I'd rather be in school

I finished my classes two weeks ago. For so long I had been anticipating just how I would use my lovely time away from school. I had dreams of relaxing, reading, and maybe even busting out a few sewing projects.  Well, it's been two weeks and I call do-over. I thought a fun way to recap my two weeks of "vacation" would be to play a little game called, "I'd rather be in school than...."

• ...have the check engine light go on in my car
• ...have my car lock broken and my cd player get stolen
• ...sweat in my apartment with a broken air conditioner during the hottest weeks of summer
• ...have giant spiders crawl on me while I try to sleep
• ...not get any sleep because I'm afraid spiders are going to crawl on me
• ...have to bug bomb my apartment at 2 o'clock in the morning and sleep in a walmart parking lot

That just about sums it up. But, there's hope. It's been 4 days since I've seen a spider. My apartment manager just replaced our air conditioner. A friend is going to help my husband replace our car lock and cd player. In a week I leave for Arizona to visit my Gramma. Here's to 3 more weeks of vacation, which I plan to thoroughly enjoy.  

coffee shops and iced tea

While the rest of the country has been experiencing a major heat wave, my little corner of the world has been rather pleasant. I really can't complain about the weather. It's been staying steady in the 80s. perfect.summer.weather. 

I know I just said I wouldn't complain about the weather. And I won't. But what I will say is that an air conditioner from the early 1980s does not cool off a top-floor apartment. At all.  

And a hot apartment = decreased productivity (seriously, it took me 30 minutes to fold a basket of clothes...)

decreased productivity = a messy apartment

a messy apartment = no concentration

no concentration = homework fail 

The solution to this problem?

Spend all my time at coffee shops. Nice, air conditioned coffee shops. Drinking iced tea. Eating an occasional pastry. Busting out study guides, online quizzes, papers, and even lugging around my giant whiteboard to help me learn my muscles. 

What's so great about this, is that it has given me the chance to be a regular somewhere. I split my time between 3 coffee shops and I've slowly gotten to know the people who make my iced tea. 

In less than two weeks, my summer classes will be done. Even though it doesn't make much sense to still spend so much time at coffee shops when there's no homework to do, I like the feeling of being connected to my community. 

I think I'll keep going.