God Bless Us, Everyone! Thank You!

Thanks to all of our wonderful family members we had an amazing Christmas! The food was good. The company was good. And the gifts were great. I ate approximately an entire pound and a half of Chex Muddy Buddies. We were all very sick and are still not too much better, but it was wonderful having two days of uninterrupted family time.
I have an entire week off of school. Then, I begin Theory II, which is supposed to be a kick in the kiester. Everyone in the higher speed classes has told me that Theory II is much more difficult because you learn a lot of rules in Theory I and then Theory II tells you they only apply if X is X. Sheesh. Well, I am still looking forward to the challenge.

The last day of Theory I.

Today is the last day of my Theory I class in court reporting school. I am one of two students in my class to have shown up today. We have combined our class with the Theory II class, only one student present, and are working on speed building Q & A.
It is really nice to be able to mix up ways to practice. Plus, hearing two voice Q & A is so much different than our teacher dictating question and answer before each sentence.
At home, we have finished making our snowmen. We are going to put up the tree and make some yummy snacks tonight. So, to which, I say, "blog at you later, after the holidays!"

Happy Christmas to All!

Sick, AGAIN!

Ok. We are doubling up on vitamin C, and fluids, and vegetables. My little ones are sick again. Aria has a bad cough that is keeping her up all night, and Amelie has had a fever for two days now.
We were all up most of the night and I have to cut my day at school to go home and be with the girls. We are learning months, days of the week, and states today. Well, I will just have to practice a lot tonight, provided I get the chance to.
We did do one great activity last night before everyone started to feel extra crappy. We made snowmen on foam board and stuck little snowflakes all over the pictures. Aria is obsessed with snowmen.
We had promised a Christmas tree, but were unable to deliver last night. Guess it will have to wait until Thursday. Daddy is off for four days from both jobs. YAY. Can't wait to have some good family time, sick or not.

I am the Hermione Granger of my class, is that good or bad?

Well, I got out of having to make up my final test which is tomorrow, I will be absent for it as we are getting the girls pictures done at Photo Element Studio. As I am the only person in my class to have completed and turned in all the assignments and chapter practices for the quarter, my teacher gave me my final and it was cake. She said since I was such an overachiever, that my final was to upload practice dictations to everyone's computer in my class. I aced it.
We will also be putting up our Christmas tree and putting the final touches on our Christmas menu. I am making muddy buddies, and Bailey's cream pie. I really want to make buffalo pita bites. They are buffalo chicken with ranch and blue cheese on top and a little celery garnish. They look so pretty in the picture for the recipe.

The Weekend.

Hello world. It is approximately, 11 p.m. I have just finished reviewing the last chapter, THE LAST CHAPTER, of our Pheonix Theory I book. We have a final quiz tomorrow. I am sure I will do fine, at least a 98%, right? I just have to stay awake for another thirty minutes to review the last five chapters we have covered.
The Christmas shopping days are limited, thank goodness. I really did not want to go into work tonight as the girls and my husband were busy playing on the front lawn when I was leaving. I would have loved to have stayed with them. However, I had forgotten that it was secret Santa gift exchange today at work. My assistant manager gave me a beautiful magnet necklace, you can change out the pendant with another magnetic pendant. It rocks!
Bonus! Some secret little elf gave me a very useful little gift taped to my locker. Wow! I am so grateful to be apart of such a wonderful and caring group of people at work. The people I work with definitely make the retail environment tolerable.
The Fancy Nancy party was beautiful! Aria and Amelie had a wonderful time. The cupcakes, oh the cupcakes, YUM! Aria's little friend and her mom made the cupcakes themselves, they were simply delectable. It is funny to see Aria playing with other kids, she is not very into dress up or dollies, mostly she loves pirates and veggie tales.
Well, back to studying. And then... TO BED!

Fancy Nancy Party!

