The Ugly (Or, Me During Midterms)

Midterms week.  I have my big test in Chinese tomorrow.  When I have a midterm or final in a Chinese class, my life revolves around that test.  I study day and night, and when I am not studying, I am worried because I am not studying.  I don't clean, cook, play...I barely shower (and that's not an exaggeration).  This is the dirty, ugly side of me.  "Come one, come all!  See the horrifying Ms.- B- During- Midterms- Week!"  I should charge.  It is THAT bad.  I didn't do the dishes in about five days.  By the time I stopped studying long enough to wash the dishes last night, there was mold.  MOLD, people.

Mr. T is in Idaho.  It is the safest place for him at this time (lol).  Anyway, like every midterm/final exam time, I am horrified at what I have become, wallowing under a pile of papers, books, pencils, dictionaries, notes, half written projects and reports, electronic devices, wearing sweats (probably with cheetos shaped finger prints on the legs), my brain so full of Chinese I can't think straight, and looking like a Walker from The Walking Dead, because I haven't slept more than five hours all week.

Be glad you are not here, friends.  And all who wish to enter here, be ye warned.

Update :)

It has been a LONG time since I have written, and I kind of began to wonder if the blogging side of my life was on hold for a season, or maybe even (GASP!) ending (gulp).  But alas, I find myself sneaking back here now and then, just to look.  For what, I don't now.  I just type in the address.  Scroll down the page a bit, and then leave.  I'm odd, I know. The definition of insanity is something about someone repeatedly doing something again and again with the same result but expecting something different, and I was worried that might include expecting something different even if you are not sure what that something different is, in which case, I am on a quick trip to crazy town.  SO, I am doing something about it and writing, and then I will surprise myself the next time I click to my blog. :)

Life is so busy, with so much going on!  We have cut away at Taiger's hair, little by little, until there is almost nothing left.  He is thrilled with it!  I am mourning the loss of his beautiful curls.  But he ended up with those long locks in the first place because I felt his hair styles should be HIS choice, not mine, and if that is so then cutting it is his choice, so as soon as he says the word, I pull out the scissors.  It is hard to see all that beautiful hair (showing the result of all those years of TORTURE working to get it curly, soft, healthy, long, etc.) flushed down the toilet (literally), but that is his choice.  So, what is a mommy to do?

I have been working and I love my job!  I am teaching at the Maria Montessori Academy.  I work as a special education assistant in a Lower Elementary classroom (about ages 6-8) in the mornings, and then I teach writing to a small group of students in the afternoons (about ages 13-15).  I also teach about 15 mins of yoga in the morning to the Lower Elementary class where I am the assistant.  I love the teacher in whose classroom I am working, and I absolutely adore all of my students!  Teaching yoga is so satisfying, and I love hearing those tiny kids use words like "Namaste" and "Shavasina" :)  Warms my heart.  My writing group is fantastic!  I have REALLY connected with one of my students, and I received the warmest, most sincere hug from him yesterday.  That class pushes my creativity and teaching experience as I come up with new lesson plans, games, visuals, methods to teach, etc.  That is just the kind of thing I LOVE.  I really enjoy teaching that group.  Working with the special needs kids in the classroom is just as rewarding as you can imagine.  I love it, and have felt a great sense of accomplishment when I am able to connect with a child, help them through a difficult moment, teach them tools for coping, help them accomplish a goal, or do just about ANYTHING else to help them.  I love the students, and I absolutely love working with them.

On the topic of Maria Montessori Academy, Taiger was accepted there for this Fall!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was so excited when I found out he had been accepted!  I just wanted to scream and jump up and down!  It is wonderful as I know he will just THRIVE in that learning environment!  Along from that benefit, I am also so excited to have him with me during the week!!!!!!!!  He will go to school and come home WITH ME!  And although he will not be in the classroom where I teach (most likely), I will still be right there in the same building so if there is a problem I can help him, and we can probably have lunch together (although I bet he won't want that every day, as he will surely be busy with friends).  I imagine we will move to the city where the school is, so no more commuting an hour each way for work!  And did I mention we will BE TOGETHER?!  Yippee!  I absolutely LOVE the Montessori method of teaching and I am SO EXCITED to give Taiger the experience to learn in the Montessori way.  I love it!

This post has turned MUCH longer than I EVER expected.  (Boy, I am surprising myself already!)  I hope all of you, my friends and blog readers, are having a wonderful week and that wherever you are it is SUNNY outside! :)
 

Good bye 2012, Welcome here 2013!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012 was fantastic, and I look forward to 2013 being just as great. :)  I can't help but wonder what fun things will happen in 2013, what I might learn, what I might experience, what Taiger will learn, how Taiger will change, who I will meet, where I will go, what I will accomplish.  I wonder what will happen for Sixteen Small Stones in 2013? The BEST part is knowing that, through it all, I will have by best friend, Taiger, at my side. :)

I hope you all have a GREAT year in 2013.

Hi!

Are you there?  Hello?

Oh hi!  There you are!  I thought I had lost you. :)

It would take a long, long (long) time to catch you up on every nitty gritty detail of life at the Grand Adventure Household (as much as I am sure you would loooooove to hear that...lol).  So, we are going to try and experiment.  I am going to just jump in with life as it is and pretend you know what is going on.  You are going to be lost for a while, flounder around and eventually catch on to the crazy that is run of the mill around here.

