Spring Break...What is that?

Officially, I am on spring break; however it does not feel like it! I am already working on my correspondance course, so that within this weekend and a couple of days next week, I can have the next four lessons completed and be ready to take the final. I have to have the course finished by April 1st, so I am already pushing it by waiting this long. Ryan is working on finals for his classes right now. He has been frustrated all day long with bonds and I think just now he is figuring out what to do....or else just guessing.

Even if I do have a lot of homework to do over spring break, I do have some exciting plans too! Ryan and I are going to go hiking this weekend. Then my birthday is next week and I have to work. Lastly, I get to see some of the family! Hooray!

Ryan and I did take a trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico a couple of weekends ago. I meant to type it up here, but school has been pounding me hard with work! Obviously, there was no snow there, but we had fun. It was a group of us that went, so the night we got there, we went to the casino. Not too impressive and I think all together we spent $40 as a group! The next morning Ryan and I took off on our own, driving into the mountains to take pictures, and then stopping in Roswell to laugh at all the alien sights. Ryan laughed more than me since the whole thought scares me. He assured me that none of it is real, just BS. I still don't like to think about that kind of stuff though. Yes, I am a sissy! :)

Work is going great. I am now doing everyting on my own and am just another employee. I don't mind. The job, on most days, is relaxing and educating for me. There are those special days though that make me wonder about politics, people, etc.....

I do have a story to share before I return to my operating budgets. Scarlett is still a member of our family at the present time, although Tuesday I got fed up with her. At six in the morning, I am getting ready for class and trying to study while she is running through the house, jumping and laying down right on my study guide and starts biting me. I put up with it for about an hour and then I just let her outside. That is where we found her and I had to get some stuff done. Anyway, I went to tell Ryan I was about to leave and told him I don't think we had a cat anymore because she ran away when I put her outside for a while to play. He got out of bed, in his pjs, put on a jacket, no shoes and went outside to look for her! I didn't think he liked her that much, but apparently I was wrong. He said it was just because he didn't want to find smooshed kitty, but I seem to see it otherwise. We found her however and she is back at home, being a sweetheart. Silly me though, I though he didn't like cats!

Here are some pics from the Ruidoso trip...

On the way back home, we ran into a really bad wind storm. That is why I have this Wizard of Oz picture...

Updates...

I don't have a lot of time, so I am going to try to sum things up real quick.

-I had my first frustration at work today. Can you believe this is my third week and I just now had my first irritation!! :)

-Ryan got his car back today! Hooray! It rides so great and I can ride with him now since we got the seat belt fixed! Anybody want to buy a bike? Now that his car is done he really is going to have to work to get the motorcycle sold.

-I am feeling much better. Officially over the gunk, not I am just coughing it all up! I get to keep on drinking the "pink goddess." Sue knows what that is!

- Our cat is driving us crazy! She is in heat AGAIN and this time it is soo much worse and so irritating. Any time Ryan says something, she starts pattting her back legs and doing her purr/call/horny noise. She only does it for me sometimes. I can't figure out if she knows Ryan is the male of the house or if it is because when she first went into heat he would rubb her above the butt just to see her kick her legs more.

-Ryan and I decided to explore this area more and took a trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico Friday. It was fun for us just to get out for a while, and see some really great scenery. I will have to post a few pictures a little later.

That is all I will put for now. I need to finish laundry(since I hadn't done ANY for over two weeks when I got sick) and then cook something for us to eat. Have a great week!

Sick

I guess with everything that has happened in the past week it is expected that I am sick. Not flu-like sick, but more like irritating huge blisters in my throat are making me feel miserable. Right now I am blaming it on the weather since it is cold and rainy. The weathermen have predicted snow the past two nights but instead we had just an ice/thunder/rain storm last night. We haven't had rain here in a while so it was pretty cool going to sleep to thunder and lightning. There is another chance of snow tonight so I guess I will just haev to wait and see.

