I think I can I think I can I think I can

In five days I will be finished with my first semester of grad school.  Crazy!  Just to give you a picture of what my life has looked like the past two weeks and what it will look like for the next week I decided to break down my weekly time commitments:
23 hours babysitting
29 hours in class
12 hours driving to and from class
20 hours studying
TOTAL: 84 hours of "stuff" each week.  That's more than two full-time jobs.  Now I know why I've been running on empty.  When I showed Robert my calculations he said, "That's why you freak out."  He knows me too well.  I am so stinking pumped to only have class in person six times from June 28-August 5.  The rest will be online.  I'll save 12 hours a week by not driving to and from class.  I'll also only spend 3 hours a week in "virtual class" instead of 29 hours a week in real class.  It's going to be amazing.  Then when I have class three days a week in the fall it'll feel like a cake walk.  Plus I'll only be babysitting 19 hours a week then instead of 23.  Talking this out with you helps me a lot.
My last day of class is Sunday.  How lame is it that I have class from 9am-6pm on Father's Day?  Here's hoping for an early out.
Robert's birthday is Wednesday.  The big 2-1!  He's going home for the weekend to go to a Cardinals game.  Good present, Ray and Serina!  We're celebrating Tuesday with a lunch party.  I'm so thankful for my handsome, smart, funny, caring, ambitious man.  He's such as blessing in my life.
I'm getting so antsy about my car.  If you'll recall, it was supposed to be here around May 20, then it got changed to July 4, then June 13, then June 15, then June 16.  It's June 17, and it isn't here.  Hello!?!
I had a group presentation for class on Thursday.  We made a guide to WordPress and presented it to Sister Victoria at McAuley Counseling.  I think it went well!  Today I had an individual presentation for Alpha House.  It feels good to be finished with that!  At this time tomorrow I will have finished my first 3 hours of graduate work.  30 to go!  By Thursday I'll have 6 hours done, 27 to go.  By August 5 I'll have 12 done, 21 to go.  That's right.  In 6 weeks I'll be over 1/3 of the way finished.  Crazy!

Robert singing at the First Friday Art Walk to raise money for his mission trip to South Africa.  He still needs about $500.  Let me know if you're interested in supporting his trip financially.

Summer project - before grad school!

Since my parents weren't around for my first week of school, this is the traditional "first day of school" picture...only it's the 7th day of school.  Robert sneaked in the picture.  This was taken one day after he had his wisdom teeth taken out.

Almost halfway

I've made it through nine days (eights days of class, one day off).  I have eleven days to go (one day off, ten days of class).  I finally feel like I've done the amount of work that needs to be done at this point.
I just got the syllabus for one of my two July online classes.  It doesn't look too bad.
How do you guys focus on today and what today requires?  How do you avoid thinking about that big _______ (meeting, appointment, assignment, etc.) that's next week or next month?
Let's focus on non-school stuff for a moment.  Robert got his wisdom teeth taken out on Thursday, and he's doing okay.  Still pretty swollen.  He's also tired because he's still on the prescription pain killer.  I think he might attempt to go back to work tomorrow.  We shall see.
Babysitting Cooper and Miles has allowed for a break in my classes and studying.  It's nice to think like a little kid for a bit.  I told the boys Robert was working.  They asked if he was saving up for a John Deere Gator like they are.  Oh man. haha On Friday Coop asked if Robert was blind.  I wonder what prompted this.  They've known each other for over a year.  Coop has seen Robert drive his car, read, and pick him up - all things that require being able to see.
Mom and Dad finally got home on Friday.  They had been gone for a week and a half.  It's nice to have my support system back.
My brother's basketball team won the Portuguese basketball national championship.  Very proud!  He'll be back in about two weeks which will be cool.
Robert's sister (Bethany) got engaged.  They're getting married at a country club in KC on September 3.  Congrats!
I've learned a ton about delegating and prioritizing in the past week and a half.  I CAN let others help me.  They want to because they love me.  I am blessed.
Lastly, I got a professional head shot done for class yesterday.  Enjoy. haha

Amy in survival mode

I've made it through three days of summer school.  Sixteen days to go.  It's completely insane.  I don't have time to describe it all right now, but it includes writing a billion papers and reading a trillion journal articles and textbooks.  A basic synopsis: I've held back tears during class each day so far.

The end of Summer

Bet you didn't know it's the end of summer.  It's time to buy new notebooks, make sure the old backpack will make it through another year, grab so pencils, and put on your thinking cap.  Well, it's time for me to do those things at least.  After seven short days of summer break it's time to start thinking about school again.  I start at Drury in just six days.  It doesn't feel real.  I just graduated from college where I felt totally safe - lots of friends, professors knew me, I knew where are the classrooms were, the hours of the library, how to get around time.  Now it's time for this next step - a place where I don't even know the name of the street it's on (Drury Lane, seriously?), where the library is, I don't have an ID card (been in three times.  I'm not in "the system."), I'll be a part of a cohort of nine other students who just so happen to be Drury alums who will know everything about Drury and will definitely be in "the system."  What do I wear on the first day - do I go for the typical first day of school look (jeans, nice top, dressy sandals), the "I go to grad school" look (khakis and a dress shirt with dress shoes), or the "It's summertime, baby" look (shorts and a t-shirt)?  Do I take my laptop?  Is the professor going to present everything at lightning speed?  Is my first day of class seriously going to last the whole time (9:00am-6:00pm)?  I could easily list a dozen more hypothetical questions right now.
When people ask what I'm doing next and I tell them I'm going to grad school at Drury they've all seem totally taken aback.  Apparently it's crazy to start a graduate degree two weeks after you finish your undergrad (maybe so).  Or perhaps it's the fact that I'm too young (yeah, I'm only 20).  Or that the program is packed into a year (but it's still four terms.  It's not like I'm fitting two years' worth of stuff into two semesters).  Plus, I figure it'll be easier since I'm already in full-time school mode.  It won't be weird to be in class and study each day.  I think it would be more difficult to graduate SBU, take a few years off, get used to working 8:00-5:00, get used to having a steady income, and then go back to full-time school, only make money from a part-time job, and be lectured all day.
At this point I just need the first day to get here already.  At this time next week I'll know the answers to all these questions.  Until then...

