It's a little too early for this!

I know that September 1st is next week, but COME ON!! Yes, this would be my front yard where all these leaves are. I guess that is what I get for living in the Burgh! However, I do have to stick up for the trees :) It's been really dry the last month or two, so part of the reason the leaves are falling off is because there is no water. And now it has rained for 2 straight days. Love it, I tell ya, love IT!! I have to admit, though, I have been looking forward to fall, that crisp smell in the air, leaves crunching underfoot, and pumpkin carving time. However, I could have waited a few more weeks for that, at least 3! O well. I tried to take a picture of a tree in our neighborhood that is actually turning red already, but my camera stinks, the lighting was bad, and I figured is someone saw me over there, up close, taking a picture of their tree, they might think I'm a freak. We all know this, but I don't think I need to broadcast it to the people around here!

Classes have started

Ah, the joy of being in school. It's like I never left. Oh, wait, that's cause I haven't! Sean was griping about how easy it was for me to take classes, and as I was trying to calm his fears of taking ONE class, I realized, out of 15 years since high school, I have been in one class or another for EIGHT years! Okay, so that is more than HALF! Good grief, no wonder I am broke. And does that qualify as a professional student?! But, hopefully, this will be the last time and I will get the degree I want so I can do what I want. I can't wait to be done. So far, classes seem to be okay. One professor needs to go out and buy a personality somewhere, but I actually feel sorry for him, because I think it's mostly becuase he is very nervous and has no clue how to teach. oy. I actually picked up one more class, so I now have 15 credit hours, 4 undergrad classes and 1 graduate level. I found out from one of the professors that if I didn't have all the undergrad classes doen this semester there was no chance at all of getting a TA position for next semester. So, I'm taking all the undergrad classes at once to get them out of the way, on the off chance that there might be a TA position available in the spring. Pray that there is, I need it. For those that are wondering what a TA is, it's a teaching assistant and I would be teaching a class unrelated to the ones I would be taking. They'd probably be in the Environmental Science department or something. Who knows, I might even just be helping a proffesor grade papers. I could do that. The whole bummer part is that I have to drive an hour to and from class every day. I hate sitting in the car that long, and it's on a toll road most of the way. Which is good, and it's bad. I'll be done next December, I'll be done next December, I have to keep telling myself that, or I will go crazy!

The next Carrie Underwood

If you have a horse, a guitar and a hat, how far away could a country singing career be?! Abby put the hat on first, then went upstairs to get the horse and the guitar. The best part is that she sings all the time. A lot of the time she will be singing her own songs that she has made up. There is a video of her plunking on the guiter, but for some reason it won't load, once I can get it on, you'll see for yourself:)

The stress is....um, over?

Okay, so the stress of getting INTO school is over. It took over 4 days and hours on the phone to FINALLY get what I wanted from Youngstown state. Oy! I am now in 4 classes, only 1 of which is an actual graduate level class. I won't bore you with all the details, but let me tell ya, I have no idea how that university functions! Someone needs to work on their communication skills over there! So now I will start class in 2 weeks. All I have to do now is get an "Easy Pass" since my trip will be on a toll road, and get a parking permit for campus. What fun:) Not. i'm just glad I was able to get into all the classes I needed to. I'm on a schedule here and they are messing with it! So now I will be done next December, not July like I had hoped. It could have been done if there had been better communication from the professor, but that is water under the bridge at this point and I can't do anything about it now. So, on with the next challenge:)

Camping 2008 day 2

Of course no camping trip is complete without some fishin'! Sean and the girls went while I went over to the grocery store to pick up the things we forgot and some ice for the cooler. Abby wasn't catching much of anything and so she got bored and started playing with some sticks that were near the rocks. And of course, they were burnt and she got ashes all over her face:)
And when you go to Pymatuning Lake you have to go to the spillway and feed all the nasty carp.
My sister, brother-in-law and nephew were able to meet up with us while we were there. Bobby had never done this before and thought it was great! Here he is dropping bread from the hole in the bridge.
This is what the carp look like. Gross, ain't it?! Someone threw a large loaf in the water and they were all fighting for it.

Camping 2008

This years camping trip got off to an interesting start. After getting everything packed into the Blazer we got the dog in, in his little spot. About an hour down the road we noticed smoke coming out of the back of the Blazer. uh oh!This would be the gas station/restaurant that we had to stop at after we found transmission fluid all over the underside of the truck. Oh, yeah, that would mean we couldn't go ANYWHERE. ugh. So we had to have some friends come pick us up at the gas station and drive us back home so we could get the Camry and take it instead. The good part about this whole ordeal was that we left at 10am, planning on being at the beach until we could check into the campgrounds. Which meant that with the whole truck problem, we still made it there early enough to enjoy the beach.

The girls got there own tent this year. Yay! We planned it that way because the big dog was supposed to be going with us, and he needs a lot of room. But since we had to take the car we had to leave him at home, and have our neighbor look after him for the 2 days we were gone. It was probably a good thing too, there were lots of dogs at the campgrounds and he does NOT like other dogs. We think he would have been miserable.
Sean joined in with the girls playing with their Polly Pocket dolls. He'll probably kill me for putting it on here, but hey, he'll get over it:)
Due to the lateness of our arrival and our need to go to the beach, we did dinner on the propane stove. Nothing too fancy, just chicken and potatoes. We realized when we got there how much stuff we had forgotten. Like the MARSHMALLOWS!!! Who forgets marshmallows when you go camping? Uh, that would be me:) Next time I'm writing everything down, and I mean everything!