July 22. 2014

I learn by writing what I study so more exam notes.

The three parts of MLA citation format
In text citaiton
the purpose of in text citations in MLS format is to help your reader find the correct reference int the works cited list 
Endnotes
MLA style papers may contain notes that allow you to comment on your source material, give references to other relevant sources or provide addition comments
Works cited list
inclusdes all cources you cite in your paper

double space header the title and all the text

centered title

books in print
author names. book title. place of publication: Publisher, year of publication. Medium of Publication
Magazine
Author names. "Title of Article." Magazine Name day mo year: page number. medium of publication
newspaper
author names. "title of article." newspaper name day mo year, edidtion: page number. med of pub
web site sources
author name. "title of web page." title of web site. name on inst or corp site prov. dat of pub, reve, or update. med of pub, date of access

finding a topice
deciding on a purpose and audience
deciding on a topic
narrowing the topic
formulating a research question
formulating a thesis
primary sources
words written or spoken, surveys studies, or intervies, any creative works by the original author, accounts of events by people who were present
seconday sources
news articles
reviews
biographies
documentaries
encyclo entries
other material interpreted

searching librairies and library database
library databases and subscription services
using web resources
itnernet search strategies
serarch engines
metasearch engines
using direcotries
thinking creatively of ways to search
online e books
magazines journals and news media
gov and pub info
online media images art and photo
blogs
firsthand res interviews
surveys

July 21 2014

Exam notes:

prent hall ref gd pgs 1-24

The rhetorical triangle:  topic, writer, audience.

purpose
summarizing, defining, analyzing, persuading, reporting, evaluating, discussing or examining, interpreting, exploring

medium which it will appear

planning researching organizing and outlining drafting collaborating revising editing and proofreading

who, what, when, where, how, and why

types of evidence

divide and conquer

these statement is a main idea or subject of your paper
add qualifying statements

hoc's: purpose thesis audience orginization developement

rubrics

DBR: demonstrates understanding of question, expands discussion, connections to personal understanding, quality and frequency of writing

Posting to a classroom DBR
Consider idea
Described an interesig idea
ask the group a question
disagree
discuss a related issue
describe how you have applied the course concepts
share a related experience
comment on others questions
ask other students questions

DBR rubric highest level:
Response reflects:

an awareness of personal thinking
an openess to adopting alternative perspectvives
the ability to analyze differing perspectives
ability to construct support
an effective interpretation of info
an effective synthesis of info

how to write a readers response

What does text have to do w/u

how much does text agree or clash w/ view of world and right wrong

how did you learn views and opinions challagned or changed

does it address things that are important to your family etc.

positive critique

MLA format

Modern language association

parenthetical ref's authors last name w/pg# at end of sentence and before period, plaace after long quot's which are indeted one inch from left are placed after the sent and after period.

works cited at end of paper  use full names f/l and mid init of auth

 capatilize all major words in bood and periodical titlle, titles in italics, enclose article and chapt titles

give full pub info alphabitized by authors last name

in text citations

notes

works cited list

how to email a professor

how to survivie an online class

to follow directions

youll thank me laters

freewriting

how to mark a book

bird by bird

king on writing

be cool to the pizza dude

always go to the funeral 

leaving identity issues to other folks

a grown up barbie

shitty first drafts

considering the audience 

how to say nothing in 50 words

the makers eye

who is driving

wrtiting a paper?

8 more resarch tips

how to write a college paper

snoops devil dog

no compromise

building a mystery

What is a thesis

website evaluation checklist

                                                  sections 4-8 of prentice hall ref gde

11  comma splices and fused sentences are puncuation problems in comp sent there are three patterns for commas and semicolons in compounds sentences

a. ind clause and ind clause

                     but

                     for

                    nor

                     or

                     so 

                    yet

b. ind clause; ind clause

c. ind clause however ind clause

                     therefore

                     moreover

                     consequently etc.

commas in compound sentences: use a comma when you join two indpdnt clauses

seven connectors: for, and, nor, but , or, yet, so

 don't put commas before every and in your sentence

if you dont use any connecting words youll need a semicolon

the comma splice is a punc error that can occur in one of two ways pg 118

fused or run on sentences is a punc error that occurs when there is no puncuation between ind clauses clauses are fused

12  subject verb agreement occurs when the subject and verb ending agree in number and person

 singular and plural subjects 

buried subjects

compund subjects

or and either/or in subjects

clauses and phrases as subjects

indefinites s subjects

collective nouns and amounts as subjects

plural words as subjects

titles comp names words and quotes as subs

linking verbes

there is/are here is/are and it

who which that and one of as subjects

13  sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence

unintentional fragments

intentional fragments

14   dangling modifier is a word or word group that refers to a word or phrase that has not been clearly statedin the sent. when an introd phrase does not name the doer of the action the phrase then refers to the subject of ind clause that follws

15   parallel structures involves using the same grammatical form or sturcture for equal ideas in a list or in comparison.  the balance of equal elements in sent helps show the realtinshp betw ideas. often the equal elem repeat words r sound.

