Category Archives: School

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SCHOOL DAYS (Talk, talk, talk)

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Grade 6

Going into 6th grade meant going to Middle School which was just across the street. What is also meant, was, no more recess. Boo! Now we had P.E. and music. It also meant changing classes every period. This was sort of new. We changed classes last year for English, Math and Social Studies, but we did everything else in our homeroom.

Now, we had a homeroom teacher, and every other class was something new. I was fortunate enough to have the same teacher for a couple of my classes which meant I didn’t have to leave between classes, but I always did. Who wouldn’t want to take a break and go get a drink of water, talk to your friends or go to the restroom? Which always made me late going back to class of course!

My homeroom teacher was young. I believe she was only in her late 20s or early 30s. I was fortunate enough to be able to go back to her class for Social Studies. This was not a favorite subject of mine because memorizing dates and places was not my strong suit. Which is hilarious because any of my friends now will tell you now, I am the one to call if you need to know a date or birthday!!

My grades began to slide a little bit also. I would make some A’s, B’s and C’s but this time, it was not in Conduct. That was not really a problem. But staying on task and getting things done was an issue. I had a hard time paying attention. We now know that it was ADHD/ADD (depending on who you talk to) Because I was not really hyper or “busy” as my grandmother used to say. I just didn’t pay attention in class as well.

I still got into trouble for talking. I was always in trouble for that. Back in that generation, corporal punishment was still around. How in the world I got all the way through 12 years of school without a paddling is a small miracle, but I wish I had a nickel for every sentence I wrote. Because I think I wrote somewhere north of a million over the years. There were times when we (because there was always someone else involved) had a choice. We could either take licks or write sentences. I always wrote sentences!

Many, many, many sentences! And my teachers didn’t give you small ones. Oh no! None of that “I will not talk in class” crap. My teachers gave us sentences that had at least 10 to 15 words in them, depending on the offence. Which was almost always talking! I did get into trouble for being late to class on a somewhat regular basis but that was due to time management and something I struggle with to this day. My husband can attest to that.

I liked school. I had friends but I think I can safely say that I was just doing the minimum to get by. I did not go out of my way for high grades or doing anything extra. I did join the band. I do not remember that being MY idea, but I’m not quite sure. More on that later…

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SCHOOL DAYS (New School)

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5th Grade

Have you ever been the new kid? That is what I was in the 5th grade. It was a school in the same county, it was just on the other side of town. At that time, there were 3 different county schools, including high schools. The powers that be were able to fight to prevent one huge county school from being built for many years. However, once the good old boys club was replaced in the city government, that fight was well and truly lost. There is only one county high school now, but the three county systems are still in place for elementary and middle schools. But I digress….

When I started the 5th grade, we moved to an apartment which was a temporary residence until our house was built. We lived there about 6 months I believe and then we moved into our new house.

I had never lived in a house before that my parents owned. A couple of rental properties when I was younger were houses but we mostly lived in house trailers. The smallest was a stream air which looked like a silver twinkie to me. But it was ok. I was so small I didn’t care. And that was with husband #2. My mom had moved on to a car salesman. She met him when she went to buy a new car.

Anyway, I loved my new school and I made friends pretty quickly. I am not a shy person and I generally got along with most everyone. There was this one boy (looking back, I’m sure he had a crush on me) who used to tease me about my name or my legs or my hair or something new all the time. I just laughed at him, found something to make fun of right back and then he finally left me alone. Boys can be so stupid when it comes to girls (that doesn’t really change much).  I was fortunate enough to have never been bullied. But I was not one to back down from a fight either. I never had to fight with anyone, but if I was teased, I threw words back just as fast and that was enough to get kids to leave me alone.

I learned how to play Jacks! Wow! That was a lot of fun. I venture to say that I could still do it today. During recess there was always a Jacks tournament and I usually won. My eye-hand coordination was pretty good, and I used to practice at home. I don’t think anyone else was doing that. I didn’t have anyone else I could practice with, so I sat in the kitchen floor for hours. I also made better grades but there wasn’t a “Conduct” grade. I seemed to be able to find my groove with all my new teachers. Life at school was pretty good! 🙂

The other thing going on at this same time was that my mom had gotten pregnant with my little brother. He is approximately eleven years younger than I am. So I got to play with my very own living doll. I got to rock him to sleep, feed him, change him, and hold him as much as I wanted. He was awesome (Still is!) As he got older, I took him everywhere with me. He had blond hair and blue eyes and I packed him around on my hip as much as my mother did. I felt like his other mommy. When we were out in public, some morons thought he was my son. Geez! Are people really that stupid? I mean, I know it was KY but come on!

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School: Day 1 of last year! Yeha!

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school

 

Dear Diary….

Today I start my last fall semester. I have 2 classes that will last 7 weeks and then one other 7 week class that will take me into December. I will have two sessions in the spring seven weeks long and one regular semester class. I am especially looking forward to that one because it is with the same teacher I had for my Business Law class. It is so cool when you have teachers you enjoy learning from. Then I get to walk the stage with my Bachelor’s degree in hand! WOW! 

