Seriously..?

Sometimes I forget I have this blog. Other times I forget on purpose.
I try to write on this blog, as if I were talking to my friends, posting things that I do tell my friends. Documenting memories with photos. But sometimes At the moment, its just another thing to do.
And can I tell you? I'm TIRED.

Tired of going to be, knowing I'll only get five hours of sleep.
Tired of waking up knowing that I have a boat load of stuff to do.
Tired of going home, wanting to chill out and not being able too.
Tired of wondering how I'm going to get the money to pay for school, and other stuff.
Tired of missing out on trips and such like, because of a great lack of money.
Tired of having a house that is constantly in need of cleaning.
Tired of needing to drink caffiene to keep me going.
Tired of fast food.
Tired of the VOLS loosing games. (heehee)
Tired of not being able to hang with my friends like we used to.

BLAH.

But on the flip side. I'm extremely proud of my sister and brother, for making it into the Knoxville Youth Orchestra. They preformed for the first time on Monday evening. Yeah I'll admit to being a little jealous of them, but since they didn't have a pianist anyway, that jealousy would be a bit unfounded.

Part 2 of a Four Part Orchestra 

Weston, Kristen and Kristen's Conductor 

I'm also super excited to have gotten a B on a written test. People, I do HORRIBLY on written tests. This is a known fact for me, even if I think I know the stuff, I do badly. But this time, I don't know, GOD blessed me majorly and I  passed. I was sooooooo happy walking back to my seat with this in hand. Are you kidding me? Totally made my day.

The End.

Seriously..?

Sometimes I forget I have this blog. Other times I forget on purpose.
I try to write on this blog, as if I were talking to my friends, posting things that I do tell my friends. Documenting memories with photos. But sometimes At the moment, its just another thing to do.
And can I tell you? I'm TIRED.

Tired of going to be, knowing I'll only get five hours of sleep.
Tired of waking up knowing that I have a boat load of stuff to do.
Tired of going home, wanting to chill out and not being able too.
Tired of wondering how I'm going to get the money to pay for school, and other stuff.
Tired of missing out on trips and such like, because of a great lack of money.
Tired of having a house that is constantly in need of cleaning.
Tired of needing to drink caffiene to keep me going.
Tired of fast food.
Tired of the VOLS loosing games. (heehee)
Tired of not being able to hang with my friends like we used to.

BLAH.

But on the flip side. I'm extremely proud of my sister and brother, for making it into the Knoxville Youth Orchestra. They preformed for the first time on Monday evening. Yeah I'll admit to being a little jealous of them, but since they didn't have a pianist anyway, that jealousy would be a bit unfounded.

Part 2 of a Four Part Orchestra 

Weston, Kristen and Kristen's Conductor 

I'm also super excited to have gotten a B on a written test. People, I do HORRIBLY on written tests. This is a known fact for me, even if I think I know the stuff, I do badly. But this time, I don't know, GOD blessed me majorly and I  passed. I was sooooooo happy walking back to my seat with this in hand. Are you kidding me? Totally made my day.

The End.

Eleven More Days...

It's 9:39AM

A note randomly posted on the door of my
office 

I'm sitting in my first class of the day, struggling to keep my eyes open and just focused on the computer in front of me. According to one of my classmates we only have 11 more classes before finals. I don't know that I can even last that long to be honest. --->

I've picked up my caffeine addiction again, mainly because its more readily available than other things...that I like I should say.

This semester, my work and school schedule has killed me, normally I work during the week, and have the weekends to "catch up"...not this semester. Oooh no. The majority of Saturday's find me, firmly behind a desk, in front of a computer, and typing in data, for 8-10 hours.

So here I sit, barely alive, wishing I could be at home in my bed. You remember how I said that I was going to use my one day off and do absolutely nothing?

That day was supposed to be this past Saturday. Did it happen? Nope. Are we surprised? Nope. The best part of the whole day was that I was able to get an extra two hours of sleep. The rest? Well... I wound up making a trip to school, to shoot a project for class, then decided to splurge a little and get some fall decoration for my house...

It was fun, until I got home and realized how much I'd spent...which honestly wasn't a lot, but in light of how much I had in my bank account....

Fun Times!

I miss Summer.

