My eye problem

Still with this stupid eye problem, but it has changed.  The eye drops have helped and I can now wear my contacts. They were pretty sore by the end of the day, though, so I wore my glasses at PERC.  There is a pain behind my eye now.  Dull ache, I guess you would say.  I'm going to see the optho again, hopefully I can make the apt. for Wed.  I have that day off.  I'll let you know what's going on. Thanks for listening. 

Do you have any reservations about the success of this proposed marriage?

This is the question that I was stuck on when filling out the Canonical Prenuptial Investigation for Adele.  Good grief.  My feelings about this question was: 1> When do I NOT have reservations about ANYTHING?  I'm not a person who sees black and white, my world is full of gray.  Meaning...I always can see both sides of everything and cannot make up my mind about things very easily.  2> The success of this proposed marriage? when is a marriage a success? When it lasts the test of time?  What is the test? 5 years? 10? 20? 50?  How would I know what my daughter and her fiance will be like in 20 years? Or even 10 years for that matter?  3> What parent, in their right mind, doesn't have reservations about the decisions their children make?  I wouldn't be me, a worrier, a helicopter parent, if I didn't have reservations about the big decisions my kids make.  So lets rephrase that question: Do you have any reservations about the success of this proposed marriage that you would like to announce to the world?  NO.  Thank you.  I'm willing to keep my reservations between myself, my husband, my friends, my co-workers, ...oops.  that didn't sound very good.  OK, so I talk all the time about my reservations.  But I never say anything about how I don't think Adele is too young to get married, or too immature, or that Josh is a bad guy, or that he treats her badly.  I always say that I am proud of his family and their values.  I always say how much he and Adele seem to love each other.  The big complaint I have, and I WILL announce to the world, I DON'T LIKE THAT JOSH SMOKES.  No secret there.  If he would just quit smoking, I would feel so much better.  So, could I write on the Prenuptial Investigation that I have reservations because Josh smokes?  Try explaining that one.  I don't know how Adele stands it, to be honest.  I don't enjoy smelling bad smells.  He literally stinks when he comes in from smoking his disgusting cigarette.  But, anyway, I will answer that I have no reservations.  I believe in my daughter and that she is doing the right thing for herself and her future.  That she has faith in Josh that he will be a good provider for her and that income will combine with hers and make a better future for the two of them and their kids-to-be.  I put all of this in God's hands.  Please let it all work out.  Please let the dress be perfect and fit her perfectly.  Please let everything go without a hitch, but if there has to be a hitch, make it a good story to tell so we can all laugh.  An easy hitch to fix.  Do I have any reservations about the success of this proposed marriage?  See, I am so wishy washy I still can't say YES or NO to this question.  So, to simplify things, I will write, "No".  That way I don't have to go into detail and describe why I said YES.  Does that make me a bad mom, or a good one?

Wedding Dress Ordered

Adele's wedding dress has been ordered.  I hope it will all work out in the end. I think this is a mistake to buy it this way.  On line.  Picking the color from a picture of a swatch of fabric.  Picking the style of dress without trying one on like it.  I will let you know how it goes.  The dress should be here by March 10th.  We will see. I hope I am wrong.  But if I'm not, it is a $250 mistake that will cost not only money but time.  If it doesn't work out, will there still be time to get another one?  ......................

