The World According to Leslie

Ever get a quote stuck in your head? Ever memorize a quote the first time you heard it? Ever keep the quote in your memory so much that you can still quote it 20 years later? I have. The funny thing is, I still remember the place where I first heard the quote that plays over in my head frequently. "If going through life and you find yourself lost, go back to the last place you knew who you were and what you were doing and start there." (Carol Stack) As a 19 year old, I sat in the lecture hall at Appalachian State University for a required lecture. (We had so many we had to attend per semester for different classes. We had to scan our name badges in so that they would know we attended.) Anyways, this was a required lecture for my Social Studies class. I was sitting the lecture hall about 1/2 way between the front row and the back. I was also sitting in the middle of the row.  So I was almost "dead center" of the lecture hall. The man who did the intro...

WOW! I can’t believe that I first posted on this blog on October 25, 2008. That seems like so long ago, but it really isn’t.   6 short years.   In six years, the Princess has started school. She has been a dancer, gymnast, Girl Scout, and wonderful daughter.   In six years, I have started and completed my Master’s degree. Taught for two years and starting my third year next week. Began writing as a freelance writer and getting paid for it.   In six years, Tony has been at the same job the entire time. He has moved up the ladder as far as positions go, and pay, but he has been stable with the same company. That is a blessing!   In six years, we have only moved once, but we stopped renting to become homeowners. We are still unpacking because it is hard to move and work and have a family at the same time.   In six years, I have watched my family get closer as my parents have gotten weaker. Don’t get me wrong! They are still kicking, bu...

Starting today, this weekend is going to be a BLUR! Today, I have a meeting.  It’s like a teacher workday when the kids are in school!    It will be fun.  The girls I will be with are fabulous!   Then we have softball practice tonight, if they don’t cancel it from the rain we had LAST night!   Then I have to get the food for the Daddy-Daughter Dance (LUAU) for Girl Scouts.    I have to come home and make new CDs for the music.  The ones I have are good, but they aren’t long enough… not enough songs.   Tomorrow is softball.  Dance decorating.  Dancing.  Cleaning!   Sunday, I’m supposed to do the induction ceremony for Phi Kappy Phi at UNC, but I don’t think I’m going.    I have choir practice at the  same time.   So…. here goes the BLUR!!!

I love lazy Sunday afternoons.  I have not been able to have those for a while, since I was in school.  Most of my homework assignments were due on Sundays.  So for the last few months (Since December) I have had lazy Sunday afternoons.  It's nice to come home, eat lunch, and sit on the couch watching TV.  Sure I have a million boxes (maybe not THAT many) left to pack.  Sure I have 4-5 bags of clothes and stuff to list on eBay.  Sure I could have spent the afternoon writing, reading, or just hanging with the family. But, sometimes, a nice lazy Sunday afternoon is exactly what is needed.  I got that today.....  with a 2 hour nap to boot. :) I hope you have all had a great Sunday afternoon.

I spent four years as an Undergraduate student.  I attended three different 4-year universities.  I also attended a community college.  I spent 4 1/2 years as a Graduate student.  As you can probably guess, I have more Student Loan debt than I care to admit!  However, I won't try to get someone else to pay it (unless one of you just wants to write me a check to cover it!)!!  I won't try to get out of paying it.  I will pay my debt.  One day, when I have finished paying it off, I will be so excited!  Unfortunately, I think I might pay off my house and my student loans around the same year! :(  Was it worth it?  Yes....every penny!  Would I do it again?!  Yes...every second of it! Would I do anything differently?  Maybe.... but I think my life is pretty good, okie dokie, okay right now! :)  I'll just keep making my little payments until I can make BIG payments to get a chunk out of the loans! :)...

I'm trying to find what my life is centered around. From the time I was 5 until the time I was 18, my life was centered around school.  (Obviously!)  I spent all day at school.  Once I started 7th grade, I spent afternoons (and sometimes much later) in the Band Room at my school and the high school.  Friday nights were Football games.  Saturdays, Band Competitions.  After graduation, I went straight to college.  Appalachian State, Music Education Major.  A year later I returned home to go to RCCC.  During this time I met my husband.  Still, all the while, my time was dedicated to school (and working).  January 2000---transfer to UNCC.  Hated it!  August 2000.  Transfer to UNCG.  LOVED IT!  Graduated in 2003.  By this time, I was married (for two years) and 6.5 months pregnant with our Princess!  I was working full time as an Interpreter.  August 2003--Life became centered around our Pr...

