Really?

So, I was sitting in class yesterday learning how to take the derivative of trig functions (you know, sin, cos, tangent...all that good stuff) when my teacher said the funniest thing. "So," he says, "the test starts on Friday. Do you guys all feel ready?"

Wait. What? Test? But I already have a degree, teacher, I'm here for MORE education. I don't actually have to take tests...

Haha. No, but really, I'm kind of excited for the test. Partly because I feel pretty confident with the calc I've learned so far, and partly because I do already have a degree, so worst case scenario, I suck.

Geoff has tests coming up this week and the next as well. I don't miss the days where I had 4-6 classes at once. Whoa.

All in all, we Parkers have become a busy bunch. Between work (full-time for me, part-time for Geoff) and school (full-time for Geoff, part-time for me), and two little dog-children, cleaning, eating, exercise, homework, sleep, and premiere week on TV, we don't have much spare time at all.

Good thing Diet Mountain Dew exists. No wonder the rest of the world drinks coffee.

Lastly, per the request of Mama G, here is an updated picture of Rom:

Categories:

Beauty School Dropout

About 6 months ago, I made a vow to myself that I would never again dye my hair at home.

About 6 hours ago, I made a vow to myself that I will never again cut my dog's hair at home.

It's the first time I'm glad for him that he's blind.

Categories:

Rom-bo Update

Well, our little dog-child is growing up nicely. He's got such long legs that it almost looks silly to us since we are so used to Rubio's short legs.

He is a pretty "rom"bunctious guy by nature. He likes to challenge you and purposely push the limits of what we'll allow. And the chewing! He's still doing the teething thing, so we're excited for him to get over that.

Despite his arrogance, he's learning obedience really well. He's about 95% potty trained (and when he has problems it's usually because weren't paying attention!). He can "go outside", sit, stay (granted not for very long...his attention span is teeny), crawl, spin, and "go get 'em" (Rubio, that is).

We have taken Rom on a few outdoor excursions and once he's full grown, it's clear to us that he will be a lot of fun to do "outdoorsy" activities with. He likes to climb and run and carry random stuff around in his mouth. He's a little iffy about water right now because the water at the reservoir and sliding rock was freezing. We hope he'll learn to enjoy water, though.

Rubio is his favorite person. Ever. When we were going to sliding rock, Rubio couldn't come (1 - Shih Tzu's aren't really hiking dogs; 2 - he's blind, that's hard with lots of twigs and rocks and water and danger) so we put Rubio in his kennel and were putting our shoes on to go and Rom would just run back and forth from us to Rubio's kennel wondering what was going on and why Rubio wasn't out to play.

Rubio loves the little guy, too. Rom was out with Geoff the other day and Rubio must have smelled every corner of the house looking for Rom. When he didn't find him he just came and sat in front of me waiting. lol.

We're so glad he got over the parvo and will have a chance to live out a great, fun-filled life. He's a wonderful little guy and we're glad to have him.

Categories:

Well...it means...uh...

So, on Monday, Steph and I were leaving the gym when I remarked to her that my butt hurt (the stationary bike can have that effect). I then thought for a moment and realized that that wasn't true. I then amended my statement and told her that my hind-quarters (okay, I really said butt again, but I didn't wanna overdo it with the butt talk; but now I've said butt twice more then I would have to just type the sentence in the first place) ached.

Then we started pondering the big things in life. Like, for example, an ache and a hurt are two very different things. And I'm pretty sure everyone agrees that they are distinct and also agrees as to their meaning. However, how? How did I learn that an ache = an ache. And a hurt = pain.

Let me define ache for you in my best words: an ache is.......an ache.

A hurt is painful.

Got it?

Me, neither.

Categories:

As it turns out...

So, a few things in my life have recently turned out a little differently then expected:

1) As it turns out, that Calculus class I spent the entire holiday weekend catching up on was the wrong class. I switched from Calc 112 to Calc 119 and spent the most recent weekend catching up on that work.

2) As it turns out, Rom probably hasn't had any food for about 3 days - Rubio has been eating it all. And, as it turns out, when Rubio eats enough food for himself AND a growing puppy, he gains weight.

3) As it turns out, just because I hid the scale underneath the cabinet doesn't mean that the numbers on the scale don't change.

4) As it turns out, we actually have to PAY for that cell phone that Geoff got. Luckily, he didn't go over his minutes!

5) As it turns out, I lost my gym pass and a new one costs $5 to replace. Are they kidding me? I already paid a boatload of money for them to let me in the door anyway. Good luck to them getting me to pay $5...

For the most part, however, life is going along pretty smoothly. Work is busy, school is kinda fun (I like learning), the dogs are healthy and happy, the weather is starting to feel like fall, which reminds me of pumpkins and birthdays, and costumes, and fires in the fireplace. Winter is not invited anytime soon, though. Got that, winter?

Happy Tuesday.

Categories:

Losing or Gaining?

Well, it is entirely possible that I have lost my mind. However, if I do have a brain left, it's going to get bigger.

After some thought (but not a ton), Geoff and I agreed earlier this week that I should enroll in classes at BYU.

Which classes, you may ask? Well, pre-pharmacy classes. I will still be working full-time and therefore will only be taking 4 credits a semster (I would take 7, but I'm only allowed to take 6 as an employee).

Why, you may ask? Um...well...I don't have a fully-formed answer for that yet except that it just feels like the right thing to do. It helps that they are free since I'm an employee of the University.

What are you taking now, you may ask? This semester I will be taking calculus (THANK GOODNESS Geoff is in calc right now, so I'll have my own personal tutor....which I will undoubtedly need).

Nonetheless, I'm very excited to be taking classes again and we'll see what happens in the future!

Categories:

Snack-tastic

During the winter I had some sort of super-human/super wife power that overcame me and I was able to somehow get up each morning at 5:15 for the gym, come home, cook breakfast for Husband, pack lunch for myself and husband, get ready for work, make my own breakfast, start a load of laundry, and make it to work by 8:00am.

Whatever wave of awesomeness that turned me into such a go-getter has since passed. Poor Geoff has been left to fend for himself come breakfast and lunch (although I do buy everything necessary for these meals when I grocery shop). However, with our hectic schedules and early-morning agendas, food often is not a priority (showering generally wins).

Hence I invented: The Snack Basket.

I started last week. I went to Wal-mart and got some of Geoff's favorite snack items (crackers, almond bars, beef jerky, fruit, cheese sticks, Italian bread, etc...). When I got home, I broke everything open and divided it into ziplock baggies and put everything in a basket (well, the refrigerated stuff is in the fridge).

When Geoff got home from work that night I introduced him to the snack basket. A basket full of single-serving snacks that he could just grab-and-go in the morning so he didn't get too hungry at class or at work.

Reasons The Snack Basket is my hero:

1) I don't have to get up at 5am everyday to make sure Geoff eats.

2) Geoff gets to choose what he wants that day - the variation is up to him!

3) Nothing goes bad because it's individually wrapped.

4) Everything lasts longer (a bag of chips dissappears pretty fast, 10 bags of chips last much longer).

5) We both just earned one more "Snooze" in the morning.

The secret is out. Make your own today!

Categories: