This is a post I wrote and forgot to publish! Whoops!
It has been a long time since I wrote a blog, but I might try a little harder this time to keep up with it. I was just reading my past post and I didn't follow that plan as well as I had hoped. I am doing the C25K program right now. I am on week 3 and boy is it tough! I'm hoping it gets much better though. I have to run on a treadmill because it has been way too hot to run outside. I also gave up soda! Although I did drink some last weekend at the football game, that's all I've had in well over a month! I'm super excited and hope I can keep this up. It is hard sometimes when I get tired of drinking water, but I am drinking Propel Zero, so at least it is flavored.
On August 12, I got LASIK surgery. This was a somewhat sudden decision. I had been thinking about it on and off since my mom got the surgery several years ago. My contacts and eyesight in general are a big pain, so it was always in the back of my head. I never really thought I could get it, because of the way my eyes are. I have an astigmatism that's pretty bad and I wasn't sure how advanced the lasers are these days. One day I was looking on Groupon, one of my favorite deal sites, I saw a Groupon for Mann Eye Institute. For this, I paid $100 and $1200 off the surgery! What a great deal! I had heard on the radio that they do free consultations, so I thought, "why not?" I went to the consultation and they told me that I was a great candidate for the surgery! I was very excited, but still a little hesitant, because there is always the possibility of the laser not fully correcting the problem. I had to wait about 3 weeks for the surgery, two of those I couldn't wear my contacts at all! It was difficult getting used to but I think worth it in the long run, considering most people do not have to wear glasses or contacts again. During the 3 weeks, I researched all I could about the surgery, the results, and the place I was going. I freaked myself out a couple of times, because I was intentionally looking for bad things. I wanted to see how many people had a bad experience with LASIK surgery. I truly did not find that many at all. I couldn't find one bad thing about Mann Eye, and even found out that it is one of the top 10 places in the COUNTRY to get LASIK surgery. That impressed me and eased my fears just a little bit. I was still trying not to get too excited, because I didn't want to over-hype the whole situation. I only told my family, Bobby, and my cohort. The day before the surgery I got really nervous and upset but my mom and Bobby reassured me. My surgery wasn't scheduled until 2:00 in the afternoon, so that day I played the waiting game. When we got to Mann Eye, we had to wait quite a while, but I kept seeing people coming out of the surgery. I had to get more tests done and several different people looked at my eyes! They told me over and over that my prescription was the kind that took the longest to completely heal. I got Vallum and numbing drops in my eyes and had to wait some more. Finally, I go into the surgery room and lay down on a bed. Many more drops, lots of lights, difficulty seeing, not being able to tell if my eyes were open, and maybe 10-15 minutes later I was done! They helped my off the bed and checked on my "flap" to see if it was in the right place. I had to wear clear shields over my eyes then sunglasses over those, so I'm sure I looked real cute. Then I was on my way home! (Of course Bobby drove.) Mann Eye is pretty far from our apartment, and we have to take a main highway to get there and just as we got done, rush hour traffic had started. It took us a little bit to get home. On the drive home, I couldn't really keep my eyes open. I think due to the amount of light that was outside. Finally, we made it home and by that time I think the numbing drops had wore off. They suggest to take a nap after the surgery. That was my plan, but there was some pain that was making it very difficult to fall asleep! I think I was being a little over dramatic but I was almost in tears. I think I was just frustrated that I couldn't fall asleep when that was what I was supposed to be doing. Finally, Bobby suggested I take some Benadryl. That knocked me out, thankfully! I didn't think I would sleep very long, because it was at 5pm. At about 8:30, Bobby comes in to check on me and ask me what I want for dinner. So I decide to get up. I could actually see! It was pretty blurry but I could see with no contacts! I stayed up until midnight and still had to wear the clear shields. The next day I had to get up and go in for a check up. Everything looked good and we went on with our day. I had to sleep in the eye shields for a week. This I dreaded because they made marks on my face and I had to tape them on, so pulling that tape off was torture! I haven't had any problems and it's almost been 3 months. My vision still isn't stable but it's getting there.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween
It's the last day of October, which is unbelievable! Even though this semester has been really slow and dare I say easy, we are approaching our last month of classes. Grad school is really awesome in the sense that our professors don't necessarily have to follow the "university" calender and finals schedule. My last day of class is Dec 5th, which is the same as everyone else, but I do not have finals. However, this next month, I have a ton of projects to wrap up, readings to do, and papers to write.