How was your Valentine's Day? Ryan and I had a pretty good one. I checked the mail in the afternoon and we had several valentine cards to open that made the day that much more fun. We opened them all together and loved the picture of the boys(on our frig now). I also had an extra special card from Aunt Shirley-congratulations on my new job. Thank you so much. It meant a lot to me to receive that card!
We have been engaged for one year now and lucky for me my engagement ring was at the store getting fixed for our anniversary! They tightened a side diamond about six months ago, but in the process of fixing it, made it stick out even more and has been catching on things. Needless to say, it was loose again and I told them they had to send it in this time that I would not allow them just to tighten it and still have it catching. I got it back today and it looks great! Ryan bought me some flowers for Valentine's and a giftcard to Starbucks. Since I was so preoccupied with getting internship apps. mailed out, I didn't get him anything. Still looking...

Good news...My internship applications are out and distrubuted! Hooray! Ryan mailed them for me on Monday. That was a HUGE weight off of my shoulders. I have a lot of homework assginments that are still keeping me busy, but having the apps. gone is one less thing to worry about. Now it is all up to them to determine if I am good enough for their program.

Incase you have not heard, Ryan and I "adopted" a kitten. She has been running aroung our neighborhood for several weeks and sittingin our windows early in the morning so I have seen her plenty. I think she had owners, but she had no collar, almost got hit a couple fo times because she was allowed to just run around the streets, and they were not feeding her. She was just bones when we took her in. Honestly, I don't even think they care that she is gone. We have not had anyone knocking on the doors looking for her or missing posters hung by the mailboxes. So I think it was better for both parties! As far as I know, when Allison moves up here in May, Scarlett will be her cat. Scarlett won't make the long trip home to Houston with us.
She is really cute though and looks just like our old cat Jaz. Of course, I KNOW this one is a girl. {For those of you who don't know, I picked out Jaz from a friend of mine, thinking it was a girl because it had nipples(I was in elementary school still). I named the kitten Jasmine but then after a couple of months we realized it was a boy and had to start calling HIM Jaz. } Apparently Scarlett isn't as young as we thought and about a week after we took her in, she started doing this weird cry/calling, rubbing her butt onto things and doing a pedal like motion with her legs when you would pet her above the tail. So, one night Ryan and I are playing with her and when he picks her up, I see a bubble on her female area!!! I guess when I was younger I didn't know what the cats were doing, but after looking some information up on the internet, I have no doubt...Bobbie WAS in heat(an old cat), Scarlett was going through the same thing and I was such a sheltered child!! :) Ryan and I laughed for a while about it because he never had had a cat so he didn't know what was going on either. Scarlett has since stopped all the crazy behavior and is a sweet, and usually pretty obediant cat.

Work has been great. I actually come home in a good mood, want to do some homework, will cook supper and then relax! I am actually counseling clients on my own now and loving it. This job has a lot more down time that I am not used to, but am easily finding ways to occupy the time and enjoy if for what it is.

Back to the homework for me. I am trying to finish a big project I have this week, finish three outlines for the whole week and then catch up with my correspondence course. Wish me luck that my throat doesn't keep me away from all fo this!

Things are falling into place.....

This has been a really crazy week for me. Just to name a few things, MNT case study due, MNT exam, lots of assignments in other classes, LAST day at UMC, and first day at WIC and internship applications being stuffed. I can already feel a weight lifted off of my shoulders! This next week ins't going to be a picnic because I have to work on major projects that are due the following week; however I also know when I have to work and I know I will not be called in on my days off. Plus my house needs some attention. I have only washed the clothes that I need, not everything that is in the hamper, so catching up to do there. Ryan has finals this week in his classes so he is busy working on those, plus putting his car together. I never did write about that. This week he was doing routine maintenance on his car such as changing hoses, fluids and changing the oil. It was a lot of fun to me to see him outside working in the garage on his car, since I grew up with this image all the time! It made me think of Dad, Billy, Grandpa and John working on putting a new engine in John's little S10 and cussing all the way through it. Anyway, along the way of doing routine maintenance stuff, something happened. Who knows what it was, but the little tick Ryan had heard before turned into more of a knock. Needless to say, he is looking at replacing his engine. I don't think Ryan will ever want to get rid of his car; he really does love it. Actually last week, before he started all the work, he took his car onto the Tech campus and took some pictures of it. Sounds like it is his baby right? So, we will see how everything goes with that. Once his car is in the shop, I am sure we will share a car for a while. That is fine with me though...I think it is sweet when he drives me to class! :) I guess it is back to finishing applications, starting on more homework and starting some laundry. Have a good Sunday!

