I met with one of the Rock Valley College counselors today to see exactly where I am in this long process. He had good news for me. If I take a summer class, five classes in the fall, and then five in the spring I will have my associates degree this time next year! It is worth it for me to take the heavier load of five classes and be done in May 2009 instead of December of 2009 because when it gets down to it I just want to be done with school and have a college degree in my hand!!
Speaking of college degrees my brother is graduating this Saturday. He is the first member of our immediate family to graduate college. For those of you that don't know he already has a job lined up, teaching History at Gage High School in Chicago. He has been there since last fall doing his observation and student teaching and they want him so badly that they told him not to even bother going to any job fairs or interviews. He was also their wrestling coach this year and was able to get a bunch of the boys to state for the first time! It is really wonderful to see him so fulfilled with his career. It was a long, hard road for him from Afghanistan to here and we are all very proud of him. So, think of him on Saturday and I will post pictures of our roof top party later. Way to go, Ray!!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Blue Man!!
I had plans to go and see the Blue Man Concert with my friend Lynne, her daughter Courtney, and Courtney's friend on Sunday. At the last minute Courtney's friend was not able to go and they called and offered the ticket to Joey. He actually was a little hesitant because he was out in the yard playing football and didn't want to have to leave his friends and come in for a shower. I pulled up a clip on youtube to show him what it was and that it was in fact worth missing the neighborhood game for one day!! He relented and went to get ready.
The show started at 7:30 and we were still stuck in traffic at 7:25. The crappy thing was that we were stuck right in front of the Metro Centre. There we were starring at the big orange building knowing that we should be in there. I was so mad! It ended up that more than 1/2 of the people were in the same situation because they had closed the parking garage and parking in downtown Rockford is not easy. We were very lucky and we found an empty parking lot about 5 blocks away. We got out and ran to the Metro as fast as we could. Not easy to do when you are wearing flip-flops like me and Courtney.
Well, we were late but luckily we were only missing the opening act which from what I did see, was not a big deal to miss. It was just some guy scratching records!
The show finally did start about 8:00 and it was well worth all of the craziness!! If you have not seen a Blue Man Group show I am not really sure how to explain it to you. It was fascinating. There was an unbelievable light show, rock music with lyrics that were really meaningful, and lots of comedy. I had never seen them perform before and I went in thinking that it was some men painted blue that would bang on PVC pipes and make music. That was going to be interesting enough to me but they totally blew me away! I was completely amazed at the simple things that they were using to make recognizable music. They also had an awesome percussion section and that always helps. In total there were 4 drummers.
All of us talked about it all of the way home which is always a sign of a really good show. Joey and I were still talking about it the next day. He said that he was so glad that he had decided to go with me and not keep playing with his friends. If any of you ever get a chance to go and see them in concert I highly recommend it to you!
The show started at 7:30 and we were still stuck in traffic at 7:25. The crappy thing was that we were stuck right in front of the Metro Centre. There we were starring at the big orange building knowing that we should be in there. I was so mad! It ended up that more than 1/2 of the people were in the same situation because they had closed the parking garage and parking in downtown Rockford is not easy. We were very lucky and we found an empty parking lot about 5 blocks away. We got out and ran to the Metro as fast as we could. Not easy to do when you are wearing flip-flops like me and Courtney.
Well, we were late but luckily we were only missing the opening act which from what I did see, was not a big deal to miss. It was just some guy scratching records!
The show finally did start about 8:00 and it was well worth all of the craziness!! If you have not seen a Blue Man Group show I am not really sure how to explain it to you. It was fascinating. There was an unbelievable light show, rock music with lyrics that were really meaningful, and lots of comedy. I had never seen them perform before and I went in thinking that it was some men painted blue that would bang on PVC pipes and make music. That was going to be interesting enough to me but they totally blew me away! I was completely amazed at the simple things that they were using to make recognizable music. They also had an awesome percussion section and that always helps. In total there were 4 drummers.
All of us talked about it all of the way home which is always a sign of a really good show. Joey and I were still talking about it the next day. He said that he was so glad that he had decided to go with me and not keep playing with his friends. If any of you ever get a chance to go and see them in concert I highly recommend it to you!
Friday, April 18, 2008
Better late than never....
I have been so bad about logging on here and posting. Mostly because the things that have been going on seemed so day to day and I didn't want to bore anyone. Anywho, here's what's up.....
Joey had his Spring Band Concert and the whole band showed incredible improvement! What a difference from December. Joey really enjoys playing his saxophone and I am so proud of him that he has the ability to play an instrument. I just never had that talent and believe me I tried.
Jimmy had his 4th grade Spring Musical and the theme was Oliver. He was the Funeral Director. We enjoyed that just as much. It was so fun for me to see many students that I have not seen since I left last year. Amazing what a year can do!!