My adventures

I don't know if I ever explained to you my title of my blog and why I call it Amy's Adventures in Wonderland.  Well, at the time I set this up I was reading Alice in Wonderland.  Reading that book is like taking a trip through an insane world.  Even though I understand how Lewis Carroll came up with each story within the book and how it had something to do with other things that were happening to them at Oxford, and people they knew at Oxford, I still feel like it was full of insanity.  It was a way for a little girl, Alice, to make sense of her adult world through the eyes of a little girl.  And, like my professor said, when things don't make sense, (you first think you are going crazy and then) you seem to attach a meaning to it, even if it doesn't make sense.  So each of these adventures that Alice created in her dream was a way to make sense of her world.  Well, I am constantly going through things that I have to make sense of.  My life right now seems like an adventure, or insanity, you get to choose the right terminology.  Even at this moment Mark is talking to me from the other room wanting me to have an input into the thesis of his paper for class.  Last term I had to help him write papers when I had no background knowledge of the assignment or what the paper was even saying.  I had to make sense out of nonsense.  This term he is taking Shakespeare.  He said, "You are a literature major, what are they talking about?" I am a literature major.  I have taken my very first literature class this term.  This TERM.  I am supposed to know everything about literature because I wrote down on a sheet of paper that I want to major in it? Now I know how Adele felt when she was in her first year of Nursing School and she was asked questions about health issues.  She would just bullshit her way through the answer.  She would act like she knew the answer and then the person thought she was genius.  I know I've bullshitted my way through many things in my life and at my work.  People don't need to know you don't know things if you can bullshit your way through.  Anyway, my adventures through this world of wonder consists of living through my first year of college, Mark's first year of college, my daughter getting married, my sister realizing she is mentally ill and the things she is remembering is not reality, my friends going through cancer treatments, my niece realizing her mental illness is not bi-polar but a personality disorder, my sister realizing that her daughter is not bi-polar because if she was she wouldn't think she was, she would think she wasn't, and the duplicity of some of the people at work.  Remember, when a person has to make sense of something they first think they are going crazy and then they assign a meaning to it, even if it doesn't make sense.  Just so something in their life makes sense. Even though it doesn't.  So here's another insane thing that Mark said as I was sitting in the front room writing things down to get ready to write a paper.  Now remember...we are both going to the same writing intensive school.  A school that is known for being writing intensive...and I AM a LITERATURE major.  OK...he said, "Gosh you write a lot. I look at you and you are always writing."  Really?  And I am serious...he wasn't kidding me.  Wasn't being sarcastic.  He was being observant and putting me down...or so I felt...for writing so much.  The sentence didn't make sense, so I assigned a meaning to it... he was saying, "????????" I have no idea.  I sit here and try to make meaning out of it and I just can't.  Now he is yelling from the other room.  Am I supposed to say something to that?  Nope.  Now he is in Adam's room talking to him. Thank God.  Lisa says I should just speak my mind because people can deal with it, they can take it.  I don't agree with her.  I don't think people can take it.  And also, my eye is still bugging me.  I don't think it is allergies.  I'm going to see if my eyes can take my contacts tomorrow, and if they can't I'm going back to the eye doc.  So I'm sure I will.  It has been hurting today.  No more itching, just a pain in the back of the eye.  It doesn't sound too good does it?  We will see tomorrow, though.  Maybe I just have a different type of head ache then I have ever had before.  My adventures in wonderland will include my (trying to) make sense of so many strange things in my life.  If I can't make sense of it, I will first think I am insane and then assign a meaning, even if it makes no sense. 

I'm hungry

I'm going to go get something to eat now.  I am going to put a movie on and eat some left over pizza.  Adele posted her food intake for the day on Web MD. Crap, a sandwich wrap at appleby's is over 1000 calories.  Insane!  I'm very proud of Adele, she is sticking with her exercise and diet plan. Good Job Honey!  Incentives work great, don't they?  You say bribery I say incentives, potato pototo.  Whatever.  it works.

Adele's wedding plans

Last weekend Adele and I ordered the wedding cake.  Wonderful place! Wonderful cake!  Just happens to be the same place Tracy got their cake for their wedding.  Cool.  Today Mark ordered her dress.  I hope it wasn't a mistake.  I don't feel right about it, but what can you do?  She has to make her own mistakes, I guess.  I don't feel right about a lot of this, but I am just an emotional mom and I don't get to...have these feelings.  Or if I do, I can't express them.  Or if I express them, I can only express them to my friends who will listen and not judge, or fret.  Lisa told me I bottled things up too much.  I know I do.  I have to in order to get through to the next day, and the next, and the next... What good would it do to express my real feelings about things?  No good what-so-ever.  I would just hurt people, and then eventually hurt me. Because I hurt when I hurt people.  No good can become of it.  Still pissed off about the stupid math test.

math test

I am so mad that I got a 70% on my math test.  I had that question right and then I changed it!  Damnit!  It was -3 and then I went back and tried to check my answer to see if it was right, just like they suggest that you do on-line, so I tried to check it.  It didn't check out with that answer so I tried each and ever answer they had on the mulitple choice  and none of them worked, so I put 3, because it pissed me off.  But it was -3.  A little voice inside my head said, check the work you did already on the scratch paper, but did I listen to it? NO!  Of course I didn't.  Du!  If I had left that stupid -3 on the answer, I would have gotten 80% then I could go onto the next part.  But no. I freaked out!  I'm still pissed.  Why am I so mad?  Am I tired? Over worked? Having a mental breakdown?  Lisa says I bury too much inside.  Perhaps the volcano is just erupting. A small eruption, getting ready for the big one. 

Treasure Island

I am loving reading the book Treasure Island.  I feel like I am on vacation, almost, in the Caribbean.  I would love to go back to the Caribbean and see those blue waters and warm breezes and warm water.  I love Hawaii, too. But there is something about the Caribbean, I don't know what it is.  The book is so descriptive, you feel like you are on the ship with the crew.  You can hear the water hit the side of the ship and smell the humid air.  Love it!  I'm writing a paper on it, and it is done for tonight.  I will edit it tomorrow and then send it off to Marylhurst to have a tutor edit it for me.  For some reason I just don't get the citing stuff.  I think I follow the Hacker's guide , but then something is done incorrectly. 

