Friday, May 29, 2009

The past few days recap:

Well...it's been a long week for sure. Last Saturday Jacqueline and I went up to Hagerstown to do some shopping. Jacqueline wanted to go to Old Navy, Target and Khols before she leaves next week for their month long trip to Ohio. Let me tell you, we chose quite a day to go to Old Navy. It just so happens that we went during their flip flop sale: 5 for $5. I know I'm probably in the minority but I don't particularly like their flip flops. They aren't very comfortable. Anyway the place was literally mobbed. We waited in one of the checkout lines for at least 40 minutes (and they had 6 lines open). Not our idea of fun. The cashier said it was worse than Black Friday...for FLIP FLOPS!? Afterwards we were starving so we stopped in the food court and got lunch and complained about the mall. It occured to me that I'm only 20 and Jacqueline is almost 23 and we have turned into our parents. A few weeks ago I was visiting with Becca and Jacqueline and we were talking about lyme disease and other health problems and we talked about it for a long time and it also occured to me that we have all turned into our moms. I mean when I was younger (like a couple years ago) I thought the mall was a great place to be and it annoyed me when my dad said he hated the malls. I also thought it was way uncool to talk to your friends about your health. For goodness sake...talk about clothes or music or movies or something but not your health! And now I think malls are annoying and enjoy talking about things like lyme disease and what not. So I really think we've turned into our parents. Oh well. It was bound to happen. At least we have great parents. :)
So yeah we ended up being out for most of the afternoon. Jacqueline went to her stores and I went into The Christmas Tree Shops (think Big Lots with a beautiful exterior) to check something out for my dad and I went to Michaels (because I go there every time I have a chance to). While there I scored 2 rolls of cashmere blend yarn for 99 cents each(!), a new candy mold for Sharon since I broke hers, and this book:
(picture from AMAZON)
It's got a lot of very cute aprons. I know I shouldn't have done it. I swore to myself that I wouldn't buy anymore craft books. I don't really NEED aprons or craft books. But I got it anyway. I had green converse sneakers like the girl has too but I gave them to Holly. I hardly ever wore them.
Did I ever mention that I found my Sew U Built by Wendy book? Turns out it was right under my nose. Things like that always are, right?

Mom and Dad took all of us out for dinner and it was fun to have Olive there. That kid...she makes me want to quit school and get married and have a baby. Only that isn't going to happen on such short notice so I'll still go to school this fall.

Speaking of school this fall, I got my letter for orientation on Saturday saying that Transfer Student Orientation is next Friday. So I'm planning to go. Courteney said Mom and I could stay with her at her apartment which is exciting! Honestly, I'm nervous that I'll have a really bad opinion of Morgantown and that I won't want to live in the city after seeing it. Lately I've been feeling a bit negative and it's awful. I'm trying to just stay positive but lately I've been feeling really emotional. And I'm taking Evening Primrose Oil so I don't understand it. It needs to go away!

Memorial Day was fun. We spent it with the Freys. I forgot to give Sharon her candy mold but we will see them on Sunday because Olive is being dedicated. I can give it to her then.

On Tuesday I took the afternoon off to call my advisor and set up a schedule for my fall classes and I wasn't able to get in touch with her. I was mad because she had told me to call her on Tuesday and I missed an afternoon of work for nothing.

Then on Wednesday my parent's lost their job with Ask. I think I'm more upset than they are. Isn't that weird? Dad still has his job with Voortman so that is good. I'm not sure what they're going to do now though. Really, they are fine and I shouldn't get stressed out. I think that with me not knowing what I'm doing I just like to know that my parents have everything under control. Somehow I am still under the dillusion that we humans have control when really only God has control. And I know that God must have other plans for my parents. We know that God provided the Ask job for them, and when they thought they were going to be laid off last October he provided Dad with the Voortman job. I know that he will provide for them. I try to remember that verse (from Job?) "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Today I had OSHA training at work. It was okay. We had a few laughs talking about violence and harassment in the workplace. I know it's not funny but people usually find something to laugh about. Maria claimed that all the patients harass her since the definition of harassment is continuous annoying behaviour. When the trainer talked about sexual harassment Dr. Hartman jokingly said something silly about Pam always telling people to pull up their pants (this is a reference to a situation where a teenage guy wore his pants really low and Pam told him to pull them up because she didn't want to see his belly while they were doing his filling). The trainer looked confused and I said, "she tells that to patients, not to us." I just wanted him to know that Pam doesn't have to tell us to keep our pants up. Just teenage guys. Maybe we should have just kept our mouths shut. We also got to put out a fire with fire extinguishers (outside of course) which was a first for me. I hope I never have to do it again. :)

