It’s nice to check out…

I’ve basically checked out of my Spanish class. I’m getting a bad grade and in order to save my GPA I have checked out. I can retake the course if I receive a C- or below. I’m aiming for a D. I don’t want to stop going to class so I can learn it better for next quarter, I just don’t care anymore. It’s allowing me to not stress so much in that class and divert my attention to my other struggling course. However, I received a B on my midterm without even cracking the book. Now the effort I’m no longer putting forth in Spanish will enable me to study politics and economic issues surrounding greed better. That and the weight on my shoulders has been completely alleviated.

We’re talking about homosexuality in this class right now. This one guy next to me is freaking out. I hate people that are completely closed minded that they can’t accept gay marriage. I am not going to get into it right now. My views are that people are able to do what they want when it comes to love. If they love someone, they can get married, as long as they’re human (haha). There is no sacred marriages anymore, therefore there is no threat to marriage. That’s my opinion, take it or leave it.

I want to take a trip to Washington. However, being broke and my sister having a baby in May, I don’t think it would be able to go this year. When I graduate from college I want to return to Chicago so I should start saving for that.

Sheri goes to Chicago Fund… Yeah, I should start a thing.

I don’t like neglecting you, my poor little blog.

Why does it always seem I neglect you before a quarter is about to start? Strange. So I had a couple ideas of what to write a blog about and, of course, I didn’t write them down and now they are lost inside the depths of my brain. Let me replay the current events since my last post and maybe it will pop into my head…

1. Skye started preschool again. (mental note: next blog will be about preschools and their programs)
2. I’m the Starbright Room’s representative for the Parent Advisory Board at the school, which makes me feel awesome because I feel like I can make a difference for kids at the school years to come and it looks great on my resume.
3. Skye, my beautiful little toddler is no longer a toddler anymore. She turned 4, which by most accounts now makes her a pre-school aged child.

Okay, by doing that a few things came to mind. Homework. Homework is a wonderful thing. I love that her school has started them on homework already. I think it’s very important to start kids off right away with homework. It helps teach them responsibility and gives them the practice they’ll need later on once they’re in elementary school and beyond. Her homework is aligned with what they do in class, so if one week they’re working with the letter P, their homework is geared towards learning more about P, we often do things like cutting out things in magazines that start with the letter P. She’s only been in school for a week but she’s already blowing me away with what she comes home with (when she’s not ignoring me and being stubborn when I ask her how school was).

Richard Petty switches to FORD?!

Wow, Kahne’s new ride next year will be a Ford. Who would have thought?! Good thing I didn’t go out and get that huge DODGE tattoo on my butt (just kidding, never even thought of it). Good thing deep down I’m a Ford girl. I’m sure mopar is sad to lose good drivers like Kasey Kahne and Elliot Sadler…

music that soothes my soul:

This list is compiled of the songs that I love to sing. I don’t care where I am, who I am with or what I am doing, I will sing these songs out loud

10. Avril Lavigne – My Happy Ending

9.  Taylor Swift – White Horse

8. Martina McBride – Broken Wing

7. Faith Hill – I Love You

6. *N Sync – ANYTHING! I love them all

5. New Kids on the Block – any of the slow songs will do (especially If You Go Away)

4. Jagged Edge – Goodbye

3. Blake Shelton – Austin and I’ll Just Hold On

2. Miranda Lambert – Gunpowder and Lead

1. P!nk (Pink) – IT ALL! I LOVE HER VOICE

woot!

My baby girl did well on her assessment today! Miss Melissa let us know of some things we need to work on through the year but all in all, she did awesome! Now the countdown begins: SEPTEMBER 14th! I can not wait for school to start again. I’m getting bored, she’s getting bored. I hate it. I just want to start classes again. Believe it or not, I miss school. I walked onto campus today and the smell of the Eucalyptus trees and the freshly cut grass made me miss school that much more.

