- I keep loosing this place. It's difficult when I can't sub to a thread (the option doesn't appear in my screen reader. I mean, it reads that there is a spot to sub to the thread but doesn't give me the option to do so.) So, to those tired of the kat and mieke show, I have an abcessed wound on my right middle finger. Yeah, jokes aside, it hurts like a mf but is draining. It's making typing difficult but I certainly wouldn't trade it for your issue, kat. no, nope. If I were you I'dd be rolling around in a swimming pool full of monistat. XD :D

I will try to remember to keep pinging you!!

Ouch for the abscessed finger. No that would not make typing easy! I put up my 10ft canopy tent to cover the lawn mowers finally. And moved the mowers up under it. Nathan complained I needed to get him a stool for the porch for when he is grilling 🙄 I reminded him there should be outdoor chairs in the back house and to go get two to put on the porch with the glass table I then moved the box of junk (it's supposed to be yard tools and things I need like the air pump and gloves, ant spray, weed killer etc but other stuff gets tossed in) to the side so there will be room for chairs beside the table. IF he goes and gets them. IF they are there (I'm thinking maybe they were in the bed of the truck that got hauled off? But I don't think so).

Thanks for all the flowers everyone! :) Really appreciate you thinking of me since I'm not always here much. Had a really busy few weeks leading up to my 40th this weekend!!! Had a house party, went for karaoke and cocktails and then went to see Darius Rucker last night. Had the best time. Feel so happy :) Thanks for the banner - it's up there now ^_^

omg! Congrats on Leviathan Harpooning!! Amazing. I gave up trying to do that level ages ago 😆

Hi Cazzie! thanks! I was shocked when it said I found them all :o

Oooh you had a great 40th birthday celebration!! I saw the banner too hehehe!

Last zoom meeting tonight. Supposed to "present" the author/illustrator study AND supposed to "present" my book if what I read is correct. That is a lot going on. EVERYONE (20something people) is supposed to present their book, and last weeks groups and this weeks groups are supposed to present their author/illustrator project. Need to text my partner and see who is gonna have it ready to present I guess (the author/illustrator project).

- thank you. :) This will be short, finger is getting better bbut still out of commission. It seems the abcess went clear through the knuckle. I want to take it to a doctor but hubby says that we can deal with it here. We have left over prescription antibiotic cream and it's making short work of the infection. I'm hoping it will be better soon. :(

oooh if it doesn't get better DO go to the doctor!! I get not wanting to take time/spend money to go. I myself am short of funds to see the doctor (thanks to being ill three times in two months, I spent all my medical funds for the year all at once it seemed)...but when I know I need to go, I go anyway and find the money somehow :( I dislike doing that though.

So class is over. YAY! Well not totally. I have to take the final exam by Friday. Its kind of funny when we have finished our presentation before the teacher "pops in" to the breakout room to see how we are doing with our presentations :P At least we were talking about our books, even if we were done sharing them. When she popped into the author presentation, they were talking about the study guide and what will be on the final exam. I was listening, because I haven't looked at it yet really. I did print it off today during class.

And then I have to do tech class stuff. Another discussion, journal reflection, and a flip video walkthru of my classroom/projects, and it says digital portfolio, but I'm confused by that and will have to read it - I am looking at a checklist of things to do, so am not sure how the digital portfolio is different from the digital classroom walkthrough, as they would both show the same material?

Speaking of tech class stuff. I got a 100 on the multimedia project. I stress too much over this stuff I guess :P He did give a suggestion to break up my final "slide" into multiple slides with images of the emotions - which I probably would do if I was actually teaching the lesson with 4yr olds. It was really just mostly an teacher "speaking notes" slide :P

- It's doing much better today. It's closing up slowly and there is no more white discharge. The prescription antibiotic ointment worked much better then I thought it would. Believe me, if I need to go to the doctor for something, we go regardless of cash or cost. After the stroke, we don't play around anymore. Hubby simply thought that we've already tgot the medicine the doc will prescribe so why not give it a try ourselves and we got lucky. It's still stiff and sore but it's getting better. :)

Congrats on finishing the one class and getting a 100 on the project. Adigital portfolio, as I understand it, is simply a gathering of all your work in a particular class (or all classes as it was for me.) We had to present it as a web site but in some classes they just put all their work into a folder, zipped it, and gavve it to the professor. I hope it's the easy option for you. :D

that is good, you don't want to mess around with health, would hate for your finger to get worse.

