Ok, so apparently there are going to be some random nights when I end up working late on homework and wend up not realizing I need to come on here to post until it is already the next day. I appologize for this. Just means that apparently my 365th post will be later than the date I originally intended, but I will still post 365 posts here since that is what I set out to do. I'm going to keep it short and sweet tonight. This past weekend, we drove the truck on a 4.5 hour drive to pick up Lex. She had been with the grandparents being spoiled beyond belief for the past month. We've had the stress of Erin's car being out of commission because of the transmission for the past 2 weeks. Thank fully, that recently got taken care of and Erin is once again driving her own car. I know for a fact she is thrilled to death about that.
One thing I know I'm going to have to talk to Lex about is how much crap she has gotten into since she has been back. She has lied, and snuck food, etc. Erin and I constantly remind her that instead of sneaking, she should ask for what she wants. And that if she has done something she shouldnt have and we question her about it, that she should just be honest. Well last night she struck me as odd because she randomly got up from the couch and went into the kitchen. I said "Lex come back here, what are you doing?" She said "I'm just seeing what's new in the kitchen." I raised an eyebrow up at her and said "The kitchen is the same as it has always been. What are you really doing?" She said "It is? Hmm, well maybe I will find something different." Then I went into the kitchen without letting her be alone in there and looked in the pantry. A bag of marshmellows that had been full before she came home was now half gone and I noticed the bag instantly because it layed wide open.
I brought it in and said "When did you eat these?" She said "I didn't." I said "Really..... well mommy did you eat these?" Erin was like "no i didn't." So I looked back at Lex and said "I didn't touch these, last time I saw these they were sealed up. Mommy hasn't touched these... and Zoe can't reach the pantry. Unless the cat or dog got up on the counter, opened the cabinet and got into these, who does that leave?" She said "Me." I said "Exactly, so I ask you again. Did you eat these?" And she still looked at me and said "no." We went back and forth, Erin asked her, I asked her, every time this kind of thing has happened, Erin and I notice things right away. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like, as soon as something has gone missing from the cabinets, usually it's something that's like "Chocolate chips" for erin's baking, or in this case marshmellows, or apparently today it was these cordial cherry kisses that Erin uses for one of the kinds of cookies she makes.
Erin went to bed early because she didn't feel good. I finished the home made pizza that she had started to make, and while I was making it, we told Lex that she was to be in her room and getting it cleaned. I told her she was not to come out until it was done, except for going to the bathroom, and for dinner. Later she came downstairs, walked up to me and said "Daddy, I did eat the marshmellows." I thanked her for telling me the truth and again tried to emphasize how strongly we want her to 1) do everything she is supposed to do, and 2) to be honest with us about everything.
Today, I dropped Erin off at work. On the way to drop Zoe off at day care, Erin got a call from JD saying that her transmission would be ready when she got off work. We dropped Zoe off, I dropped Erin off, and went home. I got online and turned in my end of the week assignments ahead of time for both my classes. Logged offline, and went upstairs to lay down for 30 minutes or so until Erin would call to tell me she was ready to be picked up. My phone apparently spider web cracked some time when we were on the trip this weekend, and I could manage just fine till today when the crack spread throughout the rest of my screen. Now I can't select anything, cant answer calls, can't open my text messages, etc. Thank God we have insurance,even though it will probably cost us something like $80.00.
After midnight tonight when I get paid, I will be going online on verizon wireless and filing my claim. Apparently within 24 hours I should receive another blackberry storm2, and will probably have a mailing package that I can put my phone in and I will have 10 days to send my phone to them. For now, I left my phone powered off and sitting on my side table on my side of the bed. No point in having it on me right now. I would just get frustrated about not being able to open anything up. I love my phone but it made me wonder if maybe when we upgrade down the road if I should go back to the blackberry pearl. Yes it's not touch screen, and I do love my phone, but I hate that if the screen gets cracked like this again, I won't be able to do anything with my phone temporarily. But I guess we have a year or so left till we can renew our contract.
So onto the other stuff that happened with lex. When I went to lay down, Lex stopped me and was like "Daddy I'm hungry." I said "Ok, well it will be a little bit. We'll figure something out soon." She was like "ok." Not even 20 minutes later, erin called and said she was ready. I figured "ok, well I'm going to leave lex here so she can keep working on her room. I want to give her something for lunch so she wont be hungry." I wanted to be a good dad despite my stress level. So I reheated some of the pizza from last night and filled up a glass of milk and gave her one of her mootubes, which is basically a straw that has chocolate in it. She drinks the milk and it makes chocolate milk. I called her down and gave her the plate and milk. She was like "oh cool." I said "I would have given you the rootbeer in the fridge but you have milk." She said "When I finish my milk can I get the rootbeer?" I was like "yes, you can." Thinking that she would eat, drink her milk, then grab the rootbeer. Then I told her we would be back shortly and told her not to sneak anything, which she said she wouldnt, and then I left.
When we got back with both cars over an hour later, I noticed the pizza slices were still there. There was a note she wrote beside it saying "Mom and dad, I'm not hungry anymore. you can have these. I'll be cleaning my room." I went upstairs and confronted Lex because of the fact that just before giving her those slices she had said "Daddy i'm hungry." She came down, I was talking to her in the kitchen and then I randomly spoke my thoughts outloud "Wait a minute, I bet you finished your chocolate milk didnt you?" She was like "Yeah?" Then I spoke the next thoughts that came to my mind as I opened the fridge and verified that the rootbeer was gone "And you grabbed the rootbeer out of the fridge?" She was like "Yeah?" That was when I had to force myself not to boil over. Erin heard me scream at her, she came inside, I explained what was going on. I was on the edge of grabbing a belt and smacking her hard on the butt right there. Instead I was so furious that I tried to show how she should technically be slapping herself on the forhead, only when I mimicked it, I hit my head with my hand really hard and actually felt like I almost knocked myself out. For a few minutes I felt dizzy and light headed.
