Post-Christmas Recovery

Sometimes I write in my journal and think I've written on my blog and vice versa. Sad, isn't it?

Maybe I'll have to go look at my journal so I can remember what I've done? Ummm...let's see. I remember writing about how I'm going to boycott Christmas because it's too much work. Amber saw that and was sad. I suppose I would have been sad, too, if my mom had wanted to boycott Christmas when I was 12. Who knows, maybe she did but I didn't know about it?

I need to stop stressing over Christmas, but it's not easy! I'm so glad Christmas is over.

I've actually been exercising lately. I stopped last summer when all of Thor's kennels took over the tv room. I started again Jan. 7 and I've exercised 18 out of the last 24 days. I feel so much better when I exercise!

Meagan - found another boyfriend. One from the internet that actually materialized this time. Yup. Jason. Or Pooky. Take your pick.

Meagan's thinking about going to school part-time next year so she can afford to buy and maintain a car. Of course, working for a dentist while she's getting her required courses completed so she can actually apply for her major might be what's best for her career right now. Plus, she'll need a car when she starts her major. All the dental hygiene classes are taught at a campus that no busses go to.

David - made a turkey dinner with all the trimmings for us tonight. It was yummy. The only thing missing was pumpkin pie. Maybe I'll make some tomorrow? Or not?

David got pnuemonia and strep right after Christmas. He's mostly recovered, but he's still really tired most of the time.

Social Security sent him a review he had to fill out and send back before Feb. 10. I guess they review all the disability cases every 6 or 7 years just to make sure the recipient is still disabled. Unfortunately, David still is. We filled out all the paperwork and dropped it off at the post office on Thursday, so we didn't forget. Not having that income would be disastrous for us, so I'm glad that's done.

Then we took a coupon we got in the mail and got lunch at Golden Corral. Aren't we romantic? Lunch was good, though. The two best things I had were chicken in gravy (it was amazing!) and fresh pineapple. I love fresh pineapple.

Cameron - His favorite school class is 3-D animation. He's thinking maybe he'll major in that in college. Maybe he'll go to BYU. They have a really good film/computer animation department. I've heard they work with Pixar. I told him if he loves that and wants to major in that, to go for it, but he may have to move out of state to get a job. Then again, maybe he won't. I guess we'll see.

Jarom - is going to be starting high school next year. I can't believe it. And Amber's going to be starting junior high. Wow. It was weird enough having Meagan start college this year.

Jarom's last history project was making a game based on a country. He chose the UK (of course!) and made an Apples to Apples type game. He called it Kingdom to Kingdom and packaged it in a Pop-Tarts box. The class split up into groups and played each others' games. I guess his teacher and class liked it, he got 172.5 out of 200.

Amber - had to write down her New Year's resolutions for a writing assignment. She chose reading more books and spending less money. She reads almost as many books as Holly, so I don't know why she chose that. She told me she needs to finish the books she starts. Mom said maybe Amber wanted to choose a goal that she knew she'd do. That would make sense.

As far as money, she said she needs to spend less of it on junk food. Yeah, I'd agree with that. At the end of her paper, she wrote: "Now I guess I'll go make some carrot peels and eat them." What?

Me - (Not like this whole blog isn't about me anyway!) I joined a writing group with Sheri. Mrs. Bean (as in my school friend David's mom) is leading the group. She taught English at the Jr. High I went to, but I never had her. Now I wish I had. She would have been way more fun than any of the Jr. High English teachers I had. I take that back, Mrs. Crockett in 7th grade was fun, but the other 2? Not so much.

Anyway, Mrs. Bean is a kick and I love going to her writing group. Especially with Sheri.

I got my second assignment back from ICL. My instructor said it was "very strong." I had to describe a scene children would enjoy. I chose the Christmas parade, since I was going to be there anyway - to see Jarom play his trumpet. I felt like a reporter, standing there taking notes on everything. I think just watching a parade is funner, but hey, I got my assignment done. It does force you to pay more attention to details and what's going on.

Now I'm struggling with my third assignment. I'm writing a children's magazine article. I wrote one, but I don't really like it. I'm thinking of shifting it so I only write about 1 animal instead of 3. I only get 500 words, so that seems like it might work better.

I've written tons of reports and essays for school, but they didn't really have to be entertaining. They just had to make sense. Usually when I'm going for entertainment, I write fiction so I can let my mind go wild.

Well, I gotta go run errands I've been putting off for the last month.

There - are you happy now, Becky? I actually posted!