100 Things About Me~ Some you may know, some you may not.

I've done this before. I found it on a blog. You basically list 100 facts about yourself. The first time I did it it was like listing 100 thoughts, which is not exactly what I was going for.

1. I am addicted to chocolate. I know this is a sad truth. I have tried several times to shake the addiction, but so far I have not been successful.
2. I suspect that someday chocolate will be considered a drug you can only get through a prescription. Maybe.
3. I used to get mad at my parents because I thought we moved too much. I mean why couldn't we just stay in one place like 'normal' people.
4. I really want to move. Really. Want. To. Move.
5. Most TV shows irritate me. I think I was happier when we didn't have access to public TV stations. If I want to watch a TV show, I rent the season. I don't often rent shows though.
6. My favorite movies are of the historical fiction genre. I'm thinking Jane Austen and (thanks to Becky) Elizabeth Gaskell. Ditto that for books.
7. When I was younger (like 3 years ago) I really wanted to be able to do contortions. My goal was to be able to sit on my own head. I was inspired by Cirque du Soliel's Allegria.
8. I used to want to major in history. I read (most of) The Historian and watched National Treasure and just thought it was so cool how they knew SO much history. Not that I believe in Dracula or a real national treasure, I just thought it would be fun to be a history teacher. I would be cool. Like Linwood Thompson. And give cool homework.
9. Then I met the history teachers and other history major-ers at my school and immediately changed my mind.
10. In addition to those choices of major, I also wanted to be a nurse, a math teacher (I know...me?), an interpreter, a teacher, a nurse again, a chef, a teacher again, a nurse again, a dental hygienist, a teacher again, a dietician...now I'm planning on dental hygiene again.
11. I am indecisive...as you can probably tell.
12. While I don't think I have middle child syndrome, I do believe that birth order can cause people to develop certain personalities.
13. I wish I read poetry and classic writers, like Charles Dickens. Or rather, I wish I enjoyed reading classic writers and poets. I think my favorite poet is Edgar Allen Poe. He's not the classiest.
14. I have a messy room. Always.
15. I have good intentions.
16. I am not a good speaker.
17. I say 'like' without realizing it.
18. I procrastinate.
19. Some people would say I am under-ambitious.
20. I don't really care what they say.
21. I guess. Most of the time. Unless 'they' happens to be my parents.
22. I work in a dentist office. This somehow seemed to happen without my realizing that it would. And I never thought I would try to stay in the dental field when I went back to school. But you know what, I love my job and my co-workers. They're amazing.
23. The places life takes us are often times so weird.
24. I truly believe that God is in control of everything.
25. So in theory, I don't have to worry about anything in life. But because I'm human and sinful, I do. Even though the Bible commands me not to.
26. I get awful allergies. Mostly in the spring, but lately I have developed fall allergies too. Pretty tragic.
27. I do not have a sense of style. In my opinion. Probably because I am very cheap and won't buy clothes at expensive stores.
28. I buy almost everything on sale. My best buy was a pair of pants that I got on super-duper-awesome clearance for $1.99 that were originally about $40. I was pretty pleased.
29. I talk a lot, but I am actually very shy about sharing the things I really feel and think.
30. I can't even describe how dancing made me feel. It was like everything was still, but everything was chaotic at the same time. And everything was peaceful, but I have never felt more energetic. In some ways, you never even heard the music, you practically became part of the music. I've never felt that way before and I miss dancing so much.
31. I miss our weimaraners. Very much. Someday, I might get my own. If I ever finish school and get my own place.
32. I plan to finish college, but what I really want to do is get married and have a bunch of kids and be a homeschool mom. Last time I checked you don't need a degree to do this. But just in case that ever changes, I plan to be prepared.
33. I think only one of my friends is actually my age. The others are all either older or younger. They are A.W.E.S.O.M.E. people. I love them.
34. I met a lot of people on my job. Here is something I learned through them: there are a lot of hurting people out there. I heard so many stories about kids who were being raised by their grandparents or aunts and uncles because their parents were in jail because of drugs; men and women whose spouses had either passed away and/or left them with kids to raise; folks who had lost their jobs; parents who had children who were wounded in Iraq; foster parents who had to give the kids back...and learned that while there are a lot of people out there who don't know what they're missing out on (family etc.,), there are a lot of people out there who really care about others. It was an honor to meet some of them.
35. I want to be domestic. You know...make my own curtains...bake my own bread...make (some of) my own clothes and blankets. And soap. Or at least some of my own curtains, bread, clothes, blankets and soap. But we'll see if I ever accomplish that.
36. People probably think I'm weird because of this.
37. I think so too.
38. I still want to run a 5K someday. Emphasis on 'someday.'
39. Autumn is my favorite season!
40. I do not like todays actors and actresses. There is not a single one I admire.
41. I go through phases where I try to eat healthy, and then someone buys a pizza and I cave.
42. For years I really wanted straight hair. Now I don't mind it curly. Most of the time.
43. I love sweaters. They remind me of fall. Which is my favorite season, if I haven't mentioned it,
44. At work the radio plays all day. During the holidays I have to listen to everything from Willie Nelson's 'Pretty Paper' (gag) to Elvis Presley's 'Blue Christmas' to Madonna's 'Santa Baby' (vomits). By the time Christmas rolls around I am SO sick of Christmas music. I am greatly saddened by this. I think the radio should be limited to certain musicians and others should be banned.
45. No offense to anyone who loves Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley, or Madonna.
46. I can only listen to talk radio at certain times. Like during an election or something. Other than that it really annoys me.
47. I sing in the car. Loud. And probably off-key.
48. I love that I live in a historic area. It's amazing to walk in old towns and battlefields.
