DONE!!!

I just took my last final this evening! I can't believe I made it through my first semester back to school in over 10 years!! And I think I'll do it with a 4.0 GPA, too! The only class I'm worried about is Business Communications because the final was a little hard for me, but after figuring out what I needed on the final to still get an A, I think I will get an A. If I figured it out correctly, I need about 50% (maybe even a little less) on the final to still have an A. :-) I will know my grades for sure next week on Thursday. I am really happy how well I did, even though sometimes it was hard. I think one of the hardest things was my 8-page research paper in Business Communications. But I just did the best I could and I got it back this evening and and got full credit! :-) The research paper is 10% of the final grade (and the final is only 8%). The teacher even wants me to email my paper to her so she can use in future classes. I'm surprised I did that well on it. :-) Jeff says I'm smarter than I give myself credit for... and maybe I am (in some things).

Jeff is all done with his Intro to Education class and thinks he'll get an A in that. After slacking a little bit in his online meteorology class the beginning of this semester, he's been working hard at catching up and he has assignments in one more chapter to do before Thursday, then a final test he'll take on Thursday, then he has till Monday to do as much extra credit assignments as he can.

Jeff and I decided not to take any classes this summer to save up money. We'll be working very hard this summer to clean and organize our place... it needs it super bad! We really need to de-junk, too (DI, here we come!). I can't wait to get more organized! Then Jeff will start taking more credit hours starting this fall (and I'll take one or two classes, depending on how much we can afford).

This Saturday, I will post my first of my monthly giveaways for my jewelry blog (link to it is on the right). When I post it, be sure to enter and be sure to tell all your friends and family, so they can enter and you can get more entries. :-) It'll be fun!

Home Stretch!

I am now down to my last week of my first semester back to school in over 10 years, and I think I'm gonna survive it. :-) My lecture series class (my Friday class) has been over for a couple weeks now... I just need to type up a couple really short papers (like one page... really easy!) and email them to my teacher by Friday evening. Tomorrow is my math class, which will be a review for the final. That final will be next Monday. Then tonight in my Business Communications class, we had a review for that final, which will be next Tuesday. Then I'll be done! Home stretch!!! I know I'll get A's in my lecture series class and my math class. My lowest math test so far has been a 95 and our lowest test score gets dropped. :) My Business Communications grade will depend on how well I do on the 8-page research paper I turned in tonight and the big final. I will know my final grades on May 6, so be prepared for a post about it that day. :-)

3 classes was a little bit of a challenge while working fulltime. So next fall, I'll probably only take 1 or 2 classes depending on how much tuition is for Jeff. I decided not to do anymore loans for me and just pay as we go (for both of us). Re-applying for loans each year is a pain, so I don't want to deal with that anymore. My work has a tuition reimbursement program, so that should help some. We're going to focus on getting Jeff done with school as quick as we can (as quick as we can with him working fulltime as well).

I'm taking this summer off to hopefully save up some money by getting my little jewelry hobby/business going... doing the Promenade in Pleasant Grove with Jeff's mom and sister on Thursday evenings this summer, then hopefully my dad can get into the Provo Farmer's Market which will be on Saturdays. He'll sell his hobby and he said I could sell my stuff with him (if he gets in). Then I'll also start doing monthly giveaways on my jewelry blog (see post below). I am very excited about that!

Monthly Jewelry Giveaways

I have been excited lately to start having monthly giveaways for my jewelry. My classes will end near the end of this month and so I will have more time to make jewelry. I want to get into it more, and I hope these giveaways will help a little. To check out my jewelry blog, click here or click the link on the right side of this page.

Our New "Toys"

Everyone needs to get a "toy" or two every once in a while, right? See previous post of how my parents helped buy a "toy" for Ryan & Rebecca and John & Melissa. We decided to go to RC Willey's and the salesman was really good and told us all about their TV's and what the difference between LCD and plasma was. We decided on a 54-inch flat-screen plasma TV. And the salesman was so good, we even bought a stand to put it on (we needed one anyway) and a Blu-Ray player (which even plays DVD's in better quality). Those three things are all shown in the 2nd and 3rd pictures below. The 2nd picture I took last night. The 3rd picture I took today. Yes, we need to clean the mess from moving TV's and furniture around. This 1st picture is after we moved the entertainment center we had in the living room (and now it's in our bedroom). So that's where over half of kitty's balls went! :-) The balls somehow got behind the entertainment center and underneath it in the back (there's no way they could get underneath on the sides or front). We thought it was funny, so we took a picture of it. And don't worry, we picked up and vacuumed all the dead leaves from a dead plant we had. :-)

Day Off

It's spring break at Utah Valley University (since Wednesday), so I decided to work four 10-hour days and have today off. Monday and Tuesday were very long, going into work earlier than usual and then a class in the evening. Wednesday and Thursday were long days at work, but at least I didn't have class (I don't have class on Thursdays anyway). It was a long 4 days, but now I have today off. It felt nice to sleep in. I want to get some of my homework done today, but I'm a little slow getting it started. I hate writing papers (even one-page letters for my Business Communications class). I'm hoping to get some homework done today so I have less to do tomorrow.

We're going to the temple this evening with Ryan & Rebecca. Tomorrow we're hoping to go shopping with my parents for a really nice big flat-screen TV. They decided to buy a really nice present for all their kids. They bought Ryan & Rebecca a Clavinova (I think that's what it's called?... a keyboard-piano thing). Ryan & Rebecca spent some out of their own pocket since it was more than what my parents helped them with. John & Melissa got a little camcorder. We've decided to get a big TV and possibly spend more than what my parents are helping with so we can get a bigger and nicer one. We'll see how much more we spend. I hate spending money but it's sometimes nice getting "toys". :-)

Me? A Math Whiz?

