Wednesday Wherefores

Wednesday already? How'd that happen?

Work is going well. After an initial sharp learning curve, I think I've settled into a good understanding of the tasks involved. I am clicking past user searches and evaluating the relevance of the results that came up. Sounds fairly simple, until you see the intricacies of it. A small percentage of my work is reviewed by another annotator and the overlap rate has to be pretty close. I picked up three extra hours this week, so that's serendipity.

Spanish class has been a little frustrating lately. It seems the expectation is that the students can learn the language in the one 80 minute class we have each week, spending the least possible amount of time on homework. Obviously many traditionally-schooled students have 5 hours of foreign language weekly and still don't manage to come out with any fluency, so I don't think too many of my students can manage it on one class per week and no effort. I guess I need to reiterate the concept of spending time OUTSIDE of class on Spanish in order to achieve mastery.

Monday night I could have gone to the movies with friends, but I didn't. Worked instead.

Last night read some of Wuthering Heights - nearly done. Probably could finish it tonight, although I don't know if I will make the effort. Did finish the Trigiani book last night. Pretty good.

Last Monday was the long long day where I had to drop Bob at work and pick him up. So I took advantage of dropping some materials from other libraries in my local library's drop box. The library courier takes them back to the proper libraries. I've been told it usually takes a day or two. Well, on FRIDAY, several DVD's still had not made it back to the home libraries, and therefore they were QUITE overdue by that point. I don't make a habit of keeping library materials past their due dates, so I was pretty annoyed. Saturday they were still not showing up as returned, but it was past library hours when I checked the computer. So on Monday, I was determined to call and track them down, wondering by this point if they'd been stolen from the drop box or something. However, they checked in as returned on Monday morning - A WEEK LATE. Argh. So now I have huge fines at one library where I had 3 DVDs out. I need to go beg mercy from them. I could have returned them myself on Tuesday or Wednesday and owed less money. Plus one of my children has a terrible habit of keeping books under the bed or in piles around the room and has had a number of items out late recently, racking up some fines. So I am taking a moratorium from library materials for a little bit. We still have lots to read around the house, and the kids will just have to deal with no movies out for a while. I don't really have TIME to watch anything right now anyway.

Wanted to run yesterday, but I had a meeting that went for about 4 hours instead of the two I'd imagined. So since something had to give, it was running. The weather was gorgeous and I was actually REALLY looking forward to running at a path in Lapeer. Ah well, I will go running in a little while today. It's overcast but it's 50 degrees!

Valentine Monday

Did my nails red last night in honor of Valentine's Day. Yeah, a little late, but that's ok. I NEVER do red on my fingernails - totally out of character. Suzy's first words to me this AM were, "Oh, you did your nails!" in such a shocked tone. lol Then she promptly asked me to do HER nails.

Valentine's Day Bowling party was nice. LOTS of people. Will post pix of the kids' Valentine boxes on Cornerstone as soon as I have a chance to download them. James won first prize. I got to sit and talk to my friends!

Afterwards we went to Walmart and 3 libraries. So, no lessons were accomplished today. When I made out the February lesson plans, I didn't know about the V-Day party (though I should have guessed it would be today), so I made today a regular school day. Today's work will move to tomorrow and so on. Which totally messes us up unless we do lessons on Saturday, which we likely will not.

Signed the contracts today making me officially an independent consultant, subcontracting through the Butler Hill Group. So, there you have it. I start training on the 22nd.

Circus Creatus, Water Park, Rose Trellis

A perfectly wonderful afternoon at the water park was yesterday's highlight. I met my friend Sherri and her son there and we spent the afternoon chatting and watching the kids frolic in the water. The weather was just right - sunny and warm, but not humid or too hot. I wore shorts and a tank top for the first time this summer!

Earlier in the day, we attended a library program (Circus Creatus) to kick off the summer reading program. Joel Tacey juggled, told jokes, and did magic tricks. If you want to see some pictures from a similar show, click HERE. We laughed and giggled throughout, leaving with smiles on our faces. We didn't sign out any books since we'd done that just the day before.

I accomplished a little editing, but then I bumped the laptop and it disconnected from the power source (the outlet). It no longer holds a charge, so it has to be plugged in. No problem, right? Just reboot. Except David is the only one who knows the password. And David is at camp. Oops. So, I had to try to recreate all my editing changes on the desktop computer, effectively halving the time I spent editing, which was further reduced by the time I spent trying to guess his password. Finally I texted him and he did reply later in the evening with his thoroughly predictable password that I ought to have discerned.

Bob's been painting. He and the kids had to scrape some of the areas on the porch where the paint peeled off over the winter. Why it peeled we are not certain. But, it's now repainted, but may need another coat. He's also scraped and painted two coats on the barn where we had the rose trellis. He took that down earlier this spring and cut the roses way back in preparation for painting. Once it is nicely painted, he will put up new trellis and the roses will be growing up in front of a yellow background instead of grey. The whole barn will probably not get painted for a while yet, but the rose trellis needed to be done first so the roses had somewhere to go.

My two youngest are outside playing in the rain. LOL I'm not going outside today if I can help it. I did go running outside the last two days after I realized that I can't exercise in front of the TV while I am camping in a couple weeks. I jogged (ran & walked) 2 miles Monday and Tuesday. My legs are SORE. lol But it's a good thing. I will keep the exercise time the same and try to increase the time actually spent running.

Eleven Money-Saving Ideas

I've been reading money-saving ideas here and there on the web over the last few months, as finances are tight everywhere. I thought I'd share some of the things we do to keep costs low. We've always lived on a shoestring, some times more than others.

