Look what came in the mail today!

Finally......

My Associates!

=)

it was a good day :)

First, a few 365s... There are a bunch more... but I won't bore you. :) Plus I don't feel like uploading much more than this. haha

8/22/08 tony actually took this one, I was doing dishes... so it's not a self portrait, but w/e. :)

8/23/08 Reading the ads in the paper.... nothing good this week.
8/26/08 Breakfast this morning! Apple French Toast... Super Yummy! It was Tony's day off today, so I thought I'd make something extra special.
So with a good breakfast (well brunch really, since we all lounged around all morning,) to start our day, we were all in a good mood. We headed to base to run errands around lunch time. While there, I decided to stop by the college office, since they still hadn't contacted me about my degree situation, even though they said they would within a few days... yeah right.

I walk into the office, and wait a few minutes for another guy to finish with the college rep. Finally, I sit down tell him who I was and about my situation, and he says, "Oh yeah, your stuff is right here," and proceeds to pull my papers out of a stack on his desk. I asked if there was an update. He then goes over the paperwork in detail (for the first time, I think) and tells me basically what I already know: I have two options. I can get my diploma from the old plan but would still need Span 1 and 2 or I could get my diploma on the new plan but still need a performing arts humanities credit. I asked if they could substitute my Eng. Lit class for the huminatarian class since it was counted under the humanitarian section anyway. He called the lady in charge of all of Europe and managed to fully confuse her about my situation. So, he faxed everything over, and we waited for a call back.

We chatted to pass the time. He asked me about getting my bachelor's, and I told him I was planning on getting it, but I am not in a rush since I plan to homeschool both girls. He was interested, and surprised that there are really no laws in Texas that regulate homeschooling. (He's Texan too.) We talked about how our public education really disappointed us both, I was glad to hear it's not just my opinion. :) Anywho... I decided to take up his offer to go talk to the University of Maryland reps to find out if they had an art class available to take in case my college wouldn't budge on the credits.

Turns out they had a drawing class start yesterday. So, I was to apply tonight to UMUC and sign up for the class tomorrow and pay almost $600 for a 3 credit class. That is way more than I pay for my college, I know because it's a University, but also because with my college I'm a resident of their state, so I get way cheaper rates. But I was willing to do it to just be done.

We headed back to the CTC office and Tony and Carlee walked in. While Tony was asking about his degree credits, the Europe lady called back. She said she looked everything over, and was convinced that they would probably make the substitution and give me my degree. She said she would call the main campus and find out. We gave the rep our cell phone number so that he could call us in case she got back to him sooner rather than later.

While at the grocery store we got the call. Tony answered and sounded very short and straightfoward. I knew they must have said no to my request. Tony said, "They said they can't do it." I asked why, and he gave some answer I don't even remember now... then said, "Just kidding! Congratulations, you have your degree!!!" AHHHH!!!!!

I am so excited to be done with this degree! and I met my goal of being done before the baby gets here!!!! Now, I'm half way to a bachelor's, at least have something to fall back on, and my goal is to finish the bachelor's at our next duty station (especially if Tony decides to get out of the Navy.) I cannot even express my emotions right now. I think it's hard to really describe why this means so much to me. I know it's not hard to get an associate's degree, but I made the decision at a very young age to get married and start my family. That's what I wanted to do, and I did it. I knew I wanted to finish school, but I wanted this first. I had so many people tell me that I would never finish. That I had screwed up. What was I thinking? (I heard it all...) But I had faith in myself. I had the determination. And I still have the determination to keep going until I'm satisfied. And if you know me, I'm all about self improvement, so I am never satisfied with what I know. LOL That's why this means so much to me. =) It's taken me a while... but I'm done with it. All in my own time, and with my wonderful family by my side to celebrate with me. <3

Update

I have a ton of pictures to go through for the 365 project... LOL it's not going to happen right now.

Carlee caught another viral infection and started showing signs of it on Sunday. She's feeling better now as long as she's on tylenol.

Been busy the past week with MOMS Club stuff, taking Carlee to parties, and whatnot (not knowing she was carrying that yucky sore throat bug.)

Last Tuesday I went in to the college office to talk about my credits. The one guy who would know anything was out of town until yesterday. So, I have to wait for him to take a look at it and email me...

