January 1, 2017

  • 1st day

    Today has been a lazy day--binge watching 'Star Trek Deep Space Nine' on Netflix, going on walks with Alpo and enjoying good food. I've also done a lot of thinking and planning as to what I want 2017 to look like. which I may or may not share on this site. Alpo has been begging for food and so we ate some of our Christmas gift from mom and then he finally realized the bone he received was a bone and not a stick and is really going to town!
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December 31, 2016

  • 2016

    I can't believe it has been a year since I posted on this site...a lot of things have happened. A lot of people are saying that 2016 sucked due to the many celebrities we lost plus the weirdest presidential election in history. As a result I have decided to write a synopsis for each month of my 2016 as I find the positive. I know there were some negatives, but I'm believing the positives will outweight the negatives!

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    January
    The year started out strong with plenty of teaching with Verbling. I was also living in Cascade, Idaho where we had a lot of snow! Sometimes I felt snowed in,but at the same time I felt very blessed to have a way to make an income while staying at home. My friend, Duckie, came and visited during the month and we took some adventures as she had a four wheel drive and driving in snow was no big deal for her.

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    February
    February started out disappointing workwise as I learned that the Verbling groups I was teaching were being canceled as Verbling had changed its strategy. I did get a lot of private students as a result and picked up work through the Virtual call center I am a trainer for. I spent some time down in Boise with my friend Duckie and even had a chance to spend time with family. I also started getting more involved with the church up in Cascade.

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    March
    I traveled to the Oregon coast with my friend Duckie and was able to work remotely from within my yurt thanks to modern technology. We even spent a few days in Portland and I got to see my friend RK who I haven't seen in a long time.

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    April
    In April, I was fairly busy with tutoring and the online call center training, but not enough, so I started a nationwide search for a full time job with benefits. I didn't know if anything would come up, but I decided to try. I ended up getting five interviews from companies in Montana, Georgia, Wisconsin, Washington DC and Connecticut. I was quite surprised! I also spent a lot time driving down the mountain to go to my trio's soccer games. They even came up and spent the weekend with me without their parents! Duckie and I also took a short road trip to the only 'cheese factory' in Idaho. We also stopped and looked at Shoshone Falls on the way back. I also went on some adventures with family--one was a hike at Cleo's, which is a private park in Owyhee county with all types of inspirational signs and statues.

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    May

    I was offered a job in Connecticut with Cartus, a relocation firm. I didn't accept it right away and took Mother's Day weekend to think about it. I went with Heidi's family on an adventure to Baker City, Oregon and the Interpretive Center. By the end of the weekend, I decided to take the job and so the adventure of moving across the country had begun. I was also the lead trainer for a project with the virtual call center and was having to juggle all of that at the same time. My family and friends were a huge help during this time. I also spent as much time as I could with my trio going to their soccer games and and other festivals. I finished my adventure in Idaho by attending the twins' kindergarten graduation. I left for Connecticut on May 27 and we arrived on May 31. My sister and her kids made the cross country trip with me. I look forward to taking the drive again!

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    Summer
    After such a busy month in May, I spent the summer learning the area. I didn't take many pictures, but if memory serves I drove around the area a lot and spent many evenings working for the virtual call center, while I learned my new job during the day. I work in the Language department as a Language Network Specialist. I basically recruit language trainers for freelance/contract jobs in different areas of the country. I found that with my experience running ViTA, this was a fairly easy transition. Alpo was having a hard time, however, and I heard from neighbors that he spent a majority of the days barking, which was heartbreaking. I was able to find a dog daycare to take Alpo while I worked, which worked out great. I was able to find a church and even went to some restaurants with a couple colleagues after church and work. In August, I finally got a haircut after almost three years as I procrastinated that long... At work, my colleagues surprised me for my birthday and we even went out to a Brazilian restaurant plus some neighbors left me balloons for my birthday.

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    Fall
    I found a church and starting going to a biweekly bible study in September. I also received the opportunity to go to a lady's retreat in New Hampshire, which was very exciting as I hadn't been to the other New England states. I even got to do the driving, which, for me, was amazing. October was a low point when a semi hit my car and the insurance company totaled it so I end 2016 with no car, but at the same time it was a blessing as driving was stressing me out plus the insurance is so high here compared to Idaho. Alpo is doing better although I can no longer take him to the day care and has accepted being alone. I traveled to Idaho in December and had a wonderful time with my family. Here are some pictures: (more pics on Facebook)

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    So, in retrospect--2016 has been a good year! Sure, the election was crazy and I have had more exciting years, but it wasn't all that bad... 2017, we are expecting an even better year- WooHoo!

January 2, 2016

  • Day One

    2016 has started off with a head cold, so I stayed at home and laid low. It was great day regardless! I did run a couple of errands and spent some time with my twin sister's family who have been here for a little more than a week. They will be leaving for home tomorrow. I have mixed feelings as I love having them here, but at the same time I really enjoy my time with Alpo and alone time. Living alone has made me realize that I have specific ways I do things that are not the same as others so it is nice to see people come and visit and nice to see them leave as well. WooHoo! I'm so excited and nervous about the future--not sure what 2016 will bring and am looking forward to finding out what will happen.

December 31, 2015

  • Wow! 2015 went fast!

    I realized a few weeks ago that I haven't posted on this blog since January 1, 2015 and decided to do a quick recap for the year on December 31, 2015, which was farely mundane--so here goes.

