Procrastination

 Hello again,

My, my it does not feel like it has been a month since my last post but I can see that it has been.

What a range of emotions this last month has brought. My 3 classes obviously started and that one I mentioned everyone says is the hardest? They are not lying!!!  I legitimately went though a day or two period where I was convinced I would not pass this class. The teacher left me a comment on my poor test scores and I reached out to her about how terrified I was of failing this course. She emailed me back and said obviously what I was doing wasn't working so I needed to change and start actively learning. I reached out to teachers and asked them for help. They really didn't have much to say themselves. I ended up changing the way that I dealt with the class and that has helped a lot. I started printing the chapters to read instead of using the ebook. This way I could read the sections over and over and highlight and underscore and whatever else I wanted to do. I also started printing my 4 x 6 notecard rather than hand writing the notes I wanted to use. Since I did this I have gotten an A, A, B,  I have two test to take by Tuesday that I haven't even started reading the chapters yet. They are printed next to me though. I figured I would type a post up for ya'll before I started working. 

My house is a mess, dinners are cooked but as simply as I can. Clothing is at least washed so that is good. LOL  This is with three online only classes and I am 95% done with one of them. I have done all the assignments and there are only 3 discussion posts left that I am not even doing. If I plug in zeros for all that I will still end with a 92% so I don't care. New term will be harder with having the two classes that I need to be present for then one online. One on campus and one on Zoom for the be present for classes. These new classes (Fall B) will start around Oct 14th. Spring will be WORSE!  My course load is aggressive and to take the classes I want in the time frame I want I will be super overloaded. I am signing up for all of them as planned since tomorrow is sign up day. I may drop one or two though, I have plenty of time to decide. But I would rather sign up for all 6 and drop than not and wish I had done so in the future. 

Why am I stressing? Because they are all BA level classes.

For Spring A it would be 3 physical night classes.  As in go to the college Mon/Tue/Wed 5:30 to 8:15 pm.  For Spring B it would be 1 online and two physical go to the college classes Wed/Thur 5:30 to 8:15.  That is A LOT!!!   Summer would only be 3 classes.  I had a different plan in place but then realized that the classes I intended to take over summer were not available then so I have to squish them into Spring. 

I am not weighing to tracking food. I am just trying to eat mindfully. Amazingly enough I have actually been losing! I changed my WI days to Sundays because Saturdays are now for Cross Country. 

Ok enough procrastination.  I need to work on school work, prep my lunches, and get some household stuff like laundry done. 

8/18/24 Sunday- The first weekend of the school year.

 I am not happy that today is Sunday but I did not need an alarm on Saturday or Sunday so that did make me happy. 😁

I wrote a post last week but never published it, so feel free to scroll down and read it. 

The first full week of school is completed. Only 34 weeks left to go! Hahah  I got lots of movement and have already subbed for a few teachers. They were just set times though not entire days. I have mostly been in the front office helping the attendance person. She is supposed to have the receptionist to help her but it is a new one this year and they are not starting till 8/21. 

I had some stress yesterday morning trying to figure out how I was going to be paying bills. Hubby got paid Friday but my first check doesn't hit till 8/30. Trying to pay two income house bills on one income is not pretty. I finally got something figured out that will not cost us extra money. We might only have like $30 in the bank and almost at limit cards but we will survive. 

I have a suspicious roast in the crockpot. Let's hope that all is well and there are no issues. I am cooking it on high for 5 hours.  A few months ago my oldest left the deep freezer door cracked. Everything in the door was ruined and several things inside started to thaw a little. I researched and read and decided to keep everything that was still partially frozen. So let's hope today's me can trust past me. LOL, I was too lazy to cut potatoes so I only dumped in seasonings and carrots. I will make mashed packet potatoes for the roast to be eaten with. I cleaned the kitchen counters last week so they are actually still ok. It's the kitchen sink that is overwhelming. I have washed two small drainers worth and will hopefully get another set worth washed. It's not that bad honestly. I am just a big whiney baby because no one helps me with them. I got all my knives washed and am thinking of sharpening them before I put them in the knife block. I also am thinking about pre-cutting veggies for dinners. It would probably be a really good idea. Because when dinner comes I just want to dump and go. I don't want to put any effort in. Our school day rolled back and I get out 50 minutes earlier but due to traffic, it doesn't feel like it. Before I could park in the back and slip out. Now we are not allowed to park in the back anymore so I am stuck in carline traffic even though I park in employee parking! Parents have made the front office parking into a carline as well so we're trapped. It annoys the crap out of me and makes me rage, to be honest. Nothing I can do about it though. 

