Life in Tucson

Well, deciding to stay in Tucson for the next 2 years was a definite change in events for us.
We had already moved out of our house (rental) and our belongings are in storage. We have discovered the world of "Extended Stay" hotels.
It is not as bad as it first sounds.
The cost was a factor in deciding which one to choose. The other factor, for us, was our dog. One place wanted to charge a non refundable fee of $150 - broken down to $50 per night not to exceed $150. Some places allow NO dogs. The place we chose had a total fee of $50 period. Also, some of the ES do not have pools.
We have been at the Studio 6. They have a pool! The staff has been polite and they seem able to handle any situation that we have thrown at them! They are always smiles and very helpful.
I joke about it being a good thing my family likes each other! lol
The living quarters are small. But they are clean. We have a kitchenette complete with a cook top stove and a fridge with a good size freezer.
We have been able to make this work. Before school started, I would take the kids swimming and we could take the dog for walks in the early morning. All that while Dad was at work! Nice!
There is a laundry facility not too far away from our room - so I just had to get back into the habit of having quarters! Ugh. oh well. It could always be worse.
So, we have cleaning day - the day they clean our place up and then we have towel and trash day. So, at 2 times a week someone can bring/give us supplies for our room!

We have been pretty happy with this situation as; after you have been here for 1 month, they switch you from weekly rates to monthly rates! They also gave back all the taxes we paid that first month! How many places 1) give you back your taxes paid 2) lower your rate??
So maybe you can see why this place makes us smile! Oh yeah, they provide wireless service for your computer for only a one time fee of $4.95 unlimited!
So, we have been paying $300 plus utilities LESS than what we paid for our rental house. Things like that excite me.
Just wanted to share our new adventures as we count down to January - the beginning of nursing school for me.

As much as I like it here, I'm not sure that I could do this for the next 2 years. I would think that we would be needing the space to allow for my studying and give the kids back their privacy. Plus the room has an A/C unit that either freezes you out or you turn it off. I think if I could suggest anything, it would be adjoining rooms. Maybe they could offer family's that option and maybe NOT charge them for 2 rooms, possibly a discount?? Another room would make things so much better. But not 2 seperate rooms, it would just be weird to be seperated, the dog would not be able to check on his kids and us. But an adjoining room, he could have 2 rooms to wander around in and be able to check on everyone. hmmmm
So, we have some looking and deciding to do.
Next time.....
Some of the observations about the people who live here with us - it IS very interesting and it says something for what is going on in our country. Check back!

Nursing School - Here I come

Well, it started out as an "invitation" to move up from Spring of 2011 to Spring of 2010.
I responded by email and said YES YES YES YES

I then waited and waited and waited.
I received my EMAIL response that said "Congratulations, you have been accepted into the Spring 2010 Nursing Program!"

My heart was beating in triple time! Can it be? Everything I had been working for these past 3 years is actually coming to the point of REAL nursing school???

So, YES! it is official and I am in the January 2010 nursing school and I am really excited and can't wait to begin the next chapter of my schooling!

Wish me luck!

Can Lightning strike twice???

My poor blog is suffering from "abandonment issues"

So, I will try to be more attentive! :o)

Since last posting... we have had a couple of changes
First, we moved....well... sort of...
We are no longer living in our 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage house... Nooo
now we are hanging out in an extended stay type of place. Interesting and way cheaper..
The reason???

Well, we were attempting to move back home to Florida. All was green until this past Friday.

The other change was the purchase of a laptop to replace my extremely overused desktop..

So, now, I can be on more! YAY!!!

What happened Friday is the title for my post - Can Lightning strike twice?

On Friday morning, I received a call that the LPN program could start me next month! How exciting.
But, I did nothing about it.
Later in the afternoon, I received an email from the RN program inviting me to start the RN program in Jan. 2010 instead of 2011 (part of our reason to leave tucson)

So, after I quit jumping up and down in the aisle of Super Walmart! My daughter looks at me and asks me "What does this mean?"

What does this mean

Would we still move back to Florida?
Where will we live?
Will we stay here?

