Woe is me.

So I went out to eat three times this week. Please...do not judge me. :o) Anyway, I wasn't eating at my favorite places, by any means, but I have to say that when I was finished with the meals, I was sorely disappointed...all three times!! What is going on? Do you think it's because of the recession (you know...something like, "I must have a deep fear of losing my money and so my subconscious is trying to tell me to spend my money wisely," hence the reason for my meal disappointment?)? Or do you think it's because I'm overly tired this week and those meals really weren't what I wanted, but it was easier and quicker than coming home to cook? Yeah. I think I'm gonna go with that second one. :) Anyway, it was kind of a bummer to not have enjoyed those meals. Lesson learned. Next time, just go home and take a nap. *heehee* :)

This week has been a good one. It's advising week at work, so I am swamped, but it's a week that I really enjoy. I love helping the students pick their classes and it's good to see everyone that comes through to get their registration information from me. It's a good week, even though by the end of it, I'm usually ready to lay low for the weekend.

In other news, our weather does NOT look like the following (Cheri, I think I borrowed this picture from you, so thank you! :) ...

No, sirree. Instead it looks MUCH more like this ...

Yes, that is a windy, icky blizzard in that picture, and the thing about it is that it's worse in the surrounding areas. We've lucked out and not had it too bad thus far (*knock on wood*). Needless to say, I'm glad that it's Friday and I'm glad that I have no plans for my weekend. Wherever you are, I hope you're well, too! :o)

Yike-a-roonies.

This is what we do out here in the Wild West...



Yes, he very well could have killed himself, but he didn't. And the play made a ton of sports channels and even got him on the Today Show!! Since we know he's okay and he didn't kill himself, it's kind of fascinating to watch!

Chatter

I'm feeling chatty right now... :o)

Today, I feel thankful again for simplicity. As I begin packing to move to a different apartment in May, I just relish the idea of doing some "spring cleaning" along with it. I am excited to clear out some of the clutter from my home and the things I haven't used or looked at for a long time, (or ever, for that matter). I don't know how you are, but I work hard to try and not collect so much "stuff". Every once in awhile I just have to go through my home and purge items that are just taking up space. If I don't do that, I start feeling slightly claustrophobic (weird, I know). So I just feel excited about the upcoming apartment change and the cleaning out and sorting that is going to come along with it. :)

This past week, I got to hang out with my good friends from Oklahoma, Julie & Regina, for part of their trip up here. It was great to see them again and I'm SO glad that they were able to come!! :) It was extra special for Julie, too, because her brother & sister-in-law had their second baby on Friday, so Julie was here for all of that. Perfect timing, wasn't it!?! :o)

Now this coming week, all of the students are returning to the University (this past week was spring break) and it's going to be a busy week because it's advising week. There is one week of the fall semester and one week of the spring semester that are dedicated to academic advising and those are my two busiest weeks of the year at work. But I enjoy it. :) As long as I don't make too many social plans and I keep up on my sleep, it usually goes well and I really do enjoy helping the students.

Also coming this week (supposedly)...a winter storm. :( You know, I understand that we need the moisture where we live, but I so hate dealing with the snow. The only time of year that I don't mind dealing with the snow is the first one or two times that it snows. After that, not so much. But every time I make comments like these, I think about some of my friends up north who proclaimed that they loved the beauty of every season and they enjoyed viewing the things that were special to that season (flowers in summer, leaves in fall, etc.). Their joy was just so great that I resolved to be the same way! So...if we end up getting some snow, I will be thankful for how I know that it's "feeding" the next season to come...spring!! :)

Well, I'll let this be all for now. I just felt kind of chatty this evening, so I thought I'd chat with all of YOU! :) Take care and keep on keeping on!!

How I'll roll THIS summer...

So, do any of you remember Fannie Mae? Yeah...I barely broke her in last summer, but I hope to get more use out of her this year because I'm moving to a ground level apartment, so it won't be such a chore to drag the bike in and out and up long flights of stairs. Instead, I'll open my patio door and away we'll go!

However...today something changed for me. I have a new love in my life now. And it's how I'll roll this summer...and hopefully for the next 10-15 years. :)

I bought a car!! I traded in the current Camry that I had for one that was 10 years newer. The interesting thing about it is that the car really isn't that much different than what I had, except that it's newer. All of the controls on the inside are pretty much in the same exact location, there are no additional bells and whistles compared to what I had before, and other than the nice new smell and the car seeming to be a bit longer than my previous one, there's not much that's different. Oh, wait...there is one thing that's different now...a CAR PAYMENT! Ugh. I know that we all agree on what to feel about those! :)

Anyway, it was a good experience and so far I'm really loving my car! I told my dad that I really, truly wouldn't know how it ran until I took it on a long drive somewhere, so we'll see when that happens. I still have the original warranty on it for about 15,000 more miles, so I'll have 15,000 miles to figure out if anything is really wonky with it. But let's hope not!! So far, it's been a good car and I'm very happy with it.

But, as with Fannie Mae, I need your help. My last car was older and had quite a few miles on it and I referred to her as "Old Faithful". Somehow, though, it doesn't seem fitting to call the new version "Old Faithful", so what do you think I should name it? The car is a tan-ish color (kind of similar to the color of sand...even though the paperwork refers to the car color as gold...I don't know about you, but I'm not seeing too much "gold" in the color) and it's pretty simple, so I'm looking for a simple name. So...please leave your comment as to what you think we should call this new love in my life!! :) I look forward to hearing what you come up with!!!! :o)

I have returned! :)

I honestly think that this is the longest lapse I've had between posts ever!!! Things with me are going good. I really haven't been up to much over the last few weeks. I had a couple of midterms, but mainly I've just been busy at work and busy with social events. It's been great! This last weekend I even hosted a Stampin Up! party and that was great fun! It was interesting, to say the least, because I have such a small apartment and we crammed something like 11 adults and four kids in there, but I think that everyone still had a good time! :) My point of mentioning the party, though, was to say that I have NO pictures from it!!! Boo!!! :( At one point in the middle of the party I thought, "I should capture a picture of the entire group for my blog!" but then I got distracted and I completely forgot. So, instead, I'll post a couple of pictures from a birthday party/hymn sing that I went to at the end of February. We were celebrating the February birthday's and I made the birthday cakes for the potluck! This is something to brag about, people, because this is not something that I do very often!!! :)

Anyway, the birthday folks were Ryan, Jolene, Tessa, Monique, and Whitney...
Here are the fabulous cakes with the "Happy Birthday!" candles on them...

And this is a picture of Monique with her dad and step-mom, Dave & Karen, and our very good friends, John & Esther (who are like another set of parents to both Monique and I)...

We had a great time that evening and were sure glad that we got together! :)

This week is currently spring break at the University, so my job is very quiet right now. Next week, though, is Advising Week, so I'm sure there will be some overtime as well as a constant stream of people coming through my office! And no matter what I do, I'm never prepared for it, so I guess that I'd better wrap this up and get back to work! :) Until next time, take care of yourself! And don't forget to wear green tomorrow for St. Patty's Day!!! :o)