Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Giveaway!!!!

This is Counting to Three's first giveaway! I've seen lots of giveaways out there in blogland, and have decided to get on the bandwagon. For six months you've read all about Global Daughter on my blog. Some of you have been to a party and seen what it is all about, but a lot of you live too far away to have experienced it first hand. Well, this is your chance! I am giving away one Cleopatra Necklace in your choice of 4 different colors!



Global Daughter's mission is
"Through fair trade initiatives and skills development training, Global Daughter creates an opportunity for otherwise marginalized women to have an outlet for their handicraft talents and a connection to the global market. Our goal is to give women in developing countries the tools to retain stable employment, achieve financial independence and establish a sustainable way of life."



My sister, Erika, is a co-founder of this new company. She and her life long best friend Erin have poured their heart and soul into this venture and into these women. Erika and Erin worked directly with these women in Nepal. They guarantee that these women are in safe working environments and earning fair pay for their work.

We live in a world where we do not always see where the products we buy come from. I can tell you exactly where this necklace comes from. Urmila and Roma are a mother and daughter who work together in their small one room home. It takes each one of these women 4 hours to make each necklace. The beads are so small and delicate, I couldn't even imagine threading one strand in 4 hours! These necklaces and the other beaded products are so beautiful. Every time I look at mine I think about the women who made it. I feel a special connection that I have never experienced with other products I own.

Giveaway Rules!

1. For one entry leave me a comment and link my giveaway on your blog. If you are here through the facebook group, post a note with a link to the giveaway!

2. To earn an additional entry, comment, then link the giveaway AND write a short note about global daughter, and link their site on your blog. http://www.globaldaughter.com/.

**If you are here through the facebook group, post a note with a link to the giveaway. The same rules apply. If you post a note with just a link you get one entry. If you post the link and write a short note about Global Daughter with a link to the Global Daughter site you will get 2 entries!**

3. The contest will close on Friday March, 6, at 3:00 pst. I will put all the entries into a box and let Eve pick the winner. I will take pictures and post them along with the announcement of the winner. I will post the name of the winner and then get your shipping information. You will have your choice of one of four necklaces-

1. Cleopatra Malla - Blue

2. Cleopatra Malla-Gold/Black

3. Cleopatra Malla-Gunmetal

4. Cleopatra Malla-Purple

Be sure to look around the Global Daughter site. There are some good discounts and sales that will be coming over the next week...including the beautiful curtains that I have in my living room. Good Luck!!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

So Tired Of Homework.

I am exhausted. I have so much on my plate this weekend and in the coming week. I can hardly keep all of it straight, and I'm really hoping that I don't forget anything. Yesterday in addition to all my usual Friday Mom stuff I spent about 4 hours working on Biology flashcards in preparation for my study session today and test on Monday. When I finished with that I took a break...to fold laundry. Fun. Did a math assignment and online quiz and finally went to bed. This morning I was up at 8 to get Mosby from the vet and then out the door at 9:30 to meet a friend from Bio for a study session. We worked on the material from 10 until just about 4:30. We did take a break for lunch, but really spent the majority of the time learning the material from the 3 chapters we will be tested on on Monday. I'm glad we did this. I really felt like I was not understanding anything, so sitting with someone who thinks like I do and talking out all the concepts was so helpful. I still have a lot of memorization to do tomorrow and Monday, but I'm feeling so much better about it. I got home around 6, had dinner and helped Eve with her talk for Primary tomorrow. Did some more laundry and sat down to look at the rest of the math assignment for the weekend. I went onto the site where our new math teacher posts our homework assignments. Last week she posted a short homework that was 2 pages. She said this homework would be longer. I was thinking maybe 5-6 pages. It is 12. 12 pages of math due by Tuesday, plus 3 more online quizes, one that needs to be done by tonight at midnight. Did I mention I also have a paper due on Monday for Biology that I still need to really get into and write tomorrow. The homework overload is just crazy this weekend. It will be better after Monday, but that isn't the end of the crazy. Tuesday Brian is hosting a work party. That means that all the housework that is getting neglected during my massive homework weekend will need to be done by Tuesday at 3. Friday night is Isaac's birthday party and Saturday his baptism. On Sunday, I will take a nice long nap, assuming I don't have 12 pages of math homework for the next week! I am so ready for spring break in March. So, think about how tedious this post is to read, and then be glad that this isn't your life, because it's even more tedious to live! I really hope that you are having lots more fun than I am! Fun blogging time is over, the never ending math awaits!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Taking it Slow

