Life After Lubbock

I am sure most of you were wondering if I made it home ok and am alive after graduation. Well, yes Ryan, Star, Raider and I have all made the move back to South Texas and are trying to settle in. There are so many things to get in order when you make a huge move like that!! Mostly, at the moment we are relaxing some and then tomorrow is my "business" day. I have internship stuff to take care of, information to mail and arrangements to make with iinsurance. Graduation was great. It still feels so unreal to me. I keep on thinking I am going to leave for Lubbock again in a couple of days. Plus I miss my friends already so I will really have to adjust to keeping in touch by email and facebook and then making friends through my internship too. At graduation, I didn't tell the family where I would be sititng and I didn't haev a cell phone with me so I had no idea where they picked to sit at in the huge arena. Well, I guess it was pretty obvious where they were when I was walking out and saw a sign that said "way to go Missy." Go figure that I would look at the sign and not even think it was for me, then I looked again and started laughing! Thanks again Sue for making a sign! That was so sweet of you and cool! There are many other stories I could write about right now, but I think I will sum it all up with pictures. Perhaps tomorrow I will type more for you.

Just packing!

Packing is all I have to do these days and it is great! Thursday I officially finished! Since then I have been catching up with lots of friends, being a designated driver for others and packing packing packing; plus taking Raider for walks on campus with Bailey and her dog. Today I met several friends on campus, we had lunch and then took pictures. I am going to miss campus. I am sure I will be talking to most of you soon and seeing you soon too, so I will keep this breif and just post some pictures from campus today. More packing to do, but I am excited to do it!

Coming to an end

Finally! Tuesday is my last day to have classes!! Hooray! Well, I guess I shouldn't be too happy. Tuesday is my last class day for my undergrad degree, then I have the grad school to start up in July. Thursday this week I have my only two finlas. In Emerging issues my final is to have a mock debate, which I think is very beneficial to my career. Lots of people were groaning and mad about it, but our teacher is really nice and I don't see her grading us truly hard. She is more into knowing you did research, and that you understand how to present the points in a diplomatic manner. Basicly that is what the whole class has been about so if you show some improvement from the beginning of the semester, then I believe eveything will be great in that class. My other final is medical nutrition therapy. That test is going to be tough. It is over the whole semester of renal therapy, CVD, hypertension, immune disorders, anemias, GI problems and tons of medications and nutrient interactions along with other things. I have been working on the study guide since Wednesday and just finished it today. Now onto learning all of it!
My last day at work is Tuesday so that I will have Wednesday to prepare even more for Thursday. Once Thursday is over then I will just be packing, packing, packing and looking for a graduation dress.

BIG NEWS!!

I am not sure if mom has shared the huge news with you, but just in case you don't know yesterday was my BIG day. Dietetic Internship spots were announced. I have been accepted in Houston!! Hooray! Plus I will be going to grad school and by the end of the internship be only one semester away from having my masters!! Ryan and I also have an apartment waiting for us in Houston and are making plans currently for the BIG move! :( So excited to get out of Lubbock, but so dreading everything that we have to move. Plus now that I know more of when I will be getting a job, Ryan and I should be able to sit down and talk about wedding dates! :) :) Get ready..with both Michelle and I talking wedding, everybody is going to be exhausted! Love all of you though.

To me it was ironic, I got into an internship and graduate school and the same day I run out of gas for the VERY first time ever!! Does that sound like someone bound for graduate school?? My gas light came on when I was driving to work and considering I was cruising at highway speed, I figured I had more time to get gas. plus the gas light was not on constantly. I was so wrong though and found out when I was driving on the loop and my cruise control cut off! Then the oil and battery light came on so taht REALLY scared me! Of course the day that I run out of gas is the first day it reached 90 degress! So I sat in my really hot car, with the sun beaming down on my arms and tried to keep myself cool while Ryan figured out how to get to me. Plus there was more fun once we got a gas can and the seal was not on it so instead of gas going in the car, it trickled out another part and all over Ryan's hands. Basicly, it took us about two hours to get my car off of the loop. Oh and there was a gas station only 1/4 of the mile down the road too!

