Colton wrote a letter to Mom/Jen after his first week, a great write-up, and there's been some continued communications updated here (just keeping it to a single post for now. All of September/October)... you can see his new apartment on the BlackhamBlog.
From Colton (September 8, 2024)
Sunday - After dropping Dad and Keat off at the airport, I didn't head back to the apartment immediately but went to Target for some clothes. I found a couple good pairs of shorts, which was surprising as I can never find actually good fitting pairs of shorts, and some cargo pants for when it gets colder. Found everything on the clearance rack too which was fortunate. I was only back at the apartment for a couple of hours before I headed to the school where Coach Stamme let me in to get some shots up. They're really lenient with the gym hours and coach even told me if I get asked to leave that I could just mention that I was there working out with a coach or give him a call and he could come let college safety know that I have permission to be in there. I don't remember if anything else really happened the rest of the day, might've even got McDonald's after my hoop sesh to avoid having to make any dinner. Going to sleep was a little rough because of the heat.
Monday - I just had a simple breakfast; cinnamon toast crunch and a protein shake before heading to the gym at 10:00 with Connor. This was a little workout with some of the other guys on the team, Jacari, Kalil, and Nick. Jacari and Kalil are both returners while Nick is a freshman. We ran through a few drills and played some one on one for about an hour and a half. I stayed after everyone left to use the shooting machine, which is a bit better than the one we had at West Jordan. This one lets you switch spots once reaching a certain amount of makes instead of only shots, a very nice function to have. I headed to the weight room for a short workout as well. Once I got home, I took a quick shower before heading out to do my first grocery trip. I headed to this smaller store literally called "Grocery Outlet" about a mile away. It says it's a "bargain market" so I wanted to check out the prices. The prices were indeed pretty good, much better than Fred Meyer and Safeway. However, my coach later pointed out to me that the stuff there can be pretty close to expired. My haul consisted of two dozen eggs, gallon of milk, two lbs. of ground beef, tortillas, apples, bananas, grapes, a pineapple, frozen chicken nuggets, frozen popcorn shrimp, two 40 pouch boxes of fruit snacks and some pop tarts. The pop tarts were a really good price, $2.99 for the 16 count boxes. I already had some groceries to get me started from shopping with Dad, deli meats, sliced provolone and cheddar cheese, bread, mayo, cereal, and ramen. Will have to remember to bring my own bags to Grocery Outlet next time because the bags they provided fell apart on me. I drove around a couple hours later while the sun was setting to look at some cool viewing spots and just to get better looks of all the trees. I headed to a Walmart about 20 minutes away (only a grocery Walmart, not a superstore), to get a couple things I forgot, shredded cheese, string cheese, a few mac n cheese boxes, and chick-fil-a sauce. Also went to chick-fil-a for dinner to use up the rest of my gift card that I got from DLP.
Tuesday - Sleeping wasn't nearly as bad because the temp throughout the day never got too high. Made myself some eggs and a protein shake for breakfast before heading to the gym a bit early for the first day of camp. Met the rest of the team and had a good first day of practice. Forgot about how awful running is as we did a lot of conditioning. At the end of practice, we hit the weight room for a short leg day. Clack has a small tradition at the end of every practice were everyone goes around and shakes each other's hands. Was only home for a bit before I went out to dinner Connor, Kobe, and their parents. Went to a nice place called McMenamins. After that, Conner, Kobe and I headed back to the gym at around 8:00 to hoop. We were in there till about 10:00 before we had to leave. Going to sleep wasn't that bad again with the temp being around 70 degrees outside most of the day.
Wednesday - I had some for cereal breakfast again and got two the gym a couple hours early for my appointment with our academic advisor to finally get my classes scheduled. Today wasn't actually a practice because we only have a limited number of hours each week that we could technically hold a "team" practice, so we just call Wednesdays open gym and play some organized pickup games. At this point, I have already proven myself on the court and am running some of our drills. I got back to the apartment and got my first glimpse of the heat this week. Over 90 degrees out and pretty much the same inside. I ended up falling asleep for about and hour and a half because I was just lying in bed with the fan positioned on me. Doing anything in my room while it's that hot makes me start to sweat quick. Even just getting up to change or organize stuff. I ended up making myself some food late, ground beef and a couple of eggs, trying out some of the different seasonings that Connor's mom bought. Spending time in the kitchen while it's that hot even got me to sweat pretty bad so I ended up leaving for a bit to drive around with some AC and grab an icee. Headed back pretty soon to try and go to sleep.
