Trip Report

We spent a long weekend in Florida, attending my niece's wedding and meeting our new granddaughter.

My niece's wedding was a temple affair. I did not attend. My husband went to the sealing with my MIL. I was rather taken aback at how I felt ironing my husband's good white dress shirt, then sending him off to the temple without me. In the past, attending the temple was something good and meaningful that we did together. I felt a sense of loss that this is no longer something we can share.

The reception was wonderful. The bride and groom were stunning; a gorgeous couple. The two of them shared a ring ceremony after a dinner for the family (the groom's family is not LDS, and so did not attend the service). They each read a piece of poetry they had written for the other. I wish I had been able to stay for that...but little boy started being disruptive so felt I ought to leave to keep him quiet. He and I played on the stairs to the stage, and bothered the caterers (but only a little bit). The food was tasty, and the music was excellent, and I had fun mingling with the groom's family.

The next day, Saturday, we went further south to see my daughter and her family. My granddaughter, Amy, was only five days old. Dark hair, with a face quite like her big brother's. I went grocery shopping and cooked up a bunch of meat (ground beef, chicken breasts) to freeze so meals can happen more easily. We visited for a bit and watched "Breakfast at Tiffany's," which my daughter said she doesn't "get." We drove back north that evening.

Sunday, we had breakfast and lunch with my in-laws, who blew off church (bless 'em) and then left for home around 1:30. With the time change, we were home by 8:30 p.m. I studied most of the time we were in the car (on the way there, the way to see my daughter, and the way home).

My mother-in-law made a funny statement: "Well, you've had a nice relaxing break from your hectic life." It was about the opposite: we had a hectic break from our relaxing life.

I've rethought my priorities

Rather than stick around and take my final exam on Friday, in an effort to get an "A," I'm going to go with my husband and little boy to Florida, to my niece's wedding and reception. The wedding is Friday, the day of my final. But my Org Comm prof will substitute my lowest exam grade to date for the final exam. The grading scale in that class is ridiculously easy (not that I'm complaining), so I'm going to have a B for sure. I can live with a B. Heck, a B is pretty good.

On Saturday, we will all go to Sarasota to meet the newest small member of the family. We'll drive back on Sunday.

The wedding is a temple affair, in Orlando. I'm not totally decided on what I will do: go sit for a few hours in the hot afternoon Central Florida June sun, or stay at the in-laws and study math.

Several rooms in my house are cleaner tonight than they've been in weeks, in anticipation of my nephew and his wife and their Large Truck that they are driving via the Southern Route from Utah to northeast Florida. They are going to sleep here for a couple of hours, then move on. The reason they aren't just going to get a good night's sleep is a very strange story that I will leave you all curious about, for the sake of loyalty to and love of those not present.

Might not be around much the rest of the week...

I have a final on Friday for which I am behind on my reading. I have a quiz tomorrow and "class work" to get extra points for the math exam I blogged about last week. The list of work I have to do to get ready for those things is about 2-3 hours a day for the next three days, and that doesn't even include staying on top of the new material in math. I frittered away most of the afternoon today poking around on the 'net and napping (ah, the life of leisure I lead). When I made my list tonight, I was VERY regretful of most of that time lost.

Well, maybe not the nap. I'm feeling kinda draggy today. I needed a nap.

So, if you don't see anything much new here, or many comments from me on your blogs, don't be surprised! I will post a picture or two of my new granddaughter when I get them, hopefully in the next day or so.

Well, that was quick!

It's a girl. Seven pounds, fourteen ounces, long fingernails, and absolutely fine. Mom and baby are both happy and beautiful.

She doesn't have a name yet. Heck, she's still not cleaned up.

About to be a grandma again

My 2nd grandchild, a girl we think, will be arriving in the next day or less. Hopefully, within a few hours.

The baby passed the meconium already. This has me more than a little bit worried. At least they know, though, and they will have a respiratory therapist on hand at delivery.

If anybody reads this before Monday morning...whatever form of higher power you choose to petition, please include my granddaughter in your thoughts tonight. Strength in numbers, you know.

Men's Work/Women's Work

I grew up in a house where Mom got a job once we were all in school, and where Dad did the laundry. I like doing laundry. It's an easy job. Folding clothes is something I can do on auto-pilot, and everything smells clean and feels soft coming out of the dryer. Maybe that's why Dad liked doing it, too. He could do it while he watched football or golf or basketball or whatever season it was on TV.

