Princess Alexia & horse

It's me!!

This blows

Lexy and I have been sick and at home for the past two days. She refuses to take medicine so it becomes a fight to let her feel better. There is no amount of persuasion that will work with her to make her drink the medicine. So she coughs. And we both run fevers.

I'm fixin' to get more excited

I met with the secretary in the Anthropology Department yesterday and it all just gets to much better. I didn't realize it but the department also offers a minor in Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology. She had gone over my DARS report and was happy to report that if I switched my minor to Cultural Anthropology then my minor was fulfilled. I have already taken so many Cultural classes it was enough for a minor--that's 12 additional credits I didn't need to take! So let's recap, shall we?

• Math 120 for 3 credits (ick)
• Geology 103 lab for 1 credit (I still think the advisor meant 101 lab but I'll check)
• German 212 for 3 credits
• Anthropology 281 for 3 credits (Linguistics--which I can take through Independent Learning as English 281)
• Anthropology 480 for 3 credits (Second semester Linguistics)

But with 110 credits, the additional 13 won't be enough to get me to the 128 credits I need to graduate. So if I take 2 more Archaeology classes I'll have enough for a 2nd minor and will have enough to graduate! I'm going to start in the fall by auditing German 211 to get ready for German 212. I figure, I have to at least get a D in 212 to pass. It's been 6 years since I was last in 212 and it's going to be rough. The alternative is to wait and then the German Department gets axed during the budget cuts and I have to take another 2 years taking a different language. I'm tempted to start the English 281 soon and I'm also tempted to take Math 120 through Independent Learning and have Mike help me.

I'm excited!!!

My house: Where the past & present collide

I have very fond memories of my grandparents farm in Dixie outside of Walla Walla, Washington. My brother and I spent weeks there every summer from the time I was 6 until 15. And every summer I would spend the beginning of my visit almost ritualisically going through their house and over the property looking at playthings and pictures that had made an impression on me in past years. We moved so much when I was younger that it was a nice feeling to know that their farm was frozen in time. Heck, when I was in college they still had pictures of chickens I had drawn and taped real chicken feathers to on their fridge. Over time I would stop checking in on certain toys I had outgrown in favor of more grown up things but it was a nice feeling to know that I could go to those stuffed animals and games anytime I wanted. One of those things, silly as it sounds, was 3 different decks of playing cards. Why playing cards you ask? My gramma didn't have just any old playing card decks. Being from Reno, I was used to casino decks with the edges notched off and plain, old boring casino backs. My gramma's decks had a boy dressed almost like the famous "Blue Boy" painting (except not in blue) with his puppy in a fancy garden, a candle in a unusual candleholder with a little deer standing next to it and this one, a beautiful little blond cherub girl.
When I was little I didn't dare do anything but hold these cards and look at them. They were so crisp and shiny that they were more like works of art then a game. And every year I would open the cabinet they sat in (in their unusual card holder--a two sectioned box with a lift away lid, not at all like the holder you slid your cards into and closed the lid on) to see if they looked like they had been used. I think if they had shown any signs of wear I would have picked them up and played with them. When I got older I would pick up the decks, weed out the ones with the little girl and play Solitaire with them.

My grampa died in 2001 and I made the trek up with my family to clean out the house. My gramma was in a nursing home at this point and wasn't able to give us much in the way of direction as to what to do with her belongings. So we went through and tried to decide what was junk and what meant something to us. And it was hard because I had become attached to a lot of junk in their place over the years. I opened the drawer where she kept her cards. They aren't junk I told myself and scooped them up to put in my box. They're here in my house now and of the three decks, there isn't one complete set. I should throw them away. And they're still there.

So, Lexy saw the two sectioned card holder for the first time a few weeks ago and started to dig. She comes to me with the little girl, "Mommy, is this me?" HA! It *does* look like her. I find it ironic that for years I was drawn to the beautiful little blond girl on the playing card and now the beautiful little blond girl lives with me.

Alien cupcakes

RUN!!!

Kiernan's been using my camera again

BeeYooTiFul Butterfly

Made out of Fuzed Beads

Once there was a little girl...

with a little curl right in the middle of her forehead

This is a long distance phone call

Will you accept the charges?

I double dog dare you!

Go ahead! Open it & put your Valentine's card inside

Where's my money!?

I found this on my desk today from 2 and 1/2 years ago. Good thing I didn't hold my breath!

I'm fixin' to get excited!!

I received an email on Monday from the advising center:

Dear CHRISTINA CARVER,
We still to have your academic records on file and it appears that you may be within 30 credits of graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno.
If you are interested in exploring your path to graduation, please reply to guijarog@unr.edu.
We look forward it hearing from you.
Sincerely,Gigi

I wrote back to her:
Dear Gigi,
You’re going to go and make me sad and give me a complex! I’ve been at UNR as a student on and off for the past 20 years and a senior for something like 8 years now. I would love to graduate!! However, life and more importantly, children have gotten in between me and my diploma. Can I meet with someone to discuss what I have left to take? I’m hoping to start classes again in Fall 2009. I know I have 2 classes left in my major (linguistics) and something like 18 credits in my minor (3rd world history). I still need my math and I had no choice but to drop out of my 4th semester in German so I’ll need my foreign language requirement. Am I on the right path?
Thanks!
~Chris Carver

Gigi called me that afternoon and asked me how much I wanted to continue in Anthropology. I said, if I had graduated on time then I most likely would have gone on to Grad school and started working in the field. Now, I just want to graduate. She said she wanted to set up a meeting to see me and wanted to know what I thought about getting a degree in General Studies. That made me laugh because that's what my husband graduated with after he realized Mechanical Engineering wasn't for him. I told her I'd be very open to that to which she replied, "I'm real excited about this!" She rattled off the classes I'd need if I were to stay in anthropology and it sounded like all I'll really need to take is my math. Holy Moly! I could graduate soon! If Math is all I need, I could graduate next year!!! I am so getting my mom and step-dad one of those, "UNR Mom" and "UNR Dad" t-shirts! But I haven't had the meeting yet so I'm just fixin' to get excited.

EEEP!

The Valentine's Day box is half done

I'm sad to report

That the day after receiving family photo (below), Kiernan's girlfriend broke up with him because another boy in class wrote her a note. Mike asked him if the ex-girlfriend had a girl in class she didn't like or if she had a really good friend in class. The way to get back at her would be to send this other girl a really nice Valentine's Day card instead. Mike then asked Kiernan if there was another girl in class that he liked. "Mrs. Pena" was the reply. That would be Kiernan's teacher.

From my 9 year old son's girlfriend

When you're an adult it's freaky but when you're 9 it's kind of cute

Checking out Morrill Castle

The artist hard at work

The dessert menu is more interesting

Worthy of a frame!

She said Please