Bye

So this is it. Summer class is over. I had never blogged before this class. I wasn't for sure how I was going to like it. I really did enjoy. I wrote about lots of different random stuff, but it was fun. I am excited about summer classes being over. I really have not had much of a summer. I mean its not my classes fault. I just chose to take two classes and work all summer. So it is my fault, but I only have two more days of work and its over. Can't wait! Than I will have a few weeks till it is time for school to start.

I am really excited about this next week because I am going to WYOMING. I hope that I have a blast the whole time. I get to get out my house for a while and see my boyfriend and just relax for a week. That is what I have been looking for all summer. I actually have save up ever bit of money I have made this summer to go to Wyoming for a week. That is the one and only exciting thing I get to do this summer, but I think it will be worth it.

Back to class. I learn a lot this summer in this class. Mrs. Chism is a great teacher I really like the way she had us write our papers. I really enjoy all the help I got on my papers. Thanks! I hope that everyone else is having a great summer and had some really fun times. Good luck on future classes or work or anything else that you might be doing.

Have fun in life and always laugh!

Money!

Money! Money has way to much power. Money controls us if we let it. We work so hard to earn money and most the time we already know what we are going to spent it on before we get paid. Crazy. I know at least I do. Sometime making money last from paycheck to paycheck is all most impossible. There are ways to make it happen. First it all start with you. I found that when I get paid I put some in the bank in my checking account, some in savings, and a little cash. This helps me to limit on the amount I spend. Sometimes I make a list of everything that I think I need to buy with my paycheck. I go through the list and mark off the things that I don't really need. Sometimes I have to do this twice depending on how much I think I need something. I first I use my cash for my spend money and gas. If I need to use the money in my checking account I usually use my debit card. When using a debit card I have to be careful. Since debit cards are used all the time there is a lot more people trying to scam them. It is not good to put in your pin went someone else can see what you are typing. Using an ATM outside of the bank it belongs to isn't a very good idea either. Sometimes people will put little small cameras on them. After you have put in your card and pin the person comes back and gets the camera. Than who ever has your numbers can make a copy of your card. That is really not cool. I that is one reason why I like to use cash. Managing money is always hard for me, but I have to work. Sometimes I find myself worrying about money so much it is all I think about. Then I realize that I am letting money control me instead of me controlling my money. Money is everything. I might seem like we can't do anything without it, but we can. There are many things that are great and don't cost a thing. I hope you chose to control your money and not let it control you.

Giraffes

Animals. My favorite animal is a giraffe. I love them. I have not seen very many in my life time, but I hope to see more many many more. I always thought is would be fun to work at a zoo. I know that is sounds weird, but I think it would be awesome. I would just want to play with the animals all day I wouldn't want to actually clean up after them. Now who would want that job. I am always had this weird dream of getting a giraffe. I want to buy a giraffe when it is really really little and train it. I want to be able to ride my giraffe. That would be so great. I really not for sure if the is actually possible or not. See I said I didn't know that much about giraffes, but I want to learn more. I do know that they have really long necks, but have the same number of bones in their necks as humans. They have four legs and a tail. They have two ears and two horns. They are very pretty. One great thing about them is they have great hearing. The only down side is they don't make any kind of sound. My family always tells me I talk way to much. One thing I tell them that is why I love giraffes so much is because they will always listen to me and never tell me to be quiet. For last Christmas my boyfriend bought me these beautiful giraffes. I love them! They are made out of gold and have these really cool stones in them. I really hope someday that I can get to see giraffes lots more than I do now. I would really like to study about them lots too. They are wonderful animals!

