Update on our weather

Does that look like snow at the end of March? Well, it isn't. That is actually hail. Wednesday night there was a tornado spotted north of us, and luckily it was moving north. Although, after that storm, another system developed and rolled through here about eleven at night. Living in Houston, you see some hail and lots of rain, but this storm was a lot different. One minute it was quiet and then the next it was hailing...really crazy! Even though the news kept on saying there was no tornadoes, Ryan and I were still kinda worried. The hail was so loud and there was a constant roll of thunder that to us, since we have never heard a tornado, sounded like one. We had our flashlights out and ready to go if the lights went out, but they never did. The last picture is the following morning. The hail was still hanging around in some spots. Good thing we had a garage to put the cars in! It came down really hard for about 15 minutes and then left as fast as it came. I guess that was just long enough to build up about one inch of hail on the concrete.

I finally found a better way to take a picture of my ring. Playing around one night, I found that it shows the shape better in black and white.

Just a quick list of today

-Woke up
-roaches downstais coming out from all the rain and poisin we put out yesturday
-Literally run out the door to school
-Try not to fall asleep in class
-Take a test
-Go to doctor for alcers in my mouth(Sue!)
-Prescribed "Pink Goddess" to girgle with
-Drive home
-Watch tv
-See that we are under a tornado watch right now
-Currently IS a tornado in North Texas and the strom is coming this way!!

Eventful Sunday

It all started with Ryan and I just driving out. When we came home though everyone was walking down the street and our neighbor was even taking pictures. It tunrns out this is what they were looking at....

Yup, my first tornado spotting in Lubbock. I have to say I was pretty terrified too!! This was no more than five miles from our house. Ryan kept his cool even though later on he said he was really scared. The storm calmed down after two tornado sightings athough the rain, thunder and lightning hasn't diminished. It rained hard for about two hours and the lake down from our house is overflowing. I will take pictures of it tomorrow so that you can see. It is just luck that I didn't have to drive out tonight too! No work, no school...nothing! Instead I just procrastinated all day long. I hope your day was better than this!

Reasons I hate living in Lubbock (by Ryan)

• The people here are small minded (see: liquor laws and arrests of the Chippendales)
• The roads SUCK (ask Robert, he got to experience fine Lubbock construction this past weekend)
• horrible drivers (the kind that use the TURN lane as a "merging" lane, I was almost run into last week because of it)
• did I mention the town is small minded?
• it's illegal to buy liquor within city limits, but for some reason it's ok to buy from stores that are literally 100 yards outside city limits (I guess this goes back to the town being small minded)
• the roads are horrible (I think I said that before, but they're really that horrible)
• there's NO drainage, so every time it rains more than 5 minutes, University Avenue literally turns into University River (at University and the Loop, the water stands about 6 inches deep during most rain storms, we had to use my old roommate's truck just to go grocery shopping when it rained)
• I guess you can't really blame this on Lubbock, but the air is really dry so I literally get shocked every time I turn on a light switch or get out of my car
• on top of everything, the management at our townhomes is terrible... I'm starting my first day of work this afternoon, I have to be there at 4:00. so we get a note THIS MORNING (even though it's dated YESTERDAY) that says "We're sorry but due to repairs, we will be shutting off the water from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm". so I have to shower at 9:00 this morning and hope I don't get sweaty or smelly before I have to go to work. and on top of that, the note says "thank you for being so understanding through all of this", like we have a freakin choice. they've seriously been doing regular water "repairs" like this since the day we moved in. once every two weeks or so, and sometimes every day for an entire week, we won't have water during the day. it would have been fine if they'd passed the notes out yesterday, I could have come up with some sort of contingency plan to show up for work NOT smelling, but when we get the note 8:00 am the morning OF, there's not a whole lot I can do.

In other related news, Lubbock ranks among the top 3 worst places to live in the state of Texas (my judgment), being beat out only by the 5th ward in Houston (I think it's the 5th ward, whichever one is the most ghetto) and West End in El Campo (the area in town where you can buy any drug you can think of). Maybe it's just me, but the mixture of aweful roads (they're so damn bumpy, I have more rattles in my car than I can count), the small minded people, and the fact that it's so far away from family just really makes me want to move back home as soon as possible (and by "home" I mean the Houston area). I guess I just needed to vent some frustration. I feel better already. I'll let everyone know how my first day of work goes. Wish me luck!

One last thing....

I thought everyone would like to see how my burn is doing. This is my "healing" burn. Notice the nice blood seeping out at this point. I even had a bandage over it all day to protect it so I have no idea how this happened...

Ryan and me on Saturday night when Mom and Dad were here. Ask Mom to post the pics of me blowing out candles. I want to see them as well you as guys.
Oh I was trying to show off my ring in this picture too, but it doesn't show up well. :(

To pick up where I left off...

Alright, I am back. The movie, 300, was actually really good. Now I just have to write a paper over it. Yes, I did go see it with a couple of girls, but we would have picked a chick flick had I not had to write a paper over 300. Anyway, Sunday after the winery Ryan and I picked up some food and then relaxed together. Then we went to play poker withs ome of my friends It wasn't so much fun though for Ryan though since more than half of them had no idea how to play. I actually did feel bad for him just since he is good at the game and my friends didn't pick it up so easily. We had our fun and then came home to get ready for me to return to school Monday morning. It was really rough starting a routine again. Monday was so long! Then at work yesturday I had to stay an hour later because a cooler was reading too high. Lately I have been finding the coolers that are having all the problems. Last Tuesday, one cooler had a broken motor and then the sliding windows were broke and open, letting the cool air out. Then Thursday, the other cooler was out. Out of two motors, both were broken and we could only get one in that day. So, it has been working, but we are still waiting for the back up motor. Than this Tuesday right as I was leaving the other cooler was reading a couple of degrees above temp. I had to call maintenane, the manager and eventually the specific man who works on our coolers. It is all fine and dandy that I got hours and am getting paid for it, but I was soooo tired!!!