...well, almost. I have had a 4-and-a-half year long relationship.  It is almost over.  I have been working for this day for so long that it feels unreal!  Today, I turned in my final paper for graduate school.  I emailed the professor to let her know (just like she asked) so it can be graded.  I have a grade for one class.  Just waiting for a grade from this one paper. I am ONE grade away from graduation! I am ONE grade away from a 4.0 GPA!  I am ONE grade away from being finished with something I started 4-and-a-half years ago! If this paper is accepted, there will be no more papers to write at 9pm on Thursday night.  There will be no more "OMG!  I forgot to email her!" moments!  There will be no more Sunday midnights where I am in tears because I am tired and can't get my work done.  If this paper is accepted, it will all be over.  What will I do now?  What will I devote my time to?  What can I oc...

26 days until Christmas! :) 17 school days until Christmas!  :)  3 days (counting today) until the local Christmas Festival!  My Girl Scouts are selling baked goods and other cute things there this weekend! ???? days until my Christmas tree and decor are up. :(  (Know where it is, but have to clear all the spaces to put it up!) ???? days until the first present is under the Christmas tree.  (Have the present!  Need to wrap it!  Might be nice to have a tree up!) 3 days (counting today) until one of my classes wraps up! 7 days (counting today) until the other class wraps up! 17 days (counting today) until GRADUATION!  (That's crazy!  4-and-a-half years and it's finally here!) So the countdowns are on!  Would put a countdown timer on the blog, but too many things to count down for!  :) 

Dad finally came home from the hospital on Saturday.  He still has some recovering to do, but he's at home and feeling much better. Only a few more softball games until the season is over.  We play this weekend, and we have a game next weekend.  Then next Saturday afternoon the tournament starts.  So we could have as few as 3 games, but I guess we could have as many as 5 games left! :)  I guess we will see after Saturday! I only have about 6-7 weeks until GRADUATION!  I graduate on December 15th!  I'm excited!  We are supposed to close on the new house on November 12th!  I can't wait!  Tony has to decorate the outside for Christmas!  He said that if we got in before Thanksgiving that he would put lights outside for Christmas!  (He never thought we'd actually get in before Thanksgiving when he said it!  lol I'm so excited!) I have an idea for a book I am wanting to write.  I just need to get the approval of my ...

The kids came to school on Monday!  It has been awesome getting to know my new students!  They are very different than the kids I had last year!  My UNCC classes (2) started on Aug. 20th!  I'm totally trying to not fall behind! My princess is at a new school.  She seems to be liking it.  She says she's only made ONE new friend.  I'm sure that's the hardest part about moving schools.  However, in 2 years, she will change schools again to go to middle school.  Then she will meet MANY new friends from several different schools.  Eventually, she might get to be in classes with her cousins who will be at the same middle and high school! :)  We are getting a new house!  We are buying!  So we are trying to keep up with the packing! However.... this weekend, we are trying to keep up with some REST!  We are FINALLY going on our "summer vacation"!  We are heading to Tweetsie Railroad to hang out with some cowboys a...

I have so much to do: Finish my personal paper for school Finish all my modules for school Finish my final paper for school Finish packing to move Go to Tweetsie Get everything ready for work Have Chasity's birthday party Start new classes online at UNCC.  I only have 2 left!  Then I will graduate in December 2012!! Apply for Graduation. Get cap/gown for Graduation. I really do have a lot to do.  Next week, I start work so I guess I need to get it all done now! :)

For my online class at UNCC, I have to write a personal writing piece.  I have no idea what to write about.  I could write about the Princess's birth. I could write about my wedding day. I could write about the night I almost lost my father. I just don't know what to write about. I have to start now because we have to go through several stages (that we can show the prof) of writing, revising, editing, and final draft.  I just don't know what to write about. I have to get started, but I don't know what to write. Hopefully I will come up with a topic soon. :) 

Church was great this morning.  Dad actually felt like going and sitting at church!  It was nice. I have been on homework for 3 hours, but it feels like FOREVER!  I have to write my Literacy Autobiography.  I have to tell how I learned to read and write!  OMG!  My momma taught me before I started Kindergarten.  Now.... how is THAT supposed to take 2-3 pages? 

I keep looking at this page trying to figure out what to write.  I have waited a long time to write anything.  Since the last time I wrote, I have gotten older.  My husband has gotten older.  We have had an anniversary. Have I waited too long? Nope.... you can never stay away from writing too long.  I just hope I can be more consistent, but I always say that. Anyways.... A lot is going on.  We are in the midst of summer vacation.  Tony is working hard.  I am taking one class this summer.  I just completed my first assignment tonight. We have Chasity reading every day.  She has to read an hour just for waking up.  She says, "I think I'll sleep all day tomorrow so I can get out of reading."  Then for every hour she plays on electronics (DS, Xbox, computer) she reads for an hour.  :)  She loves reading, so it's really not that hard to get her to do. The public library here has a thing going this summer that k...