1 more week! (by Ryan)

So Ann has 1 more week at work, and i'm real glad that she's finally leaving because that place makes her miserable. It just seems like they take advantage of her because she's the nice one, and she's willing to help people out even when she really needs to be doing other things. They call her in, and she says she will come in to help, but that she needs one of her other days off because she's falling behind in schoolwork and trying to get her internship stuff done. So her boss calls one of her co-workers to see if they can cover for her on Saturday, and they're going to be "out of town". They work Friday night, and they work again Saturday morning at 10:00, but they're going to be "out of town" and can't come in earlier to cover the supervisor shift? That's complete BS. Oh well, I wouldn't expect any different from this person.. child actually. Not even 20 years old yet, but you'd think they were 16 by the crap that they pull. So next Friday is her last day, and I guess she'll find a way to put on a happy face and tough it out.

There is good news out of this though... the day after her last day at her current job, she starts a new job as a nutrionist supervisor at WIC, which is a HUGE step up from where she's at now. Hopefully she'll actually be working with professionals and not children like she is now. And on top of all that, it's a nice pay raise over what she's getting paid now. Not to mention that this job is GREAT resume material!! She always jokes that I'm going to be her sugar daddy some day, but I'm thinking she'll be more likely to get a good paying job before I can, so I'll just get her to take me out to dinner then ;) Well she actually did take me out to dinner last night... except I paid for dinner, funny how that worked out. Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right? As long as she pays me back. Update: I think that finally got a smile out of her (she's watching over my shoulder).

And Ann also wants me to tell everyone that she was thinking about diarrhea this morning in class. Kind of weird I know... ok actually they were talking about causes of diarrhea in medical nutrition therapy, and all she could think about was Shelby's pronunciation of the word.. "Diarrina!" That's child talk for "Hold your nose when you clean the junk in my trunk".

The dogs are spoiled as usual. Raider is laying in Ann's lap with his head on my left elbow, making it hard to type, and Star is sitting on the other side admiring me like usual (and Ann too). We also discovered that both Raider and Star can jump on our bed. They usually just whine until we pick them up, but today they actually jumped! And now they're back to whining until we pick them up. Oh, and Star likes Ann's snot. She was giving Ann some kisses and started licking her nose, and when she pulled away a nice string of snot stuck between the two of them, and Star kept coming back for more.

I almost forgot, we had a snow storm this morning! Fortunately it only lasted about 2 hours and melted off the roads by lunch time, but I had to drop Ann off at class this morning cause the roads were icy and the wind was blowing about 30 mph, so she didn't want to have to park and walk a mile in that weather (I wouldn't either, it was miserable). Of course our retarded landlord STILL has our automatic sprinklers going! Our driveway is iced over in the mornings, and the neighbors' sprinkler (same landlord) just runs water to the curb, so the curb all the way down our street was just iced over (about 2 feet out onto the road). Well I guess that about covers it all. I'm sure Ann will have a lot to write about after next week! Hope to see you all soon.

Exciting Changes

Before I get started, here are some of the pics I promised a while ago. I have more to post, but they will just have to be gradual.

This is our version of "booty" dancing!!
Happy New Year! He was pretty smashed.

I really can't say a whole lot right now, but there are some new things happening that I am really happy about!! First of all, I can tell you, I got a new computer! (Thank you to Quala and Randy for an early birthday/graduation gift) My other one was not saving my assignments properly. Honestly I didn't think it was that bad until today when I opened up an essay I had written for one of my internships and it was all jumbled together and not how I had saved it. Luckily, I got a new one and have time to fix anything that might have gotten messed up by my old one. Another good note, I had an interview today that i am excited about. Just to say a little, it is another nutrition related position that would give me more new experience to put on my internship apps and resumes. Part of my responsibilities would be teaching nutrition education classes(I would not have to do the lesson plans though) and assessing nutrition status on clients. I will let you know how all of this falls into place once I am more sure of things. Countdown time is here too-only three weeks until all of my internship stuff is due. Once it is all in, it will be a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. Lastly, my house is a wreck!! I have not washed clothes all week or even picked up our living room. Since I officially started back at work, it is business as usual and I have not had a spare moment to straighten everything propperly. Tonight is the night though. My big plans include lots of homework for next week and cleaning! Have a great night!

