Monday, June 22, Fishing, Lake City, Tests

Monday morning, K was feeling better (yay!) so she and B decided to fix breakfast tacos for everyone. They were yummy!

My class was never far out of my mind, and hanging over my head for the past few days were the quizzes for chapters 4, 5, and 7, and exam #2 over those same chapters. I'd read the chapters and tried some of the worksheet problems, but didn't have the confidence that I was comfortable enough with the material to do well on the quizzes. I knew that at some point I just had to bite the bullet and do it.

So I took quiz #5 right after breakfast because that material was mostly text and very little math or financial calculations. Wonder of wonders, I got 10 out of 10 right! Hallelujah! I still wasn't sure about the material in chapters 4 or 7, but figured I might as well get another one out of the way early and then leave the last quiz and exam #2 for the evening.

I dug out the financial calculator and all of my cheat-sheet notes from the lectures and my reading assignments and hit the "Take the Quiz" button for chapter 4. Again, I surprised myself at what I had retained. I read the questions, figured out what answer I needed to find, and did the financial calculations on my trusty TI-BA calculator. I actually came up with answers that matched the choices!! There was one question that I wasn't sure about at all, so I did ask K if I was on the right track. She confirmed me and I held my breath as I hit the "Submit Answers" button. Another 10 out of 10!!!!!!!!!! Thank you, God (and K)!!!

After making it past the chapter 4 hurdle, we were all ready to get out of the cabin and DO something. We packed up the fishing gear, the ice chest, snacks, sunglasses, hats, reading material, blanket, and a 4x4 trail map of the Creede area and set out. We'd decided that we would take both vehicles today so that, at some point, the boyz could go off on their own jeeping experience and K and I could retreat to the cabin for some R&R.

We drove to our favorite fishing spot, Spring Creek Lake, K set up her reading area on a blanket and the boyz got into their fishing mode. I walked around taking random pictures and being the line-untangler assistant for the not-so-high-quality fishing gear we had picked up at Wally World in Alamosa. Didn't catch anything but a few sunbeams and, after about an hour, we got back into the vehicles and drove to North Clear Creek Falls. More photo ops, all of which are posted on my Facebook page.

We decided to leave the Jeep at the parking area by the falls and all ride together to Lake City to have lunch and look around. It was about 21 miles from the falls to Lake City, but the road through the mountain passes made for some spectacular landscape views. We had lunch at the Southern Vittles restaurant in Lake City because Dear and B were in the mood for some home cooking and K wanted mashed potatoes. Dear had chicken fried steak (definitely not Rockett Cafe quality), B had chicken tenders, K had mashed potatoes and okra, and I had a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of chicken/sausage gumbo. We were full.

After lunch, we took some more pictures and went into a couple of the shops in Lake City. It's comparable to Creede, but not nearly as picturesque IMHO. We stopped at a sports shop on the way out of town to get the boyz new closed reels for their not-so-high-quality fishing poles and also to get me a cheap-o rod/reel and a 5-day fishing license. Yes, I like to fish on occasion. Especially when we're in Creede.

The drive back to the falls seemed quicker than the drive over -- isn't that always the case? -- and we split up: girls back to the cabin and boyz out on their male-bonding jeeping adventure. K and I rested for a while when we got to the cabin. Then I packed up the laptop, my books and study materials, and the trusty financial calculator to finish out my class assignments for the week.

Chapter 7 was about bonds -- another foreign subject for me -- but I finished reading it and listened to the ClassLive lecture. I do better when I take the quizzes when the material is fresh in my mind, so I just dived right in to the chapter quiz. Missed one, but there was one question where I vacillated between two answers, so obviously I chose the wrong one. But 9 out of 10 ain't bad!

K came over and told me that the boyz were back alive and were hungry. I wanted to get the exam #2 out of the way while I was on a roll, so I told her that they should go ahead and do whatever they wanted to for dinner. I said a little prayer and started right in on the exam.

Prof had allowed an hour for the 30-question exam, which kind of surprised me because he had given us two hours for the first 50-question exam. Whatever. Again, I surprised myself at what I've retained and I felt pretty confident when I hit the "Submit Answers" button. Wonder of wonders -- I got 30 out of 30!!!!! I let out a big "YESSSSSSSSSSS!!" and scared the other guy who was in the lodge Internetting on his own laptop. Oops, sorry about that, guy. But I ACED A FINANCE EXAM!!!!!

I packed up my gear and hoofed it back to the cabin to celebrate with the fam. They were eating tortellini and ravioli, but everyone was excited about my success!! I felt like a load had been lifted off of my shoulders!

After dinner, we all settled in to watch a Henry Cho DVD, "What's That Clickin' Noise?" If you've never heard him, he's a great comedian -- all family-friendly material and really funny.

We made it about halfway through the DVD when B&K fell asleep on the couch, so we turned it off so they and Dear could go to bed. Believe it or not, it was only 9:45! I read for a while (Karen Kingsbury "Return") before turning out the light on our cozy Commodore cabin in Creede.

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