School...

I did it, I started what will be an overwhelming influence on my time for the next 15 months or so... The first of 10 classes that I need to finish up the final 30 credits for my bachelor of arts degree.

The first class I'm taking is an adult psychology class, which I think will turn out to be a very interesting class. However, the homework amount is just amazing! Six reading assignments to finish before next Wednesday's class, one paper to right ... geez! I forgot what school is like! Luckily, the writing (one paper each week) is a large portion of the final grade and that area is usually one of my stronger ones. It's the stat class that will give me nightmares!

I am so glad that I did this though, granted I have only finished week one... But, I'm an optimistic person and I believe that I am doing the right thing for the right reasons and that all will turn out well in the end. And, learning how to budget my time to add in studying will be a good thing, I'll cut out all the TV I watch, I'm sure I'll miss it at first, but I already started last night by actually shutting off Grey's Anatomy to read my homework... It is tivo'd, but not sure when I'll have time to watch that either. Maybe I'll make it a reward system for myself. The carrot dangling in front of my homework will be the tivo'd shows, if I don't have my assignments read then I don't get to watch...

Going back to college has lead to some interesting conversations with my 5 year old though! He can know tell you why you have to go, what a bachelor's degree is, and that when he is a teacher that he will go even longer to college to get his Masters.... Now I just pray that he will love school enough to stay that positive about it 12 years from now!!

Faith

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself..."

Matt. 6:34

In this time of failing economy, job loss and high unemployment, and with a husband that works in an auto manufacturing plant in Michigan, it is hard to not worry about tomorrow. Tonight is just one of those nights when it seems like there is not much to do other than worry. But there is, I can pray for an answer, I can have faith in tomorrow, and I can hold true to the words in Matthew 6:25 - 26 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

We have faced hard times before, we have thought that we might be at the end of the road, but there is always a way before us that seems to appear... An opening, the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel." He has never let us down. I just keep telling myself that I need to have Faith, more accurately FAITH, the Faith that can move mountains... And it often seems ironic that the times that we need Faith the most, are the times when we feel like we have none, but we keep praying for it just the same.

Then I look at James 1:2-3 "Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." And I know that times are hard, not just hard, but down right scary and out of our control, but I know that He is in control. He will bring us to it, and see us through it.

I will have Faith in the brighter tomorrow, and Faith that things will turn around. And through it all, I will look for the "bright side" of the situation, because no matter how bad things seem to be, He will be loving us and guiding us, and leading us to pray for not just ourselves but for those that may be worse off than us.

Crock Pot!

Thanks Carmen for sharing this blog... I found some new midnight reading material!

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Something New...

Well I actually got creative with dinner today. I just threw together some concoction.. hopefully it ends up tasting good. I was browsing through allrecipes.com looking for chicken breast and slow cooker/crock pot recipes. This going back to school thing means even more crock pot meals (almost 3 a week instead of 1 or 2).

So, I found a few that looked easy, a couple that made me drool, and some that I actually had the ingredients for. So I had to combine a few different ones to come up with something that at least to me is new... I don't know what you call it. The last time I came up with an easy chicken dinner we (my kids) called it Jason's Crazy Concoction as I let him decide what ingredients were thrown into the mix! Unfortunately I am here alone right now and have no one to blame this mixture on.

So here it is, I'll have to let you know tomorrow if it turned out okay...

4 chicken breasts
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 1/4 c red (semi sweet) wine
1 tbs butter
1 tbs chopped garlic
2 tbs chopped onion
1 1/2 c of rice
pepper
olives

I kind of simmered the onion, garlic and butter together. Then added the wine and the cream soup and left it on low while I chopped the olives. I added pepper to taste, then added the green olives (I didn't count how many - I like the smell of them, but not so much the taste, but my husband and daughter love them). Then I added the rice. I poured part of the mix into the crockpot, and then layered the chicken breasts (partially defrosted) and the rest of the concoction. It smelled good, and the sauce tasted okay when I licked my finger.... Hopefully it will taste okay as well!

Friday the 13th...

We all have those days in our lives that will be remembered by us, and unfortunately, those that know us, forever. My date that will go down in flaming infamous history as the story always told on Friday the 13th, is this one...

