Busy Time

Do you ever have those weeks when you finally sit down and realize that the entire week is gone and you start over again in two days? That is how the past two weeks have been for me. I honestly do not know where January went. It seemed that I was busy at work and plugging along and getting caught up after my end of month work and BLAMO! here I am again, doing the end of month work and accounting and letters and getting further behind on the legal stuff because I'm so caught up in the administrative stuff.

This is where I slide deeper into the hot bath I am soaking in and just begin to feel the release of tension in my neck. This is also the point when one of the kids comes in yelling about the other.

Ah. The good life.

Job Searching

When I first started looking for work in Arizona, I was looking only for paralegal jobs. However, moving from Utah to Arizona, while at first glance seemed like a no brainer and I thought I would find work immediately, instead turned out to be 59 resumes and one call to inquire about my Arizona experience. Clearly I needed to change something. I drove down to Arizona on a Sunday and interviewed with two temporary agencies on Monday. After two weeks, when I still had not heard anything, I began an admin job search figuring that administrative work would be the same across state lines. Sadly, I was apparently not what any employer in Arizona was looking for. I finally ended up getting lucky and finding a job with a firm that was established in Utah, but had an Arizona office. Five years later, I'm still there. Those other firms, who did not give me the time of day, they don't know what they're missing!

Rehab - you gotta want it

Way back in the day, when I worked for the criminal defense attorney, we had many cases where our client, the defendant, was referred to drug rehab and of all those clients, my best estimate is that only one quarter of them successfully kicked their addiction after the rehab. What I learned after all those years, is that unless a person really wants help, or to stop bad behavior or addiction, they will never be successful unless they are doing it for themselves. Not for the spouse or the parent or the judge. It has to be for themselves.

Western Governors University

I received the majority of my undergrad degree by taking online courses. At first I was intimidated at the idea of not being with other students in a controlled environment. I was nervous that I would not learn as much as perhaps I could. I will be honest, I was shocked at how much more I believe I learned attending an online university that I think I ever did in the early portion of my undergrad studies. I think having to really read the material and complete the assignments was better for me in the online arena because it forced me to focus. It also allowed me to keep my full time job and take care of my family while I pursued my dream of higher education.

The college I attended had only a limited number of online degree programs available, however, Western Governors University has a large selection of programs and degrees available in a good selection of fields. The thing that gets me the most, as I am currently enrolled in an online program that is not WGU, is that tuition at Western Governors University is less than HALF what I currently pay. That alone has me checking into transferring my credits and moving forward at half the cost.

Half.

(holds head in hands and weeps). Half.

Diet Pills

Speaking of weight loss, I did not try any diet pills over the past two years. I remember way back in the day I tried one that shall remain nameless, it was pulled from the market due to some heart issues. I then tried another that was sponsored by a beautiful blond who had gone from very large to very small. All that did was make me mega cranky and gave me the shakes. So, even though diet pills did not work for me, I guess they do work for other people. I just read an account of a 21 day experiment with liporexall that sounded like it turned out well. The author was pleased with his or her results.

Weight Loss The Continuing Saga

Any long time browser of this blog knows that I have struggled with losing weight and endless doctor visits trying to figure out if it was my hormones or lack of hormones or exactly what caused me to gain three to five pounds a month for the past two years. While the doctors kept telling me I was fine, yet I kept packing on the weight, I started trying my own things. I used a belly fat burner for about three months, and I really did notice a difference. Now, I have changed a few things, added some exercise into my routine and cut back on sugars. I’m down 33 pounds. Go me!

FootBALLLLL

OMG OMG OMG the Saints and the Colts in the Super Bowl! YES!
(I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a little bit sad that Favre didn't make it.)

BUT - I like the Saints and I hope they take the Colts by the reigns and drill em'!

SEO Tools

Speaking of web terms, SEO is one that I did not understand and I really did not know what it had to do with anything. SEO is search engine optimization and it is the best way to get readers to your website or your blog. In early 2005, blogging really picked up and soon, everyone it seemed had a blog and was blogging away. Countless number of companies cropped up advertising their pay services to get your blog or website indexed with the top search engines. What few people know is that there are free seo tools available for website owners or bloggers that will net results just as easily as the paid services. In a time where we are all counting our pennies, free seems to be the way to go.

