Happy Halloween!

The manfriend said "You need to update your blog."

My response: "I know. But I'll just whine about school, and who wants to read that?"

Well, I'm going to update, and I'm going to address school, but I'm not going to whine about it. This time.  ;)

Things are...going.  Last week I had a doozy of a day.  I really bombed a quiz.  Like 10% bomb.  Ouch.  (Mind you, I'm not whining, just telling the story)  I handed in a nearly blank quiz sheet and spent the rest of the class silently wiping away tears of humiliation and stress and worry. After class I went home, cried some more (not so silently)(let's hear it for time and place appropriateness!) and then dug in.  Problem was, I had deprioritized that class to make room for a final in another.  I thought I understood a little, when it turns out I barely understood at all.  I was really scared that I had gotten myself so far behind that I was going to have a really difficult time catching up.  But here's what I like about me  (sometimes*): I decided to think about how I would help my kids in this situation, and then try to follow that advice. So while wallowing in my pity party and worrying that I'd never catch up, I decided that I was going to try to figure out what it was that I didn't understand.  If I could articulate what I didn't understand, at least I could walk into my professor's office with my head held high and say "I've tried to figure this out, but I can't make it click.  Would you mind explaining to me how to do xyz."  Because that's what I'd tell my kids to do.  (if in fact, their genius mother couldn't help them :P  ).  I spent the afternoon working homework problems, and getting one wrong after the next, but really paying attention to what it was that I was having issues with.  And then trying to think critically about it...instead of giving in to the urge to throw up my hands, give up, and take a nap.  And oh, how I love to take a nap!  Turns out that in trying to pinpoint what my issues were, I actually figured out what the heck I was doing wrong.  I decided that I would visit my professor the next morning anyway, and ask for clarification on a couple of more difficult problems.  It wouldn't hurt to have him shed some insight on those problems, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to show him "hey, I'm trying."  I spent a good portion of the weekend trying to get caught up entirely, and back to feeling good.  And Mother Nature/Sweet Baby Jesus were on my side, closing school on Tuesday (the next time that class met) due to the storm, which gave me a whole extra day to get right with calculus without piling on more stuff.  (Sometimes I think that's the hardest part - we move at a crazy fast pace, and if something doesn't 'click' into place right away, there's no pause before we move on to the next topic.)  So the purdy notecard is my "fresh start."  I'm making a new effort to take better notes, to make a card like that for each section we cover (to make homework easier, but also to help when exam time rolls around.)  And can I tell you? I have center of mass down cold.  See? I'm not whining.  This is my triumphant post about how a humbling experience turned into feeling all "Yay!" again. Yay!

This is a scrapbook/crafty/Silhouette-y/Cameo-y type of blog though, so I should also show:

Going back to my roots in uber-simplicity, and featuring American Crafts Pumkin Patch.  I have a couple of pictures from this day that I really love, and yet I haven't told the story about getting her ears pierced.  But this wasn't the time - this is just that smile... No cheese, not forced, not fake.  That's 100% real, honest, happy.  And that's all that needed to be said.  

I do have some other stuff in the wings. 

Like:

  And:

Oh! And I wanted to share one more thing.  I take my writing implements VERY seriously. I find something I like and I stick to it and I love it to death.  So I buy my Bic Round Stics by the case, and guard my GraphGear1000 by Pentel with my life. I like my Sharpies sharp and in every shade for notes to the kids and coworkers - they say "Hey, I'm in a fun color, but don't tell her you didn't see me!" And for my notecards (like above)  I am absolutely, positively head over heals in love with: 

Which can be found at Amazon: Staedtler Triplus Fineliner felt tip pens.  Love them. A lot.

And with that, I'm going to sign off.  I hope everyone is safe and dry! Thanks for stopping by!