Just remember to breathe

This may be the quickest blog post ever for me, I might not even have time to go back and edit. So excuse the grammar. Class starts in eleven minutes.

See the title? That's what I'm telling myself today. And tomorrow. And yesterday. And probably for the rest of the semester. If I ever seem too stressed, tell me to breathe!! Okay, now moving on.

I finished my practice lesson plan and I think it's fairly decent. There definitely are some things that could be improved, but that's why we're working in partners today. B enjoyed the book, and was sad that he didn't get to finish today on the drive to school. So, I owe him a reading of the book in it's entirety tomorrow, as promised as he got out of the car. K and I made it through most of it, but she wasn't that interested, I don't think, and it was time to put on sunscreen and go into her classroom.

I got stuck on my way home last night. There was a MAJOR accident on the [pretty much only] road to my house. I eventually gave up, after doing homework for about 15 minutes after putting the car into park, and turned around to go a longer way home. And then, there was nothing on the news. Because that's what happens when you live in the boondocks. You don't count. Today, I find out that a motorcyclist died in the accident, and his name is familiar, like I went to school with his siblings maybe? He's much older than me, so I probably didn't know him, but probably know his family.

Here's hoping for a safer drive home tonight. If I drive home that is. I may go to a street festival thing that if I used it's name would be way to easy to google, therefore giving away my [almost] exact location. Which I don't do on this here blog! But, I have a friend who wants to go and tonight's the only night that is good for me because I'm going to baseball this weekend!!!!!

Okay, done. Class starts soon and I think I need to find a soda if possible.

[okay, so I just used blogger spellcheck - among the words not recognized: blog, google, motorcylist, boondocks and two that I'd actually misspelled]

Oh so overwhelmed, with so far to go.

I've attended three class and already had a minor meltdown. This semester is going to kill me.

Currently I am looking for a good picture book to use for a lesson plan. I have to choose a book to read and come up with a writing activity for a child that goes along with the book. The book has to have "stopping points" where I ask the children anticipatory questions or other higher level thinking questions.

I have a stack of about 10 books and I have no idea where I'm going with this. My major problem is coming up with the stopping points and a writing assignment for each book. I keep finding books that an activity would go well with, but without any good stopping points or vice versa. I may have to check out three or four and work my butt off tonight to get it done. It's due tomorrow at 4, so I have time.

I'll post a rundown of my classes later - once I've been to them all!! I have one today and one tomorrow that I haven't been to yet, but the first three were a little overwhelming to say the least.

And since I have 21 lessons to plan with readers, any good picture book (or possibly even simple chapter books) recommendations are definitely welcome. I need about 42 of them altogether, one to read with a child and one to read to a child (I read a lot but that might be a stretch for even me!!). I don't know about levels yet though, or else it would be easier to choose, I think. I asked for a second, third or fourth grader, but they said they can't guarentee that we'll get what we asked for.

Aww, you guys!

I feel loved. It's nice to know someone understands.

Thanks for all the support you guys!! Seriously, I mentioned X’s mom, but wasn’t looking for sympathy or really anyone to notice or say anything! I was going to post later about it, but at the same time I’m really relieved. I just wish that I’d had the opportunity to make her aware that I wasn’t coming anymore. Because, I was working on that email, but I didn’t want to burn the bridge until I’d had a chance to go to their house and pick up a bag that I left there while house-sitting during week four of cancelling the baby care. I wanted to be able to say something along the lines of “sorry, I can’t commit my Fridays to you if you keep cancelling on me, in the last month alone I have lost at least $200 worth of business. If you’d be interested in occasional care, I’m available on x days at x times, with notice.” Instead, I got dumped. No fair!!!!

It was apparent that she wasn’t that interested anymore ‘bout the time she had two teenage babysitters as “party helpers” and introduced them to everyone as new babysitters. In front of me. Which was 99% of the party anxiety I mentioned back at the beginning of August. Oh, and if you consider that someone asked for my number and instead of getting it, she handed them an index card with the girls names on it. Now, I don’t care if they have other childcare, it was probably cheaper and definitely closer. But, don’t do it in front of me. And you know what? H and S’s mom wasn’t interested, yet she still got a card with the numbers. It was highly apparent she didn’t care when you consider that she didn’t leave her children alone with the girls at any point of the day.

I’ve filled up my Mondays with G, K and B, and T and C (3 families, approximately 14 hours, I’ll live and don’t have to get up until at least 10am on Tuesdays if I need it). Fridays are generally going to be H and S, but sometimes that will switch to either Wednesday or Thursday mornings. So, it’s not like I really needed X and his mom’s flakiness. But, I wanted to set the boundaries (did I mention that enough??).