49. If the area wasn't in such turmoil, I would love to visit Israel. Talk about walking on grounds where history was made...the most important history in the world was made in the middle east. I would love to go to Israel and try to visit the historic places mentioned in the Bible.
50. Books are almost always WAY better than the movie. I think this is a scientific fact.
51. I am actually a good student, believe it or not. I was on the President's list twice.
52. I don't actually like school. I have a bad attitude towards it most of the time, and am trying not to. Pray for me.
53. My 'dream job' (aside from being a wife and mom) would be to do crafts with kids and teens. Teaching kids and teens to do crafts. In order to do this, I need to know how to do crafts. It's the most logical thing in the world ever.
54. I think I inherited my love of fiber arts from my Grammy Betty. My dad's mom does watercolor, but I can't draw or paint to save my life, so I'm pretty sure I didn't inherit it from her.
55. I have the fondest memories of watching my Grammy make stuff. She made us blankets, dress-up clothes, doll clothes, aphgans...she could do it all.
56. I am a pretty mellow person. I am trying to be braver and more assertive.
57. I hate getting up in the mornings.
58. This is harder than I thought. 41 facts to go.
59. I have never been away from home by myself for more than 2 days. This is what happens when you are sandwhiched between an older sister and a younger brother. There is always someone to go out with. Both my older sister and my younger brother have been away by themselves for weeks at a time.
60. Blogging has caused me to see the world in a different light. I take pictures of my dinner and hand and table that is covered in paper and fabric and my messy room because that will allow others to see what I see. Also, I probably say things on here that I wouldn't say elsewhere. Because it's like a journal, and I forget that others are looking at it.
61. Being the middle kid can have it's disadvantages, but I am the only kid in the family who can look at my siblings and say, "you are my favorite older sister, you are my favorite brother, you are my favorite little sister, you are my favorite brother-in-law" without offending anyone. Cool huh?
62. I should be working out. Or cleaning my room. Instead I'm sitting here at 11 PM trying to think of 38 more facts about myself.
63. I used to want to be really busy because I thought it would make my life more exciting. Now I want to take time to smell the roses (we don't have roses...make that a chrysanthemum.).
64. I wear a watch.
65. I have never been on a date. I am okay with this. My ideal would be to only ever date one guy and that guy would be the guy I married. I am not ready to get married, so I am not dating. And I didn't want to marry any of the guys who asked me out which is another reason I am not dating.
66. I love having the freedom of driving. And the quiet time in the car.
67. I love sewing and knitting. I crochet too, but I like sewing and knitting better.
68. I don't use shampoo. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that on here before or not. I only use conditioner. My hair has never been healthier.
69. I like making lists. That's why I'm doing this.
70. Great Danes are beautiful dogs, in my opinion.
71. I have been sneezed on by a horse. It was an unpleasant experience.
72. I can't wait to be an aunt. I have all kinds of ideas for baby stuff I want to make. It's going to be fun. :)
73. I have to get up early tomorrow.
74. I will be 20 in 2 months.
75. I am having a Labor Day breakfast with two lovely ladies tomorrow.
76. When it comes to natural disasters and wars, I haven't got an adventurous bone in my body. During hurricanes Dennis and Floyd I was probably living with an ongoing panic attack. On 9/11 I went into my room and cried because my sister wouldn't turn off the TV and I was terrified.
77. Weddings are exhausting. I found this out after being a bridesmaid in my sister's wedding.
78. I got really close to doing a variation on King Pigeons pose in my yoga class. My form was a little bit off. I felt very...stretchy.
79. If I could be any animal I would want to be a dolphin or a bird. Because dolphins are smart, and birds can talk.
80. I have considered moving out west. Someday.
81. Our house has been on the market since the middle of December.
82. I sometimes doubt that we will ever move.
83. I have taken glamour shots of my dogs.
84. I think they actually came out pretty good.
85. I like working with kids.
86. I don't like working on kids who are screaming at me.
87. I like to help pull teeth. It's my favorite part of being a dental assistant.
88. I forget that not everyone likes to help pull teeth and talk to my friends (who don't work in a dental office) all about it. Then I feel embarrassed.
89. I hate cussing. I understand that people get tempted, but it's SO annoying. People are intelligent, they can find other ways to express themselves.
90. My crafting materials are taking over my room and my parent's house.
91. I need to either make stuff and get rid of it, or throw out a lot of my crafting stuff.
92. I try to drink a lot of water. It doesn't always happen.
93. I get a lot of headaches. It is not pleasant.
94. Aspartame gives me a headache. That stuff is seriously bad for you.
95. I actually like wearing scrubs. I didn't think I would, but I do.
96. I wear boring shoes. Mainly flip flops, earth shoe sandals, sneakers and clogs. I can't wear high heels or flats because they are uncomfortable.
97. I registered to vote back when I got my license which was over a year ago. I still haven't gotten my card. I keep meaning to call about that and I keep forgetting. Because of recent events, I want to vote! Before that, I will admit that I was kind of apathetic about voting because I didn't like any of the candidates.
98. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.
99. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. You get to make food, visit with friends and oftentimes listen to Christmas music all without the presents. It's like all the advantages of Christmas without the stress and fake-ness. It's good. :)
100. When I was younger we used to go to my Mom's friend's house to visit. Her friend was Russian and always had hot water for tea whenever we came to visit. She had a large family and there were always extra kids there who were visiting. I loved sitting with them and drinking tea and listening to their conversation (and occasionally putting in my own 2 cents worth I'm sure). I still love sitting with them and drinking tea. I always wanted to be that kind of adult. The kind who drinks tea and has tons of kids running in and out of their house.

