I Thought I Had Given Up

... on this blog and blogging altogether.  Guess not.  There's so much to update and a Tumblr blog to integrate but jumping back in seems fine to do right now.

So, for now, I'm just going to post my workout and log my time.  The rest will have to wait.  There's homework and classes and studying for next week's finals to do.



This is the workout that I did today.  I haven't consistently worked out for quite some time.  I sit on my butt a lot with all of the studying I do.  It's so true that a body at rest tends to stay at rest and since I have recently created my own planner pages to help me get on track and stay on track, I'm starting back in with consistent workouts, too.  I've always loved Zuzana's workouts, so I'm starting with her and intend on sticking with her.

I did this workout in 15:19 minutes.

Chao for now...

New Kitchen Hand Towels

Serged up 6 new kitchen hand towels from an old table cloth yesterday. Still need to weave in the ends of the serged threads on 2 and then all will be done and ready to use.

Have the house all to myself today

Have the house all to myself today. This means I can play whatever music I want, as loud as I want. I also get to listen to whatever "weird" music I want to.

I also planned to work in the garage today. It's always in a state of chaos with Dodger just dumping his work stuff wherever. But the music is taking forever to sync.

Poison Ivy

Poison ivy. Boooo!

Surprise packages are ALWAYS fun!

Surprise packages are ALWAYS fun!

Empty Returns on Big Goals

My pretty green backpack is empty and the textbook rentals are ready to be returned.  This semester has been seriously stressful and seriously awesome, at the same time.  My last final was on Wednesday and yesterday I turned in the final draft of my paper on fracking.  That signaled the end of my semester.

That means it's time for my summer goals.  I canceled our Netflix DVD subscription yesterday so that I could use that money for an online gym subscription.  Everything I'll need for success in fitness and weight control will all be in one place.  All I'll need to do is show up and do the work.  The structure of college has been good for me, so I want that elsewhere in my life, too.  I'm still developing time management skills and goal setting skills, so it's helpful to me to have someone else to have done some of that work for me already.  In the process of working towards my dreams, I'm also helping out someone else with theirs.  So, really, it's a win-win all around.

I've also signed up for a few free MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) on Coursera.  The ones I'm most interested in and will devote my time to are Introduction to Human Behavioral Genetics, Preventing Chronic Pain, and Our Energy Future.  My interest in these is personal.  I'm in college, working towards a degree in psychology, so it interests me to know why people do the things they do.  I deal with chronic pain on a daily basis due to injury I obtained working all those years at Kohl's department store.  And I just finished up an argumentative research paper on fracking for my English 102 composition class and have developed an intense interest in the world's energy usage.

On top of all of that, I have decided to start into, what will probably at least a 10 year process, of reading and studying The Great Books.  I'm starting with the Gateway books, to get my feet wet.  I do not own any of the sets, so I'll just be following the schedule online through the blog of Dr. J, who is currently into his 4th year of his study, and getting the readings either online or through the library.  I started last night and have read through the first 3 of the 6 readings for the week.  If you'd like to join in, too, it would be fun to have someone to discuss things with.  Week 1 starts here.  I'll try to make individual posts on my weekly readings.  So I guess I should take notes.

Somewhere in here I also want to get back to Frank's School.  I love his teaching style and he's a really interesting guy.  He started his teaching on YouTube with the humanities class he used to teach in school and is now in his 3rd year, on YouTube, of teaching further humanities studies.

I have lots of plans for summer.  It will take some refining of time management skills to fit it all in.

It's Been Awhile

I was planning on abandoning this blog.  I even had it set to private, as you may have noticed, but I've changed my mind and I've decided I'm ok with keeping it going.

The last real update, I shared about big changes coming but never said what those actually were.  I was being all covert...

Anywho, what's up with that is that I jumped into going back to college full-time!  My first semester back after a 16 year break is about over.  It's been super intense and very stressful, at times, but even with all of that, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

I have the second half of a draft due tomorrow plus a bunch of extra credit to prepare for... so as much as I want to sit here and reflect and share on everything that's happened since January 13th (my 39th birthday and first day back in the classroom), I must move along, get a workout in, and get on finishing up the homework due by class time tomorrow morning.

Blessings and NEVER, EVER GIVE UP!

A Day in the Life

9:54 AM - All sorts of stuff leaving my possession this week. LOVE IT! I have so much more to go through but it's a start and the money sure helps out right now, too.

2:54 PM - Books cleaned up and moved around and I'm ready to have visitors. I hope they leave with more books than already requested. 

$55! Food money! Yay!

4:04 PM - I just remembered that I haven't eaten yet today. Yikes. Going to make myself an omelet. I was just gone this morning and when I got home I had to spend every moment cleaning up and getting all of the books ready for visitors. I completely forgot I was hungry until just now.

6:32 PM - I still have tons of stuff to take to the curriculum book sale in June. I'd just love to unload a bit more of it before then. Cause it's a lot and a lot of books tend to get heavy, you know.

Math Fan

I love my math teacher. I must find out if she teaches any higher level math at RCC. I want her for the rest of my math classes!

Now to do my math homework while it's fresh in my mind from class tonight.

There's Something in the Water

I've noticed something "off" about the tap water in the past few days. Our water has a weird chemical smell and taste now, and I've noticed the same thing with the water at RCC.

It's disgusting! I'm so frustrated with it. I hope it doesn't last long. I've noticed it for going on a few days now... I think Monday is when I first noticed.

I've never had an issue with the taste of the tap water here... until the past few days.

The Purge

In discussing stuff today and seeing a fabulous post on cool and interesting minimalists... while starting to feel the strain of less time and too much stuff still in my own possession... I feel the need to purge... LIKE.RIGHT.FREAKIN.NOW. So all of the books on the top shelf that were listed on PaperBackSwap are going to the library donate box this afternoon.

Kept only 3 items off the shelf... it was completely full earlier today.

So there's this "thing" I'm doing

So there's this "thing" I'm doing... that involves ridiculous amounts of time in boring textbooks but is counteracted with amazing lectures and discussions (both online and in-class).  Jumping into the collegiate world, full-time, has been a challenge.  It's been two weeks now and I'm hoping that a new normal will work it's way into my life within the next month or two because this is going to be my way of life for some years to come.

My brain wants to share it all here but then I know I don't really have time for that and I also wonder if it what I say about it here is how it affects my life and not actually what I'm studying or where those studies are intriguing me to explore.

You

Should I be impressed

at your level of

disrespect

You told me

you'd support me

Now you just

abort me

(I found this snippet of a poem while going through old paper journals in January 2023. I posted it here for posterity. I don't know the exact date. However, there are a few clues to me that I wrote this sometime in 2014.)

Bone Broth Boiling {daily photo}

Bone broth in the making.

It's the first time I've ever made any type of bone broth. I hope it turns out well.

January 2 2014

It snowed last night but it was like powder, so the only areas I shoveled was around the autos and on the sidewalk. Dancer went ice skating with some dance friends this afternoon. I dropped off a bag of books at the library, stopped at the dollar store to get a 2014 calendar, and at Kroger to get bread. Dodger got home around 8pm and brought pizza, which he and Dancer ate. I caught up on paperwork and cleaned the hub except for the pocket, which I'll do tomorrow.

January 1 2014

It is step-dad's birthday. Dancer and I went to their new place to celebrate. Joyce, Bob, Jon, and Veronica also came. Dinner was chicken, green beans, and fresh cut veggies. After gifts we watched a little TV and played a few Wii games. By the time we left, at about 8pm, there was about an inch of snow on the ground. I filled the rest of my night watching Arrested Development with Dodger.