February Challenge Day 16: A Hard Lesson

February 16, 2014June 25, 2014 ~ Laura ~ 4 Comments

This is a post I’ve been thinking about for a long time. After not being sure if I would actually write about, I figured it fit well with the prompt, so here you go: a hard lesson.

Last semester I took a principles of macroeconomics class which, you might have heard me say before, was really hard.

The first day of class I was completely lost. I had never studied economics before, so it was a completely foreign thing that my professor just jumped into gung ho. The book is hard enough to read, class lectures were a whole other story, but when you got to the tests it was different than both. I won’t go into a lot of details, but the teaching style really clashed with my learning style, and I was not helped to succeed in this class when I sought help.

When I got the first test back, I almost couldn’t believe it. It was the worst grade I’ve gotten to this day in college. At the same time I got my first accounting test back which hadn’t gone as well as I thought it would. *sigh*

I met with my teacher and was reassured in knowing he grades on improvement and I just needed to work hard to improve and it would be okay. The second test went MUCH better and whew! That was a relief. The third one wasn’t as good, though. It was getting harder. I started meeting with my teacher every single day before class to go over the reading and address any questions I had. I worked my tail off. The last test before the final went better. And then came the Wall Street Journal project where we had to asses the economy through research and tell where it’s going. I worked really hard with my partner on that and we got full credit. Then came the final.

I studied for that thing hard. I was SO done with this class and just wanted to put it behind me.

But it turns out that I didn’t do well enough overall.

So I have to re-take the class.

At some point last semester I had a mini crisis moment where I completely rethought my life and asked myself if this is really what I want to be doing. This is so hard, after all. And I was so done with classes that were on subjects I’m not specifically going to be working in. I prayed and cried about it, because it was just so frustrating. Even when I tried really hard (which lets face it wasn’t 100% of the time), there are some subjects I am simply not good at.

It felt like I was a failure.

But I know that I am not a failure. I just wasn’t made to be an economist. The things I was made to do? I’m really good at those things. I realized that it’s not the end of the world if I’m not a straight A student. As long as I work hard to learn and do my best, the grade I end up with is what it is. Part of my struggle with this class is that I do not feel that my grade was justified, and I still think the class was insane to be taught as a “principles” class which is supposed to be very basic.

Right now I’m in the principles of microeconomics class with a different teacher and it’s better. But it’s still really hard. As far as I know my macro teacher is the only one to offer it here, so I’m looking into taking it over the summer close to home.

This class will always have a bad little place in my memory, but it made me trust in God’s plan for me a little more. Sure, I have to take this class and get a better grade. But God is bigger than grades. It’s going to work out okay.

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February Challenge Day 15: A Dream

February 15, 2014 ~ Laura ~ 3 Comments

Everybody’s got a dream, right? Well, if you don’t, think bigger! Pray about it! We’re all made for greatness. And through exercising our talents and abilities, what God can do through us is unlimited. Seriously. Just remember the quote that goes something like “God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called.” Whatever you’re meant to do? It’s gonna work out just fine and he’ll give you what you need to accomplish it. So dream big!

My dream is to change people’s lives.

How do I want to do that? I’m working on my degree in business management right now (which is really hard goshdarnit) and will be done in a little over two years. After I graduate, I want to eventually start my own life affirming center. Well, that’s kinda vague, huh? Let me elaborate.

At this center I want to provide a safe haven for people going through tough stuff, and experienced staff to bring people out of trials and into a better future. I want people to know, through my work, the greatness they are called to. I want them to know the dignity and beauty they posses. I want to work with people to draw others into the light of a glorious life of truth and beauty fully alive.