Search Indexes and Directories

When I first started this blog, I had no idea how to get people here, reading the content. I finally realized that what I needed was a free directory where I could list my website and in doing so, it would be crawled by indexes and show up in web searches. It was not easy and it did not happen overnight. However, eventually, with plugging along and posting often, I finally made my way up the internet ladder. I even had a page rank of 2. Then of course, Google stripped me of my page rank and I have never gotten it back. That was over two years ago. Bummer. I don't worry so much about page rank anymore. I am more interested in getting people here, reading the posts and hopefully, helping one or two of them.

Eye Cream for fine lines

I turned 40 last year. I had not noticed any real difference as far as my looks go. I have had the occasional gray hair since I was in my mid-thirties. My skin has faired quite well, or so I thought. I recently (well, not recently, it’s been ongoing for about seven months now) lost some weight, around 33 pounds to be precise. The problem with this weight loss is that my face is no longer bloated looking, and I have noticed some fine lines around my eyes. Now, I am looking for the best eye cream to use for combination skin. I have classic T-Zone issues going on. Just when I get one thing under control, another crops right up!

Dang it

I cannot get to sleep tonight. I finally crawled out of bed and decided to do some work.

I fired up the computer and grabbed a glass of water and as soon as I went to log onto my work computer, it was not there. Apparently, it has been off for the past 7 hours and 34 minutes. I tried to log onto the receptionists computer, it has been off for 1 day and 11 minutes.

I'm not sure what the heck is going on, but I will find out when I go to work in the morning. I'm thinking that rain storm we had last night and through today, that is supposed to last all week, and the brief moment of news I caught when the anchor was saying something about where to get your sand bags, well, that might have something to do with it.

speech and language development is important

When my youngest daughter was born, she failed the hearing test at the hospital. I was not concerned about it as she was only a couple hours old at the time. However, she failed the test again and again and again until finally, on the third day, the hospital threatened not to let her come home as they thought perhaps she was deaf. I do not know why having a deaf child would mean I could not take her home, but the hospital was not messing around and I was convinced I was not coming home with my daughter so I did what any hysterical parent would do, I refused to leave.

Finally the doctors came in and advised that I was being released and that I could take my daughter with me. I had to bring her back in four days for another hearing test. The whole drive home I was preoccupied with how I would communicate with my new baby. My voice would not sooth her. I was mostly concerned with her speech and language development if she could not hear. She continued to fail her hearing tests until she was almost five weeks old. By that time however, I was convinced that she was deaf and had purchased a video tape on how to communicate with my child using sign language. I wish I had that the first time around! Communication with the baby was so much easier.

Even though she eventually passed the hearing test, by the time she was one year old, I could tell she had speech issues. By the time she was two years old, she had a slur and had difficulty with the letters r, j and the sh sound. I tried to get her into a speech therapist but our insurance did not cover it and we could not afford it. I again turned to the internet and began working with her myself. Today, she is a 10 year old with the best speech, clear and concise, you would never know that she ever had a problem.

Landmark California Case

As the spouse of a correctional officer, I am always interested in news articles about corrections. Recently, in California, Medical Development International (MDI), a provider of health services to federal prisons and private correctional firms, was forced to sue the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and its court appointed federal Receiver to recover payments it had previously made to various providers on behalf of CDCR and the receiver. Two lower courts threw out the claims of MDI and recently the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously decided to reinstate the lawsuits saying that the CDCR and its Receiver could be sued. MDI's president, Richard Willich was happy with the decision as it provides important protection to contractors with public entities under receivership.

They are crazy!

Two years ago, when we took our kids to Disney Land, we were driving through some mountain area of California and right and left there were motorcycles zooming in and out of the lanes, driving up through stopped traffic and basically driving like what I considered maniacs. I commented t my husband (because I'm a paralegal and all) that I could see where any pleasanton motorcycle accident attorney could really make some money. I also commented how dangerous that driving was and he told me it was legal there!

I called BS.

Then he said "no really, it is legal here."

I called ridiculous and stupid and no state would allow such crazy driving.

So he called the highway patrol (yes, we go to great lengths to prove our points in this family).

And yes, it is legal. *rolls eyes*

Oh that view...

I really need to be there right now. Sitting. Relaxing. Enjoying the view and the breeze.

Not here. Working. Thinking about school work or work work or housework.

Where is my teleporter?

