On the Other Hand….(new title!)

Me and my crazy crew in early July (and my crazy hair!Yikes!).      When I was in grade school, I was taller than all the other girls. I had a nervous, dry-lip licking habit that created chapped, red, ugly lips. I had an embarrassing sssttutter, too. I was just weird. And I knew it. I was treated accordingly so. The other girls and boys at school used to tease me, call me names, and exclude me from their birthday parties. It was very painful.      Don't feel sorry for me, though. The reason I bring up this painful part of my childhood is to magnify a beautiful display of God's kindness and handiwork in my life.      You see, I have many, many  friends who love me, cherish me, and laugh with me now. And how we laugh! The silly, funny, goofy jokes that have me laughing at 5:00 am the next   morning (my current wake up time), hours after the joke was told because it was that  funny, are priceless to ...

     I'm almost at the midway point in my Anatomy and Physiology class. Phew! It's been intense, although I have a strong A currently. This has been the most challenging semester so far, but it's also been interesting. I am so encouraged that I have a professor that is helpful, fair, and excellent at communicating difficult information well. She is a truly gifted teacher and I am so grateful! These topics, especially physiology, are quite challenging. So, onto the rest of the semester where I am aiming to finish with a strong A. No more of these for awhile...      In the meantime, my oven has broken down. My stove top works, thank God! I also have two crock pots that have been in use a lot lately. I'm also trying new dessert recipes in my crock pots and bread recipes in my bread maker. It's been an adventurous culinary challenge, to say the least. Goodbye homemade pizza, cinnamon rolls, bread bowls for chili, granola, bread sticks...

     The Fall semester is in full swing for everyone. I'm in school 4 mornings a week and on Fridays I get to clean my house! (Do you feel my joy at this end-of-the-week activity?!) Elena is a Senior at Pasadena High School where she has met entertaining and wholesome-seeming friends (phew!) and is adjusting to her classes slowly but surely. Camille is in 10th grade and really enjoying AP European History. She's gearing up for water polo season and overseeing Elena's social contacts at school (what's a little sister for, huh?). Leanne started middle school with a - rip! Her plaid madras shorts ripped at the back pocket, exposing her monkey underwear - (they were on sale! What can I say?!) about two hours after she arrived at school. Her friend loaned her her sweater - despite the 100 degree weather - and all was good. And then the carefully laid out plans to walk home with friends ended with her being stranded ALL BY HERSELF at the front of the school....

Me and my girls with our 1st French student, delightful Caroline Margaux, our 2nd French student, and my girls at the Americana       I said "bon jour" to my 3rd international student of the summer 2 weeks ago. She was a surprise addition to my roundup of international students. She was not happy with her first family and was bounced to  different families till she ended up with us for her last week. Her parents came to pick her up and we had lunch. They were lovely people and I was intrigued to learn some interesting things about France and the different regional differences within that country. It was a lovely lunch.      Then  I had a "quiet" home with just four of my kids here. Tim and our older two were at a church retreat. Quite honestly, my four younger ones, even with their fighting, is a welcome break. The daily logistics, with Tim being off work this summer, of managing the needs, interests, schedules and "situations" ...

All of these have to be  done by June 1st: 1) take big microbiology test on the immune system and common bacterial pathogens Grade: A- List of things to do before mid-June 2012: 2)take final exam in microbiology on viruses and everything else I studied the whole semester Final grade:A (96% in the class!!!) 3)take last developmental psychology quiz online Final grade: A 4) help Leanne prepare her science project complete with photos, research, computer graphics and typed-up information on a huge display board Grade: A+ 5)register for Fall 2012, which includes hoping and praying I get the 8 -unit mega anatomy and physiology class at the right time to coordinate school pick up for 4 girls at 3 different schools and speech therapy for Julia in the fall Result: registered for 2nd choice class, but prospects for switching to the morning lab I need is highly likely. My fall schedule should be fairly smooth. Thank you Lord!!!     ...

     This spring, my 4 older girls have been going to pre-season swim team every evening. My youngest two have been taking swim lessons. Each of my older girls has their own bag with shampoo (the cost savings on my water bill are worth all the hassle of swim team!), a towel, and their jammies/change of clothes. About a week after swim team started I noticed a panic-laden crisis emerging every time I went into the bathroom and reached for the hair brush: it was gone! No hair brush anywhere to be found in the entire house . The Veggies Tales song, "Oh, where is my hairbrush?!" would melodically wind its way through my hollering:"Where are all the hairbrushes?!?!" My frustration was readily apparent. I had assumed that each girl took a hairbrush in her swim bag to brush out her freshly shampooed, hopefully-dechlorinated hair. The problem was, not every bag had a hair brush in it. Every now and then, if I was lucky, I would find a hairbrush mixed with the wet t...

List of things to do before mid-June 2012: All of these have to be done by June 1st: 1) take big microbiology test on the immune system and common bacterial pathogens 2) take final exam in microbiology on viruses and everything else I studied the whole semester 3)take last developmental psychology quiz online 4) help Leanne prepare her science project complete with photos, research, computer graphics and typed-up information on a huge display board 5)register for Fall 2012, which includes hoping and praying I get the 8 -unit mega anatomy and physiology class at the right time to coordinate school pick up for 4 girls at 3 different schools and speech therapy for Julia in the fall All of these have to be done by mid-June: 6)plan summer activities for my 6 kids and niece and nephew (two full days a week) and coordinate swim team, swim lessons, summer school, and small family vacations we are taking. 7)Prepare lessons and activities for three exchange stude...

     I just submitted this assignment for my online Developmental Psychology class. It was an interesting and enjoyable assignment. Laura Thomas 2/19/12 Personal Timeline Assignment      Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has always settled so well into my thinking over the years. It makes sense to me on so many levels. So, my life story starts out with my most basic needs being satisfied: my babyhood where I can rightly assume that my parents fed me and cared for me. My parents had four children and I am the third (and apparently the only one “planned”). My father is a retired rheumatologist who met my mother while doing his internship at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chicago. He saw her walking down the hallway in her starched nursing uniform and immediately fell in love.   They married four months later. After spending three years in Germany during the Vietnam War, my parents settled in Southern California where he finished his residency at County USC Medi...