Sorry!

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

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

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...

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!!

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...

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!!

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)