Adorable

The last time I saw this set of nephews was around Christmas time.  Since then, the oldest one, who is three years old, has become VERY verbal.  He says the most adorable things.

This morning, I woke up to find him and his little brother (about 18 months old) standing next to my bed, looking at me.  

Big brother asked me:

Big Brother: What are you doing?

Me: Sleeping.

BB: But the sun is up.  It's time to wake up.

Me: Oh, I'm having nap time.

BB: But that's in the afternoon.  It's morning!

Me: (silent inability to refute his logic)

BB: Come on, let's go!

And off we went.  During the course of the day, he told me he had donut in his hair (we had not eaten any donuts), told me he was smart and gorgeous (true, and something I've been telling him), and even apologized for confusing me once when I didn't understand what he was saying.

Adorable and polite.  What more could you ask?

Calculus

Yes, folks, it's true: I've finally finished my calculus course.  I took the final on Thursday.  I could not be happier about it.

Did I learn much in my class?  

Yes.  I learned a very important lesson: Don't take calculus.

Surprise!

My sister had a baby almost two weeks ago.  My mother flew from to Wisconsin to help my sister who now has three boys ages three and under.  This weekend, my dad decided to fly out and join her, and he thought it would be fun if we surprised them by having me fly out too.  Not sure if it was a good surprise or a bad surprise, but...

Here I am in Wisconsin.  My sister lives in a very small town.  In fact, it is so small, it's actually called a village.  When I went for a walk this morning, the town reminded me of "The Music Man."  It almost looks like what Disneyland would have for a village, but the lawns would have to be mowed just a touch more.  The people are all super friendly.  I imagine that everyone knows everyone else and their business.  They have one school that houses all the grades, but it's pretty big.

Really, the only thing that I know about Wisconsin is that there's cheese here.  It's America's Dairyland, apparently, so I think there should be ice cream here too.  I am still investigating that one.

I haven't seen too much of the area, but that's because I'm here visiting my sister and her family, which includes three of the cutest boys in the universe.  It's so fun to see my nephews.  Truly, they're the only men I need in my life.

From the Mouths of Babes

I am involved in a perpetual attempt to improve my appearance.  In addition to many other problems, I am horrible with accessories.  I occasionally will attempt to accessorize, but it's a struggle.

Tonight, I was with a three-year-old boy and a four-year-old boy.  The three year old saw my two skinny, simple, silver bracelets and asked why I was wearing them.  I told him that I liked them, so I liked to wear them.  The four year old looked up from the cars he was playing with and said "They don't look good with your blue shirt."

Oh.  Okay.  Mission aborted.

School

One of my classes this semester is a presentations class, where we all have to prepare and give several presentations to be evaluated by the other students and the instructor. It's a night class, so everyone is a bit older, all married except me and maybe 2 other students, and most have a few kids.

Although my class is often slow-moving, there are some FUNNY people in it, and we often have some delightful things come up during class. Here are a few tidbits that have happened during the presentations that students have given.

"PICT0558 (said in words--"pick-tow-five-five-eight"): The crown jewel of Guatemala" (The student had to do an impromptu presentation using some pictures, and one of those pictures was labeled PICT0558. Too funny.)

"Is that a plane? No. It's Superman." (Completely deadpan, in a presentation about how Superman is better than Batman. I strongly disagreed, but still, it was hilarious.)

"BYU: Not for Everyone" (In a discussion about BYU's honor code.)

"He's a cuddly old man who hates the government." (In a graded presentation; in reference to a presidential candidate.)

"See in this clipart how the money is being shaken out of this guy's pockets? No one likes that."

Then, I had a strange conversation with a funny guy who usually sits in the back by the door near me. (Me? In the back? By the door?? Of course!)

Guy in Back: "Do you do this for a living?" (asks me this after my presentation yesterday, my second presentation for the class)
Me: (Some smart remark about how funny he thinks he is)
Guy in Back: "No, seriously."
Me: "Oh. Yep." (Thought everyone in the class knew that I presented for a living.)
Guy in Back: "Not fair. It's like you're cheating."


Yep, it's like I'm cheating. And guess what? I don't care.

The Roommate

I have a delightful roommate right now. She puts up with all my strangeness. She understands that I am, essentially, un-understandable, and she accepts me anyway.

Last night, I needed to chat (at 11:00, of course) and she was right there to listen to me make absolutely no sense and reassure me.

You're probably thinking, where can I get a roommate like this?

You can't. She's all mine.

Timing Again

Trying to have a good attitude...just happened upon this quote on another blog...

"The issue for us is trusting God enough to trust also His timing.  If we can truly believe He has our welfare at heart, may we not let His plans unfold as He thinks best?"  

    --Elder Neal A Maxwell

Timing

This week is the convergence of so much stress, worry, and busyness in every aspect of my life.  It's like it was planned in some sort of sick, twisted game to make me miserable.

I woke up this morning and thought I was having some sort of cardiac episode.  It settled down, but now as it's time to go to sleep again, it has flared back up.  I suppose that the quiet of the evening just amplifies the things which need to be accomplished, which are not happening because I am trying to sleep.  Of course, I am not sleeping either, which is just another thing to think about.

A week from now, much of the stress will be over.

A month from now, even more of it will be over.

At this time, I am not accepting applications for any new stress, worry, or even items labeled opportunities that have the potential be stressful.  Thank you for your cooperation.

Ch-Ch-Changes

I don't like change. At all. My boss is going to be leaving my department. She's still going to be with the company, but in a different building and part of the company.

I'm not sure that most people would care, but I love my boss. Not only is she just a wonderful person, but she is very easy to work for. I'm very nervous about who will replace her and all the changes that will follow, besides just being sad that I won't get to see her every day.

I hate change.

