Example Essay Intro

It's been said that patience is a virtue. I totally lack patience. I know I do and I am perfectly fine admitting it. Considering I have three kids, one would assume I have an abundance of patience, however it seems to be quite the opposite. I don't take it well when my kids have "childish" accidents, or make "silly" mistakes.  I would say that with each child I had, I lost a bit of patience in the making. I also have a lack of patience with the day itself. That's right, I actually find myself looking at the clock quite often wondering why the day is ticking away so slowly. My lack of patience is also a annoyance to myself, I am a big believer in the fact that our time on earth is short so make the best of each day. If that is my philosophy then how can I possibly have a problem with patience?

Graf #19 Reaction to timed essay

I actually was totally fine with the timed essay. I usually work much better under pressure and procrastinate until I absolutely have to do something. Having a timed essay, even though it was the "honor system"  gave me that extra push to get it done in time.  I was really worried that it wasn't enough of a contrast essay and that I would receive negative comments about that, but it seemed to be well received. Maybe it's because GOldfine felt pity on me for all the re-writes I have had to do ?? Just kidding. I haven't checked since I posted my essay but at that time I was the only one who had chosen the "dirt" topic. It made me feel good to know I was going the adventurous route!

Timed Contrast Essay

               I don't remember much of my childhood. I am a only child and my parents divorced when I was eight years old, after that I grew up with a really overprotective, borderline agoraphobic mother. I'm not going to straight out say that she ruined my childhood, but she pretty much did. I never got to experience all those "dirty" adolescent things that all the other kids did, I couldn't play school sports,   I wasn't allowed to run around playing outside with my friends and we never went camping or spent any great deal of time outdoors. I made it my goal as I became a adult that I would experience the world more than I was ever  allowed to.
             I started small by working on adjusting my screwed up view of what having a dirty house meant. I began slowly cutting down my cleaning regimen. There's one thing to have a clean house and there's another thing to be consistently cleaning in order to have a spic and span house. I've learned over the years that unless you are in a hospital, nothing needs to be sterile. This is still something I struggle with once in a while. I need to allow myself to have some "dirt" in my house. I still find myself choosing to do the dishes instead of playing a rousing game of UNO with the kids. This is definitely a work in progress.
                It took me a while but now I really enjoy playing out side in the dirt with my kids.This may sound like such a small task but when you grow up never doing this you find yourself thinking of this as such a strange concept. I actually felt like it was weird to be outside "choosing" to get down and dirty with nature! Now there's no hesitation and we spend our afternoons climbing trees, digging in the dirt, making mud pies and playing every out door game or sport that we can think of. I don't mind how "dirty" we get or how hard it is to get the grass stains out of our clothes because it's all worth it to me.
                 We never really took advantage of the camping and hiking opportunity's  there were when we lived in Arizona. I just wasn't at that mentality yet to be able to get that "dirty", especially Arizona dirt, because it's basically sand and in my eyes that's way worse than soil. Hiking and camping in Maine came slowly, but surely. We started off at campgrounds where we rented cabins and had all the "luxuries" like bathrooms and camp stores, I still had a hard time with feeling "dirty". Eventually as time went on and we had camped more and more, we made our way up to Peaks-Kenny state park where there's still all those luxuries, we just stayed in a tent this time. One step at a time is what I tell myself, and as long as I feel my kids are getting all the experiences that a child should have then I am going to be happy with that.
               My motto for my life is "Have no regrets" and this story is a perfect example of why. I have spent so much time blaming my mother for the way she raised me and the sheltered life she made me live. It took me years of trying new things and hating them all because I felt "dirty" and unkempt.  I am so grateful that I could overcome this oppression that she put me through and move on with my life. I enjoy every single minute of the time I spend outdoors getting "dirty" with my kids. If I don't have grass stains and dirt spots on my kids clothing at the end of the day then I know we didn't have as much fun as we could have. I am by no means a extreme outdoorsy person and I am not even in as good shape as I could be, but it doesn't mean that I don't enjoy being outside and in nature getting fresh air and dirty. 

