So all the rumors are true. I have a northern accent. We were having a discussion last night about the words "don" and "dawn", which to me, are quite distinct from one another and I say them differently. So, I did a little bit of research this morning and found this quiz which I took. And yes, I am an inland northerner.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
North Central
The South
The West
Boston
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Merry After Christmas!

It's almost the New Year! My parents go home tomorrow morning :-( They have been here for a week already. We've had a lot of fun since they've been here though. We've spent a lot of time just hanging out with the fam this Christmas. Yesterday my mom, brother Matthew and I went down to Warm Springs, GA to the cottage of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It's known as the Little White House, and it was really neat to tour around and learn about one of our nation's presidents. We also got to see the pools where he used to swim for rehabilitation from Polio. The pools stay about 88 degrees year-round due to the warm springs for which the town is named.

I received an external hard drive for Christmas. I don't think my parents knew how much I needed one! I've been running out of memory on my 30G hard drive for a while now and I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Now I've got 60G more to work with. I'm going to start by backing up all my pictures and my music! I'm so excited!

Altogether it's been a good Christmas. I wish that things in my life could be more resolved with respect to a job, but somehow the Lord always provides, and I need to strengthen my faith that He will continue to do so. Best wishes for the New Year!

Uh ... can't think of a title

Well it's mid-December! I can't believe that the time is going so quickly. In one week my family will arrive for Christmas! I'm so excited that they are coming! I LOVE getting my whole family together, and it happens so rarely. Unfortunately we won't have the whole family together this Christmas either, but I'll take what I can get!

I had the most amazing experience this week. I was able to go to the Atlanta North Mission Conference and sing some Christmas songs for their program. My good friend Brooke and I sang 2 duets. I really miss singing; it's something I don't do nearly often enough. The coolest part though was just being there with the missionaries and feeling the spirit of missionary work. The energy in the room was palpable! I thought equally of my mission and of Joe who is now serving in California. How grateful I am that I went on a mission, and how grateful I am for Joe who is currently serving!

I did get an email from Joe this week. He is liking California and he has a good trainer who works hard with him. He's in a biking area right now, and I guess he is riding a rickety old bike that keeps breaking down, but nevertheless, life is good for him.

The second highlight of me week was Austin bringing the kids over on Thursday afternoon. I got off work at around 2, and Austin had called saying they had the car and they had a few minutes to stop by if I was available. Well of course I was! So they came over and I even enticed Emily to walk for the first time and on video even by standing her up 5 feet or so from a battery-operated singing-walking chicken. She was so intrigued by the chicken that she just took off and walked the 7 steps to the chicken! It was so cool and Austin was so excited. Emily's just lucky she has such a smart aunt ;-)

Well, hopefully I'll post again soon. Happy happy holidays!

The GACE

I received my unofficial scores for the GACE exam by email on Monday. At first I couldn't figure out the email because of the format, but when I saw "Status: Passed" I freaked out! I was so excited. It didn't tell me what my score was or anything, I had to wait for the official score which I received in the mail today. They don't even give you a percentage there either. It just gives you a scaled score out of 4, with a 4 being "Most or all of the questions answered correctly". I got a 4 on all the multiple choice questions for the "Earth Science", "Life Science", "Physical Science" and "Characteristics of Science" sections. There were also two essay questions, one on "Physical Science" and one on "Characteristics of Science". I got a 4 on the "Physical Science" one and a 3 on the "Characteristics of Science" one. So yes, I passed with flying colors! And I was so worried ...

A little survey

My friend sent this to me and I responded with my answers. I thought it would be fun to post them here and invite you all to post your answers on your own blogs!!

1.What time is it
5:19 P.M.
2.What's your name
Tabitha
3.What are you most afraid of
Falling
4.What is the most recent movie that you have seen
The Christmas List, but if you mean in the theater, it was the Mr. Bean’s Holiday
5. Place of birth
Rochester, NY
6.Favorite food
Pizza or fajitas, it’s a toss-up
6. What's your natural hair color
Brown
7. Ever been a Neat Freak
Yeah, I like things to be tidy
8.Ever been skinny dipping
I plan to sometime in my life
9.Love someone so much it made you cry
Ah … yes … and I still do.
10.Been in a car accident
Fender bender
11.Croutons or bacon bits
Croutons
12.Favorite day of the week
Don’t have one right now
13.Favorite restaurant
Anywhere I can get pizza or fajitas
14.Favorite Flower
I’m not picky, depends on who is giving them to me I guess
15.Favorite sport to watch
Any sport my friends are playing, especially if Joe’s playing
16.Favorite drink
Water, water and more water
17.Favorite ice cream
Chocolate, I think, or vanilla with chocolate and caramel in it
18.Warner Brothers/Disney
Disney I guess
19.Ever been on a ship
I don’t think so … I’ve been on lots of boats though!
20.What color is your bedroom carpet
Greenish
21.How many times did you fail your driver's test
None
23.What do you do when you are bored
Play games, surf the net
24.Bedtime
Midnight-ish
25.Who will respond to this e-mail the quickest
Yeah, I’m not sending this as an email! But I’d love for people to respond on their own blogs!
26. Who will least likely respond
Good question
27.Who is the person that you are most curious to see their responses
All of them!
28.Favorite TV shows
I watch TV randomly. I think most of what’s on TV nowadays is trash
29.Last person you went to dinner with
Tamra and Daniel!
30. Park or Zoo
Park, definitely!
31.What are your favorite colors
I really like all colors put together, but currently my very favorite color is pink
32.How many tattoos do you have
None
33.How many pets do you have
One, a cat: Kisya
34.Which came first, the chicken or the egg
The chicken, and then I ate it
35. What do you want to do before you die?
Raise a family
36. Have you ever been to Hawaii
No
37 .Have you been to countries outside the U.S.
Yes, Canada, England and Ukraine
38.How many people are you sending this e-mail
None
39.Time this survey ended
5:36 P.M. (I got distracted)

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving came and went so quickly this year! I made a turkey with all the trimmings and it was so fabulous. Tamra, Angela and I stayed here and Angela's family came over as well. We had so much food, it was amazing!! And nearly everything that I made turned out well. I was a slightly less than completely satisfied with the stuffing, but ... you can't be 100% 100% of the time.

Us with our Thanksgiving feast

I've been so lazy this whole vacation. It's been nice to have a real vacation. Despite the fact that I have been not been employed full-time for 4 months now, this vacation is the first time I've been able to relax without feeling guilty because I have been working a lot lately. It's nice to feel like I deserve a break.

This next week is going to be very interesting! I get my test results back on Monday, and I'm working Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Then I have my sub workshop on Friday! I'm excited to start substitute teaching! I believe that's what will really open doors for me with respect to getting a teaching job.

We've been decorating our house for Christmas! My roommates and I think we're really hilarious at midnight and we say all sorts of really random things. I took a video last night and I laugh my head off every time I watch it. I've embedded it above for your entertainment. Our house is starting to look really cool with all these decorations. I'm so excited for Christmas this year!

