Ugh!

I'm in a rather depressing mood right now. So please bear with me if you intend to read the rest of this post. I'm in need of some retail blog therapy. Wait, I wouldn't just go out and buy things to make myself better, would I? Probably not, but it seems to work with other people, thought it might work for me.

Needless to say... I am done with that oh so easy Hearing Scient test. And let me tell you... it was a joke! At least in my eyes! When the heck did we learn how to draw amplitude spectra? Seriously!!! That is really the only part of the test that I am frustrated with. The rest of it wasn't exactly easy, but at this part... I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING! Thus, the second I exited the classroom I whipped out my book to see just exactly what I was supposed to be doing and wouldn't you know, that didn't even explain how to draw it! Or at least to my knowledge! I am extremely anxious to see just how we were supposed to answer that question. There were questions that I knew, questions that I thought I knew, and questions that I bull'd my way through. Maybe I'll at least get a C or better... that is what I am shooting for. You know that when I am shooting for a C, something went a little wrong.

And it's not that I didn't not study, but probably didn't study the material he was putting on the test enough. I did look over the chapters both last night and this morning. No, I didn't cram... that doesn't work for me, but simply reviewed the main points a few times. It seemed to help a little bit. Ahh... I feel better now!

And tonight I am going to Stomp with my best friend and her parents. She kind of wants to go out aftewards, but I'm hoping we just stay in. The home body that I am, lol! And tomorrow is tattoo time! Will definitely make for a great end to my week! The roads are not that bad either and with the sun shining, I am anticipating a rather good drive to Green Bay!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

All Over The Place

My head has been all over the place this week. And this week has definitely been filled with its ups and downs. I was determined to have a great week despite whatever was put in front of me. I knew that I could get through it and everything would still be great. The power of positive thought, right my friends? Plus, as I've been reading so often, with God all things are possible. I tried and I tried, and even after a mixed Tuesday night, I was still determined to make the week great. Then came Wednesday night along with it... lots of downers for me. I was pretty bummed last night, but today was a new day and once again a new outlook. I've revamped my attitude (it needed a little adjusting) and set off to finish my great week in great week style. Sound like a plan? Does to me... only that we are supposed to be getting 10 inches of snow tonight! I love Wisconsin (insert sarcasm here)!

I have so much rolling through my mind right now that I actually made a list of topics to blog about. Has anyone ever done that? Probably not because I am a little OCD like that, or maybe just plain crazy. You'll take me either way, right? Thanks, thought so... anyways, this is not a new thing for me because back in high school I used to make lists of what I wanted to journal about as well. That way I was able to write and write (it's totally therapy for me) and get everything out of my head and onto paper, in this case into the computer and broadcasted on my blog, and then feel like a weight has been lifted. Plus, the longer that I ramble on the better I feel, even if I am just typing about the nonsense that I call my life.

Let's start with the crummy weather that is supposed to be coming. Oh wait, as I write that and look out the window, it looks like it has arrived. It wasn't snowing five minutes ago when I sat down and logged onto the computer, but it is coming down pretty steadily now. Just great! Like I said before... we could get up to 10 inches of snow tonight! I know, it's winter... it's Wisconsin, did you really think we were done with the snow? No, I didn't, but I can wish, right? Actually, as long as the roads are drivable I don't mind it so much. I'm not the one who has to plow it and so forth. Jay is anticipating a long night (it is 2:42pm as I write this)... I know that he enjoys it though! I really hope that the roads are okay tomorrow afternoon when I am planning on travelling though. My friend was hoping her boyfriend would come visit her tonight. She lives in Green Bay and he lives in Neenah. I told her she was crazy for thinking that, hasn't she been watching the weather. She should be telling him to stay home and not worry about it. And he would be crazy to go out and try to visit her. In any case, it's their lives... I know that is how I would be. But my friend can be a little selfish like that at times. And it is not just the snow, it's the wind as well. It is really blowing out there!

Okay, enough about that depressing weather (well depressing to me, maybe not you) and on to the test that I totally blew out of the park today! That's right my friends, I totally aced it. Well, I think I totally aced it. It was my social gerontology test and I really didn't study for it last night and only moderately studied for it today with a group of friends. I was a little nervous how it would go, but the questions were super easy, especially for a blue book exam. And if you don't know what I mean by blue book, then be happy because you don't! It's completely ESSAY! In some respects I like writing tests better because you can talk your way around things and in other respects I don't because then if you completely don't know what they are asking you are screwed!

(8:13pm now) Looks like we got about 4-5 inches of snow thus far. For the time being it has stopped snowing, but the radar is showing that another band (if that is what you want to call it) is on it’s way. I wonder if we will get anything from that or not because if not, then the weather people were pretty off on the totals that we were supposed to get. Not that I mind less snow, no way what so ever…

I’m putting off studying, yet again! I did get some studying in, but I am having just the hardest time concentrating on this material. Half of me feels that I know a lot of the stuff (definitely not all of it) and the other half of me is thinking, girl are you nuts, you need to get your nose straight back into that text book. So, I took a break from my studying and decided that I am going to finish up this post (however long it may end up being) and then study a bit more before ER is on and then during commercials and then again some more in the morning. Sounds like a good plan to me. It always hard to gauge how much you need to study for the first test from a professor because you don’t know his/her testing procedure until after the first one.

I talked to my mom and she said that she would kindly help me with my taxes if I came and visited her next weekend. After all, we haven’t seen her in a couple of weeks and she is going to be home as so are we. Because my earnings are work study and they don’t take out federal taxes for that, I am not sure if I am going to get any sort of refund and didn’t think it would be right to pay to get my taxes done if I am not even getting a refund when my mom could help me out. She is really good with all of that stuff. Not that she likes doing it, but then after that I can get my financial aid stuff completed as well. Oh, I am just looking forward to that so much! Lol!

Today while I was at work my co-workers were having the funniest conversation about Facebook. Apparently they are all pretty newly acquainted with it and think it is the coolest thing ever. Now I’m not so sure it is… as I’m pretty addicted to blogging, but it definitely ranks up there. Anyways, it was too funny listening to them talk about it and how they were accepting friends and all that good jazz. I’m sure it is pretty exciting when you first get it, but I’ve been an addicted member of Facebook for almost two years now. Totally still logging on a million and one times a day!

Jay and I have had some pretty rough nights this week. Well okay, it was just Tuesday night and Wednesday. We have definite communication problems that we are trying to work through/have been trying to work through for some time. It is so back and forth with us. We’ve only ever come close to breaking up once about two and half years ago, but ever since then we’ve had major issues that seem to simmer under the surface just waiting to boil over. We definitely have our good times/days/weeks, but then things sort of cumulate and we argue. No couple is perfect and it would be foolish to say that I want us to be. We continue to grow together and will work things out because we want to be together. Sometimes I think there will be a point where we can get past it all and other times I wonder if that point will ever arrive. But enough deep stuff for now… I’m trying to make the end of this week a good one, right? Not going to dwell on two semi upsetting nights when tonight has been great! We ended up having some pretty good talks after our ‘arguments’ and went to bed happy. You know the saying, never go to bed angry!

Today after I got home with Ayden from school, we all went outside to play. It was snowing like crazy and pretty windy, but all bundled up we didn’t get very cold. Plus I promised Ayden that we could go out so we did. Jay even came out with us. I was totally not expecting that, but was glad that he did. We had snow fights and shoveled a little bit (even though the snow was coming down so fast that it really didn’t matter what we shoveled) and tubed down the hill.

Still with me?! Hope so… Have a STELLAR night/day/afternoon (whenever you happen to be reading) this my friends!!!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Still Flying High!

It has been precisely two days since I have found out that I am going to grad school in the fall, and still I am flying high. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet… I am graduating, going to grad school… it feels a little more final if that makes any sense?!

I have been receiving accolades from just about everyone. I found out that the two other girls in my class that applied got in as well. I wasn’t expecting anything other than that. I am wondering if they accepted anyone else and/or how many other students? I’m sure only time will tell. It feels nice to have people tell me that they didn’t have any doubts about me getting in because personally, I was really nervous about it. I had NO back up plan as to what I would do if I didn’t get in. It was I pretty much had to or sink into a deep depression. Anyways, I probably talked enough about this in my last post that you are sick of it… I’m just still feeling so grateful and blessed that it worked out this way!

The speech students still haven’t heard whether they got in yet or not. I am not sure when they are going to hear, but I do know that a lot of them are more nervous now that they know letters have gone out. Although, they have many more applications to go through on that front so I can see why it would take them longer to decide on who is going to be accepted or not. It just blows my mind what the professors have to decide upon!

My therapy session went pretty well on Monday. My supervisor said that she thought it went great… me… I just thought okay. We did get a lot of god productions in spontaneous speech which was good. She also liked lesson plan for Wednesday so that was good. I am now able to punch out my reflection and lesson plan in under and hour. It is nice that it is coming easier and easier to me. I am anticipating another good session tomorrow!

