Photoshop Application Assignment 3

This is my favorite of our assignments...

It's just a few of the pieces of me...

Something I Love About Mac

He's HOME!

This is just one of MANY things that I love about this great man. I was SO WONDERFUL to see him & be with him again this past weekend, & I cried when I knew I had to leave. Thank goodness for weekends! They'll have to do for now. ;)

Blah, Blah, Blog

Nothing I've posted recently has been very important, or much of an update. So... Little as it may be, here's an update.

I've been taking 3 college classes. One was in person through Yavapai College, & (YAY!), it's done! The other two are online, & are prooving to be a struggle, since I have to work with a child for tutoring sessions. The best time so far seems to be pulling her during specials to work with her, since her mom isn't being entirely helpful.

At this point I am still VERY unsure of my job for next school year. I'm still trying to be hopeful that I will be employed, but I'm also putting out applications, & even had a job interview today. It went pretty well, but I think they don't want me, because I need to be in a high-poverty school in Arizona, & will take a position in that kind of situation before I would stay with the preschool. They sounded like they might hire me for a sub, but I doubt I'd have much work that way.

Every single one of my kids hit (or well exceeded) their end of the year Benchmark goals for their testing! We're having a party tomorrow with pizza & ice-cream to celebrate! Our entire Kinder grade level is at 99% benchmarked kid-o's, with only one left to be tested! That's better than ... pretty much EVER! :D

School is coming to an end- only 15 more days of school! In the meantime, we've got our pizza/ice-cream party, more "Flat Stanley's" coming back, a tie-dye shirt project, swiming day, report cards, learning-learning-learning & Celebrating, before Kindergarten Graduation on June 4th. That's also the day I'm supposed to have my classroom empty. :( It will be a terribly sad day. My kids have grown up so much, & are really, pretty much Amazing!

Right after school ends, I'll be heading up to Flagstaff! Friday June 5 is Laurie's HS Graduation! (Congrats to Laurie!!) I'm excited to see Dutton's, since it's been FAR too long since I've been able to spend some time with that great family!

And in Flagstaff on the 6th I'm taking the Early Childhood AEPA... WISH ME LUCK! I'm a little bit terrified of all the technical things I may or may not know/remember! :P I think I need to figure out some way to study before I have to take that test!

Seth is adorable, though I don't get to see him much lately. He doesn't talk a lot, but he knows a few signs- (most especially please, & food... "food please"), & is very effective at communicating what he wants, where he wants you to come, & yes & no. If you want to see him nod "yes"... just ask him if he's hungry (especially after he's been with his mom.) Or, when his diaper's wet, ask if he needs a new diaper. He'll tell you. :D He's just about ready for potty training... or, really I guess I'd say he seems ready NOW, but I'm not sure his daddy's quite ready. ;)

Bear is loving having 2 other dogs to play with. He also loves raiding their food bowls & has gained back all the weight he lost & then some. If anyone has suggestions on putting a big, fat, black lab on a diet, please share! Last night I (FINALLY) bought him a nice, BIG, new bed from costco. No pics yet, but maybe if I can get him to lay on it & pose, I'll get one up here.

Well, for now, that's a little update. Hope you enjoyed it!

I did it!

Yay!! It's been over a month ago now, but I'm just now getting around to blogging about my GRADUATION!! On May 9, 2008, I graduated from NAU with a B.S. in Elementary Education and a minor in Spanish!

Maybe there isn't a whole lot to blog about, but... I've got some FUN pictures! So... I'll show & tell a little bit.

This first, strange looking picture, is the view I had for all of graduation. The girl in front of me had bright, pink, feathers all around the top of her cap, and around her sleeves too. It was a little obnoxious if you ask me, but it made it easy to answer the text: "Where are you?" "Right behind the girl with the pink." ha ha... and we could see where we were on the giant TV screens, because of the pink.

And the on going text conversation with Mom during the ceremony. "Where Are You? Get up and Dance." "I'm right behind the girl with the pink feathers." "Good, maybe she'll want to dance with you." "ha ha" "No really, do it now or you'll miss your chance." ... Something like that anyway. It made me smile even more.

There was a big group of us from the Christensen Partnership. This is Barry, Devin, Ashley, Emily, me, & Andrea. There were a few more of us, but I haven't gotten a copy of the bigger pictures we took yet.

