hoping for A's and B's and maybe one C in Biology, but I'm happy about that C. Biology was HARD!

Time for some apartment hunting!

Wish me luck!

Cookie Night

We made cookies last night for our Family Night, we has such a great time. We ended up making 4 different types of cookies. One of them Landon made all by himself! Pretty impressive if you know how much he actually cooks in the kitchen. We had quite a good time. 

This was about 1.5 hours into the baking, and working on cookies #3!

Here is Landon finishing off his own cookies, he did such a good job!

Elfin Shortbread Bite- Super yummy shortbread with Red and Green Sprinkles

Orange Snowballs- Not super sweet, with a little touch of orange. 

Chocolate Butterscotch Bars- Sweetest of them all, I accidentally bought honey roasted peanuts for the topping and it was supposed to be plain. But I still think they turned out great.

So here's the finished product, the ones we missed were the Almond Sweets in the back corner! The icing was not that bad seeing as I usually hate homemade icing. 

In the end we went around and passed out cookies to some people. We had such a great evening and loved spending some quality time together in the kitchen. 

Best Husband Ever!

So I have the most talented Husband. Here is just a small list of the things he is good at:

Patience

Kindness

Artwork

Communication

Taking me on late night walks through Walmart

Complimenting me

Helping me clean

Taking the garbage out

Laughing with me

Sleeping cutely

Working

The list could go on and on but I will stop it there for now. So the inspiration behind this post today was all the help that he put into getting my blog looking all pretty and spiffy. He made the background all by himself and modified some text for the beautiful header I now have. 

He was so patient with me in my color selections and helped me to make sure it would look nice. He even did all this while he had a day off when he could be spending it doing things that are relaxing for him. What a good husband who sacrifices his time for me. 

I love him with all my heart. Thanks Hunny!

P.s. - I told my mommy I would show my beautiful arrangement of Christmas presents, so here it is!

I had to reorganize some of the ornaments because the boxes reached right to the bottom of the tree! 

Bread Baking

So we found this amazing recipe last Sunday in the newspaper when I was coupon clipping and we decided to cut it out and bake it. Keeping in mind that it is almost impossible for Landon and I to eat anything that normal people on a normal diet cook. 

Luckily it was for whole wheat berry chocolate bread. (<-- Sound amazing right?) Which with a few moderations to the recipe, like two, was made diet acceptable. Well only in small portions, like 2 pieces a day. 

So we went out and bought all of our ingredients on Wednesday and made it Thursday afternoon. I thought it was going to be kind of expensive and hard to find whole wheat flour, but I got so lucky and found it at Sunflower market for $.50 a lb. I was super excited since I had already been there for their amazing Mango sale this week. (3 for $1!) 

Well we went home and made the bread, which was lots of fun, until the end when my arm got tired from stirring so much. Then Landon took over and it turned out really good. Right out of the oven the first slice was so yummy! Unfortunately, after that it got a little dry. I'm not sure if that was to be expected but it's perfect if you put a little butter and jelly on it.

I thought I took picture of them but I guess I didn't. Sorry! You will just have to believe me that they look great! The recipe made two loaves so we have an extra one for now. I just hope it lasts long enough for us to eat both. It would be so sad for one to go bad before we can get to it. 

IKEA Dates

So Landon and I decided to go to IKEA yesterday for our date this week. We love IKEA and love to make like a 4 hour trip out of it. We actually went in search of a bed frame that we would like to have. Something close to the ground maybe with some storage under it. We love one of them quite a bit but we decided to wait until we move in a little bit. 

But the highlight of our trip was getting a new member of our family. Meet Clifford!

Clifford the Big Red Cactus. (He's actually reddish-pinkish-yellowish. But red for short)

Unfortunately Clifford had been a little mistreated at the plant orphanage. It looked like it had been a long time since he had a bath and had been fed. So, Landon made sure he was nice and clean and not hungry anymore before bed time.  

This was Clifford's cotton swab bath.

I also found something interesting this evening in the refrigerator when I making some fried eggs. It was pretty interesting so I thought I would take a picture of it...

My egg was FROZEN SOLID! 

So this was very strange and very cool at the same time. It looks pretty yellow, but close up you could see the yolk and you were able to see through the rest of the egg. Pretty awesome. 

Finals!

So here's the break down of the last few weeks of school. 