Yes, I am still around

I know that I said I would post some pics from Mona's wedding on here and I still want to, but it has been a whirlwind since we got back home. Here are some bullets on a couple of things..
-We finally got a faster internet
- I started work this past Monday and I already feel like I am being taken advantage of. Danielle, the other supervisor I like, asked me," Why did you come back!? It is too crazy here!"
-Classes started, I have an assignment due every class period in my issues class. Plus two big assignements due in February, along with intern apps!
-I need to start my correspondance course that I must have done before April to graduate.
-Next week a case study is due in MNT
-Today alone I have worked on my GPA's for my internship apps for two and a half hours.
-Looking for a different job
-Started working out every MWF
-Writing application letters, personal letters of interest
-Organization meetings and volunteer activities (SDA, Phi U)

I will stop there. Doesn't really look like that much when I type it, but it is all getting to me. I cannot wait until I get all of my internship applications mailed off and I cannot stress about imperfections anymore. I will write more quick stuff later. Have a good Friday night!

Laundry, Laundry, Laundry and Highlights From Home

Ryan and I made it home on Friday and laundry is about the only thing I did all day Saturday. Not that I minded since it took me away from other stuff that I have been putting off! :) It feels so great to be back at our house. I loved seeing everyone and spending time with the family, but sometimes a person just needs time to themselves. I think I have finally re-couped and am ready to have company again or actually do something. Which I guess could not be better timing since they need help at work and I start classes again on Thursday. I forgot that all of my classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. While I have time I have been doing a little bit of everything; organizing, cleaning out crap, internship apps, job searching, etc. I will let you know how the job stuff turns out.

Since it would be way too difficult for me to tell you about my whole three weeks at home, I think I will tell you a few highlights of the trip...

1. Taking care of Garrett and Lance the first weekend, eating at their little table and enjoying the boys. Then Ryan and Garrett playing in leaves and the most vivid, Ryan jumping into the leaves(mostly because I have it on video). Garrett's face when he saw the three-legged dog at the Matocha's was priceless.

2. Picking Dee up at the airport. Tessa introduced herself right away by "making" all over herself when Dee was slipping a new diaper underneath. Nice to meet you too!! Shelby made sure to tell us it was her baby. Dee looked happy to have new help.

3. Shelby playing in Missy's room almost everyday. If I went into my room for anything, she followed and proceeded to play with her toys and even played pretend with my clothes.

4. Grandma's-LOTS of people! I don't know if her little house has even seen so much action! The White Elepahnt exchange was memorable, but playing with Shelby and Garrett outside sticks out the most. While Shelby was on my back, she did not say Giddy up horsey, nope, she said "Giddy up Piggy!" Talk about a confidence booster!

5. Christmas Eve-The traditional walk down to the woods, even better with Shelby and Garrett with us. As soon as everyone was done with presents, Dad took his traditional nap. (As I was looking through pictures of last Christmas I found a video of Garret "snoring" like Grandpa last year. Too cute!) Making my first ever gingerbread house with Shelby and Ryan sleeping right next to us.

6. Christmas Day- Awesome crab lunch and playing with the goats. Raider and Star were having so much fun chasing them around, playing games with the Matocha's.

7. Aunt Shirley's house- Dee playing Guitar Hereo with the boys and having the time of her life! Great food with a great family.

8. Sue, Dee and I making a trip to San Marcos for them to visit their old home and to go to the outlet mall.

9. Mona's Wedding/New Year's-Unfortunately I was not in the mood to drink a lot, but Ryan had fun and we all had so much fun with him. Shelby was dancing up a storm, while Tessa slept soundly and Dee danced with Sue and I.

That is just a few of the things that will stick in my head for a while. There are so many more like seeing Sue's classroom and surprising Mom at work, but I am attepmting to keep this short. I am just blessed to have such great families to spend the holiday with and thank you for everything while we were at home. Here are some pictures!

We got to show the boy's a real racecar, even if it wasn't Nascar.