My college classes start tomorrow. I am taking 6 of them again but they are broken down into 2 sets of 3 classes. One set will be Aug to mid Oct. Second set is mid Oct to Dec. The next 3 are totally online. The second set has me online on Monday nights for Zoom and going to the college on Wed nights for a physical class then the 3rd one is online online. One class has everything showing but locked. It is one of the hardest classes I have been told by several people. Business Law I  The class is online but the testing is through HonorLock which means it is recorded and they can stop your test if they think you are cheating. The good news is that the teacher does allow us to have one 4x6 prewritten notecard per quiz. The quizzes are worth 75% of our grade!!  YIKES!  I just have to remember C's get degrees! LOL

My plan for food this week is

Roast with carrots 

Brats with onions and peppers.

Butter chicken

Shrimp something -maybe pasta?

tacos with Dorito shells

I hope all is well with you all!

Oh weight loss-  So I had good intentions starting the week then I threw my hands in the air and waved them like I don't care. I didn't go off the rails and I am now getting a lot more movement. My weigh-in would have been better had I not chosen Pizza Hutt and regular Dr. Pepper for dinner Friday night. I can officially claim a .4 loss at least so something is better than nothing. 

Down a whole 4.2 lbs  

The Sunday post that was never published! Dun Dun DUN!

 In the last episode, I left you with the knowledge that I was done with my summer classes. I can now update you that I finished the term with a  4.0.  That accounting class was rough and I ended up with a 90% but that is still an A. LOL

Back to work on Thursday and Friday was a lot of waking up early. Tomorrow is going to be even earlier though! Our school day is now starting 45 minutes earlier. So little girl will now have to attend before-school and after-school care. We need to leave the house by 6:45 am and take her to before-school care. Last year we could leave at 7:15 and drop her off in the carline on the way to school. 

I have a haircut scheduled for 6 pm today. My little gal spent the night at my inlaws and will be home in about an hour or so. I have nothing prepped as far as food or even my bookbag. I should probably clean it out and load it with what I want. I carry a bookbag with me rather than a purse or teacher bag. I have my pens and notebook paper and various things that might be needed.  Since I never know what teachers will have in their classrooms. This year I got a little office supply mini kit I am excited to have. It is from Micheals and is really cute. 

It was only $3.99 so it isn't like I paid big bucks.

Weight- So I was a little sad with my WI on Saturday. Because I thought it was the same as the week before and considering I saw a much lower number Thursday morning I thought Saturday mid-afternoon would be good (upon waking up).  Well, I didn't really take into account how much Thur/Fri would affect that number.  I did over 10k steps on Thur and 9k on Friday. My body was not happy with me and retaining water and inflammation I am sure. But then yesterday afternoon I made not great choices so it is up today. That is OK though. I have all week to make sure nothing sticks from yesterday and to hopefully get my body used to moving again. I did also realize I was actually down .2 in the morning not the same as I had thought so that helped a little. 

I am back at my original -3.8 loss that I was at before my birthday and cruise. We shall see how this week goes with being back at work for the full week. It is going to be a ROUGH week. We are not morning people and having to leave the house at 6:45 will be miserable. It isn't just me as I will have to make sure the kids are awake and getting ready as well which complicates life. At least my 11th grader should have NOTHING to complain about this year. Last year he took quite a few mental health days because he didn't want to deal with some classes. This year he has US History and FIVE electives!!!  The history teacher he has is pretty chill and I think he will enjoy her. 

Goodbye Summer

 I have to say goodbye to summer today. Today is my last day before I report back to work tomorrow. The kids do not report back till Monday at least so two days to work on various things needed around campus. 

I finished my last 3.5 assignments and am DONE with my summer classes.  I start fall classes August 19th so I have a 2 week break. 

I have a to-do list today that I am slowly working on.  I could possibly do it all in like an hour if I choose to. Instead, I am going to take the entire day I am sure to work on it. Not like I have anything better to do with my time. 

 

Yeah, I finally got a picture uploaded.  I made this Saturday. The high peak is my WI from after the cruise and then you can see the decline after that. 

Happy to report that I am lower than that as of this week. Saturday will be the true weigh-in in though that will determine how much lower. 

I finally got a picture in and now I cannot decide what other pictures to post.  Story of my life.

Ok off to go work on this to-do list. 

Saturday 8/3/24

I am down to 3.5 things due before the end of the summer term.  I say .5 on one of them as it is a slideshow that I will have to present. I have made my slides- I just need to decide how I am presenting and get that recorded and is due tomorrow. Those 3.5 things are in two classes.  I have completed everything else in my other 3 classes so they are done. 

