Hello, weather? In case you didn't know, we live in Florida.

Is everyone as sick of the cold as I am? I never thought I would say that, but the cold just will not go away! Especially since we live a few hours south of Gainesville now, I thought for sure that I would be complaining about how hot it is, and not researching ice scrapers for my car's windshield. In the past few weeks it has become a tinsy bit more bearable, but there have been at least a few days recently where walking outside felt like walking on a windy tundra.

It is like the winter refuses to go away! Around a month ago Anthony went on a hike with the boy scouts and they even got snowed/sleeted on! Now I'm tired of the cold after all of this time but Anthony is an even bigger cold hater. Seriously. That boy should have been born in the Caribbean because he never gets hot, loves to be out in the sun and in the outdoors (unlike me who is half ginger-kid and freckles or burns after 10 minutes outside without multiple forms of skin protection) and he acts like he is DYING when it is cold outside.

A few weeks after what he refers to as his "Death march" with the boy scouts, I went out to my car to go to work in the morning and found these on my windshield:

Yep. Those are snowflakes, folks. Did I mention we live in Tampa? Just saying.

Another interesting by-product of this unusal season we are having is that everyone talks about the weather constantly. Sometimes I feel like I am in the middle of a Victorian-era book where everyone makes polite small talk:

My coworker: "Did you see the weather this morning?"
Me: "Why yes I did. It is unusually cold, don't you think?"
Another coworker: "They say that is should be like this for another week or so."
Me: "Did they? I hope that it gets warmer soon."
Coworker #1: "I agree. We live in Tampa/Florida/the South, we shouldn't have to deal with this cold."

I have had this conversation or some variation of it WAY too many times in the past few months. Every once in awhile I get the urge to affect a british accent, say the word "quite" as many times as I can in the conversation, and then ask anyone if they would like some "crumpets, my good man". I think the cold is getting to my brain.

Contrary to my lack of posting, I do still exist

So, I haven't really had the motivation to any blogging lately. I'm not exactly sure why... I've gotten over my tiredness streak from awhile back (I'm thinking it was just some bug I was fighting off), and even though I am busy, I'm not really any busier than I used to be. And I can't honestly say that I don't have anything to talk about, because it's not like I would often write about big and profound things. In conclusion, I think I have a case of the blog/life blahs. Not bad, but not all that exciting either :)

Work, for me, is going on the same as usual. I am in a kind of perpetual limbo, waiting for someone else to make a decision about my position in order for me to be able to make a decision for myself. I'm not the best at waiting around to make decisions. I like to make a choice and then take action!! Like, right now, today! The fact that I have been waiting to figure out what is going with my job for the past four months now and that it will continue for the next three tells you what kind of "character building" I've been going through. Anthony always laughs at me when we get to talking about what I want to do, because I always end up trying to make a plan for each scenario:
So, if she makes this decision, then I can do x, y, z. BUT, if she makes this other decision, then I can do a, b, c. OR, if she doesn't make a decision at all, then I can plan on e, f, g." You get the idea. In the end, I am lucky that I do have options even if it makes the decisions harder to make.

School for Anthony is going much better this semester than last semester. He really likes his clinical placement, he is with a family practice doctor at a clinic about 18 miles away from our house. The doctor he is working with is really nice and even though Anthony doesn't get so see too much variety of conditions he at least gets to work with a really good preceptor.

Other than that, we really haven't been doing much besides our callings and vegging out in front of the TV. Thinking of that, I will leave you with something truly horrific that I saw last week on Antiques Roadshow. It is an early 1900's children's toy:

The best part is, it rolls towards children when they touch it. The appraisers described this as "charming" and "cute". He forgot to mention, "CREEPY!"