16   consistency   ( avoiding shifts)

consistency in writing using the same pronoun person and number, verbe tense, tone, voice, and inderect or direct form of discourse.

17  faulty predication occurs when the subject and the rest of the clause (the predicate) don't make sense

18  coordination and subordination   when an independent cluse is added to another ind clause to from a sent, both clauses are desc as coord 

19 sentnece clarity

old new info

posit instd of neg statmnts

avoid dble neg

using verbs inst of nouns

making the intend sub the sent subj

using active instead of passive

20 transtitions

pronouns 

transitional words and phrases

transtitions in and between prag

21  sentence variety

combining sent

adding words

changing words phras clauses

22  verbs

verb phrases

verb forms

past tense

future stense

irregular verbs

verb voice tells whether the verb is int the active or passive voice

verb mood tells whether it expresses a fact or opinion

23  nouns and pronouns

singular plural and collective

nound endings

pronouns take the place of a noun

personal pronouns

demo pronouns

relative pronouns

interrogative pronouns

indefinite pronouns

 possesive pronouns

reflexive pronouns

reciprical pronouns

24  pronoun case refers to the form of the pronound needed in a sentence

subject case

object case

possesive case

pronouns in compound construction

pronoun reference is the relationship between the pronound and the nound antecedent for which it is substituting

pronound number

compound subjects

who/which/that

indefinite words

indefinte pronouns

25   adjectives andadverbs describe or add information about other words in a sentence  adjectives modify nouns and prnouns          adverbs modify verbs, adj, and other adverbs

the articles a/an/the precede noouns.

comparisons

26   prepositions

commong prepositions

idiomatic prepostiitions

other prepositions,, among, between, compared to compred with could have different from off should have

27   subjects       the subject of a sentence is the word or words that indicate who or what is doing the action of active verbs

28   phrases         a phrase is a group of related words w/o a subject and complete ver

29 clauses      a clause is a group of related words that has both a subject and a complete verb.   a sentence can have one or more clauses

ind clauses

dependent clauses

adj clauses

adv clauses

30 essential and non essential clauses and phrases     an essential clause or phrase appears after a noun and is essential to complete the meaning of the sentence    an essential clause or phrase cannot be moved to another sent or omitted bacuse of the meaning fo the sent would chagne

31 sentences    a sentence is a group of words that has at least one ind clause and expresses a relatively complete thought.

32 style versus grammar

33 general and specific language

34 glosaary of usage pg 222

35 conciseness and wordiness

36 passive verus active voice

37 unecessary and innaprop language    cliches are overused expressions that no longer communicate effectively

38  appropiate language   standard english

39 nonsexist language  it is wise to avoid offending reader by using language that seems to favor one sex over the other

40 commas

commas in compound sentences

commas after intro words phrases and clauses

commas w/ essen and nonessen words phra and clau

commas in a series or list

commas w/dates adresses geographical names and numbers.

uneccassary commas

41  apostrophes with possesives

try this

the day's effort = the effort of the day

first wirte the word

then write the plural

then add the possesive apostrophe marker

thus everything to the left of the apostrophe is the word and its plural if needed.

is the first word descriptive word rather than the owner?

 42 semicolon is a stronger puncuation mark than a comma, is almost like a period

semiclns in comp sent

seme in a series

seme w/ quot marks

unnecassry semi

43 colons   the colon is used to call attention to words that follow it

44 quotation marks with direct quotations of prose poetry and dialouge

45 hyphens to indicate that part of a word  appears on the next line

to form comp words

to join word units

to join prefices suff and letters to a word

46 end puncuation 

periods

quest mark

exclamation point

47 other punc

dashes

slashes

parenthesis 

brackets

ellipsis... (omitted words)