Yeah, you are right, when I went back and read over the assignment, the flip video is for sharing your work with the class, and the digital portfolio is basically turning in the classroom with all the assignments in it, plus an added document reflecting on stuff we learned in the course. So it looks like i have to type up the reflection, add it to the classroom with all the other stuff that is already in there, and then turn in the link to the classroom again (which he already has, but ok whatever - h e's made us turn in the link to the journal every week as we add stuff to it lol)

Just finished my final exam in my literacy class - got all the multiple choice questions right, so now just waiting on the teacher to grade the 5 "write in an answer" questions. Even if I flop those (which I know I won't) I'd still have an A :P Now I can focus on the tech class and finishing up in there - got to read like 3 articles, find an article, write a discussion post, my journal blabber, and do the video and the reflection and turn it all in :P

Once that is done, I am FREEEEEEEE :P Until August. (college classwork-wise anyway lol) - I still have another month of working before I am free for summer break.

- Yeah, if we didn't have the prescription antibiotic we would have gone straight to the doc, no messing around. I don't want anything like the stroke to happen again. :) It sounds like you're wrapping things up nicely. I swear the professors make you link to your journals every week for busy work. I had a professor who had us do a post a day in a blog for 30 days. XD I never blabbered about nothing more in my life. 😂 Good luck on your exams and upcoming assignments. Keep this up and you'll be valedictorian! :D

Oh heck no I won't!! I would refuse that LOL I am not even sure I'll do the graduation ceremony. I'll decide that later, see how I feel when I'm closer to the end (I have two more full years) I skipped it for my associates degree - partly because I finished that in December, but they said the ceremony wouldn't be until May - which made no sense to me. But also because May is for NATHAN!! He is graduating high school (provided he passes this class, he needs to pull the grade up just a bit! I'm so freaking out on it but NOT to him because I don't want to stress HIM out, I just casually mention "how are your grades now?" to him and "make sure you get it up to passing") :P But anyway, yea this is for him.

Hahahahah this is where I really blabber to be honest. I do feel like I just say random things in my journal but I do try to tie it into whatever we read about/watched videos about or how I feel it would apply to my classroom. Which is basically what we are supposed to do I guess. Its a "reflection" journal :P "What are your thoughts, what did you think about as you read/watched" whatever type of stuff. I can't imagine having to babble stuff for 30 days in a row :o

No more exams. The digital portfolio is the exam for the tech class I guess. And as I said, I finished the exam for the literature class. I just went back and checked my notes from him, regarding improvements or changes to anything he'd mentioned...even tho I got 100s on the assignments, he mentioned linking to the pear deck itself for the interactive, which I did when I put it in the classroom, and he mentioned those additional slides for the emotions for the multimedia project, so I might go back and add that, even tho I won't re-record the video, I can change the slideshow to show I listened to his advice.

- Oh, congrats 0on Nathan's upcoming (hopefully) graduation. My youngest graduated high school 2 years ago ihn May and I still get teary over it. Does he know what he wants to do after high school?

I would definitly incorporate the professor's ideas into your portfolio if for nothing more then to show that you saw and agree with them. Some professors are picky about that but I found it's always a good thing to show that their ideas have merit.

Oh, lucky you done with all your exams already. Do you go to school only online or do you have a classroom? :D

This semester was all online, as were all my previous classes at my other college, for my associates degree. Starting next semester however, will be hybrid. Meaning some days I will go to the local campus (about 20mins from me) and sit in a classroom, but other days I will stay at home and attend the class on a zoom meeting. They have "travelling" teachers, who go to three different campuses. So when the teacher is at MY campus, I have to be there in person, but when the teacher is at one of the other two campuses (1.5 hrs and I don't know how far away the third one is), then I stay home and get on zoom. Same for everyone in my classes.

Nathan has no idea or if he has ideas, he hasn't really shared them with me. The things he did share were not really going to work (but you can't tell HIM that) - he and a friend supposedly wanted to go into some sort of delivery business? If I remember right. Or else they were going to open a car shop and run it (hire people to do the work) hahaha little does he know he needs a business license and possibly a degree for that!! He does NOT want to go to college. I am simply hoping for him to get a JOB and a PAYCHECK so he can buy his own groceries/gas and contribute a little to household expenses like his car insurance and internet and power/water.