AHHHHH!

I'm ready to throw the power cords to my computer out the window. Yes, power cords. I have two and neither of them work properly. Twice in the past two months Best Buy has sent me the wrong one, and now with school starting I don't know what I'm going to do. I use the computer for everything. Notes in class included. And I have a ten hour day, and no real power source. I'm screwed.

Right now I have the computer set in a particular spot and it's okay, but as soon as I move it I'll lose again. I'm going to go in to the store next time I have a chance (Tuesday or Wednesday?? Maybe if I'm lucky) and argue. Because seriously? Being nice isn't cutting it. On the Gateway website there is a cord that costs like 40 dollars; they placed a value of $78 (SEVENTY EIGHT DOLLARS) on the one they just sent me. I think logically they should order the one that will work. From the manufacturer! Hmm, what a concept. I'll let you know how it goes.

And in the mean time, lack of posts may be related to lack of power, or the beginning of the school year. Or both. But, I bet I'll manage to be around. After all, don't you want to hear about my 15 hour day tomorrow with three families. Will whiny dad come home on time? Oh, and I didn't even mention the fact that X's mom cancelled for the sixth consecutive week and then told me she put him in daycare so she doesn't need me anymore. Oh my, the posts I need to put up!!

Feeling uncreative therefore no witty title....

Yesterday I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch. But, she forgot about me – which happens, I understand. I don’t forget people because I write everything in the magical planner! She on the other hand has an eleven month old (who is absolutely precious, almost enough for me to post a picture here, but unfortunately I can’t!) The baby was asleep when I called to see if she was on her way, so I went to her apartment and we headed to the mall to pick up pictures from her 11 month sitting (I think mom’s done that every month, there are a lot of adorable pictures of her out there!!).

After she had to head to work, I went to Wild Oats and got a wrap for lunch. It was the first time I’d done anything but buy lotions and shampoos while there, and it was really good. Then I headed home instead of back to the college where I was supposed to table for Circle K. I drove across the town three times and they’d closed a lane on the freeway making the drive last forever and I was out of patience. So, I went to my local coffee shop and used the wireless internet before heading to C and T’s house.

I’m back on campus right now to do more tabling and then I get to watch the little guy of the leaders from Intervarsity. I gave them a certificate for 4 free hours at their baby shower like 15 months ago. So, today they’re going to watch a movie and I get to hang out with the little guy! My dad is out of town so maybe I’ll meet up with mom for dinner tonight or something.

A new one for me even!

Yesterday I got to spend the day with a child who threw a tantrum from 930am until 1030am. Yes, one full hour. What did I do to the poor child, you ask (which was actually my mother’s first question to me last night)? Did I tell a toddler that she couldn’t run into the street? A preschooler he couldn’t throw a ball in the house? No! I asked a seven year old to write his alphabet, teacher’s name and the date on a piece of paper, at mom’s request. He started off okay and then got to the letter C which he erased about 2,987 times before beginning to cry that he couldn’t do it right (it wasn’t that bad really!). Once he’d worked himself into quite the panic, I took away the notebook and asked him to go sit on his bed and calm down, maybe read a book if that would help. His answer was “I can’t, I can’t, I caaaaaaaan’t” at which point I walked away and closed his door, because really? Did I deserve to listen to it? No, I don’t think so.

Once he finally seemed to calm down (after tearing the sheets of his bed, knocking some books off the shelf and pretty much tossing his desk chair) I gave him back the paper. And then it started all over again. I warned him if I heard another thing thrown or torn in the room that he would stay there and took the notebook away again. At which point he began asking incessantly for the notebook back, telling me he was calmed down, when it was apparent in his voice that was not an accurate assessment. Finally, it seemed like he may have calmed down and he wrote the rest of what he had left. But, really the rest of our day was not that great because he was whiny about everything (okay, maybe I’m a tad too sensitive to whining lately, I’ve been mentioning it a lot).

Pretty much the entire time he cried I stayed out of it – except when I heard things being thrown around the room. Have you experienced tantrums in an older child? What do you do to handle it? This is about the only time I've had a full blown tantrum out of a child in school. Not a preschooler or toddler, I've seen lots of those!

Books, books, books

A month or so ago I asked for book suggestions and Sassy Student recommended several Christian books (after checking to make sure that I was up for Christian selections, which of course I totally was). I’ve read almost every book on the list that she sent me and have enjoyed it very much.

