Congratulations Lisa & Sean!

My best pal Lisa had a baby today! Congratulations to her and her husband, Sean, on beautiful little (er, kind of big, 9-lb.) Cameron Delaney!

CaffeineWatch Update

You know, I might kick this caffeine thing.

Day one went very well. Day two (Wednesday) was awful. I got a raging headache in the afternoon and, as anyone who's ever had a caffeine headache knows, there is nothing you can do for a caffeine headache. I really wanted a Coke. But I soldiered on, and I was headache-free for Thursday, Friday and today - and I stuck to my "one caffeinated drink per day" self-imposed rule.

I'm not sure I'm ready to cut back further, though...gotta take this slowly. :)

Alice Cooper had it right

Sing it with me:

Schoooooool's out for summer!

I've been singing that all day, because today was my last day of class! Wahoo! And while I am already sort of regretting the extra time it will take me to finish school because I'm not taking summer classes, I am SO HAPPY I get three and a half months off.

So, congratulations to me (and Brock and Hannah, who had a vested interest) for getting through my first year of grad school. I am 1/3 finished!

And...Saturday we all went to pick up my research report on blog readers (Hannah was excited to see my school). I got 100% on the paper, and my professor encouraged me to submit it for publication to our department's journal. Who knows if it'll get accepted, but I was really excited that she thought it was that good. So...thanks again if you took my survey!

I am pretty sure I'm going to get an A in both of my classes. The research class is a definite, and unless I completely bombed my short final paper and presentation in ethics, I should be okay there too. I was a little miffed that the prof took 4% off my greenwashing paper, because she wrote zero comments on anything other than that I should have used section headings. She never told us we had to have section headings, and anyway, I don't particularly think a lack of section headings is worth 4%. But...I still got an A, after all the heartache (and headaches, and heartburn), so I should probably just be happy, stop trying to be a perfectionist, and get over it. *chuckle*

This means I can start on my list of things to do when school's out. I already ate lunch away from my desk, have been hanging out with my family more, and started making a dent in my magazine pile. Tomorrow I'm going out for sushi (spicy tuna rolls...mmmm). Tomorrow is also going to be the first day of what I'm calling CaffeineWatch 2008, where I try to wean myself off my reliance on caffeinated beverages. For week one of CaffeineWatch 2008, I am going to try to limit myself to one caffeinated drink per day. We'll see how I do.

Also, I might be getting a cold, but I don't even care because...

Schoooooool's out for summer!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there...including me. :) (I don't think there's anything wrong with giving yourself props for raising a pretty fantastic kid.) Thanks, especially, to my mom for raising me, and to Brock's mom for raising him. You made us both just wacky enough to be perfect for each other. :)

And, especially if you're a mom, check out this blog post on the Cookie magazine website. I just found this one last week, and it does a really good job of explaining why one of my Mother's Day gifts - a day at the spa - is absolutely perfect. Sometimes, moms need to not have to take care of anybody or anything. Time that's all about you becomes this magical reset button that lets you go back to making it all about somebody else with renewed energy.

My family rocks. I'm so glad I get to be a mom, and that I have a husband who appreciates the job I do. He made me a really complicated breakfast just because it's my favorite. How awesome is that?

Damn-delions

This afternoon, after Hannah got up from her nap (bless her for taking one), we went outside. I got it in my head that I wanted to dig up some of the dandelions around the patio. Our yard (front and back) is completely overrun with dandelions. We easily have 8,000 dandelions more than our closest competitor, but we have had zero chance to do anything about our yard this whole spring. It has been hectic. It's really not our fault. Really.

So, I gave Hannah a trowel and set her to work digging in the dirt in the flower bed, which she loved, and I dug up dandelions:

This (one 5-gallon bucket and two 10-inch pots) is just from immediately around our patio. I hate dandelions. But the view from the back door is significantly better now, and I do think it helped clear my head a bit to attack dandelions for an hour or so.

Maybe it's time to re-brand dandelions as a "bright-flowered, vigorous and hardy groundcover" rather than a weed. Then our yard would be the best one on the block rather than the weediest. :)

My new lucky number

14 1/2. That's how many pages are in the draft of my ethics paper. Which is, frankly, close enough to 15 for me.

Breathing again

Okay, because my last post was really whiny and depressing and I don't want everyone to worry about me, I wanted to post again to let everyone know that I got my "second wind" this evening (sans caffeine, even, but probably helped along by the pizza I ordered for dinner - is fat better or worse than caffeine?). I have 11 pages of my paper typed, and only two sections left to go. I am easily going to hit the required 15 pages, and probably even have time to edit the thing so it makes some kind of sense. (I am concerned about the sensibility factor, as most of my work on this has happened after 9 p.m., and let's just say that's not really when I do my best thinking.)

So...I will live. And I will try not to be so dramatic and Sarah Bernhardt-like.

And now, I'm going to bed. At 10:30! Woo!

Breaking down

I finished my Saturday class today. I turned in my magnificent paper on blog readers, got through the final I spent a grand total of three hours studying for, and I am done. I actually feel pretty good about it, but can't really bask in that glory because I still have a massive paper and presentation to do by Monday. I have a take-home final to do after that, but I'm not even thinking about it until Tuesday.

Last night I nearly burst into tears. I have been so stressed, and so sleep-deprived, and things have been so abnormal around here between work and work travel (mine and Brock's) and potty training and whatever else, plus this school ridiculousness, that I am definitely not myself.

This afternoon I'm crashing hard. I overloaded on caffeine this morning (chai when I got up, grande latte from Starbucks on the way to class, Coke at lunch), giving myself a terrific headache. But I did manage to stay awake for class, which was something. The downside is that the caffeine has worn off, and I'm exhausted. And I'm afraid to drink more caffeine. But I have to crank out nine more pages on greenwashing tonight if I am to have any hope of getting stuff actually done, in a reasonably effective way, by Monday.

I think I am going to add "kick my caffeine habit" to the things I want to do when school is over.

And if you're a friend or family member reading this, please don't call me this weekend. Not to be rude or anything, but I really do not have time to talk to people. I barely have time or energy to interact with the people I live with.

Two more weeks...and then school will be over and I'll get a break. And at least I'm done with one class, right?

NKOTB forever!

Brock would like to think he is my first and only love. I hate to break it to him, but as a preteen I actually learned what love was when I carried a flaming torch of passion for these guys:


And oh my gosh, you guys, the New Kids on the Block are back together - for real - and they're going on tour!! I am so going - with a group of at least four other girls who experienced similar love stories at similar ages.

The last time I saw NKOTB, I was about 11. It was my first concert. And I was convinced that Joey McIntyre would somehow pick me out of the crowd (you know, seeing across the thousands of people, all the way to the lawn swarming with screaming preteen girls), whisk me away and marry me. I was also under the impression that NKOTB was creating, right there in front of me, a legendary musical event. A legendary musical event that involved very large shoulder pads, humongous peace sign necklaces and hats with the top cut out, among other unfortunate 90s fashions. And pseudo-dancing while sitting on barstools.

Preteen girls are not rational creatures.

It turns out that nearly 30-year-old girls are not rational creatures, either, because my friend Jen and I were so excited when we saw NKOTB was coming to Chicago that we squealed right in the middle of our office. And then we started singing.

Ah, recapturing the magic of childhood. I LOVE YOU, JOEY MAC! Hee hee.