I guess I should probably give another update, although not much has changed, including how the snow outside looks. The snow hasn't melted for about six weeks now, and I'm beginning to feel like one of the kidnapped brides in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I always wanted to be one of those women, and now I'm a little appalled at the thought of it, especially having to be Millie!? Yuck.
Anyhoo, this semester has been an easier semester so far. I'm currently working with a classmate to design an educational app for 3-5 year olds. It's fun. Let's just say this Masters is way more fun and enjoyable than my English Masters. I do miss the literature though.
In my day job as an instructional designer, I don't get to do something as cool as design an education app, but I am working on a course training elementary teachers on how to teach reading. That's fun. I'm sure glad I found instructional design.
I'm about to grade a batch of student papers this week. Always a little bit of agony.
I'm still plugging along as choir president, but was released as visiting teaching supervisor. I'm glad I have been in choir; I've gotten to know some people better than I otherwise would. Although, now that our ward has done away with the "apostate" Singing Sunday School (20 min of choir practice during Sunday School and the last 20 minutes were the sunday school lesson), our choir numbers have drastically reduced. Understandably.
No dates. And that reminds me of a funny analogy that my family told me about. Elder Oaks shared this woman's analogy in a regional conference in Provo, and I found that it fit perfectly:

The situation of a Church member who is single can be illustrated by a simple analogy. Imagine that your favorite hobby is stargazing and you’ve just joined a stargazing club. You come to your first club activity eager to participate. It’s a cold night, but you’re not concerned: most of the club members are wearing club jackets, and you’ve been told you should be able to get one as well. But there is no jacket for you. You ask about it, and you are told to keep looking and that if you do your best, you will find a jacket when the time is right.

Meanwhile, you are getting pretty cold and a little worried. And you notice that most of the other club members are talking about how nice and warm their jackets are. In fact, throughout the evening the topic surfaces continually in various forms: how to wash and dry your jacket, how to add extra pockets, how to mend it, and so forth. Some of the club members notice you don’t have a jacket. “You really need a jacket for these activities,” they tell you. “Why don’t you have one yet?”

So here is the latest around my new townhome during this January: so beautiful, but very scary to drive in. Going to work today was pretty dicey. I won't admit to being close to hysterical driving in it, but I was.

View of my backyard. Check out the height of the snow on top of my air conditioning unit.

 

 

 

Now, check out the snow pile you hit right after skating across the ice rink that is my front porch. It's at least 3 feet high. I get some good exercise shoveling my driveway to make that pile. It would be perfect for a snow fort or igloo.

 

 

 

Then there are the mondo icicles hanging from my roof right outside my bedroom patio. They do look pretty cool. One of them is probably four feet long.

 

 

 

So, I have had some more free time from my day job. I have been able to catch up with everything, and it feels good. Strange to think my semester for both teaching and being a student is almost up. Because of the new announcement about the drop in missionary ages, BYU-I has sent out notifications to all online teachers that the numbers of enrolled students (as opposed to deferred) has dropped radically and to be aware that we may not have a class to teach next semester. I'm good either way as of right now, so we'll see what happens.

I have found a townhome! It is cute, and I really like it. I am just waiting for all the paperwork to ocme through. My closing date is set for December 13th.

In the past, I am not usually one to get panicked by big committments, but I guess I have become that person. I can't sleep at night anymore (see previous posts), but what keeps me up now is the townhome. I was able to decide on the house, not without anxiety, but now I don't want to commit to any furniture. I guess I will have to stay with just my pink chair, my bed, and my 3 book cases.

Here's some pics:

Well, my day job has slowed down quite a bit in the last week and a little, enabling me to move out of my parent's place due to their return from their mission, and into the basement of my cousin's house. I'm happy to have my parents back and the basement is a great place. I'm very happy to stay there while I do some house/condo/townhome shopping.

I would prefer a house, but it is turning out to be quite difficult to find one. I don't want something old, but everything new is huge! I don't want to deal with HOAs, and I do want to have a small yard.

The more I look though, the more it seems like I will have to go with a townhome because a house just doesn't seem to work.

I got another calling as choir president in addition to visiting teacher supervisor. Makes Sundays a little stressful having to get all the music out and the prayers picked and the meeting started. I think once I get the hang of it more, I will come to enjoy it.

It is still pretty brutal trying to get through paper grading for BYU-I, but when has grading ever not been a trying experience? :)

With the extra time, I'm also enjoying my classes more and learning more.

