Freshman In College.

Yesterday was my first day as a college student at Austin Peay State University, and I have to say it comes in as a close second to the best day of my life. The first best day of my life was my wedding, of course. 

I have always wanted to go school, I just couldn't afford to go when I got out of highschool and to tell you the truth I wasn't a good student in highschool so I wasn't really even thinking about college. 

My husband and I have talked about it a lot and he has always encouraged me to do it.  A few weeks before Thanksgiving I was on the phone with a friend complaing about my job and I said 'You know what? That's it I am going back to school'. 

I hung up the phone and started researching Technical schools.  Closest tech school was in Nashville about 40 miles from where I live, there was no way I could commute that far.  Then there is a Community College in Kentucky just north of me, but I heard that was about a 30-40 min. drive.  That was out of the question.

So I looked at online schools, but I wanted to go to school for nursing and you can't get a degree for nursing just online. 

Then it hit me, Austin Peay may be a four year college but guess what it is only a ten min. drive from my house.  So I went to the website, did some research on what I needed to do.  Went downstairs and TOLD my husband I was going to school in January, he said OK! 

The rest is pretty much history, I applied, took my Compass test, got excepted, picked my classes and started yesterday. 

I felt like I was on top of the world yesterday, nothing could bring me down.  I stopped by work to give them my school schedule and one of my co-workers said I was glowing!  My boss even posted as HER status on FB a congrats to me and how happy I looked. 

Oh, I  know it isn't going to be like this for the next four years.  This high is going to wear off, and I am sure it will be in about a week when I have one of my first quizzes or exams or have to hand in a paper!!  In the end it will all be worth it, from what I have been told Austin Peay has an awesome Nursing Program. 

Yeah, so I am flying high, I had homework yesterday and did it as soon as I got home.  This weekend I have to read a chapter for American History, which I will read like 4 times this weekend just to make sure I have it down...lol. 

I am excited for this new adventure even if it is going to be rough!

Well that is all I think, at least for this entry. 

Until later!

My Cleaning Helpers.

Joe and I bought a new mattress and box spring and it is being delivered today.  I found this to be the perfect time to get my bedroom cleaned as there were clothes EVERYWHERE. 

So I did a really good cleaning, cleaned the walls and all. 

As you see here Denver and Dakota were real big helpers, they decided they needed to lay on the pile of laundry so it wouldn't go anywhere.  Or maybe it was naptime, they sure do take alot of breaks

Man I have some beautiful dogs, if I do say so myself :)  I have to admit we had a choice between Dakota and her brother who was all brown. When we say Dakota and I saw that she was white like Denver I chose her.  I just thought it would be neat to have two white dogs with state/city names.  I guess our next dog will be Dallas or maybe D.C.  ...lol.

Anywho back to the helpers, those two sure did take a lot of breaks. 

Denver wanted some fresh air and decided to take a breather.

Dakota was happy when we were all done cleaning, she invited her friend Babygirl over for a playdate in 'her' clean room.

Well that was my day of cleaning yesterday.  I only got my room done and did 6 loads of wash.  Now I am off to take down my Christmas tree.  I was going to keep it up until my Mom gets here, but the bottom half is empty because of Dakota so it is coming down!!

Oh yeah my Mommy will be here in 4 days and that makes me extremely happy!!

Until later.

I Love my camera!

So I am totally in love with my new camera.  Since it is so cold outside I have been taking pictures of randome things around the house just because I want to play with it. 

Here are some pictures of my camera, I took them with my other point and shoot which is a Nikon Coolpix which only has 4 mega pixels. 

So there is my camera.  I wanted to do something to show you the difference between the quality of both camera's pictures. 

Meet Billy, he is my desktop garden Gnome.  Since Billy is such a handsome Gnome I thought he would be the perfect subject for this photo shoot ;)

The first picture was taking with the Nikon my old camera.  It was done in the Macro setting (close up). 

Here is the one taking with the Canon. Done at the same distance as the other camera. Such a difference the flash wasn't too much for this picture.  I didn't edit either picture.

So yeah I am in love with my gift.  I think my husband is regretting getting this for me because I am taking pictures of everything...lol.  What can I say I am having fun!!

Until later...

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas :)

The above picture was taking today with my new 12.1 Mega Pixel Canon Power Shot SX20 IS.  It is the only thing I asked for. 

I love taking pictures and I wanted to take a step up from the camera I already have.  I didn't want a professional camera with different lenses and all of that stuff, I am not ready for that yet. 

I haven't finished going through the manual for the camera yet.  For the picture above I just zoomed in and got a great picture.  To the naked eye the moon was just a small speck in the sky. 

Be prepared for lots of pictures. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Rambling.

I am such a horrible blogger, sometimes I wonder why I even do it I only have one reader that I know of (Hi Bridgett) alas I still do it, just for me readers are just the icing on the cake :)

Let's see what has happened in the last few weeks.  Dakota was fixed in November, she has healed up good I think it has calmed her down a little tiny itty bit...lol.  She is so different than Denver was at her age, she had torn up every single one of the dog toys and if all of the tennis balls weren't under the couch she would tear them up too. 

She has been good with the Christmas tree...until today.  She was left alone with Denver today for a few hours and chewed up some Christmas balls.  She should have been put in the crate but she was doing good with being left alone.  You live and learn right?? 