A bad hair year

I had to laugh when my mother emailed me and asked me for some pictures of myself to put on the family Christmas card this year. I went through and found a few pictures which I then sent, only to have her respond shortly after that with a request for more pictures specifically with my hair down! Well, this year has been a terrible hear for my hair. It really started in the Spring of 2006 when my hair got so long that I went and had it cut. I've never had such a TERRIBLE haricut in my life. Every haircut since then has been an effort to repair that horrible haircut of a year and a half ago. Finally I decided that the only way to have good hair again was to let it grow out and then have it cut just for a little style. And I'm going to save up and go back to the guy that cut my hair in June (who did a fabulous job by the way). I haven't had it cut since then, I've just been letting it grow out, and only recently have I felt like I could wear my hair down again! So, sadly, 90% of my pictures from this year are with my hair pulled back in a pony-tail! And finding a picture I actually liked amongst the remaining 10% was, alas, not successful. So, yesterday afternoon, I let my hair down and my I had my roommate take some pictures of me outside. One of the pictures you will see at the top of my blog. I am just so pleased that my hair is finally growing out again!!

Today was my last day with my roommate's Pre-K class. I can't even begin to describe the fun I have had these last 2 weeks with these kids!! It hardly felt like a job at all! I was like, what? I get paid to be here and to have fun with kids all day?? It was so rewarding and I learned so many things. I have a 5-day weekend and then I will go in next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but I will be with other kids. We took a picture today of me with all the kids (my hair is pulled back, of course).

Oh goodness!

(Me with my beautiful roommates on Halloween--That's me the cat-Meow!!)

It's been a long time since I blogged! I knew it had been, but I was trying to get the energy to write something really good. Well, I'm sick again. I think working at the preschool has exposed me to all sorts of new bugs. Hopefully I'll build up a gigantic immunity and I won't get sick at all this winter!!! (Wishful thinking!)

I can't believe it's only 8:30 pm. This whole daylight savings time really throws me off. Since the change, it gets to be 6pm and I think it's bedtime because it's dark outside. I remember similarly on my mission going home at 4pm in the winter time for dinner and it would be getting dark then. Imagine how much I wanted to go back out and work in the cold and dark! Nevertheless, I did. I've taken little naps every afternoon this week too, because I just get exhausting running after kids all day. At the beginning, my feet hurt because I was used to being lethargic all day. Now I'm used to standing up and so they don't hurt any more. I also burn more calories standing up, hooray ;-) Something else that's nice is that I get 2 healthy meals a day: breakfast and lunch, and I don't have to buy it myself. That's a definite benefit of working at a daycare/preschool. Granted, the school lunches aren't anything to write home about, but if it gets me through the day and I'm not spending extra money to go out for lunch, I'm a-ok!! I don't know if this is true in all states, but in Georgia the pre-K is funded by the state. Well, funded by the lottery, anyway. So, it's free for all kids. I could really see it being beneficial as long as you can get and keep good teachers. My roommate's class (where I spend most of my time there), is very smart, and very lucky to have such a good teacher. Most of them are 4 years old and they are recognizing and writing the letters. About half of the 20 kids can write their names legibly at this point of the school year. I know that I went into Kindergarten being able to read, but I know that wasn't the case with most of the kids I went to school with. In my Kindergarten class there were only 2 kids who could read, myself and another boy. He actually read better than I, which I remember made me mad. I was academically competetive, even back then.

I did take my big test on Saturday the 3rd. I got very ill the day before. I was throwing up and everything--it was awful. But I received a priesthood blessing and while I went to that test the next day with a headache and a tender stomach, I never felt nauseous and I was able to succesfully complete the test. The scores will be reported at the end of November. I believe I passed, but I'm not going to say for sure because you just never know, do you? I remember feeling very nervous about my answers to the 2 short essay questions. Well, if it's the Lord's will, then I passed, didn't I? Two days later, on Monday, I received a call from Gwinnett county saying that I had been approved to be on the substitute list and that I could attend a sub workshop on the 30th of November. Timewise it's far away, but I have a guaranteed job until Thanksgiving, and then I should be able to substitute teach in the public schools starting in December. I went to a job fair last Saturday and was able to leave my resume with 4 or 5 different middle schools. When I spoke with their representatives, their advice was pretty much always the same: "Get into long-term substituting". I know that substitute teaching will open doors for me. While it's difficult financially, I have faith in the Lord and I'm continuing to pay my tithing. I'm not the type of person that enjoys a really drawn-out means to an end, but the Lord recently has been teaching me this sort of patience. Spending at least 4 months in an effort to become a teacher (most of it just waiting for the next step) is not on my list of the most efficient paths ever. But, I know that the experiences I am having now are helping me to prepare and that they are necessary. In the Lord's own time shall all blessings be realized ...

Crazy Daze

I can't believe how fast this last week and a half has gone by. It was birthday week here at my house last week. One roommate had a birthday on Monday the 22nd, mine was the 23rd, and my other roommate's was Friday the 26th! We decided to go out once to celebrate, which actually ended up being on my birthday. It took forever to agree on a restaurant that would suit all three of the birthday girls, but we finally decided on Dave & Busters which can get pricy, but we all love it. If you've never been to Dave & Busters, it's like a grown-up Chuck-E-Cheese's, and they have more than just pizza. They have Chili's-style (really good--in fact better than Chili's) food, and a really large gaming area with all sorts of games that big kids like to play. It's really fun and you could spend a fortune there. You put money on a card in the form of points and then you go around and swipe it to play each game which costs a certain amount of points. I'm sure that if you actually knew how much you were spending on the games you would never play half of them. Oh well, ignorance is bliss I guess.

My mom was in town the weekend before last. We had so much fun hanging out with Austin and Jonathan and the kids! I think one of my favorite things that we did was go to the Babyland Cabbage Patch hospital where you can see a Cabbage Patch baby being born. Scooter had such a fun time and it was so cute to watch him! We also went to Helen which was fun and difficult because there were so many people and the shops were so small that it was hard to find places to take the kids. We had a blast anyway though, and it was just so much fun to spend time with my family. There is nothing in this world that I love more!

I took my big test yesterday, the one I have been studying 2 months for. Some of it I felt very unprepared for, a lot of it I recalled perfectly, and some questions I had to think very hard. I felt completely unprepared for one of the essay questions and had to really dig back into my memory about 8 years to college inorganic chemisty. I doubt I got full credit on it, but with any luck I didn't miss too many points. Altogether I think I passed it. I would be very surprised and disappointed if I didn't. Well, we shall see!

I was sick as a dog on Friday ... so unbelievably sick. I don't know if I got food poisoning or what, but it was horrible! It was so awful that at one point, I didn't have the energy to even sit down for more than 5 minutes. I had to go and lay down for several minutes and I didn't have the energy to talk much either. We had a huge branch activity on Friday night that I had to let someone else take over because I just couldn't do it. I received a blessing that afternoon because I knew had that test on Saturday that I couldn't miss. I was promised that I would be able to take the test and that my illness would only minimally affect me. At the current moment I still have a partial headache that won't go away, but other than that I feel pretty well. And I was able to take my test on Saturday, which I was so grateful for!

I had received several letters from Joe so far. He is doing really well. He actually sent me a picture with him in it yesterday. I was shocked but grateful! His hair looks so funny cut so short. Hee hee! His birthday is a week from tomorrow, the 5th of November. He is requesting more letters from anyone and everyone so here is his address until the 28th of November.

Elder Joseph Michael Norris
California Los Angeles Mission
MTC Box #261 11/28
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604

Have a fabulous day!

The best picture

My Uncle Bob took this picture in August when Joe and I drove to NY and went camping with my family. It's my favorite picture of Joe and I. Enjoy!

What a quiet, peaceful, beautiful morning

Fall is here. The weather is getting so cool and crisp! I don't love cold weather, but there is something so relieving about each season as it arrives: the coolness of the fall, the cold of the winter, the spring breezes, and the summer heat; each one bringing with its new climate new opportunity for adventure!

