Well, things are going. My grades ended up being all B's with the exception of Band and Orchestra which had A's. I even managed B's in the 2 Incomplete's that I finished! Brings my campus GPA to 2.98 with one more incomplete that I'm working on completing. As far as next semester goes, I had to petition for student aid :( Am waiting for the result. They didn't like the fact that I didn't finish all 3 incompletes last semester... Should know more Tuesday as to if they reviewed my case or not. Crossing my fingers since with no aid, no school for me... Classes start Thursday so I really hope this is all sorted before then.

On the job front, Chris is STILL looking for work... We are both hired on temporarily at Kennel Bookstore for beginning of semester textbook rush. It isn't much, but it's something. This week we are actually going to be working a little over 25 hours between the two of us.

Rattie-wise, we lost Torando. I can't really explain more of what went on except for a sudden bout of pneumonia. We are down to 10 girls and 1 boy. Tornado was loved and will be missed. She was our fuzzy hot water bottle (half rex- half hairless, so she just had fuzz).

What is it with me and not updating >.<

Well, there hasn't been much but there has been some. Chris is still looking for work. He is on the subbing lists for Fresno County (excluding Central, Clovis, and Fresno Unified), but has yet to get called. There is a prospect that has popped up from University of Michigan with doing interview type stuff locally with all travel costs covered in addition hourly pay and he already has experience in data collecting so we'll see! Applications aren't due until January 1st so I suspect we will not hear back until mid-late January.

We are down to 12 rats. We lost Rascal and Rain. Rascal died to old age combined with pneumonia. Rain died due to a brain tumor :( We have 1 boy in a hospital cage all by self and the girls in the old boys cage. Tossed the old girls cage due to it being large and hard to clean and older so there were quite a few spots where the rats chewed through the coating and it was starting to rust.

Schooling is going. The semester has actually gone rather well. It's finals week, but I think I'm in good shape. Orchestra and band have been done for about a week and a half. Finished my Intro to Spanish Linguistics class with I believe a C. Finished General Linguistics with a good chance of an A. Needed an 80% on the final and I think I got that today! That leaves 3 finals on Wed and 2 parts (oral and written) in one of my classes. Wednesday I have Anthropology of Religion where I need an 88% on the final to get an A. Not so sure I can manage that with my test scores averaging 78% in that class, but I'll try! Wednesday, I'm also taking finals for Spanish 4A & 4B to finish out incompletes from last fall! I've been working my butt of the last 2 weeks getting the rest of the work necessary to complete them :) Thursday, I have my Advanced Conversation & Reading Spanish final. Not sure how I'm doing in the class since I've had little feedback, but I've gotten high C's on the exam (don't do well on vocab :( ) and perfect score on participation and most of my homework, but that still leaves presentations (individual and group) and some homework that I have have some feedback on :/ After Thursday is done, I will finally feel like I have breathing room! Although I still have some work to do since I do have a research paper to complete from my Spanish Composition incomplete. But I'm getting there!

Christmas is going to spent in Bakersfield with Chris' family and I'm looking forward to it! Thanksgiving was spent 2 days with my family and 2 days with his family. Was too much driving in too little time!

Anyways, enough of my rambling! And I need to head to bed to get up and study for the rest of my finals and go grocery shopping tomorrow.

Haven't updated in over a month >.<

Well, life has been interesting.

Most importantly, Chris lost his job :( He was at will employment and the board that had funded his position decided they no longer had the funds to do so... So once again scrambling to find work. He has taken up the quest of trying to continue the process of becoming a substitute teacher in Fresno County and looking for seasonal work for the holiday season. In the future may hold the credential program to get the experience, credential, and raise his overall GPA, but we will see.