WOW! For the past 3 years, all my goals have been towards becoming an RN
I became really depressed when all my options for getting into the RN program dried up.
It made me doubt what I was supposed to do, where were WE really supposed to be?
The confusion, at that time, was deafening. It felt so completely hopeless. Ok, well, maybe not totally hopeless... but sad. let down.
Now, here is not 1 but 2 opportunities to do what it was that previously I had been striving towards...
So, hang on.. it might be Tucson for the next 2 years!!!

:o)

This is just peachy cool

Why I love these 2 soo much - well okay, maybe Jeffery Donovan just a bit more! He is soooo...uhm aaaaaaaahhhhhh delish!

Tucson Has A Zoo

Just in Case you were wondering, yes, they do in fact have a zoo. It's called the Reid Park Zoo.

Funny that we have lived here just about 4 years and have never gone before now.

This week is Hospital Week at TMC. They have had various surprises for us during the week YAY! But the one my family was most interested in was this one. Last year, it was a ballgame seeing the Diamondbacks with dinner provided!

This year it is Free admission to the zoo with dinner provided. We all went and they served us Chicken Fajitas with all the trimmings and they had a little band playing - it was great! We had fun and I even took the camera and played with it - still getting used to what it can do!

Is School Over Yet?

So here we are in the month of May.

The regular schools are getting ready for that all time honored thing

SUMMER = NO SCHOOL

So, my kids, Young Adult and (now reigning) Teenager; are dreading getting up EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING.

I thought that this would pass, but as the days go on, it is harder and harder for them to WANT to get up and go to school.

Partly because they don't get out of school - for summer break - until June 18th! It is hard for them because alot of their other friends get out this month.

So, they feel like they are run hard, work hard, study hard and generally, just have no fun.

Once school is over, the Young Adult will have a college course to get into for the summer! YAY! Isn't it wonderful to be a young adult?? ;o)

The teenager will inevitably sleep and stay up way too late! I guess that's normal for teenagers!

So, I tell them, enjoy this - it ends all too soon! Isn't it great to be the bearer of such wonderful tidings? ;o)

Upward Bound

Have any of you heard of this program?

It is intended for high school students that help them prepare for college. They assist the student in courses to take, offer tutoring, they have monthly Saturday classes where they provide breakfast and snacks for the kids and then in the summer, they offer some college courses; Monday-Thursday and they feed the kids breakfast, snacks and lunch. Very cool.

Did I mention that the kids all receive a stipend to participate in this program? Even COOLER!So, the end of the year trip is a visit to Northern Arizona University up in Flagstaff!! June 30-July2nd. They transport the kids, hotel them, feed them and then they are given a tour of NAU! COOOOOOOOLLLLIIIEEEEESSSSTTT!

At the beginning of the year, they said they would take parents to chaperone! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We LOVE Flagstaff and well, that seemed too good to be true... Yep. When I inquired about it, the "staff" took all the spots. Big Time Bummer!

BUT....................................

We were told if we wanted to meet them up there, we could. Of course, we pay our own hotel and expenses... Oh yes... It is at the "Drury Inn" Family Favorite!!!

So, here we are. It would be a lovely opportunity for The Young Adult

to get a tour of a really nice university aaaaannnnnnddddd a chance for the family to sneak away to one of our FAVORITE places in Arizona! Flagstaff.... which is only about 1 hour away from the wonderful Grand Canyon!!!

More later on that developing educational experience! :o)

Happy Mother's Day!!!

This is to all my wonderful MOMMY friends here in Bloggerland!
I wish a very VERY Happy Mother's Day to you one and all!
I hope that your day is full of love, joy, smiles, hugs and happiness!
You DESERVE it. Each.And.Every.One.Of.You!

It's the most demanding, tiring, limitless, never-ending, heart wrenching, smile producing, joy inducing thing a woman could ever EVER do in her life.
To me, it is still amazing that something that grows inside of you and and continues to grow into a human being is absolutely the most wonderfully amazing thing I have ever been blessed to participate in.
Sure, we all have those days where frustrations run rampant and we think that we will never get them potty trained ;o) or when they cut their shirt during "aircrafts" Seeing a little baby grow into an 18 year old young woman is still mind blowing!
Watching your little baby boy grow into a young man that shaves!!! YIKES!!!
Well, you get the idea.

Enjoy your Day all you Super Terrific Hard Working Moms!
:o)