I can't help but include this little analogy of being a teacher so that you can get an idea of what my day job is like when we're trying to get our clients to give us the information we need:

So, I have bit off more than I can chew. I've never had so many bad dreams about not being able to do what I have to do (in all it's various subconcious manifestations).
I really enjoy what I'm learning (how to design better learning experiences), but I feel bad that I have to skim so much of it. It is very useful and I can't pay nearly as much attention as I would like. Ugh.
Still trying to get the hang of fitting it all in.

So FUNNY!

I couldn't resist posting this for all the word geeks/U2 fans out there:

These people are putting out a book about scrabble words. What an ingenious way to advertise your book.

Update: Okay, perhaps this is only funny when you have been sleep deprived by all your homework... He does a pretty mean Bono a la 1997, though.

I've finished my first two classes for my Master's program. I learned a lot and they were interesting. It looks like it will be an enjoyable two years in the program.

I also finished my BYU-I class, so I don't have to teach for the next six weeks. Yay. It did end on a fairly sad note though. The final paper of the class is a personal narrative where they recount some life-changing event. As I mentioned, my students this semester live in Ghana. Most of the papers were about some violent event that happened in their lives, armed robbers breaking in and taking everything, being a victim of fraud, being mugged, etc. It was sad to read about the dangerous conditions they live in. I am so grateful that I live in such safety and do not have the threat of danger everywhere around me.

I had some wonderful visitors this weekend. Here are a few pictures of the cute kids and fantastic mother that stayed for a day this weekend.

I listen to the Harry Potter series as I exercise and I just finished the 5th book (one of my least favorites-along with number 2). On that note, I saw this on Pintrest and had to post it.

Well, I got back from my wonderful vacation to Seattle about two weeks ago. Lisa and I visited the arboretum, the ocean, the rain forest, Deception Pass, and last, but not least, the Maltby Cafe for the huge and good cinnamon rolls, which were beyond fantastic when made into bread pudding. I'm a sucker for pudding.

Since then, I have gone back to work completing trainings for ebay and lego, caught up on grading, and started school. So far it has all been managable, but we are only in week 2. :)

Here's a sample of how gloriously I have spent my last few days in Seattle.

So I've officially signed my life away. Starting May 7th, I will be working two jobs and taking 2 Masters classes. What have I done?

In my instructional design job during the day, I will be working to finish several major Avon training courses and then localizing those courses for many countries, with some anti-discrimination/anti-violence courses for Ameren, and employee training courses for Lego thrown in.

For my BYU-Idaho online class that I teach, I will be helping students in Ghana (yes, my whole class is in Ghana, Africa) to write better in English and trying to give helpful feedback every week on their writing assignments.

For my Masters classes in Instructional Design/Technology and Learning Sciences, I will be learning about the issues, methodology, and tools of distance education.

Here is something to get me through:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/OcL4J0pzlAg?rel=0

I got in! After a few minutes of panic throughout the last week and a half, I got the acceptance email today.

I start school in June!

GRE taken: check.
Now I just have to wait for everything to come together and see if I get in.
I was definitely helped because there was no way I could have gotten over 40th percentile on the math portion without it.

Application submitted: check
Letters of recommendation requested: check
Transcripts ordered: check
GRE: Boy, do I need to study!

I have decided apply for the online Masters of Instructional Design program through USU. After a year into this Instructional Design job, I still really like it and feel like I would be able to more advanced stuff if I had a Masters. I considered the PhD, but if I don't have a Masters in Instructional Design, I have to take all but two Master's courses anyway.
That means that I have about six weeks to get everything done to get in, including taking the GRE again because it has been more than five years since I took it, and getting good letters of recommendation from my former graduate teachers/chair, which just might be impossible. Here's to hoping I get in.

For all the 80s music fans out there, I got a big kick out of this one.

I realize that the lyrics are bless the rains down in Africa, but it is still hilarious.

My opinion of Lizzie from Pride and Prejudice. I shouldn't think it, but I do.

I am hosting the Gerhardt family for Christmas. I am loving my break from both my jobs.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I guess it's about time for an update. My instructional design job is off and on. They have a project and then the client doesn't provide the material so it's delayed. Then there's stuff to do and then there's a delay. BYU-I is in its final week and so I'm just trying to push through on the grading-all due next week.
I've definitely been enjoying the holidays. I try to sit in front of the Christmas tree whenever I can. It brings such cheer. Speaking of bringing cheer, our ward will finish its ward-wide Book of Mormon reading on Christmas Eve. It has been a great read, again. I am looking forward to getting back to finishing the OT again when I am done.