What's in the way?

What is in my way?????? I have to work today until 6 pm. Normally not a big deal but I have homework that is due Sunday. I would like to get it done today because the O'Reilly Street Machine Nationals is this weekend and I want to go. I will probably go anyway but then my homework will suffer some because I will be in a hurry. Also my family will suffer because beside the Street Machine Nationals I will not be able to spend anytime with them this weekend...I will be to busy doing homework. I wish I didn't have such a busy life so that so many things wouldn't be in the way of school. However, looking back I really don't think I would change much...okay I would change a few things but not a lot. I would really like to not be working and just focus my time on school while the kids are in school. I could take a couple of extra classes and get the classes done and the majority of all the school work done while they are in school. Then I would only have to spend one or two evenings on school work and I could spend more time with them. I could also finish school a LOT faster. Right now I should be graduate college at the same time my daughter graduates high school...not a fun idea when you think of it like that. But that is what happens when you can only take one to two classes per semester and none in the summer. Unfortunately, life throws us curves so I am not unlike many other college students in trying to balance it all. I'm not complaining really, although it feels like it, I'm just simply stating that work is in my way.

Habits...

I'm not sure what to write about this. The teacher wants us to write about one of our habits. I don't really think "habits" have as much to do with a person as does their personality traits.I am completely stumped on this writing blog. I would rather write about personality traits. I think that has to do with wheather or not a person becomes successful in life.

I am determined. My husband teases me because if I want something I will not let go of it until I get it. I am smart about it though. I don't want something that I believe is compeletly unrealistic. Everything I want and I fight for I truely belive that I can achieve it. I have achieved many goals in my life through tough DETERMINATION!

I wanted to have two children, my husband only wanted one. He said we could not afford to have two children. I matched his challenge and I proved to him that we could afford to have two. Because of that I have two children.

I was tired of my job, in the past. I worked crazy hours seven days a week. I decided that I wanted a Mon-Fri 8-6 job. I worked hard to find one and I got one. I had to change careers but I got what I wanted.

I decided that I was tired of not working my dream job. So I searched for a job in childcare. I found one that I liked and that let me keep my mon-fir 8-6 days/hours. I changed careers again. This time my husband was not sure it was the right choice. It involved a large paycut and benefits but I was determined that this is what I wanted. I have never looked back. To me this was the right decision.

I wanted to go to college. I was always regretful that I was not able to

Successful people have successful habits. Unsuccessful people don't!

I agree with this. If you make the wrong choices in life, like drugs, alcholol, smoking, ect..., your life will not be good. Your quality of life goes down everytime you make the decision to things like that. If you want your life to be successful you have to make the right choices. A successful life does't have to mean you will be rich. I feel like my life is very successful and I am very far from rich. Money wise I get by. I don't have to worry about groceries or if I will be able to pay the mortgage this month but I do have to think if I want to buy something extra. I feel like I have made the right decisions in life. Many of my dreams have been able to come true and that is why I think my life is successful. I have a wonderful husband, two wonderful kids, family and friends that love me, and a job I enjoy (for the most part).

I think that I have made successful habits as I've made my journey through life. I have never done drugs or smoked, alcholol has been very limited and never abuse, I avoid the wrong kind of people, and I surround myself with only good, kind hearted people. I avoid people that may try to influence me to go down the wrong path and only socialize with the people that believe in me and my choices. I am strong and determined, which are two good traits to have I think, if you want to become successful in life.

I think being successful is something that you should want, something that you will have to work hard at to achieve, and something that you should feel passionate about.

I believe...(about money)

I believe that with money that I am selfish first and chartiable second.

$3 million dollars

Oops the amount is three million not three thousand. Wow there are so many things I can do. I will build a house for me and my father-in-law. I will fly him down here. I will quit my job and open my own center, which I will have build to my specifications. My husband can quit his job if he wants and persue his other dreams. I will put a lot of the money into a trust fund for my children so they don't have to worry about college like I did. I will help out my family and pay off their bills and I will donate some of the money to a woman's shelter. I feel that any woman that wants to get out of an abusive relationship needs all the support she can get. I think all of that should put a dent into the three million. The rest of the money I would just save. I would love to be able to take the children on wonderful vacations every summer with the money.

