Blessings, Trials and Tornados

Well folks, we're alive! I don't know exactly how long it's been since I've written, but it's been a while. We went to Denver Friday the 10th to visit my parents while my sister Jen and her boys were in town from Idaho. We spent time with them in between running errands all over to get things that are either unattainable in Norton, or just too expensive. So we went to Jared to have my ring inspected (needs it every 6 months for the insurance), Target, Walmart, King Soopers, Costco, the dollar store, an Asian market, Kid-to-Kid, Savers,...I think that's it, but I may be missing something. Our trips to Denver are always disgustingly expensive, but satisfyingly productive. And we always have to console ourselves that even though we spent a lot, we were saving ourselves money. I was in desperate need for powdered sugar at Costco and it was perfect timing to run so low right before going to Denver.

When we got back from Denver Sunday night, we noticed a lot of furniture and other things out on our neighbors' curb. So at 11:00 when we noticed the front door open, we ventured over to introduce ourselves and ask about the curb gear. Turns out that in April the wife had left and now the husband was packing up what he wanted in his truck and putting the rest out on the curb. He was leaving Monday morning to move back to Colorado. He said we could have whatever we wanted. We honestly didn't know if we wanted any of it, but we couldn't see stuff like that get picked up by the garbage truck in the morning. The guy and his friend helped us haul a table and 3 chairs, love seat, and boxes and bags of toys, clothes and decorations over to our garage. In the morning the guys brought over a king size bed. So we've been filling up our house with the things that we decided to keep. There was a family in the ward who was needing furniture, but we found out they are no longer in need, so we decided to keep it all. We bought all our bedding gear for the KING SIZE BED for $30. That's cheap even for a smaller size bed! We also inherited a nice rocking chair from another neighbor. Ashley bought it for $5 at an auction and said that the fit just didn't suit her. Could be her 8.5 month belly in the way, but she has another one that works for her anyway. So she told us to take it if we wanted it. Then a lady in our ward brought over her glider for us that she wanted to get out of her house, and we were glad to help her out with that.

I had a VERY successful weekend with garage sales this past weekend! I got a set of 4 kitchen canisters (flour, sugar, etc) for $3. Yep. They even have rubber seals on the lids. Soooo nice! I also made off with about 20 pieces of tupperware (the real stuff) for $2. Tons of Christmas decorations and a coffee table. We spent a lot of time on Saturday arranging all our new furniture (bringing in stuff from the garage) and putting our house together. We are really loving the way everything is coming together so nicely and all looking beautiful together. We really feel blessed with as much stuff as we've received.On Monday Tommy and I enjoyed some really nice overcast weather in the morning. We played outside while waiting for the garbage truck to come by. Tommy was just entranced by this huge truck! It was funny. Around 1:00 I thought it'd be nice to go for a walk down to the grocery store to get some more good veggies on the last day of the sale. Tommy thought otherwise and asked for a nap. I quickly realized that the wind we were having was blowing in a storm. An hour later I realized that this was going to be a heck of a BIG storm. I don't normally listen to the radio, but when Tommy woke up from his nap, I moved his CD player from his dresser to the floor so that he could play with it while I worked on cleaning up and organizing his room. He hit some buttons and turned on the radio. Changed a couple stations and I heard, "Save your lives--get in your basement or shelter immediately!" I quickly unplugged everything and went to the basement with Tommy. Returned upstairs to get him a snack and water, water bottle for myself, radio, computer and phone charger. Then I called Shad. He asked if we were in our basement because he was about 15 miles south of town and saw this:


I made sure they were okay, then called his mom to make sure that she and the kids were in the basement. That actually took a couple minutes of convincing her that it was necessary because our tornado sirens had yet to go off. She finally took my word for it and then I called to make sure the missionaries were okay. They were already in the hospital basement because one of the Young Women had told them to take shelter. Our sirens went off a couple minutes later. Sirens only go off here when a tornado has formed and been sighted. It's not a frequent occurrence, but you know it's serious business when it happens. All the danger was over and passed by 3:00 and everything in Norton was safe. I don't think our town sustained any damage. However, Calvert is just 8 miles northeast of us, and Almena is 2 miles north of that. Fencing and roofs got torn up in Calvert, and a less active family in our ward in Almena lost the home they were renting.