Pregnancy is still going good. This child is always kicking me. LOL I go to bed, I'm getting kicked, I wake up and I'm getting kicked, I'm cleaning/eating/walking/sitting/etc/etc/etc and I'm getting kicked! little booger. :)

We found out yesterday that a mutual friend from highschool died over the weekend. I saw him last about a year and a half ago. He was only 25. He had just gotten married 2 months ago. :( My heart broke for his wife when I found out. I can't imagine. Just makes you realize it could happen any day. I'm so grateful for everything I'm blessed with.

So bummed....

I found out this morning, that the college I'm going through changed my degree plan! ugh! You know that English Lit class I just took? The one I spent so much time and effort on, struggling not to stress out too much over it? Yeah, well, it turns out I didn't even need it anymore with the new Business Administration Degree plan. GRRRR!!!! They moved the Eng. Lit credit to the humanities section (which I already had credit for,) removed the foreign language requirement (that's good,) but added another performing arts humanities credit that I cannot get online. Great. So my degree is on hold until I can take some stupid "learn to draw" class, or "learn to do interpretive dancing" class face to face somewhere. I've wanted to scream all day. I just wanted to be done with this. Sigh....

I'll upload 365s later.
:S

sigh....(of relief!!)

365s:
7/23/08
This is Tony's cat: Dori. Can you tell she's his? LOL She doesn't like me much... I don't know why. It's just because I'm not Tony. I should take a picture of him holding her, and show you the difference. :)

7/24/08
Studying some more... Reading the next to last lesson. WOOHOO! Now this is my cat: Nemo. :D She looooves me. She even likes to keep me company while a read a whole book included in my text book, while I'm secretly trying not to run through the house screaming like a lunatic.
7/26/08
My daily prenatals: a vitamin and a DHA supplement. The prenatal is uncoated so it's horrible to try to get down. And the DHA one tastes like seaweed... well, because that's basically what it's made from. The things we do for our kids... before they make it here, no less! :D

Don't those pills look yummy?

Do you notice how shiny my sink is? :D Spent extra time cleaning it today. I'm starting back up with Flylady. I used her site for a while, some time ago, and got really good at routines around the house. School and MOMS Club volunteering eventually gave me a reason to ignore my routines though. Now I want to get back on top of it before the baby gets here. I have a friend who is starting up with the site too, so now I have someone to talk to about it.

So, the reason for the post title. I checked out my messages in my English class, and noticed the teacher sent me a message saying my paper was graded. I immediately headed over to the grades page and saw that I got a 235 out of 250 points. I knew it was a good grade, as the average was quite low, but still I needed a calculator to be sure.... 94% baby! What!?! Seriously that paper was not an A paper.... Either I am really hard on myself, or everyone else in the class is turning in crap. I don't know which one it is, but I'm really glad for it. Then again, when half the class thinks they can get away with plagiarizing the discussion questions, I can't imagine what their papers look like. I almost feel bad for the professor for having to read them. But whatever. That grade put me over the 70% mark, so even if I don't turn in another single assignment, I will still PASS!!! (of course I will though, and with 100% effort, because that's just who I am.) So, this class is guaranteed! AHHHH!!!! All I have to do is clep Spanish when I get back to the States.... and I am DOOOONNNEEE!!!! Can you tell I'm uber excited? :D

sigh.....

365s:
Wednesday 7/16/08
Tony came home with hand picked flowers. :) Unfortunately, I wasn't home to get them right away, I was across the street scrapbooking with friends. :) I think this is one of my favorite pictures ever!

Thursday 7/17/08
Spent the day cleaning, studying, and scrapbooking some layouts to frame. This one was almost done. I put it in the gift exchange at our MOMS Club End of the Year Banquet. My friend grabbed it, hope she likes it. :)
Friday 7/18/08
A few of my friends were heading to base to take the kids swimming, so Carlee and I joined them. Carlee had a blast as usual. At the pool, I ran into another friend and found out that the guys had gotten off of work at like 11:30! I wish I had known, I would have told Tony to take the duty van all the way to base. Oh well... After swimming, I picked up some groceries, ran some errands, and headed home.
Saturday 7/19/08
Our End of the Year "Banquet" was Mexican theme, so I took my sombrero. LOL Banquet is in quotes, because it wasn't anything fancy, just a normal get together. We were supposed to play some games, but just ended up relaxing, eating our food, talking, and exchanging gifts. It was really nice to get out though. This was taken after I got home. I had meant to take a pic there, but forgot...
*I forgot two days in a row to take a pic! I was so busy.... I kept thinking, hey I'm actually doing something interesting, I should take a picture... but then kept forgetting.