There were the Ashley Stockingdale books by Kristin Billerbeck (three in the series). They got much better as I went along. What a Girl Wants (book 1) kind of had me baffled and not too happy, but I had to try book two before making any rash judgements. That was a good decision, She’s Out of Control (book 2) was a delightfully simple read. And then, With this Ring, I’m Confused (book 3) was pretty much awesome, even if I spent much of it wanting to yelling at Ashley’s mother and sister in law to be!

Heavens to Betsy by Beth Pattillo was the first one I read and I really enjoyed it. Then I found out that there is a second book about Betsy, but I still haven’t tracked it down, I’ll get there sometime. I know by the end of Heavens to Betsy I was dying for the next book, that’s how big of an impression it left upon me!

But the books that she recommended the most (and of course, I took the longest to find) were the Savannah series by Denise Hildreth. Savannah from Savannah and Savannah Comes Undone (there’s a third one, but I’m not there yet, so we’ll see!). These books are great, I love them. Probably at least in part due to the fact that Savannah is like 3 years older than me and just graduated from college. The writing style is fun and flowing and just overall grand (not at all like my posts lately, which have been unorganised and sloppy, especially grammatically, that should change when I go back to school!).

So if you are in search of a good read – check these out! I haven’t been unhappy with a single one so far!!! And if you are completely bored by this post - sorry! More kid stories to tell. Like the one about the child who threw a FORTY-FIVE minute tantrum yesterday (and he's 7!!).

Thank goodness the day is OVER

For the last three weeks, I have worked no less than two jobs a day on Mondays, and often three. Well today, it caught up with me. Going from one house to another without a break (well, unless you count a 30-45 minute commute a break) has strained me. Right now, it’s 930 and I’ve just put T and C to bed, where they are talking loudly over the television they are allowed to watch in order to go fall asleep at night. I know how wrong that is, but hey, these kids have no limit to screen time allowed, which I’ve mentioned before, but who would have thought that this fact would make for a difficult job? I’ve been cranky, I’m tired and dealing with snotty six to nine year olds is no fun in this situation. That includes B who had his first day of school and B’s friend who I’ll spend tomorrow with. T and C’s parents are now an hour and a half late getting home and I have to be at work no later than 730 tomorrow morning. And work is located thirty minutes from my house. While I don’t have to get up as early as I did today (545, in order to get to work an hour away by 745, with a time allotment for Starbucks), I still would really like to be home and in bed.

I was snippy with H this morning when it was early and she was arguing everything with me (a distinct disadvantage of John Holt’s teachings I think, since she doesn’t learn it unless she wants to, she thinks she’s always right!). Then, I was doing well with B until he got whiny and tired and forgot how to listen. And dad did nothing to help despite listening to it and my pleas for sanity from the child. Which is probably why I got to deal with B the way I did, dad was home which makes me lose authority although dad doesn’t claim any. And then, these two tonight, between whining about whose turn it was on the computer (of which there are 4 in this house, 5 if you count mine) and complaining about every little thing I thought I was going to lose it. Then dad calls 30 minutes after he was supposed to be home and asks if I can stay an extra 2 hours longer than I was supposed to. Luckily, it was about time for the kids to go to bed, otherwise I don’t think I could have handled it anymore.

And now my mom is online so I can’t connect because “only one screen name may be signed on at a time” with AOL. I hate AOL, it’s worth the pain that I must be in to sit on the couch and borrow the high speed connection from a neighbour. Which neighbour I have no idea, but I like it nonetheless! Even if I can’t move a muscle without losing the connection or have my dad (not a small man by any means) walk by because he seems to block the connection!

Where have all the visitors gone?

In the past week, my daily average has dropped from 25 to 15. Where did those ten people go? I'm not the only one. Cassie has dropped from 100 to 60 daily visitors. Are people just on vacation? Hmm, that seems like a likely explanation.

I need to email X's mom and tell her I won't be coming on Fridays anymore. BUT, I left a bag at their house last time I was there and I'd really like to get it back before I burn that bridge. I have enough other opportunities that I can not work for her once a week (and count on being cancelled on every week!) and still be okay, or even better than okay. I also need to email the mom with triplets and 2 year old and see if she'd like to pick up my Tues/Thurs mornings (or even T/W/Th) for the fall. Last I heard from her she seemed to indicate that, but I haven't seen the birth announcement in the paper and if she hasn't had the babies yet, she has carried triplets to term. Which I don't think happens often, if ever.

Now onto a meme (from Cassie):

Here are the rules:
1. Delve into your blog archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five people to do the same.

My sentence: I then realized that it was actually highlights and history for the next week in baseball! <-- guess it's fitting it would be about baseball since that's the majority of what I've written about lately.

Because I feel like I should update...