Eventful Weekend and Week

I realized I have not taken the time to document all the crazy stuff that has been going on around our house, so I guess this will explain to everyone why it might seem like Ihave fallen off of the face of the earth! For starters, Ryan's parents were up here last weekend to move some stuff back home. Ryan and I therefore were packing up boxes and cleaning refrigerators that had to be sent home that week before along with me getting over my illness. It took me a complete two weeks to start feeling better! The weather has changed again though so I am wondering if I canexpect another cold or blisters. Anyway, so we had company this weekend, even helped Ryan's cousin move into her house a little and then his parents had some excitement and unexpected apartment issues when there came here. I won't go into detail on that though since things are stil in process. Alright, even work was eventful this week. I did so many new things(even though I have been there for a couple of months now) and went to yet another clinic to fil in.

I will give Tuesday it's own paragraph. As everyone knows, I still do not have an answer about which internship I am going to. Monday, the 21, is my BIG day! I find out if or where the internship is and if I don't get into the ones I applied for, then I have to see which internships did not fill up so that I can be considered for those. Anyway, what I was getting to. Tuesday, when I ahd a break between my classes, I was checking my email, deleting some thigns and checking different folders when I found an email from the UH internship. Turns out the email was sent in February, but I didn't open it because I didn't recognize the sender and did not want to put a virus on my very new computer. Well, it was an important email and I got it literally one and a half months late. It was to inform me that the application packet that I sent to them was incomplete because one of my recommendation letters was missing a form. However, there is no way I could have known it was missing a form since I sign that I have not looked at the recommendation letter, not have I opened it for any reason. So, by me not reading the email until now and UH has already made their choices, I am pretty sure I was not even considered for their internship. This means I better hope one of the other two really liked me!!

Good side to all of the above is that I have found another option if I do not do an internship. The director at my job emailed the Houston area and there is a clinic manager open. The director in Houston is interested in interviewing me for it. Plus, one of my teachers, actually two, have other ideas and plans for me if I want to do them. Just this past week has mademe really grateful for good references!

Ok, so Wednesday was nothing too extreme. I worked half the day at the new clinic I mentioned, was confused, but made it through. THen I went to school for an opganizational activity. By going to that event I guarunteed that I am going to graduate with a stole!! Hooray! When I got home from that I slept for a couple of hours and then stayed up until three studying for my test today. Oh and woke up at five to study more. I took the test this morning and I do not believe there was any way I could have studied enough. It was so hard. Tons and tons of medications, vitamin interactioins, if they make you hypo/hyper calcemic, kalemic, glycemic, on and on...... Not looking foward to seeing my grade though!

So here I am now. Ryan and I just watched Eli Stone and I am about to get started on next week's assignments. Next week is my last week as an undergraduate!!! :) Then I have two finals on the first...wish my luck!

Blah...Just like Sue

I guess Sue and I are in the same boat except I know what my problem is. My blisters have returned in mythroat so I have been fighting body aches, sore throat, headaches, and a small fever this weekend. It didn't actually hit me until yesterday morning when I woke up, coughed up some stuff and noticed it was bloody! (Know you didn't want to hear that, but did you make a funny face!) hehe So, last night I took TWO(normally one does the trick) tylenol pms, and sprayed my throat with chloreseptic and went to bed about midnight. Then I didn't wake up today until noon, ate some cereal, then slept on the coach until about five, when Bailey called. She has been having guy issues, so she came over and we watched a movie together.
Like Sue though, I cannot get motivated to do my schoolwork. Tuesday I have my LAST college presentation(at least undergrad) and I should be geared up and done, but I haven't actually started! Tomorrow I work all day so I guess since I got rest during the day, tonight I better just suck it up and get done with my presentation tonight.
Last week I took my final for the correspondance course I have been suffering through all semester. The teacher still has not posted a grade though, so I am hoping I made a grade good enough to graduate! I studied my behind off for that test and I felt like I did fantastic, but I never know until I have the assignment/test returned and graded.
My last day at work is April 29. That night I have a SDA end of year pool party, next day I have a end of year party for Phi U and then the following day I have my final in Medical Nutritino Therapy!! Ouch! That week is going to be so much fun and so much stress all rolled into one! :)
I guess I should stop gabbing and get started on my presentation. Since I really haven't talked much today, this is a good way to say what has been on my mind.
Oh and I am in the process of ordering and sending out graduation announcements, however, for all of those cousins out there, I will be sending a mass announcement to your parents. That way I don't have to buy so many! :) Sorry, but I figure they are going to get throw away anyway so why spend more money? I still love all of you though! There are so many things I still have to do before graduation but all I want to do is spend time with all my friends that I will be leaving behind!

