Lucy

Well, Dan finally has his own cat now since I stole Jinx from him when she was brought to the house.    In my defense I cannot help that I'm a wonderful person and his first cat took to me.   We decided to look at the local shelter last week and picked out a kitten.    Gavin and I actually looked at the kittens before Dan got there and I successfully predicted the cat Dan would pick out.   The kitten was very timid and not socialized well and it actually reminded me of Jude.   The shelter was actually a little leery to let the kitten go initially but since we don't have a dog and no small children, it worked out.  The cat's originally name was Stubby.   Dan changed it to Lucy since she was shy and timid.    We call her Lucy Liu too even though she's not an Asian actress. 

I've included some pictures to show Jinx's demeanor as well as general pics of Lucy too.

The last picture is also to show how chunky Jinx has gotten too. 

Today I did something I've always wanted to do...I bought Halloween decorations for the porch and the front of my house.    I took Jude with me and tried to involve him in the decisions too.     He helped pick out the goodies that will be put into grab bags for the kids that attend my party on November 3.    I'll be sure to add some pictures of the porch and the front of the house when things are done and set-up.    I'm taking it easy money-wise but I'm excited to decorate in the next week or so.    We have plenty of leaves falling too and I'm even getting the decorated bags that hold leaves too.    I went with ghost bags instead of the standard pumpkin bags. 

Pretty simple update this time! 

Concert Anticipation is High

Greetings:

I'm getting pretty excited because in less than 24 hours I will be watching one of my favorite bands perform.    I've always wanted to see Live...live in person and fortunately they reunited last year and decided to tour again.    We are seeing them at the Hard Rock in Sioux City.    Counting Crows is performing too...they should be good as well but I'm not as jazzed about them.    It's been neat to see Bush this year and continue to see bands I enjoyed in the 90s.    Another perk is that 90s bands tend to play smaller venues and typically the tickets are pretty affordable.   We have another concert in October too in Des Moines.   

Work has been going splendidly and I really have no complaints.    I've been able to consistently work ahead and stay ahead of my prep for both ISU and DMACC.    By the end of September I'll have a lot of homework rolling in though and I'll be spending more time grading lesson plans and the such.    One thing that is quite helpful is that I only have one section of my elementary health methods class.   In past years I've had two sections (90-100 students) and due to changes with enrollment, we only need one section now in the fall and spring.   It's nice only having 42 students in that class.   

Swim & Gym started this past week too.   I wasn't watching my enrollment list very well and instead of cutting off registration at 40, I let 52 kids into the program.    It's fine with our gym and outdoor activities.    The pool is rather full.    Being that most kids need to be in the shallow end, things are a bit cramped.   Whoops.   I also had two lifeguards quit the day before we started which sadly isn't unexpected but still irritating.    I had one hire on standby if something like that happened so thankfully he was able to start on Thursday.    I wish students had a clue about professionalism. 

Gavin's doing very well with college and made the comment today about being surprised that it's already week 4 for the semester.   He got a B on his first biology test and a C on his first chemistry test.   He has a lot of homework each day but his plugging through.   He has his first psychology test next week.   He informed me he got to watch a video about a full natural birth recently in that class.    (Developmental Psych)    He said it wasn't as bad as watching the c-section video in high school.   Gross. 

Other random details lately:

• I received my 1/4 beef today and it was oddly satisfying to re-organize my deep freeze and put all that meat in there.    Stewart and Shirley actually drove up to get their beef today and offered to pick up mine too.   No need to drive for hours?   Yes please.    
• Gavin was originally going to drive up with me to get the meat but came over to wait for its delivery so he could carry it into the basement.   He was cool and also cleaned out our gutters.   And thank god he did because they were plum full of leaves and crap.   I also trimmed bushes and low trees and we filled two lawn waste bags.   Boring yes but quite exciting for a homeowner.  
• Dan and I may be joining a year-long study at ISU that gives us free exercise access, free dietician access, and pays too.  We have upcoming appointments to do checks to see if we are eligible (blood pressure, blood work, etc.).    
• I am getting excited for haunted attractions in the next months.   Alissa and I may try to go to Valley Scare in MN and I recently found out about a very scary attraction in Des Moines too.    Ames has its usual Haunted Forest too.    I'm continuing to make plans for my Halloween Party on November 3 too.   I made some hardcopy invites for people at work and for those without Facebook too.   

