$200 Later

and I am the proud new owner of 4, count em, FOUR, different prescription medications. Why is there 4 of em? Well see, it's like this. My immune system hates me. It's finals week, so apparently that's the PERFECT time for my immune system to go on a vacation causing me to get BOTH strep throat and bronchitis at the same time. Yay.

Yo Gabba Gabba!

This post has nothing to do with the show referenced in the title, it's just what's on TV right now. Anyways, onto my life:

1. Ears had allergy testing last week and is officially allergic to milk, peanuts, eggs, and fish. Yeah, it's been interesting feeding her lately since she loves eggs, tilapia, and yogurt. In fact, that's just about all you can actually get her to eat without a fit. And I got a crash course in infant epi-pens. Yep, never a dull moment in my life.

2. I went to a conference this weekend to present my senior thesis poster. It was erm...interesting. Pretty much the only people who were interested in the posters were the professors. The other students there just went off in their little groups and gossiped while pointing at us northerners. While there I attended 6 paper presentations. Some of them were really good, some were mediocre, and some were absolutely horrible! Not to be mean, but a few of those students had no idea what they were talking about.

3. Smiley's mom is the same as usual. Disrespectful, rude, and annoying.

4. Goober has her ballet pictures tonight. Her mom can't make it so that leaves me to get her dressed and do her hair + make-up. Oh yeah, her mom is very particular about how she looks in her ballet pictures. Add to this that I will have Smiley as well, and Smiley's mom is notorious for not feeding him before dropping him off. So I will be managing Goober's outfit/makeup/hair while trying to feed Smiley. On top of all of this, Goober's ballet teacher is a witch. I hate her. Last time I had Smiley in the dance room because we were watching the kids performance-(which is what we'll be doing tonight) she asked me to "shut him up" because he was babbling too loud. I talked to the dance teacher last week about my not being in the room while the kids performed and she told me that I HAD to be in there. Goober is okay with my not being in the room. I get the feeling tonight is going to be very stressful.

5. I'm flying to Atlanta in June for a face-to-face interview. It's 95% that I have the job right now and if the face-to-face goes well I will definately have the job.

6. I graduate in 12 days. Holy crap. 12 days.

I think that's it for now.

What Did I Do?

I had a minor freak out last night. I put Goober to bed because her mom was out drinking. It hit me, as I was tucking her in with her millions of stuffed animals-(and 8 new WebKinz, but that's another store)-that I only had 4 more months with her. My heart sank, my eyes welled up with tears, and I quickly finished arranging her stuffed animals around her and then went downstairs....and cried. As the tears slowly creeped down my face I started to panic. The thought process went something like this:

"Atlanta??? Really??? What was I thinking??? Flight is booked, they have made plans to pick me up from the airport, they like me, I have to make a good impression. Uh-oh, what do I wear? How do I great them? Will I get lost in the airport? What if I miss a connecting flight? Oh crap oh crap oh crap....Atlanta????? What if the baby is colicky? What if I'm miserable? What if I love it and get fired??? What if these people are freaks??? What do I do then? What What What. What if mom and dad are upset? What if they hate me? It's only 2 days, but still...if they hate me...what then? 2 days of being hated????? What if I hate them? What if I'm not good enough for them? What if they don't like overweight people? What if they think i'm too young, too short, too fat? What if they think I'm just weird????"

And the self-sabotage continues. Will keep you updated

For Judy

Okay, here's the details:

1. It's a live-in nanny position for an infant who is due in September

2. Both parents are medical doctors

3. I will be flying down for a face to face interview at the end of May or early June. The flight is at their expense.

4. They've stated multiple times that they really like me and that I am the most qualified out of all the nannies/au pairs they've looked at.

5. It is 40-45 hours a week with opportunities to babysit

6. It's 95% that I will get this job

7. I will have a car to use provided by them

8. I'm really excited!!!!

I'm Moving

To Atlanta, Georgia. Details to come soon!

Weather

It's 9:08pm on April 11th, 2008 and it is SNOWING.

Not only is it snowing, but it's predicted that we will get:

News Station 1: 4-6 inches

News Station 2: 6-11 inches

News Station 3: 3-12 inches

I think News Station 3 has the right idea, go with a 9 inch span and you can't go wrong! Unless, of course, we get over a foot, or under 3 inches. In which case, nobody really cares. Because under 3 inches isn't worth reporting.

Olivia News

After doing so well since she was born in February, Olivia took a turn for the worst this past weekend. She had been completely off of oxygen for 2 weeks and was doing really well. Then, in the course of 6 hours, she stopped breathing 8 times, had a seizure, and was vented. They have tried to take out the vent 3 times and each time she immediately stops breathing. After exploratory surgery, they found that she has a weak trachea.

Right now, there is nothing they can do. The weak spots in her trachea are too low for a trach tube, even a custom made one. She can't breath on her own. They're afraid that as she gets bigger, the problem will just get worse. Here's the kicker though, the longer she's on the vent, the worse her lungs will get. So even if she does get to the point where she can have surgery on her trachea, her lungs may be in too poor of shape to function properly.

As of now, the doctors are saying she needs to be in the hospital until she has her open heart surgery, in 4.5 months. They want to do the trachea surgery at the same time. Unforunately, if she's on the vent for another 4.5 months, she'll probably need a double lung transplant.

Just pray, I don't really know what else to do. But please, keep them all in your thoughts.

Unreliable

Today was one of those days. One of those days where you just want to scream and rip out your hair. In fact, I think I did rip out a few pieces while twirling my hair and getting frustrated. Ironically, this hair ripping wasn't due to kids. Nope, no kids in sight today. Haven't seen a kid since Tuesday actually. This hair ripping was due to college students. Specifically, unreliable college students.

I arrived on campus today with 2 laptops, mucho paperwork, pens, pencils, my lunch, snacks, pop, the whole shabang! I was all set up by noon, ready and waiting for my participants. 12:30 my first participant walked in. YES! The day was starting out well. He finished in 45 minutes and left. So I sat around and waiting for my next set of participants to arrive. And I waited, and waited, and waited.

12 no shows. TWELVE!!! 6 hrs. of sitting in a room, by myself, wondering, waiting, getting frustrated and yes, pulling out my hair. My very last participant, scheduled for 4:30, showed up at 5:30--while I was talking to my advisor and letting him know that I was going home for the day. So I ended up running 2 participants out of 14 today.

Some people just frustrate me. It would be different if the 12 no shows e-mailed me to let me know they wouldn't be there. But no, not a single flippin e-mail. Stupid college students.

Remind Me

I have so many things to blog about, but no time to sit down and do it. So, this is a reminder to myself and also some info about what is to come:

1. The fight I had with Smiley's mom on Tuesday

2. The birthday party this weekend--where I'll be the only student among 10 professors

3. Senior thesis--good & bad

4. Data analysis is the devil in disguise

5. The psychology conference

6. Weird things that participants say while taking part in an experiment

7. How little college students know about algebra

8. Spring up North

Okie dokie, I'll be back next week!

Ouch

So I woke up this morning to an aching back, sore shoulders, and a stiff neck. What could be the cause of this? I wondered. Then I remembered, I planted my car into a snowbank yesterday. Yeah, snow isn't always soft. So I am now requesting that all snowbanks that have a layer of ice over them and/or have hardened into a solid mound of ice be called ice banks. It sounds much more appropriate when I look at my poor car, sans headlight, and cringe every time I move.

And of course today just happens to be the day where I had to carry 2 laptop computers with hookups & 6 files across campus to run my experiment. Yeah, that certainly helped my back/shoulders/neck.