… and it's over.

I just approved the final spot of the university's new marketing campaign and it's currently on its way to a station near you.

Now back to life as I knew it … hopefully.

The big hair band Poison may have rocked your world in the 80s, but a certain toddler ingesting poison rocked our world last night.

It was all innocent enough. We were outside playing, enjoying visits from all the neighbor boys, spraying for the pesky mosquitoes and setting down (too carelessly) the bottle of insect repellent without thinking that it was within arm's length of Park. He has a fascination with water bottles and loves to squirt water on his face, in his mouth and on everything he comes in contact with. Fun, until that water bottle isn't filled with water.

I had turned around to pick up a toy and when I looked back at Park I knew what he had done by the expression on his face. He had his hands covering his mouth, his eyes real wide and that look of "that wasn't water in that bottle" all across his face.

Per the bottle's instructions, I had him drink some water and called poison control. Aside from the insecticide he just inhaled, the issue seemed to be more with the high alcohol content in the brand of bug spray we had. In order to keep his blood sugar from dropping, we were ordered to give him pop or apple juice and a sweet snack of cookies or ice cream ... OK, seriously, why would he NOT do this again? We were also told to watch for any stumbling or slurred speech - the last think we needed was a two-year-old drunk AND on a sugar high.

Luckily, Park seemed fine all night. And I have a feeling the only lesson learned was for mom and dad. Just when you think everything is locked up and out of reach ...

It's been a long, tough road.

Today marks the launch of the marketing campaign that has consumed virtually every waking moment (and when you don't sleep, there are no shortage of waking moments) of my life for the past four months. It's been difficult, but I'm very proud of the work.

What you'll see below are two-minute mini documentaries that will be available on the web—one-minute versions will be broadcasted on regional TV. The idea is to show how "experience-based learning" at Wichita State gives Shockers a huge leg-up on graduates from other, more traditional universities.

In the end, there will be three sets of commercials, (I'm still working on the third, so I guess I haven't quite made it to the end of the road yet) however, I'd really like to thank Carrie and Park for their support, encouragement and understanding to help me make it to this point.

Hope you like them.

So you think you can Zumba?

It's been another long month without any blog posts. We're so bad! But we've been so busy working, enjoying a vacation, chasing a toddler, preparing for a garage sale, talking ourselves out of the garage sale and trying out Zumba. Yes, Zumba.

For those of you who know me, I'm sure you're having a good laugh right now. I tried a class at the Y about a month ago but left after 10 minutes when I realized the teacher was a sub and was more white than me. Wanting to be fair to the Zumba craze, I tried out another class earlier this week and realized I found a winner before it ever started. It was in the gym instead of a studio to accommodate for the huge group of women representing every age and fitness level. And they just kept coming into the gym, giving each other high fives and wearing their Zumba-branded pants. I was so out of place.

I only have two Zumba experiences, but I can say that this teacher was amazing. She danced on a stage and never called out the steps. But every woman in that room seemed to know her next move and they were shaking their bodies like nobody's business. Yes, even at the YMCA. Utterly embarrassed and completely confused, I just about left again ... until I saw someone I knew back from high school. Mortified I actually knew someone, but also a little relieved, I sought her out and she told me it gets easier. I just have to keep going. So, here I go. Back for another lesson tomorrow. It's with the same teacher but this time it's in a smaller studio. I can't decide if being in a gym where EVERYONE could see me is worse than being confined in a small studio surrounded by mirrors so I have to watch myself.