Oh, and...

A simple Saturday

2012-01-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

I have had a nice relaxing day today. I slept in, took a nap and then went to the women's college basketball game (they won!). After getting home from the game, I finalized my taxes and submitted them. Yahoo! I think that I've already got my refund spent, though. :) Now tomorrow will be more of the same. I'll have my Sunday church meeting in the morning and then I'm planning to go to the college wrestling match in the afternoon (our team is 7th in the nation and we have a guy who's no. 1 in the nation for his weight...very exciting!) and then I'll come home after that for a late afternoon nap. I'm looking forward to it. It should be a good day! :)

Things at work have really settled down, thank goodness, so I'm finally catching up on a few things. Before leaving work on Friday, one of my professor's said, "Wow, Jennifer! That pile of papers on your desk has significantly decreased this week!" I gave him a big smile and said, "It sure has!!" :) It's always nice to feel like you're back in order again after some crazy-busy days and I've been feeling GLAD for quiet days at work this week. It should stay like that for a few more weeks, so I'll just keep plugging along with everything and I'll just continue to enjoy the quiet days. :)

I managed to get past the "class enrollment" deadlines, too, and I did not register for a class! ; ) Whew...another semester of life with no homework to worry about. :) Already this week, I've gone back to thinking, "Why on EARTH would I want to consider getting a Master's degree and go through all that again!?!" Oh, the yo-yo-ing of decisions that I put myself through is just too much sometimes. haha! Time will tell what I really decide about it all. It's likely that nothing will be resolved for another year yet, if that's even something I decide to do. So, we'll see! :)

I got a new cell phone this week. I debated about going with a smartphone or staying with a basic phone and I ended up staying with a basic phone, mainly because of cost. I'm just not ready (or willing!) to spend the extra money required for a smartphone yet, especially when I have some debt that I'm really working hard to pay off. So, I gave myself another two years with a basic phone and then we'll see if maybe I'm ready for a fancy smartphone after that. :)

Well, I should get going and make myself some supper for the evening. I didn't mean to let so much time pass since my last update, but I had four nights of things going on this past week and I was just too busy to blog! :) I had fun, though, and it just makes me glad for the friends I have. :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Windy!

2012-01-17T22:17:00.000-07:00

It has been WINDY here the last few days. Wowsa! My apartment is pretty sound proof to the outside world, so I know that it's super windy out when I can hear it while I'm inside!! I'm glad that I'm "in" for the evening! :)

Speaking of being in, yesterday I had the day off of work for the MLK holiday, but a committee at work accidentally forgot that the day was a holiday (and that the University was closed) and so they scheduled a candidate (for a professor position) to fly in on Sunday and interview yesterday and today! Today wasn't a problem, of course, but yesterday was definitely "pick and choose" as far as meetings on campus. haha! Well, I took pity on them yesterday and went in for a Noon presentation by the candidate (just an hour presentation) because I wanted to help add to the crowd size. Well, when I went in, it was cloudy skies, but still kind of sunny and a rather beautiful day. When I came out? Raging blizzard. No joke. You could barely see two blocks away. Well, silly me had already decided that I was really in the mood for a pizza from a place that doesn't deliver. I said, "Go home, Jen. It's a raging blizzard, for pete's sake." But, no...I drove downtown to order said pizza. I parked in the parking lot (that was half a block away from the door, mind you...all the close spots were taken) and I braved the wind and snow to go to the pizza place. I get two feet from the door only to find a sign that said, "Closed for renovation." Blargh. So, I trudged home and made a quesadilla and said to myself, "Told you so. Next time listen to yourself." haha! :)

Monday is the last day to add classes for the spring semester. I checked again today on a class that I want to take and sighed a sigh of relief to find that it was FULL and CLOSED. That should get me through these last few days!! (Remember...I said that I'd take a full year OFF before taking another class!! :) haha!)

Speaking of other classes, I'm thinking of going on for a Master's degree!!! I told one of my graduate students that today and she said, "Why on earth would you want to do that!?!" I laughed. Very hard. :) But I looked up all the details on the degree program I'm interested in on our campus (Adult Education) and I've already stumbled a bit over the application process. Two papers and the GRE (the GRE is like the college version of the ACT or SAT). I thought, "Do I really want to do this?!?!" I found out, though, that they accept applications to the program for every semester of the year, so that helps me to feel like I can make this decision whenever I want to (versus being pinned to ONE application deadline in a year). Why am I thinking of doing this, though? Because my job will pay for one class a semester! If I took one class a semester, I could finish in three and a half years, debt free. So...why not? :) After that, it would be, what...five years for a Ph.D. with one class at a time?! hahaha! Just kidding on that. NO Ph.D. for me, thank you!!! :) So, we'll see what I decide. It's just been rolling around in my brain for a while, but I'm not sure that I really have the motivation for that kind of work. :)

Well, all for now! I need to head back to my cell phone's host website to determine if I want to upgrade to a smartphone right now or stick with a basic phone and then upgrade in a couple more years. *sigh* Decisions, decisions! :) (I'm leaning toward a basic phone and then buying the new Kindle that allows you to also access the web! yahoo! :) Take care!!

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-10T06:00:00.029-07:00

Well, Happy New Year!! We are 10 days into the new year and I do hope it's started off well for all of you!!

I returned to Wyoming on Jan. 3 and have been going-going-going ever since! Work is crazy-busy right now and the students started classes again today so it's just been hectic. So, I've been working lots of overtime and just trying to at least keep up with things. It's not working so well, but I'll keep trying! :)

I was sad to leave my family again this year. It just gets harder and harder to leave. I'd love to be living up there again, but I'm afraid that the economy really isn't allowing for that right now. I'm just thankful that I enjoy Wyoming and my job out here as much as I do because I think if I didn't, it would just make things that much harder. Anyway, mom & dad are already talking about coming out to visit me in April, May or June, so we'll see what happens. And guess what? Buddy (the dog!) might come along with them this time!! Yahoo!! Man, I love that dog... :)

And that's about all that's new with me! I've been feeling an "itch" to take some classes again at the University, but I told myself to take one FULL year off, so I'm just biding my time until the date passes to add classes for this semester and then I'll be in the clear. Until then, who knows... I've already added and dropped two different classes two different times! haha!

Oh, and I did decide on a new year's resolution this year, too...I decided that I wasn't going to work so much!! haha! Maybe I'll start that in a couple of weeks...once things get settled with the semester's start. :)

Take care and good days to you!

Wisconsin

2011-12-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been thoroughly enjoying my time in Wisconsin these last few days! I flew in on the 16th and have spent a lot of time with family, some time taking naps and also some time playing with Buddy! All in all, it's been a fantastic visit!

I'll be flying back to Wyoming on the 3rd so I'm soaking it all up in this last week here! I was outside playing with Buddy the other day and it started to snow and it was just so pretty. I tried to capture a picture of her coming back from chasing her ball, but this was the best I could get (I was using my cell phone). And, unfortunately, it's of her butt toward the camera, not her face. haha! She got distracted just as I was taking the picture. Oh well... :)

All for now but I wanted to let you know that I'm enjoying my vacation!! It's been GREAT to just relax and spend time with family. :) Have a very happy New Year's weekend and be safe out there! :)

Catching up...

2011-12-11T17:59:00.001-07:00

So, it's been awhile...again. Sorry about that, folks. I'm actually quite burned out by my blog and the time it takes to update it, so I've been considering canceling it. What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Oh, we'll see what I decide. If you remember, I had originally started the blog so that I could keep everyone updated with my cancer check-ups, but now that those are so few and far in-between (thank goodness!), I just find that my blog takes a back seat on the priority list! So, if I don't update for weeks on end, now you know why.

Life has been busy. Advising week was the last week of October/first week of November and I am still catching up from that. It's insane! But I've gotten to a point now where I refuse to work overtime, so the going is s-l-o-w in terms of getting all caught up again. It'll all work out, right?

Four more days and I leave for Wisconsin! Yahoo!! I'm so very excited about this trip!! It's been a big help that mom & dad have tried to come out here once or twice a year since retiring, but I'm starting to think that I need to travel up THERE more than once a year. I get so homesick anymore. I would love to move back up there, but the economy is so bad these days that I think it's going to be awhile before any move like that takes place. Good thing that I love my job and where I live as much as I do! :)

Some of you have been asking about the sleep study that I had done recently and I was surprised by the inquiries because I really don't remember mentioning it on here! haha! Anyway, it turns out that I have sleep apnea, so now I have to sleep with a CPAP machine (a machine that forces air down into your lungs so that you don't stop breathing through the night). How is it going? I hate it. But there's nothing I can do to change it at this point, so I just deal with it and I don't really talk about it. As far as whether or not I feel more rested, I do, but that doesn't mean that I'm thankful for all of this quite yet. :) I know, I know...the alternative is much worse, but that still doesn't make this easier to accept. :) Some day, I'll show you pictures of my airway and why I ended up getting put on a sleep machine.

Anyway, I have LOTS to do to get ready for this week and for my departure on Friday, so I'll let this be all for now! I'll try to be better about updating, but no promises. :) Ta-ta for now!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2011-11-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you!!!

It has been too long.

2011-11-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hello! I know it has been WAY too long since I've updated the blog and I'm sorry for that. I have been extremely busy with work stuff (aka, LOTS of overtime) so when I do have any free time, I like to relax with a book or with a NAP! : )

I don't have much to post now, anyway, but I just thought I'd write about why I've disappeared for so long. I just can't believe that two weeks from today is THANKSGIVING!! WOW!! I'm looking forward to the extra two days off of work, though.

So, for now, I will leave you with this cute cartoon that passed through my e-mail the other day and I will try to give a GOOD update before Thanksgiving. Hope you're doing WELL! :)

So, here's a question for you...

2011-10-30T06:00:00.003-06:00

Here's a question for you...

Last year, after the Packers/Bills game, Buffalo released quarterback Trent Edwards.

During the Packers/Eagles game, the Packers injured Philadelphia quarterback Kevin Kolb. Philadelphia then had to play backup quarterback Michael Vick.

During a playoff game against the Eagles, the Packers injured Michael Vick and another backup was needed.

After the Packers/Cowboys game, Dallas fired Wade Phillips and most of his staff.

After the Packers/Vikings game, Minnesota fired Brad Childress and most of his staff.

Four weeks after losing to the Packers, the 49er's coach Mike Singletary and most of his staff were fired and replaced.

During the Bears Playoff game, the Packers injured Jay Cutler and backup Todd Collins forcing the Bears to go with 3rd string quarterback Caleb Hanie.

So here's the question ....
Is it just me, or did the Packers create more jobs last year than Obama? : )

Do you want to come visit?

2011-10-27T23:08:00.000-06:00

In today's news:

October 27,2011 - A RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE OF -16 DEGREES WAS SET AT LARAMIE, WY, AIRPORT TODAY (at 8 AM). THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 7 SET IN 1970.

And so it begins. *sigh*

Mikhail Gorbachev came to town!

2011-10-16T00:32:00.008-06:00

On Friday, I had the privilege of going to listen to a guest speaker in town. He was here as part of the University's push toward internationalization. Yes, on Friday I listened to a one-hour speech given by Mikhail Gorbachev...past president of the USSR, now known as Russia.

It was quite an experience and I'm so glad that I made the decision to go to his talk. He had a lot of good things to say! Some of the things that I enjoyed the most from his speech were the following:

When asked about who influenced him the most throughout his experiences, Gorbachev didn't name any person, but he said it was literature. He said, “Even now when everyone has television, when you have this multitude of channels, don’t forget what will enrich you — reading a book. Think about it.”
He said, "Things cannot stay the same forever. You have to embrace change."
About Russia (but could apply to anyone): “Today, there is a lot of discontent. Many people are unhappy,” he said. “And some are saying about those elections [that] no one will take our individual opinion into account. And I say to the Russian people: Go and vote.”

The above photo was the one taken at our particular event. The other two photos in the blog were taken from other speaking events in which Gorbechav had a part.

Other thoughts from his speech:

"Either we will have peace for all or there will be no peace at all," Gorbachev said. "Today, I think we fully understand the importance."
Gorbachev said his advice to future leaders is to never panic. "There will be failure," he said, "But the most important thing is to persevere." Persevere, be creative and don't fear life.

So, it was quite a fantastic experience and I'm so glad for the opportunity!! It's kind of amazing to think that in this little 'ol town I live in, I have been able to listen to such famous people. I listened to Barack Obama in 2008 while he was in town for his campaign (for this current presidency) and now Mikhail Gorbachev. I may not agree with them or believe in their ideas, but it's pretty awesome to be able to say that I listened to them speak at a public event! Not many people have opportunities like that and I'm so glad that I have been able to take advantage of such amazing opportunities! :)

Snow storm update

2011-10-09T17:34:00.001-06:00

Well, the snow storm has moved on and it has officially stopped snowing. This was the final "damage" from the storm. The photos were taken early this morning. Some places had up to a foot of snow, but there wasn't quite that much at my apartment (except where the wind blew the snow into deeper piles!). :) These are all looking out my patio door:

Lo and behold, a few hours later, the sun was out and the snow was MELTING!! Yay!! : )

So, fall might be returning for a little while after all!! : )

le sigh

2011-10-08T11:12:00.000-06:00

This is what's outside MY window today! *le sigh* I'm glad I don't have to go anywhere today. :)

Good-bye summer season...and probably fall, too! ha!

Fall Season

2011-10-03T06:19:00.026-06:00

Well, the fall season is in full swing now here in Wyoming and it's beautiful!! I've seen some photos of my native Wisconsin recently, too, and that seems to be in it's peak right now, as well. We had our first frost last week (I had to scrape my car windows off before heading out to work!) and that's just another sign that the season is changing.

Fall is my absolute favorite season. It's fresh, invigorating, cool and absolutely beautiful. It is definitely a season of change!! Don't get me wrong, I like all of the seasons, but fall is my favorite. It's the season that really gets me to thinking about my life and it definitely becomes a season to reflect. To me, winter is about hunkering down and enjoying warmth and love of family, spring is about resolutions and change, summer is about just being (and by that I mean, just enjoying things as they are!) and fall is about reflection. Isn't that funny how each season has its own meaning to me? I wonder if that's the same for you?

One thing that does cross my path in the fall season, too, is a little bit of seasonal depression. Isn't that odd how it's my favorite time of year and yet I get to feeling a little bit down during that season? It's nothing to be overly concerned about, but no matter what I do or try, it seems to be something that plagues me for a few days or more during the fall season. And then one day, it's gone and things are back to normal again. Do you think it's part of the reflection process going on? The shedding of the old to let in the new? Oh, who knows. At least the scenery around me is BEAUTIFUL during those days! :) Nothing warms my heart more than seeing the beautiful changing of the leaves. I think that it just signifies so much for me and brings back SO MANY wonderful childhood memories that I just can't help but smile and feel THANKFUL. :)

I have some more pictures and videos that I want to share with you over the next while, but guess what? I don't have them!! They are all pictures or videos that my friends took and so I have to get them to e-mail them to me. Once that's done, I'll be sure to share a little more of my days with you. Until then, take care and enjoy the beautiful fall season!!! :)

Lots 'o flowers!

2011-09-23T14:00:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned, while we were driving up in the mountains, there were LOTS of flowers along the way. We started off looking for wildlife and this was "dutiful Jessica," doing her part to help out. Cute pic, eh? :) (Again, click on them one time to make the picture larger!)

Take a look at all of the beautiful pictures of flowers that the girls captured. There are SO MANY beautiful flowers in the mountains near-by!

Aren't the flowers just beautiful? I thought so, too. And this is what my friends looked like ALL day long...just picture snappin' gals! :)

Fun times continued!

2011-09-19T14:00:00.001-06:00

When my friends from WI arrived, we headed downtown to the local farmer's market. We bought some homemade kettle corn and Jessica and I were quite excited about it! :) (Again, if you click ONCE on the picture, it will make it MUCH bigger and easier to see.)

Next, we headed to the local sushi restaurant. Jessica was NOT excited about this, but we managed to talk her into trying it out. It was delicious! Jessica thought it was so-so, but she still was okay with some of it. :) Beth and I...

The spread....

Jessica getting ready for her first big bite! And, no, that's not fear you're seeing...she's just trying to remain positive! :)

In the meantime, I'm shocked at what Beth was brave enough to try. Can you tell? :)

All-in-all, it was a nice evening. The next day, we decided to head to the Cheyenne Frontier Days. Those rodeos are about four hours long and when it's your first time there, it's kind of overwhelming because there is SO much going on. Seriously, it's a non-stop four hours of activity and things going on. It's fun, but definitely sensory overload.