These last few days have been very interesting and wonderful. I registered with another temp agency which seems like it may have some more possibilities than the other one I registered with. They called me on Friday with an offer for a job, but it was $12/hour working in downtown Atlanta, 25 miles from my house--in rush hour traffic?? I don't think so! I'd spend so much of that in gas! And an hour and a half commute? Never again. I'd rather go work at Sam's Club!

Friday I went to work at the Pre-School where my roommate works. Her teaching assistant was out of town, and they were desperate for someone to come so they hired me for a day. It was SOOOO much fun! They kids were so cute and so smart! I taught one girl named Stephanie how to catch a ball. She was so excited that she could do it! The kids all had to be my friend and were telling me how much they loved me after only a couple of hours. Kids are so much fun, aren't they?

Friday night some friends and I went camping. It wasn't actually last minute, we planned several days in advance!! When we arrived at the planned destination however, they told us they had no available campsites!! But they did tell us about another campground which had availability and it ended up being cheaper. All 5 of us got onto one campsite which was right on Lake Lanier, and it had a small bluff where we pitched our tents. They had small tent pads, but we didn't want to be so squished. When we got there the sun was setting and it was so beautiful that we decided to set up the tents later in the dark and go take a walk on the beach and enjoy the sunset.


The sunset was so pretty over the lake!! We also decided to see if we could get a good group picture. After several tries, this is what we ended up with:


The next morning I was able to get a picture of the lovely setup of our campsite:


We had so much fun! It was such a nice break to go camping, even for one night. It got cold, but we all managed to stay warm in our beds. I love camping. I just love being in the outdoors! Some of my fondest memories are of camping.

And last piece of news, but certainly not least, I got a letter from Joe yesterday! He is doing very well. He LOVES the MTC. He says he doesn't have a lot of people writing him so I'm supposed to keep it up! I felt a little bad then since I didn't write him at all this week as I was taking a break. I can't believe he's already been gone for 2 1/2 weeks! It's such a short amount of time, but it feels like he's been gone forever. I love him so much, and of course I miss him, but he is exactly where he needs to be right now, and so am I.

My cat is crazy

I was downstairs earlier this evening and suddenly I heard the frantic scratching of claws. I looked up and saw the cat dangling from the landing at the top of the winding staircase. I don't know what she had been doing, but she had grossly miscalculated of the distance between here and there. If it weren't for some quick claw-work, she might have taken a nasty fall onto the railing which wouldn't have been pretty.

I've been working a little bit lately. I worked Friday, Monday, and today all day. It was the same job I worked 3 days at last month as well. Pay is dismal, but it kept me busy. I received my Pampered Chef kit last week so I'm getting started with that soon.

Joe still hasn't written to me. I'm sure he'll write eventually. I've written him 3 letters already, but it's just too much to keep writing when he doesn't respond so I think I'll take a break for a while. I want to be supportive, but I can't give him all of my energy. I need to take care of myself first. I have a lot I'm trying to accomplish in my life right now.

Whew!

A whole week gone by nearly since my last post. I can't believe how busy I've been this last week, even though I don't have a job! I need a job, but things just aren't coming together like I had hoped. I'm thinking I may have to reevaluate my strategy.

We have a new roommate moving in next week! One of our good friends, Marisha, is moving in to the other room downstairs. My other roommate had put a bunch of her stuff into that room for storage, so we cleaned it out a few days ago. There was a large table in there which we moved up to my room. I've had the space in my room for a desk ever since the very beginning, but I never was able to get a desk. So, I decided to improvise and use this big table. I'm doing some work from home for a lady who runs an electrolysis clinic; just some marketing and general office help. It helps having a desk so that I can go in my room and not be distracted. I'm also working on studying for this exam that I'm taking on October 27th. I'm going through the book that I bought and I think I'll be ready for the test! I think the scores get reported around the end of November, so after that my certification requirements will be fulfilled and my teaching application will be complete! Then, I can apply for a job should one come up! I'm so excited to be a teacher! I've wanted this for a very long time.

I haven't heard from Joe yet, so I don't know how he's doing. I still miss him, of course, but it's getting easier. I'm getting a package together to send to him. I hope I'll hear from him this week!

Well, I'd better sign off for now. I have a lot to do today!

Feeling better!

My eyes are dropping as I attempt to write this blog. You may be wondering to yourself why I've suddenly started blogging every day! Well, I've concluded that I'm so used to talking to Joe, that I would always tell him about my day. Now that he's gone ... I've started to tell the whole blogosphere how my day went! I still think, "Oh that was funny! I need to text Joe!" And then I realize, he doesn't have his cell phone with him any more!

I'm feeling so much better! I think my sinus infection is going away! Hoorah!

So today I decided to fix everything in the house that was broken. There wasn't a lot, mostly it was broken light bulbs that you needed to stepstool to reach. There was also a broken recliner which required a new screw which I managed to procure from Wal-Mart. I also got a stepstool so I could change said light bulbs, finally. Then, I decided to sweep and mop the floors which is quite an endeavor, let me tell you! Not only is the kitchen linoleum, but the living room as well. So of course when I was finished mopping it, I decided I needed to wax it as well. Now it's all shiny and beautiful!!! While I was sweeping, my roommate picked up around the house, and my other roommate did the dishes later so now the house is so clean, it makes me so happy! I don't think I could be any happier or I would just burst! If I was any more tired though I would be dead asleep so ...

Sooo tired ...

A picture of me with my friend Karen when I used to work at the MTC in the cafeteria.

I can't believe it's only been 2 days since Joe left. Well, technically one and a half. But it's been 2 days since I've seen him. Two years is starting to seem like an eternity! It already feels like he's been gone for weeks. Ah well.

I'm still fighting this sinus infection. I'm POSITIVE I have a sinus infection. I've got the horrible headache and the occasional pressure changes in my sinuses to prove it! I received a priesthood blessing tonight so hopefully I'll be on the mend soon.

I'm studied a bit more tonight for this test I'm taking at the end of October. It's actually kind-of interesting to be reading about physical science, like the planets and geology and stuff which are all things that I haven't studied since probably 9th grade in high school, which was ... uh ... a couple of eons ago. And of course, back then Pluto was still a planet. Now it is a "celestial body". Whatever.

Anyway, I'm falling asleep ... signing off for now ...

Soooooo tired...

It has been such a good day! Can I just say that this is actually easier than I thought it would be? Of course I miss Joe, but I'm so happy! I appreciate all your prayers and comments. I know that the Lord is giving me a lot of strength right now.

I am starting to do some work from home this week. I will be working with a lady who owns and runs an electrolysis and microderm abrasion clinic. It's a one-woman show and she really needs someone with some computer savvy and creative juices to help her get done some of the little tasks. I'm excited because I can work from home on my own schedule and that helps me to be a little more organized. I also got my substitute teaching application squared away today which means that it just has to get approval from the board and then I can attend a substitute teaching workshop and then I can substitute teach! I don't know if I mentioned this, but I'm hopefully going to be doing Pampered Chef as well. Just need to find 4 people to do my first 4 shows! Any takers?

Well, it's late, I'm yawning and I hope this Theraflu is kicking in. I need to get some good sleep tonight. I'm pretty confident that I have a sinus infection. Lovely ... no insurance ... Ah well. We'll just Therflu it out of my system. My roommate says it works like a charm!

It finally came ...

