Freeze Frame Time

On my to do list

2012-02-13T20:01:00.002-06:00

So at some point I would like to blog about what I've been doing in school and the different projects I've had them do. However that would require me to take my camera to school AND remember to take the pictures. So maybe this weekend I'll sit down and actually type of the blogs.

Since the last post...I've gone home almost every weekend. What can I say, I hate living in the middle of nowhere where my neighbors won't even look at me and say hello when I'm outside. We had been having WONDERFUL weather for being February, but last night we had a snow storm move in and I got around 2" of snow. Just enough to delay school a few hours so I could sleep in on a Monday.

I did do something new this weekend. I found a tutorial on a blog for a tutu and had pinned it so that I could make Baby Nugget her first tutu. PS...Baby Nugget is Branden and Sharla's little girl that will be making her appearance sometime in early April. She has no name and so Braden named her Baby Nugget and its the only thing that has stuck. Anyways, her tutu is freaking ADORABLE! It's hot pink, black and silver with sparkles. I'll take a picture and post it after the shower this weekend. I need to make one more tutu that will be purple, black and silver. I'm also thinking she needs a couple of onesies to go with the tutus.
Having a niece has made me decide that I need a sewing machine. Anyone want to teach me how to sew?

Well, it's time to go to bed. I know that a post without pictures is boring, so I promise the next post will have pictures.

Whitney-1 Home Improvement-0

2011-12-05T19:06:00.003-06:00

So I had to do my first big fix living on my own with no maintenance people to help. My tub has been clogged and slowly draining since about a week after I moved in. So I finally got up the courage to buy some draino and fix the tub. I have to say it was a SUCCESS!!! The clog is gone and my tub drains just like its suppose to. Now, I have a door that lets way too much cold air in that needs to have something put on the door frame to stop it from coming in.

PS....we had our first snow of the winter today. A whopping 2 inches. I had to go to school(of course!) and I thought I was going to die cause I couldn't see the road. But I survived and no one or anything was hurt in the process.

Long time, No blog

2011-10-29T12:47:00.002-05:00

So last time I wrote Bella was sick and I had been approved as a new hire in Bowie. Well, Bella passed away a few days after I wrote that post. She's been gone for a couple of months and I still miss her. I was looking forward to taking her with me to my new house and I didn't get to do that.

I moved out of Mom and Dad's house in early August. I found a cute, little 2-1 house in a tiny town about 25 min north of Bowie. I'm realizing that living in a tiny town with ONE stoplight, TWO gas stations and the only place to eat is a DQ is not my idea of perfect living. Haha! But, I'm going to stay here until the summer and then decide if I want to live in a bigger city like Denton, Decatur, N. Fort Worth area. It would mean a longer commute but it may just be worth it.

I started working in August and boy has it been a challenge. A good challenge 98% of the time. I can't go into a whole lot of details but it has truly made me think some days if I really want to be a teacher. I know I'm meant to be a teacher and that the first year of teaching is the hardest. I'm hopeful that we have made the correct adjustments and that hopefully the rest of the school year will be much better. My mom has been such an awesome support system. I can't tell how many times I've called her leaving work and end up crying cause of something that happened that day or that week.

During this whole time I've been dealing with lots of pain in my back/hip. I finally got private insurance (HOORAY!!) and the doctor did blood work and it came back with some high levels for inflammation and some antibodies test came back abnormal. I've been seeing mom's rheumatologist but he isn't too sure as to what is causing my pain. I'm scheduled for an MRI on Wednesday and hopefully that will lead us in a direction and give me some relief. It's no fun trying to teach physics/AP Physics when it hurts to stand, sit, move.

The last thing is that my sister got MARRIED!! Josh and Laura got married on Sept 24. I was the maid of honor, Sharla was a bridesmaid and Braden was the ring bearer. The wedding was very pretty and I think everyone had a great time. I don't have any pictures because I was too busy running around keeping people on schedule. I did leave my camera with Nenna(yes, she did drive up for the wedding weekend and was a HUGE help) but she didn't get to take many pictures either. I'll have to steal some from mom and Laura.

What a week!

2011-06-26T13:35:00.004-05:00

Last week was very emotional. My dog, Isabella has been sick for 3 weeks and the vet couldn't figure out why. She had managed to lose 10 pounds in that time and still refused to eat. So the vet suggested that we leave her with him for a day and he would take x-rays and blood work. Well, the results were less than great. She had pneumonia in her right lung lobe and a mass in her stomach. He gave us a 75% chance that it was a tumor or a mass of cancer cells. The only way to be 100% was to do more testing but he didn't have the equipment and we would have to see a specialist. Only problem...they would probably have to sedate her and with her having pneumonia it wouldn't be a great outcome. After crying and crying and some more crying, I made the decision to treat the pneumonia and then go from there. As of today she still won't eat, but she's drinking more. She has stopped throwing up and isn't breathing as loud. I think mom is going to call the vet tomorrow and then we'll go from there.

As if we didn't have enough on our plates, monday night dad and I went to the Rangers game. It was not one of our favorites, haha! I was still emotional, the lady sitting next to me kept leaning over into my personal space. Dad and I decided that we would stick to our normal seats and try and buy an extra seat so that we don't have people crouching into our personal space. The Rangers did awesome, they played a lot of small ball and I think there was only one HR. The final score was something like 8-3.

I also found out that the school board in Bowie approved me as one of the new hires for the coming year!! I'm headed out there tomorrow to sign my contract, go over any workshops that I need to attend this summer AND the most exciting part....I get to meet with a Realtor. I'm not looking to buy a house, but I'm hoping he will be able to show me some rental properties.

And because who wants a long post without a picture, here's one of my favorites from a few weeks ago. Sharla, Braden and I went to go get snow cones and then we went to a park. Braden LOVED his snow cone.

Moving along

2011-06-17T09:33:00.002-05:00

Well, my contract for Red Oak ended on June 4 and I became unemployed once again. Thankfully I have a friend who knew of several jobs available at her school district and put me in touch with the principal. I interviewed for the position on Tuesday, got an offer for the job on Wednesday and officially accepted the position today. So for the 2011-2012 school year I will be teaching Physics at Bowie HS in Bowie, TX. I'm not completely confident in my Physics knowledge so I will be spending my free time this summer re-learning physics. Unfortunately or fortunately, I will have to move closer to the school. Right now my commute would be 1.5 hrs with NO traffic and that's just way too long for me. So it looks like I will also start searching for a place to live too.

It only took 4 months

2011-05-07T19:45:00.002-05:00

Well, last time I posted I mentioned that it was time to look for a job. Sometime in the beginning of April, I had applied for a chemistry/astronomy teaching position. Well a few weeks later, I received a phone call asking if I was still interested in the position. About an hour later, the principal called and did a phone interview. That went really well and he called me the next day asking if I could come in for a "visit". My visit lasted a little under an hour and I was feeling fairly confident. He called me during lunch on Monday to let me know that I GOT THE JOB!!!!!! And even better, he wanted me to start ASAP! I received a contract for the remainder of the school year and based on what happens in the Texas Legislature I hopefully will get the contract for next year.

My first day was last wednesday and I spent the week mainly shadowing the other teachers in my dept and learning their computer programs, lesson plans, attendence, behavior issues, you name it we went over it. I spent this past week in the classroom on my own. I LOVE it! Yes, the kids are still testing me but I still love teaching. I was even able to do a lab with my chemistry and astronomy students. This week as been one of the best weeks and one of the most tiring weeks I've had.

Step 1: Finding a job!

2011-01-10T20:21:00.002-06:00

So since I've graduated, it's time to find a career. I have decided that I want to teach High School science. This shouldn't be too surprising except for the fact that I can't find any sub jobs for high school. The only jobs that I get or that teachers request me for are first grade.

Since I've decided what I want to do, the fun part comes with getting my certification. The plan is to apply to the program AND take my content test this month. So hopefully I will be taking classes and able to attend job fairs come March. I've already picked a program that seems to be reputable and is able to work with my summer job. The fun part is studying for my content test. I'm most worried about the physics part, especially since I only took 2 semesters and it was short semesters at that.

I did have one job interview this past week that started out very promising, but once I got there it went downhill. I was told it was a science position and the vice-principal was thrilled with my science background, but once I got there it was actually a technology position. Then she left to get the department head and while waiting she pulled out her iphone and started playing on it. Once the department head got there, she pulled out a nail file and clippers and started doing her nails. I wanted to get up and walk out of her office, but I didn't. So.....I'm not exactly hopeful about the job, but we shall see.

"Whatever Works....even if it doesn't"

2011-01-03T22:47:00.004-06:00

The day after graduation, a mere 3.5 hours after I was able to go to sleep, Nenna and I got up and boarded a plane to FLORIDA!!! This was our graduation present to ourselves. We were staying in Fort Lauderdale and had plans to visit Miami(South Beach) and take a cruise to the Bahamas. The plane ride should have been a great clue to how our trip was going to go. We are finally able to board the plane and as soon as we pull away from the gate, a passenger passes out and we have to pull back into the gate. The sad part was when his wife asked the attendant if she was still going to make her cruise, not if her husband was ok. So after about 30 minutes, they get off the plane and the plane gets cleaned up. We attempt to pull away again and ANOTHER passenger gets sick cause she let her blood sugars get too low. So she gets escorted off the plane to get medical attention. About an hour and half after we were suppose to leave, we finally take off.
When we got to Florida it was BEAUTIFUL! We went from wearing a thick winter coat and 20 degree weather to 70 degree weather. We got stuck waiting at the airport for about 1.5 hours because our hotel room wasn't ready. The transportation for the trip was to take cabs, because both of us are under 25 it was expensive to rent a car for 6 days. Little did we know that taking a cab would be about the same rate.
Day 1 in Florida was just spent visiting the area around our hotel and figuring out what we were going to do the next few days. We only had a few set things to and the rest we were going to play by ear. That night we went and tried out a mexican restaurant, which was nothing like the mexican we eat in Texas.
Day 2 in Florida was very adventurous. The plan for the day had been to go parasailing over the Atlantic Ocean and then relax on Fort Lauderdale beach or go to Hollywood Beach. The weather gods had a different opinion. When we got to the location all of a sudden it got dark and windy so it was decided that it wasn't safe to go parasailing and we would try again tomorrow. But we did get to enjoy a little of Fort Lauderdale beach until it got too cold. And by too cold it went from 70 to about 63 with a lot of wind.

This is me on Fort Lauderdale Beach enjoying the Atlantic Ocean.
Day 3 in Florida began when we realized we had already spent $300 in taxi cabs and didn't want to pay anymore, so we started out searching for a rental car and found one for under $250 and didn't require a deposit for being under 25. Nenna and I are still wondering how we missed this well known company. After we got our rental car we went back to the parasailing place to attempt a second time. We actually made it out into the ocean and was set to go until the captain released his chute and the wind carried it off and started pulling the boat back with the chute and the boat being in first gear the entire time. Nenna and I decided it wasn't worth trying a third time, since obviously someone didn't want us to go parasailing. Of course the captain said we could get our money back but the owner tried to give us jet skis, which aren't the same thing on any level. After several hours of playing phone tag with the owner and the employee trying to tell me he couldn't give me a refund cause he didn't have the card machine when he really did, the cops were called. Once the cops called the owner, he showed up in 20 minutes and the other employee brought out the card machine and gave me my refund. Since by this time most of our afternoon was over, we decided to walk up and down A1A and buy gifts for the family and eat at a local restaurant.

The sunset over the Atlantic Ocean

"Cruising down A1A....."
Day 4 we took a day cruise to the Bahamas!! This was the highlight of our trip. We went to Grand Bahama Island and got to enjoy a few hours on the beach as well as do some shopping. I would love to go back and actually stay several days and visit all of the islands. My facebook status that night was "Got to see the sunrise in Fort Lauderdale and then see the sunset in the Bahamas". The only down parts of the trip were the very rough waters in Florida and then not getting my passport stamped.

Day 5 was spent with us driving down to Miami and enjoying a wonderful afternoon in South Beach. We got up that morning with no set plans except for a dinner cruise. So we set out to explore Miami. All I can say is that it's a different world down there. There is even a section of South Beach designated for gays, how do I know this? This is the one section that we picked to relax on and somehow missed all the rainbow flags flying. It wasn't until we saw some guys kissing that we realized and by then we had already paid for several hours in a cabana and didn't want to go find a new one. So it was definitely an adventure. We left Miami and made it to the dinner cruise with 5 minutes to spare. There are no pictures of the dinner cruise because I was in shock too much to take pictures. We thought it was a sightseeing cruise and then dinner on the boat. However it was a sightseeing cruise, that took us to a remote island for dinner AND then proceeded to have a show straight out of 1970s. It didn't help that by this time, we were DONE! We were ready to come home.
After we came back to port, we got in our car and went straight to the hotel. I was able to pack pretty much all of my stuff that night and didn't have a lot to do in the morning.
The flight home was MUCH better! I was so excited to get back to Texas. While I love the beach and I needed the vacation, there is no place like home and there's no better place to sleep than your own bed. If you've made it this far, go get yourself a cookie and a dr. pepper.

I did it!!

2010-12-29T10:55:00.008-06:00

On December 17, 2010 I walked across the stage at TWU in Denton to receive my diploma!! I still can't believe that I did it. The day started really early since the college of Arts and Sciences was the first ceremony and we live an hour away from campus. The ceremony went relatively fast, I think it was a little over an hour and half. After the ceremony, they had us walk outside and back into the foyer to meet our families. It was sooo cold outside. I think the temps were in the mid 30's. Not my idea of a good time!

Mom, Me, My Grandma and Laura after graduation

My grandpa, Me and My grandma

This is one of my favorite pictures. My Papa wanted to hold the diploma case since he said he earned it. I'm so glad his health has improved to where he could watch me graduate.

Laura and I

Mom, Dad and I

The rest of the day was spent getting ready for my party that night. I have no pictures cause I was so dead tired. I had a hard time sleeping that night because at 4am, Nenna and I had to be up and getting ready for our flight to Florida!!!!!

My oh my!

2010-12-02T18:19:00.002-06:00

November was a very busy month for me. The announcements that I ordered in October arrived in the mail and look very pretty with my name written on them. I've also been subbing like crazy. So far I've subbed for 8th grade science, 7th grade math and then 1st grade. I really have learned a ton from this experience and discovered that I actually do want to be a teacher. I'm thinking about doing 8-12, composite science which will allow me to teach biology, chemistry, physics, integrated physics and chemistry, and anatomy/physiology. So it will definitely give me more opportunities to find a full time job. I'm even looking into leaving the metroplex BUT staying in Texas in order to find a teaching job in those grade levels.

