Charity Lynn

The job market around here in Iowa isn’t exactly the greatest at the moment. I have been tempted to see if maybe the job market is better in Colorado where I have a couple of friends. Of course, one of the friends I haven’t seen in over 20 years, as I moved to Iowa from California in 1987 and I haven’t seen that friend since, but at least if I was in Colorado I could visit her easier.

My other friend I moved to Texas with in 2001 and now I’m tempted to move to Colorado but I don’t know. The job markets all over seem to be crappy and I really don’t have any way of moving – I mean, the money I do get each month from my various online ventures is actually going towards my hosting and my storage units. So I can’t actually move, but I guess I can think about it. LOL

No, I probably won’t move, but like I said, it is tempting.

Wow. Christmas is just around the corner. Some of the stores here have already started getting their Christmas displays up and running. I’ve seen decorations coming out my ears already and I’m just waiting for all the ads that proclaim that this or that will make the perfect gift for this person or that person on your list. I have not started shopping yet, as I don’t have the money, but that is all right with me. If none of us have the money for gifts this year, we at least will have each other to hang out and talk with. If I could though, I’d get my friend in Colorado some Wii accessories because they bought a Wii when it first came out and I’m sure they don’t have all the accessories they’d like to, or may even need to replace some of the ones they had. I know her husband plays the Wii almost constantly when he is home, so I’m sure they’d love some new parts for it.

BFL would probably want new games for her DS and I have no idea what Mom would want, because she’s hard to buy for. LOL But we’ll see what we can pull out of our hats for her. Right now, we’re plotting for her birthday which is coming up on September 3. We’ve ordered two Olive Garden gift cards and we’ll be taking her to Olive Garden when they arrive. (We got them from MyPoints – I got one and BFL got the other.) So we’ll have some fun with that. At least we can take her out for her birthday even if it is a few days late.

I have to admit that since I moved in with BFL and her mom, I have been the one who has done most of the cooking. Whether it was making grilled hot ham and cheese sandwiches or making spaghetti, I’ve been the one who has done it. BFL’s mom has made cold sandwiches and she did cook some pigs-in-a-blanket and some corned beef gravy, but other than that it has been me doing the cooking. I really don’t mine, I like to cook.

I was considering posting some recipes on this website – things I’ve made, things I’ve modified to make them better (at least in my opinion). Some of them, like the corned beef gravy, are recipes I got from BFL’s mom. I’ve also considered creating a “cooking” blog to showcase the various recipes that I have and that I make. The problem I have with that is that most people who do cooking blogs have digital cameras that they take pictures of the process of cooking the items, which I just don’t have. Although I could use my phone to take a picture or two of what I’m cooking.

The blog wouldn’t be anything fancy though. Just good home-cooking type foods. I don’t do fancy to be honest. If I do decide to make a cooking blog, I’ll definitely link to it from here so you can all check out the recipes.

I’ve been wanting to try mineral makeup for a while now. While I know that there are many different brands of mineral makeup available at this point in time, I have always wanted to try Bare Minerals. Mainly because it is the original mineral makeup brand, so to be honest, I feel they would be the best. Any others would be merely copies of the original and may or may not be as good. Myself, I’d stick with the original, and in the above video, I talk about why I would like to try Bare Minerals for myself.

Ever since I lost my job, I’ve been noticing that a lot of the jobs that are available around here require that one have a degree in this or that. Even jobs that really shouldn’t require a degree (read pencil-pushers) do. So it has been a thought on my mind to go back to school. Now, not having transportation back and forth to school puts me in a position of needing to look into online education. So I’ve been going online and comparing a few online schools.

One of the ones I found was Gonzaga University. They offer several of their master’s degree programs online, which I was surprised to see. Obviously, I don’t have the required associate’s or bachelor’s degrees to go for a master’s but still, you don’t see many master’s degrees in online schooling. A lot of schools won’t put their master’s online because they feel that the educational quality will be diminished somehow.

Apparently from the fact that Gonzaga has Online masters degree programs, they don’t feel the same way. Which is good, because neither do I. Sure some people may need the instructor right there in front of them, and need the interaction of other students in real life, but I find that the online method of study can be just as good.

Another point in Gonzaga’s favor is the fact that they are ranked number 3 in the West by US News and World Report. That’s a darned good ranking, especially for a school that has taken their degrees online! Plus The Princeton Review and Forbes Magazine both gave Gonzaga a high ranking among the nations universities. That’s saying something!

As for money matters – when Kiplingers Personal Finance rates a school as a great value for a private university, you know it has to be a good place to go

I wandered about their site and found several things – it is easy to navigate, you an apply for the school right from the homepage, and you can even RSVP for online open houses for various programs to see if Gonzaga is for you. I am definitely going to be looking to this particular online school for my education.