The next few weeks will thankfully have its moments of busy. My birthday is in 17 days, but who’s counting down? I’m going to be 24 and I’m not too excited about it. What I am excited about is a trip to Laughlin, NV (and Lake Mohave), Disneyland, my daughter’s school starting and her turning 4!, my courses starting, my little cousin turns 18, my nephew (who happens to be the greatest man in my life at the moment) turns 1, and then there’s the NASCAR race in Fontana It’s the Chase, NASCAR’s equivalent to the playoffs I’m stoked. September through October is a big deal and I can not wait

mixed emotions…

I’ve had a difficult week. I’ve been trying to get over the fact that I probably let myself fall a little more than I intended to, but it’s okay. I’m getting over that. I’ve been dealing with emotions that I really haven’t wanted to in a while, but things are finally starting to look up.

Kasey Kahne is rockin in NASCAR so that’s done wonders for my spirits! I know, my mood shouldn’t depend on NASCAR and where Kasey is in the points standings, but it does. I’m also really excited for the upcoming football season, which I haven’t been in a very long time. In fact, I usually hate football because it interferes with NASCAR on Sundays.

Tomorrow, my baby girl has an assessment test down at the preschool to see where she’s at to get her ready for kindergarten. Wow. She’s almost 4! And now I need to get her thinking about kindergarten. It’s exciting though. She’s growing up.

This summer seems to be dragging on forever. This was the first summer in a long time that I didn’t take any classes. I must say that I am incredibly bored and ready to start school again. September 24th is taking forever to get here and I just want to get back into the swing of things. Getting up at 5:30 to leave by 6:30. I have to park in the structure now so I gotta leave a little early to make sure I get Skye dropped off, and then park and be in class by 8. Fun times

im hurt.

I can’t write about what is really on my mind because it is way too personal and I have so many people already in my business about it that I’m going to keep quiet on that subject. It really sucks that I have to do that too. It is a really good life lesson I learned this week, that unless this blog was completely anonymous, I shouldn’t write about. There are too many people that know me personally that read this and would judge me and I’ve had enough of that these past couple of days. I don’t need it any longer. I think I’m going to start just speaking my mind though, and not really care who gets hurt. At least I can say I’m honest, and that’s what everyone wants.

Jason told me something that sums it up, people want honesty. They always complain that they hate fake people and yada yada yada, but when people are real with them, they don’t like it. For instance, I’m 23. I made a decision that my family doesn’t agree with. Why? I can’t figure it out. I’ve done nothing wrong. In fact, my mom pointed out I’ve done nothing different than what they have done in the past. But instead of running away and LYING about what I did, I manned up and said, “So what?!” I got pissed at some people I never thought that I would get angry with, but I did. It’s over and done. So what’s up? I mean why is it we want the truth but we can’t handle the truth once it’s out there?

It’s like what he [Jason] said about his anger. He gets angry with people that disrespect. He feels that people shouldn’t get away with disrespect without consequence just because of who they are or because it’s wrong to put them in their place.  I have a family member that is a total jackass! He’s always getting under everyone’s skin and does mean things and every one laughs and says, “Oh, that’s just Uncle Jackass.” No one ever gets angry with him, or when they do, they don’t tell him to knock it the hell off because it’s annoying and hurts people’s feelings. He laughs and is totally hypocritical because when the joke is on him he gets mad. But when is enough, enough? When can I finally get so angry I can stand up to him and put him in his spot?

I had enough. And frankly this blog makes no sense to you all because you don’t know what I’m talking about, but I guess the moral to be learned here is that people should treat others how they expect to be treated. It’s one of the golden rules of life. Respect and be respected, love and be loved. We learn this in elementary school, so do we just kind of forget it along the way?

A long weekend that was almost perfect…

As my sister wrote about @ brandistrand.wordpress.com, the weekend was very enjoyable. Friday night I enjoyed a nice quiet night to my self because Skye was at her daddy’s. I listened to music the entire night, kind of loud, and it was great. Then on Saturday, I went over to my cousin’s house for my little cousin Katelyn’s 16th birthday party. She is so beautiful. I love all my little cousins. There were other things that made me laugh that I really won’t get into but it was a good night. I was responsible enough to have a good time but not get completely wasted to the point where I puked and couldn’t hold myself up, plus I remember everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that happened. I just can’t remember how I got this damn cut on my finger.