I guess that's it for now.   Figured it was time for an update.   

Week One--Check

It is a much needed weekend/Saturday as the first week of the school year started off really well.    It's always a little goofy in the fall as ISU starts on Monday and DMACC starts on Thursday.    The elementary education population has shrunk a bit so I only have one section of my health methods for those folks and the coordinator scheduled it for 11am on MWF so most of those days I don't have to be on campus until 10am.    Rest assured I go in around 9am usually but it makes my mornings pretty open.    Due to a colleague being on sabbatical for the fall, I am covering a methods class for elementary PE on MW afternoons.   I've taught it a handful of times before so it's not too much of a handful but we do have a lab with it that brings about 60 home-school kids to campus once a week.    The class was moved a couple years ago to be in the junior or senior year of the students' program so we were confident those that were truly going to make it to student teaching would take the class so I have a nice group of 23 students that I know well due to having them in other coursework. 

On Tuesdays/Thursdays I don't teach until 2pm and it's my methods class for secondary health education.    A local health teacher wanted to work with me and the class so the students had more interaction with actual high school-aged students.   His communication SUCKS though so it's making me a bit nervous about the planning and organization that needs to happen through December.    I actually need to email him after this and professionally nag him about checking his email since he hasn't responded to something I sent about a week ago.    He's actually one of my past students and many of us were not thrilled when he landed this health ed job as he's not doing it justice.    My ulterior motive is to bring better, engaging activities into his health classroom so the students do get some meaningful lessons. 

Swim & Gym will start on September 11 but I did have to review the syllabus component with those taking it a class and I have an orientation meeting for it on September 4 for everyone involved as I still have some people on payroll to help with it.   I've had a lot of new people sign up for it this fall so depending on what I want to do...I may be able to make it a larger program soon and go beyond having 40 kids enrolled. 

At DMACC I'm teaching Sports Diversity and Personal Wellness (high school version) and both are online.     Both classes have an introductory type of assignment to complete as I have to report attendance soon and if someone isn't cutting the mustard and submitting any work, they get yanked from the class.    It's DMACC's way of preventing students from abusing their financial aid. 

Gavin had a good week and I went out to lunch with him on Friday.    He's only nervous about the two labs he has on his schedule (biology and chemistry) as he can tell they require a lot of work from him.   If I remember correctly,  his chemistry TA may not speak English well either.    Our next door neighbor is in charge of the biology labs at ISU and Gavin's already bumped into him too.   Of course in the first week of classes ISU had idiots on campus one night showing "firearms" by the very northside dorms but turns it out was BB guns and an airsoft gun.    It also sounds like Gavin got to experience his first fire alarm in the middle of the night last night too.   He's enjoying his job too.   He mainly works during the slow period in a local dining center.   On one day he makes deli sandwiches per order, one day he makes pizzas and ensures enough are out for students to take if hungry, and on a third day he washes dishes.    It gives him 10 hours of work a week. 

I had hopes to do more today as I want to start attending more ISU volleyball matches but with Dan working, I didn't feel like taking Jude out by myself.    We could have gone to the Farmer's Market too but nah.    There is another volleyball match tonight at 6:30pm that I could try to go to after Dan's home from work.     I slept wrong the other night and have a huge knot in my upper right back/shoulder blade.   Staying home with a heating pad hasn't been too shabby today.   I'm also trying to finish the book "The Sun Also Rises" as my book club discusses it on Tuesday.    It's a very dry book and I'm sorry but Hemingway doesn't do much to capture the reader's attention.    Sounds like most others in the club aren't thrilled with it either.   Our next theme is "back to school" for September and I've nominated "Fahrenheit 451" as the book to read.   Not sure what the other nominations are but the book is supposed to focus on school or relate to a book we read years ago when in school.    Gavin read the book last year and said he really liked it in his AP English class which is why I thought of it.   Plus it's a story that talks about a society getting rid of books so I thought the irony would be cool for a book club. 

