Our House = Adoption Agency??

Alright for starters I mean dog adoption and not a permanant stay with us either. It all began about a month ago when Ryan and I were joking that we were going to steal our neighbors dog because she was so cute and they just didn't seem to care about her. She never got a bath, ran around without a collar on and could get out from the courtyard to ran anywhere or have anyone pick her up. Ryan and I had talked about when we moved, just taking her with us so that she would have someone to care for her. Obviously we have not moved yet and we didn't steal the dog either. Tuesday night when Ryan got home from work though Alli, the dog, ran into the garage and started digging in our trash as soon as the door opened. He picked her up to bring her to the owner and then started talking. The owner said they had run out of ideas and that they were taking her to the pound in the morning; her behavioral problems were just too much for them. Ryan mentioned to him that we would be willing to take care of her or try training her for them. They said no, they couldn't ask us to do that. Then, when I got home, Ryan and I talked about it and then went to their house to pick up our new dog!! The owners were very happy that we were willing to take her and train her, although they did not express an interest in getting her back. She is a schnauzer and bichon mix. Adorable! Of course, we made a deal that we would not keep her. Luckily, Lauren, one of my friends wants a schaunzer really bad!! She was so excited when I told her about the puppy we had just "adopted." Needless to say we no longer had a Alli, we had a Addie in our house! Ryan and I both enjoy training dogs and we have a lot more flexible schedules than Lauren and her boyfriend do, so Ryan and I are going to train her for the next two weeks. Lauren is going to puppy proof her apartment, buy puppy necessities and work her way through finals and we get to train her baby! Normally Ryan and I would want her to take the dog right now. But we don't want Lauren to get frustrated with the training part of it all and not take her.

Long story short....we have another dog in the house!!!.......for the time being. Here are some pictures of our adopted Addie!

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.

The BIG Secret

So you might have figured out that one reason I did not post much last week was because it has been so hard to me to keep that big secret in! Another reason is because I was trying to do so much homework so that I was able to go home this past weekend. Overall, I am back again and ready to publish the news...Ryan and I are engaged! Driving home yesterday gave us lots of time to think of when we should have this great celebration and I believe we have come up with a date. Don't get all worked up too quick though....you have plenty of time to buy plane tickets, move home, help me make decisions, and all that good stuff. We are thinking of the summer of '09 to be married. That a way I will graduate in May '08, we can move home that summer and still have a year to plan the wedding at home. I really really do not want to plan a wedding down home and still be living here. Seriously, all the money we save up will be spent driving or flying home to make decisions and plans or just take tours to see some options. Plus, my schoolwork would take an even harder beating than it already has. I hope you guys can all deal with that. I am sure Dad might like the idea of a little later rather than sooner. Anyway those are our thoughts. For now, here are some pictures that I took of my ring. It is hard to get a good picture of it though since it sparkles so much!! (or it could just be my crummy camera) We bought it at Gordan's, but Zales had a close picture of mine, so I included it for a better visual.

Just to clue everyone in...

I will most likely not make time to post on here in the coming week. On top of having a test on Monday, a girl at work is sick and has been put into the hospital. Since we are not sure when she will be back to work, I will be working a whole lot more. Mostly since she is the one taht is "part time" but works 40 hours a week. There is only me and one other girl to split the hours, so that is literally doubling that amount of hours I usually work in a week. Basicly, I will work eight hours a day plus going to class for about a week. Hopefully it will not be longer than that. Here is the game plan so far:
Thursday-worked 12:30-8:00
Friday(today)-class 8:00, called to work, home to eat, change, work 12:30-8:30
Saturday-12:30-8:00
Sunday-12:30-8:00
Monday-class 8:00-12:00, work 12:30-3:00, back to class for a test at 3:30, work from end of test until 8:30
Tuesday: work 12:00-8:00
That is all I know for now, but I am exhausted just looking at it! My next biochem test is coming up on the following week and I was going to study a lot of it this coming week, but I guess I will have to see how exhasusted I am.
I felt I had to excuse myself for the upcoming post strike. Good news-great pay check!!! Hope you are all great and have a great week.

Happy Heart Day!!