We spent all day Wednesday in Almena helping with clean up. The David family already had a new place to rent, as well as tons of furniture, appliances, clothing, etc. donated or salvaged from the wreckage. I helped go through piles of boxes and laundry baskets of donations, or their clothes that had been pulled from trees and corn fields and washed by people in the town. It took me several hours with the help of one of the visiting teachers for this sister. But we finally did find their living room and dining room floor and table. While I did that, Shad worked with a crew from our ward cleaning up a corn field for the community. These poor farmers can't even tend their crops until all the debris is cleaned out of their fields for the machinery to get through. There are a couple of field sprinklers that are twisted up. Half is right side up, half is upside down. Trees are ripped to shreds and twisted like you'd wring out a towel.

We finally went to the wreckage of the Davids' home to help search for a few specific things: namely, Katrina's purse with all of their birth certificates and social security cards; and three months worth of Preston's $3oo/month medication. Shad found the purse and someone else found a month case of the medicine. They were thrilled! This is what was left after the storm:

Here is the foundation...and over there is the house wreckage.


The house wreckage we sifted through.


Their Suburban was in a tree before it landed here.


So, Mom and Dad, we no longer have that king size guest bed that we told you we had for you to sleep on when you come visit because we felt the Davids needed it more than we do. We'll borrow an air mattress instead. And if they still need it come Saturday, we'll be giving them the love seat, too. Tuesday was Shad's last day of work. We found out a week ago that he was being let go because the company decided that they really needed someone with a better working knowledge of the truck Shad was supposed to start driving. They wanted to feel comfortable sending someone out on the road knowing that they could fix the truck if it broke down. Shad just didn't have those skills, they knew that when they hired him and told him it wasn't a problem and they'd give him all the training he needed. Well, they decided they just didn't have the funds to train him as promised. But you know, we know that everything is going to work out the way it's supposed to and that we'll be taken care of. We have little things in life that give us reason to smile and look forward to a new day. I'm 18 weeks pregnant today, and my diploma arrived in the mail finally. We went to the city appraiser and got the house information that everyone has been asking me: 2200 sq ft, built in 1909, 56x129 lot size. And then of course, there's this little creature:

He loves the chocolate chip banana muffins I make.

He has these gorgeous, big, blue eyes that you just can't say no to.


He looks good in a cowboy hat. 4/09/11


He makes a really cute goat in his goat coat from Germany:) 12/21/11


He is our Superman. 10/23/10


Yes, that's right. I am just now putting out pictures of Tommy's contest winning Halloween costume.


AND we just had a delightful walk to the park this evening where we rubbed marijuana leaves on ourselves after learning from some frisbee golfers that it's a natural mosquito repellent. And there was a berry bush next to the marijuana, so we enjoyed a really juicy, sweet snack that stained my fingers purple. Then we tossed a football around, with Tommy smiling and laughing. We gave him turns to hold the football and toss it out of his stroller. He got so excited every time it was his turn. It makes me happy that we can have these enjoyable family outings and activities with Tommy included and he's not even one yet.

Storms and...well that's mostly it.

I meant to blog a week ago on Sunday and I didn't. Then we had a big thunderstorm with lots of lightning Tuesday night. My wireless router must have got a surge from one of the lightning strikes because it fizzled and died. That was the same day that we finally got our papers to sign for the house. The bank has yet to send someone to collect the for sale sign and the lock box on the front door knob. If you ever get the chance to do business with Wells Fargo, I highly recommend that you don't. I'm trying to find someone with bolt cutters.

Because our router died, we ordered a new one. It was kind of okay, because the router only worked with Shad's computer, not mine. We ordered a new one after I took the router into the store and told them what happened and they said I needed a new one. They didn't even look at it. Yesterday the internet wasn't working for the ethernet cable we were using. Turns out it was my fault because I had unplugged it during the windstorm on Monday. Anyway, it turned out to be a good thing because I played dumb on the phone and got technicians sent to the house. And they fixed the router! I was so shocked and it was such a quick thing that I didn't really have time to tell them to fix it to work with my computer. I think I'll call again and have them come back. I mean, I spent an hour and a half on the phone with someone the day before the router died. We tried everything in his book to get my computer to connect with the internet. No dice. I've never had this problem with any of the many routers I've used at other people's houses.

