the queen applies to grad school

A couple of weeks ago, I was researching the statistics class I knew I’d need in order to have a chance of acceptance into Kansas State’s Masters of Engineering Management program.  After spending some time on the Wichita State website, I discovered that they, too, now offer an MEM program. Score one for me!

Without hesitation, I filled out the application and paid the fee.

Friday, I was notified that my application had been sent to the MEM program coordinator.

This morning, I emailed my resume.

E-gads! This is real!!  I’m not just talking about graduate school anymore.  Actually taking the steps toward going is scary.  And it makes me feel old.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that 12+ years of professional experience kinda outweighs the fact that my undergrad GPA was less than awesome.

And I’m officially on the hunt for an evening sitter for the girls.  Anyone interested??

 

early to rise

Wheres the coffee? Im not sure even an iv drop will be able to keep me going today. It was a very early morning.

Were talking 4:00 early. 4:00 with a kid and a tummy ache early. It could have been worse. She wasnt throwing up all over the place.

My beautiful 8-year old has reflux and is lactose intolerant. She always has been, but sometimes its worse than others. Apparently our dinner choice of creamy potato soup and ice cream for dessert didnt sit well.

Yeah, Im totally in the running for Mom of the Year.

Totally.

happy new year {and an open letter to moms}

Today marks the start of a brand new year.  I have some changes in mind for myself, so I hope you don’t mind too much if I start out kinda harsh with the rest of you.

Your blogs make me sad when you beat yourself up with words of unnecessary harm.

You’re not a bad mom. You never were. The fact that you realize what you’ve done that goes against everything you learned about right and wrong shows that you’re not a bad mom.

You love your babies (however old they may be).  You’re not a bad mom.

You provide food, clothes (they’re usually clean) and safe shelter.  You’re not a bad mom.  And even if the shelter  you provide isn’t perfectly safe, if you’re doing the best you can do with what you have, you’re still not a bad mom!

Please, please, please stop beating yourselves up!

None of us are perfect.

None of us have never made a mistake.

We are moms who care deeply for our children. It is our nature to criticize our short falls.  But let’s understand where our faults really come from.

We’re human.  Every single one of us.  We’re going to fail in some way every day.

If we can love our faults as much as we love our strengths, we can truly love ourselves.

an interview

Yesterday afternoon, I was contacted by Ann Zimmerman, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal.  She was working on a story about some of the hot electronic toys that are out this holiday season and contacted me based on this random tweet of mine from last Friday:

The article will be published tomorrow, but I found it was already online tonight.  You can read it here:
{The Holiday Toy Popularity Contest}

Thank you, Ann, for including my comments in your story.

The text of my original email is below.  We also spoke for a few minutes on the phone this morning, so it may seem like she put words in my mouth. I assure you, she didn’t.

My daughters are 8 and 6 years old – 3rd and 1st grades, respectively.  The girls started cutting apart the Sunday toy ads and making their lists for Santa in October this year.  A lot of toys got crossed off or torn off the pages, but these little creatures (and Barbie) had staying power.  Slick questions like, “If you could have only one toy off this whole list, what would it be?” and “If you had to pick between (a) and (b), which would you want?”, as well as paying close attention to the websites they asked to visit (again, Fijit Friends and Barbie led the pack) and listening in their playtime conversations, narrowed Santa’s list (and mine) down to the three gifts that they will receive on Christmas morning.

Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the Fijit craze until I started shopping for the toys.  I had seen them in the stores months ago, but didn’t know they’d be on the final list until a couple of weeks ago.  The tweet you referenced was from Friday last week.  We were fighting a stomach bug, so everyone was home that afternoon.  Weekdays seem to be the best time to find deals on eBay, so I decided to see if I could find the toys there.  I used the word “stalking” because that’s how I always feel when I place a bid.  I jumped in during the last 20 minutes of the auctions for 2 of the toys and placed a my bids.

I also had them loaded in my cart at amazon.com…just in case, you know.  However, I won both eBay auctions, and spent less than I would have spent at amazon.  Surprisingly, the box arrived in today’s mail and the Fijits are safely packed away for “the elves” to wrap on Christmas Eve.

when the kids are away…

…the air conditioner will go out. No kidding!

Sunday afternoon, I took the girls to my sister’s to hang out with all of their cousins. From there, my sister-in-law transported them to Grandma & Papa’s for the rest of the week.

Now, the a/c hadn’t been keeping up, but it has also been fighting against temperatures upwards of 108 degrees on multiple days recently. Plus it’s 11 years old. And so it died. Actually, the condenser unit (the big cube out back) is fine. It’s the parts in the furnace that gave out.

I called it in to the home warranty company first thing Monday morning and the repairman came out today before noon. Apparently, the blower and the motor are bad. He disassembled the thing and took it with him to rebuild in the shop. Said he’d be back to reinstall everything…tomorrow.

So this is day #3 with no air. Egads, it’s toasty in there!! 85 when I went home to meet the repairman and leave another bowl of ice for the pupster.

Wonder how much it’s going to cost me? This is why I have the warranty coverage, right?

Stay tuned…

« Previous Entries