This week I have a Biology test that I need to take on Wednesday, and I have my Physical Science final exam on Friday at 11. Luckily I have had been studying for Biology for a few days now and I work on Thursday night so I can study for my exam the next day.

The next week I have a presentation on Monday for my Social Work final exam which I have yet to start on. Well at least the presentation part, I have done the background work. Then on Wednesday I have my Biology final exam, which is cumulative. It's gonna be a hard one. The following day I have a paper due and my Sociology final exam. I have about a third of the paper done and the study guide for this class done. It's actually the least of my worries. I'm pretty sure I can pull an A off for this class. 

The rest of the classes are gonna be rough. Hopefully I can get everything done on time and good enough to pull off scholarship potential grades. I guess time will tell.

Sorry if updates are scarce the next week!

Apartment Pictures as promised...

So it's taken me quite a long time to get these up but here are some pictures of the apartment. I thought now was a good time because Landon and I just finished putting up our Christmas tree and a few decorations, and I wanted to my my family our little set-up.

Landon loves that the toilet seat is up in this picture. (It's my fault, but he loves me for it.)

Our lovely little Christmas tree. Rand and Debbie gave it to us last Christmas and we spruced it up a little this year by adding a few more ornaments and lights. 

So they are hanging at different heights but that's okay. We bought 3M hooks so as not to get in trouble with the Landlords about sticking things to the wall. 

Here's the kitchen, I love all the counter space and cabinets. 

So this one is blurry, but it's the best of three that I took. It's probably a good thing I have no interest in being a photographer. 

I omitted any bedrooms because I didn't feel like making sure they were all cleaned up and pretty for pictures. But I thought I would take advantage of the fact Landon and I cleaned for like an hour today and get some pictures. 

Only two weeks of school left, so it's cramming time and time to get all the last minute projects done. Wish me good luck!

One month later...

So we are officially One month into our diet, it doesn't seem like it has been that long, but I the calendar doesn't lie! So here is our update. I'm down a pant size and 15 lbs. and Landon is down 10 lbs. For a month I would say not to shabby.

My goal for the next month will be 8-10 lbs. and Landon's will probably be about the same as mine. I was nervous about Thanksgiving with all the temptations, especially the desserts. If you know me you probably know that's my downfall, but I did really well. Last week was a 3 lb. drop, so I must have done something right.

I did look up some suggestions on how to not spoil the diet. One was to just take a little bit of what I wanted to eat so I still felt like I could eat what I wanted and enjoy the holiday while not overindulging. The second was a great email that was sent to me with a Pumpkin pie that was suitable for the South Beach diet. It tastes a little sweet but not too much and the crust is out of Phyllo dough, everything added was sugar free. So it turned out nice and we still have one piece to finish eating. 

Overall, I'm feeling really good about how we have been doing. Hopefully we can keep the good work up and get down to some really healthy weights and adapt good eating habits in the process!

Wacky Schedule

So my sleep and work schedules are super wacky right now. With work from 10pm-6am and sleep usually following that for 5-6 hours or 2-3 hours both before and after my shifts. It's kind of strange to get my schedule back on track and usually by the time I do, I have to start back over. 

Right now my schedule is Sunday and Thursday night, mostly. So I get my schedule back together on Tuesday and Saturday, see how it's not super fun the way things are s p a c e d out. I'm having a hard time getting to sleep tonight because I worked two days in a row, had great sleep yesterday and now I'm not super tired yet. At least I can get some more studying in today before I get a nap and go take it. 

I have double duty today at the testing center today. I have both Physical Science to take and Sociology. Well I might push off science another day and just pay the $3.00 to take it on the last day. If it helps me get a better grade which leads to a scholarship then I'm okay with the small expense now. 

Well time to hit the books. Then the pillows. Long day ahead of me. 

Late Thanksgiving...

So I didn't get around to listing what I was grateful on Thanksgiving, so it's better later than never. Right?

My mom. Family. A home. Schooling. Church. Blankets. My job. High fiber tortillas. Whole grain bread. Shoes. Apples. Fresh mangoes. Feeling loved. Being supported. My loving, supportive, caring, funny, handsome, cuddly Husband. Band-aids. Nail clippers. Modern day technology. 

I'm sure I could come up with many more things to be thankful for, but I think that list covers the things I could be thankful for in a few minutes. 

