Thesis

Today I got my keys for my research carrel in the library at school. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it marks the start of a long and scary journey for me.

My thesis. 

I will probably do another post breaking down what school psychology really is (it took me a long time to really grasp the whole concept.. and I learn more about it every day), but this one will be dedicated to my thesis and the research that I will do while I work on my Master's Degree! 

So here's the topic..

Test Anxiety. 

Jump in to read more about my thesis/test anxiety!

School Started Back Today..

and it really wasn't so bad!

This semester I'm lucky to only have two classes on campus, which means I only have to make the hike to school twice a week.

I'm also slightly unlucky because I have to take an online course as well.

This class is something that everybody else in my cohort will put off until their last semester and take a different class this semester instead, however, the only other option for me was a Monday night class.

Like a 6-9 class.

No way. No how. I would rather take an extra class over the summer than to miss out on a night home with my family. There's just too much housework and too much fun to be had with Cam during the evenings. I'm not sure I could handle not getting home until after she was already asleep once a week. This sounds pathetic to some people, I'm sure, but I just can't even imagine that.

But back to the online class.. I'm HORRIBLE at online classes. I just don't have the time management skills in my toolbelt to handle being responsible for all of the deadlines and due dates on my own.

I know, grow up Grace, whatever. I've taken two online classes in the past. I failed them both as a direct result of missing important due dates. Such a stupid reason to fail a class!

I'm terrified that it's going to happen again because no one else is taking it to remind me when things are due!

On top of that, I now have to miss my FAVORITE class at the gym - Butts n Guts. It's so much fun! And the better half of my lower body workout for the week.

I've got to figure out how to balance schoolwork with working out and family time. It's going to be a whole new challenge this semester!

Peak of the day:
Coming home and setting up my binders/school stuff to help me stay organized this semester (let's keep it up!) and the delicious dinner that I'm about to cook for Ryan and Cam (bacon wrapped chicken with mashed potatoes and honey carrots. yummmm).

Valley of the day:
Getting a text message at 5:30 AM that Cam's daycare was closed due to inclement weather (what?! I could have had a PICNIC outside today!) and having to scramble to find someone to watch her while I went to school.


Classes I'm taking this semester:
Learning Disabilities
Statistics (ANOVA)
Education Law (online - yikes!)
Thesis

My Thoughts on Potty Training

Today Camden went to the bathroom all by herself.

But this isn't anything unusual, she's pretty good about taking herself to the bathroom when she needs to go.

However, today, I walked in on Cam trying to wipe her bum from a big #2 in her potty.

Again, she's used her potty for #2s in the past, so this wasn't the biggest surprise I've ever gotten, but she went by herself, she didn't tell me she needed to go potty or ask me to come with her, OR ask for chocolate when she was done.

She went in, did her business, and that was that.


Camden is 2 years, 2 months, and I'm calling her officially potty trained today. 

We've had people ask us how she's potty trained so well at her age, so I'm going to respond here.


Jump in to read more.

How to Remove Mirrored Trim from Mirrors

As you probably know, we've been trying to bring our bathroom into this century recently. 

The biggest priority that we had was to paint the walls, cabinets, and hardware (all of these updates have their own posts if you're interested!).

After that, we decided to update the mirrors by putting a darker, wooden frame around them, a la MirrorMate (a company that makes great frame kits for bathroom mirrors-my mom got hers through them). 

We definitely could not afford to pay anybody to do this project for us, and why should we when we're capable of doing it ourselves?

The first step was to removed the weird, ugly, old, beveled mirrored trim around the mirrors. 

We thought that it was just double sided taped on, but when I got them off I discovered that it was both double sided taped on AND glued, so this method works for both of those! 

By the way, these 'before' pictures were taken pre-paint and hardware upgrade. 

Jump in for a step-by-step on removing these mirrored frames!

Project of the Day & Bathroom Update

So we've been trying to get our bathroom to look presentable, and it's definitely been more work that I bargained for. So far we've painted the walls (tan), painted the cabinets (espresso), and updated the hardware/light fixtures with Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint.

There's only one BIG project left to get the basics covered.

We're going to paint the bathtub. 

This is terrifying to me! The bathtub is currently a really gross maroony-purple, as well as the shower. It's a really ugly color, and now that the rest of the bathroom is a little more up-to-date, it almost makes the bathtub look even worse.

When I was at home depot getting cabinet paint, the women who was helping me suggested that instead of hiding the tub with curtains or spending thousands of dollars ripping the tub out and replacing it or remodeling around it, that I just paint it. I had no idea bathtub paint existed!

