Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Precious, but not in a good way

Just took a Finance test and tomorrow is the group Marketing presentation. The semester is more than half over—the time flies. Next week is an Accounting test on 4 chapters and a Marketing test on 6 chapters and then the international business group project, which we’ve done absolutely nothing on. I’m grateful for the university experience because I’ve learned that I can do very hard things. It’s almost as hard as child-rearing :-). In a different way though. If someone asks for a 10 or 20 page report, you learn to just dive in and get it done. And read or reread those chapters, while ignoring laundry and dishes. Okay, that part I could do before college but now, ignoring the housework seems noble.

My kids will tell you that I’m stingy with the thermostat level. I never put it above 68◦ and always turn it down at night to about 62◦. When people complain, I tell them to put on a sweater. But last night was a pretty cold night so I decided to splurge and just leave it at 68. This morning when I went downstairs, I was surprised how cold it was. AAGH! Melody opened the window when she ran on the treadmill and left it open all night! You don’t know how this hurts me. I can’t help it—I’m my father’s daughter. Our house was always cold when I was growing up. I’m pretty sure this contributes to my desire to build a passive solar house one day.

I apologize for the usual gratuitous kid story but here it is: I was driving on the freeway the other evening with Joy in the front seat and 7 yr. old Sam in the back. It’s very dark and quiet and I hear a raspy, throaty voice loudly whisper, “PREEE-CIIIOUSSS.” After the hair on the back of my neck laid back down and after I stopped laughing, I said, “Sam thanks for always providing facebook fodder.” My life is many things but it’s never dull.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Bees, Confessions, and other stuff


I don’t know how much more homework, projects, tests, and reading I can take—but I just found out I only need 31 more credit hours to have a bachelor’s degree in accounting. That’s 12 credit hours next semester, 7 in the summer and 12 in the fall and I’m done in December 2012. If the Mayans are wrong, Dec. 2012 won’t be anticlimactic after all. Marene says we’re having a big party.

Thank you to Richard for putting my new lawnmower together. I mowed the backyard and Joy mowed the front, we pulled weeds, and the yard no longer screams, “WHY does no one love me?” The perennials I planted feed the bees and, somehow, this makes me feel useful and needed in the world. This pic was taken this afternoon. You can see the honey bee in the middle of the picture.

I have one granddaughter who lives far away. This is Melody’s blog about her. I don’t think Melody got her clever genes from me, dang it. http://thislittleaunt.tumblr.com/post/11515318734/aurora-dear I hope she can feel our love from 3 states away. And in other news, Taylor is going to be a dad again sometime in June. I’ve gotta get done with school so I have time for people again.

Confessions:

1. I ate the best homemade cinnamon rolls today and blew my good intentions.

2. I don’t really like chocolate that much. I wonder what’s wrong with me.

3. I love my finance class. I learned how to use the Time Value of Money buttons on the calculator and Wow! Why didn’t I learn this 25 years ago? If you want to know what your retirement account will be in 20 years at various interest rates and payment levels or how much to add to your house payment to cut it to 15 yrs instead of 30, come see me.

4. I’ve missed yard work.

5. I don’t like getting old. I miss my 25 year old body.

6. I miss my mom, too. My heart aches to talk to her again. And I shouldn't leave out my mother-in-law. What a joyful day it will be when I can talk to both of them again.

Have a good day!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

The customer is always right?

Fall, again. My mind rebels against the idea of turning on the furnace and wearing a coat, if only because we’ve had warm, sunny days lately. But the house was 59◦ today so even I had to admit that was too cold to not run the furnace.

I’m far enough into the semester to know I’m going to survive and it’s not that hard so far. At first, I could hardly stand my Chinese professor’s lectures. But when he says “trading systerm” and market datar” in the same sentence as “nowerdays,” I hardly notice anymore. Not sure this is a good thing. He’s very smart and knows a lot about economics, foreign trade, currency exchange, etc. but the language barrier keeps him from effectively transmitting the information to most of the class.

Nathan keeps saying funny things and I record them so I won’t forget. His latest was, “Mom, what’s Somalia?”

Me: It’s a country in Africa.

N: No, it’s a disease. It’s in my book. (One second after.) Somalia! It’s really awful.

Me: Somalians might beg to differ. Show me. (totally went over his head, as I knew it would.)

So he looked it up and the word was salmonella. It's not really funny. He has his father's dyslexia. Let's hope he deals with it better.

I had an epiphany today. Background—Monday night, working in the accounting lab, this lady, possibly my same age or older, was trying to print several homework problems but the printer spit out one sheet with all four pages superimposed on each other. There are computer techs we call for such problems but they aren’t there that late (7 pm) so I suggested she try another computer. This instantly annoyed her so I suggested we try to print them one problem at a time. This made her even more mad. She insisted that she had printed them all at once last semester and that’s how she wanted to do it. I was trying to ascertain the reason she wouldn’t print them one at a time so I asked, “Why don’t you want to print them one at a time? Are you trying to save the 5¢…or…” Then she got positively angry, but didn’t answer the question. In the back of my mind, I was thinking that I would print them on my own personal account for her if that was all that was holding her back. Instead, she repeated that she knew it could be done all at once because she’d done it before and she was going to file a complaint against me. I was a little stunned and started to say that I’m not the tech guy but I could have them fix the problem later. This made her hopping mad. I added, not angrily, that I am hired to tutor accounting students. She cut me off mid-sentence with “Well, I would NEVER want you to tutor me!” and stormed out. I felt disconnected somehow, like I was in the twilight zone, unable to understand what just happened. I live in a sheltered world, where people are normal, affable, and kind. I have only rarely had an exchange like this with someone—perhaps 3 or 4 times in my life and always with strangers. (Likely bcs I never worked in fast food or retail.) What made it so strange for me was the idea that if she knew me or anything about my intellect and personality, she wouldn’t have treated me that way. So today, I thought, “What should I have done differently? How am I supposed to react to people like that?” And again, the thought persisted that if she only KNEW me, she’d be terribly embarrassed for the way she treated me. Suddenly I had a mental picture of the Savior being treated much more reprehensibly. If only they had known he was the very Creator, the person with power who could help them immensely. And then the thought in my mind was,”You react the way He did. With kindness, patience and love.” I said out loud, “Ohhh. I get it now—a little bit.” It doesn’t mean I’m suddenly kinder, more patient, or more loving. But, hopefully, I’m one baby step closer to seeing things as they really are.