Another Season Fades Away...

Thankful...

2011-01-10T07:35:00.003-06:00

I was thinking last night about some of the things I'm thankful for. I know November has come and gone, which I'm sure is the month rated highest for posts listing what a person is thankful for, but I say you can be thankful all year round. So here is a brief list of what I'm thankful for these days in no particular order...

sleep
chocolate
the Bible
my Sisters
DVR
skinny jeans with comfy boots
internet
books
my Parents
phone conversations with my mom
spending Sundays in Church
my co-workers
laughter
coffee
ability to travel
water
sunshine
good movies
music
cotton tshirts
the ocean
cameras
comfy blankets
hair ties and bobby pins
my dad's banana bread
good friends

This just scratches the surface. I'm sure I could go on and on if I thought long enough. Oh, I just thought of one...pain reliever...for my headache. Yea... that's s definite one to be thankful for. I think I'll go get some now.

Until......

First Snow...

2010-12-04T18:14:00.004-06:00

Well the first snow of the year fell yesterday. It was kind of exciting. I love the look of fresh fallen snow. :) This cold weather that accompanies it is not my favorite, however. Makes me miss this...

My Christmas tree is up. My first Christmas tree in my first home. :) It's so pretty. One thing I know is that Christmas decorations are expensive when you have to start from scratch. I am very thankful for my $8 tree from last years Black Friday sales.

Speaking of Christmas.... I LOVE Christmas music! Thanksgiving night as I drove to work I popped in a Christmas cd and listened to my Christmas song of the year and it automatically put me in a better mood. I spent Thanksgiving night with the babies and played Christmas music all night long. The babies really enjoyed it. :)

Speaking of Christmas music... Have you heard the new song by Matthew West? It's called 'One Last Christmas'. It's a song written about and for Dax Locke and his family. Talk about bringing out the ugly cry. I had to turn the radio down tonight when it came on. Not because I don't like it, but because I don't think it's socially acceptable to be sobbing in the Starbucks drive thru. Take a listen... at your own risk. Oh, and the video makes it 10x worse!

There is a Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family. I so enjoy these movies. The books are better (as are most books that are made into movies), but I still enjoy the movies. I still haven't seen Part 1 of the last movie. I don't know what I'm waiting for. I think part of me knows that if I see the first one now it will drive me nuts to not see the rest. I also want to see the Disney movie Tangled. I've heard its really cute, so I might have to go see that soon.

I'm off for six days from work and my goal is to finish my Christmas shopping so I can stop spending money. I think my next credit card bill is going to give me an aneurysm! I'm trying to keep my focus on what this season is really about. It's a little difficult because I'm reminded that I could be potentially be working both Christmas Eve and Christmas. :( I'm on call Christmas Eve and work Christmas Day. I'm so sad that I won't get to spend that time with my family, but I see this time of year as a time for serving, and if by serving that means taking care of the babies both nights then that is what I will do.

Keep Warm!

Until....

Indian Summer (alternately 10-10-10)

2010-10-10T21:02:00.002-05:00

I was feeling like I was the only one that hadn't done a post titled "10-10-10" today, so I thought I'd get it out of the way....

I have not been able to stop humming Brooks and Dunn's song 'Indian Summer'. I can just hear Ronnie Dunn singing that chorus in my head. I love Fall and this Indian Summer is kind of cramping my style here. How am I supposed to be cuddled underneath a blanket with my fuzzy socks on if it's 80+ degrees outside??? However, as much as I love Fall weather I am trying to enjoy this weather because I know it will be fleeting and in a months time I will be craving warmer weather when it's only 40 degrees out. Although, you know what, it'll probably be longer than a month because in a months time I will be sailing the ocean blue on my cruise. :) Hopefully the weather will be like it is right now. Eighty plus degrees and sunny.
I should probably start making my list of things to take now. As long as I have my complete list I can put off packing until the day before I leave. :) Nothing like being a well thought out procrastinator.

I've picked up a new hobby recently. Crocheting. I kept seeing all of these cute hats and thought that I should just try it. I've tried knitting in the past and it just did not go well. There were too many things my hand had to control and I wasn't any good at it. Crocheting however is much easier to me. I watched an online video tutorial and just started doing it. I'm halfway done and it's looking quite funny right now. According to the video it looks wavy for a little bit, so I'm hoping that it straightens out soon otherwise I'm going to have a pretty interesting looking hat on my hands. :)

Today at church the sermon was on Esther and how obedient and courageous she was to stand up for her people and her faith. She is truly someone from the Bible I admire. I've always loved her story and haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day.

Well that is all for now I guess...

Until...

KFC Double Down

2010-09-21T22:54:00.002-05:00

"Double Meat.

Double Cheese.

Double Bacon."

Double Bypass???

These Are the Times I'm Glad I'm Not a Parent...

2010-09-21T21:04:00.002-05:00

Every year the "toy gurus" publish a long list of must have toys that parents are pretty much supposed to break their necks to purchase at Christmas time. It never ceases to amaze me the utterly creepy toys that are "must haves".
Take for example:

Sing-A-M-Jigs-- "There’s more to these tiny, plush critters than meets the eye. Press their bellies and you’ll reveal a tiny singing mouth, press their hands and you’ll hear a range of singing options. Sing-A-Ma-Jigs can sing tunes, chatter away or even sing in harmony with each other." They seem cute, but something is just "off" about them, and I'm not sure what.

Bigfoot the Monster-- "Okay, this might be a little much to pay for what basically amounts to a plastic toddler, but with the ability to talk, walk, chew, burp and throw a ball, this remote control beast could be an instant hit with your kid." This is $109! Why would anyone pay that much for a toy that is modeled after something people fear? I think not. Plus, he's two days short of a unibrow and someone should really get him some giant plastic tweezers.

Monster High Cleo DeNile and Deuce Gorgon-- "C’mon, what’s not cool about high school monsters with freaky pets? Cleo DeNile is the daughter of the Mummy and Deuce is the son of Medusa. A rat and a snake keep them company at Monster High." Absolutely NOT! No kid of mine would ever be playing with a toy named "Deuce".

Lalaloopsy Doll-- "While they look like regular rag dolls, every Lalaloopsy character comes with its own special history, including the day it was sewn, what it was sewn from (painter’s smock, clown costume, baker’s apron), and how that history has infused the doll with a special personality—artist, goofball, sugar-lover, you get the idea." This one seems cute, but it raises too many questions. For instance, did they wash the clothes they got from said painter, clown, and baker? Can the history really be "infused" into the doll? Is the doll all of a sudden going to come to life and start painting like Jackson Pollack or chopping onions like Rachel Ray? And because you have the chance of getting one with clothes made from a clown that is creepy enough in itself. Clowns are creepy people.

And amazingly parents read these articles and buy these scary toys for their kids and their kids love them! Zhu Zhu pets anyone?! *shudder*

I'm so glad I don't have kids to make me feel obligated to buy these toys. Hopefully my kids will want to play with regular old tonka trucks or baby dolls...

Until....

Rained out...Boo!

2010-09-18T13:28:00.002-05:00

Well the weather was looking pretty ominous this morning and after about 20 minutes the P-fest parade was canceled because of thunder and lightening. On the way back to the car a steady rain turned into a down pour! What a bummer! It rained for about 25 minutes and then it stopped and hasn't done more than sprinkle a little since. Too bad they couldn't have just delayed the parade or started an hour early. :/

I went with Robin's family to Qdoba for lunch (because apparently I am the "aunt" now according to Ava) and then I came home. I had some plans to maybe run to Target and Barnes and Noble, but as I sit here I am getting more and more tired. Maybe a power nap is in order first.

Until....

Pumpkin Festival!

2010-09-18T00:44:00.002-05:00

I LOVE the Pumpkin Festival! I'm a huge pumpkin fan and this festival is an excuse to gorge myself on all things pumpkin and I enjoy every second of it! Of course if you throw in a juicy pork chop sandwich I'm in heaven. :)

I've gone with Robin and her family the last two nights and it has been super fun. Hayden and I are best buds. :) Although I can only do so much for my buddy. I rode the Tilt a Whirl with him on Thursday night and I thought I was going to hurl, so no more rides for me to his disappointment. I don't think we'd be buds anymore if I barfed all over him. Ha!

Tomorrow is the parade and crafts and of course MORE FOOD!!!! Ah, I love Fall!

Until.....

Work

2010-07-25T16:14:00.003-05:00

Work is so hard right now. Pray for all the families that have tough decisions to make and sadness to endure. Also, pray for the staff that is there to care for and comfort all the precious babies and their families.

Summer Once Again....

2010-07-13T23:03:00.002-05:00

I know. I'm a big loser for not having posted sooner. I don't even know where the time went. Oh, yes I do. It went into buying a house, fixing up a house, moving in to said house, going on vacation, working like crazy.... And just like that we're in July.

Yes, I bought a house and it is lovely. It's really needed mostly cosmetic work and my dad has been WONDERFUL in helping me fix things up. My sisters have been two peaches as well for helping me paint and helping dad when I've been sleeping. Every room got painted, the kitchen got a complete face lift, and just recently the outside was painted. I think it's safe to say that there is no remnant of the 1970's in this house anymore. Yay! Next project will be new window installation in my bedroom and office. Then some minor paint changes to the upstairs and I will be calling it quits on the money spending. I'm starting to get anxiety when I check my bank account. :/

Our vacation to Disney was wonderful! We had so much fun I'm still thinking about the rides. Oh what I wouldn't give to be riding Tower of Terror in the morning. Just the thought of that stale musty air in the "hotel" makes me stomach jump a little. Clearly I have a longing for giggling hysterically, because that is exactly what I would do when we rode any ride that was a little scary. Holli was cracking up at me, but I don't care!! :)

Work is going... We are so busy right now. They are calling in extra people all the time. It is insane! It's a good thing I love my job so much! And for that matter, the people I work with. If I didn't like either it would be pretty miserable right now.

Mom is on vacation this week so we are going to head to the zoo tomorrow to see the new changes that were made this past year. I haven't been to the zoo in I don't know how long. Hopefully we don't melt from the extreme heat.

Off to bed. Sleeping is my favorite thing as of late. I don't know what is wrong with me. I'm going to start taking vitamins again in hopes that will perk me up a bit.

Until.............

Look Who's Back!

2010-02-11T20:16:00.003-06:00

I have returned. For how long? Only time will tell.

I can't believe that 2 months passed between posting in December and yesterday. I've been busy to say the least, but mostly time has just gotten away from me. This whole month of February so far I have been working every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It is no treat, but because of other things going on in my schedule it worked out that way. Next weekend will be my first weekend off this month and I can't wait! I plan on hanging out with my sisters who I have only seen glimpses of this past month.

Let's hit some quick highlights of what has been going on my life so far in this year 2010.

1. I have started house hunting...sort of. It's a slow and painful process. Right now there is not much on the market that I find appealing (or in my price range). I made myself a promise in college that I would only live at home a year after I graduated. Well, that "deadline" has come and gone and here I am still at home. It's not the worst thing by far, but it would be nice to have my own space that consisted of more than a 12x11 room. I even got tons of household items for Christmas. They are currently sitting on the floor in my room taking up space. I'm going to have to do something about that if I won't be moving out fairly soon.

2. Work has been going well. We have had periods when we are super low in census and people are being called off to stay home, then we go through spurts of having lots of kiddos, some super sick, and people are getting called in. Right now we are learning a new computer program for charting and let me tell you, it is not fun! I'm over it already and we haven't even implemented it yet. We are also getting ready for changes that will be coming when we move to the new unit that is still under construction.

3. We have been getting a lot of snow. I know that is nothing surprising since the whole country seems to be getting dumped on. I am so over this white stuff though and would appreciate some warmer weather, and soon!

4. Vacation plans have been made for 2010! Yes, we have planned yet another big vacation this year. Actually, we've planned two! The first will be in May. The three of us sisters are going to Disney! It will be my first time and I say, "It's about time!". The second was a very quick plan to go on a cruise that we heard about through out local christian radio station. It is sure to be a good time and we are taking one of my friends with us, so there will be an even number for this trip which will be nice.

5. The Bachelor started again. I was less than thrilled about this season because Jake (who was on Jillian's season) was slated to be the bachelor this time around. I thought he was too much of a "nice guy" to be the Bachelor, but he has been surprisingly good. I've been impressed with some of the choices he's made and also annoyed by some of his others [Hello! Get rid of Vienna! She's toxic and psychotic!]. Also, very sad that Ali left. I'm sure its not the last we've heard of her though.

6. American Idol is back and Ellen is the new judge!! Good riddens Paula! You can take your awkward clapping and weird critiques somewhere else, because we have Ellen now! She's very good at being straightforward about her opinion, not to mention she's funny. It will be refreshing to have someone capable of forming complete sentences and not spending time she should be critiquing performances by bickering with Simon. Can't wait to get past this Hollywood week stuff and get to the top 24!

Well, I guess that's about all for now. I need to get some sleep since I have MOPS in the morning plus I work the next 4 nights in a row. Yuk!

Until...

Temporary Home...

2010-02-10T15:36:00.001-06:00

Those words couldn't be more true. This is my temporary home.

Until.....

Twas the Night Before Christmas (Almost)...

2009-12-18T21:26:00.002-06:00

Yes it is true.. I did not fall off the edge of the earth. I can't believe how fast these last two months have gone by. It is hard to believe that a year ago I was getting prepared for my NCLEX exam. I'm glad that wretched time in my life is over!

My life has been consumed with work, sleep, spending time with family and friends, and watching Christmas movies. :)

Christmas is just around the corner and I'm a little sad. This season has gone so fast this year. I'll miss it when it's gone but also look forward to warm weather, sunshine, shorts.... I can almost smell the cool spring breeze now.

Just wanted to check in and say hello. I'll try and post Christmas pictures in a couple weeks.

Until....

I feel like I'm missing something...

2009-11-10T22:53:00.002-06:00

Yes, you can believe what your eyes are seeing. I have finally posted a new update. I have been so busy these last few weeks that I am just now catching my breath. However, I'm sure in the coming weeks until Thanksgiving I will be crazy busy again.

Ashley's wedding was perfect. She looked beautiful, the reception was tons of fun, and she was calm, cool, and collected the entire day. I hope she got to take in every detail and enjoy it, because the day went by in a whirlwind.

My mind/body has decided it wants to be on a day schedule, and I don't like it. Ever since Ashley's wedding I have been getting up early, which makes me tired and want to go to bed earlier, which repeats the vicious cycle. I am, as I type, fighting the urge to let my eyelids fall and relax into slumberland for the night. I'm trying to hold off until at least midnight, but I don't see that happening. I guess being off for six days in a row doesn't help the matter of switching back to my night schedule.

Oh, and another thing not helping my cause.... Nocturnal One 3.0 has made itself known in the past 24 hours. I am serious, how is it getting in the wall?! That's just gross! I'm starting to envision the rat king from the Nutcracker devising a plan to break through the wall soon. Hopefully I move out before that actually happens.

A big change in the last two weeks is I got my hair chopped off. It's in between my chin and my shoulders. I'm sort of getting used to it, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss my long locks. It was so much easier to pull up, and style. I think I'll be happier when it's a inch or so longer. I even contemplated taking vitamins to help grow it out faster, and I hate vitamins. Well, that's a lie. I don't hate vitamins, I hate the huge pills they come in. I have a phobia of swallowing pills. I might have to suck it up with that though. You can't take Flinstone vitamins forever.....can you?

Here's to hoping NO 3.0 quiets down for the night and I can get some good rest for work tomorrow night. I'd be happy with being able to sleep until 11a. One can dream...

Until...............

Touching video...

2009-10-14T17:58:00.002-05:00

This is yet another thing that has made me cry lately.

Just a little insight into a small (minute really) fraction of what I deal with in my job.

Until.......

Love is in the Air... Everywhere I Look Around...

2009-10-13T22:56:00.003-05:00

October is officially the month of love this year. Forget February, October is when all the lovey dovey stuff is happening!

I started the month off with a weekend road trip with some girlfriends down to St Louis for a mutual friend from work's wedding. The wedding was gorgeous! The ceremony was outside and the weather couldn't have been any nicer for them. The reception was a lot of fun and I'm glad we could go and support our friend on such a happy day for her.

As soon as we got back it was business as usual for the next week. Then I had a super busy week with work and then a bridal luncheon and bachelorette party for one of my best friends Ashley, who is getting married next weekend. All of these events have been fun but with all the business and such I think I got too run down and developed a cold this past week. I was feeling quite horrendous Saturday night, and then Sunday was a full day of layying on the couch snuggling up with the DVR. Monday I ventured out with my mom (she had the day off for Columbus Day) to go help assemble Bibles at church. We are sending them to the World Cup. It's part of a program we do at church. We've helped this specific organization the last 4 years, but this was the first time I'd actually been able to go and help. It was a nice ministry to be a part of, but I think I over did it my first day back in the real world. I've been taking 3-4 hour naps this past week, and I seriously need to stop that. My nose is getting better and my cough is pretty minimal now, so it's time to regain my strength and get back to my routine since I'll be doing 5 in a row this weekend. All for the price of love. :) The wedding I'm in is next weekend and I have things to do before then, so 5 in a row it is.

Speaking of weddings... did you see the Office wedding. Jim and Pam finally got married! I was a little disappointed with the beginning of the episode, but the end more than made up for it when they did a parody off of this real life wedding. I was cracking up! I coincidentally was reading an article tonight that referenced that video and so I linked over to watch it because it is just so classic. However, I found myself tearing up a little bit. I have most recently been a pile of goo about everything! I have no idea why, but the slightest things bring me tears. That video, for instance, the Office, the baby department in JC Penney's. I'm slowly becoming a nutcase! Maybe once November rolls around I will return to a stable emotional state.

Well, I am off to bed to read more of my book, which just so happens to be about four best friends who run a wedding planning business together. I'm a glutton for punishment....

Until......................

Growing Pains Theme Song

2009-10-07T15:56:00.003-05:00

Here is Chris Daughtry and Dane Cooks version of the Growing Pains theme song. :)

Until......

You think you haven't heard from me now...

2009-09-16T00:50:00.002-05:00

Just wait until October. I will be virtually non-existent on here. I have so much on my calendar for next month it will be Thanksgiving before I know it.

I really can't remember much of the last week besides working. I do know that tonight I went and got a hookup so that I could connect our DVR. Yes, people, we have purchased a DVR. We are finally out of the stone-age! Well, Dad and I are. Mom will very begrudgingly be forced into it. I've already had to write down step by step instructions for mom on how to turn the tv on and off. It will be an adventure for sure.

Tomorrow is Nurse Residency and I couldn't be loathing it more (actually it's after midnight, so it's today). The only reason to wake up in the morning is the fact that the Pumpkin Festival starts tomorrow and I'm very excited to go eat all things pumpkin. Doughnuts, ice cream, etc.... Yum!

I really should go to bed. I'll only get 5 hours as it is. :( Stupid Nurse Residency....

Until........

Mr. Sandman and I Have a Close Relationship...

2009-09-08T18:55:00.003-05:00

In the past 29 hours I have slept a total of 21 of those.

Yesterday morning when I got off of work I had intended to go to sleep for a couple of hours and then get up as usual to enjoy my two days off. Well, when I got home my mom informed me that she and the girls were running to the mall and a few other places so I of course wanted to go as to not miss out on the fun activities. I jumped in the shower real quick and made myself some coffee. We were out the door a little after 8:30a.

I wasn't feeling too bad. I was surprisingly awake for having just worked three nights in a row and getting up early the day before so I could attend my family's annual fish fry. We ran to Bed, Bath & Beyond, Target [Where I got another coffee. Mmm... hello Pumpkin Spice Latte. It was nice to get reacquainted.], a few other miscellaneous places, and then lunch at the Olive Garden. Soup, salad & bread sticks! We ran a few other places I can't recall at this time. My mind was getting fuzzy at this point.