Tuesday 7/22/08 (today) *It would seem that green is my favorite color to wear, huh? LOL It's really pink*

This is the magnifying glass I bought Carlee the other day. She's been having so much fun going around the house looking at everything. She's so cute. I can't wait to start homeschooling again. I took a break for me to take this English class, and I'm going to start back up with Carlee in August. Speaking of the English class..... sigh.... I've been working on my paper all day today. I finally finished it around 9 and although it's not a great paper, I turned it in anyway. I'm tired of looking at it. Tired of re-reading it. Tired of overanalyzing what else I could possibly do to the paper. I figured out that I only need 50% on the paper and 50% on the final in order to pass the class with a 70%. I'm sure I will get better than a 50 on both, so I'm not worried anymore. Just tired of this class. I've still got to read this week's and next week's lessons, post discussions, take the quizzes, and finally take the final exam next week. I'm aiming for Tuesday since I'll be at base anyway, but we'll see....

I'm really really looking foward to being done. I think the past few weeks are finally catching up with me. I'm so ready for a break. I had another post to write, but I'm tired... I'm going to veg out in front of the TV for a bit with Tony. :)

Laundry....

365 for today (7-1-08!!!) I can't believe it's already July!!! I ran out of laundry detergent, so I had to make a new batch today. Now I'm set for a while.

I called the CTC college office at base today to find out their testing schedule so that I could go in and take my midterm... I was hoping for tomorrow afternoon, or Thursday at the latest since it's due on Friday (which is a holiday.) Turns out the proctor will only be there tomorrow morning, first thing. So I have to be at base at 8 AM. yay.... lol. Half of my test score is based on essays... heh. man.... Wish me luck!

This afternoon it stormed, which was really surprising! It's been so hot and dry lately, we really needed this rain. Carlee heard the thunder and said, "Mommy, where's my rain suit? and my umbrella? I wanna see the rain." How could I refuse? She had a blast out there.
*Notice where they put the storm drain? Um... Not where the water collects. This is why our driveway and yard get flooded every rainy season.... nice planning huh?

I'm making some treats for Tony right now, to surprise him when he gets home from work tomorrow: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. I can't wait to find out how they come out. I am finally using my mini muffin pan I bought from Pampered Chef a long time ago. hehe.

**PS** In case you missed my post this morning (below this one) I announced what the baby is!!!

I've Been TOOO Busy!!!

Sunday 6-15-08

Leaving base. We had watched Kung Fu Panda for Father's Day. It was really cute. Ran errands, got groceries, and headed home to spend time together.

Monday 6-16-08

Spent the entire afternoon deep cleaning the house. Definitely not my best picture LOL but it shows what I was doing....

Tuesday 6-17-08

Almost forgot to take my pic. :) So this is me drinking one more glass of water before getting ready to go to bed. I'm trying really hard to stay hydrated in this heat.

Wednesday 6-18-08

Up really late (I think it was 11 by the time I took this,) writing my paper. I went to bed around midnight and my brain would not shut off. I couldn't fall asleep, and ended up getting up around 1:30 to eat because I was starving. While I was in the kitchen, I noticed something very weird. A truck was going around housing, spraying what looked like pesticide right into the air, everywhere. Not just a little pesticide, but like a huge pouring spray into the air, like a fire truck would pour water almost. No wonder I thought it had smelled like pesticides outside! I don't know how I feel about it. That's a lot of pesticide! But the bugs here are sooo bad even with the pesticide, they're horrible! I don't even want to think about what it would be like if more of the bugs were surviving. ugh. But then again... UGH Pesticides UGH.

I went back to bed, and couldn't sleep. My back was killing me. I'm super tired right now. I might try to take a nap. We'll see if Carlee will let me. :)

365 Catch Up and my new favorite tin

Monday night (6-9-08) reading ALL of lesson two (=2+ hours,) after having finished lesson 1 earlier that day. Yay for this 8 week class! I just love how the book is glowing.... (and yes, that is a blanket over our window... LOL curtains do NOT keep enough light out. We like it super dark when we sleep.)