We sent her back upstairs, I went up with a belt and talked to her. First I asked her why she felt she should not be spanked with it. She couldn't answer me. I then said "I'm going to give you ONE last chance. I need you to STOP lying, STOP stealing or sneaking, and LISTEN! We are a team here, and you are not doing your part. The next time you do something this outrageous that pisses me or your mom off the way last night and today has, you will be smacked with this. Do you understand?" She was crying and was like "yeah." I was like "Good, now get over here and give me a hug."
I napped for over an hour while Erin and the girls went to wal mart for some stuff, and when I had showered and was leaving, Erin was noticing that apparently when I left and told lex specifically not to sneak anything, and she said she wouldnt, she got into the cordial cherry kisses. I looked at her, asked her why she would do that when she told me she wouldnt. She said "Sorry dad."
I'm going to close this entry out now. I've been going over in my head what I should do. I've been praying for God to give me strength and that I can handle the extra stress that has come with our oldest returning home. In the past when she has come back from grandma's house where she has almost free rein, we have always had problems. It's like, because grandma will give her almost anything and let her do almost anything, when she comes home she has forgotten how it works in the family. She doesnt ask for stuff, doesnt listen, until after we all butt heads with eachother and then eventually she straightens up, but I have never stressed out this much whenever she has come back, so we need to talk and get things figured out.
I love her to death and it is because I love her so much that I can feel the extra tension and stress definitely pulling at my health quite a bit. That is why tonight I realized with a crystal clear certainty that we have to get this straightened out before it gets any worse.
Other than that, on a positive note, school is going great. I've focused a lot on it, trying to get things turned in on time, doing the best I can. Week number 2 has already been easier than week number 1. I guess I'm getting used to it. So on that positive note I will bid you all good night.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Day 79
Good evening everyone. Well tonight is going to be interesting. Tonight is the night of my half shift. I'm only working till midnight, and then Aaron, the guard that has now replaced Randy, will be coming in from midnight till 6. Then sunday, monday, and tuesday are his days, and then I come in Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and then when I come in next saturday evening it's only 6 hours because then thats the half shift again.
The truck window is replaced! I'm so not messing with it right now. The guy that is fixing Erin's transmission was supposed to have the car done Friday night originally. Then he called friday and because of not being able to get the parts in time, he said it would be done saturday. Then he called this morning and talked to Erin. The company he gets the parts through still hadn't gotten them in, so he said definitely monday. Erin asked him if he knew where we could get a window installed in the truck if we were going to have to drive the truck down to pick Lex up. He said he had a window and if we brought the truck by, he would put it in for us while we waited. He did, and I asked if he would look at my battery connection because I was not able to disconnect it. Apparently the bolt holding it on was corroded, so he got it off, grabbed one from the truck he was using for parts, cleaned the corrosion off the battery and hooked the new bolt up.
When he was doing that, I noticed the interior lights were on, and then I noticed my trip odomotor was not showing anything. No numbers what-so-ever. Then I tried to turn on the radio and nothing. We checked the fuses and found the culprit, replaced it, and we were on our way. Erin asked him what we owed him and he said he wasn't going to charge us. I'm guessing it's because of Erin's car not being finished yet even though he said it would be, and that he knew we were driving the truck to pick Lex up because of it.
So, up until today, we didn't know what the plan was. We had talked about Erin leaving today with her car and going down there while I stayed here and worked my half shift, then stayed home so that Teagan was taken care of. Another possibility was getting someone to watch Teagan while we were away, and we would go together in her Escape. But of course, the car didn't get repaired in time, and so we knew we were going to end up driving in the truck..
Plus another thing was if we were going to drive the whole way and stay the day with them, we thought about leaving just after midnight tonight when I get off so we'd get there roughly at 7 AM, go to bed for however many hours, get up and hang out. But we found out that they won't really have too much time because their getting ready for a trip, so we agreed that we would just meet them in the middle some where. Well, it's so not in the middle. We used to meet in Des Moines, IA, which is about 3 hours from here, and I think that was closer to half way, but where we met them last time is an hour and a half closer to them. Oh well. We will deal.
So anyway, in closing, I'm nearing the end of my first week at the University of Phoenix. In the mail today, I received a check from the government. It was only for like $87.00 but that's additional money we didn't have before. It said "treasury" on it, but I didn't know what it was for. It also said "VA ED" which leads me to believe that the check was a partial payment from the GI bill. Woohoo! If thats the case then that is really good news. It means I won't have to wait months till I start receiving all the GI bill benefits. Basically it should cover most of my school, and then I'm certain we will receive checks at home every month to help with living expenses. The fact that we got the check today makes me sure of it. So anyway, I will call that it for tonight. Talk to you all again tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
The truck window is replaced! I'm so not messing with it right now. The guy that is fixing Erin's transmission was supposed to have the car done Friday night originally. Then he called friday and because of not being able to get the parts in time, he said it would be done saturday. Then he called this morning and talked to Erin. The company he gets the parts through still hadn't gotten them in, so he said definitely monday. Erin asked him if he knew where we could get a window installed in the truck if we were going to have to drive the truck down to pick Lex up. He said he had a window and if we brought the truck by, he would put it in for us while we waited. He did, and I asked if he would look at my battery connection because I was not able to disconnect it. Apparently the bolt holding it on was corroded, so he got it off, grabbed one from the truck he was using for parts, cleaned the corrosion off the battery and hooked the new bolt up.
When he was doing that, I noticed the interior lights were on, and then I noticed my trip odomotor was not showing anything. No numbers what-so-ever. Then I tried to turn on the radio and nothing. We checked the fuses and found the culprit, replaced it, and we were on our way. Erin asked him what we owed him and he said he wasn't going to charge us. I'm guessing it's because of Erin's car not being finished yet even though he said it would be, and that he knew we were driving the truck to pick Lex up because of it.