She is also taking a bit longer than Denver did with potty training, but I think we may have it down to 1 accident a day so it is getting better.  She is only 6 months old I am so I am hoping for no accidents sometime soon. 

Ok, enough about dogs because I could go on all night. 

My Mommy will be here in less than 2 weeks, January 3rd to be exact (my bff's b-day too) and I am super excited.  Seriously I call her every night when I get home from work and tell her how many days are left till she gets to see her favorite child...lol.  Out of everyone I miss Mommy the most, and I am afraid the years that we have left to spend together are limited.  I can't wait for the day when I can call my Mom and tell her to pack get her affairs in order she is moving down here with me.  I plan on taking care of her the way she has taking care of me. 

Anywho enough mushiness.  She will be here for a week and I really don't have much planned, I think we may take a day trip to Nashville it's only an hour away.

I am also taking her to Lorretta Lynn's home/ranch/museum whatever it is.  If it wasn't for my Mom I would have never even knew who she was, my Mom loved her and loved her movie Coal Miner's Daughter.  I have watched that movie with my Mom many many many times.  That is just going to be a Mommy/daughter day though. 

The rest of the time she is hear we are just going to hang out.

 I can't wait to see her I know when she I know when she leaves it is going to be hard, but the day after she leaves I have Winter Welcome at school for Freshmen and I have to register for my classes, Yikes!!

My husband scolded me tonight because I do what I always do, try to talk myself out of something.  I am soooooooo scared to be going back to school, I didn't do good at all in high school.  I am also having issues with people telling me I shouldn't go to this school I should go to a community college because it is cheaper, or only go part-time. 

I know the differences between an accociates degree and a bachelors degree.  I don't know about other people but I know for myself I don't want to be going to school for the next 10 years of my life and have nothing to show for it.  I have waited long enough I am going to do this now or never.  I am not going to drag my feet and have regrets. 

I know people don't want me to get overwhelmed.  I am a big girl, I will know what is too much to handle.  I am going to try to go full-time this semester, I know it is going to be rough with a full-time job.  Full time is only 4 classes, 12 credit hrs.  If it is too much I will know for the next semester.  I don't plan on working full time the whole time I am in school.  For the first year an a half it is just my core classes and then some nursing pre-reqs.

Ughhhh anywho I am venting, I just wish people would stop telling me what they think is best.  I have thought about all of this, my husband and I are prepared for this.  We are hoping he can find a job after the new year making more than what I am making so I can quit and focus on school 100%. 

Ok I am done this is long enough. 

Merry Christmas!!!

Bah Humbug?!?!

I don't know what it is with me this year, I normally have all my decorations up by now.  So far I only have the tree done and put out a few table decorations. 

I wanted to get more done today but there just isn't enough hours in the day.

Here are some picutres.

My Christmas tree. I need more decorations and I have a feeling my wonderful husband may have gotten me some for Christmas.

The loveseat, Dakota hopped up as soon as I was about to take the picture. 

Most of the stuff I have out all year long gets put away to make room for the Christmas stuff.

The other end table.

The coffee table.

My next day off is Tuesday and my plan is to pack up the presents that need to be sent to my family.  Then finish putting the decorations up.

More pictures to come.

Outsourced!!

A co-worker of mine posted above comic on Facebook and it is perfect for this post. 

Today the job that I do was outsourced to India, I still have a job I just won't be doing what I am doing now anymore.  Someone in a foreign country is going to be doing my job now, because they will do it for less money. 

This is the third time in a year that one of the specialty teams in my center has been outsourced to India.

 You know what?? I find it utterly disgusting.  Here we are in an economic crisis and we are giving our jobs to people in and from other countries because we can pay them less.  I know in a business sense it is a really great idea, but what it really comes down to is let us pay the people at the bottom of the barrel less so the people on top can get more. 

Yes, I know that isn't what it is all about paying the big wigs top dollar, I know there is a lot more that goes into a business than just who gets paid what.  When you think about it that is how it feels.

I work for a call center corporation that is hired by other companies to take calls for them.  Our client is a pretty popular cell phone company, our call center is one of their Customer Service centers.  The team that I am on is called the Commitment team, I don't take inbound calls I make them.  If a customer calls in and has an issue a commitment is set to have someone research the issue and call the customer back to resolve it. That is what I do. 

As of January 18th I feel sorry for any customer out there that has a commitment set, they will have someone call them back that is going to try to talk to you on the phone in a headset that sucks with a deep Indian accent.  Yeah, I don't see that making to many people happy. 

I hate hate hate when I have to call customer service for something and I end up speaking to someone who doesn't understand me and I don't understand them.  Most of the time when I do I hang up the phone wondering if they really understood my issue. 

I even have that issue when I have to call other departments for issues, because some of our other departments are in India and other countries. 

I am so happy I am going back to school in about six and a half weeks, in an industry that won't be outsourced, I am sure they aren't going to send you to India every time you need to go to the doctor's or hospital.  But, you never know anything is possible. 

What does America even make anymore??  Most of our cars are made in another country and even if they are American made cars, the parts are made in China!!  We need to get our butts in gear and start producing stuff that other countries don't make, or we make better or this country is just going to go down the tubes. 

Bring American Jobs Back!!!