Well, there are 100 facts about me. If anyone else is crazy enough to do this too, send me a comment so I can come see your list.

We'd all like t'vote for th' best man, but he's never a candidate. ~ Kin Hubbard

How funny that McCain chose a woman as his veep? I'm sure I wasn't the only person who was shocked by this. I think that is a pretty interesting move on his part. So far, I am impressed with her. She has 5 kids. She's 44 and had a baby with Downs Syndrome this past April so she is pro-life and pro-family. She worked her way into politics through the PTA group at her school and her husband is a commercial fisherman. Her oldest son enlisted in the army last year will be deployed to Iraq this year. She seems to be in tune with the middle class family who have larger families, kids in the military, and are pro-life conservatives since no one running this year really seemed to care about pro-life voters. Maybe that is what our country needs. Someone who knows what normal people are dealing with. Maybe this will motivate me to figure out what is going on with my voter's registration card (why I don't have it yet) so I can vote this fall.

Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while.

That quote is by Kin Hubbard. And to a degree, it is somewhat true. When I'm at work sometimes I'll strike up a conversation with a patient starting with the weather. Speaking of which, I am still in awe of how cool it has been for August. Some evenings, you can feel fall coming. I love it. But lately, our weather has been kind of rainy. Which is good I guess. I prefer sunny, blue skies, but I guess you have to have a few rainy, gray days to balance things out.It keeps it green around here. I took this out our window yesterday.

Watching Bostons...

We have been watching Pam and Michael's dogs for a few days now. Lizzie (the beagle mix) is just too sweet. All she really wants is for you to sit with her and rub her belly. And she really would love to get on the couch if we would let her. She likes playing with toys too.

Maggie and Hoover are a little more highstrung. They are the Boston terriers and they are so funny. This really cracks me up.They go into their crates at night and curl up under their blankets and go to sleep. It is so cute!
All three of them like looking out the windows to see what is going on outside. Our windows are low to the ground so they don't have to jump very high to see what's going on outside.

I think they are all really cute. But this is the face that won me over.

Aww, look at that HUGE smile! This is Maggie and she has the biggest smile. It's too adorable.

So if art is my favorite class so far...

Microsoft Office is definitely my LEAST favorite. Basically I hate it. Passionately. Forever. With a passionate, undying hatred that cannot be matched. Basically I really don't like it.

Wednesday

Well, I am officially finished working with Dr. C. I made cards for everyone and brought them in today to give to them all to say thanks for the opportunity to work there and thanks for training and everything. For over a week the office manager wouldn't speak to me unless she absolutely had to. These past couple of days she has been very friendly though. I think she was just really glad I was leaving. You know, I still honestly can't think of anything I did to irk her. If I did anything, it was absolutely unintentional. Dr. C. was very nice and told me that if I ever wanted to come back just let him know so that was pretty cool. He's a nice guy. I am very relieved to be finished there though! I have the rest of this week and next week off work and will start up with Dr. H. the week after next, hopefully. That's good though. It will be nice to have a break and a chance to make some headway on my homework and finally get organized (or at least try to get organized). I can't wait to work with Dr. H. and Pam again! We are a good team! And I'm hoping very much that Becca can join us there too, because I am sure she would be a great asset to Dr. H.'s office. We are praying about that one!

