Going Back to School

I'm not really a risk taker. I once was, when I was small. My mom and sister could tell you all about the years when I spent my time flipping myself over the side of my crib or finding new ways to cross the monkey bars and climbing everything. Things happened and consequences started to scare me. Having kids was the final straw. When you've got other people to be accountable for, you hedge your bets... if you make bets at all.

Anyway, my acquired fear of failure made me hesitate (for years) to go to college. Right around the time I turned 21, I started classes for a visual communications degree at some expensive, online, nationally-accredited, not-quite-a-scam-but-close-enough college I won't tell you the name of. There was eventually a class action lawsuit against them.

I chose online school because I had the twins and I thought it would help me achieve my goals without having to leave my kids at home. I had no job and no idea what else to do for child care. What a cop-out, though. How do you take a physics lab class online?!

I dropped out after two of the three years that would have gotten me my bachelors degree. I couldn't stick to it once it really started to feel like a big, fake, waste of my money (even though my GPA was great and I was repeatedly on the president's list). Now, I'm 26 and I finally decided to go back.

It took a lot of support from Papa. The sad thing is, most of the support I needed was someone to tell me it was okay if I failed. How could I go back to school with all of the pressure of failure weighing down on me? What if I don't make a career out of my degree? My biggest stress was that I might drop out without a degree again and only waste everyone's time. Was it worth it to go back to college and leave my kids home if there was a chance I might not finish?

Papa said, "Yes". Education is valuable for education's sake. It's okay if I don't completely follow through. It's okay if I don't start a career. It's good for the kids to see me investing in myself even if I don't turn it into something lucrative. But he believes in me and he thinks I can and will.

Selfie on campus

Yesterday, I went to the campus for the first time and took my placement exams. The night before the test, I told Papa I was nervous and scared and, "should I have studied?" Of course I shouldn't have studied. The whole point of a placement exam is to figure out if I need a refresher in the core classes.

The morning of the test, I forgot to eat breakfast. I left my purse at home and had to come back when I noticed (after I got out of my neighborhood). I nearly ran out of gas on the way to the campus. I had to get off of the highway and fuel up at a truck stop with the worst traffic I've ever seen at a gas station. Then, I couldn't figure out how to get back on the highway, so I had to drive through the city on the surface roads.

When I got to the campus, I accidentally parked at the opposite corner of the campus from the testing office. I walked to the building and got lost inside... had to ask where the testing office was. I got to the testing office and the staff asked if I had made an appointment. No. I had not made an appointment. The website, the email, and the letters they had sent said I didn't need an appointment to take the placement exams. I even called and asked a few days in advance and the staff said I didn't need an appointment.

Guy says, "yeah, but it's finals week..." etc.
I say, "I just called a couple of days ago and was told I didn't need an appointment."
Guy says, "These people behind you have appointments and we're pretty full, aren't we?"
Other guy says, "No."

Long story short, I took my exams... the whole while wondering if I was going to make a scene when I passed out from hunger. It seemed inevitable and only a matter of when: either mid-exam, resulting in an embarrassing falling-out-of-chair scene, or as soon as I got out of the chair.

Then my phone was almost dead and I had no idea how to get home without my GPS. I got almost home on 7% battery power before it officially died. Good thing I know how to get home once I get close enough.

In conclusion: Success. Hilarious and ridiculous, messy (as usual) success.

*Note: I apologize to anyone who read this in the first 12 or so hours after it was posted. I tried to edit it with my 17-month-old son sitting next to me. You can imagine how that goes.

Ham and Veggie Chowder

I got this recipe from a recipe book my mom has called "slow cooker favorites". It's super easy, visually appealing, and delicious. It's also full of vegetables, so who can complain? I didn't want to add anything to mine (not even salt and pepper!) but salt, pepper, grated cheese, and crackers would be good options to make available when you serve this stuff.

Ham and Veggie Chowder

Makes 6 Servings

Total time 4 to 5 hours (on high) 7 to 9 hours (on low)
Time in the slow cooker 3.5 to 4.5 hours (on high) 6.5 to 8.5 hours (on low)

Prep time (probably not even) 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cans condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted
• 2 cups diced cooked ham (you can buy it already diced or dice up some leftovers)
• 1 10oz package frozen corn, thawed (You can also use strained and rinsed canned corn. I haven't tried fresh, but I imagine that would also work)
• 1 large baking potato, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves (I used thyme powder, and it turned out fine)
• 2 cups small broccoli florets (I used fairly large ones, I recommend you don't. The broccoli does not get soft enough to break apart with a spoon easily, so larger pieces are pretty inconvenient.)
• 1/2 cup milk

Instructions

DO NOT PUT THE MILK IN YET!
I had Papa helping me with this dinner. I was chopping potatoes and peppers while he was putting other things in the slow cookers (we used two and made a double recipe). He didn't read to the end of the instructions before he put the milk in. Do not put the milk in until 15 to 30 minutes before serving. I know it looks like an unreasonably dry pile of vegetables and you want to add some liquid. There's not a lot of liquid in this recipe, especially in the early stages. Your milk will probably curdle if you add it too soon. In fact, it definitely will if you try to cook it on high for 3 or 4 hours. 

1. Combine condensed soup, ham, corn, potato, bell pepper and thyme in your slow cooker. Mix well.
2. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or high for 3 to 4 hours.
3. THEN stir in broccoli and milk.
4. Cover and cook on high for 15 to 30 minutes or until broccoli is warm and tender, but not falling apart. 

Papa was tired and not feeling well when he was helping me. When he realized he had made a mistake, he wasn't sure how to fix it. I wound up sending my sister to the closest grocery store to get some new cream of celery soup while we dumped the slow cooker contents into a sieve and used the shower-like setting on the sink tap to wash all of the liquids off of the solid ingredients. 

It turned out fine; delicious even.