Friday was a very blah day and I just was not a happy girl. I woke up grumpy and just stayed that way most of the day. Today is a better day! I woke up in a better mood. I knocked out my slides. I spoke to an old customer from my old job on FB to ask her about my 19-year-old. He needs to learn to drive but everything I see online says no permit past 18. How in the heck is he supposed to learn if he cannot get a permit? Turns out he should still be able to. He just needs to go take the permit test in the DMV office. He took it in high school in driver's ed (@@ yeah I know- he didn't want the class and failed it) and passed it. There is a slight chance that will be on record but not counting on it. Plus that was over 3 years ago as well. She doesn't work there anymore but she reached out to a current DMV employee for me so that takes some stress off my shoulders of the unknown. 

I'm hungry which makes sense since I only had protein coffee today and it is almost 7. HOLY WOW where did the day go!!!!  So I need to cook dinner and I want to try and get the kitchen cleaned up. There are dishes in the sink I want gone. 

I changed my tracker today.  Looks FANTASTIC doesn't it? It is a lie.  haha  Ok fine, I changed my starting weight to the WI after I got back from the cruise.  Really I am down 3.6 from my start weight on 6/22. I want credit for losing the birthday and cruise weeks weight though dang it! Hah!

Hello August!

 Today was the Freshman Preview at the high school.  A bunch of us running around trying to get 450+ students a tour of the campus along with a preview of what to expect.

 I have been up since 6 am and this girl is running out of gas. I tried to go to sleep at 10 and even with Tylenol PM I could not stay asleep. I slept for about an hour and was up again so I took a melatonin gummy to turn off my brain. I think it was the knowing I had an alarm set that was keeping me up. No alarm tomorrow thank goodness!  I am down to the last 8 things due. One of them I am not doing though. The professor drops the lowest grade in each section. So I didn't do something due Monday and I am not doing something due Tuesday for the same class.  No matter if I do them or not my grade will be the same so I am not even going to worry about it as I am at 96.98 in that class. 

Each day my weight was going more and more down to where I was only up .2 from the -3.8 I had before my birthday. I did not weigh in today because I have been weighing in at 11:45 am and I didn't want to be annoyed by the 6 am number. I have been eating REALLY well not even meaning to the last few days. Today I really didn't want to cook and I looked at the frozen pizza in the freezer (buffalo chicken HAH! Too bad I didn't realize I had that Monday (see below) However- 300 calories per slice! OUCH!

Monday evening I really wanted Wingstop- It was National Chicken Wing Day after all. I was looking at the specials and the best value was boneless wings. When I presented the idea to my husband he started immediately with his- "Oh, so you mean chicken nuggets?" which annoys me.  I kept looking at the price as well thinking that would be a lot to feed everyone. I ended up closing the app and cutting up that chicken I mentioned in Monday's post. I sliced two breasts thinner into 3 pieces each and then I put them in a lemon juice greek marinade I had Googled earlier with the listed ingredients- just not the same measurements. Then I sliced up the other 4 into nuggets and found some panko in the pantry. I made frozen fries and homemade nuggets. Tuesday's dinner was the marinaded chicken air-fried with rice. Wednesday was leftover rice and a bag of shrimp I turned into garlic shrimp. I sauteed up a zucchini for me as well. Tonight I was tired and didn't really want to cook.  I didn't want to mess up my calories even. Told hubby self dinner for him because he doesn't like breakfast for dinner. I sliced up some potatoes that were going soft and seasoned them then air-fried them. Then I simply made scrambled eggs. I ended up with potatoes, scrambled eggs, and the most perfect avocado for my dinner. 

I have a PowerPoint test to take tomorrow. Some more accounting stuff to do. A PowerPoint presentation and a few other things left in those last 7 things. 

Over 5k steps which I have not done much over the summer this year so far. 

Monday, Monday

I have done absolutely nothing today. I did my big blog post yesterday but felt like doing another one today. 

I lie- I did some schoolwork- I emailed a teacher, I took a final, and looked ahead at when my next assignment is due. It is light since I have worked so far ahead this summer.  

I have tracked my calories so far. I weighed in and I am back to ZERO.  

No gain as listed above anymore. However, I will not change it till Saturday as that is my weigh-in day. I can say that I am down the 5 lbs that I gained from the cruise. Now I just need to get rid of the pounds I gained from the week before my birthday to the cruise eating. 

It is 4:18 pm and I do not have a plan for dinner yet. I do have 4.75 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast in the fridge though from my Kroger order yesterday. I have no excuse to not actually cook a meal. I have nothing pressing on me that I have to get done today. I am FREE!  Of course, there are lots of things I could be working on. 

Maybe I will update you tomorrow on what I cook tonight. 