I am a little bit more on top of my homework this week than I was last week. I studied for my Wednesday classes, completed a quiz for one of my online classes, and did all my research for a paper for one of my online classes. I still have to write 2 papers, finish another quiz and complete some other projects. I cannot wait to be finished with school for good! It's so nice to come home from work and know that the rest of the evening and weekend are free to do the things you need and/or want to do. Now I come home and I have to start right in on homework. I guess you could say that having the year off has made me spoiled!

I guess if I had to pick a favorite class right now it would be my art appreciation class. It's nice to go in and look at pictures all night. It beats speech class any day. I wish our school offered actual art classes. I still really want to take pottery. I need to make some phone calls this week about some potential classes. It will have to go on my to-do list.

Our first Campus Crusade meeting is tomorrow. I've had a few people reply back to say they are coming. I'm excited. As suspected, not all 38 people have written back to say they are coming, but even if 1 person came, I'd be thrilled. I think so far I've had maybe 8 people say they will try to be there and then a couple who said they can't come this time because they are traveling or working, but hope to come to another meeting in the future.

Well, it is late (for me anyway) and I am so tired. I hope everyone has a good evening!

Visitors~

A couple of weeks ago my friend Pam asked me to house sit for her while she was out of town. She was going on a business trip with her husband and needed someone to watch her 3 dogs. I wasn't really comfortable with the idea of staying someplace new all by myself, so in the end we decided that the 3 pooches would come stay with us. I mean after all, we are used to having lots of dogs around. I think that before Christmas last winter we had our 6 dogs, Django, and we watched Andy and Becky's 2 dogs, horse, goat, chickens, and rabbits and maybe Tasha...but I can't remember if we had Tasha or not...anyway, we cared for them while their owners were out of town and we got along fine. It seems like we are always watching someone's pet every so often and it is fun to spend time with the dogs that come to visit. So having Pam's 3 dogs is rather fun. :) Here is a picture of the 2 Boston terriers. There is also a Beagle mix, but I haven't gotten a picture of her yet.Their names are Maggie, Lizzie and Hoover. The Boston terriers have kind of smooshed faces so when they smile their grins are almost literally stretching from ear to ear. I am hoping to get a picture of at least Maggie while she is smiling because it is too cute! They are very sweet dogs and love to give kisses and be petted. And Lizzie (the Beagle mix) reminds me so much of Dancer and it makes me miss her a lot! She has a very similar personality to Dancer's.
I miss our weimaraners. I was at Petco last weekend and just looking at their merchandise made me miss Hank. I was thinking, oh, that collar would look so nice against the weimaraners coats, but we don't have weimaraners anymore. Just big old drooling machines named Solomon, Jazz and Brandi. Don't get me wrong, the newfoundlands are nice, but I still like weimaraners better.
I hope to have more pictures of these little goofballs to post before the weekend is out and they go back home.

Dinner and Bible study at Matt and Jacqueline's house~

Tuesday nights are probably my favorite night of the week! Why you may ask? Well, Tuesday nights are Bible study nights and I get to go hang out at Matt and Jacqueline's house with the folks who are part of the Bible study. It's very encouraging to meet up with fellow believers during the week and it really gives me something to look forward to. I would take pictures of the Bible study members, but I think they're probably a little shy about having their pictures snapped just so I can blog about it.

Instead I shall show you the 'loverly' dinner made by Matt and Jacqueline. They are generous enough to host the Bible study in their home and they feed us dinner too.Here is their Olive Garden inspired soup with a name I can't even pronounce much less spell. It's like zakkapakkawatchamacallitinilini soup. It was made by scratch and very good.

And you can't forget dessert!

I wish all of you could come to our Bible studies. It's great to fellowship with the folks who come out each week to study the Bible together and it's always neat to get different people's input on the passages of scripture we read. Sometimes one person will notice something that another may not so that is one really cool part of studying the Bible with a group.

~Fall planting~

We were removing the flowers and buds from the mums that my parents bought this weekend.We are hoping that the flowers will bud later this fall. It's too early for them now. When my mom told me to pull all the flowers and buds off the plants, I was very confused. I thought we were ruining them. She managed to convince me enough to get me to help pull all the buds and flowers off. I hope they will still bloom this fall. I've never heard of doing this, but apparently, it is where the term 'nip it in the bud' came from. Does anyone else have very much knowledge on this matter?
From this view, it almost looks like someone got married on our front porch, but I assure you that is not the case. In actuality, there are van seats on our porch along with the dusty rocking chairs and end tables. And a bunch of naked plants sitting alongside to finish the look.