I hope you all have had a great Valentine's Day...Mine was great. It all started last night when Ryan gave me my card and a giftcard for Starbucks! Woo Hoo!! To add to it all, I walked out to take the dogs to the bathroom at seven this morning and found...SNOW!! (picture above) Raider was estatic and so was I. Even though I just wanted to stay here and enjoy it, I had a test today so I went to classes. Plus, I think I did really good on my test too. Plus, during my hour break this morning, two of my friends and I got coffee and then sat in the second story of the Union just watching the snow fall. It was gorgeous. This morning when I was driving to classes it was cool too since the snow was so powdery and fresh, it was just blowing over the road. It is hard to explain, but it is neat to watch. Luckily though, I did not spin out and run into anyone, especially since I did slide a couple of times. Parallel parking is a pain in the you know what when it is snowy, slick, and a car in half the spot you want to get into. I made it though without any scraps on Betty. Finally classes were over at five and I had to made it through rush hour traffic. Ryan gave me my gift-a gift certificate to get a massage and I gave him his-an indoor/outdoor grill. We made Cedar Plank Salmon on the new grill tonight in the garage since it is electric. Supper was fantastic! Last to top it all off, we walked back outside and there is MORE snow!! In just two hours it had covered my car AGAIN! We drove out for Sheridan's. (Amanda, Ryan and I are pretty much hooked now after I had a ice cream social at work hosted by Sheridan's) Now we are at home safe and about to take Raider in the courtyard to play in the snow. Have a great night!! :)

Week in Review

This week has been pretty rough for me. It started Monday with a stomach bug that I had to stay home from classes to recover. Then the usual work Tuesday, class on Wednesday, work Thursday, class Friday, Except I had to go to work on Wednesday night for about an hour and a half to relieve the other supervisor to take a test. It really doesn't sound much different, but I had assignments due and more assignments to do today. Plus a couple of my friends and I decided to hang out and drink here at my house, so I have spent a good portion of the morning nuturing myslef back to hydration and wellness from it. We had tons of fun, but I forget how horrible it feels to get that drunk. Ryan and I have been together for over two and a half years now and he has never had to witness me being that drunk. That tells you how long it has been! It will be a long time again before that happens too; I don't enjoy drinking to get drunk. So, that is mostly what is going on here. I forgot to post a picture of Star's haircut along with mine so I will do that today. Have a good weekend!

So..what do you think??

Can you guess what kind of weather we are having...AGAIN!

Well, it you can't guess already, it has been snowing here again. By now it has stopped, but this morning it was snowing. For a while it was really big flakes too! I think they were about the size of a dime. Luckily, I had a break at that time this morning and Bailey and I got coffee and sat in the second story of the union just watching it. It was beautiful. Every time it snows here, Ryan and Ihave tried to get good pictures of campus before all the snow was trampled and melted and since I had an 8:00 today, I was able to. Here are some pics I took of that.




Then when I got home, Ryan and I took Raider to the park and lakd next to our house to run around. I was able to take him off his leash since he has been listening prety well to let him chase the birds and frolick in the snow. He did both, but at one point he did a little too much frolicking and not enough looking at the ground. He was chasing the geese(which he never does) and right as he came to a drainage trench that ran into the lake, he wasn't looking I guess. Next thing, he is standing in water up to his belly giving me this pathetic "I don't know what to do" look. It was adorable and hilarious. It was no problem getting him out since I had on my water boots, but we had to go back inside pretty quick so that he wouldn't get sick. For some reason, I didn't think to take many pictures at the park of Raider; not even a pic of him in the water with that face. We are driving out now to take him to another park, so I might have some different pics again later.

Surviving my first round of tests...

Yup that is right, it is the week of the tests for me. Lucky for me, since all my classes are on MWF, they all didn't decide to give tests on the same day! Even though I am not having fun studying for them, it is nice to have one week of tests and then a nice calmer three weeks. Friday I have a mythology test, which I am a little worried about. It is just a humanities though and not a required course for my degree. Biochem on the other hand was Monday. It looks like I am going to be stuck in a rut again this semester like I was last semester with C's on all my tests. I did have one 86 last semester, but this year started off with a 74. I guess I will have to work harder.
Nothing else really great going on. School, work, school, work...etc... As soon as I have better and more excited things to say I will get them up. Until then, I thought it would be fun to leave with an older picture. I found several while I was digging in my closet.

Old times...

Do you guys remember this picture. Even though it is pretty dated now, I still love it! I think the next time we are all together we HAVE to do a retake! Miss you guys!