Dee's flight was delayed about an hour and a half, so Ryan and I passes about thirty minutes of the time riding the trolley between the different terminals!

Tickle Monsters!

Cousins eating the traditional shrimp lunch at Grandma's

This was only one of the tables at Grandma's. I believe that there were two more full tables in the dining room.

Ryan and I with out "children".

I don't think Ryan and Justin were into all the childhood memories of the woods.

The "kids" at Mom and Dad's minus Gabe. :( We miss you John, Melanie and Gabe!

Decorating the gingerbread house with Shelby.

The goats safe place is that yellow thing, so Ryan was trying to flush them out so the dogs could chase them. Eventually they did come running out.

Uncle Kenny with Dee, Shelby and Tessa at Aunt Shirley's.

Aunt Shirley with the crew too. Can you tell Shelby was tired at this point?

I was lucky enough to take Shelby all by myself to see the Matocha's cattle. I think Red scared her a little with her long horns hitting the fence.

At the outlet mall in San Marcos.

I will upload some pictures of the wedding tomorrow. Our internet is acting up so it has taken me over an hour just to do this part.

It's almost that time!

Everyday it is just another tease for me right now. I keep thinking this day will be good, I will haev one less final to worry about. Well, it just seems like everyday is another day that goes by that I am not at home yet. Finals are dragging on and on and I was hoping that I would feel good about the one I took today since it was my hardest one. However I only feel more frustrated that I did not study more than I did. Oh and I realized I forgot my calculator, which the whole test was calculations on tube feedings and TPN and every two questions after the calculation was about the calculation. So, I set up all of my problems and then Bailey was done by that time with her calculator and the teacher let me use hers. I was extremely greatful! Still I am happy it is over, but I am dredding the consequences.
Now, I am occupying my time with another final. This one is a take-home final. I made the mistake of thinking, oh it is a take-home, so easy! NO! Not al all! The final is extremely time consuming because I have to have research articles to back up everything I say. Grrrr.

I had a major freak moment after my MNT test today though-my car is acting up! Two days until I get a break and I won't be able to drive my car!! The diagnosis is a headlight that is out. The symptoms that my car is displaying are check ingine light flashing when I put the car into a gear, clicking in my dash and then the check engine light stays on. Weird!? Anyway, Ryan and I are pretty sure that my headlight is just burned out (which is weird because this is the same headlight they had to replace in June when that guy busted up my car) and we are about to go replace it. If we have complications, we will be notifying you!
(I don't know if you could tell, but I have MNT on the brain! I had to use some medical terms in that paragraph)

Two Sighs of Relief

That is right, one sigh that the major presentation of my semester long project is done and the second sigh goes to my GRE being done and over with!! It has been a rough week for me. It wasn't even the end that hit me hard, just the beginning and middle.


Now, I have lots of new worries for this coming week. The first one hit me on this past Tuesday after my persentaion was finished. So, I keep saying my "semester long" project, but it was actually two months, anyhow I finshed the presentatino, then our teacher handed out our take home final. I was dreading it, but it was even more extremem than I thought. Just to sum it all up, I have to do my rpoject all over again on another population, with more deatil, and in six days instead of two months!


Another concern is doing that plus studying for the other two finals I have. Both of them I need to make an A on to guarantee a good grade. Plus, I really really want to start packing for home. Purposely, I planned on the 13th to be my packing day so that I would not pack at all until finals were over. It is just hard.


Here are some pics from last weekend. Yes, ANOTHER bachelorette party! One more friend getting married before me and then another got engaged this weekend and is planning her wedding already. It kinda sucks, but our wedding will be that much more worth it!

My first friend at Tech: Lauren

Amanda, Bailey and Ashley

Me and Bailey, Susie is "friends" with her now too! :)

Ok, reallll quick. Wish me luck for the next two days! Tomorrow I have a major final project presentation that I have been working on all weekend. Then Wednesday is my BIG test-GRE!!! Yikes! I will be studying for that tomorrow after my power point presentation is over!