I never really believed that this day would actually come, but it has arrived. Joe is a missionary and he's leaving early tomorrow morning for Utah! I actually got to see him tonight after he was set apart as a missionary, which I had thought would be weird, but in reality it wasn't that weird. It actually calmed me quite a bit. He tried to shake my hand, but I refused. Anything less than a hug just isn't worth the trouble!! I'm feeling okay right now, but I'm worried about trying to go to sleep. When left to my own thoughts who KNOWS what could happen. Anyway, I would really appreciate all your prayers right now during this difficult time, if you could. The Lord has blessed me with a lot of strength because I know all this that I have did not come from inside me!! Without the Lord I am nothing, I know this now more clearly than ever. I'm also grateful for the perspective I have as a returned missionary; it helps a LOT. I just need to remember to look on the bright side of things, and despite the many shadows and dark areas, there always is a bright side! Like I have two whole years to do everything I've always wanted to do like get my teaching certification, lose weight, buy a house, learn Spanish fluently, etc. etc. ... and I can do all this without distraction, right??!! ;-)

Isn't my niece adorable??


What a day, what a day. I worked 3 days this week! I’m excited because that means that my unemployment insurance will last longer. I was helping this mom and pop business to double-check some accounting and calculations and stuff like that. They were really pleased with me; they said it didn’t usually work out so well for them. Well, that’s what you get when you’re a college graduate I guess. You’re smarter than the average nut? Anyway, it paid $8/hour which was incredibly painful, but it’s about what unemployment pays too (haha). Somehow I’m going to be able to pay all my bills next month, right?

Joe and I were supposed to go up to Athens to play ultimate frisbee tonight. I have gone up with him a couple of times before but I never played, I took walks around the lake there at UGA, and also spectated. (Is that a word?) But, since it was drizzling up there, they cancelled it. Luckily we found out before we had even gotten up the street. Joe came over to my house and was ripping CDs onto the computer to put onto his MP3 player. It’s weird going back to being just friends with him. I just want to pull him into my arms and hold him, but I know we need to get used to not doing that. Ahhhh … I might sneak in one more snuggle before he leaves … is that horrible? Anway, I’m feeling very at peace with this whole thing. At least he’s not emotionally shutting me out like he did last weekend. Well, that was more a reaction to my hormonal clinginess I think. I’m trying to be better with all relationships. I read this book called The DNA of Relationships which is a fantastic book. I would highly highly recommend it to anyone, especially married people or those in committed relationships. I didn’t realize until I read this book how difficult I could be at times, or how I was letting myself react so badly to Joe pushing my fear buttons. Often my reactions were the exact things that would push his fear buttons and so we ended up in this sort-of “fear dance” as the author calls it. Anyway, it gave me a wonderful new perspective on relationships and things.

So, I am not working tomorrow and I have an ENORMOUS “to-do” list, so, I’d better get some rest so I can get started on all those lovely things tomorrow. Toodle-loo!

Hottlanta!

Fall is coming

It's cooling down significantly. This morning is was much cooler outside than inside the house, so I opened the double doors to the screened-in porch and set the fan to blow the cool air into the house. It did drop the temperature down a degree so I guess it was effective!

I can't believe it's already after labor day. Joe reports to the MTC in 3 weeks. Every once in a while the reality of that hits me and I get very anxious thinking about what life will be like without him for the next 2 years. I know I'll get used to it, but it's the uncertaintly of it all that really gets me. If I knew that when he came home we would be together, I could calmly wait (for the most part). But not knowing what will happen causes me to get very nervous about it when I think about it. So, I try not to. Instead, I am just enjoying the last few days that we have together, and remembering all the fun we have had up to this point.

I've been in Georgia for a year now. That time has also flown by so quickly! It's hard to believe that 1 year ago I was also looking for a job, but I was going in a different direction than I had previously intended to go. It's funny how life changes so much. Now I find myself unemployed again, and thinking that maybe it's finally time to go in the direction I should've gone from the get-go! I've always wanted to be a teacher, so here goes. I'm not going to let anything distract me this time, as I have so many of the other times. I have a plan, but I'm not going to share it just yet. I'll wait until I'm further down the road.

Joe received his temple endowment last Tuesday, and so we've spent the better part of the last week in the temple. We went 4 times from Tuesday to Saturday, and then Monday (Labor Day) was our stake temple day. I have really enjoyed the added portion of the Lord's Spirit that I have felt in my life as a result of going to the temple so many times in one week. It was almost like I was on my mission again.

I'm excited for fall. It's probably my favorite time of the year. It's the time of the year when things are winding down, and yet gearing up all at the same time. It's my birthday in October of course, and I also love the changing of the leaves and the anticipation of some of the best holidays of the year. The weather is cooler and everyone seems to begin taking longer breaths. I just hope that soon I can find employment and get back on my feet.

Back from the twilight zone

These last four weeks have been altogether incredibly relaxing, incredibly depressing, and incredibly interesting. It's been almost a month now since I was let go from my job and I've spent a lot of time evaluating my life and trying to figure out what is the next step. My teaching application is stalled at the county. The government is oh so efficient at processing anything, so there never was much hope for that right now. So, I've decided that in the meantime, and perhaps for a longer term, I will look for another interesting job. I've put in several applications at various places. I had an interview on Monday for a position with another environmental/engineering consulting firm, but I haven't heard back from them yet. I have another interview today for an administrative assistant/tutor position at a college prep academy. That should be interesting and I think it might be a good match for me. It would certainly combine several of my greatest interests: teaching and organization. If I'm lucky, I might get to tutor some science as well. Hopefully something will come up soon, because if not, I am surely going to run out of money. I am collecting unemployment, thankfully, but that only covers so much.





Last week I had the marvelous opportunity to go home to NY. I LOVE NY, especially at this time of year. Quite frankly, once I got there, I didn't want to leave. It was all very last minute, and very much a surprise to my mom and dad. Joe and I were sitting in my living room the Sunday before last, and I was mentioning how I had some books that I needed to get from NY at some point, but that I would have to drive up there to get them. Joe said, "let's go!" My initial reaction was ... yeah right, but when I thought about it some more, I decided, why not?? So we left at midnight Sunday night, drove alternately until 4am, stopped for an hour and a half so we could both sleep, and then continued. We got to my house at around 4pm, and of course my mother was not there. She showed up a couple of hours later and we were able to surprise her then. My father and brothers were up camping in the Adirondacks last week, so we decided that we would drive up there and surprise them as well. Tuesday we packed up and left when my mom got home from work at 1pm. Of course when we got up there to the campground, my dad was not there; he was on his day fishing trip with the guys. But we got to see everyone else, and then dad showed up around 7, before it got dark anyway. He was really surprised to see us. It was a great surprise. We spent the night and most of the next day there and it was just wonderful. I love camping and couldn't have been more pleased that we got to go, even for just a day. We left Wednesday around 5 and drove back home. Thursday morning, Joe and I went up to Palmyra. It was so good to go to Palmyra again! We went to the Grandin building, which we had not been able to see while we were there in April. When we walked in to the Grandin building, I recognized one of the sister missionaries there. We had been in the same ward right after I returned from my mission, and I had been her visiting teacher. She recognized me too of course, but I was very surprised to hear her say that she had just been thinking about me not too long ago. She told me that (unbeknownst to me) I had been a big influence on her. It was so special to hear that! The Lord has told me before in no uncertain terms that my life will be a light to many, but sometimes I forget the potential that I have for influencing others for good. After we left the Grandin building, we went to the bookstore, then to the temple, and then we went and watched the Joseph Smith movie in the visitor's center. In my opinion, that is the best movie the church has done. It is SO well done and I believe that the directors and the actors were inspired to portray their characters in the most appropriate light. I especially appreciate the characterization of Emma Smith. Poor Emma gets a really bad rap for not following the Saints to Utah. But she was steadfast in her support of the prophet while he was alive and I don't think any of us can imagine the trials she was called upon to bear. I have a great respect for Emma Smith, especially after seeing that inspired movie.