We arrived home a little after 1p and I jumped on my computer to check email, facebook, and a few blogs. I also emailed Holli a Ha-larious video from a SNL skit and then noticed that I was falling asleep while still poised to type on the computer. I thought it best to put the laptop down before it slipped off my lap onto the floor. I threw some pj's on and was sound asleep a few minutes after 2p.

I woke up around 7:45p to go to the bathroom [two coffees, and two tall glasses of water will do that to ya]. I promptly crawled back into bed and fell asleep until 2a. I knew I was going to be wide awake at some ungodly hour of the morning. So I laid in bed for a good 15 minutes before I decided I should just get up and do something. I grabbed my computer on my way back from the bathroom and cruised the internet for a while, while also texting some friends. Yes, I had friends still awake. They were on break at work.

Funny thing about texting... I shouldn't be allowed anywhere near my phone during sleep hours. I texted my friend Robin about something earlier in the day before I fell asleep and she replied to me after I'd fallen asleep. I thought I replied rather coherently for being half asleep but I did not. Here is our conversation:

Me: J wanted me to tell you something. [insert something]. (1:08p)
*
Robin: How is J? and where was that hook thing i want that (2:49p) [I had sent her a pic of these hook decorations earlier that day that I thought would go well in her bathroom.]
*
Me: J is ok. tj seaid (2:51p)
*
Robin: what did you say after u said j was ok (2:52p)
*
Me: haha, sorry I meant to say targwt but I was half asleep when I sent that. (7:15p)
*
Robin: No problem do u know how much it was what aisle was it in (10:39p)
*
Me: I don't but it was by the camdles in the back. (10:40p)
*
Me: Ok i seriously was half asleep when I sent you that second message too. I stayed up until 2a and am just now awake. :p I really saw those hooks at KOHL's by the candles. Lol! (2:15a)
*
Robin: ok hilarious i shall check it out (3:06a)

So apparently I misspell when I'm asleep as well as mix up stores and flat out lie. I say I'm awake when really I'm not. Atleast I had enough sense to go back and look at my texting transactions to catch my mistake. What a dork!

I stayed up for four hours and after eating some toast I fell back asleep around 6a. I was intending on only sleeping a few hours and then getting up. After all, I had just slept a full 12 hours. No need for too much more sleep. Wrong! I slept until 3p! What is my problem?? Once I was fully awake I went upstairs to see what was going on. I could hear my dad outside with the dog and I knew my mom was at work. I was looking at something on the kitchen counter when I could feel it coming on.... everything was going black.... my head felt like 100lbs weighing on my neck. I hurried and rushed to the living room, which was no easy feat since I was seeing dark splotches in front of my eyes. I threw myself onto the couch and took nice deep breaths. In through my nose, out through my mouth. I didn't actually faint to the full extent, so I was able to relax and pull it together. Pathetic. I had been vertical all of 2 minutes and I was within seconds of passing out cold on the kitchen floor. [Wouldn't be the first time.] I quickly thought in my mind what I could eat to raise my blood sugar a bit and slowly transitioned from laying down to a sitting position. I was successful and soon was in the kitchen eating pretzels and trail mix. That seemed to do the trick.

Now, here I am sitting in bed (again) with my laptop on my fancy new lap desk from Borders. I am hoping to be able to fall asleep sometime before 3a since I have to work tomorrow night. We'll see...

I'm off to eat some of my dad's delicious apple pie. Later Peeps....

Until..............

Happy Birthday...to Me!

2009-09-01T17:01:00.007-05:00

What's a girl to do on her birthday? Well, since I was on my own until dinner time I decided to sleep in a little. What better present is there than sleep? I'm not sure.

I got up at 10:30a, ate some toast and got ready. I was determined to not stay at home all day on "my" day. Well, once I was ready I couldn't decide what to do. I hadn't thought the plan out very well obviously. After texting with my sis for a little bit I decided to head out to the bank to cash a check, then go to Sonic for a birthday treat. Who am I kidding? I would have gone regardless of it being my birthday, but I did treat myself to some mozzarella sticks. Yum! Sadly this was all before 2p so I had to pay full price for my DCL (and don't think I didn't consider waiting, but since I was already out I thought it would be a waste to come back). Once I had my food I decided to head to the park. It was just so nice out I couldn't stand the thought of going back inside just yet. So there I was... at the park... sitting in my car...alone. Some may have thought it pathetic, but there was also a middle-aged woman doing the same thing. ...Don't say anything.

After that I ran by my cousins house to return a book and dvd I had borrowed, snuggled one of her babies for a little while and headed home so my grandparents could come visit me. It's their annual tradition to come over on our birthdays and visit for awhile, since our lives are so busy any other time, they make it a point to see everyone on their birthdays.

For dinner the sisters brought LaGondola (yum!) and then us girls headed off to a baby shower for someone at church.

This shower was the strangest one I've ever been to. When we got to the shower all was fine and dandy. The guest of honor wasn't there yet, but the cutest decorations were around. The shower was for a baby girl to be named Grace and her theme was cowgirl. Adorable!! However, when the mama fially arrived she informed us all that at her doctor's appointment today they told her it was a BOY! She's due in 2 weeks!!! Talk about a surprise! The grandma pulled out a sonogram and said "Who's a nurse?". I didn't want to say, but of course everyone around me is saying "Megan is!" Thanks for ratting me out people! So I looked at the sono for her and sure enough there was a male piece of the anatomy for all the world to see. Poor baby! Exposed before he'd even entered the world officially. The saddest part about the whole thing is that then she had to open all of these gifts from people and 90% of them were pink! I felt so bad for her. It was so funny, because if something was unisex people would start applauding and the mom would go "This will work!" Poor thing!

On the way home I got serenaded by my mom and sisters. Can you guess the song? ;)

So, here I am.... the Birthday Girl... All 23 years of me. :) [No pictures with anyone else, so all you get is me...sorry.]

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes and cards!

Until................

Jack Frost Better Back Off....

2009-08-30T19:49:00.004-05:00

I can just feel Jack in the air waiting to cover the ground in frost as early as possible, but I'm just not quite ready to let go of summer yet. I love Fall, but Summer was entirely too short this year. We had very mild temperatures and I only went to the pool twice. That's just wrong!

I've switched my fan settings to low at night instead of medium, but when I woke up today I thought I was just short of being a popsicle. I'm not ready to let go of my fan yet either. That really makes it official that Summer has come to a close. However, it was quite nice to be driving yesterday with the windows down and letting the wind blow through my hair. It was the perfect weather of not too hot, not too cold.

I'm in the middle of a six day stretch off of work and I've been enjoying it immensely, except for the fact that I have overslept two days and it totally ruined my plans for the day. I hate that! I have a few more things on my list that I want to do before going back to work on Wednesday, so hopefully I can get those done and I will feel very accomplished with my time off.

For now I will just enjoy laying in bed, watching movies, and doing absolutely nothing. :)

Until................

A Little Smile...

2009-08-20T22:53:00.002-05:00

This just made me smile... and crack up laughing. :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful (and dry) Thursday. :)

Until...........

Enjoying the Last Bits of Summer...

2009-08-19T21:51:00.006-05:00

Sorry I've been out of touch. You know what, I take that back. I'm not sorry. I've been working (of course) and when I haven't been doing that I've been off having fun and enjoying myself.

I was struck with the surreal realization the other day that I do not have to go to school this year. Weird! I had (and still don't) no idea when the first day of school is, I'd been skillfully avoiding the school supply area at Walmart, and I was able to take a weekend away with my good friend Robin, her daughter, aunt and mom to St Louis. I was kind of a tag-along, but they welcomed me with open arms and we had a blast.

We left for St Louis on Friday morning, which was interesting, since Robin and I worked the night before. We got to sleep a little in the car though, which was nice. Once we got there and checked into our hotel, apartment, condo thing-y we decided to head over to the mall. We got a couple of hours of shopping in and then we decided to head off to meet one of Vickie's friends from nursing school for dinner. I was remiss and did not take hardly any pictures! I don't know what was wrong with me. In fact, I was only in one picture the whole trip and it was when we got to the theatre on Saturday afternoon. Oh well. Anyway, my dinner was DELICIOUS with a huge capital D! We ate at Maggiano's. Oh. My. Word. ya'll, the food was delicious! I got the Chicken and Spinach Manicotti, and it was to die for! I have seriously thought about it everyday since. I can't wait to go back and have me some more! Everyone else had "okay" meals, but mine won the prize for most delicious. I'm salivating just thinking about it now!

After dinner we went across the street to Crate and Barrel and for the most part just sat on different couches. I guess we were still a little tired. Then We headed off to some Home store that Vickie and Julie wanted to go check out. Afterwards we went to the famous Ted Drewes for ice cream. I guess I am completely sheltered because I had no idea what everyone was talking about at dinner when Ted Drewes came up. Well, I soon heard the story and got to witness the madness that was "Ted Drewes". Lola (Vickie's friend from nursing school) gave us the grand tour around the city and I pretty much love her. She's hilarious and so nice. I kept seeing mine and Robin's future of what we were going to be like as "nursing school buddies" in x amount of years. However, we both told each other we weren't allowed to move without the other one, so darn it all, no moves to St Louis in my near future.

Saturday brought a new day, still without much rest. We were all in fairly uncomfortable beds (or in my case a couch) and it didn't help the matter that our 'neighbors' came home at 2:30a and were being anything but quiet. I seriously was going to have a major smackdown if they didn't stop their loud nonsense and zip it. People were trying to sleep! We decided to head over to the mall after breakfast and get a couple more hours of shopping in. I was looking for a dress to wear to a wedding, but all the ones I saw were way too expensive and not worth it to wear a couple times since I wear scrubs for a living. We were off to Mary Poppins at 2p, and we were all pretty excited about it.

The Fox Theatre was down on Grande Ave and it was beautiful on the inside. It was pretty dark, so I didn't get any adequate pictures with my flash-less cell phone, but it was amazing all the same. Pictures wouldn't have done it justice. The first act was a little slow in parts. I'm not sure if that was because we were all so tired or if it really was slow, but the second act picked up and it was over before we knew it. Mary Poppins even FLEW up by our section. We were quite impressed!

After the show we jetted off, because the crew was kind enough to drop me off in Springfield so I could attend the Fair and see Kelly Clarkson in Concert. She was amazing, as usual. I didn't get home until almost midnight and I was pretty zonked so I slept until 3:30p the next day. I worked that night though, so I had an excuse. :)

Well, that's what I've been up to. If Robin ever posts pictures (hem hem) I will make sure to put it up so you can see that I actually did go the St Louis this past weekend. :)

Until................

Good Samaritan Shut Down!

2009-08-05T20:45:00.004-05:00

I love animals. Not all animals, but most of them. I get it from my mom. As a little girl I can remember being with my mom and if we saw a little dog on the side of the road we would automatically stop and pick it up, find out where it lived or take it home with us. Of course, we didn't keep them all. I think my dad would have gone insane, but we always made sure they got to a safe place.

Well, as an adult I seem to have adopted all of those same "Good Samaritan" habits. As I was driving home from my sister's house tonight I had not even made it two blocks before I saw a little puppy in the middle of the road. It's was a cute little thing and I sat there for a moment deciding what to do. It didn't go into a yard, so I carefully maneuvered around the corner and put my car in park. I sat there looking at it for a second, and as it's brown little eyes looked at me, I knew I couldn't leave it there. It had a tag on it's collar so I determined that I would figure out its address and take it back home.

There was a man in the backyard of the house it was by so I was going to get out and ask him if it was his. Well, the second I got out of the car and started toward the little pup it started barking like a maniac. It was hysterical! I decided since it ran into the grass (away from me) that it was safe enough there for me to go ask the guy in the backyard if the dog was his. Well by the time I got to the fence the guy was gone. Great, now what was I supposed to do? Meanwhile this dog is still barking like mad the most high pitched annoying bark I've ever heard. It was still in the grass so I got back in my car and called my sister to tell her about it. As I relayed the story to her the dog was STILL barking! I finally decided that I would leave it in the yard, choosing to believe that it was her (his?) yard, and head on home. I was totally shut down. Here I was trying to do a good thing and that little dog was having absolutely none of it. Of course I had to take a picture of it first before I left.

(You see that little speck in the grass? That is the dog.)

As I drove away it was still barking. I was cracking up the whole way home. I'm sure that this poor little dog thought I was going to dog-nap it or something. I was just trying to be a Good Samaritan and save it from being hit and it was just freaking out. Holli said, "It sounds like a car alarm. It just won't stop." That made me laugh even harder. It was like it was it's very own alarm system. "Help me! This crazy woman is trying to take me! Help!"

When I got home I relayed the whole story to my mom, and after she asked me if I brought it home for her, she started cracking up too. It seriously was the funniest thing that had happened to me all day.

Now I'll drive past that house and look for that yippy dog and wonder if that's where it really lives. So funny...

Until........

Great Plans Almost Always Crumble...

2009-08-04T10:44:00.002-05:00

I had great plans for these four days that I have off. For starters, I was going to go to the pool every chance I got. However the lovely storm we've been having this morning is deterring that plan. Maybe tomorrow?

Another plan I had was to get up early today, workout, clean my room a little and run to Walmart for some ingredients to a cake I'm making for work on Saturday. So far, none of those things have happened except for getting up early. For some unknown reason I was ready to get up at 4:30a this morning. Why!? I think my sleep cycle was slightly screwed up since yesterday I slept until 4p. I wasn't planning on that, but I had just worked 4 nights in a row and was trying to catch some much needed zzz's. So anyway, I went to bed last night around midnight and 4 hours later my eyes popped open. Not fun! Then the storm was swirling around and for some reason I couldn't go back to sleep until almost 6:30a. When I finally did get to sleep I was dreaming of storms. There was some wicked lightening (in my dream). So I finally ended up getting up at 8:30a and from the moment I got out of bed I was planning my nap. Ha!

I really do need to do some cleaning and such to my room, so I'm off to start on that. From the look of the radar the storm should be past us in a little bit, so I'm hoping to run to Walmart soon. We'll see how that goes....

Sorry for the boring update. Not much going on here lately besides work.

Until..............

Nostalgia...

2009-07-29T20:31:00.006-05:00

My mom was feeling quite nostalgic tonight.

You see, 22 years, 11 months, and 3 days ago one of her most prized earthly possessions was bore onto this earth. That's right, I'm talking about me. I'm her baby. I'm number three. I came screaming into this world at a whopping 9 lbs [However, I was not her biggest baby.] at 11:28pm. I was quite literally a "Labor Day" baby.

My mom came into my room tonight with my little dress that she says I came home from the hospital in. However, looking back at my baby book I believe this dress is the one I wore to my first day of church when I was only six days old.

My mom's caption for this picture was "Bored with her first trip to church. 9/7/86." How sweet.

This is the dress I appear to have come home from the hospital in. [Please excuse the butterball cheeks, and the fact that it scanned too bright to really tell what I'm wearing. Trust me. It's not the same dress.]

I can't even believe those pictures are of me!

However, I don't think these really look a lot like me either, but I apparently still make some of these same faces...

Before she knew it I was graduating preschool. Who cares if they had to practically push me across the stage. I was headed to Kindergarten!

I don't think either of us was prepared for how fast those next 17 1/2 (!) years would fly by. Here we are now so many years later with me being the only one at home and very close to moving out on my own. I anticipate this will not be an easy transition for her....

Until............

One Size Does NOT Fit All...

2009-07-28T19:02:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was a fun day. I went out to lunch with my cousin Rachel and then we shopped until we dropped for 3 1/2 hours. She brought along a cd that she thought I would enjoy, and oh was she right. We listened to Ingrid Michaelson's cd 'Girls and Boys' non-stop and she even gave me the copy she had made at the end of our full day. :)
I have since then done nothing but hum the song "The Hat". I'm particularly fond of this verse: "I knitted you a hat all blue and gold/ To keep your ears warm from the Binghamton cold./It was my first one and it was too small./It didn't fit you at all, but you wore it just the same. What's not to love about those lyrics? It just brings a smile to your face. :)
We ran all over and I ended up getting a few shirts from Gap, an ADORABLE purple dress from Target, and some unmentionables from Victoria's Secret because I had a $10 off card. I think I have officially fallen back in love with Gap. For awhile there I couldn't find anything that I was really happy with, but ever since I bought my white skirt there around April I have since been frequenting the online store and could hardly contain my joy when I went in there yesterday. I found an adorable purple [apparently those two words can not be separated] and grey skirt. I put it back though and I'm glad I did. I got a 40% off coupon for next week, so I shall promptly go back on a day off next week and get it. :)
Now, can I just talk about something a little sensitive for a moment? [Boys, stop reading this paragraph.] I want to talk about women's underwear. There are some things that they are meant to do and there are other things that they were just not designed for. For instance, no one pair of underwear should be asked to be "One Size Fits All". That's just too much to ask of one undergarment. God made everyone in all different shapes and sizes and for that very fact I find it highly impossible to have a pair of underwear be "one size fits all". I was so disturbed by that when the sales lady told me that. Something I was even more disturbed by was the male working behind the counter. [Um, excuse me sir, do you know what store you're in? You do? Just to be clear, you know you're not working at a Menard's, right? Ok, just checking.] I was highly uncomfortable by him being there. I don't think I've ever seen a man working in that store. Ever. I honestly hope to never see him again.
As for my ADORABLE purple dress from target, let's just say I came home and bought a black one online too. :) It's cute, comfortable, and in my opinion you can never have too many of those kind of dresses.
After shopping Rach and I went to Sonic for Happy Hour. I decided to get out of my DCL comfort zone and try a Mango something or other. Let's just say, I will be getting my DCL from here on out with no need to branch out of my comfort zone EVER AGAIN.

After shopping I came home and made dinner for the fam, and then us girls headed to a friends house to watch the Bachelorette. It was the finale, so we had a little party. Basically what that means is that a half dozen or so of us girls got together, gabbed a bunch, and ate a TON. It was a good thing I hadn't eaten too much earlier that day because I more than made up for it then. I laughed a lot though, so I'm sure I burned off all those calories I consumed. Right??
Because this post is already long enough I'm going to be short about this.
Kiptyn- I felt bad for him at the end. I am an Ed fan, but Kip really was a good guy and I felt a twinge of sadness that she didn't pick him.
Reid- What the world?? I mean, I knew you came back, but seriously dude, you came on a ~~little~~ lot too strong. She sent you home, and you can't just come back, propose, and man handle her into saying yes. Doesn't work that way buddy! I was even more disappointed in him with what he had to say once in the ~~limo~~ taxi-van. I'd always liked you Reid, but you made me lose respect for you there.
Ed- :) You knew they had something special when you saw how broken up she was when he left, and not to mention how happy she was when he came back. I hope they last! How cute was the little recap segment when they played that Martina McBride song? A-dorable! I'm a little nervous about the "After the Final Rose" tonight. Hopefully things went well for them during their time apart. We shall see....

Ok, well I must get ready. I'm watching down at the girl's house tonight. So we can be elated or outraged together. Hopefully not the latter.

Until.....................

SYTYCD had me SLB

2009-07-23T19:10:00.004-05:00

In case you don't know what the above abbreviations stand for let me shed some light for you...
So You Think You Can Dance had me Sobbing Like a Baby.

Mind you, I haven't watched this show since the beginning of the season when the girl's were asleep and I was awake in our hotel room in LV at only 8pm. Some friends were talking about it at work today and so I of course had to come home and watch.

Very moving....

It had me entranced during the dance, watching their moves, and then when the judges started speaking I lost it (just a little). Just thought I'd share, so I wouldn't be the only one crying...

[P.S.- Never mind the scary looking people at the end. If I could have cut them from that clip I would have.]

Until.........

Me & My Love...

2009-07-23T16:35:00.002-05:00

We'd missed each other greatly.

Until...

I Don't Know Much...

2009-07-23T06:31:00.004-05:00

However, there are a few things I'm sure of this morning.

1). It is completely horrid and unnatural for a night-shift person to have to wake up at 6am. We should not be asked to wake up that early unless it is for an extremely good cause or of our own will. [Neither of which is the reason I am awake right now.]