Nanny over at Chronicles of Nanny-a (see links, I’m too tired and/or lazy to add it right now) reminded me that I do have something to write about – the A’s are 4ish games up in their division, and had won 6 or so games in a row before losing 2 last night against KC (KC? Really? The worst team in baseball? That can’t be a good sign). On the other hand, Texas and LAA each had 4 or 5 players/managers/coaches suspended for several games due to a large on the field fight during a game on Sunday. This means that they are majorly hurting for players. I don’t think you can call up minor leaguers to replace suspended players, like you can for injured players.

I watched B’s friend three days this week again, three full days. It was kind of boring since his mom doesn’t like for us to go places (I think she’s not comfortable with someone else driving her kids) so we stay at home for the entire day, with some outside time but how much time can you really spend outside when it’s close to 100 degrees outside? Next week I have him Tuesday and Wednesday, H and S Monday morning, K Monday afternoon and T and C Monday evening and Thursday evening. I think I have Friday off, I think I’m going to tell X’s mom that I can’t come on Friday and leave it at that.

I stayed at K and B’s house last night because their mom was out until about midnight at her scrapbooking event and I didn’t want to drive home that late, plus B had soccer early in the morning so I stayed with K while mom took B to the soccer field. K and I hung out and got ready for the day, after I brushed her hair, she insisted on brushing mine, which was cute and definitely killed a lot of time before mom got back. After I finished there I headed down to the lake where my parents were camping with their best friends and spent about 7 hours there, both on land and in the boat. It was fun, but I’m tired now!! Hopefully I’ll wake up in time for church in the morning but who knows really?

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

From Granny!

Why do I always seem to get a kick out of being proficient at these things? After all, I am a college student who is majoring in elementary education. I'd better have these mastered!!

That's all for this evening. Maybe I'll come up with something real tomorrow - seems like many people are on a blogging break lately, my hits are down by almost 1/2 of what they were at just a week ago and there have been less posts on bloglines lately as well!

More rambling - I can't wait for school to start, maybe I'll actually have something to post...

I went and bought school supplies yesterday – ouch! I spent almost $80 on notebooks, pencils, pens, folders, whiteout and sharpies (it was the sharpies that did me in!!). And, I didn’t manage to find the jeans I wanted. I need to go shopping in a larger city. I swear this one is slightly worthless!! Maybe I’ll even make a trip to Sacramento this weekend, that might be fun – there are malls and the Rivercats are in town!!

My blog entries have been very boring lately, I’ve got nothing good to say! Life has been boring and monotonous, and I don’t want to repeat myself over and over again! Once the semester starts there should be more interesting topics to discuss. Such as my time tutoring a child in reading once a week. That should lead to interesting blogging. Maybe anyhow!

I’m going to meet a friend from school for lunch next week, summer courses are over and I don’t have plans on Thursday so that should be fun.

X’s mom flaked on me for the fifth consecutive Friday and I can’t figure out how to tasteful tell her that I’d love to keep my Fridays open if she’s not going to take them like we had originally planned (hey, that just might work!). I’m tired of telling people I can’t work on Friday and then being cancelled on. During the school year I need to know if I should find a job on Fridays or if I have something lined up.

School supplies - yay!!

Awhile back, I posted about all the things that made me a dork in high school, and related that to my stats and feeling like a dork for caring so much.

Well, how about a post about school supplies? It’s that time of year again and it’s the only thing that I’m excited about when it comes to going back to school. I ordered a couple things today and I think I’ll go shopping Tuesday afternoon for the essentials.

First, there are textbooks. Only at university (I think? Do you have to order books at any high school? I don’t know!) do you actually have to pay to read (or not read) the required books for classes. On top of registration and per unit costs, this makes life expensive. I for one order as much as possible online through various “marketplace” sites (there are a million of them out there; Google textbooks for a list). Amazon has one that I’ve used a couple times (but they get a large commission from those selling their books, which spikes prices slightly); I prefer http://www.half.com/. They too receive commission, but it’s not much and that helps keep prices low. I’ve never ordered a used book I was unhappy with the condition of, because really, does it matter if the cover is a bit creased? And there are plenty of brand new texts available if you do care.

After books come pens, pencils and notebooks. I love Banana Paper (slogan: Saving the Rain Forest one notebook at a time) for a number of reasons. First of all, it’s recycled paper. Secondly, there are cool facts about recycling inside the front cover and a description of the steps to make the notebook on the back cover. And, there are really cute designs. I have frogs, ladybugs, dolphins and butterflies to name a few. They are all two subject notebooks and the second subject has a cute design on the right hand border. I wouldn’t recommend ordering it online, shipping costs a fortune, when you can find it at your local office supply store. It’s more expensive, but worth it in my book. For pens and pencils, I’m boring. I buy those boxes of pens at the store, because I know I’m just going to lose most of them, plus I like how they write! Pencils – I go mechanical only. Which means buying a million pencils and half a million tubes of lead a year. Because I can never find the lead I already own when I need it!

