It's 9 pm on Sunday night and I'm feeling pretty energized considering the time night, etc. It IS almost my regular bedtime, you know. (Sad, I know...but, I am getting older, you know.)
This week was the first week back to classes at work and this first week of spring semester has ALWAYS made me exhausted. My schedule doesn't gradually work itself into a frenzy like it does in August. It goes from 0 to 100 in five seconds flat in January and it usually makes me tired. And, I was tired yesterday. Other than taking Maranda to gymnastics at the Y, I pretty much sat/dozed on the couch all day long. I need a day like that every now and again. Plus, I had a sore throat. Bleah. That seems to be getting better, though.
This week was a great week, though. I had two separate programs that were my responsibility, which is really the first time that's happened since I started this summer. Everything else that I've worked with has had others really doing the bulk of the work and I just showed up. Don't get me wrong....that's been nice, but what a wonderful sense of accomplishment when your events happen! I did have help for both events...a committee for one and co-workers for the other....which was nice and very helpful.
One of the programs that I was working with was our Scholar in Residence program. This year, we had Susan Komives on campus for a day and a half. For those of you in Student Affairs that are reading this, you probably know how wonderful she is. Well, after spending all of Friday together and a good portion of Thursday together, I'm feeling really motivated about this whole dissertation process. I may change my topic to look exclusively at quantitative data (never thought I'd say that, did you?). And, she's suggested that I use a data set that our college recently collected through a survey that was done via her graduate students last spring. She also suggested that if that data set won't help me do what I want, I may be able to use the national data set that they collected (as long as none of their students are in process of a similar research question). How cool is that?!
Now, I've gotta make time to really start working on it. Plus, I need to make sure that my advisor is okay with using a data set that's already been collected. I can't imagine that he wouldn't be, but you just never know.
Today, Maranda was at a softball clinic for the most of the day and I was fairly productive while she was out of the house. Plus, Mark was at work....which helps. So, my goal for the week (at Susan's suggestion) is to somehow "touch" my dissertation topic once a day even if it's only for 15 minutes. So, I'm going to try to keep track of that.
Well, I hope you're weekend has been as energizing as mine and if you're taking classes, good luck with them!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
OMG...What was I thinking?!
You should get a kick out of this. One of the gifts that I gave Maranda for Christmas was tickets to The Cheetah Girls concert that was coming through Green Bay. She got one in her stocking and I put one in my stocking. Mark politely declined the opportunity to attend.
Well, the concert was this past Saturday night. First of all, it's been forever since I've been to a concert, if it wasn't one I was helping to organize. Second, over 6900 girls and their mothers make a hell of a lot of noise! I think I saw three Dads while we were at the concert and the newspaper said that there were 6,907 attendees. The girls screaming were almost louder than the music.
The opening act was some group called Everlife. Apparently, they're three sisters that Disney discovered. They have a song on the Hannah Montana soundtrack. They actually sang. They were out of breath when they talked or sang sometimes. It was nice to see that they could actually sing.
Then, the Cheetah Girls came out. Number one: Raven Symone is in the movies as one of the Cheetah Girls, but she's too good to go on tour with the other three girls (well, probably too busy or Disney won't let her out of some other part of her contract to tour). Those three girls were their own band before the Cheetah Girls and they can't even go back to being that band when Raven isn't with them. That doesn't seem fair. Number two: Can you say lip sync? There were only a couple of times that I could distinctly tell ONE of them was singing. And, their vocals included 4-part harmony. Did you hear me say...Raven wasn't there? THERE WERE ONLY THREE OF THEM SINGING! Number three: They had boy back-up dancers and at one point they all (girls, too) started to step. They had a decent routine and I might have begun to be impressed. EXCEPT...there was a recording that amplified the sound from "their" stepping. So, it was like lip syncing, but stepping.
Thank goodness the entire concert only lasted a couple of hours. It started at 4 pm - they obviously know they're demographic - and ended around 6 pm. Since Maranda had a swim meet that morning, we went home and laid around the rest of the evening.
Maranda liked the concert and I've seen worse, but I don't know that it was necessary for The Cheetah Girls to refer to all of us moms as "Cheetah Mamas." I don't think I'm quite that cool.
