Feelin' the Holiday Spirit

Last Sunday we bought our first Christmas tree for the condo. It's about 5 feet tall, we don't have a large living room so a small one will do. Me, my husband and the kids went to Home Depot near the Great Mall to pick up our Noble Fir. It was about 35 bucks all together (20 for the tree and 13 for the stand) plus tax. After we bought the tree, my husband took us to dinner at Outback. Bloomin' Onion was delish and so was the Wallaby Darn (peach Belinni). It was a nice night with just the four of us. We went home, put up our Christmas tree and we all contributed to decorating it. First, we wrapped the tree with white lights. Then put on the silver and red ornaments. I bought an "A" ornament and a "E" ornament, A for Alexa and E for Elijah. Those went towards the very top of the tree. We also put a glass cross near the top as well and a silver ornament that says Believe. My son chose this huge blue star for his ornament at the store, you would think that the star would stick out like a sore thumb, but it actually puts more color on the tree. My husband and I laughed with adoration when he put it on because the blue star suits him (it says Elijah). Comcast has holiday hits on one of the music channels, so Christmas music was playing softly in the background. It was perfect. This is when I'm at my happiest- doing simple things with the fams.

Vocab:

uxorious: Excessively submissive or devoted to one's wife.

mellifluous: Sweet or musical; pleasant to hear.

Almost the end

Class today was a nightmare. I let my nerves get the best of me during my presentation. I practiced too, but each word that came out just plain sucked (no flow to it at all with pauses in between). As I walked out the door, I was like what the F just happened. I guess I couldn't blame the folks for dozing off or looking at their laptops. But, really? At least pretend like your listening a**holes. Thanks to the ones who were polite and went through the torture with me.:) Besides feeling super disappointed in myself, I over analyzed this single event and summed it up to predict how the rest of my public speaking engagements are going to be like. Awesome. I know this was just one moment, but I'm really beating myself up for it.

Anyway, now its time to study for Finals. Yippee. I feel relief that it will all be over soon and at the same time anxious. The only thing that is keeping me somewhat sane right now are my kids. If I give up now, I'll not only let myself down, but Elijah and Lex as well. Why do I feel like giving up? Well, its just all bad (not gonna go into detail). The last thing I need is to throw myself a pity party and I don't want anyone else thinking that is what I'm all about.

Vocab:

beloved: 

adj- Dearly loved

noun- A much loved person.

abrogate:

Repeal or do away with (a law, right, or formal agreement).

Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving holiday seemed to be an overall success. Thursday we went to my in-laws. I made ham, baked salmon, and mash potatoes. It was a load, but I forced myself to do it.We also brought apple cider and a pumpkin pie. The party started at about 1pm. We ate, sang karaoke, and played pictionary. On Friday, we went up to San Francisco where we celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family. This is my mom's side which consists of her sisters, one brother and his wife, and my grandparents. On the ride to San Francisco I sometimes get a little anxious because there has always been some type of drama going on. I really hate it, but its no surprise to me because I'm accustomed to the craziness of it all. The party started at about 12:30 and ended at 11pm, an all day and night event. We have the best food. Moist turkey, Filipino Food, pies, appetizers, foodnetwork appetizers- the works. After eating, we play board games. Starts off with Taboo and then ends with Pictionary. Next we lounge in the living room on the couches where we talk, sleep, and watch movies. Then talk, sleep, and watch movies. Did I say talk, sleep, and watch movies? lol Anyway, the ladies decide to leave the men at my grandpa's and go shopping. I end up buying two shirts for my daughter. After the mall we go back to my Grampa's house. One of my uncles suggest we go to the pier to walk around. Thus began the drama of the night. Its between my aunt and uncle. They argue because my uncle doesn't want to go. The whole family has to migrate to a separate room to let them have privacy while we fiddle with our thumbs and wait. Some of us argue in whispers over who's right (my aunt or my uncle). My aunt is pregnant, so I was really worried about her.They stop arguing and agree to go, but in separate cars.We end up all going to fisherman's wharf. We take pictures by the huge Christmas tree, drink hot coco, and then go back home.

Vocab:    

cosmological: pertaining to the branch of astronomy dealing with the origin and history and structure and dynamics of the universe; "cosmologic science"; "cosmological redshift"; "cosmogonic theories of the origin of the universe"

covetousness: is the inordinate love of wealth, and the power that wealth gives, whether it is manifested by miserly hoarding or by lavish spending. It is a peculiarly earth-bound sin, looking to nothing beyond the rewards of this life. 