End July

I have to say goodbye to the loss that was previously listed above. Now it is a plus. 

For my birthday I didn't do anything but cook my own dinner and make brownies. I kept not caring and eating what I wanted throughout the week till we left on Monday 7/22/24 to go on a cruise- I ate.  I drank regular soda. I am drinking regular soda now!  LOL, I figure this will be my only one then back to diet. I already got two 12 packs of diet plus there is always water. I figured this Coke would be lower in calories than a coffee if I tried to make it with heavy whipping cream since I am out of half and half.  I do have a Kroger delivery arriving in about an hour though. 

Today is the first day I finally feel normal and like I am back to myself after arriving home from the cruise. We drove down to West Palm Beach on Sunday afternoon to beat the traffic that would be there Monday morning.  Who wants to make a 3.5-hour drive the day they are supposed to be somewhere? I was able to get Pollo Tropical for dinner which made my grew up in Miami heart happy. :) Then we went and boarded the ship on Monday mid-afternoon. It was a comedy of errors with mine between issues that kept happening. We finally got on board though and we were able to go to our rooms. We had booked two rooms right next to each other. Our rooms were free so no matter if we got one room for the four of us or two the cost was the same. Margaritaville has a Hero's Sail free promotion and teachers/staff fall under this category. We were allowed a guest plus a kid. We still had to pay the port fees and all the other fees though. This cruise was FAR from free. Far, far, far from free I can tell you that! But at least we made memories with the kids. Our 19-year-old stayed home and held down the fort as he usually does. Middle son (16) and daughter (8) went with us of course. There was a boy's room and a girl's room. The port in the Bahamas that the ship docks at is an industrial port. So to visit the island you have to book an excursion. You can do this through the ship or through various people on the island that have taxi services. I chose the ship because you are guaranteed that the ship will not leave you if the excursion is late. If you book on your own and you are late the ship can leave you if you are not back in time. We spent a day at an all-inclusive resort and I was not impressed. The food was buffet-style and just not very good. The drinks were flowing but the bees made it hard to drink them. There were bees all over the drinks looking for free access to sugar. I was so tired and sunburnt when we got back to the ship. I used sunscreen but not well enough apparently. Sleep and then we were back in Florida. It was only a 3 day 2 night cruise and the 3rd day was just disembarkation. My husband didn't want to get off early even though we had an express pass. That turned out to be a mistake. We were stuck in there forever and a day till we got off. Then the 3.5-hour ride home. It has taken till today (Sunday) for me to feel back to normal and we got home Wed afternoon  LOL  That long of recovery and hurting from sunburn and whatnot. 

I am blogging instead of writing the assignment that is due today. Haha, Story of my school life if you look at past posts. 

I did write and turn in that APA draft. The professor graded it and just wanted me to tweak a few things like add titles. Also when I copied over my references from citation machine it flipped the indents so I had to fix that. I didn't have to fix any of my report as far as writing so that is great! 

I just did the math  I have 10 days left till I go back to work. Technically I will go back on the 1st to go to Freshman Preview because I love seeing the new faces. 

I just paid for a year of LoseIt so I will try and track again.  I have completely gotten out of the habit of taking pictures of my food.  I was on a cruise and didn't take any food pictures! Just of the water and the ship and whatnot. I used to take pictures of all of my food. I don't know why I just have not felt it lately. Ok it is 6 pm and I need to get this assignment done. 

Mid July

 My titles suck but at least I am posting so I call that a win.

So last I left you was that I had lost 3.2 pounds and I was hoping that I could report a loss the next days as it was weigh-in day. 

I was indeed able to change it to show my small loss of .4 which made it 3.6 lbs down. You might be thinking "Wait a minute I just saw it and that is not what it says". 

You would be correct! It has now been another week and I can report my minuscule loss of .2.  Which now brings my three-week loss to 3.8 lbs. 

Tomorrow I reach level 47 and I have no idea what I am doing. I have a 3-5 page draft APA paper due on Wednesday that I have not even started yet. I have to be in the correct mindset to write. I doubt I will be in it today or tomorrow. I do at least have a simple but yummy plan in place for dinner tonight. I picked up a few packs of top sirloin at the store the other day. I have some russet potatoes in the oven currently to eat with the steaks. 

I assume I will go out to dinner tomorrow but I am unsure of where we will go. I am thinking maybe Storming Crab or KPot (all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ) The price point is similar but I have never been to KPot. 

I made sirloin steaks with baked potatoes for dinner and baked some brownies. It is my son's level up to 19 tomorrow but he just doesn't care about stuff. He is so minimalistic that he won't be upset if we don't grab him a cake or something. He never wants to go out for his birthday and would prefer Little Ceasars. 

