Back to School

Winter break was noisy. I'm not one of those moms who is sad when she has to send her kids back to school. I read up on some friends' posts, and apparently they are. I wonder if I should feel guilty about that.

Ben got his retainer over winter break. His front tooth, which is currently pointing backwards, should only take about two months to be positioned properly. Yay!

Brandon will be getting glasses again in a few days. Last time we took him to the eye doctor, he gave him a prescription and glasses and said he was at that point where it could go either way, and if they didn't work out for him, we shouldn't worry about it. We tried, but he broke both pairs of glasses within the first six months. However, the school tested Brandon's eyes this fall and they were worse, so I took him in again. This time he needs the glasses. So, I bought one pair of bendable glasses with a replacement warranty. Hopefully between the cool flexibility and his age, we won't have broken glasses this time around. One can hope.

I got kind of depressed when the play ended and school let out for break. With both ending within a week of each other, it was a little too abrupt of a halt for me. The lack of daylight and the never-ending head cold didn't help, I'm sure. We started practice for another play last week (Cinderella), and I felt things improve. Aaron then left town for a conference, which brought me down a little. But then I got to get some preliminary stuff going for my new semester of classes, which start tomorrow, and it kept me somewhat busy. Busy is better for me. I was able to go over the first chapter of the statistics book and do the online practice work. I am able to score 100% on the practice tests for the chapter. Online math makes a lot of sense, I've got to tell you. If you are the type of person who needs regular repetition to retain math skills or vocabulary, this is the way to go. Of course, if you don't need that, you wouldn't have to do it, because it is optional practice, so unless you need an actual person to help you work through things, this is still the way to go. Tomorrow, there will be homework loaded on and I will get to see the actual syllabus for the class. My interpersonal communications course is a little iffy. I discovered that there is a rated R movie that we need to analyze as a large part of our grade. I hope that the Clean Play edited version will be adequate, because I decided to purchase it in order to continue with the course. My concern is that the film is about a car accident and domestic violence (called Crash) and Clean Play edits out graphic violence, language and nudity. Yes, I want all of that edited out, but will there be enough left to analyze? Anyway, I got my introduction and homework done for the first week, which feels good. It was about 3rd grade-level stuff, I have to tell you. I am hoping I will get something out of the course, but the syllabus is so geared toward young single adults that I am not sure I will. I will probably have plenty of silly stuff from that class to post. For example, my homework for this week:

“Me” Poem

I am Stefany
Who needs attention, love, quiet time and busy time
Who loves her husband, children, the stage and learning
Who sees so much good in the world, just enough bad to scare her a little, but has hope for the future
Who hates liars, cheaters, hypocrites and terrorists
Who fears the rich minority, the poor majority, the lack of caring and the widespread ignorance
Who wants to gain an education, provide her children with opportunities she didn’t have, help her husband to be happy and somehow retire early
Who dreams of a vacation without children that lasts more than a weekend, of somehow starting a business with her husband, of making it through the childrearing years without going nuts and having good relationships with her children when they leave home
Who will be the best wife, mother, friend and herself that she can be

I have a fabulous husband, Aaron and seven children; six boys and a girl. Our oldest is in high school, and our youngest is three. I have been a homemaker since I was 21 years old, and just started college last semester at the age of 35. I have done a little work from home, but have primarily been just “Mom.” I am involved in Chaska Valley Family Theatre, where I recently played Grace in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” and have just started rehearsals for Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (but this time I just took a chorus role, as last semester was way too hectic). A few of our kids are also in the cast, and my husband plays the piano in the pit. 

The "I am" and "Who needs,," "Who loves,," etc. were all there for us, and all we had to do was fill in the blanks. Then we were to write an introduction and post it to the discussion board. We need to comment on a couple of other people's during the next week. We also had to do a syllabus scavenger hunt. Things we had to find were things like the instructor's name and phone number, and when homework is due. Not hard. Honestly, I don't really understand wasting a whole week on introductions and syllabus overview. In last semester's courses, those were extras. Oh, well. I need the course to fulfill requirements, so I guess I'll go with it.