Papers papers papers

We are now nearing the end of the semester and the pressure is on. With all my school work and issues I have at home, I am seriously mentally f*cked. I'm trying to exert all my worry and stress into a focused state right now. I'm trying to think of a thesis for a term paper coming up. Its on the Somali Civil War. I'm interested in this war because it is on-going and involves international help. I have to really know every aspect of this war because I'm doing a presentation on it this Monday.

Based on my research so far, I've learned about how the opposing sides to the civil war involves the insurgents which is the Shabab and Somali pirates. Since Somalia is a failed state and because their government has collapsed, their are many civilians who are just waiting to be saved from violent wars amongst different tribes. Many of them are Somali refugees who fled to Kenya (a neighboring state), but most are still in Somalia.

I hope I can finish my paper up by Sunday. Have a good weekend! Tootles!

Vocab:

vituperative: Bitter and abusive.

pogram: A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a particular group, whether ethnic, religious, or other, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres. The term usually carries connotation of spontaneous hatred within the majority population against certain (usually ethnic) minorities, which they see as dangerous and harming the interests of the majority.

Time to Reboot

This past week my husband and I have been trying to implement juicing into our diet. My in-laws showed us a documentary called Food Matters. Seeing this documentary really made me interested in changing the way we eat. One of the speakers in this doc mentioned, the easy part is saying you want to be healthy; but for most people- they opt out of taking action on being healthy because they have to be responsible for the way they live. There should be more health care professionals advocating on how nutrition is important.  It will save many trips to the doctor and can prevent diseases. In Food Matters, one of the doctors said good health doesn't make the big bucks and conventional medicine are slow killers. We see how prescription drugs are evolving today. There's a drug out to cure nearly everything. Feeling tired lately? Here take a drug. Do you have anxiety? Here take a drug. Chris Rock mocks the pharmaceutical industry by saying in one of his stand-up comedies, "soon we'll be seeing commercials like this.. do you go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning?"  LOL


After seeing Food Matters I watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. Then I watched the Gerston Miracle. I strongly recommend seeing these documentaries. If my pockets were deep, I'd buy everyone a juicer and supply them with fruits and vegetables.

An individual who is taking many prescriptive drugs and wants to get off of them can do it by changing their diet. Juicing for ten day straight and eating no solid food may seem really strict. So, juicing and eating some solids is an exceptionally good diet as well. I noticed I haven't been having cravings for solid food after drinking juice. I still eat solids but not as much. The juice we make consists of carrots, kale, apples, celery, lemon, cucumber and ginger. The amount of each fruit or vegetable can vary depending on how you like the taste. If you want it more sweet, then add more apple. You can even add agave (organic sweetener).

We picked up the juicer at Costco (Jack LaLanne Ultimate Power Juicer). I believe you can even get one at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Vocab:

potentialities:
The state of being potential.

Inherent capacity for growth, development, or coming into existence.

Something possessing such capacity.

 

aggrandizement:

The act of increasing the wealth or prestige or power or scope of something; "the aggrandizement of the king"; "his elevation to cardinal"

 

Chick flicks

Cool. After ten minutes, I've finally come up with something to talk about. Movies! Why I'm thinking about Zach Braff?, I really don't know. He was a complete dick in the movie The Last Kiss, but ironically I still liked his character. This movie is about if people should deserve second chances after infidelity. I like how they incorporated the older couple (the pregnant chicks mom) and how they had their issues after years of marriage. Their story showed how relationships may not always remain a basket of fruit. There's going to be ups and downs. Another chick flick I like is Lost In Translation, which is one of my faves. I understand both Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray's characters. I always wonder what Johansson whispers to Murray at the very end of the movie. "thank you for hanging out with me" or "I won't forget you" or "come back so we can sing karaoke all over again" or "get me the F up out of this place"...lol! I don't know.

Why did I title this chick flicks? I'm thinking of action movies now. Another one of my faves is Spy Games. Robert Redford kicks a**. I love his character, he doesn't bullsh*t. He advises Pitt by basically telling him to get the job done and get out.