Well, my brain is getting fried, so I better hurry and wrap up. Tommy had a fever and runny nose several days last week. Couple that with sleeping a lot and being cranky when he wasn't sleeping=teething. Yet still no teeth to show for it. He finally got back to being himself yesterday. He was soooo much fun! Saturday we went to the temple in Omaha. Left home at 5 am to make the 10 am session. Then we had a quick lunch in the parking lot and went back in for the youth baptism session. We called my cousin Brian afterwards, who is in Omaha installing alarm systems for the summer. He met us after the session and we checked out the Mormon cemetery together, then went got pizza and ate lunch in the park. His wife Kristen and daughter Parker were in town from Cincinnati visiting him that weekend. It was nice to catch up with Kristen a little and meet Parker. She's a cutie just a month older than Tommy. She sure loves being the center of attention and showing off her big smiles and walking skills. We went to Walmart for a few things and then went home...getting home just after 9. We were exhausted.There's a new young couple in our ward that are fresh out of BYU and expecting a girl in September. We made quick friends with them because they live in Phillipsburg, which is just 30 miles away as opposed to the other new couple we'd like to be better friends with...but have trouble getting over the 80 mile obstacle. We brought lunch to their house after church a week and a half ago. They taught in China together in the same city as me the semester after I was there. They were at a different school though, but it was the same company. Pretty cool stuff. We had a lot to talk about with that.

Okay, last storm to mention is the hail and rainstorm that hit yesterday. Poor Shad was in a hole when it hit and he got pelted with golf ball sized hail. Not fun. I had talked to our insurance company on Thursday to come look at the house to give us an estimate. Since we had signed our contract on Tuesday, they said they'd come asap. I had to go in again today and tell them to get their butts up here. They did. Three big storms since we signed our contract? I want insurance!

Pictures now, and then we're done:

It's upside down, but it says "Congratulations Treva on losing 18 pounds!" Shad's boss ordered it for his wife.
This is what Tommy does when he sees the camera--sits down and looks cute...even if what I wanted was the picture of his bare bottom crawling away because he wouldn't let me put a clean diaper on:)


Court of Honor cake and cupcakes


Bedtime snack eating the crackers he threw on the floor during lunch that Momma was too busy to pick up.

We tried my glasses on him for the first time today because he wouldn't leave them alone on my face. He thought it was pretty cool:)


Me and my little buddy. He let me have my glasses back so I could see.

New House!

On Saturday morning last week (a week ago), we were notified in the morning that although the bank (still) has yet to produce papers for signing, that we were allowed to move in. See we got a friend to buy the house for us and then finance it to us. So he has paid for the house in full and owns it, but the bank still needs to get him papers to sign. Anyway, because it's bought and paid for, we were allowed to move in. So we did. That afternoon. We moved our storage unit into the house and I got half my kitchen unpacked that day. We didn't move ourselves in until Tuesday when I was able to get the water and electric utilities turned on. We moved our bed and clothes in that night and slept in our house. Oh, it is sooooooooooo wonderful! We love it, even with all the kinks that still need to be worked out...leaky sinks and tubs, mostly. But it is fantastic.

Wednesday was awesome. I had 3 Relief Society sisters come over and clean my bathrooms. Let me tell you, that was wonderful. It looks like I got a new tub. Remember the grungy nasty bathtub that I thought might just need to be replaced? Maybe you didn't see it:

Ewww, yuck. Well apparently there is this really nifty steam cleaner thing. Probably not the technical term, but it is amazing! It's like a jumbo spray bottle that you plug into the wall. You fill it with water and it heats up. You flip a switch and steam is forced out through a small nozzle and that's how you clean. It's really slow going but really effective and easy to use. Much easier than when the ladies tried using a razor blade to scrap off the soap scum. Martha brought her steam cleaner over and here is the difference:


Holy smokes! I could not believe the difference.

You know what makes life so much easier? Having cabinets and places to put things when I unpack! My last kitchen has been rightly redubbed a hallway with a sink. There was a fridge, 8 inches of counter space, a sink, 8 inches of counter space, and a stove. With the few cabinets that fit in around those items. It was sooooo hard to get unpacked in that apartment because I had nowhere to put things! That is definitely not the case in this house. I am loving how easy it is for me to unpack and empty boxes every day. I've got my whole kitchen unpacked and still have cabinet space. I've got my bathrooms assembled and have cabinets galore to spare in them. I've got half my office unpacked. I think all we really have to do now is to finish unpacking a couple boxes in our room (well, that's me, really), and then decorate the place. Get my pictures and other decor out of their boxes and up on walls.