                                                           reasearch tab of prentice hall ref gd

61  finding a topice

62   choosing a primaary  and secondary source

63 searching libraries and library databases

64  using web resources

65 conducting firsthand research

66 evaluating sources

67 collecting information

68   using sources and avoiding plagiarism

           i hope this note taking isnt plagiarism

69    writing the research paper

July 20, 2014

When my family and I went to Lake Wapapello in south east Missouri we had the best time. The first day we rented a boat and spent the day fishing, we didn't catch much but it sure was fun. The girls still remember everything we did and what fun they had.  There was a pool there and at night no one was in it but us, we played pool volley ball.  The cabins had kitchens with everything we needed so we didn't have to spend a ton of money on going out to dinner. The bedrooms were pretty tiny but we didn't care, we were at the lake!  My daughter's didn't mind putting worms on the hooks at all when we went fishing, this surprised me. They did have a nice restaurant there that we met my husband's family and had a really nice dinner. This had been my first time staying in a cabin at the lake and I would go again in a split second.  There were fireworks the next night and they were beautiful. When they went off they would reflect off of the lake and made for an awesome sight. There was a grill there and my husband cooked the tiny little fish that my daughter's caught, they were so proud that they caught fish for our dinner, we had a lot of side dishes that night. I would love to go back again some day now that they are older, maybe we could catch some bigger fish this time for dinner.

July 19, 2014

We had a bonfire in our backyard tonight.  It was the first time that we did that and we have lived in this house for 15 years.  It was really nice.  Why haven't we done this before now?  Silly how you appreciate something so much that is so simple.  Sitting by a crackling fire roasting hot dogs and talking and laughing with your family makes for a very nice evening.  No cell phones, no video games, no computers, just us and the fire. While looking at the back of my house, I really became very thankful for it and was thinking how nice it really is.  It's not the biggest or the best but it is really nice to have my own home. I am so very blessed and grateful for all that God has brought into my life.  My oldest daughter is coming home tomorrow and I am so happy!!!  Yeah!!! I have missed her dearly but I fear she may not be living at home much longer.  She has found someone that she really cares about but he lives in Oklahoma.  You can do a long distance relationship for only so long.  I have personal experience with that very thing.  When I met my husband he lived 250 miles away and that was really hard to be that far away from him.  But who knows if this is the one, she is still very young.  I want her to be happy but I want her to make a good choice.  I can't live her life for her but I can guide her and support her the best way that I know how. School starts pretty soon for my youngest daughter, she will be in 7th grade.  I can't believe how fast she has grown up.  She will be in band camp next week at her school and she is not looking forward to getting up early.  She will also be cheer leading this year, something tells me I am going to be very busy with parades and games. 

Assignment 7.6-Fluency Journal/Blog Reflection

My blogging successes have been that I have been able to do this everyday with a different subject every day.  Coming up with a new blog everyday is quite taxing on the brain.
 The challenges have been to keep my blogs interesting and just how personal should they be?  As Ms. A. said you don't want to invade your own privacy.
 I liked how it felt like therapy sometimes.  Just getting out what you don't talk about to a lot of people, because it's too sad or frustrating. The letter to my dad was very hard, but I wanted to do it, especially after reading Joshua's letter to his friends.
I hated trying to keep it fresh every day.  After a long day at work it was hard some days to sit down at the computer and compose a blog out of thin air.  Just who looks at these blogs anyway?  What makes a blog successful?
As a writer I have learned to not include so many useless words that don't make sense or clog up the sentence. I found myself using the word just a lot, and I have stopped doing that as much as possible. I have learned that after researching what I am talking about makes it easier to write about it. I don't think that I have gotten better and what I mean by that is you either have the talent to write really good and interesting blogs or books or essay's or you don't.  I don't possess that type of writing ability, as hard as I tried to write with flair, the harder it became. My vocabulary is too limited and I am working on that with apps and internet searches.
This was the first time that I blogged and the process of creating the initial profile and setting up the page was pretty easy for not knowing what I was doing.  I can see how someone could create a business with a blog, there are many people that have made a career out of it, I don't think I am that creative but what a great business to have.  You could work from literally anywhere.