So, up until today, we didn't know what the plan was. We had talked about Erin leaving today with her car and going down there while I stayed here and worked my half shift, then stayed home so that Teagan was taken care of. Another possibility was getting someone to watch Teagan while we were away, and we would go together in her Escape. But of course, the car didn't get repaired in time, and so we knew we were going to end up driving in the truck..
Plus another thing was if we were going to drive the whole way and stay the day with them, we thought about leaving just after midnight tonight when I get off so we'd get there roughly at 7 AM, go to bed for however many hours, get up and hang out. But we found out that they won't really have too much time because their getting ready for a trip, so we agreed that we would just meet them in the middle some where. Well, it's so not in the middle. We used to meet in Des Moines, IA, which is about 3 hours from here, and I think that was closer to half way, but where we met them last time is an hour and a half closer to them. Oh well. We will deal.
So anyway, in closing, I'm nearing the end of my first week at the University of Phoenix. In the mail today, I received a check from the government. It was only for like $87.00 but that's additional money we didn't have before. It said "treasury" on it, but I didn't know what it was for. It also said "VA ED" which leads me to believe that the check was a partial payment from the GI bill. Woohoo! If thats the case then that is really good news. It means I won't have to wait months till I start receiving all the GI bill benefits. Basically it should cover most of my school, and then I'm certain we will receive checks at home every month to help with living expenses. The fact that we got the check today makes me sure of it. So anyway, I will call that it for tonight. Talk to you all again tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Friday, June 25, 2010
Day 78
Hello all. Yesterday, with work, and making sure to complete stuff for school, I ended up getting really busy and wasn't able to get online to post in the blog. Heck, I would have come online at one point to make sure I had posted what I needed to post but last night I was called to the ER at around 10:30 pm to sit with a patient in the room. It wasn't until close to 3AM that they were picked up by an ambulance to be transferred to another hospital. I was in the process of trying to get something to eat before I got called. Thank God for cell phones though. I passed the time while sitting there by browsing facebook on my phone and playing games. I wished I had brought my book in because I would have probably ended up finishing it while sitting there. Close to 5 hours. At 3, I left the ER, took my time eating dinner finally, then went down to the office and read for about 40 minutes. I figured, yes I had been sitting still for 5 hours, but at the same time, it wasn't a "break". I had a head ache, and needed to do something to relax, and sitting down there and reading for a little while usually does it.
So today is our 5th day of class. The funny thing is this. One of my instructors posted the daily questions for monday through friday on the first day of class. We have to post our answers on each day and then respond to 2 or 3 of our class mates posts (per day). A lot of my class mates I've noticed went on there monday and tuesday and posted their answers and responses for the entire week. I finally posted a question to both my instructors, asking how it works, if we can post everything early and still get the same credit for it, or if we need to respond to 2 or 3 people for 4 individual days. They said it's ok to work ahead, but save them as drafts and then post them on the required day and then respond to your class mates posts on those days in order to get credit. That's what I thought, but of course, seeing a dozen or more students posting days early made me think "ok, their posting on day 5 when it's only day 3. Can we do that or will it not count?"
So tonight at work, I will work my normal 12 hour shift. Tonight at midnight, the guard who will be joining me over here in place of Randy will be coming in for a few hours so I can give him a refresher. Then tomorrow I come in from 6PM till midnight, and he comes in at midnight till 6. Then he is the one on duty till Wednesday morning, then I come in that evening. So our schedules are like this. I come in and work Wednesday night, thursday night, and friday night, then I work 6PM to midnight on Saturday and then he comes in and he's on duty then. It'll be nice to have official work days and days off again. Plus, since he sounds like he was ok with this idea for the schedule, it will allow Erin and I and the girls to start trying to go to church again. We havent been in about 6 weeks because I've been working most of the time, including till 6 am on sunday morning.
So with that, I think I will call that it tonight. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
So today is our 5th day of class. The funny thing is this. One of my instructors posted the daily questions for monday through friday on the first day of class. We have to post our answers on each day and then respond to 2 or 3 of our class mates posts (per day). A lot of my class mates I've noticed went on there monday and tuesday and posted their answers and responses for the entire week. I finally posted a question to both my instructors, asking how it works, if we can post everything early and still get the same credit for it, or if we need to respond to 2 or 3 people for 4 individual days. They said it's ok to work ahead, but save them as drafts and then post them on the required day and then respond to your class mates posts on those days in order to get credit. That's what I thought, but of course, seeing a dozen or more students posting days early made me think "ok, their posting on day 5 when it's only day 3. Can we do that or will it not count?"
So tonight at work, I will work my normal 12 hour shift. Tonight at midnight, the guard who will be joining me over here in place of Randy will be coming in for a few hours so I can give him a refresher. Then tomorrow I come in from 6PM till midnight, and he comes in at midnight till 6. Then he is the one on duty till Wednesday morning, then I come in that evening. So our schedules are like this. I come in and work Wednesday night, thursday night, and friday night, then I work 6PM to midnight on Saturday and then he comes in and he's on duty then. It'll be nice to have official work days and days off again. Plus, since he sounds like he was ok with this idea for the schedule, it will allow Erin and I and the girls to start trying to go to church again. We havent been in about 6 weeks because I've been working most of the time, including till 6 am on sunday morning.
So with that, I think I will call that it tonight. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Day 77
Hello everyone. Last night I was up till roughly about 5 AM working on school work. I had all my stuff for yesterday done by 2 am (midnight arizona time), but then I was still up and alert so I worked on today's assignments. At 5 am I decided I would go to bed. Just then, a thunderstorm, a very loud one, started booming outside. I figured I would go check on Zoe before going to sleep. She was still out for the time being, so I went in and tried to go to sleep. At 6 am, I was still awake, and Zoe woke up because of the thunder. So we all got up and decided that we would make breakfast and watch movies for a little while. I figured I would crash later, but since I was up I figured I would take advantage of the time and get online on my classes and work through the day and work ahead if I could.
