Holidays

This holiday season was a very difficult one for myself and my family. This was our very first Christmas without our grandpa, who we always had dinner and dessert and spent the majority of the day with him and our grandma. It was also the very first time I had been in the house since his death. We all made it through the day okay and had a good dinner prepared by my grandma.

The day after Christmas we lost our oldest dog, Snitch a black lab, who was a very loving and calm dog. This was the first time we had an animal die at home. It was a difficult day for everybody and it certainly was not fun to have to go to work, especially when working in customer service and having to put on a happy face. Our Siberian Husky, Demon is starting to get back to his normal attitude, as he was with Snitch all the time. He has since decided that he is an inside dog and that he must sleep inside the house. Not too big of a deal, right? Well, he likes to howl at 2:30 in the morning, which makes for a very long day after being up with him all night. My hope is that he will start to sleep all through the night before I go back to school on the 18th.

College Life

I have decided that high school is much easier! I have found out that college is MUCH different. I find that all of the major assignments due in each course are due on the same week. I have two mid-term exams that I need to prepare for and the very much dreaded task of speeches will start very soon. UGH! I think I now know why people procrastinate! Everything is put aside when I have a grinning dog that wants kisses when I walk in the door (Demon, of course!) :). I think the main reason why he gives me that big smile is because he knows he has done something wrong (for example, he has tried to eat the cats through the sliding glass door and is continually taking branches of the tree....and no they don't need a hair cut, Demon!). Oh and those "conversations" he has with me! He has become very vocal and tells me all about his mornings, although I think he leaves out the bad stuff on purpose!

Holding On

The past two weeks have been testing me, both through school and personally. I think I am getting a hang of college and starting to know what each professor wants from me, although sometimes I'm not so sure. I am doing well in all of my classes, which is a plus :). Last week I had my first math exam and received a 95% (only missing one question). This week I had a history exam and my studies class had the first exam. I was more concerned about memorizing all of the vocabulary words for history, however, I think I did really well. I also had to compare and contrast Mesopotamia and Egypt. I already have 10 extra bonus points I will get on my exam for 1. attending class every week and receiving a "code word" and 2. working in class with my group and analyzing Aristotle. For my studies class our exam was based on defining skills, Internal Locus of Control, External Locus of Control, critical thinking, problem solving, rote memorization, motivation, goals, long-term goals, and short-term goals.

I am glad school has been keeping me busy after the death of my grandfather. He died on 9/11/10, which is already a weird day remembering what you were doing on 9/11/01. We knew it was coming after his diagnosis of kidney failure and many hospital stays, but death isn't easy. The funeral was difficult and seeing the flag given to my uncle made it all the more real. It was weird to have our aunt and her family as well as my uncle and his family around without my grandpa and without it being a holiday and people are out on the streets acting like it's just a normal day when inside of you it is anything but ordinary. It's difficult to me because just last year my great-grandmother died. My grandpa was only 77 years old. It makes you wonder why some people are blessed with a long life and some are not.

 My next English paper I will be writing is about a favorite photograph and I have decided to write one of me with my grandpa. I know this will be a good thing for me because it will help me to remember all of the memorable things that I and my family did with him. 

Calvin Gets a Bath

Whitney's cat, Calvin had to be given a bath last weekend because I found him on the trashcan covered in mud. Not exactly what Jordann, Mom, and I wanted to be doing on a Saturday morning! Surprisingly he wasn't as bad as we initially thought, but he still held up a fight. He smelled like dog shampoo for about a week, as we didn't have any cat shampoo on hand. I don't think he really appreciated that!

It is safe to say that he has recovered and that he is up to his normal no good! (He is on top of the bird cage.)

I Want to Help Too!

A picture is worth a thousand words....but this one I'm not really sure where to start! All I know is that Jordann was filling up the holes in the yard with the wheelbarrow when I turned around and found this:

Yes, he knows he is cute and uses it to his advantage! Just like when Mom was trying to get a picture of Whitney and Demon together. The best one I could find is this one:

I don't know what was going on in that head of his at that time, but what we do know is that he seems to think Whitney is quite tasty (notice the tongue)!

