I did it!!!

I graduated last night with my Bachelor of University Studies!

Graduation

I will be graduating from college in two and a half weeks. I can't believe it's finally here. Four and a half years ago I was turning 40 and quite unhappy with my life. What had I done? Where was I going? I had a little mid-life crisis.  This is when I decided I wanted to go back to college and figure out what I was going to be when I grew up.

I will be receiving a Bachelor of University Studies. My two majors are Family & Consumer Sciences and Psychology.  I have found that I love taking Family and Consumer Science classes.  They cover a lot of different topics and are quite interesting.  The Psychology part is very interesting too but something I would never pursue as a career. There aren't a lot of online classes that I was interested in but I was able to take enough Psychology to make it my 2nd major.

Now...what do I want to do when I grow up?  I'm still not sure LOL!  I have decided to pursue my Master's degree from the university that I work for (different than the one I'm graduating from). I have the chance to take two classes a semester for free (I pay for online fees and books). I can't pass up that opportunity. I've thought about being a home economist for the Cooperative Extension Service but will see if that is still what I want to do when I graduate.  I need to apply to graduate school and do all that is involved with that but I will hopefully be able to start my new adventure in the fall!

It's a new year

I can't believe how fast the last year flew by. It's like 2010 was smushed down to just a few months. I had so many changes in the last year--I started back to college, left my old job, and am staying home for now. I'm hoping to find a new job soon but I'm just not sure what I want to do. I live in a little tiny village with few opportunities and am not sure I want to drive 20 miles to the next town to work. Decisions, decisions.

I start my next semester of college next week. I think this will be the scariest one so far. I'm taking Intermediate Algebra, Intro to Business, Child Psychology, and Biology. Biology scares me to death. I struggled with it so much in high school. I'm hoping that by taking it online that it will be easier (open book tests!!). The other classes will be time consuming but not so bad.

Here's to a new year and a new semester!

and more Photography class photos

I've been taking a lot of photos for my photography class. Here are a few samples of my recent work.

Silos at Fort StantonCross Cutout in Capitan

Piece of wood

Plumbing pipe in our front yard

Aspen trees against the beautiful blue sky

More photos....

I have been out taking a lot of pictures for my photography class lately. I usually head out on Saturday or Sunday for a few hours and just look for things that will fit into that weeks assignment. Sometimes I have a specific idea of what I want to shoot and sometimes I just see where I end up. It's been fun but I'm dreading winter when I won't have much color or light to shoot. Here are a few pictures from the last 2 weeks.

Office to a cabin rental place in the Upper Canyon. Love the decorations!

The Aspens are changing colors and are beautiful. I love to hear the wisper of the leaves as the wind blows through them.

Old adobe/rock building in Lincoln, NM. Part of it is old and part is being rebuilt to show the size.

Pumpkins on my sister Melissa's front porch. I love the different colors and shapes in this picture. And yes, those are Corona bottles behind the pumpkin. My nephew set off colored smoke bombs in them to make them different colors.

Fort Stanton Merchant Marine and Military Cemetary. I had to show pattern for this picture.

One semester down

I finished my first semester back to college with a 4.0 GPA! I really enjoyed my classes and realized I really do like to learn. I've signed up for 2 classes this summer (that start Monday) and 4 for the fall. I'm taking 2 full semester classes and 2 half semester classes--that way I'm only taking 3 classes at one time. This summer I'm taking Introduction to Psychology and Interpersonal Communications. For Fall I signed up for Intermediate Algebra, Basic Computer Skills, and my 2 half semester classes are Adolescent Psychology (this should come in handy the next few years LOL!) and Marriage and Family.

My projected graduation date for my Associated degree is Spring of 2012. Of course then I have to continue on to my Bachelors. I'm hoping to get all of this done in 4-5 years so I can get on with what I want to do.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe summer! I'll be doing homework ;-)

Six months later I return....

I keep thinking I will update my blog but never get around to it. I've been in school for 2 months now and love it. It's a lot of work but I have found out I enjoy learning. I think it has something to do with having lived a little and seeing that wow...that information they are giving us will be used in some capacity in my life. When I went from high school to college I couldn't see it then but now I do.
I had signed up for 4 classes but after the first week I realized there was no way I could keep up with four classes this semester. It may take me a year or so longer to get my degree but I'll just keep plugging away and hopefully meet my goal someday.
This winter has been a rough one so far. We've had so much more snow than in years past. I'm sick of snow and ready for summer. Hopefully it's going to be a nice one.
I need to get some new pictures up but just haven't had time to get to it. My desktop computer is so slow and that's where the pictures are. I'm on spring break this week so maybe I'll set some times aside to get that done.
Ok, I'm off to get some work done.....

I'm a college freshman now!

I went back to the college today and applied for financial aid and signed up for classes. I'm taking Composition, Basic Algebra, Freshman orientation, and New Mexico History. I think I'm most excited about New Mexico History LOL! I'm taking 3 of the classes online and basic algebra at the college. I had hoped some of my previous classes (1 year) of technical college would transfer but they won't. I took mostly computer classes plus one class each of composition, pre-algebra, and accounting. Oh well, guess I get to start over again.