Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson concert was a blast! He is so awesome, the show was great! I really enjoyed seeing Josh Turner too (what a cutie). We got Kristina and Dustin to tag along with us.

Anything, but study!

Yes, I am guilty of not wanting to study for my final! I thought this last week would be a breeze, but NnnnOooOoooOooo. I still have to study for my EDU final, Math Final and write a 1,000 word report on Anne of Green Gables. So after this post I will get ...eh...right on that...

Well I took the quiz for Anne of Green Gables- and got kicked out of it. But, I emailed my instructor and told her I REALLY (assuming everyone wouldn't) read the book, and did not anticipating failing the quiz by a tiny mistake. Thanksfully she reset the quiz, and I got 25/25!

Inspection

Yesterday was the home inspection at what is soon going to be our new home. He said most things were in good shape. The whirlpool tub does not work (total bummer), and there are a few spots where the floor is un-level...he said that it can be fixed. It's not really a problem, we didn't even notice it. Water test, and radon test come back next week. Foundation had some problems at one point in time, but they had it professionally fixed, and the inspector said that the repair is top-notch and doesn't see a need to worry about it. A couple windows are painted shut (again, bummer) - but as long as it is done carefully, we should be able to pry them open with a little TLC. There was a brass something or other that the inspector said he is going to request be replaced. The brass is fine for whatever it does, but wears out quickly and he said we don't want to be stuck with that. Annnd, for what I believe is the last thing is that there are three electrical outlets that are untrippable. But, we were excited to hear everything else was good...

Isabela and I walked around and around the house thinking of future plans. May 28th can't come fast enough.

Bela is here!

Isabela is here, safe and sound! We picked her up at the airport last night - and she will be leaving on Wed. This morning we headed to Shaumburg, IL to attend Medieval Times Dinner Theater. As you can see, Mom-Kristina-Austin & Devon also went with us. The boys were so drawn to the show, they were glued! It was cute.

We have a house!

Yay! We have a house again - and - couldn't be happier! We close at the end of May, and are taking volunteers to come help us move! Mom and Dad Hall will be here already we know :) .

Bela's Return

Friday night we are heading to Chicago to pick Bela up from the airport. She will be here till Wednesday, and I actually have Saturday off (but a heapin' TON of homework!). I have no fear that we will be able to have a great time though! Can't wait, we are super excited.

Counter, Counter-Counter

We got a counter offer on the house. Sounded good, but one problem - with the loan we can't get cash back for the roof like they offered....so, we have devised a counter offer to their counter offer which will get the same dollar amount (actually $62 more) in return with less upfront cost to them. In just under an hour we are meeting with the agent for submission. Fingers-Crossed.

Offer is Made!

Now we wait...

Yes, this is the house that we made an offer on. We actually offered the selling price, but they have to replace the roof. The offer originally expired tonight at 6pm, but they called for an extension till Monday night to get estimates.

It is a beautiful house. It is in a small subdivision just outside MC, but not too far from Laporte. It is right down the road from work for me, so a little further for Chris seeing as how he has been 2 minutes from work for the last three years, but it is probably only 8-10 minutes of a drive for him.

I know some Colts fans in the area too, so we already got party people in the neighborhood for sure, lol. Now we are just waiting till Monday - I'll update when we hear something. :)

Girls Weekend

The girls had their last Ice Skating recital of the season. Chris and I drove down to D-ville Saturday after I got off work. We made it to the Civic Center with about 20 minutes to spare. The girls were awesome, and you can check out videos on YouTube of them (link is on Kristina's blog). I didn't take any pictures because Kris was video taping them all. I didn't sit next to my husband, I sat next to Rachel's boyfriend!! LOL, I can't believe she is dating now! Growing up way tooooo fast.

Ashley spent the night at Grandma's with Chris and I. On Sunday I did her make up, and we played outside in the great weather while we waited for Lynnse and Megan to pick me up. The girls and I went to Rosemont to spend the evening with Chelsea Handler - Awesome!

Science Central with the Boys!