A mass of cowboys during the wild horse race...

Crazy buckin' bronc!!

Even crazier bull!! :)

This part of the show was pretty impressive. This BEAUTIFUL team of six horses was able to turn this wagon rig around and around in circles, over and over. VERY impressive! Here's a series of photos of the event...

Look at the front wheels in this one (below)! Impressive!!!

As always, there's a rodeo clown. This guy was SO funny! Here he is playing his fake electric guitar. HILARIOUS!

Next, he wanted to be sure that the steers in the steer roping weren't running too fast, so he tried to "clock" the steer.

Here he is, announcing how FAST the steer went...91 mph!!! Isn't that crazy-fast? Oh, wait, what's that? Oh...the clown had the clock turned upside down. The steer was actually running 16 mph. hahahaha!!!! : )

There were all kinds of eventful things that happened that day...this guy face planted...

...this guy didn't look like he was gonna be able to hang on a second longer...

...and THIS guy about lost his hat! Whoo-whee!! :)

Beth & I at the CFD (Cheyenne Frontier Days)

Beth & Jessica at CFD

Oh, and one of the best things about CFD...the fair rides!! Here's a cool shot that Beth took through the fence...

When I asked Jessica & Beth if I could go on one of the rides, they said NO and that we had to head home. This was my reaction...yes, that's right...I was NOT impressed.

We had a great day at the CFD, from the parades to the buckin' broncs to the steer wrestling, it was a grand 'ol time and we had SO much fun! :)

Fun times!

2011-09-14T23:06:00.000-06:00

Way back a "long" time ago (about two months), two lovely ladies came to visit me from Wisconsin! They were here for a crazy-short three day visit, but we had a lot of fun (or so I felt...I didn't ask them!)! :) Here's a bit about their visit. These pics were selected out of 600, so there's LOTS more that happened during their visit and I'll show those pics later. :)

Oh, and don't forget...if you click ONCE on each picture, it will open up the picture to a bigger view! :)

Beth is one of the girls that came to visit. This pic was taken while we were all hiking around one day:

Jessica was the other girl that was out here for the visit. This pic was taken on the same hike as the pic that was taken of Beth & I. Yes...there were still large patches of snow up in the mountains that we were able to hike around on:

This was ONE of the many beautiful flower pictures that were taken that day. It was cold and rainy on our first day out there, so we ended up taking a second day trip out there and that was much better weather. It just opened up opportunity for LOTS more flower pics! :) It was great!

On the first rainy day of our adventure, we decided to head back for home because it was just too rainy. On the way back, though, I was sure I had seen some elk, so we swung around to drive back and look. We couldn't find them, but we noticed a car had stopped in the road, so we slowed down to see what they were looking at and we saw this gigantic MOOSE! I've lived out here for nine years and this was the FIRST time that I saw a moose up in these mountains. It was awesome! :)

We never did see any elk that day or the next and I was kind of bummed about that, but on the way to go rock climbing, we got to see a TRUE Wyoming experience...cowboys moving cattle! :) I was excited for my friends to actually see this because it's just a neat experience.

We finished the day hiking and climbing and it was then time for the girls to head back to WI and for me to head back home. So, we said our goodbyes and off we went in our separate directions. Wouldn't you know, less than three miles away, I saw this massive heard of elk on the side of the road! I was SO bummed that the girls missed it, but SO glad I was able to catch some photos of them. They're such beautiful animals.

And that's that! We also went to the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo and out for sushi, so I'll show some of those photos later on. For now, though, take care and have a great day!! Bye! :)

Catching up...

2011-08-27T23:56:00.000-06:00

Hello! Since last posting here, I have been incredibly busy with work. Classes at UW started on August 22 and I went in early and worked late almost every day this past week. I was exhausted by Friday afternoon. To top it off, I started the week battling allergies and then that turned into a head cold. I didn't start feeling somewhat "normal" again until Thursday evening, but was still waging war with my allergies. Today, though, I slept the ENTIRE day away!! I'm not even joking. And I feel a thousand times better than I did any one day this past week! Yay for sleep!! :) Now let's hope that I can keep my allergies under control. :)

It's been a great feeling to know that classes have started and I don't have to go to any!!! Just another reminder that all my hard work paid off. :) It's been great to just be working rather than working and having to worry about classes. I feel like I can really focus more on my job and with helping the students. It's great!

This past month was FULL of visits with friends. It was great! Mid-August, on my last free weekend of the summer, I went to Montana to visit my good friends, John & Esther. They are the friends that I used to stay with in Cheyenne every time I had my cancer check-ups and they are very dear to me!! They are the kind of friends where it's just good for the heart and soul to spend some time with them. I loved my weekend there and being able to see their new home! :)

This past weekend, a lovely family came back to Laramie for a short visit and it was good for my heart to be with them, too. Warner & Crystal used to live here but then moved away a little over a year ago to a MUCH bigger state. I really miss them here, but I completely understand that sometimes you just have to do things that may not be easy but are necessary. Since leaving us, though, they have added to their little family and so this was my first time to meet Tucker. He is four months old and one of the sweetest, most contented babies I've ever met. I love him SO much!! I was so glad for my time with this wonderful family.

Then, at the end of July, some good friends from Wisconsin came for a short visit and it was just SO great to be with them again!! Beth and Jessica came for three and a half days and in that time we went to the Farmer's Market, to the Cheyenne Frontier Days, to the Snowy Range Mountains and to Vedauwoo. We had a wonderful time! I have a LOT more pictures from that time, so will share more later. For now, though, I wanted to include them on my re-cap of friend visits. :)

All-in-all, my last month before classes starting was a great time! A lot went on and the time flew by, but I wouldn't change a thing and am SO glad for the memories that I now have. I feel so lucky to have so many wonderful friends!!! : )

How?

2011-08-18T09:01:00.000-06:00

How has it been two full weeks since my last post?! I just can't believe how the days and time just seem to fly right by and the next thing you know, two weeks=gone. *sigh*

Well, the weekend of the 4th-7th, I took a nice trip up to MT to visit some good friends of mine (John & Esther). I have a picture of the three of us that was taken on my last day there, but of course, that's on my camera at home and not with me here at work, so you'll get that picture later.

Since returning from that trip, I have been swamped at work. Classes for UW start on Monday (have I mentioned here how thrilled I am that I am not one of the ones who will be going to the "first day of class" because I'm DONE(!!!!)?), so I have been frantically trying to prepare for that and to get things in order before students show up. I'm still not ready and I'm still a bit panicked about that. I've put in extra time every day this week and plan to do the same through the weekend. I don't mind, but would love to have the feeling of being READY, you know? Hmmm...I could turn that into a spiritual message, too! : )

The folks are coming out to visit in just a few weeks...the second weekend of September, to be exact. I'm looking forward to that! :) While they're here, I have an appt. with a doctor to talk about sleep apnea. :o( In June, I had an appt. with a different doctor and he is about 99.99% sure that I have pretty serious sleep apnea, so he referred me to a sleep specialist. Apparently it's quite the problem because the doctor was booked through the end of August and I couldn't get an appt. until Sept. 8!! I guess most specialists are booked for months in advance, but when I first called, I thought it'd be a few weeks, not two months and a few weeks. :) Anyway, since that June appt. and hearing the news that it's very likely I'll be officially diagnosed with sleep apnea, I've found that I am exhausted all the time. Of course, it's supposedly all related to sleep apnea (my mom and aunts have it and this is what happens...you never feel rested), but it's almost like since that June appt. and since the idea of having sleep apnea is more real, I just haven't been able to tolerate the exhaustion. When you're in denial about something, I think it's easier to press forward and manage it by telling yourself that "everything is okay." When you're slapped with the more serious reality, though, and the problem becomes a reality, I just think that your tolerance levels change. Does that make sense? It just seems since that appt. in June when I was referred to a specialist, I have just had the hardest time functioning because of how tired I am. And no matter how much I sleep, I never feel rested. And this is something I'm just beginning to see in the last couple of weeks. Until that point, I just kept commenting to my mom about this "funk" that I've been in but now I see that it's really not any "funk," but more because I just feel TIRED all the time and that makes the days kind of long, you know? *sigh*

So, there's the latest from me and a little deeper explanation of what's been going on with me this summer. I'm to the point now that I'm super EXCITED about my appt. on Sept. 8 because I'm thrilled about the prospect of being able to sleep well again and to finally wake up feeling rested. It's been a LONG time since I remember feeling rested when I woke up and it makes me giddy to think that my quality of life is likely going to experience a 180-degree change. I'm excited about that!!! :)

I will try to post some pictures on here sooner than later of my WI company a couple weeks ago (friends who came to visit) and also my picture of me with John & Esther so that my blog is more than just a bunch of boring 'ol words! :) I hope you're doing well, though, and having GOOD days! Take care!

Hello!!

2011-08-03T23:19:00.000-06:00

Hello, my faithful blog readers!! I hope you know that I have NOT forgotten about you! This little blog break has been nice, but I've sure kept busy through it! I've gone to a wedding, had some friends visit from WI and now tomorrow, I'm headed off to MT to visit some good folks up there. The days have been good, that's for sure! In two weeks, classes start again at the university so this weekend trip is going to be a nice time-out before the chaos begins. I'm looking forward to it (but not the long drive by myself). I can't believe that summer is almost over, though. The time has just FLOWN by!

Anyway, I wanted you to know that I'm doing well and that I will have LOTS of pictures to show you in the next week or so! I hope that things have been going good for you too throughout this past month. I'll try not to let a full month go by again without an update, okay? : ) Take care!

A Monday update

2011-07-11T08:53:00.000-06:00

I suppose I should update this thing before too much more time passes. Honestly, I'm just not feeling the whole blogging thing right now and am contemplating a break until the end of summer. There's too much going on in the summer and we have to make the most of it, you know?! haha! :) Oh, we'll see what happens. As soon as I decide to take a break, then I'll think of something that I want to blog about and there goes the break! :)

I actually haven't updated since the 4th of July because I've been sick off and on since then! I'm not real sure what is going on, but it's almost like I'm fighting off some type of flu bug or something. I've had a couple of not-so-good days and then a couple of so-so days and only a couple good days. So, who knows. I just hope that it passes sooner than later!!

It's official...six weeks from today, the new academic year will start at the University and summer will be over. :( I cannot believe how quickly this summer is going!! I'm actually starting to feel a like panicky about it. I made a to-do list for work at the end of May...things I wanted to accomplish this summer. So far, I have only crossed TWO things off on that list (out of 16 items)!! Yikes! And in all reality...I probably only have FOUR good weeks of uninterrupted work time left before the professors start returning and things kick into gear for the fall semester. Aye carumba. Time to really kick things into gear, I guess!! :)

I have no big travel plans for the rest of the summer, I'm afraid. I'm thinking of going to visit my good friend, Monique, at her new home in the far North, but I'm not 100% sure if that's going to work out yet. I wanted to also go visit my other good friends, John & Esther, since they moved hours away and I'm not sure when that is going to work out, either!! I do have some Wisconsin friends who are going to come out and see me at the end of July, so that will be quite fun. :) Now if I could just make things work for my other travel plans, that would be fantastic!! :)

Hope all is well with you!! :)

Happy 4th of July!!!

2011-07-04T00:45:00.000-06:00

Have a wonderful and SAFE 4th of July holiday!! I'm thankful for the freedoms that we have in this country and I'm SO proud to be an American! :) THANK YOU to all of our soldiers that continue to serve and protect. We're proud of you!!

A special delivery

2011-06-26T22:05:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, the mail arrived and lo and behold this envelope was in my mailbox. What could it possibly be?!?

My diploma!!!!!!!!! I am an official graduate from a University with a four year Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication. YAHOO!!!!!!!! And it was really a SEVEN year degree...haha!! :)

So, I immediately had to put it in the fancy frame that I bought for it and it looks GREAT! It's hard to tell, but it's a beautiful cherry wood and the matte is a brown velvet material. It's really pretty. Now, my next step is to hang it up in my office. I'm SO excited!!! Yahoo!! :)

Sorry!

2011-06-25T09:17:00.000-06:00

I realize that I've been absent from my blog, but mom is still here and we're just having fun! :) I had an appointment in Fort Collins on Wednesday, so I took the day off and we made a day of it. Then I had Friday off, but I did have to work in the AM for a bit, and we had another day of relaxing and just being together. Today is the same...relaxing. Mom plans to leave tomorrow after lunch (boooo!!!!) and then I'll be all alone again. I think that I'm going to go through some SERIOUS withdrawals after that. ha!

So...I'll update more in the next few days after Mom leaves. For now, though, I'm just going to enjoy my time with her! :)

Church convention/retreat

2011-06-14T23:38:00.000-06:00

Well, Mom and I are off tomorrow for a four day church convention/retreat. It will be a nice four days away from "life," just relaxing and being a part of some wonderful fellowship. It's always a nice time that leaves me feeling refreshed and "realigned," so to speak, and I come back to work feeling like my priorities are all straightened out again and my overall perspective is much better. So, this will be a nice long weekend for Mom and I and I know it will be a good one! I hope that you have a great weekend, as well, and I'll catch up with you sometime next week. Take care!

Week in review

2011-06-11T13:11:00.000-06:00

What a week! Work was pretty calm and I was able to get a lot done, so that was certainly nice. Here in two more weeks, though, I'll be responsible for two days of new student orientation because the professors that usually take care of it will be in Ireland for a conference. So, that week will be a little bit busier, I'm afraid! I'm a little nervous about the orientations because I haven't actually done them before, but I've heard from various other coworkers of all of the headaches that can occur during the sessions, so I'm just a little anxious about it all. It'll all be fine, I know, but I'll still be glad for that first time experience to be done. :)

Last Tuesday I had my yearly check-up with my cancer doc. It was kind of a bittersweet appt., though, because after eight years of working with her on my thyroid cancer, she is leaving the hospital/clinic. :( She is going on to greater things as she has taken a job in Idaho to be the Director of a Diabetes and Endocrinology clinic that they're starting up in Coeur d'alene, so it's quite a promotion for her! I'll really miss her, though. She's caused me to shed a few tears through the years because of her matter-of-fact attitude and behavior (she definitely doesn't tiptoe around issues!!), but when it comes down to it, I've appreciated that from her and appreciated how smart she is and how thorough she is. I'm pretty sure that she's a perfectionist and when it comes to fighting cancer, I'm just fine with that! :)

Anyway, the appointment went very well and I checked out okay again. Yahoo! She basically went over everything with me again and what I'm supposed to continue doing and when to find another doctor. This same clinic is in the process of finding another specialist to replace her, but they have yet to do so and they aren't sure how much longer it will take. So...until then, I'll just work with my general doc in town to monitor bloodwork numbers and if anything alarming ever arises, then I'll definitely get in with a specialist right away! Technically, I really don't have to find a specialist until 2013, though, so we'll see what comes of it. Why 2013? Because I've been cleared from having to go through my awful diet and prep for a thyroid/full-body scan until 2013!! Yahoo!! :) I likely won't wait that long to find a specialist, but it's sure nice to not have immediate pressure to find someone AND it's nice to have a "testing break" for another two years. It makes me SMILE just thinking about it!! :)

And, finally, Mom arrived yesterday!! She's out here to visit me for about two and a half weeks. She had a friend who wanted to drive to CO to visit her friend, so this lady and mom carpooled out here together and parted ways over in Cheyenne. The time will go by quickly, but I'm so glad to have family here again!! It's great!! :)

And that's that! Not much else has gone on this week, but we all know that no news is usually good news. :) I hope you've had a wonderful week, too! All for now...

Plugging along...

