My Advice

The first and most important advice that I would give someone that is about to write his or her first scientific paper is do not stress. It will all come in time. I would also let that person know; don’t wait until the last minute. Work on it as you can do not push it out in one day and think it will be great and never look at it again. In the past ten weeks I have strengthened my ability to write an APA formatted paper. I have to tell you this was a huge worry of mine. I haven’t ever written a paper that was supposed to be in APA format. I am sure that I can work on my wordiness of my sentences. I have gone through my papers this term, and I just don’t know how to change the sentence to make it strong and to the point. After everything I have learned from this class though, I will take with me and use in future research papers. This class was great and I don’t think I will forget it. Crystal was an awesome teacher; I don’t think I have had an English teacher like this since I was in middle school. So I want to say thank you Crystal!! I hope you all had a great experience too. Good luck to all of you!!!!

nearing the end

Now that my paper is done with my paper I feel great! I am so happy to have written two papers this term and done them to what I believe is in correct APA format. I am not the best writer as it is, and I am really nervous to know that I have a large paper to do, let alone two of them. Now that I have them both done feel relieved I do not have to worry anymore. I also have to be honest though, I am tired. It can be quite exhausting doing research papers. Now that I have taken this course I feel more comfortable with writing. I am more confident in myself, and actually believe that I can do this. I am not going to say I love writing, but I do feel better when it is required of me. I am not sure of any other topics that I would like to research. I have to say if I do not have to do another research paper it wouldn’t break my heart. I think learning more about human diseases would be interesting though. I like to do the research; it is just the writing that I am not fond of. I know that there are other people out there that love to write, and I am very thankful of them because it gives me something to read.

My Blogging Experience

So far blogging has been pretty easy for me. I have not experienced any troubles. I do not believe that anyone has commented on my blog except for Crystal. I am okay with this. I haven’t commented on any other blogs myself. It isn’t that I haven’t wanted to, but it is a time thing for me. I have two boys, two classes, I am the president of my condo association, and my husband is gone a lot for work. So all in all I am pretty busy with what I have going on now. To be honest I do not plan on blogging after this class. Like I have said, I do not have all that much time, and the time I do have I spend it with my boys not on the computer. Also, I do not feel that I need to inform others about my life or what I am thinking. I just don’t think my life is all that interesting. I am not saying I live a boring life, it is interesting to me, but I am not sure the rest of the world would think so. I have enjoyed this experience so far. I am glad that I have learned how to do it, because if I change my mind in the future, I will know how to enter the blogging world. So I want to say thank you to Crystal for getting me into this.

Hey everyone!! I hope you all have had a great week. Mine has been wonderful! This week I have decided to talk about Birthdays, and getting older. The 16th of March was my birthday, and the 25th is my sons. This year I turned 28, and I have to say that was a bit scary for me. I am not too keen on this getting older. Each year when my birthday comes around, I seem to dread it more and more. It isn’t as exciting as it used to be. I know I have a bit of a bitter attitude on this, but I really don’t want to get older. I am sure some people may be reading this thinking “well I am older than that and I am fine, what’s the problem?” I am not sure what my exact problem is, but I just don’t like it. Now, on the other hand my son is turning two, and I couldn’t be more excited for him. He is getting to be so big, and I cannot believe that it has been two years since he was born. I am sad to say that I am losing my baby, but I am getting another little boy in my house. I love have two young boys around, maybe I should tell you that my other son will be five in May. Now that my youngest is getting older, both of them are able to play more together, and have fun with one another. The older they both get the more personable they become. They both are very alike, and very different from one another. They are so amazing to watch grow and change. I would tell anyone who is looking to have children that it isn’t the easiest job in the world, as a matter of fact it is one of the hardest, but it is the most rewarding. As a parent, when you are able to see your child accomplish something, or say something cute and so caring your heart swells and you are proud. I may not like getting older, but I love to watch my sons grow each day.

