Week 8

Monday: Had the day off of work, drove down to my parents' house and spent some time with them and my sister. Was going to do dinner with my mom and sister, but the snow really started coming down. I wound up driving back to my place in near white-out conditions. Took back roads instead of the expressway, wound up losing control of my car at one point and started spinning into the oncoming lane.I was able to correct it, but not until I spun back to the right and then to the left one more time before getting my car straightened out!

I discovered last week that the screw driver I purchased to finish building my vanity was the biggest waste of $15 I've ever spent. I'm hoping to be able to take it back to the store and get my money back. My dad gave me his old screwdriver, and I was able to get my vanity finished tonight! Literally took me about 10 minutes to finish up. If only it hadn't taken me a week to get what I needed to finish it up!!

Tuesday I went in and worked out. I've still been taking it easy with the running, just because every once in awhile my ankle will still act up so I haven't been pushing it too hard. I'm hoping to get more of the running in next week! I've been alternating between listening to audio books on my phone and my workout mix on my iPod. I've been listening to the Divergent series, and I'm now on the third book, Allegiant. I really liked Divergent, and Insurgent (the second book) was also really good. So far, Allegiant has promise, although I think everyone I've talked to who has read it hates it. I'm holding off judgement until I finish it, but the way it's written is different, alternating between two main characters narrating. Normally, I don't mind that, but what bothers me is that it's COMPLETELY different from how the first two books were written. It kind of threw me at first, I'm still not 100% sure of how I feel about it.

One thing that I have discovered, listening to these books is that it's definitely not a good idea to listen to them before going to sleep. You also don't want to listen to them before going to bed after watching several episodes of The Walking Dead earlier in the day. Those two things do NOT mix in the sleeping mind!!

Thursday and Friday I didn't make it to the gym. Friday, I woke up and checked out facebook for a few minutes before getting up and getting ready for work. I found out that a teacher I had worked with while subbing in Swartz Creek had passed after being diagnosed with cancer a couple months ago. It absolutely breaks my heart that he has passed, but I take comfort in knowing that he's no longer in pain. He was a good man, and will be missed by all who knew him.

Friday after work I went out with a couple of friends that I used to work with. It was great seeing them and I definitely needed to have some good laughs with friends.

Today, I spent my day working on a final paper for my grad class. I was hoping to get it done early enough to get out and at least go for a short walk since the sun was shining all day. Unfortunately that didn't happen. My paper is nearly done, but I had to take a break on it since I'd been working on it all day. Normally one paper won't take an entire day, but this is the final paper for this class, so it's considerably longer and more in-depth. I'm planning on getting up pretty early tomorrow to get it done so that I can start working on my Capstone project - which is due soon. Right now grad school is pretty stressful, because my new class starts on Monday, so I'll have a couple of papers due next week as well. It's kind of frustrating having so many big things due within a short time span (final paper for one class, Capstone project, and two papers for my new class). I would have liked it if they would have put the Capstone part way through the second class so that it wasn't coming at the same time as several other things.

I have no social life. Grad school is my social life!

Week 7

Well, this week has been fairly uneventful. My workouts were pretty routine, I thought by this point that 4 a.m. would be a bit easier to get up and get moving to. It's not.

I don't think anything will make me a morning person. No matter how hard I try, I just feel that 4 in the morning is a time that should not exist.

Ever.

Those of you that are morning people, I have a lot of respect for you! I don't know how you do it!

This weekend we had a 4 day weekend. It has been a beautiful thing! I had my unit plan and a paper due for class yesterday, so that took up a lot of my weekend. It was nice getting an extra day to work on it on Friday!

Here's a sneak peek of next weekend's blog: the vanity is done! :o) I'll wait to post pictures until next week.

Week 6

I have learned that no matter how old I get to be, my klutziness will continue to persist. After twisting my ankle a few weeks ago while playing volleyball, I was finally getting to a point where I felt like I didn't have to wear my ankle brace as often.

Then Wednesday I slipped on some melted snow in the gym and fell. This caused my ankle to flare up a bit, I landed on my knee, which is scraped and slightly swollen, and twisted my back.

I am a walking disaster!

So I've been going to the gym, but I've just been walking until I get back to 100%. It's frustrating though, because I have always been a klutz, but I just figured eventually I would outgrow it. I'm staring down 30's arrival, and I'm still injuring myself in stupid ways!

When I was a kid, I was in the ER so often due to stupid injuries that I had my own Emergency Room Fast Pass type of card. The first time my parents gave it to the nurse for one of my trips, she was surprised, because usually the hospital only gives those to old people!

Here's an example of how my life has gone: I once took a nose dive out of our pop-up trailer as I was walking out the door, because my shorts got caught on the door handle. I completely destroyed the door handle, my shorts, and my pride!

Yet to this point, the only thing I've ever broken has been a toe. I've gotten strains and sprains, but luckily that's about as bad as it's gotten.

Last night after I finished my homework, I started putting together my vanity that I picked up last weekend. It's been pretty easy to put together (despite the instructions looking like something from Ikea),

but I ran into a couple of snags as I was putting it all up. Like, the company doesn't send enough washers (I'm short two, even though they package the exact amount shown in the list of items. Just when you look at the directions, it calls for two more than what is sent) and I snapped a screw in half while screwing two pieces together by hand.

So I had to pick up a drill this morning (It's small, and it's pink!) (I'm such a girl), which is charging now so that I can put a new screw in to finish putting everything together.The only thing I have left to put together is the mirror stand and the mirror. I can't do anything more until I finish screwing the two pieces together in the mirror stand.

I'll post some updated photos once the vanity is completely done. It's bright yellow, which I LOVE!

Week 5

Saturday, I was up again at 4, made it to the gym. Then went back to my apartment and finished up some work before heading down to my parents' house. I was finally giving the grey berry back to dad and getting Reba (my car!) back. It has been so nice being able to drive my own car again!!

Sunday, I definitely overslept and didn't make it downstairs at my parents' house to get on the treadmill there. I had intended to, but I woke up at about 7:45 and I had to get around and get ready for church. That afternoon my mom and I went to a benefit dinner for a teacher that I worked with while subbing a few years ago. We got to see a lot of old friends, and even visited for a bit with my fourth grade teacher.

Monday, I accidentally overslept this morning, so I didn't make it to the gym. This is what is going to be the downfall of my workouts... sleep! I did stop at Meijer today to pick up the vanity that I ordered online. I figure I'll count getting that sucker up three flights of stairs as my exercise today. It weighs at least 40 pounds, then when you throw in packaging, I probably carried a good 45 pounds of awkward up the stairs. I had to laugh when the clerk asked me if I wanted help getting it into my car. Puh-leeze. I had to haul it up to my apartment by myself! Getting it into my car was the easiest part!

I have to admit, I didn't really get a lot of workouts in this week. Grades were due on Friday, and I wound up being up late almost every night trying to get those finished up. I always tell myself every quarter that I'm not going to allow myself to wind up in that position, yet it winds up happening every time!

I'm currently watching the Superbowl. Not really sure why Denver is "playing". This game is ridiculous! At least the Broncos finally wound up with 8 on the board!

Not a whole lot to post this week, but I promise next week I'll be more exciting!