2011-06-03T00:21:00.000-06:00

Hello! Not much is new around here since I posted last but I figured it was time for some type of update. :)

The last time mom came to visit (just recently, that is), she really inspired me to stay on task with organizational things around my apartment, so I've been trying really hard to be better at that kind of stuff. It's SO easy for me to come home at the end of the day and drop my jacket and purse on the chair, my mail on the counter, my work/projects on the couch and so on. I've been doing MUCH better about putting things in their proper place and keeping up with keeping my apartment tidy, so that's a plus. Well, until this week, that is. I've miserably failed at it and I already know that part of my weekend is going to include picking up around the place and doing some cleaning. Hmmm...it's "interesting" how this all ties in to the fact that I'm really short on sleep this week because I've been so busy in the evenings that I just don't get to bed at a decent time. It makes for a tiring week and, thus, a lack of motivation to stay on task with keeping the place organized and picked up. Funny how that works, eh? *sigh* :)

Work is going good. It's quieted down a LOT since the students finished the year and left town, so I'm able to get a lot more done now. This week, though, orientation started and will go for the month of June, so now two days a week are busier than normal again, but I'll take that over the weeks of busy that I can experience during the school year! :)

A week from today (Friday), Mom is coming back out here to stay with me!! She had a friend who wanted to travel to Colorado to visit her friend so she and mom are going to carpool out here and then Mom will be with me for about two and a half weeks while her friend is in Colorado for that long. I'm very excited about it! So far on the to-do list is a church convention, shopping trips and an appointment with an orthodontist (for me...not mom ;). Should be a busy, but good, time!!!

On a final note, I cannot believe that it's June already. Do you guys realize that in six more months it will be Christmas again!? That's just crazy to me!! Time sure does fly, it seems.

Take care and all for now!

Me LOVES Flowers!!

2011-05-24T17:30:00.001-06:00

I love getting flowers, don't you? It's just such a fun thing and it ALWAYS makes me smile!!

First off, here I am at work, receiving my award for Outstanding Staff Member of 2011. I was SO surprised when I found out that I had been nominated!!! How AWESOME!!! The monetary reward that came with it was pretty awesome, too! ;)

Shortly thereafter, I received this LOVELY boquet of flowers at work from my dad!! The card said, "Congratulations on your Award! Love, yer papaw." Didn't he do good? :)

Then a few days later, I was at home with my mom and the doorbell rang. It about scared the liver right out of me because I sure wasn't expecting anyone!! Well, lo-and-behold, the person at the door had this lovely gift for me!! A gorgeous flower arrangement from Monique & Daren as a coongratulations for graduating from college. The card read, "We're very proud of you! Love, Mosie & Daren." Awww... :)

And the last surprise...I went to a small graduation party that was a combo party for a friend in town and myself and these gorgeous flowers (the roses!) and balloon were given to me by Shannon as a congrats on graduating. Aren't they SO pretty?!?! The tulips I had gotten that morning when I stopped at the local coffee hut for my usual coffee. The owner said, "Want some tulips with your coffee?" Well, DUH!! Of course! Mom stuck them in with the roses and it just all looked so pretty!! :)

So, yes, I do love to get flowers and admire them for days after. They're just so cheery and happy/springy/summery/wonderful. :) I'm glad that you could enjoy them with me!! :)

What I'm up to...

2011-05-10T23:10:00.005-06:00

Well, hello, there! I have been around and keeping busy, but just haven't taken time to post anything! I'm waiting on one final final grade for this semester and then they can officially post my degree and I will be done! Yahoo! My diploma should arrive about 8-10 weeks after that and I'll have the pretty little frame I bought all ready to go! Yay! :) The deadline for that last grade to be in is this Thursday, so hopefully the professor abides by that deadline.

Since I chose not to walk in my graduation ceremony because it was FOUR HOURS long, I did choose to go and get my photo taken in a cap & gown, instead, so that I'd have that little memento for myself. I had to download a lower resolution thumbnail to place on here, but here's the final result (please don't laugh!!) --

Not too shabby, eh? :) And even though mom & dad (who are here RIGHT NOW!!!) didn't get to see me walk across the stage for MY graduation ceremony, they did get to see me participate in my work's graduation ceremony where I was recognized for being chosen as the Outstanding Staff Member for the College for this academic year. I got to walk into the stadium with the processional and then sit on the stage with all of the professors. It was quite an honor!! So, mom and dad got to be there for that and I think they were pretty happy about that. :)

What else have we done since mom & dad arrived? Well, we've gone shopping, gone out to eat, relaxed, and...bought new furniture!!!! Yes, I finally decided that enough was enough and that I wanted to seem more mature by having nice, matching furniture. :) So, I bought a couch and a chair and someday I think I'll add a rocker-recliner to the set, as well, but I had to stop with a couch and chair because I ran out of money. :)

The couch is a chocolate color and is very soft...almost velvety! It's cushiony, but at the same time firm enough so that you don't feel like you're drowning in it. One thing I learned about myself during this shopping trip...I like more firm furniture. Not rock hard, just firm. I thought that was kind of interesting. :)

Anyway....here's a pic of the couch in all its soft glory!! If you click once on each picture, it will enlarge the pic.

Now, as for the chair...my Auntie Margie has some chairs that don't rock, but they recline and I LOVED THEM so much that I decided that I wanted something like that. So, THANKS AUNTIE MARGIE for influencing me!! :) (Aunt Berdie...you'd better show her that I wrote about her on my blog!!! :)

The chair has a pattern to it and it's got gold, red, brown and tan all mixed into it. I hesistate to even post these pictures because these pictures do NOT give it justice as to how pretty it looks!!!!! :( When I take a picture without a flash, it looks more orange...like this...

But when I take a picture WITH the flash, it looks more red...like this...

So, it's hard to get a really good picture of it and I PROMISE that it does not look as gross as it does in these pictures. IN FACT....if you click on this link (see where at the end of the sentence), it will take you to the manufacturer's webpage where you can see what it really looks like in person : CLICK HERE (and NO, I did not pay that much!! ha!)

And so that's the new furniture that's adorning my lovely apartment!! They really do look very nice together and I'm so glad that I had mom & dad here for their input, too. Even still, I've had buyer's remorse about a thousand times today, but I've had excitement over the purchases just as much, too, so all-in-all, I think I did good. :)

There's a not-so-short update for you! Hope that YOU are doing well and I'll try to update again before my folks leave town on Monday. Take care! :)

I am DONE!!

2011-05-01T00:01:00.004-06:00

Dad told me, again, that I needed to update my blog, so I'll quickly update with this:

I'm done with college!!!!!!!!!!

Just five minutes ago, I submitted my very last final exam for the semester and now I am officially done with the semester and done with what I need to do to get my college degree!! If I pass these classes (which I'm about 99% confident that I will), I will be given a bachelor of arts degree in communication. YAHOO!!!!!! What will I do with that, you ask? Well, I'll keep working at my current job, take at least a year off of school and then contemplate grad school. : ) I'm just SO excited about this particular moment, though, that I wanted to share. I'm done with school!!!!!! Yahoo!!!!! :o)

Whew...I think they like me.

2011-04-21T19:06:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm going to brag a little bit tonight because I'm super excited right now. :) I've been given two awards this month. One award was being recognized by the students through their association called "Mortar Board" and it's just a group that strives for good things with their academics. Anyway, each year they hand out "Tip of the Cap" awards to "honor UW staff who exceptionally contribute to both the University and the students." This is the second year that they've nominated me for that and it's just SO cool! I really do appreciate when the students recognize how much work I do for them. (Really, I do!) Most of the time they're so caught up in their world of studying and exams that I wonder if they even recognize when I help them, but this reaffirms that some of them definitely do!! So, I was feeling quite proud of that little award and satisfied with the recognition of my efforts when I received an e-mail from a professor outside of the department. In this e-mail she indicated that I had been nominated for an award for my College that our department is a part of. What?!?!

Well, it turns out that my professors nominated me for the "Outstanding Staff Member of 2011" and guess what? Out of everyone nominated, I was the one who was chosen!! So, today I went to a big College meeting where professors and staff recognized me for receiving this award and then there was a little reception that followed. It was so cool! I received a certificate and then was told that I would get an e-mail that allowed me to see what comments had been written on my behalf by the faculty and students throughout the department. Wow. I was floored. The icing on the cake? A monetary reward is also involved!!! Can you believe it?!?! WOW. I just feel kind of speechless about ALL of it. Don't get me wrong...I work hard and I know I work hard, but when students and professors actually publicly recognize you for your hard work...it's just nice. And a little humbling. Yett quite encouraging. It's just really special. :)

So, I wanted to brag a little bit and share a little of the excitement with you! And boy, oh, boy am I gonna sleep good tonight now, just knowing that they really DO like me at my job!!! :o)

How my mum rolls.

2011-04-11T14:11:00.005-06:00

So...my mom decided not to come visit me. She decided that she wanted to buy a new car instead and because she can't afford both...well, I'm the one who loses. :(

JUST KIDDING!!! :o) Well, she DID buy the new car, but she didn't cancel her trip. Instead, she's still going to fly out on the 22nd, BUT she's also going to let my dad take the first long trip in HER new car when he drives out at the beginning of May to come get her (and to see ME!). But that's how strong my parents' marriage is...that mom will let him have the first long trip in HER new car. They're tight like that.

So...this is currently what I'm jealous over...my mom's new wheels. I love my car and all, but someday, I will own a bigger vehicle like this (if you click once on each picture, it will make the image bigger on your screen). For now, though, I'll just be jealous of my mom in her zippy new car. :) Drive careful, mom!! :)

P.S. -- In the second-to-last picture, you can see Buddy (the mostest-specialist-dog-EVAH) running over to our friend Jerry. I miss Buddy. Just sayin'.

P.P.S -- Don't mind the bright white spot on the back of her car. I have to protect her identity, you know, so I had to white out her license plate number. :)

Doing well!

2011-04-10T20:19:00.000-06:00

Hi there! Not much is new since this time last week. I've been keeping super busy at work and I'm almost finished with school! Yahoo! :) I set out this weekend to finish all of my homework for the rest of the semester so that I can just sail on through to the end and I might have accomplished that task had I not started feeling bad. I'm not sure if I'm fighting a cold or allergies or what, but I know that I'm going to take some medicine and head to bed EARLY tonight!

Remember in the last post that I talked about the eagle's nest? Well, apparently the whole world picked up on it after that because I saw links to it everywhere!! What a riot! :) The third egg finally hatched but it seems like maybe they'll keep the cameras going for awhile. Who knows.

Dad also pointed out this webcam, too. It's www.bear.org/ and if you click on the "Ted & Lucky Den Cam" (in the middle of the page), that apparently has the most action. Every time I check in, the little darlings seem to be sleeping, but dad says that when the two of them are awake, they act like their main mission in life is to clobber each other! ha! :) Hope you have fun with that one! :)

So...back to work tomorrow and THREE WEEKS left of the semester! Yahoo! Even though I didn't get all my homework done this weekend, I think that if I set my mind to it, I can finish it up tomorrow after work and then be done. Wish me luck!! :) Have a great week!

Fun

2011-04-03T15:00:00.002-06:00

Dad shared a website link with me today that I think some of you (or your kiddos!) might enjoy. If you go to www.raptorresource.org and click on "Bird Cams," on the website that comes up, just push the "play" button and it will give you a live feed of an eagle's nest and the momma with her two (almost three!) babies. It's kind of neat to watch! I think some of you and/or your kids might enjoy it, too. The third baby hasn't hatched yet, but the estimated hatch date was April 1, so...any day now??? Time will tell! :)

This was shared with me the other day and I thought it was SO cute and wanted to share it on my blog, too. I just giggle every time I see it. I love this little girl's effort!!! :)

Sleep IS my best friend!

2011-03-29T22:18:00.001-06:00

I slept all weekend long. No joke! I did a little bit of homework, but really not that much at all. In fact, here's how my day went on Sunday...got up at 9 to get ready for my Sunday morning church meeting. Went to said meeting at 10:15 and finished at 11:30. Went to lunch with a good friend and then came home. Entertained the idea of doing homework for about a half hour and then decided to lay down for a...*ahem*..."nap." It was around 2:30 when I laid down. In what seemed like a matter of minutes, my eyes were open and I was thinking, "I should probably get up." So, I looked at my clock...6:00 PM!! YIKES!! This is the best part, though...I got up, got a drink of water, looked out the window to see if it was snowing and then thought, "Nope. I'm not ready for this." AND THEN...I laid back down!! It was grand!! I slept until 8:30-ish, got up, took a shower, did some bumming around on the internet and was ready for bed again by 10:30. I think it was around 11 when I last looked at the clock that night and let me tell you what...I slept like a rock again!! I don't know that I even moved very much until my alarm went off at seven the next morning. ha! Do you think that maybe I was a wee bit tired from the previous week?! ha! Okay...I'll admit that I did stay up a little late on Friday night as I went to a potluck for a friend leaving town and then some of us hung out and visited until the wee hours of the morning, but I sure don't regret that for one minute! Plus, I slept for about 12 hours after that, anyway, so yeah...I think I might've just been plain tired. ;) (And, yes, I know, I know...if I had kids, I wouldn't be able to do all that. BUT...I don't (have kids)! So, I do (get extra sleep when needed)! :)

Anyway...my week is going good so far, but let me tell you one other thing, folks...I AM SO SICK OF SCHOOL!!!!! I know, I know..."Hang in there, Jen!!" Ugh. I think it would be less painful to stick a pencil in my eye. That being said, I have four and a half weeks left and, officially, eight class meeting times left and one final. It's NOT that bad, right?!? Right. Stick a little senioritis in there, though, along with bad instructors and it makes for a ROUGH few weeks ahead. ha! :)

On a different side note...don't you just love it when things just "work out" in life? This is really such a trivial thing, but every time it happens, I just find myself smiling (and, yes, similar situations have happened before...I'm probably jinxing myself by talking about it!). Shortly after this month started, I was feeling a little strapped for cash. That feeling kicked in even more so this past week and I was just feeling nervous about getting through until payday (last working day of the month). That was Friday. On Saturday...a $35 check shows up in the mail from a doctor's office because my insurance covered more than they thought it would. Then, on Monday, a $50 check shows up in the mail as part of a "health bonus" for completing a health & wellness check through my insurance company six weeks ago. Isn't that just wild?! No more fretting this week! Yahoo!!! :) Oh, I know it doesn't always go that nicely, but I sure am thankful for those times when it does! :)

I hope that YOU are doing well, wherever you are! Enjoy the rest of your week!

Whizziness 'n stuff.

2011-03-24T06:00:00.001-06:00

What a week this has been!! Crystal so kindly reminded me about how I was already breaking the "new law" that my dad informed me of, so I figured that I'd better get an update on here.

Honestly, this week feels a lot like this...

I just feel like the days are whizzing by and I'm not sure which way is up and which way is down. It's advising week at work, you see, so I have been B-U-S-Y. Don't get me wrong, I really DO enjoy this week, but it can leave me feeling a little like this...

In fact, I'm pretty sure that I had a moment yesterday morning where I looked something like this (sans the wedding ring)...

But what do you do, right?! Well, all I know that a person just needs to get PLENTY of sleep, drink lots of water and pop an occasional airborne tablet and after that, you can manage advising week just fine. :)

Another thing going on this week is the wind. Oy vey. Sunday and Tuesday, it was SO windy outside!! It was incredible!! I completely understand why you read of women in wagon times just going crazy because of the wind. Out on the prairie where there is nothing to stop it, it's just intense and it could certainly drive a person crazy. Of course, we manage it just fine, but it sure makes us more thankful for the non-windy days! What I'M most thankful for on the non-windy days, though, is not having to worry about holding down my skirt! When I stopped at the grocery store on Tuesday, I'm pretty sure I had a moment where I looked something like this...

Yeah...it was pretty bad. What wasn't caught on camera is that while I was trying to hold down my skirt after this incident, my shirt proceed to fly up in front of my face. So...not only did the world get to see my underwear at one point, but I'm pretty sure they saw my brassiere, too. *sigh*

What is also frustrating about windy days is that a person can spend precious time in the morning getting dressed for work and doing their hair and then they leave the house and disaster happens. You feel like you're looking all nice and stuff, but by the time you wander out in the wind and make it to work, you often end up feeling like you look something like this...

No joke. So, you head into the bathroom to check things out and freshen up a bit and you find that what you really look like resembles something more like this (sans the leash)...

Yeah...that wind can be kind of a frustrating thing to deal with and even more so in a week when you feel busy, tired and run down. It just seems like you're much more quick to get SO aggravated by the wind.