Classes for the following semester have been posted so of course, I already have my schedule planned out :D I will be taking a total of 16 units. My classes on MWF are Applied Spanish Linguistics (9am-9:50am) and Historical Linguistics (10am-10:50am). On Monday nights, I also have Intro to Literary Analysis (5pm-7:50pm). On TuTh, I have Symphonic Band or Wind Orchestra (pending audition) from 4pm-5:50pm and Phonology 6:30pm-7:45pm. Additionally on Tuesdays, I have Intro to Student Teaching (2pm-3:50pm). The only snag is that Historical Linguistics is not showing up for students yet, but it is on the professors schedule (I have the professor scheduled to teach it for General Linguistics now so I asked) and have also been assured by the chair of the Linguistics dept that it will be offered. It is not necessary, but would be a fascinating elective for Linguistics. Unfortunately due to the time of the Intro to Literary Analysis class and the fact that I will already be taking 16 units, I will not be in orchestra next semester :(

Also something of note, I have decided that I will now be a double major! Spanish Credential and Linguistics with an emphasis in Interdisciplinary Language Studies. There was a 1 or 2 class difference with the major and minor (which I had already declared) and will help me in the future with a possible Masters program (which I have been toying with the idea). It will not add any time if I take 6 units this summer (last 2 upper division GE classes) and 6 units next summer (first two credential classes). With going alumni in TBS & most likely not doing orchestra (but still trying to do band) when the year is complete, I can focus more on school and be done with credential and BAs in Spring 2012!

In rattie news, Oreo had a lump removed from her throat about 2 weeks ago. She starting growing an infection and couldn't remove some of her own stitches, but with adding in her sister Dolce and some antibiotics, both are taken care of. Earlier this week we lost Maple :( She had a weird skin condition going on her nose, ears, and base of her tail and was suffering from pneumonia. With everything, despite eating, she was steadily losing weight. However, at the beginning of the week, we discovered her body had essentially given up on her. In a 24 hour period, she ate nothing but a single sunflower seed and 2 doses of antibiotics. She had no more fight left, so we had her put down :( We are now at 14 rats.

That is it from us! Sorry about the book >.< This is what happens with I don't update in awhile :P

Updates!

I fail at updating! Here's a few quick details on what has been going on.

Chris has a job! The county finally accepted the extra help position and he gets to start on Monday. Essentially what he is doing is helping create and implement economic development programs. Some of the projects up on deck are helping with the high speed railroad, providing a work study type deal for local businesses for them to be able to hire more people for a lower cost, water resistant crops, etc. He has been in the process of filling out paperwork this week and starts on Monday :) It was actually kind of funny because the call from the county happened on Tuesday and then the IRS called him on Thursday offering him a job as a Customer Service Representative. He declined the IRS since he will already have enough on his plate with a 40 hr a week job. But I do feel I need to add that we had just caught up on our tithing on Sunday! Shows that blessings do happen when you pay your tithing :)

We have 2 new little ones! Meet Sugar & Spice :)
















This brings us to 15 ratties :) Fudge and Dewdrop have been integrated back into the main cage and are doing very well. You can't tell they had surgery except that there are still a few bold spots where the fur is still in the process of growing back. Unfortunately, we did discover a lump on Oreo. It's located on her upper chest/ lower throat so she can't sleep very easily and we are afraid that before too much longer it will effect her ability to breathe :( Getting that removed in the next week or two pending our vet's schedule.

My auditions turned out ok. I'm first chair of the 2nd clarinets in Symphonic Band. I hoped for higher, but I'm trying to practice on a daily basis to get better and Chris said if I can keep it up, we might be able to afford some private lessons for me :D In orchestra, I'm playing violin. Last chair, but I did make it in. Concert dates are: Oct. 8th (Symphonic Band), Oct. 15th (Orchestra), Dec. 4th (Symphonic Band), and Dec. 6th (Orchestra).

We are now in the process of getting better car insurance (required by the county) and getting Chris some health insurance so if you have any good websites or companies we need to look at for either of those, please let us know!

Haven't made an update in awhile >.< And of course we've had a lot going on.