Long Nights, Short Days

So the graveyard shifts are getting easier and easier. Although the morning after is still quite rough. On Thursday I also had to go to some training prior to my shift so I worked/trained for about 12 straight hours, on top of the fact that I didn't get a nap that day. Overall it was a long night and day, ended up not sleeping for 27 hours. Painfully long. 

Then the poor collectors who called me looking for some other random person who used to have my number. I have gotten calls from them close to 20 times and have told them to remove my number over and over. Unfortunately for him I was NOT in a good mood. Plus I don't think it's right for him to tell me he's sending people after me and he knows where I live, and that I need to be quiet and listen to him. Well except he didn't say it in such nice words. So now if they call again I have numbers and names, and I told them I will call the police for harassment. 

Sadly, I had a little break down after my call because I felt like I had been mean. But I guess I need to remember it's okay to stand my ground and respect myself even if it means having to be a little more confrontational with people. It has been a very  l  o  n  g week.

On a good note, a test got moved to the Monday after Thanksgiving break which means I have a long time to study for it, Yay!

Worked my 1st Shift!

So last night was my first shift by myself. Worked really hard at not sleeping, but I had a really had a hard time finding stuff to do. I had a Physical Science test to study for which I did a little bit but I was so tired and could not comprehend anything. I ended up just making sure I didn't sleep by watching some shows. At one point I tried really hard to just stay aware that I ended up doing jumping jacks and had to splash cold water on my face.  

I successfully finished the night with a little drama but the drama was very easy to deal with. Thankfully the day staff arrived right on time and I was home by ten after 6. Yay! Unfortunately I had a paper due in my first class today so I had to get up and get there right on time to get that in. I was dead tired though because I had a really hard time sleeping on Sunday evening.  So I left and went home and slept some more. 

Hopefully I can work something out better next week so I don't miss Monday classes. I'm sure something will work out eventually. I think I only have one test this week so it should be a pretty easy week. 

Week Two

So Landon and I have officially began week two of the south beach diet. So far so good, I'm down 8 lbs. and Landon is down 5 lbs. I'm still craving a piece of bread so much, but we each had a half serving of vanilla ice cream on monday after dinner and it was so good. I think I can make it till next monday for a piece of whole grain bread. 

I'm trying to get a little more creative with the foods we eat since we are very limited. I found a recipe for some desserts we can have on this first phase, which is not much. So I made a Ricotta Cheesecake with Ricotta cheese, vanilla, splenda, and eggs. All of which are approved for this diet. So lets hope it turns out to be yummy. Landon won't to Jell-O because of the vegetarian thing so I'm trying to find other desserts he can do. 

Dinners have become more of a challenge. I cook a good lunch because I can cook it with meat and its just for me. But dinner is challenging to make a vegetarian option. I found a spaghetti squash casserole the other day that I modified a little to fit the diet and it was good. I might make that again, it lasts for two days which is probably the best part. 

Also good news of the week so far is.... We saved money by switching to Geico! Just kidding, but really we have yet to turn on the furnace thanks to floors 1 & 2 below us. Which means our gas bill is less than $15. Yay! 

This week is an easy one for me, no tests which means I can play catch up in studying and get ahead in a class or two! I love this week. 

Exciting Weekend!

I think Biology just doesn't like me. I once again took a test for this class and received the exact same score as I did on the previous one, and the one before that. At least I'm pulling a very strong C. Wish it was a strong B or A. But that's okay, I'm working hard for it.

Tonight we are going to head down to Uncle Joe's house in Fairview and have a bonfire with their family and some friends. We were invited to this shindig last year but couldn't make it but we are excited to be going this year. Poor Landon only got three hours of sleep last night so hopefully he will get a good nap in before we leave this evening. 

Also I start my shadow shifts for my job on Saturday night. Wish me luck! I'm a little nervous about having to stay up the whole time, and I realized that it won't be a 8 hour shift it will be a 9 hour shift with with time changing. So I'm not to happy about that, but at least I can come home and get sleep before church. I'm very happy about us having late church with the possibility of working saturdays.  

The good thing is I can bring movies, books, food, a computer, etc. Anything for entertainment, as long as I don't sleep or leave I'm I will be good. 

Okay well I'm gonna go search a South Beach Diet approved way to make Tomato Sauce. Hopefully It will be successful so we can have spaghetti squash and sauce tonight for dinner.