Anyway, there's a little update for you on how I've been. I hope you've been having a great week!! On another note...I think that I'm going to amend "the new law" a bit by saying be thankful if you hear from me within a 96-hour time period with each post, at least until I'm done with school. After that, I'll try harder to accomplish posting more in the 48-hour range. ;)

My quilt

2011-03-19T07:00:00.007-06:00

As most of you know, I turned the big 3-0 this year. I wasn't shy about advertising that, that's for sure, but we all know that I'm NEVER shy about having fun with birthdays, so this year was no different. :)

I tell you what, though...I was spoiled this year. I had so many friends celebrate my birthday with me this year and it was just a fantastic time. Not only was I spoiled with attention, but I was spoiled with gifts, too. It's always fun to receive AND give gifts, but, honestly, I would be just as thrilled if my friends gave me absolutely nothing but still celebrated with me. Really! :) I know, I know...some of you are saying, "Well, why didn't you tell us that before?!?" haha! :)

Anyway, one gift that I have been wanting to show off to so many family and friends is this beautiful quilt that was given to me. It was made by a dear friend of mine, Kathy, and I L-O-V-E it!!! It's beautiful AND so warm!! :) I'll have to ask Kathy again what the name of the material is that's on the back side of the quilt, but it is SO soft and warm that I just love to curl up in it at night. I tried to capture what the material looks like in the second picture below, but it's kind of hard to capture it well.

Anyway, I know that Monique and my mom and maybe a few others have been waiting to see this beautiful piece (my very own "Kathy quilt"!!! :), so here it finally is in all it's beauty!

Dads rock.

2011-03-16T23:01:00.002-06:00

My dad is so good to me! He just really looks out for me, you know. Why? Well, the other day, he e-mailed me this new law that went into affect and I just think it's neat that he shares this stuff with me According to dad, the new law is:

FLASH!!!! NEW STATE, FEDERAL AND TOWNSHIP LAW JUST PAST TODAY STATES IF ONE HAS A BLOG ONE MUST BLOG AT A MINIMUM OF ONCET EVERY 48 HOURS OR BE SUBJECT TO ANY AND ALL PENALETEEZ FORTHWITH AND EVEN FIFTHWITH THAT WILL BEE ASSESSED HEREWITHIN FORTHWITHIN BUT NOT SHORT OF LACKING THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW!!!!!!!

Now don't you think that it's just COOL that he wants me to know about these kinds of things?!? And I swear...I'm about 99% sure that my own dad did NOT make this law up. I mean, seriously...do you think anything like this would come from a common, ordinary guy? Yeah...I didn't think so, either. :)

So, to start following the "new law," I figured I'd better update. I hope my dad is happy about that. Er...I mean the lawmakers...hahaha! :) Anyway, I thought I'd share with you how I've felt about blogging for the last week or so. It's summed up pretty well in this cartoon I found:

hahaha!!!! Isn't that hilarious?! :) It's true, though! I haven't blogged as much lately because I've been SO busy at work and with school that I just haven't felt like I've had much time to blog and I just don't really feel like I have much to say, either. Well, really, I think it's more because I'm tired by the end of the day and so my creativity with blogging is zapped. But...to appease my dad and "the lawmakers," I will try to do a better job updating my blog on a regular basis again. So...let me sign off here and say...

Have a great St. Patrick's Day!!! Go enjoy some corned beef and cabbage! I plan to!! :)

Lovely...

2011-03-04T23:38:00.001-07:00

I saw this quote on a friend's facebook page today and I tell ya what...I really needed to see this today and to be reminded that I should be striving for better things. I hope you enjoy this just as much as I did!! :)

"Live without pretending, love without depending, listen without defending, and speak without offending."

A bullet day! :)

2011-03-01T23:43:00.001-07:00

Work is taking over these days as we are short staffed for the month and I find that my workload seems to have doubled. It's job security, I know, but it kind of wears me out and makes me feel a little overwhelmed. This, too, shall pass, I guess.
I had a mid-term exam for a class tonight and I think it went well. On the flip side, I really don't care, so who knows how well it was! ha! :)
Seven more weeks of school. WOOT!!! :o)
I've decided that I am not good in debates. I don't really care for confrontation and when sides are opposing on an issue, I really don't do well in the conversations that are going on. I think it's because I just get too emotionally involved and I take comments personally. I'm such a wuss.
I bought some new tennis shoes this week and am really liking them! So much for paying off the credit card quickly, though...ha! :)
MY MOM IS COMING TO VISIT!!!!! yahoo!! :) BOTH of my parents are coming to visit for my graduation in May, but mom decided to fly out almost two weeks ahead of my graduation just to spend time with me and I'm SO excited about it. Dad will come out closer to my graduation (on May 7) and then I'll have about a week with them, I think. I haven't quite worked out the details of my vacation yet. I'm just SO EXCITED that they're coming to visit SOON!!! Yay! :)
March 13: Turn the clocks FORWARD!! Can you believe that it's that time of year again. LOVE IT! The daylight will be SO much longer! YAHOO!
This is definitely the summer of weddings AND babies! I know several folks getting married this summer and NUMEROUS people having babies. It's exciting!! :)
The graduation ceremony in May for my bachelor's degree...I've decided that I'm not going to walk. Is that crazy? Everyone keeps acting surprised at that decision, but if I go on for a Master's degree, then I definitely will walk in the ceremony. For this one, though, I'd rather save my money and invest it in a nice frame for my diploma AND to get my graduation picture taken (in a cap & gown). That's really ALL that I want from it! Is that goofy?!? ha!
I worked out a budget last week that will kick into effect in May. With the new budget, I'm going to pay my credit card off in 12-13 months and my car loan one year ahead of schedule. Let's hope that I can stick to this budget because that would be GREAT to get all of that stuff paid for and cleared. Yay! :)
Finally...life is good. I've been tired and over-extended at work lately, but I really can't complain because life is good to me right now and I'm SO thankful for that! :o)

Life continues...

2011-02-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I really haven't done anything too fascinating since I posted last Monday on Valentine's Day, but I figured that everyone was probably getting sick of seeing the "Happy Valentine's Day" picture so I figured that I should probably update with something new! :)

There really isn't anything too news worthy to post since last week and, honestly, that's just fine by me!! I am just keeping busy with work and trying to stay motivated with school and that's about it right now. My classes this semester are awful (meaning that the professors are awful and the classes are just a waste of time), so that's been kind of frustrating. I've finally come to the conclusion, though, that I need to quit complaining about them because even though they're awful, they're NOT that difficult, so it could be a lot worse, right?! :) I had good intentions to get ahead in the classes this past weekend, but that didn't happen, so I'm just transferring those good intentions to this week and weekend. I have a couple of papers for each class and I thought that if I did the research NOW, then it would be a snap to write the papers up whenever I'm ready, whether that be closer to the due date or now. So, we'll see how well I do. As most anyone knows, I have a very strong relationship with procrastination, so my good intentions usually don't go further than that, I'm afraid.

And that's that! See what I mean...nothing really that exciting going on! I'm definitely in the "Feb/March winter slump" that happens to a lot of people and so I find that all I want to do right now is stay home with a good book and take a lot of naps! It's so cold and windy out most days, though, that I'm really just fine with that plan! ha! So, I'll just keep plugging along until the semester is finished, the weather warms up and I feel a little more social again.

So there's your update! I hope that you've had a great week, too, and that life is treating you well. Take care until next time! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2011-02-14T10:11:00.002-07:00

Streaming the news

2011-02-10T13:26:00.013-07:00

I've been watching a live stream of the events going on in Cairo, Egypt, this morning and all I can do is sit here and stare at the thousands of people and think, "Never understimate the power of a united group." I'm absolutely fascinated by how this entire country of Egypt has come together to take a stand against their government. When you stop and think about it, it's actually quite an incredible thing. I mean, do you think that anything like this could ever happen in the U.S.? Yeah, it could, but would it or would it be stopped before it got this large?

Look at this picture that I stole from cnn.com:

Isn't that just incredible to see the many thousands of people gathered around the square like this? To me, it's just awesome (meaning very impressive...inspiring...amazing). I just get goosebumps thinking about how thousands of ordinary people united and now their voice is being heard. I can't imagine how scary it must be over there right now. Fear of the fighting, fear of what could happen, fear of what will happen if the president steps down, fear of what is going to happen if someone else takes over...I just think it must be a very scary and tumultuous time right now for Egypt. Maybe it's been scary and tumultuous for years now...I don't know. But...this whole thing is still kind of incredible to see, don't you think? Today, it just makes me feel proud of the peoples' courage.

And the cold continues...

2011-02-02T21:20:00.001-07:00

I stole this from a facebook page of a college kid that I go to Bible study with. He's going to school to be a meteorologist...I liked his summary and thought it would be good to "record" it on my blog so that I can remember this FREEZING cold time...yikes!!

I felt like giving a summary of the cold weather in Wyo. The following occurred on 2/2/11. Laramie experienced its coldest temperature of -39 since 1963 and the coldest wind chill of this event of -61; Rawlins tied their all time low of -36; Shirley Basin had a temperature of -48, most likely the coldest temperature of this event. Also Laramie experienced its fifth coldest day on 2/1/11 with a high of only -11.

Busy & Cold

2011-02-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Remember me? Yeah...I won't hold it against you if you DON'T remember me! It's been awhile! ha!

Oh my goodness have things been busy. Mainly it's my job that's kept me busy and has me working a lot of extra hours. I often wonder how much that will change (and if it will!) when I finish classes this semester and all I have to worry about IS work. :) Speaking of classes, things are going well. I'm not really sure that I'll learn much from EITHER class that I'm taking, but whatever. It is what it is...it's a means to an end. :)

It's tax time! I got my W-2 the other day and I'm rarin' to go and to get my taxes submitted so that I can get some money back!! :) At this point, I have nothing special planned for that refund except to put the money toward my credit card. My dad has always been a big promoter of "having fun" with your tax refund and spending it on stuff for you. After all, you worked hard through the year and you deserve this little extra money, right? Well, this year, I think that I might just put that money toward my credit card. Why? Well, when you think about it, why does my credit card have so much debt on it, anyway? Oh, that's right...I wanted to have some fun through the year and I couldn't say no and so I spent more money than I should have. So...as I see it, this "fun money" from my tax refund has already been spent through the year and now I just need to pay back that fun by applying the entire refund to my credit card. Either that or I'll go buy a couch. ha! :)

This morning it's C-O-L-D. I'm not even joking. I got up at seven and the temp was -27 and with windchill, it was -47. Not kidding. Our "high" today is supposed to be -9. Tomorrow, it's going to feel like a heat wave when we hit four ABOVE zero (which is what they're predicting "the high" to be). Yike-a-roonies. My car started this morning, but I did wonder if that was going to happen. I mean, seriously...how much can a person ask for when it's -27 at seven AM?!?! haha!

Well, that's about all that's going on with me. Really...I don't have anything else that's new or exciting to report. It's just everyday life for me and even though it's quite monotonous, I'm happy and not complaining about a thing. :) I hope that you're doing well and having good days, too!

Just pluggin' along..

2011-01-18T22:00:00.125-07:00

So, I've been "kindly" told by a few folks lately that I need to update my blog. I can't imagine WHY!? It's not like it's been THAT long since I last updated!! haha! ;o) I was doing really good about blogging once a week, sometimes twice, before I left for my trip to WI, but then when I was IN Wisconsin, I just wanted to relax and have a good time and "blogging" was the last thing on my mind. Now since I've gotten back to my home and job, I've been going NON-STOP and any time I do slow down, it seems that I just want to lay down and take a nap. So...I have been! :)

Things really have been going good, though. I had a few rough days after I left WI and I was just feeling sad. Luckily, a good friend of mine was passing through town a few days after I got back to WY and a good long visit with her over some coffee really did the trick to pull me out of my sadness. I have been glad for that visit ever since! :)

As for work, I've been working lots of overtime to GET caught up and then to GET caught up AGAIN!! It's kind of frustrating some days, but in all reality, it IS job security! :) Thankfully, though, I really like the work I do, so I don't necessarily mind being at work, but there are moments when I'd like just a leetle break! haha! :) I think the thing that becomes the most "trying" is that students are becoming more and more DE-pendent on people and on having others do things FOR them because they just don't want to take the time to figure it out for themselves. So, a lot of my day is spent saying the same thing(s) over and over and just trying to teach them how to help themselves. It's like being a parent! haha! :)

Anyway...as you and most of the internet world know, I turned 30 last month and it's certainly been...different. It's silly to think that you go to bed one night as a certain person with a certain outlook on life only to wake up the next morning and find that you feel differently about things, but honestly, that's really how I've felt about a few things since turning 30. It's been kind of "freeing," I guess. One of the things that I've been thinking a lot about this year are my new year's resolutions. Now, I don't know that I've ever actually completely followed through on my resolutions, but I do enjoy making them and writing them down and pondering on them throughout the year. I guess I'm more about LIFE changes than new year's changes, you know? So, as I've turned 30 and as I've really thought about life, here are my two main LIFE resolutions that I've come up with for this year...

The idea is that you become more "set" in your ways as you grow older, so I want to really start focusing NOW on being the person that I want to be in another 30 years. That way, when I'm "set" in my ways, I'll be set in things that are good, with a countenance that's full of love, kindness, friendliness, helpfulness, sincerity, honesty, simplicity, quietness, peacefulness and so on. (The list could go on for ages, really, but you get what I mean.) There's so many things that I see in life and that gets me to thinking that, "I don't want to be that way when I'm older!" and so I've decided to start BEING the way I want to be NOW so that when I am older, I'll be exactly the way I hoped to be. Does that make sense? I hope so. :)
The second thing that I've really come to learn about myself is that I really live in fear. A lot. Since being diagnosed with cancer years ago, I have completely realized my tendency to gravitate toward fear with many situations and experiences in life. What I haven't realized until the last six months or so is that I've allowed fear to take such a big hold on my life that it dictates choices and decisions that I make in my life on a regular basis. Without a doubt, fear envelopes me and controls me and it's only been recently that I've really come to understand its hold on my life. And do you know what brought that up? A grad student was talking to me about how big her Biology class was on campus and my first thought was, "I wonder if she ever thinks about some person coming in with a gun into that classroom..." The answer? It never crossed her mind. Unfortunately, it was my first thought and my internal reaction was fear. And it just got me to thinking about how many times I do that to myself! My initial reaction is toward the negative with a fear of what could possibly happen that it has turned my standard response into one of avoidance. What a great life THAT will be, huh? Living life in fear of what could happen and ultimately working to avoid "the bad" by just staying home and not venturing out anywhere. Yeah...a really fulfilling life, eh? And so I really want to start focusing on that fear and on combating it in a positive, intentional manner. I want to start looking that fear in the face and intentionally taking a step toward (or into) that fear and conquering it. I don't want my intial thoughts to revolve around fear anymore, but, instead, I want them to revolve around LIFE and around the wonderful experiences THAT I'M HAVING versus revolving around all the bad that COULD happen. So...here's to a more filling journey that revolves more around faith and believing and less around fear...much less. :)

So, I do hope that your year has started off fantastically and that you're doing well and having good days! All-in-all, I'm doing really well and can't complain about much (except maybe cold, bitter WIND...grrrr!!!), so I'm going to really try to make a better effort with updating this blog and with keeping you updated as to how my LIFE resolutions are progressing, along with how LIFE, itself, is going. All for now!! : )

Happy New Year!

2011-01-09T14:54:00.001-07:00

Well, first blog post of the new year and all I'm going to do is update you and let you know that I'm back in Wyoming and have FINALLY felt a little settled back in to my routine today. I still have some things to unpack and organize, but so far, so good!! It was quite rough to come back this year and I was really sad up through yesterday. :( Oh, well...what do you do!?! I just have to stay focused and remember that my LAST semester of school starts tomorrow!!! YAHOO!!! :) Work-wise, I don't feel ready, but class-wise...bring it on!! :)

Anyway, I will update more later when I can, but I wanted to say Happy New Year to everyone and I hope that the new year has started off well for you!! I have finally come up with a list of resolutions, so when I get them all organized, I'll be sure to share them with you. I'm actually kind of excited about them! :)

All for now! Take care!

Still here!

2010-12-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Well, I'm still in WI and will be here for another five days yet. The time just flies by, though, and I can't believe that I've already been here for two weeks! I suppose that it's due to Christmas being right in the middle of it all and there's always lots to do before and after the actual day. Oh, well...such is life!!

