Thursday, February 28, 2008

Back to normal!

My psychology class was canceled today so I am sitting in the school library with nothing to do. I figured, why not blog!!

Everyone in my house is finally back to normal. The boys have been on their antibiotic for 2 days and they are doing great.

I knew yesterday that they were doing better because all of the sudden the fighting began. They had laid on the couch together since Sunday night watching whatever came on the TV. In fact, they were so sick, I believe they would have laid there and watched paint dry. Well by yesterday morning I started hearing, "Get your NASTY foot off of me!", or "I don't want to watch your dumb shows, I want to watch Sports Network!" and a lot of "MOOOOOM, he's doing ________"!!! By noon I told them both that if I heard one more argument I was driving them to school! They stopped pretty fast. I wished that I had their school work for them to do but the school only gives work after 3 missed days and you can only pick it up after school. Well, yesterday was the 3rd day but I couldn't pick it up until 3!!

They finally went back to school for the first time today. They have a lot of work to do, especially Joey. I went yesterday to pick up school work and I was shocked at how much Joey had to do. Jimmy had quite a bit too but it was easier work like spelling worksheets, and fill in the blanks for Social Studies. He also had to finish the read aloud book that the class had been reading so that he could take the AR test. We were able to get all of his work done so he is officially caught up. Pre-teen, hormonal Joey would not stop going on and on about how unfair it was that Jimmy was done and how middle school was the worst!!! He was truly mad! They are off tomorrow because of conferences at school so we will just work all day long to get his stuff done. I guess it will be like a day of home schooling which should be real fun because as I mentioned above he is a preteen and hormonal but, only with ME!!

Today I did my second Speech for my Speech class. I am quite sure that I bombed it! It had to be an informational speech and I did it on how to make chocolate candies and suckers. When I get nervous I talk way too fast so I did not fill the time requirement. Also, I was shaking so bad that everyone could see. When I went to pass the molds around for everyone to look at, the mold was visibly vibrating in my hand!! Oh how I hate this class. I know that it is a fear that I must conquer so that I can do parent orientations and other things someday when I have a job. I just don't know how to get over it. I hate talking to a room full of adults! I feel like they are all judging me. Have any of you ever been afraid of public speaking and been able to get over it? Or anyone who is just naturally good? Do you have some tips you would be willing to share?

My Speech professor really scared me when class ended and he asked me if I would stay behind. When everyone left he told me that another student had come to him to talk about me but wanted their name left out of it. (Enter my heart beating out of my chest, sweat on my brow, and a dry mouth) I just stood there with my mouth open and he said, "Oh, no, it's good! She wanted me to tell 'the mom in the front' that she really appreciates the eye contact you gave her during her speech. She said that you were the only one in the room that looked like you were paying any attention to what she had to say." I asked him if that could give me some bonus points on my own speech and he just laughed. I am guessing that is a no. So, that is what I am to my fellow students of 18 and 19. 'The mom in the front' Oh well everyone needs a label I guess.

Later Gators!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Well, Hello again!

It has been quite a while since I was on here. I guess I was busier than I thought, but with what?? Pretty much just day to day life.

School is keeping me pretty busy right now. I love having all of my classes on Tuesday and Thursday. It gives me Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to do everything else that needs to be done. This week I have two essays due and one speech!! Ahhhh! Thank goodness for the extra days of work time.

Just last weekend we took our annual February getaway with Mary and Ben and went down to Springfield. We all had an awesome time together like we always do. We saw many sites that put us in awwww but that is because Phil and I are huge history buffs. We just love it. We went to see Abraham Lincoln's home and I didn't want to leave the street because I was enjoying soaking in all of the history from every single original house!! We also toured our new capital building and our old capital building. The very best part of the whole weekend was the Lincoln museum and library. If any of you are history buffs like us I highly recommend it to you. We spent well over 3 hours in there and frankly we could have been there even longer. Joey and Ben enjoyed it almost as much as Phil and I did. Mary, Jimmy, and Danny all liked it but could have gone through it in about half the time and felt satisfied about it. Mary is just not into history, Danny is too young to really choose if he is into it or not and Jimmy hates anything to do with school!! Thank goodness for Mrs. Lincoln's attic where Mary took the boys and let them play for about and hour and a half. (Love ya Mary!!)

Sadly, once you step outside of Capital Square, Springfield is a dump! It is actually embarrassing to have that city represent our state! I never would have expected that. We have been to a couple of capital cities before and they have all been decent. It is too bad that so many people come there to see the Lincoln Museum and walk away with such an awful perception of Illinois. I sure hope that they clean it up some time.

The boys had fun swimming and hot tubing at the hotel. To tell the truth I enjoyed that too! With all of this crappy weather it was nice to take a dip and pretend like it wasn't only 9 degrees outside. This was the first trip we have taken where we got adjoining rooms and now I will never do it another way! It was so nice for the boys to be able to run back and forth between the rooms without hearing the slamming of the hallway door and then having to keep getting up to let them back in.

The worst part of the trip was the drive home. Joey all of the sudden was flushed in the face and said that it hurt really bad to swallow. He was eventually driven to tears which is not common in Joey when he is sick. Later that night Jimmy started to have the same symptoms and by Monday morning Phil had it. When we were finally able to get everyone into the doctor they were diagnosed with strep throat and the flu! My poor boys are sick still today, all three of them.

So, that is where we are as of today. I will try to get on here more. Spring Break is coming and I will finally have a break!