What I Learned In College (Writer's Workshop)

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I attended college six years. The first four I received my B.S. degree in Secretarial Administration from what was then Dyke College in downtown Cleveland. About ten years later, I decided to go back to get my teaching certificate for grades 7-12 to teach business and physical education. After the first year at Malone, I gave up on the physical education part and transferred to Baldwin Wallace to pursue my business teaching certificate which I did get.

Of course I learned a lot of things but I must say my favorite courses were: Racquetball, Creative Movement (square dancing and folk dancing), and Psychology classes which I found very interesting, especially psychology of personality and psychology of coaching.

I liked racquetball because not only was it good exercise, but it also allowed me to give my brain a rest. The only thing on my mind when I played was paying attention to that ball whizzing past me and bouncing off the walls. It is just a very fast-paced fun game. Unfortunately, I think I only played once since.

Not being a dancer at all, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how much fun the square dancing and folk dancing was. Again, it was good exercise and was a nice break from studying.

I enjoyed my time living on campus at Malone best out of the colleges I attended. From Dyke, I did learn how to play Pinochle, among other things. Most of the courses were boring to me.

So, what's something you learned in college?

This was inspired by Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop prompt: Something You Learned In College.  Another prompt this week was to answer the question, "What was the last thing you bought?"  See my previous post this week about my husband's birthday--"60 Cheers for 60 Years" to see--the last thing was the big cookie.


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Our Favorite Reads For November

Karen's favorite for November was Double Blind by Brandilyn Collins.  Gerard like this one very much too so here are both our reviews on it:

What if someone could plant thoughts in your brain?

Gerard says:
I loved Double Blind by Brandilyn Collins! Lisa Newberry was going through a very rough patch of life so when a new procedure came out that could give her a new outlook on life, she took it. Is she okay now, or are the problems really going to start?

WOW, it doesn't get much better than this major "wow" factor in this book! It is hard to put it down so I finished it in just two days. Read and enjoy! I highly recommend it. You can't go wrong with Brandilyn Collins.
(5++ stars)

Karen says:
Double Blind by Brandilyn Collins is an interesting read with suspense and science fiction. Lisa is so depressed that she enters a trial to have brain surgery that will insert a chip into her brain that will get rid of her depression and help her be more self-confident. She was happy to have qualified and eager to get rid of her depression, but didn't realize that her real nightmare was about to begin. This will keep you turning pages to see what will happen next as she mends her relationship with her mother who helps her figure things out and God who she realizes did not abandon her. Risking her life, she tries to save someone she believes is going to be killed. This definitely is a thought-provoking book!


Gerard's Favorite for November:

WOW! The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly is about a woman on trial for murder. She is charged with killing a man who is the head of the company that was suing to foreclose on her home. This is a fantastic story! I listened to the audio book and LOVED IT! The trial was very interesting and got my attention and held it. The ending blew me away. You have got to read (or listen) to this--it's a must read!


Karen liked what she heard of this one too when I played it at home or in the car when she was with me.
(5+++ stars)

See all our book reviews at Grab A Book From Our Stack.  What are you reading?

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60 Cheers for 60 Years--Happy Birthday!

My husband turned 60 today and we sort of celebrated all weekend.  I had a big surprised planned and he was trying to guess what it could be, but I stumped him.

We got this big cookie on Saturday--he preferred it to cake.

Spunky wasted no time jumping into the box and batted Manny away.

He proudly models his new Rudy Notre Dame jacket

I gave him the "Grumpy Old Bear" t-shirt on Saturday, the warm pajamas ("gift wrapped" by L.L. Bean) on Sunday and the Notre Dame "Rudy" jacket and Notre Dame tossle cap this morning. 

When he went outside to walk Abby, he said what's this?  Here is what he saw on our front yard from http://www.overnightgreetings.com/:  He got a big kick out of it and Abby didn't even bark when they came during the night to set it up!

He loved his yard surprise!

Gerard had a great birthday.  He took the day off work and did whatever he wanted all day long.  It was 60 degrees so Abby got a few extra walks in.  Sorry the picture is kind of dark but I had to go to work so took this before I left.  It's dark when I leave and dark when I get home now. I was pleased--they even spelled his name right!

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Down in the Dumps Friday (UPDATED 12-3-12)

What is usually "happy Friday" turned into a bad Friday for me.  Someone hurt my feelings and I was in a stew about it all day which slowly turned into anger.  I couldn't get it off my mind all night and so Saturday morning, I decided to do something about it.  I wrote an email to the person who hurt my feelings but here is the key:  I did not send it.  By just writing down my thoughts, I was able to release the tension I was feeling so that was a good thing.  I certainly don't want to make things worse.  

Here's the best part though.  After drafting the email, I had my quiet time with the Lord and here is what I read from the The Power of a Positive Woman by Karol Ladd:

It's so easy to sweat the small stuff and groan over our immediate cares and concerns; but as we turn our sights heavenward, we gain a whole new perspective.  In this life we are going to have happy times and sad times.  But at all times, we can be positive, joyful women because we have our heavenly Father's assurance:  "It's better higher up."

Wow!  How timely! This helped me tremendously--it was exactly what I needed to hear.  I love that God is in control and helps me deal with anything that comes up.  Reading this just reminded me that in the big scheme of things, this is a small and probably a "moe hill" that I really don't want to turn into a "mountain."  When I reflect on the situation, what has really been hurt is primarily my pride.  I know men compartmentalize things all the time and wish I could do that.  But women, you know that we don't do that.  If something gets under our skin, it's there no matter where we are or what we are doing, right?  I determined not to let this incident ruin my whole weekend and quickly grabbed back my joy, turning the situation over to God.

I may or may not send the email on Monday.  I'll have to calmly assess the pros and cons and make sure I am not sending it just to make the other person feel bad but rather because I think it will help in some way.  I will also review it and make sure I didn't come across as whiny or disrespectful which would definitely just make things worse.  I already am inclined not to send it but rather just talk to the person face-to-face after praying for direction.      

Must Read for Any Woman!

The Power of a Positive Woman is such an encouragement packed full of interesting stories and great quotes.  I really can't say enough good things about it and will continue to write more blog posts sharing more from it in the upcoming weeks.  It is definitely one of my favorite all-time Christian non-fiction books.  I am actually keeping a notebook of the things I am underlining as I read--it's that good!

Are you ever down in the dumps?  How do you get out?

UPDATED 12/3/12: My meeting Monday morning went very well. In fact, it could not have gone any better and I am glad I did not send the email!

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Thanks For Commenting!

We enjoy reading all the comments we receive on our blogs and had 230 during November so we will donate $115 to the Cleveland City Mission, which was our charity for November.  With Christmas shopping and all the extra expenses related to the holidays, we will not be donating to charity based on our blog comments.  I am also considering cutting back on blogging for the month of December so probably will not post as often on this blog.

We are going to try to cut back on our charitable giving next year to practice what our budget would look like if we had only one salary coming in; therefore, we will not continue to make charitable contributions based on blog comments next year.  I doubt if this will have any impact at all on the amount of comments we receive.  Never fear though because this month Beth Ann at It's Just Life is donating money based on the number of comments she gets to Josh's Yolka Project which helps orphanages in Russia.  I hope you will visit her blog.  This really sounds like a wonderful project and 100% of donations go to the orphanages!

I feel very good about our giving but really need to narrow the field.  It's hard to choose just a few organization to support because the need is so great and there are so many wonderful non-profit organizations out there. 

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