I've been having lots of fun here visiting family, playing Scrabble with Mom, playing dominoes with Mom & Luke (my brother), going on Therapy Dog visits with my Dad & Buddy (the dog), and just relaxing and having a good time. I'll be sad to leave next Tuesday but I'm also kind of anxious to get my semester started and to get it finished so that I can have my bachelor's degree IN HAND!! Yahoo!! :)

I hope that you are having good days, too! We'll be home for the next few days (no big travel plans) and we plan to bring in the new year quietly and just here at home. There's a storm that's supposed to start and last through tomorrow, so we'll see how that ends up, but it sure makes me glad that we've gotten the majority of our traveling OUT of the way!! Have a safe and Happy New Year and we'll "chat" here again in 2011!! :o)

Wisco

2010-12-18T18:27:00.004-07:00

Hello! I thought that I had better get on here and give a quick update as to what's going on in my life! :)

I had a wonderful birthday on Thursday!! It was such a special day and I felt very lucky to have as many friends as I do who helped celebrate the day. I was THRILLED to start the day off with breakfast at Brent's house with JT, Shannon, Danny, Jane D., and Justin (and me and Brent, too :). Brent served up biscuits & gravy, eggs, waffles, bacon and OJ...yum! What a great start to the day!! Then, I had lots of visits, phone calls and e-mails throughout the day, I enjoyed lunch with my good friend, Meegan, and then spent the evening with some great friends in Elk Mtn. It was just a spectacular day and it made turning 30 a special event! (THANK YOU, Kristi, for no black balloons that night!! :)

Then on Friday, it was time to fly to Wisconsin, but guess what...I woke up feeling TERRIBLE and was pretty sure I had the flu. I really wasn't sure what was going on, so I decided to take off anyway and see what happened. All in all, I felt crummy all day, but I made the trip and now I am safely in WI (yay!). Even though I was pretty sure that I was coming down with the flu, now I'm starting to wonder if I was just over-tired because I'd had several late nights this past week. I slept WELL last night but still felt a little "iffy" this morning. I just told myself to get over it and I went on to enjoy my day. I've felt fine since. Anyway, we drove about two hours this morning to have breakfast with some of my aunts & uncles and cousins from my dad's side of the family. After breakfast we went to my aunt & uncle's house and visited until three this afternoon and then we headed for home. It was a GREAT day!! I'm glad the weather cooperated, too, and let us travel. :)

So, I'm here at mom & dad's and enjoying being here already. Except that it's C-O-L-D and it seems much colder than WY, so I've been kind of whiney about that... haha! :) Hope you're doing well! I'll update when I can, but no promises for regular posts!! :)

By the way...straight A's this last semester. YAHOO!!! :o) I now have one semester left with only two classes to take and I'm THRILLED about that! *laugh* :)

I'm 30 today!!!

2010-12-16T05:00:00.015-07:00

Oh my goodness...I am 30 years old today. YIKES!! haha! :)

Really, I have been totally fine with turning 30...until the year arrived. Starting the day after my 29th birthday, I just started freaking out about being 30! It lasted all year long and finally about two weeks ago, I started to feel like it might not end up being so bad after all. haha! :)

With this birthday coming up, I've been thinking lots about who I am and what I am and it's been good for me to ponder that for a little bit. For the most part, I'm pretty happy with where I'm at in life. There's a few things that I've decided I'd like to see change from this point on, but it's nothing that is a deal breaker and so that's pretty good, I think! :)

So, here I am...30. My day today is going to start out with breakfast at Brent's house (he's a good friend of mine) with a few other friends joining us (Julie S...do you remember doing that for Brent's 30th?! :). Then, I'm going to have lunch with another good friend, Meegan, and I'm really looking forward to that, too! Finally, at the end of the day, I'm going to go join my friends west of here for an evening of Pampered Chef and some good visits. All in all, I think it's going to be a wonderful day!! :)

I hope you have a great day, too! I'd sure love to hear any comments from those of you who have experienced 30, whether recently or awhile ago, and what you have to say about it. It's always fun to hear peoples' opinions on different milestones in life. :) Take care!

Look what I got!!! :)

2010-12-13T14:20:00.001-07:00

These arrived in my office today from my good 'ol Papaw!! :o) Aren't they beautiful? If you click once on the picture, they'll zoom in and give a bigger, better view. Dad sent them to me for my birthday this week. THANKS, DAD!!!! xoxoxo

(sorry the pic quality isn't the best...these are from my camera phone. :)

DONE!

2010-12-13T00:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I am officially DONE with this semester of school! Wahoo! I just submitted my last assignment a half hour ago (just in time for the midnight deadline!) and it feels SO good to be done. Now I'm going to relax and ENJOY the holiday break. No classes or homework until January 10...whew! : ) On a side note...guess where I fly to on Friday?! Can't wait!! : )

Catching up...again...

2010-12-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

Wow! Sorry for such a long hiatus! I've been super busy trying to finish up he end of the semester. I had company at my house last weekend and then one of them got the flu and ended up staying an extra couple of days so between that, work, and school, I've been busy.

I had a final exam yesterday and found out about the project I turned in a week ago....I got 100% on it! Wahoo!! That was pretty cool to hear, especially because we worked hard to get a good grade (it was a team effort). I hope to find out about how the final went in a few days.

I also am still finishing up my final research paper for my other class. Originally, it was due yesterday (Friday) but then she gave us an extension until tomorrow (Sunday). I took full advantage and I'm working like a crazy lady today to get it finished. I'd really like to submit it TODAY and be done.

So, that's my life! Nothing too exciting. : ) This week will be a short work week for me as I fly out on Friday for Wisconsin!!! YAY!!! : ) I'll be home with family for the Christmas holiday and I'm super excited about it. There's LOTS to do before I leave, though, so I'd better get back to work. I just wanted to give you an update since it's been over a week since I wrote on here. Yikes...sorry about that!! : )

Have a great weekend!!

I love birthdays.

2010-12-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

I love birthdays! I really do! I really love celebrating MY birthday, too! : ) It's not the whole getting gifts thing (even though those ARE fun! :), but I just love to get together with friends on my birthday and HAVE FUN. I think it's just a good day to have fun and celebrate, whether it's going out to eat, going for coffee, or getting together at a friend's house for games. Celebrating birthdays (not just mine!) is FUN! : ) However...I just realized that two weeks from today, I will be turning 30. This year, that has NOT been as easy to accept as I thought it would be!! It's just...different. So, I'm excited that my birthday is coming soon, but I'm not sure I'm so thrilled about 30 just yet. I'll get back to you on that one. : )

This week has been crazy, so I apologize for no posts being put up. I haven't been to bed before midnight this week and I'm just tired tonight. I laid down on the couch around six to "rest my eyes" and woke up at 8:40. Oops! I'm going to go to bed very shortly!! : )

I submitted a final project yesterday! Wahoo! For that same class, I have a final exam on the 10th and I'm not that worried about it, so that's nice. The only other thing I have left is a 15 page research paper and I'm more concerned about that because I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to write about, but I plan to get that going this weekend. It's due on the 12th (an online submission). I had one more take home exam and two-page essay, as well, but that got canceled. Why? Well, it's fantastic that it was cancelled because that's one LESS thing to do, but it's super sad because the professor is fighting stomach cancer and is NOT doing well and it was just too much for him to teach this last week, create a take home final and grade it. I feel so bad for him!! So, anyway, we ended that class early.

I'm looking forward to the weekend coming up! It will be nice to have a break just because it feels like this week has been crazy. The weather predictions have changed again, though, and now it looks like it's supposed to snow straight through Monday. Ugh. At least I don't have to shovel the sidewalks, though!! ha! :o)

Sunday musings

2010-11-28T16:47:00.001-07:00

Well, the Thanksgiving holiday is over and according to my "holiday" radio station, there are 26 days, 7 hours and 24 minutes until Christmas, so get to it if you haven't already started getting ready!! ha! :) I've been mulling over in my mind what to get my family members for the holidays and I think I have it all figured out. Now I just need to go BUY the items!! There was NO way that I was heading out for Black Friday, though, so my shopping will now commence! :) Some of y'all are just crazy to head out for Black Friday, but I'm impressed that you have the "oomph" to get out and go! ha!

I had a good day at home today. I woke up not feeling so well, so I just stayed indoors today and laid low. I did a lot of homework stuff for end-of-the-semester projects and I also did some work on work stuff, so it was a good day. I even refused to let myself take a nap! I have to start re-training my body for the work week, ya know!?! ha! :)

This week will be the last week of classes and then a week of finals, with the semester ending on December 10. I have a project due on the 1st, an exam on the 10th, a 15-page research paper due on the 10th and then my final take-home exam (which I'll get tomorrow) and that's due on the 8th. That take home exam is no picnic, either. It's a 17-page front-to-back exam and he will take direct quotes from our readings, but you have to be super cautious because he'll change ONE word and that makes the entire option WRONG. *sigh* It's a nightmare. Anyway, with that exam, I also have a two-page essay question to answer. So, it's not too terrible of the end of the semester, but I sure don't want to leave everything until the last minute! I'm super thankful, though, that one of my professors decided to cancel our final exam on the 7th and instead, she just left us with our 15-page research paper. Up to the cancellation of the final, we were going to have a final exam (6-7 pages) and the research paper. Yikes! I'm glad she cancelled the final...her exams are NOT easy!!

So, I'm finishing up my project for Wednesday and doing a couple loads of laundry, too, so hopefully the evening will be just as quiet as the day. Oh...we got two more inches of snow today! It's pretty! But the wind is supposed to pick up now and that will make driving not so fun. :( All for now!! Hope you're doing well and having good days!! :)

It's a-blowin' out there!!

2010-11-24T16:10:00.001-07:00

Wow. It is windy out there today! And c-o-l-d. No joke. Right now, the temp is a mere 3 degrees, but the wind is right around 32 mph with gusts up to 40 (and that's IN town!), so the windchill is hovering around 25 degrees below zero and they're saying the windchill is likely to be around 35 below zero tonight. Yikes! If you've never experienced Wyoming winter before, this picture is a pretty accurate depiction of what it's really like on I-80 when the wind starts a-blowin'!! (I found the pic on the web, so thanks to whoever took it, but trust me...I am NOT out driving in weather like this!! : )

I have plans to spend Thanksgiving day with a family in town, so I'm glad that I don't have to travel very far. If you do, though, be safe and enjoy your time with family & friends!!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!! : )

I'm missing...

2010-11-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

I'm missing Wisconsin today and I'm missing being within driving distance of my family. Why is it that one day I'll be fine and then the next day, I just miss that part of the country and I miss being close to my family? What goes on inside of us that makes our feelings flip like the switch of a light? Whatever...I'll never fully understand it.

A week? Really?

2010-11-20T17:22:00.001-07:00

How can it have been a full WEEK since I last posted? This week was busy. I was SO busy at work and almost every day after work involved time spent on projects and end of the semester stuff. It was not the most fun week I've ever had in my life. :) One comment I heard more times than not this week from everyone, though, was, "I sure am looking forward to getting a break for Thanksgiving!" I think that's how a lot of us feel! I know that I'm sure looking forward to having four days off!!! I plan to sleep, clean, write some letters, read some books, take naps and maybe work on some homework. :) Of course, there's "attend a holiday dinner and eat" mixed smack in the middle of that, too, so no missing out there! :)

I tell ya, I sure am looking forward to graduating from college this spring. I feel like a broken record on that subject, but I am SO tired of doing both school and work. It's exhausting on so many levels!! I'm registered for all of my classes for the spring, but I'm registered for a couple of extras because I'm not real sure what I want to take yet. My opinions on what classes to take seem to be changing on a daily basis, so I'm thinking that I just need to go to WI for Christmas and completely remove myself for a full two weeks and then come back and decide. I think that I'm just too burned out to make any decisions on classes right now. What a whiner I am, huh?!? :o)

I'm always glad for Thanksgiving. It's not my most favorite holiday of all time, but I really do enjoy the time spent with family & friends. I also really enjoy that it serves its purpose to get me thinking about what I'm truly thankful for. I feel so blessed in life and as time goes on, I realize more and more how lucky I am. I had a wonderful upbringing and still have a great relationship with my family. My life since leaving home has had its bumps, but for the most part, it has been full and rich and satisfying and I've certainly had a lot of opportunities in my lifetime. I'm SO thankful for all of my experiences and I'm thankful that this is a holiday that reminds me of that.

As you start your plans and travels to visit family, please travel safely!! :)

Lazy Sunday

2010-11-14T23:15:00.000-07:00

I had a very nice day today! I went to my Sunday church meeting this morning and then out to lunch with two very special ladies. After lunch, I ran a couple of errands (ones that I can't do during the week because of work and school) and then I came home and just relaxed. I turned on some Christmas music and just bee-bopped on the computer, completing little projects here and there. It was a nice, lazy, relaxing Sunday and I thoroughly enjoyed it!! Did you have a lovely day, too? I sure hope so!!

Now I'm off to bed so that I'm ready for a new week of work. Have a great night and a great start to your week!

The past and the present

2010-11-10T15:09:00.002-07:00

Well, it hasn't been snowing out today and it turned out to be a nice day! The temp is around 30, but the sun is SHINING and the wind is quiet, so it's a beautiful day out!

Last night, I was getting ready for a paper that I have to write tonight about my personal and professional ethics code and I had a nice thing happen! A few years ago, I was really struggling with feeling down and I was also battling a lot of anxiety. It was a rough deal. Through it all, though, I kept a journal and I allowed myself to write whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and let me tell ya, I wrote about anything and everything. Last night I decided to sit down and look through the journal to see if there was anything in there that would add to my paper. Wow...I was SO amazed. My "rough time" was during 2006 and when I read through some of the things that I was feeling and experiencing, I felt like it was just yesterday that I was experiencing everything and that time period came flooding back to me. When I stop and look at the date on the journal entries, however, I think, "Wow. That was a long time ago. I'm so far from that place!"

What I felt truly thankful for is that things are SO different than what they were at that time. I've made some significant changes that altered a LOT of things in my life and I feel so much more balanced than I was during that tumultuous time. I also felt like even though I have an "off" day once in awhile, my entire life is altogether better. I am no where near the place that I was in during 2006 and I'm so thankful for that!!

I was glad to read about the past and to see a vivid improvement with the present and I just found myself wanting to take all of the lessons and changes with me into the future. Just because things are good now doesn't mean that it's smooth sailing for the future. Hopefully I can take with me what I've learned, though, so that maybe I don't make some of the same mistakes or wrestle with some of the same things that I struggled with before. I just hope that I can learn from the past and make the future brighter, better and richer.

Snow.

2010-11-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

The time has come. The snow has arrived. Here is a small picture of my world.

The picture was taken earlier this morning, so there is a bit more snow on the ground than this. Maybe three inches so far? Anyway, the background on the blog will change for awhile, too. Happy Winter!! : )

Time Change!!

2010-11-06T23:40:00.002-06:00

Don't forget to turn your clocks back one hour tonight!!! :o)

Colds are crummy

2010-11-05T22:01:00.003-06:00

So, I've been battling a cold this week. It set in on Tuesday. The sad part is that there are only two times in the year where I feel like I really can't afford to call in sick to work because of how busy I am and it's that exact time when I get sick. If it were an illness like the flu, you can bet your bottom that I wouldn't be leaving my house!! But a cold?!? Well, I'm a Wyoming gal now and out here, the phrase is "Cowboy Up," so that's what I did this week. And it was miserable.

I think that I'm over the worst of it, but I still feel kind of crummy off and on. I plan on sleeping for something like a hundred hours tonight, though, since I don't have to get up to an annoying alarm at 6:30 in the morning (as if I actually do get up that early...it's more like 7, usually), so I'm really hoping to tomorrow is when I start to feel "normal" again. : )

I'm supposed to go to a bridal shower tomorrow, too, so I'd better seriously be feeling much better by the morn! : )

I hit a milestone this week, too! I registered for my LAST semester of classes!! Wahoo!! : ) I am not 100% sure that the schedule will stay as is because I'm hoping to get into a different class that's already closed, but I am enrolled in my "back-up" courses plus a "for sure" course, so I'm half way there! If this other closed class doesn't work out, then I'll initiate the back-up one and away we go! Either way, I'm currently enrolled in enough credits that when I go in and look at my degree evaluation, it shows that I'm complete. Do you even realize how exciting it was to see that today?!?!?! I felt giddy the entire day today just because of that.

I hope you're doing well and have something nice planned for the weekend! We're supposed to have weather in the 60s and that is almost unheard of at this time of year! No worries, though...snow is predicted for Monday & Tuesday. : (

I just noticed something...why do I all of a sudden have people from 133 different places who have come to my blog in the last day or two? I've never had that many visits in one day!! EVER!! Weird...I'm feeling slightly stalked...or watched or something...but only just slightly.