Poor plants!

The Wonderful Properties of Tea Tree Oil!

I don't know about you guys, but when I get stressed my skin shows it. When I was 15 I had my wisdom teeth removed and I was so nervous and stressed about it that I broke out horribly before and after the procedure. Since then my skin has gone back and forth between being very broken out and not so broken out. Maybe I am always under a certain amount of stress or something because I continue to have problems with my skin. This past month my skin went bananas on me because I started a new job, decided I wasn't happy there, and was preparing to start school again after being out for a year. I was rather anxious about the upcoming semester and how my work and school schedules would turn out.
I was at Martins grocery store and I found a natural health magazine that said that tea tree oil is good for you skin. It has natural anti-inflammatory properties and they recommend using it on your skin to help clear up acne. It just so happens that Martins also carries essential oils in the organic aisles (I love those aisles!) so I stopped by there and picked up some essential tea tree oil. Maybe it is a combination of things, but since I started using it along with my daily skin care regimen, I have noticed significant improvements in my skin! So if any of you ever gets really stressed out and needs to treat their skin to a little extra TLC, you may want to check it out. It said on the bottle not to use it at full strength on skin, but to put it on a moist cotton pad and apply it that way. I ignored them and have been using it at full strength and my skin hasn't felt dry, burnt, or irritated in any way. I just dab it onto my finger and rub it onto certain inflamed areas on my face. The only complaint I have is that it smells very strongly and it isn't exactly my favorite scent. So I mostly just use it at night.
I just thought I would pass the information along. :)

Busy, busy, busy...

Busy like a bee...that's how I've been this week. I put my 2 week notice in at work on Tuesday. It's kind of a relief. I am ready to be finished there. My last day is next Wednesday or Thursday...I'm pretty sure it's Wednesday because I think we are closed on Thursday. I may be starting at the new office earlier than I thought I would too. We shall see what happens though.

I am still not very enthusiastic about starting college again. I still have a bad attitude. I am all for learning, I love learning. It is natural and fun. I feel like the atmosphere of learning in school though is so...I don't know...stale? Perhaps it is just my rinky-dink little school, but I have just had too many experiences with teachers who don't care whether they actually teach or not. And they give you tests and basically want you to repeat exactly what they have said, whether you believe it's true or not. All for a piece of paper. A piece of paper that to me (not necessarily to those who enjoy their professors and classes) says, "thanks for telling us what we wanted to hear, now you have permission to count in the world." I know that isn't the best attitude, and I am praying about it and trying to have a better outlook on school. It seems to be where God wants me right now. I really think if I was at a school that I liked I wouldn't feel this way. And if I was studying something I really enjoyed I don't think I would feel this way. I enjoyed my math classes a lot. And most of my biology class. But history, government, English, psychology, and those kinds of classes were mostly just professors giving their opinions on politics, religion, life...some classes seemed more like group therapy more than anything; a chance to spill their guts about their lives. It was sad for me because I love history and English, but I didn't enjoy those classes at all. I feel a little bit like I was cheated out of a good learning experience. I mean, it's a bummer to go to class to learn history or English or psychology and just listen to the professor talk about how he went to search for the Loch Ness monster (even though I think that is so cool! Nessie is totally a dinosaur and I think she's real. LoL), or how he's been married 3 times and had 3 other girlfriends and his life with them, etc,. If I ever get into dental hygiene school I think I will enjoy myself more because I will be doing hands-on work in a class that I will definitely be using in the future.

On a lighter note about school, this week we had our table set up for Campus Crusade and when we got the final count of people who signed up for information on meetings or filled out surveys we were told that we had 38 people show an interest! That is not including the 5 of us who were helping run the table and all. I think that is so exciting. I don't expect even half of the people who gave us their names and emails to come when we do send out a date, but it was great that that many people were willing to come talk to us and show an interest in coming out to a meeting.

It has cooled down here again. Some of the leaves almost look like they're changing, the air isn't as humid, the light is changing, and it's getting dark around 8:15 PM. There is a deer walking around in the property next door to us right now. There is a fawn with the deer. It is so pretty with all its white spots. I guess I need to be paying extra attention at night and early in the morning when I'm on my way to work just in case those pretty deer start jumping out in front of my car while I'm driving. I love fall. It's truly my favorite time of year. Fall to me is sweaters and scarves and colors and smells and cooler air and excitement and busyness. I love it. I wish it lasted longer. Like all year. But then, I probably wouldn't appreciate it as much because I wouldn't know anything different.

