Oh Crap....{literally}

Hi friends!  I've been busy taking doors off the hinges in my house and painting them...2 coats on each side.  I'm sure you can imagine how torturous fun this process is!  When we bought our house we were fortunate enough to inherit 3different trim colors throughout the house.  My favorite trim color happened to be the color that they painted in our room (can you feel the sarcasm dripping from that comment???).  Honestly, from the looks of it, it's as if they painted a polyurethane coat over top the trim and it yellowed.  So nasty.  The color we decided to paint our trim ("White Umber" by Porter Paints) is very white compared to the 3 other trim colors going on in these parts...especially in our bedroom where it looks like someone peed all over the doors (apparently this post has a lot of bathroom references).  I've been quite busy trying to unify everything.

I decided to take a break and share a story with you that is only funny to me now because I've lived through it and will {hopefully} never have to live through it again......

The number one thing that everyone comments on when they come over to our house is our toilets.  I know, I know, what a random thing to get people talking.  The reason they get so much attention is because they have a dual flush button because they're supposed to be high efficiency...everyone's two-cents is that it's very "European"!

This is a picture of the top of our toilets...see the European flair?!

When we first moved in, I thought they were pretty awesome.  We can control how much water we used depending on which button we pushed - what a great way to save water and put a little extra moolah into our pockets.  It wasn't long before our master bath toilet quickly began to drive me and Stephen crazy.  It would randomly decide to run and we never could figure out the rhyme behind the reason.  We had lived in the house a little over a year when last October, it was literally 2am in the morning on a Friday morning (report cards+principal observation for me; studying for a test for Stephen) when we decided to go to bed.  We did our usual routine and both thought it was random that our toilet did an unusual gurgle noise before we left the bathroom.  It wasn't long before I could tell by Stephen's breathing that he had fallen asleep.  Quickly thereafter I began to smell a horrible smell that I can only describe as "dog fart".  I placed the blame on Stephen, assuming he was smelling up the room (of course he doesn't appreciate this part of the story).  That's when the toilet did another *gurgle gurgle* and it woke Stephen up.

***NOTE: it's not a good sign if your toilet gurgles.  Not a good sign AT ALL.***

Stephen wakes up and wonders what the noise is.  I'm quick to inform him of his dog fart problem only to quickly remember a horrible sewage story that my friend Mandy told me about a house she lived in during college.  Oh my gosh...what if the dog fart smell wasn't Stephen after all???????  Stephen gets up to check out what's wrong with the toilet.  What comes next can send me into a fit of laughter if I think enough about the different reactions that occurred.

First, let me tell you that Stephen was blessed with a wonderful sense of smell.  I love the man with all my heart, but he's sometimes a little bit dramatic about smells that don't appeal to him.  If he's helping me clean out the refrigerator, he'll hold his nose, sometimes even turn his head in disgust over the very smallest smells.  Imagine this blessing of smell as he enters our bathroom to discover....

...a bathtub and toilet filling up with sewage.  Yup - you just read that correctly.  Sewage.  That's old crap, people.  Picture it: Stephen, screaming from the bathroom while gagging and dry heaving.  There were a lot of senses being over stimulated: smells, sights, sounds.  It was cRaZy.  He asks me where our plunger is and I honestly can't remember...at this point in time, we haven't used it since Chicago - a year and a half earlier...it must be in the basement.  He leaves our bedroom to go to the basement only to be greeted by a gurgling toilet in the hall bathroom.  Do you remember my note from earlier?  A gurgling toilet is NOT a happy toilet.  Imagine the blessing of Stephen's sense of smell as he enters the hall bathroom to discover...

...a bathtub and toilet filling up with sewage.  Yup. Sewage - old crap, people.  AHHHHHH!!!!  Now, I know some of you are thinking, "How does sewage fill up your bathtub? Where is it coming from?".  Let me explain - you know that circular metal cover that is screwed onto your tub underneath your faucet?  Sewage was seeping from behind this contraption and filling our bathtubs - that's a plural "s" - more than one.

This isn't our bathtub, but I figured it could work to show you that circular metal piece underneath the faucet - that's where all the action was taking place!

Stephen ran to the basement to discover that our plunger had never made it to our new house but was still hanging out at my parents from when we were living there before we got our house.  Awesome. I, of course, got on my phone.  Stephen was super annoyed with me, thinking I was updating my Facebook status, "What are you doing?!  Don't put this on Facebook!!!" What was he thinking?!  Of course I wasn't on a social media while sewage is taking over our upstairs - I was googling, "sewage is filling my bathtubs and toilets".  I knew for a fact we couldn't be the only people in the world that this had ever happened to.  While I quickly learned that we, indeed, were not alone in having this problem, nothing was really helpful to me at 2am in the morning.