I've decided to slow down the ambition and only take 2 classes this spring. I will not take any classes over the summer and just enjoy my family. I think we all need to have mom not running in 20 different directions for a while. Now, I can actually look forward so summer and all our usual adventures. Unfortunately there is no time to slow down right now. I have a paper to write, math problems to do and a big test on Monday. I need to get ready for Isaac's birthday and baptism next week, Brian's work party here at the house Tuesday, a kitty who needs to be at the vet at 7am tomorrow, and an entire house to clean, and I just got a call that my dad is really sick and on his way to the hospital. Hopefully he will be feeling better very soon. There is a lot on my plate, but knowing that a relaxing summer is just a few months away helps.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Feeling Overwhelmed

I'm wondering if I'll write a post anytime soon where I don't feel overwhelmed. I tripped last Thursday and jammed my post surgery foot into the hard cement in the garage. It hurt. I was so worried I had damaged something, but luckily everything was ok. It hurt so badly for the next few days though. I didn't make it to school that night, so I'm feeling even further behind in my bio class, which is not a good feeling at all. Then this afternoon I checked my syllabus for the class and realized that our next test is MONDAY! I'm not even close to ready. I also have a small paper to write for the same class before that day and I'm nervous about both. I have plans to meet a friend to study on Saturday and I am hopeful that it will be a good thing for me. I didn't do as well as I wish I had last week on the test. True, I had just had surgery 3 days before, but I would really like for my grade to have been higher. I've spent tonight trying to figure out what I am going to register for in Spring. I found out from another potential nursing student that I need to have my CNA before applying. This changes everything. I now have to figure out when I am going to get that, and I don't think that I'll be able to fit it in before the next application deadline. The next nursing school seminar isn't until after registration for spring quarter, so I need to decide if I should chance it and fill up my schedule and push myself, or if I should relax a bit, take less on and just plan to apply next year. I hate the idea of delaying, but I really don't think I can do everything within the next 3 quarters of school. If I take a step back I could do the CNA during the summer and then finish out my classes during next year and then apply. Just not sure. I think I will see if I can contact someone in the nursing department to get more clarification on next year's deadlines and information about the CNA. Oh, and did I mention that at some point I need to still take care of my family? Was it really smart of me to take all this on? I don't know. I refuse to be scared off, but I really need to take some time and figure out what will be the best plan. Seriously, doing all of this with children is very hard. I am constantly feeling like something isn't being done well enough, whether it's school or things at home. I am hoping that it will be worth it in the future. It gives me a lot of comfort to know that once I finish, I will have a skill set to be able to actually make a decent amount of money, especially if something ever happens to Brian's job or to Brian. But 3 years seems so far away and so much can happen in that time. I guess it's ok to freak out a little bit about what I have to do.

Tonight, while I was walking in between classes there were two missionaries visiting with other students. I stopped for a moment to say hello and visit. For me, it was a good moment. It was a reminder to me that I am not alone in my crazy world. There presence reminded me of that. I need to remember to not only rely on myself, but to have faith and trust that Heavenly Father is there for me. On a day filled with so many choices and stress, I needed that reminder.

On a lighter side, this past weekend and today I got a lot of time to spend with the kids. On Valentine's Day I got a movie and tons of fun treats and we had our own party. I put out everything and the kids were thrilled that they could chose from so many treats without any limit. We laughed our way through the movie. I loved spending that time with them. Today we picked up HSM3 and has a smaller lunch party while we watched it. The soundtrack for that movie has been in the van since it came out in theaters. We have listened to it over and over and over. It was fun to watch the movie and the kids knew all the songs. They'd say things like, "oh, it's number 8!" Songs didn't have titles, they have track numbers. Yesterday poor Isaac gave us a laugh. He asked to have a bagel. I told him yes and he went into the kitchen to make it. He came out a few minutes later very upset. He said that he was sad he wasted his bagel and asked if he could have another one. I asked him how he wasted it. He accidentally put sour cream on it instead of cream cheese. He didn't realize the mistake until he ate it. Poor boy! We gave him a do over!

On Sunday I taught in Relief Society again. After, one of the nicest women in the ward, Sister M, came up to me and told me she had some things for me in her car. Sister M is in her 70s and is a convert to the church within the last few years. This past summer her husband, who was battling cancer, decided to be baptised and a week later passed away. I had take Elijah to the baptism, and it was one of the most amazing moments I have ever experienced. I followed Sister M to her car and she gave me two books. One was a vintage children's hymn book. It is amazing. She had found it at a thrift shop and thought of me. She didn't even know that I have a soft spot for old books and have started picking them up when I come across them. The other was a book of Christmas music. She had gotten them for me before the holidays, but our timing hadn't quite matched up. I was so touched that this woman thought of me. She found me a gift that means so much. I cried when she gave them to me and hugged her tight. It was such a good moment. As I am sitting her writing tonight, I am feeling a lot of the stress lift off. I am reminded that even in all these tough moments, in all the stress, that there are beautiful moments too. The kindness of others, the laughter of my kids and the gentle reminders that we are not alone. I already feel better.