In other news, school is going very well. This time last year I was struggling in my molecular class and just praying I would get a D instead of failing it. What a difference a year makes. I just got back my third exam of the semester and I have a B average for the class and should maintain it with the final. Even lab has been completely easier this semester, my grades have at least doubled in every area. My online Criminal Law class is going well, so well that I have started to slack off on listening to podcasts cause I'm studying for molecular. And while nothing is official until AFTER finals, it does look like I will graduate!!!!!

So graduation is 16 days away and I leave for Florida in 17 days! So excited to get away and be on the ocean and listen to the waves crash into the sand.

Long time...No post

2010-11-08T11:09:00.006-06:00

So it's been July since I've posted. I'm such a bad blogger. So let's see what have I been doing since July.

JULY
For my birthday I took a little road trip to Houston to visit my best friend, eat at my favorite mexican food place and enjoy a little trip to the beach.

This is Lupe Tortilla aka one of the BEST mexican food places in Texas.

Me in the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston. The water was surprisingly clean and not that brown.
July also included me finishing Physics 1 with a B!!! And then a week later start Physics 2. Physics 2 was a lot harder mainly cause my teacher really had no clue what he was talking about and would get really, really upset if you asked questions.

August

August brought Physics 2 to a close, and me happily taking a C! I also started my final semester of college! This semester I'm taking 7 hours. I have to retake Molecular Cell Biology and then I'm also taking Criminal Law. During this month I also completed orientation to be a sub for Arlington ISD. I was also able to go to 2 Rangers game in one week. I had free tickets from voting for the Rangers in the All-Star game. Dad went to one game and then my friend Michelle went to another game. I think the Rangers won both games. I know we played Minnesota Twins and ended up either sweeping them or winning the series 3-1.

September

September brought a whole lot of school and a day or two of subbing. Also this month brought my Texas Rangers to the playoffs. They were able to win the AL West Division in Oakland! I believe they won with a 9 or 10 game lead. Either way, this would be the first post season trip for the Rangers in 11 years. To say I was happy is an understatement.

This is the sign in left field that says "American Leauge West Division Champions"
With the Rangers going to the postseason, Dad and I bought tickets for the American League Division Series.

October

October started out wonderful but ended on a sour note. Dad and I went to see the Rangers play in Game 4 of the ALDS. The Rangers lost, took the series back to Tampa Bay and won Game 5!! The Texas Rangers were headed to the American League Championship Series. This was the first time in franchise history that the Rangers won a playoff series. Naturally I had to buy tickets to the ALCS. The Rangers had home field advantage and I had tickets to game 1 which fell on a Friday night so Dad couldn't go. My friend Jeff stepped in and happily took his place.

This is Jeff and I with our "rally towels". The Rangers were up 5-1 in the bottom of the 8th inning and our bullpen had a complete meltdown and we lost the game. But this story has a happy ending. The Rangers beat the Yankees in 6 games and were now AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!! And of course this meant we were going to the WORLD SERIES!! I wasn't able to go to any of the World Series games cause I couldn't afford the tickets. My Rangers lost in 5 games. But I'm sooooooo proud of them. To go from never winning a playoff series to playing in the World Series is a huge accomplishment.

The end of October was horrible. The Rangers lost in the World Series and I ended up in the hospital for the first asthma attack of the winter. I was at my grandparents house, woke up feeling weird and off. So I left their house on Saturday. By Saturday night I was doing treatments every 3 hours. Mom and I went to the Urgent Care Clinic on Sunday, got a hefty treatment and steroid shot. By Monday I was even worse, so Laura took me back to the clinic. When we got there my oxygen stats were in the low 90's and they couldn't hear any air moving. So I got a one way ticket to the floor. I got to spend the next 4 days on 3L of oxygen, endure many pokes cause the insane amount of steroids were making my sugars get out of control. I was finally able to come home that Friday afternoon.

November

I'm playing catch up in school. I've purchased my cap and gown for graduation along with the fancy announcements to go with them. The countdown is on....I graduate in 39 days, I have 9 classes left and 40 days til I get on a plane to Florida!!! Yep, my graduation present is a trip to Florida(and the Bahama's cruise!) with my best friend. I can't wait!

On November 4, Braden turned TWO! Can you believe that? My baby is growing up. Mom and I took him some balloons and a cupcake on his actual birthday and then on Saturday was his party. He was soo cute, he just loved all the attention.

Well, I think we are all caught up. In the coming weeks, we have Thanksgiving, a Lab Report(hopefully the last one I will EVER have to write again), Senior Breakfast at TWU, Finals, GRADUATION and then my Trip. I get back from Florida the day before Christmas Eve!! So until then, GO RANGERS!!!!!

Has it been TWO months??

2010-07-03T21:48:00.006-05:00

I've been really bad about keeping up with this blog since school got out in May.

On May 15, Mom graduated from UTA and we had a huge party. Thankfully the Texas heat wasn't too bad.

Mom, Pops and I after graduation

The whole family at Mom's party.

After mom's graduation, things slowed down and I was able to enjoy the first part of my summer break. Grades were posted sometime middle may and thankfully I made all A's and B's. Summer school started the first week of June. I had to re-take physics 1 and physics 2. The first session was called "fast track" and its a 4 week course, 5 days a week. Talk about intense. So I really didn't have much of a life. I managed to go to church on Sunday's and that's about it. No FHE and no institute. First session ended yesterday and I made a B!!! Its such a huge difference when the teacher actually wants you to know the material. On July 13th I will start 2nd session and its a 5 week, 4 days/week. So not as intense.

I almost forgot....about a week ago I did something that I have been waiting so long to do. I applied for GRADUATION!!! I can't believe that its time for me to graduate. Well, it will be in about 5 months.

And because everyone needs to look at a cute kid now and again...here's my favorite nephew!

12th Annual Bowen Classic

2010-05-03T20:32:00.010-05:00

Yesterday Laura and I drove to Waco, TX to support one of our favorite artists and the benefit concert he was holding. I had won tickets, so that's one the main reasons we drove over 3 hours. Some of our favorite bands were there, including Cody Canada(Cross Canadian Ragweed), Stoney LaRue, Randy Rogers (suppose to be the band, at least I though so), and Wade Bowen. There were a few "surprise" guests, LeeAnn Womack and Micky and the Motorcars decided to show up and sing a few songs. There were other artists there too, but I'm not too fond of their music.

Laura and I before the concert started

Josh Abbott Band: not one of my favorites, but he's not too bad.

Kyle Park Band, I enjoy his new single out on the radio, but probably wouldn't go see him in a full show.

Brandon Rhyder. He showed up with just his guitar and was AWESOME!

Cody Canada: He was suppose to play with his full band, but 2 nights before he was hit in the head with a glass bottle, so he wasn't feeling too grand. He played about 5 songs and called it a day.

Cody Canada and Stoney LaRue

Randy Rogers: LOVE HIM!! A little disappointed that he didn't play longer or with the whole band, but I guess I will have to be happy that he showed.

Micky Braun (Micky and the Motorcars): He came on with Randy and they did a song swap. So he didn't play many songs either.

Wade Bowen
Wade is the one who put this all together and he did a great job. From what I saw this afternoon, he raised $105,000 for Postpartum Support International. He was awesome, played some new stuff as well as older stuff.

We left during Wade's set cause we had a 3 hour drive back. I pulled into my apartment around 2:15am and then had to get back up for a 8am class. I've been dragging today.

Opening Day 2010

2010-05-01T20:58:00.005-05:00

Earlier this month, my Dad, my Grandpa and myself went to Opening Day 2010 for the Texas Rangers. We have been waiting on this day since, well Opening Day 2009. Ha! This year was a little different since I had major back surgery 4 days before. When the surgeons were going over the procedure and recovery time, one of my main questions was "Will I be out of the hospital in time for opening day?" One of the surgeons got my humor, the other one was quite confused.

Dad and I before the game.

My Grandpa and I before the game.

The American Flag that took up the entire outfield of the ballpark

The F-?? that flew over before the game.

Some of the players, trainers and coaches for this year's team.

The game was FANTASTIC. Both teams were hitting well. The game came down to the 9th inning and was won by the Rangers in walk-off fashion. If I could've jumped, I would have.

Past 2 months in facebook status updates

2010-04-07T12:17:00.002-05:00

So until I have to time to write a complete recap of the wonderful/horrible past week I've had...here are a couple of facebook status updates to fill you in!

So lets start with the beginning of March, shall we?

March 5: had a fantastic night!

March 6: she's got her Daddy's tongue and temper, her mouth could use a filter, God shook his head the day he built her. (It's a song, but oh so true)

March 7: 4 days left til she gets a 10 day break from school!!!

March 9: There's something sexy about the rain, she said as it came pouring down, it feels like kisses on my skin, she spread her arms and spun around.

March 11: is OFFICIALLY on spring break! Goodbye Denton, I shall see you in 10 days.

March 12: is headed to eat lunch with my mom and Mammaw, then pedicures and movie!!!!(Boy did this status cause some drama with a certain brother and his wife)

pt. 2: just a couple more days without allergy medicine...I can survive, I can survive, I can survive.

March 17: allergy testing..check, sunshine yellow walls primed...check, the swolken arms from the testing and then painting...not the smartest idea I've had, but at least I don't have yellow walls anymore!

March 19: why do all these people want me to do homework on spring break? Don't they understand that its suppose to be a BREAK from school??

March 22: is just like a maze where all of the walls continually change.

March 24: things overheard in our apartment: "leave me alone, I'm reading about the Drosophila fly". haha! (oh...I just love my roommate)

March 25: has pulled off the unimaginable!!!! (made an A)

March 27: I move on like a sinner's prayer, letting go like a levy breaks, walk away as if I don't care, learn to shoulder my mistakes, I'm built to fade like your favorite song.

March 29: let the record state that I, Whitney Elkins, does NOT play well with others and to that affect, I do NOT like working in groups

March 31: will be having another back surgery at some point tomorrow, squeezing me in last minute. Hopefully this will remove all traces of infection once and for all.

April 2: is slowly recovering from surgery yesterday. The infection was everywhere, so thankful they got it out before it cause more problems. Hopefully leaving the hospital tomorrow, just in time for Rangers opening Day 2010!

April 3: just laying around waiting for the surgeon's daily visit and hoping he shows up sooner rather than later.

April 4: It is wonderful that He should care for me enough to die for Me. Happy Easter!

April 5: has made it to Opening Day 2010. Go RANGERS!!!
later that day: RANGERS WIN!!!!!! best opening day!!!

Once there was a snowman!

2010-02-11T13:07:00.004-06:00

It's been snowing since around 3am this morning. This equates to roughly 4 inches and still coming down hard. I was allowed 10 minutes to go outside with my roommate and build our FIRST snowman. So without further ado...I present

JACK FROST!!!

He's a very popular man:

I don't think he looks that bad, for our first time building one. My roommate is from Houston and hasn't seen it snow like this ever. She was so excited about it...she tried to steal the snow...haha!!

So I shold explain...

2010-02-09T14:23:00.003-06:00

I would've done this sooner, but between school and being sick, I've neglected the poor ole blog.

I was diagnosed at 18 with Stage 2 Endometriosis. Since then I've had one laser laproscopic surgery, countless birth control pills and then 2 6-month cycles of Lupron
(suppresses hormones). All of this with little success. I was told by a horrible doctor that my only chance was to get pregnant and with the current situation, that's not likely or possible. ha! Anyways, I've been on a new pill since August, with no breaks(no taking placebo pills) and was having some success. The only problem is that after 2-3 months, my body gets used to the pill and I start having the same issues. I had a "breakthrough" period that started on Jan 4 and has yet to stop. So around day 19, I placed a call into my doctor asking what we could do to stop this. The nurse calls me back and takes everything I said the wrong way. She thought I didn't want a period at all (which sounds nice, but is UNREALISTIC!). I tried telling her that's not what I wanted, I just wanted a 4-10 day period, not an 21+ day. She says she has to talk to the doctor and call me back. She calls back 3 days later(so now we're on day 22) and says that my only option is to have a hysterectomy. Then she asks for my "social" info(marriage, previous pregnancies, children, age) everything that's already in my chart. She then says.."Yeah, I don't think the doctor would do a hysterectomy, but she doesn't know what your other options are". Seriously?? So I have an appointment scheduled to see her on March 9th and we will be doing something different but not nearly as drastic as a hysterectomy.

And to top it off...I was hospitalized last week for the 2nd time in 4 months for this stupid asthma. This winter has been particularly rough on my lungs. I go to the doctor tomorrow and I hope he puts me back on some preventative medicine.

Before I got sick and just after the semester started I did have some good weeks. I will try and post pictures/stories sometime in the next week or so. In the next week I have one lab report due, 4 tests and some critical thinking paper.

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Simple question

2010-01-22T10:50:00.001-06:00

What kind of doctor would suggest to a 23 yr old, single, no kids to have a hysterectomy? Cause mine just did, not to my face of course. But through her nurse.

I'm fuming...you can't tell me with all the technology we have, there isn't another to help me without a hysterectomy.

2 Snow posts in a row

2009-12-24T21:00:00.001-06:00

Well, I never thought the day would come. It looks like Texas us getting a WHITE CHRISTMAS!! It has snowed literally all day, granted it is only about an inch deep, but still. I don't remember ever having a white Christmas.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!

Landry playing in the snow.

Landry eating the snow!!

BREAKING NEWS!!

2009-12-02T08:46:00.000-06:00

It SNOWED this morning, Dec. 2, 2009. It SNOWED in North Texas, the same state that doesn't get this cold til End of January to mid February. Pictures will not be coming...I'm NOT going outside. It's too cold.

1 week post-op follow up

2009-12-01T23:24:00.002-06:00

Today I went back to the surgeon's office for my follow up. The recovery has been anything but easy. I was released from the hospital on Thursday morning but was under strict instructions to stay home. Thursday night was plain awful. I started getting sick to my stomach and running a fever. This didn't go away until Monday when I was able to get some anti-nausea medicine. The pain has been really bad, but I think most of it was that I couldn't take the pain meds and keep them down. But this wasn't for nothing. The surgeon really thought that something else was going on and he was going to have to remove the whole system, he even had booked an OR room just in case this morning. I somehow got extremely blessed with my doctors. He was so worried about me and the system, that he made me do blood work and then come back after to discuss it. But thankfully, it's HEALING PROPERLY!!!! Thank you Lord!