Thankfully, after a few minutes of the sewage filling the tub and the toilet, the levels seemed to stop rising.  Stephen and I stood there contemplating what we should do when all of a sudden we heard some more gurgling and then a "whoosh" as the sewage began to descend back down the drains.  With disbelief and relief on our faces we watched our poop problems disappear before our eyes.  What the?! Don't get me wrong - we were grateful, but what now?!?!  My wonderful husband scrubbed the tubs with bleach and bleached the toilets and we both decided to go to bed and deal with it the next day.

On Friday, Stephen called plumber after plumber only to be received with a, "We don't deal with that kind of stuff."  Really?  You're a plumber.  It's like me saying that I don't teach kids that are really difficult to teach.  Isn't that your job???  Finally he lined up a plumber to come on Monday and take a look at everything.  In the meantime, we were afraid that something might be up with the main drain in our house (after googling the night before at 2am in the morning we read many warnings about this) and so we decided to not use any plumbing at our house.  Thankfully we live across the street from my parents (have I shared that with you, blogworld???) and so anytime a flush or shower was necessary, we walked across the street.

Fast forward to Monday when the plumber came to our house and seemed to find NOTHING WRONG.  What?!  You mean that sewage can just randomly decide to start gurgling its way into my life whenever it pleases?!  I was scarred - scarred for life and there was nothing wrong to lead to this poopy problem?!

I'm going to leave you there for now.  Of course, there's more to this story, but you're a champ and you've already read a lot.  If you're a homeowner, you know that as much of a blessing that it is to own your own home, sometimes it stinks.  Literally.

Do you have any traumatizing plumping stories or am I the only one???

What a Year!

As of last Thursday, I wrapped up my fifth year of teaching...and what a year it was!  If you've been hanging around here long enough (despite the fact that it's sounded like a big cave with crickets chirping for the past couple of months) you may recall that last year I had a very challenging year teaching an intermediate split (4th and 5th graders).  This year, I had the blessing of teaching one straight grade (4th) and I had the advanced students for Math and Reading.  Needless to say, this year my job was much more enjoyable than last year, simply because I had the same grade level all day long.  Along with teaching, Stephen and I made sure we kept our candles burning on both ends and we had quite a busy year...

Our weekly schedule during the school year looked like this:
*Monday nights my sisters and I enjoy dinner at my parents house - spouses are welcome but not always available to join.

*Tuesday nights Stephen and I both attended Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) - he was in the Men's class and I was in the Women's night class.  Tuesday is also the day for faculty and committee meetings at my school so I would stay at school until BSF (6:45) and then come home after BSF.  We suffered through enjoyed 9pm dinners on Tuesday night.

*Wednesday nights were devoted to driving down to the University of Louisville's campus to help lead Young Life's College Fellowship group.  We hung out with college students, led Bible studies and helped try and train new leaders to volunteer in high schools around the city.  Wednesdays were also the day when I would have Quick Recall Practice (that's right: be jealous - I am the Quick Recall Coach at my school) after school.  We met every Wednesday from 4-5:30 so I would stick around school and drive to UofL after practice.  Stephen and I wouldn't return home until 10pm on Wednesday nights.

*Thursday nights were the "catch all" nights.  We didn't have a standing event and we welcomed what normally was an uneventful evening during our week.

*Friday nights we attended the weekly leadership meetings for Young Life.  Both Stephen and I would come straight from work to leadership - the good news is that dinner was served at Leadership so we'd actually get to eat at a normal time!

*Saturday is the day where we would sleep...and then run around the house like a chicken with it's head cut off to do all the things that got put off during the week.

*Sundays are always church days and then we enjoy lunch at Stephen's mom and dad's house with whatever family members can come that day.  Then, the dreaded grading and school work would begin, as I'd put it off all weekend long.

On top of all those things, here are some other fun things that happened throughout the year:

In September I ventured to Ohio to the outlets with my besties and enjoyed Chipotle for the first time in over a year (Louisville hadn't gotten one yet - dumb).  I am not at all embarrassed by my love for Chipotle and their amazing guac.

In September my good friend, Jenna got married so off to Lexington we went.  Here I am with some of my closest, oldest friends. 

In October, we visited Brown County for the weekend with Stephen's family.

In October, one of my best friends, Laura got married.  Here I am getting down and dirty on the dance floor with the groom.

 

In November Stephen and I headed back north to Chicago to celebrate the wedding of our sweet friends Zack and Marcia.  We were also blessed to be able to spend time with other friends.  Here we are with Debbie and Stephen - they're tying the knot this July!!!

In December I turned the dirty-thirty and got to celebrate with 3 of my best friends (Stephen, Donielle and Katie) as well as with a small group of super close friends.  What a blessing it was to be with them!

In January my best friend, Donielle joined me in the dirty-thirties.  Another trip to Lexington was in order!

In March, my Quick Recall team took home 1st place at the annual Mayor's Cup competition.  This was my 4th year coaching a Quick Recall team and it was my first win.  I couldn't have been more proud of them.  On top of taking home first place, the other students in the competition voted them for the Best Sportsmanship award!  My school went home that day with 4 trophies: Quick Recall 1st place, Future Problemsolvers 2nd place, Best Sportsmanship and then Overall 1st place.  What a great way to spend a Saturday!

