Final reflection

• Which in class writing was your favorite? Why?

           My favorite class writing was the "I believe." It brought me back to things that I have molded my morals and values. Has developed me into the woman I have become.

• Which in class writing was your least favorite? Why?

           My least favorite class writing was having to write about the video we had to create the story line. Was hard for me to put it into words.

• Review all your writing chronologically (earliest to latest). List three interesting observations or changes in your writing. Which are the most profound (obvious and important)? Why?

           After reflecting on my writings, I noticed a few things about myself. Depending on what topic we had to write on, words seemed to flow with some and not others. If it came to experiences, seemed to be easier to get a lot down. I also noticed that when given a topic the start of the writing didn't make sense at first but the more I wrote the better it flowed.

• If you could change anything about your writing this semester what would it be? Why?

           One of the things that I would change about my writing is put more effort into getting more out of my thoughts and down on paper. 

• What did you like best about this course?

           What I liked best about this course is our writing had us do a lot of self reflecting and had us use our imagination.

• What did you like least about this course?

           The least thing I liked about this course was stepping out of my comfort zone as far as getting into groups and letting them read my writing but was actually a good thing to step out of my comfort zone.

• What would you have done differently this semester if you could have a do-over?

           Something that I would have done differently this semester was put a little more effort into my writing

• What did learn about yourself as a student, a thinker, a writer this semester?

            Things that I learned about myself as a student is I don't give myself enough credit when its due.

• What could I, Ms. A., have done differently to improve the course?

            I was really worried about this class when first enrolled. Never was good at writing or at least I thought so until Ms. A. I wouldn't change a thing about this course. 

• You begin this course with an engagement and participation score of an A.  Attendance, participation in activities and group work help you to maintain this grade.  Evaluate yourself and assign yourself a grade for the in class portion of this course.  Don’t forget the reasoning behind your self assigned grade.

            

           As I look back at the semester as a whole, I feel pretty good about my grade. I think that attendance is an important part of being a successful student. When you don't show up for class, there is something important that can be missed. I really tried to make it a point not to miss any classes. The activities at first were hard to open up to but as time went on, it became easier to step out of the comfort zone. So with this being said, I give myself a solid A.

Final thoughts

           This semester will finish my freshman yr in college. Since being out of school for so long, some things have been a challenge for me. It has taken a lot of courage to go back to school at the age of 38. Looking back, I wouldn't change a thing. I'm loving  the fact that I get to meet a lot of new people, some older and some younger. This has been the best decision I have ever made.

I believe in myself

I believe in love not war.

I believe that anyone can accomplish their goals

I believe I like to cook

I believe in a greater power that myself

I believe that the world would be a better place if was more compassion

I believe in karma.

I believe I can get a 2 yr degree

I believe that one day I will have my restaurant

I believe my husband is the one

I believe I like Chinese food.

I believe that one day I will have my restaurant. My life long goal is open a restaurant when I get an education and the knowledge and tools to run a successful business. The next few steps that need to be done is find the funding and a good location to open it up. First will be finding a place that I really want to call home. Not knowing where I want to retire is my biggest issue. I loved Montana for the nice warm summer with no humidity but do not like to very cold and long winters. Living in the south is great because of the short mild winters but don’t like the humidity and bugs that come along with it. I have already got a few clientele that would love to be the first ones to visit my restaurant. The menu is going to be good down home cooking with fresh baked goods. Fresh bakes good can be done made to order. Already having the knowledge of knowing how to cook and bake gives me a little bit of a leg up on anyone else that has never been shown how to do things form Scheat. Learning the management side of the industry is really going to help me. I am hoping one day that I can be featured on Diners, drive-ins and dives. 

What would you do if you woke up invisible one morning?

What would you do if you woke up invisible one morning?

             If I woke up tomorrow morning invisible to everyone I think it would take a little bit to sink in. There are some pros and cons with being invisible. First, how would you let all your loved ones that you are there? Make things move or write notes on the fridge. By making things move, it may just freak them out. Although to be able to play practical jokes would be priceless. I would love that if I wanted to have some time to myself, my son couldn't see me and be constantly Mom, mom, mom. Don’t get me wrong, I love my kids but they just don’t understand when I say to leave me be for a little while. On another note, would I do anything illegal? That is a tough question. Most of us don’t do anything illegal because we know it’s wrong but knowing that no one can see who is doing it, almost makes it worth it. 

What If?

What if………

What if there was no violence.

What if there was no diseases…

What if everyone had to grow and raise their own food?

What would happen if there was no government?

What would it be like if an ice age happened again?

What would it be like if everyone had to grow their food?

            Growing and raising your own food would be good and bad. Some of the good points would be; no one would have to worry about having ingredients in their food that you can pronounce. They would either learn to provide for themselves or go hungry. The self-gratification knowing that no matter what happened that you wouldn't go hungry. Back before the demand for more food was much simpler life. The diet for most was based on whole foods and grains. Not a lot of meat was consumed. You didn't hear about lots of cancers or high blood pressure. Everyone in the family had their own job, whether it be working the fields, tending to the animals or making sure that everything was prepared for the winter months. I love spending time in the garden. The taste of fresh produce is just amazing and knowing what it was grown in or feed makes all the difference. Some of the bad points to everyone having to grow their own food would be loss of jobs. Losing a job would even cause more issues in the long run. There would be no money to pay the utilities, house pymt( if one).