All seriousness set aside, we are going to a Fancy Nancy birthday party on Saturday! I am actually really excited. Aria and I sit and read Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire every night. She looks at the pictures and says how the girls are like her and her friend Ellianna and the little sisters (one is actually a brother) are like Amelie and Olivia. I look at the pictures and the DIY crafter in me gets all excited to make Aria an outfit just like Nancy.
For those of you not familiar with Fancy Nancy, she is a little girl who embellishes everything she owns with flowers, sparkly rhinestones, ribbons and bows. It is very over the top in a fun tea-party sort of way.
I am as excited as a two and a half year old!

'Tis The Season!

The holidays are fast approaching, as is the end of my first quarter at court reporting school. We are on the second to last chapter in our Phoenix Theory book. It is sort of sad and exciting at the same time to be ending this quarter and moving forward. I have learned so much and still have much more to learn.
Working in retail during the holidays is almost unbearable. However, I have decided to take the dreadful work hours and attempt to use them to learn how to see the good in humanity despite their constant grouchy demeanor. Or how many times I am treated as though a monkey could do my job.
Christmas at our house will be small. VERY small. I am making all of my gifts this year. We will buy a few things for the girls, but they really don't need much. Absolutely not toys.
Our Charlie Brown-like Christmas tree will be going up sometime next week. The poor thing has been so battered by our crazy German cat. It is really sort of endearing and traditional to have our little sad tree sitting in the corner all alight with silver and blue.

There's an asterisk in Devil

Having a D*EFBL of a time. That's right folks. It is time to begin getting frustrated with school again. Every time I start to think what a rock star I am at writing on the Steno machine, we reach a new chapter that kicks my ass. Well, at least, until I master it.
We are working on words that end with -LV, -VL, -LF, -FL. After dictation about the Naval Services and Navel lint, I am ready to move on.
Tomorrow, we will be given a dictation test that is a mock of the kind of test we will be taking once in the speed classes. Basically, we write a dictation and erase it all off of our computer and writer, print it out, and correct it while listening to the dictation again. I am looking forward to the mock test because it will be something different from our daily routine.
Tonight, I am looking most forward to some time with my husband. It has been three days since we have gotten more than fifteen minutes together. Now, if only we had money for Pho soup.

The Best Day EVER!

Yesterday could not have been more perfect had I won the lottery. The day began with an amazing breakfast at Snooze. Right off the bat I had great service there. The hostess was super nice and excited that I was celebrating my birthday there. Our server was exceptional and had my favorite pancake, no longer on the menu, made up birthday cake style. I had a really good visit with three of my good girlfriends.
Then, I high-tailed it to my husband's coffee shop and dropped off yummy left-overs to him. One should never leave one's husband's stomach empty if one wants to have a good day.
After picking up our daughters from Grandma (Dahma as is her title) we all went to the park and had fun swinging, and drawing in the sand. Aria, my almost-three year old, loves the How To Train Your Dragon movie, and was drawing in the sand like the dragon.
We then took a nice long drive down south toward the Belmar Whole Foods. As almost always happens, everyone fell asleep on me in the car. So, I took the long way, past the beautiful French Provincial style cottage nestled in the heart of the Glen Ayrs neighborhood. This house is my dream house. We drive by from time to time hoping it will go on the market, not that we could afford to buy it.
We decided to pop in to Wystone's, a tea place, for drinks and scones. My very best friend from high school met us and we had a great time. My husband knows the owner and when she found out it was my birthday, she had a giant dessert tier delivered to our table. HEAVEN. Anytime I can have dessert, especially creme brulee, before dinner is marvelous!
We dined in the deli of Whole Foods. I had chicken korma because I love Indian food. Unfortunately, it did not love me back.
All in all, I would say that it was the best birthday in the last five years.

Now, for the serious work. I must practice tonight. I've been slacking the last couple of days.
I noticed that my speed and accuracy have been suffering lately. I cannot afford to slack off. I need to stay on top, set myself apart from everyone else in the court reporting field, and generally kick ass!

Luck O' The Irish

A week of pure luck that coincides with my birthday? Brilliant! I won a raffle at school for a $25 gift certificate (used on really cute clothes). The day after, I won a drawing at school for a chocolate bar after drawing my own name. Not to mention, my wonderful husband's promotion at work that means we may actually survive financially.
Also, court reporting related, I received yet another 98% on my quiz today. Yay! That is the third 98% thus far in my school career in Court Reporting.
Okay, so since the week is going so well, I think I will buy a lottery ticket on the way home! Fingers crossed!