Tuesday night (6-10-08) after just coming home from a craft night! I made this super cute tin with Stampin' Up! products. I love it. It's so me! Too bad they don't make that paper in those colors anymore. :( Here's a better one of the tin:
Tonight (6-11-08) I decided to take a belly shot. :) I'm at 17 weeks + 3 days!!

Somehow, I am getting everything done... hopefully it will stay that way. I even got some cards made tonight. Tomorrow, I take my first quiz over lessons 1 and 2. Wish me luck! And Friday, I have a MOMS Club event. Then, I need to work on a paper this weekend. whew! :)

feeling a little better

Carlee was feeling a little better today, which of course made for a happier mama. I stole this headband from her. It's too big on her anyway. heh. :) Took this on a quick break between dishes and folding clothes. I forgot to mention on my blog... I got my hair cut (if you couldn't tell.) It is drastically shorter. The first day it was so nice, the hair guy had it perfectly styled, a nice summer style he had said. And I had agreed, but since then, the style has been sheenafied with pontytails, pig tails, and Carlee's stolen barrettes and headbands. No blowdrying required. :)

I'm hoping Carlee will be 100% better tomorrow. There is going to be BINGO at the community center tomorrow morning, and I'd really like to go with some friends of mine. Well, Carlee is in bed and I'm going to go scrapbook while I still have the chance.... My American Lit class starts on the 9th, and with the emailed syllabus I received, it's looking like it's going to be very time consuming and tough. Nice... I thought about postponing it until the fall... then I remembered the baby would be here in November. So that wouldn't work too well haha. Ah well. My last core class! Wish me luck!

ohmygosh

I just finished printing out 21 pages of notes for my astronomy final that I have to take on Friday. Wow. 21 pages about all the questions that could be on the test, but there's only going to be 50 questions. 80% from the second half of the semester - all true/false, and 20% from the first half of the semester - all ordering. Nice.... I hate T/F. I always either do really well, or really really horrible. I always second guess my answer. :( I bet you can just sense my enthusiasm about this test all the way from over here! haha Wish me luck! :)

And thanks to everyone for all the congratulations!! We are so excited! :D

A few things...

before I head to bed.

For the first time this Fall/Winter, I am sick. I came down with some kind of head cold last night, and I've been miserable ever since. To top it off, Tony had duty today. I have two theories as to how I developed it. First, I think I might have developed it by being overwhelmed (I fully believe in Louise Hay's thoughts on health and causing your own dis-eases.) And this past week would have been the one to cause some kind of cold. I was so overbooked with school, cramming for my midterm, finishing all the other school work, doing the MOMS Club newsletter, baking for something that was supposed to happen today, helping to plan an Earth Day event, continuing to go to workout classes, on top of normal parenting/wifely duties. I started to get a sore throat on Thursday, but kept trying to do positive thinking. It didn't go away, until I got done taking (and passing) my midterm, and all of a sudden this tension just disappeared, and my throat felt better. I think if I hadn't come into contact with any germs, I would have recovered fine. However, like I said, last night all of a sudden, I felt like crap. My second theory is that while taking my test in the wonderful computer lab, I probably picked up some gross germs since I don't know how many people use the same computers. I did use a hand sanitizer afterward, but I'm guessing that didn't cut it. I'm hoping I start feeling better fairly fast.

I passed my midterm!!! Actually I did better than pass, I got an 88%! I was surprised the test was so much easier than the rest of the class. I expected it to be just as hard, if not harder. Now, I need to do 2 chapter assignments tomorrow: a chapter test, and an observation, and then start catching up on my computer class which I put on hold while I focused on science. Four more weeks.... I can do it. :)

All right, I was going to write more, but my head is killing me.

Lunar Eclipse

This morning we woke up at 4 am to try to see the lunar eclipse. We got dressed and headed outside and saw nothing but a dark, cloudy, rainy sky. :( oh well.

Been busy studying. I don't even have time to cook good dinners lately. Even if I tried, my brain is so fried right now, I'd probably burn down the house somehow. We've been relying on easy dinners and the new restaurant that opened up in our Little America. Man, we don't even have to leave housing to eat! hehe. There's pretty much two things that we can eat, tomato pasta (which the guy makes awesomely with carmelized onions!) or veggie pizza, which tastes pretty good as well. I miss my home cooked meals though. Can you tell I'm so tired of these classes?!?