Some of the things we dot:

1. Use half as much of the product. For example, cut all the fabric softener sheets in half. They still work as well, but you get twice as many. Use half the laundry detergent or shampoo.
   
2. Buy the store brand whenever possible. It's almost always just as good and almost always MUCH cheaper.
3. Watch the grocery store ads and plan your meals around what's on sale, instead of planning your menu first.
   
4. Never pay full price for anything if you can help it. Buy on sale, ahead if possible so you'll have it when you need it.
5. Rethink buying things like DVD's, books, CD's, video games, games, toys, etc... If you still want it after a few days, then reconsider. If you can borrow it, do so. Will you really watch/read/play/use it more than once?
6. Frequent your thrift store for clothing and other items. I should do a post just on this, but you can get just about all your clothes you need there if you have a good store nearby. Underwear and socks are the exception in my experience. Other items are often available there too. I recently bought a coffeemaker that works great!
   
7. If you smoke or drink regularly, QUIT. Great for your health and wallet.
8. Consider the bills you pay every month - are they necessary? Obviously you have to pay your housing and heating costs. Do you have to have your cell phone? Cable TV? Internet? Movie rentals? Gym membership? You may find you are able to eliminate something extraneous here.
9. Use your library! Interlibrary loan for me is FREE and I can get just about anything I want to read, watch, or listen to. Your librarian is your friend!
10. Grow a garden. Too late for this year, but plan one during the colder months and get ready for spring!
11. Drink water. Cut out pop, coffee, juice, Koolaid, teas, etc... Water is cheap or free and healthy too! (OK, I am working on this! I drink Diet Coke and coffee, but we drink mostly water at all our meals.)

So, there are eleven things you can try.

Maybe you already do all these. Stay tuned. I'll try to give some more ideas in the near future. Feel free to leave your ideas in the comments!

Animal Encounters, or Getting Buggy

For some reason, our cable service was out last night when I got home from work - no phone, no internet.

The library program was called Animal Encounters. The man read three stories and showed animals to go along with them. I was unaware beforehand that the animals would be mostly BUGS! Ewww! There was a giant hissing cockroach, a humongous millipede, and a South American tarantula, as well as a small alligator. I couldn't look at most of them. I got photos only of the gator - I hate insects. I can't even put my hand on a photo of them, such as in National Geographic, and I have to turn the page fast. Bleh!

The kids got t-shirts at the library as part of the reading program. They just had to read 10 books - NO PROBLEMO! I took a photo but haven't downloaded it yet.

Yesterday my right eye was slightly swollen. Today I woke up with it very swollen. I already had a doctor's appointment scheduled this morning - a routine checkup - so I had the doctor check my eye. He looked in it, touched it, and....wrote me an antibiotic. @@ I wish there were doctors out there who don't write a prescription for every darn thing. I wouldn't have even gone to the doctor for this if I hadn't already had the appointment. I would have put warm compresses on it, which is what he told me to do, and then wrote me the Z-pack. Oh, and come back in 10 days. I don't think so! Unless it's worse, which it shouldn't be.

No word from David. I assume no news is good news! lol I should have asked ahead about mail. Then again, I wouldn't want to embarrass him - the only one getting mail from his mommy. lol

I am now reading the annotated Pride & Prejudice, but I am borrowing the Twilight books from a coworker and will re-read those before Breaking Dawn comes out in a few days. (No, I am not counting down! lol)

Bought a coffeemaker yesterday at the thrift store since our coffeepot got broken.

Take a Shower!

Sooo... let's see.

David left for camp yesterday. No, I didn't cry. lol He got in the van with the other guys and I stood around talking to the moms. They described how their sons took ONE shower during camp week last year or how they put their wet towels in their suitcases instead of hanging them up. I marched over to the van and addressed all the boys. "You ALL will shower at least once every day. You'll keep your dirty clothes separate from your clean clothes! Have fun!" LOL

Oh wow, Maryann just called and told me Christian Bale (Batman!) was arrested in London for assault. Yikes, I hope that's just an exaggeration or a misunderstanding.

Bob is having a sleep clinic evaluation tomorrow night. I will be taking half the night off work, since David is not here to babysit.

We are going to the library after lunch for an animal program. Should be fun!

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Verbal+assault
assault, in law, an attempt or threat, going beyond mere words, to use violence, with the intent and the apparent ability to do harm to another.

If violent contact actually occurs, the offense of battery ( in criminal and tort law, the unpermitted touching of any part of the person of another, or of anything worn, carried by, or intimately associated at that moment (as a chair being sat on) with another) has been committed; modern criminal statutes often combine assault and battery.

An assault may be both a crime and a tort (in law, the violation of some duty clearly set by law, not by a specific agreement between two parties, as in breach of contract . When such a duty is breached, the injured party has the right to institute suit for compensatory damages) for which the party assaulted may sue for damages; the victim's freedom, as to move or remain at peace, must have been impinged on.

Modern criminal statutes recognize certain degrees of assault (e.g., with intent to kill, to do great bodily harm, to rape) as aggravated assaults and felonies, though simple assault remains, as at common law (system of law that prevails in England and in countries colonized by England. The name is derived from the medieval theory that the law administered by the king's courts represented the common custom of the realm, as opposed to the custom of local jurisdiction that was applied in local or manorial courts) a misdemeanor.

Either malevolence or recklessness (as in driving a car in reckless disregard of human life) may constitute the intent necessary to assault in most jurisdictions.