In April I headed down south with good friends (Jenna, Katie and Julie) to spend Spring Break in Panama City Beach, FL.  The beach picture was taken at beautiful Seaside, which Katie and Julie introduced us to.  

In May I completed my 3rd year of BSF.  I'm looking forward to studying the book on Matthew in the Fall!

Throughout all of this, Stephen has been taking classes at night, after work to become a CFP (Certified Financial Planner).  He's currently in his last {review} class that is every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5:30-8:30pm.  Needless to say, we're both ready for him to be DONE and are praying that he passes his test when the time comes for him to take it.  

After reading this, maybe you understand why my blog has been so neglected this school year.  Now that it's summer, I'm hoping that I can catch up on ALL the things I've been putting on the back burner all year long.  I have lots of small projects I've worked on (or started and never completed...) that I'm hoping to share with you and I'm hoping to keep up with this blog as a form of accountability to not fall into the temptation to be a slug all summer long.  Expect to see {almost} daily posts up around these parts as I try to have one of the most productive summers possible...lost of furniture restoring, painting, creating, reading, studying, and preparation for another upcoming school year will be going on around here.  I hope you'll stick around and join me for it!

Unimportant (yet seemingly important) Problems

***Notice - this is a full out whine session.  I realize that I am blessed beyond belief and I truly have no reason to complain.  However, it's my party and I'll cry if I want to.  Continue at your own risk...

Last year, while Stephen and I were feverishly house hunting (we went to 12 houses in 1 day...okay, just thinking about that makes me too tired to finish this post..but I must....push on.....) a pool in the backyard wasn't even an option for us.  It wasn't until the *perfect* house came on the market (that happened to have a pool in the backyard) did we start thinking about being pool people.  We heard it all, "a pool's a lot of work!"  "not everyone wants a pool - it could make for a hard sell down the road..." "a pool's a lot of money!" and yet we continued on because we loved the house that much (and, let's face it, I'm a teacher and I LOVE to lay by the pool in the summer time.  L.O.V.E. it.  I had no qualms about being "pool girl" every summer for the rest of my life!).

When we closed on our house in early September, the pool had already been closed for the season.  We saw the pool before it was closed - it was picture perfect - crystal blue - clear and wonderful!  We also knew that it had a brand new liner installed that year - SCORE!  (I actually know nothing about this, but I've been told that liners are cause for lots of moo-lah and a new one meant nothing but great things).  So, needless to say, we've been living (maybe just me) in anticipation for the day that we would open the pool.  As the weather started to turn warmer, I began thinking about my days by the pool.  I even picked out great lounge chairs from Wally World and set my heart on them.  What made these lounge chairs so great were 3 things: they looked fabulous, they were incredibly comfortable, they were the CHEAPEST lounge chairs I could find (the 3rd reason was the most important reason for the Mister of the family).  I talked with Stephen about the possibilities of purchasing said lounge chairs and we decided that this was definitely something we could do with our tax return.  I should mention here that Stephen is a man that must be certain of all his decisions before he continues on with them.  This is a great quality in many ways, but not in the retail world.  You know how retail works - Hobby Lobby starts putting out their Christmas merchandise in July but Heaven forbid you try to find your Christmas items in December!  They're already working on summer by then!  So, by the time this girl convinced Mr. Certain-Pants-Man to go and buy the lounge chairs, they only had 3 (I wanted 4).  Wait for it...wait for it...and 2 of them were broken.  Ouch. Painful.  

I like to think I'm a hopeful person (however, there are a lot of days when that glass just sits half empty) and so I purchased that 1 chair thinking that surely they'd get more in.  I'm fairly certain that Walmart could have taken out a restraining order based on the number of times I came to their store.  I was showing up every other, sometimes even every day to check and see if they had anymore of these chairs.  And for those of you who were thinking I should call other Walmarts, did that too!  I even had friends in Lexington checking out ALL of the 3 Walmarts in their town.  No dice.  Ugh. (EVERYWHERE else I checked charged at least $30 more per chair - that's $120 more at the end of the day!)  Thanks Mr. Certain-Pants-Man.
(disclaimer: Mr. Certain-Pants-Man feels very badly about this and has apologized many times...unfortunately, the wound still burns....)

Here it is, June 18 and I am without lounge chairs for my pool.  I know: get over it.  I should actually get over it, because I have even bigger fish to fry besides these measly little chairs....

To add more salt to the wounds - Stephen and I went back and forth over whether or not we were going to try to open our pool ourselves or hire a pool company to do so.  After much discussion and thought, we went with route 2 and hired the people that his parents use to open their pool.  They came out on June 1 and "opened" our pool.  Notice how the word open is in quotation marks?  Well, let me explain to you why that is.  Two and a half weeks AFTER they came out and "opened" our pool I'm sitting here at my kitchen table looking at what looks more like a POND than a POOL.  That's right ladies and gentlemen, I have a green pool, a green, murky pool.  Yum. Mmmmmmm - refreshing!  You see why I said that these lounge chairs were the least of my pool problems???

