Safely Home

I made it back from convention in decent time last night and, as expected, I had a wonderful four days! The days always fly by so quickly, but I'm always so thankful to have been able to go.

Now, though, I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed by everything that I have to do. I'm thinking that the majority of that feeling is due to the fact that I'm feeling rather tired today, so I'm trying to reason with myself to convince myself that it's not as bad as it seems. I think it's working. Kind of. :) I'll do what I can and we'll just see what happens! :)

In the meantime, I thought I'd post some pictures that I have had since last October. My friend, Teresa, came out to visit me and we just had a jolly good time! :) While she was here, though, she and I along with another friend, Monique, went to a "Big City" Aquarium. It was neat! Here are some pictures of the animals we saw:

Furry tiger who was kind of sleepy
Slickery otter that loved to show off for the crowd (hence, the first blurry picture)

A mean 'ol shark! He looked a lot meaner than he was. Okay, I don't really know that. I just thought it might help soften the blow of having to look at his grumpy face. :)

This turtle was gigantic. I bet he was a thousand years old. Okay, maybe not, but he was a big turtle.

And my mostest favorite part...the salt water fishies!!!! They were SO beautiful and I just loved watching them. This was my favorite tank full of them. I enjoyed the jellyfish tank, as well, but my camera was having issues during that display, so my two good friends took pictures of the jellyfish and they're going to share them with me. Someday...I hope. As of yet, I have not seen a single sign of them. I hope they remember. (*hint, hint, girls*.) Anyway, here are pictures of the fishies! Aren't they beautiful!?!? :) (If you click on the photo, it will make it bigger and easier to see.)

Wait a minute...how did Mo end up in the fishy's tank? ha! I had a short visit with one of Monique's Aunties this past weekend and she said that she checks my blogs to catch any updates or pictures of her niece, so I decided to add this picture for her. :) Enjoy, Vicki! :)

And now I need to get back to work and stop avoiding all of my piles of "stuff". Enjoy your week!

I'm off!

Well, I'm off for four wonderful days of church convention!!! Yay! :) Also, my hives are doing much better, so I'm thinking that I won't have to worry about them at all and I can just enjoy convention. Yay! :) So, I will catch up with all of you when I return!

Why I've been MIA

I'm sure you're wondering what in the world has happened to me! Well, here's the story...last Tuesday, I decided, "Enough is enough! I'm going to get my things unpacked!!" You see, I still hadn't really unpacked everything from moving to my new apartment and I'd been there for almost three weeks. It was time to get down to business.

So, I worked and worked and was really getting a lot done! It was time to get ready to be done for the day, though, so I wrapped up what I was doing and went to go take a shower and get ready for bed. As I was getting ready for my shower, I glanced in the mirror and thought, "What in the world!?!" I decided not to worry too much, though, and I finished up and went to bed. The next morning...yikes!!! What I saw the night before in the mirror had compounded itself!! I was pretty sure that I was facing the end of my days because it was pretty bad. So I did what any sane person would do and I called my mother. :)

It turns out that I came down with a case of the hives and it definitely made it's presence known!! I have no idea why and no idea what prompted a reaction. I did not try any new food, drink or medication, nor am I under any amount of stress. In addition to that, if I'm allergic to something in the new apartment, why did it take three weeks for a reaction to take place (hence...I'm not sure that's the problem). So...who knows what the cause really is. I just happened to have a doctor appointment last Thursday (for my thyroid), so I had my doc look at it and she said, "That is definitely a case of the hives." I took benadryl for two days and then switched to Claritin and I've been taking that for four days. Things are better, but I'm still definitely dealing with it. And the bummer of it all? I'm supposed to be leaving on Wednesday for a church convention. Errg. I've decided that I'm going to go, regardless of how I feel, but it's still a rip to be dealing with that, especially when I just wanted to get away for a few days and relax a little!

So, that's why I disappeared for so long. And that's why you won't hear anything from me for at least another week. That's just the way that things go in the summer time, isn't it?! :) I'll update as soon as I can, but I have a second summer class starting this week, too (on top of everything else! ha!), so I may be rather busy for awhile. I'll try not to be gone for too long, though! :) Take care!

Quick Visit

I went home for a very short visit a few weeks back because of several things going on. Here are a few snapshots of my time there.

Luke graduated with a certificate from the welding program at the local community college. Congrats, Luke! You should be so proud!! I know that I'm proud of you!!! :)
Mom retired after MANY years of teaching! I believe that she said it had been 29 years total, but I could be wrong about that. Here she is giving her speech after receiving her retirement plaque and certificate. What was extra special about mom's retirement party is that she had NO idea that I was coming up for it!! My dad & I hatched this plan way back in February to surprise her for her party in May. We pulled it off with great success and Mom had no idea! I came in a few days before her actual party, so we got to spend time together before and after her big day. She was surprised, that's for sure, and at one point she said, "This is the best surprise!" I said, "Yeah. I know." :o)

And, Buddy...we can't forget about her!! :) She recently graduated from a Hospice Volunteer Care Program, so she and dad are now licensed to go on hospice visits around the area. Won't that be special?!? After all, look at how adorable she is!! It should make just about anyone happy to have Buddy come and visit!!! :)

Of course, with everything that was going on, we decided to snap a quick family picture, so here we are! This was taken using the timer on the camera. I'd set everything up and then rush across the room in time to get in the picture and to get everyone all organized. I think that the picture turned out really well! I love my family so much! :)

This was the set-up for mom's big retirement party. It wasn't a party just for her, but it was the school's party for all of the retirees. I believe that there were six or seven of them who were honored that evening. It was a super nice night!

This was our table at mom's retirement party. I had to take a picture because I loved all the beautiful napkins that were in the glasses. I just thought that they were so cheery and I loved all of the beautiful colors of them. It just made things look pretty. :)

And that's that! I told you that there weren't many pictures, but I wanted to share them because they are all extra special to me! :) I hope you enjoyed them, too!

Color Quiz

I learned about this little quiz in class the other day and I completed it this morning to find that it was right on!!! It was kind of fun, so I thought I'd share it with you! Enjoy!

Oh, and...yes, I DO realize that I did not post any of the pictures that I said I would, but such is life. I'll keep working on that. :)

Jen took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Desires a tranquil, peaceful state of harmony offe..." Click here to read the rest of the results.