I finally stopped by the library and picked up a few books. The nice thing about summer is you feel like it's okay to read silly or mindless books and you also have time to get into really good books. I want to read To Kill a Mockingbird again this summer and I also got a bunch of 'light reading' books. My ideal summer would consist of lying in a hammock reading books and drinking tea. Very idyllic, isn't it? I didn't end up getting To Kill a Mockingbird because it wasn't there. There were also a lot of other books I wanted to get that weren't there. I am thinking about taking out another 3 month membership to the Winchester library for the summer. Their library is so much bigger. I did end up taking out quite a few books though and I'll write what I think about them up here.

I cleaned my bathroom up and organized it. It looks really good (for a not quite finished bathroom). I got sick of things being such a mess so I bought some containers, Windex, paper towels and a Swiffer WetJet and went to work. It is so much better! I should post a picture of it on here. Now my goal is to get a lot of my laundry done and to throw away a lot of stuff in my room. I need to pack up winter sweaters and things like that since it's too warm for them now. Maybe I can post before/after photos of that. We'll see.

Okay, this post is huge. I'll stop now.

Monday, May 18, 2009

currently...

Making me happy:
-lovely weather
-school is out!!! Hurray! Whoopee!
-visits with friends
-hammock swings
-highspeed internet (even though I have to leave the house to use it...the fact that it exists makes me glad)
-Biggest Loser finale! Even though my girl Tara didn't win I was so glad the the final 3 were Helen. Tara and Mikey. The transformations they made were incredible. That show is SO inspiring!
-WVU offers ballroom/folk/and square dancing classes. Unfortunately this semester the class is already full. But I'll keep my eye out for next semester. They also offer clogging...can you hear the wheels in my head spinning? Maybe I'll take tae kwon do this semester. Those classes are still open...

Making me less than happy:
-allergies. Blah! It's been about a month since my allergies kicked in...no end in sight.
-dial up internet.
-Lost finale...I think it is rude to leave us with MORE questions and NO answers.
-No more Biggest Loser for awhile. That show saw me through many a Tuesday night. No more Biggest Loser to look forward to every Tuesday at 8 pm. I guess I'll live.
-WVU is not communicating with me. I have no idea which classes to take and I can't get in touch with my advisor. So I'm calling them this afternoon and asking for information.
-no pell grant for me...just loans. Debt. Ick!
-I found out where I'm living and who my roommate will be. She seems nice enough (okay, I spied on her on Myspace...what else is it there for?). But it stresses me out and stress makes me less than happy.
-The tags on my car have expired so now I am driving the toyota which makes Adam unhappy which makes me unhappy.
-I think I herxed last Friday. Boo. :(

But, enough for now. Right now I am rather content and I am about to head off to my sister's house to use her high speed internet and call WVU and figure out what my life is going to be like this fall.

Ciao~

Family time

I love this kid. Isn't she cute? I bought the outfit she is wearing. Just thought I should mention that.Yes, I love her. And I love the swing we are sitting in (it belongs to my sister and Matt). I think it is funny that she is so grumpy in this picture when I am cheesing like a goon.
An unconventional family photo.

Hammocks/hammock swings are probably one of my favorite inventions. I would love to have one in my room.
A hint of a smile? She was pretty grumpy this weekend! It seems like when she is grumpy the way to make her happy is to walk her around. If that doesn't work give her her binky. If that doesn't work give her to Jacqueline. She can fix it.
The mother-daughter bond is an interesting thing. Since my sister has had Olive I have noticed that sometimes we all just need our mommies. They help to make things better.

My destiny?