I got most of my posts submitted, and my questions responded to. Erin had gone back to bed at 10. Zoe was laying on me watching the wiggles, and so I told Erin that I would let wiggles finish, and finish what I was working on and then we would be up too. It was about 11:30 when wiggles was done, and I was finished working on my homework. I noticed Zoe was twitching and realized that she was asleep. Apparently she was twitching because she was laying half off the couch and kept jerking like she didn't know where she was. Before I got up to take her upstairs, she woke up, looked around and started crying. I picked her up, walked with her in my arms, downstairs to put my uniforms in the dryer, and then back upstairs to put her in bed. When I layed her there, she instantly rolled onto her side and closed her eyes. I tucked her in, and closed her door. It didn't take me long to fall asleep. Before I did, I made sure to set an alarm for 5PM because I didn't want to take a chance of over sleeping.
I woke up once, around 3 pm because of some kind of night mare. I don't remember about what, but just remember jerking awake, then deciding to go back to sleep. 5PM came pretty quick, but I felt pretty good having gotten 5.5 to 6 hours of sleep.
So in closing, as of today (wednesday), I am on day 3 of my first 9 week session of class. Yes I have noticed it has cut into my schedule, making it difficult for me to remember to come online and post in my blog. Between the two of them, if it comes down to making a choice, I have to choose to complete my school work. Not doing so could cost me my grade and I don't want to do anything to hurt my work towards my degree.
Other than that, it rained so hard today. I hope you all liked cats and dogs because it was raining them out there! So anyway, I think I will call that it for tonight. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
I got most of my posts submitted, and my questions responded to. Erin had gone back to bed at 10. Zoe was laying on me watching the wiggles, and so I told Erin that I would let wiggles finish, and finish what I was working on and then we would be up too. It was about 11:30 when wiggles was done, and I was finished working on my homework. I noticed Zoe was twitching and realized that she was asleep. Apparently she was twitching because she was laying half off the couch and kept jerking like she didn't know where she was. Before I got up to take her upstairs, she woke up, looked around and started crying. I picked her up, walked with her in my arms, downstairs to put my uniforms in the dryer, and then back upstairs to put her in bed. When I layed her there, she instantly rolled onto her side and closed her eyes. I tucked her in, and closed her door. It didn't take me long to fall asleep. Before I did, I made sure to set an alarm for 5PM because I didn't want to take a chance of over sleeping.
I woke up once, around 3 pm because of some kind of night mare. I don't remember about what, but just remember jerking awake, then deciding to go back to sleep. 5PM came pretty quick, but I felt pretty good having gotten 5.5 to 6 hours of sleep.
So in closing, as of today (wednesday), I am on day 3 of my first 9 week session of class. Yes I have noticed it has cut into my schedule, making it difficult for me to remember to come online and post in my blog. Between the two of them, if it comes down to making a choice, I have to choose to complete my school work. Not doing so could cost me my grade and I don't want to do anything to hurt my work towards my degree.
Other than that, it rained so hard today. I hope you all liked cats and dogs because it was raining them out there! So anyway, I think I will call that it for tonight. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Day 76
Good evening everyone. Yes I know, I didn't post last night. Yesterday was my first day of class online with the University of Phoenix. My class schedule is like this. 2 classes at a time every 9 weeks. When one session ends, the next day I begin the next session with the next 2 classes. Every class *I believe* is 3 credits each, so basically I'll be completing 6 credits every 9 weeks. Today is day #2 of week 1, and so far so good. Yesterday I had to post a bio of myself, so that the instructor and our class mates can get a brief understanding of us as individuals. Class participation is very important and can effect our grade. Therefore we have to not only post our own assignments and answers to the instructor's questions, but we also have to respond to our class mates posts. If we dont, we miss out on easy points and our grade falls. The funny thing is, it has to be substantive which means we have to post something with meaning and not just "I agree!" or "Nice job!" Instead we have to post a decent length response trying to show what we got from their response and try to offer feedback if we have any. Earlier tonight when I was working on my 2 responses I needed to give, one gal I was responding to cut a sentence short.
I got the over all idea of what she was saying, but I noticed that she was missing part of it. Basically she said "in an online learning environment you have to watch how you say things. With the lack of body language, very people get it." When I responded, part of my response mentioned that sentence, and I said "We all make mistakes by accident when writing, and so I would recommend just to re-read over your post before you post so that everything sounds the way you intended it. I understood what you were saying, but I also noticed that your sentence didn't completely say it. But otherwise great response! :)"
So all in all, I'm really happy to be back at school again, and for it to be online. I really like the University of Phoenix. The staff have been really helpful with getting me set up with financial aid, and getting enrolled, etc. If any of you readers our there decide you want to attend classes and you are working full time, I would definitely recommend checking out the University of Phoenix online. The enrollment councelors and financial aid reps and academic advisors are very helpful. Heck! I receive periodic calls from my enrollment advisor making sure that everything is going ok. He called me yesterday morning after I got off work, was sitting here on the computer trying to pass time till an appointment I had at the mechanic to get a little issue fixed on the truck. I was under the impression that school started on Tuesday. I don't know why. All I know is that I strongly believed that the date they gave me was tuesday. Yesterday when Robert, my enrollment advisor called me, he was like "Have you logged into your class room yet?" I was like "Is it available? I didn't think it would be available a day early. I figured on logging in tomorrow when class starts."
He was like "No no, class started today." I was like "today? are you serious? I thought it was tomorrow!" he was like "nope, today's the first day of class." I was like "well ok! I guess I will be logging on and getting my assignments done for the first day of class then!"