So, to make a long story short - I need to quit complaining; quit whining and think about all the good things that are coming out of this.  #1. I'm being reminded in a quirky way how blessed I am - I mean I have a pond pool and the resources to try and get it up and running #2. I'm reminded of what great family and friends I have - friends who will drive around Lexington for me to look for lounge chairs and family that will come over and help me try to care for the pond pool and spend hours with me at the pool store #3. I'm making great new friends at Leslie's Pool Supply Store ;)

Do you feel sorry for me yet?  :-)

p.s. if you are an in-ground pool owner and would like to offer this poor gal some suggestions, she'd love to take them!

Hallelujah, Praise the Lord, Sound the Alarm!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have done what I previously thought was the impossible: I've completed this school year.  It was painful, slow and painfully slow, but I'm happy to say that I've done it...and I've learned a few lessons in the process.  Some things I've learned (that I've always known but I didn't know how true they were until I had the constant reminders this year):

*Change is hard and changing jobs is hard especially when you loved your old job and you really didn't    want to leave it.

*Children need structure.  C.O.N.S.T.A.N.T.L.Y. I knew this, but I didn't realize the huge difference between the amount of structure a child from a broken home needs versus a child from a home where mom and dad are both investing in them.

*I should never put things off. EVER. Do you know how many times I was up until 1-2am working on report cards that had to go home the next day?  Everytime Actually that never happened ;).

*My "to-do" list will NEVER be completely done; I shouldn't hold it against myself when I go to bed at night and there's not a "check" next to even item.

*I shouldn't let the way others treat or view me change the way I view myself.

*People are hard to love - all the more reason to try (who doesn't like a good challenge???).

*The job of a teacher is NEVER done (until summertime that is).  Actual teaching only represents about half of what's expected of me.

*I need more sleep as a teacher than any other job (except motherhood) and it actually hinders me from getting sleep (hmmm...starting to sound like this is motherhood...)

*I have infinitely less amount of patience when I'm tired.  infinitely.

*Living intentionally and working in an intentional manner is far better than flying by the seat of your pants - especially when teaching. (not that I've done the latter...)

I could keep going and going but I'm feeling a little sleepy and Catching Fire is catching my attention...you know, the book I bought LAST SUMMER but didn't have a second to read it during the school year - yeah, that one.

I Live In A Zoo...

...and not the kind of zoo I'd like to live in (although I'm unsure of what kind of zoo that would be!)!
On Friday, after school, Princeton was outside after I had gotten home from work. All of a sudden I started hearing him go nuts. He was barking his head off, a loud and quickly repeating bark. I know you're thinking, "yeah, he's a dog, big whoop." But Princeton's not a barker - it takes a lot to get him to bark, and at this time I started to wonder what in the world was going on. I got up to check things out and as I looked out the back door, I saw Princeton barking furiously AT the back door. What in the world?! I knew then that my dog had officially lost his mind. That's until I opened the door to go out and see what in good gravy was going on. I was still thinking Princeton had lost it until I saw the most horrid thing out of the corner of my eye...
A big ole snake. Uggggggghhhhh! I immediately started freaking out, P-ton style. I called Stephen and insisted he come home as soon as his car could get him there! I then proceeded to watch the snake and follow it until Stephen got there. There's something you should know about me: I live in the camp of snakes came straight from hell. In fact, I'm fairly certain my Bible tells me that.
Stephen came home and got straight to work hunting down my arch nemesis. He spent an hour pretending he was Indiana Jones before he accomplished the inevitable. He then proceeded to bring the dead snake (he did have the decency to bag it up) into the house to prove to me it was indeed dead...SICK! Who does that?!?!
So with all that being said, I've turned into a skiddish freak in my own backyard...here's to hoping I've seen all the snakes I'll ever see in this lifetime!

I'm still here...promise!

Ah!  It's been over a month!!!  What's wrong with me?!?!  I'm going to whip my butt into shape - I promise!  I'm coming off Spring Break - depressed that I have to set my alarm for tomorrow.  Depressed that I have a bag full of school work that I didn't touch, which equates to a crazy week ahead of me. I got a lot of stuff accomplished over the break (non school related) and was even able to do stuff for fun and relaxation purposes!  Woo-Hoo! I'm going to come back later on this week and fill you in - for those of you who still come around, despite the fact that you've been hearing crickets in these parts.
Six. That's the number of weeks I have left in school.  Forty-Two. That's how many days there are until I start to feel somewhat normal again.  It's been a rough year - one that goes down in the books for symbolizing the old saying: "if it doesn't kill you, it'll only make you stronger"...my mom is reading this and smiling - that's a saying that frequents her lips.  Whelp friends, I'm not dead, so I must be stronger.
I'll share more thoughts, projects, ideas, inspirations, recipes, the whole-nine, soon...cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.  Ouch!  That'd hurt - see, I'm coming back so you don't have to do it!
Peace out.