Adulthood - And Its Problems

In my very short time as an adult, I have learned this to be a fact: My Issues, are MY issues. 

Be glad this is not a photo of a flea. I thought about it. 

Which works out very well, since I like to think I am a very independent person. However, there are times when I sorely wish I could thrust my problems off onto my parents and let them take care of them.Unfortunately for me, my parents are used to my independent streak, and even if I tell them about problems or struggles I'm having, (life issues etc..) they have other things to do, and normally forget my woes. 


Leaving me to deal with them.
This week, my problem comes in the form of a little brown bug, less than an inch in size and so very annoying. And guess who has to deal with it? There is no running to my parents for help, mainly because they are out of town. There is no asking friends or family to deal with the problem, because honestly.. what can they do anyway? 

Nope, it all rest solidly on my shoulders. 

Now before we go any further, let me say that all my dogs have been treated not once, but twice with  with TWO different flea prevention problems. And we still have fleas. 

I've spent hours googling "natural" ways to rid my house/dogs of fleas, as being a poor college student (who needs to buy her dogs dog food, since they are completely out) I can't really afford to go out and buy a bunch of chemicals. 

I can't say they haven't worked, as for the most part, my furniture and the newly washed and dusted dog sleeping areas, have stayed flea free. However, my bed room (why, why, and why?) has not. Which now that I think about it, really is no surprise, considering, but that's beside the point. 

The point is, that I've realized that its time for me to suck it up, dip into my savings and buy one of those chemical room fogger, bomber thingys. 

Can I digress for a second here? So I'm on Petsmarts website, reading the reviews on some room defogger thingy, and I LOVE the 1 star ratings for the product. According to those who gave the product 5 stars, its supposed to take several DAYS for the chemicals to take affect, yet the 1 Starers, were gripping about their wasted money, after several HOURS!? GRR!! Its people like them, who cause .. what could be unnecessary doubt in a product, because they really DIDN'T follow the directions. 

Back to my point. 

I would Love to call my father to come take care of this problem for me, but the fact is... my father is a city boy, thus not the person to call when you have an insect problem. My mother would be more helpful, but with four other children at home, well its kinda of hard for her to get away. 

So I'm all on my own. 

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. 

.... Update: The house has been treated, Foundation will be supplying me different flea meds for Trump, Capstar and Advantage are sitting in my "cart" on Amazon.. and after a trip to Wally World for extra Flea Killer, I think.. we could win this War in the next two weeks. 

Pray for me? 

Next year we're stopping this before it starts, as soon as the weather warms, I'm going to be out treating the house, all dogs are going to be on Advantage if they live with me, I'm stocking my growing supply of bug-b-gone stuff (yeah sue me, I use chemicals to get rid of bugs) with flea killers, flea collars will also be in supply, to rest in my vacuum cleaners, as well as a ready supply of the Essential Oils. 

If that doesn't keep them away, I'm moving. 

"Natural Flea Solutions" 

Things that Repel Fleas: IME

• Lavender Oil (Sprayed this on myself frequently and wasn't bit until I stopped using it) 
• Peppermint Oil ( Sprayed furniture down with this, and left cotton balls with drops of the oil down in the cracks, seems to have worked great) 

Killing Fleas 

• Diatomaceous Earth (FOOD GRADE!): So I actually caught a couple of fleas, bagged them and dumped this powdery stuff in there to see if it actually worked. I will admit to being a born skeptic at things I find on the internet. The fact is this, it does kill them.. BUT it took about two days. And I resisted the urge to squash the little buggers. Be Proud.  

P.S.( I was hesitant to post about this at first, because I didn't want people to think...well whatever people will think..(aka judge) about me, but the thing is this.. they are bugs and invasions can happen to anyone. So judge away..in the mean time I hope maybe my woes helps someone else.. )

First Day: Fall 2011

<Insert Sigh of Relief >

The Good:

Like all my teachers, have had two out of three instructors in the past and like them a lot!

I was on everyone's rosters which was a concern, as my financial aid hasn't come through yet.. 

New instructor is a very quirky, eccentric fun lady. 

"Halfway through the class Rob stands up and shakes off. The teacher stops talking...peers around and asks "is there anything else alive in here besides us?"

I only have to buy books for "1" class, the others are "optional"! 