Today, I am waiting for the call from HR at my new job to call me to do paperwork. I have already arranged for daily after-school transportation for Chasity (beginning today). She already rides the bus in the mornings. I am hoping that I will get my paperwork completed soon and get into my classroom! I am excited! Over the weekend, I went through all the stuff that I have already. I filled up 3 notebooks with "random stuff"...grammar, vocab, short stories, novels, etc. I filled up one notebook with "Romeo and Juliet" stuff! Hopefully I can use some of it (I'm sure I will be able to) in my new classroom. I sat in the floor for a few hours working on getting my notebooks together. I couldn't stay focused because of the excitement! HOWEVER....today..... while I'm waiting on the call, I'm being productive. I have already read 50 pages. I have 88 left to read. Then the writing starts! I've been productive so far!

Chasity loves school. This year, she is actually waking up (without TOO much grumpiness) and getting herself dressed. In all the previous years, her dad or I would dress her. We told her over the summer that now that she's 8, she has to start doing that for herself. She's too big for us to do it. So far, I am loving school. I have two classes. I have a lot of reading, but for the most part, it hasn't been so hard to keep up. Of course, I have only been in class for TWO weeks! lol I'm sure it will get more difficult, but I think I can handle it. In a couple of weeks, I'll probably be pulling my hair out and wanting to quit. However.... I haven't quit yet. With graduation so close in sight, I am not looking to quit now! :) On Monday, I received a phone call from a school to which I had sent my resume' and information. They asked me to come in for an interview on Tuesday. Being absolutely convinced I can get the job, I went. The interv...

Wow! It's been FOREVER since I last blogged! Since I have been home from vacation, I have been swamped with school. The class I am taking is a Research Methods class. I knew that it was going to have a lot of Scientific information and mathematical statistics to do in it. So I put it off as long as I possibly could. Then I decided that instead of spreading the torture out for 16 weeks in the fall semester, I would shrink all the same work into a 5-week summer session. OMG! So far, I have not had many problems. This week is probably going to kill me. :( I actually have to do the math for myself this week. I have been reading the statistics and I have been doing okay in writing about them. So.... I'm just hoping I can find someone to do my homework for me this week! (NO! I'm just kidding! I will actually do my OWN homework!) However, I only have assignments due this Sunday (7/31), next Sunday (8/7), and my final exam and final assignment are due 8/10. Then I have abou...

Class is finished..... until Summer school starts. I'm just waiting on Financial Aid information to find out if I can take the Summer School classes I need. ;) If I get these two classes out of the way, take two classes in the fall (but they might both be ON campus), and take two classes in the Spring.... I can GRADUATE in May 2012!!! That means that I will have completed my Masters' Degree and will make more money! :) Of course, to make more money, I have to have a job! lol I'm getting more Substituting jobs. I'm working the 2nd 1/2 of tomorrow (from noon-4pm) and all day Wed and Thurs for ONE teacher. I'm guessing she has had an emergency and will have to leave early tomorrow and come back on Friday. I'm surprised because most teachers are working on getting ready for Finals and EOGs and EOCs. So most of them are afraid to miss school right now!! Now... let's just pray that I can get a real job in the fall, can get the money to take these two summer...

So I have just been playing around with my schedule of classes. If I can get Financial Aid for two classes this summer, I can take 2 classes before August. Then in August I am registered for two classes. Then in January, I would have two classes left! Do you know what that means? That means that if I really get the financial aid that I need, I will spend my summer in class so that I can GRADUATE IN MAY!!!!!!!!! Do you know what that means????? That means that I am almost finished!!!! That means that I will get the raise from "Bachelor Teacher" to "Masters Teacher" after only ONE year of teaching...... of course THAT is assuming that I am going to get a job to start teaching in August! :) I just have to wait on THREE emails to let me know.... one from my adviser, one from the teacher whose class I want to enroll in, and one from the Financial Aid people! :) Hmmmm.....that seems like a LOT of waiting! :) But.... I have been waiting my WHOLE life to finish school. N...

Sitting in my UNCC email inbox right now is the Course Evaluation email for this semester! As we all know, this has not been the best semester ever....online. So, I have a few unfriendly things to say about this course. So, I am waiting. I haven't even opened it since the title of the email gives away the contents. I have to finish my assignment for this week. Then I think that next week is all that I have left in this class..... maybe through Mother's Day, but I think next week is it! Then I am going to give it to this class and unhelpful professor with both barrels! I am just waiting! Tick Tock Tick Tock I sound like somewhat of a ticking time bomb, don't I? It's ok. I can wait until the class is over to tell the university that this professor should never be allowed the internet again to teach a class. That they should make sure the professors know the course they are teaching, what is expected, and how to work the technology before they assign them to a course ...