My First Week

I am happy to report that I made it through my first week of college without troubles! I am taking five courses this semester: Communications, English, Math, History, and Studies. It is quite a load but I feel confident that I will be able to make it through the semester. I know it's going to be hard, I can already tell! I feel very fortunate that I have all good teachers and I feel like they will be very helpful.

I was a little concerned going into my Communications class but everything has turned out really well and surprisingly I can actually talk for myself and hold conversations! Who ever knew!!!! English and Math are going to start of pretty simple but they are going to get more difficult as the course moves to harder areas. My History class is Western Civilizations the only thing I am concerned about with this class is the amount of reading and then doing the research paper. My Studies class I feel is going to be extremely helpful and I feel like I will get a lot out of this class.

Jordann and Whitney are not too thrilled that I come in and out all day and so this doesn't give them much time to goof off! Megan doesn't start school until September 20 so she gets to see what it's like having to watch them for a full day without mom or me. I think it's a good experience for her! Mom is doing her internship this semester at a harbor school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She is home on Tuesday's and Thursday's. As you can tell, this has put a damper into Jordann and Whitney's parade!

Volunteering

I finished my volunteering at the local hospital for the summer. This was my last year as a Junior Volunteer and I am happy to say that I enjoyed the experience and will be grateful that I had the opportunity to volunteer at a hospital that was a small community hospital.

Some of the things I learned while volunteering was

• Never walk into a patients room asking "How are you"....instead you give them your name and a hello.
• Being a volunteer you sometimes will get the less exciting jobs...i.e. copy work, cleaning waiting rooms, and taking blood samples to the lab.
• Learn how to not have feelings (crazy, I know!). This was one thing that I had to learn and was most difficult for me.
• I came into this experience in 2009 thinking that I had to have a strong stomach. However, one of the things that I learned is that there is nothing scary when you work in physical therapy, medical records, and education. This was a good thing too because there were some days that I didn't feel like I was in the right mind frame to be in the ER.
• My last month, I worked mostly in the ER as the ER greeter. One thing I learned is that many patients and families are going to be sad and angry, depending on how they deal with stress. I learned to deal with people yelling at me and crying at me. I also had to learn how to quickly put on gloves and hold a bag for patients....not exactly the fun times! The hardest part, though, was having to volunteer with the workers in the ER. The hardest part was having to be talked to like you were a toddler. I am so glad that I have my mom's attitude and just let it role off of me!
• You also get to know a lot of fun people who are there, whether as a patient or for a family member. There were so many people that I met and had a few conversations with that left me feeling good about the volunteering that I was doing.

Monkey!

I forgot to post the monkey pictures I took when we went to the zoo.

The best one that we saw was the loudest monkey in the zoo. We could hear him from the other end!

Zoo Trip

As we have realized, summer is winding down! Jordann and Whitney plan on starting school on the 16th and mom and I are starting the 23rd. Megan is on the quarterly system so she doesn't start until September. This will be my first year at college and mom will finish her degree in education and Megan will finish community college and then will move on to the BIG college!

Last week we visited the zoo and the museum where they had John James Audubon's artwork on display. The zoo was fun and every one enjoyed it...well Whitney was not thrilled with our trip due to not wanting to go to bed the night before, being woken up, and not having enough sugar in her body! We think the Zebra at the zoo looked just like her tan...I don't think she really liked that similarity :).

Yesterday we went to a local arcade/fun zone where Megan, Jordann, and Whitney sprayed each other with water. I stayed clear of that fun and instead took pictures!

I have a few more volunteering days left at the hospital before I finish up being a Junior Volunteer and head to college. I have been volunteering mostly as the ER greeter, which has had it's boring times and very interesting times :). I will also get to volunteer at the local rodeo and I feel really lucky because I won't be going in at 5 AM that day to help out (phew!)...I get the 6:00 PM shift!