I had my audiology clinic today and I finally got to do something. My grad student mentor was out sick so it was just me and my supervisor. I was a little intimidated at first and freaked out because I knew that she was probably going to ask me to do something. Have I mentioned that I really need to refresh myself with all of that good stuff? Anyways, she had me do otoscopy (which is look in the client’s ears) and that went well. I was nervous, but remembered how to do that. And then I was able to do pure tone testing (on the new audiometer, yeah!) and that went well too. At least for my first time. It was kind of hard to discern whether or not the client heard the sounds because s/he kept the button down most of the time so instead of watching for the light like usual, I had to watch his hand and whether or not he was pushing the button. But my supervisor said that I did good for my first time so I was happy with that. And I will only get better with practice.

I really need to start studying for my tests at the end of this week. We were finally told what we would be tested on for our sociology test. Doesn’t make me feel any more confident about it, but that is probably because I haven’t done any actual studying for it. I am supposed to be meeting up with a classmate tomorrow morning to study for hearing science. It would probably help if I actually got my butt off of here and went through some of that stuff. Can’t you tell that I am really trying to get out of it, lol! I’m ready for this week to be over!

I cannot wait to get my new tattoo on Saturday! Not looking forward to the pain, but it is going to be lots of fun!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

You see…it wasn’t ME!

Back again for another round of Not Me Monday! I mean it could not be Monday already, could it? And because it couldn’t be Monday, it could not be time for another round of MckMama’s wonderful great Not Me’s!!! After checking out mine… head on over to her place and have some more fun!!!

Hmm… what would it be that I could not possibly have done this past week? What could not have happened to me this past week? What am I not willing to admit to taking part in this past week? I’m sure there are a bunch of things (per usual) and here are just a few of them…

…I did not cringe when Ayden was wide awake at 6:30am on Saturday morning. I did not tell Jay to take him upstairs (we were at his parent’s house) and I did not leave Ayden in the care of Jay’s mom for an hour (because she wasn’t already bright eyed and bushy tailed) and sleep just a little while longer. Jay did not slip out the door to go sturgeon spearing!

…I did not get excited to see that my session was cancelled on Wednesday because I was not ready for just one day off. I am the perfect clinician and ready for therapy each and every day and don’t think that just because every one else has had sessions cancelled that I should as well.

… I did get excited on Friday when my hearing science teacher pushed back our test yet another class period. I was not supposed to have tests on Monday and Tuesday of this week… they are now not on Thursday and Friday of this week!

…We have not eaten out at least once a week in the last three weeks. Eating out is not expensive so we should definitely do it more often, right? I would never prefer the easy route of that over a good home cooked meal!

…I totally knew it was going to snow out this weekend and that is so the reason we went home on Friday instead. I was not super surprised to hear we were supposed to get over four inches on the radio. I always keep an eye on the weather and know things like that!

…I did not go to Wicked on Saturday and have an amazing time! I totally regret the show and would not recommend it to anyone. Oh who am I kidding… IT WAS GREAT!!!

…I am not going to Stomp this weekend and getting a new tattoo!

…I did not get my acceptance letter into grad school and immediately have to call my mom and let her know. I never call her with news like that because she’s my mommy. It’s not like she would care. She was not super happy for me!

…I am not counting down the days until graduation and impatiently waiting for Spring Break to roll around. I do not want to high tail it out of this city to an indoor water park with my boys! That would be too much fun, right? I have not looked into water park prices and hotel rates because I am not that anxious about going, lol!

…What have you not done this week?

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Once Upon A Time…

There was a girl that applied to graduate school…

She filled out form after form after form…

She mailed everything in and then started waiting…

She thought she had weeks to wait yet…

She checked the mail one Sunday (you know because she wasn’t home on Saturday)…

She spotted an envelope from the School of Communicative Disorders…

It was a small envelope…

She wondered…worried…what would it say?!?!

She opened the envelope…AND…

 

SHE GOT IN!!!

That’s right, you know when it says ‘Congratulations’ it’s nothing but GOOD NEWS!!!

Oh heck YES!!! I accept!!!

What a GREAT way to end the weekend!!!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Wicked Weekend!

My weekend was pretty amazingly good! It was nice to get away and not really have anything to worry about school/homework wise, however I have to say that other than my clinic stuff, I have been good on the homework. It’s the reading from the textbooks that I am majorly slacking on. But wouldn’t you know, that the tests that I am supposed to be having tomorrow and Tuesday have been moved to Thursday and Friday. Seriously, how great is that?! I was really happy about that because it saved me from having to worry about studying over the weekend. We were gone so my ambition to do any studying really was lacking!!!

We decided to head out Friday night around 4pm so we could get to Hu Hot at a relatively decent time and wouldn’t have to wait in line for a long time. Waiting with an anxious four year old isn’t always sunshine. I think we left by like 4:30pm which was fine. I was slow with the packing and we weren’t really in all that big of a hurry either. The drive to Hu Hot was smooth until Jay and I heard that we were supposed to get four plus inches of snow on Saturday. Neither of us thought we were going to get any snow. Jay said that if he had known he would have stayed here in Point to work. We were both super surprised because just a few days earlier we were supposed to have a clear weekend. Although, we don’t watch the news/weather on a daily basis either and know full well that it can change in a few days. In any case, we made it to Hu Hot just fine.

Our supper was AMAZING!!! This time it wasn’t as expensive because we didn’t get any appetizers or dessert. And we even ran into my cousin Amy. She claims that I made her crave Hu Hot because I had my status on Facebook that we were going and her sister had gone just the night before. Sure… she was just using us as an excuse, lol.. jk! It was nice to run into her and her hubby though! They were just getting their food as were leaving. We had about a five minute wait in line, they had probably a half hour wait in line. Heck, I’d almost wait an hour in line (without Ayden) to get some food from that place. I was excited to go!

Ayden with his crayons and menu at Hu Hot. We were waiting for the waitress to come so we could order our drinks and get up to get going on our super yummy supper! Our waitress was so funny and nice. It sucks when you get someone who isn’t very good. We left her a nice tip! She made our supper even better!

 

 

After our yummy super supper we finished our trip by ending up at Jay’s parent’s house and played Wii with them. It was so funny watching Jay hula hoop and of course he had to try to be the best and win every game. He was even bragging this morning about his high scores that he got the night before. Men, lol!

Saturday was sturgeon spearing for Jay out on the lake. Ayden got up really early which was kind of a bummer because I was still tired. We ventured out in the snow to Jay’s grandma’s (Jay’s mom did all the driving) for a yummy yummy brunch. We all gathered because Jay’s aunt was home from Iowa and we don’t get to see her often (and she doesn’t get to see us often either) so it was family visiting time. It was fun and the food was so yummy and we got to see people try and make it off the lake on a steep slippery road. That was rather amusing, lol!

Unfortunately, Jay didn’t get a sturgeon this year. He didn’t even see one which kind of sucked, but he didn’t seem as mad this time after he was done. We spent the majority of the day down at his grandma’s house. Finally got showered and ready for the play (Wicked) at around 2pm. We left around 4 (back out in the icky snowy crappy weather!)…

Wicked was AMAZING!!! I’m so glad that I went, definitely worth the money (even though I got my ticket as a Christmas present). We were really far back though, third row from the back. I really wish I would have brought my glasses along because then I would have been able to see better. It wasn’t as bad when the stage was lit up, but on the darker scenes thing tended to blur together a little bit. Even so, it was really good! I had even reminded myself earlier in the week to bring them so I would be able to see better. The three hours that the play was went really fast, although I started to get a case of restless leg syndrome towards the end because of having to sit still so long.

The group that went to Wicked… minus Jay’s grandma… the ‘Cook’ women!!! Aren’t we a great bunch?!

Today has been just one of those lazy days. We chilled at Jay’s parents this morning and got home around 2pm. I’m doing laundry now and catching up on all of my blogs. Always fun to read a bunch when I don’t go on the computer for a few days. Just having a relaxing afternoon at home. It was nice to get away, but it is always nice to come home as well. Even if sometimes I do have to deal with noisy neighbors.

Jay thought that maybe next weekend he would go to state wrestling (especially if anyone from our home town made it, I mean his dad is the head coach after all), but he told me today that he was just going to chill with Ayden next weekend and forgo state. Especially since he/we will be travelling the following weekend for the little kids tournament that he will be reffing for. And it’s for sure… I’m getting a new tattoo next week, well pending decent driving weather for me. I won’t drive if the weather is bad.

CIAO for now… laundry is calling!!!

LOVE ME!

Duddy Duplex

Last night Jay called me right after his night class to let me know that we could finally go look at his (and JT’s) friend’s duplex that I had previous talked about. I was like… OMG, serious!? Because I had pretty much given up on going to look at it and was really trying to not get my hopes up. The whole way there I really didn’t get my hopes up either because I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be something that we wanted. As it turns out, I was right.

Don’t get me wrong, the duplex was really nice, for a single person or a couple, but for us (meaning with Ayden and all the toys he comes with) it really wouldn’t be worth it. The place is smaller than our current place. Pretty much like our old apartment with a basement. The plusses were the great yard and two car garage and not having to pay for water. The minuses were the smaller rooms, higher electricity and having to pay for heat (which in the winter would probably end up costing us more than where we are living now).