The best news is that I don't have to go back for TWO WEEKS!!! And that is when they will discuss taking out the superficial stitches.
The other good news is that I had a HUGE lab report due today, but had been unable to work on it over the break because of my surgery. I emailed my lab TA and she gave me and extra 2 days to finish it.

So I didn't make it

2009-11-25T17:03:00.002-06:00

So I didn't last til December for the surgery. I ended up going to the doctor last week and he put me on long term antibiotics in hopes of holding off the infection and not have the surgery til I got out of school. Fast forward to Friday night.

I fell in the shower and hit the bad side of my back on edge of the tub and since then I had drainage that was very dark green as well as lots of pain. So I went and saw the doctor yesterday and to no one's surprise he decided to do the surgery now. So I was admitted to the day surgery hospital last night for a course of antibiotics, I had the horrible surgery this morning and they are making me stay another night for more antibiotics and then hopefully I will get to go home in the morning.

The down side is that I'm not allowed to travel at all. Which means no going to my grandmas, no delicious thanksgiving meal. This may have resulted in a crying session this afternoon after surgery, but I can't confirm nor deny this.

I'm so thankful for my mom. She's been up here every chance she can to help me. She's also going to make me a make-shift thanksgiving dinner tomorrow since we can't go to my grandma's. I'm so grateful for all that she does. What would I do without her...let's hope I never have to find out.

Update

2009-11-13T22:14:00.001-06:00

Well, I called the doctors office this morning. My back has been so swollen and in a LOT of pain since the ultrasound. The nurse called me back and let me know that the doctor still wasn't too sure if he wanted to do. So I have an appointment with him on Tuesday at 1pm. Hopefully he will have some answers and we can get on the road to fixing the problem.

Best Night and Worst Day

2009-11-10T22:02:00.005-06:00

Last night I had an amazing opportunity to hang out with one of my great friends as well as meet a couple of Dallas Cowboys' players. A win-win situation in my book. This event was held at the House of Blues in Dallas. The main reason was that the Cowboys' were filming a talk show. So not only did I get to hang out and talk to the players, I then got to watch them film the show. I think we were there for over 4 hours just hanging out and talking.
Anyways here are the pictures of me and Tashard Choice(#23, running back)

* I don't know what I was doing with my eyes, but I should've taken another pic.

Here is me and Gerald Sensabaugh (#43, Safety)

Two awesome moments from last night.
1. There were a couple of girls there that were wearing clothes that left pretty much nothing to the imagination. My friend and I were having a conversation with Choice and we somehow started talking about their clothing choice and how inappropriate it was. I was so impressed with him, some of the sports guys that I've met, would've been all over them and not talked to anyone else.
2. And to that, there were several other people there that Choice could've been talking to, but Choice would go take care of business by talking to others and then come right back to my friend and I and start talking again. How freaking cool? It took me a long time to calm down enough to go to sleep. My friend was lucky in that she works overnight, so she didn't have to calm down to go to sleep.

Now onto the worst day. Today I thought I was suppose to see a pain specialist, however that's not what was originally what happened. The appointment was actually to meet with a psychologist who would determine if I could handle treatment by a pain specialist. He went through all his crazy questions, then asked why I was there, I gave him my reasons(back pain for almost a year and there's a hole next to my stimulator in my back that's been draining since August). He said, well I don't know why you're here then, most patients that come here are looking for stronger drugs or a stimulator implant. Where as I just want someone to help figure out why it's hurting and how to fix it.

So he says that he thinks I should be able to see a pain specialist, he will finish the paperwork, submit it and I would get an appointment with the specialist in the mail. He leaves and in comes a tech. I ask her for a note for school and she says yes.

**Here is where I think I had Angels looking out for me**

The pain specialist was standing RIGHT NEXT to me. So he's talking to the psychologist and then turns around to ask who is the manufacturer of my stim. I tell him and he suggests that I just need a readjustment. I inform him that there isn't a lead to cover my back, just leads for my limbs. He then says some things and out of nowhere I tell him about the hole next to the stim and how it's draining pus/blood.

He looks at his Case Manager and tells her that I need to be seen sometime THIS WEEK. Far cry from looking like Dec/Jan. So the case manager asks me to go to her office and we will try and get me in this week. Not 2 seconds later, his nurse assistant comes walking through the door saying the doctor wants to see me NOW. I get in a room and he walks in, I tell him the situation, how many antibiotics I've been on and how they haven't helped. He starts listing possibilities, but says most likely I need surgery. He starts poking around the area, I explain a little more about what it has done for the past 4 months. He tells me I need an ultrasound to look for any fluid around the stim, indicating a true infection. I'm thinking, "oh great, I will still have to come back down some point this week and miss more class". Nope, the Angels were looking out for me. The soonest appointment was at the end of November and the doctor said that was unacceptable. So they let me go to a private waiting area so that I'm not around sick people while they try to get me in sooner. About 5 minutes later, the nurse comes out with a stack of paperwork, telling me I need to head to the building behind them, that they were working me in TODAY.

I get to the other clinic, sign in and was told it could be awhile. Now I should mention that I had only 4 hours of sleep and had yet to eat and it was now almost Noon. The ultrasound tech comes to get me and then tells me she's never done a ultrasound on an implant before. So guess what she does...she goes and finds the pain specialist that was in the building doing who knows what and had him come assist with the ultrasound. So I would get answers RIGHT THERE.

The results were not good. There were quote "several" pockets of fluid. He also found a track of tissue that could be the main source of infection, but couldn't get a accurate result, because the ultrasound couldn't read beneath the battery. He told me that I had earned myself a trip to the operating room. But before they would go in and remove the infected tissue, and move the battery over, he wanted to do a dye contrast to see how long the track was. He also mentioned that he would be meeting the original doctor in about 10 minutes for lunch meetings and they would discuss my case there.

So where are we now?? I was hoping to have heard back from the doctor's office this afternoon, but didn't. So I think I should hear from them sometime tomorrow with a date and time for a outpatient surgery. I'm trying to be selfish, but I'm really hoping that the surgery happens on a Thursday afternoon or Friday, or they wait til Thanksgiving break. I can't afford to miss any more labs this semester. This is risky for several reasons, but the main one is that if the infection has spread to any part of the stimulator unit, it all has to come out. And I don't think they would put a new one in for a while, to allow it to heal. Without the stimulator its pretty much a guarantee that my RSD will come back. This could also be the source of my back pain, but we won't know for sure.

How thankful I am that for some reason, I was there at the same time the pain specialist was. I'm thankful that he happened to pay attention to ask me questions instead of the psychologist and that I was able to bring up the issue right there, when I was even thinking about it. I'm also thankful that he had a sense of urgency, which is something that none of the other doctors I had seen had.

My how time flies!

2009-10-08T15:34:00.001-05:00

For some reason I keep checking this blog and think "Man, she needs to update it" and then I realize that it's me! So, since I'm putting off doing 3 days worth of homework and studying for a midterm, why not update. So check below for a couple of different posts, some deserve there own special place.
Pictures of my favorite little guy!!!

So what's new?

2009-10-08T15:15:00.003-05:00

Well, here is why I haven't posted in the last month or so.

School: This semester has been horrible. For the past 3.5 weeks I've had at least 1 test and 1 lab report due each week. Not to mention that next week I have a midterm, lab report, and 3 days worth of homework due. Not much fun happening here. I don't know if I mentioned it here, but when I moved in at the beginning of the semester my roommate was definitely unconventional. She was three times my age, married and truly acted like my mom/grandma. It was not working out, but thankfully my friend that lived across the hall from us had an open room. So after talking to a bunch of people we were able to get clearance that I could switch rooms. I'm so happy here. This arrangement has worked out better than I could have ever imagined.

Work: I don't have time to work. I come home from school, eat some food, take a nap or rest time and then start studying for the rest of the day.

Social life: Non-existant. One of my friends from Arlington moved up to Denton this semester to go to grad school at TWU and if it wasn't for the fact that she works in the biology department, I probably wouldn't have seen her in the past 3 weeks.

Health: Fair. Thanks to the stress that falls in the "School" category, I've had a migraine for the past 3 days. I ended up going to Fort Worth tuesday night to the urgent care clinic seeking relief. They gave me a shot and some stronger medicine and thankfully it is gone. Yesterday was a little sketchy, but today was perfect. My biggest problem, my back. I have had an "infection" near my stimulator since mid-August. I've seen 2 primary physicians and 1 surgeon who agree that there isn't an abcess, it maybe infected but they aren't sure and it's not there area of knowledge. So who do I have to see...Pain Manangement. I had a referral at the end of July to see them for my back pain and I finally got to see the behavioral health counselor at the end of September. Meanwhile, my back continues to drain a mix of pus and blood and it's swollen to the point that I can barely wear my jeans. Not to mention that it is very sore and it just adds extra pain to my back. Hopefully I will hear from the clinic with an appointment sometime in the coming week.

I'm really looking forward to the coming weeks which include a trip to my grandma's house for some relaxation and COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!! Also, my nephew turns 1 in just 4 weeks...holy cow when did this happen? I still miss the little cuddle bug, now he is all over the place and never sits still. Here is the latest pic of my little bug that is not so little. :(

YSA Conference

2009-10-08T14:51:00.002-05:00

The weekend of Sept 17-19 was the Fort Worth Regional YSA conference. This year over 50 stakes were invited, some came from Arizona, Kansas, ALASKA as well as all over Texas. It was an OK event. Friday night was pretty rough, it had rained almost every day that week and we were not allowed to play on the fields, so they had to stick almost 1000 people in a stake center with one basketball goal and one volleyball net. Thankfully one of my friends had some cards with her and we were able to set up a pretty good game of spades (even if we did lose to the boys). One thing that I noticed on Friday night and it continued throughout the weekend was that each stake stayed to themselves, there was very little mingling between the different stakes.

Saturday was a little better. It was filled with lots of different workshops and service projects. I really didn't get to do any of the service projects because the classes I really wanted to go to were at the same time or I couldn't do them because of my back( I will explain later). Back to the workshops: one that I went to was called the "Keys to Happiness". I was really looking forward to this class as it was being taught by a lady that I truly adore and look up to. However it didn't go as planned. The main message I got(and others got it too) was that I would only be truly happy if I got married. And while that's true, a happy marriage doesn't exist without the gospel and living true to its standards. So that had me a little upset, then I went to a class on "Gender Differences" and this was great! The guys and girls both got to ask questions about why the opposite sex does the things that they do. The best quote/question was "if I'm dancing with you, don't tell me I look like a vampire". Oh my! The whole class was laughing and then went into shock. Lunch was not good and we ended up leaving and eating somewhere else. You know you've taken too many science classes when you see where they stored the food(which was a BUNCH of pizzas) and you said...I'm not getting sick, I know what grows at that temperature and humidity. The last class that I went to was on "Serving Those You Date", this was taught by my bishop and his wife. This class focused more on the marriage and less on dating. So, once again the title was deceiving and I kinda wished I would've taken the class on temples instead, but oh well!

Sunday was the best day of the whole weekend...why you ask, because I got to be in the presence of this great Apostle.

That's right, President Uchtdorf spoke. This was exactly what I needed to calm myself after the day I had prior. Both him and his wife spoke. She was so sweet and kind, and kept saying how amazing Texas was, and I would have to agree. She also shared her conversion story and how she met President Uchtdorf. President Uchtdorf was able to emphasis the importance of marriage but also emphasize how important it is that we prepare ourselves to be the best spouse possible and that is obtained through the church as well as our education. One thing that stuck out to me was that he said, you need an education in order to fully support you, your spouse and your future children. I wanted to scream from the rooftop...that's exactly what I was thinking. The theme for the weekend was iServe, and he was able to put a play on words by saying that the iPhone was prayer, iPod was the scriptures, iChat were your friends, and iServe was serving your fellow man and therefore serving God. Oh how I needed to hear him speak. I'm so thankful that he took the invitation and came to Fort Worth. I left Saturday with a upset heart, part of my feelings were from the fact the while marriage was stressed(I got the message LOUD and CLEAR) that education wasnt, and one thing that I really felt was that I was not doing the right thing by pursuing my education. President Uchtdorf put that thought completely out of my mind and heart.

Haircut

2009-09-08T19:18:00.002-05:00

I got my hair cut about 2 weeks ago and I LOVE it!! The lady took about 3.5 inches off and I may go back and have her take more off.

Before:

After:

Added bonus to this post...you get to see how big my nephew is. I can't believe my little bug is 10 months old....where did the time go?

Summer Catch Up

2009-08-14T16:26:00.005-05:00

It's been awhile since I posted anything, and I'm sorry for anyone who actually still reads this. I started summer school at the end of May and just finished yesterday. It was pretty miserable. I took physics 1 and 2, and bio 2. I didn't make good grades any of the classes. My physics teacher and I pretty much never got along, she played with my grades and when I went to the Dean, I was told that there was nothing that they could do even though there was actual proof that she was wrong. So I wasted a whole summer in classes and don't even have grades to prove it. But that won't stop me from graduating. I've already registered at the DCCCD to take physics 1 and 2 online this fall/spring. And then I may take Bio 2 from them or at TWU in the spring, that's still undecided.

For my birthday(since I was in school and had tests on my actual birthday) I went to Houston to visit one of my friends. I was only there for 2 days but had a blast. I went shopping at the outlet malls, went to Galveston and the saw the coast, and then ate a LOT of great food.

My friend Nenna and I at the Gulf of Mexico.

Look Mom...I'm in the Gulf!!

So it's not as crystal clear as the waters in Florida, but it still felt nice on a sticky day.

School is starting soon. I have one class starting on the 24th and the rest of my classes on the 31st. I move back to school on the 28th, and I'm very excited. I can't wait to actually take my senior level classes and get one step closer to graduation. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm getting very antsy as the days go on. My plan is to still get my teacher's certification and teach HS Biology. This fall my classes are: Mammalian Anatomy and Physiology, Molecular Cell Biology: Genetics, Pathophysiology, Emergency Care/First Aid, and Physics 1. The good part is that Patho and physics are both online, so I don't have an actual class to go to.