$3,000

There are many things I could do with the money. I could take my children on a vacation, I could afford to fly my father-in-law down for an extended visit, I could be greedy and spend the money on a few things for myself. However, I am very frustrated at work and I think right now I would use the money to fix up the daycare that I work at. I am having computer and printer issues so I would have the computer fixed and buy a new printer. I would buy shelves for my office so I no longer have to stack items on the floor, which causes me a high level of anxiety everytime I walk into the office. I could use the money to fix a few minor buildding issues and I could buy the children a lot of nice outdoor play equipment.  That may sound like a lot of things to spend the money on and I'm sure you are thinking that all of that would exceed the three thousand dollar limit but I asure you it would not. I am very thrifty and handy so many of the issues that need to be fixed I can do myself to save labor but I do need the money to purchase the parts. If I wasn't so frustrated with work and the fact the owner refuses to invest and "unnecessary" money into it then I'm sure I could think of other things to spend the money on.

My crazy morning

Today has not been a nice relaxing morning. This morning I took longer than normal getting ready so I left my house twenty minutes late. I get to the school to drop my son off, who is particapating in an "Schools Out Program" for the day, when the director asked me where my son's sack lunch is. In my head I thought 'damn, I knew I forgot something this morning'. I was to far from home to return to make him a lunch so I ran into the grocery store thinking a lunchable will be quick and fast. Turns out the grocery store is painting so it took longer than I thought to get through the store. Maybe going home would have been faster. I get his lunch and return to the school. The director says thank you and puts my son's name on the lunch. Then the director tells me that they can't find the form on him with all my contact information. So I have to fill out the information all over again. No big deal if I hadn't started my day off running behind. Okay now the paperwork is refilled out and I'm thinking okay maybe this day will turn around. I was wrong. I call in to work and tell them obvisiously I will not be in this morning. That bothers me. I had a list of things I was planning on getting done this morning. Now when I return to work on Monday I will be even farther behind. I head off to school only to stop at every single light, literally, between my son's school and OTC.  I didn't realilze that there where that many lights in Springfield until I couldn't make it through a single one. Now I'm sitting in class and when it's over I have to drive to the other side of town for a conference. Tomorrow I have to be up even earlier to return to the all day conference. You would think Saturdays are a day of relaxing and sleeping in but in my world they are not. Saturdays are my busiest day and the fact I have an all day conference that day just puts me farther behind in getting things done. (Big Sigh) Somethings it seems like I never get a day to just relax and do nothing.

Anna

Anna and I used to come up with lots of silly things. One time we went to the library and read Calvin and Hobbs comics. My favorite is when his dad is trying to take his picture for Christmas and he wouldn't sit still, dad finally tells him to smile so they can be done, Calvin makes a really funny horrible face and when his dad yells he said..."What, it was  a smile". I used to do this 'smile' all the time. If she looked over at me during one of our classes I would smile like that and she would erupt in laughter. I don't think the teachers thought is was funny but we sure did. Through the years Anna and I have moved away from each other. For a few years she lived in Portland OR, where her husband is from (and mine), and I lived here in Missouri. Even though we have lived very far apart we still talk. About once every couple of months we call each other and talk for a couple of hours.

Friendship

I have many close friends. One of my friends is named Anna. We have been friends since fifth grade. Growing up we did some very silly things together. We were never bad kids we were just goofy. We have a lot in common.  She is very artistic. Her drawings are amazing. I have a picture that she drew for me in ninth grade still framed hanging up in my house. Everyone that sees it thinks it’s wonderful and always asks me who drew it. I get to proudly say…, my best friend. For a while when we were in jr. high our dream was to be a writing team. I was going to write children’s books and she was going to edit them and be the illustrator. We used to come up with some silly things to make the class laugh.

I believe someday I will have my own daycare.

