A Lame Teacher Doles out a Pop Test

So on Monday in Pathophysiology our teacher told us he was thinking about moving up our test from the next Monday to that Saturday (A testing center test, so I assumed there would be 3 days to take it). Then on Wednesday he announced that the test would run from Thursday to Tuesday and we needed to have read the next chapters by that Monday for class. I was so annoyed. I had been so good and diligent about my studying and was ready to take the test Monday. Then he said he was moving it to Saturday, no big deal, but this was no good. Now I would have to take the test on Thursday Friday or Saturday so I wouldn't have to pay the late fee and would be able to get ready for class Monday.

Well, I wanted to take the test Saturday but my babysitter fell through and Todd had clinical all day so I sadly had to wait. So I decided to spend my time starting in on the material for Monday. Then I could spend Tuesday morning studying for the test and take it in the afternoon. Well, I worked on Saturday and Sunday night, and again my babysitter fell through for Monday morning when Todd had school, so I stayed up all morning trying to take care of Lila, passed out for about 2 hours, then went to school.

Well, during the break we had in Patho I walked around out in the hall to help keep myself awake. Then at the end of class I thought I would ask someone else, just to verify, if the test would still be available in the testing center on Tuesday. Do you want to know what she said? She said NO. That during the break a student told the teacher she called the testing center and they told her the test only went through Monday. And he said then you better take it today.

But then he didn't announce this to the class?!? I was so mad. I heard another student complaining about it after class, and he was saying stuff like "well what did you do this weekend?" And I wanted to punch him in the face. If he wanted us to take a test over the weekend, he should have made the test only available during the weekend. If you give people options you can't always assume that they are just lazy or procrastinating. For instance, the mom who is working full-time and has been diligently studying for your test.

So I went over the to testing center- having been awake for (basically) more than 24 hours and unprepared for the test. Then the test itself was also awful. It didn't have enough questions to cover the material, so every one wrong counted for a lot of your grade and huge chunks of material studied wasn't even tested. And he had a lot of those questions that included one small random fact that if you didn't memorize it you couldn't get the question right.

I didn't fail but I could have done a lot better. I officially hate pathophysiology.

The Final Touch

So Todd and I have done a lot of work to our house. I think no matter what there will always be projects we want to do to improve it (it is over 30 years old, and some things are still pretty outdated). But since we moved in there has been one critical piece missing from our home. And now we have it! It is the first time since I moved out of my parent's house after high school that I have had my beautiful baby in a place so easily accessible. I thought with my busy schedule I would never have time to play, but luckily Lila loves it! Once I was playing a bit while she ate in her high chair and for about half an hour after she finished eating she kept on asking me for more whenever I finished a song. It was awesome. So I just take some of my Lila time and use it to do something with Lila and play on my harp. Oh, and Lila likes to sit on the bottom. Sometimes that is her book reading place. She has a weird thing for finding short ledges she can sit on. Anyway, adorable.

busy, tired, sleep deprived

Well, this semester is going just as I imagined it. Every time I get home I just get ready to pick up and leave again. Get home from school, get ready to go to work. Get up after work, get ready to go to school. Or a family activity or a mandatory work training. And soon, to the testing center. Or to church. And in a few weeks we'll even have a Saturday practice for the primary program (yes, we have primary callings!). I finally caved and set up as many of my bills online with autopay as I could. I used to spend so much time paying bills and going through papers. I guess Christmas Break will be paper-sorting time. I still need to set up our mortgage, and I'll always have to pay our HOA and regular credit card by hand (don't worry, we spend the money then pay the whole thing off each month MOM). Our bishop actually asked me how we were doing in general, then asked how we were doing financially. I told him we were fine, and even though we might have to dip into our savings after our low-income summer he said in shock "you have savings?!" I guess we are a rare finding in our ward. Maybe time to increase our fast offerings.

But all that is besides the point! I don't get enough sleep and when Todd and I sit down to make our weekly schedules we often can't find time to do the grocery shopping. We like to do it together, but we may have to bite the bullet here soon and whoever can fit it in will have to do it themselves. But we have been successful in working out for an hour 6 days a week! Going back to our weekly planning- that is the only way we've been able to do that. We decided its important for us and so we are going to stick to it! At night instead of winding down and watching TV with Todd I usually spend 3 hours studying after Lila goes to bed, then crash myself. I used to take naps with Lila when I got tired, but now its basically the only time I can study!

There are only 2 reasons I feel that I might still be sane at this point. The first is that I knew all this was coming and decided ahead of time that I would not freak out. In the past if I didn't get my sleep I knew I would be tired and have a hard time functioning, so I would freak out. My sleep was a high priority. But I have put mind over matter and allowed sleep to drop a bit on the priority list. I sneak in extra when I can, but I know it won't always work out the way I want it. It's all about attitude!

The second, and much more important thing is that Todd has become househusband! He has taken on almost all the housework, and gets mad at me when I do some things for him. He may not know it, but it has made my sanity possible. Before if there were dishes in the sink my brain would be racing about how I would have time to do them while Lila pulled them out of the dishwasher as soon as I put them in and I also have to get ready for school and finish this assignment and get the mail and oh yeah there are toys out downstairs and I really should sweep the floor and man that shelf needs organizing and I need to pick up my clothes off the bedroom floor and soon I was overwhelmed with the magnitude of everything because I really felt I was responsible for everything. Now I can just pick up after myself and know that the rest of the mess (Todd's mess, some of Lila's messes and the family mess) will be taken care of at some point. He doesn't do things the same way I would do them, or in the same order, but the fact he has taken on this responsibility is probably the only reason reason #1 is working.

Thanks Todd.

Itri Family Pictures

When we had all the Itri's out here for Kyle's homecoming we did some family pictures. We chose purple as the color for everyone to wear. Some people were a little nervous about the color at first (a bunch of macho guys wearing purple!?) But it turned out GREAT. Everyone looked smashing! Also, as everyone who has kids or siblings knows, it was quite an experience with the kiddos.