I like doing dishes and scrubbing pots and pans when I'm upset about something. Suds, hot water, stainless steel and a scotch pad, all brought together in a flurry of activity while I think think think about why I'm upset and how to resolve it.

I cut the front yard today, and I think DH may have thought that I thought that he should be doing it. Not the case at all...he's gonna do the back, which is bigger but out of sight.

DH is very good about home repair. Before we got married, my MIL told me, "(DH) likes to do things that have value. He isn't at all interested in chores that just need to be done again, but he likes doing things that won't need to be done again. Also, he isn't very good about doing things promptly. He does them when he gets around to them." This was very useful advice, because I grew up with a father who, when he wanted something done, wanted it done NOW. As a result of this conversation with my MIL, DH and I were able to avoid some early misunderstandings. I told him, "I won't often ask you to do something. But when I do, it contains an implied NOW at the end."

Do many of you divide your home maintenance and upkeep and day-to-day chores into "men's work" and "women's work"? I wouldn't think about installing shelves or an attic fan, because DH enjoys that kind of work. OTOH, I don't think there's any housework he won't do...but there's some that he doesn't do unless asked.

Yard Work in Louisiana

Doing yard work here is an absolute chore. We've had a lot of rain, so the grass is growing like crazy. And it's hotter than blazes, and the humidity is unbelievable. It doesn't help that I'm not in shape. Well, round is a shape, but not the shape most conducive to vigorous activity in the heat.

Fortunately, the front yard is pretty small, and there's a pretty good-sized patch without much grass. So I was able to get it cut this morning in about 30 minutes. I even trimmed the tall grass next to the border edging (railroad ties, in termite country...not my idea, OK?) It took almost no time, even with these little hand clippers.

The back yard...well, Little Boy won't get lost out there, so it's going to wait for another day. Or evening, close to sunset.

Games My Little Boy Plays

DH and my little son have invented several games that they both enjoy very much. Little boy likes them because they are interactive, and active (for him). DH likes them because he mostly gets to sit or lay down.

The games are:

• Take things - DH will sit on the couch and hold something over his head, moving it back and forth and from hand to hand. Little boy tries to take it away from him.
• 
  
• Pull pull pull fall down - DH holds on to something, like a dish towel, and little boy holds on to the other end. Each pulls on his end of the towel (or whatever) and then DH lets go.


• Catch Someone - DH lays on the bed or the floor. Little boy runs around and pretends to dodge and duck, while DH pretends to try to catch him, all the while making growling noises. Then little boy will jump on DH, and DH will catch him.

They also play a very structured game of Hide and Seek. DH has to hide in our bathroom, while little boy will pretend not to be able to find him. Then, (Ta Dum!) Little Boy finds Daddy exactly where Daddy was instructed to hide. Then, it's DH's turn to pretend to not be able to find Little Boy in the corner behind a box in our closet, the same exact spot where he hides every time.

One other exciting activity is the jump-carry hug. Little boy will leap into the air and DH will catch him. They hug, while DH carries him around. The first time I heard this described - "I want a Jump-Carry hug" - I was sure he said "John Kerry hug."

Those of you who have not-quite-five-year-old little boys (or girls) are free to try any of these games. Many of them can be done easily even after a long day at work.

Can I brag about my DH?

What a man. We have a '90 Toyota Corolla with almost 250K miles on it. I treasure that car. You'd think I'd put the miles on it myself, I love it so much.

It was behaving erratically. He replaced the starter. It took him an entire day. He's a logical and very intelligent man, but not a car guy. The car ran fine for a couple of days, then would shut off for no reason at all. Yikes. We had it repaired (for about the same $$ as we paid for the car). The most recent behavior was that it would run fine around home, but when we drove it to New Orleans, after we got it there, it wouldn't start. It would have to "rest" for a few hours before it could make the trip home. Very annoying. A couple of car guys said it sounded like a bad starter, and that the place we bought the starter from was known to have bad batches on occasion (!)

DH drove the car to Mandeville, then to the car parts place, where the car would not start up again. They tested it. It was the starter. He replaced it again today. And now, when we drive it to Mandeville and back, it will start right up again.

I told him, if the university professor thing starts to get old, he can always become a car starter installer.

