Snowy Weather

I thought the ground hog didn't see his shadow! What happened to our early spring. I drive in to Lewiston from Kamiah on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the Ed. Tech. class. This morning I woke to about 1/2 inch of snow on the ground at my house, which is no big deal usually. We really don't get that much snow in town and it really is not a hassle to drive in comparitively speaking to places like Sandpoint, Spokane, or Coer D' Alene. On my way in today it was 31 degrees and the road was mostly wet. The closer I got to Orofino though there was more slush and water on the road. I was going pretty slow, I guess I figure I will get there eventually. I usually leave at 6:00 AM if it is dry out but when there is snow I try to leave around 5:30 so I have time to go 35 MPH I can usually make it to class by 7:30 even with the snow. When I got past Orofino there was even more snow and people don't want to drive 40 MPH much less 35.
I got passed by a large white pick up towing a car hauler or some such thing. I laughed at myself for being passed by them but figure I would make it in one piece. As I got closer to Lewiston I can around a corner and saw emergency flashers and cop lights going. I slowed and didn't see much just 3 Tribal officer cars. As they flagged me past in the other lane I saw the car; it didn't seem to have any people in it and I hadn't seen any EMS workers so I hope they were just sitting in the police car. The car was on it's top, it looked like it had spun a few times and hit every available area on the car that could be scraped by the concrete barriers. I had seriously considered turning around a few times before that but didn't. Now I was so close to Lewiston it was pointless to turn around. I made it to the casino gas station, fueled up and noticed the large pickup that had passed me outside of Kamiah and laughed at the fact that they had been in such a hurry and here we are at the same place at the same time. The next thing I noticed made me laugh even harder; they came out of the convenience store with a roll of plastic and a roll of duct tape. It looked as if they had scraped the entire drivers side of the truck on an embankment or barrier somewhere along the way. They had lost their mirror and drivers window. I couldn't help but chuckle, I felt bad after I laughed and hoped they had not been hurt. NOT! Well I had hoped they had not been hurt anyway.

Class was long and I was tired it snowed some more, I knew there was a winter advisory coming into Lewiston and just wanted to get out of there. On the way home I noticed there were quite a few trees that were leaning hazardously over teh road that had not been there before. I always watch for trees and rocks as I drive back to Kamiah as I am closer to the hill or mountain side on the return trip. There were a lot of areas that looked ripe and ready for a slide situation. I always have in the back of my mind that a tree or rock can fall on me at any time and that would be it. A couple was driving back to  Orofino last year in a Toyota Landcruiser and was smashed flat by a tree. They never knew it hit them. When I made it past Orofino and was close to Kamiah I noticed out of my peripheral vision a tree coming towards my car. I gunned the gas and tried to get past it before it fell all the way. It could have been a slide I am not sure. The tree hit the top of my Explorer and scraped down the top and fell off the back. Talk about scaring the ***t out of someone. Here I had been thinking about it and it happened. I never knew if it was just a tree or a mudslide bringing a tree it happened so fast and it was on a corner. As soon as I rounded the bend I could only see the limbs that must have been what hit me.

Home, no major damage from the limbs a few supperficial scratches that might buff out. I don't know if that was Karma from me laughing at the truck this morning or if it is just a game of odds. I have driven that road for three years now for school and have (knock on wood) never had an incident that caused major damage. Winter needs to go down the gopher hole and let spring out. I am ready for flowers and gardens, shorts and sandals.

Financial Aid

I just finished running the scholarship race. I helped my daughter fill out an 18 page document, make copies of all our households personal financial statements, take pictures and decide which one to use, proof her essay, help her compile all of it in order with transcripts, ACT scores, and her financials. Next I worked on my younger daughters entry application for 4-H, she wants a lion head  or lion mane bunnie to do a project on. I have no idea where to get one. Next I came home and wrote my scholarship essay for my foundation scholars and general application. This all started this morning while I was trying to recertify our business to be hubzone approved, Migrant and seasonal worker certified to be able to hire anyone that may happen to not be from the United States, recertify our business license, and finalize our business taxes. Wow my head is swimming. I have three assignements to do tomorrow and I am too tired to finish. What a day, I wish this year would start getting at least a little easier. On a brighter note I am so busy I have not had time to think about everyone in my family that has died or is dying. I know everyone has their time and they may be ready, I am selfishly not ready however.
This is all I have in me for now.

I am Alive!

Hi all,
I did not fall off the face of the earth but it felt like it. I have been so sick. You know it is bad when teh whole house is sick, two kids and husband. When the only person that takes care of everyone else is down it is bad. Have you ever gotten so sick you felt like you lost your toesnails the last time you got sick? Now I am better and everyone at the Elementary school is calling for a sub because they are all sick. I have been working at least, that is the pot at the end of the rainbow I guess.

