The Semester ends!

This is my first year back in college and so far so good. I the beginning it was not easy to get in the groove of class since I have been out of school for more than 10 yrs. I like to learn so it is a very fun experience to see what this brain all with hold. I have found out that with being more mature going to school for something I want to do with my life is way more fun than just being in school for the sake of being in school. I can see almost a glimpse of the end of the tunnel, I only have one and half more years until I will be walking up to recieve my diploma.

This english class has been more than I expected since english is not my favorite subject. My teacher has a great way of involving different aspects into the class lots of variety and fun. The glass castle was a very home hitting book I really enjoyed it. I have since read it now 2 times just because sometimes the second time is better than the first.

I am proud to say I have learned alot and looking forward to learning more in the next one and a half years of my college years.

Attending College

Going back to college was not an easy decision to make. I am a single mother of 3, lost my job in October. This was a real eye opener this made me look at my self and evaluate where I wanted to be in life. I was done being a non college degree seeking individual. I want to be able to do something that I love something that makes me want to go to work every morning not something I am forced to do since I dont have a degree.

I have worked in the medical field and I know that with out a degree I am going to be stuck at a front desk job and that is not what I want to do for the rest of my life I want to be a somebody instead of a no body. I am looking forward to being a surgical tech, I find surgeries very very interesting. I cannot wait to be part of a patient care team and something that I will feel rewarded to do every day.

Research Papers

This is probably one of the first research papers that I have had to write. I am not a very confident writer so it has been a challenge for me. But I belive the paper that I am creating is a good paper and I have had a good time writing it. My biggest challenge is the organization of the arguments that need to take place with the Media and self image. I will be sumitting my research paper to the Smartthinking several times to get it adjusted to a perfect paper hopefully.

This class has been a learning experience for me it is simply amazing how many resources are out there to use to help you acheive more in your learning. With this being said wish me luck I am on my way to continue editing.

Logical Fallacies

When you really look at it there are several fallacies you hear everyday whether it be on the radio, tv or on a sign. These are things that almost seem to good to be true but we all have believed them. I like to exercise so the one that really amazes me is that you take this magical pill. This pill will make you loose weight eating the same way you have been to make you as big as you have gotten. In reality the pill may help you but you also have to make an effert to loose the weight too. This may be by going to the gym or just simply eating right. People fall for this daily if only it was that easy! If it was that easy no one would be over weight and no one would exercise all we would have to do is pop that magical little pill and poof all our fat would be gone. Let me know when this is discovered cause I will be the first one to purchase this item.

Exercise

This is a huge issue that I care about in my life. Yes it is time consuming and takes determination to do it. I believe that there are way to many people in the world who are over weight but also lazy. You often here these people complaining about how over weight they are but seem to do nothing about it. I worked in a doctors office, I saw many over weight people coming in asking for diet pills or how they can have surgery. Come on people really put a little effort into you weight loss and you can do it just like the rest of us.

The doctor that I actually worked for had a gentleman come in that was 350 lbs the Dr told him that he would get him into surgery if he was able to loose 100 lbs. It took this guy 1 yr to loose a hundred pounds but with determination and hard work he was able to do it. When he came to see the Dr the Dr told him that he was able to have the surgery. This gentleman was not going to let the Dr sign him up for surgery he declined it and said I can loose this all on my own I made it this far I am going to keep going. All of us were very impressed with his will power.

I am a true believer that our country we have a ton of issues with lazy people not sure how we can fix this but this is a huge issue I have with over weight lazy people!

Caffeine Crazies

I am one who has to have a diet coke a day, I limit my self to one. It is truely amazing that some peoples bodies are so dependent on caffeine to function. I know I can tell a difference when I dont have the one diet coke a day. To me my caffeine habbit is not bad but some people are insane as to how much they actually drink in a day.

The craze of energy drinks scare me there should be no reason as to why you need to have a energy drink with 280mg of caffeine in it. Doesn't that make you scared when you are drinking it as to what the side effects are going to be? I would be so scared I was going to have a heart attack I would not even be able to enjoy it.

As for bottled water I am totally guilty of buying bottled water just due to the convience factor. I have several bottles in the cubbord that I could use to bring with me when I head to the gym but why would I do that when I can grab one that is already filled up and bottled. I am very good about drinking water but yes it does have to be bottled. Some reason my brain thinks it tastes better. I know weird right.

I think if bottled water makes a person drink more then go for it buy as much bottled water as you would like.

Social Networking

Social networking is so important to stay connected with your friends and relatives in your busy life. I love to go on facebook to see what people are up to. I especially enjoy looking at peoples picture of their kids, vacations, etc.... I feel with out a facebook page you are not socially connected with the world. This is not a bad thing. I have relatives that live out of town so I enjoy talking to them and they enjoy looking at my kids pictures and seeing the success they are having in there everyday activities.

Many people also post situations on facebook that do not need to be there such as divorce issues, personal problems. I look to facebook for the positive side of things. I am guilty of putting negative things on there too. I know that this is will get to the person indirectly like I wanted it to. I am not good at face to face confirontations so this is a good way for me to express my feelings. Yes this has come to bite me in the ass.