Halloween Fun

So because we live in Utah, more specifically in Happy Valley, we celebrated Halloween on Saturday. Little bit different celebrating a holiday a day early, but thats okay. We still had a great time.

Landon and I had a Zombie Party to attend we pretty much played Rock Band 3 the whole time. But that's okay. Anyways we had some awesome costumes! Here's some pictures...

He was so cute to watch apply nail polish.

Needed to have a least one nice one.

 So there's Halloween. I have to say the costumes were pretty good. 

Sorry if my blog posts are a little spread out for this week, starting a job and have a big tests in every class except one, and then I have a big paper for that one... Gonne be a looong week. 

Surprise Care Package

I have been trying to just stick to one blog a day, but we received the nicest care package in the mail today and I felt the need to include another blog to show our appreciation.

Among many things in this package was the recipe and most ingredients for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. So what did we do with these? We made Cookies!! 

I thought it was also time to include some pictures on this blog, and cookies are a perfect way to start. So here they are!

So here is the beginning, we didn't quite have a big enough bowl... so we used a wok...

Shlyn getting some eggs, also preview of the new apartment...

Dry + Wet = Awesome Dough

Finished Product..... So so good.

Hope everyone has a good day! Thanks Mom Ostraff! 

End of Job Hunt

As my readers have probably gathered from my Facebook I now have a job. It's like a dream job too. I'm really excited for this. At least for it on paper, I have yet to work so I'm not sure but it is really opening the doors for my career. 

The job is working as a graveyard mentor for a girls residential substance abuse facility. They also have a campus for girls with behavioral issues, so I might be placed there. She didn't have her mind made up last night on which one. Although she was leaning toward the substance abuse one.  

I will work two nights a week from 10pm-6am. Which is sad for Landon and I but good for working around school. All they have really told me I do is check on the girls every 15 minutes to make sure they are there and sleeping. So I'm hoping I can bring something to keep myself entertained like school work. If not no big deal. But I dunno what else I will do for 15 minutes. 

Hopefully I will enjoy this job and the night shifts work well with my sleep. I'm starting paperwork today so job will probably start in the next two weeks. 

Wish me luck!!

Despicable Me & Rock Band 3

Last night was a night of patience. Why? Because we have been waiting a long time for both of these to come out. I know Despicable me came out a while ago, but the dollar theater just got it last week. 

So we went and saw that last might on $.75 monday's with James and Ashlyn. I loved it. The little girl, Agnes I think, was adorable. There's a part with a fluffy unicorn that made me laugh so hard. The little minions were very cute as well. Overall a very good movie. I could probably see it again on video. Maybe one time when I can watch the kids I will get that for them. 

After our show we dropped James off and went to Wal-mart to get Rock Band 3. We were a little early so we looked at baby clothes, just happens to be on the was to electronics. They had adorable footy pajamas. Someday I will own some. 

So as the time get closer to midnight we check to make sure they had the bundle of the Keyboard and the Game. Unfortunately, they didn't have the bundle or the keyboard separately. We called around to another store and they didn't have it either. So we just decided to get the game and look for the Keyboard today. So far I enjoy the game, I feel like the calibration is still a little off but no biggie. 

I think Landon got the keyboard on his lunch break. Super excited to play it when we gets home.

Oh also wish me luck on a job interview this evening. It's for a Graveyard position at a girls residential facility. I really hope I get it. It would be a perfect door into my career. Also they might do it as a paid internship... that would be nice. 

Coupon Clipping and Food Freezing

Lately I have been searching for different way for Landon and I to save money around the house with little things here and there. So far I have come across two things I really enjoy doing. They are Freezing Food and Coupon Clipping.  

When I first started these two things I was like okay this will be fun for a little while, plus I'm bored so I might as well do something to fill in my time. Well I have become addicted to coupons and I'm freezing food when ever we have a surplus or a good sale.  

For coupons I go to Smith's because I feel like overall they have more of what I'm looking for and the quality I want. Wal-mart might be a little cheaper but I'm wiling to pay a dollar more for things to last longer. I have so far been saving close to a third of the bill each week between sales and coupons. Landon went with me one time and we walked out with 4 or 5 boxes of cereal. He was like see you spend more money with coupons, but in reality I spent about $.90 after sales and coupons. Haven't bought any more cereal this month and it isn't going bad. I think it's a good way to shop.