Someday I will own my own daycare. I will be my own boss. I will have the final decision on how the business is run.  Currently I am the director at a daycare center and I am unhappy there. I feel like the owner holds me back. The center could be so much more if she would just invest a little time and money into it. The way she talks and asks it is “why mess with something that is working”. Usually I follow that belief but what happened to making improvements. This is a tough business to run so why wouldn’t she want to strive to be the best. My work ethic and the owners’ vary greatly. I think that investing a little of the money they so lavishing spend on their family could be downgraded just a tad. Save a little of the money to invest back into the business. I think it would be wonderful to have my own center. I have the name picked out, the curriculum picked out, the staff picked out…the only thing holding me back is the money for the start up cost. I am working on it though. I have filled out the paperwork to receive a grant to help with the start up cost. Hopefully in another two years my husband and I will be set financially so that we are able to get a decent loan to begin the business. I know that I won’t cut some corners like she does. I have a very high work ethic so I know that I can do this. Since I am a director now there are very few things I will have to learn to become an owner. I cannot wait for this to happen. Downside to me opening my own…the owner of the place I’m at now is kind of my friend so she will feel like it is a betrayal if I leave her to open my own; especially because half of the staff have said that they will leave with me. So if any of them do leave she will be very upset with me and it could cost me our friendship. I believe so strongly in the fact that I will one day soon have my own center that this is a risk I am willing to take.

Health Insurance

I believe that everyone should have health insurance or that doctors should charge a way cheaper rate. My family is one of the many American's without health insurance. My employer does not offer benefits, which includes health insurance. My husband and I make to much to qualify for state assistance. With just our bills, this does not include anything extra or "fun", we cannot afford decient health insurance. I have looked for good health insurance and I have manipulatied our budget and everytime I come up a little short. Not having health insurance bothers me greatly, although I don't tell my husband.

This I believe...

·         Laughter is the best medicine

·         Children are our future

·         Children keep you young at heart

o   Although sometimes they drive you crazy and make you feel older than you are

·         Everyone has the right to live a life without pain

·         Everyone should be treated equally

·         Family is the most important thing

·         I don’t like writing for ten minutes with a timer

o   I feel like I’m under pressure and this bothers me greatly

o   I feel like I do better writing when I know I’m not in a time crunch

·         Fruits and Vegetables are an important part of a person’s diet

o   Not enough people eat them

·         My children and husband are my life

·         My husband is my soul mate

o   I knew this by the end of our first date

·         In love at first sight

·         In true love

·         Someday my children will grow up and get their own car and I can have a nice “cool” car instead of a mommy van…oops meant mini van…lol

·         Someday I will have my own daycare

o   Someday I will be my own boss

·         Everyone should always treat each day as if it is a miracle

o   You never know when you will not wake up or not finish out the day

·         Everyone should live in peace and harmony

·         Everyone deserves to be happy at some point in their lives

·         Anyone on welfare should be drug tested

·         Everyone should have a good work ethic

o   Why wouldn’t everyone want to put a 100% in their job?

·         I may end up liking this blogging thing after all.

o   I kind of think this assignment, it is fun.

o   Maybe this is something I will continue to do after the semester ends

·         There should be more than twenty-four hours in a day.

o   There are so many things I want to accomplish but there is never enough time to do it all.

·          Health insurance should be cheaper

o    Especially for those that do not qualify for federal assistance and whose employer will not give them insurance

·         There is a God

·         In magic

Discover Card

This time my writing prompt is a plastic see through Discover Card. The name on the card is J L Webb. I wonder how they pick the names for these kind of things. I wonder if there is a real J L Webb out there somewhere that doesn't like his name being used on sample cards. I really have no idea what to write on this topic. I don't like credit cards. To many people use them irresponsibly and get themselves into trouble. I have had friends who have used credit cards alot and then have to file bankruptcy to get themselves out of trouble. I have one credit card that I use strictly to help increase my credit score. I have had it for a while. I only use the card about once or twice a month for small purchases that I was going to purchase regardless. Like once I used it to purchase gas in my van and another time I used it to pay for my son't martrial arts class. Every month the day the statement comes in the mail I write a check for the full balance and then place it in the mail. Last month I ran my credit report and was surprised at how much it has helped.