It is really weird but everytime I have subbed in any grade I have had a kid puking. No kidding I have subbed a lot and everytime, what is up with this I am starting to get a complex. I have a pretty strong stomach when it comes to that stuff, but today in the lunch room my kindergarten class was eating and one of them says "i don't feel so good" I tend to give wide berth. This poor little girl got up and went in teh bathroom, she was fine, that time... I sat down and was eating my salad when she looks at me with a mouth full, pointing rapidly towards the bathroom, I say go, go, go. Thank god she made it because I could not have gotten unwedged from the lunch table if my life had depended on it to get away from the flying onslaught had she let it go.

Well the rest of the family is feeling better and i have a pile of late homework to do so I will write you all tomorrow. We finally get to file our taxes. We tried earlier in teh month but was told the IRS wasn't ready yet. Isn't that ironic, if you aren't ready they fine you if they aren't ready we are supposed to say oh, thats ok.

Hunting Camp

One of the things I love to do is to set out with my husband and the horses trying to find the elk. One memorable trip we took had us listening and looking all night. We arrived at our camp spot, set up, and started eating dinner when the woods and mountains cut loose with elk calling each other. They kept at it all night and stopped in the early morning just before dawn. It was as if they knew we were up and getting dressed to come and find them, to follow their calls. Some of the elk had been so close when they cut loose bellowing I could swear they were right behind our tent. But as we set out to go take a look they disappeared as fast as the sun sets after it hits the horizon. We never got a glimpse of the magnificent animals but we were treated to the serenade of a lifetime. 

Essay contest

I am entering an essay contest and need help getting my word count down to 500, this is what Ihave so far. I am kind of being a smart-#$@ so any suggestions or corrections would be great. One discalimer I want to add is that I am not trying to knock teh college bookstore or bad mouth it, I just choose not to purchase books there unless I have to or they are cheaper. I hope that part is not offensive.

“What I Wish I Knew My First Semester”

There is so much I can tell you now that I am a senior that will help you survive your first semester. I only wish I had know all this when I started. First, always get a planner for each new semester and actually fill it out. They are extremely helpful when you panic about what is due and when. TRiO Academic Services actually hands these out free, the bummer is they won’t fill them out for you. When you get your class syllabus and are told you have a large project or research paper due at the end of the semester, actually do the research at least a month before hand. Waiting until the night before it is due will have disastrous results to your grade and GPA not to mention you psyche.  Make sure you mark in your planner when that 10,000.00 scholarship application is due; it really sucks to find out the day after it was supposed to be submitted that all the work you put into it was for free, done that.

One good idea I had after my first day was maybe I should have printed out my class schedule with the location on it and found each classroom before school started. It is really weird to poke your head in three different math classes asking if the class you interrupted is math 25 or not. 

Always go to your first day of class if you can, it usually is a gimme day where you get to leave early after getting the syllabus and the professor takes role to see how many actually showed up. Sometimes you get extra points for getting out of bed and coming. Sweats and slippers or OK for the first go around. Any professors who offer extra credit are giving you a heads up that you might need it for their class. Take advantage of the annoying thing you may have to do to get the extra ten points; you might actually learn something from the experience.

When you don’t know what to do, confused about an assignment and don’t want to look stupid in front of your class, go see your professor. You can email, call, or talk after class. Do not be afraid to approach them. I have avoided many problems by simply being unafraid to ask the stupid question. Remember the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask!

One last thing I want to discuss, books. When you get your schedule set, go online and find out what books are required for your classes. Print a list and then go online to any textbook sales.com websites and search for the cheapest place to get them. Some offer free shipping, free t-shirts, and free financing until your residual check comes in. I saved an average of $200.00 per semester by buying my books somewhere other than the college bookstore. This has allowed me to keep the textbooks I want and either donate the rest to the TRiO Academic Services for other students use or share with classmates that haven’t taken the classes yet.

Oh yea, there is one other thing I want to share. If you go and buy a creamer and put it in the TRiO lab fridge, they always have coffee you can drink. It will save you four to five dollars a day if you are a coffee-holic like me.

Time, where does it go?

I am always amazed at how fast time slips past us. We get up early to get more done in the day and before you know it it is afternoon and everything you had planned to get done is not finished yet. I catch myself working away on the computor and I look up and it is dark. What hapened? When I sat down it was light. Where did my time go I wonder. I replay the day and try to figure out how it all slipped away and I cannot see where it went.

