Looking for the proverbial silver lining...

I hate when things don't go as I plan.  Joel says I am a control freak and I have recently realized that this is an accurate assessment.  As I noted earlier, I was supposed to start working on a second master's degree to be paid for by a graduate assistantship. I would concomitantly be working as an adjunct professor at VSU teaching HIST 2112.

Well VSU decided after I had already worked at the GA for nearly a week that I was not allowed to work two jobs on campus and I had to choose one to keep.  Since I had committed to the teaching job a loooooong time ago, my students had already met me, it would be hard to find a replacement for me, and I had already prepared ALL of my lectures, I decided that I had to keep that job.  Keeping the GA would have been better because it paid the same salary AND took care of my tuition.  Control freak that I am, I had ironed out every little detail for this semester and had planned out how every decision I made would affect my family.  Then BAM.  I'm only working 9 hours a week now.  Ha!  I guess the good news is I have A LOT of time on my hands.  So does my free babysitter (grandpa!) which makes him happy.

Maybe this little professor thing will give me some much needed experience and hopefully a full time job will fall into my lap real soon.  Fingers crossed.

Thought Potpourri

I am just throwing together a random compilation of nothingness just so I can calm my OCD.  I have really not had much to blog about because all I have been doing for the last several weeks is cleaning, taking care of kids, cooking, and working on my lectures.  I guess there is no better time than the present to review every little phase of American history since Reconstruction.  I am doing so much work for these classes in the fall!  Hopefully it will allow me to have extra time for the classes I am taking too.

I go back to school in two weeks and the boys go back in one.  I am sort of going to miss being lazy with them in the mornings.  I have everything worked out where the house stays clean, laundry stays done, and dinner gets cooked.  We are running like a well-oiled machine and now we have to redo a completely new schedule.  Brayden is not going to like this very well...with his brothers at school and mommy at work.  He wakes up every morning and wants to go see his "nene" and bubba."  He has gotten used to daddy being at work when he wakes up.  He's going to be just fine at home with "ursh" though.

I like having Bailey in school because his disability is really hard to deal with.  I need respite care!  I am not ashamed to admit it!  It also puts him on a schedule and gives him something to do all day.  He loves getting up and riding the bus and going to school to play all day.  Jake is a different story.  I like having him home because he is a good help and fun to be around.  I am also so sad that he is growing up so fast.  He is going to 8th grade this year and in pre-AP classes again.  I'm glad he is in them but man, they are stressful.  He is definitely not the fastidious student that I was (am) as a kid (and adult).  He is, for lack of a better word - lazy!  Maybe, just maybe, he will turn it around this year.

I am still majorly stressing over Brayden's little teeth and having to get them pulled.  Everything about him is perfect, and it really saddens me that his teeth aren't.  I know I should feel fortunate that this is the only thing that is the matter, but I can't help that wish he had healthy teeth.

Anyway, maybe I will have more things to say as life gets more varied after school starts back.  Right now doing the same thing day in and day out makes for a pretty mundane existence.  I have a lot of stuff to say politically on Facebook, but for some reason, I don't have much to say to myself.  I should though, because I'm sure I will be glad that I said it when I am old and gray...assuming I will remember how to log in and read this thing...

Okay, I'm rambling.

Happy Birthday to me.

I turned 28 two days ago and it kind of saddens me to watch myself grow up.  I realize that growing older is better than the alternative, but I feel like I should still be 20.

I wish I was in the midst of a career, living the good life, going on vacations all over the country...but I'm not.  I'm still in (back in rather) college, still only working part time.  It kind of sucks.

I haven't had time to blog lately because I have been bogged down writing lectures for my classes this fall.  I have to get them done so that I can focus on the FOUR grad classes I am taking and the three kids and husband that need me to feed, clothe, and clean for them.

Much ado about nothing...

Will Work for Tuition

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

I got a graduate assistantship today for Fall and Spring!  I will be back in Distance Learning again but this time I will receive a stipend that is over twice what I received in either of my last GAs.  I worked in Distance Learning for a year in 09-10 and I am so glad that they were willing to take me back for another year.

This master's that I am doing now is different than my last one because it is all online.  As such, the tuition is much higher but the fees are much lower.  The GA will pay ALL of my tuition except $38.  I will still have to pay the fees.  With my MA, the fees were ridiculous and I had to pay them AND earn a much lower stipend.

Working in Distance Learning will marry well with my new degree in Instructional Technology.  It will give me a chance to put into practice what I learned and should be mutually beneficial.  I'm excited!

It looks like I have everything figured out.  I will work at my GA and teach two history sections while I take classes.  The only thing I have left to figure out is how many classes to take.  I really want to finish quickly but I don't want my grades to suffer.  Right now, I'm thinking that I should register for several classes and if I can't handle it, withdraw from them.  I still have a little while to think about it...

Just a quick post to express my joy and concomitant anxiety.

Ready...Set...Sigh.

I. am. crestfallen.  Brayden went to the dentist last week and we learned that he has to have an outpatient procedure in September.  I realize thtat even mild sedation dentistry is a necessary evil for a toddler, even if it is just to fill a cavity.  Putting my baby to sleep scares me bad enough.  So far, Jacob and Bailey have both been sedated for surgical reasons (the latter multiple times) and it never gets easier.  I HATE seeing them drift off into unconciousness.  I really hate when they wake up and are pissed off for the next two hours. 