Anyways, Saturday night was good. It was depressing to wake up and find out that my cousin’s dog got out SOMETIME during the morning or night and found his way to the main road and got hit by a car. Poor Mr. B. He will be missed and it was kind of a downer, but I took it upon myself with the help of my little cousins to clean the mess from the party so that Lana wouldn’t have to deal with that too. I mean she lost her dog, she shouldn’t have to have the burden of cleaning an insanely huge mess. We had that garage and front yard looking spotless by 3 .

Over all it was a very nice weekend. It humbles me to see how much I’ve grown and how I can still act like a kid when I want. My cousin Lisa (41) and her cousin Jason (28) and I (23) stayed up until 4 am just messin around, being goofy and scaring her kids (14 – 18) It was hilarious. And! The best part is, I got a kiss from my lil prince charming (Zack of course!)

Change of theme…

Since summer is upon us, full force, I decided to change my “blog theme” to something a little more orange. I figured since the heat of the sun reminds me of a terrible orange nightmare of heat and misery, I’d change it to the “sunburn” (i think is the title) theme. I like it though. So until September, I hope you enjoy the new theme of the blog.

And just so you know, that isn’t what orange reminds me of Orange = Summer.

<3

life in a nutshell

I have recently decided to make candles. I thought it was going to be a simple task only to find out that there is so much more to candle making than I thought. My first batch were supposed to be red, but turned out to be this REALLY pretty color of pink, so I’m not too disappointed. Then, they were supposed to be cinnamon scented, but to no avail, they are not. They smell like wax. I made a huge mess and had my stove smelling like burning wax for a few days, then once I had poured the candles into the jars, the insides sank in. I do not know why. I have yet to melt some more wax to fill them in, basically these first batches of candles are going to be pink with a white filling. Not bad though, for my first time anyway. They burn for a while, so if you like candles just for the sake of fire, they’re not bad at all.

This week has been a busy week for us. First it was finals week. I did well I think but not as good as I probably could have done if I did not have strep throat. I got strep throat the week of finals. How so like me. I wait until the last possible moment to get sick when it hurts me the most. Oh well. I’m okay. Then it was my little cousins graduation on Tuesday (YAY! CONGRATS MADDY!) and then my mom’s birthday on Wednesday. Thursday was when I was forced to go to the doctors by my mom being that I had just spent time with my little nephew and sister and grandparents the day before and I should find out if my sore throat and fever was nothing more than a cold. Well, as I already stated, it was strep throat. No symptoms until everyone left on Wednesday night, which is really weird. Thursday my other little cousin (the grad’s little sister) had her 8th grade promotion. Nothing went on Friday except Skye’s preschool did a sports themed day in which her father participated and I did not because I didn’t want to get close to the kids. I did take pictures of Skye and her friends because it was her boyfriend’s last day before jetting off to South Africa. Saturday (yesterday) was my little cousins’ grad party. It was fun. My grandmother’s friends Jim and Karen and their son Brett stopped by. My Great-Aunt Rayma and Great-Uncle Harold came over. It was awesome. The only people missing were my cousin and his girlfriend and my Uncle Denny, but he lives in Washington so it’s completely understandable. I guess I’m ranting about this because I am still so TIRED.

Next week isn’t going to be so busy. I have no school but Skye has school for the next 4 days. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do, whether I stay out there near the preschool or drive back and forth, I just don’t know. If I stay out there it will only be 160 miles on my car. If I go back and forth, double that but it will be shared between two cars. I don’t know. I do need a hair cut, so I can do that one day. I just don’t know.

That is life right now in a nut shell. How are you? Have you smiled lately?

You are beautiful.