This Week on Pinterest!

I started this week off trying one of my "For The Home" pins. It says to take a magnetic strip and place it in an area in your bathroom and attach your bobby pins to it. I did it... and its ok. BUT when I go to take one off my fingers bump other and then they fall off. NOT COOL. Soooo I think I'm going to get a small bowl with a magnet in it. This way all of them will gather together and I don't have to worry about them spilling.

Image from Pinterest

NOW FOR FOOD...

On Monday we were going to meet at a friends house for a Halloween get together Potluck event. My problem was it started right after work and I needed to have something prepared. I went to my Pinterest boards and found Chicken Fajitas in a crockpot. YUM! They turned out great and it was very easy to make!

Tuesday I made Spicy Honey Chicken. I didn't have all the spices she was requesting but I made something similar. THEY ROCKED. It was great grilling too because the weather was nice and cool.

The spices I used.

On Wednesday I blogged about how two of my friends came over and we made Snickerdoodle muffins. THEY WERE TO DIE FOR! VERY YUMMY!

Friday I made foil wrapped bacon ranch potatoes and tossed them on the grill with some Italian sausage. These were also a winner.

My potatoes... mmm... soooo good.

Saturday I made Hawaiian Chicken in the crock pot. My family found it funny because my father is in Hawaii for work right now. It turned out ok. Kevin and I agreed that the sauce was a little strong.

Theroy was good but I'm going to have to adjust it.

This morning I made Apple Sauce Pancakes. They were pretty good. I added All Spice, Ginger and extra Cinnamon to it and I'm glad I did... they would have been bland. I made Connor a Mickey Mouse shaped pancake...

Now for the crafts.....

I blogged earlier in the week that we have a Thankful Zone in our house. The idea came from this pin.

Gobble Gobble!

Repeats...
This week I also remade the Red Velvet Hot Chocolate to go with the Snickerdoodle Muffins and the sliced potatoes to go with dinner on Tuesday.

The Love of Blanket Forts

I grew up building blanket forts in the basement, my bedroom, the living room or any room that would hold one. I LOVED building them! I could create elaborate ones that had tunnels to areas that opened up to big spaces. Sometimes I built one that could blow up when we attached a fan to it. And sometimes I would build them and then my sister and I would have a sleep over inside them. FUN!

Every once in a while I get a craving to build one.... now that I have Connor around... its acceptable!

I was sitting at work on Friday and the craving hit me! Kevin was going to be in school for the evening and it would just be me and Connor. I decided building a blanket fort and watching a movie while eating dinner would be a FABULOUS idea.

It was!!

Last time I just used chairs to prop the sheet up. It was fun... but not elaborate by any means. Good... but not my best.

Our first blanket fort

On Friday I dug out my twine, pulled out three sheets, and pulled all the cushions off the couch. I was on a misson! Check out our Friday hide-a-way....

It took up the whole living room... AND included the TV!

I attached the twine from the chairs to other stable things around the room.

We used the cushions and couch pillows as a place to lounge.
Connor insisted on bringing his friends... Teddy, Pluto 1, Pluto 2 and Mickey Mouse.

This is the life Mommy... now where's dinner!?

Sometimes... you have to just enjoy the "bear necessities" of life!

Needless to say we had an awesome time. When Connor got bored with the movie we pulled out the cars and played with them on the cushions in tent. After Connor went to bed, I climbed in the tent and enjoyed an episode of X-Files in the dark until Kevin came home from school. Before bed I took down the tent (didn't want the cat's to try to climb on top of it in the middle of the night and have a big crash). I'm looking forward to more tents as it gets colder and we're stuck inside.

Connor agreed that we should be thankful for Blanket Forts before going to bed... so Day 4 we added "Blanket Forts" to our Thankful Zone.

My Angels!

You've heard of my BFF Alice a few blogs ago and how we love our random hot dog vendors.