Chris came to the house on Friday night. Saturday we took the boys to Science Central (yes, we have been there several times). If you notice the boys are wearing dress shirts--- that is because I put Devon in a button down shirt for school on Thursday, and Austin really wanted to dress up after that. So, on Saturday he comes running down stairs in slacks and a button down shirt. Super cute, so THEN, Devon had to have dress clothes on because we told Austin how slick he looks. It was fun!

Week with the Boys!

Spent a vacation week with the boys in their new house. Devon and I spent a lot of time playing blocks while Austin was at school. One day we went to the park, another we flew kites in the yard, we spent two nights making YouTube videos, and one just watching Sponge Bob.

Austin's Birthday!

So here are the pictures (finally) from Austin's Birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's.

Busy Weekend

So, Chris and I have a busy weekend...at least I do...Chris may have a busy/boring weekend. Saturday I work in the morning till one. Chris is going to get the taxes done at 9 am. After work, we are speeding down to watch Rachel and Ashley's last ice skating performances of the season. Sunday, we are heading to Chicago where I will go to the Chelsea Handler show with Lynnse and Megan, and Chris will be...somewhere...sitting in the car, at a bar, eating at steak-n-shake - I don't think he even knows yet. I'm going to be LOL'ing it with my girls while he is chillaxing elsewhere.

Timed Test Should be the length of the Class!

Took the second test for my education class...no score right away like the last one. Probably a good thing considering it almost bedtime. Last time I cried for like thirty minutes, and then couldn't stop thinking about it for hours. I don't think I did terrible, I know I missed at least three points on one question because I didn't have enough time to answer it. We got 60 minutes to answer 52 questions with two of them requiring several sentences for the answer. This is a face-to-face course, and she opts for the online test to be all "green". But...I think that since it is a face-to-face class - I should have AT LEAST that long to take the exam. I hate open book exams, and I hate timed exams, annnnd THIS is both! Either she wants me to learn the material or she doesn't...First of all, telling ME that it is an open book test is a death sentence because I CAN'T STUDY for open book tests (yes, I have a very serious defect!) Second, giving an open book test and a short time limit is even more deadly. Stupid, I'm paying the school good money to pay these people to teach me .... I want to learn it (Yes, I do). Grr.. even I do get a decent grade on it - I'm still going to be upset!

Welcome Spring!

Seems to be that all I do is write essays, and short reports these days. Even my math instructor has reduced the number of assigned problems this semester, so that really takes up no time at all to do. Yay! Now, if I can just stay away from other Internet traps long enough to write these three papers - Life would be grrrreat!

Chris is in Murfreesboro hanging at mom and dad's until dad arrives later this afternoon. They are driving together down to Biloxi to visit Thom, Heidi and Matthew. Mom will be there, so hopefully they all have fun at Chuck E's celebrating Mathews Birthday. I'll post the photos from Austin's birthday at Chuck E's in Kokomo this weekend.

We still have yet to get our taxes done - Don't let us forget now! If I remember, I am going to ask a girl at work who did hers again, because I think it is time we finally stopped going all the way to Kokomo to get them done. haha, that's a long hike.

I've been enjoying to weather! Sitting out on the side porch with my laptop working on homework (or rather, with the intentions of working on homework). The wind is breezy, but warm. Welcome Spring! I'm a slacker, but hopefully this weekend I will get to the flowers. Some are a blooming, while I want to plant some new. Pictures will be up soon.

Glad it's over.

Today was my day off and a long one it was. My first class included an observation at a grade school today from 11:30 - 2:15. The plan was simple enough...until the principal just changed the agreed on placements. So, instead of spending longer periods of time in just a couple rooms, she gave us this crazy schedule with 15 minute intervals per classroom. Did I mention that she failed to consult with the teachers about this rearranged-once-prearranged schedules? I didn't have problems with my classes, but some other classmates said the teachers were surprised, and one even asked if they could try another room. I guess I shouldn't say that I didn't have problems, because I did (just not with the teachers). The schedule was a mess. The room she had me in a first had no students! The second room was going to the computer lab, so I returned to the previous room. The students in the third room were in music class, so again, I returned to the first room. The fourth room had a substitute teacher - but she was comfortable letting us stay because it was her classroom for twenty years before she retired. (That was pretty cool.)