Project and Summer Fun

At the hospital that I volunteer for we have been doing a "Giving Back Week" for each month. For the month of June we cleaned up a local park and a museum. For July we participated in the Meth Project. It took us a full week to do. I have also decided through this that I do not like the heat...and probably never will! We were lucky that we didn't have 100 degree weather, however most of the weather was either low 90's or high 90's.

** I was the lucky sole who got to be up on the ladder doing the top letters. I learned very quickly to not look down!**

Whitney decided one day that she wanted to pull out the slip-in-slide. Her and Jordann spent a nice hot afternoon slipping-and-sliding. I think the next day they were pretty sore! They had many races and many "you cheated" moments!

Jordann trying to give me a BIG hug (of course when she's wet and me being dry)....it didn't work. I won that battle!

Relaxing in the Sun

Jordann and Whitney decided to have some relaxation time with the dogs outside. One dog, and you can guess who, is in serious trouble with us because for two days straight now he has chewed the air conditioner's wires so that we can't use it. Let's just say that the four days that dad was gone on a fishing trip were pretty hot! Yesterday was the worst one, though. Luckily dad is back....the bad news is that he hasn't had a moments rest since landing on Sunday. I think that dad agrees with mom now....NO MORE DOGS!

What A Weird Dog!

Demon decided one day while we were trying to get things on the table for dinner to take a slinky from the kitchen floor and take off running with it. Why the dog was in the house, I'm still not quite sure! He was running around the yard like a crazy dog (which he is) until Jordann was able to finally trick him into giving it to her....and just in time too because dad was just pulling into the driveway and he wouldn't be happy to know that his dog was playing with something pink! He is very clear that his dog can only play with "boy" toys. This probably became into play when he found that I put a bow on him on my phone when I was playing with the stamps!

**Picture is a little fuzzy because it had to be taken through the window.**

A New Project...

I have started another site to blog about one of my passions: cooking. The site is still new and I am still trying to get it looking "pretty." Here's the site:

http://www.perfectingfoods.wordpress.com/

Graduation

I have officially graduated from high school as of Saturday, May 29, 2010! I had a great day by spending it with my family and going out to lunch with my aunt, uncle, and two of my cousins. My grandpa also made it which was great :)!

Tessellation Project

I worked on this while Jordann and Whitney were doing their standardized testing. It's amazing how this little thing can take a long time and keep your mind busy!

Finally!!!!

I have finally finished the puzzle that I started after finishing my finals. It took a lot longer than I was anticipating! I'm hoping that the next one isn't as hard :) !

Crazy Weather

Some of the pictures I took during our crazy storm last week.

The rainbow after the storm was the best part!

Math Lessons....

They look thrilled, don't they?!

Whitney and Amelia

Last month (well, the first week of March) we enjoyed some time with our newest cousin, Amelia. Amelia decided that she wanted Whitney to take her for a walk so she decided to plop on her lap and have Whitney put on her shoes!

Just Like Dad...

Whitney wearing one of her shirts that is very similar to the one that Dad used to wear.

Moving On

I have finally finished high school! I finished on Thursday last week and past. It's still hard to believe that I am done with high school. I will graduate with a 3.62, something that I'm really happy with. The only bad thing is that now I have nothing to keep my mind busy, so I started a puzzle over the weekend. I had to start the puzzle because after an hour last Thursday I was bored and nobody wanted to entertain me!

So now here I am....annoying my family! They aren't too happy with me today because I'm full of energy. I say karma though! They are usually teasing me about being done with their work before me, ha! I have to be careful tomorrow, however, mom might not think twice about hitting me upside the head!

Over my very free weekend I finished two books (yes I said two and yes that is my record!); Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. Both good books. They were both totally different from each other so I couldn't say which one was the best. Next on my to do list: cleaning, cleaning , cleaning. I really don't want to start cleaning because it's boring and it doesn't keep your mind very busy but since I now have time on my hand and now I'm really noticing how much needs cleaning I will probably start that soon.

