Making Money

Making Money

                Having to attend a job each and every day would suck. I am glad that I don’t have the time to have a job. With playing basketball and volleyball all year long, it makes it difficult to have a job. The only time that I really could get one is in the spring after basketball season, but then AAU basketball starts.

                Sometimes I wish I could have a job so that I would have a constant income every week but then I know that if I had a job on top of the sports that I play, I wouldn’t have any free time. But as I have stated in a previous blog, I have to pay a lot of things with my own money. You probably are wondering how I pay for anything if I don’t have a job. Well the answer to that is, I babysit.

               To be honest, I have a very lucky babysitting job. The family that I babysit the most often is my next door neighbors. They have two daughters. They’re five and seven years old. It is very convenient when I babysit them because they live right next door so if I need to go home for something we just walk right over to my house. Also it’s nice because the girls love going to my house to see my dog. If I need to finish a chore or whatever real quick they will play with my dog.

                Also the parents pay me more than I would have ever imagined being paid. They do not have a certain amount of money that they pay me each hour but it is more than enough. Sometimes I will be paid $10 an hour and sometimes I will be paid $15 an hour. It really is a lot of money, and they have been paying me this ever since I have started watching their two girls, at the age of 11.

                When I first started babysitting them and I came home with money, my parents would always ask me how much money did you make, and I would tell them. Once I told them I would realize it was too much because of the expression that was on their face. My parents would then make me walk back over to their house and tell them that it was too much, and that they needed to take some of it back. They would say ok and take back at max $5.

The thing is I love watching these two girls. If the kids were bad then yes maybe $15 an hour or so would be fine but these girls are great kids. They have awesome manners and treat each other with respect most of the time. When I already have plans for the night and they ask me to babysit, it is hard to say no because of the amount I am paid and because I enjoy watching their kids so much.

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You Stink

You Stink

            Wow that was the worst smell I think I have ever smelled in my life. Put some deodorant on is all I can say to that person that just walked past me in the hall last period. I guess I just don’t understand why people stink. It really isn’t that hard to wear deodorant. Or at least it’s not that hard to shower. Some people I believe don’t even shower...I mean not even three days a week do they shower.

            I feel kind of bad writing this blog but it is very disgusting. It is hard to sit by someone in class that stinks like straight crap. I know the school would provide these stinky people with deodorant if someone would just tell them. Maybe they are too embarrassed to ask for some, but really it is better than smelling terrible and everyone talking about it.

            To be honest, I don’t think these people even know that they stink. It probably runs in the family and nobody else is going to want to tell them. Hopefully they will soon realize no one wants to be by them and actually wear some deodorant.

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Black Friday

Black Friday

I know this is kind of late but really black Friday shopping! Let’s talk about how crazy this day could be. People rush, push, hit, and scream at each other to get what they want. Everyone wants to get the door buster item at every store. How about I just say people are INSANE!! So many people want to get their presents for Christmas on this day, which how could you blame them. There are so many great deals that you can’t miss… Well some people would say this and some people wouldn’t care at all.

Every year I participate in the black Friday shopping. Usually I go out with my mom and sometimes my sisters come along also. It was different this year because most of the sales started Thanksgiving night instead of the day after Thanksgiving. Personally I liked this so much better because it is easy for me to stay up late at night, instead of waking up bright and early in the morning. My mom on the other hand didn’t like it because she likes to go to bed early and wake up early.

This year we made it to Walgreens, Michaels, Target, Sears, Old Navy, Younkers, and JCPenny’s with my mom and younger sister. We did the late night shopping at Michaels, Target, Sears, and Old Navy and then did the rest the next morning. Very tiring is what I can say but it is all worth it. Yes, we did get everything we were looking for.

To be honest, we could have gone the next morning and still could of found everything we wanted. There could have been not the right size or color that I wanted but the lines were down to very slim the next day. The best part of black Friday shopping is to wake up early or I guess this year go out late and shop. It is boring to wait for the crowd to be over and then shop. Experiencing the long lines and crazy people is the best part.