Feeling good

I finally feel like I have got some things accomplished since I left work. Understand I have been working on assignments, tests, final projects, and school activities this whole time, but yesterday I made a big step for my internship. I completed all of my recommendation letter folders AND I got them passed out to all three people!! That has taken me about a month to finish and now I just wait for a call or email saying they are done with their letters for my to pick up!! Hooray!
For my english teacher sister, I have something for you to help me with too! Time granted for both of us, I plan on having my letters of application written by the time I get home so you might be able to help me tweek them. (In other words, I need your help in making me sound smart!!) Don't worry I am willing to babysit, give you a pedicure or take you to a movie for your help! :) Plus Imight not acutally get them typed for you to read before then.
Finals start in one week, final projects have already started and I take the GRE in a week now. Time is flying! I have been dreading next week for a while now, but as soon as it gets here, I will conquer it. Then my next tasks will be taking three finals and packing to come home!!
Oh I have another Bachelorette party I am going to on Saturday. I guess that Bailey and I will be making more suckers on Saturday morning to put in our "goody" bag for our friend. Those molds have definitely gotten lots of use.
Our dryer is fixed now too, we think. It had tripped the breaker!! Actually just one of the two it is on. It was not getting enough juice to run the heater. That is fixed, so now we just have to figure out what the weird clunking/scraping sound is that we hear every so often. For now, I think we will just keep on eye on it and do some research!
Last thing, Raider has a new trick. I really like this one a lot though and I thought I would not be able to get him to do it. When Raider and Star need to go out, I let them out and leave the door barely closed. As Star finishes, she jumps on the door to open it and Raider pushes his way in with Star following. Then, (this is the cool part) I tell Raider to close the door and he does it! Now the next best thing would be if he could actually let himself out and then back in to shut the door!

Super Sunday and then the bad news...

Ryan and I had a great Sunday. Well, I guess it would have been better had it actually snowed like they said it was going to. Anyway....No snow and after being cooped up in a house for several days, I had the need to go out. So Ryan and I decided even though we couldn't really buy gifts, we could still enjoy the spirit and the joy of Christmas at the mall. We just walked around and broused. I bought some cheap sweaters sinec I have realized I only have 1 actual sweater and then about 2 sweat shirts and I live in a cold place! It was fun just enjoying the decorations, music, pushy salesmen, screaming kids, and crowded malls. No, all jokes aside we had fun getting out together. Once we got home, I washed a load of clothes and Ryan worked on homework then I went to bed. Luckily, I had already washed and dried everything I would need for the week because the dryer is not drying the clothes anymore. Then this morning, I didn't know that Ryan had already found this out and I decided to dry a shirt. The dryer sounded like a grinder! I turned it off quick, but Ryan told me he didn't hear the noise this afternoon. Basicly we have only had this dryer for about 1 1/2 years and it seems to be pooping out on us! Too bad Mom and Dad just got rid of the extra dryer they had! Anybody have any ideas?
Ryan is planning on looking at it tomorrow, so I will tell you what you decide to do. Wish us luck!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

If Mom has not already informed you, Ryan and I had a very cold and unexpected Thanksgiving. Our plans were to drive to see Ryan's grandparents (2.5 hours away) on Thursday and stay until Saturday morning. Well, as we were loading up the car on Thusday, it stated snowing! After watching the tv real quick, we realized it had just stated and it should not last long, so we got on the road. It snowed off and on for about an hour into the trip, but then the last hour and a half it was coming down pretty hard. Fortunately, we had not problems and we made it to O'ma and O'pa's about two in the afternoon to find all of this......


It was only supposed to snow a little and not stick, but it ended up being about three inches that stuck. By nightfall, the snow had slowed and eventually stopped. The next morning eerything was melting and we had a great football day staying indoors and relaxing. I was lucky and got to read about the GRE! :) This is Friday now and we are all packed up to leave Saturday morning until about ten at night the weather was chaning again! Needless to say, Ryan, Allison and I drove home last night at about midnight and got home at two thirty. The roads were not icy, it did not start snowing until five minutes outside of Lubbock and watching out for deer actually kept us all entertained! We probably saw somewhere close to fifty deer on the side of the roads, but none of them seemed to care that we were passsing them. Mostly, they looked up, saw us, looked back down and kept on eating! The interesting part was seeing a group of wild hogs on the side of the road! (about 6) Raider and Star were extremely happy to see us too. Can you believe at three in the morning Ryan and I were giving them baths so that they could sleep with us?! Now Quala and Randy are on their way home. The original plans were for them to drive here to have a Thanksgiving with us and pack up some of Allison's stuff, but with the weather being so unpredictable, they left straight from O'ma and O'pa's. Now I get to cook a Thanksgiving feast for Ryan and I for sure and Allison if she can drive across town without worrying about ice. That is pretty much the extend of my excitement. I hope your Thanksgiving was relaxing and calm!