July 18, 2014

In the last days of my dad's life he had to go to a lot of doctor's appointments and I took him to all of them.  On one trip to the doctor he divulged some personal information that to this day I  can not figure out why he thought I needed to know this, while driving to one of his appointments it was really quiet in the car and my dad said, "You know what?", and without thinking too much about it I said, "What?, and he said, "I am wearing a big ole diaper."  What do you say to that?  Did he need me to know this for some reason?  Why did I need to know that he had become incontinent?  In my entire life time, he never revealed anything personal to me.  Why that?  Soon after that he had to have a surgery on his neck, he was losing the ability to walk.  He barely made it through the surgery and he ended up in the ICU for a long time.  When he was being discharged we were given the option of taking him home or to put him in a home. He told us to never put him in a home so we honored that request. Upon discharge I was given instruction on how to take care of him.  How to give him shots for his diabetes, how to check his blood sugar, how to work the feeding machine that he was hooked up to and how to get him in and out of bed and lots of other things.  I was completely overwhelmed with crushing his medicine every day to put in his tube and checking his sugar and helping him out of bed and everything else that I had to do at home.  Why did I think that I could do this?  One time while I was transferring him out of his bed into his wheelchair and the transport sling tipped over and he ended up in the floor.  That was the hardest moment in my life.  I dropped my dad!  For the longest time I kicked myself over it.  Then one day after he had passed away, I was at a friends house telling her that story and I laughed until I cried.  The whole ordeal seemed hysterical when I explained it to someone else. Funny how that works. 

July 17, 2014

Free writing excercise.
This has been an exhausting week.  I am so ready to sleep.  I have one more day until the weekend.  My youngest daughter got her first babysitting job this week.  I am so proud of her.  She has worked so hard to get this.  First she attended a babysitting class at Cox South, then she made and printer flyers to hang around town, then she made and passed out her own business cards.  All of that work paid off and a lady here in town gave here a job babysitting and she wants her to take care of their pets while they are gone for the weekend.  She is only twelve and already has her own business.  My oldest daughter has been in Oklahoma with here friend and her friends family.  They live at the lake and she has had the best time.  I miss her dearly and can't wait for her to be home.  Work has been so busy this week and I've been working late.  I need to clean my house so bad.  My husband has offered to help with all of that this weekend.  I love him. I need to do laundry too. I like to do laundry. I can think and plan and clear my head in the laundry while folding clothes. I like to vacuum too.  I painted the inside of my entire house a few years ago and some of the places on my walls need painting again. That is a lot of hard work.  I have lost 30 pounds since April, Yeah!!!!  I need to loose 90 more, the hard work will be worth it, it is truly the best thing I can do for my health.  I a pretty healthy, I just need to get this weight off.   Done.

July 16. 2014

There are hundreds if not thousands of books that I want to read.  When on earth am I going to find time to do this?  I love all books and my mom would go to garage sales and buy bags of books and I would read them all. Those were mostly children's books and would keep me entertained for hours. As a teenager I read mostly series books like westerns and mystery books. In my twenties I read a lot of romance novels, mostly by Danielle Steel. In my thirties was a lot of books by comedians like Bill Cosby, also a lot of autobiographies. Some of them were Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn. The funny thing about that is that I don't like country music, but the autobiographies are fascinating. Of course there is the all time favorite, the Bible. Now, I read a lot of news from news apps on my Ipod. I really enjoyed the articles and stories in our Power of Language Book.  I would like to read a lot more of the classics.  If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. Where do you start?  I started to read Moby Dick.  I just couldn't stay with it.  I will try again though. I read all of the Harry Potter books and yes I loved them.  I read all of the Lion, Witch and Wardrobe series and yes I loved all of those too.  I have read countless books to my children.   A lot of Dr. Suess and a lot of Sesame Street.  I love the Olivia series. My oldest daughter's favorite was Sarah's Unicorn. We read that book until the binding fell apart.  My youngest daughter's favorite was Love you Forever. Reading to my children every night was the best times that I spent with my children.  We would laugh so hard some times that we couldn't breathe. It was hard to get them to go to sleep when that was going on. I hope they read to their children also.

July 15. 2014

I started my day taking my daughter to the babysitter then myself to work.  After 4 hours of work I drove the 1/2 hour back to the babysitters to to get my daughter to take her to the doctor.  Then back to work for 4 and 1/2 more hours of work.  Then home to do homework.  I am very tired and it is getting later and later before I am getting to bed these days.  The assignments have me stressed to the max, I really want to do a good job.  I think this is normal for college students everywhere.  I was talking to my co workers about it and they all said the same thing.  College was really hard plus work, plus taking care of children.  One of them is a single mom, works full time and got her nursing degree.  WOW!  I really have nothing to complain about.  I think there are very few students that don't work, most of my friends children all work to help pay for books and gas.  So the cycle goes on and on.  I know this will be worth it in the end, I already have more confidence in who I am just with this one class. I have wanted to attend college for many, many years and this is my chance, and I don't want to ruin it.  I can and will make this work, it's just that some days are way harder than others.  Having a degree will only increase my chances of advancing in my career at the hospital.  Pay is important, but the pride that I will have will mean a lot more to me.  My children are proud of me and that means the world to me.  Having the root for me helps a lot when I'm down to the wire.  The head of my department at work is supportive also, that will keep me going also.  I don't want to let any of them down.  Back to work.