Well, the concert was this past Saturday night. First of all, it's been forever since I've been to a concert, if it wasn't one I was helping to organize. Second, over 6900 girls and their mothers make a hell of a lot of noise! I think I saw three Dads while we were at the concert and the newspaper said that there were 6,907 attendees. The girls screaming were almost louder than the music.
The opening act was some group called Everlife. Apparently, they're three sisters that Disney discovered. They have a song on the Hannah Montana soundtrack. They actually sang. They were out of breath when they talked or sang sometimes. It was nice to see that they could actually sing.
Then, the Cheetah Girls came out. Number one: Raven Symone is in the movies as one of the Cheetah Girls, but she's too good to go on tour with the other three girls (well, probably too busy or Disney won't let her out of some other part of her contract to tour). Those three girls were their own band before the Cheetah Girls and they can't even go back to being that band when Raven isn't with them. That doesn't seem fair. Number two: Can you say lip sync? There were only a couple of times that I could distinctly tell ONE of them was singing. And, their vocals included 4-part harmony. Did you hear me say...Raven wasn't there? THERE WERE ONLY THREE OF THEM SINGING! Number three: They had boy back-up dancers and at one point they all (girls, too) started to step. They had a decent routine and I might have begun to be impressed. EXCEPT...there was a recording that amplified the sound from "their" stepping. So, it was like lip syncing, but stepping.
Thank goodness the entire concert only lasted a couple of hours. It started at 4 pm - they obviously know they're demographic - and ended around 6 pm. Since Maranda had a swim meet that morning, we went home and laid around the rest of the evening.
Maranda liked the concert and I've seen worse, but I don't know that it was necessary for The Cheetah Girls to refer to all of us moms as "Cheetah Mamas." I don't think I'm quite that cool.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
New Year's Eve (yes, I know it was 17 days ago).
As most of you know, the Mummas enjoy some fireworks. :) Every year, we get one or two noisy ones to shoot off at midnight. You know our neighbors in Lincoln were accustomed to this. In fact, they'd usually come out front at midnight because they knew we'd be out there for a few minutes. See? We were providing a service. Plus, there are others on the surrounding streets doing the same thing.
Anyway, on our way back from Ohio we stopped in Indiana and bought a couple of fireworks for New Years. They're always noisy. There's at least one Saturn Missile with at least 100 shots (they whistle on the way up and pop loudly) and a couple of others. Now, since it's our first New Year's in Wisconsin, we didn't know what to expect. We tried to tell our neighbors on the other side of the duplex, but they weren't home that evening. I'm hoping they hadn't come home right before we shot everything off and got the crap scared out of their kids.
Maranda had a friend spend the night. And, not long before midnight, we cracked open the bottle of sparkling apple cider for them. (BTW, that stuff doesn't taste near as good as I used to think.) And, we opened a bottle of champagne for Mark and I. Then, the girls huddled inside with the dog (it was cold and the dog doesn't like loud noises!), while Mark and I went outside to set off the fireworks. Really, Mark is setting off the fireworks. I'm just good at standing and watching with a drink in my hand. (This is how it goes down for the Fourth of July, again as most of you know.) We've got the TV on so we can watch a countdown along with our timing and we countdown to midnight. When we get to midnight, Mark lights the first firework. Remember, we're kind of out in the middle of nowhere. But, there are still houses around. The first one goes off and completely echoes throughout the entire neighborhood. It ends and there's COMPLETE SILENCE. NOBODY else is doing anything noisy at midnight. And, it's kind of foggy. It's like the Twilight Zone. My reaction (of course) is to start laughing and assume that someone will call the cops. Fireworks are illegal, you know. So, I open the back door and tell Maranda and her friend to not answer the door if the police knock...come get us and we'll answer it. :) Meanwhile, Mark is lighting the second firework. Again, it's LOUD. Thankfully, when that one ended, we started to hear a couple of other fireworks way off in the distance and some people yelling Happy New Year. THANK GOD! I could not have handled it if people here didn't do anything for New Year's. That would have been too much! And, thankfully, nobody called the police. That would have been a little embarrassing to explain to Maranda's friend's parents. I'm not quite sure how I'd start that conversation.
So, anyway...Happy 2007. Be glad we didn't start the year with a citation from the local police. I hope your new year started off with just as much good luck!