Anyhow, today was great. I met with my client for my nutrition counseling class and it was very successful. It was actually pretty easy and calming to have the first appointment out of the way. Of course I am still getting used to the busy school day. It is off to bed for me right now. Night.

Sorry, I know I said I would post after I got my pain meds. Saturday was my planned day to spend updating my blog, but I was surprised by Mom and Dad at ten thirty in the morning! Ok, let me go to the beginning....Yes, I burned by arm that bad with my curling iron. I feel extremely stupid. It fell out of my hands and I caught it on my chest with my forearm. So, that is how it got so bad since that is thin skin plus, the part of my body that I caught it with that was unclothed. Friday night I was supposed to go out with some friends for my brithday, but of course I was hurting too bad to do anything. Plus, they had watned to go dancing and I knew that was not a good idea!! All of the bumping of a crowded clubwould have been terrible! Saturday Ryan told me I had a "surprise" coming at eleven. At ten thirty I was walking around the house in my robe with wet hair when the doorbell rang! Mom and Dad drove up here just for my birthday! It was great. Ryan and I showed Mom our new apartment, while Dad stayed here and slept for several hours. Then, like every trip, we went shopping. Really didn't buy all that much, but anything is a lot to Dad. He was cool though. They made me snakes for supper!! Yummm..a childhood favorite! They sang happy birthday too with a chocolate cake..the smoke detector did not go off. Mom has the pictures of all that though.
They left on Sunday morning. Meanwhile Ryan and I got all dressed up for my birthday. He took me out to eat and then we went to wineries, well winery. The first one was closed. The tour was really interesting and the wine was great! Good experience for the first time to a winery, but it won't be the last.
I need to go now, I am meeting some friends for a movie. I will finish my whole story later on tonight.....I promise!!

Birthday present to myself....

For now I just wanted to post these for mom to see,but I will be back on later on to descride. As long as I get my pain killers first since it is hurting to type!

Rain!

Have you ever left work at night when it is dark and dreaded coming back to work the next morning, knowing it will still be dark when you get there? Well, I got the chance to have that feeling yesturday. Saturday, I left work at 8:30PM, but I had to be back at 4:30AM!! Yuck. Actually working wasn't so bad if you consider the only damage done is that I want to change my name. Out of about 15 people I was supervising this weekend, at any given moment about half of them were shouting my name to ask a question! I guess it is ok as long as the patients receive what they need. Ryan got the bad end of it, of course, since I came home moody and then crashed from about three until eight tonight. When I woke up though he kept on picking on me and calling me, exactly like at work, so that is where I feel bad since I snapped at him.

Can you believe that it is actually raining here!!! No, it is now snow or ice, but water falling from the sky!! This morning it was not raining when I went to work, but the girls told me it was raining hard all morning when they were on floors. Perfect napping weather, which is what I did all afternoon! It is raining again now and I can't wait to cuddle up under the covers and watch tv.

Of course there is a downside with the rain too.....Ms. Star is not cooperating again with Ryan and I. I heard him downstairs earlier telling her to go potty, but he eventually gave up since she didn't want to get wet. Not even thirty minutes later I walk downstairs to little Star nuggets in the dining room. Now the battle is getting her to pee. Ryan has tried twice already and everytime he puts her on the grass, she runs back to the door immediately. Needless to say, she has been in the bathroom downstairs for a while now. I do not feel like stepping in cold pee in the middle of the night or waking up to a puddle.

Finally spring break...do you want to hear my amazing plans? Clean my house! It has gotten terrible and I have been careless since I am mostly just here to sleep and then off to work again. Tonight I spent an hour and a half cleaning the kitchen(Dad you would be proud!). Everything, including the trashcan, got a good wipedown, cleaned out the frig, bleached the sink, swept, mopped, and cleaned ALL the dishes that were dirty....not even a spoon in the sink right now. It feels fantastic and I thought it smelt great too. Ryan came downstairs and asked whey the kitchen smelt like pee though, so I guess we have a difference of opinion there.

Tomorrow I plan on spending the day just for myself. I am going to use my massage gift certificate from Ryan at two and then I am going to buy a new purse from somewhere. Plus, I want to look into tanning. I am not sure yet if I am going to try the mystic tan or just a bed, however I do know I do not want to be pale white for my friend's outdoor wedding that I am a bridesmaid in. :)

This picture was Saturday night at the awards ceremony for work. I really like it; just wish you could see my ring in it! :)

Getting back into the swing of things...

Ever since we got home it has been rush, rush, rush. I guess that is nothing new, but I am really exhausted. Last week was pretty normal, but then I had to go to work on Satruday at 4:30 in the morning. That was a long day. After work Ryan and I continued our apartment search for May and then I had an awards ceremony Saturday night for work that Ryan and I went to. It was lots of fun with fantastic foo and an open bar!! Sunday then I went to work at 12:30PM and got home at 8:30 to study for Biochem. I will nto discuss how that test was today though. This week isn't getting any better than last. School is fine I just have a lot of tests this week, but then I am working 8 hours each on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Sunday I have to supervise at 4:30 in the morning though so I am not going to like that. Spring Break is looking good otherwise! Just working sounds so easy compared to school, work, and homework. Can you believe I am actually excited taht I will have time to clean my house!! :)
I have to get back to school work for now.