But then last night when I got everything turned in and posted, I realized the time was 1 am. I was like "shit I forgot to post my blog." But at the same time, I wasn't too worried. I did the main thing I needed to do, which was do my school work. Tonight I made sure that by midnight I came on here to post here, but I still have about an hour and a half until 2 am *which would be midnight arizona time*, so I'm still good as far as posting and turning in assignments for the day.
So in closing, this morning I had an appointment scheduled to go out to Iowa City to go to the VA Medical center and get checked out so that the VA can determine how much I would get monthly in disability benefits because of my back injury I had in the Air Force. It was scheduled for 9 am. We went to bed about 3:40. I set my alarm for 7 am. An hour and 20 minutes later, at around 5 am, I was awakened by erin yelling something. Apparently Zoe had gotten up a few times, and Erin was getting frustrated about that. So i went downstairs and found the Woobie that Zoe kept getting up wanting, gave it to her, and layed her back down. Then about an hour or so later, at 7 am, my alarm went off. I didn't feel like I slept enough at all. I had just gotten into deep sleep, and didn't want to get up. Erin could tell that I was extremely tired. She worried about me driving an hour to get to Iowa City. I told her I had to do it, and that I would be ok. She wanted me to call them and cancel/reschedule.
I wasn't going to. I had felt tired before, and handled it fine *what with me working nights, it's pretty common*, but when I came downstairs to try to find the address for the medical center, I felt really sick to my stomach. So I called and cancelled my appointment. Will it be rescheduled? I'm not sure. I'm not really sure that I care about going through with it. If it was local, I would do it in a heart beat. But I have never been to Iowa City before, other than passing by it on the high way. So i think that will be it for tonight. I will try to write more for you all tomorrow..
Thanks for being here.
CB
I got the over all idea of what she was saying, but I noticed that she was missing part of it. Basically she said "in an online learning environment you have to watch how you say things. With the lack of body language, very people get it." When I responded, part of my response mentioned that sentence, and I said "We all make mistakes by accident when writing, and so I would recommend just to re-read over your post before you post so that everything sounds the way you intended it. I understood what you were saying, but I also noticed that your sentence didn't completely say it. But otherwise great response! :)"
So all in all, I'm really happy to be back at school again, and for it to be online. I really like the University of Phoenix. The staff have been really helpful with getting me set up with financial aid, and getting enrolled, etc. If any of you readers our there decide you want to attend classes and you are working full time, I would definitely recommend checking out the University of Phoenix online. The enrollment councelors and financial aid reps and academic advisors are very helpful. Heck! I receive periodic calls from my enrollment advisor making sure that everything is going ok. He called me yesterday morning after I got off work, was sitting here on the computer trying to pass time till an appointment I had at the mechanic to get a little issue fixed on the truck. I was under the impression that school started on Tuesday. I don't know why. All I know is that I strongly believed that the date they gave me was tuesday. Yesterday when Robert, my enrollment advisor called me, he was like "Have you logged into your class room yet?" I was like "Is it available? I didn't think it would be available a day early. I figured on logging in tomorrow when class starts."
He was like "No no, class started today." I was like "today? are you serious? I thought it was tomorrow!" he was like "nope, today's the first day of class." I was like "well ok! I guess I will be logging on and getting my assignments done for the first day of class then!"
But then last night when I got everything turned in and posted, I realized the time was 1 am. I was like "shit I forgot to post my blog." But at the same time, I wasn't too worried. I did the main thing I needed to do, which was do my school work. Tonight I made sure that by midnight I came on here to post here, but I still have about an hour and a half until 2 am *which would be midnight arizona time*, so I'm still good as far as posting and turning in assignments for the day.
So in closing, this morning I had an appointment scheduled to go out to Iowa City to go to the VA Medical center and get checked out so that the VA can determine how much I would get monthly in disability benefits because of my back injury I had in the Air Force. It was scheduled for 9 am. We went to bed about 3:40. I set my alarm for 7 am. An hour and 20 minutes later, at around 5 am, I was awakened by erin yelling something. Apparently Zoe had gotten up a few times, and Erin was getting frustrated about that. So i went downstairs and found the Woobie that Zoe kept getting up wanting, gave it to her, and layed her back down. Then about an hour or so later, at 7 am, my alarm went off. I didn't feel like I slept enough at all. I had just gotten into deep sleep, and didn't want to get up. Erin could tell that I was extremely tired. She worried about me driving an hour to get to Iowa City. I told her I had to do it, and that I would be ok. She wanted me to call them and cancel/reschedule.
I wasn't going to. I had felt tired before, and handled it fine *what with me working nights, it's pretty common*, but when I came downstairs to try to find the address for the medical center, I felt really sick to my stomach. So I called and cancelled my appointment. Will it be rescheduled? I'm not sure. I'm not really sure that I care about going through with it. If it was local, I would do it in a heart beat. But I have never been to Iowa City before, other than passing by it on the high way. So i think that will be it for tonight. I will try to write more for you all tomorrow..
Thanks for being here.
CB
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Day 75
Good day everyone. We as fathers days go, this one was pretty average. The good things about it were this. This morning, erin hadnt been able to sleep for some reason, so she was still awake when I got home. She had warmed up coffee cake for us. Then we both went to bed. A few hours later, Zoe was constantly yelling "DADDA! Daddy! DADDA!" while knocking on the inside of her bedroom door. I of course, kept thinking to myself "why does she always yell Dadda from her room? She never yells momma."
Eventually Erin got up and went downstairs with her. For fathers day, Erin and Zoe both gave me cards and they got me sleep shorts. I am a huge fan of sleep 'pants', and so they thougth it'd be something new that I would like. I think they are very confortable. I definitely prefer sleep pants to shorts, but I do like the shorts. It could be for the same reason that I prefer to stick with the long sleeve version of my work uniform, when I have seen others wearing short sleeves. I don't know what it is. I think it's because I feel more secure with myself when I am covered. With short sleeves I tend to want to fold my arms across my chest or stand nervously. Not sure what it is about it.