2). Night shift people are sure to be utterly grouchy for the rest of the day if woken up against their will before noon.

3). It is just not right to be hungry for lunch at 10a and ready for bed at 2p.

4). A good game of Farkle is sure to improve one's mood. However, a bad game of Farkle can add to the awfulness of this early hour.

5.). If it weren't for things like friends, lunch, possibility of ice cream and a DCL later today, there would be no reason to get up and start this wretched day.

Until.................

Enclave

2009-07-22T21:49:00.003-05:00

Exceptional ratings.

Exemplary model.

Excellent features and style.

Every ~~mother's~~ working woman's dream.

The Enclave.

"Sometimes You Wanna Go Where Everybody Knows Your Name"

2009-07-17T18:00:00.001-05:00

This morning after I got off work my mom and I went to Bob Evans for breakfast. One, because we hadn't done that in a long time, and two because I was craving some sausage gravy and biscuits. Yum!

Since we went right when I got home we were there by 8 o'clock and there were barely any cars in the parking lot. Shocking since they open at 6 o'clock. :) We got inside and were seated almost immediately. It didn't take long for me to feel completely out of place. I kid you not everyone in that place knew eachother by name except for me and mom. Can we say outsiders? I felt like I was being excluded from their breakfast club or something. Everyone knew Douglas, who was sitting the booth next to us. All the waitresses and customers that passed by said "Hey Douglas" or "Douglas, I thought you were going to shave that scruff off your face last week." or "Well, Douglas, how are you today? I see you still have that list you've been working on." In my effort to fit in I almost leaned over the aisle and said "So what kind of list? You going shopping later today, because I am." However, there just wasn't enough time between ordering, shoveling our food in our mouths in under 10 minutes and getting our check. Darn.. he seemed like a super cool guy too.

I wonder how many times you have to go into a place to get people to know and remember your name like that? Do you think more times than my biannual (sometimes only annual) visit?

After breakfast my mom and I ran to Walmart for laundry detergent and to look for patio chairs to place under our brand new pergola. No such luck on the chairs, but we did get the detergent and I picked up some cake mixes so I could make some more Death by Chocolate cupcakes. Yum!

Then, I came home for a quick 2-hour "pick me up" and got ready to go shopping with Holli. I was very excited about this. I think it's been weeks since we did something together that lasted longer than an hour. Our schedules are a little opposite with me working nights and mostly weekends this past month or so. It was very nice to just relax and catch up even though between the two of us there were only two shirts purchased (one for each of us).

I have this whole weekend off so tomorrow us girls are going out to lunch, then to a friend's birthday party and lastly, to round it all out, a movie. Oh the sweetness of having an entire weekend off. I almost forgot how it felt. It's beautiful outside too, so that's a perk!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and get that chance to "take a break from all your worries" and get a chance "to get away" to somewhere where "everybody knows your name"....

Until....................

Vacation = Painting

2009-07-13T16:14:00.002-05:00

Well, in my parent's minds anyway. Vacation = beaches, or sight-seeing in my books. However, for my parents nothing says first-day-of-vacation like painting the entire outside of the house. Woo! They really know how to party and let go!

After an attempt to use a paint sprayer (which didn't work) dad ended up starting the job by hand. Thankfully Holli took off work early to help and Lisa just arrived to help as well. Mom has been cleaning the inside of the house, which apparently needed it, and I got up a little after 3p because I have to work tonight. :)

Well, just wanted to update on all the fun things happening at my house. Don't you feel jealous? Now I'm inhaling the grill smoke. How enjoyable...

Until...............

You Can Call Me Susie...

2009-07-09T22:11:00.004-05:00

Can I just tell you how much I am loving my new cookbooks? Because I am! The recipes are delicious and oh so simple! Not to mention they are healthy for you! :) [I can't stop using exclamation points!]

Today I ventured to Walmart, because I had a lapse in my grocery-list-making-judgement when I left off a very key ingredient for one of the things I was going to make today. And no, I did not make a special trip all the way out to Walmart just so I could drive by one of my favorite places as of late, to get one of my favorite things as mentioned in previous blog posts. I mean, of course that was a perk, and pretty much the deciding factor of the spontaneous drive, but it turns out as I was walking in those sliding glass doors my dad called and needed me to pick up some Mucinex and a Cool Mist vaporizer and thus, my trip had a bigger purpose.

However, I was then the idiot walking around Walmart holding 25 items in her arms as people gave me the 'Why-didn't-you-get-a-cart?' look. Believe me, if I had known when I walked in that I would be getting more than a box of cake mix and a few bananas I would have atleast gotten a basket.

I digress. So, once I left Walmart and got my sweet nectar of heaven I headed home to bake away. First on my list was 'Yum Yum Brownie Muffins'. These were the easiest things I've ever made. It only had TWO ingredients! TWO! I was astonished. Even in the cookbook the author said "...you might be tempted to add in other things to make the batter smoother. Do not do this!" She was right. I felt like I was stirring cement near the end, but the end result was fantastic!

Next up, 'Death by Chocolate Cupcakes'. Oh. My.Word. These are so good!! I can not even begin to tell you the goodness that these cupcakes possess. The funny thing is that they don't have any icing. They are so moist though! Granted I was a little confused by the concept of no icing. Hello, what is a cupcake without icing? I don't know how it happens, but the cupcake forms a little frosting-esque top to itself, all of its own accord, and I couldn't be more delighted.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to make some 'Fab-five Banana Pancake Minis' and 'Caramel Pumpkin Pudding Cupcakes'. If for no other reason than they taste fantastic, the titles alone entice you to make these fun little recipes. :)

Until................

God of This City...

2009-07-07T23:33:00.002-05:00

I can't get this song out of my head. I've practically been singing it non-stop for the past two days (or atleast my mind always wanders back to it).

And just because I'm so obsessed, here are two videos. The first one has the lyrics and the second one has one of my favorite idols (Kris Allen) leading the song during worship service at his church.

[Reason #496 of why I love him so.]

Seriously, was it not worth listening to twice anyway? Or, you know, 32 times...whichever. Plus Kris' version has an extra verse. :)

Until................

We Are the World...

2009-07-07T18:40:00.003-05:00

Well, unless you are living under a rock, you saw or at least knew that Michael Jackson's memorial service was on television this afternoon. I wasn't really planning on watching it. In fact, I was invited to go to a friend's pool, but woke up with a dreadful headache and ended up bumming around the house instead.

It was odd to watch the memorial, because while there were people sharing stories about MJ and singing his songs, there were cameras flashing everywhere, tickets and bracelets were needed for admission... It was just odd to me.

Several celebrities spoke and shared personal stories. Of course many sang his ever popular songs. Jennifer Hudson did a wonderful job with "Will You Be There". However, all I could think was she looks like she could give birth any second. The part that got me the most though, was at the end when several artists sang "We Are the World" and Michael's family joined them onstage. I definitely got a little teary, not only because that is a good song, but because no matter what you thought of Michael Jackson, he was still a person and his family is deeply saddened by the loss.

What got me even more choked up was when his daughter spoke. She is a mere eleven years old, and it was heartbreaking to see her bawling up on stage. I'm surprised she even spoke given the sheltered life that she and her brothers led. I guess this is a new beginning for all involved.

I'm sure we will still be seeing coverage and unfortunately battles in the next few months, but hopefully all of the people involved have those kids best interest at heart, because Lord knows they don't need to go through anymore heartache than necessary right now.

Until...................

Torn Between Two Loves...

2009-07-07T18:04:00.002-05:00

Dear Starbucks (specifically Lite Caramel Frap),

I don't want you to get the wrong idea. You have served me well. You are my go to place when I need a caffeinated beverage. You have always been there when I needed a quick fix no matter the time of day, and I've loved you dearly for years.

However, in my recent months of trying to eat better and lose some weight I have had to make sacrifices. Unfortunately you have been one of them. :( Not only has your calorie content been bad, but it's been harder for me to justify the price as well. I couldn't look myself in the mirror anymore after sucking down a $4 [small] drink under 10 minutes, let alone the 250+ calories I consumed.

I don't want this to sound harsh, but I've found myself a new summer love. Before the other day, Sonic (specifically Diet Cherry Limeade) and I are were just acquaintances from days gone by. Ever since our reintroduction though, I've fallen fast. My medium sized DCL has only 18 calories, and he tastes so delicious. He is sweet, but yet has a little bit of a kick. To top it off, he's half-price from 2-4p. That's only 18 calories for $0.97. I know, what you're going to say... you're sweet too, which is true, but you can't beat that price or calorie content.

Please don't come to my bedroom window with your boom box in tow blaring 'In Your Eyes'. I don't know if I'll be able to stand it. Don't be too down hearted though. I'll be back for occasional visits. I would miss you too much. This is just a summer fling. You know I can't resist you in wintertime with your vanilla lattes. :)

I don't want you to look at this as me cheating on you. Just think of it as broadening my scope of beverages for the good of my waistline and my wallet. I do have a bridesmaid dress to fit into after all.

With Love and Fond Memories, M

The One Titled: Wes, Go Back Where You Came From! (That is if they'll take you back)

2009-07-06T22:08:00.007-05:00

*UPDATED UPDATE* Just because I can't get enough of other people bashing Wes, here is Trista Sutter's [you know, the Original Bachelorette] take on last night's episode.

*UPDATE* I was ~~blinded by my extreme hatred~~ remiss earlier when I was typing this and didn't put in some of the best lines from Wes. Since I forgot here is a link to Chris Harrison's blog. He really is one funny guy.

*ORIGINAL POST*

This week on the Bachelorette, Jillian took the four remaining guys to Spain for individual dates.

Kiptyn: Jill obviously feels a strong chemistry with Kip, but she is still struggling with whether or not he can open up to her more. I think she was a little put off by the fact he wasn't even close to the whole proposal thing. She likes him too much to let that get in the way at this point. He seems so quiet and not forward at all, which I think she's waiting for a little. Oh my word with the dancing. I was afraid he was going to bust the seam in his pants. He was dancing so awkward I think he was afraid of the same. I was very proud of Jill that she turned down the fantasy suite and Kip handled it well. How awkward were they in her room. He seemed uncomfortable to me or something. Maybe I'm the only one that picked up on that. Hmm...

Reid: He's adorable and dorky at times. :) They have so much fun together. Shopping was pretty funny. Apparently he's "Soy grande" aka "I'm Big" :) Hey, atleast he knew some spanish and was throwing it out there. Jill obviously was more confused what with her English/French/Sign language talk. :) They had an enjoyable picnic lunch on a bench, and again Jill turned down the fantasy room at their dinner. I love how they were keeping it real (no editing, even when Jill almost knocked over her wine glass). Reid and Jill definitely have fun together, but he's just slow at opening up. I think that was the key phrase tonight. Everyone seems slow to open up and share their true emotions. I guess none of them thought of that when they signed up for a fast-paced television show.

[Side Note: How awkward were the waiters in this episode? They came in at awkward times and it was like everything stopped when they came on screen.]

Ed: Oh, Ed. I'm so glad he's back. However, I'm super annoyed that all they seemed to be able to talk about was "all the time he's missed" (and by all the time we are referring to the two whole weeks he was gone). I am ready for them to quite dwelling on that and move on. Granted they did miss out on being able to meet his family, but they could always talk on the phone or via Skype. Hello people, we do live in a technologically advanced time now. Jill obviously cares for Ed, I mean look at how broken up she was when he left. She is clearly thrilled to have him back. As we all are Jill, as we all are.

Wes: To even type his name just makes me so angry. This guy is a dirty rotten scoundrel, snake, sorry excuse for a human being.... I could go on! I was dreading his date and you could tell from his body language and how he talked he was too. He was downright rude to Jill several times at the beginning of their day and I felt bad for her because things were going so bad. The thing that killed me is when they were having lunch and she's trying to have a serious conversation with him about what they would do if she chose him and he is avoiding all her questions. "That bird has no foot." What?! Focus you idiot! I mean, all of America knows at this point that you aren't there for her, but if you are still expecting her to believe you are there for her you better do a better job at acting than that! Thankfully she picked up on his lack of interest in her and started asking "the tough questions" [you know the ones we've heard 20,000 times before this time] during dinner. How much were you excited that he slipped up and said "My girlfriend, uh... I mean ex-girlfriend"? I was down right giddy. I'm so glad he didn't try to recover from it and just stopped talking there. I can't believe that when he read that fantasy suite card he said "I think we should do it." ???? Were you not just sitting at the table talking to Jill while she cried and you said you had a girlfriend. Her response, "I think we should skip it." Smart girl.

The two of them, along with the rest of America knew he was going home, so I don't know why the formality of a rose ceremony at this point, but whatever.

The rose ceremony: If it wasn't obvious before who should go home before, it was then. He was sticking out like a sore thumb! Hello!!! You do not wear jeans to a rose ceremony, let alone a rose ceremony in Spain! I could not believe what he said to the guys! The look on their faces was priceless. They were as appalled as we were! I'm glad she chose Ed first, and then Reid, and poor Kip who was last was shakin' in his boots I'm sure. Thankfully she used the good sense God gave her and sent Wes packing. About time!!! If his actions and words in the limo didn't tell you how much a scum bag he really was you have problems. He can go back where he came from with his stupid songs and girlfriend (if she stays with him). I hope to never see his face again. He should be ashamed of himself. I bet Jill feels like an idiot now that she ever liked him, but as she said it had to be in her time and no one else's when he went home. Her reasoning made sense, but it was still frustrating for us viewers at home.

Now, the tough part comes. How to choose between the three remaining guys? I am not loving Kiptyn so much now, but any of them are fine with me at this point. I'm hoping for Ed, but I don't know how they'll get past the whole "You missed so much" portion of their relationship. And Reid is just so nice and funny I would be sad to see him go. I'm glad it's her making the decision and not me. Also, I missed Chris Harrison a little bit this week. It seemed weird to not have him there to say "Gentlemen, Jill, this is the final rose of the night." and "Wes, say your goodbyes and get the heck out of here. In fact don't even say goodbye, just leave!" Okay, so I'm paraphrasing for Chris on that last one, but you know he would have been thinking that.

*Sigh* I'm glad I got that off my chest. One more thing... I hope he's tarred and feathered when he gets back to his hometown. I hope he gets kicked out of his band, his truck breaks down, his girlfriend leaves him and his dog runs away. Atleast he'll have good material for his music career. Okay, now I'm done... I think.

Until.................

Summertime Playlist....

2009-07-06T22:00:00.000-05:00

There are not many things I enjoy more than Summer, except for listening to good music during Summer.

It can be live music, radio boomin' while you're driving, itunes blaring in your headphones while you're working out, jammin' to tunes while poolside, the different combinations are endless...

Here are just a few of the tunes on my soundtrack for Summer....

Michael Buble- Everything [There's just something about his voice that makes the mood light]

Keith Urban- Sweet Thing [Keith screams Summer to me, although I love listening to him all year round.]

Taylor Swift- Crazier [I love her and this is a good song for playing while you're swinging on the front porch unwinding after a long day--- that is if you have a swing, or a porch for that matter]

Beyonce- Single Ladies [This is just fun and a good workout song.]

Hillsong- Mighty to Save [Good worship song, also good for all year round.]

Sugarland- It Happens [Very enjoyable song and even more enjoyable that my sis learned all the words and can serenade me if ever asked. :)]

Watermark- The Glory of Your Name [I can just imagine an outdoor worship concert with this song.]

Lee Greenwood- God Bless the USA [I can not let a Summer pass me by without listening to this song atleast 10 times.]

Chris Tomlin- God of This City [I first heard this song in a youtube video of Kris Allen leading worship at his church (One more reason to love that guy) and have fallen in love with it.]

Jason Mraz- I'm Yours [This is just a good beach-y song. Oh how I wish I was laying on a beach somewhere getting a tan.]

I know, my list is quite eclectic, but this is what I'm enjoying listening to right now. That's why they're called mixes.

Until..............

Drunk as a Skunk

2009-07-05T21:47:00.002-05:00

Do you know that saying? Well I'm not exactly sure how a skunk can be drunk, or what that saying even means, but I had an encounter with a drunk driver tonight and I hope to never encounter a "skunk" again.

I can't really go into details like I normally do, due to the fact that I may be summoned to court or whatever, but let's just say I (along with my mom and dad) am lucky to not have been smashed head on by a drunkard.

Moral of the story people.... Don't Drink and Drive, and for the love all that's sane, don't text and drive. Apparently he was doing that before he crashed too. Although he lied to us about being drunk, so who knows...

Stay safe!

Until...............

Soup in Summer...

2009-07-02T21:30:00.004-05:00

I don't know why, but I've been in the mood for soup and chili; pretty much all of the foods that you would make in the fall and winter. I'm not sure why, since we had a week solid of upper 80's/90 degree weather.

I got a new cookbook the other day and have not even made it halfway through the book and

have found a dozen recipes that I felt like I had to devour the second I read about them and a

dozen or so more that I wanted to try. I ran to Walmart (my home away from home lately it seems) and picked up some ingredients to make a soup that sounded delish. It is called 'Sassy Salsa Pumpkin Soup', and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I ate a bowl full for a late lunch and then took some to work with me.

I've been on a healthy food/recipe kick lately. It's been going okay so far. The only issue I've discovered is that I've never dealt with some of these ingredients before. :/ Oh well, I'm learning things. What I really need to learn is motivation to work out everyday. That I don't quite have the hang of yet. I bet that would help me drop those extra 10 lbs I want to lose. You think?

I'll let you know if there are anymore must eat recipes I run across. :)

Until..........

Mac'n it...

2009-07-02T21:25:00.000-05:00

Well, I bought myself a laptop. A Macbook to be exact. I've been researching laptops for the past 2 weeks or so and finally settled on Apple's Mac. I had wanted a laptop for awhile and since my computer is really my parents that they bought so I could use for school, I thought it was time I bought my own. I did thorough research, as always [I can't even buy a song off of itunes without thoroughly researching reviews and lyrics.]

When I was pricing the Mac I saw that there was an educational deal that they were offering. Discount on computers and a free itouch for practically anyone related to the educational world. Well, I decided to investigate because after all I am a "lifelong learner" [so says my college professors over and over again]. I went back and forth, back and forth on whether or not to use the deal. I am after all going back to school. Sure not this year or maybe next, but I am eventually... I think. Well there wasn't any verification that you needed to provide if you bought online, but there was a possibility of them spot checking. I'm not sure what would happen if they found out you didn't qualify, but I wasn't willing to take the chance. My conscience won out and I didn't use the discount.

I also ended up paying a little extra to have it shipped sooner. I knew I would be too anxious to wait for long. What were a few extra dollars after the money I had just dropped on it already? My friend from work told me that when she ordered hers it ended up being shipped from China. China! Well, that would take forever! So I paid the extra shipping fee, and waited patiently for the notification that it had shipped. I finally got the email and do you know what it said? Shipment picked up. Location: Memphis, TN. What?! That state is a mere 7 hours away! A different state! Not even another country! I'd been bamboozled! Oh well... I'm glad I paid the extra shipping, because just the 4 short days just about did me in.

I actually got it yesterday, but I didn't even get to play with it until tonight. I worked last night and then came home to sleep so that I could meet my cousins for a mini-photo shoot for my cousin's twins. They are so adorable!

I'm slowly getting the hang of all of the differences between a Mac and a normal PC. Anyone who has a Mac and has discovered short cuts and such are welcome to give me advice on the whole thing. :)

Well, I'm off to do some more research on the wonders of a Mac... [How many times have I said the word "Mac" in this post? Too many!]

Until..........

Naps are Not Over-rated

2009-07-01T00:18:00.002-05:00

I love a good nap.

I went to bed at a fairly reasonable time and got up at a late morning hour. I had definitely gotten enough sleep. Or so I thought...

I was looking through a cookbook on the loveseat upstairs and wasn't even 10 pages in before my eyes closed. I don't think I even realized it either until my hand went lax and the book flipped shut. That jarred me awake for a few seconds and then I quickly drifted back into dreamland.