School has been fun! I have loved in 99% of the time but there have been one or two teachers that take all the fun out of going to class. I have only dropped one class in the last several years while completing my degrees. It was a required class for a different major. Fortunately, I discovered Business was my true passion and there was no need for that particular course with my current degree plan. 

What do I want to do when I grow up? Hmm… I haven’t quite decided that but I will be looking for a job starting this fall. I will go to the career seminars and put my resume out there. We shall see what happens but I think the right door will open. God has a tendency to show me just the right place to be at the right time. I’m looking forward to see what He has in store for me.

Love,

K/C

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The Journey

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education-wallpapers

I have had the question put to me several times in the last few years as I have walked through my journey of returning to school… “Why?” Followed by.. “I could never go back to school; it was too hard the first time.” or “Good for you!” etc.

It has been a journey and I have enjoyed 99.9% of it. It is challenging and it does make my brain hurt but growth is uncomfortable or so I have always been told. It certainly seems to be my experience. I have 2 semesters left and I will be walking across the stage once more for my Bachelor’s degree. I received my Associates last year and it was a thrill. I have been inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma business honor society, Phi Theta Kappa and The Honors Society. Hard work has been worth all of it and my goal is to graduate Summa Cum Laude. So we shall see what happens between now and then. I am excited and honored to be a student at University of Texas @ Tyler and I can’t wait to see what life has waiting for me on the other side. But in the meantime.. I am enjoying my journey. And I am blessed beyond words to have those who have supported me through this walk and saw me through when I had doubt… and there have been times when I wanted to quit! Thank you!! I love you beyond measure!! ❤

I found this wonderful poem over at my wonderful bloggy friend Michelle Terry aka MammMickTerry She ROCKS!! 😘

The Journey

by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice –
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do –
determined to save
the only life you could save.

 

“The Journey” by Mary Oliver, from Dream Work (The Atlantic Monthly Press)
Photo: ID: MTZ5252, Markita Szymanski
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Pop Goes the Weasel!

by 
wafflesandspaghetti

Soo.. a fellow blogger issued a challenge to me. Thanks Eli! I could come up with all kinds of excuses why I haven’t written anything as of late, but they would be lame and unoriginal.

The truth is I am not really sure why I haven’t written lately. Before graduation I had school to use as an excuse and that was legit. Between papers, books and projects, it really lent very little time to the indulgence of writing for “me” which is how I see blogging. Don’t get me wrong, I write! I just don’t post… I wrote book reviews, political analysis and political reflections for my classes which I really enjoyed. I wrote essays and projects on Presidential assassinations which I also loved doing but I also started a piece on boxes. Hmmm… why would you write about boxes you ask? Well, it is something that has been floating around in my head for a few days, months… ok years! And I finally got around to putting it down on paper. It is my go to analogy.

Once upon a time there was a book written by Bill and Pam Farrel called Men are like Waffles-Women are like Spaghetti. In it, they describe the psyche of men and women perfectly (in my opinion). Basically they say men are like waffles because they can compartmentalize every aspect of their life….job, family, parents, kids, football, yardwork… etc you get the idea. No matter what compartment they are operating in, they can keep it (and the emotions) separate from all of the other compartments and the twain shall never meet! But that isn’t the way women are wired. We are like spaghetti because we are all over the plate and EVERYTHING is connected! Ahhhh!

Personally I happen to think we are all a little bit of both. I have known some women who are champions at sectioning off parts of themselves from other things and people. I do that to some degree. However, I have also known men who are like spaghetti and all over the place! Drives me nuts! I think the best way for all of us to operate is to not only understand how the other sex is wired, but also try to be more like both, waffles and spaghetti. Women should learn to put things into boxes while knowing everything we do, see, feel and touch is connected to us. MEN.. You guys need to understand how we think! We don’t usually put things in boxes and separate them from the other stuff. To us when you forget to call on your way home, to say you will be late, that it tells us you do not care how it has affected A LOT of things and has caused a domino effect you are totally oblivious to. So when you walk in the door and we are angry at you, it is about MUCH more than simply forgetting to call even if it was totally innocent and had never happened before. If we yell at you on the phone about being late, we probably don’t truly care so much that you are late; we see that as a symbol of not caring for our feelings. The real problem lies in the fact that WE have no clue that is why we are yelling at you so how can we possibly get YOU to understand why we are yelling at you. All you know is someone is yelling so you are going to yell back! Sound familiar???

Bottom line! I am doing some research and working on expanding my box analogy to help people figure out what their boxes are and how to utilize them the best way. In other words….? Learn from what I have figured out on how to deal with life and not have the stupid clown jumping out of your box unannounced and slapping us because we forgot we stuffed the damn thing down and tried to pretend it wasn’t there. Pop goes the weasel! :-/