1/1/11

It's the first day of the new year and I've spent a decent portion of the past week trying to figure out what in the world happened to my 2010. I really have been beating myself up trying to think of the notable happenings and accomplishments and I just keep coming up short. I'm concluding that my dissertation sucked up my entire 2010. That project is completely overshadowing the awesomeness of 2010 that included my friends and family (because I know I had some great times in 2010...I really, really did...).

I spent most of today just trying to decompress. I've been very stressed out for the past 3 or 4 months. So, I'm on a mission to correct that in the near future. I've got plans for 2011...big plans, even. I'm hoping to receive some revelations this year...learning more about what I'm supposed to be doing with my life now that grad school is over and hopefully reconnecting with the parts of myself and my interests that had to take a back seat in 2010. I'm actually excited about that.

But, one of the most important things that I have got to do is sleep. I've not had a regular sleep schedule in 2.5 years. And when my sleep schedule has been regular, it involved approximately 5 hours (at most) of uninterrupted sleep. And maybe the whole sleep deprivation thing is clouding my memories of 2010...hmmm...

So, I'm really hoping that 2011 will be a year of rest and revelation for me. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Exhausted

Just returned home from a trip that spanned 8 days. We drove home from St. Louis today in our quickest time since have two children...13.5 hours. I am so, so incredibly tired but, I refuse to still have "submit completed dissertation to the thesis office" on my to-do list when I ring in the new year. Since that new year will be here in just 25.5 hours, I must work...when I would so much rather sleep!

I'm so sorry, baby...

I smashed Jayla's fingers in a classroom door today when I was picking her up from school. It was really bad. I haven't seen her cry that hard in a very, very long time! I couldn't look at it because it really was that bad. Some of the teachers at her school helped us out with some ice and compression to stop the bleeding. I just hung in the background trying not to get emotional about it.

Because she is my child, on the way to the car, Jayla asked, "How am I going to eat with a hurt finger?". Those comments always make me love her more.

Anyway, I was trying to encourage her to move her fingers as I was getting the girls settled in the car. She kept telling me that she couldn't. I couldn't get her to distinguish between "can't" and "don't want to try".

So, because I was already incapable of even looking at the gruesome injury, I headed straight to a friend's house, which was about 30 seconds from the school. Luckily, they immediately took charge of the situation (because I was useless). They managed to calm down a hysterical Jayla, examine her injury to assess the damage, ice her down, and wrap the finger up after finally determining that it wasn't emergency room-worthy.

An hour later and Jayla is knocked out on the couch with her wrapped finger in a bag of ice. She's been a trooper considering the circumstances. But, she always has been...

Skin

This morning I was informed that it's okay to show a little skin. In fact, girls don't need to wear a shirt under their real shirt; only boys do that.

Thanks Jayla! Where would I be without you?! Probably wearing a tank top under a shirt that otherwise shows entirely too much cleavage for me to be appropriately dressed for my work environment. Silly me.

The Zoologist

So, every afternoon when I pick Jayla up from school I have to check her folder for her daily work. The folder is generally full of paperwork and projects and I often wonder how in the world they get that much stuff done in a day.

Well, on Friday when I went to pick her up, I went to check her folder and there was a note: "Don't forget the crabs". The...huh? "The crabs, mama, we have to take them home". I glance over to the chart that shows the student roles for the week and, sure enough, Jayla was the zoologist last week. I had no idea that meant that I would house two hermit crabs for the weekend. I'm still a little confused as to how I got suckered into this.

But, I will say that Jayla and her daddy seemed to be creating father-daughter memories this weekend as they fed the crabs and sprayed water to create humidity in their cage. I have yet to even look at the things but, I'm assuming we didn't kill them. I was really nervous about being the first parents to not bring the crabs back on Monday morning.