Whats your views on facebook or any other social network?

Functional or Dysfunctional

I think that every family has a tendency to be a dysfunctional family and a functional family. Some familes are very good at putting on a show infront of others to protray a perfect family but really when they are at home they are very disfunctional.

Coming from a divorced family I can speak of both sides to a functional and disfunctional family. We were very functional to the people on the outside but when it came to us at home we were really disfunctional. We didnt have a loving family we were a family of a disorganized mess. My father was never home so my mom was in charge of everything. This was not an easy task for her especially since she was a mom of two active girls. She was the one who made our family to be functional. She was the rock that we all stood by.

On the other hand my father was the one who caused alot of disfunction when he was around he wanted to mess up the routine and give his two cents. He was the one who wanted to think we had a perfect family but in the end we really didnt. He decided that he was in love with another woman and left my mom to raise two teenage girls. This actually helped our family to be more on the functional side. It actually was a blessing.

Sand Between My Toes

As I sit here listening to the news tell me that we will be getting SNOW finally. I am so glad that I will be leaving for a vacation in 15 days. This was to be a vacation with my boyfriend, unfortunetly due to some issues with his divorce he is not able to come with. I decided that it was time to take my 13 yr old daughter on a vacation only a 13 year old would dream of.

We fly into Miami to board a cruise to Cozmel, Belize, Honduras, and Grand Cayman. It like I am a kid in a candy store so excited to spend some one on one bonding time with my daughter. We are going to enjoy the sand between our toes and the hot sun rays while all the people back home in Minnesota can only dream of the warm sun!

FACEBOOK or FAKEBOOK

I often find my self on Facebook more than I should be, for some reason I find it interesting to see what people are up to. It amazes me that this was suppose to be a social network meant for totally other reasons that what it is used for today. Some of the things that are posted on Facebook should not be there, for instance the letting people know where you are every second of the day. This would be way to easy for a stalker to find you. There seems to be alot of drama on Facebook too, I am a mother of a 13 year old, this is a great tool for her to keep up with friends. On the flip side this has also destroyed several of her friendships due to some postings that have been put up not meant for all to see. You really need to be careful what you put on here. I always say you never know who your next boss will be and to keep things clean on here, you could totally destroy yourself before you even knew it.

VACATION

I have been finding my self dreaming of a warm sunny beach with the hot sun beating down on my pale white skin. I dream of a vacation away from this cold Minnesota state. I find my self wanting to purchase tickets to some place warm but then realize I have no money to spend on a vacation. So in the mean time until maybe I get money back from my taxes I will enjoy the rays of UV lights at the tanning bed. This will at least make me not look like a ghost and the warm bed will help me dream that I am on a warm sandy beach. I just have to keep thinking someday someday, maybe when my kids are grown up and I am finshed with school. :)

Monkey Pond

I have so many memories of my grandma Marie but this one was my favorite. This was my fathers mom, we lived about 15 miles from her so we became very close. When we were little we got to spend the night at her house quite often. When we spent the night we always got to go to the Monkey Pond. The Monkey Pond was a creek behind her house. We would walk down there through field it seemed like a long walk at the time but really it was just a couple blocks away. This pond was a pond that had an alligator in the water (really a tree down) and a money swinging in the tree. This is how it got its name, all those things were not obviously there but it was a place where we could go use out imagination. I wish it was so my children could experience it. The child hood memories of that pond will never be erased. Now that grandma is gone it has not been the same talking about it. I miss you Grandma Marie

Tree / alligator
Vines / monkey
Water flowing
Birds chirping
Fresh air

One of my favorite quotes

" Caring comes from being able to put yourself in the position of the other person" - Eleanor Roosevelt

I find this quote to be so true, how can you care about someone if you are not able to put yourself in there position. No matter who the person is young or old we all have had different journeys in our life that mold us to be the way we are. Some people find strength from being around other people wanting to talk about there problems.  These are the people it is so easy to show you care all you have to do is be there for them to vent. I know in my trials of life I find the most caring people to be the ones who were there no matter what time of day if I needed someone to hug me console me they were there. Others want to be left alone and not talk about anything with anyone, these types its sometimes hard to show you care but just letting them know you are there will make them understand if they need you you do care. My 13 year old daughter is this way, she will talk when she is ready. I just always let her know I am here for her when she is ready.

Caring in your kids life is also important each kid has there own unique personality, I know my three kids deal with things differently. I have to remember each child's personality when it comes to caring for them. I have a different approach to different issues with each of them so they know I care about them in there own personal way.

If you live by this quote you will always be able to help some one out. CARING for there feelings first or as some say putting your self in there shoes is very helpful.

Earning a Degree

In October of this year I was let go from my job, this was a very scary thing to have happen to me being a single mom of three. Being let go from my job made me realize that it was time for me to do something with my self instead of finding another dead end job.

Working in the medical field has made me want to pursue a degree in that field. I was always the low man on the totem pole it was time for me make something of my self. I worked in the surgical department, I always found surgery to be very interesting. So here I am going to be a surgical tech, it is going to take hard work and determination on my part but I can do it. I just keep looking towards the finish line. I also have to keep reminding my self baby steps.