We left NY on Friday morning and I was so not ready to go. I think I was depressed to be back for the better part of 5 days. But, I know the Lord still has a work left for me here and I will fulfill it. Let's just hope I find a job soon ...

From Harry Potter to Amicalola Falls

I was not let down by the final Harry Potter book. It was AMAZING. I had already guessed at parts of it, or else heard what other people had suggested. Some of it I had not believed and it turned out to be true, others I had thought true but turned out to be the case. J.K. Rowling is a fantastic storyteller though. She had me completely enthralled. After finishing the 6th book two years ago, I didn't know HOW Harry was going to accomplish the task he was setting out to do in this final book, and I won't say any more so as to spoil it for those who want to read it still, but it was wonderful. A delightful "ending" to an enchanting story.

Moving on to perhaps more significant news. I lost my job. I suppose it's been coming for a while. They have been trying to find a place for me at EPS, but while they like the work that I do, they can't produce enough of it to make it worthwhile to keep me there. They let me go on Thursday. I can't say that I'm sad about it, in fact, I'm not sad at all. It was not a job that I loved. I enjoyed aspects of it, but I did not love it. I never really completely fit in there, regardless of how hard I tried. I decided after that to take Thursday night completely off. I turned my phone off and I stayed at home. Neither of my roommates were there that night. It was very good for me. That may seem a little drastic, to turn one's phone off, but honestly, detaching myself from the world for an evening and just spending it with myself gave me a lot of perspective and kind-of recharged my batteries. On Friday morning when I woke up, I decided that I would find somewhere to go hiking and be in nature. There are lots of places to go hiking in Georgia, and so I just did an internet seach and picked one that seemed interesting: Amicalola Falls. Apparently they are the tallest waterfalls east of the Mississippi. I discovered only later that this is not the height from the top of the actual waterfall to the bottom, it's the vertical distance that the water falls altogether. It's actually a series of waterfalls. I packed a cooler with some sandwich stuff and headed up there. It was an hour and a half drive, but it was beautiful! Once I got more into North Georgia, I was surprised to see how much it resembled the area of New York that I grew up in. Babbling brooks, trees, sprawling lawns, towns completely free of subdivisions ... ahhh that is the life. I will always be a country girl at heart.


The hike to the top of the waterfall was about a mile. I didn't take any of the add-on trail loops, but I did hike all the way from the bottom to the top and back down again. It was something like 800 steps to the top of the waterfall! That wasn't including the first 3/4 mile of path, part paved, part earth. By the time I got to the top I was literally dripping in sweat. It had rained earlier and the air was very humid. I was proud of myself for finishing the strenuous hike. I admit, getting to the top it was a bit anticlimactic. If you just think about it for a second, you will logically deduce that the top of a waterfall is really just a lovely little stream that suddenly drops over a large precipice. That is exactly what I discovered when I got to the top of the waterfall. A quaint stream that very suddenly gets to go on an exciting journey. At least, it's exciting for the water, and not so much from the observers point of view looking down. The view of the mountains, however, was breathtaking! I took several pictures of this.

So, I will now be looking for a new job. I think the route I want to go is teaching, although I think it may be too late to get a job this fall. I may have to substitute teach until I can take the exam and get temporary certifiication. Then I will have 5 years to take the classes for a professional certification. I think this is what I have always wanted to do: become a teacher. In fact, I think it is my calling and talent. I don't know why I have been so afraid to embrace this part of my "destiny". Then again, I have always been a bit afraid of truly excelling at something. What is my deal?

Time is going by way to fast. I know the next couple of months are going to fly by, and will be followed by a very boring and slow 2 years. (Maybe.) We'll see what happens. I know I am going to miss Joe terribly when he goes. I guess I'm going to have to make some new friends! He's become my best friend over these last several months. Seems like he's all I talk about lately too ...

Okay, so what else is going on in my life?

Work is going all right. Things are a little slow right now. We are overstaffed for the summer and consequently there's less work for everyone to do. It's very frustrating, but I can't do anything about it. I really like my job when I have stuff to do! I imagine this will go on for about another month and then I will become very busy probably. That will be about the right time too, since Joe is leaving in 2 months. And it all comes back to Joe ...

I went over to see Jonathan, Austin and the babies for a few minutes on Saturday. It was so much fun! I can't believe how those babies are growing. I was mighty impressed with Scooter's conversational skills. He was saying words and I was actually understanding them! I was amazed at his memory too. He named every person in the pictures we looked at! They are growing up. It is so fun to watch! I love being and aunt. I just wish I could see them more often. In fact, I wish I had my whole family closer. Family is so important to me. There is such a closeness and bond with family that I'm not sure really exists with friends; at least for me. And luckily for me, I have a wonderful family that I know I can always count on. I know I am extremely blessed to have the family that I have :-)

The Mission Call

After months and years of ___________________ (fill in the blank), Joe's mission call has finally come. He'll be serving in Los Angeles, California, Spanish-speaking. He reports to the MTC on the 26th of September. Congratulations and best wishes to Joe!!

Happy Independence Day!

Okay, so the 4th of July was 2 days ago, but in my time-warped world where I go nearly a month without blogging, 2 days is like 2 minutes. Anyway ...

Joe should be getting his mission call any day now, maybe even today. It's in the mail, so whenever the US Postal Service gets around to delivering it, we'll know where he's going! I never thought this day would come, and yet here it is. We're working on going back to being just friends which is interesting to say the least, and that's all I'm going to say about it, other than I'm glad to discover that there is in fact a friendship under all this attraction. He's become my best friend these last several months that we've been dating. We still see each other every day and we even joined a gym yesterday. We're going to try to work out every day together and whip ourselves back into shape before he leaves. We bought racquetball rackets and we're learning how to play. I am going to be SOOO bored when Joe leaves. I'm sure I'll be quite lost without him. Still, I know that it's finally time for him to go; he's ready and the people he's going to teach are ready. I am grateful for him and for this time that we've had together. I know a few of the reasons why we've needed each other these past few months and I am grateful for the blessing he has been in my life. I'm may never know all the reasons why but I'm grateful all the same.

Last weekend I flew to Las Vegas for Kylene's wedding. Kylene has been my best friend since we were freshman in college. She is currently going to grad school in Philadelphia and she met a really neat guy who is now her husband. Despite being sick for most of the weekend, and travelling complications which included the bride and groom's flight being cancelled at the last minute, etc. etc., the wedding was beautiful and I was so grateful that I had the opportunity to go. I took pictures for the first time in a couple of months (*feeling sheepish*) and i posted a couple above.

Wednesday was of course the 4th of July and like most people, Joe's parents decided to put new roofing on their house on Independence Day *wink*, so I went over there and helped with that. I did NOT get up on the roof; I stayed down on the ground and picked up old shingles. Man there were a lot of shingles to pick up. I couldn't believe how many shingles there were everywhere! We still didn't even have all the felt on by 5pm but it was just too darn hot to do anything else. Most people pooped out by noon. I gave up around 2:30 and went home to take a shower. I was so dirty and I had fiberglass crystals stuck in my skin all over. That was a bit uncomfortable! We rounded off the day with a swim in the pool, mooching off other people's picnic foods, and watching fireworks.