I ordered a new backpack today, even though I don’t really need one. In the primary grades I’d go through two or three backpacks a year (if not more!) but right now I’ve had the same one since the second semester of my first year at the university and it’s still in good condition, but the ads have made me want a new one, plus I think I deserve it! So, I ordered this backpack in purple today (ooh, purple! I’m so excited!); I can’t wait until it comes! It will probably be the last backpack I buy for myself, ever, so I’d better enjoy it while I have the chance!

When it comes to clothes, (I love clothes! I clothes shop year round, no need to wait for school!) there isn’t much I need, but I ordered the shoes I wanted and have a bought a white denim skirt and will probably find a pair of white jeans (if they fit, please let them fit!) at some point this week. After that, I’m done. I don’t need new shirts (for a while at least, if not at all).

I love when I work plenty of hours to afford things I really want! And for the next two weeks, I’m working 4-5 days a week, when I spent much of the summer working 2 or maybe 3 days, despite trying so hard at the beginning of summer to find a job that will fill up the week!

Ouch!

It seems like everytime I post lately I'm complaining about pain - and this is no different!

I went shopping today with my mom and her friend and on my way home I had the window down while driving up the mountain when all of a sudden the middle of my back hurt really bad; I ended up with a bee sting - probably because the person in front of me was going so darn slow that the bee could make it in my car! It hurt so bad, and I'd never been stung before so I wasn't even sure if I'd have a reaction. It still hurts a bit, but the swelling has gone down and I don't seem to be [very] allergic. I'm allergic to a lot of things, so this one wouldn't have surprised me much!

Baseball starts in about half an hour - I wish I was there (yes, I know I just got back). I should have tried to find a job over there for the summer, maybe next summer I'll seriously persue it, I've glanced for the last two years but never followed through with anything. It'd be so nice to actually be in the Bay Area for the three months of summer, and there have to be families looking for nannies for the summer!

Oh and if you have a chance go visit Rebecca - she's feeling neglected today, and is on her way to start a new nanny job!

Shoes (and more)

I want these shoes, preferably in navy or black, and they are on sale through Sunday. But, then I looked on eBay. Ebay has them in brown, red and pink - in my size anyhow. I think I may buy the brown ones (scratch that - the auction ends in 8hrs and I plan to go to sleep, and I don't want to make rash decisions if I'm not sure). They'll go with just about everything I own (but, then again so would the pink ones), especially since for some reason I've bought a lot of brown clothing in the last couple months. I received the first of my scholarship checks in the mail (yay!) so I don't feel near as broke as I did last month, meaning that any way I go I'll be okay. But, I probably should resort to the lowest guaranteed price. But, my housesitting this weekend covers even the expensive ones. Oh, decisions! Why is it so hard to make one!!

I'm at X's house with two BIG dogs. We're talking huge and one of them keeps barking at me which is totally not cool. Did I mention he's big? They have satellite tv (yay for that) and wireless internet (thank goodness) but don't get "local" channels. Probably because they're too far from what is local! But that meant no baseball tonight which made me unhappy darn it. Tomorrow I'm good though, the games at 605 (it's wine tasting day - the first time in several years I'll miss it and I could have participated this year!) and on the other channel which I do get on the satellite.

I think I'm going shopping in the city where I go to school tomorrow which should be fun. I need school supplies and I have a couple coupons for stores that I don't usually shop at (hey there's a perk to the massive issue of a magazine I never asked for but that keeps coming; trying to sell me clothing I could never afford, nor would I ever purchase).

I'm burnt and it hurts. I obviously wasn't careful enough with the top of the bathing suit because my chest is read and painful. Darn! I'm usually pretty good, it must have been too long between applications of sunscreen or something. K went to the waterpark today (with B, dad and mom) and I watched K for about three hours after she and mom came home while dad stayed in the city with B to purchase trees. She had an identical tantrum to the three-year-old I went to the waterpark with yesterday. Hmm, perhaps naps are required in order to make it a successful outing. She calmed down before mom left but was so run down that I put her to bed before mom and dad came home without any hassle from K!