Speaking of Education

I have so much work in my current class! This week alone I have two multi-part homework questions requiring 300 words or more each AND an individual paper AND a group paper AND a group presentation.

I think my instructor might be a sadist.

Oh, did I type that out loud?

The Cost of Education does not end with Tuition

I remember years ago when I was getting my Associate's Degree. I thought the price of textbooks was ridiculous and outrageous. I once paid over $200 for a book with less than 150 pages. When the class was over, I went to sell that book back and it was only worth $8. They had changed the edition to be used in the next class. Of course, this was long ago and far away. Before there were online places to buy/sell textbooks. Now I am getting my Master's degree and the books are included in my tuition. That is good in some ways, bad in others. I like not having to pay between $200 and $700 per books for a class. However, when I find a particular text that I think might be useful down the road, I am stuck with an E-Copy. Those are particularly hard to make look pretty on a bookcase. Just sayin.

Hey! Did I mention that google page rank blows?

Apparently my little blog of sunshine does not qualify for a page rank. And I'm fine with that. But I have another blog, a review blog, and until a month ago, it had a page rank of 3. Now it is zero.

What gives Google? Haters.

Getting those ducks lined up

At the beginning of this year, I decided that I was going to become more financially aware. I wanted to know where my family stood with regard to debt/income ratio and the like. I found a few places we could cut back, like the satellite radio subscription we never listen to and the online movies we never watch. That saved me over $25 a month. Granted, that money will go toward paying a credit card off, but hey, it is a start.

Next I started looking at our utilities and monthly expenses. I switched from cable to satellite television and that saved me nearly $65 per month (I know! Crazy). Then I decided to call around and get some auto insurance quotes to see if we could save any money there. I'm waiting on those results because we have some hefty coverage and I don't want to lose out on that. Especially in this town, where the minimum coverage required is a measly $15,000. That wouldn't fix my door, let alone major damage.

Anyway, as part of my resolve, I'm getting those ducks lined up.

Review monthly expenditures: Check!

Get Prepared

Do you know what I think is weird? And I think it is weird because we all do it. We all think about it when it happens to someone else. We think about being prepared when we hear of all the things that went wrong for the other guy. That is when we stop and say to ourselves or our loved ones, we should get insurance or we should get a will drawn up because we always think about it when we hear about it happening to someone else. We never stop before a big trip and ponder the potential travel emergency that we may encounter. We don't stop on the way to the doctor's office and have a living will drawn up. We should all take precautions, and yet, the only time we really think about it is when we hear of what happened to that other guy.

Part of my New Year's Resolve (because I don't do resolutions), is to take time this year for me. Take time to get my ducks in a row. Take time to be with my kids, because they are only going to be this age once. Take time to be with my husband and take the time to appreciate what I have. Part of getting my ducks in a row is getting my financial documents together, my insurance policies in one place and my end of life documents prepared. Because I don't want that to be the responsibility of my kids. I find that horribly unfair.

My. Brain. Hurts

Coming off the holidays.

Going back to work after six glorious days off.

Going back to school after two wonderful weeks off.

Coming back to regular television programming, which means my TiVo is filling up quickly.

I weaned myself from soda. Which makes me sleepy in the evening. But if I nap, I don't sleep at bedtime.

It all makes my brain hurt.

New Flossing Product - Dentek Complete Clean

This review is a result of a feedback campaign by DenTek Oral Care Inc. The recipients were asked to give their honest opinion about the product they received. Good reviews were not incentivized and poor reviews will not be censored for their opinion of the product.

I was asked to review a new Dentek Oral Care product, complete clean floss, a new product that twists two pieces of dental floss together in order to make flossing easier and more thorough. I was worried that two pieces of floss would be difficult to get in between tight teeth, however, that was not the case. I also felt a difference when using the floss. I thought my teeth felt cleaner than when I use regular floss and I felt this twisted floss got between my gums and teeth better. I don’t have tight teeth, mine have a small gap at the gum line. Personally, I felt this floss did a better job of flossing my teeth than regular one strand floss. My only complaint is the ease of pulling the floss. When I pulled as I normally would, I got twice the amount of floss because it really rolls freely, however, I had to cut the amount I got in half and use the other half later that night because that much came out.

My kids used the Complete Clean Floss also. I am always willing to try something that makes them want to brush and floss. This new product hit the spot with them as well.