July 14, 2014

I would like to find a church to go to.  The church that I attended for over 20 years closed.  The pastor shut the doors and that was that.  It was awful to say the least.  The pastor that closed the doors had taken over for the original pastor and she wreaked a lot of havoc in a lot of people's lives that to this day some are still trying to get through.  The worst was the children didn't understand and grieved over the loss for quite some time. Most of them went there from the time that they were born. I saw it coming but couldn't do anything to stop it, the building belonged to her and our hands were tied.  It sits empty now with grass grown over the parking lot and looking terrible.  It was kept really nice for all of those years and now.......nothing.  Maybe we put too much stock into this person, we all knew something was not quite right but wanted our food pantry, clothing panty, youth group, tent meetings, Christmas Toy Drives, Easter play, to go on forever.  I did anyway.  Where am I supposed to go now?  I've tried several other churches and none of them are what we had.  The small group of 3 families that still hang out together would like to have our own building, but there is no way we can afford an extra payment.  I pray something comes along that will help us.  We are always looking for direction and hope it comes soon.  It's been almost five years since the doors closed and I still find myself crying over it now and again.  It was the reason that I moved to Missouri, it was where I met my husband.  It was pretty awesome in its time.  Faith is hard to find these days, but I haven't stopped looking.  I just wish I knew why this had to happen this way?  There may never be an answer, that I will have to accept, but in the mean time, I will keep looking. 

July 13, 2014

My favorite meals are cooked by my husband. I haven't had anything in any restaurant that can compare to his cooking.  The best one is his crab cakes with yum-yum sauce, some of you know what this sauce is.  He serves this with fried rice and it is awesome!  His newest recipe is enchiladas with slow cooked pork loin, a huge favorite with our friends.  He can cook, grill, bake, broil and it is all very good.  His pecan pies are amazing and his latest, key lime pie, WOW! His cooking skills have gotten better and better every year and he is constantly watching cooking shows and learning new techniques.  When he sees a recipe that he really likes from one of the shows, he will cook it that night. The problem with this is I am trying to loose weight and so is he, so he is trying more baked and grilled recipes with fish and chicken and lots of vegetables.  He wants to try sushi, I hope he does, I Love Sushi!  He would love to open his own restaurant and cook full time, maybe one day, but his family and friends will enjoy his talent for now. The funny thing is that he didn't start cooking until after we were married, maybe that speaks volumes about my cooking, which is really not that good and I do not like cooking, so this works out really well.

July 12, 2014

My Favorite Apps

I do not have an Iphone, I have an Ipod because I don't have to pay for a data plan that way.  My favorite apps on it are:

1.  The camera app. The pictures aren't the best quality but it is always with me and I can capture the best moments with my family on it and send them where ever I want to.  When I post them on Facebook my husband's parents can see the grand kids at their sports events or school programs

2.  The email app. I can look at my email and send them anytime I need to wherever there is Wifi, and nowadays it's almost everywhere. 

3. The utilities app. Yes, I use the calculator when doing my bills. The contacts app allows me to take all of my friends and families information wherever I go.  You never know when your going to need them.

4.   My news apps, CNN, KSPR, KOLR10, KYS NEWS, FOX NEWS, The Washington Post, The Onion, Time Mobile,Flipboard, Stumbleupon and NPR news.  I could read the news all day long and never get bored.  If any body knows of any other good news apps, let me know.

5.  Word of the Day.  I Love Words!  The written word has changed history, it has changed lives, and will live on forever, now matter how advanced we become as humans. Today's word is inveterate. This means old; firmly established by long continuance; of long standing; obstinately deep-rooted; as an inveterate disease.