Take care!! : )

Voting

2010-11-02T16:39:00.001-06:00

I voted! Here's what I thought...I didn't go in feeling completely clueless, but I did feel like I need to go into future voting sessions with a more confident feeling of who's running and who I want to vote for. I love to vote and I love the feeling that I get when I vote, but I know that I definitely want to feel more confident about my choices. I hate to even say it like that because I'm not going in there with no idea of what's going on, but sometimes I have the same feeling that I have when I go into an exam that I'm not prepared for. I just feel like I know most of what I'm supposed to know, but sometimes I don't feel a "without-a-doubt" confidence. So, that's my goal for the future...be more involved and more informed.

I hope you voted, too!! : )

Happy November 1!!!

2010-11-01T06:00:00.042-06:00

Wow. I can't believe that it's November already!!! Where does time go, anyway? This weekend, I was looking over some work documents because I received a renewal form for some things last week and I was just disgusted because I was sure that I had just taken care of this and I knew that it was way too early for renewal. Turns out that the last time I dealt with it was November 2009. Good grief.

I had a pretty good weekend this weekend. I caught up on my sleep, paid some bills and got November's budget in line, went to a potluck and then waited around my house for trick-or-treaters. I wasn't planning that too many tots would stop by and yell, "Trick or treat!!" but I was glad that one did!! : ) She was a witch with vampire teeth. : ) Other than that, though, no one. : ( I guess the other 90 pieces of candy in the bag I bought will go to work with me tomorrow. (Well, maybe 80 of the pieces will go to work. haha!) I can always hope that next year will be a better turn out, right!?!

School is going well. I am studying for an exam that I have tomorrow and right after that, I'll be finishing up two papers that I need to submit within the next week or so. Not including Thanksgiving week (because I'm sure both of my classes will be canceled) and finals week, there are only FOUR weeks of class left. You cannot begin to comprehend how excited I am about this. This hasn't been the best semester for me. I really enjoy one of my classes (of three), but even still, it's just been a t-o-u-g-h semester to keep motivated and to want to be doing this. I think it just might be a severe case of senioritis. : )

Along the lines of school, I have been seriously contemplating going on for a master's degree in "Student Affairs in Higher Education," but in reviewing things last week, I found that the particular program I'd like to get into starts the same week in May 2011 that I will be having finals. So, I think I'm going to postpone that dream until 2012. It might be really good for me to have a break, anyway. Some say it's harder to go back after a break and I might have to agree, but I seriously think that I need a break. If anything, it will be good for me to try and pay off some debt. Ugh.

Last week was advising week at work. It was a L-O-N-G week. There were late nights, early days and LOTS of overtime. I think that the brunt of it is over with, but I'm trying not to be too relaxed just yet. : ) This year, the professors decided that they wanted to free up my time a bit more by handing out the registration information to the students they were advising. At first I was super nervous about the last minute change and how it would go, but it ended up being an awesome change. I was still super busy, but no where NEAR what it has been in the past. We might have to talk in our next dept. meeting about a few glitches that occurred, but for the most it was a fantastic change and one that I hope that they continue.

Okay...I need to get back to studying. Happy November 1st!! : )

Inspiring

2010-10-31T22:14:00.001-06:00

Very cool Louis Vuitton commercial...

What is a journey?
A journey is not a trip.
It's not a vacation.
It's a process. A discovery.
It's a process of self discovery.
A journey brings us face to face with ourselves.
A journey shows us not only the world, but how we fit in it.
Does the person create the journey or does the journey create the person?
The journey is life itself.
Where will life take you?

catching up!

2010-10-26T21:41:00.000-06:00

Wow! I can't believe that it's been over a week since I last posted. Things have been crazy-busy at work, but good. I've put in some long hours, though, and so any extra free time is spent on homework or sleeping. : ) Other than that, there's really not much else that's going on with me!

Yesterday was quite the Monday, that's for sure. It was not a good day, in many ways, so I was glad that today was MUCH better. But guess what started yesterday? Snow. And wind. And cold. I really can't complain because we have had such a lovely fall season, but this change sure happened quickly. One thing I can now confirm, though...all the trees have lost their leaves!!! : ( It had to happen sometime, right?

Well, if anything more exciting than this comes up, I'll be sure to let you know! ;) My life really does consist of work, homework and sleep right now, and I can promise that there's nothing exciting about that!! haha! :) Hope that you're doing well, too!! :)

A week of reminiscing

2010-10-18T23:09:00.000-06:00

This past week I received two envelopes in the mail containing my medical files from my surgeon who performed my thyroidectomy (when I had thyroid cancer). During that cancer time, I learned that it's very important to keep a copy of your medical records and even more so with situations that are as critical as this one. It's just always good to go to your doctor appointment(s) prepared with your OWN copy of your file.

For some reason, though, I never got a copy of my file from my surgeon! So, this year, I finally got my act together and requested a copy of my file. It showed up in the mail last week and I finally opened it yesterday. You know, I never cease to be amazed by the flood of emotions and flashbacks that occur when I spend time reading through my medical files from the years that I was fighting thyroid cancer. Honestly, this long out (seven years now since first diagnosed), you'd think that "reviewing" that time period wouldn't cause that much emotion, but I'll be the first to admit that it sure DOES stir up a lot of emotion! It makes me wonder...does a person ever really "heal" from something like that? Maybe that's something that no one can answer until they've been through such an experience (and I hope that it's an experience that YOU never have to go through!!!), but it just seems like I should be reacting to it like I would with any surgery. For instance, if I had my gall bladder taken out or something, I'd probably share the story with ease and remember it without much emotion. Why, though, does a cancer story do just the opposite and stir up a lot of emotion? Is it because in your first days and weeks of discovery, it's kind of like a "brush with death"? I just really don't know.

Anyway, it's good for me to read through those files and remember what I was experiencing and to review what the doctor's were saying about me at that time. It's just good to know of the details of the events that were taking place.

In addition to all that, my mom and I also got into a conversation this week about those first days/weeks of finding out I had cancer and for the first time (that I can remember, anyway), I heard from mom some more details about what she and dad were really going through during that time. I know it may seem silly to even say it, but I honestly didn't realize what THEY were experiencing then (outside of fear) and I'm sure it's because I was pretty focused on myself those days.

It's just been a good week of reminiscing and a good week to just remember how thankful I need to be. Cancer is something that changes everything about you and about your life and you're never the same person again, even in the littlest things. It's also something that you're never prepared for, either, no matter how many times you face it (and that was something that I learned during the time that I went to support groups for a little extra help).

Anyway, this is nothing super revealing or exciting, but it's something I've been glad to experience this week and it was just a little something that I wanted to share with all of you. : ) All for now, friends!!

There is BEAUTY in the world!!!

2010-10-13T23:13:00.002-06:00

With the miners all safely rescued TODAY, I thought this would be a fitting time to share my current favorite song. Turn up your speakers and ENJOY!!! : )

ugh.

2010-10-12T12:31:00.000-06:00

I was having a good day today and then I went to class. Class was a lot too liberal for me today, plus it covered a heavy subject that just made me feel awful. So, now I'm back to work and I just feel like I'm in a funk. : ( I have SO much to do today and now all I want to do is go home and sleep for awhile. Waaahhhh!!! : )

Part of me wonders, though, if some of this feeling is coming more from the fact that I'm so tired of school. Last night, I was getting ready for today's class and I just kept thinking, "Oh, I am so DONE with this!!" I just feel burned out. I know it's so silly to even say that, though, because I know that I'm ALMOST done and I just need to hang in there!! But, that doesn't change the fact that I'm just tired of it all.

Hmmm...I just realized that I'm hungry, too. Maybe THAT is playing into some of these feelings?!? haha! It's funny how low blood sugar can affect your mood, eh? :o) Enjoy the rest of your day!!

Happiness

2010-10-09T00:25:00.001-06:00

Just so you know, I love my blog. Right this very moment, I'm just HAPPY with how it keeps my family members in tune with what's going on in my life and it keeps my friends...entertained. ha! :) I really love how it's a journal for me. Sometimes I don't write things because of who MIGHT be reading (for instance, a coworker, maybe :) and so I keep those things to myself, but what I do write is important to me, even if I may not feel that way at the moment that I'm writing. When I go back, though, and read through some of things I've written, I feel happy. Sometimes I find myself thinking, "Was I really thinking/feeling that at the time?" It's good for me to reminisce and to see how things have or have not changed. Yes, friends, I do love my blog. :o)

Just an 'ol homebody.

2010-10-06T21:11:00.001-06:00

As I am aging, I notice one thing (among many, let me assure you! :) about myself...I am a homebody. Now, don't get me wrong...I love getting together with friends and family and having some seriously good times, but I also L-O-V-E to be at home. I think that feeling is heightened even more right now by the fact that I'm SO busy with work and school that any free time I do have, I just want to be at home, being quiet, and relaxing.

I also love to travel the world and visit new places, but I always love to come home, too. I love traveling for the weekend to visit friends that are a few hours away, but I tell ya...I always enjoy coming back home to my own bed. Don't get me wrong, either...I am THANKFUL for all of the wonderful memories that I have from the various trips I've taken and I wouldn't exchange those for a penny, but there is something to be said about HOME. I know that it's a place that I certainly love.

What about you? Do you consider yourself to be a homebody or not really?

Another weekend done.

2010-10-04T21:49:00.001-06:00

Well, let me share this past weekend with you. :)

On Friday night, my friend, Shannon, and I went to Cheyenne and ate some supper at Red Lobster (YUM!) and then did some shopping at Target.

Saturday...I slept. We'll come back to that.

Sunday, I went to my Sunday morning church meeting, out to lunch at a local mexican restaurant with some friends, took a short nap, went to gospel meeting in Cheyenne, out to eat at Olive Garden with some friends and then back to Target for a quick stop (it's that time of year to stock up on flannel sheets, you know!!).

All-in-all, I had a great, fun-filled weekend! :o) But, let's talk about Saturday. Do you know what a sloth is? No? Well, let me write out the definition: "aversion to work or exertion; laziness; indolence." That, my dear friends, was exactly what I morphed into on Saturday.

Now, before I begin, let me just state that every night last week, I was up until at least 1:30 AM, most nights until after 2 AM. Some of those nights were because of homework and maybe ONE of those nights was due to that stupid facebook that I've recently joined. Either way, by Friday night, I was seriously lacking on sleep. One other thing I ask...for those of my friends out there that are married with kids, please do not hate me for this post. I am not in any way PROUD of how I spent my day Saturday. :)

So, Friday night, Shannon and I got home around 11 PM. I was exhausted, so I promptly came home, took a HOT shower, got into my pj's and got ready for bed. I did check my e-mail and facebook before hitting the hay, so I didn't actually GO to bed until 1 AM, but that was fairly early, considering how the week had gone up to that point. My friends...when I woke up the next morning, it was 11:45 AM. I was still tired, though, and could tell that I had a nice headache to start the day, so...I rolled over and went back to sleep. I woke up at a little after 1 PM and my headache was NO better (honestly, I think it's because I don't get my usual espresso coffee drinks on the weekend and I think I go thru withdrawals!). I got up, though, and tried to make something of myself. Finally, around two, I texted my friend to say that I wasn't going to make it to the local college athletic event and then...I went back to bed and soundly slept until a little after 5 PM. At this point, my headache was MUCH better but my body was also starting to get angry because I hadn't eaten in 24 hours. So, I got up, ate some supper, did a few things and went to bed at 11 PM. Again, I soundly slept until 9:15 AM Sunday morning, when my alarm went off. Let me tell you, though...when I woke up, I felt like a MILLION dollars! I felt great and I proceeded to have a GREAT day, too. :)

So that, in all its honesty, was how I spent my weekend. I was glad that I was able to spend Saturday recooperating, but I do know it was rather extreme. It did encourage me to TRY to be a little better about going to bed at a DECENT time during the workweek and to be consistent about it! This past week was a little out of the ordinary as I had a few class related things going on, but even I know that 2 AM is a little CRAZY!!

So, tell me...how was your weekend?! ;o)

I'm tired.

2010-10-01T09:21:00.000-06:00

I'm glad that it's Friday because I am WAY tired this week! Too much going on and too many late nights (because of homework AND facebook, I'm afraid).

I received news this week that one of my aunts (on my dad's side) has liver cancer. They're still determining all the details, but maybe in the next couple of weeks we'll know more. It's just such a downer. I've said it before and I'll say it again...cancer sucks. It ruins so many lives and it's just a nasty, nasty thing. That's all I'll say about that for today.

On a more positive note, we just completed our SIXTH week of the semester! Only ten more left!! YAY!!!! :o) I really do hate to wish my life away, but I will be SO glad when I am doing with the "work full-time & go to school part-time" routine. The other day I was thinking about it all and I decided that I don't like the person I am right now. It's hard to get around that, though, because of how badly I want to finish this degree! The part about what I don't like right now just involves being SO busy that some things that are really important to you get cheated. For instance, I just haven't been able to keep in touch with my friends like I want to. I wasn't fantastically stellar at it before, but now that I'm SO busy, it just feels impossible. Another thing is getting to Bible study at a decent time so that I can sit and be quiet and think on things for a little while. It seems like not only have I missed out completely on Bible study more times in the last six months than I have in the last sixteen years, but when I do get there, I feel like I'm racing in at the last minute. That's not how I want it to be!! I'm also getting tired of feeling tired and stretched thin all of the time, too. I do realize that I am a procrastinator, though, and that does affect me sometimes (unfortunately!!), so I can't be too whiny about things since sometimes my "problems" are self-inflicted. :)

Weekend plans? Well, I would like to clean my apartment, so that's at the top of the list! I also have to study for an exam that I have next Thursday and, finally, I'd like to catch up on some sleep!! It's gonna be a good weekend!! :o)

I think I'm in trouble.

2010-09-28T15:04:00.001-06:00

So...facebook has taken over my world and I think I'm in big trouble. haha! Okay...maybe it's not THAT bad, but listen to this...last night, I logged on to facebook and had every intention of only being on ONLY for a couple minutes. TWO HOURS later and I finally was able to pull myself off of there. HOW RIDICULOUS is that?!?! I think that I'm going to have to be more careful! :)

I now have two exams done. Yay!! I got an "A" on the one exam and the other one I completed yesterday, so maybe I'll know my score tomorrow. I felt pretty good about it, so hopefully I at least get a "B" on it. We'll see!

Then, I thought, that my third exam was this Thursday but guess what?! It's not until NEXT Thursday! Wahoo!! :)

Other than that, there's not much else that's new! Ciao for now! :)

I did it.

2010-09-25T23:43:00.001-06:00

I did it. I joined facebook. I said I wasn't going to, but I'm tired of feeling like I want to leave comments for people but can't (because I have been using my mom's account (with her permission!) to look at pictures and such). So, I joined tonight. And as I was adding "friends" to my list, all of a sudden facebook started popping up a repeated message that said something like, "You're adding friends too quickly and that could be seen as annoying to people. You need to significantly decrease this action or you will be blocked from facebook."

WHAT???? Isn't facebook a networking site? How can making friend requests be annoying to people when you're just asking the ONE person to be your friend!?!

After getting that message, I proceeded to send out 10 more friend requests. :) I figured I'd better chill, though. I'd hate to be blocked from facebook BY facebook on my first night with them.

How ridiculous... :o)

Friday FUN!

