Opportunity Knocks...

A few weeks ago I received an email from one of the professors in the Early Childhood Education program at Eastern. I've heard her name off an on, but haven't actually had any classes with her. It was a bit of a surprise to see her name in my inbox. Here is part of the message she sent:

Drs. B.eaubien and D.ichtelmiller shared with me, at my request, a select group of students whom they believe to have the potential to be real leaders. Your name was one of the names I received. I serve as the faculty advisor for the Association for the Education of Young Children-EMU. I am looking for a few students to take leadership for next year. If you are interested in serving in a leadership capacity, or just want to know more about the organization, let me know and I will include you in a group meeting...

I've just come from that group meeting, and I'm feeling pretty excited about the potential of becoming involved with this organization. Not only will this look great on my resume when it comes time for me to look for a job, but it's also nice to be noticed as a person who stands out from the crowd. This could also be a great way for me to meet/connect with people who are on the same educational path I'm on, which in invaluable.

Who knows what will come of all this, but I do feel buoyed after the votes of confidence from my current professors. I left the meeting a few minutes ago with a spring in my step and a smile on my face...that certainly counts for something!

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was a lot of fun for me this year. Although my younger sister had to work and wasn't able to be there, I had a good day with the rest of the family. My nephew was here, visiting from Indiana, which is always a plus for me since I miss him so much. My two-year-old niece, A. was a bundle of fun. This is the first year she really "got it," and I so loved playing with her.
For about the past six (maybe more) years or so, my family has been doing boy vs. girl (rather competitive) Easter egg hunts. This all started when my nephew was old enough to really participate in the fun and games, and quickly became a tradition. I have greatly enjoyed the camaraderie surrounding this little ritual, but I must say...we were all getting more and more "creative" in our efforts to be the team with the most eggs! Long story short, we changed things up a bit this year and let the two-year-old have most of the fun. Uncle Michael hid all the eggs in very age-appropriate hiding places for her,

and then we all helped A. as she looked for eggs. She had a great time with the hunt, and actually managed to find quite a few before her attention was captured by bigger and better things.

Baby L. wasn't feeling very well and was consequently pretty grumpy most of the day, but I was still happy to see her and {attempt} to help them keep her from crying too much. She wanted to be held all day (mostly by her mommy) and, even then we could tell she wasn't her usual happy self.

Of course the day wouldn't have been complete without some fun and games for the big kids too. Enter the lovely Mr. Marshmallow Peep! Nick and I decided to do the age-old microwave trick with our peep friend, and the results were...well, hilarious!

The poor little, gooey guy...I really don't think there's any way to win when you're a marshmallow peep on Easter Sunday! Even if you are lucky enough to avoid a couple of big kids at heart who will delight in subjecting you to microwave madness, you're still highly likely to be eaten alive!

And speaking of funny things, Nick got these absurdly-faced plastic eggs in his Easter basket. They made us laugh, a lot. Especially when he decided to start mimicking their expressions.


Last, but certainly not least, was the enjoyment of watching A. open her Easter baskets. She has had a sweet tooth from the time she first tasted chocolate, so this influx of more candy than she has ever seen was a delightful experience for her, and for us.

Promises of Spring

I get a giddy feeling when I look at my front garden around this time every year. Somehow it never ceases to amaze me when my bulbs and perennials begin their reawakening, and when the maple tree breaks out in buds. After such a long and brutal winter, it seems almost impossible they could come back. Today is sunny, if a little windy and cool. I took the opportunity to get out and do a bit of early spring pruning. The first daffodils have already bloomed, and if the multitude of tiny green chutes I saw are any indication, there will be a profusion of blooming to follow. I truly do love something about every season here in Michigan, but the promise of renewal and life that comes with spring is invigorating!

Just in the Nick of Time!

OK so I just got home from a very long and exhausting day at school. I'm very tired and I have a headache. Immediately after letting the dogs out, I went to the medicine cabinet to get some Sudafed for said headache. Let's just say that until today, I never realized how similar generic laxative pills and Sudafed are! Luckily, I noticed the difference just in the nick of time, before I accidentally swallowed two laxatives!! I think it was the packaging that was the most misleading and made me grab the wrong one. Both come in a silver foil-type sheet of pills. Thankfully, the pill manufacturers are smart enough to realize the possibility of this error, so they make the pills different colors. NOTE TO SELF: Sudafed pills are red, laxative pills are orange! I seriously noticed this difference as I was filling up my water glass, right before popping the pills into my mouth. Whew! I am very thanful I avoided this mishap...the last thing I need right now is those kinds of problems on top of everything else! The photo below is pretty bad since I took it with my cell phone, but you can still see how similar they look...now you know!

Getting There...