6.  Pintrest.  No deep thought required, just fun entertainment. 

July 11. 2014

Schools That I Have Attended

The first school that I attended was Beyer Elementary.  My first teacher was Mrs. Larson, she was so sweet and kind to us.  I remember painting on an easel, probably because it was so much fun.  Nap time was not my favorite.  Out library was in the middle of the school.  The classes were all around the edge and the library was in the middle out in the open and could be accessed from any class.  I loved books even then and when we checked them out they were stamped, not scanned.  My fourth grade teacher was Mrs. Gustafson, she was the best teacher I had.  She made it a point to praise her students and spend time with them individually as much as she could.  She made me want to learn more and for a teacher that says a lot.  My fifth grade teacher was Mr. Rimbey, he drove an old car that was remodeled and I remember it had wood side boards. My next school was Lincoln Junior High.  That was a huge difference from elementary.  It was my first experience with changing classes.  Oh the anxiety of it all.  That much I do remember.  A different teacher with every class was foreign to me, so the whole experience was a little confusing most days until I got the hang of it.  It was four stories and massive  Then came High School at East High School.  It was exciting and scary at the same time.  It was even bigger than the junior high.  I had a really good counselor.  He took the time to talk with me whenever I needed to and really listened and tried to find the solution to whatever problems I was having in my classes.  It was four years of a lot of work, but worth it all in the end. 

July 10.2014

List of colors.

Blue.  My favorite color of blue is the sky. Nothing can compare to nature's color pallet.
Purple.  This is my favorite color.  Plum to be exact. It is the one color that I look at and it makes sense.  It looks grounded to me. Like a color that you can depend on. I know this probably doesn't make any sense, but it does to me.
Yellow. Can't get any more perfect than the sun.
Green.  I like hunter green.  I like earthy colors.
Black.  Goes with everything.
White. A classic white button up shirt can be dressed up or down, with short or long sleeves.  I love clothes.
Brown.  This reminds me of chocolate.  Brownies, to be exact. Yum.
Red.  The best color of confidence that there is.  If you need a WOW color, go with red.
Beige.  Boring, but classically beautiful.

July 9, 2014

Dear Dad:
I can't believe that I miss you.  I don't understand it at all.  I dreamed about you after you passed. I am sure you already know that though.  In the dream we were hugging each other goodbye and when I woke up I could still feel your arms around me.  This is making me cry thinking about it.  This was a week or so after you passed so when I woke up, I was going to tell you about it until I realized, I couldn't and that made me cry even more.  There is so much to tell you.  Sid is 12 now and going into Junior High, Amanda graduated, I wish you could have been there.  Sid is an artist and you would love her drawings and paintings, they are beautiful.  Nick in High School this year and very tall, you wouldn't believe it.  There have been many times that I wish I could talk to you and, again, I don't know why.  Amanda still loves to sing and she did a solo at Christmas her senior year.  I couldn't grieve in front of the girls after you passed.  I think that made it twice as hard.  When you can't grieve, it lasts longer.  I avoid talking to you, the anger gets in the way.  Sometimes it overwhelms me and I have to let it go somehow, so I avoid talking to you.  I think I make it harder on myself than it should be, this letter helps.  A lot, more than I thought it would.  I don't know why I am sharing this, it seem so personal but necessary.  I guess I am just letting it out.  I haven't done that up to now.  I am not supposed to love you or miss you or grieve over you..................but I do.  Why?

July 8, 2014

Jobs That I Have Had

My first job was a news paper route.  The papers would come to my house everyday and I would roll them up put them in a 2 sided bag that I would slip over my head and deliver them after school to 30 or 40 houses in my neighborhood.  I made some good tips every now and then.  I met my first boyfriend on that paper route. I was 15 and he was entirely way too old for me, but I was completely infatuated. His last name was Martinez and I can not remember his first name.  He asked me out to the movies and I thought I would faint right there.  Clearly, I was way too young, but I did not care.  We went to the movies and seen Kramer vs Kramer.  NOT a date movie.  But alas, during the movie was my first kiss from a boy.  Needless to say that did not last long and he moved away.  I thought I was talking about jobs that I have had.  On to the next job, this was babysitting, I did not like those jobs at all. I was hired by a young couple one summer to clean the house, cook the meals, and babysit the kids.  This job was Ok, it payed really well and they really like my house cleaning skills.  The next job was after high school, I worked at Long John Silvers for a year.  After that job, I knew that I was not going to work in a restaurant  for the rest of my life.  Right around that time I met my first husband, yes, clearly I was too young to be married.  When that ended, I went back to school and received a certificate in Office Technology and the school that I went to got me my first secretarial job at Blue Cross Blue Shield and I have been a secretary ever since.  Typing, filing, payroll, accounting, billing, I have done it all and I love it.  I would not have stuck with this field this long if I didn't. I am currently a secretary at a hospital in Springfield and I'm getting a degree in Health Information Technology to further my career in the medical field.

