Shallow Thinker

Today and Wednesday will be interesting exercises in my academic agility.  On Wednesday, I have a test scheduled in my first class. This professor is well-known for giving tests (and final exams) that last well into the night.  In my second class, I have my mid-term exam.  I know what you’re thinking, “Daggumit, John.  Why do you get all the fun?”  I don’t know, but here’s how I’m trying to portion it out.

I’m supposed to meet Professor LongTest this afternoon to so that I can go ahead and put in about an hour towards the test.  Then, on Wednesday, I’ll hopefully be able to finish it up within my normal hour-and-a-half that I sit through his class.  Professor OtherClass has decided that our midterm will be take home (woo-hoo) so I’ll receive that one via e-mail sometime Wednesday and will be expected to get it back to her within 24 hours.  Not to mention that Wednesday is my weekly Day-O-Meetings.

So, in theory, I’m going to be able to hash all of this out and make it through these exams with no problems.  I expect, however, that I may be burning the midnight oil on Wednesday in order to complete the midterm exam.  Oh, and I looked at the schedule and realized that both of the final exams are scheduled for the exact same time.  Excellent….just what I need.

On the plus side, I sent in my registration for the summer semester.  If this semester turns out OK and those classes mesh well with my schedule, I’ll be half-way done with my master’s by the time summer is over.  Of course, I’m sure that Kelley’s patience will be 97% worn through, but I’ll try to buy some more of that with chocolates and ice cream delights.

Butterfly has been potty trained for a couple of years now.  But we’ve still had our problems.  Not with bladder control, but with her insistance that Mommy or Daddy help her go potty during the middle of the night.  We finally figured out a way to nip this thing in the bud.

One evening, I sat down with Butterfly and a 1/4 sheet of poster board.  I drew about 30 squares on it and in each square, I drew a simple picture of something that Butterfly wanted.  Flowers, Shoes, Ice Cream, the moon, a sweetgum ball.  She named it, I drew it.  This poster became our night-time potty chart.  Each night that passed where Butterfly went potty all by herself, she could color in one of the squares.  Her promise was that once all of the squares were colored in, we would have a special celebration.  The last square was colored in on Friday morning.

As a reward, I let Butterfly look over the chart and pick one of the pictures.  I told her that whichever she picked is what her reward would be.  I didn’t think that one through very well because I had a picture of a car and a picture of a house on there.  I don’t know what I would have done for the moon, either.  She was smart enough to avoid the sweetgum ball and eventually settled on ice cream.  So, our date was set!

Saturday morning we piddled at a few local stores and played with the retailer’s toys while it rained outside.  We ate lunch at home and the Ladybug went down for her nap with the promise that ice cream would be for everyone when she woke up.  The nap came and went and we headed out for our reward at Marble Slab.  What started as 40 degrees and rainy ended up at 60 degrees and sunny, the perfect weather for a treat.  Butterfly and I shared Birthday Cake ice cream with Reese’s peanut butter cup mixed in.  Kelley and Ladybug had Birthday Cake ice cream with Heath bar mixed in.  The only complaint came from Ladybug when the ice cream was gone.  She cried….I think Kelley did, too.

After the ice cream, we decided to spend some time at the Redneck Disneyland….Lowe’s.  The girls had a blast running around the store for almost an hour.  By the time we left, Kelley and I were struggling to stay standing.  The girls were sufficiently exercised and it was supper time.  We fed the girls, bathed ‘em, and then threw them in the bed.  In the quiet of the evening, Kelley and I enjoyed some Chinese takeout and a movie together.

Some weekends are a drain and leave you looking forward to the monotony of the week.  Saturday was one of those days that leaves me hoping that I never see the grinding wheel again.  But the grinding wheel pays much better than loafing does, so I guess I’ll head back to it.