"I Didn't Sign Up for This": 6 Thoughts I've Had This Past Week.

1. "Every Time!": How I Manage to Injure Myself Whenever I Cactus.

Last week was Grand Prix week, y'all, aka the week that everyone gets hammered every day.  So Thursday I went to the Cactus with Syd and Kristen and we waited in line for...

...wait for it...

one and a half hours to get in.  That's right everyone, we are dedicated.  But it was worth it and we had a good time.  I also walked away with a giant splinter in my hand from the support beams and also a huge bruise on the back of my thigh from where my walking boot jammed into it from dropping it low.  Apparently I can't go there without hurting myself, yet I keep coming back. In case you missed it, read about the last time I Cactused (it's a verb) here. 

2. "I Think This is Healthy...": How I Justify my Snack-Eating Habits.

I made these really delicious peanut butter energy bites the other day (find the recipe here) because I needed some new healthy snack options.  Currently, my go-to snacks are string cheese and Go-Go Squeez applesauce, because I'm basically 5.  But I found this recipe, made them, and I am in love.  They're supposed to be healthy, but I don't know if it works like that when I eat 5 at a time.

3. "I'm Such a Nerd.": How I Get Excited to Meet Up with Former Professors.

Last week, some of my former literacy professors emailed some students to see if we would be willing to get together to eat pizza and discuss the effectiveness and areas of improvement for the literacy courses.  I. Was. Stoked.  These were some of my favorite professors for some of my favorite classes.  Not only did I get to see them again, but they also bought us dinner and gave us Starbucks gift cards!  It was awesome!  Let's just say that I really appreciate the fact that these women are concerned with the effectiveness of their classes and honestly want to take and use student feedback to improve them.  You don't see that very often at universities.

4. "Friends are Pretty Cool.": How Family Dinner was a Success.

It's been awhile since Annie and I have hosted a Family Dinner, and with the semester wrapping up, we figured it was about darn time to have one.  So we feasted on pigs in a blanket, crock pot mac 'n cheese, grapes, and brownies.  Because again, I'm basically 5.  But it was so great to have everyone there (shoutout to Brooke, Jess, Elaine, Matt, Shannon, and Syd for being able to make it) and I'm glad I have such awesome people in my life.

5. "I Didn't Sign Up for This.": Bathroom Adventures at the Daycare.

Here's a fun story for you: Once upon a time, snack time was finishing up at daycare and a girl (we'll call her 'E') came up to me and said her hands were sticky so she wanted to wash them.  We sent her to the bathroom, but she was in there for awhile, so I went in to check on her.  I walked in, and there she was, standing in the middle of the bathroom, pants down to her ankles and poop smeared all up her legs (she's potty-trained, by the way).  Confused, I asked her if she had done this during snack time and she said no, she just did it.  She proceeds to pull her pants down further, causing more poop to fall out of her underwear.  I attempt to take off her shoes and pants very carefully so I could get her cleaned up, only to find that her shoes were also smeared with poop...and so was the floor and the toilet.

I didn't sign up for this.

E had no extra pants in her cubby, but by some miracle of God, she had failed to soil her skirt.  So I shoved her dirty clothes and shoes in a bag, got her on the changing table to clean her up, and then proceeded to clean the poop that had somehow managed to get everywhere.

Can I put that on a teaching resume?

6. "Help.": How Student Teaching is Already Stressing Me Out and Hasn't Even Started.

Tonight we had our student teaching orientation to start preparing us for the things we'll have to do next spring.

Wanna know how to make a good impression on future teachers?  Make them buy student teaching books for $187.00.  Cool.  So we got those and brought them to this orientation where we sat for 2 hours listening to all the assignments we will have to do and all the files we'll need to keep and all the papers we need to read and all the lesson plans we'll have to write and...

I'll stop there so you aren't stressed out too.

(Sarcastic) Shout Out Corner
My walking boot: Thanks for always supporting me! 
My bank account: Thanks for never being 'high' because that would be illegal.
My projects: You're always there.  Not for me, but you're just always there.

Last...
Purchase: Ice cream to drown out my sorrows from the Orientation
Book I read: Almost done with Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl. Thanks to Jess for letting me borrow it!
Day of school: Next Tuesday is my last (only) final, so I'll be officially done!
Person I texted: My dad, 'cause he's pretty cool.
Time I did homework: Is it bad that I can't really remember...?
Song I jammed to: "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros 

Anyway, I hope everyone has a fantastic week!  For those getting ready to take finals, good luck!

XOXO

April Thus Far: (Feet)uring a Walking Boot and Crutches

Yes, yes, I am completely aware that I spelled 'featuring' wrong in the title. Don't you think the Parkside Junior High 7th grade spelling bee runner up would know such a thing? You guys don't give me enough credit.

I guess we'll jump right in.

