No sitters...

For today, my only lecture class, and I can't be there... Stuck here with Robbie. I keep thinking today is Friday- but it isn't.
I'm going to the school around the time class is over to turn in my homework and get the assignment for next week. Hopefully that's ok with the instructor. I tried to get ahold of him last night, but wasn't able to reach him-or his voicemail- in any way.

And, there's a Pep Rally for the Superbowl today in the lobby of the building where my class is. Free pizza!! On that note, I'm outta here...

Headaches, Assemblies, and Losing your Mother....

So last Thursday, right... I get out of class at 10:45 am, and there was an assembly at my daughters school that started at 10:45. The sitter's daughter is in Emma's class, so she just brought my son with her, and we met at the Primary school. After my daughters class presented their spiel on 'Responsibility' we went to find the girls.
As soon as Emma saw me she started bawling. All she wanted was me. I tried every bribe in the book, and some I made up on the spot, but no cigar. She wanted to go home. So we tracked down here teacher and got her bag and jacket.
Her teacher was out the week before, her Mom had passed away. So after I told her we were going home, I offered my condolences and we talked about it for a while. I don't really know very many people that I talk to on a regular basis that have lost their mom, so it's kind of nice to know that I have someone who went through a similar thing. Only, her teacher is in her late 40's, early 50's so she's quite a bit older than me... but we can-and do-talk.

My classes today were crappy... I used the backspace too much in my keyboarding class, so now that I'm getting to the tests- where there is NO backspace- I'm screwed. In fact, it's time to go practice...

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

My Monday class is a one credit course called Intro to Windows. It's scheduled as a 9 week course, last Monday was a holiday. So I've been in the classroom a total of 6 hours, and I'm already almost finished with the textbook that goes with it. One more week and I'll be completely done with the course.
The bummer is, even when I'm all done with the classwork and assignments, I still have to show up at class. Three absences automatically drop you from the course. If I had the money, I could add another course to my semester and cross one more requirement off my list. Unfortunately I spent all my Pell grant money on my current classes and textbooks.
So I get to spend 6-10 more weeks hanging out in a classroom doing nothing, or doing course work for no credits. I think I can talk to my instructor and either just go in for a few minutes every Wednesday, or call in or something- anything to not waste my time. We'll have to see what happens.

School of a different Kind

I have been experimenting with churches in our area. I got spoiled at my home church down in Phoenix, and haven't been able to find one up here that I like. There is a church literally right across the street from our house. I'd been to nervous to check it out for the longest time, but finally went for it a few weeks ago.
At first, I was really into it. They played great music and seemed very Christ-centered. And there was no real sermon-just a conversation on the Bible verses being discussed.
Which brings me to the school part of it. There's a handout and an outline that goes along with the Bible verses at this church.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. If I wanted an outline on points in the Bible, I'd go to Theology class. But then one of the reasons you go to church is to learn about the Bible.
I have already decided that this church is not the one for me. It may be for others, but not for me or my family. Hopefully one of these days, I'll find another home church.

Cameras, Headaches, Assemblies, and Losing your Mother

Last nights photo class was about all the different cameras. Starting back in the 1800's. Our instructor has a bunch of different ones, that we can check out and use. Frickin' AWESOME!!







This one is a 4x5, so named because of the size of the film you use to take pictures (http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/4x5.htm)





This one is a pinhole camera. Simple construction, easy to use, easy to carry. ( http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/education/lessonPlans/pinholeCamera/pinholeCanBox.shtml)





This one is my favorite... This one uses 120 film. I think I like it so much because it's one used in the movie A Will of Thier Own, one of my favorite movies. (http://www.keaggy.com/cameras/)


So after he showed us all the different cameras, he took a look at the cameras I have. One is my in-laws that got left behind when they split. The other was my parents that they bought in Germany years ago. Both of them need to be cleaned. The downside of living in a small town is that if you need something special done, such as a sewing machine repaired, or a camera repaired, you have to drive 200 miles to anywhere that has someone who has the skills to do something like that. And pay for it too.

While I was looking forward to using my own cameras to take the photographs I am required to develop for the class, it looks like I'll be borrowing more than just the 'special' ones.

BTW, I went to my English class today, and have to write an essay in the next week comparing either 2 photos or 2 poems.
Yeah homework!!



PS, see the Jan 27th post (to come) for the headache, assembly, and Losing your Mother part.. sorry, I forgot about that part.

My instructor is cool... Keyboarding is hard...

The kids get on the bus at 8am, my class starts at 8am. The instructor is cool with letting me come in 10 minutes or so late, so I can get the kids on the bus. And I still get done with all my work before our allotted time is up.

Keyboarding was OK last week, besides the whole carpel tunnel thing, but adding the shift button into the mix confuses the hell outta me. My wpm went down a bunch after starting to use the shift keys.

The diversity of community college is astounding. To my left I have a 56 year old grandma who is just now learning about computers. To my right is a high school senior taking accelerated classes who has been on myspace since she could read. And there's me, in the middle of the two, used to all this, taking a course as a refresher and requirement for my degree.

There are people there for their 4th associates, people there for just one class- usually for work, high schoolers there for accelerated learning classes, students who are ready to transfer to a university, parents whose kids have grown up, and people ready to start a new career or business.