Monday, February 9, 2009

What Was I Thinking?

Seriously, what was I thinking? Sure, I can have surgery the Friday before a test. That's not a problem at all. I'm sitting here this morning, my brain still a bit foggy from the drugs I took last night, trying to study. It's not working. I feel like I'm just reading gibberish. It doesn't help that photosynthesis is so boring. I'm hoping that I'm taking in enough information to make it through a multiple choice test, but who knows. I really just want to close my eyes and sleep. I keep looking at my foot and wondering if it will end up being worth it. It's strange not to be able to see what they have done to it, if it looks much different than it did before the surgery. I'm kind of hoping the Dr. unwraps it tomorrow at my appointment so I can look. I'm sure it's going to be really gross, but I'm so curious. What I'd really like is for my brain to stop being so jumpy and for me to be able to focus on my Biology. That would be very helpful! Wish me luck tonight. Really, what was I thinking? I think I have lost my mind.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Yeah, It Hurts

So I had my surgery on Friday, and yeah, it hurts. I have spent the last 3 days in the same spot on my couch, foot up and bored. It's hard to not be able to get up and do anything. It's even harder when Brian is really sick and miserable. Talk about crappy timing. I've spent a large part of today studying and doing homework, but I still feel like I don't know anything. I'm hoping that it will click tomorrow during my test. I'm so nervous about going to school tomorrow night. I can hardly walk down the hall, let alone get around the campus and sit in a classroom for 2 hours. Hopefully there will be something I can put my foot up on. It's hard to have the foot down at all. I have a follow up appt. at the dr. on Tuesday morning. We'll see how I'm doing then. At least I'll be able to ask more questions and get more information about what to expect in the next few weeks.

I also got some strange spam like comment on my blog today about swimming lessons. I think it came from the person who visited the site from Singapore. It was an odd comment about learning to swim with an option to click on a link that was on a woman's name. I didn't click anything, and didn't approve the comment, but I'm guessing that whatever was waiting on the end of that link would not have been good. So even with the work verification, looks like people have nothing better to do than spam blogs.

Tomorrow is back to the normal routine. Taking the kids to school. It will be interesting to get around and do the normal things that I need to tomorrow. I'm glad that my mom is coming up to help with swimming lessons. I am worried it would be a bit too much for me to do all of it tomorrow. I have a feeling that this is going to be a really long, really hard week for me. Hopefully, it will end up being worth it in the end.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Procrastination

I am once again avoiding homework and choosing to blog instead. Maybe procrastination from school work will be helpful in blogging? I did finish my math homework and do about 30 minutes of bio notes. I missed my first class last night. I am sick. Timing couldn't be worse. I have class all week, swimming lessons for kids, a house to clean, food to stock up on and just the other normal everyday things that never end. My surgery is going to be here before I know it. Friday isn't really that far away. I had my pre-surgical appointment today. It went well. I like my doctor. He is really straight forward, answers questions, and doesn't rush. I feel like I'm going into this as prepared as I can be. I did forget to get my handicap parking pass today so I'll have to run down there tomorrow morning and pick it up. It really will come in handy at school and when I'm running errands. Even though I'll be able to get around ok after the weekend, I will be trying to stay off my foot as much as I can. Even with all the preparation, I'm still nervous. I'm afraid of the pain and the recovery time and just the inconvenience of having my foot in a post surgical shoe. But it is better than the alternative. Pain in my foot forever and not being able to wear normal shoes. What women won't sacrifice to wear nice shoes, right?

To add to the stress, I have a Biology test on Monday that covers 4 chapters. The material is a
bit easier to understand than what was covered on the first test, but it's going to require of lot of memorization of terms. Who knew a cell had so many organelles? And learning all the functions of each one-it's a lot. And that is just one tiny section of one chapter out of four. This class is a challenge. I was looking over the list of classes that I still need to take to prepare to apply to the nursing program. My biology nightmares are far from over. I have two Anatomy and Physiology classes and a microbiology class left, as well as another math class, psych 200 and a communications class. I'm going to try and take 3 next quarter. I can take psych and math online next quarter, so I should only have one class on campus. That will be a nice break from this quarter. My goal fro next quarter? No surgery. I would like to get through one quarter of school without a mid-quarter surgery, especially the weekend before a test. My dermoid surgery was the weekend before a Monday Psych test, and now this one the weekend before a Monday Bio test. This should be an attainable goal, but with my track record so far, it's going to be a tough one to achieve!

Ok, enough procrastination for now. I should put in another hour on bio before heading to school. It's better than cleaning my house, right?