graduation

My graduation was on Saturday. Hooray! I thought I would point you in the direction of my graduation pictures. There aren't many - just a few.

Click to see more

I graduated magna cum laude. Fancy schmancy, I know. The morning was awfully chilly, but it sure did heat up. We all ended up with sunburns.

This week has been a mixture of relaxing and household chores so far. I've been looking on craigslist for job opportunities, but there aren't too many out there right now. Luckily, Tim said it was okay. I don't have to take a job just to have a job, so I can wait to find something I will really love. My husband is so good to me. I will show my appreciation by taking care of lots of household stuff in the meantime.

47 days til graduation

Life has gotten a little less crazy hectic, but I'm not sure if that's good or bad yet. School is slower now than before spring break and that is definitely a good thing. I do have a few papers due this week and a test on Thursday. I was stressing out at first until I realized that so far I have at least 100% in all of my classes. So, um, ya. I'm going to unstress and just take it slow. ;) I don't feel like doing homework tonight, so maybe I won't.

Our kitchen is also coming along slowly. Tim finished all the plumbing and electrical work last week. We had the inspector come look at things before we could put up the drywall. Everything Tim did passed. However, our stupid window guys suck. They had to re-stucco parts of the wall after their work. Well, they used ROOF paper and DRYWALL nails. If you think that those don't sound like the right tools for stucco, you'd be right. Plus the inspector was supposed to look at their work before they put up the stucco. We aren't pleased. These people do this for a living. Are they really this idiotic or were they trying to get away with something? In any case, they'll be coming back to do the work for free if we can ever get them to call us back and tell us when. At this point, their mistakes are seriously holding up the rest of the work that needs to be done. We were hoping to get the drywall up and start putting up the cabinets this past weekend. :/

Since Tim couldn't do any more kitchen work this weekend and I didn't have too much homework, we actually had some time together for fun. Yesterday we went to the winery that we are members of to pick up our quarterly selection. We also stayed for a bit of wining tasting and then had a picnic in our backyard. Very nice indeed. It will be really great when things calm down around the house again so that we can have more weekends like this one.

We also finished our taxes yesterday. Though it started out scary a few weeks ago and I was afraid we were going to owe a lot, we actually got it so that we get about a $5K refund! Hooray for itemized deductions!

I got a letter in the mail today from SFSU. It says they have approved my application for graduation, as long as I pass my current classes. HOORAY! This degree will finally be over in just a month and a half!

Yes, this has been a good day. Maybe I will go outside and enjoy the sunshine for awhile.

eternal schoolwork of the braindead mind

I studied for seven hours today and I'm still nowhere near ready for this test on Tuesday. So far, I've outlined all the chapters and looked for common themes (it's an essay test). Tomorrow I get to memorize. All the articles make sense to me individually; I just need to make sure I can come up with all the concepts needed for the essays on the spot. Luckily, besides my internship tomorrow until 1pm, I have no other obligations besides studying and writing a 5-page essay. Yep, that's it. Ugh.

Then I have another test on Wednesday that I haven't even started studying for. I'm not even going to think about it until this other test is over. But it shouldn't be too difficult. Though it will also be essay.

Then, this coming weekend is the beginning of Spring Break! Woo! Well, I've decided I will take that first weekend completely off from school work. But starting next Monday, I have to work on my 10-page research paper and the beginning steps of a couple other projects. Plus I'm doing extra internship hours that week. I dream of days when I get to come home and not have to worry about school work anymore. Only two and a half more months. Only 11 more weeks. Only 73 more days. I won't think about it that way, actually, because that makes it sound like a long time. I'll go back to only 11 more weeks.

I took a little time off from school stuff yesterday to do some yardwork. Though I'm sad that the nice sunny weather went away before the weekend. I got most of the front courtyard all weeded. I love all our yards and courtyards and beautiful plants, but man is it going to take a lot of work to keep them maintained. That's what I will do with all my spare time after I graduate. That and knitting, which I haven't been able to do for awhile either. I think I will go knit at the coffee shop next weekend too.

My life is so exciting right now. This is why I do not post often :)

Oh, our kitchen is still disassembled. Tim is working on the electical wiring. He also needs to do some plumbing work and then get that stuff inspected before we can put up the drywall and it can start looking like a kitchen again. We're trying to decide whether we really want to go with ceramic tile or if we want to go wish some type of linoleum or something. Though I love the look of tile, we're afraid it might be too hard (being right on top of a cement slab) and I'm also worried about cleaning the grout and if stuff will get stuck in there. Any input? We picked out our kitchen faucet yesterday, though we still haven't decided on a sink. We need to do that pretty soon so that Tim can do the plumbing.

Anyway, I ramble. Goodnight :)

workin' for free

I had an interview at a possible internship placement this morning. It seemed to be exactly what I was looking for and they liked me too. Now I just have to wait for my advisor to approve it. Funny how she's been looking (ya, right) for a placement for me since September and hasn't been able to find anything near my house. I started looking last week and I already have a good one. It's been a long struggle with her but hopefully it's almost over.

Oh, and a friend who I haven't seen since September came over yesterday and she asked right away if I've lost weight. Woo!

yay

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR WINTER!

lots of counting down

One final tonight
One final tomorrow
3 projects due Wednesday

Then a month off to visit family and work on the house.
Then one more semester.
Then I find a job that I actually like for once.
No more corporations. Ever.

Chaos

Semester's end is always so busy. Add on top of that the new house needs and there doesn't seem to be much free time. Moving into a house that you own is SO MUCH MORE work than moving in to a new rental. Oh my goodness. We are having people over for Thanksgiving in two days and we have so much more to do before the house will be presentable (and usable in order to cook a turkey and other things!).

