I Can't Find My Trapper Keeper

I have some big news. Not big like I'm getting married! But big like it will occupy my time for the next few years (not eternity!). I have made the decision to go back to school. Did you know that they don't sell My Little Pony Trapper Keepers anymore?! This made me very upset and almost made me change my mind.

I have decided to go back to school and get another Bachelor's degree. You say, "Another Bachelor's degree?" Yes, ANOTHER one. Degrees are like shoes, A Girl can't have too many degrees (or shoes). The first one was in Marriage, Family, and Human Development with a minor in Travel and Tourism Studies. People always asked me what I was planning to do with that degree. I told them I would marry a rich man and travel all the time. As we all know, that didn't happen. As a good friend told me BEFORE I got that degree, you can't do anything with it. After 6 years of hitting the pavement, I have decided that she was right and I should have followed her advice. Hindsight is 20/20.

So you are probably asking, What is she going to try this time? Well, here it is....Accounting. Doesn't that sound exciting?! I know you guys can hardly contain yourself. Take a moment to catch your breath before continue reading. Okay? To make it sound a little more exciting, I thought I would tell you what sound most appealing to me in the world of Accounting. It is Auditing! I know! Sounds SO much fun, doesn't it?! I already strike fear in the hearts of all children just by coming in contact with them. I thought Why stop with the children? I might as well strike fear in the hearts of adults as well. We'll see once I get in the classes, what I actually decide to concentrate on.

So in case you are keeping score, here's what I have so far and what I plan to have when all this education is complete:

1 One Year Certificate in Business Management from Salt Lake Community College (SLCC)

1 Associate of Science Degree in General Studies (SLCC)

1 Associate of Science Degree in Business (SLCC)*

1 Bachelor's Degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development with a minor in Travel and Tourism Studies from Brigham Young University (BYU)

1 Bachelor's Degree in Business Accounting from University of Utah (U of U)*

1 Masters degree in Accounting from BYU*

OR

1 MBA with Finance Emphasis from BYU*

The degrees with * are not completed yet.

Do you think that is enough paid education for one person? Do you think I can get a respectable job with those credentials? I'm not so sure! We'll see what the future holds.

The education journey begins May 12th. I decided to start out with an easy load my first semester of a measly 18 credits. Piece of cake! I figure if I'm gonna do it, I should just jump in with both feet and not look back. I'm not getting any younger! It should take me about 2 1/2 years to complete the Bachelor's degree and another 2 years if I add a Master's onto it. I am still undecided on the Master's degree. I will have to see how I feel when I get closer to getting my (2nd) Bachelor's degree.

Since I don't use my first Bachelor's degree, I figured I would sell it on ebay. I need to get some money for tuition. Higher education prices haven't gotten any lower in the past decade. I figure maybe someone else can use it.

So I'm not really sure if I should be wearing blue or red so I've decided the new color is purple. I'm grateful there will only really be one day a year usually between September and December when I really have to make a choice.

I guess the blood that runs through my veins really is blue because I called BYU about getting another Bachelor's degree and they denied my request. The rules at BYU are one Bachelor's degree per person so I was out of luck. So I had to settle for the University of Utah. Sorry all my Ute fans. I don't mean to dog you.

Well, this will be quite the adventure! I will have to keep you posted from the walls of higher education. I will keep you educated on everything I am learning OUTSIDE of class! It should prove to be interesting. Stay tuned!

Hey Baby Lets Go To Vegas!

Where have I been last week? Vegas, baby! My parents had a Convention in Vegas and were planning to drive so I figured I would tag along. There is nothing like free transportation and accommodations. Since I had no income, I figured I would see if I could make a little dough on the slots or at the tables! Just kidding!

As I was telling my friends that I was planning to go to Vegas for a few days, some of them asked me what I was planning to do since I don't gamble. There are a MILLION things to do in Vegas besides gamble. I told them that since I don't gamble, the second thing that Vegas was known for was weddings. I told them I was going to get married. Too bad I never found a suitable groom! Oh well! This trip turned into a shopping trip.

I absolutely love Vegas. It seems that people either love Vegas or they hate it! There seems to be no middle ground.

My dad got to attend meetings the three days we were there. My mom and I seemed to be anywhere but at the convention. We went to both of the outlet stores located on the north and south ends of the strip. My mom got some great deals at the stores on the south end of the strip while I hit the jackpot at the outlet stores on the north end of the strip.

In case you were wondering where the best deal on the Strip is, I have the answer for you. The best deal is $1 per scoop of ice cream between 2-4 PM everyday at Betty's Diner in the Imperial Palace. It is the best kept secret on the Strip. In case you were wondering where the Imperial Palace is, it is across the street from Caesar's Palace and next door to Harrah's. The scoops are HUGE and one scoop is very satisfying!

We spent one morning at the Las Vegas Temple. It's amazing how two places so opposite are just a few miles from each other.

We did attend one show that was part of the convention. We saw a hypnotist perform on some people in the audience. It was very entertaining! I totally believe that those people were hypnotized! I'm a believer! The human mind, it's an amazing thing!

My parents and I all said the same thing the morning after we got home. We were all gratefull to sleep in our own beds in our own rooms. We would never survive in a third world country where we would have to share a one room house.

Is a passport required to go to IKEA?

A few weeks ago Mark and I renewed our passports and decided to spend the evening at IKEA. Yes, it took us an entire evening to conquer and see every last inch of IKEA. We met in the oversized parking lot at 4:30 PM and I did not arrive home until midnight. (Granted, we did some other things besides IKEA but still....) We spent three hours of our life at IKEA! I am still debating as to whether it was a good use of my time.

So we started upstairs in the very large IKEA. We found these comfy chairs right away and sat there for a while catching up on old times. That was basically how the entire night went. We walked for awhile, commented on stuff we saw, sat and chitchatted, and then moved on to the next display. We acted as if every display was our house. We slammed the kitchen doors, sat on the sofas, looked in the closets, laid on the beds, helped ourselves to the stuff on the bookcase, etc. You get the picture. It was a very hands on experience.

Here are some things we learned:

I have the strength of ten men. I accidentally ripped off a handle in one of the kitchen displays.

Not all the kitchen cabinets have the slam protected feature.

At least one of the TVs in the displays actually works.

All of the books on the bookcases are in Swedish. (I'm not really sure it was Swedish because neither Mark nor I speak Swedish, but we both know it was NOT English!)

Everything we thought would be expensive was cheap and everything we thought should be cheap was expensive.

The food in the restaurant was delicious and well worth the few bucks we spent on it.

There were some things that neither Mark nor I were sure what to do with??

Two out of every three women between the ages of 18 to 50 that we saw were pregnant. (I told Mark to stay away from me, especially when we were trying out the firmness of the beds!)

Imaginations are a must.

The boxes of games on the bookshelves do not contain the games. (They were empty boxes.)

The employees are not very happy if you take the place setting from the kitchen displays and use it in the restaurant.

I am not a very good driver of a shopping cart when Mark is in it.

The carbonated pear juice in the wine bottle causes a lot of air in the stomach which results in some pretty good belching.

Apparently every man in America needs 100 tea lights, according to Mark. I'm not really sure why?! We did learn that you can't light a tea light from the cigarette lighter in a car. (All it will really do is create smoke which really kills the mood.)

There you have it! My review of IKEA. It was nice to go there once, but I hope to never do the full tour again! Sorry, Mark forgot his camera so there are no pictures. I'm sure if you call IKEA and ask for their security surveillance tape from that evening, it will have caught all of our investigations.