Here’s an idea of what I want to provide:

shelter for single/pregnant moms
maternity and baby supplies
options counseling (and teen mentoring)
free pregnancy tests
free ultrasounds and early pregnancy services
sidewalk counseling training
adoption services
post-abortion recovery
high school education program
life skill training classes for parents and teens (think parenting, house making, managing money, people skills, etc.)
job search assistance
referrals for other types of services

Exciting, huh? I see people who are driven to have abortions, and I want to help them. I see people who have had abortions, and I want to help them. I see teens who don’t have dreams and are living half the life they’re meant to. And I want to help all them. At this place I want to run, it would be ideal to appoint a head of different departments to manage specific aspects of our work: teen outreach, counseling, medical, shelter logistics, and so much more.

So that is what I’d like to do career-wise with pro-life work. Someday I hope to get married and have my own family too, so this center will just have to happen around that 🙂

This is all, of course, my dream. So who knows if it’ll all happen. God might have other better plans!

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Laundry Detergent: Hippie Style

February 13, 2014June 25, 2014 ~ Laura ~ 6 Comments

In recent months I’ve experimented with some homemade products in an effort to save money. But I also just really like making my own things and having things be more natural (though I’m totally not a hippie like I’ve been called 🙂 ).

At the end of last summer I did my own shampoo and conditioner using baking soda and apple cider vinegar (which are both dirt cheap). It worked really well and I was happy with it. But the water is so different at school that I stopped using it. I could definitely try it again in different ratios, but had bottles of regular shampoo and conditioner to finish up anyway.

I also made body wash using Olay bar soap which is divine. It smells lovely. And all you do is chop up the bar and dissolve it in water. At first I added too much water and it was too thin. So now I use less and it’s good. I bought a 2-pack of the bars for $3 and have only been using that since. I have enough to last me probably till the beginning of summer. See what I said?!?! Money saver!

My latest installment of hippie experiments comes in the form of laundry detergent. Doing just my own laundry is not very expensive since I’ve really cut back on my wardrobe and do about a load a week (unless I have lots of towels and linens). But I’ll take any kind of savings! Here’s what I did to make the detergent:

1. Buy this stuff

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All of them can be found in normal laundry aisles. Want an idea of the price? The Borax was $3.97, Super Washing Soda was $3.24, and the Zote soap was $0.97 for a grand total of $8.18. Read through a little more to see how that adds up to normal detergent.

2. Grate da soap

From what I read online, many people opted to use the Fel-Naptha bar soap which apparently take out stains like a boss. And it’s yellow. How cute is that? This Zote bar sounded good to me at under a dollar for twice the amount of the other one. I forget how much FN was in store, but it was much more pricey for half the amount of soap . . . aaaaanyway. Zote smells slightly of lemon which is delightful (plus it’s easy to grate). I used half the bar.

3. Stir 1 cup Borax and 1 cup Washing Soda into le soap shreds.

I dumped the soap into the dry stuff which made it kind of clumpish and lumpish, so I would recommend doing it the other way around. But just mix it real well and be sure to get an even amount in your scoop when you throw it in the washer.

4. Viola! Put in it an airtight container and you are set. Most people recommended that you use ~1T per load.

And now I’m laughing at myself because in writing this I found that I used twice the amount of soap I needed to.

You actually only need 4.5 ounces of soap, and the giant bar is 14 oz. Now I’m off to go add more Borax and Washing Soda to the mix!

I did two loads of laundry with this to test it out and ohmygoodness I was so happy with it. My laundry has never felt cleaner, and it even smelled lovely (which was partly because of my dryer sheet . . .).

This recipe made a substantial amount which is going to last for months and I still have tons of Borax and Washing Soda, and enough soap for ~~one~~ two more batches. Let’s just say I was pretty excited about all this and my suitemates here thought it was a ~~little~~ lot weird to get so excited over ~~weird~~ awesome stuff. Weeeeell, I say, I’m the one saving money and having adventures making my own stuff.

There you have it! My latest adventure in homemade household items . . . have you ever done anything like this? Any recommendations for my next item to try making?

February Challenge Day 13: Favorite Quotes

February 13, 2014June 25, 2014 ~ Laura ~ 2 Comments

Here are some of my favorite quotes of all time (some of which I’ve probably forgotten). You’ve probably seen them around here before, but have fun reading along!