Let's hope I can report more of a loss next week even with my birthday being here. This coming week is the last week of summer school and then I will have 20 days off before I get back to work for the school year. 

July

I attempted to post last weekend but it never happened. I wanted to add pictures and it just was not working well so I got annoyed and closed Blogger.

I have a habit of stopping and starting a million times and I wasn't sure if I would keep myself on the straight and narrow. I kinda have, but kinda have not. I did fantastic the first week and I was flying the correct path. The second week I started on a nose dive. I was able to pull back on the throttle and readjust my trajectory though. :)  I started posting on TikTok my eating again and I got behind on posting. I made brownies and then when they were gone I made cookies. My calories were creeping higher and higher and my fruit and veggies were nonexistent. 

You can see what I mean by the RED to the left. The top of the column should be 1700 as that is what I have my calories set at. However, LoseIt takes my activity and gives me extra calories a day. I try not to eat them though. I ate all the calories on Wednesday. I was at like 2700 for the day. I even tracked all my food that day which is how I know what the final damage was. I just wanted what I wanted and I was going to eat it no matter what it did to my calorie count. I was able to turn it around yesterday though and today should be fine as well. It is really day by day as we all know the choices we make daily either help or hinder us. 

Our 21st anniversary was 6/21/24. I decided to start tracking my calories in the middle of the day. I am using Saturday 6/22/24 WI as my new start. You may have noticed the little turtle at the top announcing a loss of 3.2 pounds.  I hope to report another loss tomorrow but my activity Wed may hurt this I am aware. I am trying to stop weighing in daily and start only doing it once per week. Tomorrow will be week two and is my WI day. 

I finished my A term summer class and am now in my B term one. It is financial accounting and it is rather scary. It is an online class so you basically have to teach yourself. Thankfully, I have basic Excel knowledge about formulas and stuff but it is still scary as heck. Hard to believe I already have 1 class done out of 21 towards my BA. It is 21 as I had to take a pre-req class which is one of the ones I am in now. We are over halfway done with the summer term. There are only 8 more days left of working summer school. Once that is over (7/18) we have our vacation planned for 7/22 thru 7/24. We are going on a cruise!  We were able to go for free (room cost) for being in education. We still have to pay for everything else though. I have always been suspicious of cruises and all the extra money that you have to pay with them. I was not shocked when after booking when I already paid for the port fees and taxes to found out that there would be an additional $66 per person for fuel and gratuities and then another $57 for parking at the port. I was a little disappointed though to find out that if we want to get off the ship in the Bahamas and do anything we will have to pay more. The port is an industrial port so you have to pay to travel elsewhere to go to the beach. I was envisioning getting off the ship to being at the beach already. This is another cost to add to the total. I am sure there will be more things. I'm just going to try and roll with the flow though and not freak out. 

Summer update

 Hello!

So much has happened since my last post. Most everything has been good I am just lazy and have not felt motivated to blog.

Let see- I finished my two classes at UWF and ended with a 4.0. I am officially back at the local community college in the program I planned to complete.

I was able to walk on May 9th across the stage for my AA even though I earned it in December. 

I am taking 6 classes for the summer- 5 at a time though as 2 of them are short-term back-to-back classes. I counted up all of the assignments/grades that I will have to complete for my current 5 classes, which is 256. I started classes on May 13, 2024, and as of today, I have already completed 118 of those assignments. Every single class is online using a computer program. Some tasks are super simple and some are more complex. I have been trying to get ahead because of my summer job.

Yup- I am working the entire summer at the school for summer school. We need the extra money for bills so why not? I was worried I was going to be a do-girl again this year but I was able to get access to the program to do what I am supposed to.  

We got a new fridge and stove delivered on Thursday.  Our old one started acting up and wasn't going above 50 degrees. I have one more thing to try but I figured even if it did work I would never trust it again. Our oven stopped working months ago but I didn't want to spend the money. Since we were getting a fridge I figured why not just do both. 

Ok this is the summary.  Maybe I will add more details and pictures in a future post. I just wanted ya'll to know all is well.  I am also completely over not getting that job. I have adjusted my pathway and on to the next thing. 

One assignment left.

 I took two classes as you may recall. Spring term is almost at the end. 

Between both of those classes, I have 1 assignment left.  I currently have an A in each class.  On this final assignment, I just need a 20/60 and I will pass the class with a C.  I need a 50/60 to keep my A in the class. 