I've joined a new club

I have joined up with the "Mo Life Blog Club," started by the writer of my favorite Mormon-themed site, "Dave's Mormon Inquiry." I am not obliged to blog about Mormon stuff regularly, but am expected to occasionally touch on Mormon themes. Since I am still a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and expect to remain one, I think I will be able to come up with something occasionally.

I know most of my regular readers here are affiliated, at least tangentially, with the Disaffected Mormon Underground. I love you guys. Please don't scare away the faithful, who I hope will get to be regular readers and commenters on Life, The Universe, and Everything, and not just "The C." Y'all have been really cool about my "no cussing" rule, so I expect that my (very) occasional comments about The C will not send any of you into the slough of despond.

I don't expect what I write will be especially faith-promoting, but I don't expect to be especially critical, either. Many of my most favorite humans are LDS.

Feel free to check out any of the links on the "Mo Blog Club" on the right. Oh, and if you want to sign up, head over to Dave's Mormon Inquiry and post a comment saying "I want to join the club."

The Test: Follow up

If nobody in the class got 90 or better, he's going to curve the exam. Nobody finished. This is very encouraging. Before the exam, my grade was a C.

Apparently I did not learn as many things as I should have. I should have spent more time learning what the graphs look like.

In my other class, I got an 88 on my 2nd exam; much better than the first (an A). I really want an A in this class - an 85 or better is an A, fer cryin' out loud.

I will blog about something other than school later. After I do my homework.

Things I know about logarithms and graphing rational equations

I'm doing this without my book. Honest!

First, logarithms:

• A logarithm is an exponent.


• If log _ax=y, then a^y=x


• log _aa = 1


• log _a1 = 0


• a^log_ax = x


• if log _ax = log _ay, then x=y


• log _ax = log ₁₀x / log ₁₀a

Next, graphing rational equations

• To find the y intercepts, solve the equation for x=0


• To find the x intercepts, find the zeroes of the numerator


• The vertical asymptote is the zero of the denominator


• The horizontal asymptote is determined under the following conditions:


1. If the highest degree of the numerator is > the highest degree of the denominator, the H.A. is 1


2. If the highest degree of the numerator is = the highest degree of the denominator, the H.A. is the leading coefficient of the numerator/leading coefficient of the denominator


3. If the highest degree of the numerator is < the highest degree of the denominator, there is no H.A.


• If the degree of the numerator is exactly one more than the degree of the denominator, the slant asymptote is the line ay=bx, where a is the leading coefficient of the numerator and b is the leading coefficient of the denominator.

I'll update this to reflect any mistakes I've made...

Update: I was mostly wrong about finding the horizontal asymptote:

1. If the highest degree of the numerator is > the highest degree of the denominator, the graph has no H.A.


2. If the highest degree of the numerator is = the highest degree of the denominator, the H.A. is the leading coefficient of the numerator/leading coefficient of the denominator (I got this one right).


3. If the highest degree of the numerator is < the highest degree of the denominator, the H.A. is the x-axis

Practically No Air Conditioning: Day Four

On Tuesday afternoon, when I came home from school, the house was 84 degrees. The blower was going, and the Outside Thing was going, but there was no cool air coming from the vents. I made a couple of phone calls, and within a couple of hours, Major Appliance was on site. The condensor? inside the Outside Thing was frozen over, so Air Conditioning Dude turned it off, and said he'd be back in an hour and a half, after it melted, to see what the problem was. He said it could be ten or eleven different things, and he didn't even want to guess which things it might be.

Exactly as he said he would, he came back an hour and a half later. The news was bad. Very bad. We would need a new outside thing, as ours had seized/burnt up. $1200. He would be back to install it the next day.

Day two: Even with many windows open and all the fans going, the house was 90 degrees by the time Air Conditioning Due returned the following afternoon. But within an hour and a half of his arrival, cool air was blowing out of the vents. By bedtime, the temperature was 80 degrees. We were glad to have the house bearable again for sleeping; even though it was kind of on the warm side, it was way better than it had been several hours early, and the trend was good.

Day three: In the morning, it was 74, right where the thermostat was set. But when we got home from school/work mid-afternoon, it felt a little warm. Around dinner time, I checked the thermostat, and temperature was 80 degrees, even though the thermostat was set at 74. Not Good. We called Major Appliance, and they told us they would send someone first thing in the morning. It got as warm as 82, but fell during the night and was down to 74 again in the morning.

