Sometimes You Just Need a Day Off

And that's exactly what I had today... a day off. Since today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day (or Human Rights Day as it says in my math schedule we got in class), I don't have class tonight. I was just going to go to work and then come home and work on my memo I have to write for my Business Communications class. But over the weekend, my back has been bothering me, so I decided to take the day off work, too. I worked on my memo and am now relieved that I have all my reading and homework done for Business Communications. Since we only meet once a week, we get quite a bit of reading and homework. I really needed the day off today. Day off's are nice! :-)

So Far So Good

All of my New Year's resolutions are still going good and it's over a week into the new year! I am slowly feeling better (physically and spiritually) by cutting out on sweets and desserts, getting more sleep, exercising more, and reading my scriptures every day (and I will be going to the temple next Saturday).

School is going good so far, I guess. I've only been to 2 out of my 3 classes. My math class won't be too bad, but my lecture series class will be a little harder than I thought. Attendance is half our grade so I need to be to every class. We listen to different speakers (recorded on DVD) about different business issues and we have to write 2 "journals" (one turned in at mid-term time and the other turned in at final time) and also have to write another paper, too. Hopefully it's not so bad. I'm just not good at writing papers. The good thing about that class is that as a class, we were given a choice of going to class every Friday for 50 minutes or every other Friday for twice as long and most of the class chose every other Friday. That will free up half of my Fridays. :-) I probably won't usually have a class on Fridays, but there were only 2 or 3 of these classes and this was the best time to fit around my work schedule. My first Business Communications class is on Tuesday, so we'll see how that class goes (the one I'm most worried about).

This Is It!

Yep! Tomorrow is my first day of classes! Yikes! I think the closer it gets, the more nervous I get. But I think I'll be okay and I'm still a little excited. Tomorrow evening is my Introductory Algebra class. I took a math placement test (back in October, I think) and was barely into the range to take Intermediate Algebra (after staying up late the night before having my hubby help me with a few algebra concepts). I felt I needed more of a refresher so I'm taking the class just below, and this summer I will take Intermediate Algebra. The class that will worry me the most is Business Communications. I read that I'll have to do a research paper. I really hate those! Hopefully I'll do okay in that class. The other class is a Executive Lecture Series class (taking it for my degree), which is a 1-credit hour class and we listen to different speakers, I think. Should be interesting.

Well, I best be getting to bed to keep one of my New Year's resolutions (after I read my scriptures... another resolution of mine).

2010!

Wow, 2010 already?!?!? Where does the time go? 10 years ago when it turned 2000, I was on my mission in Nevada and was in Minden and Gardnerville (about half an hour or so south of Carson City). I have made several New Year's resolutions, which I made easily attainable, and I'm hoping to stick to them all this year. I suppose I will list them now below ....


1. Go to the temple at least once a month.

2. Go to church every Sunday unless I'm deathly ill. This past year, especially lately, I would stay home if I was just feeling a little bit icky. And last Sunday I stayed home because I was extremely sore from playing the Wii and I could hardly move, but maybe I could have gone and just move slowly.

3. Read scriptures every single day. I haven't done very well in that department.

4. Exercise with my Turbo Jam videos 3 times a week. Any exercise I get from Wii will be extra. :-)

5. Get at least 7 hours of sleep at least 5 times a week (I say 5 times because there might be a couple nights I might have to stay up a little later doing homework or something).

6. No eating candy or desserts, but I can eat a little every 5 lbs. I lose (and no, I'm not gonna say how much I have to lose, but I do have a target weight I want to get to and hoping to get to that by the end of the year).

7. No buying unhealthy snacks at work.

8. Eat out only once a month... but can be more if we go with family (need to save money in that department!).


Well, those are my resolutions and so far I'm keeping all of them! It was so hard not to have some pie after yesterday's dinner at my hubby's parents. But when I lose 5 lbs. I can have a little candy/dessert. And yes, we got ourselves a Wii the day after Christmas after we played John and Melissa's Wii on Christmas night. We played bowling, then I played some tennis at their place. The next evening after we got it, I played lots more tennis and the next couple days, I could hardly move. I was so sore!