Things I haven't done

Ok, so things I haven't done this week:
-put away our mountain of laundry. It just keeps moving around from place to place as I rifle through it every morning to find some clothes
-put away christams decorations. My friend Rob tried to sell me on a business idea of a moving company that comes to your house around the holidays and takes away all of your decorations, stores them for you, and then reinstalls them in your house on the date of your choosing. I said that I didn't think it was a good idea UNLESS he came and tried it out on my house. For free. As soon as possible.
-coupon shopping/deal hunting. Seriously, I haven't even really checked out what deals are available this week much less, next week. This is totally weird for me!!!
-reading. Barely read, maybe a few pages in the morning or so. Again, so weird for me!!
-gone to the gym or exercised at all. I keep meaning to get back into the groove, and then the days go by and it just seems wrong to start a new resolution/workout program not on a Monday. I mean, that is just crazy talk!
-Had a good conversation. I keep thinking that maybe I just need to have a good heart to heart with someone to get me out of this funk, but every time I attempt to I sort of sit there and stare blankly.

Things I have done this week:
-Go to work everyday. Even though I wanted to fall asleep at my desk multiple times, I powered through and I am looking forward to my bed at 5:30Pm today.
-Made a visiting teaching appointment. (it fell through at the last minute, but hey I tried!)
-Went to YW on Wednesday night.
-Complain about being tired. A lot.
-Started a farm on facebook at the prompting of my mom (!) who is currently a higher ranked farmer than me.

So all in all, this week has been pretty blah. I keep hoping a good nights sleep will fix things, but apparently 8 1/2 hours is just not cutting it for me anymore. I've become the sleep bottomless pit, always tired no matter how many naps or good nights rest. I'm thinking it might be that I am fighting off a cold or something and my body is exhausting itself trying to keep me from getting sick. I don't know, but hopefully it will pass soon so that I can get back to my usual perky self!

Even more family pics!!!

Family Portraits 2009

While we were in Ohio all together as a family, my sister wanted to make sure she took some family pictures. I can't stress enough how talented a photographer she is!!! She has such a good eye for things and I totally get/love her style of photography. We took the pictures in the snow, so it was pretty cold but she still ended up with a serious amount of photos. They take a long time to process to get them up to her standards (which are high because she is so good :)but luckily she gave us these to begin with. The entire family
The boys Me and my brothers Me and my mommy :) Me and my big sister.
Aren't they fabulous? And these are just the beginning! There were so many more favorites of mine that I glanced at while she was going through them. Seriously, now I want her to come and take pictures of me on a regular basis for any and all occasions. If you ever need pictures done around the Ohio area, she is the best person to go to for sure!

Parkes/Fillon/Lagana Family Christmas 2009

I just got back from Ohio where I spent the last 4 days visiting with family at my sister's house. It was cold, but the snow was beautiful!!!! It made everything look like a Christmas card!

We spent a lot of time on my sister's super-comfy couch watching TV or playing board games by the fire. We ended up watching a lot of Thomas the Train episodes courtesy of my 2 year old nephew Savino. Seriously, he is like a Thomas the Train savant. He sits there, barely even looking like he is paying attention to the TV and then a train whistle sounds and he just keeps on playing and says which train it is (they each have distinctive whistles, by the way). It was too cute!

My brothers wanted to buy sunglasses and excitedly found some matching aviators. They wore them ALL the time while we were there. What goofs!

When I first arrived on Tuesday, the snow looked really inviting. Sooo, we had a snowball fight!

The snow was too powdery to make good projectiles, but we did our best at throwing snow dust at each other.

I also couldn't resist making my first snow angel. The snow looked so powdery and soft, so it was a little surprising to realize how cold and wet it was. I know that sounds like "duh!!", but to this Florida girl snow is a new and unfamiliar creature.
Not bad, right?

We had so much fun hanging out as a family, it seriously was one of the best vacations I have had in a long time. I didn't have any responsibilities or worries and there was no stress or drama. I really am lucky to have a family that I love to spend time with. I would do things with them all day all the time! I know a lot of people who have a hard time spending extended periods of time with their family for various reasons, and I am so glad that mine is not like that :)

Virginia loves to save!