Thursday - Sleeping was a struggle. Always trying to reposition myself to get a better angle of the fan on me. Made myself a couple of breakfast burritos to eat before practice. Practice was pretty much the same. Tried to chill at the apartment for a few hours but ended up leaving back to the gym because it was just too hot. I was only able to get into the weight room because the gym was being used for some volleyball scrimmages. Got home kind of late and made some dinner. Kobe got a rice cooker for the kitchen and had made up a bunch of white rice for the three of us to eat when we wanted. I paired that with some of my popcorn chicken and chick-fil-a sauce to eat then headed to bed in the sweatbox.
Friday - More of the same, cooked up a simple breakfast, rice and eggs. Practice was good, even went and got my student ID card after. I moved my TV to the very side of my desk so I can place my laptop on the monitor stand (where the TV was previously), so now I can use the laptop while the TV is on and also got an HDMI cable so I can even us the TV was a monitor if I want. The resolution is pretty low though so most of the time I will just use the laptop display. Although, I also went out and got a wired controller that I can plug into the laptop so I can play my games with the controller and the TV as the monitor, making my Call of Duty games playable as if I was playing on the Xbox. Later that night, Connor's girlfriend and a couple of her friends came into town, and we went out and got some ice cream at the Clackamas Promenade, similar to our Jordan Landing. I went and got some shots up late at the gym before heading back and going to bed.
Saturday - No practice today. I headed to Winco to (it being the other best option for groceries), for some bread, rice, and a refill on my milk. I didn't do anything most of the day, the apartment was quiet because Kobe was out with his parents and Connor was back in Salem for the weekend. I played some games on the TV now that I had the controller which was pretty nice. I headed to the gym around 6:00 and got to shoot around for about 45 minutes but got kicked out by custodians. I drove around a bit later that night but not much else. I made some more chicken and rice for dinner. That rice cooker has been very clutch. It wasn't as hot throughout the day so going to sleep wasn't as troublesome as the past few.
Sunday - Today, all that has happened was I made a quick breakfast and did my laundry for the first time since being here. Our complex does have a laundry room, but it's pretty small and the room was hot when I went and checked it out, so I ended up going to this laundromat a few streets down. It was really simple, and the machines were good so the wait wasn't too long. I will probably just do my laundry at our apartments from now on as the one down the street costs a bit more. I'm hoping to get in the gym later today to get shots up and lift but other than that, not much else going on.
Main things I've been eating: eggs, cereal, fruits, sandwiches, rice, and lots of protein shakes. Fruit snacks and string cheese has been awesome too.
From Colton ~ Week 2 (taken from texts)
Got classes scheduled, met with a school counselor. Math and writing will have to wait for next term. Have an Intro to Business class and an Intro to Business Computing, as well as a Public Speaking class that goes towards my communication credits. Along with basketball and the College Success class (it starts September 9th, before the official term) totals up to 17 credits. Intro to business is in person Thursdays at 10:00-11:50, coaches are fine with it though I can still be at practice. Public speaking is Tuesday nights from 6:00-9:50, and the Intro to Business computing is online.
I went to a local laundromat last week but tried the apartment ones this week. Laundromat is more expensive, but a bit nicer.
From Colton (September 23, 2024)
It cooled down these last two weeks, there's only been a couple of days where I've felt that I was too hot in the apartment. Today however got up to 80 degrees and tomorrow is looking to be worse - 88 degrees. I actually picked up those couple ac units that Gray offered a while ago. I spent the last few hours figuring out a way to set it up in my window, it's meant for a window that slides up and down, not side to side. I looked up some videos and found a decent method. I got a 3/8th inch metal rod from Home Depot (along with a hacksaw), and cut it to about a couple inches longer than the ac unit and by placing it in the bracket on the top where normally you would slide the window down on it, I can use the sides of the rod to catch the edges of the window sill and keep the unit from falling out. I got a couple plastic sheets and fit them to fill the rest of the open area above the unit so bugs and hopefully rain can't get in. I sent a picture to dad if you want to see the setup. It's working really well already, I'm actually pretty cold in here right now, I love it.