In the end, I was glad that we were able to look at it so I didn’t have to wonder anymore and really I wasn’t all that disappointed when we left because I hadn’t gotten my hopes up. It’s not that we are actively looking to move, but if the right place comes along, we might just jump on it. Because really the only negatives where we are now is the fact that we have neighbors and it is not a private residence. I really like the layout of our current place and our rent is fairly cheap for what other places like ours are going for. For example… a new complex (huge!) went up last year and their apartments are almost identical to ours (and our building is only like 7 years old) and they are charging upwards of $715/month for our size place. We pay almost $100 less than that for our place. And really we haven’t had any major complaints. Still happy with our place!

The plan for the weekend is still pretty much undecided. Jay is pretty sure that he wants to go home tonight sometime because sturgeon spearing is still open. I haven’t decided if I want to go with him tonight and all of us just stay the whole weekend or me and Ayden go home tomorrow in time for me to make it to the play. I’m leaning towards us all going home at the same time because then we don’t have to take two vehicles and I don’t have to drive. Plus, then I will be able to go out on the lake tomorrow with Jay and Ayden and get some good pictures. I was sad that I missed that opportunity last weekend (even though Jay’s mom did get some). And I know that even if I did stay here in Point until tomorrow afternoon, I probably wouldn’t get anything extra done in the area of school/studying.

Plus, if we go home tonight, we might venture to Hu Hot on our way home for supper. We got some teriyaki chicken thing from the grocery store the other night and made it last night, and needless to say, it turned out like crap! And it made both Jay and myself start to crave Hu Hot. I’m all for going, but also know that we just ate out on Tuesday night (right? can’t remember) at Dairy Queen. And ate out the Thursday before at Fazoli’s. Too much eating out for us, but in my opinion we need to take every advantage of Hu Hot that we can because we don’t have one near us and thus cannot eat there every often. Only this time we will forgo the appetizers and dessert in favor of a cheaper bill, lol!

If we all go home tonight that means I have to pack pretty much as soon as I get home from campus today. I despise packing (even though I am really good at it) because I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember. Back in high school I used to live out of a duffel bag between my mom and dad’s house. Oh the joys of that! My brother still does that!

Tomorrow night is WICKED!!! I’m getting more excited about it! There are 11 of us girls going and I’m effectively the youngest. Ah, but that doesn’t matter because they are all part of Jay’s family of which I get along great with. Should, right? Jay and I have been dating for five and a half years now. It will be a good time!

And it seems like next weekend is pretty much a go as far as getting my new tattoo. This is specifically for my cousin Amy (because she asked) but also for anyone else who happens to be interested. You can find a picture of what I’m pretty sure will be my newest tattoo here. I’m thinking about getting it in the top corner of my left foot kind of angled shrunk to about three inches across (and the footprints and ‘believe’ in black). I’ve talked to the tattoo artist and she thinks it should work. I’m super excited and yet a teensy bit worried about the pain. My sister has one on the top of her foot and told me that it definitely doesn’t feel good, but she survived and she is a baby when it comes to pain. Plus, I got one on the underside of my wrist already and that wasn’t exactly a walk in the park either.

Here is a picture of it. It stands for persistence and I am still in love with it after having it for almost four years. I’ve had a few people question my motives for getting it on my wrist. Concerned about future job opportunities. Thus far, haven’t had any problems with that. It’s called long sleeves at the job interview. In any case, if someone didn’t hire me because of a small tattoo, it probably wasn’t a place that I wanted to work at anyways (even though they couldn’t legally not hire me because of my tattoo. Or could they? I don’t know all the rules/laws about that stuff). I also have a baby angel on my back. It’s not so low that you could see it at the edge of my pants if I bent over with a short shirt on, but more in the mid to low portion. The baby angel is sitting on a cloud and has Ayden’s name written above it.

Most of the time I even forget I have that one because I don’t see it on a daily basis. Actually, a lot of the time I forget I even have the one on my wrist even though I see it multiple times during the day. I see it, but don’t really see it, you know. I know, I’m crazy. I was itching at getting something else pierced (do I have some sort of infinity for pain? lol!) but couldn’t think of something that I wanted done. Thought for a little while about the tongue, but thought since I am doing speech therapy that probably wouldn’t be such a good thing.

Okay, I’ve totally rambled on long enough… hope you aren’t sleeping already!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Where’s my shows?

I’m having a pretty great Wednesday (despite the fact that none of my shows were on last night). I think I mixed them up with Wednesday instead. Oh well, doesn’t really matter anyways because I found something else to watch.

Last night I was able to talk to my friend Lee (twice actually) which was really good. He had a court date regarding paternity of his daughter and he said it went really good. I was glad to hear that. Neither of our conversations was very long, but it was nice to talk anyways. He also told me during the first one that he was in a bit of an agreement (for lack of a better word) with a close friend and was actually sick to his stomach about it. But in the span of four hours or so before his second call they must have had a pretty good talk because things were good again. I was really glad to hear that as well! And best part (even though Jay disliked the fact that we talked, and twice) we didn’t argue about it AT ALL! Oh how I love when that happens even more than the phone calls themselves! Great night! Except, the past two nights I have been having a hard time falling asleep. I don’t know why either. Probably because I lay down an hour earlier to watch TV and then try to fall asleep. Oh well, got to sleep in a little bit this morning.

We got the predicted snow that was coming. About two inches and it was the wet stuff that makes every soupy like. Good for the roads because it melted right off and I had no problems with them this morning (other than our stupid parking lot that STILL was not plowed at 10am!). I dropped Ayden off at school and then headed off to campus. I got there a little early and checked to see if my client had cancelled for today (no such luck) and then proceeded to study some hearing science (topic of choice today was… decibels!). I ended up studying with a bunch of people from my class. I would use the term study pretty loosely because we complained more about the class than anything. Although on the bright side, we didn’t have a quiz today!

Actually I think today was one of the best days for hearing science so far because it was a big review day and now I totally know what we are supposed to be studying for our test next week. I feel much more prepared and confident about my lack of knowledge.

After hearing science I was all set to get my therapy materials ready, since I had checked my phone and no call from the parents. I went down to the clinic and checked the board one last time for any cancellations (I mean you never know, right?) and lucky me, my client called and cancelled. Well, actually his dad called and let us know that he is sick today. Poor kid… but I’m happy to have a session off. That means no worries about clinic stuff until Monday when I have it because I already have everything together and ready. Oh how I am so happy about that! That technically gives me more time today to go and work on my videotaped self evaluation, but I am really not in the mood to today either. In fact, I emailed my supervisor and let her know that my plan was to complete the form on Monday. I’m pretty sure that she will have no qualms with that. And with my free time… I am going to go home and watch TV. Okay, so that is probably what will happen (I’m at work right now), but I do have every intention of taking notes for hearing science… AFTER eating some lunch of course.

LATER…

I got home and wouldn’t you know, ate some lunch and then chatted on the phone with my friend until it was time to go and get Ayden from school. Got a whole lot of studying done there, didn’t I? But chatting with her then means I can get some notes done tonight. Especially since neither of the shows that I was anticipating to watch tonight are on. Hello, I thought Paranormal State and Millionaire Matchmaker were on Tuesdays. Apparently I was mistaken. And wouldn’t you know that neither of them are on tonight either. Hmmm… what is a girl to do? Study I guess, or blog, or watch her son play Monster Jam on Playstation.

We went grocery shopping after getting Ayden. Jay said that we didn’t have any food in the house so we went and got some. And then came home and put groceries away and FINALLY got started on my studying. Yes my faithful readers, my hearing science book and notebook is out and I have started studying. Key word… started. It is going to be a long process, lol!

I told Jay tonight about my plan to get another tattoo possibly next weekend. He wasn’t too happy about the idea because he wanted to get our next ones together. Well, he can’t decide what he wants and so on and so forth and I’ve been given this opportunity so I am going to take it. I don’t know. He got kind of huffy about it and then got really annoying. I think he is just jealous. He liked the design I had made up though. I’m excited and hope that my friend’s cousin is able to do them!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Hula Hoop Calorie Incinerator!

I totally rocked the super hula hoop game on Wii Fit tonight and dang if I was huffing and puffing at the end of the three minutes. I will not for a second disagree that I am out of shape, but I totally kicked Jay’s butt in it! And my knees hurt after the three minutes because apparently I’m bad at moving my hips while standing up straight. Don’t know… but I had fun tonight!!! I even unlocked some more games, too much fun!

I am totally sitting on here and blogging when I should be working on my video self evaluation for therapy. We have to tape one of our sessions and evaluate ourselves by answering like four pages of questions. I taped my session on Monday (which wasn’t one of the better ones) and because of confidentiality reasons we cannot take the tape out of the clinic and thus have to answer the questions/review the tape while we are at the clinic. Because Jay picked Ayden up from daycare today, it would have been the perfect time to stay after and watch the tape. First reason I did not… I was lazy and didn’t want to.  Second reason I did not… I was lazy and didn’t want to. Third reason I did not… I hate seeing and hearing myself on tape! So, Jay doesn’t have class tomorrow (but will probably have to work due to the incoming snow) and so I am going to probably stay after tomorrow and watch it and write up my evaluation. I don’t really want to and could probably put it off until next week or whatever, but I might as well get it done seeing I have two tests next week that I REALLY need to get studying for!