Holy Barracuda, Batman!

It's already JULY?!?!  When did this happen???  What happened to May?  Heck, what happened to April?  Time is flying around here and I can't seem to stop it or at least slow it down.  The good thing about time flying is that I officially have only 11 more nights of grad school and then I'm done.  Finished.  Done-zo.  I can't even begin to tell you what a blessing it has been for me to go to school full-time and not have anything else major requiring my attention.  I also can't even begin to tell you how much I miss being in the classroom and sharing my life with 25+ kids.  If there's one thing that God has made clear to me over the past 2 years, it's that He made me to work with kids.  I cannot wait to {hopefully} be in the classroom again this upcoming school year - prayers for that are appreciated!!!

Something else I can't wait to have back are my nights.  Night class is such a bummer, especially when you're in it for 4 nights a week, 4 hours each class.  I know, I know, suck it up!  This girl needs to just sulk and whine for a second.  I can honestly tell you that this past year and a half of grad school has been totally worth it.  I have learned so many things about how to work with struggling readers, how to set up reading and writing in my classroom, even just how to be a better teacher all around.  I'm just itching to start reading groups and work on word sorts.  Exciting, isn't it??? ;)

Wanna know something absurd?  I'm contemplating continuing some grad classes to get another certification.  Yup, it's official: I'm a glutton for punishment!

Anyhoo...there's a lot of excitement and craziness coming up in the lives of this crazy lady and her loving husband.  I'll fill 'ya in on all of it sometime next week when I have the time and stamina to keep up with the craziness.  Until then, if I don't talk to you, have a great 4th of July.  We're laying low this weekend; recovering from the past four weekends of fun-filled hectic-ness.  Ride a boat, shoot off some fireworks, grill out and layout this weekend for us!  

Can I Get a "Wha-Wha?!"

I finished my LAST full semester of grad school tonight....the only thing standing in between me and graduation is 2 summer classes.  YIPEE!!!  You'll be seeing a lot more of me around these parts!

A Warm, Toasty Evening

I hate our fireplace.

Stephen and I used to use our fireplace all the time and never had any problems...that was, until the day when our landlord told us that during the chimney inspection they had discovered that repairs were needed.  The repairs were scheduled and we were told that they would be as clean as possible.  With that being said, I did minimal preparations for their arrival - the extent of which being that I moved the couch away from the fireplace and pulled the rug back, thinking nothing of it.  When I returned home that night, our apartment was a sooty-mess and there was a hole in the wall above our fireplace.  Oh, and there was a nice little note from the "Chimney Authority" written on a napkin they had found in our kitchen that read:

In case you can't read that, it says, "We tried to be as clean as possible.  We are sorry and sorry for the hole on your wall! Thank you- Fireplace Chimney Authority'.

really?????

After a lot of anger, frustration and cleaning, fast forward to this past Tuesday night when the temperature in Chicago decided that it was not really ready for Spring and it wanted to revert back to its cold, winter days.  I should mention that Stephen and I enjoy free radiator heat (which is AWESOME) but with the freeness of it, we don't control when it's on and when it's off...Tuesday night, it happened to be off.  Continuing on...

My tootsies were cold, my nose was cold and quite frankly, I was just COLD.  That's when I had a bright idea, "Stephen, do you just want to have a fire?" (because remember, our chimney had been "fixed" by the Chimney Authority....)  

And that's what we did.  We enjoyed our little fire for about 20 minutes before I really realized that, even though the flue was open, the smoke from the fire wasn't properly leaving via the chimney, instead, it was taking a detour into our apartment.  

Insert lots of smoke.

Insert fire alarm.

Insert every window in our apartment being opened (wait, doesn't that defeat the original purpose of having a fire to begin with?)

Picture it: Stephen and I sitting on our couch with our winter coats on, wrapped in blankets.  

Smell it: A hickory, old-school Girl Scout campfire.

Needless to say, even though it's been almost a week, I'm still coming home and being instantly reminded of our fun, smoke-filled evening by that hickory, old-school Girl Scout campfire scent that I mentioned above.  Despite what the Chicago weather may bring (oh, like 33 degrees and snowy this morning), Stephen and I will not be enjoying a warm fire anytime soon.

What a Great Day!

I finished my semester tonight!

Now only 4 classes and 1 independent study stand in my way of having an M.Ed at the end of my name!

I can't wait to enjoy some free nights and NO CLASSES for a few weeks before I must go again!

On another note, my friend Amy (I hope!) jokingly told me that she wanted to make these this weekend...maybe we'll make them to go on a small tree in the bathroom ;)!

My Week

I realized the other day that I don't spend enough time talking about what's going on in my life here at what is supposed to be a blog about my move to a new city...oops!  I've gotten into new hobbies and crafts of sorts and have neglected any of you who may be interested in what's up.  So, for those (few) of you who care what's up, here's a bit about my week :).