It was a Friday the13th in 1996, December I believe, which was also my mom's birthday. I had a new baby at home, and we had been married about a year and a half. My husband had just started working 3rd shift and was adjusting to the night schedule. He worked about 25 minutes away, and managed to make it almost all the way home one morning - literally almost all the way home. Just before the corner of our road, he fell asleep, crossed traffic and put the car in the ditch. This ditch is a good 6 foot drop into a creek bed. He woke up with wet feet ... The semi that he had crossed over in front of stopped to make sure he was okay and called the police. Eventually they called me, I dropped the baby off with his Grandma (next door) and headed down the road (three driveways) to the site of the accident.

I decided to drive down (the whole 3 driveways) because my husband had all of his USMC gear in the trunk of his car, as he had just had a drill weekend the weekend before. Now, at this time in our life we had our friend's truck, who was stationed in Hawaii for the USMC. So, I took his truck...

Down at the accident site, we loaded all the gear into the bed of the truck, I removed the car seat from the car, and they told me to go ahead and head home. The side of the road was crowded, tow truck still trying to get the car out of the creek and a flat bed tow because the car was pretty much totalled, to put the car on, as well as the police cars, the semi that had stopped and a couple other bystanders that had stopped as well. I was parked on the road facing South and of course needed to go North to turn back onto our road.

So, I pull a U turn to head back home... WHAM! You guessed it, I managed to slam right into a poor elderly lady who was headed South. I swear I checked my mirrors and didn't see any traffic, but with all the other vehicles lined up I missed her. The collision sent me flying into the windshield (in the days before seat belt laws), knocks a tire off our friend's truck, which manages to miss the police officer (it's so lovely to have a State Trooper witness the worst moment in your life), the tow truck driver and my husband by inches... My husband said he could feel the breeze of the tire as it went flying by.

They called an ambulance for the poor old lady that became involved in the crazy mess because she thought she was having a heart attack, the officer, who had just written my husband a ticket for careless driving (falling asleep), had to turn around and give me a ticket for an improper turn. And let me tell you, there is nothing more humbling than having an accident and having about 5 guys watch it happen, they already think we woman drivers are terrible as it is, right? My only saving grace was that my husband had his accident first!

Needless to say, it was a very bad day. However, on the bright side, the officer that witnessed the entire debacle, called us back about 2 hours later when he was finished writing up what must have been one of the most interesting reports in his short career. He called to say that he was also a new parent, newly married, etc... and that he just felt so bad for us (it was definitely a pity party). Anyway, he called to say that he tore up my husband's ticket and that we would only have to worry about mine (I'm sure being a witness to mine pretty much cinched that mine would never get dismissed or tore up).

My mother and mother-in-law called me on about every Friday the 13th after that mess, just to make sure I was safe... What a crazy mess. But, it does make for an interesting story on every Friday the 13th. And, being the optimist that I am, it wasn't such a bad day. We had insurance on both vehicles, my son was not involved in either of the accidents thank goodness, neither of us were injured, the elderly lady I hit did not have a heart attack or any other serious injuries, and the officer felt pity for us and tore up a ticket saving us $100 in fees.

So there it is, the Infamous Friday the 13th story that my friends and family love to tell, and will never forget...

Back to School??

I was caught completely off guard tonight, and was not expecting the phone call that I received... Spring Arbor University called and had a scholarship offer for 25% off my tuition if I start NEXT WEEK! I've been wanting to go back, to finish what I started so many years ago. It will take me 14 months. That's it. 14 months of going one night a week and I will have my bachelor's degree in Business Management and Development. I will be 34 years old next week and headed back to school??

I have no good reason to NOT do this. My work will pay for $5,250.00 a year in tuition. Since the 14 months is spread out over 2 years I think I will be able to take advantage of the full amount for two years. and then the scholarship will knock off another $3800 leaving me with a total out of pocket cost of $1200. And, the enrollment girl thinks I can still apply for grants and other scholarships... So my $15,500.00 tuition just got knocked down to $1,200.00.

What do I have to lose? Other than 4 hours, for one night a week for 61 weeks. My 100 credits that I already have stored away from those long ago days, might actually be put to use after all! I'm still amazed... I kept putting it off, trying to wait for the "right" time, but there is never a right time. I will always be working, and always have "kids" stuff to go to or help at, and I'll always have something on the back burner that I think needs to be done first. But the truth is, that in less than 6 years my son will be in college and I'll be helping him with tuition, and then my daughter the following year. And how can you turn down 2 semesters of tuition that will cost just $1,200.00? Even if I have to save, scrimp and beg for that $1,200.00...