Last Friday, I got to meet the LSSPs I'm going to work with in the spring for my practicum. It was a bit overwhelming. They are a lot different than me, so I think it will take some time for us to get used to each other. They seem very talkative and outspoken, the exact opposite of me. I think it will be an interesting semester, just extremely busy. I'll be working two full days a week in a school: one day at a high school and one day at a middle school. Most of the weeks I will still get my Friday off, which I think will help with keeping up with everything! Next semester I will also be taking three classes: Consultation and Professional Issues in School Psychology, Data Based Decision Making, and Classroom and Behavior Management Strategies for Students with Disabilities. They seem like they will be interesting. I have a feeling that next semester is going to be insanely busy, a big change from this current semester. I hope that I can keep my sanity! :)
Happy Halloween! We don't have anything going on for Halloween and we didn't do anything this weekend either. I've decorated the apartment a little bit, but nothing too crazy. I am getting excited about decorating for Christmas, even though I will have to wait until after Thanksgiving :)
This weekend, we did our normal Friday "date" night I suppose you could call it. We ate at Chuy's our favorite favorite place to eat and went to the Alamo Drafthouse to watch In Time. It was a pretty good movie and kinda crazy to think about! Saturday we got up earlier than normal and went to Round Rock to participate in the MS Walk. It was pretty fun. Later that afternoon we decided to go to the UT Football game. We decided to do what we did last time and go a little early, so we could park for free and hang out at a bar that is close by to have some beers before the game. It's just a short walk to the stadium from there. Our seats were at the very top of the stadium so it was quite the hike up the ramps. It was a good view though and fun game. They won 43-0!
Bring on November!
Last Friday, I got to meet the LSSPs I'm going to work with in the spring for my practicum. It was a bit overwhelming. They are a lot different than me, so I think it will take some time for us to get used to each other. They seem very talkative and outspoken, the exact opposite of me. I think it will be an interesting semester, just extremely busy. I'll be working two full days a week in a school: one day at a high school and one day at a middle school. Most of the weeks I will still get my Friday off, which I think will help with keeping up with everything! Next semester I will also be taking three classes: Consultation and Professional Issues in School Psychology, Data Based Decision Making, and Classroom and Behavior Management Strategies for Students with Disabilities. They seem like they will be interesting. I have a feeling that next semester is going to be insanely busy, a big change from this current semester. I hope that I can keep my sanity! :)
Happy Halloween! We don't have anything going on for Halloween and we didn't do anything this weekend either. I've decorated the apartment a little bit, but nothing too crazy. I am getting excited about decorating for Christmas, even though I will have to wait until after Thanksgiving :)
This weekend, we did our normal Friday "date" night I suppose you could call it. We ate at Chuy's our favorite favorite place to eat and went to the Alamo Drafthouse to watch In Time. It was a pretty good movie and kinda crazy to think about! Saturday we got up earlier than normal and went to Round Rock to participate in the MS Walk. It was pretty fun. Later that afternoon we decided to go to the UT Football game. We decided to do what we did last time and go a little early, so we could park for free and hang out at a bar that is close by to have some beers before the game. It's just a short walk to the stadium from there. Our seats were at the very top of the stadium so it was quite the hike up the ramps. It was a good view though and fun game. They won 43-0!
Bring on November!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Weekend in Arkansas
This past weekend I was able to go to Arkansas to visit my family. I was very grateful because I really wasn't sure how this semester was going to play out, but we didn't have any major projects due this week, so I took the opportunity to visit my family. I got to Arkansas on Friday afternoon then went to the football game with my mom. My brother is co-drum major in the high school marching band, so I am glad I got to see him do that. He did great and the whole band was awesome. We didn't stay for the whole game because our team was losing and truly we just cared about the band ;)
Saturday we got up fairly early and headed to Rogers to watch the band in a marching competition. They performed at 12:45, I think, but we got there early enough to watch some of the bands in their division. They did a great job on their performance, but we had to wait until 4 to hear the results. We stayed and watched some more bands, but then we decided to go shopping. It was an unsuccessful trip. Clothes these days are pretty crazy but oh well. Once we got back, we had to wait a while to hear the results, but Green Forest did great. They got first place in their division, outstanding drum major, auxiliary, overall effect, and something else I can't remember. They got 8th place overall, so they were going to finals! The outcome of the finals wasn't as good as they had hoped but they still got a trophy and I think they did great. The awards ceremony was at 8, so by the time they got changed and packed the bus up, it was pretty late. Then we had to go get dinner and finally got to the school at 1030 I think, then I decided to wait with my brother and drive him home because he was pretty tired. He had to wait until the band bus got back so they could unpack everything. I think it was 11 before we got out of there.