There is another BFF in our mix of friendship, Courtney. I haven't known her as long as Alice BUT we've been friends for about 8 or 9 years. I met her in my very very early 20's during our drinking and partying part of life. After the drinking part faded we stayed awesome friends. Even though we don't see each other often enough, I still miss her bunches when she's not around.

we called ourselves The Angels back in 2007

Alice and Courtney came by for a Girls Night visit tonight. I baked them Snickerdoodle Muffins and we ate them with Red Velvet Hot Chocolate. VERY fattening and VERY good!

It was really fantastic getting caught up with friends I don't get to see often. I email with Alice on a weekly basis but Courtney and I aren't as in touch as we should be. Laughing, giggling and playing with Connor filled our evening. Then once Connor was in bed we laughed and giggled some more. Ahhh to be "YOUNG" again!

Sooooo tonight.... Day 2 of being thankful goes out to my Angels. Love you!

Our Dedicated Thankful Zone

The turkey is going to lose some feathers as we add what were thankful for!!

30 Days to be Thankful!

Yesterday I pulled out our paper letters and hung the word THANKFUL on the glass door in our living room. I tried explaining to Connor what Thankful means BUT he was more interested in me telling him what each letter was. In a nutshell, I told Connor Thankful is what makes you happy. We should all stop and think about what makes us happy and then give thanks for that wonderful gift. While we should do it every day and every month of the year... This month is at least the month to start!

Last night I also created a Thankful Turkey. I got the idea from a Pinterest craft. I started of wanting to create it but it morphed into its own thing. I took a paper plate and made a turkey. Then I grabbed 30 clothespins and attached them so they looked like feathers. Each day we'll pluck off a feather and attached a piece of paper or a picture of something we're thankful for on it. I tied a string above the doors. The turkey and the thankfuls will hang from it (I'll post a picture soon). This Thanksgiving we'll have a visual of what we're thankful for.

Our Thankful Turkey!

So what were we thankful for yesterday? We were thankful for Connor!! He was the first "item" to be added. He's truly a solid blessing in both mine and Kevin's life each and everyday.

Happy Halloween!!

I know we're two days passed the holiday but I can't help but share my cute little skeleton!! We met with friends to go Trick or Treating. Connor's first really time out went ok. He did fine the first couple of houses BUT towards the end he started to get hungry and would melt down in between each house. Once we got back to our friend's house Connor was too distracted by all the other toddlers to sit down and eat soooo he kept throwing fits. We decided it was time to get outta there. On the way home we stopped by to surprise as set of grandparents. Once we got home and Connor got some real food in his belly, I let him have his first taste of Halloween candy, Gummy LifeSavers. Enjoy the pics!

Off we go to beg for candy!

Too cute to be scary

First Halloween Treat

Today's Run = Fail

UGH! Nothing but excuses for my failure. However after going over my excuses in my head, I know what I have to do to move forward to prevent future slip-ups. I only made it to 2 miles! Sigh.... I'm proud of myself for listening to my body but sad that my body couldn't be pushed further.

Excuse #1: I let too many days go in between my runs. My last run was on Wednesday! It was great too, made it to my 3.1 mark only let myself slack off and then only make it to 2 miles before feeling like I was going to fall over. I was supposed to run Friday but had a lunch thing at work to go to and then dinner out with family. It left no time to run. Saturday it was raining and icing so running was out of the picture. Sunday.... I think laziness kicked in and I used Connor's upset belly as an excuse not to run.

Solution #1: GET ON A SCHEDULE AND STICK TO IT! I'm officially keeping myself to a Monday, Wednesday, Saturday schedule. NO MORE EXCUSES!

Excuse #2: I started feeling really crappy and my stomach started getting upset around 1.5 miles. Why may you ask? Well... I ate a great breakfast of oatmeal and a protein drink BUT when I got to work I only had coffee... ZERO water and munched on candy this morning. How do I expect my body to run when its fueled with JUNK! I totally undid my great breakfast start!

Solution #2: I need to start focusing on my intake. I haven't changed my diet since I started running. I'm not talking about going on a diet BUT be more conscious of what is fueling my system. I'm drinking way more coffee in the morning than I used to in the last month and a half, and my water intake is slowly decreasing every day. Get on the ball girl!! Start eating better! Drink more water! Its an easy thing to do!!