Christmas was fun. Jeff made me breakfast and then we opened each other's presents. Then we went to open presents with his parents and sister, then to his grandparent's house for a little bit, then to my family's for the rest of the evening. We ate a big meal in the late afternoon, then opened presents (after I fell asleep).

New Year's Eve was fun as well. We had Jeff's parents and sister come over and they all played our Wii (they all thought it was fun) and then a board game called Imaginiff that Ryan and Rebecca gave us.

I am also sad this month. Christmas and New Year's is over and there's nothing fun to look forward to. Last year at this time, we were getting excited to go on our cruise (the ship departed Jan. 18). We very much want to go on another one.

Work Christmas Lunch/Party

We had a nice company lunch at work today. We also opened our presents we bought ourselves. The past few years, they have given us each some money to buy ourselves a present. Then we wrap it up and put it under the tree at work. I have a really hard time finding what I want to buy because I can never think of anything I need or want. After going to a couple stores, I finally went to Target (Jeff came with me there), first going to the electronics department and then clear around the store before going back to the electronics department and finally settled on a nice $60 CD player. Work gave us $40 (it's been $25 in the past). So $20 for this CD player in the picture below isn't too bad! Jeff had a CD player from before we were married and I had a smaller one from before, too, but they both don't work so well, so this is a nice gift for myself, I think. And I set it on top of my computer desk so I can listen to music while I'm at the computer. :-)


During the lunch/party, they also gave out awards. I didn't get one last year (maybe because I was a new team leader). I wasn't expecting one this year, but I was the last one they gave one to and here it is below. I was surprised, yet really happy. I think if you click on it to make it bigger, you can read what it says.

Merry Christmas!

With Christmas just under a week away, I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We had an extended family Christmas party (on Jeff's mom's side) tonight at our condo's clubhouse. It started out with dinner, followed with a little Christmas program where a lot of Jeff's cousins' kids dress up for the Nativity and an adult recites the scripture passage in Luke and we sing Christmas hymns. Then we do our "white elephant" gift exchange, usually with a little game that goes along with it (to trade or pass gifts). Most gifts are better and nicer than the traditional "white elephant" gifts. Our gifts we bought were a gift card to Ruby River and a Cinemark movie gift card. With the little game they had along with it, we used a dice and set a timer for 20 minutes. We passed the container with the dice and timer around and rolled the dice. If a 2, 4, or 5 is rolled, nothing happens. If a 1 or 6 is rolled, you have to trade with anybody else. If a 3 is rolled, everyone passed their gifts to the right. We ended up with our Cinemark gift card and a nice framed picture of Jesus with a little child. One of Jeff's uncles buys picture prints and puts matts and frames on them and sells them to other businesses. And he usually brings a few to these Christmas parties as gifts. I think just about every year that Jeff and I have been married, we have gotten one of them. We have a couple hanging up on our living room wall, one from last year we still need to hang up and the one we got tonight. They are very nice pictures and nicely framed and put together.

I got all my Christmas shopping done today. I feel so relieved that that's done. Stores and traffic at this time of year are crazy!!! I also wrapped all our presents, so we're all set! Actually, I still need to wrap Jeff's presents... right now, they are hidden. And Jeff just has to get a couple more things for me, but he'll do that Monday during his time off work. He has almost 3 weeks off because his work doesn't let them carry over vacation hours into the next year anymore, so he's using them all up. Lucky him! I have enough vacation hours I could take some days off, but I want to save them up (I can carry over up to 80 hours into the next year). I'm thinking if I save them up, I could take some "snow days" off next winter... I might even start this winter. I usually go to work early, and a couple weeks ago there were 2 mornings where there was snow and it made for some stressful driving to work. So when it snows next time, I could just stay home and use vacation hours. :-) I haven't decided yet if I want to start that this winter or not.

Jeff finished his last final this past Thursday. He's so glad to have the semester done and over with, especially with his Ethics & Values class that he hated. We will both be starting school here in 2 1/2 weeks. I'm excited, but a little nervous since I haven't been to school in over 10 years. I was also approved for a loan and will get all of this coming semester paid for with the loan (which of course, we'll have to pay back). Before I decided to go back to school, we were going to pay for Jeff's schooling as we go, and we will continue to do so. We just couldn't afford both of us, so we had to get a loan for me. I also came up with a new work schedule for myself (I love my flexible job). I have classes in the evening, so I'll be going in to work later in the morning than I usually do, then going straight to school on the days I have classes (since the college is halfway between home and work, no sense in going home, then going back to school).

