Almost that time of year again

I cannot believe it is almost Thanksgiving and then in a few short weeks we will celebrate Christmas. Where does time go? I am glad I could make it back here because it has been a while and who knows when I will come back again. These days my time is too consumed with studying and homework to have the extra time to blog. I post random posts on Facebook when I have time, but that is not a constant either.
Speaking of school.....there were two classes that I was not sure about when I started this semester, Medical Terminology I and Probability & Statistics. I planned my schedule around those two classes and made sure that any other classes I took along with these two would be something I am comfortable with so that my main focus landed on Med. Term and Prob & Stats. Med. Term has been a lot easier than I imagined or had been told and  my current grade in there is 99.6. I absolutely love that class and I find it very interesting. I am also doing very well in Prob & Stats and I give that credit to my instructor. I went from having major math test anxiety to not even sighing hard during my math tests now. The first P&S test we had I could not even complete because my anxiety was growing with every second and so was my frustration. I knew the material and how to work each problem, but my anxiety took over and that was the end of it. I had warned my instructor about the anxiety so he was very understanding and let me re-take the test. A couple of weeks ago we took our third big test and I did not even sigh hard while taking it and I made a 90 it. I think I will frame that test because I never thought I would ever pull in a 90 as a test grade in P&S. Mr. D told me to view the test as just another classroom assignment and if I started feeling anxious to come to him and he would help me move past whatever was ruffling my feathers. I will certainly miss Mr. D once the semester is over.
Next semester will be somewhat different for me because all of my classes are available at the main campus in Knoxville and none are offered at the campus I am currently attending (my current campus is literally 7 minutes from my house). I will be driving to the main campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays for my Excel class, but I have chosen to take the others online to save gas and wear and tear on my car. I am looking forward to being home more even if I am doing my schooling. I will not be working as a writing tutor next semester either because this semester it has been difficult at times to get my study hours in and work.
Well, this post was all over the place and very random. I need to sign off and get to bed. I hope you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving day with your families.

just an update

Of course I didn't make it back here as I thought I would, but only because since being on summer break from school I am having too much fun doing other things outside instead of being in front of my computer all day. I finished my first semester at school up a lot better than I ever would have thought. I will be working at my school in the fall as a writing tutor and a student mentor and I am all kinds of excited about that. I find it funny that writing was the one class I was a little iffy about in the beginning, but it turned out to be my favorite class. Our last essay was an argumentative essay and I wrote mine on teen pregnancy and how the media influences our teens to be sexually active which can ultimately lead them to become  pregnant. I had less revisions on that essay than I did on any of my others so I guess my mother has always been right, I know how to argue! hahaha. Not only did we have to write the essay, but we also had to stand in front of the class and have a visual presentation and argue our point and we only had five minutes to do that in. Only five of us done the presentation and argument and I am proud to say that I aced the entire assignment.

Anyway, I have really been enjoying my time off from school because when I go back in the fall I will have a busy schedule with five classes and two paying positions, but I am so ready for the challenge. I feel like I am finally finding myself after years of not remembering who the real me is. That may sound silly, but it is very true.

Well that about sums up the update for now. I hope all of you are doing well and I will be back, but I don't know when. Take care!

gotta love a good challenge

My writing class is working on a Cause and Effect essay which has to be done in MLA format. I know MLA so that doesn't bother me, the hard part comes in on our subject. We had to choose a song and tell either why and how it relates to us (Cause) or why or how it moves us emotionally (Effect). It took me forever to choose a song, but finally I picked it out. I knew this would be hard essay, however, I didn't realize that it would be this hard. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to write, but now that I have just finished my outline it has been hard work. I began to write my outline and I would get almost done then things would start flying through my head so I would go back over it. This happened time and time again until I finally turned it today (on the due date). Monday my rough draft is due and I am not worried about that part because normally I free write then continue revising until I have my words like I want them. Our next essay will be an argumentative essay and I am all kinds of excited about that one. I will have my fingers wore down to nubs by the time that one is finished, but I am going to have a lot of fun with it. You all take care and I will be back soon!

settling in

I cannot believe that my first semester of school is almost over. Time has flown by so quickly and now I only have five weeks of school left. I have learned so much in such a short amount of time and unlike my high school days, I am really enjoying school. The most surprising thing to me is how much I love my writing class. I am now wishing that I had enough confidence several years ago to go back to school, but I do think that things happen for a reason so I believe I am exactly where I should be.

