I watched Life as we Know it last night. Have you seen it? It won't be winning a ton of awards anytime soon, but it was cute. There was a babysitter named Amy in it. She was awesome with their daughter so they called her the baby whisperer. That's kind of how I've felt this summer. I've been babysitting for two families consistently this summer. For one family I babysit 8-12 hours a week, and for the other I babysit 11 hours a week. Sometimes it fluctuates a bit - I have a 9 hour day coming up for a family! Sometimes I'll babysit for other families here and there. It's no full-time job, but anybody who thinks babysitting is a piece of cake obviously hasn't done it before. Thankfully, there are plenty of cute moments that make it worth it. What are some funny/memorable babysitting experiences you've had? I guess it's preparing me for when I have kids (in the VERY distant future).
Robert should be headed to the airport now. Their trip back is about 30 hours. It takes longer to come back because of the direction of the wind. Also, their layovers are a bit longer on the way back. I get to meet him at the airport tomorrow! Yay!
I officially have 13 days til I'm done with summer school. Thank heavens! I made a narrated PowerPoint for the first time this week. Now all that is left is to give a group project presentation and write a "brief" report. Could the word "brief" be any more vague? I will have 21 days off before the fall semester starts. Any suggestions for how I should fill me time? I need good relaxing/fun ideas!
There's a 30% chance of rain coming up soon. Fingers crossed!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Jack of all Trades
I think the best way to describe my summer so far would be a blur. The summer has been packed with classes, boring reading assignments, studying, writing papers, making presentations, babysitting, exercising, and babysitting some more. Just call me the Jack (or Jane) of all trades. I have had such a weird perception of time. At some points it feels as though time is flying by (i.e. I'm about to complete twelve graduate hours in nine weeks!), but at other times it seems like time is standing still (i.e. Will summer school ever end? It's been going on forever!) Do you ever have weird perceptions of time? I feel like I'm the only one. I'll talk to people about how I'm in an eleven month masters program, and they'll say stuff like, "Oh, that'll just fly by!" While I'm glad they don't say stuff like, "That'll feel like forever," it leaves me feeling like a weirdo for thinking time is slowly ticking by. Whenever I think about it like I've completed 15 years (skipped third grade, graduated college in three years) of formal education and have 1 year to go it feels cool, but when I think about it like I've only been enduring this torture for seven weeks but have about 36 weeks to go it feels like forever. These four classes have been totally brutal. I have six classes and my capstone left. I go between thinking, "That's not bad. I'm 40% of the way finished," and "I'm only 40% done? I have to do this six more times? I'm never going to making it." I'm probably the only person who thinks about this kind of stuff. Now you know what's going through my mind.
I was taught quite the lesson in patience this week. I'm basically the perfect example of type A personality. Wikipedia describes type A as: ambitious, aggressive, business-like, controlling, highly competitive, impatient, preoccupied with his/her status, time-conscious, and tightly-wound. Yep, that's me in a nutshell. I've always been the "work first, play later" type of gal. Anyway, with these online classes I've been having to wait on the professors and students A TON. Usually, with a class I try to get everything done ASAP. The first few days/weeks are intense, but after that I can chill. Well, with these classes I have only been getting on assignment at a time. It's totally not the way I roll. Needless to say, I have absolutely NO control over the situation. I would never say, "Hey you - professor who is 20 years older than me who has a PhD - do things the way I want which is NOW." Totally not socially acceptable. So I've waited. And guess what! Everything is turning out okay. Weird. ;)
Robert comes home in exactly three days! Take a moment. Let it soak in. I've made it 80% of that way. Only 20% more to wait. When Robert comes home I'm never letting him leave again. Just kidding, but he needs to stick around for a few weeks at least. I've gotten several emails from the team and from Robert. God is doing great things in SA.
My mom's middle sister (Dana) has been in town this week. She was here to re-decorate Memaw's sunroom. It looks beautiful now! The color theme is yellow, green, red, and white. Totally not Christmas-y though. It's super cute! Dana brought her adorable nine-year-old Corgy, Danny, as well.
I'm watching the Cardinals play the Mets. Right now it's 4-4 in the bottom of the 7th. Let's get it, Cards!