Wow... I feel like I need to go school shopping! I'm nervous and scared, yet excited and still in awe. I had prayed about this decision before, when I first applied, but it didn't seem right, I had too many excuses to come up with, but now... I have none. And if I did come up with some excuse I think it would be something made up totally out of fear! I am just awed at how God works in our lives, how he opens doors when we don't think there is a door at all, and whammy, out of nowhere, a door is right there in front of us, wide open, with a great big welcome mat... If He brings us to it, He'll bring us through it? Right? Isn't that what we've been told ... He'll give me the strength to work full-time, raise three kids, be a good wife, and a straight A student, and maybe, just maybe the extra strength for that triathlon (Of course, now I am worried about fitting in that triathlon? I was a scholar athlete before, but not sure I can do that at 34?!) ...

Faith, we, I, just need to have Faith. Faith that He opened this door at a time when I am capable of walking through it. I have a job that will let me work at home the whole day before I have to go to school that night; I have kids are old enough to help, and I have a husband whose main opinion is that if I do it, I have to try and be the best (there is no half @ss attempts in our house - same with the triathlon - if you are in it, you are in it to win it).

So, unless the world falls out below me, or I find out there is some catch with my work paying for it, it does appear that next week, it will be BACK TO SCHOOL for me!

TriAthlons...

Have you ever ran one? I haven't, but I think I am on the edge of signing up for this craziness. I think my old roommate at CMU convinced me I'd be good at it (meaning of course that she doesn't think I'll die from it), and my sister (the crazy one that already runs full out marathons, including the Boston) is up for trying it as well and training with me, or should I say, helping me train, and promising to pull me out of the pool if I sink rather than swim.

My idea of exercise is doing lunges while I wait for the microwave or toe raises while I do dishes. A couple nights a week I actually make it to the gym to spend a good 45 minutes doing some type of cardio and some light weights, but this means I have to COMMIT myself to an actual program. Since the first leg of a tri is the swim, I definitely would have to start swimming, because as my old roomie said, "not drowning is good motivation to train." Then, the bike race, I'm born and raised in the "rural" area (aka - country girl); however, I hate snakes and being lost in the woods, so being on a 10 mile bike ride in the back area of a Y camp is also good motivation to be able to actually bike the entire 10 miles, because this country girl isn't going to get stranded out there somewhere. Then, lets wrap it all up with a nice little 5k run... Now, I have actually done ONE, yes, just one, of these before. And I did survive, it wasn't as bad as I thought; however, can I do all three within the same 2 hour (or less if I was really good) time span??

Do I spend the $65 and sign up and COMMIT (having been married for 14 years you wouldn't think that was such a scary word, but this is crazy exercise we are talking about, not love, and while I enjoy a nice little workout, I'm not sure I love it...) to putting myself through this test of endurance, or maybe it's not even endurance, maybe a triathlon is what all crazy working moms do... You know, 1/2 hour of laundry, 1/2 hour of vacumming, 1/2 hour of dishes, etc... However, this tri would get me out of the house...

So the debate in my head rages... to Tri or not to Tri, that is the question...

What a Day...

" A good memory is one that can remember the day's blessings

and forget the day's troubles.”

It all started at 6:15 am... the dog so peacefully chewing away on his bone, suddenly yaks his entire breakfast all over my carpet. Our house is 1/2 wood floors, but could he hit the wood... NO, he had to get it smack in the middle of the living room carpet. So between gagging and cleaning up a mess, my day began.

Then it was onto the dentist, since yesterday afternoon I bit into a lovely little jelly bean that decided it wanted to take my filling with it, where they decided I needed to have a crown. So a few numbing shots later, and I was having the temporary crown put on and wishing I had eaten lunch prior to.

I finally made it home and started to work, when my hubbie woke up - puking... He of course was miserable. Not a half hour later, I received a phone call from my daughter's school, yup you guessed it... she too was sick. So of I went again, 8 miles to the North to get my daughter from school then back past my house and 12 miles to the South to get my youngest from preschool.

Right now I am in the last half hour of "work" mode, and then, since my hubby is sick and didn't make it to his wrestling practice tonight, I have to go back to town and get my oldest from practice, then it's all the way back the other direction into the "city" (I'm a country girl remember) about 30 miles to the South to go pick up my darn computer from the Geek Squad.