I can finally breathe normally ...

Joe called me on Wednesday while I was at work to tell me that his Bishop had called and told him that he could turn his mission papers in this next Wednesday!!! I'm so excited, but more than that, I'm incredibly relieved. I didn't know how much longer I could bear the burden of uncertainty. I didn't realize how heavy that burden was until he told me and I could feel the weight just lift off my shoulders.

I am so excited for Joe to go on a mission! I will miss him terribly; he has become one of my best friends these last 4 months or so that we have been dating. But, I know that going on a mission is an experience that he needs and he will come back a better person. I have learned so much from dating him, and my life has been so much fun. I suspect he will be out of here in about 3 months, but we will probably stop dating at some point before that so he can focus on his mission.

Anyway, I think that's enough news for one post. Hope ya'll are well!

Finally getting a round tuit

When I was still just a wee lass, someone started passing around "round tuits" in church one Sunday. I guess there was some discussion about finally doing things when one gets "around to it". I just happened to think about that today for the first time in a long time. It's funny when something that has been buried in my memories for so long surfaces one day just because of one small thing that happens. In my case, I'm finally getting around to responding to Super Baby tagging me a month ago, so I've drawn myself a round tuit and I'm ready to go. By being tagged, it means that I have to post 8 strange/interesting things about myself that you may or may not know. I'm supposed to tag 8 other people, but I don't have 8 other blogging buddies, so I guess I won't do that.

1. I sometimes like to experiment with cutting my own hair. Usually this only happens when I've had a series of bad haircuts in a row. I haven't been truly happy with my haircuts for over a year now, so I've done a little snip snip here and there to try to make it manageable. I may have to suck it up and just get it chopped then I can let it grow out normally ... *sigh*
2. When I was a senior in high school I taught myself HTML so that I could entirely code my own webpage. I subsequently failed computer science in college.
3. I have a degree in Biology from BYU, but I work in Environmental Science. Go figure!
4. I love being in the water. If I could be any animal, I would be a dolphin so that I could stay in the water all the time and do cool flips and jumps.
5. Donuts are my biggest weakness. Period.
6. Joe is my second biggest weakness. Okay, so I'd probably trade a donut for Joe anyday, but you get the idea!
7. I'm pretty good at giving back massages. I have amazingly strong hands.
8. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

The End!!

I know, I know

It's been nearly a month since I last blogged. In my defense, life got a bit crazy. We still don't have internet at my house and by the time I'm done working for the day, the last thing I think about is hanging out for an extra 10 minutes and writing a blog. Sometimes I can take a break in the middle of work and write a little something, but these last couple of weeks have been very busy with work things. Today is a bit slow, but I anticipate it will pick up again here soon.

I had the oppotunity to be in the field 3 days last week! Tuesday and Wednesday 3 of us went to a site where there had been a dry cleaning machine which had leeched chemicals into the ground which are now in the groundwater there under the facility. About a year ago, they installed 1-2 inch wells which we use to pump water from 30 feet down to the surface so we can sample it and find out how much of the chemical is really in the groundwater and how fast the environment is recovering. It was really quite interesting. Thursday I was out at an asphalt refinery doing an asbestos survey. They have an area of their facility that they need to take out and a lot of the pipes are covered in asbestos insulation. The asbestos will need to be removed before the pipes are removed, so our job was to take samples of some of the insulation so that we can send it to the lab and they will tell us whether it is actually asbestos or not. Then we can figure out how much asbestos they have there and get a cost estimate to remove it. The process is kind-of interesting, but I got bored really fast looking at the same pipes and counting and trying to figure out how much asbestos there really was. Not to mention the place was covered in tar and I got it on my clothes and my shoes. Our supervisor stepped right in a tar pool and gave a whole new meaning to the story of brer rabbit and the briar patch!! I think I'd take a briar patch over a tar baby any day!

I was supposed to go to Texas this last weekend for Memorial Day, but it fell apart at the last minute. Joe and had already taken the time off work so we decided just to spend time together. On Saturday we went white water rafting down the Ocoee River in Tennessee. We left at 5:30 am on Saturday and arrived just before 8. We got all registered and left on the bus around 9am. We went down both the upper Ocoee, which includes the Olympic kayaking course, and the lower Ocoee which is a little bit tamer. I managed to stay in the boat the whole time although I nearly fell out on the first major rapid. We had a pretty big guy named Larry in our boat. I would wager he weighs about 350 pounds. He fell in twice; the first time his 13-year old son went overboard with him. Of course we snatched the son up easily enough, but his dad was a much more difficult rescue!! There was another man sitting in front of me and both he and Joe were pulling and pulling on Larry trying to get him back in the boat. It was a little bit scary, but after the first two times, nobody fell out It was intense, but it was a lot of fun.

On Memorial Day we went over to Stone Mountain park. We bought some food, stuffed it into a cooler and arrived there a little after 1:30. We set out blankets and played frisbee and other games until 9pm when the laser lights and fireworks show finally started. I had never been to a laser show before. It was pretty cool.

Well that's it for now. I can' believe it's the last day of May! Time is just flying by so fast! *Sigh*

MOVING

I've been moving this week. Since I was feeling lazy, I put a lot of my things in plastic shopping bags and stuffed them into my car to make the move from Snellville to Lilburn. As of right now, the only thing left in my room in Snellville is my furniture (minus the dresser drawers). Joe and I will be moving that tonight. He borrowed his boss's truck (so grateful), and we should be able to fit everything in there, including the bed that I am borrowing from Jonathan and Austin. Hopefully we can get the furniture OUT of the house without taking the house apart ... By "taking the house apart", I mean that there's a bookcase that partially blocks the front door. I'm not sure we're going to be able to maneuver it, but my fingers are crossed.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my new house? I actually slept there last night, on the floor in my room. Once I got over the creepiness of sleeping on the floor in an empty house, I slept very well and when I woke up in the morning I felt very much at home. I read my scriptures on the couch on the porch (so wonderful) and got all ready for work. Even though I left home at 8:20 I still got to work at 9:00 which is nice. Shaved about 20 minutes off my commute right there ...

Well, that's all for now. Just a quickie!

Another week nearly gone

I don't know why the time is just flying by! I've never had time go by so fast in my whole life. Well the exciting news of the day is that I found a place to live!! My friends and I have been looking for a house to rent and we found one!! It is sooooooooo cute and we're so excited. We went last Saturday and looked at it. Initially we were all kind-of like, well--we're not 100% sure, but then after looking at a couple of other houses we all said that we really liked the first one that we looked at. The only thing was that the price was a little more than we wanted to pay, and on top of that, we initially had 4 people and then 1 backed out so we were down to 3. I offered the guy about $150/month less than he was asking and he called me back today and said he was willing to take it. So, we're moving in probably starting next week! Here are a couple of pictures:

The house is big enough to entertain people but it fits within our budget and will be cheap to cool during the summer so our utilities will be low. It has a lot of charm and character which makes it super fun. The owner is also leaving a couple of couches and a desk in there that he said we can use. The rest of it is going to be a little bare until we can collect some more furniture, but that will come over time I expect. I have bedroom furniture for the most part so that's the most important part!!

Other than new house, nothing much is going on. Work has been off and on lately. Some days I have a lot to do, other days (like today), not so much! Just trying to roll with the punches and make myself useful here. Well, suddenly I'm busy again. TTFN!