This week of practices has been a lot better than the first two, we've been doing a lot more scrimmaging. Right now, there's actually 19 players at our camp and only 12 roster spots available, so there will be cuts made. I'm not sure how many because I think we have a couple redshirts, meaning they'll stay on the team and practice, but won't take a roster spot or get to play in games. I'm not nervous for myself as I've definitely earned a spot, but for the other guys. Everyone is really cool and I don't really want to see anyone go. Quick list of names: Connor O, Kobe, Vitaly, Brooklynd, Sam, Dallas, Jacari, Lincoln, Miles, Dom, Jordan, Nick, Reggie, Gray, Mason, Connor G, Kalil, and Jake. The last five are returning sophomores while everyone else is freshman. Vitaly and Brooklynd are probably the ones I'm the closest with. Before our practice on Friday, the coach actually sat everyone down just to talk a little bit about the cuts and what to do to be noticed more. He actually mentioned that if he had to pick a starting lineup at that moment, there were only two people who he'd be sure to have in it, Me and Gray. We didn't actually have practice today since there is something going on in the gym for all CCC staff that will take up the court until the end of tomorrow. So we're only going to be able to go in and lift tomorrow but not get any shots up.
My meals have pretty much stayed the same, lots of eggs, fruit, sandwiches, ground beef, air fried chicken, and protein shakes. I found that the Grocery Outlet sells those frosted sugar cookies for like $1.50 so I've been eating an unhealthy amount of those. Usually, I'll go to Grocery Outlet for most of my stuff but there is some stuff I have to go to Winco for, like fruit snacks, certain brands of sliced turkey and ham, and cream cheese. Usually I have to go to Winco for Grandma Sycamores but I found them at Grocery Outlet today, so I got a few loaves because they were a bit cheaper. The rice cooker has been very nice, cook up about five cups of rice at a time and throw it in the fridge, then I eat it with a few of my meals. Goes well with scrambled eggs, ground beef, chicken, and also chick-fil-a sauce.
I did get a job at a nearby Walgreens (just applied on the website), went in for an interview last Thursday and got it. Will just be working the register, sales floor, and photo booth. I'm trying to do 15-20 hours a week, probably on three shifts; Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. My first two shifts have just been completing required training modules on the computer. They have not been great at communicating my schedule though, the manager who hired me didn't even tell the shift lead I was coming in yesterday to finish up the training and they still haven't clearly told me what hours to come in. On Tuesday, Connor's girlfriend came up with a couple of friends so we went out and got ice cream at the Clackamas Town Center, basically just our Jordan Landing. And on Friday, Q was actually in Portland watching Lexi play soccer (she plays for Utah Tech). I would've gone to the game with him but it was during my practice so I met up with him after the game to grab some food and hang out. He's rooming with another player who was on our trip with Coach Scott. He's told me about how most of the teammates in his pod of dorms all smoke, the same with Carter's guys at South Puget Sound. Apparently Carter's entire golf team are crazy partiers and there's drinks all over his apartment. I know I wouldn't like that, my situation is actually really good, everyone on the team is high character guys and Connor and Kobe obviously don't do any of that stuff so living with them has been good. That's pretty much all I've got for the last couple weeks.
From Colton (October 28, 2024)
Love you <3
From Mom/JenBThis format was great. Love just getting little insights into what is happening, what is different. This is WONDERFUL, and makes a mommy heart happy!I had peeked at the weather and saw there were some warm days again. I'm happy you got the AC unit. I'll have to get the picture of the set up. You know I love my cool room! Duct tape is your friend when it comes to jerry-rigging stuff. Too bad you didn't get it immediately when it was even warmer that first miserable week! If you use it a LOT and the power bill goes up, we'll have to pitch in a bit more (our power bill for September was the highest it's ever been!) And from GRAY huh? Is he just Gray, or Grayson?Thanks for the list of names. Two Conners. When is the team officially finalized? I'm looking forward to seeing the https://www.clackamascougars.com/landing/ index website updated, team pictures and such! How has fridge/freezer space been? I still wonder how we did it with 7 (at Snow) and 8 (at BYU). I honestly can't remember.You'd mentioned "work" in a text ... I had wondered if you meant school work. You got a job! Do you think you'll be able to keep up with it once the season and school are in full swing? I guess if they are willing to work with your schedule... and then communicate to you your schedule! Let them know your Thanksgiving and Christmas plans. Poor Dad was on the computer much of last night booking flights and such. I did give you the heads up that it's EVERYONE coming in December, right? ;) Kate will be staying home with Vera, but all your brothers are coming with Dad and me. We'll all fly together on Dec26 (with you returning). The Blackham Bunch!I'd wondered about crazy college life and just figured at a community college it might not be as bad as a 4-year, as so many of the students would still likely be under 21. I guess at Snow we had a lot of older kids too, but that's Utah/Mormon culture, returned missionaries. What are the ages of most of the boys on the basketball team, any older ones? I remember there was a clause in your signed contract about not drinking (I guess it was during practices/games) but it seems most would be underage?I know you love your sugar cookies. $1.50 is a deal ;)Thanks again so much for this little write up. I really, really, really, really, really love it!