I should have known better. This loveseat is like my 'Nap Zone'. During my last semester of college and when I was trying to destress from studying for Boards I would take my book that I was reading at the time up to that loveseat and hunker down for some rest. It would never fail that I would doze off. There is something magical about that loveseat. [I heart it dearly.]

I am ashamed to say that I napped for 2+ hours and who knows when I would have woken up had my mom not called to tell me something. [Good ole mom! Always there to wake me from my slumber.] You're probably thinking, "Big deal. So you took a nap. It's not a crime." Well, you're right, it isn't. However, I had only been awake for two hours! When did I become one of those sleepy couch potatoes? Granted, I did take the dog for a walk the day before, and let me tell you it was not an easy task. Oddly enough the only muscles that hurt today were my gluteus maximus muscles. I think it was from leaning back and trying to compensate for her straining forward. Anyway, the point is, I know I'm not a lazy bum, it's just frustrating to need a nap after only being awake ~~a few~~ two short hours.

I must admit I felt pretty good right after I woke up, and then not even an hour later I felt tired again. It's like a viscious cycle! I did not give in to the temptation of my lovely nap zone again though. No siree, I did not! Instead I dropped on to my computer chair and wasted two mindless hours on the internet, reading blogs, checking facebook, replying to emails.... I should have read a book, but I can always do that tomorrow.

Until..........................

I Had a Dream...and it all Took Place at a Pottery Barn

2009-06-25T12:01:00.003-05:00

I have been up early [between the hours of 6am-11am] for the past three days. This is obviously not normal for me since I work night shift. I've had places to go and people to see [mostly all at the pool] so I've sacrificed my sleep for some sun.

So Tuesday night, I kid you not, I dreamt about Pottery Barn ALL night. It was crazy! I don't think I've even been inside a Pottery Barn. Is Pottery Barn like a huge wearhouse with all the household goodness you could imagine? Because that's how I pictured it. I can even recall some of the vases and ornamental wall hangings. Maybe I should sketch them out and try to sell them to PB. The weird thing is that it seemed [in my dream] that I was having a girl's weekend of sorts, and all we did was go to Pottery Barn, sit in the PB parking lot, talk about going other places and yet never left the parking lot. Strange...

Just heard... Farrah Fawcett died. How sad. :(

Well, I should get moving. I don't want to be a lazy bum all day...although that would be nice... hmm....

Until...................

Old Woman has Returned....

2009-06-24T09:54:00.002-05:00

I fell asleep at 9:30 last night. That's just plain ridiculous! I had a headache, which I had had for most of the afternoon, so I decided to lay down in bed a little before 9. Turns out closing my eyes helped a little. Well the bad thing is that I was in and out of sleep for a half an hour and then totally out at 9:30 so I missed the new episode of Tori & Dean. Sadness. :( I don't have DVR either. [I'm finding more and more reasons to get that thing].

Yesterday I went to the pool for the first time this summer. It was glorious! The water was just right so that you could hang half out of the water and not feel like you were going to evaporate because it was so hot outside. I'm going to the pool again today, so I'm quite excited. However I'm not excited about the zit on my chin the size of a planet [we'll just say the size of Mercury, because it's a small planet, and it will make me feel better] and the fact that my hair is totally frizzed out because of the humidity. *Sigh*

Last night I motivated myself to clean my bedroom by treating myself to Subway and Ice Cream. Dinner can't get anymore perfect than that. I actually made a dent in the mountain of clothes that have been piled on my chair for the last month and a half since the last time I cleaned my room. My headache deterred the rest of the cleaning. I'm determined to finish it tonight though and then start working on my desk tomorrow. I won't even tell you how atrocious that has gotten. I think the downfall to having a bigger desk is that it holds more junk and miscellaneous items.

Well I need to go do some prep work for dinner tonight and eat something before the pool.

Until..................

"First Improvement since the 1880's..."

2009-06-22T09:28:00.001-05:00

Really? The 1880's? I think I've seen it all now...

Until............

Productivity Makes Me Happy...

2009-06-18T22:40:00.004-05:00

Yes people, that is right. I have finally completed for you Days two and three of my "What Happens in Vegas" series. :)

In addition to this lovliness I also had lunch with a friend, took the dog to the vet, got my hair trimmed, and have listened to the songs Halo by Beyonce and Crazier by Taylor Swift [with an occasional Single Ladies thrown in] about a billion times. I'm not sure how that last part is productive, per se, but I do know it's keeping me going as I blog for you all.

As it is now past midnight and I've virtually been up since 4am due to the nasty storms that blew threw this morning I am going to go to bed and sleep the day away tomorrow so I can be prepared for my three in a row. Yuk!

Until.........................

All I Want to Do...'Til Summer Comes Around

2009-06-15T00:15:00.008-05:00

Thursday night Hol, Lis, a friend of our's Tara, and I went to the Keith Urban and Sugarland concert. It was Phe-nomenal! We've seen Keith once before, but we were highly anticipating Sugarland. They did not disappoint. The only complaint I have (because you knew there would be one. Hello, it's me...at a concert. There's always something. :p) is that there were annoying girls in front of us during Sugarland and even more annoying women in front of us during Keith Urban. The girls during Sugarland wanted to stand and wave their arms like uncoordinated maniacs. That's all fine and dandy... if we weren't in the nosebleed section!

(the annoying girls)

(our imitation of the annoying girls)

Then the girls left (or relocated) during the KU portion of the concert and we thought we were home free. Oh boy, were we wrong! The women a couple rows in front of us were even worse than the girls. By the end we were praying the girls would come back and the drunk women would fall over the railing. [Did I just say that out loud?]

Besides all that the concert was amazing and I would definitely see both of them in concert again.

(Click on the following images to enlarge)

What a wonderful way to kick off the summer. :)

Until.......................

Kids Old People Say the Darndest Things...

2009-06-11T14:53:00.005-05:00

Let me start off by saying that my beloved, crazy, hilarious great aunt is in the hospital. She's been having stomach issues for almost a month now and finally went to the doctor this week. Yesterday they had her get a cat scan and decided that she has acute diverticulitis. The doctor recommended she be hospitalized for 3 days to get IV antibiotics and fluids. At first she refused. She told him that she couldn't go to the hospital because her grand daughter was flying in to spend a couple of days with her. The doctor said, "What?! You've been in so much pain and you're still going to go home?" So, he said she could take some stronger medicine by mouth and go home. Well, she changed her mind after she talked to her son and her primary doctor (who called her from his vacation to tell her he thinks she should go to the hospital). So she went to the hospital around 5:30 last night. Mom and the three of us girls went to visit her last night and she was tickled to death to see us. The doctor still hadn't been in and so we were waiting with her to hear from them.

As we were sitting there last night we were talking, and if you know my great aunt you know she talks a mile a minute and changes subjects in the same breath. Well, she was talking about how she was watching some soap opera and this lady was crying about this and what was she crying about. Then this guy came in and he was really tall. Is she really short? Then another girl was in the hospital and who was she? Then a guy came in crawled into bed with her, and well, they were both laying in that hospital bed.... on and on she goes. Then she says, "I wonder how I can get that kind of service?" OMG! We were laughing so hard, we thought we were going to be kicked out. The conversation quickly turned to homosexuals and pornography. Don't ask. You had to be there to follow that big jump in conversation and even with us there it was hard to follow. We were cracking up.
Then she starts talking about kissing. Oh my word... were we in for it then. She started talking about how disgusting it is when people kiss with their tongues and she better not see anybody doing that to us. Or us doing that to some guy. [I assume she was talking to Hol, Lis, and I. However, she kept looking at me when she was saying that. Uh, what gave her the idea that I've been "tongue kissing" a guy anytime lately?]
The doctor finally came in, and she had him laughing too. He seemed very knowledgable about her condition and she liked him a lot. We left shortly after and told her we would all be back at various times in the next few days.

Well, I went back to see her today and she was still in a good mood. She felt okay, but she hadn't really eaten much besides clear liquids so that was to be expected. She was feeling a little sick while I was there, but she was still her humorous self. Out of the blue she asked me if I had ever seen the movie Uncle Buck. I said no, because I don't really care for him. She just raved about it and how much she liked it. That 'Cully Maculkin' is in it, you know? Back when he was little anyway. :) Oh she cracks me up! I love her!

I better get a move on. The three of us girls are going to see Keith Urban and Sugarland tonight. They'll be here soon to pick me up. Oh, and I haven't even started on the rest of my vacation posts. :/ Sorry!

Until..............

Updates, Shine and Getaway...

2009-06-05T21:26:00.002-05:00

Well, you will be happy to know that The First Day of "What Happens in Vegas" is posted. Joe [as in Cup o'] and I sat and finished it up for you fine people to have for the weekend. Not that the timing of it being published for the weekend has anything to do with anything.... I went the slideshow route for the pictures so the post wouldn't be a mile long. Enjoy!

Did anyone see the The Tonight Show last night [How weird is it that Conan is doing it now]? Was anyone else blinded by Gwyneth Paltrow's legs? I was happy to see that it was a top story on the Yahoo homepage. I was beginning to think I was obsessing about the excessive shine to her legs, but I wasn't the only one who noticed. After the first break she was much less shiny so someone must have complained in the audience of being blinded.

Ok, so I need some suggestions. The sisters and I are planning another vacation. I know, I know... we just got back. But I can work out some time off in November, so we were thinking of hitting a beach or somewhere warm, so we need help. What are some good places to go in the winter for a 4 day vacation that is affordable? We were thinking Florida, but are open to other states as well. We've looked at California and Arizona as well. If you've been to any of these places let us know what you think of them.

Ok, I know you're dying now, so go read the vacation post....

Until.....................

Original...or Remake?

2009-06-04T15:53:00.005-05:00

Just because I can't stop with the videos it seems (or anything else prolonging the posting of my vacation recap) I'm wondering what you all have to say about this....

Joe Jonas recently did a "remake" (if you would even call it that) music video of Beyonce's song 'Single Ladies'. I finally got to watch it this afternoon and I must say it disturbs me.

[I also saw the Justin Timberlake version from SNL and it was quite funny from what I remember.

However, he had back up dancers, so that gives him an edge for sure. oh yea, and the fact that he had BEYONCE in it.]

You wonder what Taylor Swift is thinking about this. [See Taylor's song Forever and Always if you do not know what I am referring to.] Anyway, I hope your eyes don't start to bleed while watching this. I had to cover my face a few times in that 'I'm embarrassed for this person' sort of way.

Enjoy?

Atleast we'll always know if Joe is lip-syncing his words. He is a horrible lip syncer!

Until...

Don't Stop!

2009-06-02T22:00:00.003-05:00

I just can not get this song out of my head (particularly this version). I love me some Journey tunes...

Oh, yea... Day 1 is done of the trip, I still need to add pictures though. Look for it soon!

Until...............

"What Happens in Vegas..." The Preamble

2009-05-31T00:51:00.003-05:00

Well, what happens in Vegas apparently gets put on the blog, because that is what will be happening in the next few days. If you are new to my blog you will soon find out that anytime I go on vacation (which since the inception of my blog has been a total of two times, including this trip) I come home and give you all the run-down of what happened. Some parts are exciting, riveting, jaw-dropping, and others are just boring to you all, but let's be honest, it's my blog and I want to remember everything for me, so I write it all out.

Anyway... Just like the last vacation blog I will be giving you the play-by-play. Unlike last time I will be posting the whole day as one entry. No multiple parts. It was way too stretched out last time with multiple parts per day. Also unlike last time I will be waiting to post all the days until they are completed. I know, I know... you will have to wait. My hope is to crank these out in a week or so. We'll see how it goes. I also want to back date them, so when I get them up I will make sure to post the link for them.

Until then just sit back, relax, and catch up on my live-blogging (aka twittering) on the right-hand side of my blog. I tried to tweet a little on what we were doing instead of the pre-scheduled posts like NY.

Until.....................

"What Happens in Vegas" Day 3

2009-05-27T12:00:00.012-05:00

This day was probably my favorite day. We left our hotel around 9:45a (which was really 11:45 our time. I was lovin' this time change!) and headed to the Luxor for the Bodies Exhibit. This was so cool! I'm not just saying that because it was a medical lover's exhibit. I think the girl's enjoyed themselves almost as much as I did and they don't have any medical experience. I of course played the role of the information telephone. [You know, those phones you get when you go the aquarium that tell you about the selected fish when you punch in their special number]. It was good fun, and a wonderful way to start off the day. :)

We did a quick spin around Excalibur next. That's the hotel that looks like a castle with a medieval theme throughout. Next was New York, New York. I think this was the day that we learned we could cut through NY, NY much fast to get to MGM than going down the broken escalator, past Lady Liberty, and up another escalator. Hey, atleast we figured it out before we left.

We made our way to MGM to make reservations for the shuttle to the Fashion Outlet Mall the next day. The ticket guy was beyond strange. We walked away hoping that everything went according to schedule tomorrow. He seemed very shady. Oh well, he would not put a damper on my day!

Our plan for the day was to see the rest of the strip that we hadn't gotten to the day before. We had barely made it past MGM [and by past I mean directly next to] when we saw an Adidas store. You could almost hear angels singing and strumming harps. The girls feet were saved! We quickly dashed inside and made our way to the women's shoes section. The girls tried on shoes and both walked out wearing a brand spankin' new pair of tennies. Lisa's were grey [Just what she always wanted! Seriously... she said atleast 5 time "I've always wanted a pair of grey tennis shoes" ... Whatever floats your boat sis] and Holli's were white with three sporty black glittery stripes on the sides. Very chic, but strict orders were given to not include feet in the following photos. My feet were still quite adorable in my sandals, however, we were all overlooking the fact that my sandals were black and I was wearing a navy and creme dress that day. What can I say? The brown Old Navy Sandals just can't hack it in Vegas.

After Adidas we explored all four floors of the M&M Store. I never knew so much M&M items exhisted. I believe my most favorite item(s) were the baby onesies in different colors. Let's just say that you could have quints and all could have their own color. :) Adorable....
We also caught the 3D M&M movie "I Lost my 'M' in Vegas" Over all the movie was fine. I would suggest that if it is a short wait for the viewing your children might enjoy it, but otherwise it may not be worth it to you. However, the weird lady that played the "mad scientist" whoever-she-was role was rather interesting. She was talking to the movie and we could barely hear what she was saying. What you could hear was slurred. I was frankly quite frightened to be in a darkened room with her even though there were 20 other people around. We dashed out and away from her as soon as it was over.

We decided a pit stop to CVS was in order since the girls needed band aids and I was parched from the heat. We crossed the street twice only to see once we were on the other side that we were only one store away from a Walgreen's. That's just about right... We got our bandaids and a super sized bottle of water and went on our merry way. We ducked into the Shops @ Planet Hollywood for some much needed a/c time and rest. We found a bench, plopped down and ate our trail mix. We took a huge thing of trailmix and filled up baggies to take with us everyday. Best idea ever! It has protein, chocolate, and gives your growling stomach satisfaction in between meals. After all we were burning near 700 calories a day. ;)

We headed toward the Bellagio next. I'm not quite sure why we walked. I think the girls were feeling a new sense of empowerment (or numbness) from their new shoe purchase, but we walked through the scariest and dirtiest part of the strip to get there. Until that moment we had been spoiled by the Monorail that had dropped us off at Harrah's (past the construction zones). This god-forsaken zone was filled with less than clean people (you see how I tried to make that sound not so mean?), dirt galore, and card flickers [if you do not know to what I refer to, be greatful]. Once the wonderful Bellagio was in sight we crossed the street twice and made our way along the beautiful sidewalk. Just as we were walking up a round of fountain shows started. How lucky were we? I was so excited! We took a couple pictures and a little video and then went inside. I think the Bellagio was seriously my favorite place on the strip [The Venetian was a close second, but the fountains for sure pushed the Bellagio into first].

We walked through the Bellagio to to get our tickets for "O" [the Cirque de Soleil show we were seeing that night]. They had very pretty hot air balloons suspended from the ceiling amidst the shops, but we didn't get any pictures of them. Think Palazzo umbrellas, but instead they were small hot air balloons. I played the slots for the first time, because seriously, you can't not play atleast one while you're in Vegas. Sadly I lost my money. :( What could I expect though? I only played for 5 minutes. We went and got some gelato from the downstairs lobby and headed outside to see if we could catch another fountain show. We didn't end up sticking around long enough to see the show because they run on hour rotations during the day.

We headed across the bridge that connects to the other side of the street and made our way to Paris. Basically the only thing I found enjoyable was the picture I got of the mock Eiffel Tower. Otherwise the inside is boring and you have to pay to go up to the top. No thank you. Next please!

We headed over to the Flamingo to see the "Live Chilean Flamingos" that lady on the overhead speaker of the monorail had been telling us we just had to see. I'm here to tell you-- they are just flamingos. They don't do any chilean dances [is there such a thing] or act out shakespeare. They are simply a flamingo. Most of them were sleeping when we went through so the pictures were quick and then followed by "Can we go now?".

We were on a mission for lunch next. I had wanted to try Chipotle because I had heard it was good and there just so happened to be one nearby. Well, the Chipotle stand-alone restaraunts may be good, but our experience was not a great one. Chipotle was smashed in a tiny building with two other restaraunt places, and the patio was littered with birds waiting for a handout. If you know anything about us 3 girls you know we do not. do. birds. We jetted out of there and had to decide where we were going to go next. Hey, why not hop on our trusty Monorail and head back to MGM and eat at the Rainforest Cafe? Fabulous idea, and that is what we did. [Have I mentioned the $28 we spent for our Monorail passes was worth every penny, because it was. I love you Monorail.]

So we trekked through MGM yet again. We got right in and were seated near the kitchen [apparently our non-preference of choice. That's where we were seated at in the Cheesecake Factory too]. Our waiter Dustin far outweighed our bossy waiter from the CF. He was nice, a little bit of a talker, but very prompt with his service. He earned every penny of his tip. Lisa and I both got the Nachos and Holli got some grilled something or other I don't remember. I almost (for 2 seconds) wished Will had been there to warn me just how big the Nachos appetizer was. Lisa and I definitely could have shared that time. Darn you Will! Making me think I knew what was what and how much I could eat. :/ They were scrumptious, and even though I barely made a dent I would for sure recommend them and will most likely get them the next time I visit a Rainforest Cafe.

We decided to head back to the Bellagio so we wouldn't be late for "O". Back on the Monorail we went...

Ok, so to be honest I had my reservations about "O". Circus type acts, scary makeup (have I told you I don't like clowns? I think the movie 'It' scarred me for life), I was less than thrilled with Holli's choice for the night. I hereby rescind any bad thing I ever said about it. It was still disturbing but it was also thrilling, and amazing, and even the tiniest bit terrifying. I was enthralled with it from the first moment, even though I was clueless as to what the story was. The gymnastics were amazing, and the water was the coolest thing ever how the stage sunk down so low that they could do high dives, and yet rise up to where there was no water at all. A-maz-ing!

After the show we headed outside and people were crowded around the railings. We quickly grabbed a spot anticipating another fountain show. At night the shows come in 15 minute intervals and they are so much cooler at night with the lights. I honestly think I could have stood there all day and night and watched those fountain shows while I snacked on my trail mix and gelato.

After that satisfying and moving [I always tear up during that song] show we headed off toward our hotel. This was the night my dream was realized. Krispy Kreme doughnuts! We ~~ran~~ walked really fast through Excalibur to the Krispy Kreme and jetted out toward the tram. We didn't want to miss it like we did the first night. Lisa's feet were forever haunted by that long jaunt back to the hotel the first night. Once we reached our hotel we grabbed a Starbucks (my night was complete!) and headed up to our room. There is seriously nothing much better than an ice cold caramel lite frappuccino and a KK doughnut with chocolate icing and sprinkles. A little slice of heaven right there.

Until.................................