So tonight I will keep it short. I called my father to wish him happy father's day. We chatted for a few minutes about everything. I told him to let me know when he knows a definite date whenever they are moving to oklahoma and that Erin and I would probably put teagan up in boarding and maybe come down and spend a day (and night) at their house. Usually we quite often just stop by for part of days. It'd be nice to go down there and spend the day, stay the night, and then come back the following day. It's the least we can do before they move.
So in closing, I'm not sure if I'm going to sleep right away tomorrow morning. I have a 10AM appointment with my mechanic to figure out what is going on with the new gas tank they installed, and why I'm not getting fuel to my engine from that tank. I also plan to stop by wal mart and have them run a check on my battery. The reason is because lately when I start the truck, it sounds like it's struggling to turn over. So I have been paying close attention and I notice if I drive a couple miles, and then turn it off, when I turn it back on it sounds like it is turning over stronger, which leads me to believe that maybe I should replace the battery before it dies on me and I'm stranded.
So who knows, if Erin is working tomorrow morning then maybe I will get Zoe up early, so that then later in the morning after the truck's been fixed, I can come back, put Zoe down for a nap, and crash myself, and within a few hours Erin should be getting off work. Maybe I will grab the stroller and stop by pizza ranch like I had planned to do yesterday, hereby dropping off the truck with her, and having Zoe ride in the stroller while we walked back home, but Erin came home early from work so I ended up picking her up, ordering a pizza, potato wedges, and chicken fries at the drive up window instead of eating inside. The great thing about tomorrow is that I am off tomorrow and tuesday. Since I'm still technically the only guard here for about another week at the very least, when they have said "Hey we're going to have jeff or this other flex guy work these days to give you a break," I've been calling and confirming the day before just to make sure. I don't want to end up not showing up thinking I'm off and they are expecting me here.
So anyway, I will call that it for tonight. Another positive thing today is for father's day dinner we are having our awesome brisket! I can't wait! Also, on a different positive note, Erin finished her math class she was on. She was afraid she was going to fail and have to retake. She hates math with a passion and has had to take 3 math classes in a row. Well I first told her she should voice her concerns to her teacher and maybe she can help so she can pass. The teacher simply said that this week there would be a lot of points possible and to do her best. Well Erin called me tonight all excited saying that she got perfect points on some of the assignments, and ended up passing the class with a C. I knew she could do it! ;) Anyway, talk to you all again soon!
Thanks for being here.
CB
Eventually Erin got up and went downstairs with her. For fathers day, Erin and Zoe both gave me cards and they got me sleep shorts. I am a huge fan of sleep 'pants', and so they thougth it'd be something new that I would like. I think they are very confortable. I definitely prefer sleep pants to shorts, but I do like the shorts. It could be for the same reason that I prefer to stick with the long sleeve version of my work uniform, when I have seen others wearing short sleeves. I don't know what it is. I think it's because I feel more secure with myself when I am covered. With short sleeves I tend to want to fold my arms across my chest or stand nervously. Not sure what it is about it.
So tonight I will keep it short. I called my father to wish him happy father's day. We chatted for a few minutes about everything. I told him to let me know when he knows a definite date whenever they are moving to oklahoma and that Erin and I would probably put teagan up in boarding and maybe come down and spend a day (and night) at their house. Usually we quite often just stop by for part of days. It'd be nice to go down there and spend the day, stay the night, and then come back the following day. It's the least we can do before they move.
So in closing, I'm not sure if I'm going to sleep right away tomorrow morning. I have a 10AM appointment with my mechanic to figure out what is going on with the new gas tank they installed, and why I'm not getting fuel to my engine from that tank. I also plan to stop by wal mart and have them run a check on my battery. The reason is because lately when I start the truck, it sounds like it's struggling to turn over. So I have been paying close attention and I notice if I drive a couple miles, and then turn it off, when I turn it back on it sounds like it is turning over stronger, which leads me to believe that maybe I should replace the battery before it dies on me and I'm stranded.
So who knows, if Erin is working tomorrow morning then maybe I will get Zoe up early, so that then later in the morning after the truck's been fixed, I can come back, put Zoe down for a nap, and crash myself, and within a few hours Erin should be getting off work. Maybe I will grab the stroller and stop by pizza ranch like I had planned to do yesterday, hereby dropping off the truck with her, and having Zoe ride in the stroller while we walked back home, but Erin came home early from work so I ended up picking her up, ordering a pizza, potato wedges, and chicken fries at the drive up window instead of eating inside. The great thing about tomorrow is that I am off tomorrow and tuesday. Since I'm still technically the only guard here for about another week at the very least, when they have said "Hey we're going to have jeff or this other flex guy work these days to give you a break," I've been calling and confirming the day before just to make sure. I don't want to end up not showing up thinking I'm off and they are expecting me here.
So anyway, I will call that it for tonight. Another positive thing today is for father's day dinner we are having our awesome brisket! I can't wait! Also, on a different positive note, Erin finished her math class she was on. She was afraid she was going to fail and have to retake. She hates math with a passion and has had to take 3 math classes in a row. Well I first told her she should voice her concerns to her teacher and maybe she can help so she can pass. The teacher simply said that this week there would be a lot of points possible and to do her best. Well Erin called me tonight all excited saying that she got perfect points on some of the assignments, and ended up passing the class with a C. I knew she could do it! ;) Anyway, talk to you all again soon!
Thanks for being here.
CB
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Day 74
What a day, what a day! So, my hands are scraped and cut up pretty bad. This morning, using my haynes manual, I tried to install the replacement window myself in my passenger side of my truck. Taking apart the door and getting to where the window is located was easy.