Another Week Passes

Another eventful week. :)  Robert started getting the ball rolling for his summer job.  Did I mention this before?  He'll be working at the church 30 hours a week doing janitorial projects (cleaning the carpet, painting, mowing), living in the dorm as the summer RA (this will only include two weeks of work because that's the only time his dorm will have campers, but the rest of the time he gets to live there and eat for free), and about 10 hours a week at the school cafeteria.  Hopefully he'll be doing some yard work for neighbors.  If you need any yard work done or have random projects let us know!
I'll be babysitting and taking classes this summer.  I'll be babysitting Cooper and Miles for my dear friend Carey three days a week.  Getting to hang with their family is such a treat!  I'll continue to watch them three days a week during the fall semester.  And in the fall I'll be babysitting for some SBU professors three days a week.  They have a very precious 14 month old little boy who will be fun to be around too.
Robert schedule his wisdom teeth extraction time this week.  Eek!  It'll be at the beginning of June that way he can get all healed up before he goes to South Africa.  He's going on a mission trip with our school and will be gone July 10-23.  He still needs about $1000.  I'm not sure if anyone actually reads this, but if you're able to donate and would like more information just write a comment or send me a message.
Bummer news: Wednesday the Ford dealer called which got me totally excited.  He said that Ford orders are really backed up, and my car won't be here til the first week of July.  It's a bummer because it was supposed to be here within three weeks from now.  The biggest deal is that I'll be driving to Springfield (60-70 miles round trip) to go to school six days a week for the month of June.  That's about 1500 miles ish.  It would be awesome to have my car then because it'll get 40-48 mpg while my current car gets 22 mpg.  Boo!
Also, it's been a total debacle with my Drury email stuff this week.  As I suspected might be the case I'm already out of the loop since the other nine people in my cohort already go to Drury.  I'm the only one without a Drury email, and the professor has been sending up important emails apparently.  Sweet.
I'm the RA on call this weekend so I'm working in the dorm office for seven hours.  Then I get to babysit my dear friend Elise's little sister Christi.  Should be fun!  Robert and I are leading music at the Encounter tomorrow at church.  You should come!

Insanity

I started doing Insanity this week.  I know how it got it's name.  So sore!

Robert had his spring choir concert on Tuesday.  His mom (Serina) and sister (Bethany) got to come down which was a special treat.  His dad (Ray) is in DC on business right now so he couldn't come.  All of us had dinner with my parents before the concert.  Pike Auditorium is being renovated right now so the concert had to be at First Baptist Church.  The choir did a great job!

On Wednesday I took a major step into the grown up world.  I went to Drury and officially signed up for classes.  This summer will be intense.  I'm sick of people reminding me of that though.  I realize it, but when people comment about it, it freaks me out, and we all know I don't need that.  This summer will be the most packed semester of the entire degree.  I'll be taking twelve hours.  One class (Entrepreneurial Communication) will be going on all of July and August, but it's online so I can kinda go at my own pace.  Communication consulting will be going on throughout the entire summer.  It's a hybrid class (some seated time but mostly online).  Monday-Thursday I will have introduction to graduate studies, but it only lasts for June.  The craziest class will be Social Media Certificate.  It's three weekends in June, Saturday and Sunday from 9am-6pm.  Let me do the math for you.  That's nine hours a day for a total of eighteen hours for three weekends in June.  Gives new meaning to Sunday School.  July and August will be totally awesome thought because it'll just be the online and hybrid classes.  I'll have two weeks off between graduating SBU and starting at Drury which is sweet.  I get 4th of July (Monday) off.  Plus I will have about three weeks off between summer term ending and fall term beginning.  It seems like I'll have plenty of time to re-cooperate between sessions.  Anyway, so I signed up for classes on Wednesday and got a parking pass.  I'll go back later to get my picture ID taken and printed.

Last night Robert and I got to eat dinner with the Bethells.  What a treat!  We had a delicious meal - lasagna, bread, salad, and strawberry pie.  We got to eat outside since it was so pretty.  Miles just got upgraded from a baby swing to a big kid swing so we had to check that out.  The boys got such a kick out of pretending Robert was a tree and they needed to chop him down.  After that we went over to our friend Chad's house.  He is getting married to Natalie in June, and we hadn't met her before.  She's in town for the weekend so we finally got to meet her.  She's super sweet, and I'm excited to get to know her better.  We played a crazy game called Curses.  It was super fun!  Chad and Natalie will be living really close to my parents and grandparents too!

Next week is pretty busy.  I'm trying to make myself study a bunch today.  Academic goals: Advanced Public speaking - practice presenting my rhetorical criticism speech on Apple, Medieval and Renaissance Literature - Work on research paper and study for test, Communication Theory - Study for test, American Public Address - Read.  Time to get started!