The Joys of Being Back Home

I love being home. The mosquitoes, the roaches, the other critters, the grass growing the second you get in from mowing it, the thunderstorms, the heat, the humidity. I could go on and on. Okay so I hate the heat and humidity and the critters and the roaches. I hate walking in tall grass and I park in the grass at my parents house. I hate going and getting in my car in the afternoon. It is so hot you could fry an egg (well you could come close to it I bet). I make Adam clean up and kill any and all critters that try to enter our home.

We had a tropical storm a few weeks ago or about a month ago and now another one is headed our way supposedly. School is out on Monday for the normal Labor Day holiday and they announced today that they would also be closed on Tuesday due to the storm. They say it will hit Monday or Tuesday. Last time we had hardly any rain and it was just a usual day with no work. This time it is already a hurricane. UGH. I wasn't here for Rita and I am glad. We heard on the news there is a voluntary evacuation in order for our county (being right on the coast and my town being about 10-15 minutes from the gulf). They say there could be a mandatory evacuation Sunday or Monday. Who knows. I'll keep you posted. I am not that worried. However I hear Wal-Mart was out of bottled water by noon today. Craziness.

Baby Update

I had a doctors appointment yesterday. I got to hear the heartbeat again. It has been between 150 and 152 every time I have gone. He said my uterus is in the right spot and that things are looking good. I have gained 2 lbs so total I have lost 2. :) That's good since I was big before I got pregnant. We find out what it is on September 17 and I am so excited. I can't wait to know what it is and neither can our families. My in-laws especially because its the first grandkid on that side. It's the 6th on my side, so they are excited but not as much as they were with the first I think. I'll keep you posted.

I got my hair done yesterday and I had her dye it all back brown with a little auburn in it. It is so dark though. Darker than I am used to since for several years I have had blonde highlights. It's way short too. Kari went with me and she got a cute bob, but it looks like it always does. No matter what kind of bob haircut she gets, it always looks the same. She is getting married in November and I am way excited for her. I remember how I felt when I got engaged and had stuff to get done and school. It was very overwhelming. I wouldn't change it for the world. I have a terrific husband that takes care of me and listens to me complain all the time. He said we aren't having any more kids we are just adopting because I have had minor things that I complain about and he said he is already tired of it. Oh well. It must be love. :)

I love Uncle Sam...Today

So due to the fact I was married in March, I didn't have to use my parents for my financial aid stuff. We both got grants from Uncle Sam. Grants are amazing. They only paid half of Adam's Tuition, but it paid for almost all of mine! That makes me a happy camper since Lamar feels inclined to continue to charge me for the Health Center Fee and for the Rec Center. The supervisor's assistant called and said those fees cannot be taken off. (I personally know that used to not be true because Adam and I have a friend that got fees taken off all the time...You know who you are.) Lucky I say. I was either not nice enough (which I thought I was very nice by explaining why I felt I shouldn't be charged and saying please and thank you. It still didn't work.) UGH. But hey, I am convinced Uncle Sam paid for those two things with my grants so I don't have to pay them! Thanks Uncle Sam (today...)

Update on my class...It is great having connections in the Distance Learning Department now especially since all my classes are Distance Learning classes. He spoke with his boss about my class on Friday and how we were being required to go up to campus twice for the class for 3 hours each. Apparently it is a rule that if they charge you distance learning fees, they cannot make you go up to campus. She was annoyed. He said he hadn't heard from her today, but they had a faculty/staff meeting today and the speaker told the teachers they needed to be flexible with their online classes and they have to be willing to learn how to use the system and be patient with it. He said they also couldn't expect students to go up to campus for an online class. DING DING DING. Her's your sign professor. You can't make me do it. I won't do it. So I'm waiting to hear back from Adam's boss to see if she talked to her or to get an email from my professor telling us we are not required to go to the campus visits anymore.

Kari and Mom will be back tomorrow night. I'll have friends again. With Janelle and Meredith gone, I have gotten decent afternoon naps with the quiet of the house, but there isn't anyone to talk to. I hate going shopping by myself but with Kari home we can go together. Neither of us have money to spend, but at least it's someone to get out of the house with!!

P.S. I saw on Oprah today that this lady cuts out coupons and takes them to the grocery store and with her $187.00 bill, only paid like 3 bucks. I wanna learn how to do that. That's a smart shopper.