I was taught quite the lesson in patience this week. I'm basically the perfect example of type A personality. Wikipedia describes type A as: ambitious, aggressive, business-like, controlling, highly competitive, impatient, preoccupied with his/her status, time-conscious, and tightly-wound. Yep, that's me in a nutshell. I've always been the "work first, play later" type of gal. Anyway, with these online classes I've been having to wait on the professors and students A TON. Usually, with a class I try to get everything done ASAP. The first few days/weeks are intense, but after that I can chill. Well, with these classes I have only been getting on assignment at a time. It's totally not the way I roll. Needless to say, I have absolutely NO control over the situation. I would never say, "Hey you - professor who is 20 years older than me who has a PhD - do things the way I want which is NOW." Totally not socially acceptable. So I've waited. And guess what! Everything is turning out okay. Weird. ;)
Robert comes home in exactly three days! Take a moment. Let it soak in. I've made it 80% of that way. Only 20% more to wait. When Robert comes home I'm never letting him leave again. Just kidding, but he needs to stick around for a few weeks at least. I've gotten several emails from the team and from Robert. God is doing great things in SA.
My mom's middle sister (Dana) has been in town this week. She was here to re-decorate Memaw's sunroom. It looks beautiful now! The color theme is yellow, green, red, and white. Totally not Christmas-y though. It's super cute! Dana brought her adorable nine-year-old Corgy, Danny, as well.
I'm watching the Cardinals play the Mets. Right now it's 4-4 in the bottom of the 7th. Let's get it, Cards!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Session 2
On Friday I will officially be finished with session two of summer school. Yayyyy! The lame thing is that my two online classes span session two AND three so the fact that session two is ending doesn't mean I'm finished with more classes. However, it does mean that once this week is over (Friday) I just have three more weeks before I have officially made it through summer school. August 4 = no more summer school for me ever...hopefully. I'll get almost three weeks off (20 days to be precise), and I plan to live it up. Starting off the break by spending a lovely weekend away with Robert's family which will include hitting up Schlitterbahn. I've never been there, but I've heard it's pretty sweet! Then when we get back Robert and I will hop in the car with my parents and venture to McKinney, Texas to visit Mom's middle sister, Dana. I haven't been there in about a year and a half, and Robert has never met Dana or her husband so it will be great! Plus there is soooooooo much to do in the Dallas area. Once we get back I'll stick around home for a week and a half and spend my time babysitting, sleeping, and staring at the wall (I'm seriously looking forward to that bit). Robert starts RA training August 12. It'll be lame because he'll pretty much have about 2 seconds of free time each day so we can't hang much, but that means I'll have more time to stare at the wall!!! Maybe I'll even go help him unpack and get ready for the year. Two gold stars for being the girlfriend of the year! ;)
I've been learning a lot lately. Of course, I've learned a lot in my classes, but God has been teaching me even more this summer. These classes have revealed to me yet again that I CANNOT do everything (or anything for that matter) without Him. When I started summer school I literally thought I was going to go insane and drop out. I would repeat, "God, let your strength and peace flow through me," to myself and pray that it would be true dozens of times throughout the day. When a situation arrived where I felt unsettled, overwhelmed, or frustrated I would repeat these words to remind myself that God is here. He's here when I recognize Him, but He's even here when I don't recognize Him. With God's help I've been able to learn that I don't have to do everything on my own. I can always rely on Him, and I can even count of close friends and family to lighten my load. Believe it or not, but they actually enjoy helping me. With everyone's help I managed to get A's in my first two classes. I am positive I couldn't have done this alone.
So now when I start to feel overwhelmed and get the jitters that were my close companion during session one, I remind myself that God was there then, and he's here now.
I've been learning a lot lately. Of course, I've learned a lot in my classes, but God has been teaching me even more this summer. These classes have revealed to me yet again that I CANNOT do everything (or anything for that matter) without Him. When I started summer school I literally thought I was going to go insane and drop out. I would repeat, "God, let your strength and peace flow through me," to myself and pray that it would be true dozens of times throughout the day. When a situation arrived where I felt unsettled, overwhelmed, or frustrated I would repeat these words to remind myself that God is here. He's here when I recognize Him, but He's even here when I don't recognize Him. With God's help I've been able to learn that I don't have to do everything on my own. I can always rely on Him, and I can even count of close friends and family to lighten my load. Believe it or not, but they actually enjoy helping me. With everyone's help I managed to get A's in my first two classes. I am positive I couldn't have done this alone.
