Christmas 2010

Wow... it's been quite a busy Christmas this year.

For us, it began on the 17th with a White Elephant Party at some friends'. We had a great time exchanging wacky gifts (which included an enormous pair of pants which could easily fit three people inside, a Daffy Duck hair dryer, a large naked doll that everyone tried to keep covered up that evening, and magical oatmeal that was supposed to guide the reindeer to your house on Christmas Eve). We also played a version of charades (I still think my team did the best wedding scene) and wax museum (where you have to stay absolutely still else you get caught by the person who is "it". Seth is a master at this game). It was a very enjoyable evening, but it would have repercussions for the next Tuesday night.

The next day (December 18th), we four (Seth had to work that day) went over to Grandpa Mike's house for Christmas with him. Some of our relatives from Greenville came down, and we had a nice time. We had a nice surprise in that Grandpa had converted some of the old videos from the 70's to DVD format, and we were able to watch two of them. It was humorous to see Dad and Uncle Jason (Uncle Josh was either not born or just a baby at that time) in some of their fighting matches and even play dirty in them. We also had a chance to see my great-great-grandparents' farm in Greenville, to see their horses, the tractor, the chickens, and also a chance to see other relatives that I have never met before.

Tuesday the 21st was supposed to be a Christmas program at the church. However, the party the Friday night previous meant that several people who had been there came down with colds, particularly among the party's hosts and who are the strongest choir singers. It was providential, though, as Mandy was indisposed that day, and they cancelled the program that morning. It has been re-scheduled for New Year's Eve, though there are still some sick folk among us and there is a chance Dad and Seth might not be able to make it. Still, I am planning on recording snippets of the show like I did for the talent show back in September; I've already got my mind made up on recording all of "Carol of the Bells", as I've fallen in love with the choir's version.

On the 23rd, we drove up to the Cumming area of town to deliver Christmas cookies to various families and to stop and chat for a few minutes. It was a nice time, and we had Zaxby's for dinner afterwards.

On the 24th, Mandy didn't wake up feeling well and was a bit out of it for the rest of the day. However, she was well enough to go with us to Uncle Jason's that night for the clan Christmas celebration. We ate dinner, and we sampled the mocha punch (it was delicious, but it made me quite jittery, which is one reason I don't drink coffee). Then we opened presents. I got purple boots to wear around the house (they are sooo warm, and I wear them all the time), a pretty shawl, some earrings, a bag from Bath and Body Works (love that store), socks (I'm always on the hunt for new socks), a photo album with pictures of me as a baby, and some hair thingies. Mandy got boots similar to mine as well as a scarf and hat (not sure what else she got), and Seth got new clothes (which Mandy and I were thankful for). After that, we had the white elephant gift exchange. Seth got a shirt that glows (no kidding), I got two owls (I thought they were cute, so I took them from Mandy), I forgot what Mandy got, Mom got a cat tray, and Dad got a set of dishes. After singing some Christmas carols and listening to Gabe, Noah, and Hannah play the piano (or violin), we went home. We have a tradition to open one present on Christmas Eve, and this year Mom and Dad had a specific one to give us: new cell phones that are absolutely gorgeous and were insanely cheap because of an instant rebate at the story.

On Christmas morning, Mandy generally gets up fairly early and does not let the rest of us sleep for long. This year, I woke up before she started calling me, and poor Seth had to be dragged out of bed. We had a good Christmas this year. Gifts included two kindles, a wok for cooking, clothes, Loreena McKennitt's new CD, Anuna's "Invocation of Ireland DVD" and much more. We spent the day enjoying our new Wii controller and game and just relaxing. We had nice visits with Grandma Linda and then Grandpa Mike and Marsha that afternoon. And then, it started to snow! Yes, snow on Christmas Day in Georgia. It was we kids' first white Christmas, and Mandy and I got some pictures. However, the temperature was not cold enough, and the snow started melting that night. The elders had to cancel church the next morning because the parking lot and sidewalks were completely iced over (not to mention some of the other roads were bad), so we listened to a sermon at home instead.

It was a very busy Christmas this year, but it was a good one too. The only sad thing is now that Christmas is over, I have only a week and a half left of my break from school and then it'll be back to the grind. Still, it was nice to have a break from college, and I shall savor every moment of it.