It's $41 a kit, and we'd probably need several kits to cover our huge tub, so I doubt that we'll get to it any time soon. We'll also probably test it on the outside of the shower first.

ANYWAYS.

With all that basically as done as it's going to be for now, it's time to figure out how to decorate the bathroom.

It's hard for me to spend money on decorations, especially for a bathroom, so I'm trying to make do with things that we already have at the house.

Jump in to see what I made to go in the bathroom today!

Poopageddon.

So my last post was about how great and perfect Camden is.

This one will be different. 

We had some friends over the other day that have been deciding if they are ready to have a child. Ryan was talking to them about the joys of parenthood and how fun babies can be. Cam was on her best behavior and was being very sweet, and if I were in their position, seeing her would definitely make me want to have a baby!

I mean, she's so cute.

Even with a child as good as Camden, not everyday in the Benedict house is full of rainbows and cookies.

In fact, there have been some pretty big disasters over here.

A few days ago, Cam and I were home alone and I put her down for a nap in just a diaper.

BIG MISTAKE. 

I've mentioned earlier that Camden is potty trained. Mostly. I've also mentioned that she's great about laying herself down to take a nap.

Well. I'm not sure if she never went to sleep or if she woke up early and was bored. 

But..

She pooped. 

She pooped a lot. 

She pooped in her diaper. 

And then she took her diaper off. 

And then she played in it. 

Jump in for a picture of the destruction, but I warn you, this is not for the squeamish. If you don't want to see some beautiful poop art, don't continue reading! 

Meet Camden Rae

Meet Camden Rae!

She just turned TWO! What a big girl.

Last night, my mom and Camden were riding double on a very small ride-along horse in Cam's playroom, and the thought occurred to me that I'm letting all of these amazing, funny, beautiful moments slip by. Sure, I hope to remember them, but my poor brain is so full of school psychology and stress that I know I'm going to forget so many things about when Cambo was little.

So I thought, let's document it.

This is Camden. 

Precious, right? 

She got a big girl bed for her second birthday, and now at night (and naptime) she comes and gets me to say "Momma, bed." We go to her bed, set up her turtle light, tuck in her dinosaur, her babydoll, and her simba, and she says "kiss momma." After a goodnight kiss, she usually tells me (without asking) "I love you, I promise."

The other day she had a playdate over and mid-play she actually asked me if she could go to bed to take a nap. Crazy! 

She has also slept through the night since we brought her home. We had to wake her up to feed her as a baby. 

But she isn't lazy! She's a fireball of energy, and she loves to climb onto things and jump off them. 

Crazy. 

Currently she is:

24 pounds

90th percentile for height

blonde

blue-eyed (I say currently because Ryan and I both have green eyes, so although they might really be blue for good, they could still go green)

Currently she loves:

babydolls

her stuffed Kawasaki dinosaur

sitting on our dog Cujo

singing her ABC's - she gets through all of the letters, then says "now I E B E B C." 

singing Jingle Bells - especially the HEY!

singing Happy Birthday to everybody 

helping momma do her makeup

helping daddy and his buddies "fix it" with screwdrivers

riding her electric motorcycle

eating! especially cheese, hot dogs ("dot dogs"), chicken, chocolate ("chocwate"), pasta ("pasha"), and her favorite..grapes ("gwapes").

She also loves her grandparents and asks to spend time with them constantly. 

Yesterday, she kept telling us "Papa fall down MOUNTAIN! Papa boo boo. Papa hurt! Papa fall down MOUNTAIN!" 

It actually started to be weird, we had to call her Papa and make sure he hadn't fallen down a mountain! 

She is also potty trained - inside our house. We haven't quite figured out outside of our house yet, but I know that she will get there when she's ready. 

She also wants to wear her cowgirl boots everywhere we go! 

She's a really well behaved child. We can take her out to restaurants, she's even been to school with me and sat through classes on two separate occasions. She's incredibly smart, and she's always looking out for people. If there's any sign someone is sad or has a booboo, she says "Okay, momma?" or whoever. Then she gives you a big ole kiss! 

I'm not saying this to brag about her. I honestly don't know how we were blessed with this amazing little child. People tell us all the time that they would love to watch her or have a baby like her, and it's just a crazy feeling being so fortunate to have this sweet little wonderball in our lives. 

Ryan and I have both said we don't want to have another baby because Cam is so well behaved that we wouldn't know how to handle any other baby, hah. 

Just for the record.. she is completely capable of being a weenie every once in awhile! Usually as long as she gets her nap, she's okay. 

House Projects So Far...