Normally I am stressing and trying to write the assignments by tonight as they are typically due Sunday by midnight.  She has given us till Wednesday at midnight since this is technically our final. Is is the same class that I mentioned last week I had 1% of it done and I had to write a grant. I am happy to say that at about 3pm last Sunday inspiration struck and I was able to bang it out. I am pleased to say I got a 10/10 on that. 

Ok, I updated ya'll. Now I need to go try and find some inspiration for this last assignment. 

Just wait till you see what I have planned for myself in Summer at the local community college I mentioned going back to. 

It's a no

I had an interview for the position I really wanted on April 1st. On April 2nd I was called to the principal's office to be told I did not get the position. They bothered to send an assistant principal to take over the class I was subbing in to get this news. I thought I was going in for a second interview. Then I had to go back and spend 4 more periods trying not to cry. I found out at lunchtime who got the position. Any guesses?

 It turns out the person I mentioned in my last post who was thinking about applying did indeed get the position. I was CRUSHED on Tuesday. I finally understood what it felt like when people would use the word GUTTED.  By Wednesday I was feeling a bit better.  I am totally fine with it now. Even if I wasn't there isn't anything I can do about it. They have not announced her getting the position as they are trying to fill her position first. Mighty convenient that her position was posted that exact night. School systems are notorious for running slow.  I don't think I ever even had a chance. If only I knew that beforehand.  So now I have lots of decisions to make. Soul searching and all that jazz.  I did at least find out I can be in my current position till May of 2025. So I have plenty of time to see what opens and hopefully find something even better. 

I have two papers to write this weekend. It is official Sunday as it is after midnight. I have 90% of one paper written and like 1% of the second. Basically, I have the footer modified from what the template says. 

Off to bed! The second paper is about UDL principles and writing a grant based on a previous assignment we did. Basically, I have to make up a fake museum display that can be made inclusive and write a grant requesting funds to make this display possible. 

Time gets away

 Wow,

Sometimes it feels like time is moving like a snail and others it feels like it is flying! I cannot believe how long it has been since my last post. Almost TWO MONTHS?  WOW!

That is how long it has been since I have avoided doing my school work and chose this route to avoid it rather than read. HA! Lets see- since my last post. My daughter has had a birthday and is now 8. My daughter has had oral surgery to get some toofer work done. I found out my job is eliminated for next year.

:Record scratch sound:

Someone on a local parent page for our county posted a list of potential new school start times for next year. The screenshot they posted cut off our school name so I went to digging.  I found the original document in the school board's agenda for the next meeting. I also found a document about school staffing levels for 2024-2025 school year. In this I could see that a lot more special needs paraprofessionals were added and one position was eliminated. Mine- Classroom substitute in all grade levels. I brought it to the secretary's attention that afternoon and she was unaware. She had actually just learned about the time change possibility from her husband that works at a middle school. Later that week she told me that the principal said I would have one more year. While that is nice, I know that I am on the chopping block. I have every faith that there will be a position I can move to so I have not worried about that. 

However, knowing that your position is gone technically after this year is not cool. I do know there is someone retiring in the front office this summer so that spot will be open so that is my fall back. The problem with that is I will never be able to interact with the kiddos on campus. I have developed a relationship with quite a few and would miss seeing them. I really have no desire to go back into being a paraprofessional. Once you leave that world and basically become your own boss you do not want to go back to being under someone. Having to watch what you say and not step on anyone's toes. 

Now, to change direction and circle back to my post details from Jan. I have been working on getting myself back into my old college and it is now finally settled. I had to jump through hoops to get a conditional admission. They don't want to full admit me till they get the transcripts from UWF for the two classes I am in. I just wanted to be admitted enough so that I could choose my classes in the time frame I qualify for. Seeing as I have 40+ credits my choice window is first. I didn't want to wait and then have to choose from the leftovers in May when they got my transcript. 

I went and met my advisor which is the same one I had the last year of my AA and everything was supposed to be cleared for me to choose my own classes on Monday 3/4 when it opened. I was not able to- I emailed him with a list of the classes I wanted hoping he could put me in them. He emailed me back two days later asked me to fill out a form. I did and then sent to him.  He then said it wasn't clear to resend- So I did it a different way and resent. In the meantime one of the classes I wanted filled up. I am not thrilled about that.  I do still have the class but now it is a physical night class. Bleh!  

He also was not thrilled with me trying to sign up for 6 classes.  I had to explain to him that A. I always done that & B. I have taken 6 classes and worked previously as well so I can do it. I like to look at the syllabus on the first day and then decide if I want to keep the class. He also recommended if I am going to take 6 that I change the timing of one which I find to be totally bizarre. My plan was 5 C classes (12 weeks long) and 1 B class (6 weeks long). He recommended I change it to 4- C and 2-B. Why in the world would I short myself time? Short summer classes are brutal and you have like 2+ things due a week whereas the C would be more like one thing a week.  Normal terms are 16 weeks and the short version is 8.  So summer classes are more intense no matter what. I also reminded him for the umpteenth time that I do not work during the summer. That school work becomes my job at that point. 