I had planned to do some kind of sewing project this weekend. I had the best intentions of making another apron or some kind of pin or something, but I think I will end up doing homework. :P I am really excited about going part-time at work. I hope it will free up more of my time so I can do homework and fit some crafting into my schedule. Once I get established at work I think I will start looking into those pottery classes. :) Either that or some kind of exercise class. It depends on what I can find.

I read a quote in a book this week that went something like this: When the lima bean weeps, the trolls of perdition will come and dance to the sounds of salsa and laughter.
The author was talking about the prophecies concerning Jesus' life and how simple and direct they were (like, "He will be born of a virgin, etc,.). Then he compared them to the prophecies made about the Greek and Roman gods and how they could have meant anything about anyone. He made up that one about lima beans and trolls just to be silly, and it made me laugh. Sorry for my weird sense of humor, lol. The book is called Jesus Without Religion and so far (I haven't gotten very far yet) it seems good. It is supposed to be a look at Jesus life based on the accounts in the Bible from the gospels and Acts and the prophets without the cloud of denominations and religious groups putting in their 2 cents. It also talks about how Flavius Josephus (the historian) pretty much confirms that Jesus walked the earth.

Holly and I stayed up late last night and watched Little Women. The one with Wynona Ryder. I think it skipped quite a bit of the book, but it was fun to watch. Holly told me it was depressing because of how Beth died. It was sad. I would be so heartbroken if I lost one of my siblings. I don't know how I would get through it. It made me remember how when I was younger I read a children's version of Little Women and in the part where Jo meets Friedrich I remember reading his name as fried rich. Pronounced that way. I thought it was such a weird name. Fried rich. Cut me some slack though, I was only about 6 or 7 when I read it.

Well, I have some sample speeches to listen to online and chapters to read in my textbooks so I shall end for now. I hope everyone has a happy weekend.

Matt and Jacqueline got a new puppy!

His name is Moby and he is a sweetheart and a snugglebug. Only he just lets me hold him for a little while before he wants to go back to Matt and Jacqueline. :(

Brandi

We took her to the park today. She was nervous about being in the car I guess so she was drooling everywhere. Everywhere being on the chair in the car, on the floor of the car, and on me. This is the dog that sits and stares at you adoringly while you pet her and cries if you take your hand away. She wants everyone to pet her and feed her and tell her she's wonderful. She really does. She wants it so much that every time she is around us she gets so excited that she becomes a pest by getting jumpy and drool-y and and makes us all want to get away from her. All of us except Dad who insists that they're the best dogs out there.

She is very sweet though.

More cards

I've really been enjoying card-making (or decorating I guess) lately.

And I've been loving rub-on transfers lately too...as you can see!

The whole process is somewhat addictive. :)

We took Brandi to the park this afternoon.

Holly and I paired off and walked around together while Adam played his guitar and Mom and Dad walked the dog. I think that eventually Holly will stop going places with me because I want to take her picture all the time. I did get this last one though and since her head isn't in it I don't think she'll mind too much. :)

I had a fun afternoon~

Special thanks goes to cardstock, scrap-booking paper, vellum quote pages, and rub-on transfers. I couldn't have had as much fun without you! Probably.

Now I need to send out some cards.

Whew!

This has been a long week. Last Sunday I had every intention of being really good this week and working out every day and maybe even getting up earlier to do some of the things I needed to do before I left for work. Monday morning I woke up and felt like I had been hit by a truck. Okay, maybe not exactly like that...but not too great. Tuesday morning I woke up and felt like I had run a marathon and lifted 50 lb weights the evening before...of course I hadn't. I just felt bad like that. On Wednesday I finally started feeling better.

On Wednesday I got a phone call from the dentist I worked with for 9 months saying she had a question for me. That question was whether or not I would like to work for her at her new practice. These past 5 weeks at my new job have been really stressful. I have found myself saying, "if I can just make it through the semester here I can quit and not worry about it anymore." In fact, if we haven't sold our house by the end of this semester I would probably have to quit anyway because I am going to be taking a lot of science courses at school to try and get ready to enroll in school for dental hygiene. I doubt that this new doctor will let me work part-time so I will probably have to quit. My old doctor has actually been emailing me and saying I should really go for dental hygiene so I know that she won't mind if I need to work part-time while I'm in school. And, her practice is only about 10 minutes away from the school instead of the 30 or 40 minutes from my job now so I won't have to be in such a hurry. Plus, there will be another assistant there at all times so if I needed to leave before a procedure was finished, she could step in for me. At this office I am the only assistant and would have to just be late for class. And it will only be 2 or 2.5 days a week instead of 4 so that would be nice too.

What I'm saying is, I am planning to go back to working with my old doctor and I'm excited about it. I am not excited about putting in a notice with my new doctor, whenever that happens. I guess I'll get through it though.