"What Happens in Vegas" Day 2

2009-05-26T12:00:00.004-05:00

Our second day in Las Vegas was full of walking. We got to sleep in a little bit, which was nice. Little did we know at the time, but our little legs needed every minute of rest they got.

Our goal today was to hit the Fashion Show Mall and see as many of the hotel/casinos as we could. Our first stop was the Fashion Show Mall. The mall was located at the other end of the strip, so we took the tram and monorail and got as far as we could without walking. We were all starving by that point so we had a very early lunch (10:30a) of KFC inside the mall's foodcourt. I don't think it was our intention, but we ate super cheap on this vacation. I think my KFC lunch cost me less than $4. Ironically enough the gelato that we got at the stand outside the mall cost more than that. Ridiculous! We split one scoop three ways and that one scoop was almost $5. You would have thought we'd been eating off of golden spoons.... well atleast nickel anyway.

We shopped for a bit, not really finding too much, but enjoying being in the air-conditioned mall. We headed over to Starbucks after that. I'd been wanting coffee ever since I woke up, and couldn't wait any longer. We sipped our drinks (well Hol and I did. Lisa's not a coffee drinker) and then headed off in search of the umbrellas. A friend of ours had just been in Vegas a couple of weeks prior to our trip and she said there were colorful umbrellas suspended in the air in one of the hotels. Well, it took us awhile to find it, but we finally did. After taking a gazillion pictures outside of the Wynn's beautiful waterfall and flowers we wandered into the Palazzo where the umbrellas were. To say we were fascinated would be an understatement. We were borderline obsessed.

This day seemed to be very warm so we tried to escape into the a/c as often as possible. We hopped over to the Mirage next. They have a Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden exhibit with dolphins and lions/tigers. You have to walk through the whole hotel/casino it seemed until you go to the exhibit, but it sounded like something we would like to do to waste an hour or so. The shade made it nice to be outside. Between me and Hol we probably took a bazillion pictures of the dolphins and lions/tigers. I love animals though, so it wasn't hard for me to keep snapping away.

Also inside the Mirage is the Terry Fator store. This is where you can buy a souvenir from his show. We browsed there for awhile and then we decided we needed a rest, so we sat down and people watched, looked at pictures, and texted friends. What did we do before texting? This I do not know...

After our little break we decided to head on over to Caesar's Palace. They have several fountain/statue shows so we thought we'd catch a few on our way through to the Cheescake Factory. Word of advice: Do not stop at the first fountain show! [Mainly the one pictured]Most boring 5 minutes of my life! I thought there was going to be a cool light show or something on the ceiling because thunder kept sounding, but nothing ever happened. The statues talked a little, the guy on the throne drank our of his wine glass (which in actuality, had it been filled with wine would have spilled all down the front of him), and I lost 5 precious minutes of my life. So sad....

We arrived at Cheesecake factory and were quickly escorted to our seats. I was pretty hungry, since we had such an early lunch, so I was ready for some pizza. Little did I know that we would have the bossiest waiter in all the restaraunt. Will, that was his name, seemed friendly enough in the beginning. He chatted with us about our visit to Las Vegas, and asked if we got past security to get in [President Obama was there, you know?]. However, as soon as we started to order he went into bossy mode. Everything we tried to order he gave us this look like we were children and stupid children at that, and would presume to tell us we didn't want that. Well, Will, what do I want? Tell me... I don't want a yummy cheese and tomato pizza? I don't want a yummy salad for the side? I don't, huh? Fascinating, because I thought, you know, I was the one making decisions for myself. Hmm... good to know that's not the case. In all honesty he was right about the salad part. It was way ginormous, but the pizza was really good and I probably could have eaten the whole thing. Instead Lisa and I split (from orders of Will) and Holli had some sandwich he made her order. He also custom ordered her sandwich because the original would have been too much for her. He would know...

After eating we left as quickly as possible. For one, to get away from Will, and two to get away from where President Obama was. I didn't want to be trapped in Caesar's Palace with absurdly boring fountain shows and bossy Will. We did make a quick pit-stop in F.A.O. Schwartz though.

We headed back to the Mirage to pick up our Terry Fator tickets at the ticket counter, and then decided to rest again. From all that I've shared it doesn't seem like we walked very much, but oh did we ever. We walked over 25,000 steps! [Lisa wore a pedometer this day. I don't want to mislead you into thinking that I counted every step we took. That would be plain insanity!] Apparently that translates over into 12.16 miles, and we burned 700 calories. No wonder Lisa had blisters on her feet from her sandals. Thank God for skecher's, that's all I have to say.

We waited around a bit and then finally it was time for the show to start. If you have not seen Terry Fator I recommend you do. He'll be in Vegas for somewhere around 4 1/2 years, so if you're ever out that way you should catch a show. I've seen his act twice. Very good both times. He also lets you take pictures and a little bit of video. Now who else is going to let you do that? Super nice guy!

We pretty much called it a night after that. We found our way to the beloved Monorail and made the trek through MGM to the tram. There was talks of Krispy Kreme, but that idea was nixed when Lisa thought we might miss the tram and she didn't want to walk anymore. Can't blame her [12.16 miles people!].

Until..............................

P.S.-- Sorry these pictures are absolutely messed up, but I'm too tired to fix them right now.

"What Happens in Vegas" Day 1

2009-05-25T12:00:00.004-05:00

I was so glad when I got my work schedule switched to Sunday day instead of night. That meant I could get a full night's rest before leaving. Glorious sleep!

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 2:20p, so we didn't have to be to the airport until noon. It was weird to be there so late in the day. There were tons of people there in line waiting to get their tickets and have their baggage checked. I prefer to fly in the early morning so there are less people to contend with.

We were more than happy to be going someplace sunny and warm because it was cool and rainy here at home. Good riddance rain! Sunny Las Vegas here we come!

The plane ride out of town was a little turbulant while we were trying to navigate through the storm patterns. The motion was making me very sleepy. I wasn't used to the whole day schedule thing. The flight was close to three hours, so we all got some good reading time in. We had a funny little man sitting behind us who talked the whole flight. The lady sitting next to him kept sneezing [allergy season] and he said, "You got the swine flu?" Haha... we started chuckling in our seats. The rest of the flight was rather uneventful and we actually arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

We got into the airport and found the luggage carrousel rather quickly, claimed our bags, and headed outside to the shuttle. Our first experience with Las Vegas heat. It was glorious! Of course nothing can start off easy. We got in the huge shuttle line, and apparently what we had printed out for our tickets wasn't our actual ticket, so we had to go to the ticket counter and deal with the lovely woman behind the counter. She was absolutely thrilled to help us and cleared up the speed bump right away with a smile on her face the entire time (.

We finally got on the shuttle, but the driver said there were only two seats left in back and one up front. We quickly deciphered that the "one in the front" was in fact the passenger seat. Holli got the privilege of sitting shotgun. Meanwhile, Lisa and I were crammed into the back of the shuttle with a bunch of other people. Funny enough, there was an extra seat in the back with us, but some guy was hogging it with his carry on. Rude! Lisa was sitting next to two little kids who were rattling on about all the different hotels and things to do. How is it possible that a 10 year old boy knows more about this place than I do? As we stopped at all the different hotels to drop people off Lisa and I were texting Holli in the front seat. We were laughing at something and the guy next to me asked, "Where are you guys from?". We told him and then I asked where he was from. "Meen-a-sota", he replied. To which Lisa responded, "Well I can tell." We talked a little bit more and he said he was there for a friends wedding, and we said we were just there for vacation. Once the bus was pretty much cleared out we could hear Holli talking to the driver and telling him where we lived. So our Minnesota friend piped up and said "Oh so then you know [this place]?" I was kind of surprised, but said yes. He went on to explain that he is a pilot and has been in our area before. Ah, it all makes sense now.

In the very short amount of time that our shuttle traveled from the airport to the hotels on the strip I had my fill of seeing the word "peep" on billboards, taxi cabs, and buildings. That was just the beginning of it...

We finally got to our hotel, THE hotel at Mandalay Bay. It was very nice. We got up to our suite, and let's just say it was very nice. A sitting area, two queen sized beds in the bedroom, 2 bathrooms... It was "sweet" (pardon the intentional pun).

Shortly after arriving we headed off to the tram that was at our hotel. It connected to the neighboring hotel (the Luxor) and the next hotel (Excalibar). It was kind of like a "Jump ahead 2 spaces" in a game, except this game was the game of saving our feet from mutilation. So we got off the tram at Excalibar and took a jaunt over a bridge, down a broken escalator, up a broken escalator, and through MGM Grande to the monorail.

Ok, one second on the monorail. Fan-tastic invention. Best $28 I ever spent in my entire life! You think I'm exaggerating, but until you've been there you just don't understand.

Ok, so we rode the monorail (God's gift to Las Vegasans) to Harrah's Hotel. From there we walked over to the Venetian. Very beautiful old looking building. Best part about it... the moving sidewalks. :) We had an agenda for that night-- The wax museum, dinner, and Wayne Brady show.

Madame Toussad's Wax Museum was very cool (and creepy at times). We were greeted by Whoopi Goldberg and Luciano Pavaratti. Some of the wax figures looked life-like and others didn't so much.

There is a "Scream" portion to the wax museum which is (we assumed) a scary haunted house type thing. We decided to bypass that area. Well, loe and behold right as we are passing by the doors to enter the scary area a man comes out of the bathroom across the hall. It about scared the livin' daylights out of me and Lisa. Hol had already walked by, but oh my word Lisa and I will forever be haunted by the scary man coming out of the bathroom. I'm not sure if he was being intentionally creepy or if that was just the way he was, but with the full "scary-man" makeup on it sure did what it was intended- Scare the poo out of us! Let's just say I almost let some profanities slip from my lips. Scary! [I was going to post a picture or the link to the video on the website, but frankly it scares me just thinking about it, so scout it out on your own if you want be freaked.]

Once we were done posing with the Waxies we headed off to dinner. We didn't do anything too exciting, we just went to the Venetian's food court and ate at Bella Panini. Surprisingly enough, none of us had a panini. We all had wraps. I had a California wrap and it was dee-lish! We were going to eat at Johnny Rocket's but I absolutely refuse to pay $12 for a burger and milkshake. Unless that beef and that milk came from a golden cow, it wasn't worth that much.

After dinner we headed over to the theatre for our first show--Wayne Brady. I have to admit I wasn't overly enthused about this show. I figured that it would be a little raunchy, but was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Well, when we finally got in the theatre the girl directing people to their seats said, "These tickets are all the way at the top. I'm not going to sit you there. How about I give you these three seats in the second row here?" Well, we were a little suspicious. How was it that easy to move seats? Were going to turn into some horrible joke or part of the show later in the night? We were kind of freaked there for a bit, but then we noticed that she moved about 4 other people around as well. How can they do that? Didn't anyone purchase those better seats? You would think so, but we never got booted out, so she must have magical seat moving abilities. The show ended up not being too bad. It of course had some raunch to it, but we laughed quite a bit, and he even sang some of his own songs off of his new album that were quite good.

After the show we hung around outside to catch the volcano erupting at the Mirage. It was pretty neat, but a one time only kind of thing. No need to see it more than that. We headed back to the hotel. The bad news is that the tram was closed, so we had to walk the whole way instead of taking the tram past those last two hotels. The upside is we never would have encountered the night life with those lovely Las Vegas people. They were all so informative. Apparently word on the street is that "Cocaine is bad man." Glad we could get that cleared up.

We got back to the hotel at around 1130p, got ready for bed and settled in for a few hours of sleep before we were going to get up and start the second day. Overall it was a good first day (once we got adjusted to the culture shock... and heat... and walking) :).

Day 2...coming up next....

Until........................

Final Preparations...

2009-05-23T21:55:00.002-05:00

Well, I am semi-packed and fairly ready to go for vacation. I switched my work schedule around for tomorrow so I work 7a-7p instead of at 7p. I hope I don't regret that. I hate waking up early. Plus it's been about a month since I've been on days. I hope I didn't forget everything already.

Well, I finally got around to watching the Bachelorette this evening. It was my incentive to pack. I had to keep pausing to write down things so I could tell Hol about it later, but half the time I just texted her anyway. [-Eww to the foot guy! -Bilbro? Seriously?! -Break Dancing Instructor? I didn't know there was such a thing -Jill is adorable. The MTM move just about pushed me over the edge on her adorable factor -Oh Wes, he wrote her a song -Poor Dave with the blanking when he first met her! -Can't read the rest of my notes. haha]
I like Kiptyn (she was the one that sought him out.. I liked that) and I was liking Jake at the beginning, but was on the fence by the end. Haven't made anymore definitive choices yet, but I'm sure next week with only 20 guys will be easier.
It pretty much took me the whole 2 hours to pack and organize my things. I hate packing. I put it off as long as possible. I had a very detailed list this time around though, so I felt like I could be more last minute than usual. Anything to reason away my procrastination, right?

Well, I'm not sure I'll be able to blog before the trip, but I will try to write down or live blog the interesting "can't forget" kind of things. I'm sure we'll have fun stories when we get back, and of course lots of pictures.

Until...........

Idol-centric

2009-05-18T07:27:00.004-05:00

**Originally started May 18th**
It's happened. I'm one of those people. I'm the person who only blogs bimonthly (err...atleast close to it). I'm saddened. It's not like I wanted to stop blogging. I didn't want to run out of stories. I didn't want to become boring. Work and sleeping have consumed my life, and when I'm not doing one of those I'm trying to spend time with family and friends and prepare for vacation. I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but there seems to be no time for blogging in that agenda. I will try harder, but just in case, don't set your expectations too high. I wouldn't want to disappoint any further.

Ok, now that the melodrama and excuses are behind us let's talk Idol. Oh my word! Who would have ever though that little newlywed Kris Allen would have made it to not only the final three but the final TWO! I'm so happy! Attention: This blog does not show favortism to any specific Idol, much to the like as I do not have a biased opinion of any movie, tv show, or book that I encounter..... (except for the fact that it does and I do).

**Updated on May 19th**
Ok, so I started this post the other day and didn't get a chance to finish it. I worked last night so I had to tape the Bachelorette. I'm on call tonight, but so far have not been called in (knocvk on wood). I got to watch the American Idol finale between Adam and Kris and am thrilled that I can now sit here and vote. Of course I'm also waiting to see if I get a call from work so it gets a little tricky with my voting constantly. I must tell you that typing one-handed while voting with the other is hard work. I have to pause typing with my right hand when I redial with my left. So confusing for my head, and my hands.
What was up with that song that Kara co-wrote for the winner? In my opinion it was "foh-gettable" (in the words of Simon Cowell) Why in the world would they write that song if it wasn't suitable for one or both of the idols? I think that whole concept is so stupid. More often than not one person will do way better with the song, and it's not to the fault of the other person. It is because the song choice was unsuitable for both vocal ranges and/or singing styles. How annoying was it that after Kris sang they made comments the song was too high for him? Well, that's not his fault! Oh, Idol-powers-that-be, please here my plea... Stop making these contestants/hopeful artists sing retarded songs that 89% of the time do not coincide with the kind of artist they want to be or properly suit their styles.
I could also go into the whole wardrobe beef I have, but we'll save that for another time. I'm still haunted by the first outfit Adam wore tonight. *shudder*

Well, I reailze this entire post consisted of American Idol, but it's really the only thing I've had time for this week so far. Later I will be watching the Bachelorette, and I'm sure that will be great fun. I briefly got to watch part of it in the breakroom at work last night, and let's just say I saw the end where the one guy kicked a water bottle off of another guy's head. "I can kick really high." Ooookkkaaay..... This season should be interesting...

Until..................

You can now officially call me "Nurse"...

2009-05-12T21:00:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm on my own now. No more orientation. I am the nurse. You go through 2 years of them telling you that you will soon be "the nurse". Well, now it's finally true. No one else to fall back on. Of course there are always people around to help if you need it, but you are it now. I got my first admission on my second night alone and it was wild to be talking to these parents about their baby and I was the one breaking down the situation for them. I thought I'd feel overwhelmed and stupid, but honestly, they don't want all the scientific medical jargon. They want to know that their baby is being taken care of and they need the simplistic things explained. That...I can do.
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So, did everyone watch American Idol tonight? I can't believe it's the final 3 already. I gotta say... I love Kris. I love his sound and I would for sure buy his album today.

Speaking of tv, who was crying at Grey's Anatomy last week? I sure was. I tell ya... I'm not sure what it is, but that show gets to me every week. I'll definitely be tuning in Thursday for the 2-hour season finale.

Now I'm watching the Biggest Loser Season Finale. I honestly don't watch this much tv normally. :)
.................................

Vegas is inching closer. Two more weeks and we will be in the scorching heat of Nevada. Can't wait!

Until....................................

Blonde with Red highlights...

2009-04-30T16:32:00.003-05:00

Yes, I know... I thought I'd squeak in one more posting for April.

This post will be a bit of a hodge podge, but what's new?
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I ran to Schnucks to get a bag of ice yesterday for my mom. Forget the fact that I could have gone to the gas station that was less than a mile away from my house as opposed to the 5 I drove to Schnucks. I went in, grabbed my bag of ice and got in the "20 items or less" aisle. As I stood there behind 3 people my gaze naturally fell on the woman in front of me in line. I glanced in her cart and easily saw more than 20 items. That's so annoying! It's an express lane for a reason people! The boy/man in front of her had a donut and a drink, so he was clearly in the 20 items or less range. I had a bag of ice, and the two people that got in line behind me had a half dozen items each. I'm not sure if the lady could feel our eyes boring holes in the back of her head for daring to get in the express lane with more than the allotted items, but she glanced around a couple times and then took off toward the frozen foods. It was a little odd, but atleast she got out of line. Ha! Victory! Then as I waited for the boy/man's donut and drink to be rung up the two people behind me in line also took off. It wasn't like they were headed to another check out lane either. They were headed in the opposite direction. I have no idea what happened. It was weird.
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I've taken up running. Well, sort of. I'm working my self up to it. I don't run for very long, so I would hardly call it "running" I run for like .45 miles. I'm a baby runner. I'm determined to get fit and lose weight for vacation which is at the end of May. I surely can do some improving by then. :) I have a killer blister on my right heel though. I bought new shoes while out running errands yesterday and I should have worn taller socks with them the first time. I got done running and my heel had broken open and I bled all over the heel of my new shoes! Ahh! Thankfully some water and Bath & Body soap got it right out. Phew!
...................................

As I was roaming around walmart today I was in the hair product aisle when I overheard an 80 year old (I'm guessing here) woman and a middle aged man talking about hair color. The woman was wearing a ratty old grey sweater and her hair was grey and silver and looked like it hadn't been combed yet today. The man however was dressed to the nines. He had on a pinstripe suit and a matching fedora. I was puzzled by the pair. Then the man started talking about which hair color he was thinking. "Maybe I'll dye it all blonde and do red highlights. Or I could just color the tips red." Old woman: "You're gonna color your hair red?" I didn't want to know anymore than that, and the speculations could go on forever, so I politely moved past them and acted like I'd never encountered them at all.
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I'm now back to my beloved night shift. :) My first night was Monday, and it was crazy from the very minute I walked in. I was surprisingly not tired at all until right at 7a. It was quite different than day shift, so I have 5 more shifts to get acclimated before I'm on my own. Eek! Scary!
Until....................................

When it Rains, It Floods...

2009-04-21T18:04:00.004-05:00

Yes, that's right. Our house has flooded.

My dad went down to investigate the hot water heater on Sunday night, because my mom wasn't getting even remotely warm water for her bath. What did he find? The water had risen so high it had burnt out the pilot light in the water heater.

After sucking 100+ gallons of water up and 3 hours later the situation was looking grim. He had to turn the water off, but he didn't think that it was our problem. He thought it was the city. Right-o he was. He was forced to take a personal day from work on Monday so he could stay home and keep cleaning out the mud and water drenched items that we had been storing in our basement.

Thankfully several people from our church came to help in the effort and mom and Holli took off early from work. I was at work until almost 8 o'clock, so once I finally got home the disaster was managed.

