Monday, March 31, 2008

Things to be Grateful For

I've had a somewhat aggravating day today. First: traffic. Doesn't it kill you when you are stuck in HORRENDOUS traffic for no good reason? I always think to myself,"okay, there must be an accident or something" but then when you finally make it through there is nothing going on. It's like someone sat there and decided to make my day miserable. To make things even worse, my car overheats when I idle in traffic too long, so I have to put the heater on full blast so that my car doesn't break down. In April. In Florida. With the sun shining on my face.

When I finally made it home, soaked through with sweat I walked into my house and could smell instantly that one of the dogs (guess which one) used the bathroom in their kennel. Don't ask me how, but it was everywhere!!! Even on the top of the kennel. HOW is that even possible?? So, I pulled her out and brought her straight upstairs into the bathtub. (And believe me I bleached that tub to no end afterwards) I couldn't even clean her kennel with paper towels, I had to take it outside and powerwash it with the hose. I really think that these dogs are helping me build my patience for kids (or making me second guess how soon I want kids:)

So in spite of everything I was thinking about all of the things I am grateful for. I have been really worried about school this past month, but lately I have felt so much better about things. There are three weeks left in the semester and I have almost all of my projects done and I am not even worried about my research proposal that I have to present (in public!). Normally, I would be hyperventilating at the thought of getting up in front of people.
I have great friends and an amazing family that always support me and are willing to listen to me complain. Anthony and I both have jobs and are still able to go to school and we don't have to struggle. I have a wonderful husband that supports me in everything. Seriously. If I told him that I wanted to quit school and become an ice cream truck driver he would say, "Okay honey. Do whatever makes you happy." I really am blessed.

Monday, March 24, 2008

What's new?

I haven't posted in awhile because I couldn't really think of anything new or exciting going on that I could talk about, so I thought that I would just update on the little, boring things going on:)

Anthony and I had a good spring break. We didn't really do anything special because Anthony had to work most of the week, but we did go to St. Augustine. We walked around on the Beach and in the Historic District. Plus, we got to eat some homemade fudge. Yum!!! My friend Laura says she goes to St. Augustine just for the fudge. We also went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum that, quite frankly, grossed me out. There were way too many things there made out of human hair and body parts. Although, there were a lot of cool things on display too.

School is going well for the both of us. Anthony is ready to be finished for this semester, and so am I. I have a few big projects coming up so I am a little stressed about them. Anthony's Grandfather passed away last week, so he hasn't done clinical hours for awhile and has to make them up in the next few weeks. Basically that means that I am not going to see him very much. We've been waiting to hear from USF if he got into their Nurse Practitioner program, and by waiting I mean anxiously checking the mail every single day! They just emailed us to say that their committee is taking longer than usual this semester but that we should know by April 11. April 11!! The semseter starts May 12!!! You would think we could get some more advanced notice.

The dogs and our cat have been passing around tapeworms to each other (lovely, I know) so I have been playing vet for the past week or so. Our cat communicated to us that she was sick by going #2 on our bed and #1 on one of our living room chairs. The chair is still outside getting multiple fabric cleaning treatments. My dogs just came back from my parent's house where my brother noticed that they had worms too! So now I am off to the pet supply store to get loads of medicine for everybody. Sigh.

That's about it for us. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Fishing Victory!






Saturday Anthony fished in a fishing tournament in Steinhatchee. He had been looking forward to it for awhile, and I was glad that he was going to be having some fun. He called me at work Saturday night to tell me that he won one of competitions at the tournament for having the biggest trout!!! On top of that, his prize for winning was $600!!! I knew that fishing hobby would pay off:) He split the cash with his fishing partner and now he has more money to spend on his saltwater aquarium. I wish my hobbies could be so lucrative!

Saturday, March 8, 2008

20 YEARS AGO

20 Years ago: I was two years old :) I don't remember much, but I am pretty sure I was an awesome toddler. I had to wear special shoes because I was pigeon-toed, and my little brother had just been born, so our family was pretty busy.