Work

When you are remodeling a house should you hirer someone to do it or do the work yourself? Well I guess it depends on the person and the type of job it is. I think when it comes down to little job that the owner should try to fix them their selves. We have so many great home stores like Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart, and many more places to shop for home help. Say like you would like to put in a new celling fan with a light. You go to one of the home stores that you like and pick out a fan that you like the best. Bring it home and open the box. First pull out the instructions and go find all the tools you will need to put the fan together. Start reading the instructions and just go step by step. If you follow all the steps right than before long your fan will be installed. By putting in a fan it will make you appreciate the fan much more than paying someone else to put it in. Another job could be putting in a new faucet. If you go to another one of these great home stores and pick out the pretty faucet with the wonderful hands you just love. Bring the box home and start out by reading the instructions for the tools and steps. After that wonderful faucet is on the sink you will be so proud of yourself. The other great thing about remodeling small job yourself is that is saves lots of money. We know that everyone wants to save money when we can. One other way to keep from paying for someone to remodel your house is to keep up on the maintenance work. I know that is know usually the job everyone in the family goes running to do, but I really does help in the long run of things. Checking pipes yearly and changing vents on time. All these small jobs around the house can keep other big problems from happening. Just picture this. If I don't really care about vents they will last another year. I want more than a year and my air conditioner stops working. It is the heat of the summer and I am really mad. So I call up the first person in the phone book and I pay lots of money for last minute calling. I also have to replace my air conditioner because I didn't take the time to check it when it need to be checked. When I know that little home remodeling and maintenance work is not fun, but is sure is better in the end.

Picking a Hotel/Motel

Well I am so excited about going a trip in the near future. I have decided to start looking for prices for somewhere to stay. I didn't know where to start so I just typed in the place I am going on google. It brings up a map with many different places located on it. I started clicking on different ones to see which one was the closest to the person I am going to see. After clicking one a few I got tried of going through all there sites pages to find the rates. On down there was a website called Hotel Discounts. It clicked there and started looking around. I put in my information and hit search. This website brings up lots of different hotels and motels with their rates for the days I wanted. You can go on to book the hotel or motel you chose from that site. When I started to compare the different places to stay I found out that many places have very different rates for how early you book your hotel or motel. The Best Western has many different ways to safe money. They had a discount for booking early. Staying for two or more nights they also have discounts. I found many places have weekly rates also. I found some good rates, but I wanted to continue looking for better rates.

One of my family members told me to look on hotwire. I typed in my information again and found some cheap prices. This website had only two different choices when the other had around twenty. I decided to keep looking. This website was not very helpful for the place I am going. I think it all depends on the place you are going though because my family has used this website before and found a great place to stay.

I still haven't decided on a place to stay, I have found many things out by looking around. It is usually best to plan a head. When planning a head you can find better prices and nicer places to stay. Sometimes just driving into town and trying to find a cheap place to stay doesn't work. I am going to make sure I plan a head and look at a bunch of different places before I decide to pick one.

Stuff

I don't know if it is hard for anyone else to let go of some stuff, but for me it is. When I graduated high school it was time to look at everything I had and decide what I could live without. I got rid of lots of old toys and papers that I didn't need. I still had more than enough stuff when I was done going through all my stuff. I packed up what I needed for college and headed to school. I left everything else in my room to come back to. Now that I am moved back home for the summer I really realize how much stuff I do have. It is time now to down size again. So here and there I let go of some more stuff I decided I could live without. My older sister and I just started sharing a room this last week her bed has been in my room since I went to college, but she just came home to stay for a while. I think she carries more stuff in her car than I have in my room. I know she really doesn't, but it seems like it. She decides to put all of her stuff in bags and baskets and they set in the middle of our room. So today I made up my mind I couldn't take it anymore and start letting go of more stuff. I went through most of my room. I clean off a few shelves for her clothes and shoes. I redid the whole closet so she could put her hang up clothes in there instead of them hanging all over the room. I was proud of myself letting go of lots of stuff and making space for her stuff. I was not completely finish and my mom need me to go to town for her. So I did. When my sister got home I told her everything I did and showed her the space I clean for her. She said thank you very much. She went on to say that sometime this week she will get around to cleaning her stuff up. I was like ok. I can't really say anything about how long she takes because I could of done what I did today before she came home. I was pretty excited about all the hard work that I put into my room today. I hope it holds her stuff.