Bummed... and exhausted....

Last night I joined a bunch of girls for a girls night out (only 3 of them were personal friends.) It turned out to be a disaster. First, we couldn't find any dance clubs after walking around forever in Catania. Around 11:30 we finally decided to head to Deja Vu, a club in Motta which is actually a strip club during the week, but on the weekends it's just a dance club. (I swear it looked like Sopranos with all the Italians and the strip club atmosphere of the place LOL)

Well, after a while, it picked up, and the dance floor was packed. I didn't dance. I barely sipped away on my orange juice and vodka that my friend recommended. The music was the same over and over, they never varied from the Soulja boy type rap, which is fine for once in a while but not over and over the entire night. I did have fun people watching though.

I don't know what time it was when we finally decided to leave. It was at this point that for some reason (don't ask me what it was) the DD picked up two guys that needed a ride to base. Two wasted guys. Two wasted guys who thought they were the most original in pick up lines, and even though they were told repeatedly, they didn't understand the concept that the entire bus was full of women who were MARRIED. Well Drunk Dude #2 ended up passing out, so he wasn't much of an issue as the other guy.

Then on the way home, everyone (minus G and I) decided they wanted to eat at McDonald's even though we had decided to just go home. My friend G and I are adamantly opposed to McDonald's due to the whole vegan aspect, but also because of health reasons. McDonald's doesn't care about the trans fat they're pumping into your body as long as they make the $$. Anywho.... To top it off, McDonald's was back in Catania! The drive to and from there would add about 45 minutes to our drive! However, our opinion apparently didn't matter. So, when we got there, we stayed in the van and waited.

While we were waiting Drunk Dude #1 came back and continued to tell us how pretty we were and how he'd like to see us again. We reiterated the fact that we were married, and had no interest in him whatsoever. He continued to show us his ignorance and annoying drunkenness while we were silently hating this whole fiasco. Dude finally left after figuring out how annoyed we were. A few minutes later, one of the girls came back near tears, really mad at something Drunk Dude #1 had just said to her. She didn't even remember what he had said, but she had told him off for it.

Finally everyone filtered back into the van. Drunk #1 apologized for whatever he had done, and we headed home. Drunk #1 continue to act like an ass as he spit on the door, and threw his trash of the floor of the van we rented. So G told him to pick up his trash, and as he was standing up to open the window, she pushed his arm away from the window, and said, "The ground is not for you to throw your trash on. Where did you come from that you can just throw your garbage out the window!?!" (You go girl!) Dude sat back down muttering under his breath, while Dude #2 tried to keep his friend quiet. We finally pulled in front of Nas 1 where the driver (much to our relief) told the guys to get out. They were mad the driver wouldn't take them to Nas 2 even after the driver had originally told them Nas 1 in the very beginning. As we were driving off, Dude threw his cup at the van. All I could say was... wow. unbelievable.

I finally climbed into bed at 4 AM, and I had thought we'd be home at a decent hour since we all had kids! ha! I completely forgot about doing the last few steps I needed to do on my science lab (I needed the moon's and street light's light spectra,) and just passed out instead. So, this morning I woke up so exhausted, and still needed to finish up my school stuff, which I put off in order to go out last night. I had wanted to hurry and be done with it, so that we could try to go to an Italian farm with friends (something that had been planned for a few weeks.) Well, I finally got finished with everything at 7 pm (after barely failing my test, turning in my lab, and getting a C on my 4 page observation.) So, needless to say, we didn't get to go. During my test, G came by and brought some stuff from the Italian's farm: some freshly picked & grilled artichokes, fresh fennel, and lemons. OMG I so wish we could have gone!!! I'm so bummed!!! They had such a great time picking all the food and hanging around the farm. I'm so jealous. Oh well... even though my grades sucked this week, at least I got everything turned in.

Now, I need to immediately start on the next two chapters, get them done within the next few days, because on Friday those two chapters and my midterm are due.