What would happen if there was no diseases? There would be a lot of job loss. Some of the technology advancement would disappear. No one would have any worries about anything except daily happenings. Life would be a lot simpler. In order for this to ever happen, the world would have to get away from all the processed foods, eating out and everyone would have to do the recommended exercise. The diets would have to consist of more whole foods and grains and less red meat. Red meat along with the chemicals and such put in food have been causing a lot of medical issues in humans. The high demand of groceries alone has caused a lot of concern when it comes to animal cruelty.

What if dreams really meant something in reality? Sometime I feel that my dreams do open up to real life in a way. Either will be dreaming about something that has already happened or the way that you would like ti to happen. At time when you think about dreams, you think that they seem to last forever but in all actuality they only last about five minutes. You can have multiple dreams a night and if you don’t immediately start thinking about one of them when you do awake, you will not remember any of them. There are time that I've woken up from a dream unexpectedly and instantly want to go back to that place in time to continue the dream. I've had many dreams about my favorite nascar driver to having kids with someone that would never truly happen. It would be more of a fantasy. I think sometimes a dream can come true depending on how you try and achieve it. Other time you can be in a place of time and have a moment when you think you been there before and the exact same thing happened. Whether that is really the case or it may have been a dream at some point that your subconscious is remembering.

Fear

Fear

What is fear? Fear can be a number of things. Having fear for failing is probably one of my biggest fears. I have worked hard to be success at almost everything that I do. The only way to not have fear is confronting your fears. When it came to parenting, it didn't come easy. There is always bumps in the road, Trial and error and making sacrifices. Going back to my biggest fear of failure. I failed at high school because of giving up and quitting. When I found out I was pregnant with my first child, I thought my life was over as I knew it. Was senior and was being home schooled at this point, so I just quit. It took until 2002 for me to get the nerve to try and get my ged. That was scary in itself. Took a pretest to see what needed to be studied. I pretty much had to study everything from math to science, etc. Three months of studying and went to take the test. Was shocked that I actually passed. Then someone asked me if I was on to college. That word itself scarred me. It took everything I could do to pass the ged and now college, were they crazy. I took the step and enrolled at ASUMH. When I took the entrance exam, I was right back to the beginning again. Math was at a 9^th grade level, ready was basic and the writing was at the beginning. During my first semester at ASU, I had a lot of help in the developmental classes but what is it going to be like once those classes are done.

            Failure for me can mean many things. From opening my own business, to failing at my college class, failing marriage. Even my kids having a bad experience can mean failure to me as a parent. From past experience, you really have to face your fears to overcome them. I want to have a successful restaurant one day and in my mind in order to be successful I need to further my education. I had decided that I wanted to get a culinary degree. Did a lot of research into different colleges that offered the culinary program. Was going to have move in order for that to come a reality. The next question was where? Sure didn't want to move to Seattle, WA because of the cost of living. Missoula, MT was out of question because of the things I've heard and didn't know anyone there. Denver, co wasn't a good choice either. Next was Kansas City, don’t know anyone there either. Came across OTC in Springfield, mo. The rating were fabulous, we have family there and closer to some of the kids and grand-baby. OTC was the place for me. Next step was getting all plans together to move 1600 miles.

            Moving 1600 miles just to attend college was a big decision. It meant uprooting my kids from a place they have grown up most their childhood and leaving behind my family and friends. My husband had to give up his supervisor position that he had been at for a few years. It was time to figure out what we were going to bring with and what was going to stay.  We rented a 14 foot U-Haul. As I started packing and going through things, in the back of my mind was a thought of is this really a good step to take right now. Most of the plans were already set in stone so there was no turning back. Time to face your fear straight in the mouth. Got everything packed up and loaded on the the U-Haul truck, loaded up the 8 ft trailer that we were going to bring  and the back of my blazer was full of house plants, our overnight bags and a few things that wouldn't fit in the U-Haul. Had to do the final cleaning touches on the house. Once we hit the road we were stopping by my parents to say our final goodbyes. The drive took us about 2 days, only because both of us driving separate vehicles and needing to sleep.

Quick writes

Stress

I don’t think that all stress is bad. If we didn't have stress what would our daily lives be like? I think stress is what give us motivation to do things. I we didn't think about things in different ways our lives would be very different. There would be no satisfaction when we accomplished something. If something failed, it’s the stress that makes us rethink the approach that we take and how we should change it to get a different outcome. You yourself have control over how much that stress effects your every waking moment. I think you can’t dwell on the things that didn't have the outcome you wanted, if you do you will be stuck in the situation unable to move forward with your life. Stress will define the person you become.