Bad Days to Good Days

You know those days when everything is going wrong. You wake up grumpy and still tired. Than stub your toe on the way to pick out what you are going to wear for the day. Look in the kitchen for something to eat for breakfast and there is nothing at all. Go to school or work and everything is going wrong or there are just some people that are driving you crazy for no reason. When you get home you are completely tired. Or you are just so up set all day you feel like no one cares about you at all. I know that I have days like these and ones in between them. I think everyone has some bad days every once and a while. When I have bad days I am always looking for ways to turn my day around. Wouldn't is just be ideal if there was a certain cure for all bad days. Wouldn't that be great. I don't think that will ever be true. I have been told by a very smart person that the only person that can make me happy is me. Which is true. I have to decide to make my self happy everyday. So I have found somethings that help me to cheer up when I am having those bad days. One thing that I have found that makes me feel better is to listen to something positive. I listen to a radio station called Air 1. I really enjoy the music that this radio station plays. Also on this station there are some really cool stories that make me thing about my life and how many great things I have in my life. One thing I heard on that station today is called Anonymous Encouragers. Anonymous Encouragers is a Christian ministry made to encourage people. Anyone can be a part of this ministry. All you have to do is choose a name and address in your phonebook and write a handwritten letter to that person. Make sure it is handwritten so the person receiving the letter doesn't think it is a scam. Just write some positive words down and sign your letter A. E. Make sure you don't put your name or address on anything because it needs to stay anonymous. One teenager started this because she want to make a difference in someone else's bad day. She says when she writes letters to other people it often helps her have a better day too. One other thing I must remind myself to laugh things off. When I am at work or school and someone is driving me crazy over something small I just have to laugh it off. Not in a rude way though. Not like a big out loud laugh. I just have to make myself think of something funny in my head and forget all the craziness that is going on. I am not a big tv person, but somedays if I just come home and watch a little bit of tv like a show it will make me feel better. One show I like to watch that makes me laugh is Reba. I have decided that I am the only person that can make me happy and found ways to change my bad days. I hope that everyone can find ways to change their bad days too.

Changes in Life

I have two sisters, one older her name is Crystal and one younger her name is Carla. We have been really close since I were can remember. We always played together and when we would fight are parents made us work together. By the time we would get done working we would be laughing again. It was hard for me when Crystal got her first boyfriend. Every time Crystal went on a date with her boyfriend I would get angry. I just didn't understand why I couldn't go too. I even got to the point where I wasn't very nice to her boyfriend. When he ate dinner with our family I wouldn't say a word to him. As I got older I started to understand the reasons why she wanted to spent time with her boyfriend. Also why they never wanted me to go out with them. I got to the point where I felt bad about how I had treated her boyfriend. I talk to her about it and she said that is was fine. After I got use to her having a boyfriend and not being around as much she graduated. It was really hard for me to get use to her not being at home at all. When she went to college we only seen her on the weekends. Most the time she went to her boyfriends on the weekend because he wasn't in college. I just tried to stay as busy as I could in school and working for my parents. I got to see Crystal a little more because she was in the theater department at college and was in plays. It was really cool when we went to see her in plays. I always thought she was the best! Crystal comes home on holidays and breaks from school. It is crazy how time flies. This last May Crystal graduated with her bachelors degree and Carla graduated from high school. Crystal went on a trip to Florida to work at Disney World, she works there part time. Last night when I was at home by myself I got a phone call from her. I thought she was going to tell me how much fun she was having. She said Carmen guess what and I said what. Crystal said I am engaged! I was in shock for a little while. I knew this was coming, but I didn't think this soon. I am really happy for her this is a great thing. It is just another part in our lives. We all three have boyfriends and have had them for long periods of time. Everything will be different. We share a bedroom right now when we come home from college. She will be leaving. I bet everything will be great, but I think that it is going to take me a while to get use to her leaving. I think she will be back on holidays and some weekends, but she would live with us. I know all these things are part of life and I just need to get ready, but I think it will take me a little while. I am happy for my sister, Crystal!

