Happy New Year

Best wishes to all of you! I hope you stay safe doing whatever you are doing to ring in the New Year!

Pictures and a request

Those are pictures of K's present this year. I wish I had one of B's, but he's in all the pictures I took!

I've taken the last five days off from blogging, and might not be back around for another couple of days. It feels good to relax and catch up on sleep. Not only that but I have books to read. Marvelous books! I'm working on a new Jodi Picoult novel, that I'll let you know what I think about when I'm done, as well as another one who's title escapes me right now.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I think people were reading in the middle of the semester, when I couldn't, what did you read? Was it any good? I have personal shopping day at Borders that I plan to use! Share your favourite reads in the comments please!

Merry Christmas!!!

It's not quite Christmas here, but seeing as how I couldn't convince ANYONE to go to church with me tonight, I'm going to take my medicines and go to bed. Plus, I just have to get up at four in the morning for the next dose anyhow, so it's not like it really matters.

I'll probably be around tomorrow. I can't imagine that I'll actually want to spend the entire day with my family - they're loud, they'll be drinking, and I won't so talk to you later!

~Angela

Feeling better

I'm off to the first of two (or three) church services today. Although I may only make it to one in reality. My face is still a little swollen, but I can tell the infection's going away - I'm just super run down (that's probably related to the fact that I'm taking two antibiotics, benadryl and advil every 4-6 hours). For me, who refuses to admit when I'm sick - this sucks!

And now, my face kinda feels like a sunburn. You know, right when it's ready to peel? And the only thing the doctor gave me permission to use was dial antibacterial soap. Today, however, I'm going to splurge and use some of my all-natural Arbonne products to moisturize. Or else I'll be picking - and that'd probably be worse!

I'll be back around by tonight or early tomorrow. If anyone's even reading! I've been a bad blog friend lately. I don't know how long it's been since I left a comment somewhere, but I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things soon.

Is it cliche to watch Gray's Anatomy and ER, when you're actually in the ER?

I spent over four hours in the emergency room last night.


I had a fever all day that wouldn't go away (102 degrees, it took a combo of 3 Tylenol and 3 Motrin at the hospital to finally make it break), and my face was all swollen - after a gland started to swell on Tuesday, I thought it would go away or maybe get a little worse. At the ER, they pumped full of two different antibiotics via IV - and sent me home with a prescription for two others.

K and B's mom feels terrible, because I watched B all day Monday when he stayed home sick from school, but I don't think it was really his fault at all. He even apologized on the phone - I tried to get him to understand that he didn't do anything wrong, but I don't know if he got it. They're going to come out here tomorrow, so we'll see if I can convince him, it's really okay.

I worked for two days, went home sick on the third and stayed home on the fourth. Hopefully, I'm better by Tuesday - this holiday weekend should provide for some good recuperation time.

Whew!

The semester is over. Grades to come.

Yay!

Happiness is...

• watching a three-year-old open her Christmas present, then discovering that the new shoes are so much more exciting that the dress, tights and hair ties.
• watching the seven-year-old open his present that he had been dying for, but mom wouldn't buy and last time they were at the store he was all upset because it wasn't there.
• watching these kids grow before your eyes and knowing that they truly do love you. Even when they get in trouble and you have to scold them.
  

More tears...

Wasn't it just a couple weeks ago the nation was worried about the fate of James and Kati Kim and thier two little girls? While that story stuck with me, this one has got me more enraptured. I don't know if it's because I have more time or if it's because that boy that I mentioned awhile back is into mountain climbing or what. But for some reason the fact that there are climbers missing is hitting hard, and I really wanted them to find everyone safe. But then I read this article. Doesn't look so good. I still hope they find the other two safe somewhere. Those families need a Christmas miracle.

Apparently

this has been a tough few months for a lot of people. I just found out that one of my friends is choosing to not return to college for her second semester. Another has changed majors. And several others saw their GPAs drop significantly. I'm hoping I kept up high enough to keep my scholarship, but at this point who knows?

I've worked all week, three days with K and B, one day at my mom's office and now I'm with B's friend who I spent a lot of time in August while his mom was in meetings and trainings for her first year as a teacher.

K cracks me up so much, I can't even begin to list the hilarious things she says every day. I need to keep better records. One cool thing is that she has the concept of real and pretend down, or at least so it would seem. That was major concern with the first little boy I ever took care of, he is bipolar and that concept escaped him for years; I don't know when the average age for definitely knowing the difference is, but K still seems so little sometimes. I can't believe that in less than four months she'll be four. What ever happened to my baby K?

I'm going to go finish up my last assignment for the semester - at least what I can do know, while not at home...

One last major assignment and then I'm done

Yes, done. Yay! I can't wait. It's finally coming to an end, and I've never been happier.

I start a new job next week at a daycare. I went in for an interview and was hired on the spot. Now all I've got to do is find my CPR card (does the hospital/fire dept/American Heart Association have a copy if I can't find it??), get a new sheriff's card/background check and a TB test. But I've got time for all of that.

B is going to be attending this daycare for Christmas break and K might begin after that depending on how well it goes. Mom doesn't want to move K if it's not going to work out - which makes sense to me.

I should go finish studying for the one final I have today, and then I'm heading to K and B's so that their mom can go to her office Christmas party - dad's out of town, or else I'd probably have them for the next two days, since it's been FOREVER since they've gone out to dinner.

Accents

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central   "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
The West
The Midland
Boston
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

One year blogging

...it's been a year since I started this blog. Mostly, I just wanted to have a place so I could leave comments on others blogs without being anonymous...