    In 2014, I went back to 100% freelancing and found the year to be quite fruitful and am quite excited about what this next year will bring. Below are some highlights for the year:

    1. Work wise, I have been teaching online for a couple of different organizations and started doing online corporate training in March for a company that trains virtual customer service representatives. The jobs are ideal because when one is slow, I can pick work with the other. It has proven to be a great way to make money.
    2 Alpo and I spent several weeks house sitting in Boise last spring, which was a nice break for us.
    3. Alpo turned 12 this year--he now has cataracts and is starting to act like the senior dog he is although he still is a bundle of energy.
    4. I started thinking about moving during the spring and just couldn't decide. In July, I saw an ad on Craigslist for a small apartment up in the mountains--about two hours from where I lived. So, I called on it and four weeks later I had moved up to the mountains.
    5. I became a great-aunt this year. My oldest niece had a baby girl on November 30. She is beautiful!
    6. Living in the mountains, I've seen some wildlife just walk on by my house or when I'm out driving around!
    7. Have really enjoyed the mountains, especially the snow this winter and am hoping to get more integrated this next year.

January 1, 2015

  • Nationalities

    virtualclassroombannerI started teaching online again in August and have had the opportunity to teach people from many nations. My mom asked me to keep a list of the nationalities I work with just out of curiosity and so for the month of December, I kept a list. So, the numbers are in and I worked with people from the following countries:

    Spain Italy China Kazakhstan
    Vietnam Libya Russia Morocco
    Brazil Japan Mexico Egypt
    India Colombia Chile Guatemala
    Saudi Arabia Peru France Iraq</td
    Thailand Uruguay Cambodia Singapore
    Germany Tunisia Poland Sudan
    Taiwan Indonesia Ukraine /syria
    South Korea Jordan Qatar Belgium
    Hungary Turkey Algeria Paraguay
    Kyrgyzstan -- -- --

October 16, 2014

  • Dual monitors

    I've gotten spoiled with dual monitors and then a couple of weeks ago when my computer stopped working and I had to get a new one, I realized just how lucky I've been. The new computer did not have the right cords to connect to my monitor and so last week I had to teach with only one monitor...boy it was difficult! Thankfully, yesterday, the proper cords came in the mail and after unsuccessfully trying to get them connected, my brother-in-law came to the rescue. I was able to teach my first two classes this morning with both monitors and it was wonderful. When I teach in Google Hangouts, it is quite important because I have to screenshare the whole time. It isn't that important with Fuze or Webex or Adobe (which are other classrooms I am using), but it is nice. Anyway, I'm very thankful for having dual monitors, once again, to do my work!

October 10, 2014

  • New computer

    JellyfishMy wonderful Dell laptop I got back in 2011 decided to periodically give me the 'blue screen of death' so I had to buy a new computer. I had my brother in law research it for me and he decided on a refurbished HP with the Windows 7 operating system. I'm really happy with it. However, when I went to add a picture for this blog, I realized that only pictures I have are the default pictures so I just chose the jellyfish to make the blog posting less boring. I know nothing about these creatures and would love to see them on some exotic trip to the ocean. Who knows, maybe I'll get there someday...

September 30, 2014

  • Two months

    936660_10152590939932863_3373056155428514813_nIt was two months ago today that I posted this saying on my wall on facebook as I had made the decision to resign from my full-time job the next day. I had come back to the states five years earlier to run my business and be close to my family and had gotten sidetracked with full-time jobs, benefits and nice salaries. I had taken a long hard look into what I really wanted and realized the flexibility that comes from teaching online was what I wanted. Two months on and I am so thankful that I made this decision. My family are also very happy with the decision because I am happy. Today, I also taught my 100th hour with Verbling and am also doing a couple hours a week with some other companies (one in Spain and one in Japan). My goal is to get some consistent hours teaching so that I can pursue some other projects that I have been putting off for a couple of years. One is to finish updating the LANCELOT course and see about getting it accredited again and another is to start working with other language schools and setting up live online programs for them. I just need to find the time to be able to concentrate on both projects. I'm excited. Anyway, it has been two months and I'm still smiling! YAY!

September 29, 2014

  • I love the trio!

    image I love these four people very much. This picture was taken back in the spring of 2011 a couple of months before the twins turned two and their older sister turned three. They are now five and six. Big sister just started kindergarten and the twins are starting to mature in great ways. At this very moment, one of them is quite bored and is getting into trouble every few minutes, but that is part of the course of being five years old. I look forward to seeing all three of them grow up and what marvelous people they are going to become. Baby girl loves dancing and singing and our hope is to get her involved in music theatre somehow. She is currently learning ballet and tap. Twin one is really into technology and is great at video games whereas twin two is a very natural athlete. Right now, they are both playing soccer and played t-ball last spring. This coming spring, twin one is planning to play t-ball and twin two is doing spring soccer. My hope is that we can get all three of the kiddos into basketball this winter.

September 22, 2014

  • My thoughts exactly!

    574654_395578583807706_552990962_n When I saw this picture on facebook, I knew I had to share it on my blog (that I'm not sure anyone reads anymore) just so that people know my heart. I'm like my dad--I'm simple in that I don't consciously get riled up about much. I know what I know and I know what I know to be true. And one thing I know to be true, with no doubts whatsoever, is there is a God and His word can heal and can brings things right into this dark world. He is I am! He is my all in all! It may not seem apparent to people who don't know me well, but this is truly what I believe in my core. Jesus, name above all names, light of my life and the center of it all. It IS ALL ABOUT HIM! When we forget that as we go through our lives, we have the prompting of the Holy Spirit to remind us what we really know and what we really believe.