The girls stayed the night on "Rain Duty". They were both up every half hour to make sure it wasn't raining. I was exhausted from my lack of sleep the night before and a full day at work, so once I was out that was the end of it. I didn't hear much again until almost 6am when Lisa came into my room so mom could let the dog out of her pen.

There were only minor sprinkles today, so we didn't have to take anymore drastic efforts to keep water out. The sink hole hasn't gotten any bigger...oh yea, did I forget to mention we have a sink hole in the front yard? There is currently a construction easel looking thing (for lack of a better word) over it so no one walks into it and we have spray paint lines and flags all over our yard and street. I can only imagine what it will all look like once the city comes out to fix it. Hopefully it's soon since Sun-Tues is expected to have rain.

Well, now you know what we've been up to. I've been working mostly. I go to nights next week. I can't believe it's almost May. The weather sure doesn't feel like it. I guess April showers bring May flowers.... Stupid saying... More like April showers bring sink holes and mud into your basement to muck up all your treasured items in storage. *sigh*...

Until.........................

Joyful Easter!

2009-04-12T15:47:00.002-05:00

Joyful Easter everyone!

Yes, I know. People usual wish you a "Happy Easter", but today I just feel that what happened on "Easter" is so much more than just happy. It was downright joyful!

Can you even believe that it is almost the middle of April? Wasn't it just March like yesterday?! I'm looking forward to warmer weather and lazy summer days. :)

For the past two weeks I've been dreaming of going to the beach. Warm sunshine, sea air, sand beneath my feet.... *sigh* I think I'm definitely going to be one of those old people that retires in Florida.

Well, I'm feeling kind of drowsy so I might go lay down with a book for a bit. I've come to the conclusion that my "cold" is actually sinus issues, so I switched medicine. I've felt much better the last two days, with the exception of my nose. I'm hoping to kick this thing in the next day or two.

Hope everyone is joyful and healthy!

Until.................................

No words...

2009-04-07T10:07:00.002-05:00

Well, I've been busy yet again with work and such, so that is why there haven't been any posts in over a week.

We got snow again yesterday, but like last Sunday it was prettty much melted by the end of the day. Ok, so here's the deal. It's April now. In the blink of an eye it will probably be days away from May and I'm just about sick of this below 40 degree weather. It is Spring. I want 60+ degree weather with sunshine. Is that too much to ask???

I have a cold. :( It started Sunday afternoon. The sore throat was the worst part! No more sore throat today though. Yay! I just have my nose to deal with now. It's mostly runny but it's clear, so I'm sticking to my Tylenol Cold and am going to see where it takes me. No fever, and I feel fine, so I guess I'll ride it out. I know who I got it from, but to protect that person I shall let them remain nameless. :p

This weekend was rough for me at work. I'm still loving it, there were just experiences that I haven't had that forced me to stretch and grow in a way I haven't had to before. I'm glad I got those experiences in orientation. If I had been by myself I surely would have been unable to keep my head above water. Thank goodness for preceptors!

Well, I think I'm going to go relax on the couch and read a book. :)

Until........................

This Weather is for the Birds Squirrels

2009-03-29T11:48:00.008-05:00

This is ridiculous! FOUR inches of snow! Isn't it Spring?!

After helping my mom shovel the driveway and dig out my car this morning (Dad was at church helping to shovel the parking lot) I was sweaty, tired, and hungry. I was going to go to church, but my mom told me to stay at home, so that is what I did. I stayed home and made my Loaded Pretzels for Doctor's Day tomorrow. Everyone was instructed to bring something and that is what I am taking. They are very yummy, and pretty simple to make. You just have to add all the chips, nuts, toffee bits (and m&m's...my special addition) in a shallow container, melt the caramel with some evaporated milk in the microwave, dip the pretzels, roll the pretzels, lay the pretzels on wax paper. Voila!

It actually takes a little longer than it seems, but the time goes by fast and of course there is more to it than just throwing it all together-- zip zam boom.

Now, I'm going to take a shower, hunker down with a good book and read the day away. :)

Enjoy the snow I guess.....

Until...........................

Pee-Yew!

2009-03-26T16:31:00.002-05:00

My room smells like dead mouse!

How is it possible for it to be so quiet the past 3 days inside the wall, and start stinking today???

Gross!!

Too bad you can't pump a Downey softener smell inside the walls.

Until....................

P.S.- I saw someone googled this phrase and got directed to my blog: "everytime i bend my head for a while i feel dizzy and also i feel that my head is really heavy like something is weighing on my head". Apparently they are a wordy googler. Hopefully they got that whole issue taken care of.

Whacked Over the Head with a Cannoli?

2009-03-24T19:38:00.002-05:00

Get it? The Godfather was about the mafia. I referred to the nocturnal one as being in the mafia.

Anyone???

Well, after that night I posted on my mafia friend, he was not heard of again. I'm thinking he's been taken out by another rat mafia family. No stench as of yet, and it's been 2 days since the last scratch was heard. Only time will tell.

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I had my last lecture day today. I'm so glad to have all that behind me. now I just need to finish out the rest of orientation and I will be on my own. :/

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Vacation plans are coming together. We have our flight and hotel booked. This whole thing seems to be creeping up on us. After all it's only been around 6 weeks since we decided we were going to do a vacation this year. Last year we had like 10 months to prepare for NY.

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I've been in the mood to shop lately. Not for anything in particular really, but in the mood none the less. I need to run to the mall for a few things, but am waiting until the weekend so I will have my paycheck. I've become a bit of a freak because I had to fork over so much money for the down payment on my car. I'm not pennyless or anything, but my comfy cushion is gone, and so I'm watching my spending carefully. I have bills to pay, money to put in savings and I will probably set aside a little money for clothes or something miscellaneous.

Yes, I realize I'm in the "adult world" now. No need to hear anyone say it again. Frankly, I'm quite sick of hearing it. It's condescending and rude. It's not as though I'm a frivilous spender and need to be reminded of my adult responsibilities. I'm well aware and handling it quite well in my opinion. I've always been careful with my money and am getting used to these new added responsibilities in my life. End of rant.

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Is anyone else afflicted with awful sinus issues? This change in weather lately has been wreaking havoc on my sinuses. I feel pressure in my head everyday, and I'm getting quite tired of it. I doubt sitting in a room listening to lecture after lecture helps any.

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Satellite radio. It's lovely. My car is still under contract or something for the satellite radio, so I get it for a little while (free of charge, I think) and I'm enjoying it to the fullest. Mind you I haven't been in my car lately other than to go to and from work, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Less talk, no commercials, all music! I love the stations that are geared toward specific types/genres. 80's. Pop. Hits. Country. *Sigh* I'm in love. I'll be sad when it's gone. I'm keeping it at arms length so I'm not totally lost without it, but it's hard not to be totally smitten with it's plentiful array of musical goodness.

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Qdoba. YUM! I was just recently introduced to this Mexican restaraunt and it is oh so good. I've only been twice, and both times I've gotten the Nachos (so much more than what it sounds like), but I think it could quickly become a favorite of mine. A nice alternative to Panera and Olive Garden, two of my other favorites.

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My head feels like it wants to explode from the pressure. I'm off to lay in bed.

Until..........................................

The Nocturnal One 2.0

2009-03-21T20:27:00.002-05:00

Well, I have another little visitor in the wall behind my bed. I'm thinking it must be a cousin to the one before. Maybe it's angry for the whole dying situation it's cousin went through.

I don't know.

Maybe there is an entire Rat Mafia that is going to one by one sacrifice themselves until they scratch there way through my walls.

All I know is I am totally creeped out and sleep deprived. Why must it always come out during the night time? No one is home during the day! It can scratch until it's hearts content without me banging intermittently on the wall to scare it away.

*Sigh*

Here's to hoping for a quick and stench-less death.

Until...............

The Happenings as of late...(alternately titled: Megan got her Groove Back)

2009-03-20T19:11:00.005-05:00

Yes, I am aware that it has been over a week since I posted last. I am still slacking. I just haven't been in the mood to blog lately. Not that I haven't had things to talk about, I just have been so stinkin' tired that I haven't been able to muster up the strength to do any posts....until now that is. I'm still dog tired, but I decided to bite the bullet and write a little tonight.
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So I got a new car. :) I got it this past Saturday. I'm loving it very much. It drives so smooth and is a definite step (or two) up from my last car. (I was going to insert a picture of my old car, but I couldn't find a good one. I guess that shows you how much I loved it) In all seriousness the car served our family well. It got both me and Lisa through college and served the purpose of getting me places. My new car though is beautiful. It's a Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. It's very pretty! I hadn't taken a picture of it until right before this post, because well... I'm usually the one taking pictures of the new cars, and since I was preoccupied being the new car owner this time I didn't get the "first drive into the driveway" picture. Oh well.
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On topic with new cars.... Why on earth would people choose to get new cars more often than 5 years? That was the worst, most stressful experience I have ever had purchasing something before. I was nervous, sweating, and very uncomfortable the entire time. I felt like I was being scammed the entire time! I'm glad my dad was there, because otherwise I would have signed my life away and not have known it. I won't even go into the fact that they will not give me a driver's side car mat, are taking forever in getting me a car manual and my airbag light keeps going off. I hope I don't have to deal with another car salesman for a very very long time!
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I feel as though I am afflicted with vertigo today. I feel very off-balance. Everytime I bend over and come back up I feel dizzy and light-headed. That can't be good. I've also had a little bit of a sore throat, but nothing too big to report on. I feel fine otherwise. Guess I'll ride it out.
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So has anyone read the book Heaven: God's answers for your every need by Randy Alcorn? My dad brought the "Touchpoints" version back from CA with him and Lisa quickly snatched it up and said she wanted to read it. Well, then Holli began reading it and both have reported that it's a must read. It's supposed to answer questions about what Heaven will be like. I'm looking forward to cracking it open and learning more!
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Is anyone else utterly addicted to the Reeses peanut butter pastel eggs? I mean, I love peanut butter like no other, but that crunchy pastel coating just brings me such delight. Its like a Reeses pieces on steroids. The eggs are about 3x bigger! Yum! I should really cut back on how many I eat though. I'm trying to lose weight, not gain. (I say this as I just snuck another one out of the bag and quickly popped it into my mouth). Shameful.
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I have 7 more weeks of orientation and then I'm on my own at work. Ahhh! I'm halfway through and although I feel as though I've learned tons I still have moments where I feel so stupid! I'm hoping that gets better soon. :/ I love my preceptor to pieces and I will be sad to see her go. I'm looking forward to switching to the more laid back pace of nights though. Days are so busy, and for a beginner I think it's better to start off slower when you are by yourself. I'm also looking forward to making it awake past 9:30p. I am a night owl at heart, and this whole falling asleep early routine is really getting old. Only 5 more weeks of days. I can make it!
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Well, I think I will get my scrubs laid out for tomorrow and settle into bed to read. Hope everyone had a good week! Enjoy your weekend... I'll be at work. :p

Until.....................................

Busy, Sick, and that's about it...

2009-03-12T15:40:00.002-05:00

I'm ashamed. I once was an avid blogger. Now I am a once every two weeks kind of gal. :( I will work harder to be better.

The last week and half has been a busy one. I've had lots of work, a few appointments, and this past Sunday I was struck with an evil stomache bug. It was fast, and it was mean. I got up and headed to work, but I only made it halfway through report before I dashed out of there and got sick in the bathroom. Needless to say I spent the rest of the day at home in bed. Monday was a time for extended recovery, and then by Tuesday I was back at the hospital for lecture. Work yesterday was exciting, and busy. I got to help admit a 24-weeker. I didn't get out to lunch until 3:30p! I was exhausted when I got home. I've been falling asleep at about 9:30p every night, regardless of if I had to work that day or not. Can we say old woman??

Anyway, I'm on the road to full recovery now. I would say that I'm at 90% right now. I have a busy day tomorrow. MOPS in the am, lunch with a friend at noon, and then I have to go get fitted for my bridesmaid dress. I was also informed earlier that we are going out to dinner for my dad's birthday tomorrow since he was in CA for his actual birthday. Good thing I hadn't made plans already.

I'm hoping that my dad will take me car browsing/shopping this weekend too. I drove my car today for the first time in about 2 weeks. I can't believe the shape its in. I don't really notice as much until I go from driving my parents cars to mine again. As I drove it around this afternoon running errands I was thankful that it had made it as long as it has. We prayed it would get me through school and it did. I was hoping it would last until mid-March and it has. It was a good little car, but I'm ready to move on now. It needs to retire at the ripe old age of eleven. Yup, the car is 11 years old. We drive 'em until they die.

Well, I need to go copy over some lecture notes into my little handbook. Hope everyone had a good week. I can't wait until the warm weather comes back! It was such a tease last week! I'm sick and tired of freezing!

Until...........................

No Excuses...

2009-03-02T10:16:00.002-06:00

Hi! Good to see you. I've missed you all. :)

I really have no good excuse for not blogging this past week or so other than the fact that I've had nothing too interesting happen besides work, and I've been enjoying some lazy days around the house (recovering from said work).

Speaking of... I'm LOVING work! I don't know if it's because I'm still in that "It's exciting to go to work" phase or if I really do enjoy my work so much. I'm betting on the latter. I'll be loving it even more when I move to nights, but until then I will begrudgingly love my days.

So, has everyone been watching the Bachelor? The finale is tonight, with a special 1-hour episode of The Bachelor: After the Final Rose. I have to tell you, I was excited about this whole Bachelor experience I've been enjoying these last few weeks. However, once the preview aired about "emotionally difficult" such-and-such for people involved and having a "closed-set due to privacy" my Bachelor world has been turned upside down. :/ There have been foilers and spoilers flying about all over the place. Internet, magazines, tv guide, work, etc. I just have to say that if what people say is true then I will be royally ticked off and will most likely abstain from any bachelor viewing until the end of time. That is unless Jillian comes back to be the Bachelorette and then I am onboard once again. (I love her!) The whole situation makes me sick to my stomach, and I will surely want to hurl watching all THREE HOURS tonight. I will most likely Twitter (aka live blog) while watching, so if you are DVR-ing and want to be surprised do not come to my blog until after you have viewed the show.

Well, I should probably do something productive. I woke up at 8:00a. Why, I don't know, but since I'm up I might as well make the best of my day since I still have part of the morning left.

Enjoy your week!

Until.........................

Buying in Bulk...

2009-02-20T13:01:00.004-06:00

Have you ever found a shirt or a pair of pants or just about anything that you love so much that you buy 2 or 3 of them in varying colors?

I was having one of those moments today.

I went to get my hair trimmed at 9:30a this morning to try and relieve some of this unbearable weight on my head. After that I went to get gas in my car and headed to the Old Navy to get some shirts and browse, as well as stop in to Borders for a book.

Once inside ON I saw this simple white sweater. Something about it caught my eye. It might have been the hideous shirt underneath it, but I walked over to the table anyway. Then I saw it... an adorable grey sweater (same kind as the white), but it had a white dragonfly on the upper left side. I fell in love.... I picked it up and meandered around a bit more. I initially went in to get some short sleeve shirts to wear under my scrubs. I ended up getting 5 of the same tee in different colors? Is that a little overboard? I don't think so. After all, I wear scrubs 3 times a week, so it's really necessary for me to have that many tees, or atleast that's how I'm justifying my purchase. :) I went in the dressing room, tried on a cute pink shirt, that hanging on the hnager was adorable... on my body... yuk! Then I tried on the sweater. Was it going to fit? Was it going to look right? Yes! It did!! I was so excited. I seriously contemplated getting another one. I even went back to the table and looked again. I thought that buying tees in 5 different colors wasn't a bad thing, but buying a sweater in the same color may have been a bit crazy. So I refrained. :( If I still want it by next weekend though I might go back and get another one, or order it online.

Am I the only one that does this? Buys clothing in "bulk"? I know my sis Lisa does, but does anyone else? Are we the only crazies?

Hmm... well, I better go. I need to finish doing my hair, do something for work, and copy some pictures to my flash drive for my great aunt.

Until.......................................

I Will Not Take My Love Away...

2009-02-16T16:45:00.003-06:00

This song brought tears to my eyes when I heard it for the first time today. I added it to my playlist, so take a listen.

I Will Not Take My Love Away

Sung by: Matt Wertz

I will not take my love away

When praises cease and seasons change

While the whole world turns the other way

I will not take my love away

I will not leave you all alone

When striving leads you far from home

And there’s no yield for what you’ve sown

I will not leave you all alone

I will give you what you need

In plenty or in poverty

Forever, always, look to me

And I will give you what you need

I will not take my love away

Until....................

Feeling proud of my accomplishment...

2009-02-16T14:33:00.003-06:00

Today I learned how to hem my own pants. :)

I'm too tall for petite pants but not tall enough, it seems, for regular length pants. Plus, throw in that my left leg is 1/4 inch shorter than my right and I have some messed up pants. I bought 4 pairs of scrub pants a few weeks ago and I finally got around to hemming them today. Well, if I'm being honest I hemmed one pair. :) I only needed to hem one pair (so I could wear them tomorrow), so I will hem the rest Thursday and Friday since I am off.

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Tonight, the Bachelor is on. It's the one-on-one dates with the three remaining ladies. They're going to New Zealand. I'm glad the awkward group dates are out of the way, but now the weird one-on-one dates begin. There is sure to be lots of lip-gloss usage during this episode.

No viewing party tonight. The girl's are working, so we're watching at our own places tonight. I will pop up some popcorn, snuggle into bed and hope that the girl I don't think is right for him gets sent home. I can hardly wait for next week. The Bachelor: Women Tell All. Can't wait to see what transpires. I don't think all the women come back, so it will be interesting to see who does. Hmm...

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There have been good movies on today. Love Come Back (1961) with Doris Day and Rock Hudson, Pretty in Pink (1986) with Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthey and Jon Cryer, and now Stand By Me (1986) with Jerry O'Connell, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Keifer Sutherland. The year of my birth truly was a great year for movies. :)

Anyway... hope everyone is having a good start to their week!

Until.........................

"Laugh Out Loud! We Won!"

2009-02-15T19:48:00.002-06:00

Today has been a little bit crazy...

I started off the day with church (very good sermon on Hebrews), then I came home for a couple hours. I actually started a book in this time. I was reading Down Came the Rain by Brooke Shields, but reading about PPD was making me depressed so I skimmed. I'll have to go back and actually read the rest when I'm in the mood. So, I moved on to Multiple Bles8ings by Jon and Kate Gosselin. So far I am much more intrigued by it than the previous book, so I will finish that up and return to my Harry Potter books soon after.

At 3:00p the fam headed off to my cousin's birthday party. I can't believe that she's 15 already! We hung out there for about an hour (just enough time to presents and cake) and then headed off to the movies. Hol, Lis, and I were meeting a few of my friends to see "He's Just Not That In To You". I would say that it could have been a little more condensed, there was some unnecessary usuage of inappropriate language, and there was a shameless plug of the author in there. (He played a priest, and honestly there was absolutely no reason to even get a close up of him for any reason other than the fact that he co-wrote the book.) There were way too many people involved as well. It was like watching Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Everyone knew everyone in some way or another. There were definitely storylines I adored (Ben and Jen/Ginnifer and Justin) and storylines I was disappointed in (Jennifer Connelly/Bradley Cooper/Scarlett Johanson). I definitely didn't think it was going to be an uplifting movie. I mean after all, I know what the book is about. ;) There were funny parts as well but overall it's a very embarrassing movie. By that, I mean embarrassing for the characters. I had my face covered many a times throughout the movie. You know how much I hate watching other people get embarrassed. :p The end was very good, so if you don't mind waiting around for a little over 2 hours you can have 10 minutes of enjoyable viewing pleasure.
I guess what I would suggest is that if you want to see it, wait until you can NetFlix it or go for $5 using the Five Buck Club discount.
Anyway, after the movie, Robin, Ashley and I headed off for a late dinner at Panera. There were a lot more people out on a Sunday night than I had anticipated. No school/work for a lot of people so I guess they were party-ing it up on their extended weekend. :) There was a girl sitting at the table next to us and at one point we heard her say "I have a Myspace and Facebook account...but I don't use it for dating." I looked at Ashley and said, "Someone needs to tell her "He's Just Not That in to You". We started cracking up! Poor girl! She was talking really loud about personal problems in a public place so we couldn't help but over hear. :)

Alright, well that's about it for now. I have tomorrow off then I work Tuesday and Wednesday. Can't wait.... NOT! Day shift is not my friend! Only 7 more weeks of it and then I get to go back to my beloved Night Shift. YEA!!