My audiology clinic went really well today! I went about a half hour early because there were two evaluations that we were going to do today and I wanted to see most of both of them. We had an adult and a child. Both were pretty cool even though I didn’t really do anything. I got to the adult one just a few minutes after they started and thus missed them doing otoscopy. It would have been pretty cool to take a look into this client’s ears because apparently his ear drums were really sucked in. Something you don’t see very often. Learn something new every day!

Then I had my social gerontology class and that went relatively fast today despite the boringness that usually surrounds it and then work for a little while. I’m really tired today though and that is probably another reason for my slacking on my video eval. I didn’t fall asleep until after midnight last night, even though I shut the TV off at 10:30pm. I had too much stuff running through my mind and no matter how many times I told myself to quit thinking, my mind would inevitably wander off to something else.

We went to Dairy Queen for supper tonight. I was all content to have leftovers at home and really we should probably have stayed, but Jay wanted to go out. I caved and we did. We have never been to Dairy Queen in Point in the almost four years that we have lived here! It was pretty good and then of course we got ice cream! I was a little disappointed at the kids meal and Ayden only getting two chicken strips. Seriously, I paid like almost $4 for two chicken strips, a little thing of applesauce and an ice cream cone. Is that worth it? I dunno… but he ate it all and said he was full so that was good. Jay was pretty happy with his burger and I with mine. Nothing over the top, but better than Mickey D’s I think. We actually haven’t been to McDonald's in a while. Fine with me…

Ayden’s teacher emailed the SLP from our clinic and she said that the SLP would be able to do an informal eval on Thursday so that is good. Like I said, I can tell you the errors he’s making already, what I really want is an opinion on whether or not he should be in therapy for it. I did a little bit of stimulability testing with him tonight for /v/ (the lines and then a letter, mean the sound of the letter) and he was able to make the sound and then we practiced some words. He was doing pretty good, but obviously still uses /b/ in conversation. It’s all a slow process.

I think new episodes of Paranormal State are on tonight… really love that show too!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Up and Down

Kind of having one of those blah days (or at least feeling that way currently as I write this) and it's Monday, ugh another start to another week (but Not Me's make it at least worth it!)...

I got up about a half hour early this morning. My alarm was set for 7:30, yes I know that some would definitely call that sleeping in, heck I think it is too, but if I wouldn't have had the alarm set I would not have got up until probably 8am. As it turns out, I was in the shower by 7am. My body woke me up at 6:30am and I had to pee and I was too lazy to get out of bed, but by 7am I HAD to go and was already pretty much all the way awake.

I got ready for my day and missed my boys. They will be home when I get there in about a half hour, YEAH! I cursed the cat for stinking up the kitchen and living room (I even actually moved to the bedroom to watch TV in efforts to escape the stink and having to actually clean the litter box for the THIRD time this weekend). And okay, so I didn't actually curse the cat either, but I thought it. I also texted Jay and told him what he needed to do when he got home- i.e. clean litter box ASAP! He agreed!

I had my conference with Ayden's teacher this morning and it went really well. She told me mostly good things and many things I already knew. It was reassuring to know that he is doing well and she thinks he is very smart. She did tell me that at some points he can be quite timid. Someone who spends enough time around him like Jay or myself (or even Jay's parents and my parents) would think the kid doesn't have a shy bone in his body. Okay, so we all know that he is shy at first, but after a while. And besides, he has quite the sass as well. But I also know that he is reacting different to authority from other people. He gets very upset easily when he is told he cannot do something by someone other than the people he is most familiar with. As well, his teacher also said that if for example someone takes a toy away from him, my sweet little boy really doesn't care and will walk away to do something else. Now, it's nice that he isn't putting up a fight or hitting and punching said child, but he can be a little more self confident and use his words to let this child know he doesn't like that. If this were the case at home, he would probably launch himself right on top of me or Jay and start wrestling us for it back. It is something his teacher said that she was going to try and work on with him more.

Also, we discussed her concerns about his speech and decided to have the SLP who visits twice a week to work with other children (who also happens to come from 'my' clinic and was my supervisor for the first three weeks of last semester) do an informal test with Ayden, hopefully tomorrow, and see what she suggests. His teacher did state that the SLP had listened to Ayden a little bit previously and stated that he was right on the edge of some sounds. I can tell you right now that he changes /l/ (oops, sorry, using my speech markings with you), changes L like in like to W's so he would say wike. He also changes his V's to B's, G’s and K’s to D’s and T’s. Those are some that I can pick up on off the top of my head, and also happen to be the same ones I am working on with my current client.

Later on tonight… I am feeling a little bit better right now, well my emotional state that is. As I said earlier I was feeling kind of blah. Part of that reason was due to an incident that happened on Saturday. An incident that was completely an accident, yet led to some undesired consequences for a friend which led me to worry pretty much all Sunday and today. I heard from my friend today and although life isn’t perfect, I feel MUCH better about the situation and know that everything happens for a reason. Right? There’s what you do and what you don’t do. There’s believing in something bigger than us. I’m more at peace with it all and it has definitely released some of my tension.

And guess what?! I got to see my boys!!! Oh how I missed my hugs and smooches and wouldn’t you know that I got one of each from both boys right after they entered the house! It was great to have them home again and to love on them! Ayden and I played with his transformers pretty much all night. He got some Valentine’s Day money and I told him that if he did some chores this week he might be able to earn some more money to be able to buy another transformer. He eagerly picked up his toys tonight! I also told him to go into his room to check out his name sign that I made and this is precisely what I heard ‘That’s AWESOME!’ and then he proceeded to tell me that it was his name and spelt it. I was so happy that he liked it!

Other than that it was a pretty low key night. I had a session reflection to write and new lesson plan. Took long enough to do that and now I am enjoying John and Kate Plus 8. They showed previews for next week and I guess they are adopting two puppies! That is crazy! I thought Kate said she would never get pets and then they get TWO dogs! I guess that they have the room now in the new house. All the more power to them! And the puppies looked so cute!

Going to relax a bit and watch the rest of my show. Have my Aud clinic tomorrow… an adult and then child eval so should take up the whole time. Fun fun!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

It’s not Monday, or is it?

What is so great about Monday that I would start my post for it the night before… Not Me Monday of course! I’m ordering you (because it’s my blog and I can do that) to head over to the brains behind this wonderful blog carnival… MckMama’s lovely awesome blog… Trust me, it will not make your Monday all that much more brighter. Wait, oh yeah, it will!!!

I am not sitting on my couch tonight (Sunday) wondering where this past week went because I remember every moment of every day and time never goes too fast for me. In fact, half the time I wish it would go even faster! It’s not like Ayden can grow any more than he already does every day!

I was not looking forward to spending some one on one time with my little munchkin this weekend when Jay said he was going to stay with me. I was not just a little disappointed when Jay decided Ayden could go with him. My disappointment did not only last for a few minutes when I realized once again I was going to have the weekend to myself.

I did not bribe my child with a new transformer if he behaved all weekend long. I did not tell him I would be calling to check in on him to see if he was being a good little boy. I did not bribe him with a new transformer because he did not break the one I got last week already. He is always careful with his toys and we never have anything break in this house. I did not get great reports about him all weekend long!

I did not sleep great in the bed by myself all weekend… I did not wrap the blankets tight around me and have great dreams… I did not sleep in until 9pm both Saturday and Sunday morning!

I did not spend most of the weekend in front the TV getting some relaxing done. I totally regret that and wish I would have been at least a little more productive. Oh wait, no I don’t! Considering both next weekend and the following weekend I am not busy doing anything and probably will have hours upon hours to relax.

I did not get a call from Jay tonight saying that they were staying at ‘home’ for yet another night. I am not upset by this because I was not looking forward to seeing my boys tonight and sharing my bed again (even if I do sleep better alone). I am not craving for tomorrow afternoon to get a big hug and smooch from my guys! I most likely will not sleep well tonight because I have the bed to myself again.

I am not going to see Wicked this weekend with the gals on Jay’s mom’s side of the family. I am not stoked about it because it is said to be a totally horrible production and has not gotten any good reviews at all. By the way, anyone reading this… have you seen it? What did you think?

I am not having a hard time coming up with things I did not do this past week… so what did you not do? I’m sure it’s something fantastic!!!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I hope that everyone is having a stellar Valentine’s Day… well that is, if you like to celebrate it, and if not, I hope you are having a stellar Saturday!

My weekend is going pretty darn great (for the most part). My Friday afternoon was quite relaxing which I enjoyed. I did not do a whole lot, but that was okay with me. I missed my boys, but know that they will be back soon enough!