Day four: Air Conditioning Dude came. The freon levels were not correct and he fixed them. He said that this was sometimes a problem when a house was as hot as ours had been on Day Two. He was confident that this would fix the problem. When we got home from school/work mid-afternoon, it was 80 again. We called, and Air Conditioning Dude's boss came out near the end of the day. Our coils are messed up (inside the house) and this is what probably caused our original Outside Thing to fry.

It's now 83 in here, so we just opened the windows and shut off the A/C. Fortunately, our vendor has, from the very first, treated "no air conditioning" as an emergency. Considering that we live in Southeast Louisiana, and our daytime highs have been in the low 90's for the last few days, with 80-85% humidity, I'm glad they're taking our problem seriously.

Tomorrow will be Day five; and they are supposed to come clean off the coil things, to restore air movement in the Inside Thing, so the Outside Thing can do it's job and not burn out.

Average? Me?

I haven't about the results of school stuff because it has been Not Great. I'm learning a lot, I'm working hard, and I'm pulling C's.

I may be up to a "B" in my Organizational Communications class, where I earned a high C on my first exam. I had an exam yesterday, and I think I did much better. I studied smarter. The first test was multiple choice, and I figured if I was familiar with the material, it would be easy. Ahem. It wasn't enough to be familiar with the material; I needed to know it cold. Not good.

Pre-calculus is another story. I failed my first quiz, got a 76 (a low C) on my first test, and a low D on my 2nd quiz. What surprised me about this is that I was just sure that I nailed the test, and I felt pretty good about the 2nd quiz, too. As I reviewed the key, I discovered that I had the concepts right, but the freaking calculations were completely wrong on simply solving for zero, and that (doh!) I mixed up my x and y intercepts on graphing a polynomial.

I really think I can pull off decent grades in both of these classes, but I also think it's going to take more work than I've been putting in.

What a busy life I lead

Friday night, I read four chapters in my Organizational Communications textbook, highlighting key points (i.e., what I think is going to be on the test).

Saturday, I got up at 8:30 (ah, bliss) and went grocery shopping while DH made breakfast. I did laundry, and vacuumed, and we went to Sam's. DH went to a meeting at church, and I did homework while he was there. I met him there at 6:00 for another meeting, then had a choir practice after. We stayed up and talked for a while, but got to sleep at a reasonable hour.

Sunday, we got up and had a quick breakfast, then went to church. I sang in a choir. I love to sing. We sounded wonderful. We had lunch when we got home. Pasta with Tuna Sauce. Eh. After lunch, we played Scrabble while little boy played on the computer. I won by making two triple words at once by making adding the word STRAPS to DIVOT, making DIVOT plural. DH had been decisively ahead until that point, because he started with ZIPPY, with the Z on a double letter, and it was a double word to boot. I ended up beating him by ten points. We took turns on the computer, and then we played Chutes and Ladders, and Candy Land (twice) with the little boy. There was a beautifully noisy thunderstorm in the late afternoon. High winds and much lightning. Very cool. I did math homework. We had burritos for dinner.

Today, after I got home from school, I worked on a cover letter for a job as a Computer Technician with the St. Tammany Parish School Board. Dinner was Italian Spinach Dumplings, or strangolapreti (priest strangler's). Oh, my they are tasty. Brenda, they are so extremely easy and sinfully high fat. You must try them! I did dishes and read blogs and another chapter in my Organizational Communications text.

I still have not e-mailed Lynda. She sent me a pithy e-mail today, complaining. It said: "Ahem."

I have also not responded to an e-mail from the president of the GED test service I program for, asking when I will have the French version of the test ready for scoring.

Now, I'm going to bed.

Self congratulation (appropriate after yesterday's self-flagellation)

Type "writing in the corner" in a google search. Do not use quotation marks.

Notice hit #2. Ahem. That would be me.

My blog has shown up in links on on the bloggernacle (blogs by Mormons), about which I have mixed feelings. As most of y'all know, my relationship with the church is fraught with turmoil. The best way I've found to relate to the church is to relate to it as little as possible. I read a few Mormon blogs (linked to the right) that don't leave me with the urge to scream, "It's a lie! It's all a lie!" But I do comment on those blogs, and so I've been found, and linked, and now maybe the links to those few pages where I'm linked have increased my status on Google.