I had a good start to my week on Monday because I had just finished having a wonderful time with my dear friends, Anne, Derek and Sarah who came in (except Sarah who lives in Naperville) from Lexington to spend the weekend with me and Stephen.  The only thing that stunk about Monday was that I had been used to having a full apartment of 5 of us and it dropped to only me.  Sarah left on Sunday morning before church, Anne and Derek split town after lunch on Sunday and then Stephen left me early before anyone should even be awake on Monday morning to head to work and then to hop a plane to New York City for the week.  That's right - I've been alone for a week...ugh. Thoughts on that will come later.

I had classes all week and I've had this new "pressure" of my new job as a research assistant on campus.  I put the words "pressure" in quotations because I feel like I'm the one that's putting pressure on myself.  The people I work with are incredibly lenient on when I come in and my hours but when I'm not there, I'm constantly thinking, "should I be there?"  "do they think I'm slacking?"...that's me - overanalyzing e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.  I really need to get over that!
I feel incredibly blessed to have this research assistantship for so many reasons!  The first reason is because it's such a great opportunity for me professionally.  My role is to act as a "liaison" to the elementary schools we work with and our project.  Our project is one that helps schools go through a reform to create more intentional teaching, which in return will create stronger students.  I feel like I'm constantly learning how I can be a better, more intentional teacher when the time comes.
The second reason that I feel blessed to have this assistantship is because it pays for my tuition.  You just read that correctly - I'm currently going to grad school for free.  On top of that, they pay me a stipend on top of it.  Unreal.
The third and most important reason that I feel blessed that I have this assistantship is to share my life with the gals who work in the office with me.  It's an interesting work situation - interesting because it's so different from what I've experienced in the Bible belt of KY.  I'm praying that God will show me how to love the people I work with and how to share my life with them in a way that glorifies Him and shows   how much He loves them.  Prayers are appreciated.

School is sucking my life out of my life.  It's okay, it's only because the end of the semester is creeping closer and things are drawing to a close, which means I have a lot to do before the beginning of December...eeek!  Did I mention that I'm enrolled in an Independent Study and my wonderful teacher who is working with me is going to allow me to turn my paper in after winter break?  You know what that means, don't you?  Yup!  I'm going to have to be working on that dang paper over the break...ay yi yi!  That's okay - don't feel too bad for me because after this semester has concluded I will only have 1 more semester and 1 measly class to take over the summer and then I am DONE - DONE-ZO - FINISHED!  ahhhhhhhh!

I started BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) officially for the first time this year and we've been studying the book of Isaiah.  Let's talk about how intense and difficult the book of Isaiah is, then let's talk about how incredibly happy I am that I'm reading it and diving into it through BSF because I'm getting SO MUCH information that I don't think I could have ever gotten if I had tried to read this book alone.  Talk about conviction and stretching.  I feel so loved by our Father who has every reason to wash His hands of me but doesn't because He loves me.  I feel blessed by BSF, my small discussion group in BSF and my discussion group leader.  It was hard for me to not compare her to my beloved Frankie (my old Bible Study Leader) and I finally snapped out of it.  Frankie will always be near and dear to my heart and she'll ALWAYS be my sister and mentor in Christ but I've moved into a new phase of life and God will bring new people into my life to show me His love and how to better know Him.

I feel like I just left you on overload...big time overload.  I'll stop for now.  I'll leave you with a video from a song I heard on the radio while I was driving to my friend Amanda's apartment on Friday (Amanda also shows me Christ's love, especially when she calls me throughout the week and invites me over because she knows I'm all alone this week while Stephen's gone).  I love this song because it makes me think about all the truths of the Bible, specifically from what I've been reading in Isaiah.  Despite who we are and what we deserve, God loves us.  More than I can possibly try to explain here.  I pray that you feel His love for you in this moment and throughout your day - it's unlike anything else you could possibly experience.

Yikes!

Hi Blogger Friends!
Grad school currently owns me...I'm crazily trying to figure out how I can change this.  Pray for my sanity :).
Hopefully I'll be back after this crazy week is over!
Thanks for understanding!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

This is my last week of summer classes.  If I could add music to this post, I would appropriately add Handel's Hallelujah here.  Unfortunately, I have no time to try and figure out how to do that because I have homework I must complete.  I know you're bummed...sorry! :).

Expect a more present me in the days following, as I'll have a MONTH off of school :).  See you on the flip side!

Summer Grad School

Sorry for my absence - UIC has chewed me up and spit me out.  I signed up for summer classes with the thought, "I can do anything for 8 weeks..." but let me tell you, it's gonna be a looong 8 weeks!

My classes are 4 hours long every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights from 4:30-8:30.  And despite some hopeful thoughts of them letting us out early, they keep us the ENTIRE time.