Good weather, good times

Yeah, that's Joe but he looks about 4 feet tall and 12 years old. (He's really 6 foot and 21 years old.)

The weather is finally beginning to cooperate here in Georgia. This weekend was beautiful! Too bad I didn't really spend it outside. I wish we had a picnic table or something at the house. If we did, I would spend more time outside for sure.

So I know this is random, but I've started eating cereal for breakfast again. I haven't eaten cereal consistently for about 5 years now. It all started when I went home for Christmas break and when I came back my milk was sour and since then I started eating yogurt or other things. Lately I've been eating breakfast in my car which typically conisists of a granola bar and a bottle of water. However, most of the granola bars that you can buy are so full of sugar that it's like the instant-sugar-high-and-cavity fest for breakfast and it leaves me hungry anyway. So, in an effort to find food that would satiate my hunger and decrease the amount of sugar that I consume, I've gone back to cereal after a 5-year hiatus. So far, I've found that it's working quite well. I bought 3 different cereals to try: plain cheerios (always good), Kashi toasted cinnamon mini wheats, and some weight watchers cereal that is quite blah. So far I like the mini wheats the best and I think that they do a pretty good job of filling me up. I also eat applesauce or some other fruity thing just to balance things out. This new breakfast program is working well and I feel better in general about starting off the day on a more healthy note. Now if only I could get back into my exercise routine ...

I did do one thing outside this weekend; I took Scooter outside to play in his sandbox!! Grandma and Grandpa Owens bought him a sandbox for his birthday this last week and I bought some sand toys. It's a pretty cool sandbox. It has two sides, one for filling with water and the other side is for sand. Although, being that Scooter is only 2, the sand goes everywhere and you end up with soupy sand. Ah well. Joe was also playing in the sandbox and he and Scooter did a very thorough job of getting Scooter all wet and dirty. Plus, the sand was blue, so Scooter was dirty, wet, and blue! He loved it. I think he could have played out there all day.

Saturday night they did a prom at the church for the youth in the stake. It was fun because our branch got to serve them dinner. It was really fun. It brought back a lot of memories of my prom which was a lot of fun. I can't believe it was ... ahem ... 10 years ago. Yikes I'm getting old! Good thing I can attract younger guys, right?

Is it really the middle of April?

With this cold weather we've been having, I thought it was February again. If this global warming gets any worse I guess we'll all freeze to death.

Last night we had Scooter's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. I picked up Joe after work and we headed over there. It was in Conyers, which was about a 20 minute drive from the house. The party was supposed to start at 6, we got there at about 6:25, and Jonathan and Austin got there at 6:30. So, even though I thought we were going to be late, we were right on time! We exchanged $10 for tokens which turned out to be PLENTY. We played all the games we wanted and them some! It was really cute to watch Scooter. He was fascinated by the train inside the case which moved around in a figure eight. He also really enjoyed playing in the toddler area, especially when there was another little boy there named Connor who was 2 1/2. He copied EVERYTHING Connor did, including falling down. It was ADORABLE.

I really need to get my camera fixed. It fell down into sand when I was in New Orleans and I think it got some sand stuck in there; anyway the lens covering doesn't open and close properly. I wish I'd had my camera last night!

I am LOVING my new car. It just feels so good and so right to be driving this car--like it was meant for me this whole time. Hopefully I can be smart with my money and pay it off as fast as possible.

Other than that, I don't know what to say. Joe got the go ahead from his Bishop to put in his mission papers but the Stake President wants him to save more money. I'm dying here! Don't they realize that I'm really starting to like this kid and the longer he stays, the harder it's going to be when he leaves? I don't suppose that's really the most important thing though. Well, *sigh*, just need to have faith in the Lord that everything will work out the way it's supposed to. And, I believe that, I really do.

NEW York and NEW Car!!

SO much stuff has happened in the last week!! Even though it's the most recent, I'll start with this: I bought a new car!!! I'm so excited! Joe convinced me to take work off yesterday and go car shopping. I'm very grateful to him because he knew it was something I needed to do but didn't want to do, so he pretty much forced me to do it, and now it's done! He did most of the talking too, which I was also grateful for. I was looking forward to car shopping even less than going to the dentist. I got a 2000 Honda Civic with 64,000 miles, and I think I got a pretty good deal on it. It's loaded with power windows/locks, keyless entry, CD player and sunroof. I LOVE the sunroof. When it's sunny out, my sunroof is open!! I was surprised that I was actually able to drive the car home from the dealership yesterday. I thought things typically took a few days. I'm happy though! I sold my old car to Jonathan and Austin for a dollar. They needed the car more than I needed the trade-in value (which probably would have been only about $500 IF I was lucky), and I didn't pay anything for the car anyway. That car didn't owe me a penny. I bet it'll run a lot longer too. It's got 155,000 miles on it and a 3 year old transmission, so they should be good for a while. If not, I don't feel too bad. After all, I only sold it for a dollar.

This past weekend I went home to New York for Easter and I took Joe with me. The weather was really cold, but other than that it was really nice! Everyone really liked Joe and we had an absolute blast together. I don't think either of us really wanted to come back. We flew up on Saturday morning, and my best friend Kylene met us at the airport in Philly where we had a 2-hour layover. It was so fun to see her; I love her SOOOOOO much. When we got to my fam's house, we went shooting with my dad and played games and until evening. We started to watch Chicken Run, but Joe and I had been up since 4am that morning so we were a bit fatigued and we were falling asleep. Sunday of course was Easter and we had dinner with the immediate family and dessert with all the cousins and everything. It was really good to see everyone and it makes me so happy to think that I can do this on occasion: go home for the weekend! Especially now that I'm on the East Coast and there's no time change to throw me off! On Monday we went up to Palmyra and saw all the sights there. We flew back on Tuesday. As we were getting off the plane in Philly, Joe was trying to rush me along. I was like, "what are you doing?" He said he wanted to go into Philadelphia and get a cheesteak. So we took the train into Philly, but because of the train schedule and our flight schedule, we could only wander around for about 15 minutes before we had to get back to the train. We never did find anything to eat. Ah well. After all that, our plane ended up being delayed so once we got back to the airport, we sat at our gate for an hour. Ah well. You know what they say about the best laid plans. So I suppose last-minute plans especially often go awry.

So, it was a great weekend, and now it's back to the old grind. Work is a little slow right now, but I suspect it will pick up again soon. TTFN!

Working and working and working some more ...

Written yesterday 4/3/07

This has been a very interesting day. I’m starting to get a feel for what my life could be like over the course of the next few years. Today I am up in Lavonia, Georgia, at a company called Carry-On Trailer Corporation. They make pretty much anything you could think of hitching up to the back of your vehicle to carry stuff around in. It’s really quite a fascinating process. First the welders put the frame of the trailer together. Then it gets washed and painted. The painting process is especially interesting because the suspended trailer gets pulled into the dip tank area where it is partially dipped into an enormous tank containing paint. Then the dip tank operator coats the rest of the trailer with a spray paint gun. From there the trailer is pulled along the assembly line into the drying chamber. After it comes out of the drying chamber, they wire it, put axles on it, and slap tires and tail-lights on it. Then they stack them up and ship them out! It’s pretty cool to see. Today we were doing some health and safety monitoring. We put some monitors on the workers that would monitor the level of noise that they are exposed to throughout the day. We also tested for other chemicals and particles that might be inhaled by a typical worker. Unfortunately our equipment supplier did not include all the necessary equipment for us, so, we had to have our receptionist in Atlanta go and buy some of the monitoring badges that we needed and drive them all the way up here to Lavonia. So instead of being able to do all the monitoring with the morning shift as we had planned, I ended up having to stay here to monitor the second shift as well. My co-worker went back with the receptionist as she had to be somewhere else tomorrow. I don’t envy her in the least! So here I sit, typing this out and wondering if I will have the energy to drive home tonight. Let’s see: I’ve been up since 5:30, I’m going to leave here around 10:15 … I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to see.