This is me with one of my Partnership Professors, Jeanne Dustman. She was a great support to me through the two semesters of death that preceded my Student Teaching.

Mom & I. We started celebrating all together when we got outside. Terina & Brent didn't get to stick around for the other celebrations, so this was the best we had with all of us.

This was a favorite, because Trenton was hiding, and Terina quickly ducked, & I snapped... & between our combined efforts I caught a really cute grin on Trenton, & a fun, cheesy grin on Terina. :o)

I really don't think I'm photogenic, but that it's better when I'm in pictures with other people, so... That makes this naturally a favorite, because ... it just is.

I've got more pictures of the parties... one in Flagstaff that day, and one in Chino Valley about a month after, but I'm REALLY tired for now, & I've got to get this posted & get some sleep. Tomorrow it's back to work!

A less silly picture of my old roommates & I...

... OR Maybe this is the MORE silly picture! What do you think?

& Nellers & Kristine too!

Saturday really was a day of fun! After I saw Nikki I met up with Kristine & Danelle-also at the Temple- and went to the Temple with them. Afterward we went to dinner and had some fun times. ... I haven't laughed so much in a long time!

A weekend in Flagstaff

LOTS of Snow!!
I spent the weekend up in Flagstaff, and YAY for a ton of snow! This was fun, but just wait until I can get the picture up here of Scout and I STANDING in this ginormous snow drift in the Duttons backyard. It makes me happy... especially since it's summer here (or FEELS like summer here... which is depressing since it's going to get something-like-30 degrees hotter still!)

Yesterday was the strangest day. All day it felt like Friday, and I wasn't the only person to feel that way or say so. Really though, it was Monday, and really, I'm glad that it was Monday instead of Friday. If it were Friday, I probably would have been leaving instead of spending my whole evening with the Duttons again. I know that I need to finish my final. I know that I need to pack. I know that I am moving away and I need to get settled into my new place quickly before everything starts up. I know that I need to stop being sad about it. And I need to accept that life is moving on, and this time, again, I will be moving with it. Litterally.

When I get discouraged about the changes life is bringing, I should look at the big picture. I am changing too. I am moving towards goals that I've worked for a long time to accomplish. I'm making something of myself and my life. But it's so easy for me to see instead, everything that I want to become, and feel that I should already be, that I'm not. That probably just has a lot to do with how I see myself... might be something good to work on.

Yesterday felt really wierd too, because I was entirely unproductive for most of the day. I went to sleep very late Sunday night because my roommate and her boyfriend were in the living room, and I just couldn't fall asleep until he left... at least partly because I was afraid that he wouldn't leave. Monday morning I worked at the butt-crack of dawn (okay, it was BEFORE dawn because it's winter and it takes the sun a long time to come up right now). But I was really tired, so when I came home from work at 9am, I laid back down and watched more Heroes. I'd kept myself awake Sunday night watching several episodes, and then spent my entire morning yesterday watching more. It's another one of those shows that's addictive to me, but at the same time, another one that kind of leaves me feeling dark. Ugh. Why is it always that kind of show that reels me in? I have a goal to not watch Heroes at all today. I've got way to much that I still need to do.
1. I should hurry up already and finish my final. The semester's over, but I'm not going to get a grade in my technology class until I submit my final. And if I did, I'd just have to chant the mantra: "C's get degrees." over and over. Because I would still get a C. 2. I need to move this week. This means that I need to pack. This means that I need to get everything cleaned. And it means that I can't keep procrastinating, because I've got to rely on others to help me out. 3. There are books that I want to read. There is my journal that's been highly neglected for months. There are people I want to visit with before I'm gone, or they are. I need to priortize so that my life can be productive and joyful. So, for this morning I'm done.

P.S. to the rough day...

Oh... and just for the record, Wal-Mart photo department has OFFICIALLY lost my business. EVERY time that I give in, or forget, or just decide to try their photo department, they dissappointment me again, and give me new reasons to take my business elsewhere. Bah!

AND! Today could have been MY graduation day! That was real strange, as I watched 6 of my classmates graduate. This probably has something to do with my thoughts of graduating and the real life stufff. Congrats to my fellow Christensen Partnership peeps who took those big steps today!!!

That's all.

Really.