Anyway, on our way back from Ohio we stopped in Indiana and bought a couple of fireworks for New Years. They're always noisy. There's at least one Saturn Missile with at least 100 shots (they whistle on the way up and pop loudly) and a couple of others. Now, since it's our first New Year's in Wisconsin, we didn't know what to expect. We tried to tell our neighbors on the other side of the duplex, but they weren't home that evening. I'm hoping they hadn't come home right before we shot everything off and got the crap scared out of their kids.
Maranda had a friend spend the night. And, not long before midnight, we cracked open the bottle of sparkling apple cider for them. (BTW, that stuff doesn't taste near as good as I used to think.) And, we opened a bottle of champagne for Mark and I. Then, the girls huddled inside with the dog (it was cold and the dog doesn't like loud noises!), while Mark and I went outside to set off the fireworks. Really, Mark is setting off the fireworks. I'm just good at standing and watching with a drink in my hand. (This is how it goes down for the Fourth of July, again as most of you know.) We've got the TV on so we can watch a countdown along with our timing and we countdown to midnight. When we get to midnight, Mark lights the first firework. Remember, we're kind of out in the middle of nowhere. But, there are still houses around. The first one goes off and completely echoes throughout the entire neighborhood. It ends and there's COMPLETE SILENCE. NOBODY else is doing anything noisy at midnight. And, it's kind of foggy. It's like the Twilight Zone. My reaction (of course) is to start laughing and assume that someone will call the cops. Fireworks are illegal, you know. So, I open the back door and tell Maranda and her friend to not answer the door if the police knock...come get us and we'll answer it. :) Meanwhile, Mark is lighting the second firework. Again, it's LOUD. Thankfully, when that one ended, we started to hear a couple of other fireworks way off in the distance and some people yelling Happy New Year. THANK GOD! I could not have handled it if people here didn't do anything for New Year's. That would have been too much! And, thankfully, nobody called the police. That would have been a little embarrassing to explain to Maranda's friend's parents. I'm not quite sure how I'd start that conversation.
So, anyway...Happy 2007. Be glad we didn't start the year with a citation from the local police. I hope your new year started off with just as much good luck!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
But, that's what you wanted...
This year for Christmas, we got Maranda an iPod nano. It's bright pink and we had it engraved for her. She's been talking about wanting an iPod since last Christmas. So, this year that was her "big" present. She was very excited when she opened it. However, she also wanted a Nintendo DS Lite (new type of Gameboy) and she didn't get it. It costs around $120. This wasn't a big deal until we went over to a friend's house. Each of their two daughters got one of these Nintendos and they were playing with them. They each had some game where they had virtual dogs that they could pet, feed, take for a walk, etc. Remember those Tomagachi things? It's like that. But, the Nintendo DS Lite has bluetooth technology so, if both people were playing this same game and stood next to each other, one person's "dog" jumps from their Nintendo to the other so the dogs can play together. This is kind of cool, but not $120 cool especially after having spent $200 on the iPod. Now, she's sad she didn't get a Nintendo DS Lite and says she'll NEVER have enough money saved up to buy one herself. Even though she's got $50 left from Christmas money and Easter will be here before you know it. I guess you just never have everything you want. That sucks.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
How I Spent My Christmas Vacation
Overall, the entire Christmas holiday went well. We drove down to Ohio on the Friday afternoon/night prior to Christmas. We waited and picked Maranda up at school and headed down late in the afternoon and Chicago traffic wasn't bad at all this time. It was a pleasant surprise. We got to my mother-in-law's house about 2 am and promptly went to bed.
While we were there we got to see family and friends. I reconnected with a good friend that I probably haven't seen in person since 2000. It seems like we just never have time to get together when I'm there, but she's originally from Appleton, Wisconsin (just 20-30 minutes down the road from here) and I called her when we decided to move just to tell her I'd be near her hometown. We've decided that we need to get together more often now, since there's a greater chance that we'll be near each other either in Ohio or Wisconsin now.
Maranda and I went to see Charlotte's Web with a friend and her two daughters. It's a pretty good movie. I like that they keep the story pretty true to the book. They didn't make it "too Hollywood" like they do to some remakes.