From Colton (reply):
Just Gray, he was actually the leading scorer last year. He's 6'6 and it's weird because he's one of the best shooters I've ever played with. I bet they'll finalize the team once the season comes around but I'm not sure.
The fridge and freezer have been a little tight. We each just take a shelf in the fridge (I'm on the top), and the extra spots on the door and drawers can just be used by anybody. We all just put any condiments and butter on the door shelves and the drawers on the bottom are still empty. I don't buy too much food at a time, just make a few trips a week to the store when I need a few items. That way I don't have to store too much with our limited space.
I am a little worried about working once school actually starts up, but I think I'll be fine. Are you guys going to be staying in a hotel or an AirB&B?
Most of the freshmen are around my age, with a few exceptions. Jkari (I misspelled his name earlier), is actually 22 and still a freshman, Reggie is the oldest at 24, Mason and Kalil are both 21, not sure about some of the others.
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From Mommy (October 4, 2024)
I made the 1SecondEveryDay video for September and realized I didn't have ONE cute Colton face in it! I did get your A/C picture from Dad, so at least that made an appearance. Momma needs at least a couple pictures a month! I know you don't love it ... but for me? Pleeeease? Things here at home ... Dad has had a couple big bike trips. Those are done now (whew!) Cal's team won the championship, even without you. We had to replace the A/C here at home ( without A/C for a day, it works really well now, I have to turn the thermostat up sometimes to turn the a/c off). Had to have the oven and dishwasher repaired - I couldn't bake sourdough for a little over a week. Coop had a couple bad weeks of Fantasy, but has one the last two. Cal & Kate went camping and Cal almost chopped his thumb off with an axe (left-hand, so he didn't get out of playing pickleball).How often do you have your A/C running? I was impressed with your jerry-rigged set-up!You've now had all your classes - did you have to buy books (save receipts, send any/all school expenses to me, tax write-off). After week 1, can you get a feel if the classes will be challenging or easy? Did the College Success class end (was it just the three weeks before school started) or is it still going?Dad said he never got a text from you asking about Microsoft Word/Excel. He thinks he's on a plan that maybe has one more on the license?How's Walgreens work? Any improvement in the communication? What hours have you been working?How's life with roommates? Any issues - leaving the toilet seat up, or not cleaning up messes? How much "cleaning" do you guys do? No problems parking? Laundry going okay?Just got your October rent payment in. Conner's mom mentioned you'd told him about a food assistance program?... and of course, how's basketball going? ;)u and miss seeing your cute face!
From Colton (October 4, 2024)
I'll try to get some pictures for you, I don't have any good pictures that I've taken even after being here a month. The last two Tuesdays a bunch of us have gone and got tacos at this nice little Mexican place like 10 miles from college, so occasions like that would be good for me to get a pic.
I haven't had my AC on too much in the last couple weeks. I'll turn it on for a bit if the room is feeling warm but it is starting to get colder and rainy so it hasn't been that necessary. It's also kind of busted I think, whenever I turn it on, the AC part will turn back off after 15-20 minutes, so I usually just keep the fan that it has on.
There is one book I think I'm going to have to buy for my intro to business class, but I think I should be able to get it covered through what's called the STEP program. Our wrestling coach is part of that program and he mentioned to us about applying for food benefits with the Department of Human Services, something he had some of his wrestlers do, to receive a food stamps card. I went ahead and tried it and was able to get a phone call with a DHS worker where they just asked some questions about my situation and I talked about how I'm a college student living away from home and I qualified for some food benefits. $292 a month to spend on groceries. After that, Connor, Kobe, and most of the people on the team applied too and I kind of told them what to say in the interview. So Connor and Kobe both qualified as well. I met with the wrestling coach a few times to get into the STEP program and possibly get more benefits, and they were good to cover the costs of my books but when we checked the required materials for my classes, none of them had a required textbook listed. First day of intro to business was yesterday and in class he showed us that there was a textbook for this class, but I didn't know about it when I met with the coach. I'm going to reach out though and see if we could get that covered.