I missed a lot of the Olympics this year. On Thursday though I did stay up with Holly till almost 2 AM watching the Woman's All Around Gymnastics finals. I was rooting for Shaun Johnson, but Nastia Luikin got gold instead. Shaun Johnson was just so much more smiley and energetic than Nastia Luikin. She seemed to really enjoy herself. But I guess it was really cool that she got silver at least. The other girl I was rooting for was from Russia. For some reason the Russian women are good gymnasts and ice skaters. And dancers. They're very talented. I got on youtube and looked up Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci. They were amazing! Their performances were just so much harder and still more flawless than the girls today. It seems like people become less-talented as time goes by. Does anyone else feel like that or am I just wrong? I like watching the gymnastics and swimming and diving during the summer Olympics, but I think I like the winter Olympics better. Every time I see them I want to learn to ski or snowboard or figure skate.
Actually, I went ice skating once and it was very painful. I went away from the skating rink with great admiration for figure skaters. I wouldn't mind trying it again though.

We met up with Rachel, Janice and Maegan at Daily Grind to talk about Campus Crusade. I can't believe school starts on Monday. I don't even have all my books. I am pretty sure that this first week with Campus Crusade won't be really smooth, but I believe that if we are serious about sharing the gospel with others on campus, God will bless it. It is exciting!

I don't think this post has any rhyme or reason to it, I'm just really happy that a long week is over!

List of things to do before I expire...

I thought you might like my choice of words up there...lol.

I was reading a blog the other night (so what else is new?) and the author was saying that she was going 'grape stomping.' She was going to go to a vineyard and stomp grapes because that was on her list of 30 Things to Do Before I Die.

It got me to start thinking...what are the things I want to do before I die. Then I thought, what are the things I want most to do in life? So I decided to make my own list.

Stomping grapes sounds fun, but if I never stomp on grapes I won't feel like I missed out on life. In face, there are so many things that would be fun to do, but if I never did them I wouldn't feel like I missed out. If I never went to NYC or Hollywood I wouldn't feel like I missed out on anything. But I would like to visit each of the 50 states. I would just choose someplace different to go to in NY and CA.

So then I kind of changed my perspective and began to think of what I really wanted out of life. This is pretty much what I came up with.

The Things I Want For My Life:

1. Be involved in ministry. It doesn't always have to be as organized as Campus Crusade (although I am super excited to be part of that), but I think my whole life should constantly be a ministry to others. Family, friends, unbelievers, etc. We are God's workmanship created for his work! I want to live for Him.

2. It would be great to finish college if that is something God wants
to have happen.

3. I want to fall in love and get married....

4. ...and have a family...a big family! Like at least 5 kids or more. It would be cool to adopt too.

5. I want to home school my kids.

6. I want to visit each of the 50 states. Specific places would include Portland, Seattle, and the Grand Canyon. It would be cool to go Yellowstone or Yosemite too. Hug a redwood or something (just kidding...I'm all for taking care of the planet, but I'm not a fanatic and it's not like I could actually get my arms around one anyway, lol). I'd like to see places in the mid-west too. I'd like to live further west and/or maybe near water (not the beach unless I lived somewhere like Maine [which would take a miracle to get me to move someplace that gets SO cold], but some body of water). I suppose I could move a few times if I had to. :)

7. I want to plant a garden.

8. I want an herb garden in that garden and I want to learn to work with herbs.

9. I want to be healthy and thinner. I want to be a healthy cook!

10. I want to be creative and be able to make things I can use in my own home someday.
I want to be 'domestic.' I think it would be totally cool to be able to earn an income doing the crafty things that I love, but I'm not really good enough at any of those things to make a living off of them. But it would be fun anyway. :)









11. Before I get married (if that ever happens) I'd kind of like to live on my own a little bit. Just to know I can handle it!





12. I'd like to travel to another country (not necessarily Italy although it would be cool to go there, that was just the only picture I could find that I liked online.).




13. Go hang gliding. And ride a roller coaster (see, I'm a little bit adventurous...only a little bit though! And yes, I'm admitting that I've never ridden a roller coaster before.). And I saw this show about a family who traveled all over the Atlantic ocean in a boat and I thought that looked kinda cool. Until a bad storm comes up and then I'd probably be a useless, hyperventilating heap on the floor until it was over.








14. I would love to dance again. Lately I've really been missing it a lot and I'd love to take some kind of dance class again. It doesn't have to be ballet even though I loved how fluid and graceful ballet is.

