Just a blog to say THANKS! :)

I really enjoyed this class this semester! I would have to say this class, no matter that it is online, has been  my most enjoyable! :) The blogs have been a great stress reliever and helped me look up some interesting topics I probably would have ever looked up before! Mrs. Holly has been awesome and seems very sweet! I loved that fact that she was not one of those teachers who try and make my life a living wreck with so much homework, when all it really is was busy work! I did not feel at all as if that was what Mrs. Chism was doing. The bogs were helpful and they got us to talk to one another even though we have never seen each other in person. Blogging is a time of the future and really, it is not hard at all to do! You just have to do it, it only take me about ten to fifteen minutes to finish one of my blogs and when I am done I feel much better, no matter if I am griping about something or if i learned something because of something i read and learned about. I feel as if I have definitely came out on top in this class! :) I really can not even complain about the papers we wrote. I mean, we only wrote four and the hardest one, for me, was that proposal. In my first comp class we wrote what seemed like at least seven papers and we did not even get the chance to rewrite! but in the long run, it helped me in this class for the fact that i only needed to rewrite one paper, and I am so thankful that Holly let us rewrite a paper! That was a lifesaver! For anyone who did not like this class I do not quite understand. Holly gave us plenty of time to complete everything and she is kind enough to let us rewrite papers that we did not do so well on. also, she did not change things up, each week we had two blogs to do and  with a certain amount of words, although i do admit, sometimes it was difficult to make the requirements, but i always did! One thing I just remembered was our "book." Books are way to expensive in college!! I had to buy 4 books this year and it killed my checkbook! lol, not like I had a ton in there or anything, but she put forth the effort to make a book for us that we would use and not just pick a couple chapters out of it. so, thank you Mrs. Chism for doing that for us!! I hope you and your family have a wonderful summer!!!! :) And for everyone else, I hope finals go great for you all and I hope your summer comes fast and leaves slllooooowww!

Our last week and what I have been up to.

Well, only one blog left after this one is complete! I wish all my classes were just like this one!! I would have to say, this was my best class! English classes have always been a little easier for me. When I was younger I went to a private school and they had an awesome English teacher! In English, you learn, pretty much, the same thing over and over, just a little bit harder each year. When I got to high school, Literature was the same! Grammar was not, and still is not one of my strong points, so I would often rewrite papers just to get a better score on it! Even if I did not have the best teacher, I normally still did much better than most of my class…except for the brainy ones…we all know those! J         My brother is graduating this weekend and he is not to awful great at English, it is quite funny actually, he has the same teacher as I did last year and wanted my assignments. I have them all, just because they are a huge help when you are writing a paper. Mrs. Campbell is not stupid and she changes her assignments every year, my brother figured he would be able to take a look at my papers and write something similar…needless to say, that was not going to work, so I had to inform him of her and how she likes to change it up! I cannot believe my brother is graduating!!! How exciting! The only problem is that it is the weekend before my finals!! I am sure I would not be studying anyways, but I like to think I would be, it just makes me feel that much better. My only classes I have this week are on Tuesday. That is great, right!! Well, the only bad part is that the only class I am really extremely worried about had to cancel because my professor got called to jury duty! How nice… this is stressing me out! I guess during that hour and fifteen minutes I can write out my study guide and make note cards. My finals are not until the following week which is nice, but it is very hard for me to sit down inside and study for finals when the weather is so dang nice!!
     Yesterday, I was outside all day and got some lovely tan lines…yuck! My dad owns a veterinarian business in Baxter and we were ripping the corrals out back, out of the ground and taking them to our farm. It was extremely exhausting and I would have much rather been laying out and having a fishing pole in the pond, or on the fore wheelers checking the cows or riding around on them. We started at 9 in the morning and finally finished at 5 at night. I would have to say it was a good productive day. it was also Mothers Day, so our mommy was able to be at home relaxing while five of her children were out helping dad, one was at the lake and the other two were with her. I do think she enjoyed her day, and she enjoyed her gifts we got her too!!

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend and I hope everyone’s finals go great!

Gas/Fuel Prices---Yuck!

Let’s face it, we all have one thing in common; no matter whom you are or what you do. This one thing would be buying gas/fuel. Everyone has a vehicle, whether it’s a gas hog or a mile getter! I drive a 2006 Chevy Silverado, and I get 19 miles to the gallon…sometimes more, just depends if I am driving in town or out on the highways. When I started driving, which was really, when I started college, gas was $2.30, and that was this past fall. Now, I am currently paying $3.85!! It is hard for me to listen to my dad tell me,” when I was your age, it was just barely over a dollar, and when your grandpa Bates was a kid, it was $ .25.” Wish it was still like it was back in the old days, when we are talking gas/fuel!! My boyfriend drives a Dodge…and oh boy, it cost him over $120.00 to fill up last week… I have not asked him about it this week. So, why are prices raising so much, and why do we have to stretch our pocketbooks in order to pay for something everyone has to have? Good question, huh! Don’t you wish I had the answers? I know I do!

