Hello Everyone,

Hope everyone is going well and feeling good about their final papers. I know I am nervous as heck and can't wait to see what I made. I have mixed views on my paper, but I know that it is in good hands with Professor Tolen behind the wheel, lol! Anyways, I just wanted to take time out of my crazy busy life and tell everyone goodbye and good luck on y'all academic journey at Kaplan. I had a great time with you all and learned from each of you something new and helpful that can only cause me to benefit in life..........THANK YOU ALL! Even though we are saying good bye because our collage comp. class is ending, I still plan to keep up with my blog and all of yours as well.............if that is OK? We all came to Kaplan for a reason and I want you all to push forward and never give up no matter what stands in your way. At the end of this long tough road, there is only positive and beneficial results for all of us so don't stop believing....I know I won't. I have waited 12 years to be able to go to collage and I will bulldoze down any obstacle that "TRYS" to stand in my way, lol, so you all do the same. It has been great everyone and I will not forget what each one of you has contributed to my future and once again thank you and best wishes!!!!!

Hello Everyone, hope everyone is doing good and having a great weekend! I have been doing well, but stressing a little over my final paper. I have sent it to several people, but have only gotten 2 responses back, so I am gonna just go with what some of my classmates have suggested, what Professor Tolen has suggested and added, and then just go with my gut feeling in the end. I am nervous about the outcome, but once it is done to the best of my ability, I know it is out of my hands and in good hands (Professor Tolen's hands that is).

Today, Saturday May 22, 2010, I took the triplets and my 2 year old niece out to my dad and step moms house for a swimming party, and it was a blast to watch them go crazy in the pool. They had so much fun swimming, playing on the swing set, eating hot dogs and icy pops, and then back in the pool again, it was just an all around great afternoon. Not only did they have fun and it gave me a mini break, but they were wore out and asleep by 9:45 tonight and that is unusual, lol! Family is awesome, and that is one thing I personally would not change.

Good luck to each and every one of you on your final paper and I have confidence that we will all do super well! :)

Take Care All,

Catrina

Hello Everyone, hope all is well on your side of the U.S. Tonight I just want to talk about how things are going with this final paper in collage comp. II is going. I struggled with my first choice for a topic (stem cell research), so I dropped it. I then chose to do recognizing and treating adolescent depression and was satisfied until...................no, I am happy about my second choice. For collage comp. I, I did sex and adolescents, so this is like doing the second edition of a series for me, lol! I have a 13 year old son, so anything and everything I can possible learn and gain knowledge in is going to be to my benefit............I think :). Ok, back to my paper, I feel that the peer review for the last 2 discussion boards has been overflowing with guidance on a job paper is going to just knock Professor Tolen's socks off, lol. I know that our term together is going to be ending in 2 weeks, so I want everyone to know that I wish them all the love and happiness in their career paths and in their future generally as well.

God Bless,

Catrina

Mother's Day

Hello Everyone,

I hope that each and every mother in this class had a wonderful mother's day. Here in Texas, we had nice weather and even a breeze that was so nice, no one wanted to be in the house. We made bar-b-q and had some cousins of mine come over and enjoy the day with us. I have not been able to see my mother yet, she had to work this weekend, so all I could do was talk to her over the phone, which kinda hurt me. We got her a beautiful plant and we will see her tomorrow when she wakes up from working all night and all weekend. There are so many people that do not have their mother's anymore, and I just couldn't imagine me not having mine, so I learned a few years ago to never take advantage of the time you have with them, because you don't know how much more time is left. My cousin, who is the same age as me (31), lost her mom last year in June, and she had a really rough time today, but she made it through the first of many long years to come of felling that crying out for her mom to come. My aunt was a very big help and inspiration to many, and that is what I keep reminding her and telling her to remember how many lives she touch in the 23 years of being a teacher, 34 years of being a mother, and 7 years of being a grandmother. She made her mark in the hearts of many people, and she will never really be absent from the hearts of those she touched. So to all those who have the greatest joy of being a mother, bless you and may God keep you here for many years to come.

Love For All,
Catrina

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

This week I have a couple of different things on my mind that I would be honored to share with you all. First off, this paper for comp. II is kicking my booty (an dmy booty ain't very small, lol). Just when I think I got it all togeather on what I want to spit out, I go blank. I am not quite sure what the problem is, but it needs to leave the same way it came in, lol! At this point, I know it is going to take every bit of mon. and tues. to get this rough draft done toware I don't look like a dumby when I submit for Professor Tolen to read and edit it (Lord be with her when she does)!

The next piece of information I want to share with you all is that we just became parents of a 1 year old miniture pony. She is jet black and is just so little and cute (will post pics soon for you all to see). She is just like a little puppy and want s to follow you around everywhere. At first I was nervous about our 2 year old triplets, but they hug her and make her rub their head with her nose, it is just too cute. We have been waiting for her since Feb. 14, 2010 to get used to us and then she came to stay with us now and the excitement is overflowing in this house. I thought I was never gonna get the triplets to come inside much less to finally go to bed, lol! I know that I didn't need anymore responsibility, but I jsut couldn't resist it for the triplets and my 13 year old is in love with her too. He spent the majority of his day out there with her leading her around everywhere. We are a single income household of 6, so we use Sauve shampoo and conditioner and Dial body wash and all that, but I can tell you that "Ebony", the ponies name, was wahed with horse wash and got Pantiene conditioner on her mane and tail after her bath, lol, is that just crazy. Anyways, I could go on forever about her and she has only been here one day, but I will hush now and blog to y'all later. Take Care Everyone and Good Night! ! ! !

Catrina

My Crazy Week!