15. I'd like to be able to do this.






16. And this.




There...that's a few of the things I'd like to do. But you know what's funny? I don't really have to do most of those things in order to feel like I've lead a full life. When I first started this list it was kind of empty because I knew that most of these things (riding roller coasters, traveling all over the world, doing pottery, dancing, standing on my head, etc) are just nice fun things that don't really mean a whole lot of anything. I really think that there is only one thing I can do that will fulfill me and that is to live my life as a servant of Jesus Christ. That's what I was created for and if I don't do anything else with my life, I hope to accomplish that one thing to the best of my ability whether it's by fulfilling my dream of being a wife and mom and helping my husband serve Christ as best as he can and raising children to love and serve Jesus, or by doing something totally different that I can't even begin to imagine.

If anyone else feels like making a list like this, send me a comment so I can look at your list too. It would be cool to see what you love to do or dream of doing.

Knitting is on my mind.

I haven't done a lot of knitting lately. It seems that with more demands on my time I am really enjoying using a sewing machine because I get things accomplished faster. But I haven't totally turned my back on knitting or crocheting. I was at the grocery store today and I stopped to look at the knitting and crocheting magazines they had there. There were some really great projects in there! I didn't buy any of them, but I might like to try and copy some of their ideas and make my own stuff. It will probably just take a reeaalllly loooooong time! And if I do make anything even similar to what I saw in the magazines today, you can count on it being much simpler and easier than the originals. Because I'm a lazy crafter like that. Ha ha!

I'm going to go make some cookies (and wear the apron I made :D). We're going to visit John and Sarah tomorrow and we are bringing them cookies. This will be the first time I've baked in a few weeks. Because I've been cutting back on sugar. Yes, I'm still doing that and I still haven't noticed huge changes in my energy or weight. But I don't miss it too much (especially since I am still eating sugar, just smaller amounts). But hopefully as I get busier and involved in things that will be going on around here I'll notice that I have more energy. Cause right now I can sleep for 10 hours and still be tired during the day. That is not good!

I got stuff to finish my quilt finally so hopefully this weekend it will at least have bias tape around the edges. I have an idea of how I'm going to quilt it too. Can you tell I'm excited about this quilt? Sad isn't it???

A meeting

Yesterday Mom, Adam and I met with a guy from Campus Crusade for Christ to talk about starting up a group on our campus. Yes, our campus is a community college, not a 4 year school. Yes, our school only consists of 1 floor of an old mill and sometimes the old, abandoned cafeteria upstairs. Yes, our student population isn't very big and has a very diverse age group. Yes, to all those things and more, but how great would it be to have a ministry on our campus? I've said it before, I hated going to school (I will be the first to stand up and say a lot of our teachers are mediocre and some are downright lazy and don't teach, but this isn't supposed to be about bashing our school...we'll save that for a different post sometime). And I still do. But I would love to help start up a ministry on the campus. How different would my school experience have been if there was a group like this set up when I got there? It might have been way different! Having a group of believers to encourage and pray with and for each other and the school and study the Bible with would have been SO awesome! But since there wasn't, I may be given the privilege of helping start one. I'm really excited! And one of the coolest things is there are at least 3 other people besides Adam and me (5 people isn't a big group, but at least there are 5) who want to help too and maybe more. We're still trying to find out who is interested. I hope that God will bless this group and bring about great things on the campus. Who thought I would actually be excited to start school? (I'll give you a hint, it definitely wasn't me!)

New Martha Stewart stamps at Walmart.

That's right! Martha has a stamping line in the crafting section at Walmart. I really like the stuff she has there. I bought a kit and some ink and pulled out some cardstock at the house and made these little posters for my blog header.

I wrote the whole 'Life According to Me' bit on there myself because I thought it would be kind of cool to have my own handwriting on the blog. I think it makes it a bit more personal.
And this one was made because I really want fall to get here! Soon! It was nice and cool out tonight, and the sun started going down around 8:15-8:30 PM. I think that autumn is on it's way!

Work has been kind of discouraging again this week. I am really getting the feeling that the office manager doesn't like me. She's just not very friendly. At least not when it's just us. Sometimes she is a little more chatty, but lately she just isn't very...oh....polite? I don't know. I'm really trying to make sure I'm not imagining that she doesn't like me and I'm trying not to be overly sensitive, I am just still getting vibes that she doesn't like me though because she is much friendlier to the other people who work there. And I don't think she takes me very seriously. I really do try not to bother her and I try to do my job as best as I can, but I'm still very new there and they do a lot of things differently there. Like their panoramic machine is different and it's not digital so to develop film I have to go in a dark room and lock myself in and wait for the film to be completely in the developer before I come out. I didn't realize the safe light could be on with the film exposed. I thought that could only be on once the film was all the way in the developer so I was waiting till then to write up my labels and log how many x-rays I've taken. I ended up taking longer than I needed too. Now I know you can have the safe light on the entire time you're in there and I can write up labels and log away really quickly.

So I'm still adjusting, and I don't think she really knows that.

I guess that eventually we'll all figure it out. I hope. :)