Conflicts

I am currently having a conflict with myself and whether my family and I should move into a 3 or 4 bedroom house. My daughter is coming to live with us in the middle of May after she graduates. We currently live in a 2 bedroom 1 bath. My husband works from home so his office is currently in our bedroom. I would love for him to have a separate office, so there is some separation from bedroom and work. If we stay where we are, my daughter will be sleeping on the couch. Do we get a three so she has her own room or does the hubby take the bedroom and she still sleep on the couch or get a four bedroom so both can have a room. I've been looking at long term, is the daughter going to stay for very long?

One side of myself says to do a 3 bedroom because of looking far into the future when both kids are out of the house the 3 bedroom would give us enough room for hubby to have his work office and the other could go for my office/sewing room or guest bedroom. Do we rent again or do we buy. I think it would be cheaper to buy. We could make it ours and if we decide not to stay here, we could use it as rental income.

My husband’s point is that my daughter will be staying with us long term. So we will be needing that extra space. He feels that if she is making the effort to continue with college plans that we should be willing to help her in every way. He also feels that we should stay in the house we are in until I finish college.  One thing that we do agree on is needing another bathroom. Have one bathroom with 4 people in the house is not an easy task. It seems like everyone need to use it all at the same time.

10 things that I’m passionate about

1.       Cooking

2.       Gardening

3.       Family

4.       Helping others

5.       Cleaning

6.       Life

7.       Trying new things

8.       Love

9.       Baking

10.   Sports

I am very passionate about cooking. Cooking is very relaxing for me. Not only does it let me explore the many possibilities with all different kinds of ingredients but also gives me pleasure when other people eat and love my creations as well. I am very thankful for my mother teaching me at young age the basic fundamentals. Over the next 24 years I have perfected many of them skills and learned many others. It has also created a major career goal for me. I want to be a chef and someday open my own restaurant. I want everyone who comes to my restaurant to have a great experience with lots of smiles. My family and friends all support my passion. I have never made anything that my husband didn’t end up liking. When I bake, I always give the extras away to neighbors or friends. I have an obsession with recipes.

Gardening

Gardening is a good way to relieve stress. Playing in the dirt may seem like a childish event, but it will actually bring great health benefits. Growing your own fruits and vegetable has benefits that most overlook. You know what is going in your food, don’t have to worry about it loosing nutrients by being ship for who knows where. You also can control how you get rid of pest that may want to eat your vegetables. When I was young my grandma use to have a garden every year. I would help her can green beans, corn, tomatoes and other things. After eating home canned green beans, the ones you buy in the store do not come close to comparison. When I‘m out playing in the garden, I know that I am getting the freshest vegetables. When out playing in the flower bed, I am creating a tranquil place for me to just relax and take in all the beauty that I created.

The Heart and the Fist

From what I have read of the book the author is giving us a look at what life is like being a marine. Giving us very detailed descriptions of what its like on the front lines. How the wars affect everyone not just the main involved.  Where I connected with the book is he puts his needs last, goes above the call of duty to help the people affected by all tragedies.

Quick writes

I CAN!

I CAN do anything. The reason why I chose this slogan is when growing up if anyone of us kids ever said I can’t, mom would always say can’t never did a thing in its life. That has stuck with me ever since. As I grew up and was on my own, if something ever came about that I wasn’t really sure on, I at least would give it a try and if it was wrong, I would figure it out till it was right. Like going back to school. Deep down there was always this fear that I would fail. I had to tell myself that I can do anything as long as I put effort into it. The best way I have found to accomplish what I set out to do, is make small goal that will lead into my big goals. The first semester at OTC, I made a small goal to finish it with a 4.0 GPA. I accomplished that. I now am continuing that same goal this semester as well. The big goal at the end is to graduate with my Associates. An extension to that is to graduate with honors. I have accomplished a lot since I developed this moto. You can do anything if you really have right mindset.

GREEN

If I was a Crayola crayon what color would I be? I would be green. Why green? Well emerald green is my birthstone but I love most colors of green. Not really sure why I chose this color, it has been my favorite since I was a little kid. It can be just about any shade of green. It is an earth tone so can pair up with a lot of different colors. My kitchen is green, my favorite nascar drivers paint scheme usually is a shade of green as well. If I had a choice my car would also be a shade of green.

The color green represents many different things. Some examples are money, grass, leaves on a tree, envy, fruit, vegetables, etc.

Inspector Gadget

One day inspector gadget was giving a brief case while walking down the sidewalk. He sat down on a bench to eat his donut. While sitting there, a pigeon landed next to him. The pigeon looked interested in the donut. Inspector broke off a piece and threw it but pigeon didn’t go for it. The inspector opened the brief case to check on what was inside. When somehow the pigeon got knocked inside and the lid closed. Inside the briefcase was a computer screen, all kinds of control switches that operated the built in weapons. Pigeon started messing with the controls, he was shooting guns, hopping around scaring people as they walked by. Inspector looked a little nervous when he had launched what looked like one of the hidden missile. As inspector gaget was able to get the briefcase back in his controls, but the pigeon was still interested in the donut. The donut went back to earth and the inspector was able to shoot the missile out of the sky without putting anyone in danger. As the inspector was walking away with the briefcase, the remains of the missile launch landed on the pigeon.