The Life and Times of Alann

I only have time for a short one today because is am going to try to skip out of work a little early today so i can get a jump start on finishing the everlasting bathroom. I just had a couple thoughts today to convey anyways, so here goes.

First, we are going to try and stay here while i go into the masters program, i will turn in all my stuff as soon as i can and hopefully the will accept my application. So if i get accepted all we have to do after that it make sure we are financially stable for another year an a half, which i think we can do.

Second, have ya noticed all the iconic messaging going on lately. things like, c u l8er and :) I saw a comics show briefly on a TV i was passing by and he was doing a bit on these icons and telling a story using only or mostly these symbols and it was easy to intemperate the symbols into what he was trying for. It got me thinking about Egyptian hieroglyphics and wondering if we keep incorporating more and more of these icons, like we are now, will we one day end up like the ancient Egyptians and have half to all of our words be in caricatures

Lastly, we bought a bunch of these Campbell's don't add water soups for me to try and i noticed that even though every soup was a different blend they all had this similar background taste to them. And these soups were way different form each other, i had tomato bisque, Italian meatball, broccoli cheddar with potato and one other one that i can't recall, but every single one of them had this taste. So one, it makes me not want to eat their soup any more two, i wonder if all the soups start off with the same broth and they just add different ingredients to them along the way and three is maybe its the can I'm tasting and what does that mean i could be eating?

Well those are my thoughts for the day, hope you enjoyed them.

So the big "to do" this week has been trying to decide if will I go to graduate school or will I just start working. So far what I have come up with through my research is that if I go to grad school anywhere else or for another field it will take about 2-3 years to get a MA. But if I stay here and do a degree in the program here, it could take me 1.5-2 years or if I tried a dual masters 2-3. Of course that means I'm back in school and not working full time and can we have to decide if we can make it financially with a baby, if Becca only works part time or not at all regardless of where I go to school.

I think the most appealing course of action right now is to stay here and do the degree, because not only is it short, but the dean is willing to allow me to customize the program a little so I can focus more on design and less on policy. Also Becca could keep her job and if not go to a part time or work from home, position, than at least we have some great friends here who we trust, if they were willing, to watch the baby while Becca was gone. Then that allows us to have the income we need and not have to worry about who is watching Claire and can we really trust them. So I feel that is the way I am leaning, I think the biggest catch is that I just want to be done with school. So my rational side and my selfish side are fighting over who will get what they want. Usually it is the rational side that wins, but that is not always true, however if i am going to stay on here I need to decide soon because registration is only a couple days way and then come the late fees. P.s. I don't like this layout, hopefully I can change it soon.

So here we are again, a new Monday a new week of work and school. Over the weekend i worked on the bathroom and started to do the quarterly cleaning of the garage so i can let it fall apart again through winter neglect ( its just too cold to go out there for long). No, unfortunately the bathroom is not finished. Some where along the way the bolt from the floor to the toilet got messed up and after an hour of trying to clean it and just put the nut on i gave up. So today i get to go to home depot on the way home and buy a new toilet setting kit and hopefully by Wednesday the toilet will be back in place and then i can get the walls painted by this coming weekend. What took the most time was waiting for the wall compound to dry so i could sand it and apply a new coat and in fact it is still not done. only the part behind the toilet is done and painted.

While the bathroom may not have gotten finished it still was a good weekend. I have now acquired enough tools that i can start to break them up into categories of work like plumbing and tile and so forth and put them in their own tool boxes, which is what i did. So now i can just grab a tool box for the project I'm doing and be on my way instead of trying to gather it all first. I think i will need to make a general tools box too for the things that go in multiple projects so i don't have to keep switching them around. Also I have told Becca that i would like some kind of organizational system for the garage, she told me that if i can find one i like then maybe we can get it. I have to admit that i have it fairly nice when it comes to the accumulation of tools, as long as i can justify needing the tool for a project, i can have it and for the most part i have never taken advantage and gotten something i didn't really need or use.

Not all men can say that, even when they need the tool they are not allowed to get it because their wife doesn't understand why just a screw driver and hammer wont work. That's one of the reasons i am grateful that Becca was in shop at school, she realizes that the right tool not only makes things faster and easier,but sometimes it is the only way it can get done. I've decided lately that if we end up staying in Utah for a while that this next summer i am going to build or buy a small portable garden tool shed so we can get all the garden tools and supplies out of the garage and grouped together out of the way. Then maybe i will tackle the idea of fixing the back wall to the garage so that the door shuts and i don't have to worry if it is going to fall off the foundation, and think of all the lovely tools i can get for those projects :) When will i find out if we are staying here longer? I'm not sure but hopefully soon, i am talking to people and looking up possible avenues for the future so, well see.