Now for my freezing I go to Buy-Low, you have to search for the better quality produce sometimes but the prices are unbeatable. I try and go on Wednesday's right when they open so I get the best pick of things. I get a good amount with a few extras. When I get home and realize I've bought to much. Chopping, blanching, bagging, and freezing begins. I will use green beans for an example. I love them. So I bought them on a $.79/lb sale, about three lbs. worth. Then I froze most of them. Now I do about a cup of cut green beans per bag and got at least 10 bags out of these. That's about $.24 a bag. A bag of frozen beans will run for about at much as 6 of my frozen bags and not give me that much. 

In the end I have seen my spending in different areas go down and see our food supply remain steady because of the sales, coupons, and freezing. 

Hopefully some day we can have land and I can learn to garden.

D.C.D.

Well we have lived in our new apartment for almost a month now. Which means it was time for our first....

Deep Cleaning Day!

Yay!

I have a love/hate relationship with this day. I hate it because it take a long time to do and I usually get super hot from working hard. But I get so much love from this day because I can sit down afterward and just feel clean and happy about my surroundings. 

So counters, tables, light switches, doors, windows, window sills, microwave, and floors are all clean now. This was the first time I have done a deep clean in this apartment and let me tell you I wish I would have done it sooner. I have mopped the floor every week since moving in but while really scrubbing it today I was shocked by the mess. 

I have always had doubts that cleaning happened in this apartment before we moved in. We had a dispute with the complex and I think they just decided to not clean anything but the carpets. It was bad, like counters were still sticky, the floor was immediately mopped and my sink was pitch black, everything was greasy and dirty. It was bad. But I cleaned it and thought oh well at least its to my standard now. (If this was clean to the complex then I have no doubts we will pass the cleaning inspections.)  

In the end, I think with the exception to wiping every wall down I have now successfully deep cleaned my apartment like it should have been when I moved in. Oh well. Next time we won't buy our contract off of people so they don't change policies on us.

Tonight we are going to another bonfire and I'm going to surprise Landon with a dinner he really likes! It's broccoli quiche with a potato crust. Yum!

I think I'm sick.

My head hurts, my nose hurts, my throat hurts, and my whole body is achy.

I don't like being sick. So far I have missed two days of class because of this. I didn't have anything do in these two days but I did miss a physical science lecture that I needed to attend.  Hopefully a weekend of relaxation will help with my cold.

On a better note, we had Jenny over last night for dinner. We have spaghetti and garlic bread. That's my multiple person meal. If I invite people over we are most likely having spaghetti for dinner. I think it's the easiest to make for a lot of people, plus it's not that expensive for a large group of people which is always a big concern.

After dinner we played a game called 5 Kings (I think?) anyways it was like railroad rummy if you have ever played that, except there are 5 suits in this deck and added jokers. I did really well on the first two rounds and then we discovered some new rules. So we started over and Landon knocked the socks off of everyone else. I think he won the game by like 100 points between him and second who was Jenny. (Followed by Ashlyn and then Me.)

We had a good night. We went and saw Paranormal Activity 2 at 10:00 with some friends from Landon's work. It wasn't to bad except for like 3 parts which scared me so bad. Landon decided after the second big scare that we could no longer lace fingers because I was going to end up breaking them. 

Overall yesterday was yucky in the morning and good in the evening. I'm hoping today is the same. Although we have nothing planned for tonight. A nice night alone and in might be good though. 

And the scores are in...

I'm not very happy with them. 

I studied so hard for these two tests and I can't get better than a C. I wish I was better at Science. I felt really good leaving these tests, I guess I just have to work even harder. 

I just hope my scholarship chances don't get ruined from this semester. But I guess I will have the Spring semester to get them back up. 

Not so happy tonight. Maybe I will take it out on all the bubbles I will be dreaming about. 

My Brain hurts Today

Tests, tests, and more tests. 

I have spent four hours of my day in a quiet some-what secluded room, staring at a scantron or a computer screen. I think I will be dreaming of bubbles tonight. 

I started my day with physical science which went pretty well I thought. But we will see in about a week if I did better than I have been doing. Then I came home and recharged for a l o n g afternoon. Eventually I set off for three more hours of testing. Biology then Math and English placement. So only one of them I actually needed to study for. 

I was so bummed after taking Biology. I got the exact same score that I received on the previous test even though I tripled my studying efforts. Oh well, better luck next time I guess.