As I sit eating pineapple....

I figured if I was going to take a break from studying, it might as well be to inform everyone what is going on with us... Work and school are exhausting me and Ryan's classes are wearing him down too. I stay on campus usually from 8:00A until 5:00P Monday and Wednesday. Than I try to cook, clean the dishes and study. Tonight is no different. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have been supervising, so I get to work about noon and stay until eight. On fridays I haev class until noon, then I go to wrok. So, basicly, I feel like I have no free time. Saturday I go to work at 3:00 and then Sunday I am there at 12:00 again. Yuck. I love supervising, but I though working less days would be better for me, but right now it seems so rushed. Do you think stress or just rush? Ryan has been reading a lot lately. His classes are reading intensive and since it hurts his eyes to read from the computer, he has been having to print out a majority of his material. Yesterday he spent half the day just trying to fix his new printer and it still isn't working right.

The squirrel has been taunting the dogs again. This afternoon it was just sitting in our tree making weird noises, while the dogs sat at the window fussing. It can get really annoying when I am studying though. Raider hasn't learned any new tricks. I am still working on getting him to "sing".

The weather is finally warming up and getting comfy....oh but wait....yup...another artic front for us??? Snow???!! Yeah. They are talking about another front this coming week and possibly snow again. I am getting used to driving in it now, so that is good. We didn't get as much snow here last weekend as they were projecting. It was mostly ice and sleet that made everything slushy druing the day and then icy at night. Raider still had fun playing in it.
Time to get back to studying and other school work!

It's rare that you see someone who is truly stupid...

(by Ryan)

Every now and then you see people do something that's dumb, but tonight we saw someone who is just plain stupid. The roads are mostly thawed out, but there are still some icy spots here and there. We were sitting at a red light on the feeder for the loop, and two cars coming through the intersection side by side slid into one another, just kind of rubbed the sides of their cars a bit, not a real major accident or anything. So the guy in the middle lane pulls over to a parking lot that was on the right side of the road, but the guy in the other car decides to just stop in the left lane while traffic is still going through, instead of pulling off the road where it's safe. He sits there for a minute or so, then turns his lights completely OFF (it's completely dark outside so now nobody can see his car sitting there in the middle of the road), gets out of the car, and walks around into the center lane of traffic to look at the damage to his car! We were so tempted to roll the window down and tell him to get off the road or turn his hazard lights on or something. I just didn't know somebody could be so stupid. He did the exact OPPOSITE of everything you're supposed to do when you have a fender bender. I wish I had a video camera for moments like this.

I will post some more pictures tomorrow. Hopefully I will be able to get some good pictures of the snow before it statrs to melt. Of course, there is always a chance that I could get more pictures on Monday when we have a chance of snow AGAIN!!! Enjoy the pics for now.
Sorry Mom, I did take some pictures while I was driving extremely slow to work today. This is one that I snapped in my car driving by. It is the Animal Sciences building.


Our large tree...

We have a large tree and then this weird bush/tree in our backyard. So far we have not had any limbs fall from the large tree, luckily, but this bush has pretty much had it I think.



This was taken yesterday from the 6th floor. Since it has been snowing and sleeting off and on now, I am sure it was even more white today, but I did not go up on floors today when I was supervising! :)

This pircture is just really awesome.


This is icicles hanging off of our house. Ryan actually has icicles hanging to the ground off of his car now. It looks like it is frozen to the ground!

We're Okay!

I don't have much time right now to write since I am leaving exceptionally early for work, but I just want you guys to know that we are great so far! We have not fallen on the snow or ice....at least not yet. I HAVE to be at work today, so I am leaving early to get there. If it is really bad then I have a backup plan in case I need help getting to work. Anyhow, We are staying in as much as possible. Love you guys!

We're Okay!

I don't have much time right now to write since I am leaving exceptionally early for work, but I just want you guys to know that we are great so far! We have not fallen on the snow or ice....at least not yet. I HAVE to be at work today, so I am leaving early to get there. If it is really bad then I have a backup plan in case I need help getting to work. Anyhow, We are staying in as much as possible. Love you guys!

