College is not for sissies!

I took a big step of faith this fall and started back to school. I have decided to study nursing, and get my RN degree, but I have to get through some pre-requisites first. My first college degree was in Small Business Management, and I graduated with that in 1992, so you can imagine that nothing from that time in college transferred over!

This quarter I started out with Psych 100, Biology 160, and English 101. I soon realized that my superwoman cape was just not fitting right - trying to juggle 15 credits with three kids and a husband and a home and then trying to study and do homework for all three classes - yikes! I was not being very successful. So I decided to withdraw from English and just concentrate on Psych and Biology. It was a good choice, but I still feel every bit of my 43 years when it comes to learning all of this new stuff! I am finding that my 2 brain surgeries did affect a bit of my memory capability - trying to ingrain all this new stuff is hard!

But now I am only a couple of weeks away from the first quarter being over, and I'm still surviving! I have found that I can learn new things, it just takes me a bit longer. I have found some new friends in my classmates - and its been fun getting to know new people. I have found that God really does have a plan laid out for me, and just the fact that I am enrolled in school is a big testimony to what God can do. It's kind of an awesome story as to how I even got to this place, but I'll tell that one another time.

I am glad I took this step, and followed the quiet voice of God speaking into my ear. The next few years are not going to be easy, but I know they will be rewarding. And my family has been such a huge encouragement along the way, even though we have hit a few rocks in the path.

Now, if I can only keep meiosis and mitosis straight, and remember DNA replication, and gene expressions, and, and, and........

Tucson Chicken and Mexican Rice

I didn't do a Meal Plan Monday this week - just too crazy of a weekend. I did, however, plan a menu - at least through Thursday! Still have yet to decide the weekend of meals, but I will get to that.  Tonight I pulled a pre-done meal out of the freezer. My friend Alyson and I spent a whole day back in September making freezer meals. They have been a lifesaver now that I have gone back to school! This morning I pulled out Tucson Chicken - one of Alyson's signature dishes!  It's a mexican dish, so I fixed my own recipe for Mexican Rice to go with it, along with some heated black and pinto beans, corn, and homemade salsa (from a friend) and chips for the side. It smells super yummy here right now, and as soon as hubby gets home from work (any minute now) we'll sit down to eat.

Here is a recipe for Alyson's Tucson Chicken

And for my Mexican Rice:

In a pan, mix together 2 cups cold water, 1 cup regular rice, 1 can petite diced tomatoes, 1 T dried red/green peppers, 1/2 t. chili powder, 1/2 t. cumin, 1/2 t. granulated onion, and some salt and pepper. Stir together. Turn on high, bring to a boil, then cover with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes.

After dinner, my job is to commit to memory Cell Respiration! Sounds fun, doesn't it?! I have a big Biology Test on Thursday, so my night's are filled with homework and studying. I lead such an eventful life!

Menu Plan Monday

It has been forever since I've participated in Menu Plan Monday! I used to use this link all the time, but life just got busy, and my blog evolved into more Facebook time than Blog time. But, I feel like starting my online journaling again, so here goes!

Menu planning is even more important to me now, since I started back to school this fall. I got my first degree back in 1992, in Small Business Management, and now I've decided to change paths completely and get a nursing degree. My goal is to be an RN specializing in either Pediatrics or Oncology. I should be done by 2019. And since I'm loading up on credits - 15 currently - and still have three kids and a hubby to take care of - menu planning is uber-important! And including my family in the planning stages is important too. We sit down on Sunday nights and plan out the week - find out what's going on in the evenings, and plan what is best for us. A lot of times I let the kids pick out their choice for a meal. It makes them feel more invested in what we are eating, and they like to help prepare the meal they have chosen. I also planned ahead before school started and spent an entire day preparing about a dozen meals ahead of time to put in my freezer. They are great to pull out when I don't have the time to cook!

So here is this week's menu.

Monday - Comfort Meatballs  Crash Hot Potatoes
Tuesday - Orange Chicken and Black Rice
Wednesday - Meatloaf (my mother-in-law's recipe) and mashed potatoes
Thursday - French Dip Sandwiches and French Fries
Friday - Pizza - we have our kids' Fall Carnival at school, and then the last home football game, so we need super easy and fast for tonight!
Saturday - Either Pork Roast or Beef Roast - not sure yet!
Sunday - Family Dinner at my parents' house - not sure what is planned yet!

I love The Pioneer Woman - and my kids love her recipes. Three of my dishes this week are from her website or TV. She always has such yummy, down-home, stick to your ribs meals!

 I'm an Organized Junkie hosts these Menu Plan Mondays. Head on over to her blog to take a look!

Thankfulness

* Listening to my boys play in the tree house we built this summer. Dream come true!

* Gretchen playing with arts and crafts in her bedroom. I love her creativity!

* spending family time together watching high school volleyball

* hubby helping with dishes and laundry when I am knee-deep in homework

* God opening so many doors for me to go to college again

* teacher friends that help my daughter when she is sad

* friends who encourage me when I have a bad day

* God providing the funds needed for a new school computer

* a day spent cooking with a good friend means great meals in my freezer - and a good day spent with a friend!

* encouraging and loving texts from my husband to keep me going when school is hard

* love notes from my daughter hidden in my backpack and left at my dinner seat

Baking Day

It's baking day at my house. Today is the day to turn in the culinary arts entries to our local fair. I'm excited to be entering baked goods for the very first time. I am hoping that everything turns out well, but what I'm really looking forward to is the feedback that the judges give.  Plus, my family loves it when I bake - I only have to turn in 3 cinnamon rolls and 3 brownies and 1 loaf of each bread, so we have lots of extras at the house to nibble on! This afternoon I have to make a batch of my Red, White & Blue cookies (dried cranberries, dried blueberries and white chocolate chips) and a pan of my Peanut Butter Finger bars, which is something my mom used to make all the time when we were kids.

Teacher Appreciation Week

Orange you glad it's almost summer!

This was the theme for the Teacher Appreciation Gifts I did this year. Of course, if it weren't for Pinterest, I would have no ideas at all! I saw a couple of samples of this theme on Pinterest, and decided to create my own basket of goodies.  It was actually lots of fun to create them, and I lucked out and was able to get almost everything at my local Dollar Tree store. And I was able to get name brand goodies too. Each basket cost me around $12.50, which I thought was a pretty decent price.

I put in a combination of school supplies and yummy treats.

I used a plastic tablecloth and just cut off the orange patterned strips on either side of the white center. Some went into each bucket, and some I cut into strips to tie bows.

               
I found the orange printable from Sun Scholars blog and I hand wrote the "almost".






After delivering all the gifts yesterday, I'm happy to say that the teachers loved them! Have fun creating your own Teacher Appreciation Gifts.

Geocaching

A little over a year ago, on our Spring Break, we explored the world of geocaching. We had just gotten new smart phones, and with that, the ability to have portable GPS. I had several friends who loved geocaching, so I thought I would give it a try with the kids. Unfortunately, although we had lots of fun looking for our first cache at Holmberg Park, Gretchen picked up a tick on her head during that search, and we never really did it again.  But this year, we are back at it, and this time, more excited than before. The kids understand it more, and we have found lots of caches in our area. We have one of our own ready to hide tomorrow, and have three more in the works that each of the kids are creating. It really is fun, and something the family can do together.

So today, after Austin's cub scout meeting, we decided to find a couple of caches on our way home. One was a traditional cache, and one was a micro cache. The kids are addicted now I think!

To see more ideas for fun things to do with kids, follow this link:
Sun Scholars: For the Kids Fridays