Well this semester has been insanely insane for me...19 credit hours has made most days fly by in a whirlwind! I've had to stay very organized and on top of things in order to keep it all together, but overall I've been OK. We're finally getting down to that end-of-term crunch time where everything is due and demands are high. This will be a stressful few weeks ahead, but then I'll be done, AND I'll have eight more classes checked off my list! Even though I've been busy as a bee, I'm glad I went ahead with the crazy semester while I was able to take on such a heavy load. My husband has been great, very supportive and understanding as I've put virtually everything but school on hold. I'm getting to the point in my educational career where I can see that light at the end of the tunnel, and it puts a smile on my face. I now only have a few spring/summer classes, in addition to two more big semesters and I'll be ready for my year of student teaching. It seems so close and still so far away! I can't wait to finally graduate and move on, but having said that, I'm also trying to be where I am and enjoy the positive aspects of being a "college kid."

Who Knew?

Apparently, holding down the shift key for 8 seconds causes something called "filter keys" to become active on windows computers. I learn all sorts of things I never wanted to know in any given day, but this one takes the cake! Why in the world would something like this be built into the OS...I simply can't see any advantage to such a feature, weird!!

Diamante Poems About My Day

Student
dedicated, diligent
reading, writing, working
books, paper, pencils, stress
reading, writing, working, thinking
tired, educated
woman

Dogs
sweet, spoiled
running, rolling, barking
ears, tails, noses, paws
playing, begging, sleeping, snoring
happy, loved
pets

Dishes
dirty, gross
invading, stinking, annoying
sink, water, soap, sponge
soaking, scrubbing, rinsing, shining
clean

Chipmunk

small, quick
running, scurrying, quivering
driveway, woman, car, tires
rolling, squealing, stopping
ugly, depressing
death

These Make Life Sweeter...

...nieces! I'm thoroughly convinced it's no coincidence that the words nice and niece are so closely related. One of the things for which I am most thankful in life is my status as "Auntie Melba." First with my nephew, Nick all those years ago, and now with my two sweet nieces, I have always been fortunate to have close relationships with these special children. A few weeks ago, Michael and I kept the girls so my sister and her husband could take a much-needed respite to celebrate their anniversary. It was a win-win situation, because we got some one-on-one time with these sweet girls, and they got a night of freedom. Here are my favorites from the images taken that weekend:

One sleepy, one silly

= arms full!

Is there anything better than a baby falling asleep in your arms?

Ava in Shades

One Big Baby!

L.G. - Life's Good!

{Auntie}

Laughable

This one made me chuckle...


Click here to see a larger version.

Frozen

I've had two experiences involving frozen things over the past couple of months, both of which have been really disturbing. This has been a cold, bitter winter...more so than most Michigan winters through which I've lived. So anyway...a few weeks ago, I had a nice, steaming hot burrito for my lunch. I'll admit it, I have a weakness for Taco Bell, though more for the hot sauce than the food. I don't go there often because I'm trying to avoid the whole fast food pitfall, but alas, I digress!

So there I was, sitting in my car, eating my nice, hot burrito as I waited for my next class to begin. The outside temp was (I think) maybe 5 degrees that day, so yeah...cold! I was hungry, having not eaten since early that morning. I looked into my bag, and...no hot sauce! To understand the magnitude of this problem, you have to understand my relationship to TB hot sauce. For me, eating TB food without hot sauce would be...I don't know, like eating a sandwich without bread. I love Taco Bell hot sauce! So anyway...I was disappointed, but still very hungry. I looked around my car and saw the long-forgotten, and very frozen hot sauce in my cup holder. I thought about this for maybe two seconds and then decided it was better than no hot sauce. I opened the packet and put the sauce on my burrito. The stuff was the consistency of thick mucus and it was so cold that it hurt my teeth when I took a bite. The combination of very hot with very cold was unsettling. Let's just say I ate the remainder of my burrito with no sauce and it has been easier for me to avoid Taco Bell since then. The mental image of that slimy, frozen packet of snot keeps creeping into my mind...gross!

Then yesterday, when the temps dropped below zero again, I was on my way to school when I realized I had forgotten my chap stick. One annoying side effect of extreme cold and dry heating all winter long is dry, chapped lips. I needed my chap stick! Again, I looked around my icebox of a car and discovered some long-forgotten and very frozen chap stick in the center console. I pried the cap off and placed the tip on my lips. I attempted to move the tube back-and-forth, in the manner of a person applying chap stick, but no...the thing just sat there, affixed to my lips in one spot. Apparently, frozen chap stick is closely related to glue! I might as well have had a glue stick in my hand and been trying to put that onto my lips. I managed to get enough chap stick to make a small difference, but it was cold and clumpy and basically just gross. I survived the rest of my day without chap stick, but I've certainly learned that some things are just better left alone when frozen!