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-06-05T23:11:00.005-05:00

Memorial Day Weekend was a very busy but fun weekend. On Sunday Laura and I went to Wolfdance/Memorial Day Jam. It was so much fun. It was a little sketchy at first because rain was moving through the area, but after a 45 minute downpour the skies remained pretty friendly. We saw Brandon Rhyder, Bleu Edmondson, Rich O'Toole, Stoney LaRue, Kevin Fowler, Roger Creager, Jack Ingram and Randy Rogers Band(who are my favorite). I did end up with a pretty bad sun burn even though I put sunscreen on very often and it was thick.

Kevin Fowler, Randy Rogers, Jack Ingram

Randy Rogers

Kevin Fowler

Monday

Dad and I had tickets to go watch the Rangers-Yankees play. It was a perfect day for a game, so much so that it was completely SOLD OUT and standing room only. Brandon Rhyder played before the game, but I missed him. I was too busy watching batting practice. Unfortnately the Rangers pitching didn't come through and the Yankees took advantage of it. We lost 12-1. It was a sad day for me. It was funny that everyone time A-Rod or Texaira came up to bat, they were boo'd. I don't usually agree with that behavior but both guys have dissed this organization so it was a little deserved.

Rangers warming up for the game

Dad and Me before the game

It was a successful weekend and summer school started 2 days after. This summer I'm taking Physics 1, Physics 2 and Bio 2. I also got my grades and was very, very pleased. Micro- C(which I was for sure that I failed, it was a horrible semester), Micro lab- B, Organic- B, Organic Lab- C, History of Modern Science- B( I was 1.5 points shy of an A, but he didn't help me out at all. Oh well!)

New Moon Trailer

2009-05-31T21:46:00.000-05:00

Very excited for the movie to come out.

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer in HD

Happy Mothers Day

2009-05-10T20:09:00.003-05:00

Happy Mothers Day to these amazing women! I am blessed in more ways than one thanks to them. I hope they had a great day.

Swine flu

2009-05-04T10:08:00.002-05:00

The Denton ISD shut down all campuses this week and possibly next week, but the universities up here haven't shut down. So this morning as me and some of my friends are sitting outside our classroom we see about 3 people walk in with their children. My question is if the officials don't want the children at the public school why bring them to the university? There's a reason that the schools were cancelled, they want the kids to stay home and out of the public.

I'm hoping that TWU will cancel at least so that parents won't bring their children to school, that and I have enough things to study for that I don't really want to bother with going to class.

April 11, 2009

2009-04-16T20:44:00.005-05:00

I went home so that I could spend time with my sister. It's crazy to think that the girl that used to make my life so miserable isn't so bad anymore. I spent the majority of Saturday with her. We started to walk around the new outdoor mall, The Highlands, but got a panicking phone call from Sharla asking for our help. Apparently my nephew isn't fond of self-entertainment and Branden and Sharla were trying to install new appliances as well as other things. Laura and I went over there to see him and he was very happy to see us.

He was trying to grab anything that his little hands could get a hold of, so I made him grab his toy. Clearly he was still thinking about getting something else.

Auntie and Braden. *he's looking at Laura and the weird faces she was making.

Later that night Laura and I went out to Gilley's in Dallas to see Bleu Edmondson. We had a lot of fun. Some of the highlights were hearing two of my favorite songs, Southland and Last, Last Time. Another was Laura getting the setlist and all the band members and Bleu to sign it. There were several funny moments. These two girls were very drunk and started to do a weird dance. Laura and I were watching them and just waiting for the minute when they slipped and fell. Sure enough not 2 minutes after we made that comment, both girls were sprawled out on the dance floor. *I guess I should mention that both girls were wearing very low cut, short dresses. Leaving nothing to the imagination after there spill. But that didn't stop them. About 20 minutes after the fall, they were back out dancing and fell yet again. There were some other interesting moments, where I really thought Laura or I were going to get into fights...and not with girls. Some of the guys were drinking a little too much and weren't used to rejection. But don't worry, we didn't hurt anyone and the boys did learn a lesson in rejection.

This is Me and Bleu, right after the show and just before we were leaving.

This is Laura and Bleu after he had signed her set list.

Me and my sister...we were waiting for Bleu and his band to come on stage.

This is one of my favorite bands, and Gilley's had there name in lights. I had never seen it before and thought it was really cool. If you watch Jay Leno or David Letterman you would've seen them on those shows. My guys are getting onto the national scene...YAY!!!

Hodge Podge

2009-04-16T20:26:00.004-05:00

Opening Day was a blast! I wish I had pictures but my memory card is holding them hostage and I refuse to pay $50 for some software that will release them. I'm going to try a few more things before I pay for it. I think Dad and I have found our new favorite seats. We were in the outfield, but under a lot of shade. It was very chilly that day, but would be perfect come July, August or even September. Also, since they were all you can eat, we saved a bunch of money. There were several cool things that happened that day. First off the whole outfield and some of the infield was covered with an American Flag that was being held my troops out of Fort Hood which was nice to see. The second thing was being in the same area as President Bush. He threw out the first pitch and actually made a decent throw. I sometimes wonder if he regrets selling his stake in the team. The did make some improvements to the stadium and it's awesome.

The past two weeks have been crazy. Last week I met with my Biology advisor to make sure I was on track to graduate next year and he realized that I was 6 hours short on upper level classes, I don't know how it happened. So I've been looking up upper level classes that require very little brain power. And I found them, in the fall I'm taking Emergency Care/First Aid/CPR and then in the spring I'm taking Business Law and Ethics online(everyone that has taken this says it's super easy, requires very little thinking and doesn't take up alot of time). I also filed the prelimanary paperwork needed for me to be able to file for Graduation in Janurary. Last week I was suppose to get back my O Chem test, however when the teacher was grading the class after ours, the grades were so bad that he refused to grade our exams and scheduled a retest. The retest was AMAZING. I took it on Monday and got my grade back yesterday. Drum roll please......I got a 112!! . I can't believe it. This grade really helps me hopefully get a B or an A. I've spent the past few days studying for my Micro test that was today. I took the test and felt like I hadn't even studied for it. Unfortnately, I will probably have to retake it again next spring. I don't know where the disconnect is, but for some reason I just can't seem to make the grades. What gets me is that the teacher offered us a "take home test" after our last test. It was suppose to *help* us, but after she got a hold of the tests with her red pen, it looks like she was trying to give us the worst grades possible. Everyone I talked to got a grade less than 10(out of 25). I just don't understand why some teachers have to be like this.

I also took care of the stupid ticket I got. $112 for the "fees", $10 for my driving record from Austin, and $25 for defensive driving later...the ticket should be dismissed within 90 days after I complete the defensive driving. I still hate the Denton PD.

Monday

2009-03-30T15:10:00.003-05:00

Today started out bad and has gone downhill since. It started off with me waking up numerous times through out the night with horrible sinus pressure, nasal issues and coughing. I woke up finally around 8:30 and called to make an appointment at the clinic so I could get antibiotics, since afterall I knew this was a sinus infection. Fast forward to getting called back by the nurse. I get weighed (and I've lost 3 pounds since last week, the only positive to being sick) and then go back to my room. These are the conversations that took place
Nurse: Why are we seeing you today?
Me: I have a sinus infection and I need antibiotics.
Nurse: Are you sure? What are your symptoms?
Me: I tell her all my symptoms and then she proceeds to take out a peak flow meter.
Nurse: Do you feel short of breath?
Me: No, I'm congested but those are two different feelings.
Nurse: Well, I want you to blow on the pfm and try to get 500.
Me: *I interuppted her* My highest on a good day is only 450, and that usually makes me start coughing and get a little light headed.
Nurse: Well, I think you are stopping yourself short, you can get to 500, anyone your age has no problem getting it to 500.
Me: I'm an asthmatic, and it's not normal. But I will try
*I take the pfm and get 410, start coughing and get light headed
Nurse: You aren't doing it right, stand this way (which was no different then the way I was standing) and try again.
pfm #2 was 400
Me: It's normal that after the first one, they go down as a result of the coughing.
Nurse: I don't think so, lets do a third try
Me: Ok
pfm #3 was 400

Nurse: When was your last cycle?
Me: end of Jan. I take Lupron and therefore don't have any periods at this time.
Nurse: Lupron doesn't have that effect, it helps you have a period.
Me: Not always, but that's why I'm taking it.

Nurse: Are you coughing anything up?
Me: A little.
Nurse: Well make sure you spit it out, don't swallow it. We want it to come up and stay up.
I'm thinking to myself, you have my chart you know that I only come to this clinic when I have a sinus infection. I know not to swallow that.

Nurse: be sure to tell the nurse practioner your symptoms.
Me: ok

The nurse practioner walks in and ask whats wrong. I tell her I have a sinus infection and that I need antibiotics. She then proceeds to listen to me breathe, push on my sinuses and asks if that hurts...as a matter of fact it does. And then the kicker of it all....she looks in my nose and says: "It's congested". No kidding? Is that why I'm stuffy and then a second later my nose is running like crazy? Who would've thunk it? So she leaves the room and comes back with a sack and I'm thinking...sweet free antibiotic samples..WRONG. She want's me to use a nose spray. I tell her that I don't do them, they make me gag and I evetually will throw up (TMI).
NP: Well, how are you using it?
Me: I stick it in my nose, squirt and then breathe. Is there a different way?
NP: No, you are doing it wrong, you bend your head forward, stick it in the nose, then breathe.
Me: Won't it run out of my nose, therefore defeating the purpose?
NP: No, you will breathe before it does that.
Me: Then it will run down the back of my throat?
NP: No, it will just go into your sinuses.
Me: I don't think so, I don't do things that have to go in my nose. Yes I know it usually helps, but not with me. But thanks anyway.
NP: Well, you can take mucinex to help break the congestion.
Me: Yes, I was going to start that today.
NP: I want you to use your resuce inhaler too
Me: Why? I'm not having any asthma symptoms and my peak flow isn't down enough.
NP: Just as a precaution
Me: Ok
*I'm not going to use my inhaler, no sense in wasting precious money when I'm not having symptoms and with the antibiotic and the mucinex it will all go away.

I seriously think you have to do really bad in school to work there, that or they see some weird people. I don't mean to be rude, but if I tell you I know what's wrong, I know that I'm NOT having asthma problems, please don't treat me like I don't know what I'm talking about.

This is what gets me, I go to pay and it's $17. Not bad, until I get the receipt and they charged me $5 to use the pfm. Seriously?? And the kicker is the one they have is OLD, like I used one like it when I was 10. I'm going to have to start putting one in my purse so that if I get another sinus infection and they want me to use it, I won't get charged.

Then I'm headed off to walmart to get my meds, since it's on the $4 generic list. And I'm in traffic, I turn out of my lane to get into a different lane to turn and a cop whips out behind me and starts following me. I go under the highway and go to turn onto the service road and he turns on his lights. I pull over and roll down my window. He stopped me because when I went around traffic my tire went over the solid white line. Apparently that's against the law. My ticket actually reads "White Line/ Disregard official traffic control device". I had no clue. Now I have a freaking ticket. UGH!!! From reading the information he gave me, my chioces are to pay the whole ticket, do driver saftery course or do deferred adjudication (which also means doing the driver safety course). The only good thing, is that I forgot to put my insurance card back in the car after my appointment on friday, the cop never asked for insurance proof.

Just a crappy day all around. I still have to study for an o chem test that I have on Wednesday.

Random Tidbits

2009-03-28T10:07:00.003-05:00

What's been going on lately? Well, first things first....my ranger's tickets came in the mail!!!!

I went back to the doctor, met with the chief and still have no real clue as to what they want to do. Together they decided that they would tentively start me on Lupron but not doing anything else until they've done a Dexascan and look at my bones. They also put me back on 1500mg of Calcium daily. I go back again in April and they will hopefully decide if they are doing Lupron for 6mon, 12 mon or just doing the laser laproscope surgery. At this point I don't care what they decide, I'm just ready for them to decide.

Spring break was nice. I spent the majority of the days with mom and Braden. He's getting bigger everyday and is learning so much. While I was there he started squealing and would squeal back at me when I squealed at him. He also started on ceral and peas. He's not a fan...do you blame him? Also during spring break I hung out with my Papa. I really miss not being there all the time and all the running around we used to do.

The upcoming weeks are going to be super busy. I have an Organic test, Nenna and I are taking a trip south to Hillsboro for a little shopping, Ranger's game, Micro test, 2 concerts with Laura (Bleu Edmondson and Randy Rogers Band all in the same weekend).

And in case anyone missed the Texas Weather: the past week it's been in the high 70's low 80's, yesterday it started out in the upper 60's and then quickly dropped into the 30's. This morning it was below freezing and we had snow flurries and sleet. Tomorrow? High 68 and rising through out the week. No wonder everyone is getting sick...the weather can't decide if it's going to be hot or cold.

Apartment Fair!

2009-03-11T17:25:00.003-05:00

Today the Student Union sponsered a Apartment Fair for the students. Apartments from all over the area came and set up displays in hopes of trying to get us to sign a lease. It's no secret that I am completely miserable where I live and I'm always looking to change my surroundings. One of my friends and I have agreed to try and live together next year. We are really trying to stay on campus, but there is no sure way to get our own apartment. We pulled numbers and will go on March 25 and see if there are any openings. So we went to this fair looking for plan B. Yeah...the apartment complexes were crazy. We only found 2-3 apartments that were 2/2 and under $800/month. And in one of those it didn't include ANY utilities. So I'm really hoping that we are able to get an apartment on campus. If not then I will stay where I'm at and just stick it out one more year. Back to the fair...every table we went to was giving away some sort of loot. I had over 10 bags of stuff. Everything ranged from t-shirts to color chaning cups to food. One of my favorite items is a stainless steel water bottle. Two tables even had hot dogs and soda's for free! I took a picture of all the stuff that I got, the only missing is the bottle of gatorade.

I'm soo excited!!

2009-03-08T15:06:00.003-05:00

Yesterday tickets went on sale for the 2009 Texas Rangers baseball season. Dad and I were talking and we realized that we both have never been to opening day. So guess what....WE HAVE TICKETS!!!
We usually sit on the first base sideline inbetween home plate and the first base bag. But this time we decided to sit in the All you can eat section. And that's right above home plate, on the 2nd level. I'm super excited.

So opening day is 29 days away!!!

