School Update...Plus More

Hey Everyone! I am still alive! I survived all the books, tests, and lectures! And now I can breathe!

So as most of you know, I started school last Fall. And it seems that I haven't had a life since then. But I'm reclaiming my life. Well, for the summer at least. :) So my Fall semester was very exciting. I took 15 credits and had so much fun! Of course it was a lot of work, but I also learned so much. I had all A's that semester except for a B in my German class. I'll talk more about this class a bit later. My spring semester I got straight A's! And I just finished my summer class today. It was a 2 week intensive class for public speaking. I also got an A in this class. Now I am free for the summer and will start back again in the Fall.

So about that German class: I took this class hoping to learn how to speak German and actually took the next German class the following semester too. Unfortunately, this class was awful and so was the teacher. I felt pressure to continue with the classes, because I had promised Taddy I would learn German. Yet, about half way through the second semester, my other classes were suffering from the work load of this elective class. On top of that, my main goal was not being accomplished. I couldn't speak a lick of German. The way this class was taught was focused on the grammar (which I know is important), but we were not pairing the grammar with vocab and actual practice. In the end I knew so much grammar that not only was I having nightmares (no joke), but I was also so afraid to try and even say anything, because I might break a rule. The teacher would yell at us if we broke a grammar rule, instead of encouraging us to keep trying. Anyways, one night Taddy was helping me with my German homework and out of confusion and frustration, I broke down. Taddy basically begged me to drop the class because it was ruining me. So I dropped it. This is probably one of the most singly important decisions I have ever made in my whole life. I know that seems rediculous, but this class was litteraly breaking me down.

So, that is my college update! This summer I will be focusing on our house and finally finishing it along with a few other projects around here. I'm hoping to paint a bunch of rooms in our house, plus the trim and doors. The previous owner painted them all a cream color, and I want them to be white. Also I want to tackle our garage and organize it! BIG PROJECT!!! :) Also, I am really hoping to seal our fence, and paint our house (the outside). I always say that if pepto bismal had a green color, that's the color of our house. I've always wished we did not live in a big green house. So I am really hoping this can get done this summer too.

Also this summer, Taddy and I are hoping to take a mini vacation somewhere. Not sure where yet, but somewhere HOT, on the beach, and with palm trees!!! My dream vacation. We might try and hit up California. Then in August, Taddy's best friend Ben is getting married. Taddy is his best man, and so we will be flying to Germany for 2 weeks. We are looking forward to this. This will be the first time I am in Germany when it's warm!! That makes me really excited. Every time I go it's raining and snowing and gloomy. Everyone tells me that Germany is really pretty, it just never is when I'm there. So I am looking forward to packing summer style clothes for our trip! Also, Taddy's littlest brother Leo, who is now 16, is going to be coming back with us from our Germany trip. Leo will be a foriegn exchange student this coming school year and he will be living with us! We are really excited for this opportunity! It will be a huge life change for us on many different levels. But one that sticks out alot is that he won't be able to drive in the states, so we will be driving him to school every day, picking him up from school, and taking him anywhere else he wants to go. Simple things like this is going to require Taddy and I to adjust our current way of living. Although there may be hard times, we are so excited about this!

So that's a little update on my college life and a hopeful preview of our summer! Hopefully I can now keep up a bit more with this blog now that school is out! I am so excited to officially start my summer!

Face Lift

Finally I took some time to figure this blogger website out. Well, I guess I can't say that I have it all figured out, but I feel like I have a much better grip on it now. It's still super basic and has no pictures, but it's off to a good start! I may try and tackle pictures next. Eeak! It is really late and my dear husband is begging me to come to bed. So off I go! Nighty night!

Blogging Woes...

Normally I would say that I am pretty savvy when it comes to things on the internet. But man this blog is driving me insane! After much time and confusion, I think I figured out my problem. My main issue was the background that I chose. For some reason it wouldn't let me do the things I wanted to. Like for example add people's blogs to my blog list. Well finally I just decided tonight that I would go back to a regular boring ol' background and see if I could navigate better...and what do you know...I could!! So anyways excuse the non cute background for a bit while I figure stuff out! School started this week and so I don't have a lot of extra time on my hands. But if I get a decent chunk of time, and I have all my homework done then I'll spruce it up!! :) Anyone with blog wisdom is welcome to share their wonderful insights to a poor struggling blogger...

Things I would like to add: The we have been married for X years X days, etc. I made one...but I don't know where to put it to get it on the page. Then I would like to pick a good background that doesn't ruin everything! And what is: My DEL.ICIO.US ??? Can I get rid of that??? I don't see it on anyone else's pages... any wisdom is very much appreciated!! :)

Welcome to the World of the Schmitts!!!!!

Well here we are! Just Taddy and I (Ariel). I realize most families with blogs have children and we don't yet have any...but I think maybe we can have a blog anyways even though we are childless. :) We will one day have children and when we do we will add them and then I guess we will have a more normal blog. Hopefully this will be a good way for our friends and family to stay more connected with us even though we live so far away.

Please be patient as we learn how to do all the blog things. I am thrilled that I found a background that I liked and figured out how to get it on our page. (Taddy doesn't like the background so much, he said it's cute and he's not into cute, silly boy) Next thing I would like to figure out is how to add blogs to the side that I like to read. That way I don't have to keep them all open on my computer... :) Taddy would cringe! Heheheh... Well that's it for now! Welcome to the world of the Schmitts!!! It's a bit crazy, maybe boring, definitely German, but it's still us! :) We hope you enjoy!

Ariel