Okay, so a few fun things. Tommy loves bath time and he thinks that shower time for Momma and Dadda means bath time for him too. Shad got fed up with Tommy pulling the shower curtain back a couple days ago, and pulled Tommy into the shower with him.


Tommy was a little confused and slightly concerned at first, but then thought it was REALLY cool. And he just sat there the whole time. Talked a little bit occasionally, but mostly just sat there in the water. He was disappointed this morning when he didn't get to have a shower again.

In case you noticed, Tommy did get another haircut a week ago. Here's some pictures and videos from the past couple months to update Tommy's life and show what his hair was like before the cut.


Tommy loves his Ultraman toy. I bought the thing when I was in China. Ultraman is all the rage there with the kids. He's their super hero. So think Superman, but better because he has Kung Fu skills, too. Ultraman ran into a little accident when we were visiting my parents about a month ago. Tommy dropped him on the kitchen floor and his right arm popped off beyond repair. So now we have amputee Ultraman. And still love
him:)


And here is the boy with his mop and his phone.



Tommy loves dancing to the King of the Hill music. He will stop whatever he's doing when it comes on and dance.


Tommy also likes to play with his Uncle Levi's laser gun...










and fall asleep in any available lap...








and play with his Dadda at the end of the day.





We watched Mulan almost every morning while my semester was still going. That's how I got my breakfast eaten and homework done. One morning, Tommy was ready for a nap already and just cuddled up on the floor with his blanket. He was out in 3 minutes.





Dale is one of the young men in our ward and he gave Tommy his first skateboard ride last week. Tommy thought it was pretty cool.










And sometimes Tommy gets to play Magic with his dadda...sort of...






I think that concludes our life thus far...for those of us outside my body, anyway. Our new little shrimp is just 2 days shy of being 3 months cooked. There have been a few times when I think I've felt her moving. No, we haven't had the gender ultrasound yet. But we figure we'd rather call our child by the wrong gender than by IT. I don't particularly feel like putting house pictures up right now, so if you can, check them out on Facebook. If not, send me your email address and I'll email you my Shutterfly link.

Lots of New Things

Uncle Aaron is right--I have been kinda quiet on my end the past few weeks. I've been busy finishing up my two online classes and running around with Tommy and taking naps, etc. School is over at the end of this week though, and we are soooooooooooooo looking forward to being done. For the most part, I am done. I just have to keep monitoring my ridiculous Russian instructor to make sure she has all my assignments. I've been emailing her back and forth for a week and she finally answered the question yesterday after dancing around it all the other days. I'm so glad to be done with her. She's been a headache all semester.

Anywho, happier things: We got a house! i can't say that we bought it...because we have yet to hand over the money and sign the papers, though we do have the key. Weird, I know. We are hoping to be able to move in soon...but we're still just waiting on the bank to produce the papers. I suppose I should get over there sometime to take some pictures so we have the full before/after experience. It is a 3 story house. Huge living room, dining room, kitchen, office, laundry room and 3/4 bath on the first floor with a door to the oversized 2 car garage. Downstairs is a half basement that reminds me a little of Aunt Mary's basement in Fairfield. It's a big long room that's really just perfect for a tv room. We'll get Shad's total gym set up behind the couch down there for a combo exercise room. There is a crawl space and some unfinished space in the water heater room, where we'll keep our food storage. Upstairs there are 4 huge bedrooms and 2 full baths. The master bedroom has it's own full bath and big walk in closet with lots of shelves and hanger rods. We're really looking forward to getting our shirts back on hangers! The house needs a bit of work, but we'll work on it here and there when we can. We're really looking forward to doing the work and making the home OURS.

Part of the fun of me being done with class is that I have time to take Tommy out on play dates and other social activities. Yesterday a lady in the ward stopped by in the morning to leave something for Shad's dad (he's the bishop). She invited Tommy to go to the lake with her and her dad. Tommy turned around to me and waved goodbye! He was not a happy camper when she left without him though, because his carseat wasn't here. He was climbing all over me and I knew I just had to get him out of the house to do something. Our neighbors weren't home...they have a 7 year old boy, 5 year old girl and a 1 year old boy that Tommy loves to play with. So instead we set a play date with some other friends in the ward and Tommy was sooooo happy to play there for somewhere around 3 hours. I was shocked that he was so happy and perky being awake from 9:30 to 3:30 when he finally took a nap. Normally he has 2 by that time! And today we went up to the library for their Reading Corner. Tommy really enjoyed the books and all the kids. And half a cookie:) He let me know when it was time to go home for lunch and a nap, though.