Venting Once Again

So as everyone knows, I have been pushing myself (with the help of my parents and husband) to graduate in December so I won't have to worry about school with a new baby. I have been taking online classes for about 2 years now and it has been amazing. I can work as much as I need to and still attend class. Well this semester I am having to take Public Speaking because it is a required course and they are trying it online this year. I thought wahoo. This is my chance. I hate speaking formally in front of people. So I signed up for it and got a syllabus for it earlier this week. The syllabus stated we were going to have to buy a webcam for two of the speeches and also have a video camera to video the other two speeches and mail them in. Does Lamar think we are made of money being newlyweds with a baby on the way?? Come on give me a break. But we agreed that since it was still all online etc, that we could handle it and it would be okay.

So I get an email today telling me not to buy a webcam that now I have to go sit in a classroom for 3 hours on two different nights to listen to everyone speeches and perform my own. HOW IS THAT ONLINE??? UGH. It makes me so mad. The point of online is so some students who live away can take the class without having to worry about things and for people like me who are working to support a family and not having time to go up to campus. I don't want to go sit up there for three hours. That is ridiculous.

I called the Distance Education Department complaining today. They better do something about it or they are going to have one fired up hormonal pregnant woman in their office next week. Not that it's Distance Ed's fault, it's really the teachers fault. What is she thinking? That because she has a degree and is teaching at Lamar she doesn't have to go by Distance Education's rules and requirements?

Lamar is also charging me a recreational sports center fee and a health center fee. All because I am taking one night class with the rest of my online classes. The health center probably isn't even open when I'm going to be on campus and I'm pregnant. I'm not going to go to them for anything. I'm going to go to my OBGYN and my family doctor for any and all problems I have because I trust them. I am not going to go to Lamar to workout. Are you kidding me? Who do they think they are. I tried to get them to waive the fee and cashier's wouldn't do it. They transferred me to some supervisor who is out until Tuesday. I'm not going to pay it when I can't/won't use it. That's a major waste of 100 bucks when I have a baby on the way and am going to have to start buying diapers. It is ridiculous.

Anyone agree with me about any of this?

Update

I went back to the doctor on Tuesday for a check up. He said things are going good the baby's heart rate was 152. I have lost 4 pounds!!! YIPPEE!! (Happy mom with the way I spelled it?) So I haven't really gained any weight with the baby. I have just gotten fatter. It's good that I haven't gained weight yet since I was fat to begin with :)

I have gotten in two of my five grades for the summer. One's an A and the other is a B. Hopefully the other three will be just as good. We are still pushing for me to graduate in December. That way I don't have to worry about it with the baby. Adam is loving his new job. They are spoiling him, but its good for him for now. Hopefully he will graduate soon as well. We are bored to death without Baby Meredith around to entertain us. Janelle and her came home last night to get a few more things and spent the night. It was good to see both of them and to play with Baby M. They have already headed back to Lufkin and the boredom continues. We are chilling at Mom and Dads trying to get some of Mom's Laundry done while she is out of town. Hopefully I can get it all done before she gets back with Kari.

Adam is glad that Matt will be back sometime this weekend. He has missed his friend and is ready to have someone to hang out with again beside me and my family. I'm glad Kari is coming home. We fight like crazy when we are together, but we have fun at times.... Kari if you are reading this "Look into my eye without smiling" :) I can't wait for you to come home!!! You miss me terribly I know :)

Hello All

My blog has finally fixed itself somehow. Wahoo!!! We didn't float away with the storm. There really wasn't a storm here at all. It's pretty crazy how you never know if it's going to rain like crazy from one of those or just barely rain. We both got off work due to the little tropical storm and we were happy about that. I'm ready for Kari to get home because we have a hair appointment and I need it major. My roots are so long it's ridiculous.

The pregnancy has been going pretty well. I have had a few issues here and there, but nothing we can't handle. We are still trying to figure out names. I called it Baby Haynes the other day and Dad said what you don't have names yet? I said well kinda but not really...I can't call it by its name until we know what it is. Baby Haynes is much easier. We find out September 17 if it's a boy or girl (hopefully - as long as its cooperating).

USA Girls just won another beach volleyball game. I love watching May and Walsh play. They are amazing. I like watching Phelps swim as well. He is so fast its unbelievable. We have 12 medals so far. China is beating us by 2, but hopefully we'll pass up China!

UGH

My blog list got messed up. Now when you click on my family and friends blogs, it opens them weird. Is anyone else having this problem? This is gay

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

There is a tropical storm out in the gulf and it is headed straight for us. The city is going crazy. Grocery stores are full of people. Water is almost sold out. They were saying it would hit sometime during the night but not it probably won't hit until 8 or 9 in the morning. Businesses are saying they will be closing down tomorrow and even offices were getting off at 12 today to prepare. It's crazy. I told mom we might stay with here because I'm not staying in our little trailer with crazy weather headed this way. I'll keep you posted.