White Christmas in Georgia

Well, this is certainly a first. Dad has been down here in Georgia for well over twenty years, and this is the first white Christmas he has seen. Yes, it is snowing outside. It was raining this afternoon, then it turned to slush, and now snow is falling. It has slightly begun to stick, but it will probably be dark by the time a decent amount is on the ground. It's very pretty outside, but our concern is that when the temperature falls below 32 degrees, all the water from the rain will freeze and leave everything iced over. But, we shall see what happens.

I will post later about our Christmas. I'm engrossed in one of my presents and in the falling snow that is beginning to stick. :)

How to Miss an Eclipse

Practically everyone knows by now about the lunar eclipse that took place in the wee hours of this morning. Several friends on facebook were talking about it. I planned to see it but technological difficulties prevented me from doing so.

Last night, we had a game night of sorts. We had originally planned for a movie night with friends to watch "Inception", but with our TV acting strange, we changed our plans. It was a fun evening, and I discovered not to play monopoly with my cousin Gabe; he was acting like the city's mafia and was involved with two other guys in stealing the other players' money (which resulted in further theft from the bank). Anyway, because a few of the girls were spending the night, they decided to go to Blockbuster and get a movie. The TV still acted weird, but Gabe helped to keep it under control as they watched "The Last Song". By then it was after midnight, but everyone decided to stay up and witness the total lunar eclipse. The moon was beginning to disappear into shadow, and I wasn't sure about staying up late. I decided instead to set my phone alarm to 2:55 so that I could sleep for a while, wake up, go outside, and then see a red moon. I did this, but my alarm never went off. Apparently, I should have made sure that the alarm was set for AM instead of PM. Oh, well. I'm not sure if the others witnessed the event, but I'll have to ask Mandy when she gets up.

Six Kitties....

We have lost our reputation for having seven cats. We lost our sweet brown-orange kitty Fuzz last night in a car accident. I don't know any details about it except that our neighbor who hit him was completely distraught about what happened. He is now buried near Mom's lilies in the front yard.

RIP Fuzz: 2002- 2010

Snow in December?

Snow in Georgia is unheard of most years, and even then it usually appears in January or February for a day or so before disappearing and leaving some of us disappointed and the entire state in a panic mode like we just got slammed with the biggest blizzard the world has ever seen (yes, this is how people in Atlanta react to snow). Now there's rumors circulating around that we might get our first snow tomorrow, but it's expected to be only some light snow flurries. Still, I wouldn't mind a nice little snow shower myself. But, as some old-timers around here have pointed out, Georgia generally gets a big snow roughly every twenty years, and we're about due for another one. Judging from this unusually cold weather, I hope it's this winter.

And this isn't to get anyone's hopes up, but I'm looking at a free book copy of my two fantasy novels right now. Because I won nanowrimo this year, I got to get a free hard copy of something I've written. I do have the option to sell it on amazon, but I'm not going to do that because... well, frankly, because neither of my novels are ready for publication or public consumption; both are still a bit ghastly and need several more years of work done to them. I've uploaded the picture of my book on facebook, so check it out if you're interested. Even though it's more like a rough draft, it's still nice to have something bound and looking almost like a real published book.

Fashion Sense

Fashion sense on campus is pretty bad. Mandy has a lot of fun critiquing the students when I'm dropped off or picked up; her favorite (and I speak facetiously) are guys who wear skinny jeans. Sometimes it can otherwise can very disturbing with some of the girls dressing like... well, I'll leave the word to your guessing, if you can read my mind.

Well, one would think that with the cold weather making itself right at home in Georgia that people would start wearing pants and sweaters. I myself gave up on wearing skirts to school the week after Thanksgiving because it was just too cold. Apparently not everyone else shares my desire for warmth. Today I've seen girls wearing mid-calf boots walking around in short skirts (like, for example, above the knee) and a sweater. I guess getting attention trumps practicality.

That reminds me. I need to dig through my drawer and find my hat. It'd help me stop freezing during my long walks between the buildings on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Well, only a few days of classes left, then it's finals next week. If I can get this huge history paper done on time and with the proper number of pages, I will be an extremely happy person and will feel like leaping around and shouting for joy. So... off to the paper I go.