What do ya think?  Wanna give it a try?

So, to start, we are in Idaho.  Want to sing, "I'll be home for Christmas"?  No?  No, you don't?  Yeah, me either. ;)

OH!  And the BIG news?  I cut Taiger's hair!  YES!  Last night!  He suddenly (VERY suddenly!) decided he wanted it cut.  So, after a moment of panic that my boy's precious curls were about to go to the slaughter, I sucked it up and cut!  I was hyperventilating, and crying, most of the time, but I hid it from Taiger. ;)  He LOVES it! ...and wants it shorter. :S  Am I brave enough to pull out the buzzer?

Anyone Out There??!!

Hellooooooooo out there!!!! ... ?  Anyone here??

Probably not.

So, I STILL don't have a computer.  I know!  It is like I have been catapulted back in to the stone age...or at least the '80s.  WHAT?!  So I am on campus now and I have almost 9 mins online, so I am using it to post here.  ("What is this 'internet' of which you speak?!"  That is how I feel right now.)

Taiger and I have had some REALLY "Grand Adventures" lately, and I cannot wait to show you all the pictures and tell you stories of everything!  But for now, I will just say things have been crazy and fun and Taiger is getting used to life in Utah.

We are living in an apartment complex at an outdoor mall.  Sounds strange, right?  It is exciting and different and quite an adventure!  Life is different when you live downtown.  Just like the song says, "Everything's waiting for you." Everything is downtown!  It is so close...yet far away, because it takes a long time to get anywhere. :)  But I do love it!  It's all just so different! Even grocery shopping is different!  The grocery store is so big and you park in a parking garage instead of a parking lot.  I take public transportation instead of driving. I thought living in China was strange, but living downtown is just as full of little quirks.  Evem taking a walk is such a different experience!  Instead, of grass under foot there is concrete and a sidewalk.  Instead of the air full of the smells of dirt and freshly mowed lawns or wheat being harvested, there are smells of cafes and restaurants, perfumes wafting from clothing stores. Instead of seeing familiar neighbors driving slowly by or waving from their yards, or just as often seeing NO ONE on the street, here there are always always always people!  People I don't know with faces I want to stare in to and understand.  People everywhere! Instead of having an open, spacious view to the mountains I look around and see buildings, interesting and towering and close and cold and beautiful. But there is one thing I absolutely love above all else about taking a walk in the city versus the country: NO BUGS! I love it!  No gnats! :D  Anyway, I cannot say one is better than the other.  I certainly love living downtown in a city, but country living is charming.  They are so different, it is like comparing apples and oranges.  Both are fruit but you can't say one is better than the other at all!

So, we have been experiencing the adventure of living not only in a big city, but living right smack downtown, right in the middle of it all!

Living downtown has given me the chance at another adventure: volunteering at a homeless shelter.  There are homeless people "living" all around us downtown.  Our street behind our house is full of homeless people.  I could not simply sit in my fancy apartment, looking out my window at the suffering!  So, I called the nearest shelter and headed over to serve dinner.  I have gone twice and look forward to that experience more in the future.

Very near our home is a Children's Museum!  Mr. J surprised us with YEAR PASSES to the Children's Museum!!!!!!!!  We LOVE it!  It is a great and fun way to spend an afternoon, or just a few hours.  Since we don't have to pay each time we don't mind going in for a short while and then leaving.  There isn't the pressure of having to "get your money's worth" or to see EVERYTHING because this will be the only time we ever go.  It is so fun and nice and I am forever thankful to Mr. J for that kind and wonderful gift.

Now that we are in Utah, we are very near to my sister (although not near enough!).  We have had so much fun being with her, and she has had Mr. T over for "slumber parties" and he has had the best adventures with her!  (Think SUMO NIGHT.  Enough said...and can't wait to share pictures of that party!)

Mr. J also got season passes for us to a wonderful little place called Cornbelly's.  It is like a children's Halloween heaven!  It has a corn maze and pumpkins and bounce houses, it has pig races (seriously!), haunted houses (kid friendly...although too scarey for Taiger), games, music, a HUGE slide, and all sorts of imaginative play areas.  There are fire pits and the last time we went we made s'mores around the fire.  It is absolutely a fall heaven! 

My University had Fall Break last week, and Little T and I went with Mr. J to visit his family out of state.  Can't wait to show pictures of THAT adventure!

PHEW!  This has taken longer than 9 mins to write, so I better get going.  I am sure it has taken more than the free time you have had to read!  I will write again when I can.  Thank you for being faithful readers.

Utah

Did you think maybe Utah doesn't have internet?

Or did you maybe think we had moved to Saturn and were unable to get internet out there?

I am happy to say neither of those situations is what happened.

Unfortunately, my computer is broken, and that is why  I have not blogged.

So sorry.

I am at a campus.  Not the U.  Using their computer.  Long story.

I am in Utah.  Taiger is in Idaho.  I have no house.  Yet.  But soon.

Write more when I can.  Gotta run!  I love you all and will post pictures as soon as my computer is working again.

SURPRISE!...

...We're moving to UTAH!

Are you surprised?

So are we!