Sunday, I slept in a little and then decided to do my little homework that I had. (Later this will become a great decision). That evening, we went to Red Lobster and rue21 in Branson. I did find a few things in rue21, like a pair of jeans for $5! Plus 2 shirts one for $3 and one for $4, a purse for $5 and 2 undershirts for $15 (BOGO free). I had to be cautious because I didn't have much more room in bag and I only brought a carry on.
I didn't leave until Monday morning, so we got up to the airport about an hour and half before my flight and they didn't even have the security gates open! So we just waited until they opened, which was about 30-45 min. Once I got through security, I had to wait, wait, wait! Our flight was supposed to leave at 10:50, but it didn't leave until maybe 20-30 min later. I don't know what was going on but it was pretty ridiculous considering this was the only flight going out at that point. Finally, we got going and they flight was pretty bumpy, but alright. Once we landed, it seemed to take forever to get off the plane! I was getting impatient! Imagine that. My gate was at the very end of the terminal, so it took forever to get to the exit of the airport, then I couldn't find a shuttle to my car. Once I got on one, I got out of there as quick as I could but it was pretty winding! I guess most airports are like that. Needless to say I didn't get home until about 1:45. This is when I was glad I got my homework done, because I have to leave at 2:15 to meet for the carpool. Thankfully I didn't have to drive to school so I just got to ride and relax a little bit. I had time to see Bobby, eat a pizza he made for lunch (thankfully) get my stuff together, change (it was cold in Arkansas, hot in Texas) and get out the door. Phew!
I had a great weekend at home and seeing my family. I will get to go home for Thanksgiving, so I am glad about that too.
Closing thought....I can't believe how fast this semester is going!!
Saturday we got up fairly early and headed to Rogers to watch the band in a marching competition. They performed at 12:45, I think, but we got there early enough to watch some of the bands in their division. They did a great job on their performance, but we had to wait until 4 to hear the results. We stayed and watched some more bands, but then we decided to go shopping. It was an unsuccessful trip. Clothes these days are pretty crazy but oh well. Once we got back, we had to wait a while to hear the results, but Green Forest did great. They got first place in their division, outstanding drum major, auxiliary, overall effect, and something else I can't remember. They got 8th place overall, so they were going to finals! The outcome of the finals wasn't as good as they had hoped but they still got a trophy and I think they did great. The awards ceremony was at 8, so by the time they got changed and packed the bus up, it was pretty late. Then we had to go get dinner and finally got to the school at 1030 I think, then I decided to wait with my brother and drive him home because he was pretty tired. He had to wait until the band bus got back so they could unpack everything. I think it was 11 before we got out of there.
Sunday, I slept in a little and then decided to do my little homework that I had. (Later this will become a great decision). That evening, we went to Red Lobster and rue21 in Branson. I did find a few things in rue21, like a pair of jeans for $5! Plus 2 shirts one for $3 and one for $4, a purse for $5 and 2 undershirts for $15 (BOGO free). I had to be cautious because I didn't have much more room in bag and I only brought a carry on.
I didn't leave until Monday morning, so we got up to the airport about an hour and half before my flight and they didn't even have the security gates open! So we just waited until they opened, which was about 30-45 min. Once I got through security, I had to wait, wait, wait! Our flight was supposed to leave at 10:50, but it didn't leave until maybe 20-30 min later. I don't know what was going on but it was pretty ridiculous considering this was the only flight going out at that point. Finally, we got going and they flight was pretty bumpy, but alright. Once we landed, it seemed to take forever to get off the plane! I was getting impatient! Imagine that. My gate was at the very end of the terminal, so it took forever to get to the exit of the airport, then I couldn't find a shuttle to my car. Once I got on one, I got out of there as quick as I could but it was pretty winding! I guess most airports are like that. Needless to say I didn't get home until about 1:45. This is when I was glad I got my homework done, because I have to leave at 2:15 to meet for the carpool. Thankfully I didn't have to drive to school so I just got to ride and relax a little bit. I had time to see Bobby, eat a pizza he made for lunch (thankfully) get my stuff together, change (it was cold in Arkansas, hot in Texas) and get out the door. Phew!
I had a great weekend at home and seeing my family. I will get to go home for Thanksgiving, so I am glad about that too.
Closing thought....I can't believe how fast this semester is going!!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Look at me go...
I can't believe I am posting again within 9 days of my last post. I'm really trying to be better about this, but I'm afraid it is going to be a lot of the same thing for the next few months/year. HA! Basically all I do is go to class, read, and work on projects. This past week, we had a four-day weekend, so it has been nice and relaxing. The plus side is that I've been doing really good about getting stuff done ahead of time. It truly does make things much more enjoyable and less stressful.
