Ahhhh…Back to School

I loved those days growing up! I was one of those “weird” kids that actually loved school. I loved learning new things and testing my brain. I was even in the GT (Gifted and Talented) Program in my younger years.

I hit a few rough spot during my high school years, though. 7th and 8th grade years went okay (our school was so small that High School was 7th – 12th grades). 9th grade was okay, I mean I couldn’t make anything lower than a C or I was off the basketball team. And basketball was my life back then!

I “went-out” with a few different guys back then (one who even told me that if we broke-up, he’d kill himself! In the 9th grade, we had  new guy come to our school, who I fell “in love” with. We were inseparable.

The end of my 9th grade year, one of my best friends moved away…like over 12 hours away! It was really hard for me to lose her.  That summer was bad… She was gone, and I had taken my boyfriend to church camp with me….only to have him cheat on me with a girl he met there.

He ended up moving 5 hours away to live with her and her family, but before the school year started, he was back. I stupidly took him back, and my 10th grade year was all about basketball and him. We broke up at the end of the year, and I went to the same church camp that summer as a worker.

That same summer, I met another boy. I boy who I quickly fell in love with. A boy that broke my heart over and over…but that I still “loved”.

My 11th grade year, right before the basketball season was to start, I got into a bad car accident. And things slowly fell apart. My basketball career had started to dwindle and the boy I thought I loved, cheated on me with his ex…or cheated on her with me….not sure which. Of course, I “loved” him, so I stuck with him. ( I sure knew how to pick them, huh?!?!)

My senior year, I realized that it was my last year. I worked harder at my school work than I had worked in the past 3 years and played harder (when the coach would let me…that’s a WHOLE other post!!) than I has since my accident. I was determined to make it the best senior year, and not let the petty things bother me. Which in turn, turned me stupid!

I graduated May 9th. May 20th, I turned 18, and in June, I married that boy. You know, the one that was a two-timer but I thought I “loved” anyways. That following fall, I went a semester at the local community college. I had been accepted to both it, and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and decided that a semester of the CC at home, would be a nice transition towards a bigger school.

So in December, me and my new husband, moved to Fayetteville so that I could go to college. Bad mistake!

Shortly after moving up there (we were, in fact, still unpacking) my brother, sister, and SIL came over to eat supper with us. They also had to break the news that 4 of my close friends, one of which was my maid of honor in my wedding, were in a car accident. She was the only survivor.

The next day, we loaded up and headed home for the funerals. Things were never the same after that. I started school in January, and things between the husband and I went south fast! When my semester was over, in fact, we spent another month up there before realizing that it wasn’t working for us, and we moved back home.

I never returned to school. It has been one of the hardest things for me to live with the fact that I never graduated college. I never got to enjoy college the way I enjoyed high school, or at least my senior year. And yes, I know there is a huge difference between high school and college, but as a person that loves to learn new things, I know I would enjoy it.

One of these days, I would love to go back and graduate. Though I’m 28 and still have no idea what I “want to be when I grow-up”. When I WAS going, I was trying to get my degree for primary education, and I think I still might. But I’ve got to get these two little rug-rats in school before I can attend myself.

Next year, Sissy starts pre-school! (She just misses the age/birthday cut-off to go this year). Then the year after that, she will go to kindergarten and Bubba starts pre-school. Maybe then I can finish what I started….

(Oh and btw, that boy I married, we ended up divorcing 5 months after moving back from Fayetteville…..BEST decision I had made in almost 5 years!!!!!!!)

Giveaway

There is an awesome giveaway over at Jimmy Choos and Tennis Shoes. You need to check it out. I mean, who else gives away a new dress AND an accessory just because it’s her birthday?!?!?

So go. Do. Enter!!

Another One Bites the Dust

My Canon Rebel XSi, you know the one that Bubba found? Yeah, that one. Well, it bit the dust. The night before Bubba’s 2nd birthday party, I got it out to mess with it a little bit and take some pics of the kiddos chillin’.

I got a couple of good shots in, went to show Hubby how cute they were, and then returned only to find out, to my dismay, that new, well still fairly new, camera had went to little camera heaven. It was giving me an “Err 99” code and just wouldn’t come out of it. 

This was horrible since Bub’s party was at 2pm the next day. I didn’t know what I was gonna do. I went ahead and put a call into my bestie, Stacy, to see if she would bring her camera and help me out.

Sunday morning rolled around, and while Hubby went to work, the kids and I went to church. While in church, Hubby texted me to tell me that he took my “precious” Canon to work with him to have one of the guys there look at it. Turns out that it would probably have to be sent out to get fixed. They were nice enough to exchange it for us for one of the same price.

So we went from this:

to this:

And I’m not quite sure which I like more. I was used to my Canon, so it was hard to let that go. Plus, I had a zoom lens for my Canon that went to an old Canon 35 mm camera I had.  I LOVED it!

On the other hand, I am LOVING the screen on this one! Though I Hubby will have to buy me another zoom lens to fit my Nikon, the one WM sells is MUCH better than the one I had. So that will be nice.

Comparison on picture quality?

With my Canon…

 

With my Nikon…

Of course, I’m still learning my Nikon. I’ve got to do lots more playing around with it before I feel comfortable enough to do another photo shoot with it. But give me a little bit, and I will be back at it in no time!!!