Speaking of jobs.....    

Mine= eliminated.

However....

When I started on my AA I had a specific job in mind that required an AA.  The position is officially open and I applied for it last week.  Fingers crossed because it sounds like competition is going to be fierce. It is for a career specialist- Someone on campus that works with kids to help them get into college and prep for success in the future. It is a 40 hours position and is listed in the staffing plan as one being on campus in each HS. It would be rewarding and still have me interact with students. After helping people get into debt for so many years this would be a job to actually help people in a positive manor. The position helps with finding scholarships and invites colleges out to speak to students. The position is also a test proctor which I have actually done multiple times the last month so I am fully aware of what that entails. Emergency sub which I know all about subbing. It would also be a 10k pay bump from what I am making now which is always needed. This job would put me back at what I was making with my old job. The position posting closes 3/14 but we are on Spring Break currently anyway. I assume interviews will start the week afterwards. 

The potential problem is a coworker that is thinking about applying as well.  I have talked about this position for TWO YEARS off and on. About a month ago she mentioned that she should look into it. If she applies I fear she would get it. Because she has been at the school for like 7 years and is an amazing paraprofessional in my husband's unit. She is the only one that truly does the job well. Last I knew she was going to talk to her husband first to weigh the pros and cons. She did promise to tell me if she applies though.  Better to know than not to know is my line of thinking.

Ok I have stopped writing and went and filled in our tax info I have been dreading. Thankfully we are getting a refund. I was a little stressed about that because they have taken nothing out of my checks for federal this year.

I REALLY need to go start this assignment!

Till Next time!

Uno reverse card has been played.

 This was a much better week despite me starting Tuesday off with a head cold.

Thursday afternoon I had a moment that changed the trajectory of my future. Keep in mind I had just built a game plan for the future in the last few weeks.  It seems as if my first plan is now my discarded plan. 

I am changing colleges back to the one I am receiving my AA from. Never mind the fact that I am currently $1400 in the hole for the two classes I signed up for. I cannot get my money back at this point as it is past the drop date.  I can drop them period but I have to pay for them so might as well finish them if I am able to. 

I had looked at the degrees my prior college offered first before I looked anywhere else. I found one that I was interested in and started making a game plan. Business and Organizational Management BA to be exact. As I was looking into all the classes I realized that it required an internship with a business. Umm, I need to work and there is no way I could do that so I just walked away from it. I found the one I signed up for and moved on. On Thursday I was assigned to help proctor testing with a teacher I have never been with. I know them and their sister works at the school but I just have never dealt with them directly. I told him how I finished my AA and starting at UWF. He mentioned his wife was in the college I had just finished and was in her last term of the Business degree. I asked him how she did the internship since he had also just told me that she worked at a middle school. It seems she was able to do it at the school over the summer!  She worked with the secretary and the bookkeeper for the internship!  This totally blew my mind as I didn't think they would allow that. I ended up booking a meeting with my advisor for Friday and emailed the person in HR who is my contact about school stuff. I heard back from her first with a request to call her. I did and she said she sees that degree a lot and that people are short by like one class or they would be certified to teach a subject. That if I can take the correct classes I will be able to be certified to teach Business Education 6-12 with only my degree.  In other words, I wouldn't need a subject area test like I would with a generic degree. I also spoke to the advisor at the college to get more information. I didn't think I could start till Summer but he mentioned that I might be able to in Spring B if there were classes open still. That would be great because with this degree I would need one specific prerequisite before a second class. The earlier I could get stuff started the better!

Then I ended up getting a list of the two classes that most people miss one or the other of from the HR person. Turns out BOTH of them are on my pathway. One is actually that prereq class I have to take. I might have to take some night classes in person but that is what it is. I can do that with it being local to me. I also may be able to accelerate depending on when classes are and in what order I can take them. 

The biggest one of all?

The cost!!!!   UWF is $13,138.xx   The local community college is $7800 for a BA. So even with the loss of the $1400 to UWF, I will still up by almost 4K. The two classes unfortunately will not be able to be counted towards this new degree. They are basically a waste of time and money. I am still planning on finishing them though. Unless I suck at them and then I will drop them with a W and move on. 

One class shouldn't be a problem. The second class is all about group projects which sucks. 

So this is my update for now. 

I don't know how

 I don't know how I am going to make this going back-to-school thing work. 