I write to be read. That's why I've asked my dear friends to be reserved in their use of language on my blog; so if my momma or husband want to read, they can. So I'm delighted by this most unexpected promotion. Last time I googled myself, I was on page three, and had to use quotation marks. This is very exciting to me. If I can be googled, I can be read!

The free version of StatCounter will track only 100 hits per day, and I'm exceeding that. Can anybody recommend a good (free) log analyzer that will do more than that?

Now, I'm going to go write Lynda, who I pointed to my blog and will figure out that I am writing here instead of to her, and will be miffed (rightly so!) if she doesn't hear something personal, but quick. Then I will start dinner.

One of the things I never talk about

I have been having some aches and pains for the last few months. Getting older, I guess. Achilles tendonitis, possible arthritis in my knee, painful right elbow and shoulder. I've been taking Rx naproxen sodium, and it's helped. But I haven't been able to find my script for a day or two, and I hurt.

This came up when I was talking to older son this afternoon. Older son is 6'1" and weighs 148 lbs. fully clothed. Tall and slim! He suggested that many of my aches and pains were caused by my weight. He's probably right. My feet and ankles aren't designed to carry as much weight as they are. We talked for a bit about why I am not doing anything to try to lose weight, and that made me think seriously about it. I try not to do that too often, but since it's on the top of my mind, I thought I'd go ahead and put it out here.

I am what is referred to as morbidly obese. I weigh double (yes, double) what a woman my height should weigh. If I lost 100 lbs. I would still be significantly overweight. When I was 14 years old, and weighed 125 lbs., I thought I was fat. I dieted, off and on, for most of my adult life. Eight years ago, I lost 60 lbs. on Optifast, and gained it all back. I gained 20 lbs. per year during the three years I took Depo Provera shots for birth control. Fifteen years ago, I lost 20 lbs on weight watchers. Ten years ago, I exercised daily and attended TOPS meetings for several months, and lost 20 lbs. Every time, I've stopped, for one reason or another (money, injury, etc.) and gained back everything I've lost, and then some. The only time I have been successful at staying thin was in the early 80's, when I was in my early 20's, and I visited various quack doctors who prescribed me prescription amphetines. I rarely slept without barbiturates to bring me down, and I got a bunch of bladder infections, and I talked non-stop. But I was thin.

I have been failing at weight loss for 30 years.

Being fat constrains everything about me. It doesn't matter that I am smart, funny, pretty, talented and personable. I am fat. That is what people see. It is a caveat to all my positive traits.

I can barely write about it, let alone speak about it, without crying. It's isolating. I don't like to go out because I'm always making accommodations for my size. I often can't sit in a booth at a restaurant. When I go to the theatre, I need an empty seat on one side. Flying is terrifying - not because I'm afraid of flying, but because planes are so packed these days, and the damn tray table won't even go all the way down.

I don't do anything about it, because I will fail. I always have. Why should this time be any different from the fifty times before? I haven't read Dr. Phil's book. "This time is different." My foot.

Never book a seat on the last flight out, and other travel advice

DH and Older Son are going to be stuck in Atlanta overnight. Their flight out of New York was delayed by many hours, and they are going to miss the (last) flight to New Orleans that they were scheduled on. They are flying out tomorrow a.m. They may make it to my little boy's "graduation" in time.

There are many, many flights to New Orleans from Atlanta during the day, but the odds of recovering from a cancelled or delayed flight decrease if you start out later. And of course, if you're scheduled on the last flight out, and you miss it, you're shafted.

It's a drag; I was looking forward to them coming home tonight.

Tomorrow's schedule is going to be in an uproar because of Little Boy's "graduation" from pre-school. I have a pre-calculus exam, which I will need to take during the earlier section, because I am giving a speech: Nursery Rhymes in Early Childhood Learning for graduation. I'm not just in the audience; I'm a participant. Little Boy is acting out the part of Jack Be Nimble. He has a MUCH easier job.

I will miss my Organizational Communications class tomorrow, and I don't know if there's class on Thursday. I will just go and see what happens.

I watched Design Rules on BBC America. Laurence Llewelyn Bowen is SO yummy. I should have been studying. Oh, well...I can go study now.

An interesting intersection of my interests

Here on pound is an interesting entry about Mormonism and writing. Profanity included. What a hoot...