To Nice

Is there really something wrong with being to nice? I feel like I can never be alone. My parents are the nicest people I know. Any time someone is in trouble their are helping how they can. Every since I can remember there has always been a extra person living with us. It has never just been our small five person family. When I was little it was one of my dads old buddies. Did I say one I meant more like five. It was just till they got back on their feet and a job. After that they would move out. It wouldn't be long and someone was moving in. It was like there was someone waiting for us to have a open space for them. When we moved to a new town I thought it would be different. Well guess what I was really wrong. At one point one of my cousins was living with us till he could get his own place and I made a new friend at school. I had just started high school and thought I had a new best friend. She came to spend the night with me cause we had a basketball game the next day. Guess what when she talk to my cousin a lot went wrong. Well I found out that night that we were not going to be friends. After he left my dad decide to help a guy and he started to work for our family business. Guess what happen my older sister and him started to date and that also didn't end good. He moved out. Now we have a lake house so our extended family wants to come over all the time. Well it is ok, but we don't even have enough rooms for our small five person family. We are one bedroom short. I have a small twin bed in the back of the living room. So anyone and everyone that comes over stays in the living room. So whatever they do which sometimes I think is disrespect I have to hear it. It is just almost every weekend there is at least over two extra people at my house. I am really tired of living this way. Most of them like to eat just like all humans so my mom and I have to cook and clean everyday all day long so everyone can have something to eat. They usually don't pay for anything. So this weekend is a holiday. Time for fun and hang out with friends on the lake. Well just what some family that like to have a good old time all today at the last minute and want to come. We say ok just two extra people. Than they call back when they are already on their way and ask if they can bring two more friends. What can you say so my parents say ok. So a not so fun holiday for me sounds more like work for other people to have fun. It really makes me want to move out as soon as possible. Sorry for complaining so much I just really needed to vent some before I explode on my family. Hope your holiday weekend is great and you have fun!

Booking a Flight

I have been checking airplane tickets to fly to Wyoming for the first week of August. I have been trying to find the best deal. I really enjoy flying southwest so I just stick with that airline. I knew that flying on weekend days are the highest prices, so I started checking week days prices. I found out that Wednesdays are the cheapest days to fly. I don't really know why, but they are. I was listening to the radio and heard about an article that was titled Five Biggest Mistakes When Buying Airfare. I decided to look it up. I found this article on the ABC News page. The first mistakes is buying tickets on the weekends. The writer talks about how most people are busy during the week, so on the weekend they sit down and book a trip. The airlines know that is what we do so they decide to make the prices higher on the weekends. The writer goes on to say that the best day to buy airline tickets are on Tuesdays. He said that airlines have sales on Mondays and around three in the afternoon on Tuesdays the prices are really low. The second mistake is flying on Fridays and Sundays. In the article it says that the airline finds out when everyone wants to fly and charges more on those days. The writer goes on to say that some times we will pay two times more on those days to fly. He says the cheapest day to fly is Wednesday. I thought that it was cool when he said Wednesdays because I actually had realized that. Crazy. The third mistake is about checking bags. Almost all airlines charge for checked bags and it is usually is not cheap at all. That is one reason that I like southwest is because you can check two bags for free. It is great. I think there are a few other airlines that have good deals with bags, but most don't. The fourth mistake is not following airlines on facebook and twitter. The writer talks about how airlines only put deals on these sites and for a short period of time. Also he says that the employees that work these sites answers questions or help with problems much faster than phone calls to the airline. The fifth mistake is that some summer days have added charges to them. I don't understand it completely, but the way I do I think that the airlines have charged more during busy flying days. In his article he calls it peak travel surcharge days. Reading this article really made me think about how to book my next flight. I know that it could take some time researching for the best price, but I am willing to take the time to save money. Are you willing to take the time to save money?

Walking

Obesity is on the rise. There are many different reasons why people chose not to excerise. Two reasons why people don't exercise are because they don't have time or exercising is to hard for them. I think that if you can find time to watch televison, go shopping and participate in time wasting activities than you can find time to excersie. Some exercises can be to hard for some people to do. There is one exercise that can help exeryone is really easy. This exercise is called briskly walking. Brisk walking can be more effective than any exercise if it is consistently done. Brisk walking can be the perfect exercise for everyone and everywhere. Some people are not use to running to hard physical activities. Walking is much easier on our knees than running. Time magazine states that just a half an hour walk four to five times a week is a great excerise. The magazine also talks about that you won't see all the benefits of the brisk walking all at one time, but a regular walking routine can do a world of preventive good. There are lots and lots of great benefits that everyone can't get from briskful walking. Science daily says that brisk walking helps lower heart disease, strokes, diabetes, arthritis, depression, and cancer. Brisk walking can also help with weight control and weight loss. When we walk briskly our blood starts to flow fast which makes our hearts work harder. Our hearts are made up of muscle and the more workout our hearts get the better the shape they will stay in. Two studies last year provided strong evidence that brisk walking half an hour a day can postpone and possibly even prevent the development of type two diabetes. When it comes to depression brisk walking can clam us down and let us take in clean fresh air. Brisk walking may help lower the risk of colorectal cancer because walking helps waste movemore quickly through our intestines. When it comes to weight control and weight loss your body can burn around a couple hundred calories and boosts your metabolic rate per one thirty minute brisk walk a day. Brisk walking won't cure every health problem, but it can help keep our bodies in a good healthy shape.