The Liberty Bell

We traded prompts in class today and I got the Liberty Bell. This little bell is cute. It looks like its made of bronze. My daughter's second grade teacher had a bell she used in her classroom. I was able to volunteer some in her classroom and was very surprised by how well the bell worked for her. She was a wonderful teacher. She was a very soft spoken teacher. You would think that wouldn't be the best in a classroom of twenty-one seven year olds but it worked for her. She never once raised her voice in the class. Every time the students were getting a little loud and they couldn't hear her she would ring the bell twice. Every child in the classroom immediately stopped what they were doing, instantly got quiet, and turned to look at her. She would then tell them what she wanted to say. Use inside voices, time to change centers, line up for the end of the day. No matter what was going on all she had to do was ring that little bell of hers twice. I was dumbfounded the first time I witnessed it. I couldn't belive that was all it took to quiet the entire classroom. When I started working in the daycare, in the older classroom, I tried using the bell. It worked at first for me but then the kids just started saying they wanted a bell and wouldn't listen to me so I ended up not using the bell anymore. I found something else that worked for me.  Books. I read the children books. When they are getting to loud I just pull up my chair, grab a book, and start reading. It nevers takes more than a minute or two for the children to stop what they are doing to listen to the book. I read a book so often to my class that when it was time to move out of the classroom and train someone else the children were disappointed in her because she doesn't read to them as much. She told me that one day when the class was getting a little loud one of the girls looked at her and said this is when you get a book out. This just goes to prove that the same thing doesn't always work for the same person. For Mrs. Johnson the bell was a lifesaver, for me a bookis my lifesaver.

A Diaper

How fitting I picked a diaper to write about. I work at a daycare center. I changed diapers everyday so to me this is kind of ironic that a  disposable diaper is what I happened to pick. To my relief the diaper is unused. That is always a good sign and so different from what I experience everyday. The diaper is white with blue and green circles on it. Some of the circles are big and some are little. There doesn't seem to be a pattern on the design. The shapes just appear to be random. The diaper closes with velcro. Diapers have come a long way. Diapers used to be cloth and you used to have to fasten them with safety pins. Can you imagine how hard it would be to try to fasten a couple of safety pins, without poking the child, on a child that is squirmy? These diapers are so much easier to fasten. No matter how much the child moves all you have to do is grab one side of the velcro and quickly touch it to the other half. No more holding children down and poking your finger and the child with a sharp pointy object. Down side to these dispoable diapers...the waste they produce. Landfills are filling up every day with these things. They don't break down fast so they continue to accumulate. Because of this I actually gave cloth diapers a slight thought when my daughter was born. Upside to disposable diapers...when the mess is bad, and I mean real bad, parents you know what I mean, all you have to do is toss those things in the trash. Cloth diapers you have to rinse out in the toilet and then wash them. GROSS!!! I would not want those washed in my washing machine where in the next load I have to wash my kitchen towels. That is why I went with disposable diapers when my daughter was born. Cleaning cloth diapers was not for me. However, there is a parent at my daycare that uses them. She says that she likes them a lot better than disposable diapers. However I have noticed that when her child is real sick she converts to dispoable diapers. I asked her why and was not surprised by her answer. She didn't want to wash them. LOL

The Day My Husband Proposed

The day my husband proposed…Saturday July 4, 1998

When my husband and I became engaged we had only know each other for three and a half months. Our relationship moved quickly. We met in March, I moved in with him in May, he proposed in July, and we were married in October. All of this happened in the same year. We knew we were destined to be with each other and we felt that time couldn’t move fast enough for us to begin our lives together.

My husband, unknown to me at the time, had decided that July fourth was the day wanted to propose to me. He picked July fourth as the day to propose because of the fireworks. He thought that would be the perfect time to ask me.

For the fourth of July we decided to spend the evening at my parent’s house. I thought the plan was that we would go over to their house, we all would watch Brian and my brother shoot fireworks, afterwards we all would sit on the deck and eat homemade ice cream, and then Brian and I would go home. Nothing to exciting was going to happen that day. Aside from the fireworks I didn’t think it would be any different from any other Saturday evening we had spent over there.