Oi! Wake UP! My head is so fuzzy from being extremely congested. This is the third time I have been sick in the past six weeks. Can I be done being sick now, PLEASE? Last night, I was practicing our lessons on my Steno machine and was doing quite well. However, today in class, I found myself stumbling like a drunk on the keyboard. Well, there are good days and there are bad days.
A great day is looming ahead at the end of this week. Friday, to be precise.
My BIRTHDAY!
My girlfriends and I are going to THE BEST breakfast restaurant in Denver, SNOOZE.
If you live near Denver, you must try it if you have not already. I absolutely love everything on the menu and they make the best iced mocha (outside of the Novo Coffee across from DAM).
I'll be dreaming of pancakes with cinnamon, white chocolate chips, cinnamon butter, and bacon caramel for two days. They are appropriately named Cinnful Pancakes.

Eeyore is my mascot.

I have been unable to shake off the little rain cloud above my head lately. The theory we are learning is becoming more complex and I have had little time to practice. Actually, if I am honest, I have had time to practice, but have chosen to do other things instead. Like, sleep.
As we were learning to write out numbers one through twenty, I was all for writing them out phonetically. However, we have just learned to write twenty-one through ninety-nine. These, I do not enjoy writing out. Today, I tried using the number bar and found that I was able to keep up with the dictation much easier.
Things in LIFE just seem to be getting more complicated as if to coincide with the growing difficulty in learning a new skill.
I had thought that I had successfully avoided the "drama" that often comes with working in a retail environment. However, I seem to have been sucked in unwillingly, and unwittingly. I was simply trying to explain that a recommendation of mine was not bad and that there were other circumstances for my recommendation not being what others had wanted. Having said that, I seem to have revealed information that has people at work, once again, gossiping. UGH!!!
I dislike gossip about as much as I dislike dog crap on my shoe. Not to say that I am perfect. Obviously, I have gossiped before and may possibly do it again. However, I have learned, as I have grown older, that it should be avoided at all costs.
I like to go to work, do my job, get along nicely with those I work with, and go home. Simple. No extra baggage.
So, with school becoming more of a challenge, work becoming more of a soap opera, and bills becoming more of source of stress, I find myself asking questions. Questions like, should I stay in school? My pitiful income can barely feed my family and with my school schedule, I cannot pick up more hours at work without never seeing the family I am trying to feed. Is it really worth it? Will I really be able to get a job right out of school? Or will employers want someone with experience, so that I have to sit in with other court reporters not making a dime until said experience is gained?
I really want to finish school. I will finish school. It will be the first thing I will have actually finished in my (almost) 28 years.

Playing Hookey

Today I am not in school. Why? Several reasons, I have to try to figure out how we are going to pay an increasing amount in back bills as well as our up and coming bills. Something, that when you are out of school at 2 p.m., is just not easily done in the remaining business hours of the day. Why is it that when you are struggling to make life better for yourself and your family, that everything else seems to get harder? I know, the Universe wants to see if I really want to work towards my goals. I really wish the Universe would cut us a little slack.
My fellow students are sitting in class right now, learning how to write the capital alphabet for acronyms like, FBI, CIA, etc. And they are working on a lot of dictation I suppose as that was the only new thing we were to learn today. I used our independent study hour yesterday to go over what was going to be covered today, so I am confident that I will not fall behind.
I really dislike independent study hour. It is usually the last hour of the day, and we work on whatever we want. Most people do the online dictation or work on reading the steno notes. Having kids and a husband I hardly ever see, I would much rather come home an hour earlier. However, having the extra hour of uninterrupted study time is good too.
Well, I have to get some productive "grown-up" things accomplished today. Even though all I want to do is go to Cinebarre and watch a movie and have a beer.

Sound it out. Write it how?