However, as my mind was whirling and thinking of what was not getting done because of all the other stuff that had to be done (we all know you can't leave the dog puke on the floor or the sick kids at school, and I know my tooth had to be fixed) I realized that I was one lucky person. My dental insurance paid $600 of the $800 bill and I didn't have to worry about the extra $200 because we invested in the Flex Spending. I also realized that my computer is also getting fixed for free because it's under warranty. My kids, while not under any type of warranty or insurance, are alive and healthy. They may get a cold or the flu, but for the most part they are always healthy kids, as well as the hubby... although it's no fun for me when he is sick (I swear they whine more than the kids) I am lucky that he has a job that allows him sick time.

So all in all, while up front it seems like a horrid day, and I might be needing a small glass of red wine tonight, it was a good day. God is good, Life is good, and I am a lucky person to have the things in my life that make life easy. Today is a day that made me count my blessings and that is always a good day!

THINK SPRING!!

I believe that winter has been around long enough. The snow is deep, the ice is thick and the windchill likes those single digits. I know that Mr. Groundhog saw his shadow and all, and that even the calendar says that we have 6 more weeks of winter, but I really think I'm in need of some SUNSHINE!! So, I changed my blog... I had to get rid of the snowflakes. Hopefully it is not too shockingly bright for some of you.

We officially paid off our vacation yesterday, so now I can start saving my pennies all over again. We have 74 days, and counting... till we leave for MEXICO!! Vamanos! I can't wait. Even with the economy the way it is, I still feel like I need to get away. Between the ongoing activities of football and wrestling seasons, work, school, working out (my crazy self just talked itself right into training for a triathlon... don't ask), home up keep, and everything else that I see day in and day out; I just need to get away. I've so enjoyed the last couple spring breaks with my children. We did New Mexico and Arizona, the Grand Canyon, then we did Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains, and I wouldn't trade that time with them for anything in the world. But this year, it will be just us adults, on a boat, in the Pacific Ocean cruising the ports of Mexico! So I will scrimp and save, maybe even {gasp} forego a venti white chocolate mocha or two, or a dozen in the next 74 days.

So here is my "THINK SPRING" blog post for all you winter weather friends. It will be here before you know it!

Mass Confusion...

"A child enters your home and makes so much noise for twenty years that you can hardly stand it: then departs leaving the house so silent that you think you will go mad."

John Andrew Holmes

We decided this weekend that we would purchase the UFC fight on PPV for my husband and his friends so they could watch and play some cards. The night continually expanded, no complaining, I love my friends. By the time the night got here, my house was FULL. We counted 17 adults and 22 (yes twenty two) kids!

Our house isn't huge by any means, but I guess it is well designed for this. I had a couple people mention that maybe we should do a "kids free" evening... but really, it wasn't too bad. Yes, there were about 4 times that I was shot with a Nerf dart, and there were crumbs everywhere upstairs. But Nerf darts don't hurt, and crumbs vacuum well. And it was all good... I think I only had to get after one of my kids one single time. They all shared well, they played well, and they had a blast. The girls "locked" themselves into my daughter's room, where the sign on the outside clearly stated "GIRLS ONLY" and "NO BOYS ALLOWED", and thus they avoided being shot up by Nerf darts as well. And, as a bonus, there was no girl "drama" during the evening. Which is always a bonus with girls the ages of 3 - 12 involved. However, the boys did rule the evening, my youngest sons vast collection of Nerf guns conquered the evening. There was really no place off limits and they chased each other all night long. There was some wrestling, video games, wii sports, and some hide n seek involved as well. And when the girls did show themselves the boys quickly made haste to try and see what the "secrecy" was about...

I think the evening went well. I love having my kids home with us. I don't like pawning them off on a sitter if we are at home. Plus, if I was to limit the invite to adults only, then most of the wives/moms wouldn't come. They would just send their hubbies. Or, if they did make it, they have to pay a baby sitter. I like my husband's friends, but I like their wives better! There was some good "girl talk" going on, and it is always nice just to sit back and visit, while knowing that the kids are having a good time and within "grabbing" distance, if the need arises!

So, while mass confusion seemed to abound if you were someone walking in from the calm outside, it really was a peaceful evening at home, less a few Nerf shots...