The Last Stretch of the Semester

Hello party people! I've been scarce the last few days and it's likely to be the case this week as well. I've been busy as a bee but with nothing very exciting to report. I've mostly been busy with school work. In fact, I had to miss the first round of the high school football playoffs last week because of school. The game was moved from Friday to Thursday because of forecasted thunderstorms on Friday and I had a live class session that night. Thankfully MA won without me having to be there to pull them through. 

I'm finished with me mini-class, but have my final in my other class this week and so, I've been studying and reading and studying and reading and I don't know if there's much more room left in my brain for information. My final is on Thursday of this week and I've cleared my evenings from all the fun things I had planned in order to read and re-read and re-read again. I've got an A in the class right now and I really don't want to lose it. 

After my final this week, I have two more chapter quizzes (the final oddly enough doesn't include the last two chapters) and then I have my group project yet to go which I'm certain will be a disaster. My group doesn't seem to work too well together based on last week's exercise. So, fingers crossed we will work out the kinks and get our project turned in on time and then, praise the Lord, I'll be done until January. I registered for classes last week and am taking seven hours next semester - two regular classes and one mini-class. Since I usually don't have too much going on in the winter months, I'm hoping it won't be too overwhelming. 

In other news, Christmas is right around the corner and I've done very little shopping which is extremely unusual as I am typically finished with all manner of Christmas shopping by now. For one, I have no idea what to get my mother; so, mother, if you're reading this a list would be nice. Mother is the hardest to buy for because, unfortunately, she doesn't do anything or have any hobbies because of her illness. I've gotten her one thing so far and that's it. So, mother, send a list! I've bought a few things for my dad, but most of the items on his list are things that could possibly be on sale Black Friday. So, I want to read the sale papers and see what I can find before making any purchases. Then there's Justin and I have no idea what he wants so I have yet to buy him anything. We drew names for Parker Christmas, but now some people are not coming and others cannot remember who's name they drew and so I have a feeling there might be some rearranging of the names and so I don't want to buy anything just yet in case I have to redraw. I have purchases my gift for the favorite things brunch this year and really, that's about it. I really need to step up my game. Thankfully, there's Amazon for all the things I need to order but don't want to leave my house for. 

As for me, the one thing I want this year is for my favorite chair of all-time to be re-upholstered, but I haven't heard back from Santa on the decision. I did go by the fabric store this weekend and picked up some samples and wrote down pricing, etc. I've got so many samples to chose from I don't know how I'll ever decide, that is if I get to decide. The re-upholstering is rather expensive so I'm waiting to see what Santa's offer is. At any rate, it may take a while for me to determine which fabric choice to go with. 

Well, I guess that's it for this rainy Monday. I don't know about you. but I'm tired of rainy Mondays. Here's to hoping the rest of the week is crisp, cool, and sunny!

It's the Third Week of School

Well, I was about to say that August is probably the month that I've written the least since I started blogging years ago, but with this post on the last day of the month, I have nine posts in August which matches two other months this year. To say that blogging hasn't been a priority for me this year is an understatement.

I don't really know why I haven't blogged much. There's no one reason in particular. I've been plenty busy and had many things to write about, but no desire to write. I've been super busy at work this year which has been great, but then by the time I get home in the evenings, I haven't really wanted to turn on a computer. So, that's one reason.

Another reason is I feel like I'm kind of boring. There's only so many ways I can write about my adventurous weekend of grass mowing and laying around watching TV. In reality, I've done a lot more than that, I just never seem to get around to writing about what I have done.

Now, I'm in school and my evenings are spent studying and reading and preparing for the next assignment or quiz which is basically going to be my life for the next three years. So, see I guess I really am boring. All this to say, thanks to those of you who do stop by from time to time to see if I've posted anything new. I'd like to promise that I'll do better, but as soon as I make that promise, I'll fail you. However, I've got more on the agenda in the coming weeks than I know what to do with so hopefully I'll get around to telling you about it.

Speaking of school, I'm now in my third week. Time flies when you're having fun I guess. The two classes I'm taking this semester are really very interesting and I'm enjoying them both. There's A LOT of reading. I've probably read more in the past couple of weeks than I have in the past couple of years, but the reading has been interesting and I take it in small increments because while the information has been useful, reading a textbook can also get kind of boring. So, if I go in small increments and take breaks, it seems to work better for me. So far I've gotten all of my assignments turned in early and passed all my quizzes and am making an A in both classes. I think we can all agree that this is a much better effort than my undergrad years.

The one thing I don't like is group projects which can be a little tricky when you're taking an online class. I've been assigned a team that seems like they are either going to not participate or wait until the last minute to contribute. Either way, I'm really not happy about it. We have an assignment due on Monday that I've written a lot on and no one else has contributed. The one good thing is that my professor has noticed and sent me a message telling me I've done nice work. So, at least he acknowledges that I'm doing my part on a team of slackers.

So, to sum it all up, school's going well for now. When fall TV and football start, I'll have to be more disciplined; so, I'll go ahead and solicit your prayers now. Ha!

Another Iron in the Fire

Y'all, I really don't know when I've been so busy as I am right now at work. I have so much going on that some days it's hard to even know where to start. To say it's a wee bit stressful is an understatement. I'm pretty sure my whole head is going to be gray before too long. I just keep telling myself that this will soon pass and I'll be back to a normal pace soon... fingers crossed. 

As if I don't already have enough going on between work and serving on the board of directors at Agape and trying to maintain some semblance of a social life, I also recently applied to graduate school. I've wanted to get a MBA for a long time but just haven't done it. For whatever reason, a flame burned inside me recently and I finally pulled all the required documents together and applied and this past Friday I got my acceptance letter! I applied to the program at the University of North Alabama for a couple of reasons - one, it has a good reputation and two, it's affordable, or as affordable as an advanced degree can be I suppose. It's not Harvard, but it will do and all the classes are online which fits my schedule and doesn't require me to have to drive to Florence which is an added bonus. 

The program is designed to take one to two years (depending on if you go full or part time); but, I fully intend on taking two to three years. I know myself, people and I know that I love TV and concerts and hanging out with my friends and heaven forbid schoolwork get in the way of any of that. Priorities, my friends, priorities. I'm really excited about going back to school and also a little nervous. It's been 15 years since I've been in school and I'm sure a lot has changed, including the fact that these classes will be online as opposed to a classroom. So, I'm going to have to stay disciplined and stay the course and pray that I'm able to handle it all. Here's to hoping it all goes well.