July 7, 2014

Words
Learning, Reading
Gives us knowledge
Perplexed, Uneducated, Curious, Determined
Enlightenment.

I love words.  I Love reading.  I love learning.  My problem is that I do not know enough words and their meanings.  I really feel that this is a handicap in a lot if situations.  Expressing yourself should be easy, but not for me.  I get tongue tied and frustrated because sometimes I cannot find the right word.  Words can make reading sound like music and create the most beautiful stories and the best essays, if you know enough of them.  They can expand the mind and help you in all kinds of public situations, if you know enough of them.  When I read I try to remember the most interesting words like, juxtaposition, ( I just looked the meaning of that word up), differential, (I looked that one up to and I still don't know what it means), abstract, colloquial, existentialism.  Aren't these beautiful words?  I love them all and more.  The more I am learning, the more I am realizing how much I don't know.  I think I will put a dictionary beside my bed and use if for night time reading.  I read every night, it is my zen.  There is a another word I love, zen.  I just thought of another tool, I could use, a thesaurus, doesn't that word explain what that book is perfectly?  I hope to achieve a better balance in my thought process by learning more words.  Sometimes my mind is all over the place and I cant' bring it all together.  Learning the cinquain has really helped me.  I like that word too, although Microsoft Word does not recognize this as a word. I  wonder why.  I have looked it up several times to make sure I'm spelling it right, and it is in Wikipedia.  I love Wikipedia, it is so thorough.  I am going to find if there is an app for a new word a day, I am sure there is.  There is an app for everything. 

July 6, 2014

Ice Cream
Cold, Creamy
Tastes Really Good
Happy, Satisfied, Joyful, Blessed
Bliss


Ice Cream is the perfect food, or whatever you want to call it.  It is very versatile because it can be sweet and salty, it's all in what you add to it.  There are hundreds of flavors but nothing will beat just plain chocolate.  We all have our favorites and just saying the word ice cream makes you smile. First, here is a little history about ice cream from the website, Ice Cream Alliance. (there is a website for every thing).   The earliest evidence of anything approaching ice cream being made was in China in the Tang period (A.D. 618-907). Buffalo, cows' and goats' milk was heated and allowed to ferment. This 'yoghurt' was then mixed with flour for thickening, camphor (yes camphor!) for flavour and 'refrigerated' before being served. King Tang of Shang had a staff of 2,271 people which included 94 ice-men. How did they come up with this recipe?  This does not sound like the ice cream that we eat today thank goodness.  It  has come a long way and brings joy to who ever eats it. It is what brings screams of joy when brought out at birthday parties.  Believe me I have thrown a lot of birthday parties and kids like ice cream a lot more than they do cake.  Over the years the cakes for my children's birthday parties have gotten smaller because of this knowledge.  The cakes are cool to look at but ice cream was always the favorite.  I have an ice cream recipe that I make with ice cream sandwiches, peanuts, fudge, caramel and cool whip that has been requested many times for the dinner parties that I go to. What is your favorite flavor that makes you happy every time you think about it?

July 5, 2014

I am thankful for:
My life; everyday is an unwrapped gift.
My family, my husband and children are the reasons that I am happy and enjoy my life everyday.
My job.  I work at a hospital in a great work environment with some pretty awesome people.
My car.
My home.  No other place like it one earth.
My bed, because I am so very tired right now.
My friends.  I have two best friends.  How blessed is that?
The chance to go to college.
The country that I live in and the freedom that I have.
My health.
Laughter.
Love
Flowers
Ice Cream
Pizza

July 4.2014

English 101 is my first College class in my life.  Considering that I have lived half of my life already, it seems like a late start, but this class feels like I have started my life over and I have a whole new future to look forward too.  This may sound a little dramatic but I have looked forward to college for many years so I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can.  There are many reasons why I have waited this long, mostly financial, but fear lies at the base of all of the reasons.  So far, this has been hard but rewarding work.  The curiosity of wanting to know what it was like to attend college all of these years drives me forward through all of the assignments.  The excitement of all of it is still new and I am sure will wear off in time, but I hope it lasts long enough for me to want to finish my degree.  I never thought I was capable of doing college level classes, let alone hanging in there long enough to graduate.  But this class has given me confidence that I didn't know I had.  Ms A. has been very helpful and I really like the personal touches to her assignments that encourage us to keep going.  I want to excel in all of the classes that I take, and that will take a lot of hard work, but I don't want to waste this experience.  I want it to mean something other than just a degree.  I want to set an example for my children.  Also, just to prove to myself that I could do it all along.  A bad start in life does not mean it has to end badly.  I want different for myself and for my family. 

