I missed you. (heart hug)

So..... school kicked my butt this semester.

When I wasn't falling asleep at my computer in the middle of watching online lecture videos, I was living at the library trying to write papers or read. I'm lucky I have a husband who can raise my children for me... because that's what happened.

That's only about 3/4 of my school books. I had six other books for Anatomy and Physiology alone. Oi vey. Totally random selection, right? Plants, Marie Antoinette, and Ireland. With a bit of U.S. history thrown in. That's where my focus was... all over the place. Overall, it was an awesome semester. Exhausting, anxiety riddled, and sleepless, but awesome. Here's why:

1) I joined two honor societies: one for education and one for history. I am now an officer for the history honor's society and I will be presenting my research at a regional conference next spring. I will also be submitting a paper to a national competition for undergraduate research. Whoa.

2) I fell in love with my professor. Not in a creepy, stalker, icky way. I had one professor for two classes which meant I was seeing him four days a week. He had the best personality and experiences. I could and did talk to this guy for hours. He has become an amazing role model to me and really boosted my confidence about myself and my academics. It's because of him that I will be looking at Master's degrees in history rather than education and presenting my research. If I can ever become half the teacher he is, I'll be full of win. (stopping with teh fangirl)

3) I got to listen to real life Holocaust survivors speak about their experiences. Amazing.

4) I won a wicked cool zombie poster during Zombie Apocalypse week. Best. school. event. ever.

5) I found out that I am running out of financial aid and don't have enough money to finish school (enter breakdown and emotional angst here.) I applied for and received a $3000 scholarship to help pay for school. I'm waiting to hear back on a few others.

6) I was invited to attend a Professional Achievement Evening with my peers and professors in the College of Education and listened to some pretty impressive people speak. (This is where I was awarded my scholarship.)

7) I got to see some amazing friends graduate this semester. I'll miss them, but I can't wait to go visit their classrooms or help them sneak into classes on campus because they miss me.

8) I got a 101% in two classes. I got a perfect score on my final in another class. My final paper in yet another class is being considered for publication.

That's my roundup. I didn't get all A's this semester. I got a B in Anatomy and Physiology which I am completely ecstatic about because the class average was a low C. That class was tough. Uber tough.

I'm excited to remember that I have a blog. I'm even more excited to post on it. I found myself missing this little corner of the interwebz. Now that I have time to breathe (not even kidding) I've already started baking and crafting and getting my kids to do fun things with me. I can't wait to drive you all crazy with my on-going-on's. ;)

Talk soon!!!

Pixie Dust is MAGICAL.

Has no one ever crocheted with the coolest yarn in the world? Seriously?

I have searched and searched for crochet patterns with this amazing Pixie Dust Yarn by Knit Collage. Found zip. Nada. Zero. 

So I'm working on it myself. Playing. Un-doing and re-doing. The goal is a scarf, because that's about all I have enough for, and I am super thankful for that much! (For those of you who are friends of mine on FB, you know how excited I was.) I told my husband he was going to have a hard time topping my Grandmother in terms of birthday gifts. He just looked at my pretty diamond ring that was last year's Valentine's gift and lifted an eyebrow. 

I love all the little poms and the glitter and the giant size of this stuff. I can't wait to crochet my sparkly, funky scarf. LOVE it. Would it be totally ridiculous to spend the $250 required to make myself a blanket?

There is a blanket done by the amazing group at Purl Bee. Can you tell I've fallen in lust with this yarn? I'll post pictures when I get my pretty mango scarf done... and keep you updated on whether or not I can convince my husband that $250 isn't really too much to spend on yarn.... 

(yeah right, not in this lifetime....)

I have an idea now sizzling in my brain to finger knit a bunch of yarn into some lovely, ginormous yarn to turn into something fun. I'm curious to see how much yarn it would take to make giant yarn... I feel another tutorial coming on.... after I play a bit. I'm trying to get Lily excited about finger knitting to get a little help, but that's not working out. Can't get that little lady's nose out of a book these days (says the mother who never has a book more than two feet away from her).

School is seriously getting in the way of my love affair with yarn! Although, it's SO much fun. I'm currently lost in Irish and American protest songs, the life and times of Marie Antoinette, and why the camas bulb went the wayside to the potato in Idaho. LOVE my research.  This week I'm also spending time at the middle school helping with a pig dissection. Gah! Excitement! Gross, gooey, excitement!

School post. You knew it was coming.

Ugh. Not another school post.

I know, but it's already consuming my world. CONSUMING, I tell you.

However, as a status update:

I have a professor with an Irish accent who referenced Fight Club, gave us the history of Guinness (for those of you who know what that is), threatened to yell at us in two languages (Irish and French), and complimented my dreads all on the first (technically, two because I have two classes) day. I think I like this guy. I was worried about tuning out what he was saying because I have a slight obsession with an Irish accent, but so far, he's so damn interesting, I'm scribbling like a mad woman to get all the info down.

I'm also learning anatomy and physiology this semester. Bones, blood, body parts. Yippeee!!!! No... really, it's exciting. I'm a multi-focused geek, don't you know.

I still have one class to have a "first day" in, and that's going to be intense because I have to write a publish-worthy research paper on ....something. Gotta figure that part out. Any ideas? Hey, I can dream, right?

All in all, it sounds like another semester-o-crazy and hard work, but I bet it will be too much fun. Ireland, the French Revolution, naming all the bones in the body... I can do this.

In other news, Sage turns ONE tomorrow.  Sappy, teary eyed mom post to follow. I've got an amazing opportunity to do a cake smash photography session with a local photographer next week, so we'll see if I have some pictures to share.

Back to homework....