A Bit Frightening

I saw something a bit frightening at the GGCity Cafe today. It was after British Literature, and Blair and I were contemplating what to get to eat. We were standing in the cooler area when I picked up a container that contained key lime yogurt with some granola on top. Now, generally, the products that the eating places on campus use have some sort of expiration date. This yogurt had two expiration dates: one for 2009 and another for tomorrow (December 3, 2010). Blair and I looked at each other with disgust and fear on our faces. I think I'm distrusting the food at GGC a little more now.

Winter Weather and Music

Ok, so today is November 30th and tomorrow is December. Generally, rain at this time of year is more like cold drizzle that makes the rest of the world look gray and dreary. So, needless to say, I was not expecting a torrential downpour that looks more like a summer thunderstorm to happen this afternoon. Not only that, but apparently there was a tornado in neighboring town earlier today as well. And it's fairly cold outside, on top of that. I guess it continues to prove my point: Georgia weather is just darn weird.

Oh, and update about the howling monkeys that happened last week. I did a little research and discovered that our nightly friends are barred owls and what I heard was not a fighting breaking out between them. So, I was relieved to know that there is no violence going on outside in the early morning. I haven't heard the owls since that incident, but I hope they don't leave for the winter, as I like hearing them hoot.

Well, now that December is almost here, Christmas music has been playing in the house. I'm alternating between several artists like Enya (just discovered her "White Is in the Winter's Night" today and am completely hooked), Orla Fallon's new "Celtic Christmas" and Cadence Spaulding's "Holiday High". Enya's song, in particular, inspired me to write my first holiday/ winter-themed song this afternoon, and there is a slight possibility that more might come out of it.

Well, got to get back to history. My final paper is due next Friday, and I've had to do more research for it before giving it a complete re-write.

Angry Monkeys

Yes, I know; it is a very weird title for a blog post, but bear with me.

Within the last six months or so, we have had the pleasure of having at least two owls living in our area, and we can hear them hooting to each other at night (or, sometimes in the late afternoon, which is odd). Well, very early this morning, I woke up and was waiting for sleep to claim me again before the alarm went off, when I realized one of the owls was in our dogwood tree less than ten feet from my window and was calling to his partner (who was probably across the street, possibly closer to the neighborhood behind us, from the sound of it). It is a little creepy to hear the owl that close, but they are cool birds. Anyway, the calling went on, and I was about to drift back to sleep when something broke lose. What had started off as gentle calls suddenly erupted into frenzied screams and barking that sounded like I had stumbled into a forest filled with angry monkeys at each other's throats. And all of this was less than ten feet away from my head. And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped after a moment. A bit hair-raising, to say the least. I have absolutely no clue what was going on, but perhaps the owls were having a lovers' quarrel or one of them got too close to a nest. Still, it was an interesting thing that happened this morning.

Still Here...

No, I have not disappeared from the face of the earth. Rather, I have been caught in the tidal wave of the college semester mixed in with the thrills of National November Writing Month (nanowrimo, for short).

As for school, I passed that rough spot a week or so ago and made it out all right. Things have still not slowed down yet, as this history paper is very fiendish and my sources are very poor. I am very much looking forward to the end of this semester. A few weeks ago I signed up for spring classes; I have advanced composition (a writing class that I'm totally stoked about), a history class about the Atlantic (in short, interactions between Europe, the Americas, and Africa), world literature, and modern poetry/drama (Blair and Christie will be in this class, and I suspect we will be quite the merry gang).

When I am not working on my classes, nanowrimo has caught my attention. I am a bit ahead of everyone, as I am currently around 27,000 words (a little over halfway). It is my first venture into the murder-mystery genre, and plus it functions as a way for me to rant about the political and moral state of America at this time.

Recently we have had to deal with a hurt cat, which has been a real joyous pain. It started a few weeks ago when our extremely fat cat Claws went outside for the evening. When she came back the next morning, she was shaking and had half of the fur on her back gone. We had no idea what had happened, as the wounds looked too clean to have come from an animal, but we guessed that maybe some neighborhood punks decided to try an early Halloween prank. We thought Claws would be ok, but that changed when we discovered a wound on her leg, which was bleeding onto everything including our comforters and bed sheets (a good reason to make your beds in the morning, I have discovered). We took her in to the vet a little over a week ago, and he told us that she was attacked by a dog who probably picked her up and, as a defense mechanism, she lost her fur. We were thankful, though, that Claws was not feverish and was eating normally. He put some things (the actual name escapes me at the moment)into her back to let the blood and stuff drain, and it has been a real joy to watch that gross stuff come out, especially when it ends up on you. I think it is a good reminder that I do not have the stomach to be a veterinarian (though I think history class sometimes is an even better reminder). Besides occasionally acting freaked out, Claws has calmed down somewhat and is acting more like her lovable self.