Random topics for a slow day

I got an email a couple days ago about a “new” textbook site – one that sells books cheaper than bookstores, as well as individual chapters of books. While this sounds really cool, I was deeply disappointed when I looked and there was not a single one of the books I need for the upcoming semester. I order about 90% of my books online from a variety of sites so I was more than willing to check this site out, even if they just wanted some promotion from a blog (which averages 25 visitors a day, mostly older and not in school anyways!). I had to tell the intern who emailed me that I’d never recommend their site; why would I when they don’t have one book that I need for the semester? I thought it may have been related to the highly specialized upper division 400/600 level courses I’m enrolled in, but then I looked for the books that are required for a couple of our English 101 courses. And, shockingly enough, they didn’t have those either! What a waste of time! I need to go back to my old standby and look for books, now only one of my courses doesn’t have books listed, and two of the courses can’t be ordered from our bookstore so I’ll have to find alternate means of getting those books!

I actually have much of the day off, largely due to a misunderstanding, but that’s okay. I needed it. Yesterday I went to the waterpark with the child I watched three days last week and his mom and almost three-year-old sister. Since he’s big enough to do everything and his sister is to little to do much, mom wanted help so he could go on any of the rides he wanted. Some of them I wouldn’t go on, so I’d wait at the bottom, which worked for both of us. My legs were so sore when I got home last night because of climbing up the stairs way to many times to go down the same slides repeatedly. I went to bed early last night and didn’t get up until late this morning (well, late for me), I obviously needed the rest, it’s been a long time since I’ve got to sleep in.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the back to school shopping spree for underprivileged children at a local store that I’ve helped at for several years in a row through Circle K. And yet, despite thinking I was going to miss it last weekend, I still haven’t received an email telling me what time to get there. I’m about ready to say forget it and be done with Circle K, our club is just so frustrating and stressful for me to participate much anymore. Plus, meetings are going to be held at the same time as Intervarsity next semester and I’d much prefer Intervarsity.

Oh, and I wanted to say to the new visitor(s) who got here being I posted a link for about 10 of my friend's from my first online journal. I think I know who it is that keeps coming back, but I'm not 100% sure!

Several pictures and a description of the day.

First things first. I had at least two people comment on my hesistation to wear a skirt to the ballgame. I was hesitant for two reasons - 1st, it wasn't long and flowy, it was kind of short (for me anyhow!) and I do a lot of jumping around at games, especially exciting ones like I was hoping for on my birthday. 2nd, it was pink and striped (with a couple green ones thrown in here and there) and totally didn't go with the jersey (see exhibit A below). And, I HAD to wear the jersey on my birthday. Because why else would I bring it! So the decision I made was to wear the skirt with a white tank top to the ballpark, and change into my capris before going into the gates. Which wasn't hard to do - even in the car, because the capris went under the skirt easily! Yay for that! Because there was NO WAY I was changing in the porta-potties, ew!I got to the ballpark at about 230pm for a 705 game with 535 gates. Not too bad really. I got several autographs, including one that I needed on the ball he tossed up to my friend last weekend. The player I needed was one of the hardest ones to get to stop. And yet, the first time I tried (for the ball anyhow, my yearbook still needs signed, I'll work on that later) he stopped. Yay for birthday karma (or was it the skirt? hmmm, maybe I should rethink the skirt thing!) - his wife's birthday was yesterday as well (no, I didn't pull out the "it's my birthday card" although I considered it, it was there I could have used it if I wanted but I didn't need too!). I also got one of my favourites to stop and a couple others that I really needed but had missed out on for a while. My friends gave me a card and an 8 x 10 of my favourite (see jersey above!) that I have to get signed someday, because I was there the only time lately that he stopped so they couldn't exactly get it signed for me!!



The game was a blast - the A's won (stressfully, of course, but it was a win!) and Huston got the save! Yay!!

Today's game does not deserve to be spoken about - it was terrible, horrible, no good, very bad. So, I'll just share pictures from the day!





I got home at about 930 and I'm about to head to bed because I'm going to the water park tomorrow morning and have to get up in time to get all of my stuff out of the house and clean up a little because they come home tomorrow and I won't be here. I get to sleep in my own bed tomorrow night and then housesit at X's house Friday/Saturday/Sunday. I can't wait until I get my own bed for a couple nights in a row - even if it means dealing with my parents and the lack of quiet that is home.

PSA and I'll be back

A couple weeks ago my mom told me about an email she'd received warning people (especially women) to stay as far away as possible from anyone offering a sample of "perfume" in store parking lots. Apparently, the sample contains ether, enough to knock someone out pretty quickly. I'll admit I tend to disbelieve mass emails like this (it's better than being scared of every little thing, right?) but I didn't know about this one.