Excuse #3: Having excuses! The first two excuses allowed me to be mentally defeated and then that lead to a physical defeat.

Solution #3: I'm a procrastinater in heart and I need to recognize legit reasons for missing a run and total bull shit reasons.

Wednesday I'll be sure to fuel myself with the best of anything and everything an push myself to the 3.1!

The Biggest Question During Shower Time...

http://pinterest.com/pin/381797687/

The cool air is starting to surround us and many women around the area are starting to following the shaving legs flow chart during their morning shower routine.

This is just a silly little flowchart / picture that made me giggle. Lord knows I'm contemplating these very thoughts if I'm running late in the morning or just don't feel like it!

It orginially stood out to me because I'm currently covering flow charts and logical analysis in my Object Oriented Programming class. I thought to myself... There needs to be an app that tells you if you should shave your legs in the morning! Just plug the answers into your phone / tablet and BOOM... you know the shower routine for the morning.

Could you imagine.... waking up every morning... plugging in the variables for the day and then the app spits out your agenda for the whole entire day?! Soon we won't even have to think for ourselves. Scary huh?

Just some scary thoughts for a scary day! Happy Halloween!

This week on Pinterest!

This week in Pinterest!!

Lets start off with the Pumpkin Carving!! On Monday I carved our two smaller pumpkins. I carved one that looked like a vampire and one that looked like a cat. I got the cat idea from Pinterest. It looked simple and cute... IT WAS. LOVE IT.

This afternoon Connor and I carved the bigger pumpkin and used cookie cutters to make the shapes. On Pinterest it shows to use a rubber mallet but I used our crab mallet and it worked! We used the star shaped cookie cutters to make a starry sky on the pumpkin.

Ew Mommy... This looks gross.....

Helping mommy bang in the cookie cutters

Finished Product

This week we also made some Halloween crafts. On Thursday evening Connor and I made paper plate ghosts and then I made some mummy bars!

The paper plate ghosts were super easy. You just glue some black construction paper eyes and mouths on to the plate and then tape white crape paper to the back! Connor ran around with the streamers behind him yelling, "Oooooooooo Ooooooooooooo Oooooooooo"

The mummy bars were really simple too. I bought Hershey Bars, wrapped them in white crape paper and then glued googly eyes onto the front. Everyone at the office LOVED them.

Can you tell which one Connor made? :)

Mummy Bars! We're watching you!!!

I did some cooking/baking this week from Pinterest as well. On Monday I made Sliced Baked Potatoes. You slice them real thin but not all the way to the bottom. Drizzle olive oil, butter and salt/pepper on them, then wrap them in aluminum foil and bake! Super easy and very yummy. Next time I'm going to get inventive with the seasonings.

It was yummy with our London Broil and Veggies.

For Saturday's lunch it tried out the wonton mozzarella sticks. The description said baked not fried but then the actual recipe was to fry it. I tried baking them and they were just ok. I'm now looking at other mozzarella stick recipes.

Tonight for dinner we had Spaghetti Squash Lasagna. Now.... for the last year and a half Kevin and I have been eating Spaghetti Squash in place of pasta. We LOVE it and I highly recommend trying it out. This was a little involved because I had to bake the squash, cook the meat and then put it all together and bake it BUT it was WORTH IT! Yummy yummy!!!

SUPER YUM!

Not sure what Pinning items will be accomplished this week... I'm looking at moving towards some Thanksgiving crafts and yummy desserts right now!

Eating Pasta and Howling at the Moon

Saturday night was date night for Kevin and I. Connor spent the night at my father's house and we had a night out on the town. We haven't had a night out on the town since our cruise last year. It was very refreshing!

Yesterday was SUPER cold. VERY VERY VERY cold. Between the icing and little bit of snow we got mixed in with the rain it felt like December. We shivered every where we walked.