Well, everyone has been saying it is because of the MiddleEast and northern Africa, but really, there has been NO huge change that would knock our fuel prices up so much! Ever heard of the Dodd-Frank Act…me either, it passed last year and it is supposed to stop the large swing in prices, but it hasn’t really changed anything, in my opinion. I don’t know if it is because gas goes up little by little or what, but just from the time I started seriously started to drive prices have went up $1.55 per gallon! To me, that is a large sum, and for those of you who remember back then, I know it is way more!

What else is also a little fuzzy for me are holidays. Does anyone agree with me? If we are receiving our fuel out of the Middle East, and here in America we are celebrating, say Easter, then why all of a sudden do prices at the pump go up? Does the Middle East celebrate Easter, or is it the gas stations pocketing some easy money because everyone knows families will be traveling during the holidays and, they can do what they want with the prices? Some of it is because of the high demand during the holidays, but if you watch, about two weeks before a holiday, prices start to rise slowly! Crazzzy, I tell ya! I know if a price of a barrel goes up, then the prices for us are going to rise, but when a gas station fills up its tank once a week, and Friday is more expensive, and the station won’t have another fill-up till Monday, isn’t that not wrong?

Natural disasters also cause the prices to rise, but sometimes that is just a scare and it only goes up because the United States people freak out and here comes the high demands, and therefore that causes higher prices… I don’t quite agree with gas prices, but I also can’t ride a bike to class…I live way too far away!

StrEssED OUUT---aNd wHY

The next two weeks are going to be completely crazy! With finals just around the corner, I am already stressed out. Not only do I have to worry about finals, I just recently went and made my schedule for next semester. I am taking A&P II, Sociology, a health class, and my most dreaded class ever; Oral Communications! I wanted to wait another semester to take this class, but my advisor said I need to take it this semester and that she was not going to let me take it online… bummer!! I told her this is one thing I have a big problem with. I have never been good at talking in front of a crowd… I have even cried before!! It is just so terrifying! She said if I could not talk in front of people then I could not be a dental hygienist! I don’t agree with her, I am not going to have to write a speech in front of a group while I clean teeth, or whatever. I am just fine when I go into an interview. What I am not good at is writing up some speech and presenting it in front of a group. Another thing that my entire life I was on a stage, or on the court, it didn’t matter if I was dancing, playing basketball, volleyball or running, and I never really got a bit nervous! I am completely comfortable out there and there were more people watching me, and some that were judging me, and I was never to the point of possibly crying! I guess it is only one semester and I have to have it, so I mise well make the best out of a completely horrible situation!

Next semester I will have class everyday ending at 10:00AM or noon. This is great, but also a dread! I am extremely happy I don’t have to go all day, but then again I am going to have to live up there because gas prices rule my life and I will not be able to afford to drive back and forth every day. I have never been by myself for that long. You could say I am a momma’s girl and I do not like to leave her or be away for very long. I do know I will be able to see her on the weekends, but I also have a boyfriend who lives in another town, and I am not looking forward to having to split the time between my family and him this coming fall. I know it will not be as bad as it seems right now; I am just completely stressed out is all!

I guess finals are a big part of that, and I am just looking forward to this summer…and only working four days a week!! WOO HOO!! Did I mention I get Fridays off... oooh yes! I am not even completely sure when the fall semester starts, but I have plenty of time to find out!

I hope everyone was able to get the classes he or she wanted!  J

Twitter--Pros and Cons

In today’s age, there are many sites where we can meet others and talk about what goes on in our life. I have posted a blog about Facebook, and now that I got to thinking, is Twitter really all that safe also? I know it is completely different from Facebook, but how much different? I do not have a Twitter account, but many of my friends do. All the times I have been with a friend all she does is blog about what she did that day, or whatever excitement she had. I was able to find some pros and some cons about Twitter.

Cons:

Do people really care how school was today?

Does everyone need to know how many miles you ran, or how hard you worked out?

Tweeting can sometimes be a big bragging fest against friends and can even make someone feel down about themselves.

It can be redundant, if you Facebook, do you really need a Twitter too? Aren’t people who see your status on Facebook already going to have a good idea of what you are going to say when you Tweet about it? Also, for example, I am writing a blog for class; if I had a Twitter account do you think I would write another blog? I, personally, do not think so.

It can be time consuming; I could be washing the dishes, or playing outside instead of Tweeting about thinking of going outside, who really cares?

Pros:

Good information gets out fast and many can read it.

There is the ability to receive great information.

You can keep in touch with old friends, and see what he or she is up too.

You can share interesting information.

For those of you that do not know, Twitter is a social networking and micro blogging service that allows you to “tweet” your friends/followers.

