My New Schedule

I sat down and wrote everything out today. Ready for it? Here goes:
Sunday: Church. At least that's it.
Monday: Evening class. Not looking too bad.
Tuesday: Mid-morning class. Still ok.
Wednesday: Morning Bible Study. Afternoon class. Evening class. Going to be a long day, but still pretty good.
Thursday: Early release for the kids. Girl Scouts. Pretty easy day.
Friday: Every other week, clean the Community Center, go to the bank.
Saturday: Free day!!

Oh, wait. There's Lodge events, PTSO meetings, AND my internship this semester. The calendar next to my computer desk looks like a kindergartner took some crayons to it. Only I can discern what all the scribbles, lines, and random letters mean.

Instead of being overwhelmed, I am looking forward to this semester. I will be busy, but I will have wonderful rewards at the end. Eventually all this hard work will result in a diploma. My kids will have good experiences in all their activities, and I will meet new people. Something that we could not do if we were just sitting at home all day.

So, my posts might dwindle a bit, and my allotted time online shrink, but I will be working toward a goal. A very good goal, a very achievable goal. And it will be worth it.

Winning a HP Netbook

or at least trying to...

The financial aid department is conducting an essay contest for the students at my school. One essay from each campus will be picked, and that student will receive a new HP mini Netbook. I figured what the heck. Want to read my essay? It only took me about 30 minutes to write, so I'm not holding my breath or anything...

How the HP Netbook Mini

Will Help Advance My Studies at NPC

By Elizabeth Hudspeth

It is 6:30 a.m. I roll out of bed, get dressed and head for the kitchen. Breakfasts are made and devoured, lunches are made and packed. At 7:30 the kids and I head to the bus stop. Since it is two miles away, I make sure to leave with plenty of time to account for traffic or delays. Usually, though, we encounter no problems on the way. So I am stuck at the bus stop for at least 15 minutes with nothing to do but yell at the kids to stay out of the street, the mud, and the trees. After the bus collects them, I head out into the world.

We live out in White Mountain Lakes. It is very beautiful out there, however, getting into town is typically an all day event. When I have a class at the college, I plan any other errands that need to be run around my school schedule. Doctors appointments are made with my and the kids school schedules in mind. Girl Scouts events are planned when I know I will be in town. Grocery trips are well thought out and planned. With all this running around, it is inevitable that I will be waiting for something or someone for at least part of the day, just like I wait at the bus stop.

With my calculations, approximately an hour and 45 minutes of my time is wasted every day. During this time, I am away from home, away from a computer, and left with nothing to do. If I am lucky, the AIS lab at the White Mountain Campus might be open, allowing me some time with my school work. Other times, the computer lab at the public library may be open, but is usually full of other like-minded people trying to get some time in front of a computer. Having a laptop will allow me freedom to work on my classes wherever I am, whenever I am stuck with nothing to do, without having to worry about gaining access to a public computer.

All that freedom will allow more of my time to be spent at home with my family. Less of my time will be spent at the library or at school. Since I enrolled at Northland Pioneer College to get my Associates for Administrative Information Services, the majority of my classes are computer based labs. I also have had a few internet courses. Because of this, the majority of my homework is done on the computer. With a lap top, I could sit at the dining room table and work on my homework at the same time my children work on theirs.

I have been very blessed to have the opportunity to go back to school. I work very hard to show my friends and family how much this chance means to me. Without the Pell Grant I was given, without the support my teachers and the staff on campus have shown, and without the hope for the future that my kids have given me, I would not have made it this far. With the HP Netbook Mini, I hope to accomplish so much more.

Angels, Memories, and Technical Difficulties

Got a new book! I was getting burned out on the self-help/non-fiction, so I picked a fiction book this time. Hopefully, I can do it justice. The title is Angel Song, and it was written by Sheila Walsh and Kathryn Cushman.

I read the back of the book before I dove into it, and right away noticed a typographical error. Normally, I probably would not have minded, but it brings my Mom to mind. The main character's name is Ann, sometimes Annie, but on the back cover, her name is Anne. Same name, different spelling. Slightly irritating, but did not take away from the story.

The struggle Ann faces is one I am familiar with. I, too, have lost a loved one. Although there are different circumstances, the pain and anguish is very much the same. My connection to the main character was almost instant, and very personal.

This book brought back many memories for me. It helped me relive the good times, understand the bad ones a bit better, and love my life all the more for the family, faith, and stories I have to share.