Finals....and then Whitney

This week is my last week of finals! I cannot wait to be done :)! Although I'm sure my first day off by about 10 AM I'll be bored and wishing for more classes! I'm not jumping out of my seat yet with excitement because there is lots of studying to do and two big tests yet to take. Once I pass I'm sure I will be unable to sit still! It's kind of weird to be done with high school, though.

....Then I have Whitney, my little 10 year old monster of a sister. Boy do I understand now why Mom, Jordann, Megan, and Dad decided to give me the task of watching her and schooling her. I'm really wishing that somebody would at least look at my applications and accept me so that she could either 1. go to school or 2. everyone chip in to pay for a boarding school. I'm so happy that I get 1/2 a day off with her tomorrow because Megan is taking her to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a little while! I do not feel sorry that Megan has to sit in the car with her for 45 minutes...hehehe.

Talking with the dog

Our morning "talks."
















**He was espeically happy last week to wake up to snow!**

Tent Building

For Whitney's birthday today Mom and I spent time building her a tent, yes a tent....over her bed. I'm not sure why she wanted a tent for her birthday but that was her #1 wish this year. I think she is kind of weird to want something like this but Whitney's always been a little bit different compared to all of us.

I really hope that Whitney enjoys her birthday gift because it took a lot of work! Between Mom dropping everything and me giggling at her remarks every time she did something wrong it took quite awhile! Mom just did a quick and easy version of her new tent, as she doesn't have everything yet and her art class has been a total nightmare! The good news is that Whitney enjoyed her presents and Mom even received a Thank You. I'm sure she took one look at me and realized that I was just the commentator!

Happy Birthday

Today is Whitney's birthday! She is now 10 years old!! Jordann has been teasing her lately that she is now a decade old! Today she is spending her day doing art with mom and annoying me constantly! I wish I had her energy level that she has today :). Over the weekend we celebrated her birthday by going to the hockey game. I'm sure that she was happy that her team won 7-1!

I can remember 10 years ago coming home from school and my grandma was taking care of Jordann and Megan and I found out that Whitney was born. I remember thinking that she was really quite....now it's all I can do to get her to be quite for 2 seconds!

Happy birthday Whit!

Mom is planning on doing her hair and getting some nice pictures....I'll see if we actually get one that is worth posting as she still hasn't learned how to smile for the camera.

3 Weeks Left

I am finally on the homestretch to completing High School! I have three weeks of school and two finals and then I will be done! My final two classes are Economics and Speech. My plan for college is to go to a community college and become a pastry chef. I'm really excited that I will be done with school before Spring Break!!!

Whitney isn't too thrilled with me finishing school because that will give me more time to check in with her and make sure she is doing all the required course work.

Leave the Birds Alone

As I'm sitting at the computer trying to finish up my Economics assignment I hear Demon talking like crazy. First I think it's because Snitch doesn't want to play with him so I go check on him, of course playing with him is no fun because he can't stand to lose. What do I find? I find him going after the birds in the bird feeder and then after they leave he is howling at them in the sky. I think this dog is just plain crazy!

When I tell him to go find his ball he decides that he's going to tell me his part of the story, of course I think I know what's been going on after observing him for a minute! After giving him some undivided attention (sorry Snitch) my hope is he will leave them alone. I should have figured he would find something even more annoying to do. So now he is sitting right by the bird feeder just waiting to pounce so that he can get one. I'm hoping this puppy stage will end....and soon!

At least on the bright side: I'm not having to chase him down and find him! Yes, he is still escaping the yard to keep us on our toes.

You're Not Helping

With Mom back in school it has been my duty to get Whitney out of bed before noon so she can get started on her school work. My brilliant plan last week to wake up Whitney was to bring in her kitty, Calvin. After about 20 minutes I went to check on how he was doing and I found this:
















Calvin is now fired from the job! I guess it's back to opening the curtains and turning on the lights until I find a better plan.

Snow Pics

Some of the pictures I took during our few days of snow:

Who in the world????

Who in the world would??? I do not know what type of creature in the world would do something like this besides somebody VERY disturbed















Don't let those eyes fool you.....he is more of a tiger than a cat these days!

Vandals Shirt

My Grandpa wearing his favorite team