We have enjoyed sending letters to Jeff's siblings, Katie and Jason, every week while they're in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) and have enjoyed getting letters from them and reading letters they've sent to Jeff's parents. It makes me reflect back on my time at the MTC as well as the rest of my mission. I wish I could remember more of it. But I guess I do have my journal. :-)

Anyway, enough rambling. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Wow, 2010! And oh yeah, 2010 is a new year, a new decade... I'm making several New Year resolutions and I hope to stick to most of them (if not all of them!). I want to start the new decade out right. :-)

School and Jewelry

For the most part, getting ready and preparing to go back to school has gone pretty smooth. I am registered for 8 credit hours of classes (probably my limit since I'm still working full-time). I took a placement math test. Jeff and I stayed up late the night before so he could help me with a few algebra problems. It's amazing what you can forget after over 10 years of not being in school! The placement test was hard for me, but I managed to get a score barely high enough to be in the Intermediate Algebra class, but I signed up for the Introductory Algebra class because I feel I need more of a refresher since I haven't been in school for a long time. Plus, math isn't my greatest subject (and I have to go as high as calculus, but just Introduction to Calculus, for my Accounting degree... yuck!) I'm also taking some management class called 'Executive Lecture Series'. It's only a 1 credit hour class and meets once a week for one hour. It's required for my degree and hopefully it won't be too hard. And then I'm taking Business Communications. I'm excited to start school. These last 7 weeks are going to go by so slow!

On to my jewelry. I'm slowly making more and more things and getting better at it, too! Jeff's mom and sister has a whole lot more made than I do (they started earlier this year and I started in August). We had a Jewelry Open House on Saturday at my in-laws' house. Not a whole lot of people showed up, probably because of the cold and snowy weather. But... I managed to make $13, plus I'll also get $5 more because the one who bought one of my bracelets wanted matching earrings. I was happy about that (considering not many people showed up). We need to figure out how to get more people to come. Plus, I still have my jewelry blog, so please spread the word and tell them to spread the word! With the holidays coming up, a piece of jewelry will be a perfect gift for someone (and inexpensive, too!). My jewelry blog is here. I will need to get it updated sometime soon with new stuff.

Back to School for Me

Yes, I am up way later than I should be. I'm not that tired right now, but I'm gonna be tired tomorrow! I've just been thinking about all that has happened recently. First of all, I decided to go back to school in Accounting. I applied at Utah Valley University for January 2010 and got accepted. Most of me is excited for it, but I'm a little nervous 'cause I haven't been to school in over 10 years! Better late than never, I guess! At first, I was going to stay being team leader at my work throughout school, but it's been recently getting more stressful for me, so instead of having that stress while going to school, I decided to step down to being data technician again. And since it's getting more stressful for me, my last day to be team leader will be the 23rd of this month. My job has been posted for someone else to apply for, and they want me to train the new team leader (at the same pay) for a few weeks or a month. I am over a team doing cataloging, so it's different than what other teams are doing (although another team has started learning and doing it, too, with some of my help). I feel good about this decision and I feel good about going back to school. It should be interesting with both Jeff and I going to school and working full-time.

Another Hilarious Cat Video

This is SOOOOO funny!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxNg7ZP6E5E

We talk to our cat like that and the way she acts and looks at us sometimes, it seems she's saying the same kinds of things as this cat. Hahaha!

Katie's mission call (Jeff's younger sister)

This is a picture of Jeff's sisters, Katie (on the left) and Lori (on the right). This picture was taken on our cruise last January.


Today, Katie received her mission call and all the family (plus a cousin and her husband) was able to see her open it and read it. She was called to serve in the Georgia Macon Mission and will report to the Missionary Training Center in Provo on December 2. It was exciting to find out where she would be going. She gets to go to the south like Jeff did on his mission (he went to Alabama). It'll be so exciting to have both Katie and Jason (Jeff's brother) on missions.