Have a wonderful President's Day everyone!

Until............................

"Fired Up" for Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T19:33:00.003-06:00

Well, yet another V-day comes and I am still single. To be honest it's not that big of a deal for me. I like where I'm at right now, and whenever God sees that it's time for me to meet someone, I will. So no worries until then.... (Mind you, that's what I say today on "Singles Awareness Day")
So my good friend Jen and I decided that we would go to Fired Up and paint some pottery and then have lunch together. We had a nice time! We haven't gotten to spend much time together since we passed our boards and started working, so it was nice to catch up with her.

Here is a look at what we made...

Now, the thing about painting pottery is that the colors you actually paint with are not what it will look like when it is glazed and comes out of the kiln. I'll try and get a picture of Jen's after. You won't believe what it's really supposed to look like. :)

Alright, well all you couples out there have a good Valentine's Day, and all you singles... well, you know there's always a February 15th right around the corner....

Until..............................

Yummy Trial Taste Test

2009-02-06T19:57:00.002-06:00

Well, since I am in charge of some sort of dessert for a friend's baby shower the sisters and I decided to try making mini brownie cups with icing.

Good idea in theory, but the actual making, cooling, and icing of the brownies was way too time consuming. So back to the drawing board...

The taste testing portion was really enjoyable though. :) The ones that actually turned out were cute too...

Until..............

The Office...Oh How I Love it So...

2009-02-05T20:12:00.003-06:00

Being blessed with two new episodes of the Office this week is almost too much to bear. Here are some funny quotes from tonight's show...

And we're off..like a herd of turtles.

No, that is a tobaggon. You never know when you'll find a snowy hill.

Can I turn on the radio? No... We could just talk. No that's ok, I'll just sing a song in my head. *humming*

I hate that someone doesn't like me. I even hate that Al Qaeda doesn't like me. I'm sure they'd change their mind if they got to know me.

This is going to be a hard presentation today b/c I learned my father just died...No he didn't! He's alive.... This isn't even a phone, it's a calculator, but you bought it!

I have come up with a mnemonic device to remember all of your names. Shirty, mole, lazy eye, Mexico...

So is there a guy, or person, or sperm machine that did this to you?

How old is Kelly? 24...37. Do you think I called you for your best estimation? I'll call you back...

So funny.. I love it...

Until..................

Bachelor Goodness...

2009-02-03T12:24:00.002-06:00

Well, it's week whatever of the Bachelor and things are just starting to get good, or rather normal. The weirdo, controlling, and needy people are gone, and only 5 remain. This week the 5 Mrs. Bachelor hopefuls got to go to Seattle, Jason's hometown. There were to be 2 individual dates, and 1 group date.

Melissa was chosen for the first date. That sent Naomi into a tizzy because she had yet to get a one-on-one date. So Melissa got all dressed up (in what was a not very attractive dress IMO) and waited for Jason to arrive. She waited, and waited, and waited. In actuality I think she waited all of 20 minutes, but I'm sure it was more like 5 since nothing is ever fully how it seems to us viewers. She was starting to wonder if he forgot they had a date. Robin pointed out "Uh yea, I'm sure he completely forgot with him being on a tv show and everything, with cameras following him everywhere. Yea, it just slipped his mind." Anyway, he called and explained that Ty didn't want him to leave so would she mind coming over to his house and hanging out there. Well, of course she was thrilled and headed over there. Another point we brought up at our Bachelor viewing party...why didn't he just wait to go out after Ty was asleep? Well, because that wouldn't make for good tv of course! The girls were NOT happy that Melissa got to go over to his house and "meet" Ty. Well, it turns out that she didn't get to meet him, because J wasn't ready for any of the girls to do that. (Good for you Jason!) She did however get to peek in on him sleeping. So they enjoyed a relaxing night at "his house" and blah blah blah... (I don't think that was really his house, but I could be wrong.)

Next up was the group date between Jillian, Stephanie, and Molly. They went to a local radio station and had some very uncomfortable conversation with the dj's, went on a water home/yacht thing and then headed off to eat food in what seemed to be a hotel lobby. I'm not sure. I was too distracted by the not so cute faux (I hope) fur vest that Stephanie was wearing. They all got alone time with J that entailed of Jason trying to figure out what Jill was really feeling, I'm not sure what he got out of his talk with Stephanie other than she was still missing her daughter Sophia, and Molly is excited at the fact of him possibly meeting her family next week and then admitting in a round about way that if her family doesn't like him he's a goner. Boy was i glad when that group date was over. I hate the awkwardness of those dates.

Last, but not....well...Lastly he had a date with Naomi. They went to some indoor sporting goods store (or so it seemed) and did some rock-wall climbing. Then they cuddled by the fire (aka faux lodge-esque fireplace) and talked about Naomi's parents and her commitment issues. Basically she said she was a lot like her mom, which probably wasn't the best thing to say to him since she had just finished saying that her mom went through a mid-life crisis and divorced her dad. Hmm...

Jason surprised the girls by dropping by and he took Jill for a walk to discuss her issues of holding back. They talked, he was pleased, now time for the rose ceremony. During that he took Naomi off to have a talk, and in the end everyone got a rose but Stephanie. It's all for the best anyway. He felt more like a friend to her than anything. Everyone cried, and after a sweet little goodbye she was off in the dreaded limo, homeward bound to her little Sophia. I have to say that woman was very classy about her exit and she was so dang nice to everyone! We're thinking she may be in the running to be the next Bachelorette.

So, next week is hometown dates for the remaining 4 girls. He's going to CA, TX, Canada, and I don't remember where Molly lives. It should be interesting...

Will Jill open up a bit more? Will Molly's parents like J? Will he get to meet Melissa's parents??? And most importantly, will he go running for the hills (I would!) after meeting Naomi's family? (Seriously, what was up with her mom making him give a eulogy for a dead bird???? WEIRD!)

I can't wait for next week!! :)

Until.............................................

Bride Wars

2009-01-31T23:59:00.000-06:00

OK, so Robin and I went to see this movie on Friday night and it was Ha-larious! I don't think I've laughed this hard at a movie since Baby Mama. :)

It's definitely a movie to see with your girlfriends. Although you probably want to go at an "off" time so that you don't get stuck in a full theatre and the only place for 6 teenage girls to sit is next to you. Trust me, you'll thank me when you're sitting there in peace instead of listening to "omigosh" and "did you hear this?" and "what did they say? I couldn't hear." Ugh.... maybe if they had kept their mouths shut for two minutes they would have heard what was going on in the movie.

Anyway... it was an enjoyable time and I recommend it to anyone seeking a good chick flick.

Until...................................

DING, DING, DING!!!

2009-01-29T19:22:00.002-06:00

ROBIN IS THE WINNER!!!

And because she played the game (seriously people, you disappointed me a little :() she wins.... well I don't know. I'll buy you lunch or something. Haha...

Good job!

Until..................

"Stumped..." Part 2

2009-01-29T18:26:00.004-06:00

Pathetic.... only one response.

Nope, it's not Wall-E, Robin. Although, I guessed that too.

Clue: It's not a vegetable or mineral. :) That just leaves animal...

If it makes you feel better I didn't get it until after Hol gave me another clue and I looked up all the Disney movie's online. I was downright ashamed of myself. :(

Until.....................

Stumped...

2009-01-28T20:28:00.004-06:00

**UPDATE** I forgot to say that the winner would be announced by 8p tonight (1/29), and if no one guesses correctly by then I will post a clue. :) (This update has no affect on guesses already submitted. I was going to put this update last night but forgot.) Happy guessing!!!

**ORIGINAL POST**

Ok, so Holli presented me with a trivia question tonight.

The question was: What Disney movie features a main character who doesn't speak?

Try and figure it out without looking on the internet. I'll be interested to hear your guesses...

Until.............................

No More Poll...

2009-01-28T16:41:00.002-06:00

An executive decision has been made....

We are most likely going to Vegas because that entire trip will cost less than half of what it would cost in airfare to Italy. :( Maybe next year....

I have a feeling my car will be crapping out soon and I will need to throw a chunk of money into a down payment for a new one before April (when I had planned to get a new car). We'll see though....

Thanks to the 3 that voted... Sorry to the two that voted Italy. :/

Until..............................

Poll and Near Smackdown in HR...

2009-01-27T22:37:00.003-06:00

Well, I've added a poll on the right-hand side. It deals with vacation for the three of us sisters, and I'm asking for your input on where we should go. You have until Saturday at noon to vote. I'm actually not sure if it will close at noon... I vaguely remember the last poll I did not being in the same time zone as me, so who knows. Just make sure you vote before Saturday afternoon. And please, if you have another suggestion kindly drop a recommendation in my latest post. :)

Ok, so on to the drama for the day. I got myself up super early today to do my hair and get out of the house 20 minutes before planned so that I could run to HR and drop off my insurance papers and get my RN badge right when they opened at 7:30. Well, for whatever reason I slept horribly last night and didn't get much sleep. So needless to say I'm tired, but I got out of the house early, as planned, and arrived at HR 5 minutes before they opened. I was quite proud. I coudl see and hear people in at the desk laughing and having a "good ol' time". Finally they open the door at 7:30. I walked in and got a super warm welcoming. <-- notice sarcasm people. As soon as I walked up to the desk the lady behind it (who was smiling) looked at me, frowned, and said "Can I help you?" Really what she meant to say was, "Seriously? You're bugging me right when we open? I don't want to deal with you right now." After that oh so warm welcome I kindly told her that I was here to drop off my insurance forms and that I needed to get me new RN badge. Without even looking at me she said, "The badge system is down." Uhhh... ok. Any idea of when it will be back up? "I don't know." Do you think it will be later today? "I don't know. Call first before coming over though." She says this as if she doesn't want to see my face anymore than she has to. So I told her thank you (What for? She did nothing for me, but treat me rudely?) and left. I was so miffed! She is in the wrong profession if she is working in HR dealing with people everyday and she doesn't even like people!

Ugh, so I'm headed over to the hospital, because our lecture day for the unit was at 8a this morning. As I'm halfway there Ashley calls me relaying her experience in HR that I had just had minutes ago. I waited for her and we made a quick pit-stop in the cafeteria and then headed up to the unit.

Fast forward a couple hours. Another girl in lecture with us came back from break wearing a new RN badge. The system was back up and running. Ashley and I decided that we would go over our lunch break.

So we get there at about 12:40 and I went up to the desk, told the HR guy what I was there for, and he looked at me like I was crazy. He said, "Uh....ok.... well you'll have to bring in your license and we'll copy it and then you can get your badge." I was so ticked! I said, "Are you kidding me?" He looked at me blankly and I relayed the whole encounter with Ms. Crabby Pants that I had had just one week prior, and she said that as soon as I was done working as a Graduate RN I could come get my RN badge in time for RN orientation. Again the blank stare. I think I had to explain it 3 times, with Ashley chiming in too, all the while Robin is off to the side laughing. He finally agreed, and we filled out a form and went over to the lady who was working the badge machine. The whole process probably took 10 minutes. I would have been livid if I had walked out of HR again without my RN badge. I mean, he was the one handing out badges like there was no tomorrow, to people who hadn't even tested yet! He was even there when Ms. Crabby Pants flipped out on me last week about the whole badge thing. I do everything correctly and he still tried to deny me my badge. I think not!

*Sigh* The point is... I got my nice red RN badge and now I am happy. :)

Alright, well I really need to get to bed, because RN orientation will surely put me to sleep if I do not get a decent nights sleep. Don't forget to vote in the poll!

Until...........................

Farewell Forks....

2009-01-26T11:17:00.002-06:00

Well, I did it. I finished the Twilight series last night, or should I say this morning (1:35am to be exact). I was struggling the last 50 pages. The last two nights I had to force myself to go to sleep and the one night where I want to stay up and finish, I start to get sleepy at midnight.

I'm feeling triumphant, a little sad, accomplished, cross-eyed... the list could go on. I've never read so much in such a short amount of time before. I read Over 2000 pages in like 2 1/2 weeks time. That's crazy! What's even crazier is that my sister read those same pages in FOUR days! She's nuts!

I look forward to my return to Hogwarts, but first I must take a break from these magical places. I think I'll read a couple of biographies or something. I have about 4 on my list. So I'll read a couple of those and then get back to HP.

Well, I have much to do today and need to stop sitting at the computer.

The Bachelor is on tonight! Yea! I can't believe I look forward to this as much as I do. Big things are coming... they do some stupid acting thing tonight, Melissa cries (!), and he doesn't want to give out the last rose. *Gasp* I'm sure I'll twitter part of my experience tonight. :) Stay tuned...

Until................................

Spaghetti Anyone?

2009-01-26T10:15:00.003-06:00

There is just something very unappealing about the smell of spaghetti sauce in the crockpot right when you wake up. Blech!

You know how when you wake up you only have a longing (or tolerance) for breakfast related items? Cereal, waffles, fruit (hah! yea right...), granola bar, coffee.... Well, spaghetti sauce is not on that list for me.

It's funny how in my mind only breakfast food is allowed at breakfast, but when "normal" lunch and dinner meals should be served I am willing to accept breakfast then too. Not just lunch foods at lunch and dinner at dinner. I feel like I have a little food prejudice going on.

I blame it on my mother. She forced upon me her strict beliefs of breakfast food only being for breakfast. It was a rare treat when we got "breakfast" for dinner. What's wrong with having pancakes, eggs, toast, etc for dinner? No harm would be done. Even now as an adult I find myself saying "well, that's not right" and then catching myself with "why isn't it?" If I want to eat a bowl of cereal for dinner, I should be able to eat a bowl of cereal for dinner! However, she still makes a comment of, "Megan! You can't just have cereal for dinner! That's not a balanced diet." (It's not like I would do it every night.) If I want to eat dinner at some other time than 5:30 on the nose, then I should be able to do that! I'm not always hungry when I "should" be eating. Who made all of these unspoken rules??? This is probably a contribution to obesity in this world. Okay, that might be a stretch, but you never know...

*Sigh* I feel liberated!

This has caused me to tag this issue in my brain, so that on a later date, when I hopefully have kids, I will stop myself from saying "You can't have that for dinner. That's what you eat for breakfast." Instead I will say, "Yes! Let's eat "breakfast" for dinner!" :)

Any of you have little things your parents instilled in you, that you didn't even think twice about until you were an adult?

Until.........................

TWITTERific!

2009-01-25T19:18:00.002-06:00

I'm twittering people! Yea, I figured it out!

Check out the right hand column for My Twittering's. :)

Until.........................

Words to Live by...on a Starbucks Cup...

2009-01-25T16:54:00.006-06:00

I still had about $8 on a Starbucks card that I got for my graduation (thank you Jenn) so I decided to treat Holli to a drink this afternoon. 1) I haven't gotten to spend very much time with her lately and 2) I really wanted one. So after I got back from Walmart with my Mom (Don't go there!! Run Away!! The parking lot is a hazard to your health and every other yahoo is there today) we headed off. She got her tall Chai Tea Latte and I got a Light Caramel Frap. We went and pulled into the mall parking lot to chat for a bit and she noticed that her cup said something on the side. She chuckled a little and then read to me aloud...

In case you are unable to read the cup this is what it says.... "I used to feel so alone in the city. All those gazillions of people and then me, on the outside. Because how do you meet a new person? I was very stumped by this for many years. And then I realized, you just say, "Hi." They may ignore you. Or you may marry them. And that possibility is worth that one word." --Augusten Burroughs Author of Running with Scissors

How profound is that? If only it were truly that easy.

While Hol and I were sitting in the parking lot a funny thing happened. A girl and her mother came out of Bergner's and as they were midway down an aisle they started to get that look on their faces. "Is this the aisle we parked in?" "Were we in the next aisle over?" "Hmm... I don't quite remember. I thought we were in this one." They start looking around. Finally they stopped walking and just started looking. We kind of chuckled at the fact they couldn't find their car because the lot was not that full to begin with. Finally they TURN AROUND and there was their car!! They were standing in front of it the whole time!!! We started cracking up, but of course disguised it by acting like we were talking to eachother and sipping our drinks. By the time they pulled out we were busting up laughing. How silly!

Anyway, that was the quick recap of my afternoon. Tonight I will be scanning pictures to transfer to my great aunt's digital photo frame, finishing the last 180 pages of my book, reading two People magazines, working out (ehhh- might put that off until tomorrow), and attempting to Twitter again. We'll see what I actually get done though.

Until...........................................

Twitterfied and Tech Support...

2009-01-24T19:15:00.003-06:00

Well, I tried to branch out in my blogging skills and just ended up frustrated. The concept of Twittering has had me mystified for a couple weeks now. How did it work? Who could be a part of it? Why was it necessary? All these questions went unanswered so today I was going to take the plunge. I was going to start Twittering, but I was having difficulty posting and such and then just got fed up so I deleted my account. A little hasty? Maybe... but I was annoyed after over an hour of trying to figure it out, looking at helpful hints, and browsing for answers. Maybe I will try again at a later date, but for now I will just happily continue blogging the old fashioned way. My blog will, for now, be tweet-less. Such a shame... all the fun terms were in the top 5 reasons of why I wanted to try it. Oh well....

Tonight I was enlisted to help a dear friend with her blog. She started one today and was having issues with her playlist. I was quite impressed with her. She claimed to be not so good with the computer stuff, but she had already added pictures and a playlist. I'd say that's quite impressive. Some people don't even know where to start. I joke that I am like Blog Tech Support. Whenever any of my friends have questions about their blogs they ask me. I don't mind the least bit, and the only reason I know so much is because I've fiddled around with it long enough. I feel as if I should start putting tutorials up on my blog. I was teaching another friend how to hyperlink a couple of weeks ago, and ~~striking~~ through words is so much fun! :) All these are just little things I've picked up along the way.

Anyway, I'm still reading the last book in the Twilight series. These books are crazy! I have like 250 pages left and this is where Hol says it got difficult. She felt like it was never going to end. We'll see how it goes. I turned my cousin onto the books now. She's on bedrest though, so she really has nothing more to do than lie around and read books for the next couple of weeks. I have several friends that are reading them right now too. I am so Team Edward it is not even funny. Even Holli was surprised at how much I... don't prefer... Jacob. I can't explain it, but he just gets on my nerves and I can't get past it. I did actually like him in the 4th book... for about 100 pages, and then it went back to disliking. Oh well... doesn't matter anyway. I better get back to reading. I want to finish by tomorrow night. Wish me luck!

Until.....................................

Vacation Destinations Anyone???

2009-01-20T21:19:00.002-06:00

Well, the sisters and I are in the works of planning our Sisters Vacation of 2009. The only trouble is we don't know where to go. Well, actually that's not true. Our other problem is that I'm a working girl now with a very "unconventional" work schedule. So now instead of working around 2 work schedules we have three.

Anyway... the point is, we were wondering if any of you had ideas for where we could go. We will probably be going at the end of May, so keep that time of year in mind. We will most likely on go away for 5 days as well.

At this point we're open to suggestions.... Fire away....

Until.....................................

Inauguration and Scarves...