Okay, so not everything makes sense in the Steno language. One more thing was added to that list of things that make you go, "huh". The NJ sound like in the word "range" is written; -FPG. This makes no sense because one would expect it to be written with some sort of N, somewhere in there. Guess it goes along with writing words that start with KN, they are written KPW. Go figure.

While on the subject of things that don't really make sense, here are couple things that also do not make sense:
Braile on a drive up ATM
Expiration dates on sourcream

I LUV you ENGRISH.COM!!!!

Good Job! Have a cookie.

That's right PWEUFP/Z! 98%! Yes, ninety-eight percent on my first quiz! Can you say court reporting rock star? Well, actually, it was pretty easy. However, I am still proud that I did so well. I have always loved school, and I really enjoy learning to write on the Steno machine. I can't wait to start speed testing. I am getting a bit ahead of myself, as I have to complete another twelve weeks of Theory before I can start testing out of speeds. The first twelve weeks are half way finished, it is going by so quickly.

The turtle or the hare?

Being a court reporter is about speed and accuracy. Start out slow and accurate and maintain that accuracy at a faster speed. Today was filled with lovely speed drills. Writing at 60 wpm the last hour of class on the last day of class for the week, HELL. Let's say my accuracy was suffering severely. Looking at my transcript was like reading some foreign language sten-glish, engeno?

Slave Labor? Oh, you mean more PRACTICE

The Pyramids were not built in a day. Well, maybe they were, and dropped off by aliens. However, Steno pyramids are built in a day, a very boring day.

Gene
Gene had
Gene had a
Gene had a pair
Gene had a pair of
Gene had a pair of jeans.

Exciting right? The concept is to take a word you are having trouble writing, put it in a sentence, and write it pyramid style without mistakes. Make a mistake, start again. That just makes me want to go right home and start building those pyramids. Where are my sandals?

George, Paul, Barb, all you feisty Proper Nouns!

That's right, I am naming names. Nothing slows down the beginning court reporter like having to spell out and add an asterisk to a proper name and include it in a sentence. UGH! That may have been the most grueling hour and a half thus far in my school career.

I am looking for new and interesting ways to practice. So, if anyone has any ideas please share them by commenting back! And yes, I did go home and write One fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, by Dr. Seuss. That is how I learned to write the words 'blue' and 'little' before having covered them in class.

Practice Practice!

Tonight was not as productive on the practice front as I would like. I spent two hours pounding out practice exercises on the writing machine. My heart and head was not really in it, at all. Those particular organs were focused on my true love, Roller Derby. Yes, I love it. Tonight was date night for the husband and I. He dutifully took me to see a new Derby documentary about the Rose City Roller Girls called, Brutal Beauty. It was really well done! We had a great time. We had the entire theater to ourselves since it was Halloween and everyone else must have been out trick-or-treating or partying, respectively.
The rest of the evening was spent attempting to figure out how I would ever be able to fit Derby practice in with everything else we have going on. I have wanted to try out for the Denver Roller Dolls ever since I first got my hands on Knockdown Knits, by Joan Of Dark. It is a knitting book filled with patterns for such wonderful things as crutch pads, ice pack holders, arm slings, and other injury/derby related items. After going to my first bout when the Dolls were still at the Fillmore, I was hooked. I know that Roller Derby has taken off like mad the last few years. And with movies like, Whip It, and reality t.v. shows, well there are a lot of people interested in the sport. Therefore, lots of competition. I want to have a fighting chance when I do try out, so, practice, practice... Which brings us back to practice writing for school... I am tapped out for tonight. One can only write so many sentences with so many of the same words. Quiz this week. Keep your fingers crossed!

Free Food!

Today was our Halloween celebration, yes, I went as static cling. Boring enough to get asked if I was laundry and funny in my own head. As most of the quirky little things I find funny. I was one of two people who dressed up in my class. There was a pot luck, Mexican food. The tamales were good. However, there was no cheese. Tacos, tostadas, etc. sans cheese? Who dropped the ball there?
We learned the SH endings of words today. For example, fish, wish, dish. Honestly, the entire dictation with those words I was thinking..."My name is Ish. I have a dish. It's my Ish Wish Dish. When I swish my Ish wish dish, I wish for fish.." -Dr. Seuss anyone? I am totally going home and writing the entire One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish book! Can you say story time?!

