It sucks because for a long time now, there have only been one or two places to go on the Internet to look for a comprehensive list of job openings. Jobs are getting harder and harder to find, no matter how qualified you are. In fact, unemployment rates are extremely high right now, and our economy pretty much sucks.

Enter a new website known as realmatch. It is awesome. They have designed features to search for skills and for prospective employers to find them based on this. Job seekers can input enough information to truly define themselves making it easier for companies to find them, and for them to seek out jobs. Extremely large companies have gone from using search engine keywords and other job sites to using Realmatch. WAY better in my opinion. I loved it. I have used another EXTREMELY popular job seeking website, and got nowhere. However, the features found at Realmatch are outstanding. Give it a try, you will not be disappointed.

I had the pleasure of recently watching a friend of mine who just completed her nursing program, deal with a minor injury completely outside of the medical world. In fact, it happened in her own front yard. The first thing I was surprised about is how calm she stayed. Never losing her cool, never freaking out when she saw lots of blood, she simply worked until she had it all cleaned up. Then she assessed the damage, responded the way it needed to be dealt with, and what was even cooler is that because she stayed calm, the child calmed down and was easy to talk and work with.

Nursing is an absolutely awesome field to be in. One of the things that makes it great is that nurses are continuously in demand. This makes find a job much easier when you have completed any type of nursing program like the LVN programs. My friend is working an “on call” type of job right now and her hours are very strange, but she is planning on finding something with a bit more stability soon, because she has a family. She is also a single mom raising two beautiful daughters who need her as much as the sick people do. There is a great balance between family and nursing I’ve noticed.

It has crossed my mind on more than one occasion to go to school and become a Licensed Vocational Nurse, or something similar. I like the idea of being able to complete school in only a few short years and being able to go out and get a job immediately where I am helping others.

I think the programs that the Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts offers are extremely beneficial to those seeking a vocational position. And they seem to have an awesome Vocational Nursing Program which doesn’t seem difficult to complete. I was also really excited to see an Ultrasound Technician course available because I already have a brief background in this field and it was what I wanted to go to school for. The programs seem reasonably priced for what they offer and additionally they offer and require internships during your course of study. This is a great way to get yourself into a position after you have completed your internship.

It seems that the possibilities with nursing are endless.

I am a homeschooling mom. Lots of people don’t realize that I have a son that is homeschooled even though the other four attend school. There are lots of reasons, but the biggest for me is that he is so incredibly intelligent and he just wasn’t getting what he needed from a public school. I simply cannot afford to send him to a private school, so the next best choice was to homeschool him. I love it.

At the beginning it was so hard. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel like I couldn’t do it, because I knew in my mind that if told myself I could, I would. It was that I had so many questions, wanted help with certain subjects and how to properly teach them, and the most important part was that I was to ensure he would always love learning and would never be behind. In fact, mostly I wanted him ahead.

That was third grade. Here we are now in seventh grade and while I had a great support group along the way, I sure wish there had been other options to observe to. St. Gabriel Catholic Academy offers such a device to those parents who are struggling with the decision on whether to homeschool or not. They offer online support for Catholic homeschooled children. Having support during the decision making process as well as the actual homeschooling part, is imperative. Feeling as if you are all alone, will quickly discourage you, break your spirit down and obviously effect your child.

St. Gabriel Catholic Academy is designed to help with this. They have academic counselors and experts in a variety of subject matter to assist, answer questions and guide you along the path of home learning. How I wish I had something like this when I started out. I think if this type of help were more readily available, that more people would choose to homeschool and not simply assume that they cannot.

I’m a homeschooling mama again. It has been a real ride, but I already see an improvement.

By the way, everyone thinks they are smarter than a 5th grader? You would be surprised at everything a 3rd, 4th and 7th grade student learns too!

I am raving irritated. I’m trying so hard not to want to smack the teacher involved. LOL Because our other children have had her in the past and she’s really not that bad.

So, if you read my previous post about the stupid Science homework that *I* have, then you’re going to see where this is going.

Guess what Jessica got to do at school yesterday? They got to take these little white plastic cups and fill them up with water. And next, they had to take these little white coffee filters (I sure wish I had known they needed them because I have 199 that they could have) and they drew black lines on them. Then they dunked them in water.

Guess how freakin’ mad I am. Yep. That is the SAME experiment I was required to do with her. I might add we got an A. We sure as heck better have gotten an A. But what I don’t understand is why they did the project at school if we had to do it at home. Apparently this takes place every month. In fact, I even got my new Science assignment yesterday. It entails having me run to the store this time for clear soda (which we never have on hand anymore because it is the worst soda for children’s teeth because of the citric acid - just found that one out recently and we stopped buying it - rootbeer is the best one.) or if we don’t have clear soda at home, which well…we don’t, we can instead generage the carbon dioxide gas using the reaction of baking soda and vinegar. Oh  yippeeeeeeeeee. Then I have to purchase raisins, which I don’t mind too much ’cause the kids all love them. Then we get to watch the raisins dance. LOL Should I provide them with some country music or a little Brittany Pop music?

Ok, I swear I’m done with my rant LOL It just bugs the heck out of me, because they do the experiment at school five days after the first one is due. UGH! And I was wondering, we have raisin bran  - think the raisins from there do the same dance? Or must I get different ones? LOL

We just finished school (please ignore whining). Why, oh why am I having to go and purchase school supplies already?!?