Nana and my mom got to make it out to both shows which made us so happy. Thanks for taking the trip both times. (And special thank you to Nana for sitting in the bleachers for over an hour at Joey's show.) You two are wonderful and have never missed anything for the boys!!
Phil and I are just going along, same 'ol, same 'ol. I have been spending 4 nights a week out at the baseball field watching the kids practices. Their games start in the beginning of May which will be nice because practice is getting a little old to watch. Joey has been practicing by the school track though so I have been taking advantage of that hour and half by walking the track. Jimmy has been walking with me and we get to have some very nice time together without any distractions. Plus, we are exercising!
Last weekend I was at Dawn's house for a Girls Night Out. We were celebrating the fact that Dawn quit her old job! It was a blast. We played Guitar Hero which I actually own but I have never played because the boys and their friends are always hogging it. Now that I know how much fun it is I am going to put my name on the list and get my 10 minutes of play with the egg timer! Watch out Holly, I am gunning for you at the next party!! We also played Dancing With The Stars because most of us are huge fans of the show. It reminded me of the old school Nintendo Power Pad! Way too much work and the highest I was able to get was a 5!
Today Phil and his friends put in my new kitchen door. We needed to get rid of our slider because last winter it was actually snowing in my kitchen thanks to the horrible seal on the door. It always had a cold draft but snow was ridiculous! The handle on the door was also broken and didn't lock anymore. We red necked it until now with duct tape and paper bags as installation. We replaced it with a set of French Doors that have the blinds inside of the windows. It ended up to be a good thing that we did that because when they pulled the old door out they found out that the wood underneath it had rotted completely. Phil simply put his finger on the wood and it crumbled. They had to run to Menard's and get all new wood. All the while I am sitting here with a HUGE hole in my kitchen and rain on the way. Well they started the job at 9 and thanks to the extra work did not finish until 4:15! A few prayers helped hold off the rain too. It literally started raining just as his friend put the last piece of siding up!! Thank you God. I really LOVE my new doors though so it was totally worth all the hard work. (Of course I did none of the work so I guess that its not really my place to say that) I will post pictures soon, when it is sunny out!!
Well that's all for now. Later Gators!!
Joey had his Spring Band Concert and the whole band showed incredible improvement! What a difference from December. Joey really enjoys playing his saxophone and I am so proud of him that he has the ability to play an instrument. I just never had that talent and believe me I tried.
Jimmy had his 4th grade Spring Musical and the theme was Oliver. He was the Funeral Director. We enjoyed that just as much. It was so fun for me to see many students that I have not seen since I left last year. Amazing what a year can do!!
Nana and my mom got to make it out to both shows which made us so happy. Thanks for taking the trip both times. (And special thank you to Nana for sitting in the bleachers for over an hour at Joey's show.) You two are wonderful and have never missed anything for the boys!!
Phil and I are just going along, same 'ol, same 'ol. I have been spending 4 nights a week out at the baseball field watching the kids practices. Their games start in the beginning of May which will be nice because practice is getting a little old to watch. Joey has been practicing by the school track though so I have been taking advantage of that hour and half by walking the track. Jimmy has been walking with me and we get to have some very nice time together without any distractions. Plus, we are exercising!
Last weekend I was at Dawn's house for a Girls Night Out. We were celebrating the fact that Dawn quit her old job! It was a blast. We played Guitar Hero which I actually own but I have never played because the boys and their friends are always hogging it. Now that I know how much fun it is I am going to put my name on the list and get my 10 minutes of play with the egg timer! Watch out Holly, I am gunning for you at the next party!! We also played Dancing With The Stars because most of us are huge fans of the show. It reminded me of the old school Nintendo Power Pad! Way too much work and the highest I was able to get was a 5!
Today Phil and his friends put in my new kitchen door. We needed to get rid of our slider because last winter it was actually snowing in my kitchen thanks to the horrible seal on the door. It always had a cold draft but snow was ridiculous! The handle on the door was also broken and didn't lock anymore. We red necked it until now with duct tape and paper bags as installation. We replaced it with a set of French Doors that have the blinds inside of the windows. It ended up to be a good thing that we did that because when they pulled the old door out they found out that the wood underneath it had rotted completely. Phil simply put his finger on the wood and it crumbled. They had to run to Menard's and get all new wood. All the while I am sitting here with a HUGE hole in my kitchen and rain on the way. Well they started the job at 9 and thanks to the extra work did not finish until 4:15! A few prayers helped hold off the rain too. It literally started raining just as his friend put the last piece of siding up!! Thank you God. I really LOVE my new doors though so it was totally worth all the hard work. (Of course I did none of the work so I guess that its not really my place to say that) I will post pictures soon, when it is sunny out!!
Well that's all for now. Later Gators!!
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