Here We Are Again!

Here we are again!  It's that time of year when summer is winding down and school is gearing up.  Today is my very last Saturday on summer break.  I must say, in my 7 years of working at the middle school, this is my very first summer I really did what I wanted to do and took the time to recharge myself.  

May was all about finishing up our wood floors, getting items purged from the house and garage we no longer needed, having that once a year garage sale, flower planting and backyard beautifying!!

Wahooo!!!

I am so glad there were a couple of family members kicking my hiny at the beginning of the summer to get all of this stuff done so that I could truly enjoy the rest of my summer!!!  

THANK YOU Catfish'n and Musician!!!  

June and July brought days of crafting, reading, Bible study, blogging, finding and trying new recipes, cooking, making decisions that will impact our future and spending time with friends and family! 

I can say that I am very well rested and ready to kick it up for a BRAND NEW school year!!!

This will truly be an adventure this fall, and one that I am looking forward to with eager anticipation!!  Approximately 20 years ago I started taking classes in order to earn my degree in education.  When we moved to our home, that we have now lived in 13 years, my schooling started to take a back seat.  We no longer just lived down the street from our local university.  We were 20 miles away and gasoline was quickly on the rise.  I did pursue as much as I could through online learning and through our local Junior College that met at our high school just down the street from our home.  Although, there does come a time when you finally reach a point where you have done all you can online, and have to actually attended classes on campus within your degree area.  As life would have it, by the time I was ready to actually go back to the university in which I began, classes were only available during actual working hours.     

Quitting my job was/is not an option, currently.  I have truly taken a break even from online learning for approximately 4 1/2 years.  I had told myself when a door closed at work then I knew it was time to go back and finish.  Then, last summer I told myself to just get the whole idea out of my head about finishing at all.
I thought, "Crying-out-loud who on earth will hire someone my age by the time I'm through anyway?!"  

However, this is a NEW YEAR, a NEW DAY, a NEW ERA!!

Catfish'n has had a couple of health concerns that really got us both to thinking.  I also ran across in May while doing all of that cleaning, some of my old assignments and my "WHY TEACH" notebook I had completed in 2009.  This notebook contained several things, but one big thing it contained was my educational beliefs.  I realized even in 4 1/2 years they had not changed.  I realized I still had that burning desire deep down in my heart to finish something I had started
 and
 something I believe God had/has put me here for.  

My classroom is my mission field!     

So Catfish'n and I had a heart-to-heart not to long ago and came to the decision that it was time for me to finish, even if Musician was still working on her education and still at home.  

There would be two college students in the house, once again!!!

SO HERE WE GO!!!

Musician and I are each going to tackle 12 hours of college and work!!!

I am very excited and up for the challenge!!

Our ducks are all in a row, or should I say textbooks.
  The books have been slowly but surely arriving in the mail, we just received the last one on Thursday.

  Now, we each have a weeks worth of work settling into our new work schedules,
then August 19th we begin our classes!!!

However, in taking on this endeavor, Catfish'n and I had to have another heart-to-heart and that was about the cooking schedule!
I tried to break it to him as gently as I could.
We may be eating soup and sandwiches a couple nights a week as well as having a left-over night.  

I was met with a tad bit of resistance but then he decided it wouldn't be too bad, 

and he really is a not so bad of a cook himself!!

Look at this fabulous brisket he made just a month or so ago

AND

with homemade BBQ sauce!!!

I don't think the man will go too hungry.

LOL!!!