Other news...school is going absolutely crazy. I have 2 midterms this week, leave thursday for spring break and then have 2 more when I get back. I had to drop my seminar class because I just didn't have enough time to go and spend HOURS in the library looking up articles and writing speeches.
Also, I've been seeing a new doctor for my endo and I think we are going to get everything under control and hopefully reduce my chance of having a 2nd surgery. I meet with her again as well as the chief of REI(Reproductive Endocrinologist Infertilty) who has tons of experience with bad endometriosis, that appointment is on the 18th. I hope he comes with fresh ideas other than doing another surgery or Lupron.

Ice Ice Baby

2009-01-28T21:10:00.003-06:00

We had an "ice storm" come through Tuesday morning and left this morning. I don't quite understand Texas weather and Texas schools. The college cancelled classes yesterday and it wasn't bad, there were a few slick spots but not much, it was just REALLY cold. This morning there was over a 1/4 in of ice on my car and the ground and trees had it much worse, but they didn't cancel school. They delayed it til Noon. It was 16 degrees this morning with a wind chill of 6....thats way too cold for my liking, so I didn not venture out and go to my afternoon class. I(and mom) decided it wasn't worth me getting sick(since it was around 32 degrees) or hurting myself. My TA wasn't too happy, but she will get over it. Anyways, all the wonderful ice has melted and even though we will probably get down into the low 20's our high tomorrow is suppose to be around 50. YAY!!!

Here are some pictures that I took this morning, I was outside for maybe 2 minutes and then decided to go back to my warm comfy bed.

Hard Decisions

2009-01-25T20:49:00.002-06:00

I had to go home on Friday and take my dog Isabella to the vet and then Sam had a vet appointment Saturday Morning. Isabella is doing just perfect! The vet found a slight heart murmur but said it was common in older dogs and that it wasn't anything to worry about. Sam on the other hand didn't fair so well. He is healthy considering being 12 years old, but hes had a mass on his arm and its been growing. The vet did a biopsy and it wasn't infected but he did see some abnormal cells. We( well really mom and dad since technically its their dog) have to decide if we want to have the vet take it off. And risk the chance that he won't come out of the anesthesia or if having it removed will cause bigger problems. The other option is leaving it there since it doesn't cause him any pain and I really don't think he knows its there. But it can continue to grow and even branch off and grow other places. Tumors are very common in Boxers but it still doesn't make it easier. The vet told mom that she needed to decide soon so that it didn't get much bigger.

I also spent Friday night with little Braden so his mommy and daddy could go out and get her some new work clothes and enjoy a dinner. That night was the first night he actually smiled at me on purpose and was cooing at me. He made my heart melt all over again...Its official i'm in soo much love with him. I didn't take any pictures, can you believe that??

I will post later this week with an update on my classes. It's going to be another HARD semester.

Winter Break!!

2009-01-19T12:57:00.003-06:00

I had a very nice winter break and kinda sad to come back to school. Over the break I spent lots of time with my favorite person...my mom. I also spent time with my cute little nephew(who is now pushing the scales at 13 lbs.). For Christmas we went to my Grandma's on Christmas eve and then Christmas morning was spent at Branden and Sharla's as a family. New Years Eve was a BIG night....I spent it in bed with mom and we watched tv and listened to the neighbors shooting fireworks and guns.

School starts tomorrow and I'm not ready to go back. This semester is lighter compared to the Fall, but will still be hard. I'm taking Microbiology, Organic Chem 2, History of Modern Science and Biology Seminar.
Another cool thing is that I have a car up here in Denton. Dad is on the road 5-6 days a week and so mom is driving the jeep and I get the Honda.

Other news, I'm back to having problems with the endometrosis. I had to pay full price to see my doctor, because the JPS doctors are booked til Feb. He said that my options were very limited. I can have surgery again, take another 6 month dose of Lupron or just try and curve the pain with pain meds. I'm thinking about what I want to do so that when I go to the doctor of the 12th I can tell him my decision and get the process started.

Just because I can't do a post without pictures, here are some that I took over winter break.

Thanksgiving Break

2008-12-07T12:46:00.005-06:00

I've been MIA for a little while but for good reason. I went home for Thanksgiving break and really didn't want to come back. I finally got to see my nephew and I am more in love with him.

I didn't spend all my time with him, but I was there a couple of days.

For thanksgiving we always go to my Mammaws house for lunch. This year mom and I decided to go down on Wednesday and spend the night and help them prepare. I'm glad we did. I haven't been able to go see them as much this semester as I would've liked( and them too, they had loads of computer questions for me). I did have an alterior motive for thanksgiving this year. My Great-Grandma Oats made me a quilt a couple of years ago, shortly before she died. One fo the squares was coming apart and I needed to fix it. My mammaw was suppose to do most of the work, since she can sew and quilt. But she hasn't had much time. So my goal over thanksgiving was to get it fixed. And I was semi-successful, I got all the patches put in place and semi-stiched. I just have to go back and actually quilt it. This project started in May and I hope to have it done before the new year.

Friday was Black Friday and I wasn't going to go shopping until I saw that Lowes had a crock-pot for 10 dollars. I think I'm becoming demesicated, because I never thought I would want a crock pot. What was terrible is that, mom and I were up literally all night Thursday. I couldn't breathe when I laid down and I don't know why mom was up. But she finally went to sleep around 430 and I decided to get up and head out on the shopping adventure. I was successful! I got a 3.5 quart Rival crockpot and am in love.

Saturday mom and I went to breakfast with my Papa and then afterwards we took him over to Branden's to see the baby. We also took that oppurtinity to a 4 generation picture.

4 Generations of Elkins' Men. Kinda exciting to be able to see that.

I came back home to Denton on Sunday and will be back home for Winter Break on Friday.

I forgot to add that one night when I was home, I convinced Branden and Sharla to go out for dinner. I let mom and Laura come over and hang out with little one and myself. We decided to take some photo's. This one is one of my favorites.

Isn't he precious??

2008-11-20T15:13:00.002-06:00

I think so. I finally get to see him on Wednesday.

Spring Registration already??

2008-11-14T10:35:00.002-06:00

I get to register for classes on Monday and have finally decided on my classes and schedule. Hopefully it won't be as bad of a semester as this semester has been. So next semester I am taking Microbiology, Organic Chem 2, History of Modern Science, and Biology Seminar. I'm proud to say that I will continue the tradition of having Friday's off :) Unfortnately, I still have an 8am class and it looks like those will never change.

This past week has been very frustrating, I had two tests and two major projects due. It seemed that I could never get caught up and was barely staying above water. But I did survive, got everything turned in and will be headed out shortly to go to the Science Learning Resource Center(aka..my 2nd home, all the tutors know me by name.) and get help with biology.

Something really cool happened last week....I joined Beta Beta Beta, the biology national honor society. I'm really excited and hope that I learn alot more about biology and a plus is that it looks amazing on a school resume when applying to grad schools.

Update on Lil B

2008-11-10T20:17:00.003-06:00

So, Braden is almost one week old and is growing leaps and bounds and will hopefully be home by the end of the week. He is no longer on the CPAP machine and is on 21.6% oxygen(and that may have changed since Saturday) and has currently taken 4 bottles so far. Branden and Sharla have been able to dress and hold him.

Introducing the newest member of our family

2008-11-04T08:04:00.003-06:00

Braden Riley E
11-04-08 at 12:46 am
6lbs 7oz
19.5 in long

Mom is recovering from an emergency c-section, but everyone is expected to be just fine.

Hopefully I will have pictures of this cutie very soon.

**I just got an update from Mom. Braden is in the NICU, just to be watched, he is on a little oxygen, but all his vital signs are stable and great. His nurse told mom that he would move out of the NICU when he can breathe on his own and can feed.

Home for the Weekend!

2008-11-02T17:46:00.005-06:00

I made an overdue trip home this past weekend. I had some things planned, but sickness got in the way. I was able to spend time with my papa and just enjoy being home and not having anything to do.

Here is me and papa right after I was finished with getting my cousins ready for halloween.

Here is my very handsome papa!

Coming back up to Denton today we spotted gas for $1.95...don't believe me, I took a picture. It boggles my mind thinking that in the middle of July I was paying $3.99 and praying that it wouldn't go any higher. Now I can't remember the last time it was this cheap.

**I posted more things that I did this weekend below**

#1 Nextel Sprint Cup Series

2008-11-02T17:41:00.006-06:00

On the way home from Denton on Thursday, dad and I made a pit-stop at Bass Pro Shops to look at hunting gear. To our suprise, the #1 Martin Truex Jr. display car was there too. This made the trip much more bearable.

Halloween

2008-11-02T17:31:00.004-06:00

For halloween, I was suppose to go see Eli Young Band play at Billy Bob's, but Julie got sick and we had to cancel. So instead I went over to my aunts house to help her get the girls all ready for trick or treating.

This is one of my cousins who dressed up as Joker, from the Dark Knight. I don't know if the picture does him justice, but it was right on.

The girls, one is an American Idol singer and the other is a Disney princess, Belle.

Break Even

2008-10-29T16:15:00.001-05:00

Well this is pretty low
It ain’t the bottom
Still a long way to go
Could I get you to follow?
It all comes down to this
Just give me a reason
‘Cause I know I’ll never win
But we could break even

'Cause I really don't care, really don't care
Whose side I'm on
And there's always room at the bottom
Once the lines been drawn
And I know I'll never win
Just let me go on believing
That there's still a chance
That we could break even

Well this is gonna hurt
I can ease your pain
‘Cause once you’ve felt the fire
You don’t mind the rain
If you go down, down, down
Out in the deep end
Could you pull me up just enough?
To break even

Repeat chorus

There’s still a chance
There’s still a chance
You could save me
There’s still a chance
I’ll just bring you down

Repeat chorus

There’s still a chance
That we could break even,
I just want to break even

Thanks Connie!

2008-10-16T19:41:00.002-05:00

How To Play This Game of Tag:

Post these rules on your blog.
List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself.
Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

Joys:

1. My mom, talking to her can make me feel soo much better about everything. She's a good person to keep around
2. Music, I LOVE it and it has a way of making me smile.
3. Sports- Watching baseball and football is the best way to spend a saturday, aside from shopping

Fears:

1. Not graduating from College
2. Dying in my sleep, crazy I know
3. Not living up to my full potential that I know I can

Goals:

1. Graduate first off, and a 3.0 GPA would be SWEET
2. Short-term is finding a place OFF campus to live that doesn't cost an arm AND a leg.
3. Enjoy life to the fullest

Collections/Obsessions:

1. I collect set lists of all the concerts I go to. Its kinda neat to look at them and see how a band changes the sets over the years and which songs always make the list.
2. Baseball...but you already knew that. Even though the Rangers season ended early(AGAIN!), I'm ready for spring training.
3. I collect state spoons. I started when my first grade teacher gave me one after a trip she went on and have collected them ever since. To this day I only lack about 6-10 states, I think. I got most of mine when Dad was driving 18-wheelers and he would get me one every time he stopped in a new state. I even have Alaska and Hawaii.

Random:
1. I love shoes...especially flip-flops. Old navy loves me because they have them 2 for $5 all year round :)
2. Im very clumsy...but that shouldn't come as a shock to any of yall.
3. I go to bed usually around 10pm, sometimes earlier if I've had a bad day. It doesn't make things fun when you have roommates that believe in staying up until the crack of dawn and make as much noise as humanly possible.

Tag:

Ashley...you better do it too, missy.
Mom...this is just reinforcement
and whoever else feels the need to do it

The week of torture

2008-10-16T16:57:00.000-05:00

This week has definitely been one of the hardest weeks I've had so far. I'm pretty sure that all my teachers got together and decided to pile everything into this week.
*On Monday I had an Organic Chem lab and those always are physically and emotionally tired. Who knew that obtaining .2 grams of something could make you so frustrated you want to throw everything away....yep that happened on Monday.
*Then Tuesday I had a Botany test and I'm not too sure I did very good on it. The test was almost identical to the old test, which I did study, but I'm not very confident. It doesn't help that she didn't have them graded by today's class and so I have to wait until next Tuesday to get my grade.
*Then Wednesday I had my Organic Chem test. I will be completely shocked if I passed it. It was sooo freaking hard and I felt like I hadn't even studied, but I had. There were several times during the test that I had to put my pencil down and just take a deep breath so that I wouldn't get too overwhelmed. I can't forget that I had to take a biology quiz almost immediately after my test. In lab we were suppose to get our dissection assignments, and I was going to do the fetal pig, but once I saw the piggy...I couldn't do it. It was much bigger than I had imagined and I didn't have it in me to cut the poor piggy open. So I didn't get an assignment this week, but will have one next week. My only other options are a frog(no thanks) and a shark.
*Then we have today....I had a botany lab practical(which was harder then I thought my TA could handle...she deserves her own post.) I also had a math test, which thankfully wasn't that hard and I only study for about 30 minutes this afternoon at lunch.
*Tomorrow brings a meeting with my o'chem lab TA to go over our take home quiz, that has me confused to the n-degree. I also get the pleasure of studying for a biology lecture test that is on Wednesday as well as a biology lab practical that day too.

I have gone through a whole case of Dr. Peppers this week in a attempt to stay awake and study. They didn't help, I still found myself in bed by 10:30-11 every night.

In other news....today is my Nannie's birthday. It's been 4 years since she passed away. I miss her like crazy and there have been several times that I wanted to pick up the phone and call her, but can't. It sucks.

The Debate

2008-10-07T21:33:00.004-05:00

Preface: I didn't start out watching the debate becuase I can't stand either candidate and believe that they are both full of it and neither will really help our country get out of its troubles.

Anyways, Mom sent me a text regarding Obama's healthcare plan and I went to the trusty cnn.com to read the transcript to see exactly what he said.

"Now, it's true that I say that you are going to have to make sure that your child has health care, because children are relatively cheap to insure and we don't want them going to the emergency room for treatable illnesses like asthma."

Now, we all know my issues with asthma. The last time I checked it's not a curable disease and Im not cured. And there have been many nights when the ER was the only option for relief because the medicines that the regular doctor prescribed wasn't helping fast enough. My question is if Im having trouble at midnight(which has happened MANY times before) what am I to do? From reading his comments, I guess I was suppose to suffer or wait until I passed out and then call an ambulance. And that only costs more money.

I just hope that I don't have children that have asthma and he ends up being president.

In all fairness(and politics don't play fair), McCain didn't give an answer. He just said that Obama would fine you if you didn't have health insurance.