A small little turtle

Do you think that little things can cause big problems? Well I do. I was on the internet earlier today and saw an article with the title Pet turtle causes taxiing plane to return to gate. So The article starts out talking about a turtle that is only 2 inches and in a small cage. Their where two girls that where visiting their dad and were flying home to their mom. The girls went through security screeners with their turtle with no problems. Once they got on the plane on fly attendant told them to stow the cage under their seat. As the plane went to take off a different attendant told them they were not allowed to have a turtle in the cabin. The plane turned around and went back to the gate. The girls got off the plane and were told they were not allowed back on the plane with the turtle. They ask a employee to watch the turtle till their dad could drive back to the airport to pick the turtle up. The employee refused. The girls were offer to take a later fight and declined it twice. The older girl didn't no what to do and didn't want to hold up the plane any longer. She found a trash bin with little trash and set the cage in the bin. Called her dad and told him where the turtle was. The girls got back on the plane sad. After seeing the girls put the turtle in the trash the ramp supervisor rescued the turtle because he felt bad. He gave the turtle to a another crew member to take home to their son. The dad got to the airport and thought the turtle was gone. After they found the turtle it was sent to Milwaukee as cargo to the girls. After everything had happened that day the mother reported what all went on that day to the animals rights group. I didn't think that this was a smart choice on many peoples parts. I think that the parents should of checked with the airlines before sending their girls with a pet on the plane. I also think that if the girls made it that far with the pet than the plane should of put it like up with the the driver of the plane. Or if they had to take it off they should of left it with an employee at the gate till their dad arrived. I think that everyone was at fault in this case. Everyone should of had their best interest out for the girls and their turtle. Now that all this has happened there are many people that got up set when I think there was no need for a problem.

House To House

This all started about two years ago. My parents decide to buy a house on grand lake because the house we were living in was in the process of being bought. So even though the new house would be out of our school district my parents were going to rent a house for my senior year of high school. My parents went ahead and bought the lake house and than my dad had a heart attack. While my dad was in the hospital the person that was going to buy our original house we were living in backed out. So at this point we are stuck with two houses. Which to the average person sounds kinda fun. Not really. My parents want to be at the lake house all the time, but my summer job is at our original house. So when I came home from college all my dorm stuff when into my lake house room. I forgot to tell you that at my lake house my room is a five by five box in the back conner of our living room because our lake house is one bedroom short of what we need. Not fun at all when your dad stays up till two in the morning watching tv in the living room. So I decide to bring most of my summer clothes to the lake house for going out on the lake and having fun. Than I got a job four days a week in the town that my original house. So Monday thru Thursday I am at my original house and Friday thru Sunday I am at my lake house. Its ok, but all my friends that would love to go out on the lake with me live by my original house. My parents decide to buy a nice little lake house in a quite little town that is full of grandparents and their grandchildren. Which is fine, but there is no one with in 20 years of my age. So it is miles away from anything to do and the whole town lights go out around night fall. Now their is a different couple that is trying to buy our original house. So that is good, but guess what our lake house is about half the size of our original house. So now we are at a time of big time down sizing. Which isn't really that hard for me. My older sister has a little trouble getting rid of things. See she thinks that she will always use her stuff again someday. Which is her opinion, but she never comes home to deal with any of her stuff. So guess who gets to help her parents move everyones stuff while they are with their boyfriends. Thats right me. Well I don't mind most of the time. So my week starts out work at 8:30 on Monday morning when I get home I have to go through my original house bedroom. That happens till Thursday when I get off work I load everything I can in my car and bring it to the lake house. While unloading all my stuff I must find a place to keep it all in my five by five box of a room. Than the weekend I chill at the lake take in lots of sun. On Monday it starts all over again. House to house every week.