Well, yesterday when I got to Oakland and stopped to get Jamba Juice before heading to the ballpark, the second I got out of my car a large (and I mean LARGE) black man tried to approach me - using the line "ma'am, do you wear perfume?" I didn't even really look at him but said no and walked into Jamba. With my heart beating as fast as I'd ever felt before. I was so scared, almost too scared to go back to my car when I was done, but luckily I'd parked rather close to the door and there were lots of other people around. I got in my car as fast I as could and locked the door behind me. Promptly calling my mom to tell her that, yes, this one is apparently true. I should have reported it to someone in the store but I think I was too scared to think properly.

So, BE CAREFUL in parking lots and RUN from anyone offering you ANYTHING!!!!

I should come up with something to write

after all, the chances of a post tomorrow or the next day are fairly slim - especially tomorrow!

I've got to pack for the next couple days, and I haven't even started yet. Would I be crazy to wear a skirt to a ballgame? 'Cause I have one I'd kind of like to wear tomorrow! Maybe I'll wear it, but put jeans on before the game. Hmm, I'll have to think about it.

I'm so tired - I worked three jobs today - H and S from 745-11am, K from 12-5pm and T and C from 530-9pm. I think I drove about 140 miles today. Added to the driving I've done since July 28th and I think I'm at about 1400 miles. Plus the 600 I'll drive in the next two days. Gah! Too much time in the car!!

I ordered one of my textbooks today - the price from the college bookstore was 104 new/ 75 used, but I managed to snap a copy for under $30 at half.com, love that website, recommend it to ALL college students. OR anyone looking for new books. One warning however: give yourself plenty of time to receive it, because they ship media mail 99% of the time. Only one of my other classes has books listed and they are pretty cheap (like $50 if I order all four, but only two are required and I have one of the recommended ones already). I wonder about the rest of them!

I think I'm done rambling for now - going to go fold laundry, take a shower and pack.

Party anxiety

I went to X's birthday party today - and was reminder why I don't go to parties. There are several reasons actually:

1. I don't do well in situations where I don't know people, clinging to the side of the only person I know is embarassing and uncomfortable.
2. There is ALWAYS alcohol (which I won't drink) and people who have had far too much to drink.
3. Way too often, these people then drive home, which makes me angry and overly concerned, considering I DON'T KNOW THEM!
4. I must be too quiet or something, because introductions don't seem to happen, it's like the host(s) don't realize I'm there. In fact, X's dad took 45 minutes before he noticed me! I know because he said something along the lines of "I didn't know you were here"

X's mom had "party helpers" who were teenage girls that will probably get to babysit. Which is kind of unfair considering that I'm there and she has flaked on me for the past FOUR WEEKS. Perhaps she should just tell me she doesn't need me anymore. Despite the fact it took 8 months to find someone who will come to her house, and all of a sudden she has three people? Okay, whatever.

I hung out for a while, mostly with H and S's family. S surprisingly was clingy to me - I really didn't expect him to come to me as easily as he did. Especially not with mommy and daddy around! His vocabulary grows daily, it's really amazing. He's 16 months old, and I can't believe the number of words he has. He tries to repeat most things as well as using the words he knows.

Tomorrow we're celebrating my birthday with dinner, since I'll be in Oakland for my birthday. 5 baseball games in 10 days. The first three have been a lot of fun - let's hope the last 2 are just as much!!

Oh and bloglines sucks! Why do I have to say that at least once per week lately? I posted at 10am and it STILL HASN'T SHOWN UP!!! Argh!! Neither has anyone ALL DAY or last night either.

Seven of Seventy-four - why do I always take so many pictures?

I never do anything with most of them. Although, I may attempt to get one of these signed (yeah, right, he doesn't stop for me, what am I saying?).Gotta love the ability to be three feet from the dugout. Leads to great shots like the one above!
He kept staring over towards us. Hmm, was he bothered by the flash from the camera??
First inning, I snuck into other seats to have a better angle rather than getting mostly back and side shots.
Before the game. He was about the only one who didn't come back to sign. And, it was his bobblehead day! Too bad!
Might be a little blurry - I'm not sure. DJ and Jeremy Brown (who is a catcher, but was acting as first base coach.)
Bocachica (or something like that - I can't spell it and I'm too lazy to google right now) signing my friend's batting gloves - that he gave her last year!

Wirelessly blogging

I don’t know what to be more frustrated about, the traffic getting to the ballpark (how do people live in this state? Seriosuly!) or the fact that after driving for 220+ miles I am not allowed to park for another hour or so.

Luckily I turned on the computer, and did you know Sacramento has wireless hotspots all around town? Good thing I’m visiting one right now!! So, you’ll get a post before I attend the game, I may be down to about 8 minutes before I can park or it could be 38 minutes. I’m not allowed to leave my car as the not so friendly parking attendant informed me. After I park, I have to buy tickets and then hang out until gate open somewhere around 530 or 6 – they are so unspecific here compared to in Oakland! My friends that I’m meeting here were about 20 minutes away about 10 minutes ago so they should be getting close.