So even though we haven't had this house for long, we've done a couple of projects to help make it a little bit more cozy.

I'm going to post my updates so far, and because I'm horrible at remembering to take before pictures you're just going to have to take my word when I say it's a big improvement.

This is going to be a long post full of lots of pictures!

Let's jump in.

Tattoo Removal

When I turned 18 I decided that I was responsible enough to decide what I wanted. My parents had always instilled in me that tattoos are wrong, under any circumstances. So of course I ran out of the gate on my 18th birthday and got a tattoo.

I loved it.

It says 'la vita e bella' in pretty cursive writing on my side/back/hip area. (Life is beautiful, in Italian)

That worked out fine for me, so I decided to get another one on my lunch break one day. No particular reason, no great amount of thought went into it. I decided to get a heart behind my ear.

I drove until I found a tattoo place. 

No research, nothing.

This is what it looked like when I went back to work that day.

I hated it! I hated it so much, that I figured that if I did everything that the guy had told me not to do, that it would fade or something (what an idiot, right?!).

So I scrubbed it in the shower. I picked at it. I went to the tanning bed and didn't put sunscreen on it. I thought I could get rid of it.

Here's what it looked like a few days later.

Yikes!!

So, like any smart 18 year old would do, I went back to the tattoo place and got it touched up. If it was going to be there, at least it would look like something other than an open wound. 

Fast forward to several years later. The red is a faded, nasty, lumberjack-plaid looking color, the black lines are no longer clean and the whole thing is a bit deformed. I'm working on getting my masters in School Psyschology, so I have to spend time in public schools. Public schools often frown upon visible tattoos. I had to wear my hair down every time I went into one, I always have to take into consideration how it makes me look, and cover it accordingly. 

I remember being so embarrassed at my wedding when I had to cover it with makeup. 

Anyways, now I lucked into knowing a fantastic dermatologist that suggested to me that if I hate it so much, why not get it removed? He could even do the lasering himself. 

Count me in! 

We decided that he would do four treatments in one day in hopes that it would expedite the process. He gave me a lidocaine shot right over the tattoo, covered my eyes with some soggy goop and goggles, and proceeded to laser away! Then he let a student do the last two treatments (I could hear him telling him how to use the machine..talk about scary!). 

This is what it looked like right after the last session 

Yowza! 

It's been a couple of weeks now, and the red is completely faded. The black will take a bit longer to fade, and hopefully I will see results within a month or so. 

Hopefully Cam will learn from my mistake, and if she wants to get a tattoo, it will be something that truly means something to her. And won't make her cry on her wedding day. 

Updating a VERY out of date bathroom

So we've been in this house for several months now, and although we have painted the master bedroom and the living room/kitchen/dining room area, there are still parts of the house that I have to close my eyes when I go by them.

The worst room, by far, has been our master bathroom. There are two vanities/sinks, a seperate toilet area, a shower, and a huge jacuzzi tub.

Sounds nice, right?

Wrong. 

Why?

[Jump in to see how we made something hideous almost tolerable..for free. ]

Meet the Benedict's

Hello friends!

I've never blogged before, but I can spend hours ogling the blogs of women who are much craftier, budget savvier, and in general mommier than I am. In all of my time reading through blogs discovered from pinterest, I've never happened upon a blog of someone who was juggling graduate school with a family and a house (not to say that there aren't any, because I'm sure there are plenty!). 

This blog will chronicle my attempts to survive through graduate school, help myself and my family to be healthy and happy, keep my house in order, and watch my beautiful daughter grow up. 

I'll start with a brief background of the Benedict family.

My name is Grace, I'm 22 and just finished my first semester of my master's program for School Psychology. I have a wonderful husband who works during the day, races dirtbikes during the weekends, and diffuses my meltdowns and recovers my hopeless projects at night. Together we have a 2 year old daughter, Camden Rae. 

For some reason that I will probably never understand, six months ago we did something crazy. 

We bought a house. 

Now, I understand that this probably isn't crazy to most people.. but we had been living in a one bedroom apartment since before Cam was born, and we have never had to deal with everything that comes with a house before. Neither of us had ever lived without a roommate before, and I had definitely never had to cook and clean for anyone other than myself before. 

So what did we do?

Naturally, we bought a house on 6 acres with 3000 square feet. Talk about a change in lifestyle! We had the house not even a month before I started school, so by the time we got moved in and settled it was straight to school with no time for anything else. Although the previous owners of the house took great care of it, they left us with a new (old) dog and a lot of updating to do. Hopefully I will be able to post all of our big projects on here to look back on in the future!