Guess that's it for now!    Here is Gavin on his move-in day.    I need to pop in and see what their room looks like now.    I stopped by and gave him a bag of snacks the other day (Funyons, Cheez-Its, etc.) and LeAnn sent him a care package with treats so apparently he is the envy of his friends with his little pantry in his room.   

Vacation Come and Gone---Time to Work Again

Greetings:

My time off has run out and it's back to the grind with full time work.    I've been working part-time in the last weeks as I'm still doing work for the grant at ISU, prepped for this upcoming week's orientation for new grad students, and I'm prepping for my classes that start on August 20 for ISU.    I really haven't done much for my class prep.    I really should start on that.   I'm teaching two DMACC classes too and they start on August 23. 

We were able to jet up to Minneapolis for a quick vacation and it was a combination birthday present for Dan too.   His favorite baseball team (Cleveland Indians) were playing a triple header against the Minnesota Twins.    Thankfully the Indians won 2 out of the 3 games.    I was very pleased with how Jude did with all the walking and the length of the baseball games.   We also worked in a trip to the Minnesota Zoo.  Believe it or not I think initially Dan and I were more excited to go there but it ended up that Gavin and I were more excited to see the animals.    Gavin is enamored with otters.   Ask him about it.   There was a state park with waterfalls that I wanted to go to but we never worked it in so I will try to get back and to go that.    My coworker said she'd go back up with me since she's in Minneapolis a lot to see her family.

I've been trying to do more around the house but still haven't tackled the office yet.   It's still chaos and needs to be organized.   I'm starting at it right now as I write this blog and watch my movie.    By the way I'm watching the movie "Lady Bird" and it's fantastic.    Gavin and I spent part of the day packing him up.    He just needs to pack up his clothes and he's set to move in on Tuesday.   Coincidentally my schedule may allow me to help him move in on Tuesday too as long as we get it done in the morning.    He picked out a new backpack today too and he is set with his new laptop.   Bring on ISU.   

So here's the plan in the next week:

• provide orientation for new grad students
• new orientation features a 'mix and mingle' event which is new and should hopefully make the new students feel more welcome---takes place Thursday afternoon
• work on my syllabi, primarily for ISU
• work with Dan's mom and her husband to taxi Jude back and forth as they are helping to watch Jude since I need to work 
• attend Czech Days on Saturday!

I also set the date for my Halloween party.    It has to be on Saturday, November 3 to work around ISU football but I'm excited to have a shindig for the holiday I love.   We plan to have yummy food,  some fun games, and we want people to dress up.  I plan to have prizes for some costume categories.  Some possible ideas may be:

• scariest costume
• best couples costume
• best school spirit costume

I'll probably have a goody bag for all kids that come to the party too.    I want Halloween to be my annual party to host so let's hope it takes off well this year and continues to be a hit.

I guess that's enough for tonight.    Hopefully I can rave about how well I oriented my new grad students in the next entry.   

Here's a tribute to Gavin's love of otters.  

The Best Week of July

Time for another update as it's 2:09AM and I cannot sleep.  I spent hours working on lesson plans with hopes of getting tired but nope, wide awake.    Probably going to go work on organizing part of the basement after this.    Oddly enough I was exhausted around 2:00pm earlier today and kind of slept then for like an hour so I'm slowly screwing up my sleep schedule.   Go me!