Hello To Everyone,

I hope everyone is having a good week with school and everyday life. This week for me was a crazy week and I we get closer to the end of our units in school, it is just gonna get crazier with final projects and what have you. This week was very busy from Mon. - Sat. and I can finally breath tonight and it is 12:47 a.m. in Texas. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays are the fast moving days for me due to the fact that I have classes on Mon. and Wed., and on Tuesdays, I attend bible study classes with my husband. On Thurs., I had to get up and get moving right away in the morning because the triplets had their 2 year old check-ups at 9:00 a.m., and that means there is 4 people that I have to get feed, dressed, loaded and on the road by 8:30 a.m. The doctor appointments came with good reports on all three babies (The doc. said they were all perfect), but I did have to take Emory to the hospital for a CBC check on his iron level, which came out perfect as well, phew! Anyone who is a mother of even just one child, knows that you don't rest unless they rest, lol. With three kids, two years old, and full of energy, you are definitely not getting much rest. It is quite ok with me though, because I look at it as someday they will be older (like 13) and I will let them know just what all I went through with them and how little rest I got................................just kidding, but I will tell them the truth when they ask me if it was hard and trying, lol. I hope each and every one of you have a great week in all your classes and happy writing to you all as well!

Take Care,

Catrina

It is Happening To Everyone, Not Just Us!

Hello Everyone, hope all is well in y'alls neck of the woods (Texas humor!).

Until this day, I have not used my blog page to complain about how things are in my life, but tonight I am going to give you all a glimpse. First of all, it is a situation that we are all facing in general, right now around the U.S. My husband is a self-employed contractor (25 yrs.) and these last couple of months have just been astonishing. Every time I turn around, the kids are doing this and that, which they know better, but kids will be kids, lol. My husband did a job for a lady that has rent houses in different towns. He started this job and finished the job in 2 weeks, which landed on the Fri. after Valentines Day. Today is the 18th, and we are still waiting for her to come the town and pay (two months of waiting and wondering). My husband has since done a couple other jobs, but we just can't seem to catch up with bills. We are 12 days late with my truck note ( GMC Acadia to haul our kids around), lost our vehicle insurance, and then my husband got sick for 5 days and that meant no day off from the triplets for mommy (I get Wed. off to catch up on house work and homework, not to rest or relax , lol). I just cannot figure out with the economy being in such a crappy state, where do people get off thinking they don not have to pay for services rendered. Job is done, your happy, so pay! No can do, it is just too bad for the middle class people who count on those pay checks so we can pay bills and give it away to the next collector waiting in line, lol! I have faith that God will bring her down to our level soon and open her eyes to show her and others like her, what it is like to be on one income and 6 mouths to feed. If you ask for a job to be done, and it gets done, pay the hands that helped you so those same hands can help the next person in line. I am not angry about this, just kinda shocked, if you know what I mean. So, that is this week, and we will just have to wait and see what next week brings (hopefully a, "been waiting 2 months for that", pay check. Just so you all do know, I want to work, but to find a job that will pay enough for us to put our triplets in daycare ($255/weekly) is not going to happen, and that is why I am getting my degree-for me and my family.

Take Care All,

Catrina

Hey Everyone,

Hope everyone is had a great week! Tonight I am gonna blog about why I chose to take online classes instead of classic classroom/campus classes. I have a husband and four beautiful children who are my life and my first priority. When I gave birth to our set of 36 week old triplets, my whole life changed from, I'm gonna have triplets -to- I had a set of natural, that is why they make women lay down for sonograms, set of triplets. I thank God that they were all healthy and doing everything full term newborns should be doing when they were actually preemies. Since it was, without a question, that I would stay at home with them and care for them, I decided when they were 9 months old, that I was gonna find out about online classes and get my degree if I had to stay at home with the babies. Anyone and everyone who has a husband and family knows that running the house and taking care of 5 people and if there is time left in a day, taking care of yourself, would pay more than any job out there and comes with more stress too. I just wasn't satisfied, so I went online, submitted some information, and 10 minutes later, Carlos Romay from Kaplan University was calling me. At first I was nervous about starting this, considering it had been 12 years since high school, but I jumped in head first and I am doing really great in school....................so far! With my busy, crazy, fast moving, can't move a the end of the day life, online was the perfect choice, and I love it. It fits me, my family, my schedule, and it is just an all around good choice (way to go Trina!!). I hope that all of you in my class feel the same way about the choice you made, and Best Wishes on you Education Journey!

Take Care All,
Catrina

Hello All,
I want to share with you all the triplets 2nd birthday party. It was just family and a few friends, but it was great. I really am just trying to catch a snap to the fact that they are 2 and still I can't wait 'til they are 5, lol! That morning I had to get some hustle in my bustle because I had 3 cakes to bake, cool, and ice. It took me 4 hours to get it done since I only have two cake pans, but I did it and then the task of dressing all three and myself came along. It is easy for me but trying to keep them clean was a challenge, but I succeeded (thank God). They had a blast, I had a blast, and everyone else had a great time as well. I can let you all know that all three slept all night too, and then that next day (Sat.) we were on the road to Marion, Tx for my side of the families Easter. It is about an hour drive and the kids behaved rather well. I think it was because of all the traffic that was flying by us on the interstate that kept them occupied. We visited, ate, laughed, ate, hunted Easter eggs, ate, and then the day ended. The Easter egg hunt was the highlight of the day, because if you don't have a kid, you have to do the hunt as well no matter what age. If I had a camcorder, I would have recorded it all and sent it to everyone for a good Texas laugh. The drive home was peaceful since the triplets were so wore out that they slept on the way home. Everyone have a good week, and we shall see what happens in the mean time!

Catrina Mesa

I did it Professor Tolen!

Yea Professor, I did it! It took me longer thatn 15 min. but I did it and I am so glad. Just wanted to let you know, take care!

Catrina