I cannot wait to be done with these classes.

school shmool

I've been studying... studying.... studying... to try to catch up with my classes. Carlee went to the sitter's yesterday, and in 4 hours, I was only able to finish 2 chapters in my computer class (almost 3) and print out the science syllabus. It was then that I realized that my science class is not actually a self paced class like I thought it was. Nope. I've got 3 chapters of reading, labs, observations, and homework due by Sunday. Awesome. It has also turned out that neither class is going to be easy shmeesy like I had hoped. The computer class would be easy if I were in a face to face class, but since it's online, it uses this emulator and if you don't do things exactly the way it wants you to, then it's wrong, even though there are a ton of different ways to do the same thing. And the science class, well, I've never been really good at science, so to start with that doesn't help. The first chapter is nothing but physics and calculations and stuff I don't even know how to do. yay!

so this is why I still haven't gotten back to posting regularly yet. :)

If it's not one thing....

It's another...

My friend went ahead and took Carlee yesterday since it seemed that it was her allergies acting up again. I gave her allergy medicine and she felt better within a half hour. So, for the first free hour, I ran up to a friend's house who was having a MOMS Club scrapbooking day (I had forgotten I'd told her I would come.) I couldn't just not go, could I? hehe. But I only stayed for about an hour, then headed home.

I got one chapter read in a good time, then logged on to the site to take the test. I was thinking, "this is great! I already got one chapter down, I'll take the test, then I'll knock out chapter two! All before having to pick up Carlee!"

Well, the next 2 and a half hours I spent trying to figure out why I could not take the test. I downloaded everything that the class said to, the CD that came with the book, Internet Explorer (which I hate,) and all the pluggins they required. And the stupid site would still not work. Well, the site worked, but when I tried to open the test it would freeze. Then, after a while, I got a message saying, "You've reached maximum attempts on this test." WITHOUT ANSWERING A SINGLE QUESTION!!!

ACK!

So, I was pissed. Emailed my teacher. I don't know whether it's my laptop freaking out, or my internet connection or what. We're borrowing a second laptop from a friend right now, until Tony's new one gets in (yes he's getting ANOTHER new computer,) so I'm going to ask if I can install my stuff on his and see if it works or not. I hope it does, because I'd really like to get done with this class.

I went to go pick Carlee up from N's house, and she said, "Oh Carlee had a great day, she was really good. No problems." Great. I ask Carlee to get her socks and shoes, and she runs from me. I get the socks and start putting them on her, and she grabs a book and throws it at me. Yeah, so much for being good, guess it's only when I'm not around.

:)

what's new...

*We turned Carlee's crib into a toddler daybed... (sniff sniff) And we put all her toys upstairs, as she's old enough now (I guess) to not have to play downstairs all the time. She is loving the independence, and it's showing through her newfound level of stubbornness towards me.

*My two next classes start this month. I'm taking a (hopefully) easy shmeesy computer class and a (hopefully) easy shmeesy science class. We shall see. All I need is stupid English Lit (which I was planning on taking this semester too, but every single one of the classes was filled up when I went to register, and yes I was trying to register really early!) ugh. So yeah, I need English Lit, and two language credits, but I'm hoping to clep out of Span 1 & 2 when I go home for my next visit. Then I will be done with my Associate's of Business Administration. I had originally planned on immediately starting on my bachelor's but instead, I'm going to get a second associate's in Social Sciences (I will only need 6 new classes). Then I will decide what I want to get my bachelor's in: accounting, economics, or anthropology, all of which interest me very much.

*I've finally got Tony convinced to go back to school as well! He's only 11 classes away from his associate's!

*I'm feeling 100% better after the kidney infection, and I'm off my antibiotics, and I hope to never have another one of those again. I will be drinking cranberry juice every so often from now on, believe you me.

*I found this awesome site: Fitday.com I've been using it for about a week and a half, and I love it. I originally started using it to make sure I was getting all the vitamins and nutrients that I needed. Which I was pretty sure I was, because I feel great, but just wanted to be on the safe side. And now I've fallen in love with the site. LOL. It's awesome to see exactly what nutrients I need to try harder to get, what percentage of my calories come from where, etc. It's a very nifty site.

*I know I haven't gotten around to calling everyone yet, but thank you so much for all the Christmas gifts and cards! We really appreciate and love everything so much! So, thank you. :)

*There's more new stuff, but I'll write more later, because it's late and I'm going to bed.