Nice

I'm going to teach you a word: developmenting.  It's some sort of combination of the words "development" and "developing." 

You may be thinking, "that's not a word."

And you're right.

Why, then, did I say it in the middle of a presentation, for which I was being graded, at school tonight?  The world may never know.

YAY!

I'm an aunt again! My dear sister LL gave birth this morning to an adorable baby boy. (I have not yet seen her, but her other two baby boys are super cute, so I'm sure he is too.)

That makes six nephews for me. I don't have any nieces, but my nephews are pretty much perfect, so I can't complain. I am one lucky girl!

Social Impairment

Hi.  My name is Liz, and I'm socially impaired.  I say the wrong things, do the wrong things, and often make situations awkward and uncomfortable with my mere presence.

This social impairment creates a great deal of anxiety for me when I have to go to social functions.  I think that it's safer for me and everyone I know if I just stay home with the TiVo and the Xbox.

That's really all I need.

Brain Dump

I am so delighted with the weather the past few days--perfect temperature!  If only it didn't have to get warmer...

I have one week left to finish my calculus class.  Yikes.

My nephew, who is one year old, can say a handful of words.  The one that is the most clear is the word "spoon."  For some reason, it's just adorable when he says it.  When he is 16, I think it probably won't be as impressive.

Most of the time, I'm not really interested in learning anything at school.  I just want a diploma.  I am fairly certain that this is not the attitude desired by any of my instructors.

When I graduate, I am having the BIGGEST PARTY EVER!  All are invited.  Party to be hosted in my personal space ship.  (I'm betting that, by the time I graduate, everyone will have a personal space ship, which they will use to travel between the colonies on the moon and earth.)  Bring your own Tang.

Rules

I think that it's fairly common to have some self-imposed rules.  Things like, "I will not steal food from children" or, "I won't date men shorter than me."  (That last one would be very difficult for me--I'm not sure I know any men who are shorter than me, but I've had friends who have that rule.)

Today, due to being caught with my guard down, I broke one of my long-held, cardinal rules.

Oops.

*Note: I will not be discussing this further, so don't bother asking.  I just wanted to share my lack of willpower with the general reading public.*

Math

I've been doing some calculus lately, as many of you know, and I've been thinking of some math this week.

Hours in a week: 168

Minus 45 hours at work (and traveling to and from): 123

Minus 56 hours of sleep (ideally): 67

Minus 6 hours spent at school: 61

Minus 2 hours for the gym (including commute): 59

Minus 4 hours for church and religious activities: 55

Minus recommended 3 work/study hours per credit = 27 hours: 28

Minus 14 hours for cooking/cleaning/eating: 14

Minus 4 hours for volunteer work: 10

10 hours per week = 1.43 hours left over for other activities, like travel to and from these locations, relaxing, and grooming.

1.43 hours per day should be ample time for grooming.

I am left with no excuse for my personal appearance.

My deepest apologies.

Medicated

I'm back on muscle relaxants for the neck pain.  The pain has been bad enough that it's hard to focus on my school work, which, as I posted previously, has intensified.  I refilled my prescription of muscle relaxants, and took some tonight, after I got home from running many errands.

Sadly, the medication has a side effect that is not listed on the bottle: an inability to think very hard.  I was able to complete some really simple homework for my Information Systems class, but calculus is really beyond me now.  Plus, my neck still hurts.  Go figure.

*I take no responsibility for the content of this posting, especially any grammatical errors that may be found herein*

Slightly Political Post - Be Advised

Today, I had an appointment that caused me to be in the car later than usual, driving to my office mid-morning. As I have been known to do, I was listening to NPR. When a new segment started, I almost changed the station, thinking it was going to be a silly argument.

The topic for that hour of that show was the proposed "gas tax holiday" which many politicians are currently supporting. I can only presume that they are supporting it as a way to try to get voters to like them. I am not an economist (I am, however, a newly-declared Economics minor), but I am pretty sure that the entire idea is flawed for a number of reasons that I won't bore you with here.

There were three experts appearing on the show, one from a consumer advocacy agency, one an economic analyst with the Wall Street Journal, and a third who was a private sector analyst with ties to oil, I believe. I figured that it would be a lively debate back and forth where no one would change their mind. That's why I almost changed the station--I was not interested in listening to that argument. I was pleasantly surprised, and taken with a case of giggles, when all three panelists took the same position--gas tax holiday is a bad idea. One of them actually quickly listed six reasons why it was a bad idea, and they were all incredibly valid, as well as addressing various aspects of social and political impact.

One of them said my favorite thing I've heard about this idea yet: "It's not a holiday from gas tax. It's a holiday from reality, and economics."

No kidding.

Summer of Work

There is an episode of Seinfeld where George talks about having the "summer of George." I was thinking about that today as I embark on a "summer of work." As usual, I will be working full time this summer (summer is just not nearly as exciting when you are an adult). Additionally, I will be going to school, also as usual, but taking three more credits that I have taken in past semesters. I am tired of going to school, and ready for it to be over, so I'm going to buckle down and work really hard.

In fact, this won't just be a "summer of work" - this will continue through April of next year, when things will cool down for a final semester or two. I had originally titled this posting and piece of my life as the "summer of lame," but I'm trying to have a better attitude about it. "Summer of work" was as positive a spin as I could put on it. I'm still in the revision process on that one.

On a more exciting note, as I was reviewing school stuff this morning, my status lists me as a senior now! I must've completed enough credits during the last semester to bump me into senior status. I'm fairly excited to begin my senior year. I have had at least two junior years, so I'm glad that I'm moving on. What does a senior year entail? Television leads me to believe that I should be partying, taking part in internships, applying for big scary jobs, etc. I have plans to do none of those things, but I appreciate TV's warm, glowing advice nonetheless.