Well, enough of gross things. Otherwise life has been fairly hectic around here. Seth and Mandy have begun practicing for the Christmas performance at church in late December, and the choir's version of "Carol of the Bells" sounds absolutely beautiful; if we go, I will certainly record the entire thing and part of the show, much like I did for the talent show last September. The Friday before Halloween, the church had a fall dance at the Howland farm, and we had a blast; I did not dance as much, but I captured pictures and videos, though sadly neither are of the best quality. The weather that night was good, and the bonfire and dancing helped keep everyone warm. The first weekend in November was the church's annual ladies' retreat. It was a wonderful time, and I enjoyed having Christie come up with us and the Bowman girls; it certainly made the "slumber party" later that night very interesting when you have silly teenage girls mixed with coca cola at 11 PM. When we took a walk the next day, I discovered that fall in northern Georgia is absolutely stunning, especially when you pass near small farms with animals and walk under the colored trees.

And so, November has crept upon us. I cannot believe that the year is almost over and that Christmas is a month away. The weather has begun to cool slightly, but it is still pretty warm during the day. It has been a dry fall, which is probably why the leaves are so brightly colored this year. I am still hoping for snow.

Weird Weather

I think it's a proven fact that the South has some rather bizarre weather, period. Take, for example, right now. It's October 27th, less than a week away from November, and it still feels like early fall. Yesterday was so hot that I had to put on a summer shirt to keep cool, and we had to turn on the air to cool the house down. Today, it's wet wet wet with thunderstorms moving through our area (thanks to the extreme low pressure system in the northern US at the moment). In general, I've yet to wear a fleece or a sweater so far, even in the mornings or at night; at the corn maze last week, I largely went without my fleece even though I was running around. Today I noticed on campus that some people are still wearing shorts... less than a week away from November. I don't recall that ever happening before because this is around the time when I start wearing long-sleeves and thinking about my coat, but both so far are not on my mind.

I probably will not make another blog post for a while. I just got a bomb dropped on me in history class today (in summation: the students who actually do the work have to do extra work because the majority of a 3000-level class made up of mostly adults and non-traditional students is too lazy... and most of these guys are planning on being history teachers, but they act like freshmen), and I've got a huge load of work that's due for next week and the week after that and a huge history project coming up, and I can't start on most of it until either Friday or sometime next week. So, in short, I'm going to be too busy for anything else but school.

Mid-terms

Well, midterms have largely come and gone, but my school schedule is picking up speed like crazy. I have all A's so far in my classes (I was surprised at two of them), so now the hard work to keep it that way begins. These past few weeks have been hectic between huge reading assignments and large essays to be written, so hence for the lack of posting. The next few weeks will be even busier, largely thanks to history; I've fallen behind in the reading because I was busy with the two mid-term essays and stressed out over a thesis-bibliography paper, and I'm scrambling to catch up on the reading so that I can get a book review done then get a report on Shakespeare done for Brit lit then get started on the 12- 15 page paper for history. So, yeah, life is hectic for me, and I don't expect it to slow down anytime soon. I probably won't be able to participate in nanowrimo this year, which I'm disappointed in, but I still may try at least, even if I don't make it past 50,000 words.

Well, now I've got to read a boring Transcendentalist essay by Emerson then get moving on catching up on history and studying for a test tomorrow. Got to get it all done if I want to go to the corn maze with everyone on Thursday.