I didn't expect to have 225 posts, and a ton of new friends at the one year mark, it's amazing what happens when you least expect it. I've met several bloggers in person, and had countless email conversations with others.

Yesterday, I decided it was time for a change around here. I wanted a new template, one that wasn't pink and super girly and this one seemed to fit. I also made the switch to beta, which required taking my name off of Granny's blog. But we'll fix that as soon as blogger figures things out.

I have to get back to homework. I'm done with 2 of 4 papers which are due tomorrow (not counting the one my professor gave me feedback on last night, and asked for back, last night - ha! not happening. remember that professionalism thing, I should be able to expect the same from you that you expect from me? It goes into effect RIGHT NOW! You take three weeks to give me feedback, I should get more than 3 hours to return it to you.), and I just have to keep going with the rest of them. Finals start Thursday and then I'll be done. Yay. I need to be done, I need a break.

I may have information on a job, but I'm not going to jinx it quite yet.

See this adorable little girl???

She's 15 months old and already knows what to do with the phone. Pick it up and say "hi" of course!

I have spent the last three days with her (and a good chunk of the last 6 months). She is precious and I love her. Watching her grow in the past year has been incredible. And now her mommy graduated from college and they will be moving away on me. Granted I probably have another 6-8 months before that happens, but still they are going to move. And that makes me sad. I hate forming friendships only to have life bring such drastic changes. I guess I'll be making a lot of trips to Vegas (or Florida!) or wherever they end up. I can't imagine losing my little Anya.

Congratulations to Anya's mommy and the rest of the class of 2006!

Holiday meme - more procrastination!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot chocolate

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
He's never wrapped them at our house, but always did at my best friends house! Odd!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Coloured AND white. My dad goes extremely overboard with lights.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No

5. When do you put your decorations up?
My dad will start as early as we let him. Usually right after Thanksgiving and the tree comes somewhere after the 10th of December

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Ummmm... Probably the turkey. I know, how uncreative. But I love turkey. With gravy. Lots and lots of gravy.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
My Canadian Christmas. Although, I was 18, not really a child. It was the first I was anywhere special for Christmas, and I got to spend it with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles that I don't know very well. It was amazing. And Boxing Day was even better.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don't remember.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
We used to open new pajamas on Christmas Eve (so we'd look good the next morning in pictures?)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Lights by dad. Ornaments by those who they belong to.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
DREAD! Although I would love a white Christmas sometime.

12. Can you ice skate?
I've never tried, so I'd guess no

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Not really. I have favourites from lots of years. I'm actually more excited about the ones I'm giving this year.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Christmas eve at church. This year I'm probably going to an 11pm service at a church an hour from here.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Butter tarts

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Opening presents before stockings. Then heading over to my mom's best friends house (or them coming over here).

17. What tops your tree?
An angel

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
Giving

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Or Away in a Manger. Or... so many more. The traditional Christian carols most often...

Sometimes people can be so frustrating

I'm procrastinating from the scary amount of work that I have to do before next week. But that's okay because I need to rant a little.

Almost every road around here has these signs that say "Slow vehicles must use turnouts" or some such variation of said sentence. And yet, today I got to follow a truck up a hill at TEN miles an hour. TEN. That's fifteen miles an hour slower than the speed limit, and twenty miles an hour slower than I usually go. And of course, he refused to use the turnouts.

I have no tolerance for that. I use the turnout even when I'm not driving slow. I figure if the person behind me wants to go fast, more power to them. I feel that others should extend the same courtesy. I mean really, is it so hard to pull off the road if your car can't make it up the hill, or your scared, or whatever other reason there is to drive super slowly?

Thanks for listening. This rant has been a long time in the making and was topped off today by Mr. Inconsiderate.

Thank goodness!

I finally know what I'm going to teach on Tuesday in my social studies class. Check it out! It's fun, educational and hands on. And totally me! Is it wrong if I use Canadian spelling on a US history lesson plan??

I've spent most of the last three hours working on homework, and I need a break. Time for some Gilmore Girls, I think! I'm heading to the college in about another hour or so, and I don't have the motivation to do homework until then. I figure I know what I'm going to do, and it'll work for me to spend the day tomorrow working on stuff for Tuesday, while working on stuff for Thursday as well at any given opportunity.

My computer is broken so I'm stuck with my parents' computer or the ones on campus. Oh well! I'll send it away once the break starts.

Be back later.

Best song ever!

Stupid Boy
by Keith Urban
from the Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing album

Well she was precious, like a flower
She grew wild,
Wild, but innocent
The perfect prayer in a desperate hour
She was everything beautiful and different
Stupid boy
You can't fence that in
Stupid boy
It's like holding back the wind
She let her heart and soul right in your hands
And you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans
She never even knew she had a choice
And that's what happens when the only voice she hears is telling her she can't
Stupid boy
Stupid boy

So, what made you think that you could take a life
And just push it, push it, around
I guess to build yourself up so high,
You had to take her and break her down
She let her heart and soul right in your hands

And you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans
She never even knew she had a choice
And that's what happens when the only voice she hears is telling her she can't

You stupid boy
Ohh you always had to be right
Now you've lost it all
And everything that ever made you feel alive

Ohhhhhh yeah yeah

She let her heart and soul right in your hands
And you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans (yes you did)
She never even knew she had a choice
And that's what happens when the only voice she hears is telling her she can't
You stupid boy
Ohh same old same old same old stupid boy

It took a while for her to figure out she could run
And when she did she was long gone long gone.

Mmhmmmm ohhh stupid boy
Ohhh yess
Ohh