2009-01-20T16:49:00.003-06:00

Well, as of 12pm we have a new president. He is no longer "president-elect". He gets the title and all the responsibility that comes with it. I do not envy him....
I didn't get to watch the actual ceremony because I was in my Nurse Residency meeting today. It was our first of 12 that we will have in this year of 2009. We are piloting, if you will, this program for our facility. This type of program has been used many places, but it is the first year we are implementing it for all of our new grads. Basically we get together once a month and discuss how things are going with our jobs, and it's supposed to help with retention. We'll see if it works. I am not looking forward to the fact that we are "required" to do a project and we have to take the HESI two times during this year. TWO times!!! If you recall, the HESI is a "pre-NCLEX" type exam that we took twice during our college career. Why we have to take it again after already passing the NCLEX is beyond me. I have a feeling this part of the program may be cut for next year. I don't see how it will show anything. It will be way too broad, especially for all of us that are specializing in different areas (which is everyone!). Anyway, I digress...

To change the subject... Lately I have been hearing that this year is the "Year of the Scarf". Well I couldn't be happier about this fact! I love scarves!!! They are just so cute and they add a little something to an otherwise plain outfit. They keep you warm and fashionable all at the same time. :) I went to Walmart after my NR meeting and decided to look for some. I found some and they were only $5!!! What a steal! I warn you though, if you are going to go partake in this awesome deal, that there are two types of $5 scarves. One type (which I came across first) is very cheap looking. They feel weird and don't look very good. They comes in many different colors/patterns, but they aren't very eye catching. I was a little disappointed, but decided to wander around a bit, and came across some more scarves. Jackpot! There was another section of scarves in the next aisle and they were cute, a nice material, and the colors were very poppy and vibrant. I was super pleased and snatched up three different colors. :) I also ended up getting two pairs of scrub pants and two scrub tops. I'm a nurse now, you can never have too many pairs of scrubs. :)

Well, I should get going. I need to eat dinner, and then I'm going to a movie with some girlfriends. We'll be minus one :( but she is going to get the scoop on the latest cast off of the Bachelor. I haven't watched in several seasons and now I'm back in it. The Bachelor is so sweet though, it's hard not to like him. Of course I also have my favorite girls. :) Anyway... I better go...

Until.......................................

Eclipse...finished

2009-01-17T22:13:00.002-06:00

Well, I finished the third book in the Twilight series. Seriously, I have been a reading fool lately. I didn't realize how much I missed reading during school until just recently. This also makes me realize that I need to get my yearly eye exams. Ha!

I must say that the third book is by far my favorite. So much happens! Although, how could it not with over 600 pages? Again, I can't talk about it, because some of my readers are reading them now and I don't want to give anything away. Let's just say that this third book evoked a lot of emotions in me; good and bad.

And just to be consistant... Team Edward... all the way!

My eyes are heavy already at 10p. I've been running around like a maniac all day it seems. I'm trying to hold off on sleep for a couple more hours though since I have to work tomorrow night. My first 3rd shift in over a month. I think it's going to be rough.

Well, I'm off to keep myself awake....

Until..........................

Less Unofficial Than Before...

2009-01-15T15:29:00.005-06:00

How confusing!

I got my pass letter today! Yay!!! That means that I am less unofficial than I was when I checked online last Friday. I am closer to being official! I had to detach the bottom half of a piece of the paper and send it in with a $50 fee for licensure.

Are you kidding me?!?!?

Have I not already paid enough? Not only have I paid all of these semesters of tuition, but also for a review class, the actual test (which was like 2 separate fees), my fingerprinting.... The fees are astronomical! This better be the last time I have to pay for anything regarding my license! I'm done! As soon as my license gets here I will officially be official!

Along with my licensure fee form I got this beauty....

Yup, that's my pass letter. I had to take that in to HR today to get my status and my pay changed. That's a whole other story though... soon to come.

Can you even believe that picture? I'm barely smiling and my hair is sticking out!!! It looks like I was about to throw up, or had been atleast! Granted I was feeling quite queasy the morning of my test, but I didn't know I looked that bad. Obviously, the grainy black and white picture on a piece of paper doesn't help the matter, but this will be in my employee record. Bummer...

So, I was super excited when Robin called and said she got her letter, so I went and checked my mail. It was there!!!! We decided to go right up to HR and have our status changed and get our new RN, BSN badges! :) I was excited to say the least.

Robin and I arrived at about the same time and the clerk copied our pass letters, and we also handed over our NCLEX review class verification so we could be reimbursed since we had passed. The clerk told us to hold on for a minute while... we'll call her Ms. Crabby Pants... looked over our papers and would come out and talk to us.

Pretty soon Ms. Crabby Pants came out and looked around. "Who's Megan?" Uh...that's me. The rest of the conversation went down hill from there. She asked where I was going to work, told me to go to the RN orientation starting the 28th, and proceeded to absolutely freak out about when my pay would switch over from New Grad salary to RN. So after we talked about not being able to switch salary mid-pay period, and when our new salary would go into affect, I mentioned I needed a new badge. Well, that was my first mistake. I never should have said anything in front of her. She went off on a tangent that I was NOT allowed to get a RN badge until I started RN orientation (or would no longer be working as a graduate nurse). Seriously?! I'm only going to be working as a "graduate nurse" for 2 more days. But NO, she wouldn't let me get the RN badge. She went on to explain how expensive the badges were (Uh, then why am I not getting an RN badge since I am one anyway?!) Well, I had to have a new one because I needed special access that I wasn't able to have in my other job on 2400. Then the guy messed up my badge and he had to make me another one with a Children's Hospital logo on it. If she had just let me have a RN badge we would not have wasted 2 badges. You see my point? So then, lastly, she got all psychotic over my NCLEX reimbursement. She went through this whole long spiel that she had other more important priorities to take care of this week and she would not send in the reimbursement to the county until next week. Plus, the refund would be sent to our house. Whatever! At this point I just wanted her to walk away from me and leave me alone.

So, alas, I did not walk out with my RN badge with the nice red tag behind it. :( I am deterred for another week. Just as well... I will probably get a new picture taken and now that I have "Orientation" ("NCLEX"'s cousin) trying to make herself known on my chin I will need a couple days to get rid of her. Seriously, stress is not my friend.

So that's what I've been up to. Orientation all week. I think many of my brain cells have died of boredom over these last four days. I look forward to reading Eclipse tonight and tomorrow. Maybe I can finish it! :) One can only hope... or atleast Robin hopes. :) hee hee...

Until................................

I'd like you to meet...

2009-01-10T22:44:00.004-06:00

...NCLEX.
Yes, that is what I have named my latest blemish. I kid you not. I was over at my sister's house tonight and we were working on something for my other sister and Holli looks at me and goes, "So are you going to name that one NCLEX?" (Not in a mean way...just in a sisterly way) I looked at her (because it didn't even take me .2 seconds to figure out what she meant) and said "Yes, in fact I am." We were cracking up!

Stress does horrible things to my body. I break out. I think I'm hungry all the time. My GI system experiences horrible upset. I apparently get chest pain (or whatever that was). Stress is bad. It's very very bad.

Until.........................

New Moon...

2009-01-10T11:52:00.002-06:00

I wanted to talk about the second book in the Twilight series, but I won't give anything away. Don't want to ruin it for any of you that haven't read it yet.
I was very happy with this book. I don' tknow if it was because when I was reading Twilight I already knew what was going to happen, because I had seen the movie, or if it was just a really good book. I think it's a mix of both.
I loved the beginning! It pulled you right in, and I was in suspense from the very first moment. I was a reading fool for 48 hours!
I was a little frustrated in the middle part of the book, but the end made up for it.
I have already passed on the book to my friend Robin, and will begin reading the third tonight. I can't wait!
If you haven't read these books I recommend them to teen/adult readers. They are more of a love story, rather than a vampire story as most would think anyway.
Alright, well I must go... I need to eat, and then I'm going to watch my little Brooke. I'm taking her with me to our family celebration dinner while everyone else goes to Luke's game.
More later....
Until...............

Whirlwind...

2009-01-10T11:13:00.002-06:00

What a week! It's only been 4 days since I've posted, and so much has happened. I took my Boards this week. Wednesday was the big day. I was so nervous! I was doing all I could not to throw up or pass out on my way to the testing center, which is a good thing, since I was driving! I got there about 25 minutes before I had to be there and they gave me the rules, took a picture of me, scanned my fingerprint, made me put everything in a locker, and handed me ear plugs. They took me into the testing room, started me on the tutorial and FOUR HOURS and 265 questions later I emerged. I was exhausted! It was like torture!
Little did I know, the next 48 hours were going to be the worst. I was in a major depression. I went out to lunch with my former Complex partner, Jen, and our friend Kim. We were all pretty blue, Jen and I because we had just finished our test and Kim because her computer crapped out on her and she couldn't even take it that day! After lunch I met my good friend Cara at Panache and she bought me a drink (coffee of course) and we talked a bit. After that I helped Hol take some food to a friend who had just had surgery, and then I went home for dinner. I was still feeling pretty awful, so I ddin't eat much. Then Robin and I went past the test center so she would know where it was when it was her turn and then we went to Panera for more warm beverages. I was home at about 8-ish and picked up a book since I needed a distraction (more on that later).
Well, Thursday wasn't much better. I had resolved to staying in bed all day and doing nothing but read. I succeeded for awhile but then got up and did a few things. I ended up having to get ready at 4p because I had a new graduate dinner to attend. Our whole table was depressed because we had all taken the test and were awaiting our results. I went home promptly after the dinner to continue reading.
I had a horrible nights sleep. I got up at 7:45 and got completly ready. It was D-Day. I knew that once I read my results I was either going to be a distraught mess or ecstatic and calling a bunch of people. Well, at 8:05am I logged onto the website that would give me my results. I was a nervous wreck. I could barely type in my credit card number. When I hit the button to get my results I didn't realize I was holding my breathe. I could hear my pulse pounding in my ears, and my head was feeling sort of detached from the rest of my body. My eyes finally focused and fell on the words "Grade: pass". I passed. I sat there shocked for a minute. Did that really say what I thought it did? I checked the name. Yep, they were my results and I passed!
The tears started creeping up from the corners of my eyes. I blinked rapidly and pulled myself together. I called my parents and sobbed to both of them that I had passed. Mom cried, Dad laughed at me. :) I would have too though had I been hearing myself from the other end of the phone line. I texted my sisters and friends because I was in no shape to talk to anyone else. I couldn't believe it....
Then I had to go to MOPS. The kids were crazy there, and for some reason we had a ton of visitors. Afterwards, I went over to my friend Cara's for lunch and dessert. She was pretty confident I had passed. I'm glad she had such great confidence in me. :)
The rest of the afternoon and night was spent with my sisters and parents. We had pizza for dinner and talked around the table.
A good end to a good day. :)

Until.........................

Neglectful...

2009-01-06T00:33:00.003-06:00

I know... I've been neglectful of my blog for the last couple of weeks. Honestly there hasn't been much of anything to write about. I've been studying my behind off and working to boot.

I'm still not fully aware that I am done with school. I think once everyone is back to school and I start orientation it will really hit me. Plus all this studying I've been doing hasn't really helped make me less school oriented.

Boards are right around the corner.... please pray for me. I'm anxious and nervous and any other word you can think of that describhes total apprehension and fear.

Anyway, I should probably be in bed. I just wanted you all to know that I hadn't forgotten about bloggin. I'm hoping to have something more exciting to report on then studying sometime soon.

Oh, I did finish reading Twilight today. That's something. :) I can officially say that I am a Team Edward so far. :) The book was really good, and I highly recommend it even if you've seen the movie. I saw the movie first and then read the book, but it was just as good if not better. You get a lot more background in the book, and I was pleasantly surprised with how closely related it is to the movie. You know how some movies don't go along with the book at all. Well, this book matches up almost to a tee with the movie. Just thought I'd share that with you all. :)

Until.......................

Out with the old...

2009-01-01T13:50:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year everyone!! It is officially the year 2009! I can't believe it! It seems like it was just yesterday people were freaking out about "Y2K".
Not too much is going on at my house today. I've been doing practice NCLEX questions all day, and mom has been laying on the couch. She got that darn respiratory flu that is being passed around, so she's been taking it easy for the last couple of days.
I started work this past Sunday. I'm telling you, I was not cut out for working the day shift. I've been wiped when I come home. I'm much more tired after a 12-hour day shift, than I am after a night shift. I'm getting a little more familiar with the way things run in the NICU and all the people there. Only a little while longer and I take my test. Ahhh!
Well, I just wanted to pop in and wish every one a Happy New Year. Also, I finally was able to update my Christmas post with pictures. So go check it out!

Until................................

Shopping and Marley & Me...

2008-12-26T23:49:00.003-06:00

We woke up fairly early (not Black Friday early, but still...before 9a) to go shopping the day after Christmas. There was barely anyone out. Apparently (as reported on several websites) this day was supposed to have bigger and better sales in comparison to Black Friday. Well, we got a little ice overnight and that seemed to force everyone inside. The roads were actually good, so we ventured to the bigger neighboring city. I don't think we were really looking for too much in particular, and I guess it showed, because we didn't buy much, and I think I was in a haze all day. I had been up off and on since 2a because I had a HORRIBLE nightmare. (What is with me and not getting sleep lately?)

We were finished shopping around noon-ish I think, so when we got home we looked to see what time the movies were playing. Hol and I wanted to see Marley & Me, so that is what we chose.

I won't say too much for those of you that haven't seen it, but let's just say this... 1) This is NOT a kiddie movie. Anyone younger than 6 will probably be bored and moving around too much. Yes, the dog is funny and does some crazy things, but the movie is in essence about this couple's life and Marley is just a crazy part of that life. The end is SAD. I should not be the first person to tell you that this movie is a tear jerker, and quite frankly it was downright awful for me at the end. I wouldn't not recommend the movie, but it definitely wasn't what I was expecting it to be. Maybe it would have been better if I had read the book beforehand... I don't know.

Let me share the funny/typical movie-going experience that we had (just to lighten the mood). We went the day after Christmas... a Friday. That should have been enough of a warning for us not to go, but we did. The theatre was packed! It was half full when we got there about 20 minutes before the movie was to start, and it was pretty much full when it was time for the previews to start. We found a nice high spot in the middle and planted ourselves firmly. We would not move! Well, pretty soon we were surrounded. People were rushing to get seats. A woman (who I thought was a bit rude) abruptly asked me if I was using the seat next to me, I said no and she practically slammed the armrest down and threw her purse no the seat while she saved the other two seats next to it. I knew that could only mean bad things. Soon a man and a woman come up to sit with her and they all seemed a bit rude. Yay. They really didn't disturb me too much other than the man that sat next to me picked at his fingers throughout almost the entire movie. Eww!
On the other side, Lisa only had one seat separating her and the movie-goer on the other side. Well in comes this LOUD group. Basically it was one woman who was loud. She had a little girl with her and a couple of adults. Well, apparently they were one seat short, so one of the friends sat in front of them... next to Lisa. Let's call her Linda Belcher. Linda's her real name.. I'm not so sure about Belcher as her last, but it totally fits. Well anyway Loud Mouth was ~~talking~~ yelling to the little girl that "WE NEED TO WATCH FOR YOUR MOM. I HOPE SHE CAN FIND US. IT'S GOING TO GET DARK SOON. I'LL WATCH FOR YOUR MOM." Well, the little girl said something and Loud Mouth replied back, "WE HAVE TO BE QUIET NOW. I'LL WATCH FOR YOUR MOM." I think the whole theatre could have watched for her mom. Then she kept saying to Linda that she felt SO bad she had to sit by herself, and she just felt awful and blah blah blah.... Well, Lisa reported after the movie that Lnida kept belching. Ewww again! What is with these people??? You're in public!

Well, anyway, that was pretty much our day. Nothing much else was going on. I did some studying when I got home, and then read a book, watched a tv movie and went to bed. Nothing too exciting...

Until............................

Christmas

2008-12-25T23:59:00.002-06:00

Quite honestly, there is not a lot to say about Christmas this year. We at our annual cinnamon rolls and we opend presents as a family. Surprisingly we got NO pictures except for the dog receiving the toys in her stocking....

How weird is that? We've always taken pictures! Quick run down on gifts.....
Dad: ipod, ipod case, itunes card for him to buy music for his ipod, a sweater and a thermal top, weird tee things for golf that he liked a lot.. I have no idea what made them so much better than a normal tee... I think that was it. His gifts were mostly ipod-centric.
Mom: robe, kitchen mixer, sweatshirt, hand made bookmark from Lisa, slippers... there's more, but I'm drawing a blank right now.
Lisa: Books, dvds, pajama bottoms, money, sweatshirt, gift certificates, sweaters, cds...
Holli: dvds, gift cards/certificates, pajama bottoms, pyrex dish...and that's about it.
Me: Books, cds, a dvd, underwear, socks, file folders, file box to hold file folders, money, money, money...
Sydney: squeaky toy, fuzzy "wubba" toy, new red ball.

We had about 4 hours to kill before dinner at my aunt's house, so Lisa and Holli started reading books while I was hooking my dad's ipod up. Our internet has recently had a speed issue (Diagnosis: incorrect modem due to Comcast's uninformed switch) so it took me a little over 2 hours to download itunes onto his computer. Needless to say, I was frustrated by the end of it.

Dinner went as it normally does for Christmas except we were greenbean casserole-less and my mom forgot the rolls at home in the freezer... so when we went to cook them the results were burnt roll bottoms. Oh well...

The real fun was when we spontaneously started to spell Christmas words with our bodies. That's right folks.... Here's are "living art"... See if you can figure out what we were spelling....

(#1)

(#2)

(#3)

(#4)

(#5... this is just a funny one)

(#6)

(#7)

(#8)

(#9)

(#10... my mom's letter is backwards here, don't let that confuse you)

(#11)

See how much fun we had??? The funny thing was that I just kept calling people down and they came...no questions asked. :)

Well, I guess that pretty much wraps it up. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Until.......................

Christmas Eve and a Movie...

2008-12-24T23:59:00.001-06:00

Both parents had to work the first half of the day so the three of us girls were on our own. We decided to go see a movie around noon. We decided on Twilight. I was already... familiar... with the movie, but Hol and Lis hadn't seen it yet. So off we went...
The movie was very good, and we all enjoyed it. It's not just about vampires. It's more of a love story than anything. I'm reading the book right now, and the movie is very true to form. I'm quite pleased with both. I just have to put a disclaimer here though... there are some freaky fans out there. I am NOT one of them. I really enjoyed the movie, and am anxiously anticipating the one to follow, and even have the books, but I am not a "fanpire" or whatever they're calling themselves. Those people quite frankly scare me sometimes. I am not one of them. Oh, and I am definitely NOT running around asking people to "bite" me. Yes, that has been happening with these fans. Weird I tell you... Ok... I just had to put that out there.....

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Christmas Eve service started at 4p, so we didn't have too much time in between the movie and then before we had to leave. Mom and Dad were home when we got back from the movie so we got some stuff ready for later that night and then were off to church. There were scripture readings, music, and stories. The service only lasted about 45 minutes and then we were off to our family celebration....

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Ok, so this year our annual tradition was re-instated. Last year we didn't have Christmas Eve festivities at my aunt and uncles because my aunt had some health issues and was recovering from surgery. This year.. it was back on!

A little background.... Every year since I can remember my mom's side of the family has gotten together for a big exchanging-of-gifts extravaganza between the family. It's when all of the aunts and uncles give their gifts to the neices and nephew (yes, that is no plural. My poor cousin Jared was the only boy out of the 12 cousins. In fact, he was a twin, so he was like a bonus baby). Over the years some of the cousins have gotten married or had babies so our size/number has fluctuated over time. This year was a bit smaller than normal, but none the less it was still a good time. The night was consumed with Guitar Hero for the younger ones, and even the real guitar at times. There was way too much food, and my aunt made her famous barbeque which was especially good this year. I think I devoured my sandwich in all of 2 minutes. :)

(Rach...)

(...she had some mad skills on GH)

(Holli...)

(...not so much)

(Rach showing Lisa how to play the real guitar)

We eventually opened presents...

(Dave and Andi (+ little baby girls...still in utero))

The night ended pretty early for me because I hadn't slept good at all the night before. I was exhausted. More festivites to come in the morning anyway.......

Until.......................