I think I will be well, I don't know. Not unhappy, but not happy, if and when he flies the coop. I mean, I will be happy he's grown and able to do things for himself, but unhappy because I will be home alone and none of my kids home anymore or living nearby. I think when he goes, he is going to go far away. I could be totally wrong. he may end up being the one that stays here and lives with me forever hahahaha but I doubt it. He has said he wants to move out. He just hasn't made any plans for that. Like, getting a job and saving money for a downpayment or anything else. At least he is aware he needs that kind of thing, unlike my oldest when he flew the coop. He ended up living with grandma hahahah but he finally learned what it takes to do it on his own (sort of - he keeps getting a lot of help from other family members)

- My degree was completely online. My school has a campus but it was in another state. Hard to get there for me. :) Oh my gosh, that's exactly how I felt when my youngest graduated. He, too, doesn't want to go to college and doesn't understand that college makes getting a good job easier. I don't understand this generation not wanting to go to college or trade school. They see their oldersiblings and parents crushed under student loans and just don't want that for themselves. My youngest turns 20 at the end of May. He has no clue about what he wants to do for a career and thinks working at Sheetz in the meantime will help him. I think it will make him face the kind of work conditions non-college educated people have to face and make him want to go to college or trade school for something. I keep hoping but he'll probably be the one who lives with us until we're old and gray. XD I'm off to dinner. Have a good evening! :D

I don't blame anyone for not wanting student loans or to be in debt just for going to school. I think it's stupid we have to pay so much for a higher education I'm doing my best to keep my student loan debt low

I'm totally fine with him staying here as long as he contributes. It takes so much $ now to live, I won't be surprised to see two or three generations under one roof again. Just to be able to afford the bills and have food to eat. I cannot even imagine childcare costs that my son will have soon (the oldest). I was a stay at home mom because any paycheck I would have earned (high school graduate only) would have simply paid for childcare and nothing else. Nowadays it probably wouldn't even pay for childcare!!!

[edit] 545pm All done except my journal entry. I half fell asleep reading the stupid documents. No videos this time. Eh. Now to figure that out and be DONE! DONE! DONE!!!! I did almost forget to add my reflection paper to the classroom before I submitted the link to the classroom - but went in and added it right quick hahah! Gotta love things that are edit-able!

Oh also, brag on my bratchild, he changed a tire this morning. Ugh. I didn't realize my tires had gotten so bad (I knew I needed new ones but...) anyway one was going flat yesterday but I figured it just got a nail or something, but this morning on the way to work it kept making noise and he said its because it was low, and I made hiim pull over and looked at it myself and was like NO DUDE!! CHANGE the tire!!! So he put the donut on it (I hate those, I prefer full spares). And now he's being all grown up and wants to go buy the new tires (with my money) himeslf :P I said ok fine, but call me if you have issues. He wanted his friend to go with him, but friends mom said no. Eh oh well (Friend he went with to same tire place for tires for friends car a couple months ago).

- I'm with you on the student debt issue. I was having a devil of a time with mine until the stroke. My blindness caused all my debt to be forgiven on the stipulation that if I ever sign up for another university course I will have to repay all the original debt. I loved school so it was a blow but everything became much easier once that debt was gone so it was worth it. My youngest sees the difference and I think that fires his desire not to go to uni or trade school. All 3 of my girls are college grads with varying degrees of debt. But, they all have gotten really good non-minimum wage jobs. My youngest thinks he can do the same w/out the degree. I told him it would be difficult but he insists so it looks like I'm just going to let him try and be there to help him up when it fails. He is living with us right now because he has no way to live on his own. We pay him to act as a Home Health aide and he does really well with it. I've even tried to get him be a CNA but he won't because he'd have to go to school. He didn't care that most of the school would be practical learning. I honestly don't know how to handle this with him. I hate it when all I can do is wait for him to fail and then try to help him afterwards. :(

Quick, write out that entry and be Freeeeee! How will you spend your summer? :D

Already done!!! Free at last, free at last! Lol I hear you on the youngest. I can't even seem to make mine get a job to help pay for things. He will HAVE to once dad stops paying child support (Aug) because I don't earn enough for groceries for us, let alone the energy drinks and soda and eating out he always wants to do. We will figure it out when the time comes I guess. Like you said, be there when he falls, push him back up lol

Tomorrow is field day for preK-2nd grade at my school. Chaos is imminent 😝 No idea how many, if ANY, parents will come. We usually get at least a few. At least three water soaking events. I do not want to get wet but the kids will be soaked

[edit] 558 am

You purchased:

Sweetydead Gate Keeper Plushie

YESSSSSSS Blackheart Hollow Purchase! AND a wishlist plushie (now if they'd only put the stupid shengui beanbag in there to find, that would give me a chance at least!!)