I mentioned before, but I'm second counselor in the Young Women's program at church. I noticed that my 17-yr-old laurel has about 3 or 4 goals done...and that's it. I just started redoing my own goals on Sunday, so I gave her a challenge last night to compete with me and get hers done before me. She thought it sounded like a great deal and we agreed to set rules and a prize for the winner. I really hope this works. I think she's only got about a year left.

Last update to include--we are pregnant! We are due on Shad's birthday, November 17. I apologize to those extended family members that heard it first from my mom. I meant to tell you first, but I've just been busy and apparently she beat me to it. This pregnancy thus far has been a polar opposite from Tommy. With Tommy, 2 weeks after I missed my period, I was throwing up 2-3 times a day. I'm 11 weeks pregnant and I've thrown up 3 times. I almost have a celebration every time because I'm just so thankful that it's not a daily occurrence again. I've been tired, but not as tired as I was with Tommy, and I think I can attribute that to the fact that I can keep food in my stomach. What a wonderful experience that is! Well, I should get off to Tommy who just woke up, and the rest of our things we need to do today.

Old man chewing, or Bushman clicking?

Oi, I didn't realize just how long it's been. I knew I was behind, but I didn't know it was that bad. Well, Shad started working for a septic tank company two and a half weeks ago. He gets off work at different times every day even though this is supposed to be an 8-5 job. He needs to get his commercial driver's license and thinks that he'll get off at a more regular time when he has that because he'll be doing different work. However, when he doesn't get home until 6:30, 7:00, or after 10:00, it's really hard to study for it. By the time he showers, eats something, unwinds and has some play time with Tommy, it's time to get ready for bed and start all over again.

I am really getting pushed beyond my limits living with the in-laws. Honestly, I'm almost ready to dig my tent and camping stove out of the storage unit. Shad and I end up eating out 2-3 times a week because there either isn't food, or it's inedible. Last night was Ruth's night to cook, but she had a school project to work on with a friend. She didn't come up with something to cook for dinner until 5 at which point she sent Priscilla to the grocery store to get ingredients. At 5:50, nothing was cooking yet. Ruth was still working on the project and Priscilla was reading on the porch. I finally left to go get something to eat before meeting with someone at 6:15 to talk about options with getting the house we want. When Ruth did finish her project, she didn't cook dinner. She went out to help another friend with her cheerleading fundraiser. I've decided that I'm just going to have to start cooking again...but just for me and Shad. I'm sick of this crap with dinner here.

Tommy is just changing all the time, it's almost hard to keep up with him! He army crawls all over the floor and is starting to get into things. He stands himself up at the couch and tub all the time and is so proud of himself and excited when he does. He loves bath time now! He even asked for a bath a few weeks ago. He stood up by the tub, slapped his hand on the side and said, "Mom?! Mom?!" He is really good at saying mamama and dadadada. Vern served his mission in England and wants to be called Bumpa. Pris has decided on Nana. I like these new names because they're sounds that are easier for Tommy to make. He's already starting to say babababa and nananana. He's also recently started this thing where he just chews...with nothing in his mouth. It reminds Shad of old folks in nursing homes that just sit there and chew:) It's also a little like Bushman clicking. We're not really sure what he's going for with this, but it's funny. He really likes it when I let him hold the remote while he watches a movie. I'm going to have to lower his mattress soon because he's starting to sit himself up...and since he can already stand himself up, we don't want him falling out of bed.

I think that's mostly it. Whether it is or not, I have to go take initiative and babyproof the house. I can't wait for the owners to do it in a way that they would like it, because then it would never get done and I'm tired of pulling Tommy away from the VCR every 5 minutes.

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

Hmmm, well it's been a long time again. I meant to write on Tuesday, but then I got distracted with homework and Tommy and family history and cooking, etc., etc., etc. Tommy's new thing is popping his lips open kinda like a fish. He smiles really big when someone does it back with him. Today he was sitting by big storage tub of jumbo Legos and realized that he couldn't reach the Legos very well. So he stood himself up, butt sticking out and wobbling side to side, and fished out some blocks. He was very good at entertaining himself for a long time so that I could play the piano. We had the house all to ourselves today; Shad, Vern and Levi were helping someone move, and Pris and Ruth were at the seminary activity in Kearney.