This would have been posted sooner, but we had some issues with our internet and a storm that passed our way. But I'm back now, barring any unforeseen problems.

All in all, this was a very, very good read. The characters were believable and real. The imagery was vivid enough to put me in their homes, in their work, and with them emotionally. I love being able to close my eyes, see the characters and their surroundings, and immerse myself into their world. 

The Thing that Sucks About Small Town Life

I love living here, don't get me wrong. This is a great place to raise kids, I have met some wonderful people, and I am at a school I love (literally, I'm writing this in the computer lab.)

There are some downsides to small town life, however. Take today for instance. I had to go to the doctors this morning and get some blood work done. After that, I have nothing to do until Rob gets out of school at 11:30.

In a big town, I could go to the mall, library, friends house, or even go home between errands. Out here, unfortunately, there is no mall. Strip malls and Walmart are the closest things to a mall that we have. And I do not feel up to walking around Walmart in the middle of their renovations. Looking for shoes for the kids last week was a nightmare.

I could go to the library, but I've pretty much devoured all the books that I am interested in over there, and the computer lab attendant is mean. I try to avoid it at all costs.

Since I could not eat before the phlebotonist had gotten her fill of my blood, the first item on my to do list was get food. I had heard good things about a local coffee shop, so I decided to stop there. I don't drink coffee, I'm an Italian soda and hot chocolate kind of girl. So I asked for an Italian cream soda with cherry. Like I always do when I am at a coffee shop. Oops, no cherry. Bummer. OK, plan B, hot chocolate.

Alright, I am kind of bummed that I could not get my lovely cherry drink, but the hot chocolate was yummy. As was the bagel sandwich I had. Now what? It's still to early for any of the shops to be open (another downside to small town life and mom and pop shops. they open when they want, close when they want, and it is suprising to see the times on the signs match the times they are actually there.)

So here I am at the college. Finishing the work I was supposed to finish tomorrow (yeah for finally being ahead!!) and waiting impatiently for 11:15 to roll around so I can grab the boy from school and take him to his first ever dentist appointment. Should be fun...

I think someone was playing a trick on me...

I started this project with some of Mom's old house dresses. Cut them into squares, and made little pillows for the grand kids. I got creative, and decided to put little pockets on them, so that each kid could have a picture of themselves with Grandma D.
So I need pictures now. I really wanted ones of just the grand kid that gets the pillow, and Grandma. We have so many pictures of ALL the grandchildren with Mom and Dad, I wanted it to be something special.
So I had my sister send me some pics of her kids and Mom. Problem is, she wrote on the back of them with permanent marker, then stuck them all together. So a couple of them have black writing on them.
My Monday night instructor is really good with Photoshop, so I asked him to show me what to do to remove the smudges from the photos. So we sit down at the computer tonight, and start scanning pictures. Except the scanner decided to be all crazy, and even though it did the work it was supposed to, it did not read the pictures. All that was coming up was a blank white screen.
We tried everything. Switching computers, restarting everything, unplugging things, and even uninstalling stuff. With no luck. So, no pictures tonight. Hopefully the computer will work on Wednesday night and I can at least get the stuff scanned into the computer!!

Wednesdays are fun

My class doesn't start until after I am done with my girl scout troop, so I get to stay home today. No weird bus schedules, no running around- at least not until tonight.
Here I am thinking, "I got all day to get my homework done, I just want to get it done now so I don't have to worry about it." Yeah, right.
After about 10 minutes of reading, and trying to find answers in this stupid 625 page plus book, I have to walk away. I'm going cross eyed, and I still have to figure out what I am doing with the Girl Scouts tonight.
So, I am going to goodsearch Girl scout activities and then walk away from this stupid computer. Hopefully I find something soon.

Basic Keyboarding, ouchie

A little background first. When I was pregnant with my first child, I was working at a daycare. Every day at nap time, I would have to walk around the room, slooooowly lower myself to the ground and start patting backs.

Carpel tunnel is very common in pregnant women, and I got it. From patting kids backs. So I bought the wrist brace, and went to the chiropractor. Seeing as I don't pat backs anymore, and I don't really type all that much on the computer, I haven't thought about it in the past few years. Every once in a while my wrist starts hurting, but not that often.

Let me tell you, 3 hours of asdfjkl; aaa sss ddd fff jjj kkk lll ;;; can really kill the joint that connects your arm to your hand. Time to dig out the wrist brace- and get off this computer....