I decided to get a jump start on my New Year's resolutions and I created a coupon blog to explain all about how I do what I do :) More than a few people recently have asked/pleaded with me to show them the coupon ropes so I thought it would be best to create a resource that I can just refer everyone to. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to sit down and talk coupons all day with someone if they want to because it is so much fun for me, but most other people just want the facts so they can get on with what they were doing :)

So here it is:
www.virginialovestosave.blogspot.com

It is still in the developing stage, but hopefully I can get it up and running the way I would like in no time. Feel free to add me to your google reader, blog rolls, etc... at least until I bore you to death with coupon tips!

More graduation photos

Finally: Virginia Parkes Lagana, MHS, CRC!

Graduation was wonderful!!! You never realize it until you get there, but some things just don't feel official until there is a ceremony. I can't believe that I am no longer a student! Of course, Anthony thinks that is the most exciting thing in the world, but there is the nerd in me that is also kind of sad about that. There are lots more pictures to come, but here is what I could wrangle from friends:
My name in the program. The program is the same one for everyone graduating in December 2009, so mine has Tim Tebow in it!
Waiting, waiting, and more waiting :)We were the very last college to walk across the stage so we had to sit through about two hours of everyone else walking before us. They save the best for last, right? This is me finally walking across the stage. I think there were about 10 people behind me before the end of the entire ceremony! I think we got some extra cheers just because we were the last group. The master of ceremonies (is that the right title?), anyway, he was one of my professors and right before I went to shook the Dean of the Graduate School's hand, he looked at my name card and asked me if there was a Santa Claus. I said yes. This is a group of most of my classmates, one of my professors who was a doctoral student who got her PhD that night, and the other on my right is my major professor and advisor. She was seriously the best professor ever, and we all just love her to death. When she escorted the other student across the stage a girl sitting next to me started talking to her friend about Dr. Young and how boring she was (I guess she guest lectured or something). I seriously wanted to challenge her to a duel or something. After all, we were wearing ceremonial robes right :)

The other fun/interesting event of the night is that Harry Potter attended my graduation! Not really, but some joker tricked the announcer into reading his name card with "Harry Potter" written on it. Everyone got a good laugh and I spent a good portion of the rest of the ceremony looking through the program to see if that really was his name. Nope. My coworker is convinced that UF is going to get back at him by taking an exxxxtra long time in getting his diploma in the mail...

Gingerbread House: CSI Style

So this is what happens when you get a bunch of grown siblings decorating a gingerbread house. We had no idea what to do or how exactly to decorate... until we decided to put some dead people in it. Pretty soon that evolved into a murdered candy stick-figure with gum drop caution tape surrounding it (notice the bottom right lawn and the gum drop caution tape on the door):
A few minutes later we decided that the culprit felt guilty (seeing as it is Christmas and all) and committed suicide around the back of the gingerbread house. The makings of a murderer? Slightly crushed gumball head, a carved gum drop gun, red icing and sprinkles blood/brain matter:
Anthony swears that I have been watching too much Criminal Minds, since I keep suspecting overly cautious drivers of having bodies in their trunks and making Murder/Suicide gingerbread houses. He might have a point :)

On a less morbid note, tomorrow is graduation! I've got my regalia all laid out and I am getting really excited. I can't believe it is happening after all this time! Of course, I am already considering going back to school because of the stinky job market, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't already start hatching plans for my next big accomplishment :) More pictures and an anniversary post to come!

He passed!!!

Anthony passed his really difficult class!!!!! We are both beside ourselves excited at how incredibly awesome this is!!! Seriously, we both had lots of reasons and stories about how ridiculous his one professor was, but in the end there wasn't much we could do about it except try to play by her rules, no matter how insane. All semester Anthony has been averaging 79's or 80's on the exams and that is with studying nonstop everyday. You need an 84 to pass the class, so we figured he would need a 90 on the comprehensive final to get the score he needed. Umm, we were both pretty sure that that wasn't going to happen. SO, Anthony still studied really hard but we both resigned ourselves to him having to repeat the course. He didn't turn in his paperwork for clinicals next semester, and he went ahead and reregistered himself for the same class for next semester.