July 3, 2014

Vacations
Fun, Relaxing
Creates good memories
Excited, Relaxed, Reflective, Joyous
Adventure


When I was younger my family would go to Indianapolis on vacations to go see the Indy 500.  Clearly my dad picked where we would go, because he had all girls and these trips were not nearly as much fun as the demolition derbies at the county fair. I don't remember a lot about going except that it was very loud and when we got older we could walk around by ourselves and visit other families on vacation there.  We went to Old Faithful once. When the geyser shot out of the ground it was amazing and scary at the same time.  I also remember the geyser with the sulfur smell, that was awful.  We went to the House on the Rock in Wisconsin,  I remember the walk up to the house was very steep, and the tour lasted forever.  I liked the doll house collections that were on display and my dad enjoyed the old gun collections. We went to Mackinac Island and visited the Grand Hotel.  It was truly majestic, the massive white pillars were like tall giants when your looking at them at 10 years old.  My husband, children and I went to Disney land a few years ago.  We visited a different theme park every day.  We rode rides, walked through the exhibits and looked at every animal. There is now way that you could see and do everything. It was exhausting.  I loved being with my family every day at the most amazing theme park in the United States but by the end of every day we could barely move. The last day in Florida we went to Daytona Beach.  It was the first time that I had seen the ocean.  You can't believe your eyes when your looking at it.  It was like what you would see in a dream to me. The horizon seemed to pull you in and the sound of the waves coming in sent you in to a hypnotic state of relaxation.  We did not want to leave that day.  My daughters loved looking for seashells and playing in the water.  All of this talk about vacations make me want to take one now. 

July 2, 2014

My husband is an excellent cook.  I, on the other hand, am not.  I do not like to cook.  I like to bake, not cook.  He would give anything if he could quit his job and open his own restaurant, but things like our mortgage and other bills are kinda priority right now.  His best meal is crab cakes, they are insanely good.  When we friends over, he cooks huge meals for them and they absolutely love them.  So do I because I don't have to cook.  His cooking skills get better with every new recipe he tries and his favorite thing to watch is cooking shows.  He will see something that he likes on one of the shows and buys the ingredients and will cook it that night.  I am in awe of his talent.  He is a truck driver now and wishes he could be home more to cook for his family and friends.  My children do not look to me for any amazing meals like he can cook, but that is just fine with me, because as I said, I do not like to cook.  It's funny how life works out like it does.  Why do some people  have jobs that they go to everyday that they  would rather not be doing and their passion in life is left to the wayside. I have heard of this time and again and when you ask why not do what you love and the answer is mostly because they are committed to all that they have in their life and there is no extra funds for anything else.  I hope he continues to cook, he is making those wonderful crab cakes this weekend for his friend that just came home from the hospital so she does not have to worry about dinner for her family one night.  He's Awesome like that.  

July 1, 2014

Sometimes when I'm blogging it feels like therapy.  So I decided to look this up and sure enough there are many, many articles on this.  From what I understand, it gives you a chance to let it all out, but this can be done in a good way.

Here is a quote from, We Blog Better.com, written by Margaret Keely, "What I have learned from blogging is that it gives you time to reflect on the things you are writing down, giving you a clearer perspective on the real underlying issue."  This sounds pretty much what it feels like to me too.
As I am blogging, my mind is racing about what I'm blogging about and what it means to me.  When trying to come up with blogging ideas, I am searching my mind and going over my past, my future, what I like, what I don't like.  Then it will rest, so to speak, on what I want to blog about, and it all spills out in 300 words or more.Today it rested on how much it feels like therapy.  I find myself thinking during the day about what I want to blog about that night.

Another quote from the article mentioned above is , "Everything does not require a professional to solve problems that persist in our lives. We sometimes just need to let it all out, whatever it is that bothers us." This makes total sense to me.  I can see now why people like to do this.  When you just let it out, you are thinking about how to solve it or how to deal with it.  Anything that can make my life better I am all for.  When starting this blogging assignment I had no idea that this could be part of it.  I wasn't too sure that I would keep this blog after this class was over, but now I am rethinking that decision.