My Philosophy of Education class is a long class (brilliant - I know I didn't need to tell you that!).  However, my teacher is a cute old man who reminds me of the world's greatest grandpa.  He cracks himself up and tells a story after everything.  It took him an entire hour to take roll tonight.  Why?  Because he kept on distracting himself with his stories.  He then calls on you to ask you what you think about what he's said.  The first night of class "Karl" (that's me...it happens all the time - the "i" looks like an "l" and so suddenly I become a man named "Karl") was called on regarding what he I thought about progressive taxing.  Awesome.  Tonight, he called on me asking what I thought in response to what he had said.  Too bad I had just started to trail off in my mind and I missed the majority of what I was being asked about.  Good for me that he restated his thoughts - phew!

Let me tell you: it's. going. to. be. a. looooooooong. 8. weeks.

I'll leave you with a picture of who my professor resembles:

I'll be back tomorrow to share some fun from my sewing class :).

The weekend's ALMOST here...YOU CAN MAKE IT!

Heavy Weight Champ

How depressing.  Despite the loud, booming voice screaming inside me, I weighed myself this morning.  Immediately following the weigh-in process I spiraled into a deep sense of disappointment in myself.  It was the largest number that I have seen on the scale.  EVER.  *sigh*.  My drill sergeant husband has been insisting I go to the gym.  Before you get your panties in a wad out of anger at him for making me work-out, it's all in love and in the fact that we've paid for my gym membership all the way through September.  He loves me the way that I am and insists that he doesn't think I need to do anything (I think he's a good liar), but it peeves him to pay for something and not use it.  Too bad I didn't have him with me last year in Lexington when I was paying for a gym membership and was never using it.  I'm thankful for him holding me accountable to my New Years Resolution (be able to run 5 miles regularly).  He insists that working out is the key to losing weight, but after weighing myself this morning, I need more.
I immediately got online and googled everything I could find on Weight Watchers.  My cost conscience husband doesn't want to pay for WW if we don't have to, so I've officially joined the black market world of WW.  That was the first step.
The second step (and what should've been the first) was basking in the thought that God has made me in His image and He loves me exactly as I am.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."  Ephesians 2:10

My prayer in all of this is that I don't become obsessed with the idea of a "perfect" body but that I focus my thoughts on how God loves me exactly as He's made me but that I need to honor this temple (my body) by keeping it healthy.  A little fruits, veggies and cardio never hurt anyone...too bad I feel like this is going to be torture ;)
***disclaimer - the number on the scale above does NOT reveal what my actual scale told me this morning***

You're invited to my pity party....

Friends,  I have so many things on my list of things that I really want to make (a wreath for the guest bedroom, some artwork for the office - just to name a few) and it just isn't convenient to do so...UGH!  I need to get my booty to one of my favorite places ever:

But when you live in the city, the only places with Hobby Lobby's are the 'burbs.  I wish these places were quick and easy to get to...but unfortunately THEY'RE NOT!  The closest Lobby is about 30 minutes from our apartment BUT about 50 minutes in traffic (which is basically all day everyday) AND to add to my list of Lobby Woes, to get there it requires you to drive on the annoying toll roads.  Evidently the suburbs of Illinois are highly valued because you must PAY to get to them.  

SOOOOOO until I get to the mecca of all craft stores, my craftiness must be put on hold.

I'm hoping to make a trip this weekend - I'll let you know if my dream comes true :).

From Super Busy to a Slug-a-dug-dug

This is the new me...ugh!

Before I left Lexington, I was keeping myself super busy.  I know that busyness can be unhealthy and distracting and I'm sure that at times it was, but at the same time, I loved everything that was filling my time.  I rarely watched television and I was rarely at home for long, extended periods of time that didn't involve sleep.
...and then I moved...
at first, I was living in Louisville with my parents.  Of course there wasn't a lot to do because I wasn't working (I was only going to be in Louisville for 2 short months, too short to try and get a job; although I did try to sub, that's another story).  I was preparing for a wedding but honestly, at that point in the game, a lot of attention didn't need to be given to it (not until 2 weeks beforehand, anyhow).  So that's Louisville - long days at home while my parents were at work spending the day with my precious pup, Rosie.  Here is where the slug within me started to escape.
...and then I moved...
Chicago is now "home".  Before I started grad-school, there were only 2 things on my daily agenda: writing thank you notes and getting the apartment cleaned and in order.  Because the latter didn't really have a deadline assigned to it, I slugged my way through it.  Now don't get me wrong, I did complete everything, I just did it at a much sloooooower pace than old Kari would've done.
Then, starting in January I began grad-school.  Let me tell you a little bit about grad-school (for those of you who have gone or are in, you'll be able to relate) - they act as if you need to read everything that was ever written by any man at any time during the history of the world.  I spend so much time reading things (and half the things I read, I don't fully understand) and most of the time I read it so sloooowly because I'm slow now (in case you missed that earlier).
But here's the thing that bothers me:  I can do nothing but read all day long and I'm NOT okay with that. I get so much sleep and I'm still sleepy - WHY?!  Because I'm exerting little amounts of physical activity during the day - in fact I'm really not doing much of anything.  I NEED TO GET A GRIP ON MY LIFE!  I need to DO things.
So today, I'm meeting a woman at 2pm at the Starbucks down the street from my apartment.  I met this woman through Janet (her husband, Joel married Stephen and I) and she is looking for a new nanny for her three kids.  Is this something that I'm definitely going to do?  I'm not sure - I'm not sure that she'll want to work around my crazy class schedule (I go to class at night so 5-8, during the summer my classes will start at 4:30) but it is something that I think I need to do.  I need to have a reason to move around during the day :).
My prayer request is that IF this ends up working out, I pray that the sluggish me can handle reading everything UNDER the sun and being a quality nanny for three precious little kids.  I pray that a little bit of the old me can be revived and the slug in me will LEAVE!
I'll keep you posted my blogging friends - even if this nanny job doesn't pan out, I need to get out and about sometimes!

