Check out my new blog look! Isn’t it awesome? It’s so pretty. Amy fixed all the problems and made it look so pretty, pretty, pretty.

Thanks, Amy. Really.

My man is home. Finally. Six weeks of separation behind us, and no more looming in the near future. I know the Army will separate us again, but I don’t have to think about that right now. I will cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, I’m just happy that my husband is home. It’s so nice to have him back.

I’m sorry to all of you who have had trouble viewing my site. I saw some of y’all’s comments, but didn’t understand what you were talking about. I’ve been so busy lately, that I hadn’t looked into it. I realized today that it is messed up if you use Internet Explorer to view it. We use Firefox so we weren’t having any troubles. When Amy was here, I looked at it from her computer, and so thought it must have been a problem on the lady who commented about it’s end. Of course, Amy, being a computer geek (What? You know it’s true.), uses Firefox, too. So, anyway. I’m sorry. I didn’t think to check Explorer. You all really should be using Firefox. It’s too awesome not to use. I’m just sayin’. Anyway, Chris is home so I’ve got him working on the problem. I hope to have it taken care of real soon.

I know I’ve been beyond delinquent with my adventure posts, but I’ve just now reached recovery level from the sleep deprivation. Now that Chris is home, things may settle down a little. I hope so, at least. So, tomorrow, I’ll post about our trip to Fort Jackson.

Check out the pics of Chris at Fort Jackson on my photo blog.

I added some new pictures to my photo blog last night. Check them out!

For those of you who wanted to read my short story, I added a link to it over there in the sidebar, or you can click here. I realize it’s kind of hard to read, but I didn’t know a better way to post it. If you like, you can copy and paste the whole thing into Microsoft Word and double space it. That will make it easier on your eyes.

Please make sure to tell me what you think. I am excited for some unbiased feedback. Hope you like it!

Sorry I missed your Meebo messages. The sound doesn’t work on the laptop, so I don’t hear the alert it makes. Jen, I saw yours right after you got off-line. Hopefully, I’ll catch you next time.

Yeah. That last post I wrote was kind of a downer. I was very overwhelmed, to say the least. I still have a messy house and a ton of schoolwork, but I’m slowly chipping away at the sheer size of the work.

I had speech class last night. I had to give a persuasive speech, in which we had to persuade the class to take action in some way. I could not think of any subject better than the first one that popped into my head. So my speech was about the importance of wearing your seat belt. The girl who got up before me gave a speech on…you guessed it…wearing your seat belt. Right before me! I was thinking, “You have got to be kidding me.” Oh, well. It went okay. I already got the comment cards everyone wrote (we have to critique each others’ speeches), and no one said I looked nervous this time. That’s an improvement.

I’m supposed to go to Kyra’s school to give a speech and do some readings for the kids as my honors project in speech. That is going to be this Friday. I need to get my presentation organized and together. I’m not really nervous about this, because I know all the kids and everything. It’s about the importance of reading. I’m going to have some one take pictures for me, so I’ll show you that afterward.

Last night, as I was getting ready to go to speech class, I was practicing my speech in front of Kyra. I had went over it two or three times, and then sat down. Kyra said she wanted a turn. It was so funny. There were parts of my speech when I asked for a show of hands about a few different things, such as who knew someone who had been in an accident recently, etc. So, when Kyra gave her speech, she was asking things like, “How many times have you drove to Kroger?” and “How many times have you drove to Walmart?” Me and Chris were cracking up. In one part of my speech, I related the story of how I had been in an accident when I was pregnant with Kyra, and how my seatbelt kept me from getting hurt. As Kyra was giving her “speech” she told us that “One time, my mom, Miss Rachel, was driving me to church. I unbuckled my car seat, and Miss Rachel said, ‘Don’t let me catch you doing that again!’” It was so funny listening to her talk, especially since she took on this very prim and proper “adult” voice. We of course started recording her on video. It was too cute!

I guess I should do some schoolwork now. I can’t believe how fast the semester has went by. I just have a few weeks left, and I’ve got a lot of work in two classes left to do. In Math, though, I just have to take my final, and, in Music, I just have two unit tests to take. The music ones won’t be much work at all. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get my Math Professor friend, Claire, to help me out before my final. It’s almost scary to think about how fast the time has passed. I stay so busy with schoolwork that things are rushing past. I try to make a point to spend time doing fun things with the kids, too, but, still. School speeding by is good. My children’s childhoods speeding by is sad.

Anyway, just as soon as I get the bulk of my schoolwork done, I’m going to start a new series of blog posts. The idea is just to get better at writing. I’m going to write about different instances, memories, I guess, from my life. It may not be terribly exciting, but it should at least be more interesting than what you guys have read for the past few months.

In the meantime, be good, People!

I posted Easter pictures on my photo blog!!!

Sorry about the lapse in posts the last few days. I’ve been really busy. Between you and me, I’ve been pretty occupied in finishing that book I told you about. I just couldn’t put it down. I justified it by telling myself that the sooner I finished it the sooner I could concentrate on what I should be doing again. Whatever lets me sleep at night, huh? Look for my thoughts on the Memory Keeper’s Daughter soon in my What I’m Reading section.

