This Thing Called Life

     Even though my boyfriend and I have only went swimming at the recreation center twice this week, I feel great. It feels good to burn up energy I have that is built up all day from sitting at my desk job. When I wake up in the morning and put my clothes on, I feel more confident. My body(weight wise) hasn't changed, but my mental aspect has. I feel good knowing I'm spending my energy positively instead of just eating after work and laying down.      Yesterday we went to the rec center that we went to on Tuesday. The lifeguard yesterday kept starring us down as we swam and played "water basketball". I don't know if she knew us or if she was just rude, but it was kind of uncomfortable. The pool there is decent. The workout room on the other hand is small. So small that only like 10 people can be in there at a time on the machines and lifting weights. This weekend we are going to either go there early to use the workout room or go later before t...

     The idea to take a road trip randomly popped into my head after my boyfriend kept complaining about how he never gets to travel and go to different places. I thought "neither do I" quietly to myself. So with that said, I thought of a warm, sunshine bearing place in America that we could travel to...Florida. My mom has talked about how she went to Pensacola Beach before. She says it was beautiful, warm and so on. So I thought, why not? Last night I created my vacation jar to throw spare change and dollar bills into. My goal is to save $1500 and for my boyfriend save $1500 just so we have plenty of money to spend and cover us if we need it.      Before we go, I am going to have the auto shop look over my entire car and check all fluids so that if something needs to be fixed, I can have it fixed before we leave. We haven't set an exact date yet since we are no where the amount of money we need to go, but that will come soon enough. We will need...

     By now, anyone that reads my blog knows I attend community college. During high school I did not have the best grades or the drive to want to go to a prestigious school like Virginia Tech, Harvard, etc. My parents never put loads of unwanted pressure on me to even attend college. Their goal for me was to at least graduate high school and I did. My parents didn't go to college but they are not failures at life by no means. They are hard working individuals that always get the bills paid regardless of what it takes.      Every time someone asks me if I go to college or what college I attend and I say community college, they look at me with the expression of "oh she must not be academically smart enough" or "what a loser/poor person". During my senior year, I had made up my mind to go to nursing school. By the time I graduated, I had no money in my savings account for college because I always thought I had to go to a prestigious school that I k...

     There are some days that I really enjoy my life and feel stress free. Then there are other days, sometimes weeks, where I just want to scream and shout at the top of my lungs because I feel so overwhelmed. Some of the stuff I stress about is pointless, but most of it is financial situations or my work/school schedule. When I am stressed it is due to me thinking of multiple things at once. Like right now for instance, I'm thinking of the upcoming semester when this one hasn't even ended. I'm thinking of getting things done for the clinical portion of the nurse aide course when I haven't even started lecture. I'm stressing about my car. It seems like everything is slowly breaking and I don't want to put a bunch of money into it but I need it for school. I'm also thinking of the future when I do go to nursing school. How the hell am I going to afford my car to make it back and forth to my lectures and clincals if the advisor strongly suggests we do not wor...

     This past week was spring break for my community college. Guess what I did? WORK. I didn't save up money like I wanted to in order to take a week off for myself. Since I work at a boat yard. Our season starts generally in March so that means taking a week off during the summer months would make it hectic in the office. I don't like sounding greedy but I want and need some time off. In the three years I've been working here, I've never taken any time off besides leaving early or using my lunch break for doctors and dentist appointments.      If I took a week off that would allow me to do things I've wanted to do. Like go to the mall during the day when it is less crowded and have lunch with friends who have night jobs. I would be able to clean and organize my room from top to bottom and donate things I never use or don't want anymore. Taking a week off would feel like a month. My stress would probably disappear for that one week as well. ...

     Even though my brother and I don't get along all the time, I love him. If you lay a finger on him, it's going down. But he has been through more vehicles in the past year than anyone I know. He just showed up at my work with a nice diesel truck. He said it was $13,000. He is only 17 so I know someone had to sign for it and fork out the money for him to drive it off the lot. Where is my money for college? Where is my new car?      Here is a little background of my achievements so far. I graduated high school in 2010 with a standard diploma, not honors. I could have done it if I wanted too but I wanted to get the hell out of there. I drive a car that is 18 years old but I love it.I have done and still participate in multiple fundraisers. I love helping people. I work full time and go to college part time so that hopefully one day, I can gave a great career as a registered nurse. For the most part, I'm financially independent. My parents don't ...

     Two months and 15 days until I start the lecture portion of the nurse aide program. I know this is all I have been talking about recently, but I'm so excited. I'm finally going to be doing something I want to do. My parents support my decision to this as well so that makes me want to do it even more. The good thing about going ahead and doing this program, is that it will tell me whether I want to proceed with  a career in healthcare. I'm sure I will LOVE being a nurse someday but you never know. I'd rather find out sooner than later if I like working in the healthcare field instead of spending $20,000+ becoming a registered nurse and hate it.      The community college bookstore has everything I need and the prices are pretty reasonable. Even though I'm nowhere near the clinical portion of this program, I want to get everything ahead of time so that I'm not rushing before the clinical portion starts. I need scrubs, a stethoscope, white...

     It seems like I'm always debating things. Should I eat pizza or Chinese? Wear a dress or jeans? Now I'm debating whether or not to do my community college nurse aide program during the day (9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Monday through Friday) or keep working full time and go part time (4:30 p.m. until 9.30 p.m. every other week day).  The good thing is that I already have enough money to pay for my credit hours for lecture and clinical. I also have enough money for all of my supplies (scrubs, stethoscope, etc). The only big issue will be finding a part time job so I can at least make enough money to put gas in my car. Finding a part time job with enough hours to make a couple hundred dollars isn't easy. I make $10 an hour now. If I go from making that to $7.25, that will be a drastic change.      The job I've had now for the past three years has made me more financially independent than ever. I pay almost all of my own bills. My parents don't cha...