After we dropped Connor off at Pop's house, Kevin and I ventured up to Baltimore for dinner at Chiapparelli's in Little Italy. Chiapparelli's is my favorite restaurant and I haven't been there in YEARS. We tried right before Connor was born for my birthday but it snowed and we couldn't leave the neighborhood.

Kevin and I had an awesome meal. I had a glass of wine with it and he had a Boston Lager. I ended the meal with a yummy dessert... CANOLI!!! LOVE ME some canolis! :)

Afterward we headed to Howl at the Moon in Power Plant. We were originally going to go but then remembered it was the weekend before Halloween and decided not to go. BUT dinner went so fast that the movies we wanted to see were still an hour and a half away. Soooooooo we decided to just get over ourselves and go to Howl at the Moon.

Howl at the Moon is a piano bar. Its not just a piano bar... its a dueling piano bar. They sing covers, have fun with the crowd and take requests. They of course were having a Halloween celebration and it felt like Kevin and I were the only ones NOT dressed up.... We did however enjoy some adult beverages and adult conversations. It was really great getting away just the two of us.

We scored a spot next to the big window that faces Power Plant's main area and we watched people arriving in their interesting costumes. We saw Pac Man and his ghostly friends, some Angry Birds, the Seame Street gang, lots of slutty anything and everything, super heros, doctors, and our FAVORITE was a guy dressed up as the Captain that fought off the octopus from the Old Spice commercial. VERY ORIGINAL.
In case you can't remember...


After we had a few beverages and the bar started to get over crowded and the people were becoming annoyingly drunk, Kevin and I headed home to an empty home and enjoyed sleeping the whole night through!

We both agreed that last night was a much needed escape from our every day stresses and normal events! I'm now looking forward to our adult vacation coming up in mid-November!

Kevin with his very large adult beverage

Me with my very small adult beverage

CHEEZE :)

Sooooo.... how was your weekend? Did you get stuck in the snow? Have beautiful weather?

Snow?! In October?

There is snow in the Maryland forecast today. I think we're south enough that we see any snow but I'm seeing pictures on Facebook of other people's lawns that are dusted with the white stuff that means winter. I can't believe the word snow is even being tossed around before Halloween!

I find it funny that people are calling it a snow storm on the radio. After the blizzards we've had in the last couple of years, a couple inches or a dusting is NOT a snow storm. Especially if it isn't going to stick to the roads and cause the salt trucks to come out........

The funny thing about this storm is tonight Kevin and I are having a date night. Connor is going to spend the night at my dad's and Kevin is taking me to my favorite restaurant Chiapparelli's in Little Italy. The last time Kevin tried taking me out to my favorite restaurant, it was my birthday, I was 9 months pregnant and we got 2 feet of snow and couldn't get out of our neighborhood.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this snow doesn't some how magically stick around and dump on us! I'd really like to finally make it back up there tonight!!

The mess that is surrounding us.....

Discovery City is at it AGAIN!

After dealing with an unexpected earthquake and rebuilding from hurricane Irene, Discovery City was handed another unexpected event.

As you can see a monster (blue guy in the middle) visited Discovery City to wreak havoc on his unsuspected victims. He may look friendly but that is how he fools you. The monster took a woman of the town hostage. Local PD could not do anything to stop him. Thankfully the Discovery City Justice League stepped in and took action.

Spiderman spun the monster in his web. Captain America knocked him over with his shield and rescued the hostage. Buzz Lightyear flew him up to outer space so he is never seen or heard from again.

Discovery City is yet again cleaning up but hopeful to return to their harmonious peaceful singing that drives Connor's mommy crazy.

Reached Running Goal #2

My first run after completing the C25K program (Goal #1) completed Goal #2... Running a full 3.1 miles. My original goal was to run 2.75 miles because that would push me several minutes beyond the last run (30 minutes). Once I started running I thought, "Hell... what's another lap and a few extra steps." I decided I was going to keep running until I hit my goal.