Seriously, though, I have had a lot of schoolwork lately. I have less than a month left of the spring semester of school. For those of you who could care less what I’m doing in school, just skip down to the next paragraph. I had a reading to do in Speech class Monday. I think I did well. I read Hooway for Wodney Wat, which is an awesome children’s book. I get nervous before getting in front of the class each time I have to speak. It’s not fear. I’m not afraid to speak in front of people. I don’t even get nervous till it’s almost my turn. Once I’m up, though, my heartbeat speeds up and my hands shake. My voice wasn’t shaky when I read, but I hands shook, thus making the book I was holding up shake, for about the first four pages. I got my grade for my last speech the same night, and her comments on my speech were “Calm down. You look nervous. You’re a good speaker.” So, I guess I wasn’t hiding my nerves as well as I thought I was, huh? I did get a 97 on the speech, though. Next Monday, I have to give a persuasive speech. I haven’t picked my topic yet. I’m also getting my honors presentation ready to give to Kyra’s school a week from today.
I had been working on a paper for Comp class, too. It was on advertising. I turned it in last night. I think I did a really good job on this paper. I proofread it a dozen times and had Mom proofread it for me, too. I am hoping to get a really good grade. I was shooting for a 100. I haven’t made a perfect score on any paper. Chris told me yesterday that he wishes I was a perfectionist in everything like I am in my schoolwork. Alas, I’m not. I am also steadily working on my short story, which is my honor’s project. I am making pretty good progress on it. I’m shooting to give him a first draft by next Thursday.
In music, I am planning on writing my concert report today on the opera I went to. I should have already wrote it but I was worried that my first one wasn’t right. I got my grade on it this morning, though, and I made a 97 on it. So, now I’m not worried. I will write the second one and turn it in, as well as the one I wrote for extra credit on Oklahoma. I have a test in Music on Wednesday.
In Math, there’s nothing exciting to report. I have another test in it on the 16th, and then the final test a week after that. Nothing pressing right now.
So, I’ve got a lot going on with school, but I’m still doing well. I am getting close to the end of the semester. I have already registered for two classes this summer. I am going to take the next developmental math class over the summer to get it out of the way. I don’t get credits for the math I’m taking now or the next one, because they are not regular college math classes. Math is not my strong suite, so I’m going to take them all one right after the other, while they’re fresh on my mind. I have registered for my fall classes, too. One of which is College Algebra. Ugh. Hopefully I’ll do well enough, though, and get them all out of the way. I have registered for five classes this fall.

Okay, enough about school. What else has been going on? Well, Chris has been busy with, of course, school. He’s also working a lot of overtime now. Another site is fixing to strike, so they sent some of the guys from Chris’ site out of state to work the strikers’ jobs, so Chris is working overtime to cover their shifts. They haven’t actually went on strike yet, so I’m hoping they won’t. Once the other guys come back, Chris will go back to his regular work schedule. If they do strike and stay on strike for a while, Chris won’t get to take his scheduled vacation. That would totally stink. His vacation is scheduled for the end of May, and he has to report for duty at Fort Jackson on June 3rd. Hopefully, we’ll be able to take a family vacation before he leaves. So, that’s what he’s been up to.

The boys had doctor’s appointments last week. Everything was great. I’ve already forgot their stats, though. I think Elijah weighed about thirty-six pounds. I forget how tall he was. The doctor was unconcerned over the lump on his forehead that is still there from where he hit his head in January. He had to have blood drawn, which stunk, and it took four of us to hold him down. Owen was doing great, as well. He weighed nineteen pounds.

In other kid news, Owen has cut all four top teeth. They are just barely sticking through his gum, but they are there. Elijah is making some potty-training progress. Not as much I would like, but he’s getting there. Slowly. Kyra is doing well, too. She is on spring break from school right now, and is enjoying that.

We took the kids to Knoxville Tuesday. Get a load of what great parents we are. First, we took them to Chuck E. Cheese’s to play. Then, we took them to Steak and Shake for lunch. After that, we went to the movies, where we watched “Meet the Robinsons” in 3D. The movie was so cool. Chris and I both thought it was a great movie. Really funny. The 3D aspect made it super cool, too. After the movie, we went to the used bookstore, which we all love. I got three more books to add to my “to read” pile . . . as if I have time to read. By the time we got home, the kids were worn out and happy. It was a really fun family day. Don’t you wish I was your mom?

What else? Oh, my friend, Joy, is moving back to Tennessee! I am really excited about that. I don’t know how long she will be here. They are in the ministry, so they could move away somewhere else. If she does stick around at a church in this area, then I will probably be moving in a few years. So, we are not likely to live out our lives in the same area, but I fully intend to enjoy living close to her for as long as it lasts.

One last thing…remember my brothers in your prayers. Aaron left to go overseas again today, Jason is still out in Caliornia, and Malachi is probably traveling home from Kansas this weekend. So, pray that the Lord would keep them all safe in their travels.

That’s all for now. Be good, people!

We have the opportunity in my Comp class to keep a journal for extra credit. We can get up to twenty points of extra credit for writing about whatever strikes our fancy. I thought I would post some of mine here. The next couple of blog posts will be things that I have thought and wrote about for class. Feel free to start a discussion in the comments section if you want to. I’m open to talking about things other than my kids every now and then.