Still Hanging In There

It is hard for me to post right now. Not really because my life is boring, but because it is the same old at the moment...school and work. Well, same old except that I have terrible senioritis!! I am very unmotivated to do anything these days. I have another round of tests coming up and then finals so I need to be attentive and study, but everynight I just want to watch tv or read and go to bed! Yuck! Right now I am actually on campus, wasting some time until my next class. My fun filled day is going like this: wake up, go to school, go home, pack!! Ryan's parents might be making a trip up here this weekend to get a load of things so Ryan and I have to load up boxes and get the refrigerator cleaned out so they can take it. (We will use the renter's frig) Speaking of, does anyone need to buy a frig? It is only two years old and we have no use for it! Contact me or Ryan if you do!! :) Otherwise we are going to sell it at home where Quala can advertise for free and for as long as needed. Only 19 more days until I know if or what internship I will be going to. I heard today that they bumped the number of hours required for an internship from 900 to 1200. I am unsure if this is true, but if so, then I have reason to be scared! My favorite internship is only 900 hours! I better scoot off to class now. I will write more exciting things soon, promise!

Minus One Pound

Ryan and I have reason to celebrate! It seems our puppy boot camp is working! Raider has lost one pound! For only being 20 to begin with, one whole pound is a LOT for him! We have been taking him for walks everyday and then watching how much food he eats. I told Ryan we had to start doing something when it sounded like Raider was having difficulty breathing a couple of weeks ago. I want Raider to be here for a long time, so we have to take care of him and watch his nutrition!! :)

Scarlett is being even more mischevious lately. Ok, let's see if you can tell what I am talking about in this latest story. We have a square kitchen and two sets of corner cabinets. Well, you all probably know that where the two cabinets meet, there is nothing actually there but empty space. Our darling cat found a way to get STUCK in that hollow area!! There is a small hole underneath the cabinets and yesterday Ryan and I could not find Scarlett ANYWHERE. So, I go in the kitchen, start making some tea, and Scarlett starts clawing me from under the cabinets! We left her there, thinking she would come out when she was ready. Nope! She was under there for at least five hours and was trying to come out for part of that time, but was stuck. In order to get her out we had to pull back the baseboards. Then today she was trying to get up there again!

Another story.....I think I got a mild concussion today. Yet again it has to do with Scarlett. I was fixing my hair this morning and opened up the cabinet to get my products out. I took a cap off of my mouse, set it on the counter and Scarlett knocks it off to play with it. So, I reach down to pick it up a little later and she knocks it out of my hand and keeps on hitting it across the floor and making me work for it. I finally get the cap and stand up, forgetting the cabinet is still open and hit my head on the very pointy corner of our very hard cabinets! Immediately, I fell down and started crying. I tried calling for Ryan once to help me, but the thing that actually woke him up was my crying! I wasn't bleeding, vomiting and did not pass out. So, he monitored me for a while, made me breakfast and I was off to work as usual. There were quite a few brain farts today though mixed in with dumb blonde moments.

Lastly, I have some internship news!! I have been accepted into grad school at Texas Women's University!! Yay!!! One of the first steps to getting an internship or someting more!

Ryan and I haev to go grocery shopping now....we are all our of TP!!! Ewwwww

I have a problem....

Ryan and I have been taking Raider for a walk everyday to get him to lose weight plus monitoring what he is eating. Therefore, Star and Raider are unable to eat together because Raider hogs the food. So, here is my problem....Raider ate his food this morning (good) then I gave Star her food in the computer room to eat. Star will not eat now(problem #1) and the only way I can get her to eat is from my hand!! (problem #2) I even put the food in my hand, then layed it on the floor, but she will not touch it unless it is in my hand for her to eat. I guess if this is the worst problem I have this week, then I am definietly blessed! :)

After reading Sue's comment, I realized that I have never posted pictures of the cat that has stolen our hearts! So in response to that, here are some pictures of her. Ryan and I really aren't cat lovers, but it seems like Scarlett is an exception. She is actually trainable and listens to "no" which other cats never had before. Plus, she keeps her "room" clean and does not get on the cars! (of course we don't let her outside either after the previous story)

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! :)