Placement test was not to hard, just long. Super-LONG. I have to take intermediate algebra now before I can take my Statistics class. I guess that's not to bad it's just one class below. Plus I needed more elective credits and I was struggling to find some, so now I have three credit hours less to worry about.  At least my english placement is not a problem. I like that I'm decent at English even after some time off. 

Now I am exhausted. This post might be a bit loopy but so am I right now so I guess its a pretty good indication of my mood right now. 

Maybe I'll have some fun news about a job tomorrow...

Student loans are poopy.

So when you take out a student loan it's usually through one company and you pay them back. At least that's what I thought. In the past two years I have gone through three companies on one loan, while another loan is just sitting back quietly enjoying it's original company. ( I bet the two loans look at each other and the one that has been passed around is all beat up while the one at Sallie Mae is loving it's big comfy couch and blanket sitting in front of the TV eating Twinkies. Yes, loans eat Twinkies.)

This is very frustrating. Seeing as my mother took this loan out for me, (and I love her very much for this) and I make payments on it. So every time it gets transferred I don't know it. Until I notice money is no longer being taken out of my account. (Usually a day or two after it should have been taken out.) Which I can't do anything about because they don't tell me anything unless I'm authorized, which I never am right when it's transferred. 

This most recent time company B that sold my loan didn't tell the new company C that I was in school. So now they are charging me like 4 months of non-payment because I'm in school and it was deferred with company B but company C didn't get that information. So now once again I'm fighting a company which happens to be company C to take away charges that shouldn't be there in the first place. I will happily make payments, but I'm not paying late fees when there should have never been a bill in the first place. 

I wish companies would communicate better with me and with one another. Makes life much easier.

On a better note. I have two tests on Wednesday, Biology and Physical Science. Yes that is the good news. Tells you how great my fight with loan people is going...

Crossword Challenge

We LOVE Crossword Challenge! Seriously, I think I look forward to this 20-40 minutes that we spend with Ashlyn and James most day. Some might be wondering what crossword challenge is, well let me explain...

Crossword challenge is a challenge made by the 4 of us in attempt to compete with one another in Crosswords. (I say attempt because Landon and I have a pretty good record going. We have quite a few wins and only one loss. Pretty successful season if you ask me.) So we go to www.webcrosswords.com  where they have daily crosswords available and they are a little challenging. Not like New York Times challenging but more than user created crosswords. We really enjoy them. 

Anyways, we pair off into our couples and start at the same time. We recently started not allowing any internet look ups so the game is running 4 minutes on average longer, bringing us to 24 minutes per puzzle. But in the end first couple to finish with all the right answers WINS! 

Now this may not sound super challenging but we do this in the same room so whispering is very essential and having a split knowledge on things is required too. Ashlyn was explaining yesterday and her and James have a system, she knows all the cultural references and James knows the geography and science stuff. With Landon and I it tends to be he gets a little of everything and I get the tricky ones that require thinking out of the box. 

We never beat them by much but we love the adrenaline rush that comes from Crossword Challenge. We have free entertainment and brain exercises all in one. Perfect combination. 

Bonfires+Large wood=So Much Smoke!

So Landon and I went into Provo Canyon last night with a few friends and had a bonfire and BBQ. It was nice to be out of the house hanging out with married couples and enjoying the lack of drama that comes with that. People don't usually feel left out in this situation because in the end we all pair off and leave for the night leaving companionship for everyone. (I really, really like my companion. He's pretty awesome and looks really cute making a fire. But on with the story.)

Unfortunately, our night did not go as expected. First, we got there and it had just start to get dark so we knew our time to set-up was going to be limited. Second, we could not find a fire pit that was available. So we ran around the park looking and finally found one like ten minutes later. But our biggest problem was we didn't have small enough wood to get anything going from the little twigs and grass to the big logs. 

We tried and tried and tried to get this thing going. And there were 6 of us there fanning and getting more twigs and more grass. With 2 boy scouts among our group you would think our efforts would be successful. But they were only successful enough to cook the food. Well try and cook. I think my hot dog was fine but the hamburgers were a little sketchy. I'm surprised I didn't get sick from it. 

Sadly, after 3 and one half hours we admitted defeat and departed from our sad little bonfire, so only watch a new group rescue it when we left. We talked on the way home about what we needed for a more successful fire next time and about Crossword challenge. 

Crossword challenge deserves it's own post though, maybe next time.