Here are some pictures to describe all the snow and whiteness.



Oh and we have an 80% of snow tonight and tomorrow! Good thing I am at home and don't have to work! :)

Changes

Most everyone in our house has changed or is about to change something...hair wise that is. Star got a haircut last week because she looked scraggly and my quick cuts just weren't doing it anymore. Ryan, Sunday decided that he didn't want to pay to get a haircut, so he took my full length mirror out into the backyard. Before I knew what he was doing, all of his hair was gone! Ok, not gone, but a buzz cut. He wears a hat all the time anyway, so I guess it really is ok. I am tired of my hair now too and want to do something different. I think I am going to dye it darker since it is winter now. Poor Raider though, I don't think he is going to have any hair changes!
It has also been an adjustment for me to be at home so much. Last weekend was the first weekend where I did not work. It was really nice, plus I had five assignments due last week. This weekend I am focusing on my big test on Tuesday and recommendation letters for my internship. Next up on the list to do-finish my power point on my community project, study for my GRE, get all my transcripts and maybe relax a little too.
I would love to come home for Thanksgiving, but after seeing how much stuff I have to do before Christmas, I think I had better stay up here to get it all done. Ryan and I also want to spend time with his grandparents up here. It will be a mad crunch for me to get everything together for Christmas, but I am sure it will all be worth it! :)

A little of what we have been up to..

Finals are starting...not all finals, but just a couple of classes that end early in the year. I had one today and I think I have one the week after Thanksgiving. Final projects and presentations are also starting. All of this means lots of fun for me! The exciting news is that I won't be working doing all of these important assignments! Tomorrow is my last day! Yippie!! Also, this means I have to get cracking on all of my internship stuff. I started Thursday by registering to take the GRE. I have been putting off registering because I am scared and intimidated by the test, but I have to do it sooner or later if I want to apply for my internships. December 5th is the date, so say a pray for that one! I have also found out that Dec. 12 is my last final so Ryan and I will be home sometime after that. We both are so excited to spend lots of time with our families and get to see everyone plus our new addition-Tessa! This year it isn't just a quick trip which is great since I am majorly homesick! :( I need some family time desperately.

Here are some pics from last weekend when Ryan's parents and Allison came up for the Colorado game.

Star and Raider are also ready to come home....look at their festive outfits! Santa's little helpers!?

Leave of Absence

Yes, after complaining and discussing my situation at work for a while with friends and family, I will officially be on a leave of adsence on Nov. 6. There is so much BS going on at that place right now and some people that I just cannot work with everyday. I realize that must sound really childish because I know you just can't quit a job just because you don't get along with the people you work with. My answer to that is two fold: 1.This is not a career for me, it is just a way for me to make money while I go to school. 2.My body physically and my relationships with friends and with others were getting neglected. I consider myself to be a cheerful person overall, but when I do not have a good day all week because I am dreading ONE day of work!! That is not good! Also, this job is causing my grades to drop! Yikes! I have been so tired and stressed out from work that by the time I get home, I have to energy for homework and studying! Anyway, there are some reasons why I have decided to take a break. I was planning on quitting, but my boss suggested instead to take a leave of absence until February. If I want to come back, I just call her and tell her when I can work. If I do not want to go back to work there, then she will submit my paperwork so that I will no longer be employed there. For me, at the moment, it is a win-win situation!!
Here is the good part for everyone else...I get to spend as much time at home or wherever as I want!! Now Ryan won't be able to make a weekend trip home without me! :) Honestly, I think my jealousy of him just driving home to see everyone set off my homesickness and now has triggered the deep thoughts about work.

I am getting back to homework now....even thinking of not working is mtivating me to do my homeowrk!!

Man...I love Gameday!!!!