Contrast Essay

              Some people prefer to live in a small town. Others prefer to live in a big city. Which do I prefer? If you have asked me 2 years ago I would have told you without hesitation, City. It's now been three years since my husband and I uprooted our three kids from our hometown of Phoenix, AZ and moved cross country to the small town of Harmony, Maine.  I am currently undecided, there are pro's and con's to both city and rural living and I am still figuring them all out. There are so many differences between living in a big city and living in a small rural area, even though there might only be a couple hundred of miles between you and what you used to know, you might as well be in a whole new country.
              I do know that most people need to work to make a living and it just seems to me that getting to and from work is easier in a big city. There are less people living in small towns and therefore less public transportation. If you want to get anywhere you need to have your own car. I've also learned quickly that in small towns, especially small Maine towns; the road conditions aren't the same as in the city. There may be bumps, unfilled potholes and plain old falling apart pavement heaves. This can reek havoc on your car and is definitely not a perk, this is something we experience all the time in Harmony. In the city it's quite common for the workplace to be within walking distance or at least a close drive, but in small towns like Harmony;  unless you are working at the town's country store of laundromat/ tanning/ movie store you will end up driving at least an hour. This has personally been a huge challenge for my family because It's bad enough that my husband is gone before the kids wake up and then works a 10 hour work day but he then has to drive an hour just to get home. To some this might be the price you pay for the peace and quiet of the country.
               Everybody needs a little fun in their lives, and I am certainly no different. What I had missed most of city living was all the entertainment options. When you live in a big city, you have much greater access to a variety of venues and you are exposed to all sorts of different cultures. I missed all the places I could shop and all the restaurants that we could check out .By contrast, small towns generally don’t get nearly as much variety, and everything closes so early; but most people in small towns can and do drive to nearby cities to take advantage of amenities like the shopping and concerts and so on.  I don't miss any of that anymore, I enjoy the peace and quiet of the small town I live in and have no desire for all the hustle and bustle. We have lakes all around us so there's always an opportunity to fish, swim, boat, and tube. We also have a few snowmobiles and there are tons of trails to use them. There's never a boring moment in my town of under 1000  residents and even though I never, ever thought I would become a homebody, I am now, and I am pleasantly surprised.
             We owned a beautiful 2 story house with 4 bedrooms and a loft in Arizona. When we found out we were moving to Maine we put it on the market and because the housing market was just beginning to collapse it sold quickly. We sold it for a good price which was really exciting but since we were inheriting my father in laws house I knew I wouldn't be able to enjoy picking out what I really  wanted in Maine. I had visions of all the old, well kept country homes that you see on the cover of L.L. Bean, what I got instead was a house the color of lime sherbert with wall to wall wood paneling, a falling apart barn and 40 acres of land. I have done some traveling across Maine in the time I've been here and have found that it really is just hit or miss when it comes to the condition, style and quality of the homes. On the same road you can find a three story colonial, a double wide trailer and a small ranch with a failing roof.  I have to admit I originally was afraid of the land we had because  I was only familiar with what we had in the city, small dirt backyards with concrete block walls to separate you from your neighbor. When I lived in the city I felt like large yards were overrated and just caused more work than you would want, boy was I wrong! I have fallen in love with our 40 acres and all the freedom, privacy and safety that it implies for our family.

            I've been living here in Maine for a little over three years and even though my homesickness for big city living in Arizona has subdued for now, I don't think I am ready to make my mind up about staying here in the "country" forever. I do prefer to live in my small isolated town in Maine right now because I think it's the best place to raise a family. I like the feeling of community, of "everyone knowing everyone," and all the small town happenings. I used to be afraid of how everyone knows your business in Harmony but I have come to learn that being part of a close knit community doesn't mean you're involved with everyone on a daily basis. In a small town you can be as involved or uninvolved as you'd like, and that works just fine for me!

First three annotated source list

 

 

 

 Zelman, Kathleen. "Lose Weight Fast: How to Do It Safely." WebMD. 17 Nov. 2010.  <http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/lose-weight-fast-how-to-do-it-safely>.

 

I liked this article because it clearly told you the best way to lose weight without crazy diets.  I also liked how simple and easy it was to read and understand exactly what they were trying to say.

 

 

 "22 Weight Loss Do's and Don'ts" Health Status. 1 Nov. 2011.

<http://www.healthstatus.com/health_blog/2011/11/01/22-weight-loss-do%E2%80%99s-and-don%E2%80%99ts/>

This article was great because it had so much good information in it. I could answer a few of my question based on what I learned reading this article. 

 "Over the counter weight loss pills: Do they work?" Mayo Clinic. 11 Feb. 2011. <http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/HQ01160>

I found that I like how Mayo Clinic sets up their articles. I will use this same website to continue my research on prescription weight loss pills. Plus, Mayo Clinic is a well known name and I would assume that this attaches with trustworthy information.

 

 

 

graf 2 of contrast essay Revised

Everybody needs a little fun in their lives, and I am certainly no different. What I had missed most of city living was all the entertainment options. When you live in a big city, you have much greater access to a variety of venues and you are exposed to all sorts of different cultures. I missed all the places I could shop and all the restaurants that we could check out .By contrast, small towns generally don’t get nearly as much variety, and everything closes so early; but most people in small towns can and do drive to nearby cities to take advantage of amenities like the shopping and concerts and so on.  I don't miss any of that anymore, I enjoy the peace and quiet of the small town I live in and have no desire for all the hustle and bustle. We have lakes all around us so there's always an opportunity to fish, swim, boat, and tube. We also have a few snowmobiles and there are tons of trails to use them. There's never a boring moment in my town of under 1000  residents and even though I never, ever thought I would become a homebody, I am now, and I am pleasantly surprised.

Graf # 18 isearch progress report

I have begun my research by taking your advice and checking out google groups. There is so many groups for weight loss out there and google does a great job and having them organized so well. I don't to a lot of the actual "google groups" and don't want to have to apply and all that, so I am just using this tool as a more concentrated search tool. I also have done research on a ton of different diets, I still need to figure out a good way to narrow these down as I don't want the whole isearch to be only on diets but there are just so many out there! I think I am going to focus on just 1. low-carb, 2. low sugar, 3. low calorie.  That's about all I have done so far.