Something I just learned not to long ago (I actually just have been noticing it more on TV commercials.) is that businesses are getting more involved with Twitter.  Here are some ways businesses are using Twitter for expanding whatever it might be.

·         Sharing photos with followers can help the followers see what goes on in the business.

·         Link to articles that are about your business so others can see it.

·         Businesses can participate in Twitter chats that way a person does not have to come to the store or call and use minutes.

There are many more things businesses can do on Twitter. If Twitter is being used for a business then I think Twitter is an excellent choice, but if it is being used for a teenager and she likes to tell people what she ate for breakfast, then I say no way!

Rain, Rain...GO AWAY!

I am sitting at work today trying to find something to blog about… well; I just looked out the windows and decided I have the perfect blog…rain! It has been pouring all morning and has barely let loose for a minute. Since I woke up at 6 it has poured nonstop! All weekend it has been like this also, Friday—Good Friday—was a “bad Friday” to me because it was yucky out, raining, and I couldn’t run outside because Mother Nature thought it would be a good idea for it to rain off and on all stinking day! Children are out on Good Friday here, so the house was a muddy mess because my little siblings don’t like to be cooped up in the house all day because of the rain. (Now they have runny noses.) I had to go to MSSU to look at some art work and while we were in Galena, it started to hail… imagine that! Thankfully, it didn’t do any damage. Saturday it didn’t rain all day, it was just a little humid, so we dyed Easter Eggs! That was fun, and messy! Then that night… u guessed it; it poured. I suppose rain can be a good time to watch a movie and just relax…until the power went off! Hahahaha, I just cannot get a break from the rain! So, Sunday morning I awake to find more dang rain! The little ones were upset because the Easter Bunny couldn’t get to our house because the roads were flooded, but they took it pretty good and then headed off to church. When they returned home, the Easter Bunny had finally made it and they all sprinted inside and retrieved their baskets and the hunt was on! Our dogs, Molly and Daisy, love to show down on boiled eggs, so by the time they kiddos started picking them up, Molly and Daisy had ate about a half dozen. That was fine by me and mom because we dyed five dozen eggs and that was just some we didn’t have to cook!  

That entire day it rained, mom cooked a big ol’ breakfast and dinner, I went to Jody’s house and ate over there. Easter is one of the best Holidays, I think, because every year around this time I start to crave chocolate and starburst jellybeans; and every year mom puts both in my Easter basket! Lucky me! J

That brings me to, today. I woke up to rain; I went to work in flooded roads and my windshield wipers going wild. I got here to find it raining harder and all the ditches filled to their capacity, and to top it off, all my appointments canceled due to the rain. When I was younger I loved when it rained because it is a good relaxant, and when I was in school rain meant no track meats and softball games, now, rain means going to work and being bored…  So I am writing this blog about how I am entirely sick and tired of the rain!! At least my little sister is learning a new song—Rain, rain go away, come again another day!  Hahaha!

Hope everyone made the best out of their Easter!!

Courtney's Concert!

Last night was my little sister, Courtney, recital/concert. She is 10 years old and insisted that I went. I find these sorts of things just a tad bit boring… but I went anyways. Just like any other little girl, she wanted her hair to be curled and just a little bit of makeup. She had spent the last two weeks trying to figure out what to wear, and she defiantly found what she wanted (a pink little dress with white little heals). Come to find out, she had a solo in a song, Yankee Doodle, and she was quite excited about it. I would have to say I was happy I went and listened to her, but I had to sit through the band…the third grade recorders…and the songs. The songs were not bad; actually they are usually the best sounding at these concerts. Do you remember recorders? Oh my word, I HATE them…they are sooo soo so so annoying and they give me the worst headaches ever, not to mention they sound so horrible! I was prepared though! I had some ear plugs and shoved those babies in right before they started to play Hot Cross Buns! J After the singing was done over with, the fifth grade boys and girls put on a play. This was a new thing this year. They did a couple scenes from Anne and they did great! At that age, even when they would have to stop and remember some of the words, it is not a big deal because they look so cute all decked out and cute looking! When I was their age, I hated to be in front of anybody, unless I was playing basketball or some sort of sport. I was very shy. That is one reason I keep putting off Speech, I will probably cry in front of everyone when I have to get up and talk! But anyways, back to the concert, after they all bowed and we went and picked up Courtney from downstairs I gave her a big ol hug and told her I was very proud of her! I think it is a great accomplishment to have the confidence to get up in front of everyone and talk, let alone sing! I never would have done that, and truthfully, I don’t think I could do it even today! She was even on the front row, but that might have been because she was one of the shorter ones in her class... haha! I am glad to see that children today are more confident in talking in front of a crowd and I hope most have the parents and siblings to tell them they did great afterwards, even if he or she had a little mess up, as long as they are confident in themselves is what really matters. If they are comfortable at this age I hope he or she will be more confident in the future; and I really hope Courtney isn’t a scaredy cat like her 19 year old sister is in front of a crowd! Hahaha!