Apology!

 
If anyone's still following my blog, or checking in occasionally, I apologize for not updating more often. I've had good intentions, but unfortunately haven't been following through.

What's going on with me:

In January I "went back to" school. I'm not sure it can really be called "going back" after a 31-year hiatus, thus the quotes. In case anyone's counting my 5-year apprenticeship in the IBEW JATC as "school," and saying, "Hey, wait a minute, what about that?!" sorry, I don't count it. For some reason those credits that were supposed to be transferable toward an AA never showed up... <shrug> so I've started over. For what it's worth, it was a pretty good twenty years, but it's for a younger person who likes to travel more than I do. I'm over it. It was fun when I was a young woman, and it was fun when I was unattached (make of that what you will), but now that I have a home I want to spend time at and a husband I want to spend time with, this Building Trades / Industrial construction gig isn't what it once was.

So I took my last layoff seriously and decided to take advantage of the education that's out there, waiting for someone to take advantage of it. Me. :)

I thought I'd like to be a technical writer. I know I'm pretty good at explaining things, explaining how to do things, writing directions, drawing maps, and (there's that "wanna stay home" thing again) if ever there was a field that had the possibility of telecommuting built in, writing is it! However, I've decided to go into nursing instead. To make a long story, and a long decision process, short; nursing is portable & in demand, and it's something else I'd be good at. At least that's what I'm told. Never mind that since I've started school I have also had people telling me I'd be a great teacher (back to the "good at explaining things" again), after thinking it through and doing just a little research I think the money's on nursing. Quite literally.

So.

All those ads about going back to school, PELL grants and so forth? I found out you've got to be pretty damn poor to qualify for a PELL. So much so that the $448/wk Unemployment I made in 2009 disqualified me for it. Then there's WIA, which is another grant option, but since I'm quite sure I won't be stopping at LPN but rather going into RN (and maybe beyond...), I can't get a WIA grant, because they are for two-year degrees only. So I've gotten student loans.

In the meanwhile my lovely $448/wk Unemployment has dropped down to $201/wk and it's pretty hard to maintain a $530/mo mortgage plus $340/mo COBRA Health insurance co-payment on $804/mo., not to mention vet bills and catfood...

Hey! If anyone wants to help with my expenses, I do take PayPal! I am currently maintaining a 4.0 average, if that helps motivate you ;)

More later. I promise.