Looking back I should have known something was going on but I was young and naïve and didn’t think about what was going on that day. That morning was the same as any other Saturday. However, that afternoon, Brian spent a lot of time on the computer chatting with his best friend. Before we left to head out to my parent’s house Brian had me sit at the computer and chat with his best friend’s wife. At the time I didn’t know her and thought it a little strange but like I said earlier I really didn’t give it much thought. He said that while I was busy he was going to run up to the gas station and fill up the car. Brenda kept me busy on the computer asking me questions about how long we had been together, what I thought of Brian, and our plans for the Fourth and our future. The real reason Brian had me chatting with her was  that he needed me to stay occupied while he put our cd player in the car, took the roses he bought the evening before, and the ring out the back door and put them in the trunk of our car. When he got back from the gas station, or so I thought, we headed out to my parent’s house. As soon as it got dark my parents, my sister, and I sat in lawn chairs and watched the firework show that my husband and my brother put on for us.

When the show was over we decided the homemade ice cream, we started earlier, was done so I ran inside to get everything ready for it. My husband and my parents stayed outside for a few minutes but since they all three smoke I thought that was why so I didn’t give it a second thought. A few minutes later my parents came in and with just a quick glance at me my dad tells me that Brian needs my help finding something in the car. I was confused and didn’t want to go outside. Brian is very particular about his vehicles so I couldn’t imagine that there would be anything in the car he needed help finding. I asked my dad what it was he couldn’t find. Dad said he didn’t know but Brian really needed my help so I better go out there. I ran outside, kind of put out by the way my dad was being so vague and the fact that I was in the middle of something.  As soon as I got out the door and turned to face the car I froze in my tracks. On the hood of the car is our cd player and spread out on the trunk of the car is a dozen red roses. My husband is standing next to the car. I was frozen in place. I remember standing there looking at him standing next to the car and I instantly knew what was going to happen. I mean I was suddenly hoping I knew what was going to happen. Since I was still frozen in place I have no idea how I managed to make my feet move. But within the next few seconds I was standing in front of my husband, looking into his eyes. When I get to him he kisses me and turns the cd player on. It quietly starts to play our song From Here to Eternity by Michael Peterson. Brian takes my hands and drops to one knee. I know he had a speech prepared and I know he was talking to me but when he dropped down to one knee my heart suddenly went into overdrive and starting pounding in my ears. I could barely breathe let alone hear him. I was shaking and thinking I know I hoped for this but WOW I can’t believe it is really happening. I am like an infant, a grown woman who suddenly cannot speak. I just nodded my head up and down like a bobble toy and mumbled something that I hoped sounded like yes…I remember thinking I hoped he just asked me to marry him but because my heart is still pounding so loudly I cannot hear anything else but I think I made out the words “marry me”. He opens a little black box and takes out a ring and puts it on my finger. The ring is beautiful. He stands up and we embrace. I suddenly realize how nervous he is. His whole body is shaking as we hug. We stay outside and continue to hold each other for a few more minutes. Not just because of how much we love each other but because we are both so shaky that we were supporting and holding each other up. When we finally get our nerves under control we decide it is time to go inside and face my parents. This makes me pause. I tell Brian I don’t want to go but he tells me that they already know. That is why they were outside for a few minutes. He asked my parents for their permission first. Now it all made sense to me.

He tells me that he wasn’t nervous to ask my parents. He knew they would say yes because they told us that they wanted us to get married first when we told them I was moving in with him a few months earlier. He was nervous to ask me. He was afraid that I would say no or that I wouldn’t like the ring, especially since it doesn’t have a big diamond on it. He tells me he even asked my parents if they thought I would like the ring and my dad told him not to worry about that I would love it just the way it was. My dad was right. To me the ring was, and still is, beautiful and perfect.