Now the Twilight series is one of my guilty pleasures as well. There's just something about a bunch of good looking vampires and werewolves fighting amongst each other...can't really put my finger on it. Okay, I know what it is. Just like the rest of the chicks who love this series, I wish Robert Pattinson would just magically appear in my room. Him or Taylor would be fine. I love me some werewolf too. Breaking Dawn is coming out in about 14 days. But who's counting? Only crazed fanatics would do that.

Vocab:      

jen:
Confucian word for humaneness.

progeny:
A descendant or the descendants of a person, animal, or plant; offspring: "the progeny of mixed marriages".

The path I'm walking

I've been sitting here trying not to think of any more family drama to blog about. I just tried to skim through the news to find any interesting articles to write on. After finding none and deciding not to force myself to write about one, I am wondering why I picked Political Science as my major. Its sad to even ask myself this now that I'm close to graduation. Throughout high school and while I was attending a community college, history was my favorite subject. As I tried to pick a major for my college career, my counselor at Evergreen community college advised me to go with Political Science; she said since I wanted to do something in the "legal" field, Political Science is the best choice for me.  I have no regrets about choosing this major because I really enjoy exploring the different fields within Political Science. The only thing I'm contemplating is what the hell I'm going to do after I graduate. I haven't been involved in any clubs or nonprofit organizations. It's not because I don't want to, I just don't have the time. Anxiety is at an all time high for me right now. I thought I wanted to be a lawyer, but I don't see law school in the plans for me at this moment. Its tough as it is to be attending college and taking care of a family at the same time. Four more years of school is not very appealing. I've always wanted to be a teacher (don't know exactly what subject yet), but I changed my mind because I've been told what salary to expect if I chose this profession. I know now that this isn't true because I could always aim for teaching at the college level if I wanted a bit more income. But this would mean I'd have to get a Ph.D. So, I would still need four to six more years of school to accomplish this. What lies in my plans after I graduate is to jump on the private sector wagon and get any type of business job. Hopefully, I could work in human resources and a Political Science degree is something the prospective company would accept. This seems more logical to me because my husband wants to return back to school to get his Masters. He has a B.S. in MIS (Management Information Systems). We are blessed because he found employment as an engineer in this scary recession. I'm fortunate to not be working right now. Hmm, well...in a way I am. Being a stay-at-home mom is work. I was thinking if I had a full time job, I'd be failing in all of my classes. The last job I had before I was a stay-at-home mom was working as an administrative assistant at Yahoo Inc. One of the reason's why I wanted to return back to school, was I once scheduled an interview for a high school buddy of mine for a position at Yahoo. I'm a high school graduate. She graduated from college and was offered a position that I knew I was also capable of doing. I guess you could say I was a little envious of her and my job as an administrative assistant seemed to be monotonous and boring. I needed a bigger challenge. Speaking to other colleagues on my team, there was not much room for upward mobility because I had no seniority. I thought school was the faster way. So, four years later...here I am. This is the path I chose. The path I'm walking.

vocab:    

pacifistic:
opposed to war.

monistic materialism:    
the philosophical concept which sees the unity of matter in its globality. For the materialistic monist the cosmos is “one” and comprehensive, then a “one-all” made up of parts such as its effects. The matter is then originary and cause of all reality.


 

Soul Food

Last night I made a special dinner for my family. My mom and her husband wanted to come over because its been a while since they've seen their grand kids. I started prepping dinner around 2:00, because making pot roast takes a while for the meat to get tender. I seared the meat, then slow cooked it for about 4 hours in tomato sauce, chicken broth, and red wine. Later I added carrots, celery, garlic, and onion. Ever seen the movie Soul Food? Besides all the drama in that movie, I like how "Big Mama" makes a point when she talks about family dinners. She said cooking comes from the soul. Translation: the dinner table, cooking, and the food brings families together. Hopefully, they could bond in a positive way. Big Mama tries to emphasize cooking in good spirits and serving and eating the food will most likely turn out to end in polite conversations (maybe even happy ones).