Oh, I guess I should update ya'll since you have no clue what I am talking about.

I just finished my AA but after a whopping four weeks off I am going back to school! 

I was accepted into the University of West Florida. I just started classes on January 8th and will be working towards a BA. I cannot rush this degree though like I was able to with my AA. I completed a 24-month program in 15 months with that one. With this BA I will not be done until Spring of 2026. This makes me a bit sad but it is what it is. I have worked out a schedule for myself already of what classes and when to take them and they will be spaced out since I plan to take more classes in summer as usual. I have summers off from work so it makes the most sense to take more then. This is the plan below.

I felt so good the first week of January and everything was great. I felt in control and like I was going to rock everything. 

Then the second week hit, and I feel like I ran into a roadblock. I have not even opened my journal since Sunday night last week. With school starting and me being so last minute (I applied on 12/20/23) and then having an advisor meeting on 1/8/24 (the first day of classes). I feel like my head is spinning.  My financial aid has not even hit yet and I had to sign up for a payment arrangement. I was told when financial aid hits it will cover the remaining payments so that is what I am banking on. This school is not the most expensive by any means but it is still costlier than the local CC was. They were $112.92 and this one is $218.98 so that is a big difference. I could have done other stuff that was like $560 a credit hour so I should be happy but my heart hurts for the money output. Then of course that lovely imposter syndrome is back and I feel less than. 

I have completed all the assignments for this week of school but they were basically introduction posts and syllabus quizzes. 

I am taking

UDL Community Learning

 &

 Teaching at Risk Learners

The bright side is I do not have to take any more math courses. The downside is I will have to complete a practicum in the Fall of 2025. I will have to find a non-profit that works with kids and complete 100 hours. They don't care what time the hours are done at least. I will have to find a place first of all as no one in my county has done one and it will need to offer night and weekend hours for me to be able to do it. I do have a list of places people use that are local to the college (5 hours away) so that I can try and find similar places here.

Off to try and catch up on ya'lls posts.  

New Year- New ?

Happy New Year!!!  The ball has dropped.  It has been a full day into the new year. I actually made the above for IG but it works for here as well. :)  So I am still having a hard time figuring out the best way to get pictures on here. I think I found something that is OK and it will have to do. Basically, I make a draft on my phone in the blogger app and upload pictures one by one.  Then I save the draft.  This post is that in action.  You do have to title it and type at least one word for it to work. So now I have a bunch of pictures I have to type a post around. 

It does let me move them at least.  I am making an effort to spend more time with my daughter. So far we have Watched the Barbie movie/ she played with sidewalk chalk outside/ I took her to the park/ today our plan is the watch the Netflix movie Leo. I'm a pretty hands off mom. My mom was a hands off mom. I don't want to be like that anymore. How long will this last? I hope for a while. I am trying to work on myself and this journal is an immense help. 

 The pictures seem to be a smidge stretched but it is better than no pics. 

I also realized that I feel better- Like way better. WAY, way better.  LOL  It hit me a few days ago and I decided I need to document how I am feeling and my life. It is too easy to forget things. I realized I am not having brain fog anymore. Last time I felt this way I had cut all carbs and sugar. I had not cut carbs or sugar so I wasn't sure why I felt so good.  Could it be because I was on Christmas break so no stress. Could it be the iron? Could it be the no gluten???  I'm thinking it might be the gluten. Because by cutting carbs last time in effect I cut gluten as well. I have cut the sugar out and am still eating carbs but GF ones. Also eating whatever fruit & veggies I want. I last lost in 2019 and I was eating pretty much anything I wanted protein, veggies, fruit wise. LC on anything else. There is no official name for my way of eating. I kinda call it wholefood-ish/ LC/ GF  LOL

I have an update on the grumpy neighbor dog. Yesterday was a New Years Day miracle!  We're friends now!  He will let me pet him and give him love.

Here are some pictures I posted on IG.  It shows the printer picture sticker compared to the digital copy.  

This is the printer that I am using for my sticker pictures.

Was torn between blue and brown. As you saw last post I went with this one. I prefer the spiral.

I still bought this one because it is soooo pretty! 

      

I ordered these in 3 colors.  I hope I love them!  

    

This is the same information that I wrote in my last post but it is just written out clearer. 

This is a page I added to my journal yesterday

  OH I JUST HAD AN IDEA  I need to add a page to record what I do with my girlie every day. \

The purpose of this one above is to keep track of spending for food. I also added the checks to check off that I uploaded the receipts to Fetch, Coin Out, and Amazon shoppers panel. I have been doing Kroger delivery which I can't take pictures of so that sucks but it is what it is.