Waiting, Waiting and Waiting

Yes, once again this weekend we are expecting more cold!!! Therefore, I am waiting to see if we are going to have school tomorrow. Either way I am not going to me 8:00 since it is so early and liley to be yucky on the roads that early. The news is saying that we could get from 4 to 12 inches of snow, the most they have had here in ten years. This could be interesting! Oh, Ryan and I went to the grocery store to get a couple of things just in case the power goes out and the store was out of EVERYTHING!!! I have never seen something so weird. No bananas, no bread, no tuna, no water, no batteries.....nothing. Luckily we have a lot of stuff here to eat and if worse comes to worse, we figure we can just take some of the food out of the frig and put it on the snow for a while!! hehe Unfortunately, I WILL HAVE to go to work all weekend. They actually are putting their put down and if any employee calls in because of the weather, then they will be written up. As a supervisor now, I can only be written up twice before I am terminated so I will be at work!! :) If I need someone to come get me in a 4WD then all I have to do is call work and they have someone in charge of just that. So, that makes it better. Tomorrow at work I am late tray and then on Saturday and Sunday I am supervising! Woo Hoo!! Lots of hours and more pay! Of course, (Mom you will know what I am talking about) not everyone at work is happy that I am supervising so much. There is one certain person at work that everytime my boss puts out a new schedule out, then she is in a HORRIBLE mood. She claims she is not getting enough hours, when in fact she has 10 hours of overtime this week!!! Grrrr. Anyway, I am going to bed now. I plan on waking up to a snow filled yard taht Raider can prance around in so I need some rest. Night.

Waiting, Waiting and Waiting

Awesome Movie

Ryan and I have watched several movies lately in hopes of seeng a really good one, but have been disappointed. Last night we finally got a great one to watch. You have got to see The Illusionist. It is a movie that is interesting during, but leaves you thinking about it once it is over. Fantastic! I wish that we could find more movies this good.
A funny thing happend just as we were starting the movie however. Star jumped up on Ryan's chest to give him kisses. As soon as she did, there was projectile vomit all over Ryan's chest. It was really gross, but also sooo funny since she has peed on his chest before! The peeing on the chest was when she was a puppy though.
Grey's Anatomy just won a Golden Globe for Best Drama! Wooo Hooo!!! Or should I say "Seriously!"
Oh and I forgot to write on Saturday that my loan money finally came in Saturday. I must have been preoccupied with something else......hmmm.. Anyway, I am super excited now because I get to spend a good chuck of it on five textbooks and one computer programn! (little sarcasm there. I am in that kind of mood tonight)
Ryan is feeling a lot better too. He must have gotten a little bit of whip lash. I have given him three neck rubs plus a back rub just since his fall. Our driveway was mostly melted today, but still slick in places. Tomorrow it should all be gone. Of course, now the forecast is takling about snow on Wednesday possibly. Here are a couple of pics that we took around town Saturday and Sunday.

A recap of our day

-Ryan and I wake up
- De-ice my car for about thirty minutes
-Drive to get new wiper blades
- Ryan drops me off at work
- Get to work, start making fruit plates
- Call from Ryan (he has NEVER called me at work)
- Start crying since I know it has to be bad
- Ryan has fallen on the ice in the driveway and hit heaad first on the way down
- Freak out some more
- Realize I don't have a car to drive home
- Borrow Meagan's car
- Drive home
- Ryan sitting on the chair
-Stay home the rest of the day to keep on eye on things


Does that sound eventful? I knew AS SOON as they said I had a phone call that something was wrong. I have worked there for a year and two months and never received a call from Ryan except on my cell. Luckily, his head was not as bad as I was thinking it would be. I mean since I found Dad when he hit his head, I was sure I was going to come home to blood and throwing up. Ryan was very lucky mostly since he did hit his head first and he does not have any symptomns of problems. He was wearing a snookie at the time so I am thinking that cushioned the fall more than we thought. Anyway, just in case Mom didn't call everyone just wanted to clue you all in on our day.

School has started and of course with it, all the stresses and frustrations have already filtered their way back inot my routines. For starters, I started working out on Tuesday. Yeah!! Sue-I bought a step for aerobics and I have been doing Mrs. Linda's routines and I feel great! Really really sore now, but my energy and drive is fantastic. For me, when I start exercising more, my body craves healthier food too, so it all jsut goes hand and hand and works out. So, while I have tight shoulders from doing arm weights, I am also tense since my loan money has not come in yet! School has started already!! I have talked to the financial aid twice already and they assure me that I won't be dropped from my classes because they can see on the system that I will receive it, but the actual funds have not made it to the college yet. My response was "So am I just not supposed to do my school work and assignments until I get my money to buy my books!?" Grrr. So right now my anger release is the exercising. Seems to be working most of the time. It does not help however in shortening the time in which I will get my money(one to two more weeks).