Yes, Saturday was a fantastic day. I really didn't care too much about anything, but going to the game with Ryan. This game was the last time Ryan and I would get to sit in the student section at Tech together. It made for a sad moment for me, but Ryan was just thinking of getting season tickets! How we are going to use all of them if we live in Houston is not even in the equation right now! Priorities will even themselves out though once they come up and I am sure that Tech sesson tickets will have to wait until way down the line.

Anyhow, we got to go to the game and it was so much fun. Even though the student section was not angels, they seemed to tone down their aggressiveness towards the other teams more; at least the section we were sitting in. I thought it was funny that when the fight song first played the students were still saying "we will f**** kick their a**, " but once their realized that the majority around them was not saying that, they converted to the right words. ( Hit "em, wreck 'em, hit 'em wreck 'em Texas Tech) I was happy that peer pressure and majority won out on that one. There were some other instances during the game though when I thought the students were being a lot less than classy about the AM band and the vick 'em shirts, but you are not gong to see a complete 180 from the students in just 1 week. It will probably take years to reverse how bad they have gotten. The campus and student life organizations are starting programs and encouraging better attitudes from the students. Finally!!!

Here are some pictures of all the fun we had......

In order Michael Crabtree, one of the spirit shops had this thing sitting outside their store for attention... Yes, that is a car under there.

Raider had his pimp suit on for good luck! Only problem is that I ripped it putting it on him since his bones have gotten bigger! Yeah right....he has gained weight! I guess I am bad at animal nutrition, I just hope it doesn't reflect elsewhere!
The Goin' Bank taking the field at the beginning of the game.
The Masked Rider is running across the field in this one, making his grand entrance. The masked rider is really cool this year. It is a guy intead of a girl and he has a spanish mustache and goatee!!
Ryan and Allison showing off their guns..
One of the last plays of the game....Michael Crabtree received the ball in this play and ran it down to about the 15 yard line!! Whenever Ryan used to say "He is a really good player" I was like yeah, okay. Seriously though crabtree is amazing! I can actually see it myself!

The game had not started yet, so we were taking pictures to pass the hour we had to sit and wait. Ryan and I didn't intend to wear the same shirt and hats, it just happend that way. I promise!

Of course, the aftermath of the game. Funny thing is my concealer had SPF in it, but my powder didn't so I have a little circle on my face! Pretty funny but also embarassing. I got burned only on the left side of my fae, both knees(but no my legs of ankles) my left is is as red as a crab (hehe) and my neck is terrible too. Ryan's neck is even worse than mine and he was there one hour less! Oh and I had my hat on, hence the no sun above my eyes. It was all worth it though! I was very happy to say I was an Aggie and I am now a Red Raider and I really enjoyed watching them play each other.

I have good news!!

Yes, plans have changed and I get to go to the game on Saturday!! Ryan has a ticket and gets to go with me too! It is a great night! At the moment, Ryan, Allison and I are going, but Bailey and her boyfriend will go with us too if he is feeling better.
Today has been a really long and tiring day though. I have been going since 6 AM this morning. Class at eight to twelve, errands to run next, then class from 3:30 to 5, got a smoothie, meetings from 6-8. Finally I am at home watching Grey's and trying to get ready for volunteer work and work tomorrow! Woo Hooo! I hope you had some good news today too!

Alright I have to make this quick because I am working on Medical Nutritional Therapy and just taking a break. I can't break the concentration too long!

I fixed my hair today and thought I could show you guys how I fix it. Ryan actually likes it this way, plus I do too! :) Other than that, nothing too great going on. One of the supervisors at work was suspended...you will have to call me to get more dish on that.....she is coming back tomorrow though. I will not get to go to the Tech vs. Texas AM game and I am really pissed off. Of course I don't want to be lumped into the group of retards that we have here at Tech that have no sportsman ship and make ridiculous shirts and are proud of them! Just to let you all know that incase you see something on the news about Tech. I was not part of it nor do I agree with all that crap! Tech students should respect and honor other schools and just let the game be played.

Enough ranting......I only have eight more weeks of my second to last semester!! Yeah! I am goig to look at rings again soon and hopefully buy one eventually. I hope all is well with you!