So many papers due in the next few weeks, so many final exams and projects. On top of that, I'm stressed about my internship for the spring semester (which the internship advisor doesn't seem to be working very hard to set up). I really don't have time to find one on my own. December 15th....if only I can make it until then, I will have a month off for travel, housework, and maybe even some time for myself and my hubby and even some of our friends!

I can't wait to post some "after" pictures of our house. Tim and I decided that we are going to keep a list of all the improvements that we do, for out own amusement and appreciation of our hard work. We're also still trying to deal with all the people who are trying to rip us off, but hopefully those will be settled soon - one way or another.

Life goes on, one day at a time. That's the only way I will get through all of this chaos.

blah

So you wanna know how my morning has been so far? Let's see, I drove all the way to campus (45 minutes) and parked way out in BFE and walked all the way to campus and to my classroom to find out that my one and only class today was cancelled. Then I walked back to my car and started driving back home only to find out that the traffic on the way out of the city was horrible. I really don't mind that class was cancelled, because that means I got to come home early and start the tons of homework I have to do today. I just would have much rather have wasted that two and a half hours by sleeping in instead.

p.s. the entire end half of my left big toenail seems to want to fall off. ouch.

ramble

If I could teach the cats to fetch the phone for me, I don't think I would mind them going on the counters.

Random thought, I know.

So I ended up dropping my research class. Knowing that it was only the second week of school, the big projects hadn't even started yet, and I was already overwhelmed by the enormous amount of work I had to do made me come to the conclusion that it must be done. I think it will actually fit okay in my Spring schedule and I can still graduate in May. If not, they will probably let me walk in May anyway but I will just need to take one summer class that will last 5 weeks. Whoopdedoo.

Now I have my sanity again. And time to be excited about the house. I OWN A HOUSE. I had nearly forgotten. We close the day after my birthday - September 24. Of course, we can't move in until November because the people selling the house hadn't even started looking for a new one yet so renting the house from us for 45 days was part of the contract. It makes things difficult. Especially for Tim. He is more obsessed than I am. He is already looking at lighting and garage doors and stuff. All I care about is paint and plants. And maybe window coverings. I think I might sew some curtains myself. And maybe kitchen counter tops. I think we're going to Home Depot to look at counter tops later today. We are going to make our kitchen gorgeous.

Okay, ya, now I am getting more excited.

classes are going to keep me busy

Ya, it's only the second week of school and I already can't keep up with all the reading. I have a feelilng that this semester is going to cause a LOT of stress. Just to freak myself out even more, I decided to jot down on a sheet of paper all my major assignments due this semester (both by class and also by date - yes, I'm a freak). It doesn't even include all the reading that I have to do each week. The list is realllllly long (as seen below).

In case you are wondering, I am taking 18 units this semester. Classes are: Art for Children, Infant/Toddler Development, Transitions in the Family Life Cycle, Action Research Methods in Child and Adolescent Development, Observation and Assessment with Children, and an Internship at the Child Study Center on campus (which counts as a individual study course too, but I'm mostly doing it just for the experience).

So the internship is 8 hours per week (4 hours both on Wednesdays and Fridays). The interns are the preschool teachers, plus there is a one-way mirror for other students to observe - hence the name Child Study Center. But in addition to the assignments listed below, the internship also involves planning and implementing a curriculum project each day that we meet. We also have to keep a journal and have certain focus topic questions assigned to us each week that we have to write up our answers to, plus we are assigned two children who we need to write observation reports for each week and compile their work and progress in a memory book which we give to their parents at the end of the semester. So on top of keeping up with all the course readings and curriculum projects, my assignments/exams are:

9/15 - Internship - Journal due (just focus topic questions)
9/21 - Research - Internet assignment due
9/28 - Family Transitions - Exam
9/29 - Internship - Journal due (focus topics, child observations, curriculum write-up)
9/30 - Research - Literary critique and bibliography for paper due
10/5 - Research - Quiz
10/6 - Internship - My week to pick out 8 library books and read to the class
10/13 - Internship - Journal due (focus topics and child observations)
10/13 - Observation/Assessment - Exam
10/14 - Research - Literary review of 5 journal articles due
10/18 - Infant/Toddler - Research critique #1 due
10/27 - Internship - Journal due (focus topics, child observations, curriculum write-up)
11/1 - Infant/Toddler - Exam
11/4 - Family Transitions - Exam
11/8 - Infant/Toddler - Infant Observation paper due
11/9 - Research - Book report due
11/10 - Internship - Journal due (focus topics and child observations)
11/15 - Infant/Toddler - Research critique #2 due
11/17 - Observation/Assessment - Exam
11/23 - Family Transitions - Research paper due
11/23 - Research - Exam
11/24 - Internship - Journal due (focus topics, child observations, letter to parents, curriculum write-up, rough draft of memory books)
12/1 - Observation/Assessment - Child Observation paper due
12/6 - Infant/Toddler - Toddler Observation paper due
12/7 - Research - Paper due and Presentation
12/8 - Internship - Finalized memory books due
12/8 - Observation/Assessment - Group debates in class
12/8 - Art - Project due (model unit with 3 lesson plans & art project), Presentation of project, last day to turn in 5 papers on theory (which can be turned in any time during the semester)
12/13 - Infant/Toddler - Final Exam
12/14 - Family Transitions - Final Exam
12/15 - Observation/Assessment - Child Assessment paper due

I'm also supposed to be able to find time to move into/paint/unpack our new house around mid-November.

Yes, I do believe I am crazy.

Too Busy

So extremely busy finishing up the semester. I haven't had time to pick up any knitting needles even for five minutes. Three finals and two papers due next week. After that I'll have some time to knit a little before heading off to Italy. YAY

Haven't forgotten about that hat picture either. Just haven't had a chance.

Now I'm off to a class to do a presentation.