Thursday, October 15, 2009

The day

My photo booklet is all done and I hope it turns out.  In my last calendar all my photos printed dark, so if the photo booklet prints dark I'll know something is wrong with the settings on my machine.  That zit popped out and it's big and it's red.  Everyone is ignoring though.  That's nice of them.

Yesterday we went to Cruces and I got the laser hair removal started that I've been wanting to get done.  It'll take four treatments, three to five weeks apart, and I paid $600 up front so I get one treatment free which makes it five treatments.  I thought it was going to cost much, much more so I was happy with the price.  The laser simply felt like a rubber band snapping against my skin.  It was a cinch and only took about 15 minutes.  Fast.  I won't have any results to show till after the second treatment says the technician.  She was very professional, which I'd expect because it's a dermatology office not a beauty spa.  I flinched a few times, but small price to pay.  It's far better than waxing or electrolysis and I can say that because I'm an expert.  I had a mustache when I was 15.  May I say it was really a drag?

Took son to a presentation about jaguars.  It was interesting.  I used the hour as practice to teach him how to take notes.  He was rather surly about it.  I was unhappy with his awful attitude.  No one else could see his attitude, but I could.  I advised him to write down today's date, the main topic, the name and job title of the speaker.  I told him to write down main topics from the audio-visuals the speaker used, and add supporting ideas that interested him.  I explained it'll take practice to be able to listen and write at the same time.  I explained that note taking skill is imperative to attaining good grades in college.  My sister's son has started college and his grandparents bought him a special techie pen that remembers what it writes.  Sounds like a neat gadget.  But I impressed upon son, there are no gadgets or gimmicks to help you if you don't know how to take good notes.  I said if I miss a class and I need to ask someone for notes, I ask the person in class who has the highest grades because the person with the highest grades is going to have the best notes.  Good notes equals good grades.  There's no way you can remember all the information from a one or two or three hour lecture.  You have to write information down.  Don't ask for notes from a poor note-taker because poor note-takers get poor grades.  After an hour of unpleasantness with him I reviewed his notes and they were quality notes.  Why then, must he be such a pain about doing it? 

I have decided what school I'm going to shoot for for him to attend.  Texas A&M.  Nice location, we're already Texans so it'll be less costly as a resident, there's a solid Christian presence on campus that he can tap into, he's interested in engineering or mechanics, Texas has fair weather, it's not too far from here, and all that makes Texas A&M a good pick.  Could change in six years, but I have to have a target.  The goal is the degree, I gotta target a campus.  I've read that they do accept home-schoolers.  I'll have to hire someone to keep official, acceptable home-school records for me when he reaches high school.  I've carefully filed documents that might come in handy to submit with his college application like the letter a park ranger wrote when he became a volunteer when he was ten (and I am sure now that she wrote it with that in mind), and the recent newspaper article, so I don't lose them.  I have to get myself educated on how home-school parents ensure their kids get into university. Applying for university is a lot of work and I only expect extra work for a home-schooled person to request admission.

My aunt decided to stop the chemotherapy.  She'll be 85 next month.  She has lung cancer that non-smokers get.  She never smoked.  The chemo was so hard on her.  It's hard on a young person.  Think of an old person getting chemo.  It's just not right.  I have a feeling she might just choose to live out the days God has planned for her without the chemo.  My other aunt arranged her own funeral.  She has had a few small strokes and she has a small aneurysm in her aorta.  I almost never see my aunts, but I can't imagine them not being here.  It's strange to think all Grama's six children will be gone one day.  A whole generation born and raised in Nebraska.  They are each delightful in their own way.  One went to Idaho, three to California, and two stayed in Nebraska.  My dad is the baby of the family, born in 1932.  The eldest was born in 1918.

Well, now I've gone and made myself blue thinkin' about the old days.

4 comments:

Jules said...

I agree with your aunt. At 85 quality is more valuable than quantity. It's not as if the chemotherapy is going to give her another 20-30 years which would make the discomfort now worth it.

My grandmother was one of 6. The 4th born, she was the first to die. Most of the others have Alzheimer's now (?sp). But I used to love to hear stories of their growing up days. It's sad to think of those days gone forever.

I'm about to sit down with my 4th son when he wakes and sort out a University for next year. I'm afraid he's choosing the one his brothers went to because it's close and he doesn't know where else to go but it's a good Uni and I won't complain about having him not too far away.

Now I just hope I can post this comment. I usually have to try 3 or 4 times before it works.

Blessings, Jules

Jules said...

It worked first time! Woo-hoo!

SchnauzerMom said...

I bet your son will do great in the university. So you're a Texan. My father and brother are Texans. Mom is an Okie and I was born in New Mexico.

Liliana said...

Jules, I don't see anything wrong with going to the same university. I'd be happy to have all my children go and you have a lot of children!

I had one aunt who got Alzheimer's. She passed on a couple years ago. My grama lived to age 96 and she didn't get it though.

SchnauzerMom - So you were born in NM! Small world! Our sons were born in CA, but youngest has disowned CA. lol. He says he wants to be from NM.