The rest of it was not so much. It only took me 10-15 minutes to get the door taken apart. I spent an hour and a half trying to figure out how the window pane is supposed to go into both sides of the track. I could get it in one, but then it was just past the other side, and I know there is a way to do it. After messing with it for a while, and pulling my hand out only to find it covered in blood because of a cut on my knuckle, I gave up and told myself I would try to see how flexible it is, and see if I can bend the glass, even if just a hair. That's all I needed, was just a fraction of an inch in order for it to go. Well, it apparently didn't like that, because once again, pieces of safety glass went flying everywhere as it exploded in my face.
Needless to say, some swear words were yelled out loud, people that were walking by stopped and stared for a moment until I turned and went into the house, etc. When I came into the bedroom, Erin was getting ready for work, and I was mumbling swear words to myself. She was like "What happened?" I was like "I f**king broke the other glass too." So, this morning before i got off, when I was unlocking, I met a guy that recommended this place called A to Z salvage. He said they have some ford truck doors still with the windows. He said they would even install it for me for like $20.00. So, at 9 when they opened, I called them and talked to them. On the phone, he had me convinced because of the good deal.
When I showed up, this place was a single lot, used to be a convenient store or something a while back, but now had several junker cars sitting around. They had a garage, and that was where they did work on the cars. I think had he been able to do it right there, I would have gone with it and let him install it. But he said "It'll probably be about 3 or 4 hours. Can you leave it here and come back later?" I was like "not too easily. It's our only mode of transportation right now." But, I said "Sure, I brought my daughter's stroller and so we should be able to leave it here for ya." But I couldn't shake a feeling. Something inside me screaming "Dont do it!" I stood there, Zoe in the stroller, looking from my truck, back to where these guys were sitting in some kind of office just bullshitting while they had a car that was in the garage that they were doing some kind of work on for a customer. I then decided, and took Zoe out of the stroller, strapped her back into her car seat, got in the truck and drove off. I didn't say a word to the guy's running this mini-salvage garage.
Will I try there again? I'm not sure. I'm kind of doubting it. From what I'm told, there is a bigger salvage yard in DeWitt. I'm familiar with it because it is located right by where the schwans depo is located. I passed it every day when I went to work, and then again when I left to come home. So, maybe I will go through them. I don't think I would have a problem with just buying 'parts' from the A to Z auto here, but the idea of leaving my truck there and coming back later, no. I would be afraid that later I would break down and find out that I was missing parts.
So, as I was driving back from the A to Z salvage, my mind was racing. a few thoughts at once. 1) "i should have left the truck there. I'm not going to get the window fixed for a while now." 2) "Damn I'm so stressed about this." Then when I got home, it was like a switch was flipped. I had decided what I was going to do. I decided "ok, first I will put the door back together. Then I will sweap up the pile of broken safety glass. Then Zoe and I will go to Jewel and buy clear heavy duty tape so I can tape over the window opening so that it isn't just a wide open window anymore currently, plus I am running low on deodorant so I will grab that also. Then we will go up to pizza ranch and eat, and will hopefully be back here just around noon. I will lay Zoe down and then crash myself."
I hadn't slept yet at that point. It was roughly about 11 oclock. I went inside and grabbed a drink because I got pretty hot by the time I put the door back together. I locked the door, closed it, said "Ok Zo Zo lets go!" She was like "Kay!" I got to the truck and thought "where are my keys? oh shit..." I didn't know for sure, but I feared that I had taken them inside and set them down when I got a drink. I went and checked and of course the door was locked. I tried a few windows but the security clip was up which only allows them to open a few inches. I tried a few more and I found one that wasn't. I don't know what we would have done if we couldn't get in. I didn't know if Erin had her house key. If she didn't, and I could'nt get in, we were screwed.
Finally I found a window that wasn't securely closed. I raised it up as high as I could. The window opening was about 3 feet higher than me. I braced myself, jumped, and pulled myself into the house. When I landed on the floor, I groaned for a minute because it hurt like hell to squeeze in, and also because of the effort I used in order to make sure I didn't just fall through the window opening onto my face on the floor. Of course, the keys were right where I had filled my glass with lemonade.
So I loaded Zoe up in her car seat, and we drove to jewel. Just after I got there, erin texted me. It was probably about 11:30 by this point. She said she hadn't felt well and they were sending her home. I told her how I had planned to eat up there, but would grab a frozen pizza instead. She told me to just grab what I needed and then we could order at the drive up window at pizza ranch. So we did. While waiting for the order, the tiredness was really hitting me. She wanted to go across the street to get some other grocery essentials, but I was dozing off as we were sitting there waiting, so we just headed home after we got the order.
I barely was able to finish eating because while I was eating, my eye lids were drooping. After I finished, I threw my uniform stuff in the dryer, grabbed Zoe and headed upstairs. Layed her down for a nap, then changed into my sleep pants, prayed, and climbed into bed myself. As I prayed, I knew it would not even be minutes till I fell asleep. I layed my head down on the pillow and it felt like a snap of the finger, and it was lights out. I had set my alarm for 5:30. At 3:30, I was up out of bed for some reason. I didn't remember what I had dreamed before that, but for some reason I jumped up out of bed and ran out into the hall way. After using the restroom, I convinced myself to go back to bed. 5:30, my alarm was going off. I hit snooze, and then next thing I know it was 5:50. I jumped up and got dressed for work.
After I got to work, I went out to the truck for about 20 minutes and I completely taped over the open window. I love the clear tape for that purpose. It's really clear so you can still see through it as if it's a normal window. But at the same time it keeps out the elements as best they can. Last night it downpoured and the inside of the truck got soaked. So, someday soon hopefully the window will be replaced, and then I will never ever mess with them again! EVER!