Then I went grocery shopping, took a nap, and went to math class. Math class was typical, but since I have this funky cold/sinus get-up going on - it was much worse sitting there than normal.

Finally - I'm taking a Benadryl, and then beddddd!

Next BIG Star

Austin is a natural performer. Here is is rapping, making this stuff up off the top of his head. It says he is the Justin Bieber because he didn't know who I was talking about, but the truth is that he is the next Justin timba-timba-Timberlake.

Surprised the Girls and Austin

Chris and I decided that we would surprise Rachel,Ashley and Austin with a gigantic gift...JUSTIN BIEBER concert tickets! Things are really going to get expensive once Devon, Makenna, and Matthew start getting into all this stuff!

Work, work, work

I've been taking a week of vacation, and Chris has been working hard. It really hasn't been vacation since I have had homework, and my nephews have kept me very busy at their house. I'm a little depressed and anxious for my next essay grade. I made a huge mistake, and I'm not sure if I will get credit or not.... I had to compare and contrast a book and a movie version of the book...well...let's just say that if you read "The Borrowers," and then watch the movie with John Goodman...there are so many differences because the movie is actually (more based, though not entirely) on the third book in the series....uh-huh...I'd just like to thank the girl in my class that felt the need to call attention to this in the discussion board. Argh, now I'm panicking. I can truly say that 'ignorance was bliss' on this one.

Chris went out Tuesday for a going away party for his boss John, who has decided to start a new job elsewhere. Thursday (tonight) he went out for dinner at another persons house for a "direct-reports" get-together for John. I know Chris enjoyed having him as a boss, and is going to miss him.

English Essay

Ugh. Argh. Eh. Got my score for my first big English Report. 140 out of 150. While it is still an A - I'm a bit disappointed by the comments which don't seem all that bad, but I hate thinking I left important information out. I compared Little Red Riding Hood to Lon Po Po (Little Red Riding Hood from China,) and after telling me that it was a good comparative, "it may be worthwhile to explore cultural differences". I only had a thousand words to work with, and it was hard to keep it that short. Bummer dude, I was keeping my report just about the literature - next essay I will have to remember to step outside the box. :)

Sushi Grind

I forgot to mention that while we were eating at Ko Fushion, I tried Sushi for the first time ever... Chris gave me some salmon and it was icky! I tried to chew for a very long time, even adding more rice to help...but it didn't help. I ended up spitting it back onto my plate (I did it very classy though, lol) Then Amanda gives me a 'big roll' to try. It was much better - tasted like she and Brent said it would - like cream cheese. Still, I'm thinking that I am no sushi lover.

On the Prowl...

Chris and I have joyfully opened the house hunting door again. I'm still uneasy about buying a house right now. Yes, I'm still a little fearful for about job security for him...but, there is a whole new idea that we have decided works well for us:

We are not going to go full-blown house pricing. Our original price range was one that would max us out, because we have already done the "fixer-upper" (and failed miserably) we wanted to max out and get something that just needed maintaining. Now, we've changed our minds...again. We're looking at cheaper prices with the least amount of immediate need work. Something we can move into, be happy with, and fix up in stages.

This plan work for us because it has a great back-up plan. While the market may be turning around (pending on who you ask,) ...should...something happen with Chris's employment, the lower price means lower mortgage - which means if the house doesn't sell right away, it will make a great rental property, and thus allow us to quickly rent it out for a great price, because let's face it...IF something happens, we just want to get out from under the payments. Rent-to-Own would be ideal, but there is no need to think about that right now.

So hopefully soon we will have a home and no longer an apartment. =)

Weekend Update!

First are a couple pictures from the competition in Oaklawn.

This weekend was so much fun! We left for Brent and Amanda's house after work on Friday. Makenna was still awake when we got there, so we played with her and chatted for a few before going to bed.

