25 November 2007

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter

Ok, so I was going to post this as I Can’t Believe It’s Almost December, but the only thing that came to mind was the stupid commercial saying I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. This should tell you where my brain is right now.

The Last couple of weeks have been really busy, I know, I know….when is my life NOT busy? These last few weeks however have brought about some changes for me and some possibly changes for Bill and I together.

We arrived in Las Cruces, NM on September 30-ish and were only planning on being here for 6 months. This would put us as pulling out of here by 1 April. Well, it’s looking like plans are changing. Since life isn’t getting any cheaper we are transitioning into doing work camping and stuff like that to help to alleviate the astronomical cost of living life day-to-day. (As a side note: if you are interested in learning about work-camping, look it up online, you can find way more information online then I would ever be able to give you). In addition to this I decided to pick up a part-time job to help cover some of the bills. Actually, I kind of fell into this part-time job that will pay some of the bills, it also happens that I like the job.

In addition to working the arts/farmers market here in town with my jewelry business (
www.woundaround.com) I started working out at a local Curves for Women. In talking and getting to know the manager, she was telling me that she needed a part-time person to help cover some shifts, I told her I was possibly interested in picking up a part-time job with them knowing that I would only be here until 1 April and the rest you can figure out. Well, just before I started (literally the day before) the other girl working for her went to work elsewhere, so my part-time job became a 30+-hour/week job. No problem, I really enjoy it.

Within the first week of my working there, Bill and I started talking about the possibility of me finishing up my degree at NMSU. He had looked up the tuition rates and if I could find a way to get in-state tuition then I really couldn’t afford to pass up this opportunity. NM has some of the best in-state tuition in the country. Low and behold, I did some research and found the WUE program. WUE is the Western Universities Exchange Program. This means that within the western states that participate, you can transfer and be automatically eligible for in-state tuition….guess what? Oregon and New Mexico both participate.

So, now it’s looking like if I can get all my ducks in a row, that I’ll be working 30-ish hours/week at Curves, going to school full time (with WUE you have to take a minimum or 12 credits a semester and carry at least a 2.5 GPA), and still work the arts/farmers market two days a week. Busy? Yes! Happy? Yes!

It’s not all finalized yet, I have to call NMSU next week to make sure they received my transcripts, and all that, and to make sure I’ll get in on the WUE and get in-state tuition. Then I have to do the financial-aid thing and schedule a meeting with a counselor to talk about my degree program options, etc,etc. But the ball is rolling and I’m getting this figured out one step at a time.

So, that’s what’s happening (mostly) in my life and why I’ve been so busy and incommunicado via the blog. I’m hoping that with or without pictures I’ll have more time to write as the days and weeks progress.

Cheers~
;-)K