I do think the term will be challenging. Mostly worried about getting schoolwork done in time while juggling basketball and work. The College Success class is done, nice to have three credits already completed before the term started. Also, Connor told me we should have access to the Microsoft Office apps through moodle, which is our website that we use to turn in work and view classes.
Walgreens has been better now that I'm officially on the schedule, so I have the schedule of my shifts. My shifts are all closing shifts, 5:00-10:00, only two or three shifts a week. It is a pretty boring job though, and having to stand for that long makes my legs sore especially after already having practice earlier in the day.
Connor and Kobe are great, there haven't been any problems around the apartment caused by any of us. We do have a lot of ants around, even in mine and Kobe's rooms. Connor went and got some ant traps that are supposed to get rid of them pretty well. We don't clean that much haha, but we don't really let the apartment get that dirty in the first place. I always do my dishes right after using them, I think they do too. And I try to keep the kitchen looking good after I use it so as to not annoy them, which they pretty much do the same.
We had a little update to our schedule, that Dec. 20th game at Centralia got moved up to Nov. 23, so we play Centralia twice in one week. I don't know if changing flights time is possible without just having to purchase a whole other ticket, but since there's no game on the 20th anymore, I would be available to come back for Christmas a day or two earlier. Again I don't know how to go about changing a flight. But overall, basketball has been the same pretty much, been doing a lot of scrimmaging. I think right now the starting lineup would be me, Sam or Lincoln, Connor O, Gray, and Mason. I do have to focus on keeping my spot though since Kalil, a returner from last year, is also really good and a point guard.
Love ya!
From Mommy (October 6, 2024)
My A/C does that too ... it will run for a bit (15min or so) then shuts off, then will come back on again after a while. I think it can't run continuously, needs to take little breaks. Mine also has a temp setting (set it to 68 degrees, and it won't turn on unless it's warmer than that ... although I have mine turned down to its lowest, 61 degrees).How does your online class work? Like the online ones you (or Coop) took, with assignments, and a Friday due date? How many people are in your in-person Tues/Thurs classes? Glad the College Success class is done (that's what I thought). Do be sure to make your school assignment due dates a priority. College classes likely don't accept things late the way the flexible high school teachers did.Good on you for finding financial aid options (or thanks to the wrestling coach). I still wonder about filling out a FAFSA and then applying for any school scholarships - if they'd just take place of the basketball $$ or if it could then go toward housing. Have you been eating any ramen? Stereotype of the poor college student diet ;) (although you ate it at home too). It's funny here at home without you, we don't go through the Grandma Sycamore or deli meats, and Coop said I don't need to buy the fruit snacks. We've had some leftovers I've wished I could zap to you!Dad is looking into seeing if changing your flight to a day earlier (your birthday!) is an option. We'll let you know.I'll be putting all your games on the calendar - so what's this "NW Juco Jamboree" coming up this weekend (on the schedule/Oct13) - has the team been finalized? Do you know if this will be streamed?
From Colton (October 7, 2024)
Online classes are the same as any other online classes I've had, posts most of the work at the beginning and we can work at our own pace, assignments are due by the end of the week. My Tuesday class had 17 people, it feels similar to high school but most of my classmates are in their 20s and 30s. There are one or two kids around my age in that class. Thursday has around 30 people, and I have that class with a few of the basketball boys.
I keep meaning to fill out the FAFSA (with some assistance from dad) as it is a prerequisite for applying for some scholarships here. I already have the essay parts of the application filled out, just need to get the FAFSA done. I talked to Stamme about that and he said that money could go towards housing or anything really because my tuition is already paid for through basketball so any potential money from scholarships would just be added back to my account as a "refund". Haven't really been eating any more ramen than I normally do at home but I do have some stocked up for some quick meals. I have a lot of snacks that I've been stalking my room and our kitchen with since the Grocery Outlet has some really low prices and now that I have plenty of money to spend on groceries. A 90 pack of Mott's fruit snacks was $7. I also got like 10 packs of Oreos and those fudge stripe cookies for free from work since they were about to be disposed of for being too close to expiration.