Last night, I went out to get a few groceries and then stopped at Red Box to get two movies. I really wanted to get the movie The Secret Life of Bees, but the one at Walmart did not have it. Bummer! So I went to the Red Box at Walgreens and wouldn’t you know, they didn’t have it either. I settled for No Reservations and The Eye… one chick flick and one scary/suspense one.

After my late supper last night I crawled into bed around 8pm with my friends Ben and Jerry and popped in the chick flick movie. As much as I like scary movies there was no way that I was going to be watching one at home alone and in the dark… nope, not me! No Reservations was pretty good and by the time it was over at 10pm I was definitely ready to go to bed.

However, I didn’t really sleep all that well last night. I cannot pinpoint the reason why, but know that it probably had something to do with the constant flux of thoughts running through my head about every gosh darn topic that I could think of. Anyone else have that problem? When all they want to do is sleep… and they cannot shut their mind off? Anyways, it seemed like I was waking up every two hours or so. Which means… I so slept in this morning! I didn’t get out of bed until 9am, even though I probably checked the clock every half hour from 7am.

This morning I ran a few errands and semi finished up a the project I was working on… this is what it looks like laying on my kitchen counter. I have to actually glue the ribbons on yet and then paint the sides of the circles. I cannot wait to put it up in his room!

I also watched my second movie this afternoon. Thought it would be a good time to watch it because it was nice and light out. It actually didn’t turn out as scary as I thought it might which was definitely a plus. I thought it was pretty good, but not the best. After returning my movies, I ventured into Walgreens to see if they had some of my face wash because I was in need of some and didn’t want to run all the way to Walmart if I didn’t have to and they had it! Actually, they have a lot more stuff that I thought they would. Goes to show that I haven’t been in a Walgreens in a very long time. I do remember that we found Ayden’s favorite nuks at a Walgreens, oh wait… or was that the County Market. Lol, I can’t remember, but he was definitely a nukaholic!

Talked to Jay a few times today. He didn’t have any luck in the sturgeon department. He didn’t even see anything. He did let me know that there were a few tragedies out there today. Unfortunately someone’s truck went in near the crack and two (possibly three) lives were lost. My heart goes out to those families. I could tell that it kind of shook Jay up because he mentioned it a few times while we were on the phone. Probably because it happened so close to where he was fishing. He said that it kind of puts a whole damper on the weekend, which I can imagine. I guess the locals all kind of band together during sturgeon spearing.

On a brighter note, Ayden was very well behaved today at the wrestling tournament which was good. I was unsure how he would be because it was an all day thing. He is pretty excited to go out on the lake tomorrow as well! I’ll just be happy when they get back home.

As for me… I anticipate I will probably relax in front of the boob tube tonight and snuggle up with a quilt and finish up my visit with Ben and Jerry. They left last night after I got too full, lol! Tomorrow might find me getting something productive done. But it is always to just chill for a day and get some of your mental energy back. Mine was kind of lacking yesterday (especially in my darn hearing science class).

Speaking of that class… so I read the material for it, like all 10 pages or whatever and we got our quiz and I was so ready to ace it because I actually read and even understood the material. I get the quiz and start reading the questions (mind you a 6 question quiz) and what the heck, ended up with only three right. Seriously, I think I’ve failed every quiz so far. The questions he puts on these things, OMG! Like you need to memorize the pages word for word. I was a little disappointed because I know I need to do well on these quizzes to do well in the class. Maybe I should take the hint and read more than once? I don’t know, and like I have the time. Maybe I should be reading my hearing science now instead of blogging. Ha, I’m not that ambitious.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Get the hint?!

I have the stupidest neighbors ALIVE, or at least the most inconsiderate!!! It’s a Thursday night… it is 8:44pm and I can hear the actual words of their music through the wall OVER my louder than average radio playing. You’d think they’d get the hint that when I turn my radio up it is a sign that they  have their music TOO FUCKING DAMN LOUD!!! Sorry for my language, but I’m just a bit frustrated right now. Seriously, this is pathetic!!! It’s a WEEK night! I’m not saying I’m trying to sleep or anything or Ayden for that matter (as he is gone right now), but what if I were?! I’d understand if it was the weekend, but HELLO!!! It’s like they knew the second that Jay and Ayden were leaving so they could turn up the music because I’m too nice to go fucking ream their brains out! So… my blogger friends, you are my ventees. Yes, I made that a word, since I am the ventor. Lol!

Okay, calmed down a little bit…

Today was a pretty good day. Didn’t really do a whole lot. I worked for a tiny bit this morning. However, since my boss is out of town because her grandson was born this week in Madison (maybe?) and she is off visiting him and his parents I don’t have a whole lot that needs to get done.

After class I ventured off to my one class which was so hard to stay awake during today because we watched this uber boring movie. Then I came home and folded my two weeks worth of laundry. Boy, that was tons of fun, hehe! At least it is done now and I don’t have to worry about that over the weekend. I also worked on my little project some more and then Jay went and picked Ayden up from school. He was so excited that this was the last day of ‘school’ he had for the week and thought that him and daddy were leaving for grandma and grandpa’s right away.

We went out to eat for supper… Fazoli’s and it was yummy. At least I thought so. Ayden said he had a tummy ache when we got home. He used the bathroom and then laid down for a little while. After a bit he said that he was feeling better and got up and played for a little while and then all of a sudden he was complaining about not feeling good again. He laid by me for a while and I rubbed his back. By the time they left around 8pm he was back to jumping around and having fun. I really hope that it was just the food and that he wasn’t getting sick. Jay took a bucket a long with him for the ride to his parent’s house just in case Ayden needed to use it. We will see… I hope he makes it home okay. I miss my boys already! But they are going to have a great weekend and I will as well.

My plans are to hopefully enjoy a quiet apartment, watch lots of TV and put off any and all studying. Oh, I wish that I could do that! I finished my lesson plan for tomorrow already tonight, that didn’t take that long. I need to let my supervisor know about my final therapy report being on my S drive at school so she can look at that. I plan on getting some more of my music quizzes done this weekend. I also hope to get motivated enough to look at my hearing science. I have been really bad when it comes to my two actual in class classes this semester. I haven’t really done any of the reading for either of them and feel like I am getting no where. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve been a mega slacker. In my sociology one I feel like we really haven’t gotten anywhere since the start of the semester and really wonder what he is going to test us on. In my hearing science one… oh I am so lost! I understand what he is saying in class and take notes on it like a good little student, but as far as the material in the book. I don’t know if he is going to test on any of it, but most of it I don’t even understand (during the here and there attempts that I make at reading it). And this is what I want to go into, lol!

But like I’ve been saying… I’m really enjoying my audiology clinic so that is good. I don’t know if I will have it next week. I ran into Chad yesterday afternoon and he said that the only appointment for Tuesday so far is at 9am and I don’t start observing until 10:30am. He said that they might try and schedule another one, but he would let me know either way. Part of me would like not to have it because that would be one less day that I would have to dress up, but then again, we are just starting to get to the good stuff. Who knows?!

It was colder out again today. Boo hoo! I want the warmer spring weather back, even if it is only the middle of February. I don’t care if we get snow through March, sometimes April, and even on the occasion May… I want spring and I want it now. You can tell that it is coming though because it is staying light out longer which is great! I hate when it gets dark so early because then you feel like most of the day has already passed you. I love the days when it stays light out until like 9pm. In the dead of the summer… that is the best!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Productive Night!

It has been a super productive night for me… as well, I had a pretty decent day! My therapy session went really well (at least in my eyes) and I got my reflection done pretty quickly after I got home.

I also headed off to Michael’s this afternoon because I had a little bit of extra time and gathered the materials for the project that I began tonight. I was going to wait until this weekend to start it, but since I had the extra time tonight I thought I might as well get a head start. Plus it is going to involved a lot of watching the paint dry so the earlier I start the sooner I can get done. So far it is looking pretty good. I will be sure to post some pictures as soon as I complete it. I’m really excited about it!

Tomorrow I get to sleep in again… YEAH! Feeling pretty tired tonight because I didn’t sleep all that well after 5am this morning. I don’t really know why though. Thinking about just going to lay down in bed, even though I don’t really have any shows on tonight that I like to watch.

I shaved my legs tonight, not that you needed to know. Remember, my blog, hehe! It is something that doesn’t get done a whole lot during the winter months. Really I just hate shaving my legs in general (although it happens every week in the summer, can’t have hairy legs in shorts, or at least super hairy, lol) and thus in the winter I do it maybe once a month. I had the extra time tonight and decided they needed to be silky smooth again. And then I put some yummy smelling lotion on and they smell really good. Ayden put some lotion on as well. Monkey see, monkey do!