I may have proved Big Mama's theory about cooking in good spirits to be invalid. Last nights dinner could have turned out to be really ugly and awkward. At the dinner table, out of left field my mom's husband turned to me and said, "You got fat." After he said this, he went back to eating while my mom tried to console me. In her nervous laugh she tells me "no your not." I decided to ignore the comment and pretend like I was listening to the switch of subject made by my mom.  I was thinking: Wow. Can he be any more rude? I wanted to tell him to get the F up out of my house and stop eating my food. A ton of retaliation comments about him were flying though my mind: "Thanks Billy for reminding me that I am gaining weight, but at least I could shed the pounds by working out. In your case, it's not so easy to change your face. Aww, what a pity. Oh, by the way, you've bragged about how much overtime you've put in at work, but how can $42 dollars really make a difference to your paycheck? And when will you pay us back for the money mom borrowed from us because you can't afford your rent? Of course you wouldn't know how many times mom has asked us for money because your loser a** just doesn't make enough to provide for just the two of you. She doesn't want you to know, so you wouldn't feel how big of a loser you really are. Your side job of being a "salad master" is going to fail. You're lucky my mom even gave you the time of day."

But, fortunately my husband gave me "the look". In last night's case the look was pretty much telling me to calm down and please don't yell at this poor soul. My husband told me you can't argue with ignorance. So, that's why my husband didn't come to my defense. This isn't the first time my mom's husband made rude comments. He's done it to other members of my family as well. When he received a mouthful from them, he would just laugh. So, I don't even think he'd be offended if we were to belittle him. He's just this pompous arrogant prick.

 For the most part I enjoyed seeing my mom but not so much her stupid husband. I actually don't feel guilty about saying this. I want to send my blog link to his email. haha! My mom's husband really needs to know how much of a jacka** he is.

vocab:

peevish:  irritable, testy

acquiesce: agree with some reluctance

Falling asleep

Okay, thank God I remembered to do this. There is way too much going on this week:  Papers due and midterms. (sigh) I'm starting to feel big time pressure. I can't quit now. I have to stay on it. Keep my eyes OPEN. I'm too lazy to make a damn cup of coffee. Get up Nette, get up. Why am I so tired?
Just two more pages...you could do it!

Anyway, its my 5th year wedding anniversary with the hubbs this coming Saturday. Guess where we're going?

Check it out:

http://www.kiwicollection.com/hotel-detail/le-meridien-bora-bora

 Ha! Yeah, right. We don't got it like that. And yes, I'm hating on the couples who do "have it like that."
 We don't have definite plans yet, but I'm sure we'll figure something out. I'm just happy to be with him:)

Tootles and goodnight world! Sleep has won.


Vocabulary words:

epistemology: 
Noun:The theory of knowledge, esp. with regard to its methods, validity, and scope.

quixotic:
Adjective: Exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic and impractical: "a vast and quixotic project".

A place to study

What makes a good place to study? Obviously, this question applies to how one would be able to study with no interruptions right? I've learned in my career exploration class, a good place to study is one where there is complete silence and minimal interruptions (preferably none at all).

Lately, I've been trying to get school work done and I'm not saying its close to impossible...but, when you're taking care of a four year old who you don't want sitting in front of the tube the entire time (which is sad to say my temporary babysitter)...then, yeah! It can be a little distracting because a parent should not neglect their child. Sometimes while I'm at my computer, my son will do other things such as play with his toys. Right now he is practicing writing his name. This required my supervision, so I'm back to vent about how I should be spending more time reading and writing with him.

*cooking breakfast* he's hungry

There has to be something that works. I get off school by 11:45 Mon-Thurs, pick up my son at daycare by 12-12:30. Then come home by at least 1. I don't start studying right away. My brain needs to wind down first. My son and I eat lunch and I  make sure he is cleaned up and settled in. Around 2, I am back and forth with attending to Elijah and my school work. By the time I know it, 5 hits and its time to prepare for dinner. My husband comes home, we eat dinner ...by this time I just want to spend time with my family. Maybe this is my fault in having a lack of studying time because I should just hit the books right after dinner. I dealt this hand upon myself...having a family while returning back to school. Real smart Nette. Real smart.

On top of this, there's Nate. My other kid. LOL

Anyway, library time is probably a must this semester. Funny thing is I like to study at home, but I just get carried away which is what I realized are my very own interruptions: Making my family the priority. Do I mind? Of course not. Can I juggle school and home? Yes. And ya know what?
Its all worth it.