All classes seem to fairly straight forward and "easy" 

Only quizzes/tests in 1 class! 

Have some old classmates in at least two of my classes

Having all classes in one
(two times a week) 

Not having to rush home and than to work after class is done, or vice versa!

Rob did AMAZINGLY through the entire day. 

The OK

Having some old classmates in one of my classes

The subject matter in one of the classes (very...Crass shall we say) 

All in all, I think this will be a good semester!

Perhaps we will try the 4.0 thing?

Ack. I'm already getting panicky.

Never Mind.

3.9 than.

That's better. 

:) 

Life as I know it...

Here's the thing, I love my family you know? They're really great peoples once you get to know them. (ducks a shoe comes flying from nowhere) But here's the thing, we're not so great about the whole "communication" thing. 


I don't tell them what I'm doing, they don't tell me what they're doing; and we're ok with that... except when things like this happen. (paraphrased a bit) 


Me: So did you guys get a lot of stuff moved into the new house?
Them (one of them): Yeah all the beds are over there.
Me: Aw so are you guys going to spend the night over there now?
Them: YEAAAh...we kinda of don't have any beds at this house. 
Me: Oh ok.
Them: We're going to have the internet guy come out Monday and hook that up.
Me: Cool. Me: ... Wait so that means you're shutting down the internet here? (which I'm stealing as I can pick it up all the way at my house) TOMORROW!??
Them: Um yess I think so.    
Me: (note not yelling just a wee bit panicky) BUT..BUT..YOU'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO BE HERE FOR THE WEEK!?! (another suprise..they are going leaving town for the week)
Them: Oh! I'm sorry! I don't know what you're going to do. 
Me: <gaping>  What am *I* supposed to do?! 


While I knew this was going to happen at some point, I didn't realize/no one informed me that they were moving for real, for real (they've been working at this for about a month or two now) this weekend or I would have........probably...done nothing since I'm flat broke (hence why the whole stealiage of the parental units internet).


What is the point of this post? 
I know you're wondering, with good reason. 


None really, more of just an this-cant-be-happening-right-before-school-starts-brain-dump. 


If I go to school this semester.


But I'm not stressing about that. No Sirree. 


Not stressed at all. 


*whistles*



Back to the point though: I need my internet!! Honestly what else does one do with nothing else to do? 


Read a book? Cook? Clean my house? Train my dogs? Psht. Parish the thought. 



I'm going to bed. 

Thinking....

Its 11:00PM Friday night, I just got home from hanging out with friends...
In an attempt to be proactive I got online and started looking up classes that I need to take this semester.
Yes I know I've only got two weeks 'til school starts, but I did sign up earlier this year, however the payment date was yesterday, and I turned my financial aid information in ... today..

In an attempt to rectify my procrastination mistake in that I decided to see what I could/couldn't take this semester.

An hour later, my heart is pounding with a little bit of panic.

The available classes and times are all over the place. And the majority offered only at the campus furtherest from my house. 24 miles to be exact.

$$$$$$$$

In order to take a full load this semester my schedule would look like this:

M: (Work 4 hours) (School 2:00 -5:00PM) (Choir 6:30-8:00PM)
T:  (School 9:10-10:30AM + 10:45-12:10AM) (Work 4 hours)
W: (Work  7 Hours) (Church)
Th:(School 9:10-10:30AM + 10:45-12:10AM) (Work 4 hours)
F:  (Work 4 hours) (School 12:25- 3:25)

It would be a tight schedule on a "normal" basis...but the thing is, I have this dog. That's supposed to leave my house, by my side, in his yellow vest at LEAST five times a week. I should also mention, while this dog is welcome at my school, he's not welcomed at my place of employment.

Which means, that I would have to either go and pick him up before school, or drop him before I go to work. IF I I have the time, adding another seventeen miles to my already long trip.

So I've got some decisions to make.

Hard. Tough. Decisions. 

Another thing, in the back of my mind is the idea that perhaps...after two years..its time for me to look at other job possibilities...ones more "friendly" to the idea of having a service dog in training with them, ones with benefits..one that is.. (dare I say it..) Full Time?

One that would allow me to continue to raise without strain..

Cause being a puppy raiser is my life. But at what cost? 

That. Is the question.