So I think for tonight I will call that it. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
The rest of it was not so much. It only took me 10-15 minutes to get the door taken apart. I spent an hour and a half trying to figure out how the window pane is supposed to go into both sides of the track. I could get it in one, but then it was just past the other side, and I know there is a way to do it. After messing with it for a while, and pulling my hand out only to find it covered in blood because of a cut on my knuckle, I gave up and told myself I would try to see how flexible it is, and see if I can bend the glass, even if just a hair. That's all I needed, was just a fraction of an inch in order for it to go. Well, it apparently didn't like that, because once again, pieces of safety glass went flying everywhere as it exploded in my face.
Needless to say, some swear words were yelled out loud, people that were walking by stopped and stared for a moment until I turned and went into the house, etc. When I came into the bedroom, Erin was getting ready for work, and I was mumbling swear words to myself. She was like "What happened?" I was like "I f**king broke the other glass too." So, this morning before i got off, when I was unlocking, I met a guy that recommended this place called A to Z salvage. He said they have some ford truck doors still with the windows. He said they would even install it for me for like $20.00. So, at 9 when they opened, I called them and talked to them. On the phone, he had me convinced because of the good deal.
When I showed up, this place was a single lot, used to be a convenient store or something a while back, but now had several junker cars sitting around. They had a garage, and that was where they did work on the cars. I think had he been able to do it right there, I would have gone with it and let him install it. But he said "It'll probably be about 3 or 4 hours. Can you leave it here and come back later?" I was like "not too easily. It's our only mode of transportation right now." But, I said "Sure, I brought my daughter's stroller and so we should be able to leave it here for ya." But I couldn't shake a feeling. Something inside me screaming "Dont do it!" I stood there, Zoe in the stroller, looking from my truck, back to where these guys were sitting in some kind of office just bullshitting while they had a car that was in the garage that they were doing some kind of work on for a customer. I then decided, and took Zoe out of the stroller, strapped her back into her car seat, got in the truck and drove off. I didn't say a word to the guy's running this mini-salvage garage.
Will I try there again? I'm not sure. I'm kind of doubting it. From what I'm told, there is a bigger salvage yard in DeWitt. I'm familiar with it because it is located right by where the schwans depo is located. I passed it every day when I went to work, and then again when I left to come home. So, maybe I will go through them. I don't think I would have a problem with just buying 'parts' from the A to Z auto here, but the idea of leaving my truck there and coming back later, no. I would be afraid that later I would break down and find out that I was missing parts.
So, as I was driving back from the A to Z salvage, my mind was racing. a few thoughts at once. 1) "i should have left the truck there. I'm not going to get the window fixed for a while now." 2) "Damn I'm so stressed about this." Then when I got home, it was like a switch was flipped. I had decided what I was going to do. I decided "ok, first I will put the door back together. Then I will sweap up the pile of broken safety glass. Then Zoe and I will go to Jewel and buy clear heavy duty tape so I can tape over the window opening so that it isn't just a wide open window anymore currently, plus I am running low on deodorant so I will grab that also. Then we will go up to pizza ranch and eat, and will hopefully be back here just around noon. I will lay Zoe down and then crash myself."
I hadn't slept yet at that point. It was roughly about 11 oclock. I went inside and grabbed a drink because I got pretty hot by the time I put the door back together. I locked the door, closed it, said "Ok Zo Zo lets go!" She was like "Kay!" I got to the truck and thought "where are my keys? oh shit..." I didn't know for sure, but I feared that I had taken them inside and set them down when I got a drink. I went and checked and of course the door was locked. I tried a few windows but the security clip was up which only allows them to open a few inches. I tried a few more and I found one that wasn't. I don't know what we would have done if we couldn't get in. I didn't know if Erin had her house key. If she didn't, and I could'nt get in, we were screwed.
Finally I found a window that wasn't securely closed. I raised it up as high as I could. The window opening was about 3 feet higher than me. I braced myself, jumped, and pulled myself into the house. When I landed on the floor, I groaned for a minute because it hurt like hell to squeeze in, and also because of the effort I used in order to make sure I didn't just fall through the window opening onto my face on the floor. Of course, the keys were right where I had filled my glass with lemonade.
So I loaded Zoe up in her car seat, and we drove to jewel. Just after I got there, erin texted me. It was probably about 11:30 by this point. She said she hadn't felt well and they were sending her home. I told her how I had planned to eat up there, but would grab a frozen pizza instead. She told me to just grab what I needed and then we could order at the drive up window at pizza ranch. So we did. While waiting for the order, the tiredness was really hitting me. She wanted to go across the street to get some other grocery essentials, but I was dozing off as we were sitting there waiting, so we just headed home after we got the order.
I barely was able to finish eating because while I was eating, my eye lids were drooping. After I finished, I threw my uniform stuff in the dryer, grabbed Zoe and headed upstairs. Layed her down for a nap, then changed into my sleep pants, prayed, and climbed into bed myself. As I prayed, I knew it would not even be minutes till I fell asleep. I layed my head down on the pillow and it felt like a snap of the finger, and it was lights out. I had set my alarm for 5:30. At 3:30, I was up out of bed for some reason. I didn't remember what I had dreamed before that, but for some reason I jumped up out of bed and ran out into the hall way. After using the restroom, I convinced myself to go back to bed. 5:30, my alarm was going off. I hit snooze, and then next thing I know it was 5:50. I jumped up and got dressed for work.
After I got to work, I went out to the truck for about 20 minutes and I completely taped over the open window. I love the clear tape for that purpose. It's really clear so you can still see through it as if it's a normal window. But at the same time it keeps out the elements as best they can. Last night it downpoured and the inside of the truck got soaked. So, someday soon hopefully the window will be replaced, and then I will never ever mess with them again! EVER!
So I think for tonight I will call that it. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)