A Little Nervous

I have racked my brain this week thinking about what I want to talk about. I have decided to talk about getting ready for my clinical. Last weekend I received a call from my academic advisor, John, who is different from my original one I feel I should mention. As he was signing me up for the next two terms he noticed that I will be starting my first clinical in September. John then proceeded to ask if I had filled out my application for clinical. I said, “No.” He proceeded to make me very nervous telling me that I need to have this done immediately. I was surprised because I had asked my previous advisor many different times and she no, not to worry about it yet, she said the school wouldn’t take it if I sent it in this early. It wasn’t that I hadn’t put any thought into the application, I was basically told to hold off because the school wouldn’t accept it. After John and I had talked for way too long, I knew I had to have this application done ASAP. So, as you would expect I filled out the application sent it in and I am now working on getting the rest of the paperwork in order. I have to admit that I am getting nervous for clinical. I haven’t worked in two years, and the medical field will be completely new for me. Along with my jitters though, I am very excited. I am ready to be working again bringing home a paycheck and contributing to the family finances. In September I will be experiencing many new things. My oldest son will be starting kindergarten, my two year old will start daycare on the days that I have clinical, and I will be reentering the world of work. Many new and scary things to come, but it is all very exciting!!!

This week I have decided to talk about how school is influencing my life. This is not the first time I have attended college. I have a separate associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education. I finished this degree within my first year of marriage, and so my husband and I lived in separate towns during the first year we were married. I am not going to say it was easy, but it was much easier to be away and focus on all of my academics. I didn’t have any distractions so I was able to get all of my homework done in a timely manner, and I did well on most all of my assignments. This time around is a little different. When I started this degree I had been out of school for about five years, married for just over six, and I have two young children. I have a four year old boy who will be turning five in May, and starting school in August. I also have a 23 month old boy that will be turning two here soon in the end of March. I would have to say I have a few more distractions than I ever thought of having before. I have my husband and the only time we get to spend together is in the evening that is, when he isn’t gone on trips for work. So when he is home it is hard to choose sometimes whether to have him watch the kids and I get time alone to work on class work, or spend time with him and my boys. School has been a challenge at times. I am a stay at home mom, and so my evenings have become my time for school. This is a change for me because I am not much of a night person; I have always functioned much better in the mornings. I am more alert, ready to go, and my brain functions smoother. I have started to adjust to this change, but it is taking time. School has been a good influence for me though. I have been making myself get more organized. I have to know what is due, and when to have it done by. I have succeeded in turning my assignments in and taking tests on time by knowing what is going on a week in advance. School has made me become more relaxed too. I have learned that if my house isn’t 100% clean it is ok, and it will get done at some point. I also learned that if my kids take up my time, they come first, and I need to attend to what they need. School has been good for me. I am learning in more than just one area of my life.

Taxes what a nightmare!!

This week I was going to write about plagiarism, but I have had some thing on my mind for the last couple of weeks. I am going to talk about who prepares your taxes. I would like to say that even if you trust them, I would still look over everything they have done. And they saying, “If it sounds too good to be true, it is”, should be followed. So, last year I had a few friends recommend a tax service, they said the lady who prepared them was really nice, and they didn’t cost too much. I am thinking to myself, “Why not?” I have wanted to find someone new to go to anyway, so let’s give her a try. My husband and I made an appointment with her, did our taxes, and got a refund. Now the refund was more than what we have gotten in the past, but that is why we wanted to go to someone new to see if we could get more back. Now it is a year later, and I am hearing that the police department has all of the files from that office, and everyone that went to this lady will be audited. I am thinking well, we shouldn’t have too much to worry about we gave her all legitimate information, but let’s take a look at our tax papers anyway. Come to find out this woman filed a fake business under my husband. Not only that, she said that he had a $22,000 loss and only a $1,000 gain. I almost literally had a cow. Well, long story short, we haven’t gotten a letter yet, but we will, so my husband and I took it into our hands to amend our taxes from last year and pay back the money in full. I would say that I have learned one thing for sure, never sign anything without looking it over first. I do have to say, I think she filed the returns without our signature, but it is still our fault for not looking them over and putting all our trust into someone. This year both my husband and I looked everything over very closely. Be cautious with everyone, no matter what!!