What was I thinking?

How does cleaning my child's room, become completely rearranging all the furniture?  Then, how does rearranging the furniture suddenly become painting the room?  I got a "bug in my bonnet" last night and decided to do all of this.

I was at Lowe's at 7:30 last night picking out paint colors.  I usually agonize about what color to paint but I didn't this time.  I did have a few seconds of anxiety of "what if I buy 2 gallons of paint and then HATE the color.  I mean, I was choosing a tan color and we all know that tan can sometimes come out like baby poop color.  I have the 3 tan walls done.  I did them last night (getting finished at midnight).  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THE COLOR!!!  It makes his room nice and warm.  So super cozy.  He has one wall that is paneling so we are doing that wall in kind of a blue jean color to match his Tommy Hill-finger (haha, that makes me laugh and I may or may not be able to spell his last name) quilt.

I also found (really stole from Shaun's office) a table from the basement that we are going to paint today too if we have time.  It will be perfect for his hermit crab aquarium to sit on. Not sure of the color for that one though.  Maybe a red or green since his quilt has those colors too. 

As for the walls, I think we are going to pull pictures out of his art portfolios to hang in his room.  He has saved pictures, drawing, painting, sketches for years.  These will be so cure hanging on his wall to showcase his artwork.  I'm hoping to have all the painting done today, all the furniture put back in place and all the mess out of his room and either in the trash or gone to Goodwill by the end of the day.

Tomorrow... sleep, do lesson plans for my professors observation, study for comps and pack for a 3 day conference on vision impairments on the other side of the state.  I'm pooped just thinking about it.

(Posting pictures of his completed room once everything is done).

Almost Done

OMG!!!  I can see the light at the end of that VERY LOOOOOONG tunnel.  I will finally graduate in April with another Master's in Visual Impairments.  There are only 2 hurdles I have to cross;  comprehensive finals and an observation from my professor.  I am confident I will pass both but I am always nervous anticipating each event. I think I am more nervous of my professor observing me teach.  What if she watch me and thinks "WTH???"  That would totally stink.  She is super nice and always has great comments and advice but, still.  I hate to be watched by an expert.

 All I can say is Mama Kiki is going to have a VERY nice BOTTLE of wine when I get that little piece of paper saying I am done.  FO SHO!!!

Things I Learned While Going Back to Grad School

Since I have been here in Kalamazoo, I have made some observations I thought I would share with you all.

1. I always either gravitate, or attract, people with my same sense of humor. I am so thankful I have met a few people up here who share my sense of sarcasm but who want to be good students at the same time. I laugh and say we are the slackers but that is really not true at all. I like to think we are the "cool kids".

2. There is such a thing as a stupid question! As a teacher, we are always saying there are no stupid questions and I really used to believe that....until I came back to school. I have heard the most stupid questions asked in some of my classes that I honestly don't know how some of these people made it this far. If the teachers says that something is going to be on the test immediately, there are at least 2-3 hands up in the air asking "Um, so are you saying that this will be on the test" followed by "what did you say is going to be on the test". When she explains again, inevitably, there are more hands asking more questions about what the professor just explained 2 times. Frustrating!

3. Not everyone knows the basics of how to use a computer. During the 2nd week of classes, someone asked what the "tab" key was for and I almost lost it. Seriously?

4. Some girls are the exact same as when they were in high school and seem to be proud of it. When you are 28 years old, you should not be getting trashed, screaming out the windows of a vehicle at strangers and yelling obscenities at people. I did not witness this but heard all about it. Come on... you are almost 30. Be a classy drinker!!

5. I STILL hate group projects. I hate them, hate them, hate them. Someone always is a slacker in the group and I end up having to pick up the slack. Why can't I be the slacker!?!? People, we are in graduate school. Step it up!!

6. Backstabbing still exists. Glad I'm not friends with this chick but I feel bad for the person she is stabbing in the back.