Other than that stuff, I got the biochem teacher that I really wanted to have. That is fantasttic! Every student in the class was excited and cheering when he walked into the room to teach this semester.

Since all my class are on MWF, that means that I have Tuesday and Thursday to do homework, clean, relax, go to work early, or maybe even volunteer. Service hours look really great on my application for my internship so I might try to rack up some hours while I can. I still am not sure where I am doing my internship so getting hours definietly would hlep if I decide to pick the out of town ones.

A new pet!

Well, it looks like Star and Raider have their own pet to play with now or maybe I should say an animal that plays with them! Lately, we have had a bunch of squireels wonder onto our fence. Now Ryan and I have realized that they are actually taunting Raider and Star. Just now there was a squirrel on the fance and as soon as I let the dogs outside, it jumped to the next fence to where the dogs couldn't see it. Once raider and Star thought it was gone, the squirrel ran super fast across our fence and jumped onto the tree in our backyard. It is so funny! The dogs go crazy! Plus it leaves them with their heads cocked looking up at the tree all afternoon.

I never wrote that I got to supervise by myslef. Last Thursday I was all by myself and it was great! I did have a couple of questions, but since every other supervisor was off, I was able to call them for questions. Everything ran smoothly though and that is most important. On the next schedule I am super three times and then I go in a couple of other days at twelve thirty and get more hours while working less days! Fantastic!

Just now as I am writing the squirrel made another appearance! I am going to video tape them sometime for you guys.

School starts on Wednesday. I am actually really excited right now! My classes are only on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays so I have Tuesday and thursdays to work and do homework. I think that is what I am looking foward to the most. Also, I was really scared this semester because I have to take the second biochem with the harder teacher. Well saturday when my friend went to buy the book, they told her that they had to return the books they had and order new ones since Tech switched teachers! Woo Hoo!! That means I will have the same teacher I had last semester for the first biochem this semester for the second biochem. yeah! I will have to write about my other classes later since I really don't know exactly what to expect from them.

Hope you guys have a great week. Sue, have a safe flight today! Gotta go now, the squirrel is back!

Dee..I am pretty sure I got you beat today on weird things to do when it is cold out. Ryan and I defrosted our two mini friges. We are going to have a little garage sale on Saturday(since I am off) and get rid of one of the mini friges. The other one is our "bar" frig that we want to hang on to. So, I was out in about thirty degree weather chipping out ice and pouring hot water in them. I am soo happy that we finally did it. Our bar frig had popsicles in it and when they unplugged it to fix the carpet in September, they melted all in it. It was really gross and I finally took care of that.
Ryan and I used "Foxy" tonight to make some awesome mashed potatoes. (Foxy is our mixer) Ryan said they were the best ever since they still had little chunks in it, but were still creamy and whipped too. Oh and Ryan did not make a mess when he was whipping them since we had a splash guard. Finally!
For those of you who have not seen our mixer, here she is...

These are the Czech glasses that Aunt Mary told "Santa" that Ryan and I liked them. Aunt Mary had actually put them away in the back without us knowing when we told her we liked them so that we could buy them. I thought that was really sweet. It was a great surprise too.



This is a truck that passed Ryan and I on the way home. Makes you laugh right?

Number 2

After we finished opening gifts and relaxing with my family on Christmas Eve, we drove to see Ryan's side of the family. I got to see his grandma, aunts and uncles. Of course, we played chicken foot too since that is his famiy's favorite game. Once we left, I was planning on calling Christi and having her watch Talledega nights with me, Ryan, Sue, and Justin, but I fell asleep about ten o'clock! Sue and Mom went to midnight mass but I decided to get some sleep and make sure I didn't get a relapse of my cold.
Christmas Day I went to Grandma's with mom. Ryan joined us later after we ate awesome shrimp. To me, grandma's felt different this year. I don't exactly know why, but it was weird. I still had fun seeing everyone though. Ryan and I spend that night playing games with Ryan's parents-poker, chicken foot and Taboo.
While I was at home, I got to spend some much needed time with Christi too. I miss her a lot and there was a lot to catch up on. We went out to eat one night in Houston. Then the next night we ate at DQ and visited some old high school friends. Of course thre isn't oo much you can do in our little town, so we pretty much sat around then.