2010-09-24T08:36:00.000-06:00

I decided to remove my last post because I realized later on that I think that some of my grad students read my blog. So...I wouldn't want to be a bad example for them (as far as talking about co-workers)!!! :o)

It's FRIDAY!! I'm so very happy. I was up very late last night working on homework and even though I don't feel too exhausted yet, I'm SO very glad that I can sleep in tomorrow. :)

One thing, though, is that when I did go to bed, I laid there and came up with a few different plans to solve some "problems" that I've been running into at work and at class. This morning when I woke up, though, all of those plans seemed ridiculous and I thought, "What was I thinking?!" WHY does that always happen!! How come it's when you always want to fall asleep right away that you think about the craziest things, come up with crazy "plans" to solve them, and then the next morning realize how big of an issue that it really WASN'T? Maybe some day I'll have the courage to follow through with one of my great "solution plans"!! haha! :o)

Have a good Friday and a great weekend!! :)

Musings

2010-09-22T13:00:00.004-06:00

My cousin, Keytun, had a baby this morning!! :) She had a healthy, 9 lb. 7 oz. baby girl with a full, dark head of hair. From what I've been told, the little one's name is Jema Lou. Congratulations Ryan, Keytun & Brylee!! :o)

I didn't get to bed very early last night because I was working on homework and let me tell ya, I'm payin' the price for it today! I'm so tired and I've developed a nice 'ol headache. Ugh. It's supposed to rain this afternoon, though, so hopefully that will help the dryness which will then help all of these allergy issues that me and everyone else is battling with right now. It's so dry and that, combined with all of the smoke from the forest fires around here, makes for some nasty allergy days!! Blech. :(

I've been keeping busy with school these days! I have a 12-page take home exam that I've been working on this week (front-to-back pages, mind you) and I'm almost finished with it, but then I have to finalize it with a two-page short essay that the professor decided to add on at the last minute. As if a 12-page multiple choice, true/false, and matching exam wasn't enough. And trust me...this exam is not easy. He likes to be tricky, so he makes the exam as difficult as possible and it just takes forever to work on. I'll be glad to hand it all in on Friday! After that, though, I have to start studying for an exam that I have on Monday for another class in addition to finalizing a 5-page paper for that same class, which is due next Wednesday. And then? I'll start studying for an exam that will take place the week after that for my last class. Have I mentioned that I'm really looking forward to next May when I will be finished with all of this and all I'll have to worry about is my job and that lastest novel that I want to read?!?! :)

Oh, it really could be worse than this, so I'll stop whining. :) I've just been kept pretty busy in the last week and I'm just looking forward to getting it all DONE. After all, this will all be ONE MORE thing that I'm finishing for each class and that just means that I'm closer to the end of the semester, right?!?! :)

Speaking of the end of the semester...I bought my plane tickets to fly home to Mom & Dad's for Christmas. I'll leave town on the 17th and will be at their place until January 4. I'm really looking forward to it!! It's always nice to get home! Plus, I'll get to finally meet new Baby Jema!!! :o) Can't wait!! :)

He dun kilt him a baar!!!

2010-09-17T21:57:00.007-06:00

Well, I had to get permission to post these pictures because I wasn't sure if Dad wanted to be advertised on the world wide web! :)

For eight years now, Dad has been putting in for a hunting tag for black bear. This year, he finally got a tag! He spent something like eight weeks baiting (going out every day and putting out bait) and on opening morning, he shot this bear a half hour after the season started.

I know some of you aren't that big into hunting, but to control the population, they have to hunt bear. This year, the DNR made a mistake in their estimations of how many bear are around mom & dad's place and now the area is being overrun and the bear are doing LOTS of damage to people's crops and farm animals. It's sad, really.

Anyway, Dad worked long & hard to do this, so here are a few pictures to show off his bear!! :) He does plan on getting a half mount with it. I'll show pictures when he gets that done.

If you click ONCE on the picture, it will open up to a bigger view.
Here is a picture shortly after the kill. I can't tell if Dad's smile is so big because of how excited he is or if he's terrified that the bear really isn't all the way dead yet. haha! :) Live weight on the bear was about 260 pounds (that means that's how much it weighed before it was gutted).

This is how many guns that Dad brought with him for safety. Luckily, he only had to shoot one of them to get the bear. heeheehee... :)

Finally...a picture of his lucky huntin' hat... Can you guess who he was visiting when he got that hat?!?! :o)

Great job, Dad! This is pretty cool and I'm glad that you had a successful hunt! Love you!! :)

Tires 'n stuff

2010-09-15T16:45:00.004-06:00

I bought new tires for my car today! After a few phone calls, I finally laid $499 on the table for four brand-spankin' new tires. Since winter is coming sooner than later, I figured it'd be better for me to be prepared with new tires since my other ones were practically bald!! Buying tires, as always, was an interesting experience and not one that I enjoy very much. The quoted price for four tires of varying brands, but similar styles, ranged from $72 per tire to $183 per tire. This was after calling four different shops in town. I ended up going with a middle-of-the-line-price by purchasing four Cooper tires. Here's to hoping that they treat me well!! :)

School is going good. I'm really learning a lot from my Public Relations class and my Relationship Ethics class, so I enjoy attending those classes. My third class, Advanced Communication Theory, is not that great and the instructor is difficult to tolerate because of his rudeness and crudeness. I don't dare say anything, though, because he's the kind that would take it out on you in your grades. So, needless to say, I'm looking forward to December and the end of the semester. Only eleven more weeks of class and then one week of finals! Wahoo! Wait...is it a little too early to start that countdown? :)

I've already started looking at tickets to fly to Wisconsin at Christmas. I can't believe that it's time to look at that already! It's been great to have mom & dad come out here and visit more often throughout the year. They are loving retirement and I'm loving that they're retired!!! :)

Since fall seems to be settling in for everyone, I decided to change the blog's background to some pretty fall foliage. It's my favorite season!!

Things at work have slowed down TREMENDOUSLY, thank goodness. Now I'm just trying to stay motivated with actually catching up!! When things slow down, it's easy to get into a mood of wanting to slow down a little, too, but it's important that I keep plugging along and GET AHEAD with things!

I purchased season tickets again for the university's women's basketball team. I'm not sure that I'll make it to all of the games, but as a friend reminded me, I'm still supporting the team with my purchase! :)

Hope you're doing well on this fine September day! Happy fall! :)

More thoughts, bullet style :)

2010-09-06T22:16:00.002-06:00

It's been a LONG while since I've posted, but things have been going good! I have been SUPER busy with work and school and I'm really hoping that it will slow down starting this week. We had a drop/add deadline finish up on Friday so students have to file petitions to drop classes now and usually once that deadline passes, things slow down quite a bit. I sure hope so!!
My classes...I really like them! I really enjoy two of them and one of them...well, let's say that I'll tolerate it because I don't have a choice about it. :) It's just a drag because the professor is so obnoxious, but I'll manage just fine. The other two classes are the ones that I'm excited about..."Public Relations" and "Relationship Ethics." Both have proven to be VERY interesting so far! I think I'll learn a lot from them!
I had to have our spring 2011 schedule loaded into the system by midnight last Friday, so I stayed late to work on it. After getting everything finished, I went to the folder for my Communication degree program and took a peek at the classes they're tentatively offering this spring and I'm excited about how things might work out! It looks like they're planning on a class on Tuesday nights and another one on Thursday nights and both are ones that I can take and ones that would let me graduate! Wahoo! :) Let's hope that things go accordingly and that they don't CHANGE the plans of what they're offering! :) It would sure be nice to have two nights of classes and that's it!! It's two separate classes that meet only ONE time a week, so that would be NICE! :)
As I already said, work has been SUPER busy. I've worked late almost every night since the 23rd, Fridays included. It's not my most favorite time of year, but it would probably go a lot better if the students would LISTEN to the directions that they're given, whether from me or from one of their professors. I have become a firm believer that it's okay to repeat directions to students three or four times because the reality is that they're probably only going to hear the info ONCE.
Mom, Dad & Luke's (my brother) visit was short, but super sweet! :) They pulled into town on Friday the 27th and left on Monday morning the 30th. We had a good time and laughed a lot and drove each other crazy some moments, but it was great!! :) I took them to the mountains one afternoon to see some scenery and that's about the "biggest" thing we did. We had some shopping trips and a potluck supper, but other than that, we just hung out and relaxed. It was NICE and I'm really looking forward to my time home at Christmas!!
This week marks the official LEAP into the academic year. Two weeks down and 14 more to go before this semester ends and then I begin my LAST semester as a college student!! I'm so ecstatic about that! Mom & Dad asked, "What will you do then?" I said, "Start a Master's program?" haha... :) We'll see! :)
Yesterday I ordered a new computer! Yay! It's a Dell desktop with a LOT more speed and functionality. It's due to arrive on the 22nd, so I'm excited for that day to arrive!
Have a great week!

Thoughts on life

2010-08-27T08:29:00.002-06:00

My parents & brother are coming to town today!! I'm very excited to see them! They'll leave on Monday when I go to work, so it's a short visit for them.
I have been feeling a bit "blue" for the last couple weeks now. I can't figure out if it's a seasonal depression that's going on or if it's more than that. This week has been better, thank goodness. I've been super busy this week, though, so maybe I didn't have enough to do over the last couple weeks? Who knows...
I am so over school right now. I have two classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and one class on Tuesdays & Thursdays. All of them are over the lunch hour. I've decided that it's rough not to have ONE day off from having classes (when working full time).
In 15 weeks, I will be turning 30. Thirty!!! Yikes!! What am I going to do?!?!
Why do people have to be so rude? If there is one thing that will leave me speechless, it's when complete strangers make comments TO ME in a public setting about my weight. It just baffles me. And we're talking rude and mean comments, too. It's not just a general observation or an "engage in conversation" comment. It's a flat-out rude comment about my appearance. Why do people have to do that? Do they not think that I already struggle as it is that they have to add their two cents worth? I just can't imagine doing that to someone, especially about something so sensitive.
Back to school...my new mantra is, "I can do this, I can do this!!!" :o)
Have a great day!!

Break time

2010-08-20T09:27:00.002-06:00

I'm tired of blogging and I'm super busy right now. I'll blog when I can, but maybe not for a few more days.

Tiredness

2010-08-13T19:25:00.006-06:00

Yesterday evening I was reading through past blog posts that I have on here and I thought, "Man...there seems to be a consistent pattern of sounding all down and depressed." I'm going to try and be more uplifting. But I'll start after today. Maybe. :)

So, it's 7:25 PM and I'm just heading out the door from work. I'm taking home a stack of stuff, too, and I plan to work from home all day tomorrow. At least I'll be able to stay home, though, and sit in my jammies while I work. :) If need be, I'll come in to the office on Sunday afternoon/evening, depending on how I feel.

You see, the University starts classes on August 23. Our graduate students are reporting back this coming Monday already (Aug. 16). And I have LOTS to do before they all show up!!!! Ack!! So, I'm trying to work, work, work so that when things actually DO get rolling, it won't be as traumatizing to let a few things "go" for a couple of days. :)

Tonight, though, I'm just going to CHILL OUT and read a book. *sigh* :o) Okay, maybe I'll do some laundry, too, but we'll see. :)

My good friend, Meegan, reminded me today that I hadn't put anything up about finishing school. Oops! I finished and I have been GLAD to be done! Although, I honestly don't feel like I've felt like I'm relaxing and having a break because I know that in the blink of an eye, I'll be starting three more classes again. I haven't felt annoyed by that or anything, but I just don't feel like I've really been able to just fully relax. It probably doesn't help that I've made plans for about every night of the week since my last class ended. ha! I told my mom that I'll have to start classes again just so I can slow down a little!! *laugh* Anyway, I finished the semester on a good note...I took four classes (for a total of 12 credits) and I got three A's and one B. I can't complain about that!!! :o)

And that's all for now! I need to get home and eat some supper. I hope that you all have a great weekend!! I have to say...our seasons are changing!! This morning I left home and I almost went back in the house to get a jacket!! It was a bit chilly!!! It's been in the 40's at night and you CAN feel it. THIS is the time of year that I really love. *sigh* :o)

More images from the wedding

2010-08-06T10:54:00.010-06:00

Here are some more pictures from Monique & Daren's wedding day, courtesy of Esther (friend of mine & Mo's) and Karen (Mo's step-mom).

Again...for EVERY picture, if you click on it once, it will open up to a bigger screen and you will be able to get a better look at it. ENJOY!!!

Monique's family...minus her brother & sister-in-law, Monte & Poppy, and brother-in-law, Morgan, who both couldn't make it to the wedding. :( Monique's sisters, brother-in-law, and nieces/nephews to the right and step-siblings (and Lana's spouse :) to the left.

A beautiful picture... :)

Monqiue's nieces & nephews...if you can't already tell, I just love these kids! They're great! :)

Monique being handed over in marriage by her dad. You can see the Kendrick Mansion in the background. It's a museum now. It was just all a very pretty setting for a wedding!

Brent, Mo and Me...we have been the three partners in crime for a long time now. I'm glad we have this picture. :)

Monique & Daren with the parents...his folks on the left, Loren & Lil, and Mo's dad and stepmom on the right, Karen & Dave.

These girls just had a lovely time together. They're cousins who don't get to see each other all that often, but they're thick as thieves when they're together! It's great to see! :)

Monique with her dad, Dave, and her twin sisters, Melody (left) and Michelle (right).

Part of the get-away plan for Mo & Daren involved bubbles...some folks couldn't wait until the get-away to blow bubbles so there were bubbles everywhere for awhile. I love this picture because of the joy on Monique & Daren's faces. It's priceless! :)

More of those who were having too much fun with the bubbles. I hope they don't get after me for posting this picture. ha! :)

The guestbook table...the sign in the center said, "All because two people fell in love" and then they had pictures of parents, grandparents and great-grandparents surrounding it. Daren's family pics were on the right and Mo's were on the left (second picture below). It was neat to see! They also had the bottles of bubbles for later on as well as packets of wildflowers that you could take and plant in order to remember the day. On a side note...That's my arm you see in the picture. I was responsible for taking pictures of the guests so they could place the picture in the guestbook later on (next to the person's signature). I was also responsible for making sure that the children didn't take six tubes of bubbles at one time. That job was more tough than the picture taking. ha!

(Below) The picture of Monique & Daren is in the center...her dad & step-mom's wedding picture is to the right of that (just behind theirs) and her dad & mom's wedding picture is to the left of that (just behind theirs). Mo's mom passed away almost four years ago now and I thought that this was a nice way to remember her this day. In their wedding picture, she & Dave are around 18, I believe. Pretty close to that age, anyway, and quite YOUNG on that wedding day long ago. :)

A Friend, Amy, had asked about a picture of the cake in the previous post. There was no cake that day! Instead, Monique & Daren had milk and cookies!! The milk wasn't out yet, but you can see the bottles they used on the right (these were engraved with their name & wedding date and given out as thank-you gifts later on...I got one! Wahoo!) :)

The happy couple...

The food table...there were grapes, cheese & crackers, cold roast beef for sandwiches (with mustard or horseradish to add to your sandwich), asparagus, strawberry salad, and then these sticks of rosemary with mozzarella, artichoke and salami on them (like a kabob...I don't know how to explain them, really, but they were good). It was delicious!!

Miss Ivey, Monique's niece. She belongs to Michelle & Morgan...

The twin sisters, Melody (left) and Michelle (right).

Daren & his brother, Ryan.

Monique & Daren's Wedding

2010-07-31T22:22:00.016-06:00

Well, the wedding was absolutely beautiful!! The weather was wonderful (low 90's) and the ceremony & reception were just as wonderful. I started crying as soon as the wedding party came around the corner (I'd been feeling it build up since I got up that morning) and I pretty much did not STOP crying until we were on our way to the reception. :( But, as I told others, it was a happy-sad cry. I'm VERY happy for Monique & Daren and I'm thrilled that I could be there with them, but I will sure miss Mo. Don't worry, though...I've already added it to my "places to travel" list! Wahoo!! ;o)

Now...the pictures. Before I start, please take note...for EVERY picture, if you click on it once, it will open up to a bigger screen and you will be able to get a better look at it. ENJOY!!!

I arrived an hour and a half after they started taking pictures, so I got one of D & M with all of the nieces and nephews and another one of everyone visiting BEFORE the wedding ceremony.

Now, this next picture is hard for me to talk about. It was a "bridezilla" moment of Mo's. She decided that she did NOT like where the ceremony was set up (because of the sun), so she kind of forced everyone to help her move things.
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Oh, yeah right...like MO would do that!!!! :o) After some discussion by MANY people involved, it was decided that it would be better to move the ceremony setting BACK about 15 feet so that everyone (bridal party included) could be in the shade for most of the ceremony. So, everyone that had a free hand started moving chairs back...including the bride and groom!!! :o)

But what did Grandpa Ray do to help? Why, he held Mo's flowers!! What a gentleman!!! ;)

Monique & Daren with Dean and Scott. Dean & Scott had a part in the wedding ceremony...Dean spoke, Scott prayed.

Monique & Daren with John & Esther. I *love* this picture!! :o)

Then, it was TIME FOR THE WEDDING TO START!!! I included the following picture because it's the only one I captured of Daren's mom & dad, Loren & Lil.

Monique & her Dad after he just walked her up the aisle.

Dean is sharing his message.

The group of singers. I believe that the title of the song they were singing was "Homes of Zion". Monique might have to correct me on that one later. It was a beautiful song and the singers really did a nice job with it!!

The vows.