From one goal to the next!
http://pinterest.com/pin/387317127/

Half way through my run it started to drizzle (I do not recall the weatherman calling for rain today) then when I had 3 (or so) laps to go it started to actually rain. UGH. I didn't want to get soaked because I had to go back to work BUT I didn't want to give up. I was getting tired at 2.75 miles but I kept pushing myself and my legs. This was all mental, the physical was an afterthought.

The two other runners on the track left after the rain picked up and I kept going alone. I hit 3 miles and wanted to jump for joy but who knew that last .10 of a mile would be the longest I've ever had to run! I think my main problem was I kept looking at my app after I reached 2.75 miles so it felt like it was taking me twice as long (I won't be doing that again!).

I reached 3.1 miles at 3 months after starting this running journey and in 35.09 minutes. I gave my usual "YES!" out loud and threw my arms up. Goal #2 has been completed. Goal #3 is running an organized 5k. I guess I should start checking into those now! In the mean time I'm going to keep on going and start working on my pace and getting faster.

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we went to the Clark's Elioak Farm for a family pumpkin patch adventure. The week before Connor and I went to a birthday party there and I discovered they had rescued pieces of the old Enchanted Forest.

According to wikipedia,"The Enchanted Forest officially opened on August 15, 1955, following a preview party the afternoon before — one month after Disneyland Park's opening. Appealing mostly to families with small children, the park had a nursery rhyme theme. The park featured fairy tale buildings and characters, but no mechanical rides originally. Track rides were added later, including the Alice in Wonderland ride with teacup-shaped cars, a Cinderella's castle ride with mice for the cars, the "Little Toot" boat that took children to Mount Vesuvius for giant slides, and the Jungleland Safari which was driven by open Land Rover-type vehicles. Children's birthday parties were often held in the picnic areas among the attractions; many local teenagers worked as ticket-takers at the park. Unlike many other attractions of the time, the Enchanted Forest was integrated from the day it opened." The park closed in the 1990's and there have been efforts to reopen the park but Clark's Farm has been given the opportunity to rescue and restore the items from the park.

Needless to say I was excited when I got to the party and found out some of my childhood memories had been rescued and Connor could enjoy them. BUT being at the party without Kevin and a semi-cranky Connor left me missing out on enjoying the rescued pieces. Sooooo.... Kevin, Connor and I went this weekend.

Our adventure started by wandering the main part of the farm and seeing the Three Little Bears home, the Dish That Ran Away with the Spoon, and a few other structures including the Old Woman Who Live In a Shoe. Afterward, we ventured over to the petting farm. We saw goats, sheep, pigs, a cow, a donkey, a emu, a Pony named Captain Jack (same name as our dog) and some ducks and chickens. Next we ventured to the tree maze. This tree maze was made up of huge pines and you followed paths around to different old Enchanted Forest items. Very cool! Lastly we ventured to the pumpkin patch where Connor picked out two pumpkins.

Overall, the day turned out fabulous. I was able to share a childhood memory with two of my favorite people that I never thought would be able to enjoy. If you're in the Maryland area I highly suggest stopping by to take a look back at some great history.

Enjoy the pics!

The castle waiting for our entrance

Hey Diddle Diddle....

Hanging out on a mushroom :)

The Old woman who reminds me not to have too many children

Checking out the animals

Family Photo in front of the Three Little Pigs house... Connor turned his head...

Old Enchanted Forest

Hickory Dickery Dock!

Hmmm... which one?!

Mommy and Connor!

Shhh... early naptime....

October Book Club

Last Thursday I met up with my "Read This, Bitch - Book Club" to discuss When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedairs.

I had bought this book about this time last year and started reading but wasn't too dedicated or engrossed in it due to my trip to AZ to visit my mom and then my trip with Kevin to Bermuda. Right after the Bermuda trip I got a Nook for Christmas and poof!.... I forgot the book even existed.

Sooo this month I saw that we were going to read the book I thought, "Cool.... I'm almost done the book. It won't take me long to read at all."

I started in where I left off and finished. Then I started skimming through the beginning of the book and saw that some of the stories I didn't even remember! Soooooo it was back to rereading the book for me! I would start reading the first few pages of the chapter and if I didn't have a clue or recognize the story I kept reading.