I can say though that people are very rude. I don’t understand why people have to be the way they are but it is insane. As I was waiting in line at Target that weaved in and out of the grocery part and the end was all the way to the toys, I observed a lot out of us humans. When we reached towards the front of the line people would pretend to be “getting food” and hop right in the line that was going through all the grocery’s, thinking no one would see them.

            When someone finally said something to them they acted as they didn’t think it was a line saying, “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know this was the line. Where is the end?” Like obviously they knew it was a line because there were Target employees saying, “This is the line!!”.

            I guess I shouldn’t be complaining though. It was my choice to go black Friday shopping and I knew something like that would happen. Maybe someday people will learn how humans should actually act and none of this will happen on this bizarre day.

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Sunday's Funday's

Sunday's Fundays

Sundays should be for church and yourself. Every week people need to take a day off of everything, such as school and sports and relax. It might be a little difficult to take a day off of both of these things but they really should be done. When you are non-stop doing things for six days in a row, your body starts to get tired. There is one extra day in a week for everyone to be able to relax and be lazy.

I know most students leave their homework till Sunday to finish and students who are in sports have a tournament or a practice on Sunday’s, but really they shouldn’t. Everything that you wanted to get done on Sunday should be accomplished on Saturday. That way you have the day to yourself, doing whatever you want to do without having to worry about going to practice or finishing a homework assignment is how it should be.

All churches have services on Sunday’s and sometimes Saturday nights. Most families prefer to attend church on Sunday morning instead of Saturday evening. When I was younger I was always told by my pastor that Sunday’s should be for Jesus and yourself, nothing else. Since I have been told this ever since I was younger, I have started to believe in that statement. It is very difficult for me to actually go along with that though. Saturday’s I am busy with basketball and don’t have time for homework so Sunday’s are the days I do my homework. Also I participate in club volleyball, and we have practices every Sunday.

Doing nothing on a Sunday is so relaxing. Sunday’s are the only day out of the whole week where good movies are broadcasted. To be able to lie down and watch movies all day would be absolutely wonderful. I think it is kind of ironic how the day people are supposed to stay home and relax, traditional and fun movies are on TV. This sometimes forces people to stay at home and do nothing. When a movie comes on that people really enjoy and they were going to go out to dinner, they might just stay home and eat so they can watch the movie instead of missing the movie and eating out.

I know that once I am older, I am going to try to keep Sundays to church and myself because I feel like I would become a happier person. Having a whole day to do whatever I want without anything getting in the way of my day would be amazing. I wonder when I will be able to do this though. It will be hard the rest of my high school career and definitely hard in college with a lot of homework to get done in a weekend.

I hope this blog makes you rethink about what you do on your Sunday’s. The more you get done on a Saturday the more the time you will get to yourself on Sunday.

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Family Far Away

Family Far Away

Sad, sad, and sad is all that I can say about my grandparents going to Arizona for the winter. Snowbirds are what most people would call them. In the mid October, my dad’s parents fly to Arizona where they have a house in a retirement community. They don’t come back to mid April so they miss all of the snow in Iowa. Sometimes I get jealous of them for that but then I realize I would miss the winter.

It’s not fun having to say not a good bye but a see you later to my grandparents in October. It is pretty much six months that I don’t get to see them. They miss all of my basketball games though out the winter which I don’t like. I love when I am warming up in a basketball game and I see my grandparents walk in the gym going to be the biggest fans their for me.

Since my grandparents leave so early, our family has Christmas at the beginning of October. Whoevers house it is at still puts up a Christmas tree so that it somewhat feels like Christmas. It was very odd having Christmas when it was 60 degrees out.