After the vows were said, rings exchanged and the kiss to "seal the deal," Mo's nieces and nephews sang a hymn from our hymn book, number 226, "O, Teach me how to love." They did a FANTASTIC job!!! I was SO impressed with them and VERY proud of them!! :) (P.S. -- Mo's step-mom, Karen, made the dresses for the girls. Aren't they cute?! This is a good picture, too, to kind of see what dress Monique's sisters, Melody & Michelle, chose for the wedding. I'm not sure where they bought them from, but I thought they were very lovely!)

Daren & Monique as Mr. & Mrs.!!!!!

I caught this picture as they were walking away and I think it's one of my FAVORITE pictures from the day. I just love the simplicity of it.

Saying congratulations and some visiting before the reception.

At the reception. My job for the wedding involved taking pictures for the guest book, so my personal pictures of the reception aren't very organized. I was happy with what I captured, though!

The next couple pictures show the "damage" done to the car! Yes...these pictures were cropped to protect the reputation of those who had a hand in this car makeover. ;o) They were actually very nice to Daren & Mo's car, thank goodness. :) If you click on the first picture, it will open up to a larger view and you can see the GREAT pictures that someone drew on the front windshield of Daren & Monique. It was quite hilarious!! ;)

Signing the marriage license to make it official.

Getting ready for the bride & groom to make their get-away! We had BUBBLES to blow on them as they ran through!! :)

I didn't do so well on this shot, but Daren & Monique are right in the center of this picture. Click on it to make it larger, if you'd like.

THE END!! It was an absolutely LOVELY day and I think that Monique did a wonderful job with putting this wedding together. It was simple and elegant and heart-warming and special. I was glad to be there and I hope I "captured" the day in a way that's acceptable to all of you!! :) If there is a special something you'd like to see from the day, please let me know! I may be able to get my hands on a picture taken by someone else and I could possibly post it here. That being said, if you were at the wedding and want to e-mail me some pictures to post, please feel free to do so! I sure wouldn't mind posting pictures here that others took as I know that I did not capture everything! :)

It's here!!!!

2010-07-30T07:00:00.003-06:00

Well, the time has arrived for me to go to Monique & Daren's wedding!!! :) I'll be leaving later this morning for the five hour trip, so please keep your fingers crossed for a safe, uneventful drive. My friend, Brent, is riding with me, so that will make the drive tolerable. :)

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks good, too! The temps are supposed to be in the low 90's (ugh!) but no thunderstorms are predicted, so that's good. Even if it does rain, though, we'll manage. Isn't there some old saying about rain being good luck on a wedding day? Anyway, for Mo's nerves, we'll hope for a DRY day!! :o)

Monique will be at the rehearsal dinner tonight, so instead of sitting by myself at the hotel, I will be going to supper with my good friends, John & Esther. I am really looking forward to that! :) It will be good to catch up with them!

The wedding will be at 10:30 AM tomorrow (Saturday) with a luncheon reception to follow. Be thinking of them and sending happy wishes their way!! :o) I hope to be home tomorrow night but not knowing how long the day will be, I'm not going to promise pictures until at least Sunday. Come to think of it, I really don't know if I'll be able to get pictures up until later this week! Sorry!

hahaha... Just kidding!!!! :D Pictures by Sunday night!! :) Enjoy your weekend!!!

Three down, ONE to go!!!

2010-07-23T23:28:00.003-06:00

Wahoo!! I just finished another class!! :o) I just submitted my final paper for my history class on American women's experiences and now I am DONE with that class! Yay!! My paper ended up being an eight page paper, so that wasn't too bad but I am still glad to be done with it. Really, it was the easiest of all of my classes so I can't complain. I'm just glad that I can have some FUN now!! :o) I have one more class to finish up and with that class, I have two discussion posts to participate in next week and then we get a week to study for the final exam on August 6. Other than that, I'm done with that class, too. Yay! :)

Classes for the fall semester will begin on August 23 and I'll be taking three classes this fall. Hopefully it won't be as intense, though, because I'll be completing the courses in 16-week time periods rather than eight (like this summer has been). So...a little bit of a break before I start again! I'm just HAPPY to be almost done for the summer!! WAHOO!!! :)

Mosie

2010-07-19T12:50:00.004-06:00

Today is kind of a sad day. My good friend, Mosie (Monique or Mo to some of you) is moving on to a new town. She is going to be marrying Daren soon (end of July) and they'll be living on a farm located smack in the middle of some great plains. It's only about...TWELVE HOURS from me!!! Ugh!

I am excited for her and I know that they'll be very happy, but I am going to miss having my friend living a block away from me!! Fortunately, I'll get to see her a couple more times before her big wedding day and permanent move. *sigh* Change is never easy, is it? I'm excited for Mo, but I'll miss her lots!

Congratulations and best of luck to both of you!!! :o)

PS -- Mo, if Daren doesn't want his picture on my blog...well, then don't tell him it's on here. ;o) Just kidding! I hope he doesn't mind!! :)

This just in!

2010-07-19T11:25:00.003-06:00

Apparently, I'm cynical. :) I had mentioned the other day what my friend said and that other friends are 50/50 on whether or not I'm cynical. However, this weekend, we looked up the definition and although a lot of them say "motivated by selfishness" (which I do not believe is me (and if YOU think that's me...don't tell me)), right smack in the middle of the definition it says, "Doubtful as to whether something will happen or is worthwhile." I must say that I'm not usually so skeptical about whether something will happen, but I do often question if the "thing" that's happening would be WORTH happening (if that makes any sense). :) So...I guess I'm a cynic! I'm not so sure how I feel about that, but I guess that I really can't argue it because that's how I feel! My thought process is usually, "Yes, it's fine if you want do that (whatever "that" is), but I really don't know if I think it's worth the energy that goes into making it work!" So there you go! Another mystery solved. :)

sigh

2010-07-15T13:42:00.007-06:00

My last post had been titled "Wednesday" (because I was talking about what was happening for that day) and I realized just now that I thought it was Wednesday at the time that I was writing and it was really only Tuesday. *sigh*

I hate when you have days at work where things happen and you feel like you're being treated like a 10-year-old and you feel like you should go take a time-out in your room or something. All because of how people approach you with a situation. *sigh*

For some reason I have been feeling SO tired lately and I'm not sure if it's just the warm weather outside and so I'm not sleeping that well or if I'm just not getting enough sleep. All I know is that the biggest effect on me (besides feeling tired) is that it makes me want to cry over the smallest things. I hate when my response to something is that I just want to cry. Dad has always said to me, "Cry over something worth crying about." and today's situation was NOT worth crying about, but because I feel so tired...I just wanted to cry. *sigh*

On a positive note, I have tomorrow off of work. Wahoo! :) I have a doctor's appointment in a near-by city and then I'm going to do a little shopping. It will be a nice, relaxing day and I plan to enjoy every minute of it and the nice weather we're having!!! :) *sigh*

On another positive note, my car is all fixed up and cleaned up and I have it back full-time now. Yay! I had to take it back in yesterday so that they could re-do some things and now it's in tip-top shape. The only downer is that the person who cleaned my car must have taken out the sunshield (that you put in the front window) and they forgot to put it back in. So...it's gone and now I need to go buy a new one. *sigh*

Tuesday

2010-07-13T15:00:00.004-06:00

So, I was reminded again today how much I hate confrontation. Even if it's not angry confrontation and is perfectly calm, I still don't like it. I worry too much about hurting people's feelings. Why can't I be better with that kind of thing? It's like I operate on two options with confrontation: 1) hold it in and never say a word, hoping it will go away, or 2) let my anger get the best of me and then I say things I regret and end up apologizing anyway. Oh, whatever. I'm just glad that I'm not a manager of people. I don't think I'd do real well. :)

Well, I thought that once I finished another class, I'd have little more free time on my hands, but thus far, I have not felt that way! :( What's up with that, anyway? Maybe it's because I've not really put much effort into my classes since I turned my paper in on Sunday. Hmmm...I might be on to something. :)

So, my friend told me the other day that I'm cynical about men. For those of you that know me, do you agree? I've asked a few other friends about it and so far the response back is 50/50. I'm not sure if they're afraid to tell the truth or if half of my friends are oblivious to some characteristic of mine.

I had to get to a drain last night that's located UNDER my dryer. I only found out that it's under my DRYER after I had pulled the WASHER out from the wall. Sheesh. Needless to say, the floor under the washer AND dryer are all clean now. That's a plus, I guess. :)

I have had some ants roaming around my bathroom for a few days, so I put out some Raid-killer-ant-food-traps and voila...ants have not returned. But then I found one in the kitchen yesterday, so I put a trap out there. I really don't know if it's the traps that worked or if it's the fact that the remaining ants could smell the death of their "ant friends" that I had smushed prior to my purchase of the traps. I like to think it was a combo of both. :)

Okay, all for now. Just thought I'd throw a little info out there to make your world a better place. Ta-ta 'til later! :o)

PS -- I just watched a crow eat two worms and let me tell ya something...they don't CHEW!! I mean, even though spaghetti is easy to slurp down, don't you usually chew it, too? Well, why wouldn't a bird chew it's food? Gross.

Two down, Two to go.

2010-07-12T00:33:00.006-06:00

I just finished up another class! Wahoo! That's two down and two more to go. One of the two left actually "officially" finished today but he gave us a TWO WEEK extension on our final paper. I don't have to have it submitted unitl the 23rd. WAHOO!!!! My fourth (and final!) class will end on August 6. I already feel less stressed!! Yippee!! :)

On a side note, check out this wild video of Jocelyn's baby girl who is ROLLING OVER already at only 11 DAYS OLD!!! (When you click on the link, the page that loads will have a black video box in the middle...just press the play button in the left hand corner and the video should start playing.) Anyway, I've never seen such a thing!!! Go, Briley, Go!! I don't know what Jocelyn feeds her, but it must be some good stuff, eh? ;o)

Generation Y

2010-07-10T12:41:00.002-06:00

My Mom shared this with me in an e-mail today. :)

The Silent Generation are people born before 1946.

The Baby Boomers are people born between 1946 and 1959.

Generation X are people born between 1960 and 1989.

Generation Y are people born between 1990 and now. Why do we call the last one generation Y? I did not know, but a cartoonist explains it eloquently below...Learned something new today:

Now, make someone else laugh. Have a great day!

Friday Update

2010-07-09T08:25:00.002-06:00

I got my car back on Wednesday but they didn't do a thorough job with things so it's going back in next Wednesday. This time, though, it seems like I'll be using the loaner car that the rental shop owns, so we'll see how that goes.

Things are going okay with finishing up my classes. I didn't get as much accomplished this week as I wanted to due to a 14-page take-home exam (front to back pages, mind you), but I'm still plugging along!

Tonight, I have to post in the discussion groups of two of my online classes with the assigned readings, write a two-page presentation paper, and start a research paper. The end is in sight! :)

Another Rental

2010-07-07T10:21:00.003-06:00

So, my car is in the body shop getting "internal" repairs taken care of. I took it in yesterday and they thought it would only take a day, but that I should plan on two. I'm glad I planned on two because I haven't heard from them yet! I got another rental car, though, and they said, "Do you want a car or more of a small SUV?" I said, "Small SUV!!" :) This time, it's ALL covered by my insurance, too, so that's even more fun! :) (I willingly paid a little extra for the last rental.)

So, here's what I've been driving for the last 24 hours...a Nissan Rogue. I like it, but I definitely like the Buick Enclave (that I had a couple weeks ago) a LOT better. This little Nissan has some serious "get-up and go," though! It's been fun! :) I'll be glad to have my OWN car back again, though! :)

All for now!

Last Week of 12 Credits!!!

2010-07-06T09:42:00.002-06:00

So, this is officially my LAST week of having 12 credits (four classes) for the summer session. I am SO excited about that!!! This was probably one of the dumbest things that I've ever attempted to do! Live and learn, though. I will have knocked off four classes in a short time period, so I guess I should be glad about that. It was tough work, though. I'm not sure if it was worth all of the time and effort. All it saved me from was having to take three classes in the spring. My fall schedule will be three classes (nine credits) and my spring schedule will now be two classes (six credits). After that, I'll be DONE! Yahoo!

So...this week, I will accomplish the following: Read 28 chapters of readings from various textbooks; write a final paper that's due tomorrow (Wednesday); complete a take-home exam that's due on Thursday; complete a paper that's due on Friday; complete a 10-page paper that's due on Sunday; start a six page paper that's due next week; start studying for an exam that I'll have next week (in the ONE online class that I'll have through August). My point? I'll have a VERY busy week.

All for now! Hope you have a good week!

Happy 4th of July!!!

2010-07-04T05:00:00.000-06:00

Have a wonderful Fourth of July holiday!! It's my favorite holiday of the year and I plan to enjoy every minute of it!! :o)

Life

2010-06-25T11:48:00.004-06:00

Okay, my window is fixed and things are pretty much back to normal. I have an appointment on July 6 to have the inside work done on the car, but the back windshield has been replaced and my car is driveable again (thank goodness!). :)

I'm still struggling this week to get caught up on coursework. I went to my yearly church convention last weekend and then to visit some friends on Monday night (friends who used to live nearby but now live SEVEN hours away) and I tell ya what...all of that time away really put me behind in schoolwork! Don't get me wrong...I enjoyed every minute of it. I've just had to work double time to catch up and I still feel like I'm struggling with it. This weekend, though, I have no plans, so hopefully I'll get caught up AND get ahead on things.

We were thinking that because of budget cuts, the University wasn't going to plant flowers outside our building this year. :( Guess what?! They showed up today and filled up the flower bed! Yay! Usually this is done at the beginning of June but I think that the cooler weather this summer slowed them down a bit. If you remember from previous posts, these flowers end up being quite beautiful (see below)!! I'm glad they didn't cut them out because of budget cuts. :)

Have a good weekend!!

Car Damage

2010-06-23T10:53:00.002-06:00

Well, here's my pretty little window! The insurance adjustor came by today and the damage isn't too terrible, but enough to cost a few pennies. :) Fortunately, my car damage was NOT as bad as some others', so I can't complain.

The "window guy" is coming sometime this afternoon to replace the window. I'm looking forward to that! :) I also went out to the body shop and set up an appointment for July 6 to get the back inside panel fixed (the back panel that you see in the second picture) as well as the dents to the exterior of the car. There are only small nickel-sized dents, so nothing too bad. I'll be glad when everything is DONE and I have my car back full-time! :)

Medical Bill #1

2010-06-22T08:47:00.002-06:00

Of course, most of my medical bills would show up in the mail yesterday...a day after my car is damaged by a storm. *sigh* Oh, well. Such is life.

Anyway, medical bill number one totals $3,916.65. This will be the biggest bill, I think, since it's for the nuclear medicine dept.

My insurance covers $3,387.90, so I have to pay out-of-pocket $528.75.

My point? I am thankful that I have health insurance. You really learn how valuable it can be in situations like this. I truly feel for people who get caught in huge medical crises without any health insurance. I honestly don't know if a person would ever financially recover! :(

Okay...all for now! I'm off to pay my bills! :)

Oh, and...

A simple Saturday

Windy!

Happy New Year!!!

Wisconsin

Catching up...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It has been too long.

So, here's a question for you...

Do you want to come visit?

Mikhail Gorbachev came to town!

Snow storm update

*le sigh*

Fall Season

Lots 'o flowers!

Fun times continued!

Fun times!

Catching up...

How?

Hello!!

A Monday update

Happy 4th of July!!!

A special delivery

Sorry!

Church convention/retreat

Week in review

Plugging along...

Me *LOVES* Flowers!!

What I'm up to...

I am DONE!!

Whew...I think they like me.

How my mum rolls.

Doing well!

Fun

Sleep IS my best friend!

Whizziness 'n stuff.

My quilt

Dads rock.

Lovely...

A bullet day! :)

Life continues...

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Streaming the news

And the cold continues...

Busy & Cold

Just pluggin' along..

Happy New Year!

Still here!

Wisco

I'm 30 today!!!

Look what I got!!! :)

DONE!

Catching up...again...

I love birthdays.

Sunday musings

It's a-blowin' out there!!

I'm missing...

A week? Really?

Lazy Sunday

The past and the present

Snow.

Time Change!!

Colds are crummy

Voting

Happy November 1!!!

Inspiring

catching up!

A week of reminiscing

There is BEAUTY in the world!!!

ugh.

Happiness

Just an 'ol homebody.

Another weekend done.

I'm tired.

I think I'm in trouble.

I did it.

Friday FUN!

Musings

He dun kilt him a baar!!!

Tires 'n stuff

le sigh

Me LOVES Flowers!!

sigh