If you ever want to talk to a diverse group of people, hit your local community college.

Not School Related at all

THE CARDINALS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Has hell froze over?

Yesterday's class- English

Actually Composition 101. My teacher is awesome! He's been teaching for 50 years, and he started teaching when he was 28 (do the math, people, he's 78!) It's my only lecture class, and my biggest one -about 20 students. Probably because it's a general requirement.
This is his first year either teaching at my school, or teaching this class at my school, not really sure which. The syllabus he was using was given to him by the head of the English department, and apparently, my instructor hadn't had time to look through it, because he kept telling us to scratch things out, ignore things, add things etc.
Well, I don't have classes today, this is my day at the coffee shop- now I can do homework there instead of just reading the paper. And there's even a big table I can spread out at and no one bothers me. Still trying to get other mom's to join me, and maybe I'll leave the homework at home, but for now it's nice.

Wednesdays are fun

My class doesn't start until after I am done with my girl scout troop, so I get to stay home today. No weird bus schedules, no running around- at least not until tonight.
Here I am thinking, "I got all day to get my homework done, I just want to get it done now so I don't have to worry about it." Yeah, right.
After about 10 minutes of reading, and trying to find answers in this stupid 625 page plus book, I have to walk away. I'm going cross eyed, and I still have to figure out what I am doing with the Girl Scouts tonight.
So, I am going to goodsearch Girl scout activities and then walk away from this stupid computer. Hopefully I find something soon.

Basic Keyboarding, ouchie

A little background first. When I was pregnant with my first child, I was working at a daycare. Every day at nap time, I would have to walk around the room, slooooowly lower myself to the ground and start patting backs.

Carpel tunnel is very common in pregnant women, and I got it. From patting kids backs. So I bought the wrist brace, and went to the chiropractor. Seeing as I don't pat backs anymore, and I don't really type all that much on the computer, I haven't thought about it in the past few years. Every once in a while my wrist starts hurting, but not that often.

Let me tell you, 3 hours of asdfjkl; aaa sss ddd fff jjj kkk lll ;;; can really kill the joint that connects your arm to your hand. Time to dig out the wrist brace- and get off this computer....

The woes of childcare

Daycare is too expensive. Anything more than free is expensive.
So I worked out a childcare swapping system with another mom. She takes my kids when I need her to, I take hers when she needs me to. But I forgot one important thing. Plan B.
Here I am getting ready to start my day, and Mr. Babysitter calls. The mom was so sick, she couldn't get out of bed. "Death warmed over" was his phrase. Freak out time!
I took a few deep breaths, pulled out my address book and started calling SAHM's I know. Finally I find one with no plans, and work out something with her so I can go to my ONE class for 4 hours.
Which turns out to be 2 hours. Just the orientation and syllabus overview. Then I discover that my course is only one credit, 9 weeks, and if I want to 'accellerate' the work, I could do most of it at home and get done in as little as 3 weeks. That's pretty cool. For a full time student schedule, I don't feel like I'm doing that much work. Four days a week, possibly 3 days a week, with an average of 4 hours a day does not feel like full time. But it's 13 credit hours and 12 is considered a full schedule.
Next year, both the kids will be in school full time. I'll be able to take more classes than that. And now I know to apply for scholarships and grants to cover everything. Yeah!
Now if only I could find a part time job and a really cool sitter, my world would be looking oh-so-sweet!

Textbooks

Are expensive. Like, almost as much as tuition itself. And of course the day I decide to go get my books, I decide to walk. Not that big of a deal, it's only about a mile away. Except I forgot that I would have to walk back home with my books.
Luckily, three of my classes are computer classes, and I didn't know what format I needed for the software that is required. So I walked home with 3 books instead of 6. Now, I have to hope that the bookstore is open tomorrow before my first class and get the rest of the stuff I need.
One of the books I got was an intro to photography text written by an instructor from the school back in 1980- something. It cost me 5 dollars. How come they can't all be that cheap?
*Sigh* I guess that I'll write about my first day of class tomorrow.

The beginning/ getting my FAFSA

I'd applied years ago, but with young children school seems to come second in a mom's life. There are diapers to pay for, baby food to buy, and if you do go to school, childcare to worry about. This year, both my children are in school. Granted, the boy is only there for 3 hours a day, but it's better than both of them being home.
When I decided to attend college this year, I had roommates at home that would have been willing to get the kids on and off the bus, so I figured I might as well go for it. So I dug out my pin for the FAFSA website, updated my info and applied. I figured I'd have to apply for a bunch of scholarships, but I got lucky. A few weeks later, I heard from the college, I'd been approved for a PELL grant.
Now, I'd just have to wait for November 15th, when Spring registration began.
That morning, I got the kids on the bus, and headed out the door. Since I have no idea what I am doing, my first stop was an advisor. After waiting 2 hours, I got to talk to an advisor who must have been having a bad day. I'm sorry if I seem dense, but I really have no concept of the classes I need.
Finally, we'd gotten my schedule all worked out, and I headed over to the school office. A few minutes in line there, and I was done. Despite the wait for the advisor, and the advisor herself, it was remarkably easy.
The hard part is waiting for January 12th.