We go inside to face my family. When we get inside my dad is sitting in his chair grinning like the Cheshire cat. He looks over at me and says “So what did Brian want help with outside?”  I start rambling that he proposed to me and then I proudly hold up my hand to show off the ring.  Everyone loved it and was very excited for us. 

Thirteen years later and this is still my favorite story to tell. That Fourth of July is one I will never forget.  I wouldn’t change anything about our life together. We are soul mates and knew it from the first day we met. I look forward to many, many more years together with him.

An English Assignment I Liked

Last Wednesday in English we had a very nice sub but he made me dread class today. The entire class time on Wednesday was taken up with him telling us stories about his life. They were all funny and entertaining. He used good descriptive words that made you feel like you were "watching" the scene vs. just hearing a story. However, at the end of class he said that on Friday we would be telling a story. I thought that didn't sound like fun and though I have never skipped a class before but I thought there is always a first time for everything. I dreaded coming to class today but my conscience wouldn’t let me skip. When class started the sub gave us a blank piece of paper and told us to start folding it. I began to relax. Hah, guess he forgot he said we would be telling a story. He tells us the reason for the paper folding and instructs us on what to write on the paper. This assignment involved a little thinking but it wasn't difficult at all. After we are done he has us spend ten minutes free writing on one of the topics we just picked. I thought this was super easy. It almost felt like an elementary school assignment vs. a college assignment. The free writing was over a topic that we picked, not something someone told us we had to write about. How easy is that? After we did the ten minutes of free writing he had us tell the story to one of our classmates. I thought, damn; guess he did remember telling us we would have to tell a story in class. Oh well, this wasn’t hard either and we only had to tell one person…not the whole class. I guess coming to class today was worth it after all; because I now have some wonderful ideas for a few stories.

A Perfect Weekend

This weekend has been absolutely wonderful. I left work Friday determined not to let a single thought of anything work related to even cross my mind for three whole days. If you know me you would know how difficult this is for me but I was determined. Today is Monday night and I would have to say that I was successful. I am so proud of myself.
Saturday was hot and miserable. I managed to drag myself out of my air-conditioned house to run errands. This was no fun. My errands took me all day to do and it was hot and miserable, to put it mildly...Saturday sucked.

Sunday was a perfect day. Sunday morning I got up and started prepping my house and lunch things because my husband and I decided to have a end of the summer barbeque at our house. I had my part of my family over for a barbeque in my backyard. There was my mom, dad, brother, his daughter, my sister, her boyfriend, her son, her newborn daughter, one of my cousins, my grandma, my husband, my son,  my daughter, and of course myself all hanging out in my backyard that afternoon. The food was wonderful and there was plenty of it. No one left my house that evening hungry. After we ate we all hung out playing games. The kids ran around the yard riding their bicycles, the dirt bikes, and jumping on the trampoline. The bigger kids, a.k.a. the grown-ups, played ring toss, bean bag toss, horseshoes, and other various yard games all afternoon. As we played we had to tease each other. We gave each other a hard time as to who was standing with their toes past the line for the tosses, who tossed underhand vs. overhand, and who had shorter arms so therefore had to step a little over the line to even the odds. It was all fun; everyone was always laughing. Finally the night was beginning and everyone left. My husband and I were just getting ready to lie on the couch to watch a movie when one of friends called to say his motorcycle broke down and he was stranded in Clinton and could we please come rescue him. We hooked up our motorcycle trailer and headed off to Clinton. We picked up our friend and his motorcycle then turned back around to head home. It was a long drive and an even longer evening. We couldn’t wait to get home and lie our heads down on our pillows. I think we were both asleep before you could count to ten.

Monday was another good day. We drove out to my parents’ house. Their house is out in the country, past Halltown, and about a thirty minute drive. We drove out there to visit and do some shooting. My husband, son, and I all went down to the shooting range and shot for about an hour. This is always something we love to do.

Now I am home sitting at the computer for a few minutes before heading off to bed. I suddenly had the urge to blog for a few minutes and tell a little about my weekend since to me this was a perfect weekend.