Eye issue

So the opthomologist feels like my problem is allergies.  He gave me an eye drop to try for a week.  If it doesn't solve the problem I need to go see him again to have further tests done.  I hope it is just allergies and the eye drops will solve the problem!

Personal Day

January 19, 2011 I am taking a personal day from work.
I have been having problems with my left eye, so I am going to see an opthomologist for my eye tomorrow, and while I am having a day off of work, I will get my mammogram, too.  Why not? It's been 2 years since my last mammogram.  I promised my daughter, Adele, that I would get one soon. So here I go.

OK, well, I think I am all caught up.  I can't imagine anyone would want to read this drivel.  But I think that eventually I will have some very deep thoughts.  I thought I would post my thoughts on Little Women, stuff I wrote in my notebook while studying it.  And Alice in Wonderland.  Notice how I named my blog, Amy's Adventures in Wonderland?  Well, This blog is a way for me to write down things that happen to me and my thoughts on how to juggle working, going to school, having a daughter who is engaged and planning the wedding.  This summer is also my 30th class reunion and 2 family reunions. 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was written about a young lady who tried to understand an adult world and then maturing into the real world of adulthood.  My adventures are written about an adult lady, me, who is trying to understand my adult world as my kids are maturing into my adult world.  I just hope that I don't lose my sanity throughout this busy time since I am also dealing with working at a school with kindergarten through 4th graders AND I am going to school.  Perhaps my question should be at this time: How much can an adult woman handle before she turns as mad as a hatter?

Computer Technology Assessment

I signed up for the computer Technology Assessment today, Jan. 18. I take it anytime between Feb. 4th through the 7th.  If...I mean when...I pass it I will not get any college credit for it but I will not have to take a computer course for Marylhurst.  Of course I will pass it.  Apparently it will take about 4 hours to take.  We have 4 days to take it.  I will either do all 4 hours in one sitting, or 4 days, 1 hr. each.  Or 2 days, 2 hrs. each.  We will see.

LIT 311A, Literature for Childhood

Finished up Little Women today in class and getting ready to read Alice in Wonderland.  I have never really liked Alice in Wonderland so I am really looking forward to finding out what it REALLY is all about.  I had heard that Lewis Carroll was drugged out when he wrote it, but I found out that wasn't the case.  It was all a lie from the 60's when people were on LSD.  Someone who didn't understand the basic foundation of the book probably said, "You know, I bet Lewis Carroll was on drugs when he wrote this book." And then someone else said, "What? Lewis Carroll was on drugs when he wrote Alice in Wonderland? That explains a lot!" and then they turned around and said, "You know what I heard? I heard that when Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland, he was on drugs." And the person they talked to said, "I bet he was on LSD. Have you ever been on LSD? I've seen smiling cats and caterpillars on mushrooms when I've been on LSD, too." And then someone overhearing said, "What? Lewis Carroll was on LSD when he wrote Alice in Wonderland?" and then someone said, "That explains a lot. Rock on, Groovy. Want another hit?" and the urban legend was born.  Actually there was no LSD in Lewis Carroll's time.  And if he had been on drugs there would be no way he could have finished such a deep thinking book.  Can't wait to read it.

January 15, 2011

Fun day planned today~! My first Saturday class at Marylhurst from 9-5pm.  LAC 301C.  Then I'm meeting Adele to go to the Bridal Show at the Convention Center.  So much fun!

Winter Term, 2011

January 4, 2011
My first Literature class at Marylhurst!  Children's Literature.  I am working different hours on Tuesdays so I can make it to class.  I am still getting there 15 minutes late, but at least I can go.  We are reading "Little Women" first.  The first part the first week, and the second part the second week.  Looking forward to reading it again after all these years.

I am also taking LAC 301.  Should be fun!

November and December 2010

November and December 2010 was much like October in that it was full of lots of writing for PLA, and work.  I received 4 credits for my public speaking paper and 6 credits for my paper on Microsoft Word.  So, at the end of my fall term at Marylhurst, I will have 20 more credits and 2 courses that are required in our Liberal Arts Core taken care of through written work and documentation shown.

On November 6th I went to Therese's house and put my nose in diapers full of stuff for Scott's shower for his son, Jaxson.  We had a good time.  At this point I know how to spell Jaxson's name but at that time I thought they would spell it like my high school, "Jackson".

October 2010

October 2010 was full of work and school.  Lots of writing for LRN 305. Learning all I can about effective listening and public speaking, Learning how to write PLA papers, leaning on friends and family for editing support, and that's about it.  I received 4 credits for my paper on Listening.
Yippee!