It's just an event where a bunch of teams go and scrimmage, not any official games. Coach told us the team we play but I forgot which ones. The team still isn't finalized so I think coach will actually put in two teams in the jamboree. I don't know if it is streamed but I'll ask.
** The games WERE streamed, not the best video quality, but here's the highlights **
From Mommy (October 20, 2024)
Hey there ... had a funny tonight. Landon and Keaton came over and the boys wanted to play some Mario. They were getting it set up ...Landon: We need another Joy-ConCoop: Any extras are downstairsKeaton: I miss ColtonI guess you were the errand boy they'd send? Not that they don't miss you in general, as I'm sure you are missing us all SO much, right?We got some pickleball in this morning ... had four of my five boys. It was a little cool to start, but then it was really a perfect pickleball day. We moved so that we were in the sun, because that actually felt good (and the shady section had SO many pine needles all over!)Dad and I went to see a show at Hale Theater with the grandparents last night - The Adams Family. It was cute.I've enjoyed having your games to watch again and make highlights. I just finished the third one, it's saving now. Wish I was there to get video myself, but the stream is better than not having a view at all. Another "Jamboree" in a couple weeks, there at Clackamas? When will the team be finalized?Did I mention Cal wasn't able to get signed up for the Wednesday night league (they didn't have enough teams). That's a bummer for him. And me, as I like to go watch (I do still need to make the highlight video of the championship game).The weather turned cooler here, some got snow, but we just got rain and dropped temps. Have the temperatures dropped enough that you'll pull the A/C from your window? I still have mine up, although it's not running as much as it was. We'll get up over 70 again this coming week though.Are you able to stay on top of everything? With basketball, school, work, grocery shopping, laundry and everything else? I'm so glad you got to see Carter, Q and E! What school is Carter at again?Love you and miss you!
High school basketball buddies together again!
Picture & text Saturday/October 19, 2024.
Ethan came down and stayed with Carter for a few days and he flew back out today. We got some breakfast and hung out this morning. Met in Portland, just outside of the PDX airport.
From Colton (October 21, 2024)
Hah yes I was always the one that had to find extra controllers because I would be the one to know where they are.
I think there will be streaming for our jamboree in a couple weeks, not sure yet how it will work. And I think the coach is still going to wait a while before finalizing the team. Also, our assistant coach is out for a couple of weeks, he just had two knee replacements.
I'm sure Cal's team wouldn't even want to play in the league if it was without me anyway ;)
Temperatures have dropped here in the last week or two, and lots of rain. Sometimes during the day, I will still turn on the AC unit but for the most part, I have left it off. So pretty soon here I might as well just put it away so it doesn't get too cold in my room.
Having a little bit of trouble with school but has been fine for the most part. Public speaking is fairly hard, mostly from how serious the teacher takes it. The business computing class isn't too hard, there's just a lot of work to get through every week.
Carter is playing golf at South Puget Sound. It was a lot of fun to see them, I actually didn't know Ethan was in town until a couple days ago, he had scored a pretty cheap round trip ticket a while back, said it was like $150 or something I'm not quite sure. But talking about our living situations, I definitely have the best one and I feel a little bad for Q and Carter. Ethan stayed at Carter's place and said he couldn't stand a couple of his roommates. I told Carter he could come spend some nights down at mine when he wants once his golf season finishes. Would be a good idea if he wants to come down and watch some games.
I've been loving those skillet meals, tried fettuccine alfredo, garlic chicken pasta, and shrimp fried rice. It would probably be beneficial to learn how to cook them myself but these are just so easy, and they usually provide me with some leftovers too.
Love ya!
From Mommy (reply)
S Puget Sound ... the team that got you in a buzzer beater! SO close!I am so grateful that the roommate/housing situation has worked out so well. Originally I remember I felt like that was the "one drawback" to Clackamas. So grateful Conner's family was able to get so much done and that you have your own room and that it's going well. Very grateful!Really, those skillet meals are PERFECT for your situation, making meals on your own, quick and easy but pretty healthy. I think I tried making a big batch of alfredo chicken from scratch, but I think you guys liked the frozen bags better. Too bad the "favorite noodles" aren't still around, they were tasty and so easy! I know I've tried a few other brands a time or two, pretty good. I'll have to look at what's available and grab one or two for Coop to try too. I remember after Landon's ACL surgery I went shopping for him and he had me pick up something similar, but more of a veggie stir fry. Maybe he added chicken himself? I can't quite remember. Your brothers are perfecting their dinner skills. Cal and Keaton both have their own Blackstone grill now. Keaton says he has fried rice perfected. Landon and Keaton both have a sous vide. Something to aim for eventually? Take after your dad/uncles and get a smoker/blackstone?Hope you've been sleeping. Your dad laid down to rest his eyes a little before 8:00 last night ... and didn't wake up until 5:00 in the morning!