15 Years ago: I was seven years old and I had recently moved from Tallahasse because my mom had just married my dad (not my biological father, but still my dad). I walked to and from school everyday with my brothers and sister because we lived down the street from the elementary and middle school. I was CONSTANTLY reading all of the time, sometimes even while I was walking down the hallways in school. One teacher would always joke that he couldn't recognize me without a book in my hand.

10 Years ago: I was twelve years old and in sixth grade at Lincoln Middle School. I was in a pre-IB program, so all of my friends were serious nerds, including me. Everyone was pretty competitive as far as grades go, and I was especially competitive with one of the boys in my class. I thought that one girl named Tracy was a good friend, but I found out years later that she secretly hated me because she always tried to get better grades than me and never did. Weird, huh?

5 Years ago: I was 17 years old and a junior in high school. My parents bought me and my brother a car to share: a 1990 Lincoln Continental. The thing was a boat! Not only was it a gas guzzler, but it seemed like it was breaking down every other day. I had to keep power steering fluid in the car and fill it up everyday or else the power steering would go out and I could not turn the steering wheel, even if I was putting my entire weight into it. When it finally broke down for good, we tried to give it away to people who fix up cars and give them to needy people but even they didn't want it!

3 Years ago: I was 19 years old and I had just meet Anthony. I was on cloud nine! We saw each other everyday and I am sure we were pretty sickening. We weren't officially dating until Anthony threw me a surprise birthday party at his house and had invited all of my friends and coordinated with everyone. I was so impressed, that I just had to start dating him exclusively.

1 Year ago: I was 21 and had been married for a little over 1 year. I was a senior at the University of Florida, working on my BS in Psychology. We just got our first puppy for christmas and she was sooo cute!!! We told my parents that it was their "grandpuppy".

Yesterday: I slept all day because I worked the night before. I am working part time as a secretary at a children's hospital and I work the night shift every single weekend. Blah. The upside is that I have a lot of time for school work, but the downside is that I have worked almost every single Friday and Saturday for a year and a half.

Today: I'm working until 7:30 in the morning, going home to sleep, getting up, going back to work at 7:00 PM.

Tomorrow: I'm going to take a 2 hour nap after getting home from work and then go to church. After that, another nap and then Anthony and I are going to my parent's house for Sunday family dinner. And then: YEA for spring break!!!!!

I tag: Gabrielle & Claudia

Friday, March 7, 2008

My Cross-stitching hobby





I don't know if many people know this, but one of my main hobbies is to cross-stitch! I know it seems like something an older person would be into, but I find it soothing. It also helps that my mom owns a cross-stitching store :) Here are pictures of a few of the pieces that I have done. It is really rewarding to make something so beautiful and to have it in your family.
I was just thinking how nice it would be to have pictures of all of the ones I have done. Once I get real pictures of everything, I will keep updating. Look at the side of my page for what I am currently working on. If you are interesting in getting into cross-stitching, let me know its lots of fun!!! In fact, I am sitting here looking at my schoolwork thinking, "when is the next time I can sit down and cross-stitch?"

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Brownie's Puppy Graduation




I've been taking Brownie to a puppy training class at petsmart for the last two months. She is pretty scared of other people and dogs, so we mainly wanted her to go so that she could get more socialized.
Last Friday they had their last class and graduation! Everyone in the class took their dogs around the store "passing off" different things that they were supposed to learn: walking nicely on a leash, heeling, coming when called, stay, sitting for greetings, and one trick. Brownie didn't so too well with the tests because she gets so nervous around other people that she gets REALLY distracted. We paid money for the class, though, so we got to graduate :)
The actual graduation was soooo cute!! They had caps and gowns for most of the dogs (they didn't have one small enough for Brownie) and they had us line up in the training ring. The instructor then got on the intercom and announced:"Let me present the graduating class of 2008" and then she said their names as we walked around the store to the graduation song. Afterwards all of the dogs got doggie ice cream and we had a little party. The other dogs got bored with the ice cream, but not Brownie! She just assumed "more for me" and started eating from everyones. That's my little piglet.