Tomorrow is X’s first birthday – I still don’t have a gift for him, I think I’ll go shopping before I head to his house around 1 or so. I actually get to sleep in and that’s rather thrilling to me. Okay, done now, friends just pulled, must have been driving about 200 miles an hour to get here this quickly!

It's so much easier to write when I'm not at home. For two particular reasons:

1. Dial-up - need I say more?
2. Family - having parents read over your shoulder is just uncool. Not that I've ever said anything on here that's so bad, but still?

Today was a lazy day. I seriously did not have the energy to be super active, so we spent much of the day inside, with a quick trip down the street so he could ride his bike. I had my book, and luckily at the exact moment I was done he decided he wanted to go home. And it was hot out, so I agreed in about 2 seconds! Then I went to T and C's house where we played computer games for the majority of the four hours I was there. To some extent I like the fact that they don't have a screen time limit, but on the other hand, there are better ways to spend time than by playing The Sims or any number of Tycoon games.

I stopped at Borders on the way home - mostly because the Christian book store was closed - and bought a couple of books, plus a new calendar/planner for the school year. My last one ended on July 31 (I think? Maybe it went another month) which made planning for August/September a little difficult.

Tomorrow I have H and S for three hours, then after a quick stop at the bank I'm heading to Sacramento for Dan Johnson bobblehead day. It'll be fun, but exhausting. I love that Sac is only a couple hours from here so I can go to a game and get home that night, although I'd have really appreciated finding someone to go with me to take over for some of the driving.

Alone time

Argh! I just lost a post - note to self: there's a reason you've been using blogger for word for so long! Let's see if I can remember what I was saying (and the links I had included).

I've spent the last two days watching one of B's friends. He's about 6 months older than B and has a little sister who is 5 months younger than K. His sister has been going to daycare to get back into the swing of things, but he doesn't have any form of daycare, which leads to me while mom attends training for work. We've played with Snap Circuits, about a million games of UNO and done a lot of reading. He's a strong enough reader that he's reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, silently. We spent about half an hour this morning reading on the couch, him working on his book and me working on What A Girl Wants (thanks, Sassy Student, I love it - I may finish it tomorrow, at which point I'll have to buy another in the series!). Then, in the afternoon, we read poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends; I'd read one and then he'd read one. It was fun and he got to practice fluency and timing while reading.

I've noticed that he really seems to be enjoying the one on one attention that I can give him, which makes sense if you think about it. How much time has he really had in the last three years? Probably not too much! The importance of individualized time for children is so apparent when you have the chance to spend time with a child who usually has to contend with siblings for attention.

I'm back there tomorrow - and then head to T and C's house, I have barely enough time to get from one house to the other, then I housesit again tomorrow night through August 10 (around three ballgames; one in Sacramento on Friday and then Oakland on Tuesday and Wednesday).

When I was born...

In 1985 (the year you were born)

Ronald Reagan is president of the US Live Aid, a 17 hour rock concert broadcasts worldwide from London and Philadelphia, raising $70 million for starving Africans An 8.1 magnitude earthquake hits Mexico City and results in about 25,000 deaths Volcano "Nevada del Ruiz" erupts near Bogota, Columbia causing mud slides that bury two towns American Jew Jonathan Pollard is arrested for giving military secrets to Israel Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader New Coke is released on the 99th anniversary of Coca-Cola The GNU Manifesto first written by Richard Stallman Kansas City Royals win the World series San Francisco 49ers win Superbowl XIX Edmonton Oilers win the Stanley Cup Back to the Future is the top grossing film Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis is published David Lee Roth leaves Van Halen to begin a solo career "Careless Whisper" by Wham! spends the most time at the top of the US charts Elmo is introduced on Sesame Street The Golden Girls and Growing Pains premiere

What Happened the Year You Were Born?

More cool things for your blog at
Blogthings

Pictures from the ball game

Arranging pictures is really hard - these are definitely not in order - but, here they are!
I have a ball that Jay tossed up to one of my friends! My first ball from a game! Yay!! Next mission: get it signed!




This is Shane Komine. Koh-mee-nay. Fun name, hard to remember to read it that way!
Joe! Hmm, what is he signing there? I don't know - it's not mine!
Saarloos with a feather in his hat. Why a feather? I have no idea, and he didn't tell us!
My friend asked "Mark, can you sign for my friend Angela?" Mark's answer? "Sure!"