This crazy looking contraption is a rife machine. It looks hokey. In fact it looks like someone threw it together in their basement. But it is a lyme killer! It actually kills lots of stuff, but the ladies I know are using it primarily to kill off lyme bacteria. On Thursday Becca let me sit in front of it for 30 seconds. The idea is that I think I may have lyme disease and this is an easy, cheap, non-invasive way to see if I may have it without taking an expensive test that may show negative test results (which can be false...you can still have lyme disease if you get a negative test result...sometimes lyme is weird like that).Becca said I probably wouldn't feel anything for a couple of days, but the very next day I woke up feeling very still and very tired. As the day progressed I got more tired, sore and achey. My hips and knees and neck and back and wrists...everything was sore. Then I started feeling really ADD. I must have checked the office several times before I left and I still felt like I was going to forget to turn something off or something. I woke up that morning at 7:15 and was in bed at 9:30 and I was sound asleep for about 11 hours. So I think I herxed. Becca and Natalie and Susan said that a herx is an intesifying of symptoms and I definitely think I had that. I'd like to try again on another day for a longer time to see if I have a worse reaction. I'm kind of in denial that I might have lyme. Mostly because I don't want to jump the gun and say I definitely have a disease, and also because if I admit to myself that I do have a disease that can be potentially life-threatening then I will get extremely depressed. Especially since I am leaving for college this fall and don't want to deal with being sick. But what can you do? Facts are facts and they need to be faced and accepted. So while I'm not going to say that I have lyme, I will continue to test myself and try different treatments and see how I react until I am convinced that I do or don't have this sickness. And I'm going to try to stay positive.

The end.

Happy Birthday~

Last Thurday Becca turned 24! We celebrated by having a little party at Jacqueline's house. We had ham and pineapple pizza and these yummy cupcakes. It was nice to have a little celebration. For me there was even more reason to celebrate. I am officially finished with Blue Ridge CTC! I graduate in a couple of days and while I'm not walking in the graduation ceremony (much to my advisors irritation) I will have a diploma shortly and that makes me very happy. :)


We made sure there were 24 candles. Becca blew them out as quickly as she could since we didn't have them on a plate and Jacqueline wasn't cool with us potentially setting her tablecloth on fire. I wouldn't have enjoyed that much either. I have a fear of fire.

I made this little tea wallet for as a gift for Becca. It holds up to 6 teabags and it fits into a purse easily. It is made of linen and a fabric I have had for awhile that I really like, but don't know what to use for. I only have about 1/2 a yard of it so I can't make anything very big out of it.
After our little pizza party I went grocery shopping with Becca. She hosted a game night on Saturday and was shopping for party food and I got to go along and help. We went back to her house and hung out for awhile. Very relaxing.

The day ended with me trying out the rife machine for 30 seconds (more on that to come) and going back to Jacqueline's house where Holly and I said hi to the guys who came for Bible study and then chose to head home early. We got home around 7:30 and ended up watching The Office finale. Are Pam and Jim going to have a baby? Plus, who else thought Dwight was funnier than he has been in a loooong time? It was a good episode.

That was Thursday. I love having days off. :)

Saturday, May 9, 2009

I take it back

I wrote a post awhile ago saying that I had found ways to deal with my allergies and that they have gotten much better throughout the years. Well, nature must have gotten wind of my boasting and served up a double dish of pollen/oak/ragweed or something because I am just miserable! I'm taking 2 types of allergy medications (one which makes me very drowsy) and still after being outside for a mere few minutes I am sneezing and my throat itches. So I am staying indoors. As much as I want to get out there and enjoy this beautiful weather I would prefer even more to not have an allergy attack. So my throat and nose are okay. My skin is faring well. But my eyes...oh my eyes...for the past week at least my eyes have been burning and watering and itching like crazy and I admit that I have rubbed them. I try not to. I really do. And I've been using lots of eye drops. But when they get going there is just no stopping the discomfort. It feels like there are big lumps inside my eyelids and I feel like I have to get them out. In the end my eyes end up all bloodshot and the rims around my eyes are all red and puffy like I've been crying. My boss told me I looked like I was chinese...I think that's a little drastic but they are definitely swollen and red. And painful.

Does anyone feel sorry for me yet??? (taps fingers...silence...crickets...)

Sunday, May 3, 2009

If I had only consulted the calendar

I would have found that Mother's day isn't until next week! But 2 people told me that Mother's day was today so last night I stayed up and made a card for my mom. The only thing about this card I don't like is that I wrote Happy Mother's Day on the front. I don't like my handwriting, but I was having an awful time with my stamps last night and besides, I don't have one that says Happy Mother's Day. I would have had to use multiple stamps to print it and there wouldn't have been enough room.The most important thing is appreciating my wonderful mother, even if we are a week early! That means we can do it all again next week. :)

I love you, Mom!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Spring-y

I took this photo on my drive home. This is the road to our house. If you stay on it and go past the turn we are the first house on the left. It is looking kind of pretty here lately. You can see the purple trees lining the road. What you can't see so clearly is all the honeysuckle on those bushes that are also lining the road. This street has honeysuckle growing all along it and during the summer it smells so nice down here.