Chris : Chris lost that job that he had. Reason being that he had really bad shoulder issues pop up, but they claimed "That his performance wasn't up to par while he was working." Hello!!! He was in training. He couldn't give extensions on rent when he didn't regularly work at that property. Whatever. For the shoulder, we actually went into the ER (on my birthday might I add), and their best guess was that it was brusitis (similar to repetitive stress injury) and prescribed him some vicodin (which still only take the pain down to a 3). It is getting a little better over time, but he is still limited in what he can and can't do. He is still waiting to hear from the county at some point this week since there was a board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday. He had an IRS assessment/ evaluation test on Saturday and has another one this Saturday. He also had a group interview at Apple on Friday. A LOT of possibilities are up in the air right now. Oh, and he passed his CBEST :) We haven't gotten the official notification, but we did receive an e-mail with his un-official scores on Monday.

Rats: We still have 13! We are happy because luck has never been with us when we've had an odd number. Fudge went in Tuesday and had a ginormous lump removed from her crotch/ lower tummy and is home with us recovering. She loves the anti-biotic though and will actually lick it off the end of the syringe :) Dewdrop went in for surgery today and we got the word about an hour ago that it had gone smoothly and she was in the process of waking up. She also had a huge lump on her hip that was actually throwing off her balance.

Me: Got my financial aid last week thankfully! We promptly got stuff we have been holding off on that were needed (like the rat surgeries, a few music supplies, stocking our medicine cabinet again, etc. ). Only spent about$250 on textbooks which I'm very grateful for :) Started classes and am proud to say I'm enjoying each one of them so far! Musically, I have had 1 audition so far and have 2 more this week. On Tuesday, I tried out on clarinet for the symphony orchestra and on Friday, I have the violin audition for the same ensemble. I would prefer clarinet, but it will depend on how many clarinets he needs and how the other players did. I KNOW 2 clarinets did better than me and he said he is taking 2 or 3. I will take violin, just as most of you know, clarinet is what I consider my primary instrument. Today, I have my band placement audition which determines which university band I make it into and my placement in the ensemble.

That's about all that has been going on. A lot in the air with Chris' job situation, but we are managing rather well. I should have more news soon-ish to post for you guys on that front :)

Rats, jobs, CBEST, and birthday celebration

Now we are down to 13 rats. On Friday, I got up and went to wash a load of dishes and when I came back to the bedroom to check on Chris (he had a migraine), I noticed that Smores was lying in a really awkward position and not moving. Sure enough she had passed away in the night :( We suspect pneumonia since she had been having issues on and off for awhile but of course we can't be certain.

Chris HATES his job. It's fully dealing with the public when someone needs a repair in their apartment or can't pay rent or to show them an apartment. He also doesn't like that he is not at the same location from day to day since the company owns about 50 complexes and he is a relief manager so he is assigned to where he is needed. Unfortuntely, it's something which is MUCH better than nothing. Hopefully we will hear back soon on the IRS or county job, but in the meantime, he is continuing to look.

He took the CBEST yesterday to start subbing when school starts and despite not being good at math he fells like he was fairly confident on all but 3 answers on the entire 100 question(reading comprehension and math) exam and of course writing is his strongest suit so we aren't worried about him not passing the essay portion.

Yesterday, Chris' parents and my mom came into town to celebrate my birthday a little early :) We went to Applebee's for dinner and Tutti Fruiti for desert (local frozen yogurt bar). It was wonderful and I still have half a quesadilla burger for lunch today!

Not much else going on. Rain is still continuing to gain motor control. Starting sorority stuff on Friday for the upcoming school year. Signed up for orchestra since I haven't found a steady on campus job and it seems slim to none that I will find one. Plus I do enjoy orchestra :)

Rats and jobs!

Rain is doing much better! Every day she is able to use the right side of her face a little more :)

And for the better news that I'm sure everyone has been waiting for! Chris got a job!!!!! He is know a relief manager/ leasing agent for a local apartment complex company that owns around 50 of the local apartment complexes. He would be working anywhere from 8-40 hours a week for $9/hr. It's not much, but it's a job. If he gets the county job (we find out around August 11th (which is also my birthday!!!!)), there is a possibility that he could work at both. I know he would prefer the county job, but with the economic crisis we have to take what we can get. With this, he could easily substitute teach as well. So anyways, that's our news for the day!