Overall I enjoyed the stories. They made me giggle at some points and laugh out loud at others. Some of the stories I couldn't get into. My favorite story was "April In Paris". For me I despise spiders with a passion but we have a spider that builds a web every year on the outside of our sliding glass door. We leave him there all autumn and he gets bigger and bigger and fatter and fatter. Then... one day... he's gone! Reading his short story brought back memories of sizing him up last year. This year we had a spider visit the spot but he didn't stay long. Boo....


November's book is Chill Factor. Are you reading any good books right now?

C25K COMPLETE!

Well... I'm done!! Done the program that is.... I plan to keep running and get Kevin and myself registered for a 5k in the next month but boy does it feel awesome to actually complete a program dedicated to getting you in shape. My last run was smooth sailing and actually enjoyable!

I've been meaning to blog about how I get a note from the universe in my inbox every morning and I will another time, BUT this morning the note read:
 

"Every fortune, gold medal, and trophy...

Every comeback, triumph, and celebration...

And every kiss, hug, and hand held, Amanda...

Were first a thought, a whisper, or a dream.

Go, Amanda, go!
    The Universe"

I found this on Pinterest a while ago.
http://pinterest.com/pin/375253639/

It really spoke truth to me this morning. When I first started this journey I did it half heartily and  with the assumption that if it got too tough I'd stop. But as the first week was completed my thoughts became focused on completion and my dream became doing it.

Right now I'm about a half mile short of running a 5k. I can run the time asked but I haven't reached the distance. Over the next two weeks I'm going to add 3 to 5 minutes to my time until I reach the final goal.

I'm so glad that Kevin and I did this together. It was helpful to have him to bounce ideas off, complain too, and celebrate triumphs with. I'm looking forward to pushing forward over the next two weeks to reach the 5k mark so we can start the next part of our journey.

So if I can complete this you can too! I know of at least two others that have started running since I started posting these adventures. Time for you to start! Get the first step out the door and the rest will follow!

This Week on Pinterest!

Mid-terms totally cramped my Pinterest creations this week. I didn't get nearly as much accomplished as I wanted to...

On Monday morning I sampled the Mini Fratattas and I remember that I'm not a fan of microwaved eggs... Soooo I think they would have been awesome fresh out of the oven but kinda just eh microwaved.

Tuesday evening I planned to make Grilled Cheese and Avocado sandwiches and then Kevin volunteered to make dinner so he made them! He put a different spin the the recipe given. He added Mexican blend cheese, crushed taco shells and bacon bits to the sandwich and they turned out very yummy!

As the week passed I started working on a crafty project for the toddler bag swap I attended this afternoon (I'll blog about that later). I needed to create a learning project for my toddler and 4 others. I picked the button matching game. I however, could not find any buttons I liked so I stuck with felt objects for scrap-booking. They turned out really great.

Friday evening I tried making Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies BUT I didn't have enough powder sugar!! NEXT week!

Saturday morning I woke up inspired and made Apple Ring Pancakes. You basically make pancake mix and add pumpkin pie spice and dip the apple rings into the batter and cook them up. VERY YUMMY! I also added ground ginger, all spice and cinnamon to the batter.

Sunday morning I attempted to make fried eggs in a red pepper ring and it turned out to be difficult. The eggs wouldn't stay attached to the pepper so when you flipped everything it all came apart and in some instances the yolk broke. They tasted good but too stressful to make again.

For the toddler bag swap I made Broccoli Chowder with Corn and Bacon. It was very yummy, easy and turned out great!

I'm hoping to add a few crafty things to my plate this week! Until then happy pinning!!

Greatest Hot Wheel Track Ever?!

I found this video earlier in the week of the one of the COOLEST Hot Wheel tracks ever put together. Watch the whole thing.... seriously...

AWESOME huh?! Growing up I loved three things... Barbies, Legos and Hot Wheels. We used to set up cool tracks in the kitchen and down all the flights of stairs at my dad's house but NOTHING like this. I also must say I don't think they had those boost things back in my track building days. This REALLY makes me excited to get started with Connor. Just today Kevin's mom brought by all the cars / Hot Wheels she found cleaning out her house in preperation for a move. Connor was in heaven! Santa may have to bring some tracks!