The weather here in East Tennessee has been beautiful the past couple of weeks. We have had highs in the lower to mid 80's and that can be a good thing or a bad thing. When the temps reach that high in March everybody starts waiting on a huge snowstorm or deep freeze or we try to prepare for a extremely hot summer.

Chesney, my oldest offspring, turned 20 Sunday and I am so proud of her. She will be graduating in November as a pharmacy tech. She has just applied to a nursing program through a great school in Knoxville and she currently works at a local Knoxville hospital as a CNA and has been employed there for over a year. She also has over a year of medical assistant classes under her belt which was the direction she originally planned to go until she decided that she didn't want to go half way, so she is going to be a registered nurse when all is said and done.

Bethany, my middle offspring, is 16 and she is researching some culinary schools. At this point she is preparing to apply to the Art Institute of Atlanta. She is a junior in high school now and doing awesome in school. I cannot believe that we will be getting ready for her high school graduation in a year.

Ty, my youngest offspring and only son, is 14 now and has hit a growth spurt the past year that has shot him up several inches. He use to be this skinny kid that has always been in the 5 percentile in height and weight, however, now he is playing catch up. This time last year he weighed 93 pounds and stood about 4 ft 8, but now he weighs 124 (all muscle) and he is two inches taller than my 5 ft and 1/2 inch, he was so happy last month when his dr. told him he was in the 25 percentile in height and weight. His new love is football and he is getting ready to graduate from eighth grade. He is excited about me going back to school and he likes the fact that my school is literally right over the hill from his. When I leave school on Mondays and Wednesdays it takes me about 2 minutes to get to his school and pick him up.

I probably need to sign off for now because I have a huge math test tomorrow and I need to a little more studying.

a good day..indeed

I had a great day at school today, I got a lot done. It was so beautiful here with a high of 78 and that is how it is supposed to be for the next five or six days, but that kind of scares me because it is never this warm here this early in the year, when it is normally bad weather shows up just when you think winter is gone. My sister and I are going to get busy on some flower gardens around my house in a week or two and I am so excited. In the five years we have lived here I have never planted one flower because every plant I touch I kill, my thumb is beyond black. I am going to convince myself and the flowers that I am a wonderful gardener and maybe I will have a pretty yard. I'm thinking about posting some of my writings here just the paragraphs we wrote at the first of the semester. I am currently working on my first big essay now, I have to pick a song that moves me and tell why/how it relates to me and what affect it has on me and believe it or not I have not had an easy time picking a song because I am a huge music lover and there are so many great tunes that move me. Okay I am going to sign off for now, I will be back soon!

thoughtful times...

I have said this many times since I first took leave of blogger, but I am seriously considering making a come back. I want to join in some of the weekly writing games that certain bloggers host. What brought all of this on? In the months since my mother-in-laws passing I have put some major thinking into life, my life particularly. I thought about what I would like to change, what I want to remain the same, and what I never want to feel or think about again. With all that being said, I came to the conclusion that my life would not change if I were sitting at home on the couch waiting for God to drop a miracle in my lap so I got off the couch and quit wondering what the point of life is and took steps to start making my own point. I decided it was time for me to step out of my comfort zone and take some real chances so I got online and applied for a local community college.

I started class on January 12th and I am loving it! The biggest surprise for me so far has been finding out that I am actually a really good student. I am never absent, my grades are great, I always do my assignments and participate in class. I have kicked myself for not having the confidence to further my education earlier than now. I have made so many new friends and I enjoy having a place to be because I chose to be there, not because I have an appointment or because I told someone I would be there.

Anyway, I no longer keep a personal journal so I thought I would use this blog to have a practice place and get back into writing on a regular basis. I hope to see all of my old blogger friends reappearing as I start another part of my journey through life.

pit stop

Hello everybody in blog world! I think I might be making a return to blogger very soon, especially now that I changed internet providers.