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Katelyn Cole Blog

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Posts Tagged ‘family’

Scholarships are the lifeblood of higher education

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Scholarships are becoming more and more important as a source of financing a college education. Every year the colleges raise their tuition rates, making it more difficult for the working class families to be able to afford to send their children to college. I would like to see a time when every state university provided enough grants and scholarships to their students so that every student that wanted to attend college would be able to attend.

I can remember when I was a high school senior and I applied to go to Virginia Tech. I was accepted to go there, but I did not qualify for enough grants and scholarships to be able to attend – even though I had taken college preparation courses in high school and had received all A’s and B’s on my report cards. My parents were already sending my older brother to college and they said that they could not afford to help me to attend college as well. So, I could not go to college. My life’s dream of becoming a veterinarian would never come to pass. If I had been able to attend college right out of high school, I would have led a much much better life, and the lives of my children would have been much better as well. College is the foundation on which financial stability is built. Our children need and deserve the chance to improve their lives with a good education.

Facebook frenzy

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One of the things that frequently amazes me is how sometimes one of our younger family members will post a something on Facebook that the older family members will feel is somehow detrimental to the one that posted it. The older member, meaning only good and positive things for everyone in the family will make a suggestion that the original post should be modified. Sometimes it is a photograph, sometimes it is an expression of attitude, or sometimes even a bragging of having done something illegal.

When that happens, all of the friends of the original poster jump on the case of the older, wiser family member and call that older person a “hater.” Sometimes friends of the older family member will interject a post that is an attempt to calm the waters, but instead it turns into a feeding frenzy of the younger people becoming argumentative and the older people not being heard. That is so sad. Makes me want to stop reading the posts on Facebook.

Salt lamps

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A couple of months ago I bought some Himalayan salt lamps for Christmas presents to give to some family members. They are supposed to absorb moisture and deodorize. In addition they are supposed to have some health benefits, relating to mood improvement. Knowing some family members would really enjoy having them, partly because they are pretty, and partly because of their holistic approach to better health, I went ahead and bought a couple of them to tuck away and give them as presents at a later time.

Much to my surprise, a couple of weeks later one of the intended recipients told me that she was thinking about buying one of those Himalayan salt lamps online. She showed me the picture of what she wanted, and it was exactly the same one that I had already bought for her! I told her that I had bought one for her for her Christmas present, and not to buy one herself. She asked me to give it to her now because she wanted to start “enjoying the benefits” immediately. Well, I agreed and I gave it to her. She was happy and took it home with her.

Less than a week later she told me that her daughter told her that she hated it, that it made her feel depressed instead of happy, and she gave the lamp back to me and asked me to give her something different for Christmas. I agreed to do that, and now I am using it in one of my bathrooms. I like how it deodorizes and helps to dehumidify the room. As for the original recipient, well, I ended up giving her a gift card to Wal-Mart. I know she buys things there, and I think that maybe I’ll just keep giving her gift cards in the future.

Too much water

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Over the past several weeks I’ve had unexpected company staying at my house – my parents. They both suddenly had health issues and could not stay at their place, so they have been here. Now it seems as if the septic leach field has been overwhelmed. I don’t know what I can do about that. I’m already asking everyone to reduce the amount of water that they use to a bare minimum. I certainly can’t turn them out – they are family! Maybe I’ll have to start taking the laundry out to a laundromat instead of doing it here at home. I sure hope that I am not going to have to replace the entire leach field. I’m sure that I can’t afford it!

Cheesecake

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Cheesecake has been one of my favorite desserts ever since my late teenaged years. When I was younger I did not realize that cheese came in different flavors and textures other than plain American cheese or swiss cheese. So whenever my parents would take the entire family  to a restaurant and order cheesecake for dessert I would wrinkle my nose in disgust at the thought of eating a dessert that tasted like cheese!

I really can’t remember the first time that I was convinced to try a bite of
cheesecake. It might have been a “penalty” for losing a game of spoons on family game night. All I can remember about it is that when I was finally convinced to try a bite of it, it was covered with strawberry sauce and it was delicious. From that moment on it became my favorite dessert to order when eating at a restaurant.