As well as shaving my legs and starting my project, I also did three loads of wash. Of course that doesn’t mean I actually folded anything from last week yet. Now I have four baskets (well two baskets shoved full of four loads of laundry) to fold and put away, the clothes that I hung dry that need to be dehangered (yes I just made that a word), folded, and put in a drawer. Ah, I’m so bad at that. I am leaving that for my tomorrow night task after the boys leave. Which means I will need to pack some clothes for Ayden as well. Not saying that Jay couldn’t do it, but moms do have a tendency to remember more, right? Well at least I know I do.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Spending Valentine's Day Alone

Here I was all ready and set to spend Valentine's Day with my little Valentine, Ayden, this weekend, and then Jay ups and turns my plans all around. First he thought he would take Ayden with him sturgeon spearing, then he decides that it would be more productive if he left Ayden at home with me, and now he thinks he might take him again. Only this time, it was his mom's idea. See, they have wrestling regionals (I think) this weekend and so Jay's mom and dad are busy that day with that. But I guess his mom suggested that she take Ayden with her on Saturday and then they all can go out on the lake on Sunday. That works with me as long as it works for Jay and his family. So, as of right now... Ayden is going along again. Jay needs to call his mom today to finalize the plans. And then they are headed back 'home' on Thursday night. That means I will have the house to myself Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday. I'll definitely be craving some Ayden time when they get home.

This plan is fine with me... I can always use a little bit of alone time. It will allow me to get further ahead in my music class, work on a little project that I want to start, and get caught up in my hearing science class... as well as lounge around the house and perfecting the Wii Fit! Speaking of that... I made it to the advance step the other day and the first time I tried that I majorly sucked!!! But last night I was definitely getting better. The one thing that I don't care for is how you have to exactly with them to get 'perfect'. I'm working on that! I am also pretty good at the hula hoop and working on the tight rope walking. Getting there, lol!

My HuHot imitation turned out okay last night. Definitely wasn't HuHot food, but it was good. Jay ended up eating a lot of it which was good because I made a lot. Ayden wouldn't even look at it, but that is okay because the night before I promised to make him some Spongebob mac n cheese and that is what he got. He was pretty happy with that!

Today is another therapy day! I got up at 6:30am this morning (way to early for me this semester) and came to campus early so I could work on my final therapy report that is due at the end of the semester. The first draft is due to my supervisor by next week and because it contains a lot of confidential/personal information we are only allowed to work on them on campus, well actually just in the clinic on the computers. Since Jay doesn't have class today (and no work for like the last two weeks because of no snow) he is taking Ayden to daycare so I could get a few hours to work on my clinic stuff. I alloted three hours to get done what I needed to and was done in under an hour. That is pretty nice because now I have time to blog, work on my hearing science (because I just KNOW that we are going to have a pop quiz today!), and make sure everything is good for therapy today.

I didn't hear anything back from my supervisor about my therapy plan or reflection from Monday. I sent them to her Monday night, but nothing. I'm not sure what is up with that. If she forgot to look at them or I didn't need to change anything. I don't know, but am not going to worry about it. I figured if something was really wrong with them she would have emailed me some comments back already. All seems to be going well. However, part of me doesn't really want to have to deal with therapy today. I don't know why... just don't. My client is great, even if he is super energetic at times!

So, I found this awesome name project that I am going to try and make for Ayden's room. I am so excited to get over to Michael's (love that craft store) and get the materials to see if it works out. I probably won't have time to get there tonight or tomorrow night, or maybe even Friday night, but definitely on Saturday if I haven't before then. Actually, because Jay and Ayden won't be home on Friday I plan on going to work early and then getting done with class noon and then having the rest of the day/weekend to myself to get everything done that I want!!! Even if Ayden does end up staying home I am excited to just have a relaxing weekend. And then next weekend is Wicked and then Stomp!!! Oh how exciting!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

HuHot Imitation

Already Tuesday... seemed like Monday just totally flew by, well and it pretty much did. I had a pretty great Monday. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, except that my Wii Fit FINALLY arrived!!! OMG, oh how happy I was to hear that! So, you can bet your buns that as soon as I got home from school with Ayden yesterday we all were totally checking that thing out! And it is definitely as much fun as people have been saying it is. I did also get some shipping costs back because it took them so long to get it to me. Too bad it wasn't more though. :( Anyways... stepped on and did all that good stuff! I totally rocked at the hula hoop thing and totally sucked at the advanced step. Ha, to be able to follow the steps at the rate they were going, definitely going to take some more practice! But it was totally lots of fun!!!

I got my clinic reflection and lesson plan written up pretty fast last night since I don't have to do the long write up anymore. It was kind of nice not having to worry about it too much and then having some time to just sit and relax. I watched John and Kate Plus 8 and then went on the computer for a bit. It was a pretty relaxing night all around which is what I like. And the weather, let me tell you... it is great!!! I cannot believe how nice outside it is today. It is a bit windy, but pretty gorgeous for this time of the year. Of course that means there is water EVERYWHERE from the snow melting and this water will most likely turn to ice once the colder weather returns at the end of the week. What can you do though?! Our parking lot is literally FILLED with huge pools of water. They totally designed it all wrong and it is so flooding, especially with the stupid way that the people who plow it went at it. The manager was actually trying to plow water last night. It was pretty funny!

Jay called Charter (our local channel and internet provider) last night and reamed them out. This is the second time that they have SCREWED us! It is ridiculous. Jay even got the name of the guy he was on the phone with the first time to make sure that they weren't going to screw us and they still did. Seriously, if we could actually get our local channels with the antenna or stupid digital converter box that we have (yes, that is right, they still don't come in very well) we so wouldn't be putting up with Charter... well that and finding an internet service that is as good as we have with them. Cheaper and same quality would be nice. Stupid internet costs a ton as well. Maybe we should consider going through Alltel with our phones. I know that would definitely be cheaper and Jay's parents have it and it is not super slow. I don't know. Anyways, we were not happy with the price of our bill last night.

Today was my Aud clinic and it went really well. We only had one patient and it was for a hearing aid consult. I pretty much sat and kept my mouth shut, but it was super interesting!!! I was excited to be exposed to something like that, even though my mentor just pretty much sat there as well. Which was all he was supposed to do because he hadn't done anything like that before either. Overall, worth getting dressed up for today, even though I wouldn't call a semi dressed shirt and khaki corduroys super dressed up. One more day to dress up this week... and then two days of jeans!!! You don't get all excited about dressing down until you have to dress up so much, or at least if you are like me and don't really care for the dressy thing all the time. I know I know, I'll have to get used to it.

I am going to attempt to make a teriyaki chicken stir fry thing tonight. I am so in the mood for HuHot and thought hey, I can just make it at home. Or at least try to make it (it being my favorite combination from HuHot). I only add the teriyaki sauce at HuHot so figured it couldn't be too hard. Some noodles (which are going to be homemade by Jay as well), chicken, ham, bag of frozen mixed veggies, and the sauce... fry it up on the stove and should be super yummy. At least that is what I am hoping! I'll be sure to let you all know if it turns out. Jay said that if I cooked it and it didn't turn out I would be like, that's it... we are going to HuHot tonight. Lol... any other day, okay so maybe just the weekend, and I would definitely have been like that! Maybe...

CIAO! LOVE ME!

SO Not ME!

Can you believe that it is Monday already? Where do these weeks keep going? It’s just about time they slow down… right? I’m sure you know all about Not Me Monday by now, so after you’ve enjoyed my Not Me’s… head over to MckMama’s (if you haven’t already) and see what she did not do this past week and so many others! I promise you’ll totally enjoy it and maybe even get some Monday morning laughs!

I did not spend the weekend waiting for Saturday because I was not excited at all for the monster truck show. I’m a girl and don’t get excited about things like that.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday did not go super fast and Thursday and Friday did not go super slow. Every day in my week goes just the same, I mean there are exactly 24 hours in every day, right? It never seems like less or more, at least not for me!

I did not feel like I could finally breathe when Thursday rolled around and I didn’t have any sort of clinic practicum to worry about. And I didn’t love the fact that I could wear jeans on Thursday and Friday. This dressing up on Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday is totally awesome! I am so ready to dress up EVERY day when I actually start my career.

I did not buy three new pair of jeans and two new shirts, a movie, and a toy for Ayden. I don’t just go on shopping splurges like that, especially when we don’t NEED the items. I did not buy all of said items at Walmart, I mean it wouldn’t count for anything even if I did because Walmart isn’t super cheap!

I did not institute a no spending regime for myself because we are not super busy this month and will not be spending enough the way it is!

I did not freak when we got to the monster truck show an hour and a half early and ask Jay if he wanted to go someplace to eat before hand because I totally thought to bring toys along for Ayden to keep occupied with while we waiting for the show to start.

We went somewhere to eat and did not just go into the show that hour and a half early, oh wait, yes we did! We did not make a good decision to do so because we did not find out that we could see monster trucks up close and get Ayden’s flag signed by the drivers! It was not tons of fun!

The monster truck show did not totally rock and none of us had a great time. Well, of course we did!

After the monster truck show, we did not meet up with my best friend and hit up Chuck E Cheese! The line at Chuck E Cheese was not out the door already at 3:45pm! We did not wait in line for over 30 minutes just to get a table! During none of our fun at Chuck E Cheese and the least busy night of the week, we did not use 250 tokens on games and have even more of a blast! And we certainly did not think Cold Stone ice cream was in order after we left Chuck E Cheese!

Really… our afternoon and night was not any fun! Oops, did I say not any fun… I meant it was so super great!!!