Here is the transcript where I got the above quote:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/07/presidential.debate.transcript/index.html

1 year ago

2008-09-24T19:21:00.003-05:00

One year ago I was being hospitalized for yet another asthma attack that couldn't be controlled. I think I was in the hospital for almost 7 days. It has been one FULL year since my last asthma attack and hospitalization. What a difference a year makes. I never thought the day would come when I could go a month, let alone 12 months, but here I am. Tomorrow I go to the pulmonolgist for my 6-month check up. I'm so excited to be able to walk into his office as a HEALTHY 22-year old. Dr. Gilbey has been a lifesaver. When I first started seeing him, I had just gotten home from doing research at National Jewish Hospital in Denver, CO and still was having problems. Not only was I having problems with the asthma, but was having problems from the medicines. I was diagnosed at 19 with osteoporosis(thanks Prednisone...not!) and was starting strong medicines to try and reverse the bone loss. Since seeing Dr. Gilbey I've been able to stop all of my asthma medicines and only have an inhaler. I've had one bone density scan since Denver and it revealed that the osteo was reversing and I didn't have to take the medicine anymore. I only needed a calcium booster, but shhh...I haven't been taking it. I'm doing research to see if my bones will continue to replace the calcium without taking an added supplement. So far it's working, but I won't have another bone scan done for at least another year. The nebulizer hasn't been used in over a year and I hope it doesn't get used anytime soon.

I'm still here

2008-09-19T11:04:00.004-05:00

For as much as she stumbled, she's runnin'

For as much as she runs she's still here

Always hoping to find something quicker than heaven

To make the damage of her days disapper

I did it!!! I survived the week. I don't know how I managed to take 2 very stressful tests back to back(my math test was SUPER easy...like jr. high math easy). I got one of my tests back and Im not very happy, but I will take it and improve for the next test. I should get my organic test back on Monday.

As a reward, I am going home this weekend and getting a break from school. Hopefully mom will be here soon because I'm ready to get away.

HAHA!! This is classic.

2008-09-13T14:01:00.002-05:00

I dont know how many were watching national news as the hurricane hit last ngiht. But Geraldo Rivera was on the part of Galveston that was told to get out, it was just too dangerous. He didn't listen and took a couple of spills. This spill was about 12 hours before the hurricane even made landfall.

**It looks like we are going to miss the storm. It is all going east. So far all I've gotten is maybe an inch of rain and some gusty winds. But the power is still on :(. I was really hoping classes would be cancelled and I would get extra studying time, but it looks like classes will go as scheduled.

Ike!!!

2008-09-12T19:19:00.004-05:00

Well this weekend is going to be very interesting. Hurricane Ike will be hitting Galveston/Houston area tonight and make it's way north tomorrow. Up here at school we are currently under a tropical storm warning starting tomorrow around 7am all the way til Sunday at 1pm. Hopefully it will just be windy and rain and the power will stay on. My RA at the apartment complex came around getting a head count of who all was staying and told us to make sure we had supplies to go a day or two without power(hmm...72 hour kit anyone??) Thankfully, I have a kit and fully prepared. I just hope it doesn't interfere with my studying... I have 3 tests this week.

If anything is picture worthy, I will be documenting it. I bought extra camera batteries this morning.

School, School, School

2008-08-26T17:55:00.003-05:00

So I started the fall semester yesterday and I can tell you, this semester is going to be one of my hardest. I'm taking 15 hours and 12 of those are sciences. I thought I would give yall a glimpse of my school schedule this semester and give you the oppurtunity to tell me that I've lost my mind( I know it's lost and Im currently looking for it).

Monday
8-920Am: Biology 2 lecture
11-1220Pm: Organic Chemistry lec
130-520Pm: Org. Chem pre-lab and lab

Tuesday *this is my easy day, as of right now*
1-220Pm: Botany(Plant Biology)lec
230-350Pm: Quantative Literacy(don't ask, cause I'm still trying to figure out what it is and how it applies to my degree)

Wednesday
8-920Am: Biology 2 lec
11-1220Pm: Org. Chem lec
1230-320Pm: Biology 2 lab

Thursday
930-1220Pm: Botany Lab
1-220Pm: Botany lec
230-350Pm: Q. Literacy
7-830Pm: Institute-New Testament

Friday
RELAX or study, depending on how I feel.

My foot has not liked all of the walking I've been doing. I came home yesterday after classes and my foot had swelled to the point that I had to loosen the shoe strings. It was about the size of a softball. Today it didn't swell as bad, but I wasn't on it has much, but it did swell a little. I'm hoping that as the week goes on my foot will get with the program, ha!

unSPECTACULAR me!!

2008-08-25T18:45:00.005-05:00

1. Post these rules.
2. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
3. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them

1. I'm a Biology major, but couldn't stand the subject in High School. But at the university I LOVE it! *Talk to me again after this semester to see if I feel the same*

2. I can't STAND people. Most of the time they(being college students, since thats the majority of people I'm around) don't use common sense and act soo stupid. It makes me wonder how they made it this far in life. Haha!!

3. According to my mother, I'm OCD in regards to colors. For example, all the clothes in my closet are color-coded and also arranged by the sleeve length. Also my markers and map pencils have to be in the order the come, like a rainbow. Drives my mother CRAZY!!

4. I love music, live music. If it was possible I would spend all my money and time traveling around the great state of Texas seeing all my favorite bands play in different venues. I also prefer listening to my ipod(or itunes) rather than watching tv...

5. I'm addicted to certain tv shows. My favorites are The Hills(it's terrible, I know), Grey's Anatomy, Army Wives, ER, Trauma: Life in the ER, Code Blue, anything sports related.

6. I love baseball. The End. Even if one of my favorite shows is on, I have to flip back and forth and keep an eye on the game. My favorite team is the Texas Rangers(of course!) and on the team my favorite players are 2nd baseman Ian Kinsler, Outfielder Josh Hamilton(Did any see the Home Run Derby...SWEET!!), and 1st baseman Chris "Crush" Davis.

I tag: Mom, Ashley, and anyone that reads this( Yes...that does mean YOU!!)

Good News!!

2008-08-17T14:35:00.004-05:00

I met with Medtronic, got my stim re-programmed and that's all taken care of. My problem was shortly after I wrote the last post my foot started turning blue/purple. Never a good sign. I called Dr. C and he said that it's "normal" with RSD, because the sympathetic nerves control the skin pigment and all that great stuff. But it still wouldn't let me touch or walk on my foot. He suggested a nerve block to help. I did that on Wednesday and by friday my foot wasn't turning blue and I could wear a shoe and walk without crutches!!! I have another block scheduled for this wednesday just as a safety measure so that when it starts to wear off, the RSD doesn't come back. Oh!! This is the same thing that I had in my arm.

This week is going to be busy, busy, busy. I am working my last day at the scout shop on Tuesday, have my nerve block on Wednesday and then leave for Denton on Thursday. And my room isn't close to ready.

Well...

2008-08-06T14:03:00.003-05:00

I went and saw Dr. C(the pain/nerve specialist) and he confirmed our diagnoisis. He thinks that the RSD is starting to come back in my foot and that we may have caught it early *Fingers crossed*. He was going to call my medtronic rep, that's the manufacturer for my stimulator, and see if she can't reprogram the stimulator to cover my foot and hopefully reduce/eliminate my pain and I can start walking again. If that doesn't work, than my options are to try physical therapy, a TENS unit or have surgery to replace the lead to make it be directly on the foot and not throughout the whole leg. I'm hoping that I don't have to have the last one, the recovery time is crazy and isn't the best with school starting in 2 and half weeks(AHHHHHHHHHH!!). So I am impatiently waiting for the rep to call and slowly going out of my mind.

I did go down to my Grandma's for a week and absolutley enjoyed every minute of it. My grandpa is a HUGE fan of baseball, so it was nice to be able to watch the game with someone and have them discuss it with you...and actually care(sorry mom, but I've caught on...you don't like baseball or my talk on baseball.) We had many dinners and after dinner conversations filled with baseball and more baseball..PURE delightful. Although, I think we were driving my grandma crazy at times. But other than baseball, my grandma and I did plenty of shopping and rearranging to get ready for me to go back to school. I am almost fully packed(except for clothes) and only have the little stuff left to buy and then I will be off to school.

July 5th....Bad day...real bad day

2008-07-26T10:40:00.011-05:00

I spent the day after the lake trip relaxing and trying to recover so I could babysit for them again on the 6th. But things didn't go as planned. Mom says I was being nosy, I was just making sure that our neighborhood was safe. But around 9pm I start hearing sounds that I can't decide if they are gunshots or fireworks. So I was going to go in the backyard and look to see what I could discover without actually being seen(I'm very sneaky..hehe). As I was walking out the back door, my dog who was already outside, heard the noise and ran straight for the house. Sometime between her coming up the steps and me going down, I fell. I fell really good. Now it may not have been a lot of steps, but it sure felt like a lot as I was going down. But after screaming for my dad, who has to be deaf, I get inside and there is a big knot on my foot and it's starting to swell.

Yep, folks....I broke my foot. I broke it on the outside part and now stuck wearing a very ugly and uncomfortable boot, for at LEAST 3 -5 more weeks :( . I went back to the doctor this past Monday and he is referring me to my old pain specialist, just to make sure the RSD(Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) doesn't return. Although we are starting to see the beginning signs, but I'm holding out hope. I go see him on August 5th and will hopefully have good news to report.

Other than that...I only have about 4 weeks left of the summer before I move back to school and start whats the first of my last 4 very HARD semesters.

A very late July 4th

2008-07-26T10:40:00.008-05:00

Well, once again I'm late gettting up my pictures and details of everything that happened on the nice(or what was suppose to be nice) holiday weekend.

It started on the 4th, when I went out to the lake to help my aunt watch her kiddos. Our tactic was to divide and conquer..haha! So she stayed with Lauren, whose 3 and I watched the twins, and the boys are 2(Luke is the one pictured above...I'm pretty sure). We had fun, it was very hot. It was great seeing some of my family, but there were some there that I could've gone without seeing.

This is Landon with my step-grandma, Debbie.

Luke is pretty fed up with me snapping pictures, especially during his lunch.

We were all sitting either on the boat or the dock, and I look over and Landon has found a pair of sunglasses(which I think belonged to my Aunt Linda). He was sitting in the chair, with these big sunglasses, a sparkly necklace, eating a bunch of fruit and other snacks. It was the cutest thing and after he noticed everyone was watching him, he definitely played up the attention.

BOY oh BOY!!!

2008-07-01T16:37:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Branden and Sharla found out what they were having and drum roll please......we will have a baby BOY!!! Although I was seriously pulling for the girl, I'm still just as excited and can't wait for the baby to come. So far her due date hasn't changed, but she is measuring at 20 weeks and she's technically 18 wks. It looks like we have a big boy on our hands.
So he already has a first name, which will be Braden(I'm trying to get them to put a Y in it, but they aren't too sure yet). As for the middle name...not as much luck, they can't agree on anything.

Past couple of weeks

2008-06-26T16:02:00.002-05:00

The past couple of weeks have been very busy. Most of my time has been spent either with my papa or at work(who knew the scout store would be busy in the summer...guess scouts like going to camp). But that doesn't mean that I haven't had my fair share of fun either. On the 13th, Laura and I went to Billy Bob's to see Bleu Edmondson record his live cd/dvd and had a blast. Laura has the pictures, so I will post them as soon as I'm able to steal them..haha!! I've also been constantly keeping up with the Rangers, and they're doing well. Hopefully I can catch another game soon and the team will keep their momentum going after the All-Star break in a couple of weeks.

That's all for now, I should probably go back to work, even though there's nothing to do( I know, I've already done everything that needed to be done.)

Updates for everyone!

2008-06-04T23:11:00.004-05:00

Well, my papa is doing much better. This past weekend was quite the experience and I don't even have the energy to go through it again. I'm just thankful that it's over and there haasn't been a repeat performance. But since Monday everything has been going up. He's finally getting his appetite back, getting in and out of bed and sitting in a chair for several hours, and even walking a little bit(with help from a walker and a couple physical therapists for good measure). Then today we had some AMAZING news...they were going to discharge him from the CCU and the hospital and send him to the rehab hospital across the street...which is still within walking distance..YEAH!!! Another piece of good news is that the pathology reports have come back and the cancer hasn't spread to the lymph nodes(which the doctors thought it hadn't, but weren't totally sure) and that it also hadn't spread to other parts of the lung.

This past weekend Laura had prom. I can't believe she's old enough to be graduating and even going to prom...gee I feel old! HA!!

Then on this coming Saturday( June 7th) she will officially walk across the stage and recieve her diploma, or at least the fancy cover. Thankfully she is in the E's and should be called earlier rather than later.

Branden and Sharla(and Baby) are still doing great. She is 14 weeks and had an appointment on Tuesday( I think). Everything is going as it should be and there is no sign of concern. Her next appointment is at the end of the month and at that appt, we should be able to find out what they're having...assuming the baby is being cooperative(HA!). Branden is still working for Sharla's family, although, I think he may be looking for a job closer to home and one that will be easier on the gas bill.

Now on to the most important subject....ME!!! I'm doing good. I started back at the Ft. Worth Scout Shop for the summer and will stay there as long as I can afford to make the drive. I really like it there and have a lot of fun playing...I mean working ;). The tendonitis has come back in my knee and once again I find myself going to physical therapy and asking myself if it's really worth it...I'm slowly starting to think it's not. From what the doctor says, it's just something that will keep coming back, doing physical therapy is just a short term option, which is a very expensive short term option. Otherwise, I'm just enjoying being home for the summer and not have to think about school or class.

A stressful and challenging couple of weeks

2008-05-28T22:29:00.002-05:00

The past couple weeks have been very busy. There have been moments where I think time is literally flying by and then other moments where time is at a stand still. Shortly after I got home from school, my family suffered a huge blow. One Saturday afternoon, my grandpa woke up very disoriented and confused, which considering he has Alzheimer's that's not terribly shocking. Usually he comes around after 5-10 minutes, or he will call one of us kids to straighten him out, HA! But this time was different, instead of calling us, he called 911(which turns out is a blessing). He told the dispatch that he had been hit by a tree limb(which did happen, but about 5 hours earlier and it was a twig that weighed about an ounce) and didn't remember anything that happened. So he goes to the ER, they do a head, neck CT Scan and MRI, and nothing shows up for the head but the doctors find a LARGE mass in his right lung. The doctors decide to admit him for further testing to hopefully determine what this mass is.