* Movie "Rio" is playing 3 feet away from me for the first time today (sigh)...it will not be the last.*

A sigh over Nate

What would you do for your only sibling? One would say, of course...anything. Heartless people would say, jack sh*t. Is it possible to be in-between? I guess it would depend on the relationship and if your sibling is not a complete f' up, right? The journey with my bro has been one hell of a ride. Just recently, well...not sure if 3 months is recent but, my brother got kicked out of my mom's house. He's 23, didn't have a job when he got kicked out, and I was pretty much the only one he could go to. He called me from a pay phone and told me that once again that mom and him got into it. What started it this time? The damn air-conditioning. She didn't want it on, and his dumba** turned it on. When I first heard the story, I kind of took my bro's side because damn it..its the summer time...and it could get hot. Turn up the AC! My mom could be a total b*tch at times. Anyway, that argument was the icing on the cake for her. I know there are other issues that she just got fed up with, so that I could understand. Did I think twice about my brother coming to live with us before I picked him up? Of course. But, I knew I couldn't leave him out there. My hope is that he will give himself good life-goals while living with me and eventually accomplish them. The first thing my husband and I did was lay out some ground rules for him. My husband typed out his "what not to do" rules and created a contract so my brother could understand discipline and consequences of negative actions. This was also created so my brother can have daily reminders of what is expected of him such as cleanliness and responsibility. My husband even designed a questionnaire to help him see how and why he’s in his current situation and how fortunate he was to still have us support him in his time of need. This is important because if he can't appreciate what other people are doing for him, then the more likely he will take advantage of those people and his present living situation. Things were going good until two weeks ago.

My brother and I fought. Not verbally either. He didn't hit me, however I ended up attacking him. Is this totally against the law? Yes, it is. But, in my world...when you're being called a b*tch to your face you better be prepared to have one landed on you. Straight up. Yup, I could be a mom/wife/student/ and crazy gangster chick all rolled up into one at times. On this particular night we were coming home from a friend’s barbeque in Morgan Hill. My husband and bro were both buzzed so I ended up being the designated driver. I was driving home and my brother started a conversation that was going absolutely no where. It all started when we were discussing his back-in-the-day drug habits and “hanging around the wrong crowd era” that he was going through. He tried to argue that drug dealers could smoke their own sh*t and get rich from selling other people dope and will NEVER eventually get CAUGHT. WTF? I was thinking, are you F'ing serious? They will always get caught. I finally said..."lets just agree to disagree and please keep your mouth zipped now." He proceeded to tell me I am arrogant and will never know because I've never experienced hanging out with drug dealers and yada yada yada. Ummm, sure I have. But, I'm not going to even go there right now. As soon as I parked, he got out the car and I told him he needed to sleep somewhere else for the night. That’s when he said it- B-I-T-C-H.  And that’s when my fist landed on his face multiple times.  After my husband pushed my brother away to safety from my fists of fury, I took my sleeping son from the truck and marched to the house… leaving them outside.  Soon afterwards the neighbors called the cops and next thing you know some chick cop came knocking on my door. She asked me if I hit him and I said, “yup.” I told her the whole story of how he was talking his sh*t while I drove his ass back to MY house. She said if he wanted to press charges, I could go to jail for assault. I gave her the look like “go ahead” do what you have to do. She said she “understood” and asked me if he could spend one more night at our place. I said sure and his a** has been here ever since. I’m waiting for an apology, but I haven’t heard a peep from him so far. His a** is lucky he’s still here.

Vocabulary words:

secular: (adjective) 1. Denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis

hubris: (noun) 1. Excessive pride or self-confidence.

2. (in Greek tragedy) Excessive pride toward or defiance of the gods,    leading to nemesis.

Note- I just re-read this blog; trying to decide if I should edit. I’m not always this full of rage…not that it matters. Ha. Next blog will be on, dunt da da da… Republican debate! I actually watched this via Fox channel tonight. Romney seems like he was well prepared, that bastard.

A night to forget or a night to remember?