An Unhealthy Obsession

I need to watch this:

Like I need to watch this:

So if I recognize this then WHY am I HOOKED?!  

A better question - If I already know the outcome (thanks to Reality Steve) then WHY am I HOOKED?

i. can't. stop. WATCHING!!!

I wish I had an excuse....

a) My Young Life girls watch it, it's how I stay connected in convo and get them to hang out with me...ummmm I don't lead YL anymore :(

b) My little sister makes me turn the channel....I don't have a little sister and I don't live with her either

c) Stephen really likes it....he makes fun of me and the show...can't say that I blame him.

What is wrong with me?!

I had a favorite (and then I found out the outcome), and I don't even laugh anymore at the fiction and absurdity surrounding the show...AHHHHHH!!!

One thing I know to be true:  good thing there's only 2 more weeks left in this train wreck that we call entertainment.  

Please still be my friend - this is my first step towards recovery: admitting that there's a problem.

Are you addicted to something you're not entirely proud of, in fact you'd hope it wouldn't come up in front of people you don't know so you don't have to own up to it?  (I'm not looking for deep dark sins here, something you're willing to share on the blog comments...in fact please don't post deep dark sins on here, it will make me shift in my seat out of discomfort) 

Sayin' Sayonara for 40 Days

If you know me, you know that this is going to be really hard...for Lent I have given up my usual obsession with Diet Coke.  Let me tell you, I love this stuff.  When I was teaching, I fell into the trap of driving through Chick-Fil-A every morning (yikes on the pocketbook!) to get a large Diet Coke.  This is what got me through the day.  I didn't drink it for the caffeine (although I'm sure that that performed its magic without me acknowledging it) but for the wonderful, cold, bubbly feeling that I felt as I took a big swig out of my straw.  I just love the way this stuff tastes.  I even feel as though it brings out the flavor in other things that I eat and I often drink it for dinner because it accommodates so many meals so well.  

So when it came time to figure out what I was going to give up for the Lent season, it seemed a no-brainer that this was going to be it.  I know it's only been one day, and I haven't eaten out (fountain drinks are TO DIE FOR) but it's been good.
I see and hear a lot of people talking about what they're giving up for Lent, and not that I'm judging these people or questioning their personal walks with Christ, but it has really hit home to me this tradition and way of life that a lot of people have adopted without really thinking about it.  This comment is mostly directed at myself as I do not want to give up something for Lent because that's just what you do.  I want to give it up as a sacrifice to try and identify and most importantly to see the magnitude of Christ's sufferings that He went through for me and for you.  This is something that I should try to remember and encompass in my every day life in and out of the season of Lent.  My prayer is that in this Lent Season I may get in the right mindset and prepare for Easter and all the good news that this season brings!

Just when I was getting used to this...change comes again!

You guessed it...I'm pregnant!

Ah-hahahahaha just kidding!  I really shouldn't joke like that, as I could actually get pregnant and then I wouldn't be laughing!  No, really the news that I want to share with you is that yesterday I received my acceptance letter from UIC for their M.Ed. program!

I will be starting my grad-school classes on January 11th!  While this news is so exciting, it's also kinda nerve racking!  I'm going to be a student again....I don't know what I think about that!  I loved NOT having to take tests or write papers once I graduated, and now I'm asking to be tortured again, and this time it will probably be even more painful as it's graduate school - they ain't messin'!

Anyhoo, some logistics on my program: I am going to be attending the Instructional Leadership Literacy, Language and Culture program in their college of Education.  In this program, I will earn my certification to be a Reading Specialist.  A Reading Specialist works with kids who cannot read and/or are learning to read and their job is to decipher where the problems lie and how to hurdle past them.  This degree would enable me to be a better reading teacher AND if at any point in time I do not want to be a "regular" classroom teacher, I can leave the general classroom and work solely as a Reading Specialist for a school building.  I believe that I can obtain my masters in about 3 semesters, so my plan would be to attend full time for the spring, summer and fall semesters and try to knock it all out in a time efficient manner.  Prayer is welcomed...I could use it as I get ready to embark on a whole new adventure within my new adventure :).