Maranda and her cousins also got their portraits taken. They all loooooovvve that! (I'm being sarcastic...I hope you knew.) Chelsea, 17, is a junior in high school and hasn't been interested in these portraits for several years. Tara, 12, thinks the world revolves around her and mostly just upset that she didn't have permission to spend her week of vacation from school at some friend's house. It was pretty much all we heard about on both days we saw her. Kylee, 2, is just happy to be hanging out with the big kids it seems. We were lucky she didn't start crying for the photographer, though. Maranda would rather have been other places, but didn't gripe just to keep the peace. She knows better. :) So, now we're waiting to get the portraits back. Thankfully, we only do these portraits every few years.
On our way back to Wisconsin, we spent one night in Valparaiso, Indiana. We had tickets to see the King Tut exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago and I'm too cheap to pay for a hotel in Chicago. So, we stayed in Indiana and went to the exhibit the next day. I'll write about that in another post in the next day or two.
Our trip home from Chicago was uneventful, but I've noticed that the older the get, the more I appreciate coming home to my own shower, bed, couch, food, etc. I like traveling, but there's just something nice about returning home and being surrounded by all your own familiar, comfortable stuff.
While we were there we got to see family and friends. I reconnected with a good friend that I probably haven't seen in person since 2000. It seems like we just never have time to get together when I'm there, but she's originally from Appleton, Wisconsin (just 20-30 minutes down the road from here) and I called her when we decided to move just to tell her I'd be near her hometown. We've decided that we need to get together more often now, since there's a greater chance that we'll be near each other either in Ohio or Wisconsin now.
Maranda and I went to see Charlotte's Web with a friend and her two daughters. It's a pretty good movie. I like that they keep the story pretty true to the book. They didn't make it "too Hollywood" like they do to some remakes.
Maranda and her cousins also got their portraits taken. They all loooooovvve that! (I'm being sarcastic...I hope you knew.) Chelsea, 17, is a junior in high school and hasn't been interested in these portraits for several years. Tara, 12, thinks the world revolves around her and mostly just upset that she didn't have permission to spend her week of vacation from school at some friend's house. It was pretty much all we heard about on both days we saw her. Kylee, 2, is just happy to be hanging out with the big kids it seems. We were lucky she didn't start crying for the photographer, though. Maranda would rather have been other places, but didn't gripe just to keep the peace. She knows better. :) So, now we're waiting to get the portraits back. Thankfully, we only do these portraits every few years.
On our way back to Wisconsin, we spent one night in Valparaiso, Indiana. We had tickets to see the King Tut exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago and I'm too cheap to pay for a hotel in Chicago. So, we stayed in Indiana and went to the exhibit the next day. I'll write about that in another post in the next day or two.
Our trip home from Chicago was uneventful, but I've noticed that the older the get, the more I appreciate coming home to my own shower, bed, couch, food, etc. I like traveling, but there's just something nice about returning home and being surrounded by all your own familiar, comfortable stuff.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
The BIG talk....about Santa, silly.
It's snowing! It's even sticking a little! So, I know I said I was freezing at the Packers game, but you know I enjoy the snow. It's been so warm here the past few weeks that it's seemed like spring. In fact, my sinuses have been bothering me as if it were the beginning of allergy season. Finally, the temperatures are going down. The forecasted highs for this week are in the 20s. I hope we get real snow. The other day while we were driving to school, Maranda says, "Where is all the snow? The main reason I wanted to move to Wisconsin was for all the snow. This is a rip-off!" So, I think this is part of the reason that I want more snow, too.
Well, I haven't written since before Christmas and there are lots of things in my head to write about, but only enough time to write about one (I'd like to get to sleep at a halfway decent hour tonight).