Banning of Plastic Bags

It is no fun when your walking inside with a handful of groceries and one of those plastic bags rip. There goes the butter and pickles rolling down the driveway. Plastic bags don't just let us down when carrying groceries they also can be harmful to wildlife. Plastic bags never decompose so they just keep filling and filling our landfills. Well some countries have come up with a plan to take care of some of these problems. In South Africa some plastic bags have been completely banned others are now taxed since 2003. Shoppers have to pay for bags in Switzerland, Holland, Germany, and a few other countries.

So what about the United States well California started a bill about plastic bags. The bill wants to banned all plastic bags and charge shoppers at least five cents for a paper bag if they choose to not use reusable bags. It hasn't been completely passed yet, but it is working its way through. Some people back the bill thinking it's a great way to help stop waste. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said " This bill will be a great victory for our environment." Stated on the MSNBC News page.

Some shoppers dislike the bill because they think that not all families will be able to afford paper bags. Others say it is a pain to keep up with reusable bags and don't always plan every time they are going to run into the store to pick something up quick. The CNS News page has statements from shoppers leaving stores about the bill.

I think that something should be done about plastic bags in all states, but it will be hard to change. What about all the people that work to produce plastic bags they will all lose their jobs. That is lots of families that lose their income. On the other hand more reusable and paper bags will need to be made. I also think if they want to charge for paper bags they could have a bin at the front of the store to return paper bags for half the cost. I know that the paper bags can't be reused for groceries, but the store could recycle the paper bags. I also think that if a bill does get passed that reusable bags should be discounted for maybe like the first month or two months so families can afford lots of them. If the bill does get passed in California I don't think that it will be long before we see similar bills in different states.

It will change more places than just grocery stores. At the daycare I work at during the fall and spring semesters we use plastic bags all the time. We just have parents bring in their grocery bags and we use many many bags everyday. If a kids gets their shirt or pants dirty from playing outside or just eating lunch we put their dirty clothes in a plastic bag for their parents to take home at the end of the day. If all plastic bags are banned than we will have to come up with a new system because their parents couldn't bring their grocery bags in to us.

It will probably be a while before there is a bill in Oklahoma or Missouri, but you never know.

Hello!!!

Hello classmates my name is Carmen Ott. I am from Oklahoma, during the fall and spring semesters I lived in the dorms. I have an older sister that is working on her masters degree and a younger sister that is going to start her first year of college in the fall.

All my life I have always been around animals. I showed pigs, chickens, and steers. That means up early every morning to feed them and everyday after school head out to feed them. We have always had hunting dogs. I love learning and exploring about animals of all different species. I am currently a biology education major. I am not really for sure if I want to be a teacher, but I think it is a great place to start.

Most of my high school years I worked for my parents. When I started my first year at MSSU last year I received a job offer at a day care. I wasn't for sure if I would like to work with little kids everyday. I started work there the first day of school and worked everyday. It was great we started cooking projects once a week every week. Working with the kids really made me realize hope much I do like to teach. I am going to return working there when the fall semester starts I can't wait. I never thought I would miss work, but I miss the kids from work.

For fun I love to be at the lake swimming, riding jet skis, tubing, and just hanging with friends on the water. Riding four wheelers with my family is another thing I love to do. Usually once a year we take a trip to a log cabin in the mountains where we stay for a week. It is a really nice view everyday.

One of the best things in my life right now is that I received the Gates scholarship at the end of my senior year of high school. The Gates scholarship is only awarded to 1,000 students in the United States over 20,500 applied the same year as me. I was so excited. The scholarship pays for five years for a bachelors degree and five years for certain masters and doctorate degrees. I love the feeling of not having student loans, but I don't know if I can go to college for ten years. We will see its paid for so I think I should.

The most exciting thing in my life right now is that my boyfriend is coming home on the 18th for a week I can't wait. His name is Ethan and we have been dating for a little over four years. Last December he decided to go to school at Wyotech which is in Wyoming. He only gets to come home for a week every three months.

I am looking forward to having a great time in this class. I am always looking for help on my papers so any advice would be great.