Waiting

Patience may be a virtue, but it isn't necessarily one of my virtues.

I hate waiting for anything. Autumn takes way too long to come back into season every year, Christmas should be more than once a year, graduations seem to take forever and a day to happen, and no matter how close I am to actually getting a real job, it seems as far away as it did when I was a little girl.

Here are things I am currently waiting on to happen:

• Comprehensive Exam Grades - I took this exam almost a month ago and have yet to hear whether or not I passed. I'm not entirely sure what the hold up is (I have heard rumors that some professors have been sick and others were late getting in their graded portions) but I am definitely ready to know once and for all whether I have to retake them or not. (Hopefully not.)
• Hospital Orientation - I have heard through the grape vine that I have to attend an orientation during the month of December for my hospital placement. I haven't heard anything from this particular hospital ever - just that I am supposed to report there in a few weeks. Is it very hard to send a confirmation email so that I can get a little more sleep at night? Here's a weird thought for you: really, all I want to know is what color scrubs I get to wear.
• Hospital vs. School - On the subject of hospitals, I would like to know once and for all which setting is the best fit for me as an employee. I am definitely leaning towards the school system right now (mostly because I love being part of a school community and really zeroing in and helping my students long-term). But part of me is tired of waiting to see whether I will sink or swim in the hospital.
• Location - I am waiting to figure out where I will live this time next year. I love Augusta and I have met some amazing people, but I hate being this far away from my best friends and family. Most of my family is over two hours away and my best friends are either back home or in Valdosta (or at least south of Macon). I am considering moving closer to home next summer. We'll see.
• Mattie's next vet appointment - Mattie has had some health scares lately and I have been concerned about her since we moved here back in August. Her November appointment at the vet will really be a big deal in letting me know what kind of shape she is in.

That's it in a nutshell--at least for now.

Seriously?

Seriously.

I kind of love my life :)

This weekend, I went home to celebrate my friend Abby's wedding and to watch the Georgia Tech homecoming game with my family.

Abby was a beautiful bride and I was so happy for her on her special day! She had asked me to be a part of the wedding a few months ago but I didn't really know specifically I would be doing to "help" her. But my name was in the program (how cool is that!) and I got to serve at her reception. I have to say (without any bias at all), that I am the queen of serving punch, haha. She and Doug are spending the next week in Jamaica (jealous!) scuba diving and whatnot. Can't wait to see the photos from the honeymoon - I know they will be gorgeous.

And now the subject of college football.... What an incredible weekend! First off, Texas (barely) beats out Oklahoma in the annual Cotton Bowl! I didn't get to watch the game because I was at the wedding, but I got my dad and brother to send me text messages to keep me updated. It's too bad about Sam Bradford getting hurt again, but I'm pretty sure that Texas wouldn't have pulled out a win without that injury. Praying for a speedy recovery for Sam.

Six o' clock comes around and my whole family is gathered around the television, Quizno's in hand, in great anticipation of the matchup between the #4 ranked Hokies and our #19 Yellow Jackets. WHAT a game. We yelled, we screamed, we groaned. But we pulled off a win! And if you have a spare moment, you should check out today's AP rankings. The Yellow Jackets are now #11.

Seriously?

Seriously.

Overdue

I have been a little absent (okay, a lot absent) from the blog scene as my life has been a little bit crazy over the last few weeks!

An update on my last post... We are still in the process of screening all those kindergartners. Turns out finding enough hours in the school day to get all 98 of them screened is easier said than done. But I am still chugging away with my hours (I think I have around 80 or 90 now!) and loving all my kiddos at the elementary school. Although I have come away with some crazy new stories and scars (not kidding), I have also come away with a ton of new friends at the school and will hate to tell them goodbye at the end of the semester. (So I'm trying real hard not to think about it.)

Anyway, I guess you might could deduct the fact that I was absent due to studying for my comprehensive exams - which I purposefully have not even mentioned (on blog or on facebook) until this point. Everybody gets so worked up about these exams and they don't stop to realize that they have already put in the time and effort into studying for comps. Get it? We already studied for the classes and the tests once and the questions aren't going to change just because the big test is comprehensive. Does that mean that we don't have to brush up on some things? No. But every girl in my class is more than capable of doing well on the big test, and I believe that we all did well. There just isn't a reason to stress out about it. We all have to have confidence in ourselves! Don't doubt that we haven't studied enough because we have all passed these courses the first time around. No stress needed. Stress causes you to do stupid things - like forgetting something that you know.

That is the attitude that I walked into comps with this morning and I left feeling... confident. The exam was not nearly as bad I had anticipated! We'll see how it goes.

In other news, I start full time next week, meaning that all 49 kids on the caseload are my responsibility for 4 weeks. I am excited about the challenge and ready to see how I respond to the pressure. I am anticipating a lot of laughs! Like today....

One minute, the 4 year old I was working with was sitting up in his chair and the next, I see his feet fly through the air and he jumps up really quickly and exclaims,

"Howy Cwap! I din see dat won comin!"

Seriously?

Seriously. :)

The Fluharty-2

I am literally up to my eyeballs in Fluharty-2 protocols.

The county decided that it would be mandatory for all speech teachers to screen all the kindergartners at their schools for possible speech and language problems. Lucky for my mentor, this means that she can carry out our normal, busy schedule without major interruption while I sit at a tiny desk on the kindergarten wing pulling five year olds out of class all day long. I am not really complaining about skipping out on therapy because I am getting some serious hours (98 kindergartners x 20 minutes a piece!) and I love meeting all the kids. But this is some seriously tedious work.