I sometimes wonder if my grandparents ever feel bad for leaving. I know that my grandparents are very close with all six of their grandkids. Four of their grandkids live in Iowa and two live in Washington the state. They try to visit the kids in Washington because it is hard to have them come to Iowa with their busy schedules. I just feel that my grandparents sometimes feel bad for leaving because they aren’t able to attend our athletic events.

Whenever my grandparents leave for Arizona we all start to worry. Recently when they have been in Arizona they have not had such good luck. They have had to go to the hospital many times from a broken leg, heart problem, and exc. It makes all of us in the family nervous when they are in Arizona.

It is hard to see/hear that they are in such pain and when we aren’t there to help it is even harder. If we were there we would be able to help and comfort them with whatever goes wrong.

Also with my cousins in Washington they never get to see grandma and grandpa. Actually they never get to see their cousins either. We cousins hate not being able to see each other. Since we are such a small family we are all very close. At most of the family gatherings it is just us 4 grandkids because the other two are in Washington,

My cousins in Washington have always wanted our family of five to travel to Washington to visit them. We never are able to because we are busy every single week of the year. Someday I hope that our family is reunited together for a family gathering so we can all catch up on each other’s lives.

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Sleep More

Sleep More

Are you tired? I bet that is a yes if you are a teenager in high school. Almost every student at Kennedy High School would answer this question saying yes. Found on the website (National Sleep Foundation) one study found that only 15% of teens are getting 8 ½ hours of sleep on school nights. Teens should be getting 9 to 8 ½ hours each night. Not getting enough sleep will lead to less focus in school which will then lead to poor grades. This is why every student should go to sleep at a decent time.

From being a teen and a student in high school, I would say it is difficult to sleep 8 ½ to 9 hours each night. Being in sports and having homework each night makes it challenging to be in bed at a decent hour. Sometimes after a practice I just want to go to sleep and forget the homework but I know that is probably not a good idea.

For students who are not in sports and that don’t have a busy life, have no excuse. They should be able to finish their homework and get into bed at a decent hour.

Teens lacking sleep has been a problem not just recently but for a long time. I have one reason why this could be; all of the different social networks. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have become very popular within this past year. Facebook has always been a popular network but the other three have really increased in usage.

All of these different types of social networks make teens loose their focus everywhere else, such as school. They pay more attention to their phones on these social networks causing them to stay up later to finish homework. This leads to less sleep for teens over the night.

If students don’t mind not receiving enough sleep then I guess it doesn’t matter, but when people complain there is a problem. Hopefully someday everyone will be able to get enough sleep, which will lead to more successful lives.  

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Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving Break

Thank goodness there was a break from school. I believe every hard working student deserves a break from school. This past week we had a week off from the place we all don’t want to be; school. When you have been in school for three months, it is nice to have a time to relax without any homework to accomplish.

When students don’t receive a break, I feel like they become lazy towards their school work. More students would have started to slack off if we didn’t have a thanksgiving break. These breaks provide a lot of relaxing and time with your family.

                There are schools that don’t give their students a thanksgiving break like the one we receive. They just get the day before thanksgiving off instead of the whole week like we do. I mean at least they are getting a couple days off. But if they were only to have Thanksgiving Day off then you would see a raise of lazy work ethics in students.

                The only thing that I hate about breaks is that out of the three breaks that we receive a year, two of them are within the same month. After we get back from thanksgiving break, there are only twenty school days till Christmas break. This is a good and a bad thing. It is good because we don’t have to be at school for that long within the two months of November and December. It is bad because the breaks aren’t spread out. After Christmas, we have two more months until the next week break.

                If administrators and teachers want their students to be productive in school, then they need to provide them with a week break. They will see more out of students by giving them time to relax. That is why I believe our administrators expect more out of us. We work hard, so they provide us with breaks. I know that isn’t exactly why we have them but we should still be rewarded for doing hard work.

                If more and more schools provide breaks then they will see a raise in their work ethics. Maybe they should try it to see if anything happens in their students’ ability to learn and work hard.

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