Saturday we went to Peep's for breakfast, and then we went to the aquatic center for Makenna's swim lesson, and then back to the house to relax. For lunch, we met Kristina, Dustin, Rachel and mom and dad at Cracker Barrel, and then we made our way to the Ice Arena. An old friend from high school stopped by to say hello - Thanks Emily - It was great seeing you again! The girls skated five times each (I think, I may have lost count.) And they did wonderful! (Videos at Kristina's youtube account). Here are a few pics below.

We made it back to Brent and Amanda's house way late (almost 11), and then we spent the morning hanging out. Around 12:30 we went to KO FUSION (yum!) for lunch. Amanda taught us to rub our chop sticks together to avoid the random splinter piece that likes to hang out there. So, we had to practice.

Summer Classes - Registered -

I have been registered for my Multi-Cultural Classroom summer class for a while now, but I just decided on Saturday with a push from my co-worker Kelly, that I will be taking 2 summer classes...Multi-Cultural Classroom and the dreaded Chemistry. It is being offered face-to-face right here at this campus, and I figure that has to be easier than trying it online again, plus...I really don't want to take Chemistry and Physical Science at the same time. SO, I am hoping that I can handle two - three credit hour summer courses. However, if I wimp out I will only be dropping the education course, not the Chemistry.

Inspired

I'm watching the Oscars, and I am so being inspired (to try) to put together and film my short film script I wrote way back when in 8th grade. I pull it up from time to time (from the looney-tunes themed disk) and think about re-working it, but I always decide it's perfect....maybe now is the time to shoot a cheap, completely amateur, negative budgeted film...? I'm thinking no promises, but I'll certainly look in to it.

...More Tickets....

...That's right!... But this time it was WE (and not just ME) that bought more tickets. In our Events list you'll notice that on May 1st we are going to see Alan Jackson...hey who can pass up $25 tickets to see Alan Jackson!?! We couldn't...so we bought two extra tickets.

Last Week

Last week Chris went to Vegas and watched "Crazy Horse" Cabaret show instead of gambling. He got to hang out with big-wigs and it seems he has made quite the impression. He was told by the president of the company that the guy above him was making comments about Chris's presentations. Chris feels like everything went good, and he's proud.

Saturday I had to work, but my mom drove up to get me, and together we went to Oak Lawn, IL for Rachel and Ashley's ice skating competition. We got there just in time to see Rachel do her compulsories. Chris's flight got in about that time, and he met up with us while we were checking in to the hotel. Then we ate the yummiest wings ever at Hooters, and back to the rink for more skating.

Later that night I sat at the pool while the girls swam with their friends. Mom was so great, and had an Italian beef sandwich waiting for me when I got back to the room. Love you mom!

"Do the Smarty-Pants Dance"

There are no more worries over my Exceptional Learners class, between getting all points available on the previous assignments, plus 5 extra credit points for for wearing my ID on a random check day, and the 10 extra points I got for being so active during the video discussion - I now have a 98.4% in the class. I'm still very close to a B - because with professional classes 94% is the cut off for an A. But, I don't anticipate failing another test now that I have better insight into how she will be structuring her questions.

annnnnnd....

I sat for almost 30 minutes with my hand on the desk as I waited for my math final to be graded. ACED IT BABY! I'm so excited, I tried to contain myself because people were still taking the test, but an excited whispering "yesssss!" did escape me.

That's right, I'm officially doing the Smarty Pants Dance.

Ski Trip!

Yup! Chris and I went skiing again yesterday and had a BLAST!! We are both getting really good. We even used one of the trick boards for beginners this time! I am soooo trying that again next time we go. I bought new poles are that are sooo much lighter than the other ones...and they were 50% off- sweeeet. Here are the videos of us racing down the slope.

FAILED!

I'm kissing that 4.0 GPA good-bye this semester. Just failed my test for my Exceptional Learners class. This was a surprise because this instructor usually does a wonderful job explaining things exactly as she is going to put them on the test, but not this time. So, here I am on my day off at 10 in the morning, balling my eyes out. I knew I should have taken that test later - had till Wednesday to do it, but really felt like I was prepared enough to do it now. Stupid, Stupid! ...I didn't mind the questions so much as the one hour time limit. Another 30 minutes and I would have had time to actually process the last 20 questions instead of rush through them.