Arbor Day- early and Happy Easter

Every Easter I find myself going back to visit my parents 13 acres and planting something new or rearranging the acreage in a different way. Several years back my parents had bought some small evergreens that were not so 'ever green' anymore since they were not put into the ground.  Since their future looked so bleak, on Easter Sunday I said "Lord, if these are supposed to live and grow- I will put them into your hands." I put them in the ground and 8 of the 9 are still thriving pretty well today. 

 This year my brother and I, or as my mother referred to us on this day, Ding and Wing- took to the yard with a 4 foot Silver Maple tree, a sledge hammer and some stakes to help brace the young tree.  Since Arbor Day is coming up on the 29th I have deemed this our ARBOR DAY TREE.  My brother usually doesn't participate in my shenanigans of the outdoors, but today he helped me by holding the stakes etc.  Since he did come out of his element to help, I let him use the sledge hammer to hammer in the stakes while I held them.  This image of my brother and I hitting the stakes into the ground with the other one holding the stake wave predestined for injury (hence the name Ding and Wing.)  My mom and sister had the cameras rolling for a rare chance that he would miss and we could win thousands on America's Funniest Home Video, but fortunately (or unfortunately) no accidents occurred.  The picture to the left is me punching in the last stake. I hope everyone had a good Easter and on the 29th- good luck on planting a tree to celebrate Arbor Day.

OTS thoughts:  My thoughts on this entry are how the spiritual, social, and daily activities help give balance to my life.  An OT takes all of these holistic factors into account when working with patients to make their interest inventory and help guide their treatment.  My family, my faith, and the opportunities to work outside are really a blessing to me.  I feel more fulfilled in meeting my purpose on this earth by being able to  get out of the house, play in the dirt,  and enjoy nature in the countryside.  These activities give meaning to my life and as an OT I will keep these in mind when working with clients, especially those that enjoy nature and hard work outdoors like I do.

Getting back in the grad school groove

Well now that the blizzard has come and gone, we are back in the groove of classes again. The Capstone groups are working their project's by setting deadlines, meeting with their mentors, and balancing their capstone work with the other classes. Today we had our first Med Con II test, and the full time students have had their Kinesiology test with their movement lab checkouts coming up soon. Each week in my planner has been slammed full thus far- which is good and bad, but I am sure the whole class's planners are similarly slammed full.

The picture (left) is on Rockhurst's campus right outside of Van Ackeren (where PT/OT faculty's offices are). Since the snowman doesn't have legs- how do you think he got up on the bench? discuss.



Since we had a day off classes- during the snowmageddon- I decided to enjoy the lovely weather by reading, what else...but my Willard & Spackman book (on the back deck). (it's kind of a big deal in the RU OT curriculum)




OTS thoughts: Since I am not a qualified and registered Occupational Therapist or licensed (OTR/L), I thought I would change this section to OTS (OT student) thoughts. This is to both give credit where credit is due and also to show that my expertise is only to the extent of education that I have completed thus far.

My occupational balance has thus far in the semester has been doing pretty well. I have been exercising more, studying more, eating well, and getting more hours of sleep per night. My next post will hopefully include how I believe that 'shoveling snow' is an occupation- to show some of my facebook friends that live in warmer climates that we don't exactly get a 'day off' when a blizzard hits the midwest.

Rough Week- First FULL WEEK of class

HERE WE GO...

This blog will include 3 reasons of why my week was/is going to be a little rough.

(Reason # 1) Chicago Bears lost--

That means no Super Bowl shuffle this year... BOO! On the positive side, I can now focus better over the next two weeks on OT work and not planning a Super Bowl party. (Not sure what the Super Bowl Shuffle is? Click the picture- [left])

(Reason #2) KU lost...

After blowing a lead, they never recovered.

Here's the story from espn.com. (KU is my Alma Mater)

(Reason #3) CLASS STARTED...

...OK, ok. So it isn't that bad- but any type of schooling has its stressful moments. Last week we had a short week due to a dumping of snow in the KC area (which happened to include RU closing). I am excited to get back into the groove of school/work/schedule but also am getting a better idea of the work that will be necessary over the next 5 months. Our research group is starting to plan and I appreciate their open communication and planning work ethic. The research should be interesting but there is a lot of work to do. (More on the Capstone Project to follow in later posts).

OT Thoughts: Balance is hard to find in any setting and stage in life. Eat. Sleep. Exercise. Work. Study. Family time. Fun time. Hobbies. Relationships. Etc. OT's try to help their patients/clients find a balance in life while achieving independence in their day to day life. My goal (as it is every semester) is to plan well and balance my life between school, work, studying, wedding planning, and leisure time- on top of my hierarchy of needs to eat well, exercise, sleep, and not be a bear when stress starts to rise. Have a good week.