Meet Dr. Su, he is a pulmonolgist that works in the same office that my pulm. doc works in. He convinces my papa that the best thing to do is a bronchoscopy and a tissue sample, that way we have a idea of what we're dealing with. That went over like a lead balloon. He was suppose to have this test done in the morning and be discharged that afternoon, but not my papa. The doctor had a hard time getting a sample, because the mass was starting to harden and body was trying to wall it off. But the results should be back in a day or 2, depending on what the results were. The hospital and doc released him on a Tuesday and when Mom went to get him Thursday he was in sad shape.
He hadn't eaten all day, drank very little and was running a 104 degree fever. Mom called some other family members and the decision was to have my uncle take him back to the ER...just GRAND!!

Once he gets to the ER, after several hours, it's determined that he has an infection in his lung and that he would need IV antibiotics and the hospital would admit him. His results came back the next day and they were INCONCLUSIVE...what the heck??? We now had the fun task of trying to convince my papa that he needed to do a needle biopsy, so that they could no for sure what was going on and how to fix him. But my papa has other plans, see he thinks that at 76, he's lived a full life(and he hasn't...he still needs to see his first great-grandchild born) and at several points was content to just go home and wilt away, pretty aggravating if your his grandchild and want him to be there for your wedding, college graduation, and other big milestones.
Have I mentioned how much I love the doctors in the pulmonolgist office, his doctor sat down with him for at least 30 minutes everyday answering any question my papa could throw at him and try to give him as much info as possible. Thankfully he consents to the biopsy, which would be done before he was dismissed from the hospital. Dr. Su said that his lung was VERY nasty and in addition to pulling cells off the mass, they also were able to drain his lung of some of the infection and would do a culture of that too.

The results came back about 2-3 days later(which was last week, around Thursday??) and it was in fact asquamous single cell cancer...otherwise known as LUNG CANCER!!
Dr. Su brings in an oncologist(which was a complete joke) and a surgeon(Dr. Bradford). The oncologist decides that he isn't a candidate for surgery, told him he could do chemo, but basically to go home, get comfortable and cough until he dies...sounds cruel to me. But Dr. Bradford disagreed(thankfully!!) and completely disagrees with the oncologist and says that the best treatment is to remove the upper right lobe, where the tumor and infection was living, and that he would be A-OK!

So fast-forward to yesterday, at 10am, my papa went under the knife to have a lobectomy and to have a new chance at life. And I'm soooooo thankful he decided to do the surgery. The couple hours of waiting were very nerve-wrecking and I could've sworn somebody stopped the clock several times. It didn't help that I didn't have cell-phone reception, becase that would've kept me busy part of the time. Finally almost 3 hours later, Dr. Bradford comes out and says it was a SUCCESS!!

He's been in the Critcal Care Unit since the surgery and about 3 hours post-op they were able to take him off the ventilator. I knew he was in good hands, especially since my pulmonologist was on call and in the CCU last night. This morning I went to see him and he was sitting up in the chair, drinking water. A complete improvement! He managed to sit in the chair all day today, ate a little bit of jello, took most of his meds by mouth(and what he couldn't, was crushed up and put in applesauce, which he ate!).

I'm hoping that if he continues to do well and recovers at this rate, he will be able to move to the post-surgical floor either late tomorrow or on Friday.

I love my papa, and can't imagine life without him and to be honest, I don't want to. I know his time will come, but I'm hoping we can postpone it for a LOONNGG time. My papa is one of the funniest, sweetest, cutest, and smartest person I know. I'm really looking forward to him getting better so that we can get back to our weekly errands and lunch meetings. Those days are usually the best days of my week and I can't imagine not having them.

Mother's Day 2008

2008-05-18T22:51:00.003-05:00

For mother's day this year, my siblings and I decided to have group pictures done and then make a picture collage for mom. It was very hard to keep it a secret from mom, especially since I was in Denton and not able to do much except when I was home on the weekends. Sharla(my sister in law) and I started planning this back in February. We decided to take pictures while I was on Spring break and since Brad(the current ex) was wanting to get pictures of his little girl, that was my albi to go to the studio. Perfect right!!!

The hardest part of everything was hiding the pictures yet trying to find a frame that we all liked and could fit all of the pictures. After searching many stores and deciding that we couldn't afford to do a custom frame, we found it. The frame was perfect, it matched the other collage frames that mom already had but still was unique in it's own way. But that wasn't all the drama. When we bought the frame, the salesperson told us we could seperate the mats and it would make two mats, allowing us to fit in the different picture sizes...but she LIED! The mats don't come apart unless you want to tear them and that wouldn't look good. So Laura and I got very creative....we decided to create our own mat and just use the back of the sheet. It turned out amamzingly good. So we get the pictures taped and set in place. Laura decides that the glass needs to be cleaned, and I was the luck person to take it out of the frame( do you see where I'm going with this?). As I lifted it out...you guessed it....the glass BROKE! In half too. UGH...I was so frustrated that I almost started crying. Now being friday night(hey, we're a bunch of procrastinators), we had to go on a city wide search for glass that is cheaper than buying a brand new frame.

Branden and I went all over Arlington looking for a frame that was the same size and we could just use the glass, but nooooo. Everyday stores don't sell frames over 16x20 and ours was 21x24. We finally decide to go by the dreaded Parks Mall and find a framing store. We struck gold....not only could the cut the glass right then but it was cheaper than buying a new frame.

But all the drama was worth it, Mom was truly shocked that we did this and even went as far as to put them in a frame. But she's worth the trouble.

Rangers Game May 10, 2008

2008-05-18T22:10:00.005-05:00

I know it's a couple weeks late, but I've been on vacation enjoying the relaxing confines of grandma's house and the river flowing in the backyard. It was a nice retreat, but I'm glad to be back home.

On Saturday the 10th, Dad was able to get tickets to see the Rangers take on the Oakland A's(#1 in our division). We brought along our friend, but he didn't really agree with the baseball attitude and spirit. Anyways, I wasn't going to let that ruin a ball game. I LOVE baseball and the Rangers and this was the perfect way to end a great semester.

Our seats were a little to the right of home plate and was perfect for seeing my Rangers warm-up before going to the plate. Anyone say YUM!!!

This is the Rangers during warm-up, before the game. We were in for a treat that night, the Rangers had been playing really good ball for a while and this was a great showing for the team, even if our starting pitcher left in the first because of an injury.

Ian Kinsler is batting here and is really turning into a great lead-off hitter for us. Kinsler is also one of my favorite defensive players, he makes the most unbeliveable catches and makes plays that sometimes seems impossible, but I guess that's why he makes the big bucks!

One of my other favorite players is Michael Young(#10), he plays shortstop and took over that position once we finally got rid of A-Rod!

The grade is in....

2008-05-06T12:10:00.004-05:00

We got our projects back today after taking a rather easy final and I am very happy.
Drumroll please.......

I got a 96.
Which makes my overal project a 146/150.

I'm still trying to see where I missed 4 points, but I will take the A.

Motherhood-Women Studies Project

2008-04-28T18:52:00.008-05:00

For my Women's Studies class, we had to do a project, it could consist of a 5-page research paper or a homemade zine(like a magazine) and our topic had to be over an issue facing women that was talked about in class, this project is worth about 60% of my final grade. So my topic was Stay at Home vs. Working moms and the issues both of them faced. I've been working on this project since the beginning of March and am soo happy to say that I'm DONE!! I'm also very happy to say that I used some creative juices and made it super cute!! All of the paper is either bright polka-dot or bright solid colors and it's held together with a black polka-dot ribbon.

For the specifics of the zine, we had to have a table of contents, introduction, and then 5-8 entries and only 2 of those could be someone else's work, everything else had to be a product of yours. So, I did a book review over "Mommy Wars", an interview with my teacher, who happens to be a working mom, a questionnaire with a pretty good size sample, a picture collage of various women in different roles, I found 2 cartoons(one for working moms and one for stay at home moms), I did a story about all of the women in my life and why they either worked or stayed home and then I did a segment on suggested readings for more information.

Without anything further...I present: Motherhood by Whitney E

7 days left!!!

2008-04-26T19:59:00.003-05:00

There are only four days of classes left and then three days of the dreaded finals. But I'm not too sure which is worse, the week before finals or the week of finals. This weekend I have been holed up in my apartment, except for the 20 minute trip to wal-greens to get a magazine for one of my classes. Anyways, being Saturday night, I'm spending it, writing a lab report with little direction and not a lot of confidence, finishing my Women's Studies project, again with little direction, but I'm confident that at least it will look cute, I will put pictures up when it's completely finished. Hopefully, that will either be tonight or the latest by Monday. Here is a list of everything due this week..oh JOY!!
Monday-
-Math Test....must not only pass the test but do very good
-get biology test back...that will be interesting
-turn in lab report
-take lab final
-put finishing touches on WS project
Tuesday-
-turn in above mentioned project
-sit through a boring hour and twenty minute class, hoping she gives us somewhat of a clue to study for the final

and the rest of the week is pretty calm, seems like they pile everything on us for the beginning of the week and then make up for it by making the end of week calm. I would prefer them to space it out.

The end of week and weekend will be spent studying, if you can believe it, I'm missing Kenny Chesney to study. Thats major!! I haven't missed a show since he first started headlining his own tour. Don't worry though, I fully plan on being there next year...hopefully ;)

Also, I registered for the fall semester this week. What fun!! My classes are Biology 2 w/ lab(or Bio 1 again, depending on if I'm happy with my grade), Organic Chem 1 w/lab, Botany(plant biology) w/lab and quantative analysis(I think...hmm). Anyways, it's 15 hours worth of school, I hope I can handle it and it won't be too bad. Although, I was able to continue to have a 3 day weekend w/ no school on fridays :)

Study break is over....back to that lab report on Paternity Testing, sounds fun, huh??

LDSSA-TWU

2008-04-23T18:44:00.005-05:00

Today was the Spring Fling party for TWU. Part of the party was a float parade, so naturally the LDSSA had to take part in the event. I don't remember how I managed to get involved, but I did. So our theme was Pioneering the Future. Our float consisted of a homemade covered wagon that everyone held. We were suppose to dress like pioneers, but I didn't know that until it was too late, so I was dressed for Pioneer women of the future.

After the parade, awards were handed out for three different cattegories, I know one was most spirited and one was most creative, but I don't remember the third. And to my amazement...we WON!!! They chose us as the MOST CREATIVE float. And I must admit....it was very creative.
This is one side of the float as we were walking through campus. At times during the parade we sang, the pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked, the pioneer children sang as they walked, etc.

Pitchin for Preemies

2008-04-20T19:06:00.006-05:00

Last weekend Dad and I had tickets to a charity event at the Ballpark, Pitchin for Preemies. The event benefitted the March of Dimes charity. We had a blast. The day consisted of ballpark food, nachos, hot dogs, cookies, brownies, and of course Dr. Pepper :). After everyone ate, there was an auction of various baseball items, and unfortnately I didn't win anything(or is that forunately??). After the auction was my 2nd favorite activity....a acoustic performance by Stoney LaRue. Dad didn't know who Stoney was, but he seemed to enjoy his music. I know he had fun playing with Stoney's kiddos. Stoney went off stage just in time for the main event...the Rangers baseball game. We were playing Toronto Blue Jays and even though we were better in some areas, Toronto managed to beat us, after taking the game into 10 innings. Of course I took pictures.

Rangers during their warm-up.

Dad with Stoney LaRue Me with Stoney LaRue :)

What a week!!!

2008-04-09T15:35:00.000-05:00

Last week was a nightmare to say the least. I've been stressing over school, trying to make good grades and yet graduate in a reasonable time. As a result, I hadn't been sleeping well. So on Monday I started to get a headache, I thought no biggie, I will just go home early and sleep. That would've been to simple, instead I had to go to the student health center to get a note so it can be excused(yea, my university is one the RARE that actually makes you document your absences..CRAZY!). The NP tells me that I need 2 shots and to sleep. So $72 later, I have two sore arms but my note to clear me of my absence. If I could've gone to class, I would've, but sitting up for 3 hours in blinding light, made me very neausated. Wake up Tuesday and still have the darn headache, so I stay home and sleep some more. I do the same thing on Wednesday, except now Im thinking of how I can get home to see my regular doctor and save money. And just my luck the doctor's half day is thursday, but thankfully he had one opening left(and I got it!!). So Thursday morning I go to my PCP and he says its a status migraine(one that gets stuck) and proceeds to give me one big shot in my hip...not fun!, he tells me to go home and sleep it off, not better in the morning call him and he will get me in to see a neurologist(im thinking...I dont care, just make it go away). I wake up friday morning...and it's still there, not any better. So I now have an appoitment to see the neurologist. He gives me two options, take oral meds and wait over the weekend and miss more school or be admitted to the hosptial and have IV meds. I chose the hospital. And Im glad I did. I was admitted Friday and by Sunday my headache was gone(YAY!!!). I was discharged on Monday and came back to school on Tuesday.

This past weekend had been one I was looking forward to. My friend Julie and I were suppose to go see Eli Young Band(again!!!!) for her birthday. Then on Saturday and Sunday the Nascar races were in town and Dad and I had planned on watching...I mean working the races and having a good time. But thanks to a migraine, I didn't get to do any of it. Although I did watch the race on tv, but that doesn't do the live race any justice. Oh well....they will be back in November and I WILL be there.

This weekend is going to be a fun one too. Dad and I have tickets to the Rangers game for opening weekend. Before the game we will get to see Stoney LaRue, dad doesn't care about seeing Stoney, but I cant wait. I love baseball and would be nice if I had a team that was somewhat decent to cheer for, but until the pitching staff grows up and gains control and momentum over their individual games, I will continue to cheer on the Rangers.

Wedding Continued....

2008-03-28T20:05:00.000-05:00

Branden and Sharla got married on August 25, 2007. The ceremony was very short but very beautiful. I finally got pictures of the wedding from them and had a spare minute to post.

Most don't know, but Branden and Sharla have known each other for a long time. Branden, Sharla, Chris(Sharla's bro) and I all grew up together, lived on the same street and attended the same junior and high schools(for a little while). My freshman and sophmore years, Sharla actually took both of us to school. Branden's always had a crush on Sharla for as long as I can remember, but never acted on it. Sharla moved out of her dads and back to her moms and thats when her and Branden wuit talking everyday. Fast forward several years and here we are standing in a wedding hall, wearing very pretty dresses listening to them say their vows. Chris and I joked at the rehersal that we never thought the day would come, when my brother and his sister would marry each other. But life is funny that way.