Jung Typology

ISFJ: 100% Introverted, 75% Sensing, 62% Feeling, and 56% Judging

When I first looked ahead at the assignment I thought it was just a bunch of make-believe stuff. I mean honestly there are only sixteen different types. How can a test really divide all the people into just sixteen groups and be accurate? I was sure this was a big waste of time. Boy was I in for a surprise awakening!  

In class I quickly went through the test. I mean I did read all the questions and answered them honestly but since I thought this was a waste of time I really didn’t think much about the questions. I was on autopilot, answering away. In a way, I guess that was a good thing. If I had really thought about each question individually I probably wouldn’t have been as honest with some of my answers. When the test was complete I didn’t really even read the results. I just skimmed through them and looked to see if any famous people I knew had the same typology. According to the paper Jane Fonda, Louisa May Alcott, and Queen Mary I of England had the same typology as me. That caught me off guard.  What could I have in common with an actress, a writer, and a Queen?  Don’t get me wrong I think that they are all really great women but I really don’t know what we could have in common.

Sorry I drifted off from my original train of thought...the test results. After class I went home and printed the results for the ISFJ types. The paper said that my types “reenergize through spending time on their own.” I thought yep that is me. Any time I can get some quiet time to do whatever it is I want to do is relaxing and distressing for me. It also said that I would be hesitant to change especially if something is working the way it is. Again so true, the old sayings “If it’s not broken then don’t fix it” is one of my all time favorite quotes. I have used that quote many, many times myself.

With regards to my writing the paper said that I would be hesitant towards new writing processes, unwilling to let other people read my writings, and will avoid using technology to compose my documents. This is more accurate than I could possibly imagine. During the first day of class I realized all my fears were about to come true and this was going to be a very difficult class for me. During that first day class I was told that we would be using the computer for all of our writing. I cringed inside. No using pencil and paper, how was I going to manage this? Classmates would be reading our writing? I went home and talked to my husband.  I told him that I thought I needed to transfer to a different class. I can’t have anyone but the teacher reading my writing. This class is going to be torture. I won’t be able to survive the whole semester. He told me that I couldn’t transfer classes or drop the class altogether, that I needed to try something new, and besides how do you know you won’t like something until you try it. I laughed said he was full of it but decided to try to tough it out. I’m still unsure of all of this but I will wait and see.  At the end of the semester I will post again and tell everyone what I have thought of the class. Hopefully, I will be saying that this class brightened by horizons and made me a better writer. 

The part that touched me the most from the results was things the paper said regarding my job and my personal life. These results couldn’t have been any farther from the truth. They hit the nail on the head. Thanks to this assignment I will be trying some of the things it said I should do in my job and personal life and we will see what happens.  I don’t like some of the ideas it offered but since it has been right so far I figured what have I got to lose. Worse case they don’t work and I’m in the same situation best case they work and I will begin to feel less stress and more appreciated.

After reading the paper explaining the ISFJ typology and reflecting on my life I was unexpectedly surprised to find out how accurate it was. I guess I did learn something in class that day. Not all the assignments the teacher assigns you are a waste of your time.

Adrenaline

Tonight I had my self-defense class. This is the one thing that I do for myself that I truly enjoy more than anything. If I could pick a hat to wear more often it is this one…a student in my self-defense class. This is my only stress reliever.

If you are having a bad day and the instructor tells you to punch the bag repeatedly for a minute with your right fist then switch and punch with your left fist for a minute it is like magic. You can feel the stress pouring out of your body with each punch. As you punch and breathe in and out the only thing you are focused on is the bag. The entire world just disappears. When you hear him say “thirty seconds left” you start punching harder and harder. When you hear him counting down from five you really start punching that bag with all your might. By the time your two minutes are finished you are feeling so much better. Now it is time to move on to your legs. You keep kicking and kicking. As you kick you think back through the day start thinking on all your stressors for the day. That bag becomes your stressor. You focus on that bag and kick that bag like it is holding all your problems wrapped up in the red plastic. Finally the self-defense starts. This is my second favorite part of the class. In the class we learn how to defend ourselves in many different situations. Again a great stress reliever as well as a wonderful learning experience. Now I only have to wait seven more days to do this all over again.