Congrats on the plushie, kat!

I'm glad your finger is getting better!

Ughhhh D is failing and not really doing anything, but now she's at least moved back in with Grandma and Grandpa and is working (for $9 an hour at the dollar general, but it's better than what she WAS doing :/).

Akira is graduating and turning 18 this month, I really can't believe that, either! Luckily there's another two years for Lily :P

Honestly, I'm kind of ready for everyone to grow up and move out.. but I don't know that they're going to end up moving out ever, with the economy as it is. But like.. also, I'm tired of them :P

Been busy busy busy around here, and I can't even remember what i've been doing!

Hahah I feel that. They do grow up too fast. By the time they're 18 you're like get out of here AND why aren't you still little? Lol

Ugh for D. Hopefully she'll sort herself out in time. I have been thru that with Shane multiple times it feels like. Does something, it doesn't work out, come home, does something else. Decides to change, comes home, rinse and repeat.

I'm hot and exhausted. I have been in front of my fan for almost two hours and every time I move away from it I get hot again.
Field day was fun and extremely chaotic!!! There were very little instructions given (go to this area at this time and go to whatever game and then rotate every 8 minutes in that section) etc x3. They had 5th graders helping to give instructions but the kids don't listen to us, let alone other kids so yea. Our kids pretty much did whatever they wanted instead of actually playing the games because we only had 8min per game and by the time you explained it to them, tried to correct them and get them playing right, half of them don't want to play and there is another class lining up behind you. Sigh On top of that we had one little girl have two poopy accidents (she went home after the 2nd one) and another girl just stand there and pee on herself instead of even asking to go potty. Kids crying and whining because they didn't bring $ for snacks but other kids did and had candy ... Arrrgghhhh I get that the snacks are a great fundraiser but it's so not fair to those kids who don't (can't!!) bring $. And honestly I saw so much leftover snacks that didn't get bought I wonder if they made any money anyway.

- I've been there with the oldest just floating/failing their way through life. That's what's going on with my oldest. He's on the "coming home to mom" leg of that circular journey. Lord knows where we'll put him as this apt is too small for 3 let alone 4.Trust me, mieke, by the time their all gone, just as the door is closing behind the last one, you'll start missing them like crazy wishing they were there, or as Kat put it, young again. All of mine refuse to reverse--age for me. Boogers.

Katt, field day was my favorite day of the year as a school kid. I loved being able to play the games outside all day. We didn't have snack, though. We would file in and get a cafeteria lunch instead since k-2 was all day where I grew up. It sounds like you're ready for a nap after your field day. :D

It is always fun. Just chaotic. I always feel like it wasn't planned very well. They do try their best I think, but my age group just doesn't get half the games they set up and its easier to let them just play and have fun. Like who cares which group (out of 4 or 2 groups) wins? We played tic tac toe with frisbees and a large tictactoe frame, we "fanned" scarves down and back using a frisbee, we threw frisbees and balls to knock a cup, dinosaur and unicorn off a tower, we stacked and unstacked buckets, we did a 50yard (?) race, there was an inflatable obstacle course, we played on the playground, there was supposed to be a "pass the bucket of water over your head" challenge game, but the 5th graders just threw buckets of water at the kids and let them run around and shriek instead :P (edit: oh I think there was also supposed to be water squirters for something, the 5th graders had them AND there was a roll the dice challenge and whoever got a certain number was sprayed with the hose or something - we didn't do either of those) There was the 3legged race, and the sack race, a beachball challenge or three (one was hold the ball between 2 people's stomachs or backs and walk down and back w/o it falling but we just played with the beach balls instead, the other two were using parachutes and we didn't even try them), there was ball toss, they had these little football player targets with holes in the centers to throw the balls through... I'm probably forgetting things. But it was a LOT and we didn't even do all of it. Something was in the gym. We didn't go there. We also got free Italian Ice (PTO paid for everyone to get one) and we did get lunch in the cafeteria, we were supposed to picnic outside but we didn't we ate in the cafeteria :P

I remember my kid doing marble pick up with their toes, and hurdle races and baton races and scooter races in the gym....every school is different probably and things change - we did NOT have the inflatable foot ball players for ball toss until this year for example.

EDIT: and today I am glad I am not a certified teacher yet - because today they had a faculty meeting after school AND a PTO meeting later this evening. Like WHAT? Who thought that was a great idea? Field day and then that stuff? Poor teachers. of course, only half the school did field day today, the 3rd-5th graders did it yesterday, which is why the 5th graders could help us today.