Colton - Conner, Gray, Vitaliy, Mason, Lincoln
Sent via text Friday 10/25/2024
From Colton (October 28, 2024)
I should be better with getting assignments done, I've been procrastinating but ultimately getting the stuff done. Work has been just fine, but it does make it a little harder to make time for school. Wednesdays and Thursdays I only have about an hour and a half between getting home and getting ready for work and I like to use that time to get a shower and lay down for a bit. I'm also a little worried about my work schedule once the season starts, I will probably have quite a few games on nights where I'm scheduled to work.
Gray and Mason showed me a way to get into the gym basically whenever I want through a door at the back of the gym. We are technically supposed to have a coach in the gym with us at all times but the security doesn't enforce that, they only kick us out when it gets too late and they need to shut down the building.
I thought I mentioned it in a text a couple weeks ago but Kobe did get a car. A Toyota Corolla, same as Keaton's. Him and his parents got it shortly after the move. We don't really carpool either because we all head to the gym at different times and leave at different times too.
I haven't thought about the possibility of trick-or-treaters. I'm working that night so I won't be home but I might grab a bag of candy just in case Connor or Kobe have to deal with it.
I've been having a little bit of car trouble, the check engine light has been popping on for a bit then turning back off. Also getting the message that I'm due for an oil change but according to the sticker from my last oil change, I should've been good for another couple thousand miles before needing another one.
Also trying to get around to getting my debit card replaced. I'm pretty sure my current one is damaged. Funny story, I haven't actually known my pin for like a year now, and I never really needed it as there's always a way to bypass entering your pin when using a card reader. Except for the Winco near our place. I head there pretty often for groceries and their card readers require you to enter your pin. I usually don't have to use my debit card because I have the food stamps card, but I also got a reusable grocery bag so that I don't have to use the paper bags that all stores have down here. So my food stamps card paid for everything but the 88 cents that the bag cost and I couldn't use my debit since I didn't know my pin, and they also don't accept credit cards so I couldn't pay it with that either. I also didn't want to take the bag off the transaction as I already had put all the stuff I'd purchased in it. The only cash I had on me was a $100 and luckily the self-checkout was able to break that down. Felt silly using a $100 bill to pay off 88 cents. After that is when I asked they mail me a reminder of my pin, I ended up changing it to something I'll remember. But even with the right pin, my debit was getting declined when I went to buy anything. I'm still able to use it perfectly fine for online purchases and I added it to my wallet app so I can use Apple pay for any card readers that have tap. I even called America First to check and see if they could view the status of my card and it wasn't blocked or anything.
I've been having to use two washers at once when doing my laundry as my loads don't really fit into just one. Been going through a bit more clothes with having practice everyday and we don't have dedicated practice jerseys. The washers and dryers at our complex cost $2 for each use, but the process is really convenient. They have an app where you select which machine you're using and you can put money into your balance on the app so I don't have to physically use my debit card. It also has the timer for the machine on the app so I just head back to my room while it's going then come back when it's done.
**(update/reply to mom's reply)
Kobe is going home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, he also already has his tickets. Connor drives home every weekend so he will for sure be heading home for holidays too.
I figured out the debit card situation. It wasn't damaged or anything. When I reset my PIN number, I also went ahead and enabled "Card Guard' on the America First app, which is just an app that allows you to enable and disable your card, along with sending you notifications whenever a transaction happens on your card. My card was enabled but there were some deeper settings that were set to off by default which was causing it to decline. I was able to use it successfully today when getting tacos. I also went ahead and changed the address on my account so no more mail regarding my account should be sent to you guys.
I think I'll give the schedule to Justin (the scheduling manager), but I feel a tad bad as I'm already on pretty low hours and this will probably reduce me even more to like two shifts a week. I did already get approved for Thanksgiving and Christmas so not to worry there. I'm actually scheduled this Sunday but we have our jamboree so I'm trying to swap shifts with someone but no luck yet.
Love ya!
Taco Tuesday!
Sent via text 10/29/2024
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