Wow. Where do I begin? I guess I’ll start off with Friday. This day was mainly preparation time for saying goodbye to the last three decades of my life. My husband planned a 30th birthday party for me at the Bubble Lounge in San Francisco and I wanted to look and feel my best. I started off my day with getting my nails done and bought a few Hollywood glam essentials- fake eyelashes, a new dress, and new pumps to complete my outfit. The entire time I was thinking I don't need any of this but I said to myself "heck with it, I only turn 30 once." Saturday morning comes and I have another nail appointment...this time for a pedicure. I go to my nail appointment, then drive to my mom's to borrow a full set of bling. This set of bling consists of Judith Ripka heart earrings, matching necklace and of course the bracelet. I thank my mom and say tootles because my husband and I still needed to drop off our son at my in-laws before our friends came over our house. Saying goodbye to my son is never easy. My husband says, I always complain about us not having enough time to spend together alone, yet when it comes to leaving our son I don't want to leave him. Yup, I'm an indecisive weirdo at times. After dropping off our son Elijah, we return to our home and I start to get ready. My hair is curled, make-up is flawless, and the outfit is bangin'. Ding-dong there goes the doorbell. In walks our friends and I could feel the hype. Our pre party begins with Captain Morgan, Ciroc, and Dr.Pepper which is laid out for us on our table. Four Ciroc shots later, I climb into the backseat of our truck and I feel excited because I know people are coming out to see me for my birthday and I can't wait to see all my friends. Then paranoia sinks in. It's been a while since I've been under the influence and riding in a car. My girlfriends who are also riding with us in our car, tell me to take a couple more shots out of the Ciroc bottle so I can loosen up a little before getting into the lounge. What a mistake! I remember going in, sitting on a red couch and drinking champagne. The rest of the night is history. F*CK. According to my husband and my girlfriends, I did some real embarrassing sh*t. Here is a highlight...I'm not going to go over everything because now I feel like a real dumb sh*t. I wanted to fight some random guy. He was an innocent bystander who just needed a place to sit and my drunk a** thought I was some high and mighty princess who owned the damn place. I told him "we have a reservation and I don't know you, so leave". I also said something to the effect of "I don't know this motherf*cker!" Super classy right? I also fell three times in the club and outside of the club. One in the middle of the street on Embarcadero and God knows where else. F*CK. To top it all off I lost my mom's bracelet. Once I got home and realized it was missing, I cried. I crashed out around 2am and woke up at 7am to dry heave. I couldn't sleep until 9am because I felt so sick. I couldn't throw up anything and I still felt drunk. 

When I finally got a couple hours of rest and woke up, flashes of the night before kicked in. Nooooooooo! Humiliation is not even the word to describe the state I was in. I was beyond mortified. It's sad really. I hope I didn't embarrass my husband...well, at least not that much. A night to remember? Hell-to-the-no!

Sunday wasn't so bad, our friends threw a clambake at their house, a seafood fest rather. I ate, smoked a joint, played beer pong then went home and passed out. Monday, my in-laws hosted a bbq for another one of my birthday celebrations. This was really nice because I felt much physically better and it was also nice to have my side of the family present as well. Overall, I guess you could say there is an upside to my weekend. Sunday and Monday was awesome. I also ended up calling some of my friends and apologized for my behavior on Saturday night. Some were sweet and told me there was no need for apologizing because it was my birthday and anything goes and yada yada. And of course some of them told me straight up how sloppy I was. My husband told me nearly everything that happened that night even though it was painful to hear. I'm appreciative of all of it.

Vocabulary words:

Talmud:  Noun- The body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law and legend comprising the Mishnah (text) and the Gemara (commentary).

doublet: 1. Either of a pair of similar things, in particular.

             2. Either of two words of the same historical source, but with two different stages of entry into the      language and different resultant meanings, for example fashion and faction, cloak and clock.

My first sigh

So, I've been sitting here for the last 15 minutes contemplating what to write. I've come to realize that I want to use this blog to benefit me, and not only do this as a "requirement". So, I'm going to write my first blog to describe the state I am feeling as my second week of school has begun. Right now, I feel anxious. I'm in my second to last semester and I really can't believe I'm finally here. I will be 30 years old in three days. So go ahead do the math. Yes, I graduated high school in 99' and have been taking college courses for over ten years now. Do I feel ashamed? In a way I do. I overhear student's conversations about them going on their fifth year at SJSU, but graduated high school in 06'.  In silent sarcasm I think “Yippeeee! You’re soooo old!” and somberly remind myself that I’m a decade older than they are.  But at least I have a goal and I'm pushing myself toward it. Being a mom, wife, and student is not easy. I wonder how the mom's that have to work and have a family can manage having the "balance" that keeps their lives sane. It seems I will shortly find out...that is hopefully, if I find a job after I graduate and my kids will stay good and not drive me up the wall. At first I sort of groaned about writing this blog, but now I'm excited about it.  Some say writing is a great way to have an outlet when it comes to venting. And boy do I have much to vent about. I could finally give my husband a break!

Vocabulary words:

jurisprudence: 1) the theory or philosophy of law 2) a legal system

transgressions: 1) the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or duty or moral principle