It is spring again. We had a mini-August earlier this week with weather in the 90s(!) but thankfully it is back to the 60s and 70s this weekend. As you can see there is a lot of color outside. Nice greens and pinks and purples and whites (I know white is not technically a color, or is that black?) all over the place. Some of the trees that I pass on my way to work and school look like they are bursting with color!

I was talking to Becca a few weeks ago about the weeping cherry tree at our school and how beautiful it is and how out of place it is because it is in front of an old mill and parking lot. It is huge and it should be someplace that will showcase how gorgeous it is. She told me that weeping cherry trees are grafted trees. That they are weeping willow bases with cherry tree tops and they fuse together and you end up with a weeping cherry tree. Isn't that amazing? You know, it made me think about the verse that says that Jesus has grafted us into the family of God. Grafting is beautiful! And those weeping cherry trees are my favorite tree during the spring-time. They just look like they are dripping flowers everywhere.

But enough about trees. They are beautiful, but boy they are part of a big problem for me! I tell you these allergies are making me crazy! I had a rough time with my eyes today. I have been using drops constantly, but it isn't helping very much. It feels like the skin around it is burned. I'm not sure if that is because the eye drop solution is bothering it or if it is something else.

I found out that I am not eligible for any pell grants this year. I only qualify for a loan that will pay for part of my yearly bill. I am frustrated! I'm going to fill out some scholarship applications and look into finding loans from other places, but it is making me very stressed out! Mom is telling me not to worry so much and to take things one day at a time. I know I am lucky to have been able to get through school so far without accumulating any debt. College is just very expensive. Even though the financial aspect of college has be frustrated and a little bit worried I am excited about going and studying nutrition. I'll be relieved when I have all my ducks in a row and I have some idea of what I'm doing.

I had my doctor appointment on Thursday. Aside from getting all of my allergy prescriptions refilled it was not a very helpful visit. My thyroid is fine and she wants me to go see a new chiropractor who does not accept my insurance, or any insurance for that matter. I probably won't go see her. But I am thinking of visiting a physical therapist to see if that will help my back and neck. So I am still tired and foggy and all that stuff. I think one very important thing to learn in life is you have to take care of yourself and look for your own answers to questions about things like health, etc. You can't rely on a doctor to do it for you. Even the best of doctors cannot know everything about you so you just have to try to be in tune with your body and research for yourself. Basically we are each responsible for our own well-being. You know, I am the reason I want to study nutrition and fitness. I am determined to find a way to become really healthy and hopefully I can help others do the same thing. It's the whole 'physician heal thyself' thing. Only I am not going to become a physician. Not on your life!

These past couple of days have been pretty nice. Laid back and chill...yesterday I worked from 9:30 to 5:30. I rented Bedtime Stories and we watched that. I didn't wake up till about 10:30 this morning. I went out and returned a purchase to Target and I got my hair cut. I'm not sure what I think of it yet, but it feels really nice. I had them do a reviving treatment to restore the proper pH balance in my hair (that's what the hairdresser said). I'll give it a couple of days and then I'll probably like it. It has been almost a year since I had my hair cut! I think since last June? I have a phobia of hairdressers. :)

It's late and even though I slept in I am already tired. I think there will be a little crafting going on soon...especially once finals are over! Freedom is so close...it is in sight. Just a week and a half away. :)

My new apron!


I used a Simplicity pattern to make it (I'd tell you the pattern number and everything only I'm too lazy to run downstairs and look it up). It was not all that easy to make. I had some trouble putting the waistband in. It is crooked, but because it's an all over print I don't think it is too noticeable. At least that is what I am telling myself!

It fits much better than the other aprons I have made for myself do and I made it with extra long ties only because on all my other aprons the ties are always too short. I wanted at least one apron that I could thrown on and tie into a big bow in the back and now I have one.

It is funny how much fun aprons can be. You really do have more fun cooking and even cleaning while wearing an apron. Not that I have been doing much of either lately because I am still not feeling very well, but it is there if I, or anyone else who wants to cook or clean, need it.