• I'm excited for this week because it's the end of the summer program.    I enjoy it and the such but by week 6-7 I am ready for it to be done.   We have the usual Family Night on Wednesday so I have some preparations to do for that event.    I need to do them today (Monday) and Wednesday because Ames will be a zoo on Tuesday.   Why you ask?   RAGBRAI will take over the city.
• Cory and Katie and their crew are camping in our yard on Tuesday evening and are welcome to use our facilities and showers.    Dan's boss and her fellow bikers aren't camping on our property but we are letting them shower if they want to as well.    It's going to be a little odd as both Dan and I will likely be at work when people actually get to town but I'm making Gavin stay home to be the host so people aren't in the house without anyone present.   I actually just made some signs to post so people use the correct door, bathrooms, etc.  
• I'm oddly excited that Jude is FINALLY going to the dentist on Tuesday too.    He's getting a bit nervous but it's been something I've been pushing Dan about for two years.    The next thing on my list was a well-child check-up but that's actually happening without my nagging.    Jude lost his place in his after school program and is using a new one and they require a physical.   Wahoo!    He has a physical on August 10.   The next thing on my list---he has to get a flu vaccine this year.    After the number of times he got the flu last year, I would hope his mother doesn't fight Dan on this.   
• Gavin finished his thank-yous today.    He's pleased to have that endeavor done but now he needs to start organizing himself for moving into his dorm.    I had mentioned buying his laptop in the last update but I noticed my debit card was never charged.    I contacted the store and was informed I should have gotten an email stating the purchase had to be canceled.    We are buying a laptop through the bookstore at the university and the model of laptop we bought was no longer going to be bought under contract by ISU.     Thankfully they just bought a contract to similar (better) model of laptop of the same brand so we bought that instead.    It was slightly cheaper too.    I'm just irritated because I never got the so-called email that was to notify me the sale couldn't happen anymore.     
• Dan and I spent time today organizing our furnace room and added another shelf and it is the last shelf we needed to organize our extra food and extra appliances for the kitchen.    The room looks a lot better and bigger now too.    We also got a lot off the floor too in case we would ever get water but I hope that never happens.    
• I am grateful for this extra job in terms of the extra money (not that I've seen any of it yet) but I am very sick of being on a computer so much as well as writing lesson plans.   I am actually having to wear my glasses more often because my eyes dry out too much with contacts when I stare at the computer so much.   Sad but true.  I'm going to have to bring my computer and do work on our vacation which is sad and I have to participate in some webinar meetings too.    Our hotel has a business center so I'm hoping I can bop into their to have those meetings and not have them in our room as I doubt the others can be quiet.    The last time I tried having a meeting at home I had a loud meowing cat and a 9-year-old asking about yogurt a lot.   

Computer battery is almost dead so update is done for now.   Here is a picture of our damn cute cat.  

Hello July

Time for another update.   It's been busy since the last update but there have been lulls so that's nice, especially on weekends.

• We had Gavin's graduation shindig in Waukon in June and I have to say it went quite well.   He was surprised with how tiring it was but we had a good turn out.   It was nice to not have a plethora of food left over.   I did have a ton of paper plates, cups, etc. left over but we'll make good use of them.    I'm thankful for all the help we had and it was a much better idea to have it in Waukon and not Ankeny.  
• I taught a class for 5-6th graders at the end of June and it went fairly well.   The students were talented and gifted so I was a bit nervous but I simply tweaked some of my college content and activities and they thrived.     The maturity of some of those students was concerning for them being so bright and smart.    Still waiting for my paycheck but should be getting it at the end of July.   I actually had a couple of the kids in my after school program a few years ago.  
• The summer camp is going well and we are entering the last three weeks.    I am happy with 75% of my employees.     A couple need to be fired but I cannot get rid of any life guards so my ratios are OK and another culprit is a grad student.    I did have to dismiss a child from the program due to his anger issues.    I hope that's the only dismissal so far.
• A group of people are starting a book club in Ames so I'm excited to join it.   It's supposed to be a variety of genres as well as a social mixer type of thing.    The leader for the endeavor says about 25 people are showing interest so far.    
• It sounds like our vacation plans will take us to Minneapolis at the end of July and early August.    The Cleveland Indians are playing the Minnesota Twins (Dan), there is a good zoo (all of us), and maybe a trip to ValleyFair (all of us).   It's close to Dan's birthday hence an activity focused on him.    He's still trying to get days off work though which is proving to be difficult thanks to his work environment.    He's the first to help people and work for others yet no one steps up to help him.    He needs a new job.
• We attended a concert recently and I was finally able to see Bush and Gavin Rossdale in the flesh.   It was actually a great concert and paying a bit more for good seats was wise.   Our next concert is July 29 (Shinedown and Godsmack).  
• I’m procrastinating at home and still don’t have my office in order as well as storage in the basement.   The “man cave” is also in shambles but that’s Dan’s job to fix.  I need to have my tasks done before ISU starts.   
• We had a meeting this weekend in regards to Dan’s troubled 15 year old.  We are taking a step back from things.  He’s going to Newton after treatment and not staying in Ames.  He won’t agree to our terms and conditions so his mom can deal with him.  She keeps sabotaging things away so she can deal with the consequences too.  Case and point, he’s not to be using the internet (says his therapist) yet when he’s on pass with her, he’s on the Internet all day.   We would uphold that rule and be the bad guys.  We can’t win so we are bowing out.   She can fix the mess she keeps contributing toward yet isn’t taking responsibility for at the same time.   You can’t be your kid's friend.  You need to be their parent.  
• Gavin had his orientation for ISU and was guided thanks to LeAnn.  I was able to pop in at times but I had conflicts due to the 5-6th grader class and my summer camp program too.  We’ve picked out a meal plan and he’s done his financial aid counseling.  I finally purchased his graduation present too.  His new laptop will be arriving in a week.  We are going to start searching for his textbooks online too so we can find deals and avoid the bookstore prices.  We got his dorm situation worked out too and he’s living with his friend fromAnkeny in the Birch dorm.  I’ll share his address in the future if people want to pepper him with mail in the future.  His ISU email is gfsmith@iastate.edu