The first couple of kids were really fun. I enjoy giving tests and really love scoring them and figuring out all the normative data (I think this is the math geek in me). But after ten speech and language screenings, I could quote the protocol from memory. I feel like I will be saying, "Look at this page and tell me what you see" and "Put the yellow block between the white block and the blue block" in my sleep tonight....

Here are some hilarious things that the kids said during testing:

• Man, I'm doing awesome!
• I am so good at this.
• We brush our teeth because if we don't we will get sugar bugs.
• You a good speet teeter because you pitty. (Kid after my own heart... who is also going to be referred for articulation therapy, haha.)
• (The question prior to this answer was "How do you know if your shoes are on the wrong feet.) That's easy. Red is right and black is left. (To which I asked, are your feet different colors, and homeboy lifts his feet up into the air above the desk and says...) See? The red spiderweb means it goes on my right foot. I NEVER get it wrong. (Thank goodness for Spiderman sneakers.)

Seriously?

Seriously.

What a day, what a day...

Note: to any of you reading this (that includes you, Dad), I would rather this not get back to my mother, okay? No need to worry her over something that resolved itself in no time at all.

I woke up this morning with some serious stomach issues. Whatever, right? I'll drink a Carnation Instant Breakfast and get on with my day. Little did I know that the "rich milk chocolate" taste of the Carnation Instant Breakfast was the result of my little stomach problem.

Ten minutes later...

Dizziness? Is this normal with stomach problems? It was like the whole room was shaking and I couldn't make it stop. You know how sometimes when you close your eyes you get this kind of shaking sensation? Well, mine didn't stop when I opened my eyes. One call to the UrgentMD people (where I calmly explained that I felt nauseous and dizzy and that I assuredly was NOT pregnant) and I get a little "over-the-phone" diagnosis of dehydration and maybe a tinge of food poisoning. They asked me what I had eaten over the last 24 hours and I said, "About 4 glasses of Carnation Instant Breakfast. Then they told me to check the label on my milk. Oops.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I drink about a gallon and a half of milk by myself every week. It is seriously a staple in my diet. So I never have to worry about milk expiring (or even checking the date on the carton) because I always drink it well before it goes sour. Well, I went home for Labor Day and my half empty gallon just say in the fridge all weekend. Actually, it sat there a couple of days past its date...

Anyway, I think the reason that I didn't notice that it tasted weird was because I kept mixing the Instant Breakfast powder with it. So, I was drinking slightly spoiled milk for about 2 days. The folks at the doctor's office said to drink plenty of liquids and to come in if I got started to throw up--which, thankfully, never happened.

So I got to feeling much better (after calling in sick at work and taking the day to rest and drink lots and lots of water and Gatorade) and then, all of the sudden, game time sneaks up on me. For anyone who watched the Georgia Tech/Clemson game, you have to know that I was one gigantic ball of nerves up until a minute before the end. I think I almost threw up just from the nerves. But, miraculously, we pulled off the win by getting a field goal with a minute to go.

Seriously?

Seriously.

When Life Hands You... Slaps in the Face

We all knew this day was coming--the day when I discovered that my perfect little students were, in fact, not perfect. Gasp! Shocking, I know.

This day got started on the right foot. I was early to school, actually found both shoes that I was looking for (one of the nuisances in my life has been finding the match to the shoe that I want to wear to work on any given day), and I ate a super healthy breakfast (part of a little pre-Christmas weight loss plan). So when I show up to my first therapy session of the day, I am all smiles.

This particular student has misbehaved several times during therapy in the past few weeks, but this morning, he donned a big grin and seemed to be in a good mood. "Seemed" is the operative word here. Ten minutes into therapy he has not only poked me in the stomach (hard!) but also SLAPPED me in the face (equally as hard). So I have a nice little bruise in the corner of my eye from where his fingernails made contact with my ocular bone.

The rest of the day really didn't improve from there. I'm taking the night off to rest, renew my mind (and try and convince myself that tomorrow will be better), and get psyched for the return of "So You Think You Can Dance" and the premiere of "Glee!"

Seriously?

Seriously.

Labor Day Fun

How did I spend my Labor Day?

I slept until almost noon. This rare occurrence was greatly cherished this morning as I did not have anything special to do until after lunch. It is amazing how much you take "sleeping in" for granted during college. This used to be a weekly thing for me. Now, I am lucky to sleep in once a month. Needless to say, it was wonderful.

For lunch, my mom grilled bratwursts on the grill. They were fantastic! Even Mattie got to sample a piece of the action since Mom let me cut up one of them for her. I covered it in ketchup and mustard and put it in her dog bowl as a little Labor Day treat. I wish I had taken a picture of the yellow and red stains it left on her face!

After lunch, we went to go visit one of my old neighbors in the nursing home. She didn't know we were coming so it was nice to surprise her. She was hospitalized a few weeks ago for a broken hip (I think) and she had a stroke while in surgery. She is doing a lot better than expected and even recognized my brother and me and said our names!

Then, on a whim, I decided to create a Fantasy Football league in lieu of the upcoming NFL season. I don't really know anything about the NFL at all, but I think I will win the whole thing.

Seriously?

Seriously. :)