Another weekend gone by ...

Time is just going WAY too fast for my taste. My life is become pretty routine. I spend every free moment I have with Joe (providing that he is also free), and am feeling very comfortable in my relationship. Don't ask me what's going to happen when he leaves for a 2 year mission in about 3 months. I don't know what's going to happen. I am just enjoying this time that we have together. I appreciate that he is a shoulder to lean on and a listening ear. I think I do the same for him. Altogether it is a very positive relationship for both of us, and a whole lot of fun besides!

Work is also going well. This week I am making my first two site visits. Tomorrow, Monday, I will be heading up to a company in Cartersville, GA, where we will be making a list of chemicals in their inventory, and subsequenting compiling a database of Material Safety Data Sheets. It should be interesting, to say the least. Then Monday after work myself and another gal will be driving up to Lavonia, GA, which is close to the South Carolina border. We'll be spending the night there and arriving at one of our client's plants at 6am to do some air quality and noise monitoring. I'm really excited about these new opportunities to do some field work and have some variety in my work activities. Then of course Saturday morning I will be flying up to New York for Easter. Joe is actually coming with me, but it's not like a "meet the parents" thing. I just thought he might enjoy coming and I would enjoy having his company if he came, so there you have it.

Anyway, that's all the update I can spare time for. Hope all is well on your frontier!

Feeling a bit sheepish ...

So, I'm discovering what happens when you get a boyfriend: practically everything in your life goes on the back burner!! It's been a while since I've had a boyfriend and I've never had one that I wanted to be around so much. Well, suffice it to say that my life right now is very busy and full of fun! And, I never realized that dating could be so much fun, or that a relationship could happen so naturally as it has with myself and Joe. I'm very happy with the way things are.

Relationships aside, life is very good! I changed the brakes on my car a week and a half ago, and THAT was an experience. I had changed the front brakes a year ago when I was taking that basic auto mechanics course, but I didn't think I would have my car long enough to warrant changing the rear ones too. Well, my car is 156K and still going strong. So, I pulled the rear tires off and slapped some new brake pads on there. When I first took the tire off I drew a blank and thought, "so .... what do I do next??" But I remembered as I went along. The tough part came when we had to push the calipers back in. Jonathan was helping me and he managed to get the first one in with a large wrench. But when we moved around to the other side, the caliper would not budge!!! Two hours, one trip to Sears and $13 later, I had a 6" C-clamp which was able to push that second caliper back in beautifully! So, if you ever need to borrow a 6" C-clamp, I've got a nice one!! We managed to get everything put back together and now the brakes have stopped grinding. They just squeak instead, which is fine, because I KNOW they are working! And I saved myself 150 bucks!

This past Saturday we had a church activity and we went down to Zebulon, Georgia. One of the guys in the branch knows some folks down there who have a large farm. They had a pool and a hot tub (although I didn't bring my suit), they also had horses and boats and a large field where we set up a shooting range and shot clay pigeons. I think we had about 400 clay pigeons and about 500 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun shells, so we had a blast! (Literally.) I actually shot 5 or 6 of the clay pigeons! I had never been able to shoot anything that was moving before. One of the guys had a single-load shotgun and MAN! That thing had such a strong kickback! I shot 3 times on that gun, got one clay pigeon and then I was just too bruised to continue with that gun. I did shoot another gun and was able to shoot several more rounds with that one, and I got some more clay pigeons. After the shooting was over I was going to ride the horse, but the horses had been running around for a couple of hours already and they were pretty tired. I got up on the horse and it didn't want to go anywhere!! I couldn't really blame it. He looked pretty tired!

Happy Woman's Day

I would like to wish all the women in my life a very happy Woman's Day. To be a woman is a wonderful thing and to be recognized for your unique talents once a year is even greater. I hope you all know how special and choice you are as beloved daughters of God. Pozdravliaiu vas!

New Orleans

I'm so bored at work today. After staying until 7:15 last night, I think I'm due for a break.

So I went to New Orleans this last weekend and I had an absolute blast!! We left at 7 pm on Friday evening and got to New Orleans at 12:30 am local time. I took a shower and then went straight to bed. I bought a new sleeping bag especially for this trip. It has memory foam built into it, so it's actually quite nice! The design is a little funky, but over all it's a very comfortable little sleeping bag. I didn't even use an extra mat! Saturday morning we got up at 5:45 and got in line for breakfast about 6:15. The local churchmembers made us a breakfast of pancakes and eggs. It was really good, but I was really excited to get to work. We got our assignment and headed out at around 7:30. We went to a lady's house not too far away from the stake center where we were staying. When we got there we got some direction from the son of the lady who owns the house and we got to work. There were others there already working on the wiring and siding and gutters of the house. I started by cutting out some cardboard to cover the windows in the rooms where they were going to spray some texture on the wall. Then I sanded some spackle in the bathroom. Then we moved a whole bunch of stuff (including King Tut--that's what it said on the bin) from the porch to the shed. Then we dug a trench to lay a wire from the house to the shed so there would be lights in the shed. Then we built a fence and I found my true calling wielding the hammer to secure the slats. You can call me "the hammer" now, if you like. Then we ate lunch. The lady who owns the house actually made us lunch. It was sooooooo good. I think we got some real New Orleans cookin' if you know what I mean. She made jambalaya and some rice and beans and she picked up some fried chicken. It was so tasty and I think everyone was really hungry after working so hard all morning. Things kind-of tapered off after lunch. I spent some time watching the men using a sledgehammer to break up concrete slabs, then I cleaned off some of the grates from the air vents and then I took a little rest while laying on my friend's leg as she sat on the grass. One of my favorite parts of the day was when I got to use a grader to slice off a metal post. That was pretty cool. Sparks were flying everywhere and they kind-of stung when they hit me, but they didn't leave a mark. It was probably the bravest thing I did all day. I'm really kind-of a scaredy-cat, so it was a big deal for me. I certainly learned that there's a lot that goes into rebuilding a house!!!

We returned back to the stake center at about 6 o'clock and we had dinner. After that some of the people I came down with decided to go into New Orleans for a cultural experience. They came back quite shaken. I guess they got more "culture" than they had bargained for. I went to Wal-Mart with some others, purchased a couple of games, and we played them in the foyer at the stake center. I finally got UNO, which is a game I've been wanting forever!!

Sunday morning we had a church service at 7am. I played the piano and we had the sacrament and a couple of talks. After that we packed up our stuff, got some new assignments and went out to a house further away from the stake center. This time we were mostly painting. I was very careful to stay out of the sun as I had gotten pretty badly burned on my neck the day before. Who knew you could get sunburned in March?? I guess you can in New Orleans!!

We worked for half a day and then headed back to Atlanta. Our car made a short detour to the beach where it was cold and windy, but it was cool to walk around. The devastation was unbelieveable, even now, a year and a half later. I'll see if I can post some of the pictures somewhere and put a link up so you can see. We got back at around 9pm Atlanta time. Then instead of going to bed, of course I stayed up and watched "Guys and Dolls" with my friend.

All in all, New Orleans was a very good time! I really hope we go again soon!