Christmas Recap

Alright, so our whole trip home started with a long 12 hour drive home Friday. It was nice taking a different route, but never again. Ryan decided to take interstate all the way to Houston and it was my fault for not saying no. We got to see new scenery though.
Then on Saturday we spent the day with Ryan's sister and his nieces at his parent's house. We got great gifts there...one of which was an awesome red Artisan Kitchenaid mixer!!! Ryan was laughing at me because I named it Foxy!!

Helping Lance and Garrett open their new toy...


Sunday was our family Christmas with Amanda, Billy, Sue, Justin and the boys. Tons of fun there! Lance and Garrett are so adorable. Dad was taking his yearly nap on the recliner, snoring and Garrett started mimicing him!! Hilarious! Lance decided to tickle him to get him to stop. I guess that the kids job to pester dad while he is napping has been passed onto the grandkids now. Ryan and I got good gifts there too. Santa brought us pjs and these awesome glasses that we had picked out at Aunt Mary's. They are a contemporary cczech crystal champagne glass. I will post a picture of them. We each got 6!! Wow...I guess I should use them for toasting New Year's tonight. Ryan also got me a new cell phone which I have been needing terribly. I have a razor!! We are going to leave in a little while and go to the mall so I am going to see if I can get a new skin for it maybe. Oh and Garrett and Lance got a tickle me Elmo from santa too. Garrett was trying to pick it up everytime it would fall on his back to laugh and Lance was tackling Elmo!
I will stop there. I will have to do a part two like Dee did.
Lance tackling Elmo.


All of us in our new PJ's.

I need an opinion...

I know it might be hard to see since it is night, but I just wondered if you guys saw anything funny about this tree.

just to say I am alive!

So I know I have a lot I need to write and post on here, but for now I will just give a quick recap of today important happenings. For starters, we did make it home ok tonight. After stopping to see Oma and Opa we made it home about six thirty. We left our heater on 70 when we left just in case we had a cold front come through while we were gone, but when we got home our house was reading in at 56 degrees! Basicly we are under a snow advisory without our heater working. The repair man just made it here to work on the problem. We are thinking he was watching the exciting Tech game too and that is what too him so long to answer the call. Which, by the way, I hope at least some of you got to see clips of our game tonight. We came back from a 7 to 38 deficit to win in overtime. It is a bowl game record for largest comeback to win. In the first half of the game Ryan and I were both ready to just turn off the tv and throw the remote into the fire. Luckily we didn't and were able to see the fantastic second half. I will stop there and finish unpaking. More to come tomorrow and the following days.....

Getting ready for our trip

It appears that I am better or getting better. Finally!! I can't believe that Christmas is so close. I have not started packing yet for home, so that means that I will be doing it all tonight in a rush. I did get some clothes washed though since I had to call in to work yesturday. Too bad I didn't wait and get sicker today so that I could have come home a day earlier. Anyway, I was worse yesturday and after having a while day at home sitting on my rear and taking meds, I am great. Hopefully it stays this way! I will have to bring my meds home though just to make sure I don't need them or to make sure Ryan doesn't need them. Gotta fix lunch so that I can get to work and train.

Got any home remedies?

So, it is 6:45 right now and I have been up since 4:00 with my stuffy nose and sore throat. I have tried all kinds of juices, medicines and bath soaks to get rid of this cold, but none of it is helping! I have been trying to get sleep and rest to get over it, but I can't sleep because I can't breathe and my throat hurts so bad. Once the day gets started, about mid afternoon, I feel fine, then at night it starts all over. Bsicly, does anyone have any ideas that I have not tried yet? I want to fell better before our big trip home, but it is not looking good since I work all day today, Wednesday and Thursday. Hopefully you guys have more ideas! Thanks!

Oh and we had lots of blowing wind and sounded like freezing rain last night. I thought that it was going to break my window!

I survived!!

