william's words of wisdom: insight of a first grader

and I quote:
"I want to tell you about a wittle fwen. He may be here, but he's pwobly not. Stevie, are you here? Stevie, if you're hewe, would you please waise up? Hi Stevie. I'm done."

Educational Research

Okay. I think it is safe to say it. I ABHOR Educational Research. If I ever had fleeting thoughts that it would be fun to do research (which I am now ashamed to say I've had before), I will NEVER have those impure thoughts again. For me, reading a study about a topic that has absolutely no interest to me whatsoever is about the most painful form of punishment I could ever imagine. Not to mention, I have no idea what any of it means.

If someone offered me a chance to clean public toilets (which is my number one phobia) at a place such as a gas station (obviously the dirtiest of all public restroom facilities), in exchange for a free "A" in Ed. Research, I would take it in a heartbeat. I would spend an equal amount of time scrubbing and disinfecting as my classmates spent in class. It would be worth it indeed!

On the other side of the coin, I LOVE Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy (despite the fact that Freud puts the psycho in psychotherapy). I also adore my Intro to Guidance and Counseling class. I feel like I've gained more knowledge in the last month from those two classes than I did in all of my undergraduate years. Of course, my major was early childhood and elementary education, so there wasn't much in those classes but doing things like painting construction paper with strings. UGH!

new business

Jillian and I, as some of you already know, have the grand idea that we are going to start a huge business this summer. We are not, at this time, divulging what type of business it is, as we don't want some big corporation to hear about it through the grapevine and steal our idea.

So far, I've done a fair amount of research for this. I have searched the world wide web to see if this type of business already exists (especially with the catchy name we've chosen, which if already taken, would cause our business to suffer greatly). Although this type of business doesn't exist to my knowledge, many people, including bloggers, have said they would love it if there was a business such as ours.

Our business, if we can find the proper amount of grant money to get started, will be an immediate success. There will soon be chains all over the country and potentially the world if we can just find the funds to start us off. Our first order of business (this Tuesday) is to sit down and write out our priorities. We don't want to be corrupted by money, success, and potentially fame. We are going to write down what our goals are and how our money could help the church and our community of kids and adults at Western Village. Next, we are going to write down what we will and won't allow ourselves to spend money on once we have such an immense amount of cash flow coming in. Thirdly, we will be writing out our formal business plan which is to be presented to a very influential woman entrepreneur here in OKC.

We are already finding that we have contacts to help point us in the right direction for acquiring the necessary funds. I will also be attending a government grant seminar this coming Saturday to learn about how to apply for grants for small businesses and women. I hope that the information proves useful!

I can't wait until we can tell everybody what our plans are!!!!!!!

and so it begins

Last night I had my first grad school test. It was easy enough and I'm pretty sure I got an "A." However, I will be spending the bulk of my weekend studying for the painful brute of a test I will be trying to conquer on Monday. This is while I'm in the midst of a plethora of papers, projects, and attempts at successfully systematically desensitizing someone of a phobia before the semester begins. In the mean time I have come to the conclusion that counseling is usually where someone pays someone else to listen to them like their friends should be doing. I am thankful to have friends and family who listen to me for free!

a class from "you-know-where"

Last year, as the readers of my blog may well know, I had the class that the rest of the school referred to as the "class from you-know-where." I loved those kiddos and I miss them this year, but it was tough last year especially considering the fact that I was doing my National Boards with a particularly tough group. I love to visit them this year in their first grade classes though. It brightens my day to see them in a way that words cannot express!

This year, I have another class from you-know-where. This class is straight from heaven. They are so well-mannered and I LOVE to TEACH them. They are more like little sponges than any group I've ever had!!! They are so kind to each other and to me.

One little boy in my class who knows me well (because I've coached his older sister in basketball for two years) brought me a nice vase and a boquet of flowers the second week of school. He draws pictures in his "journal" every day of he and I doing things such as jumping on trampolines, riding horses, and petting dogs together. My personal favorite is when he draws a picture of us getting married and riding off in a limo together. I must say, through the hand of a five year old, I make a beautiful bride!

I would love nothing more than to talk about each of my students individually because they are all SOOOOO special and wonderful. I guess I won't for my few readers' sake, however. I wish that all of my readers, friends, and family could find happiness in their chosen occupations as have I.