I've been getting fed up with the cooking situation for a while. I cook every day. They don't eat leftovers if I say we're having leftovers. Nope, they just have popcorn or microwaved chicken tenders with chips. I've been especially having a hard time with Levi, who doesn't really eat much besides popcorn, Lucky Charms, chips and Poptarts. Occasionally he'll actually like something I make. So I made pasta with shrimp scampi tonight because that's something he's liked before. Let's say it one more time: I planned this meal because he LIKES it. In the past, he's had second helpings. Granted, he picks out the shrimp and doesn't eat any vegetable side dish I make. Today, he didn't like it. THERE WAS NOTHING DIFFERENT ABOUT IT!!! But he didn't like it. Didn't recall having liked it before. Maybe he liked it before because it didn't have shrimp in it. Nope, it had shrimp in it before. So guess what happened to the mound of uneaten pasta on his plate? It went into the trash when he got up to clear his place. I think this is the last straw. I'm through. I don't give a crap what they eat anymore. I'm fed up, burned out, DONE!

On a happier note, Shad got a job yesterday. He starts Monday. He'll be working with septic tanks and is excited. We're thrilled for this job. It's a great working environment, Shad will be able to work with his hands and learn a lot, and the pay is excellent and they'll give him a lot of raises. The employers are excited to hear that Shad is looking for this to be more than temporary. We're also excited because we found another house that we love. It's bigger, better and cheaper than the other one we liked. We're looking forward to having paychecks so that we can make an offer!

Shakin our heads to How to Train Your Dragon

The past two weeks have been fun and eventful in small ways. Tommy likes being able to feed himself graham crackers and such rather than being handed bite-size pieces. He makes a fantastic mess, but I love seeing him so happy with his food. He was really funny a couple weeks ago. I set him on the floor to play with toys. I thought I had sufficiently removed hazardous objects and computer cords from his area, but he found a caramel Hershey kiss that I missed. He ate it.

Luckily we were able to dig the foil wrapper out of his mouth before any damage could be done with him trying to eat it.

Last week Tommy learned to stick out his tongue on Sunday. He now spends a lot of his time unconsciously slipping his tongue out, or consciously blabbing it around with someone who will do it back. Then on Monday (a week ago) he started shaking his head back and forth. It doesn't seem to mean "no," although it's cute when he does coordinate it with questions. Mostly it's just something he does to play and be silly. Or dance. He'll shake his head in response to me shaking my head at him, or to music. It's cute to see him sit on the floor and shake his head to a movie score and his whole little body moves with it! He enjoys saying, "mamamamamamamamamama" and "dadadadadadadadada" a lot. Smart kid, he seems to know which sounds apply to which parents. We sure love hearing it:)

On Tuesday last week, Tommy pulled himself up on the couch. It was sure exciting but he hasn't done it again since. We drove to Colorado that day as well. Shad's mom was going to have her friend to her taxes and ours. We decided to ride along for a visit and to go to the temple. We got to see my family, Dan and Ryan, Mark and Robyn, and go to the temple. It was a very productive trip for only a day and a half. We were there Tuesday night to Thursday morning.

We're still waiting hear back from a guy, Larry, on a potential job for Shad. All he's told us is to be patient, and that Shad's at the top of the list of candidates. Comforting, but we want more!

I am addicted to the soundtrack from How to Train Your Dragon! As good as the movie is, the music is better and the movie wouldn't be what it is without the score. It is AMAZING. It plays through my head all the time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IBlQj2U5kU It gives me chills!

I have all the tracks compiled into a playlist on youtube and Tommy and I shake our heads to it while I try to decipher my crap Russian assignments. Is it bad to want to kill my Russian instructor? Probably yes. But I sure wish the dean would hurry up and email me back so I can find some justice without her death. She keeps giving us online discussion topics that don't correlate with what we're learning in our textbook chapter. In the last unit we were learning about articles of clothing and size/condition/color adjectives. The discussion topic was about our family members, their ages and how much older or younger they are than me. That is unit 5 and we were on 2! I don't have time to try and learn an additional chapter for her stupid discussion. And this time it's even worse: the discussion topic isn't even IN the textbook. AT ALL! If she wants me to go to a translation website, type in English and click a button to translate it into Russian, I can sure do that. But I think my time and learning would be much better spent if she would just ask me to discuss languages and nationalities like we're supposed to in this unit. I don't care how she justifies her crap topics, it wasn't laid out in the unit overview of what we're studying and learning.