The day after Christmas, Maranda and I had the talk. You know...the talk...about Santa. We were at the mall in Springfield and I was asking her if she thought there really was a Santa. She just kept saying that she didn't know. So, I told her I wanted a real answer and she insisted that she didn't know. Then, she asked if Santa really existed. Well, there were people walking with their little kids nearby and I didn't really want to spoil anything for other people, so I told her that we'd talk about it in the car. A little bit later, we're in the car and headed home and Maranda reminds me that I was going to talk to her about Santa. So, I explained to her that there isn't really a man in a red suit that brings gifts every year. We're all Santa in some respect by pretending there's a little magic every once in awhile. She didn't seem too surprised by this...she IS eleven. I've been putting off having the conversation...hoping that she'd just admit to figuring it out. So, the remaining 5 minutes we had in the car were spent by her questioning me about where I bought the stuff that came from Santa this year. And, Santa wasn't even that exciting this year. Mark and I bought her an iPod nano for Christmas and didn't say it was from Santa because I'd had it engraved and had already put music on it and charged it. (I figured since we were in Ohio, she didn't want a $200 paperweight until we got home...I know I wouldn't.) So, Santa brought things like Floam, Magnetix (you can build cool stuff with these things), and I can't even remember what else. Oh yeah....2 tickets (one for me and one for her) to go see The Cheetah Girls in a couple of weeks. I'm sure THAT will be interesting story. So, anyway, she wanted to know where I bought the floam and stuff like that. Weird. Oh, and she wanted to know where the Santa wrapping paper came from. I buy this roll of wrapping paper from Current that just says "From Santa" on it with little pictures of Santa all over it. I keep it hidden and no Santa gifts ever have other wrapping paper on them, which is how I started to suspect about Santa...he used our same gift wrap. Then, she wanted to be sure that we'd gotten something for Mickey when we got home. He always gets a stocking with doggie treats and toys. Other than that...she was totally satisfied.
Like I said, I'd been putting this off. I feel like this whole Santa thing is one of the first times that you learn something from your friends or you figure it out and your friends confirm it. Parents shouldn't be the ones to break it to you. But, judging by her reaction, I'm guessing that she'd had it figured out and was playing along in fear that the presents would go away if she admitted to something.
I don't really remember figuring it out. I just remembering knowing in 3rd grade, but pretending I didn't believe what other kids said until the next year. I played along for a year. Other than that, I don't really ever having a conversation about it.
Anyone willing to share how they found out about Santa? I'd love to know!
Well, I haven't written since before Christmas and there are lots of things in my head to write about, but only enough time to write about one (I'd like to get to sleep at a halfway decent hour tonight).
The day after Christmas, Maranda and I had the talk. You know...the talk...about Santa. We were at the mall in Springfield and I was asking her if she thought there really was a Santa. She just kept saying that she didn't know. So, I told her I wanted a real answer and she insisted that she didn't know. Then, she asked if Santa really existed. Well, there were people walking with their little kids nearby and I didn't really want to spoil anything for other people, so I told her that we'd talk about it in the car. A little bit later, we're in the car and headed home and Maranda reminds me that I was going to talk to her about Santa. So, I explained to her that there isn't really a man in a red suit that brings gifts every year. We're all Santa in some respect by pretending there's a little magic every once in awhile. She didn't seem too surprised by this...she IS eleven. I've been putting off having the conversation...hoping that she'd just admit to figuring it out. So, the remaining 5 minutes we had in the car were spent by her questioning me about where I bought the stuff that came from Santa this year. And, Santa wasn't even that exciting this year. Mark and I bought her an iPod nano for Christmas and didn't say it was from Santa because I'd had it engraved and had already put music on it and charged it. (I figured since we were in Ohio, she didn't want a $200 paperweight until we got home...I know I wouldn't.) So, Santa brought things like Floam, Magnetix (you can build cool stuff with these things), and I can't even remember what else. Oh yeah....2 tickets (one for me and one for her) to go see The Cheetah Girls in a couple of weeks. I'm sure THAT will be interesting story. So, anyway, she wanted to know where I bought the floam and stuff like that. Weird. Oh, and she wanted to know where the Santa wrapping paper came from. I buy this roll of wrapping paper from Current that just says "From Santa" on it with little pictures of Santa all over it. I keep it hidden and no Santa gifts ever have other wrapping paper on them, which is how I started to suspect about Santa...he used our same gift wrap. Then, she wanted to be sure that we'd gotten something for Mickey when we got home. He always gets a stocking with doggie treats and toys. Other than that...she was totally satisfied.
Like I said, I'd been putting this off. I feel like this whole Santa thing is one of the first times that you learn something from your friends or you figure it out and your friends confirm it. Parents shouldn't be the ones to break it to you. But, judging by her reaction, I'm guessing that she'd had it figured out and was playing along in fear that the presents would go away if she admitted to something.
I don't really remember figuring it out. I just remembering knowing in 3rd grade, but pretending I didn't believe what other kids said until the next year. I played along for a year. Other than that, I don't really ever having a conversation about it.
Anyone willing to share how they found out about Santa? I'd love to know!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)