Why is it that a bunch of school officials felt that year-round school was a good idea? What is the matter with these people? Didn’t they enjoy long, wonderful summer breaks when they were young children? Or perhaps they were the kind of kids that were nerdy and just loved homework and science projects.

My three youngest kids start school on THURSDAY!  Yes, you read that right, THURSDAY! And guess what we get to do today? We get to go school supply shopping. Oh yay! I get to purchase things that won’t be used, things that will get lost or stolen and things I will have to replace halfway through the year. I am just so excited.

Then tonight we get the fun task of meeting three new teachers. At least all three of my kids are upstairs this year and not on various levels - that truly sucked last year.

The only good thing I guess, is that my two middle school kids will be home for another month. I’m one of those weird mom’s. No matter how nutso my kids drive me, I still love having them home and miss them like crazy when they are gone. Of course, they also keep me from getting a lot of work done, so perhaps after Thursday morning, my articles will increase. And then again, maybe not.

Off to go feed five kids breakfast so we can head out to the school supply aisles. See ya later!

I asked my mother to email this to me, so I could put it on my blog. I figure, if I can hit one person, that might be victim, I’ve helped someone. And before anyone asks, this is a TRUE story, confirmed not only by Snopes.com but also by local news sources here in St. Louis.

Claim:   Drug dealers are selling colored crystal methamphetamine known as “Strawberry Quick.”

Status:   True.

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, April 2007]

Drug Warning - Beware and please inform your children

I have been alerted by one of our EMT’s for our volunteer fire department that they have received emails from emergency responder organizations to be on the lookout for a new form of Crystalized Meth that is targeted at children and to be aware of this new form if called to an emergency involving a child that may have symptoms of drug induction or overdose.

They are calling this new form of meth “Strawberry Quick” and it looks like the “Pop Rocks” candy that sizzle in your mouth. In it’s current form, it is dark pink in color and has a strawberry scent to it.

Please advise your children and their friends and other students not to accept candy from strangers as this is obviously an attempt to seduce children into drug use. They also need to be cautious in accepting candy from even friends that may have received it from someone else, thinking it is just candy.

Origins:   This warning about sweetened and flavored forms of methamphetamine began landing in inboxes in April 2007. “Strawberry Quick” (or “Strawberry Quik,” named after strawberry Quik, a powder used to make flavored milk drinks) was first reported as appearing in the western states in January 2007. (Nevada holds the dubious honor of being the first state the substance was found in; its Department of Public Safety issued a bulletin about flavored meth seized during a 27 January 2007 search of a gang member’s apartment in Carson City.) According to intelligence gathered by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents from informants, users, local police, and drug counselors, colored meth has also been found in California, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Texas, New Mexico, Missouri, and Minnesota.

One DEA agent reported a red methamphetamine that had been marketed as a powdered form of an energy drink. Says DEA spokesman Steve Robertson, “Drug traffickers are trying to lure in new customers, no matter what their age, by making the meth seem less dangerous.” The colored meth has been described as resembling rock candy or Pop Rocks (a kid-favored confection that fizzles in the mouth), and because it looks like candy, officials fear it may fool children and teens into mistakenly perceiving it as candy (or perceiving it as a drug far less dangerous and addictive than it actually is).

However, while colored versions of methamphetamine that resemble candy are certainly available, whether the drug is actually being sold in flavored versions remains a subject of some dispute. (Police labs don’t generally test drugs for flavoring ingredients, so at least some of the seizures of colored meth may have prompted statements about “flavored” meth that were based solely on the drug’s colorful appearance.) It’s also not clear that either coloring or flavoring is being added to meth for the express purpose of making the drug appeal to children. (It seems more likely that such factors, if present, are manufacturing errors, attempts at creating superficial ‘brand’ distinctions, or simply ways of trying to combat the substance’s bitter taste.)

In April 2007, U.S. Senators Feinstein and Grassley introduced legislation aimed at increasing the criminal penalties for anyone who markets or makes candy-flavored drugs by imposing upon them the same enhanced criminal sentences handed down to drug dealers who knowingly sell to minors. The Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act would alter federal law from its current state of requiring doubled (or tripled for a repeat offense) sentences for those caught selling illegal drugs to those under the age of 21 to imposing doubled or tripled sentences on anyone who “manufactures, creates, distributes, or possesses with intent to distribute a controlled substance that is flavored, colored, packaged or otherwise altered in a way that is designed to make it more appealing to a person under 21 years of age, or who attempts or conspires to do so.” No longer would a dealer have to be caught red-handed in the act of selling to an under 21 for the doubled or tripled sentences to kick in; under the proposed refinement to current law, simply possessing flavored versions of street drugs would be enough. Also, by the lights of this rewriting of the law, manufacturers of flavored drugs would also be subject to doubled or tripled sentences.

There is one bit of good news in all this: Methamphetamine use is down for much of the country for the second year running. Researchers say it appears this latest meth epidemic reached its peak in 2004 and 2005, and data from the federal government shows the number of first-time meth users has steadily declined in recent years.

Let’s hope that Strawberry Quick doesn’t serve to reverse that trend.

The post can be at http://www.snopes.com/horrors/drugs/candymeth.asp