The Livingstons

The Livingstons

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The Stresses of Life

My life is extremely stressful right now. Well, let me rephrase that. My life has been extremely stressful for the past week and a half. I have had a lot of things going on in my life that have been on tight schedules. I had so much going on in my head that I finally just needed to write it all down on a piece of paper. Writing things down makes me feel more organized and in control. Here's what my list consisted of:

1. Sign up for health insurance.

I previously have been on my parents' health plan. I'd been paying them $88 a month to cover my expenses. Well, all of a sudden after the new year, my dad's health insurance jumped way up. It became WAY more than just $88 a month for me. My dad called me on the first day of school and basically said, "Sam, you need to get on your own health insurance plan. We can't keep you on ours. It's too expensive." So, I realized it was time to educate myself about health insurance. I seriously had no clue where to even begin. I had no clue what co-pay, co-insurance, deductible, etc. meant. So, I put my mind to it, and I figured it all out. My wonderful husband helped me along the way as well. I learned something about myself last week after I had officially enrolled in a really awesome plan: if I set my mind to something, focus, and put a lot of effort into it, I can figure it out! I can do hard things.

2. Finish and turn in my student teaching application, with these prerequisites before I could actually turn it in:
    a. Register for the Praxis exam.
    b. Get my fingerprints and background check done with USOE.
    c. Get my student teaching license.

This task was a HUGE one. My student teaching application is due January 15 (tomorrow). Luckily, I was able to finish it and turn it in today! Yahoo! In order to student teach next Fall semester, I had to turn in this application; it contained several different parts to it. Most of it was just plain old paperwork, but I also had to do some other things to get it done. I had to pay $150 to register for the Praxis exam. This exam is a state test that will qualify me to be a teacher if I pass. I'm sorry, but $150 is a rip-off. Anyways, I also had to pay $40 to the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) to get fingerprints and a background check done to clear me for teaching. Then, after that cleared, I had to pay another $20 to get my student teaching license. I really think Utah and BYU think I am made of money. Which is completely false.

This is my "professional-looking picture" that I had to include on my student teaching application.

3. Order my books.

The beginning of a semester is seriously my least favorite time. Not only are you going to all of these new classes and getting completely overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do in each class throughout the semester, but you are also required to spend a fortune on books! I have this weird psychological fear of buying books, even though I know I need them ASAP. I'm just not very willing to fork over a ton of money. And believe me, my books this semester were not cheap by any means. And then, if you are trying to save some money by ordering them online, they take FOREVER to get to you, so you fall behind on reading. The joys of being in college.

4. Switch car insurance providers.

We are currently paying way too much money for our 1999 Mazda Protege (it's a beater car, for sure) with Farmer's insurance. We also just bought another car from Janet and Martha. It's a 1999 Ford Explorer, and we are really happy with it. We decided that with this new purchase, it was time to change car insurance companies. And since I have a lot of other things to worry about, I basically passed this task on to Greg, who has so graciously accepted it. He has been working on it. It's all about delegating the responsibilities.

5. Find out why the heck our Internet provider all of a sudden is charging us double what we have been paying.

I'll spare you the details on this one. It's just ridiculous. And also, Greg has graciously accepted this task as well, thank heavens.

6. Get organized with my classes and write down all of my upcoming assignments in a planner.

I use this really awesome app on my computer called iProcrastinate. It's basically an online planner, sort of like Google Calendar, but way better. Like I said earlier, writing things down helps me get organized and feel less stressed out.

There are a few other things that I have had to do this past week and a half. I've also been working 20 hours a week and will continue to do that until the end of February. At that time, I'll start my practicum, where I get to go into the public schools and start teaching a little more! I'm so glad that I am one step closer to becoming a teacher after turning in the student teaching application. I am SO excited! Life can get pretty crazy sometimes. Especially for those of us that have personalities that make us want to be super organized and on top of everything all of the time. It's a gift and a curse. I find that even though I'm pretty organized and get things done, I also get stressed out way too easily. Luckily I have Greg to keep me balanced (most of the time).

Even though life is crazy, it's also really awesome. I seriously have a wonderful life. I couldn't imagine a better one. And I couldn't imagine a better husband to help me through it! I am one lucky girl.

I am currently playing on a coed intramural soccer team and a coed intramural inner tube water polo team at BYU. We played our first soccer game on Friday and won 10-0, and we play our first water polo game tonight! Can't wait!

1 comment:

  1. Wow Sam that is a lot! You are learning so many good lessons, the best ones about what you can do when you put your mind to it. What an amazing blessing it is to be busy and have so many meaningful things going on in your life. Good luck in water polo! Diane

    ReplyDelete