People of all ages have great aspirations of getting something accomplished in a set amount of time and when it doesn't transpire it is frustrating and aggrivating. Before you know it you have gone from 18 to 22 and you think, OK I still have time I am young. Next thing you know your 30 and you wonder what did I do, what have I accomplished. Pretty soon your 43, watching your kids reach their benchmarks reaching for more goals of growth and learning. You think to yourself, wow I really wanted to have this done by now where did my time go. And it doesn't matter what that thing was you wanted to have done you just know it isn't. Time, flying past my eyes with wings of fury flying so fast I can hardly see. I know that pretty soon time will be over for me and time will continue to march for my kids as tehy chase their own time machine.

Step Parenting

Wow, what an undertaking! I am a step parent to a almost 18 year old daughter. I am finally seeing some love and respect coming my way. For any of you out there that have ever wondered if it would ever happen, let me tell you it will eventually. I guess there are times that it won't, I didn't think it ever would, but after much perserverance, love, and some headbutting, my work has paid off and it feels great. Honestly, you have feelings at times that are not so nice but you have to take those into persective and realize that there are other factors involved and not take everything that comes out of a teenagers mouth personally.  They really can be horrible, I think this applies to all kids though. Adulthood is showing my step daughter some realizations and I think she finnaly sees me as the one who is here at all times no matter what to be her rock and support structure. That has got to sting a little when her own "real" parent is not stepping up to do what is needed and expected in the eyes of a young girl coming into her own. Happy to have spent the last ten years waging the uphill battle, with more battles to come I am sure.

Dust Bunnies

Dust Bunnies, does anyone know where they come from, I mean who showed up when I wasn't home and dropped them off. I didn't order any from anywhere online that I know of. Maybe it was a neighbor that is mad because I didn't mow my lawn properly last summer, or my sister-in-law because I didn't watch her son or something. I don't know who did it but I want you to come back and get the mommie and daddy dust bunny and all their children too. They are multiplying like crazy around here and I cannot keep up with them. They are under the couch, my bed, dressers, in the bathroom hiding under the toilet, in the living room under my end tables, and they especially like the laundry room behind the washer and dryer. It must be because it is warmer there. I even found them in my car. I don't know if anyone else has had this unfortunate circumstance happen to you but if it does I have found the best way to get ride of them is to exterminate them all. My weapon of choice is a Kirby heritage. I have had it for about 20 years or so and I find it works wonders if you use the hose attachment because some of those little suckers have managed to figure out how to climb up on the tops of my curtains and drapes. Some actually climb the walls especially if you have a fan placed in a room for air circulation, they must like the constant air movement. I waged dust bunny war this weekend and thought I had won, but the very next day there was another one all alone sad and small hiding under my kitchen table.

Taxes, taxes, and more taxes

I wonder what we would really think if we knew exactly where every cent of our tax money went and what it was used for. As I sit here trying to put the piles and piles of paerwork into some sembalence of order for the tax preparer I cannot help thinking that enough is enough. Taxes on fuel, food, cigarettes, wine, candy, house, car, roads, income, utilities & phone, state to state purchases, etc... You get the idea. When I waited tables and bartended I had to claim my tips on my paycheck for a few places I worked and those got taxed so much that one time I recieved a check with *************for the amount due me. I thought it was a joke at first, but it took my regular hourly wage to pay the taxes on what I had made.
Now I sit here trying to assemble papaerwork to try to come up with enough deductions so that I can get some of those taxes back so I can afford to go to school. Crazy. I really would like to follow my money from a purchase to see where it really goes, again I think we would all be a little surprised. How many taxes should we pay and for what? I know we need some of them to help pay for roads, schools, sanitation facilities, prisons, what I help pay to keep people in jail. Maybe they should be out working for free and saving us some money on taxes. I don't know how it all works but I seriously get worked up when it is tax time. Thanks for the room to rant.

Technology

Well today has been full of technological enlightenment. We started building a website in educational Technology class today. I actually am making my own webpage, I can blog, and facebook, whats next twitter? I am not a big time technology user. I have a cell phone, however, I rarely carry it with me and you will rarely see it pasted to the side of my head. I don't text, I know this is becoming a foriegn concept (that people don't text) but I just don't get why you wouldn't want to talk to someone. I have a 17 year old that walks around like her thumbs are driving her through the house, but ask her to answer her phone and she will be lik,e I didn't know I had a call I must have been texting.
I am pretty proficient with my laptop and have been getting more comfortable building little things with it but now I have been given a Mac. Wow what a difference and adjustment period that has been. I like it don't get me wrong, new things are fun to play with and learn about. I really am enjoying learning about bolgging as well it is a whole new outlet besides email. Love it.