After I separated from the Air Force, my husband and I started our family. I am now a stay-at-home mother of two young girls studying for my Bachelor's in Religion from Liberty University.

• Keeping Up with the Times

  Undoubtedly, if you are going to school on-line you are familiar with some sort of web based software program that compiles all the information you need for your course work.  My school, Liberty University, uses Blackboard.  Blackboard announced they are introducing a new program, called Blackboard Mobile.  As the name implies students will be able to access their Blackboard information on their smart phones (iPod Touch®, iPhone® and Blackberry®).  From what I understand on Blackboard's website, http://www.blackboard.com/Mobile/Overview.aspx, the school you attend would need to subscribe to this service.  Also it is unclear to me exactly how much information the students would be able to view from their mobiles.  For example, much of the information for my courses would be links to download a word file, would I be able to still download these files and view them from my phone?  This is one technology that could seriously help me with my studies.  I'm not complaining, but it can be cumbersome to need to use the computer to just check real quick what pages I need to read for one course, or look to see if my grades were posted yet, or to see if someone replied to my discussion board post yet. I don't think Liberty offers this new technology yet, and I don't have a smartphone, but when Liberty does offer it I would definitely want to take advantage! Add to:                      Posted Thursday, November 05, 2009 8:26 AM by jodipalmer | 0 Comments

• Back in the Swing of Things

  Well, A LOT has happened in the past three weeks, enough ups and downs to last for a couple of years but time and life marches on and so I find myself settling into the routine of housewife/volunteer/student again.  Yesterday started my second week of this eight week sub-semester, and as usual I feel as though I will fail one of my more difficult classes.  I've felt this way at the beginning of every semester and yet somehow I make it through, so I feel safe to say the same will be true this semester.  I'm taking Genesis 410 and Introduction to Church Ministries 201.  Genesis should be fairly self explanatory, we are studying..you know...Genesis, but in a very detail oriented sort of way.  Church Ministries so far seems like it will be beneficial for sure but also easy as it seems to be covering material I've already studied but applying it to, yup you guessed it, Church Ministries.  What I find interesting in both this course and my Evangelism course is that both courses focus on the life of the believer for a significant portion of the course before even getting started on the purpose of the course.  I really like that.  On a side note, Just recently I was wondering how women keep their homes put together.  So like any good online student who ought to be doing homework I decided to research.  I haven't really deciphered an answer yet, but I  did come across an article titled "How to Clean your Bathroom in Fifteen Minutes".  Uhmm... How long could it possibly take to clean a bathroom?  What's missing from my list?  Wipe down mirror-30seconds, wipe down counter-30seconds, scrub toilet-one minute, wipe down toilet-1min, spray off scrubbing bubbles-1min, sweep floor-2min.  I'm only getting six minutes worth of work here.  We could double that time and I'm still way faster than the article.  I'm gonna stick to my way.   Also, the Yankees are going to win, and most of y'all who say they aren't are just a bunch of whiney Yankees haters who don't even like the Phillies.  I mean, let's just give it up now people, aren't the last two games gonna be at Yankee's Stadium?  They.Don't.Stand.A.Chance.  Feel free to belittle me later if I'm wrong.  But I'm not.   Add to:                      Posted Tuesday, November 03, 2009 10:24 PM by jodipalmer | 0 Comments

• First Day off!

  Don't get me wrong, I had time to do things while I still had course work to do.  But, never without some assignment or looming deadline weighing on my shoulders.  Here's what I did today, my first day with the girls in preschool and me without a care in the world:   I tried out a new nail polish color on my thumb nail, Orly's Pixie Dust.  This is by far my favorite gray color I've ever seen, very awesome.  The only reason I didn't do the other nine tips is because, I didn't have time to do it properly and this nail polish is so gorgeous it would be a huge crime to not relax and enjoy the process.  Go buy this polish. I went shopping for some clothes for the girls, and scored big time at Ross. I found a pair of New Balance lined wind pants at Ross for 8.99.  I have no idea how someone could value these pants for so little, but their loss is my gain.  I also found an Adidas long sleeve tee for four dollars.  I actually found lots and lots more, but my husband and I are committed to being debt free, so you know, I controlled myself. Then I went tanning.  Don't judge me, my tinted moisturizer has an SPF of like 15. I didn't do this today, but this weekend I tried really hard to manipulate the husband into purchasing me a Wii.  He wasn't going for it, but he better get fortified, I'm considering using my freed up brainpower to convince him.  I'm about to go for a run in my new wind pants, because I have nothing better to do!  So yes, this is exactly how deep my thoughts have been my first day of no school, and I fully intend to keep it this way!  I think I will have another break from school at the end of my next sub-semester, I really like how it is set up to have breaks like this!   Add to:                      Posted Monday, October 19, 2009 12:05 PM by jodipalmer | 0 Comments

• Final Grades

  Surely you guys remember the dread with which I faced writing my first research paper in over twelve years right?  I was sooooo intimidated!  Guess what I got!!!!!? 100 percent!  The research paper was worth 25 percent of my final grade, I ended up with an 'A'!  This was definitely the most difficult class yet, having passed this class makes me feel much more confident in taking the rest of the "upper-level" classes.  My other course, Theology 2, which I considered kind of easy, I actually ended up with a final grade of 'B'.  Which is okay and all, I was just hoping to score and 'A' so as to eliminate a course if I choose to do their Master's Program.  This week I will have off from school, the next sub semester doesn't begin again until a week from tomorrow.  I am so going to enjoy the down time!!  I sort of wish we had cable or an antennae even so I could veg out watching some irrelevant reality shows or even better the food network, maybe some Forensic Files and wife swap.  Oh well, doesn't make much sense to order cable for one week.  Better just cruise the internet for shows on there! Add to:                      Posted Sunday, October 18, 2009 8:31 PM by jodipalmer | 0 Comments

• End of Semester Wrap Up

  That is the theme of both of my classes this week.  The semester ends tomorrow at midnight eastern standard time.  I've played dumb several times and turned things in midnight central time with no repercussions, so thats cool.  I only have one final exam in theology to take.  It will be a compilation of our previous weekly quizzes, which I still have access to so it should be easy to review for.  I also have a quiz and bonus discussion board left to turn in for my Acts class.  I actually already did the bonus discussion board, only to have it eaten by my computer before I turned it in, bummer right?  My husband couldn't find it on here either and he's basically the smartest guy I know, so I guess I just have to write it all over again.   I do my best to do all of my school work once the girls are in bed to limit the distractions.  We have a friend spending the night tonight though, so probably they won't be asleep until way past my bed time.  My husband agreed to keep the kids busy for an hour or so for me tomorrow to help with me get things done. After tomorrow I'll be done school for a little over a week!  During the time off I plan to take care of some birthday plans (my oldest will be turning five at the end of the month, we'll be having a costume Halloween party followed by trick or treating, followed by the second little Blonde-ster turning three a couple weeks later)  I also intend to speak with an advisor about my graduation date and exactly how my accepted credits will apply towards my degree.   Add to:                      Posted Thursday, October 15, 2009 8:12 PM by jodipalmer | 0 Comments