Being Artsy Fartsy
Because I can't go extended periods of time without seeing my favorite people in the world (aka my family), my mama, grandmama, and sis...mama(?) came to visit me earlier this month over Kourt's spring break.  Well, welcome to West Lafayette, the place where there's nothing to do. So what did we do? We painted pottery, much to my mom's and grandma's displeasure.  But hey, we all had a good time and the pieces look fabulous.

And you wonder where my mom and I get it from... ;)

Ea(t)ster
Because I can't go extended periods of time without seeing my favorite people in the world (hey, this sentence sounds familiar...can you plagiarize off yourself?), I went home for Easter weekend and even got to bring Lush! I brought him home Saturday morning (where we--well, I-- spent a questionably long time petting my cats.  We went to my aunt Cathy's house for Easter dinner later that afternoon, and it was awesome getting to see everyone and eat lots of food.  My fam is the bomb.com.

My sis rocks.

He's so handsome :)

He told me not to give him a reason to look disgusted in pictures, so I told him off. 

#relationshipgoals

When we got home that night, Lush, my sister, and I hung out with some of my friends from high school, including Brooke and Katie who were both home too.  We all went to the Pub II to chill (I played my first round of darts and hit 3 bullseyes??), so it was awesome to spend time with them.

Pub II bathroom mirror selfie

When I got home, it was past midnight, aka let's stuff our faces with every possible dessert imaginable to celebrate the end of the Lenten season.  Kourt made slutty brownies (omggg) and I ate too many of them.

After we woke up, we went to church as a fam and then relaxed a little before I had to bring Lush back to U of I and I drove back to the 'Due.

My Fragile Week
Once upon a time there was a girl named Kasey whose body began to fail her despite her young age of 21.

First, I gave blood for the first time in 3 years.  No matter how hard I'd try, nobody ever wanted my blood because my hemoglobin levels were too low.  But finally, finally, they were high enough to give blood, so I did.  I sat on my chair and nervous-talked the whole time, silently freaking out to myself as the terrible memory of April 13, 2012 loomed in the back of my head, aka the first time I ever gave blood and the first time I ever passed out.  But no, everything was great, I filled my bag of blood (which I named Bernice), and I felt fine.  Until the corners of my vision started to go blurry, and I had just enough time to ask the phlebotomist to get me my water before I passed out.  Cool.

And then came Thursday.  I was so stoked because I had been wanting to go back to the Neon Cactus ever since my birthday but hadn't had the chance to.  But this was the week I was gonna go, and I was pumped.  Syd and I got ready and headed over to meet a couple of our friends from education.  We got our drinks (Blue's Clues, thanks to John the bartender) and were sitting at a table, watching the fascinating empty dance floor.  After awhile, Syd and I said, "Forget it," and we hit the floor despite there being anyone there.  We were having a spectacular time, and we were going hard.  So hard that when I stepped down on the floor with my foot slightly sideways, I hurt my foot (Kourt claims I was 'break' dancing).  I tried to put on a tough face.  I tried to shake it off.  But when I couldn't do it any longer, my hero (Syd of course) went to get me ice, and then we sat on a ledge together waiting for our ride.  Despite my pain, I high-fived anyone who would give me the time of day as they walked by us.  Syd's friend finally came, and I limped over to the car.  When I got back to my apartment, it took me a solid 5 minutes to get up the single flight of stairs and as soon as I got through the door, I fell to the floor and literally crawled to my room where I lay on the floor for 10 minutes, trying to work up the gumption to get up and take a shower.

The night was so promising...

And then this happened.

Friday morning: Limped around the school and taught my lesson and finally decided the pain was too much.  I headed to urgent care (where I embarrassingly had to explain multiple times that I had hurt myself while dancing) and found out I had broken my foot on the 5th metatarsal.  I literally asked the doctor, "What do I do now?" because I had never broken a bone before.  So, I left the doctor's office with some cool souvenirs, including some x-rays, crutches, and a pantie-dropper of a walking boot, which I was instructed to wear for 4-6 weeks.  It's s'cute.

The Crew Takes NYC
It's official: Katie and I have bought our tickets to visit Chloe during her internship in NYC this summer!  Watch out, Big Apple, we comin' for ya.

Shoutout Corner:
Sydney: She was the real MVP when it came to my broken foot crisis.  Also, check out her new blog: http://in-syd-ious.blogspot.com/.
Jess: After hours upon hours upon hours during months and months of studying, she finally took the MCAT and will get her results in a few weeks!  Woot!
Annie, Dana, Laura: Congrats on getting inducted into Mortar Board today!
Andrea: My cousin got a new job out in Washington, D.C., so congrats to her!

Current:
Mood: Meh.
Obsession: Werther's Originals will get me through this semester.
Jams: Any/all the top hip-hop playlists on Spotify, yo.
Hooray: The semester is over in a few weeks!
Fear: The semester is over in a few weeks...
Hate: EAPS.
Want: A soft serve vanilla ice cream cone. And a cat.
View: The rainy parking lot outside my apartment.

Bonus picture that I can't rotate for whatever reason:

EAPS fieldtrip selfie