Oct. 3, 2010

Walk for Diabetes at Oaks Park at 11am.

Fall Term at Marylhurst begins

Sept. 28, 2010
My first PLA LRN-305 class begins.

Sept. 15, 2010

Frank's birthday party at his house at 5pm.
Mom and Dad will be there.  Happy Birthday, Frank!

Sept. 8, 2010

School begins at the school where I work.  I don't start working with kids, yet.  But I still worked all this week, getting the enrollment ready and the LAP schedule ready for the rest of the crew.

Another school year begins

August 30-Sept 6
Many things planned for this week:
Monday, Aug. 30:
Meet Dot at Maple Grove PERC.
Interviews at Tukes at 1pm, work until 5pm
Tuesday, Aug. 31:
Adele's birthday
8am-10:30am: Orientation
10:30-5pm: CIA work
Wed, Sept. 1:
Open House,
BBQ: 5pm
Thurs. Sept. 2:
CIA work all day
Friday, Sept. 3,
Hair apt. at 10am
Saturday, Sept. 4:
Becky's party at 11am
Craig's party:  I never went to these parties as I was sick. Had to feel better for Mom's birthday party...

Open House for Adele

August 28, 2010
Mom and Dad are having an Open House/Birthday party for Adele.  She has an apartment, but not a whole lot of things she needs for the apartment.  We told people they could just give her things that they aren't using any more instead of buying new things.  Mom bought her silverware. That was so nice of her! 
Fun times!

Class sign-up day

August 23, 2010
Signed up for the PLA class today.  It will give me 6 credits for just the class.  As a part of my tuition for this class I get up to 9 additional credits when I write for the college courses.  I have been OKed to write for "Listening", a communications course from Portland Community College that will give me 4 credits.  I will also write for "Public Speaking", a communications course from PCC that will give me 4 credits.  And a Microsoft Word course, both beginning Microsoft Word and Intermediate Microsoft Word.  I will get 3 credits each for the Microsoft Word classes, 6 total. In all, if I pass this class and get the full amount of credits, I will get 20 credits for my first term at Marylhurst University. All for the price of 6 credits and $41 for the extra 3 credits that the class doesn't cover.  I'm going to be busy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday 21, 2010

Reunion Meeting today at High Rocks Restaurant at 10am.  So nice to see everyone today!

Then, at 1pm, shower for Danielle.  What a beautiful pregnant lady she is!  We had fun.  Just a quick reminder of the Bingo-type game: Zebra toy.  Giraffe toy.  etc... :-) Fun times!

Book Club

August 20, 2010
Book Club today! "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo".
Yoga!
Nice Friday!

Kindergarten testing

August 16-22, 2010
Kindergarten testing this week.  We get trained on the Alpine system so we can put the scores directly into the system.  The Alpine system is going to be so convenient!

26th wedding anniversary

August 11, 2010
26 years ago Mark and I got married.  August 11, 1984.
Happy Anniversary, Mark!  I love you!
Thanks for the Hawaii trip last year for our 25th anniversary!

Meeting with Jackie

August 4, 2010
I have a meeting today with Jackie.  She will let me know if PLA is right for me or not.  She will have ideas that will help me know what types of courses I should write for in order to challenge some college courses.  It will be great to see what she says!

meeting with academic advisor

August 2, 2010
I have a meeting with Meg Roland, my academic adviser, at 11am today.  It will be great to meet her!

Half Marathon

July 25, 2010
I ran my first half marathon today!  Camas, WA. Beautiful run!  At mile 13 I tripped over a curb and fell.  I twisted my ankle and scraped up my hand and shoulder.  But I was darned if I was going to let it get me down.  Donna and Ellen picked me up, made sure I was ok.  Then we ran the rest of the way through the finish line. What and amazing feeling of accomplishment!  Training was great!  How long will it take to heal my ankle so I can go out and run again?

The Grotto

August 1, 2010
Noon Mass at the Grotto. This is a tradition of ours to go to noon mass at the Grotto in Portland, OR in the summer when my parents are in town.  We then go have breakfast at Elmer's.  Wonderful tradition.  Fun times!

Trip to see Adele

July 30, 2010
I went to visit my daughter, Adele, at her apartment.  She is now working as an O R nurse and living in an apartment.  I am very proud of my baby girl!

College Adventures

June and July, 2010
Beginning a new chapter in my life: going back to school at the age of 47.  I'm pretty excited to be able to go back after all these years.  Going for my Bachelor's degree in English Literature and Writing at Marylhurst University.  I will begin my college experience with the PLA program. Prior Learning Assessment.  Starting in Sept.