Hope you enjoyed all of the things I did not do this week! What did you not do? I’m sure there’s something….

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Home and comfy…

Where to start about my super crappy ending to my super great Friday and my super crappy start to my super great Saturday? So much to say, but what to say?

Maybe I will just start typing and see what comes out, I do that most of the time anyways… here goes…

Friday night Jay and I got into an argument. The reason not so important, but it pretty much sucked. I know relationships aren’t perfect and everyone has their bumps and hills and even mountains to get over. We are currently trying to get over a mountain. Every time I think we make two steps forward, I am reminded that it isn’t that easy and we get sent back one step. Although, if Jay and I are meant to be together, I know that we will have to work at/through things and only be stronger in the end. We talked and yelled and talked some more and ended up going to bed cuddling. I hate fighting, I know he does as well… but we did come to a consensus before bed and it felt good. Going to bed angry is never good for anyone.

So my Saturday started pretty good. We got up, got ready, got packed… headed out of the door to the monster truck show. Jay and I were still in our good mood when we left. My one little comment on the way to the show about how I thought Jay shouldn’t drive so close to the person in front of us (I mean seriously, when you are driving 70mph, you shouldn’t tailgate!) and we were at each others throats again. I don’t even know what we were supposed to be arguing about. This happened once more before we actually got to the show, but by then we were all better again and have been ever since. I know that we can get at each other’s throats every now and then and I am a little… maybe demanding, bossy, opinionated, I try, I know I need work. We are every making ourselves better, right?

The monster truck show was awesome! Because we were an hour and a half early (yes you read that right) we were able to join the pit party and actually go see the monster trucks up close and Ayden was able to get his flag signed by the drivers! It was pretty cool and it made the time go really fast! I think the best part was the dirt bikes during intermission. Those guys are crazy and crazy good!!! One of them was actually at the X-Games two years in a row! A bit of a celebrity… and he was definitely awesome! One of the trucks even flipped over which was probably the best part and it was the girl driver (who ended up winning the show). She was fine and didn’t even wreck her truck. I sort of think she did it on purpose to get a rise out of the crowd. Crowds like that sort of thing!

Or adventure at Chuck E Cheese was awesome as well! We might my beset friend there. I was so excited that she was able to make it with us! We had to wait in line for over a half hour before we got our table which really kind of sucked but had we gotten there about 15 minutes earlier we probably would have made it in early. There was a group of 14 ahead of us who didn’t book a reservation for their little party gathering. Not to mention the grandmother of the little girl was super annoying. She wouldn’t shut her trap. Anyways, we made it in and ordered and the pizza was super good as well! It was turning into a pretty fab night! 250 tokens later we had 833 tickets and traded those in for a dart gun, some air heads and twirly straws. And… then we went to Cold Stone at the suggestion from my friend.

Ah, Cold Stone was delicious! Not needed after that filling pizza, but so worth it! Well for me, Jay, and my friend. Ayden hardly ate any of his which sort of sucked, but he still had tons of fun!

Today we went to my mom’s in the morning to pick up her old mattress topper. She got a new mattress and bed and didn’t need it anymore. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it sleeps tonight. It is about four inches of that foam stuff that conforms to your body. Can’t wait! After a couple of hours there we had to motivate because she had to go to work. We chilled at Jay’s parents for a little while before coming back to Point and then chilled here for the rest of the day.

Overall it was a pretty good weekend. I finished my music assignment and got the rest of my clinic stuff ready for tomorrow. Not nervous about the session at all which is good. Not really wanting the week to start though…

Next weekend is sturgeon spearing… oh wait, back up for a second. After we left Jay’s parents we stopped at his grandparents house down by the lake to pick up some chocolate milk and so Jay could show his grandma something on her GPS. When we got there we found out that some guys were giving airplane rides. Some sort of fly by thing they do every year. I asked Ayden if he wanted to go and at first he said he did, but then he changed his mind. I wasn’t really going to push him if he didn’t want to, but I would have loved to go! I love to fly and it would have been so much fun. But of course my camera was dead so I wouldn’t have gotten any pictures anyways. We did venture onto the lake with Jay’s vehicle for a little while so we could get a better look at the planes. Just a sort ride though. Wish my camera would have been working though so I could have gotten some pictures.

So, back to sturgeon spearing! Jay was originally going to take Ayden with him, but I think he has backed out of that. It is only going to be him and Ayden and Ayden is not old enough to go outside and play in the snow by himself so Jay will have to watch him the whole time, whether he is in the shanty or out and while in he will have to be more concerned with Ayden not falling into the hole/water. I don’t have a problem with him staying home with me. We will have fun being at home while Jay hopefully gets that big one!

The weather is supposed to be pretty great this week! I am so excited! That means Ayden will get to go outside quite a bit at school and gets lots of fresh air. I know that the teachers always love when they are able to get outside because then the kids can get some of their energy out by running around.

Definitely going to go lay down now and chill!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Fab Friday means Flying High!

Oh it has been a great Friday so far! The weather is sunny and hot. Oh yeah people, we are definitely higher than 20 degrees here today and that is smokin’ hot for winter, or more for February and the weekend is shaping up to be a pretty nice one as well! How great is that going to be? Two weekends in a row where there is nice weather! I’m super excited for it and I hope that those who live around me are as well!

What else has made my Friday so great thus far?! Well, I only have one class on Fridays and it is my Hearing Science class and we did NOT have a quiz today. In fact, it was a review day and we got to work on problems with our tables. Well, our problems were not necessarily easy, but it made the class go fast and I was actually starting to understand some of what he was explaining by the time we were leaving. And it gave us a chance to work as a group which was nice as well.

My class got over and I headed off to work. Work is always pretty good for me so nothing to complain about there, but today was even better. I got to bring home some flowers. It was a coworker’s birthday this week and she got lots of flowers and asked if I wanted to take any home because she had so many already. Okay, so they are only carnations, but they are still pretty and the vase is very nice as well! So we have some pretty flowers at home now! And while I was at work checking my email, I got an email from my clinic supervisor stating that I can now use the shortened lesson plan form. Can you believe that? We are moving into week three… let me say that again WEEK THREE of clinic and already I am allowed to use the short form. How exciting and crazy is that?!?! I’m stoked because it is going to save me a lot of time writing up lesson plans that usually were three typed pages and two times a week. I mean, I knew I would get the short lesson plan form eventually (everyone does) but was expecting at least three or four more weeks of the longer form. AH! I’m so excited and having such a great day!

And tomorrow I get to see my best friend at Chuck E Cheese. I am so excited that she is going to come with us. She could totally bail out and spend a longer time at the benefit she is going to or meet up with her boyfriend early, but she is taking the time out of her day to spend with us, especially Ayden. Btw, this is the same friend who was having severe boyfriend issues a couple of weeks ago. And it just so happens that right when she wasn’t looking for a guy one happened upon her. Isn’t it crazy how things tend to happen like that? Anyways, so far this guy is like a dream come true for her. She hasn’t met someone this sincere in almost a year. They’ve only been seeing each other for about two weeks now, but you can usually tell within the first couple of weeks if the relationship will work for a while or not. He seems to fit her pick just right! Definitely a sweet heart so far! Just what she needs! And… wait for it… wait for it! They have both decided to take things SUPER SLOW! My friend is known to kind of jump right into relationships so I’m extremely happy to hear she is going slow with this guy and they have had several discussions about it already. Oh, how great! Another thing to be super happy about!

So, I’m hoping that because I am having such a fabulous Friday that the rest of my weekend continues to go super great as well! Always trying to look on the positive side of things. I decided yesterday that I’m a shopaholic. Okay, I knew that a WAY LONG TIME AGO, but it’s time for me to sit back for a little while. Every now and then I go through spurts and spend money sort of like none other. I mean, not gobs and gobs here, certainly not, we don’t have gobs and gobs, but still more than I should, especially in the last few weeks. I just feel that I’ve been spending too much and need to take a chill pill. We’re not talking hundreds and hundreds, okay, well actually we kind of are because Wii Fit was almost that much, and then Jay’s carharts, and then I bought some new clothes at Walmart and a movie and toy for Ayden. So about $300 in the last month on things I really didn’t NEED! My closet definitely isn’t bare. So, it’s time to stop the extra purchasing. Especially since this weekend it’s Chuck E Cheese, and then later in the month going out to eat before going to see Wicked, and then maybe going to see Stomp with my friend and maybe getting a tattoo afterwards (although her cousin will be doing them so we will get them way discounted). So you see, it has to stop. No more splurge buys for Ashley, Jay, or Ayden… not for the rest of the month. I’m trying hard!!!

This whole outfit was totally bough at Walmart and all for under $30! Okay, minus the free undies from Victoria Secret and can’t remember where I got the bra and the jewelry is predominantly Lia Sophia (oh wait, watch that I have on, totally Walmart too!)… but you get my drift. When I shop, I shop cheap! Jeans for $20 and under are totally my thing. Shirts for $10 and under are totally my thing. Scarves for $5… who can go wrong! And I’d say I’m a hopping college student, eh? I much prefer semi stylish mom, lol! I don’t need name brand, just to feel good in my skin. (Oh and don’t mind the toothpaste spots on my bathroom mirror, definitely needs cleaning!) But like I said, we are going to try and take shopping hiatus for a while.

