You've Got Mail Monday

Lots of fun stuff around here. The Lil' Princess had a wonderful birthday party/sleepover this weekend. We survived, but it sure makes getting ready for Thanksgiving a challenge. I'm hoping to get most of the Christmas trees up this week, but I'm not stressing over it. I know the decorations will be up before it's time for Santa to slide down the chimney. I also need to focus on baking for the Christmas bazaar.

Last week was another fairly heavy mail week. Some Christmas presents for Dad and the girls arrived. I can't tell you what they are right now, but I will say that I'm loving Zulily and the pre-Black Friday deals from Walmart. I wasn't sure how much I would like Zulily when I first joined, but I'm using it more and more as time goes on. They have special sales events where you can get deals on brand name products for a limited time. Zulily places one bulk order with the merchant and it gets shipped to them and on to you. Now, there are times it takes awhile to get your merchandise, but I've been very happy lately with how quickly my purchases have arrived. My last order was placed on November 9th and it arrived today.

On Friday, my Hidden Valley® Ranch party pack I received through Crowdtap arrived. It included a Hidden Valley Team Ranch T-shirt, a bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch Original Dressing, a packet of Hidden Valley Original Salad Dressing and Seasoning Mix, a packet of Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dips Mix, and a party insert with activities, recipes, and a coupon. It also came with samples for my guests, inserts with coupons, and a surprise.

Prizes from the Penny's Tales Christmas in October Giveaway are still arriving. This week a copy of Due Date by Nancy Wood arrived, as did some swag from author Mary Waibel. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but some lovely swag also arrived a week or so ago from Marsha R. West.

You wouldn't believe the sheer number of catalogs the mail carrier delivered last week. Some of the usuals showed up: FrontGate, L.L. Bean, Oriental Trading, and the Gardener's Supply Company (probably my favorite these days). Hammacher Schlemmer sent a catalog this month. I usually get one a few times a year. Bits and Pieces, which includes many clever gifts like unusual puzzles, has been coming the past few months. MindWare is an educational toy catalog. Already the Lil' Diva has circled potential gift ideas. Totally new and had never seen before catalogs came from Doctors Foster and Smith (pet care) and King Arthur® Flour (baking).

The Spring Classes catalog arrived from Springfield Technical Community College. I browse through it from time to time, but I haven't had the time--or money--to continue pursuing my degree. And with the girls getting closer and closer to starting college, I don't think it's in the cards for me right now, no matter how much I would love to complete my degree.

New issues of Health, Shape, and Traditional Home magazines showed up in my mailbox this week. For books, I received a Michael Neugebauer edition of Hansel and Gretel by The Brothers Grimm and illustrated by Sybille Schenker and two copies of Pursuing the Christ: Prayers for Christmastime. The author made mention of the limited time sale price from Christianbook.com on Facebook, so I picked up a copy for me and one as a gift. Along with that, came a copy of the new VeggieTales® DVD, Merry Larry and the True Light of Christmas. I'll share the DVD with the Sunday school kids.

Wow! That was a mouthful. Hope you have a great week.

WSJ Wednesday - Changes in Higher Education

I found a fascinating article in the Friday, January 25, 2013 edition of The Wall Street Journal. My one big regret is never getting my college degree. Though a book I read on the current job market said experience trumps college degrees any day (unless you're talking Ivy League), during my job search, I've discovered even clerical and administrative jobs have a college degree listed as a preference or requirement.

According to "College Degree, No Class Time Required" by Caroline Porter, the University of  Wisconsin is offering a Bachelor's to students who take online competency tests about what they know. Like the man featured in Porter's article, I have several credits toward my degree. But as my family and responsibilities grew, time to dedicate to my education dwindled. After more than 20 years in business, it wouldn't surprise me if I could pass some of these competency tests and make obtaining my degree easier, and perhaps, cheaper.

The University of Wisconsin plans to launch the program this fall. Prices haven't been set for their Flexible Option program, but university officials say it should be "significantly less expensive." The goal of the program is to strengthen the state's workforce; it's not to dumb down education and just make it easy to get your degree.

If a program like this came to Massachusetts, I would sign up right away. I'm tired of not having my degree. I don't want it holding me back. It would even be helpful to me in my writing, so there's really no reason not to do it, unless it was cost prohibitive, which doesn't seem to be the case.

What do you think of this idea? Would you try to earn your degree this way if it was available in your state?