Well... maybe for the first half of Elementary Algebra. I had a mid-term test yesterday and I feel I did really well on it (maybe even aced it... one can only hope!). We've had 4 regular tests in the class so far and I've had the highest grade on all of them so far. My test scores have been 96, 100, 99, and 100. The teacher takes the 3rd highest test score and makes that 100% (so for the first test, I got a 96 out of 93, I think). My grade so far in the math class (not counting the mid-term) is 104.2%. :-D We'll see how I do in math in the last half of the semester. In high school and college over 10 years ago, math was never my best subject.

I just got a grade update in my Business Communications class this evening. We've done about half the total assignments, and so far my grade is 100.35% in that class. I was very pleasantly surprised by that because some of the assignments are quite difficult and I haven't gotten perfect scores on most assignments. But she has done a few little extra credit things which is why my grade is so high. Since I started this class, I told myself I'd be happy with at least a B. I'll still be happy with that because the harder stuff is yet to come, especially an 8-page research paper I have to write (ugh!).

And just so I don't leave my other class out, I'm making 100% in my lecture series class. Half the grade is based on attendance and the mid-term journal we had to turn in almost 2 weeks ago, I got full credit on (the teacher said she didn't have time to read 60 papers, so she just looked to see that we did it and that we didn't use bullets since she told us not to).

So... wow! I have at least 100% in all my classes so far, but I don't expect them all to stay that high as the rest of the semester will be harder in Math and Business Communications.

February Post

Here's my post for February (the last day of the month). I've been so busy with work and school, I haven't had much time to blog. School is going okay, but it's just gonna get harder... starting now. I had a stressful weekend of homework, but I was able to finish everything by yesterday late afternoon or early evening and was able to relax a little last night and today. And I'm only a math whiz through the first half of elementary algebra. I've been able to get the highest scores on the first 3 tests and with the curve, I currently have 104.5%. But we have another test tomorrow and this chapter is a little harder for me, but I still hope I do okay. Math was never my best subject.

I've had a goal this year of losing 5 lbs. a month and so far, it's been a success! I've lost 10 lbs. since Jan. 1! I plan to keep the weight off this time (unlike after our cruise over a year ago, I gained some weight after losing some for the cruise). If I keep at my goal of 5 lbs. a month, I'll hit my target the end of October. I can't wait! :-)

I am excited for March! That means warmer weather (I hope!). I think Utah's winters are too long! I love love love 50 and 60 degree weather! It's perfect! 70's are good, too, but start to get a little warm. So I like 50's and 60's.

Anyway, I'm off to bed to try to get enough sleep for tomorrow's test!

One Year Ago

Last year at this time, we were on our cruise. A year ago today was our last full day on the ship. You can go to my posts from early last year to see pictures if you haven't seen any, or you can go to my Facebook profile and see pictures there. It was sad when that vacation came to an end. That cruise was my favorite vacation ever and look forward to when we can go on another one (although not sure when that will be, but we definitely will go on another one).

Anyway, I started catching a cold on Thursday, felt pretty sick Friday evening, felt better yesterday, but I'm pretty sick today. I'm hoping with all the liquids (mostly orange juice) I'm drinking and soup that I'll have a little later today, that I'll feel well enough tomorrow to go to work and then I have my first math test tomorrow evening. Being sick is no fun!

Being sick also made me not do one of my New Year's resolutions last week. I didn't have the energy Saturday morning to exercise, so I didn't get my 3 times in for the week. But I think I can make an exception if I'm sick. I'm thinking I'll drop that resolution, though... some weeks it's hard to get in 3 times of exercising, especially if I'm too busy and I need the sleep. I'm definitely keeping the resolution of sleeping at least 7 hours a night for at least 5 times a week. We'll see what happens, though. I still have several other resolutions I'm still doing well with.

Sometimes You Just Need a Day Off

And that's exactly what I had today... a day off. Since today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day (or Human Rights Day as it says in my math schedule we got in class), I don't have class tonight. I was just going to go to work and then come home and work on my memo I have to write for my Business Communications class. But over the weekend, my back has been bothering me, so I decided to take the day off work, too. I worked on my memo and am now relieved that I have all my reading and homework done for Business Communications. Since we only meet once a week, we get quite a bit of reading and homework. I really needed the day off today. Day off's are nice! :-)

So Far So Good

All of my New Year's resolutions are still going good and it's over a week into the new year! I am slowly feeling better (physically and spiritually) by cutting out on sweets and desserts, getting more sleep, exercising more, and reading my scriptures every day (and I will be going to the temple next Saturday).

School is going good so far, I guess. I've only been to 2 out of my 3 classes. My math class won't be too bad, but my lecture series class will be a little harder than I thought. Attendance is half our grade so I need to be to every class. We listen to different speakers (recorded on DVD) about different business issues and we have to write 2 "journals" (one turned in at mid-term time and the other turned in at final time) and also have to write another paper, too. Hopefully it's not so bad. I'm just not good at writing papers. The good thing about that class is that as a class, we were given a choice of going to class every Friday for 50 minutes or every other Friday for twice as long and most of the class chose every other Friday. That will free up half of my Fridays. :-) I probably won't usually have a class on Fridays, but there were only 2 or 3 of these classes and this was the best time to fit around my work schedule. My first Business Communications class is on Tuesday, so we'll see how that class goes (the one I'm most worried about).