Sprinkler Relief

Good news folks, because of all the rain on Monday and the cool weather yesterday and today I have given myself a few days off from sprinkler duty. Now that I have so much free time I think I will apply for an archaeology job this summer during part of June and July. I have two summer classes, one for two weeks right after the spring semester ends and the other one the first two weeks in August. The time inbetween will find me jobless unless I stay with MHA. Hmmmm ... let me think about that one ... I don't think so.

New Bike

I got a new bike today. I am pretty excited because it is the nicest bike I have ever had and it actually fits my body. Usually, I end up riding bikes that are too big for me and it isn't comfortable. The weather here has been very nice lately so hopefully I will get some riding in this week.

A New Profession: House-n-Dog-Sitter

Alright then. I'm back. I had a rough couple of weeks there with a large amount of schoolwork due. It actually wasn't that much, I just freaked out and went way overboard on my research and now realize that I probably wasted time reading things I did not need to read. I also know a lot more about using mitochondrial DNA to figure out where the first people in the New World came from and when they came. But that is probably boring for most of you so instead I will tell you about my new part-time job.

Last weekend I house and dog sat for the Anthro. Dept. Administrative Assistant, Nancy and her husband while they were at some conference in TX. (I went to KC for some fun and "religious" Good Friday activities so Javers covered for me on Saturday) Nancy has two little Yorkies and if any of you remember my relationship with Laura Pankratz's Yorkies in Keystone you might be wondering what the hell I was thinking agreeing to watch Nancy's and Chuck's dogs. I think one of Nancy's dogs, Bonnie, truly hated me. Nancy diagnosed Bonnie as old and crotchety. I agree. She growled at me and flashed her teeth every time I was in viewing distance of her. I figured once she began to recognize me as her food source things would get better, but they never did. She stayed in a dark closet the whole time I was there. Whatever, her choice. Jack, on the other hand was rather enjoyable. Jack was also not all Yorkie so I still think Yorkies are total snots.

This weekend I am house and dog sitting for my advisor, Keith Prufer and his wife,
Bethany Myers (who teaches my Intro to Arch.). Their dogs and I are getting along well. I think they take their pets very seriously because they have to be fed twice a day and they get all kinds of vitamins and supplements. I also have to give them half a can of vegetables every day. I get to pick between spinach and carrots. Mmmmm...

Keith and his wife have a nice big house with a huge yard (for being in town) and a very elaborate homeade sprinkler system to go along with it. It takes me 45 minutes just to run around and turn it all on and change water flow directions and whatnot. It is quite comical.

I'm posting instead of researching for my paper and here it is ...

Yesterday morning, I had it all mapped out. I was going to take specific roads to get to the MCC 5K in Hutchinson. Everything went well until I ran into some construction in Hutchinson, ended up on a detour and ultimately got lost. I finally found the park about 3 minutes before the race was scheduled to start so I ran to register and picked up my number. As I was safety pinning my number to my shirt and trotting down to the starting line the gun went off. I made it down to the trail, but got stuck behind all the walkers so the first couple minutes of the race was spent trying to navigate my way up through the walking horde. I don't think I tripped anyone or cut anyone off - at least there was no angry shouting in my direction, but these people were passive agressive Mennonites so if I did make someone mad they probably just took time to pray for the forgiveness of my sin.

Anyway, the race went well and I ended up getting first place in my age range of 20-30 year olds. I was pleasantly surprised to find out I placed considering my time was a little over 24 minutes (I think), which is decent, but not really worthy of the beautiful medal the presented to me (no national anthem was played). I have my suspicsions that there were not very many 20-30 year old women participating in the race.

After the race I checked out the MCC sale. It's a neat experience to go to other sales and I encourage anyone who has interest in MCC sale phenomena to check out others. Maybe we can all learn something from each other.

Last night was Jeremy's first football game. They played the Topeaka Koyote's and won so Javers was pretty excited, although in pain today. Apparently the Koyote's have not lost a game in three years. Nick, Charles, Sarah, Luke, Clint, Travis, Theresa (two of Jeremy's brothers and sister-in-law) and myself went to the game to show our support. It was fun. Sarah mentioned that next time we should make a poster/sign to hold up during the game. Mom, can you get out your Sharpie colleciton and work something up? Also, while you're at it, would you decorate some paper lunch bags for me to take to school? Maybe you could put mammoths and arrow heads on them. Thanks.

My Counseling Session

I actually went to a counselor at school a couple days ago. She was nice and easy to talk to. She told me not to beat up on myself so much. To combat this, she said I should write down on a piece of paper five postive or neutral (NOT negative) things about myself or the state of my life. When I am in a depressive spiral I am supposed to get out this piece of paper and read the statements. I told her that sounded silly and started laughing in her office. She said it IS silly, but it helps to visualize the statements and she pointed out that it made me laugh just to think about how dorky it sounds. True.

I also need to learn how to get used to the overwhelmed feeling I have all the time. It is just going to be a fact of life for a while. I cannot worry about trying to get everything done because it is not physically possible. Well, I hope I can make this work.

Okay, Jeremy's family is here this weekend and we are going out right shortly. His first Aviators game is tomorrow night. Tomorrow is also the MCC sale in Hutchinson. I'm running the 5K and afterwards I will load up on German food.

Another Random Update

Reed and Sue ventured down to south central Kansas this past weekend. They spent Friday night with me in Wichita. Saturday morning we went to a couple presentations of an anthropology student symposium, but the presentations were bit boring and I needed to get away from the school and Wichita so we skipped out early and went to Newton to see Nick and eat cookies and strawberries at the Bogards.

Later, on Saturday night we saw Nick in Of Mice and Men. He was Lennie (Lenny?), the mentally challenged character who just likes to pet soft things and dream, but gets himself into trouble because people don't understand him. It was very good - Nick (and others) were amazing. The show did, however, leave me depressed. No warm fuzzies from Steinbeck.

It was really good to see my family again. I just wish I was in a better mood while they were here. I am very consumed in my own life right now and very overwhelmed with all I have going on. I feel like a complete mess and it is driving me crazy. I'm worried it is driving those around me crazy too. I need to learn how to cope with all this stress better. Thanks to those who have thrown some tips my way recently - I hope they can help me get through this stress. I need to start enjoying my life more. I might even check out the counselor on campus to see if he/she has some good coping techniques since they probably deal with people in my situation all the time. At least that's the way it seems around campus right now. Everyone I talk to looks like they want to pull their hair out ... or a professor's hair.

Okay, whew, positive attitude here I come. Maybe I'll eat an acorn squash. That would totally make my day.