Ah yes, did I just say another tattoo? Why yes… that is exactly what I wrote. I’ve been wanting another tattoo for quite some time and had some ideas of what I wanted and two potential places for where I wanted them. And then my friend told me that she wanted another one too. This friend being super scared of needles and almost too chicken to get another. This friend being the one who gets poked by a huge needle like once a month and does it like a champ. Scared, yeah sure, lol! Anyways, she said she wanted one and that she was going to see if her cousin would do it for her and I told her we should maybe get them the weekend I come for Stomp and she thought it would be a great idea. Me being the planner went designed my tattoo that night and I love it! I need to talk to her cousin about it though because I’m not sure if I can get it as small as I want it and it still turn out. I want to get it in the top corner of my left foot, probably about four inches big. But like I said, still have to talk to my friend’s cousin.

Here is what I was thinking for my tattoo. My rough draft of it anyways… ‘Believe’ has always been my saying, for as long as I can remember. Those are Ayden’s footprints from the day he was born. I scanned them in from the ones the nurses took shortly after he was born (thus the lines going through them and a missing toe on the left foot and heel on the right) and the flowers are something I found online and changed just a bit. I went back and forth with how I wanted the ‘believe’ to look… all curly and pretty like or more stand outish, I prefer the second because it is more me. Like I said, I don’t know how small I can go with it before it can’t be done so that might deter me. I don’t know, but in any case, I like it…

Okay… Jay will be home soon with Ayden from school and I want to play Wii with me…

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Missing Wii Fit?!?!

Lowestdeals.com SUCKS!!! I don't know about anyone else, but I am not ordering from them EVER again! So, almost two weeks ago now I ordered a Wii Fit from them and was given a shipping date (they just so happened to have it in stock!) and was supposed to get it last week sometime (this past Monday at the latest) and so last week goes by and no Wii Fit, Monday comes and no Wii Fit, not even an email from the company with a tracking number! Jay calls to see what the heck is up on Monday. They said they had some issues with UPS and I would recieve a tracking number by Monday afternoon. Monday afternoon comes, no tracking number! He calls again on Tuesday and now they say that the labels got mixed up or whatever and they would send it out Wednesday and overnight it so I would get it today, Thursday. It just so happens that I checked UPS's website this morning and wouldn't you know... Thursday morning it was first leaving NEW JERSEY!!! How do they expect my package to get from New Jersey to Wisconsin today, when the trucks go out at 5 in the morning?!

So... Jay called again and apparently he got the wrong information on Tuesday when he called. Wrong information my ass! When you tell someone you will overnight their package, you f'ing overnight it! I'm sorry, but this is HORRIBLE customer service! Now they say I will recieve my Wii Fit on Monday. Yeah, about two and a half weeks after I fricken ordered it. I could have gone to the store to find one by now! Okay maybe not, as they are still pretty well sold out ALL OF THE TIME! We are getting our shipping costs back and I'm about ready to demand a half priced item for the crap they've done. Seriously, this is pathetic! Ugh, just a bit frustrated here! Like you couldn't tell! I mean, it's not the end of the world or anything, but when you are told one thing and then your package comes two weeks later, what the heck? Anyways, I'll be excited when it comes on Monday, but Monday's are my busy nights and thus probably won't have a lot of time to play with it. I guess, it will come when it comes...

It's Thursday and that means tomorrow is Friday and then the week is over with! Yeah! I'm excited! I'm not really even dreading my CPR class tonight. I'm dreading the lesson plan that I will have to write/finish tonight and/or tomorrow morning, but that is okay. Then I have a music assignment that I wanted to work on tomorrow night with Jay to get that done and out of the way. It isn't due until the 11th, but since we don't have anything else going on Friday night, sounded like a good time to me! Jay already started it, but doesn't know if he is doing it right or not. Actually, when I read the assignment I didn't really understand what I was reading either, but that is okay, we can work through it together.

And I don't have to worry about reading my Hearing Science tonight because my professor emailed us and said that tomororw is going to be a review day. Doesn't mean we won't be having a quiz, but reviews are always good and will definitely help me. Half the time I understand what he is saying and the other half I only think I understand what he is saying. Makes for an interesting 50 minutes. I have my social gerontology class today and then back to work for a little while before I have to go and get Ayden.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Finally some time to myself…

I’ve posted the last two days, but even though I’ve done that, I feel like I haven’t really said anything. I did my Not Me’s (which I totally look forward to each and every week) and then Tribute Tuesday (for the first time), yet I have so much running through my head that I have wanted to get out and haven’t had the chance.

This week I was late with my Not Me’s… well late for me and that kind of threw me off. My fault though because I didn’t feel like writing them on Sunday night like I usually do and so then when I did post my Not Me’s later on Monday I didn’t feel like posting anything else. That and I had both a session reflection and lesson plan to write that night and by the time that I was done with that I was ready to lay down and do nothing for the rest of the night.

Yesterday, I did a post for Tribute Tuesday and really enjoyed giving tribute to my mom. She’s the best! We are going to see her this weekend on Sunday, but because she has to work Sunday early afternoon, we won’t get to visit for very long. We are picking up her old foam mattress and meeting her new kitty. I am excited to try the mattress and see the cat. Ayden is excited to see the cat as well! And my mom is excited to see us Ayden. Okay, so I know that she wants to see me too, but I love to joke with her that it’s Ayden she is really after. You know, those phone calls that come every Sunday like clock work seeing if we are still alive. She is really just calling to check on Ayden, lol! Okay okay, and maybe to see if his mommy is doing okay too.

Anyways, so I did that post and then I was gone for the day on campus. I worked until 4pm and by the time I got home at 4:30pm I started supper  because I had to be gone again by 5:30pm for my CPR class and I was starving and wanted to make this Asian rice dinner thing. It actually turned out really good, even though Ayden didn’t like it and because Jay wasn’t feeling good he didn’t try any. That is okay, I ate the rest of it tonight for supper as well. We got supper done and out of the way right before I had to leave and then I was gone until almost 10pm for my class.

The great thing about my class, other than me learning CPR and first aid, is that it is this Tuesday and Thursday (from 6-10pm) and then done! I get one credit for it and certified in CPR for a year and first aid for three years. I have taken this class about three years ago, but thought it was time for a refresher course, what with Ayden and all, and needed one extra credit. Last night went pretty fast actually and I ended up with a bunch of cool girls at my table. We had fun making out with resuscitating the dummy. I feel much more prepared again. My class tomorrow night will be going over infant CPR and first aid. I’m expecting it to go fast again which is good and then I will be done with that!

Therapy on Monday and today went well! My client is doing great and we are making some good progress with only three sessions so far. I’m happy to be able to wear regular clothes tomorrow and Friday and not have to dress up. I had my Aud clinic yesterday as well, but instead of the normal hour and a half observation, I only did 40 minutes. The first client got done early and the last one cancelled so that cut out the rest of my time.  It went well again and I got to talk with my supervisor about what was expected of me and what I should be doing. I feel much better about that and my grad student mentor, Chad, was cool again. I think the more I observe him the more comfortable he will be with me around. I don’t want to crowd him too much, but I also want to learn.

So tonight I finished up the short paper we had to write for CPR, which was super easy! And I wrote my reflection for today’s therapy session. That didn’t take very long either. I should probably start on my lesson plan that is due Friday, but I didn’t do all of the activities that I had planned for today so those can carry over and thus I won’t have to write all that long of a lesson plan. I will do some of that tomorrow after I get home from work and before I have to leave for CPR and finish it up Friday morning since I don’t have to be on campus until 10:30am. It feels nice to have tomorrow and Friday be a little more relaxed.

I also watched part of Transformers with Ayden tonight. Okay, so I rested my eyes fell asleep for part of it, but it was a part that I’d seen already. We are going to watch the rest of it tomorrow because it was bed time for Ayden. He was kind of cranky on the way home from daycare today so I decided that he needed to go to bed on time tonight.

I’m excited for Saturday and the monster truck show and Chuck E Cheese. I’m hoping it won’t be too crazy when we go, but really what am I saying… we are going on a Saturday, isn’t that like prime time to go? We will most likely get there at a decent time though. The monster truck show is only about an hour and a half/two hours and so we should make it to Chuck E Cheese by about 4pm if not a little earlier. That is not quite supper time. I figure we will most likely be starting to play the games when it gets really busy, oh great (right?), but that is okay. As long as Ayden has fun, that is all that matters!

I was going to do some laundry tonight, but that went right out the window. It is a relaxing night for me to do just about nothing! The first half of this week fell past and I felt like I was just floating through it getting nothing done. But of course I was getting some stuff done because otherwise I wouldn’t have had a therapy plan for today.

Off to upload my picture of the day (and yesterday since I was too lazy to post it then)!

CIAO! LOVE ME!