In the Bucket Truck

A few weeks ago, the lineman had to do their certification for pole top and bucket truck rescues. I always like to go out and watch them for a few minutes. To me, its pretty scary that they have to climb a pole and rescue someone, even though they just use a dummy for certification. I've watched them do it several times, but this year was the first time I saw them do bucket truck rescues. 

Since they had the buckets trucks all there, they decided to let the office ladies go up and see what it is like from above.

At first, I wasn't going to, simply because I had worn a dress to work that day. (I really wish I had known about this the day before!) I don't like slips, so instead, I wear gym shorts under my dresses. I debated back and forth and realized this opportunity might not come around again. So, I hitched my dress up and put the harness on over my gym shorts.

Going up!

I was a little shaky up top. It made me even more grateful for the lineman. I was up there on a beautiful day. During an outage, they are out in the wind and rain.

The view from the top!

It was pretty cool. But it made me grateful for my desk job.

Nephews Halloween Shirts 2014

Buying Halloween shirts for my nephews is still my favorite tradition. This year, I got 2 shirts for each nephew. 

For Colt:

I had a problem with my order and one of Tyler's shirts didn't show up. I hurried and ordered a 2nd one, but couldn't wait to give them their shirts. So I gave them each one on Sunday. Preston's is on the left, Tyler's on the right:

When the other shirt got here on Tuesday, I took it over after work. Tyler's is on the left, Preston's is on the right. It was perfect timing because Tyler was supposed to wear orange to school the next day. 

For Valex:

For Daxsen:

 Tonight, I got my own surprise. Preston & Tyler found some Halloween bracelets. They picked out one for their mom and then one for their aunt Savannah. I love it!

Bluebell Corn Maize

Last night, we hung out with Andrew & Jessica. We started by trying the new restaurant, Red Gravy. It was pretty good. After dinner, we headed to the Bluebell Corn Maize.  

Josh & I purposely skipped dessert because we had our heart set on kettle corn. But when we got there, they were out and weren't making anymore for the night! So we had some hot cocoa and a caramel apple. 

Not far into the corn maze, Josh found a small bag of kettle corn on the ground. The bag had a small hole in it, so I made him throw it back onto the ground. Not 5 steps later, he found a 2nd small bag. This one looked in perfect condition, so he ate it. We spent the night calling it his nasty, ground corn. But it must have been good because he ate the entire bag before we finished the first maze. 

We had a blast. I usually go during the day, so I forget how different it is at night. Hopefully, I'll be able to go again with the nephews later this month. 

Starting in January 2015

The last few weeks have been very exciting for me. It started with a job opening where I work. I had very mixed feelings about this job in particular, so I have spent a lot of time talking with our HR department, and it has just spiraled from there.

HR mentioned that for this job, they really want an accounting degree. Then it also came up there are a few other jobs, in the company, that would also require the same degree. One of those jobs really interests me. There is no way to know when it would open up, but over the next few years, there will be a lot of retirements and a lot changes.

So I started looking at school. But its so expensive. So I went back to HR to get his opinion on a few things.

Then I thought about it some more.

Then I went back again to HR to learn more about how they help with tuition.

Then I decided to bite the bullet and meet with an adviser at the local extension of USU.

Let me back up 10-13 years ago. During high school, I took as many college classes as I could. I'm not sure how it works now, but back then, all I had to pay for was my books. My junior year, I could have graduated early; I was even engaged at this point. But I knew if I enrolled for my senior year, I could knock out several more college classes, so I did. That is why I married during my senior year of high school. I wasn't actually attending any high school classes and didn't even feel like I was a part of high school. But I wasn't not going to walk away from the chance at free college classes.

After getting married, I took a few more classes. But it got expensive and life happened. We actually moved away for a few months, and that was all it took to take the wind out of my sails. I was only 2 classes away from having my general studies complete.

Over the years, I've talked about going back to college, but it just never felt right. Money and time could just not line up together and make it possible.

So back to meeting with my adviser. I was worried I would have to start at square one. Retake Math and (gulp) English. I wasn't thrilled, but I really want my degree and am willing to do whatever it takes.

I was thrilled to learn I was wrong. I will only have to retake one class, and that's because the grade isn't good enough for me to get into the Accounting Program.

The next obstacle is figuring out where I stand on math. I have the required courses complete, but in order to get into the Accounting Program, I have to take a Math Placement Exam and achieve a certain score.

Let me tell you: a person can forget a lot of math over 10+ years. I've been known to say "Dear Math, I'm not a physiologist. Solve your own problems." Not that I hate math; its actually my favorite subject. I just have gotten lazy and let the calculator do my work for me. Its been a long time since I needed to know what "x" was.

My adviser was awesome. I actually knew her from when I did my internship there 14 years ago. She helped me work up a game plan. First on my list is to retake Econ (for the 3rd time...) and get a better grade. She told me when to apply for scholarships for spring and again for fall semesters. And she showed me where I can brush up my math skills in preparation for the test. I'm allowed to take it 3 times. After that, I have to take a math classes according to where I fall on my score.

My excuses to wait are gone. I didn't go back because I wanted to be a mother. Now that I know I won't be, I've realized I can channel that energy into my career. We used to live far from the extension, and the drive was just more than I wanted to take on. Now, we live 5 miles away. And the money? I'll take out student loans if I have to, but right now, I don't think that will be likely. We are very blessed to not have any vehicle loans right now, which frees up a lot of room in our budget, which I try to put into a savings account. I think by the time January come, I can have enough for tuition.

Its like there is now a fire in me. I used to spend all of my free time reading. Now, I'm doing math. I decided to start at the dummy level and work my way up, so I'm covering everything. I'm remembering just how much I love math. And hopefully, when the problems start throwing in "x", I will still love it.

I start classes in January and I can hardly wait. I wish I could start tomorrow. But I am worried that by the time January comes, I will have lost my enthusiasm. I wish there was a way to bottle it up and save it for later.

My interview went well, but in the end I didn't get the job. Which I was ok with. I wasn't sure I wanted it in the first place. I only applied because I had heard of others that had applied and I figured I had just as much a chance as they did. When I told Josh I didn't get the job, his response was, "I'm not sure if I should say sorry or not, because I could never tell if you wanted the job."

Now, to just save up this excitement for January...

Daxsen's 3rd Birthday

The card I mailed to Daxsen for his birthday.

There ended up being a problem with my brother getting it out of the box the day before his birthday and then the key was lost so they couldn't go put it back. So he actually got it the day of his party.

Since his cake was construction themed, I decided to find clothes to match. I found 2 sets of pj's, an outfit that came with shorts and 2 shirts, and 2 more shirts.

I also decided to get him a stuffed toy since Valex had gotten one for his birthday. I was thrilled to find a stuffed backhoe toy.

 

Daxsen loved his cake.

And the toys that came with the cake.

Most of the time, the boys share pretty good.

He loved his yellow shirts. (Its one of his favorite colors.)

This little more is so much like his aunt Savannah. After he would open one present, he would set the paper in a pile to be thrown away. I do the same thing!

He also had his toys lined up in a straight line.

I can't believe this little boy is already three. I miss cuddling on him as a baby, but he is growing into a mini me and I couldn't be more proud!