So now when I start to feel overwhelmed and get the jitters that were my close companion during session one, I remind myself that God was there then, and he's here now.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Ridin' Solo
It's been another busy summer week. Last Saturday Robert, Grant, Kelsey, and I went to Pomme de Terre lake. Super fun! We grilled hotdogs, swam in the lake, and hit up 3 G's for some frozen custard once we got back into town. Later that evening my parents came home from El Salvador. It was great to hear their stories. They finished the foundation and got about two rows of blocks laid for the walls. They also met some wonderful people. About three hours later my brother came home. It was a bit strange for me to go from being queen of the house to sharing it with three other bodies. I think we've all adjusted now though.
For fourth of July we kept up the Grabowski tradition of eating dinner at Memaw and Pepaw's house, shooting off fireworks, and then going to the town firework show. It was good to see people and catch up for a bit, but it was also semi overwhelming to see so many people I know all at once. You can only say, "Hey! How's it going?" so many times before it gets old. After the show we went swimming and called it a night.
I got a facial Tuesday. :)
After Robert finished work on Tuesday we drove to his house, ate dinner, went swimming, caught up with his friends, and spent the night. Robert woke up early on Wednesday to get his 21 year old license. He also got his mom's old car (2006 Toyota Camry) which is a nice upgrade from his 1999 Ford Ranger. Here are some pictures to accompany the process.
It was nice to have a week of not having to drive to and from Springfield. For the rest of the month my two classes are totally online. I'll wrap things up by going in for face-to-face class three days in a row the first week of August.
Robert and I watched the first four parts of "Africa" a National Geographic special to get pumped up for his trip.
On Friday we went to Incredible Pizza with our family friend Carl. Robert's dad was heading back home from Alabama and got to stop by to join us for dinner.
Robert and I had to say goodbye on Saturday. I've known for months that this day would come, but as it grew closer it made me increasingly sad. It's so tough because I can't beg him to stay. After all, he's going on a mission trip to share God's love with others. Can't blame him for wanting to join in on this cool adventure. The trip is July 10-23, but they left Bolivar on the 9th, spent the night in KC, and drove to the airport today. They get back super late on the 23rd so they'll spend the night in KC and drove home on the 24 which means he's officially gone July 9-24. That's 15 days, about twice as long as we've ever been apart. I'm trying not to be a pansy, but it seems like FOREVER. I have some school work and babysitting to do which will occupy some of my time, but mostly it's just more fun to do things together. We might just be studying, but at least we're doing it together. We might just be eating dinner and watching the Cards play, but it's so much more fun to do it together instead of alone.
Oh and my one and only task from Robert while he was gone was to feed his fish every day and water his flowers every other day. I went in for day one this morning. The fish was dead. I'm a bad girlfriend.
For fourth of July we kept up the Grabowski tradition of eating dinner at Memaw and Pepaw's house, shooting off fireworks, and then going to the town firework show. It was good to see people and catch up for a bit, but it was also semi overwhelming to see so many people I know all at once. You can only say, "Hey! How's it going?" so many times before it gets old. After the show we went swimming and called it a night.
I got a facial Tuesday. :)
After Robert finished work on Tuesday we drove to his house, ate dinner, went swimming, caught up with his friends, and spent the night. Robert woke up early on Wednesday to get his 21 year old license. He also got his mom's old car (2006 Toyota Camry) which is a nice upgrade from his 1999 Ford Ranger. Here are some pictures to accompany the process.
It was nice to have a week of not having to drive to and from Springfield. For the rest of the month my two classes are totally online. I'll wrap things up by going in for face-to-face class three days in a row the first week of August.
Robert and I watched the first four parts of "Africa" a National Geographic special to get pumped up for his trip.
On Friday we went to Incredible Pizza with our family friend Carl. Robert's dad was heading back home from Alabama and got to stop by to join us for dinner.