Anyway, what's even worse than being put to sleep is what they are having to do to my baby.  It pains me to even think of it.  He has to have all four of his top teeth removed.  Removed.  He has so much decay in them that they can't be saved.  Not real sure what caused it, but he has had the decay from virtually the moment the teeth appeared.  They don't look that great up close, but at least they are there.  At least he can bite.  At least his tongue can touch them when he speaks.  At least he looks normal. 

He also has to have to cavities on the bottom filled and two caps put on up top.  That bothers me too, just because we brush daily and I have never had to have that done myself.  I can only imagine how much pain he will be in when he wakes up and recovers.  Bailey had the same procedure done...almost the exact same thing...when he was 3 or 4 years old.  He had his teeth smashed in at the daycare when he fell on concrete steps.  At least he was a little older.  It still took about three years for the teeth to grow back in (and then he fell at school and chipped half of the front one off. Ugh).

My little boy is so perfect to me.  I dread this September when his cute little teeth are coming out.  I worry about him having to go toothless for four or five more years when his new teeth will come in.  The dentist said that it won't impact his speech development other than a little lisp (that presumably wouldn't exist if he had is teeth, but anyway...).  My baby will have to start school without his front teeth...take his school pictures without his front teeth...learn to eat without his front teeth... I know he will adapt but he won't understand why we are doing that to him at first.

The one bright side is that if he is experiencing any pain from the tooth decay, at least after he recovers all that will be gone.  I just wish it wasn't there to begin with, but it is and I have to come to terms with that.

Whew, this has been bothering me for awhile and I had to get that off my chest.  Over and out.

College in Perpetuity

I really think I am addicted to college.  Maybe it has something to do with me quitting high school.  Maybe I am here to prove that being a teen mom (times two) wouldn't stop me.  Maybe I want my kids to have a mom they can be proud of.  Maybe I want to make sure that I can afford to travel the world in my RV when I'm older.  (I have A LOT of places on my bucket list.)

Regarless of the reason, I have decided to pursue a SECOND Master's degree.  The first go 'round, I decided to get what I consider a real Master's...you know, the kind with a thesis and 25 page papers in every class.  Where paying tuition and showing up everyday doesn't guarantee you a Master's degree in a couple years. 

Since I went for the rigor on the first one, this time I am doing one that is a little more laid back...I hope.  I found out two days ago that I was accepted into VSU's Master of Education in Instructional Technology (Technology Applications) program.  Whew.  That's a long one!

I really would rather be starting a higher degree (a doctorate!) but I missed the deadline.  Additionally, I haven't decided which doctorate I want yet...whether it's the [easy] route with an Ed.D. or a [real] one - the Ph.D.  So I am giving myself until near to the application deadline to make that decision.  I will start that adventure in Fall 2012.

So here's to my new pursuit - a second Master's degree that will be completely unlike the last one - a sprint instead of a marathon.  I'm kind of hoping that I can knock it out in a year, which is completely and utterly crazy, but I can't stay out of school for a whole year.  I would go insane.  Then again, I will go insane trying to do this degree in a year... Okay I'm rambling.

My Semi-Homemade Ice Cream Cake

I made this ice cream cake at home but to simply call it homemade suggests that I created it from scratch.  Instead, I fashioned together a bunch of store made products that resulted in a delicious and inexpensive birthday/Father's Day cake for my husband.  I usually buy him a cake every year for his birthday which falls on or around Father's day.  I don't like the cakes from Dairy Queen because they have no cake and the only place I know of that combines real cake and ice cream is Brusters which 1) is too far away, 2) doesn't taste that great, and 3) costs too much.  So for about $10, I made my own ice cream cake for my family of five to enjoy.  Realistically, it would probably feed ten times that many people.

This WAS my first rodeo, but I think I would do everything the same.

Step 1:  Purchase materials necessary to construct the cake.

I used two boxes of yellow cake mix, three tubs of chocolate buttercream icing, one half gallon box of chocolate ice cream, and a 12x2 pan.  [Consider yourself warned: do not make a cake of this size if you do not have either a deep freezer or a LOT of room in a regular freezer.]

Step 2:  Bake both layers according to the box instructions and allow to cool completely.  The 12x2 cake bakes for 35 minutes.

Step 3:  At some point after you have allowed both layers to cook, take the ice cream out of the freezer to allow it to soften.  Line the pan in which you baked the cakes with clear plastic (aka Saran) wrap.

Step 4:  Once it has softened, spread the ice cream into the pan and put it back in the freezer to harden.  Be patient, it will be there for awhile.  When it is ready, it will look a little something like this:

Not the most appetizing sight in the world, but don't let that deceive you.

Step 5:  While your ice cream is reconstituting itself as ice cream in the freezer, go ahead and apply icing to the bottom layer of the cake.  (In ice cream cake version 2.0, I would go ahead and ice the sides of the bottom layer at this point.)  Don't ice the top layer, lest you want a mess on your hands.

Step 6:  This can get a little messy so be careful.  Pull the ice cream layer out of the pan.  Carefully peel the plastic wrap off the sides, just enough to make sure that no plastic wrap is stuck to the top of the ice cream layer.  Flip it upside down so that the top of the ice cream layer is situated evenly on the bottom layer of your cake.  Immediately arrange the top layer of cake in top of the ice cream layer.  Since the ice cream layer has probably melted a little, put the cake back in the freezer.

Step 7:  Cover the entire cake in icinv.  I iced my cake while it sat in the freezer and did it a little at a time. 

Step 8:  Slice it up and enjoy your handiwork.