Phrasing T*S a PAEUPB! (Pain)

Phrasing, the ability to write two words or more with one stroke on the Steno machine. Ugh! Phrasing will be the bane of my practice session this evening. What to phrase, what not to phrase, that is the question. Well, I have concluded that I absolutely will not phrase unless I absolutely have to. It is a personal choice, as my teacher has informed us that if you are fast not phrasing or fast phrasing it does not matter which one chooses.
Today we had a guest speaker from Caption Colorado. He was very informative about the captioning industry and all of the available opportunities. Wow, you have to have the SKILLZ to be a caption-er. Also, one probably has to be able to tolerate television shows for longer than the 30 minutes I am willing to devote watching them. However, 45-80K per year for 80 hours per month of work, hmm... tempting.
We also had the VP of Stenograph come in and speak with us. He mentioned a rockin' local reporter that travels around the world doing depositions! AMAZING! I would love her to mentor me...

Learn Your Letters

The first 3 weeks of Court Reporting Academy are under my belt. I have learned a variety of letters and words on the Steno machine. Let's review! Week One: Ah, orientation. They took my picture in front of a wall of books with my Steno machine. I met most of the people in my class who all seemed very nice. A few other mommies, a couple young (right out of high school) people, all ranging from 18 to 45. There are only two men in my class. Looking at the wall of previous graduates, I would say that is quite an increase in the male population of court reporters. We learned how to write letters on both the right (initial) and left (final) hands. Exciting words like dog, cat, rat, the, a, were added to our vocabulary. Weeks Two and Three: Well, pretty much more repetition of the previous. We added letters d, b, n, g, m, i, y, j, to the mix, even beginning compound words (words with more than one syllable). See, everything is written phonetically. Thank goodness for Hooked On Phonics. That combined with having musical instrument training has made learning to write on the Steno machine quite simple for myself. I am constantly having to remind myself not to get too confident as I don't know everything yet. However, I am finding it difficult to sit through the 4 days a week, 5 hours a day when I have grasped a new concept in the first hour. Much like high school, I find myself bored due to lack of challenge. I must not give up. I must trudge through. This must not become that lonely Steno machine in the corner of my room. Screaming, another unfinished ambition. I must feed my family with this skill!

The Choice:

Hello big wide world! I have finally decided, at the age of 27, to begin a career. Not just any career, mind, but a career in Court Reporting. Well, how does one who wanted nothing more than to be a wandering novelist/poet with a bestseller under her belt choose to begin training as a court reporter? Answer, lack of financial security propelled by the need to achieve something lucrative and successful before turning thirty. Some may say I have given up the artistic ambition to become the next Neil Gaiman, but I say nay! With a career in court reporting I can fill the pockets of myself and my family while attempting to finish a first novel at 225 words per minute. Yes, folks, 225 words per minute can be written ( it is called writing NOT typing) on the Steno machine.
Having written for an art and fashion magazine, that went under, and achieved 2nd place in our local poetry slam (yay), I find myself in a quandary; will my writing ever actually take me anywhere?
I also have the great artistic tendency to not finish most things I start. Writing, two half written novels sit in my room. Knitting, bundles of yarn and only three finished scarves. Not to mention, the large library of knitting books that hold untried patterns. Electric Bass, it sits lonely in the corner of the living room. You get the idea.
Friends have been kind enough to put my unattained goals down to preoccupations with being a mother to two beautiful girls (2 and 7 months), working at a children's clothing store, moving, life, being a wife, etc. However, when you are on the cusp of 30 and watching everyone you know having kids, a house, real furniture, you say to yourself, " I need to get my ass in gear".
So, I decided that I would go back to school to become a court reporter. It is a two year course and has a variety of career options after graduation. It is not limited to official court reporting. And as Obama just passed the Telecommunications Act that requires anything from T.V. that is streamed on the interweb (nerd alert!) to have closed captioning, things are looking good for those with steno skills.