Introduction

Hi and welcome to my new blog. I thought I would start my first post with a little bit about myself and why I am making this blog. I am a 43 year old married woman, with three children. Currently their ages are 23, 15, and 7. My 23 year old daughter recently married and lives about 2 hours away. My 15 year old son lives about 10 minutes away from me with my parents. And my 7 year old son lives with me and my second husband. I am from Pittsburgh, PA. But I live in Williamsburg, VA currently. About 7 years ago, me, my husband, and my 3 children were living up in Pittsburgh. Things were bad, we were living in a bad situation, and needed to get out of it. My parents live in Virginia. They came up and got my two older children. My husband and then baby moved in with his parents in Pittsburgh. I closed up our affairs in Pittsburgh and came down to Virginia because there were jobs waiting for us.

I took a job as a night auditor at a hotel. That required me to work 11pm to 7am. But it was suppose to only be temporary while we figured things out. We looked for and found a small apartment we could afford. My daughter and older son decided to stay with my parents, not far from us. But my husband and younger son were with me. I decided to go back to school online. It was hard working nights, juggling classes, and taking care of my family. But I kept telling myself it was only temporary. I earned my Associates degree in Business. But I wanted my Bachelors in Psychology. I want to be a psychologist. So, I didn't take a break, I kept going. I kept my nose to the grind stone. My husband switched jobs a few times, moving from one thing to another. Finally he settled in at Walmart and has been working there for over a year now. But, I was getting worn out. I was tired, my grades were slipping. So I decided to take a break from school for a bit. Just a bit. My classes ran 5 weeks long, you take them one at a time, so I talked to my counselor about skipping one class for 5 weeks and then returning. She told me that was fine, that she would just sign me up for the next one. What she didn't tell me was that this would take me out of compliance for my grants. They revoked not only the payment for my next class, but took back the payment for my previous two classes. In the end, after much fighting, it came down to I had to pay 3000.00 to them before I could return to classes. I didn't have 3000.00. Still don't. So, no classes. No degree. So, being worn out, tired most of the time, stressed and fighting my bipolar disorder, things got pretty bad. We had several financial setbacks that put us in a very bad situation. Things were not going good for us.

The year 2012 approached. I told myself that this year would be different. I would turn things around, I would have a great year. As midnight approached New Year's Eve, I sat with my older son, thinking about how great it was going to be to say goodbye to the old year and have a great new year. Midnight struck, and within 15 minutes, things started going wrong. I was upset and even more depressed. What was it going to take to change things? What did I have to do to make things better? Then, a real duh moment. One of those moments that you have to laugh out loud at. It wasn't going to be different just because a clock struck midnight. Things weren't suddenly going to change and be better. I had to change. I had to make it change. And I couldn't change anyone else - I could only change me.

So, with that thought in mind, I sat down and thought hard about the changes I wanted to make in my life. The things I wanted to do differently, the things I wanted to accomplish. Then, I shared that with family and friends. I wanted people to know, to see that things were going to be different. So, I have started this blog to help keep me on track with these changes, to help me keep focused on my goals. But I also started this blog for others too. Maybe there is someone else out there who wants to make changes too. Maybe something I say or share will inspire them to make changes too. So, here we go - join me on my new adventure to a new me. Here's to making 2012 a great year!