:)

Branden and Sharla's Wedding

2008-03-28T19:55:00.000-05:00

Well....

2008-03-24T11:15:00.000-05:00

I will be an AUNT!!!!

Branden and Sharla are expecting their first child some time in November. I'm soo freaking excited(so are mom and dad!).

P.S. My amazing mother started a blog, shockingly its the Amazing mother link on the side...so go check it out.

Another round of sound checks and the train wrecks

2008-03-20T15:09:00.000-05:00

...the lost boy and the rejects. Fallin angels dancing to the music drifting softly on the southern wind. Talking like he heroes that we won't be, spitting out the song that little jimmy sold me, fighting for each other though it feels like we'll never win...AMERICAN SAINT!!
Bleu Edmondson, American Saint, Lost Boy

I'm very bored at work today, so I've been playing on youtube and thought I would share some videos of my favorite music that I've been listening to lately.

The next video is Cross Canadian Ragweed(Actually, Jeremy Plato) singing Soul Agent.

This is Brandon Rhyder....another guy that can make me smile!!

Spring Break

2008-03-13T15:56:00.000-05:00

YAY!!! As of 2:20 pm, Im officially on spring break. I plan on catching up with lots of people that I've missed since moving off to school and also working a little on the side to fund my music addiction...HA!! Hope everyone has a great weekend and see ya'll later.

Whit

Walking along the fenceline

2008-03-09T14:26:00.000-05:00

On Friday night, Laura, Brad and myself went to Billy Bob's Texas to see the amazing Wade Bowen. This was Laura's first time in Billy Bob's, since its 18 and up. This was Brad's first time seeing Wade Bowen, he likes mainstream country whereas I love Red Dirt/Texas/Americana country. Anyways, all of us seemed to have a great time. Before Wade came on stage, Brad took Laura and I to see the bull riding competition that goes on Friday/Saturday nights. It has been forever since I've seen bull riding. In fact, last time I remember, Branden was the one riding the calf's.

After Wade played all of our favorites and added some new material that will be on his new album(coming hopefully to a store near you in September 2008), we stayed around to see him and say hello. Laura has a serious crush on him, so it is only fitting that we had picture taken with him.

A SNOWY Monday

2008-03-03T19:43:00.000-06:00

That's right, I said SNOW!! That white powder stuff that usually stays far north of Texas as come south and graced us with it's presence. The only problem is that its March and I was wearing flip-flops and capri's on yesterday as well as Saturday. The weather man says that I should receive about 2-3" of snow, but will it stick around....NO! Tomorrow its suppose to be 57. Oh to live in Texas!

School is going great, I had all my mid-terms last week, my hardest test was my lab practical. I got that grade back today and PASSED!! The class didn't do very well and with my grade, it put me in the top 5. Go ME!! I should get back my women's studies test tomorrow, Im feeling confident that I did well. I forgot to add that when I went and visited my biology teacher, we were talking about lecture, how I can improve my studying and all that good stuff. She was telling me how I was very smart(which we all knew that ;) ). Anyways, she invited me to take the steps to join their research team, and that way I can watch them do research and if I decide to change my path, I already have my foot in the door for the graduate program. COOL! Not to mention if I stay with medical school, that will look awesome on the application.

To pick up where things left off, Mom found Daniels keys, I called him left a voicemail and he hasn't called. So I guess he doesn't need them as bad as he claimed. Although, his brother did call me and tried to make me feel guilty, but it didn't work.

There is a new guy, his name is Brad. We've known each other for several years, but have taken different paths. We've been talking for several weeks and are going to try the dating scene. Im excited to see where things go.

**Update- By 2am the snow was melting and when I woke up at 8, it was gone except for the cars parked in the shade. **

First of many tests

2008-02-13T13:36:00.000-06:00

I took my first of what will be MANY biology tests this morning. I've been studying so hard that I was about to explode. Overall I think the test went really well, there was some stuff that I didn't recall learning about, but when I asked she told me what chapter it was from, so I had to believe her, *I've been looking for it and can't find it, so if I get it wrong, I will have her show me where its at*. Otherwise, I felt prepared, so it will be interesting to see my grade. Hopefully it will be posted today, if not today then maybe by the Friday.
In other news, I get to go home this weekend. I'm super excited, the university is a desolte town on Saturday/Sunday. I love coming home and seeing all my friends and hanging out with my mom(that probably makes me sound like a loser, but oh well!). On this trip home I'm making it a priority to see my Papa, I haven't been able to see him since middle January and thats a long time for me to go without seeing him, I've talked to him on the phone, but he doesn't remember that very well.
Today is laundry day, so off I go to switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer.

Happy 18th Birthday!!!

2008-02-09T19:41:00.000-06:00

This is for my little sister who turns 18 today!! I can't believe you made it to your 18 birthday, I was for sure that growing up either mom or I would harm you, especially after all those nights you spent jumping from your bed to mine, not allowing me to sleep. So in honor of your 18th birthday, I'm going to be nice and write some things that I love about you.
1. Your personality, you can have a conversation with anyone, at any time.
2. Your very smart, I love that your trying so hard to graduate and that you have a plan for your future, even if it's something that I never pictures you doing ( Special Education??).
3.Your willingness to serve, you will always try your hardest to help anyone that needs your help, even if it's scarificing time doing something else that you would rather do.
4.Attitude, this deserves its own catagory. I love your attitude about yourself, not caring what others think. Also your ability to speak your mind, that may not always be a good thing, but at least we don't usually have to wonder what your thinking.
5. Style, you have an amazing sense of style, even if it's not something I always agree with, you still manage to look cute in whatever your wearing. You wear things that I can NEVER pull off.

I hope you continue to do what you think is right and what makes you happy, no matter what others think. So go get your i.d made so that on March 7 we can have another sister date with Wade Bowen :)
P.S. isn't my Papa the cutest?? I just love him to pieces.

My part time job

2008-02-04T22:10:00.001-06:00

Most know that I earn the majority of my money babysitting. I love kids and it's a great way to make money without being anything permanent. So a last weekend was no different. My aunt Bridget called and asked if I was interested in watching the twin boys. I jumped at the opportunity. The boys are great, they love to laugh, play chase and anything to do with balls or trucks. I was there for a little over 7 1/2 hours and really enjoyed myself. Ok, so maybe the last hour was getting a little difficult(my knee was swelling and both wanted to climb all over me and my knee, and that wasn't happening). But how can you not have fun with these two cute little boys

This is for Mom and Mammaw

2008-02-04T22:05:00.000-06:00

Ya'll have heard me complain many times about how boring this class is due to the fact that it's teaching me everything I already know about computers. However, i'm proud to report that I have not procrastinated on my computer homework. It's not due till Thursday at 11pm and I completed it tonight before 9pm. That's HUGE progress, but can't be sure if it will always work out that way. *Now, if I can only apply this effort to my other subjects...like BIOLOGY!!

President Hinckley 1910-2008

2008-01-28T19:56:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a very sad day for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Our prophet and president, Gordon B. Hinckley passed away. While I'm truly sad, because he was president when I joined the church(back in 97) and then when my family went to the Temple. I'm forever grateful for all that President Hinckley did not only for me and my family but for the world. With his passing, it only reminds me of what blessings come from being a worthy member and someday having a worthy temple marriage. His passing reminds me of when I was taking the discussions I think for the 2nd time, one of them is one the Plan of Salvation. I've always known what it is and how it works, but seeing someone of his magnitude pass, it just re-enforces what we as members have in our lives. So I may be sad in his passing, I know he is overly thrilled to be next to his sweetheart for time and all eternity and that he is living the high life in the Celestial kingdom. One song that has passed through my head all day is by
Mercy Me, I Can Only Imagine:

I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk
By your side

I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face
Is before me
I can only imagine

[Chorus:]
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the Son

I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever
Forever worship You
I can only imagine

[Chorus]

I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever, forever worship you

My Apartment!!

2008-01-15T15:38:00.000-06:00

These are the pictures I took the first night I was here. It's a very big room, considering my room at home and the size of the dorms.

I'm here!!

2008-01-14T16:35:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I moved up to Denton. I guess it's official, no turning back now. They changed my living arrangements up a little bit. I was supposed to be on the third floor but instead was put on the second floor, but I'm not complaining, that's one less flight of stairs I have to climb. I was also very lucky with the fact that I have my own bathroom. Trust me, that is a complete luxury and I'm forever thankful.
Classes started today. This morning I had my Algebra 2 class and then this afternoon had my biology lecture and lab. Algebra should be somewhat challenging but not terribly difficult. Biology on the other hand is going to challenge me to be more disclipined and not procrastinate. Especially since my lab is once a week for 3 hours. By hour 1 my bum was hurting and I was yawning, maybe it wont be so bad when we start doing more experiments and less paperwork/beginning work. I've finally figured out what my Chemistry is good for, the first several chapters/experiments are chemistry based and since I've had Chem 1 and 2, I should be in good shape. I also made a great discovery today, in my apartment complex we have a computer lab and in the lab is FREE printing(as many pages as you wish). This is great considering my science notes are online and have to printed off before class. I also discovered the laundry center, which will get lots of use this semester. Well, that's all for today. I'm tired(my math class was at 8am, which means I've been up since about 715) and my knee is rebelling. Tomorrow should be a somewhat decent day, my classes are both midmorning/afternoon.

Christmas

2007-12-30T22:45:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that Christmas has already came and went. Time sure has flown by. This year was no different from the past. On Christmas Eve my family all travels to my grandma's house and just eat, exchange presents(I got a $20 gift card to a liquor store...don't know what I will buy...haha!), play games and enjoy each others company. I love my grandma and Bill, and all that they've done to help me get where I am today. Then on Christmas morning we went over to Branden and Sharla's place to open presents and have breakfast as a family. I came out very well there too, I got a cooking kit for my apartment, a docking station for my ipod, itunes gift card for the mentioned ipod, and two gift cards to my favorite store....TARGET! Then we went home, and got ready to go to Weatherford for my Grandad's Christmas. No one in my family wanted to go, but we went anyways. I wasn't shocked at all, my Grandad didn't ask once about how applying to schools went, if I decided on where to go, or how I was doing. He just doesn't care about this side of his family. His wife asked where I was going, but then just said to be careful. I wanted to so badly to ask why she cared, she doesn't think about me being careful the other 364 days out of the year. In fact the last time I talked to them was on my brother's wedding and I don't even think he knew what I was talking about or even cared. We had to exchange gifts there and I got another Target gift card(total is now $65 in giftcards to target). We left early because I wasn't feeling well and dad had to work the next day. I don't think they even noticed we were gone. I should be used to it by now, this is the same man that missed my graduation party and the actual graduation itself. How he sleeps at night, I will never know. Oh well, I didn't mean to go on a tangent, but I feel better getting that off of my chest.

Cowboys Game

2007-12-30T22:37:00.000-06:00

I was able to go see the Cowboys last home game of the regular season on December 16, 2007. It was against the division rival Philadelphia Eagles, most know of the game because Jessica Simpson was there(and possibly the reason we lost..haha!) So because my Dad is a plant manager, companies are always trying to get him to use their products and this time was no different. One of the companies that has a contract called on the Thursday before the game and offered my dad two tickets in their suite. So my dad asked me to go because I'm his favorite(ok, so it was really because I go to all sporting events with him). Anyways, we got there about two hours before the suite was open and it was fun to just walk around, look at all the history in the stadium, take pictures of the field and even watch the Cowboys warm up. Of course I wore my PINK Romo jersey. Here are my favorite pictures from the night.

Housing!

2007-12-13T13:30:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday I got a very cool letter in the mail. It contained my housing assignment along with my roommates. After praying and praying, I think Heavenly Father truly did look out for me. Instead of being in a dorm and sharing a room with someone, I was placed in an APARTMENT!!! Where I will have my own room, and possibly own bathroom. I plan on moving up to Denton either Jan 10 or 11, but either way, it cant come soon enough. I also can say for the first time in several YEARS, that I don't have to worry about being sick, haven't had a major attack in over a year and if everything goes the same, shouldn't have to worry for a LONNNGGG time.

Countdown to NYE!!!

2007-12-07T19:53:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited for NYE this year. For the first time I'm not babysitting and hopefully won't be sick. So my really good friend Julie suggested that we go to a concert...great idea!! I love concerts and we are going to see.......Eli Young Band! Who by the way are very close to being in my top 5 bands of all time...that's huge. Anyways for those counting(Julie and Me) it's only 24 days over..YAY!!!!! Thankfully youtube is plentifully stocked with videos of them and this is just a tease for what's about to come.

Long time

2007-11-15T11:57:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since the last post and honestly I almost forgot my log in information...OOPS!! Lets see...what is new?
1. I applied to three different universities and got accepted to 2 of them, made a decision and will register for spring classes at TEXAS WOMANS U at the end of the month!!! I went yesterday and met with an advisor and set up a degree plan. I'm very excited!! Mammaw, mom and I visited TWU and UNT earlier this month and that's when I decided that TWU was the best choice. I even made the big step of applying for housing, and should know my living conditions by middle December.
2. I broke up with Daniel, turns out I was right, we weren't meant to be together and no matter how many days, weeks, months went by that wasn't changing. I wish him the best of luck and hope he finds what he's looking for.
3. Fall semester is in full swing. It never fails, English is not my subject and I'm still struggling with deaper meaning literature....seriously, if the writers wanted us to know what he was TRULY thinking, he would've written that instead of what he wrote originally. My Philosophy class is pretty interesting, the section we just started is over Religion and whether or not God exists and what evidence do we have to support our argument. I'm not as smart as others when it comes to my religion, I know what I believe in but usually have a hard time putting those beliefs into words that others can understand. But in class yesterday, I was able to put some of my beliefs into words so that others could understand and either accept or deny my arguments. That made me feel really good, I couldn't believe it!! I'm also taking the second part of U.S History, I had the same professor for the first part and he hasn't changed. He maked the material very understanding and all his tests are essays. The best part....you know your essay ahead of time. He gives you 4 questions and a notecard and one of those questions will be your essay...how nice!! My last class is an online Music Appreciation. I still haven't quite figured it out yet. We have all sorts of quizzes, listening tests and we're suppose to go to concerts and do critiques.

New

2007-09-21T15:13:00.000-05:00

So I'm new to the blog world, bear with me as I work to figure things out!