Robert and I had to say goodbye on Saturday. I've known for months that this day would come, but as it grew closer it made me increasingly sad. It's so tough because I can't beg him to stay. After all, he's going on a mission trip to share God's love with others. Can't blame him for wanting to join in on this cool adventure. The trip is July 10-23, but they left Bolivar on the 9th, spent the night in KC, and drove to the airport today. They get back super late on the 23rd so they'll spend the night in KC and drove home on the 24 which means he's officially gone July 9-24. That's 15 days, about twice as long as we've ever been apart. I'm trying not to be a pansy, but it seems like FOREVER. I have some school work and babysitting to do which will occupy some of my time, but mostly it's just more fun to do things together. We might just be studying, but at least we're doing it together. We might just be eating dinner and watching the Cards play, but it's so much more fun to do it together instead of alone.
Oh and my one and only task from Robert while he was gone was to feed his fish every day and water his flowers every other day. I went in for day one this morning. The fish was dead. I'm a bad girlfriend.
Friday, July 1, 2011
98 Degrees and Rising
Remember the band "98 Degrees." Oh man. Anyway, it was 100 degrees yesterday. Hello, summer!
I finished week one of summer school session 2-3. For the duration of sessions two and three (six weeks) I have two different classes going on. One is totally online - entrepreneurial communication. Each week I read about 150 pages of journal articles, listen to a narrated powerpoint lecture (10 minutes), answer 5-7 questions about the readings, most those answers on the discussion board, respond to two people's posts, do a case study (apply something I learned this week to an entrepreneur). The final project is to conduct a phone interview with two social entrepreneurs and make a presentation with my findings. For the other class (communication consulting) we met this week Tuesday-Thursday in person, then it'll be online for four weeks, and it'll wrap up with Tuesday-Thursday in person on the sixth week. It's basically the same weekly concept. The final project is consulting for a make believe company.
I don't know if anyone else feels this way (I realize I'm neurotic when it comes to school work and scheduling), but when I get a syllabus I want to get everything done right away. I would rather have a couple of weeks of insanity and then several weeks of relaxation instead of a few months of a steady flow of relative insanity. What about you? Needless to say, the first free weeks of a new term are usually pretty chaotic for me.
My parents have been in El Salvador this week. I'm so jealous! They get home tomorrow. Can't wait to hear all about it. Also, Jim and Amanda get home from New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania tomorrow. Is it wrong of me to have a bit of a pity party over the fact that I've been studying and going to school the whole time my family has been traveling the world? My life is lame. Guess I need to work at coming to terms with the fact that my life is going to be less than fun for the next 10.5 months. I can do that for 10.5 months, right?
I finished week one of summer school session 2-3. For the duration of sessions two and three (six weeks) I have two different classes going on. One is totally online - entrepreneurial communication. Each week I read about 150 pages of journal articles, listen to a narrated powerpoint lecture (10 minutes), answer 5-7 questions about the readings, most those answers on the discussion board, respond to two people's posts, do a case study (apply something I learned this week to an entrepreneur). The final project is to conduct a phone interview with two social entrepreneurs and make a presentation with my findings. For the other class (communication consulting) we met this week Tuesday-Thursday in person, then it'll be online for four weeks, and it'll wrap up with Tuesday-Thursday in person on the sixth week. It's basically the same weekly concept. The final project is consulting for a make believe company.
I don't know if anyone else feels this way (I realize I'm neurotic when it comes to school work and scheduling), but when I get a syllabus I want to get everything done right away. I would rather have a couple of weeks of insanity and then several weeks of relaxation instead of a few months of a steady flow of relative insanity. What about you? Needless to say, the first free weeks of a new term are usually pretty chaotic for me.
My parents have been in El Salvador this week. I'm so jealous! They get home tomorrow. Can't wait to hear all about it. Also, Jim and Amanda get home from New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania tomorrow. Is it wrong of me to have a bit of a pity party over the fact that I've been studying and going to school the whole time my family has been traveling the world? My life is lame. Guess I need to work at coming to terms with the fact that my life is going to be less than fun for the next 10.5 months. I can do that for 10.5 months, right?
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