Last night, Bobby and I went downtown for the first time randomly with some of my grad school buddies. It was quite interesting to say the least. We both realized that we didn't really fit in at either of the places we went or downtown at all, but it was fun nevertheless.
Lately on Saturdays we have been watching football ALL DAY. This can get annoying and boring after a while especially since it is all day. Now we have to watch the Texas game and of course the Hogs, which is all I really care about. The Hogs beat Auburn which was an especially sweet victory for me, as one of my friends from grad school/carpool companion went to Auburn. He was quite upset, but of course I will rub that in for some time. WPS! (woo pig sooie)
In other news, I am going to Arkansas on Friday and I am very excited to see my family! I am really thankful that I get Fridays off so that I am able to do this from time to time! Also, very glad there is a direct flight from Austin to Branson that is only about 2 hours! That saves so much time because the trip is about 10-12 hours, depending on stops and traffic situations, which can be killer in Texas.
Last week I decided to experiment with selling stuff on ebay again. It was a success! I listed 12 items and all but one sold. So I listed some more this weekend, hoping for the same success! Now, I just have to go ship 11 things tomorrow! I didn't make a fortune but it's better than those clothes just sitting around not getting worn. Speaking of, I really need some new fall clothes! I don't think it will be THAT cold here, but I need more things that will work on cool mornings and transition into sweaty afternoons, along with some more dressier clothes for when I start working in a school!
Until next time,
Last night, Bobby and I went downtown for the first time randomly with some of my grad school buddies. It was quite interesting to say the least. We both realized that we didn't really fit in at either of the places we went or downtown at all, but it was fun nevertheless.
Lately on Saturdays we have been watching football ALL DAY. This can get annoying and boring after a while especially since it is all day. Now we have to watch the Texas game and of course the Hogs, which is all I really care about. The Hogs beat Auburn which was an especially sweet victory for me, as one of my friends from grad school/carpool companion went to Auburn. He was quite upset, but of course I will rub that in for some time. WPS! (woo pig sooie)
In other news, I am going to Arkansas on Friday and I am very excited to see my family! I am really thankful that I get Fridays off so that I am able to do this from time to time! Also, very glad there is a direct flight from Austin to Branson that is only about 2 hours! That saves so much time because the trip is about 10-12 hours, depending on stops and traffic situations, which can be killer in Texas.
Last week I decided to experiment with selling stuff on ebay again. It was a success! I listed 12 items and all but one sold. So I listed some more this weekend, hoping for the same success! Now, I just have to go ship 11 things tomorrow! I didn't make a fortune but it's better than those clothes just sitting around not getting worn. Speaking of, I really need some new fall clothes! I don't think it will be THAT cold here, but I need more things that will work on cool mornings and transition into sweaty afternoons, along with some more dressier clothes for when I start working in a school!
Until next time,
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Fall Semester So Far
First of all I cannot believe that it is already October! In a few months, I will have completed 1 year of graduate school! It seems like such a long time ago that we moved here and started graduate school. It's pretty amazing, but kind of scary at the same time. In January I will start my first school based practicum. For those of you who don't know, I will be going into a school and basically working under an LSSP for two days a week...for free no less! I have already contacted a few people about my practicum, because we have to find it ourselves. I think 4 people got back to me, so I am no longer worried about that as much, but now I need to decide where I want to work at. I know I want to try a middle or a high school first, just to see what it is like.
Right now we are working at a university based clinic to assess college students. We are all enjoying it. We work in teams and we are under direct supervision of one of our professors. My partner and I haven't had a client yet, but hopefully by our next meeting we will.
Other than that my other classes are alright. We have two counseling classes and an assessment class. Overall, they are fine, but they aren't my favorite classes. So far the work hasn't been too busy, but it will be towards the end of October and November, as we have 4 reports due and two 8-10 page papers all due in that time period! Right now I am enjoying my relaxing time and trying to get ahead in some aspects so maybe later on will not be as jam packed. Here's to hoping!
Right now we are working at a university based clinic to assess college students. We are all enjoying it. We work in teams and we are under direct supervision of one of our professors. My partner and I haven't had a client yet, but hopefully by our next meeting we will.
Other than that my other classes are alright. We have two counseling classes and an assessment class. Overall, they are fine, but they aren't my favorite classes. So far the work hasn't been too busy, but it will be towards the end of October and November, as we have 4 reports due and two 8-10 page papers all due in that time period! Right now I am enjoying my relaxing time and trying to get ahead in some aspects so maybe later on will not be as jam packed. Here's to hoping!
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