And then, miracle of all miracles, Anthony called me today to tell me that he got a 93 on the exam!!! The neatest part is that the exam was just as hard as the previous exams but Anthony has worked so hard and learned so many different study strategies over the semester that it is like they all came together for this exam. I cannot tell you how much of a surprise and fall-down-on-your-knees blessing this is. This class has been such a trial for both of us, involving a lot of tears and disappointment at different times in the past few months. But, we pulled through and persevered and the Lord DEFINITELY blessed us tremendously. Even in the past few weeks leading up to this test, we both were feeling a lot of peace about what was happening and we trusted that maybe there was a reason that Heavenly Father wanted Anthony to retake this course (like maybe there was something he didn't learn the first time around that he would learn the second time that would save someone's life down the road).

So, thank you, thank you, thank you Heavenly Father, and congratulations to Anthony for all of his hard work and perseverance. Some of his classmates dropped the course after the first two tests, thinking that there was no way they could make the grade. It is a testament to Anthony's true love and desire for learning what he needs to know that he didn't take the easy way out and drop the class. He continued to study his booty off and work hard just so he could learn as much as he could, not expecting that he would get the grade he needed. I married the best man in the world :)

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas friends and family!!! I almost didn't put up Christmas decorations this year since we are spending the actual holiday out of town with family, but as soon as Thanksgiving was over I was craving some more holiday cheer :) So, last Monday for Family Home Evening Ant and I put up our tree.

I tried to get a good picture of us but I haven't really mastered being both photo-taker and photo-subject yet. Sitting here putting up the photos I realized that I am wearing almost the exact same thing as last Monday night. I guess that is my Monday work-out outfit. (And if Ant and I do anything together at night you can pretty much bet it will be right before or after a workout. Hence, the sweaty, make-up free photo :)
I am so excited that it is December already! Not only is it the best time of year, but this year it is full of celebrations. Next week is Ant and my 4 year wedding anniversary and my graduation from graduate school. The week after that is Christmas, and the week after that I am spending in Ohio at my sister's house with the rest of my family.

Work has been pretty stressful for me lately. Since I hold all of my stress in my stomach I've had a perpetual stomachache throughout the workday that takes away my appetite which then resolves after I get home and talk it out with Anthony. (As a side note, I seriously couldn't have picked a man more laid back and stress-free to help me through my "crazy" times). Then I proceed to catch up on my eating for the day. Eating an entire box of cheez-its isn't bad if they are whole grain right? :) On the bright side, most of the stress and hassle will resolve after this week when finals are over. Since our office is administering about 60 exams a day during finals week, I don't think I have ever been this stressed about finals, even my own.

Anthony is bravely pushing through his finals. One of his classes is going really well and the other not so much. There is all of this departmental controversy and drama over this particular professor for his problem class. She basically tries her best to fail her students by creating seriously unreasonable tests and "tricking" the students by telling them things will not be on the test and then turning around and putting several questions about it on the test. Her defense is that they should know everything about everything and photographically memorize the textbook, so if they don't know a random fact that is mentioned once in the textbook then that is the student's fault. Other professors in his program have actually come out and told students that they have a problem with this professor and one even said that she would compare her teaching style to "terrorism" and "domestic violence abuse". Next semester there will be a new Dean for the college of nursing, so the good professors are hoping that the Dean will either force this professor to start trying to actually teach her students or replace her with someone who will. Drama, drama, drama. On the bright side again, Ant's last test is Wednesday and after that he can breathe for a few weeks before it starts all over again. For all of you who are already done with school, don't you miss all of this ;)