That’s enough for now! 

It's Been a Busy Month

Whoops I let May fly by me without blogging very much.   It was a very busy, hectic month but it went very well.  

• We had our housewarming party in May.    Sadly it rained so my plan to have people in the backyard did not happen and we had a lot of people in the house mingling.   It did get warm and stuffy and I felt like I was constantly rushing everywhere but it was a good time.   I was grateful my family could come and help with things.    We didn't think things through with Dan's work schedule so Mom and Dad ran the grill thankfully.     A lot of people were able to see the house finally so it was like 40 birds with one stone. 
• I said good-bye to the apartment in Ankeny and Gavin moved into his basement bedroom on May 23rd.   I had to go back on May 24th to empty the refrigerator and clean it because I didn't have a good way to transport the food to Ames on the 23rd.    Thankfully since we are clean people it didn't take much to clean the apartment so I anticipate getting a lot of our deposit back so I can put that into savings.    
• Gavin graduated from high school on May 29 and we had a good crowd in attendance at Hilton Coliseum.   I was disappointed his picture wasn't included in a presentation at the beginning of the ceremony and now that I think about it, I've never gotten an answer as to why that happened.   We have his actual party this upcoming weekend and I still need to do some purchasing and packing for the event before Gavin and I depart on Thursday night.  
• Dan and I have found a decent babysitter for Jude (we hope) and she will be watching Jude on Friday since Gavin and I are out of town.    Dan has to work most of the day and then take Jude to his Mom that evening.     The same babysitter will be helping with Jude the weeks of June 18 and June 25 since I have some extra teaching duties for ISU in the mornings.    We will have other periodic days too that we need help too so it's nice to have someone in Ames we can count on.   And yes Gavin helps with Jude too but he has a life of his own and we don't want to always depend on him.   Plus after June 18-19, he will be getting another job.  
• We've continued to work on the house quite a bit.   After officially moving out of the apartment, we added many more  boxes to the furnace room in the basement so Dan and I bought more shelving units to store extra food and extra appliances that don't get used too often.    I'm also re-boxing some kitchen items that Gavin may want/need some day when he has his own apartment.    I still have a lot of organizing to do in that room.    We spent a lot of time last Sunday organizing Gavin's bedroom as he was dragging his feet with unpacking boxes but he got it done.     I also got our laundry room and cleaning supplies unpacked and organized too.    Next is my office area....ugh.   Dan and I need to open all the windows in the house and vacuum out the window sills still as most have a lot of dead bugs in them.   
• Summer Youth Fitness started this week and it started off well.    We are low on kids compared to past years but I have a great group of staff.   I may have more kids join late.    It's one of those jobs where I kind of run around like a crazy lady all afternoon but I enjoy it.   

I'll have more to report on after this weekend when we see a bunch of family and part for Gavin's accomplishments.    It's been nice to have him in Ames now.    He does travel down to Ankeny a lot to see his friends though so I don't see him as much as people think.