That's right I survived finals without a mental breakdown and I was able to pass all of my classes!! Woo Hoo!! I have been really busy the past couple of days now trying to catch up on my sleep. Plus, Wednesday night a couple of the girls went out for a drink to celebrate the end of biochem. Ryan came with me too and we had a lot of fun. Last night I had friends over here for our Christmas party. Several people couldn't come that I would have liked to be here, but it was still a ton of fun with the girls that were able to make it. We had plenty of food, lots of drinks and games. Ryan was downstairs for a while with us and I think he even had a good time with a bunch of girls! He showed us how to take a Root Beer slammer. I am sure they are really good, but my friends were not impressed by it. I will post a picture of us taking them when Jordan sends them to me.

Only a week more until Ryan and I drive home! Yeah. I have a lot to do now in this next week and I will have less time actually since I wil be training on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 12:30 to 8:00. It is going to be challenging but well worth it when I get to see the family!

new furniture

i got tired of our old pawn shop coffee table that i refinished, so i decided to build a coffee table and matching end tables. i just got done with the last of the clear polyurethane today, and i'll start staining the end tables sometime later this week, but i figured i'd put a picture of the coffee table on here.

Anyone in the mood for a mental breakdown??

I think I am headed straight for one today! Last night I studied biochem with some friends and then came home and stayed up until two thirty studying for my stats final that was today. Well, as I have said before my teacher is a complete moron and was not even there for the final! We were supposed to be able to start the test at ten thirty, but there was all kind of confusion waiting for him to get there and then after about fifteen minutes lost, the other teacher decided to give us the exam....since they wre all the same anyway. Needless to say our teacher neveer even showed up plus there was problems on the test that didn't even have enough information to solve it the way they wanted to sovled. So, I guessed probably on about fifty percent of the test or maybe a little bit more. One of my friends and I are going to complain about the teacher and the class to the head of the math department if we do not pass the class. It was a simple and easy A class, but he refused to answer easy questions that were pertinant to our success.

Now though I am studying for biochem again. I just found out that I am upset with this teacher too! He did not use the book to teach Fatty acid synthesis, he just made power points for it. That would be fine except that he just put the chemical structure and did not even give words to explain the process! I am so frustrated right now with teachers that I feel like my head is going to explode!!

Did I mention I can't wait for tomorrow to be over with!? Even more I can't wait to drive home and see everyone oh and to make goodies with Sue! :) Hopefully Mom will be able to help too and Dad won't get too grumpy with the dirty dishes!

I hope you guys are having a fantastic Tuesday! Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I will be able to post a cheery and christmas-y note! This is just what is going on right now with me. I know you have all been here. Can I hear some of your final horror stories?

What's new with you?

I have nothing too new going on here. Just a bunch of studying. I had today off and I know I spent pretty much all of it reading and studying, but I just can't figure out what else I did. My house shows no proof of me having a day to rest and clean. I hate that! Ryan and I did try to make some new sugar cookies we saw on tv last night. We will have to bake them tomorrow though since the dough took a while tonight. I guess since I have nothing else new I thought someone else might have bigger and better things to say! I will have something to say noce I take my finals and see the final grade. I am not sure if it will be something good to say or really bad though!

I have to say I am jealous of Sue for being finished with all of this. Oh and I am looking foward to Friday. All of my friends from work are comning over for a Christmas party. It will be tons of fun. Plus, I get to have the house decorated fantasticly! One of my friends might actually come over that day before and help decorate more!! hehe We both love Christmas!

Just can't wait anymore...

I just wanted to let everyone know that after waiting for about five long months for my promotion at work...I finally am going to be trained this month to supervise!!! I won't be able to supervise all the time, but when I do it will be for more hours in a day(8) and then less days since I will be getting more hours. Plus I get a pay raise!!! Again!! Not too much of an increase, but enough to make me stop grumbling. MOre good news....I will be home for Christmas! My boss was able to work out the schedule to where I will be home for a week. Better get ready Mom....Raider, Taco AND Daisy in the house....that could be fun! :) Anyway, I need to rest so that I can study tomorrow. Night!

While I am running out the door...

Ryan and I are on our way out but I figured while he is finishing his video game, I could say hi. I am still surviving the cold here. If you can believe it, we still have snow and ice in some places here from Thursday. Actually yesturday Ryan had to push me out of a parking spot that had ice about an inch thick where I parked. I thought it was pretty funny....payback from Thursday when he got us stuck maybe? Anyway, I will try and post some pics from the weekend with mom and dad. I had fun with them even if it was a quick trip. Oh and I have two finals tomorrow too. Definitely won't be up all night studying, but until a good hour. Post again later.