7. Some people like to pretend they are dumb. This one confuses me. Who wants to act like an airhead?

Enough of the rampage. Back to picking up the slack on the group project. Sarcasm is on full force!

Kiki's in Kalamazoo

Well, I made it to Michigan.  I had the route on my iphone GPS, I had the directions printed out sitting in the passenger seat AND I was following up another student from Lexington. As I passed into each state I held up my iPhone and took a video of the state sign for the boys.  I was super nervous as we were going around Cincy but we made it just fine.

The rooms up here are super sucky.  Seriously, the dorms I stayed in when I was a freshman at EKU were much better than this.  Old, kind of looks like a prison cell and no air conditioning.  I was tired from driving all day, hungry and HOT moving all my crap to the second floor so I was not in the best mood.  Things have started looking better though.  I will be in class until either 6 pm or 8 pm each day so by 8 it starts cooling off some.  As long as this fan doesn't break down in the middle of the night I should be good. 

Today is orientation all day.  Basically, they are reviewing things that they could have emailed out to us or things that they have ALREADY emailed out to us.  I hate being read to when they have already sent the info but it is fun to people watch. 

I am NOT the oldest one here.  There are quite a few people older than me so that makes me feel better. 

The funny thing about today is that we had to go around the room and introduce ourselves.  These people like to hear themselves talk.  I know way too much about these people.  Introductions took FOREVER.  Like close to 30 minutes when they only has 10 minutes on the schedule for it.  I was short and sweet... Krista, from Ky, in the TVI program.  Ok, not really that short.  I figured that since these people were droning on about everything they had ever done or thought I would too but I was still much faster than these other people.

I'm trying to figure out this one guy.  I have seen him for 3 days and he always wears tan.  Like, tan button down top, tan shorts, tan socks, tan shoes and yesterday he had a tan safari hat.  When I saw him I looked around to see if there were any elephants or if maybe I had accidentally ended up in Africa on safari.  No hat today but I can't wait to see if he wears tan every single day.  He is kind of goofy and walks like his shoes are too big.  He seems nice but just a little weird.  But I was digging the safari hat.  Might have to go get one of those.  OH, I know, he is a cross between safari and the crocodile guy except he tucks his shirt in (like WAY in, not a good look). 

Off to walk back to the classroom building for more orientation.  At least this time we are divided into groups based on our area so I will be with all the TVI students.  Hopefully they will go over all the stuff for classes so I can kind of be prepared for tomorrow.  And I have to figure out where one of my classes is at.  It is on the other side of campus (by the  way, this campus is HUGE.  The town is kind of like Richmond but this campus is spread out like UK.  It would take me 45 minutes or more to walk to the other side.).

Pass the Praxis..... like a boss!!

I passed!!!  I passed!!  I don't know how but I really don't care!  I took the Praxis test for teacher certification for visual impairments early as a practice just to see what is on it so I would know what to study.  I don't have to worry about what to study because I PASSED the first time. 

I feel smart!!  :)

4.0 Baby!!!

I just completed 2 more classes towards my Master's in Teacher of the Visually Impaired.  Only 10 more to go to be completely finished.  I was nervous checking  my grades because I didn't participate in the chats/discussions like I should have.  I figured that I would get counted off in participation which would knock me down to a B in that class.  I was ready for a B.  I was expecting a B.  I was OK with a B.  Finally, I saw that our grades were posted.  I was not prepared for what I saw when I opened my grades.  TWO A'S!!!!  I am so excited.  So I keep my 4.0 GPA for now.  I'm just hoping that I can keep it after the summer classes I am taking.

10th Annual Bryan Station Defender Classic 5K Run/Walk

 The boys ran the 5K at Bryan Station this morning.  It was a cold and rainy day.  Here they are when they finished the race.  Samuel's face cracks me up!!

Harrison was the 1st place winner in his age group.

Samuel was the 2nd place winner in his age group.

 

It was a good day for the O Bro's.