Morning Constitutional

Every morning, I drive to the park adjacent to school and park my car at the bottom of a hill. Then, I climb the hill to my building and attend classes for three and a half hours. Today was different. I drove to the park, parked my car and looked at the sky. In five minutes, it had turned from light gray to black. The breeze died and as I walked, cotton filled the air around me. The entire atmosphere changed in an instant and I felt a few drops of rain hit my face. As I walked through the tall, thin conifers, the wind picked up, the cotton swirled and the sky grew menacing. I am often struck by God's creation as I walk up the hill, and today was no different. But today, instead of realizing the beauty, I reveled in the uncertainty and power that weather presents. And how amazing is its Creator.

School and Such

I'm smack dab in the middle of crazy-busy school right now. Only two and 1/2 weeks left, but it feels like an eternity. Hung out with my great friend Anna tonight. Part of the evening was spent drinking a nonfat, caramel macchiato with a double shot. Yes, a double shot at 9:15 p.m. The result is Kate being WIRED at 12:19 a.m.
I have another test tomorrow - my third this week and I have two still to go! But, at the end of this session, I will have 10.5 credits more toward my degree! But I hope I haven't killed 10.5 million brain cells due to the stress and cramming.
One more item: it is h.u.m.i.d. outside. It's like looking through a dirty window. And the heat will show up tomorrow. Suffice it to say, no pictures of my hair for the next two months. Heat+humidity=Crazed Coiffed Kate.
I'll try to post again before the session is over, but no promises. Although, if I have another double-shot, you may get another post! Off to lay in bed with my eyes open for two hours.

The Stress

I should have known this would happen.
A tiny comment from a friend sent me into gulping sobs today.
The dog watched with sympathetic eyes until I quieted myself.
Why do the everyday concerns about life, friends, marriage and school all seem to hit at once?

A New 'Do

Relatively new - I got my hair cut about two weeks ago. I'm not sure about the bangs straight down in front. Usually I "swoop" them to one side. But, the hairstylist assures me it's cute this way. This pic is taken first thing in the morning. I have to leave my hair slightly damp to prevent frizz later and I hadn't stepped out into the humidity yet. So, this is the best my hair ever looks. Enjoy!

(Sidenote: Don't you love the burned-out student look after only three days back in classes? Complete with dark circles and droopy eyes.)

The Hazy, Crazy Days

I may be a little insane.
After deciding that I should graduate in August 2009, I signed up for five summer classes. The U has five different summer sessions, but 3 1/2 of my classes fall during the second session. Five weeks of intense reading, writing and rising at the crack of dawn. Today was my third day of class: I had 5 chapters of reading due, a map quiz, and a meeting with our class "PR "client" for the group project. This is all by the THIRD day!
The only thing getting me through is the fact that in five weeks, it will all be over. Actually, less than five weeks now! I'm already a little happier!

The bathroom project has begun:

(Yes, there is a missing wall.)

I rescued this cute guy from the street.















(He hung out while we waited for animal control. I hate calling them, but what do you do without a collar or tags?)

We went camping and boating with friends on Memorial Day weekend...















...where I got a sunburn that led to this:















I know - it's gross. But if you can't show the gross stuff, what's the point?

Eric took this Monday night. No touch-ups! We have had crazy weather lately - the tornado sirens wailed for 1 1/2 hours tonight. And a torrential downpour led to water in the basement. Not a lot, but enough to make our next project to install drain tile along the property line to divert rainflow.














Have a lazy summer for me!

This is the 106th post I have posted!

And on that note, I'm off to interview for another internship today. I feel like all I do lately is interview, send resumes and plead for letters of recommendation from my sources. The internship today is at an insurance company (yes, I know, insurance) in the HR department. I feel like the job would make great use of my skills, I could learn a lot and this is required for my degree. Pray for me and wish me luck!

Also, I could leave the horrors of retail and have evenings and weekends with my husband and dogs! I can't imagine what that would be like! (That is, if Eric can make his evenings and weekends free!)

The most boring day ever...

If you're wide awake and but should be sleeping, keep reading. If you want to congratulate yourself on how exciting and spectacular your life is, keep reading. And if you want to the know the unretouched and honest details of how I spend my nonwork and nonschool days, keep reading.

Let me set the stage: I cleaned the house yesterday. Scrubbed the bathroom (BLECH!), vacuumed and dusted all the dog hair into oblivion (although, the winter coats are still shedding. Am I crazy?) and did the final two loads of laundry (that have yet to be folded). My friend's message at 3:09 p.m. which began with, "I'm headed to the pool. Drop everything and come!" was obediently heeded and we finished off our swimming with pizza and wings. (mmmmm...) That's not the boring part, but here it comes...

Today, I woke up to the humidifier beeping its full-of-water alarm. I emptied it, started to make pancakes, found out there were no eggs and walked to the grocery store. I finished the pancakes, ate four (small) and started to read "The Last King of Scotland." I didn't wash a single dish, fold a single piece of clothing and watched a boring movie on TV. The ONE bit of excitement was a phone interview for yet another internship (please let this be the last interview!) and a trip to Lincoln for Eric's licensing class. Now, realize that the five sentences above constituted a whole eight hours. What lazy bum I am! But you have to reach rock-bottom before real change occurs.

"Every morning you are handed 24 golden hours. They are one of the few things in this world you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn't buy an extra hour. What will you do with this priceless treasure? Remember, you must use it, as it is given only once. Once wasted, you cannot get it back." - Anonymous

How do you motivate yourself when a day stretches empty before you?