End of the World?!

So today was supposed to be the "end of the world" again... The day isn't over yet but I'm still here how about you?

I giggled the last time it was supposed to be the end of the world. Then I giggled again when it was a miscalculation. Not really giggling at the religion or the person... just at the idea really.

I find myself imagining what the end of the world would be like. I don't really picture massive explosions or people be rescued by a higher being.... I picture everyone just "poofing" into the air. Poof! GONE! Everything would get quiet, start to collect dust... our physical and digital footprints would be left behind... Weird... I know...

I did read a book called Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh at the beginning of this year. THAT was a great book! I think it realistically depicts how the "end of our time" would be. Actually... it was so real that it kinda stuck with me for a little while. My vision of us "poofing" into thin air was replaced!

I guess if we make it through the day our next big date is December 21st 2012. The end of the Mayan calendar.... does that mean the end of our time? Who knows! BUT what I do know is on December 20th 2012 I turn 30... it'll be the death/end to my 20's. I need to throw an "Its the end of the world Amanda's turning 30 party".... hmm.... I'll keep you posted on that one.

Anyway... how do you vision "the end of the world"?

College Then vs College Now

College Then:

Me and Kevin (2003) - Our first summer dating... my 3rd year of college

I went to college straight out of high school. I was told to "Get it done in four years, or we're done paying" by my parents. Sounds kinda mean but they know me. I'm a huge procrastinator and would probably drag my feet. Soooo I got it done in four years. They paid for the tuition and I paid for books and two classes I had to retake. I started at Anne Arundel Community College and then transferred to University of Baltimore (UB).

When I was going to college I never ran out of steam. Being up till 2 or 3am finishing a paper or homework was nothing. The alarm would go off at 7am and I would get up and start the day over. I also worked 20 to 30 hours a week while going to school full time. I was a procrastinator but I loved being busy (still am/do!).

My last two years at UB was spent taking evening classes while I worked during the day. Some evenings I was out by 8:30pm and other nights I was out by 10:45pm. The 8:30pm classes I would stop by Kevin's house to spend some time with him and then head home and the 10:45pm classes I went straight home. Either way, I had homework to do when I got home. My commute was crazy too. I lived in Glen Burnie, MD... drove to Annapolis, MD to work (south), then drove up to UB in Baltimore City, MD (north) and then at the end of the evening drove back home to Glen Burnie, MD (south). I would be up LATE and then up early. I never needed sleep.

****FIVE YEARS OR SO LATER***

College Now:

Connor and Me (2011) - Jumping into taking multiple
non credit classes and one credit class

Taking a few non-credit courses here and there isn't that bad. You have two weeks to complete each lesson and you get two lessons a week for 6 weeks. Not bad. Fairly easy to keep up with.

I'm now in the middle of my first credit course at the community college since I graduated with my bachelor's degree. Woah... very different from my early 20's! Now in my late 20's... I'm managing a household, chasing a toddler, trying to spend time with Kevin, trying to find me time AND then there's the labs, homework, readings, lecture listening, quizzes and this week.... I'm studying for a mid-term. Thank goodness the class is online!

Needless to say sleep has trumped my studying this time. Once Connor goes to be around 8pm, I get some stuff done around the house and then settle in for some classwork/studying...once my eyes get heavy I don't push through like I used to! Why? Well... sleep is a hot commodity now and I take it when I can get it!! I also let other "fun" things trump doing homework/labs if it comes up. Why? Well... free time/fun time is now cherished by the minutes and hours these days. Does the all the work get done? Do I pass the quizzes? Yes! Its just that my determination is split into to umpteen different directions.

So:

Does this make me less of a student? Does this make me "old"? or... Does this make me a seasoned college student? The been there done that student? The I'm a completely different person than I was student? I've learned to pick and choose my battles student?

The mid-term is today... wish me luck!