School

I uploaded Mandy playing Pachelbel's Canon in D at the talent show; you can find it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzvF-uRhxnM

Life still remains pretty busy over here. Seth and Dad are bracing for another quarter end, but things seemed to have slowed down a bit, but it will still have been a good quarter nonetheless. Mandy continues her homeschooling and still hates math (she and Mom spend probably close to two hours a day doing it); she was ecstatic last week to get her braces off, and she's adjusting to wearing her retainer. Mom continues her teaching Mandy and her college work in biology and algebra; ironically, she's not too fond of her science class this semester but, despite a huge load of work in the class, seems to be enjoying her math. Midterms for me and her are coming up soon, and it's so hard to believe that the semester is almost halfway through.

For myself, school is going ok, though I think this has to be my least favorite college semester. My anthropology is an easy class, largely filled with a bunch of slacker freshmen. My health class is also easy, but the teacher delights in sending us on extended guilt trips about the need to exercise and stop smoking (he should be grateful that I walk all over campus twice a week and take the stairs the other three days). American literature so far might be my favorite class, given that I seem to be doing good in it and that I like the smaller atmosphere of about ten students (most of the others have dropped out or don't show up), even if the teacher sometimes says things that irk me. History is probably my least favorite, given that the teacher spent way too much time discussing Islam and not history, mocking Christianity, and then only adding to the whole immature air of the class that sometimes feels like my adult classmates are freshmen, not juniors and seniors; and it doesn't help that his reading assignments are more than all my other classes combined and he isn't exactly helpful or precise on writing assignments. British literature is ok, but some of the time I feel like a fool in class discussions. Still, a good thing about this semester is that Mondays and Wednesdays I spend all day on campus but the other three are only one morning class, which means more time for homework (if I can stop procrastinating on Thursday and Fridays).

And... it finally looks like fall is coming at last. Ever since a rainy Sunday and Monday, it has been cooler, but we'll only know for certain if the temperature doesn't hit the 90's again in the next few weeks. This summer has been pretty hot, and we're all looking forward to pleasant fall weather. Maybe we can get some more snow this winter.

Talent Show

Well, the talent show went very well on Saturday night. Mandy did well in both Pachelbel and her skit (even though she's now embarrassed of both). I recorded bits of the show and have put them into a video that is sort of like a trailer; I apologize for the video quality, but this should give you a taste of what we experienced that evening. Mandy and Seth are both on "Faith of Our Fathers" and then Mandy is on "Pachelbel" and "Mrs. Murphy Isn't Home". And our cousin Noah makes a few appearances throughout in some of the singing and in "Pachelbel".



I will try to upload Pachelbel later, as blogger is not letting me do it.

Graduation and Myrtle Beach

The past two weeks have been busy, and they're only going to continue to get busier. Before I forget and leave you all in the dark, I will now tell of Seth's graduation and of our vacation to Myrtle Beach.

Seth's graduation was on the last Saturday in August. Mom did an excellent job preparing food for a hundred people, and the other ladies who helped with the food and with decorating the church did a wonderful job as well. The big day came, and everything was ready. The event went smoothly; we didn't run out of food, but, rather, we had just the right amount (except for the tea and lemonade, which we had in large quantities afterwards) because we had few leftovers. After the meal, we played the slideshow devoted to Seth's first 18 years of life; it was a big hit, and several people (myself included) got teary-eyed when they saw it. After that, then Dad gave the charge, and he and Mom gave Seth his diploma. It is truly amazing that Seth has graduated high school, remembering his earlier years when he had trouble talking and had to have therapy for it; but God was very good to him in providing him many mentors who taught him and helped bring him through high school. It was a wonderful moment, seeing Seth with his diploma. After the charge, Mom served dessert: chocolate kahlua cheesecake (an enormous hit), lemon curd cheesecake, and then a graduation cake from Costco (they make good cakes, not the sugary kind that makes you nauseous after one bite). We then cleaned up and went home. Seth and Mandy hung out with a few friends until later that afternoon when Mom and Dad went downtown for a Radiant party; then we had a bunch of Seth and Mandy's friends over for a get-together, which involved our new Wii (we've fallen in love with it), Mandy and Megan dancing to Mike Posner, and three ugly sombreros. It was a fun evening and a good day all together.

On Tuesday the 30th, after Seth got home from work and Mom and myself finished our morning classes at school, we packed up the van and began the long drive to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We left later than we wanted, and traffic and the stupid toll road didn't help. We ate dinner at Chick-fil-A, at which point something interesting happened; as we walked in to order and pick up our food, one of the ladies who worked there kept smiling at us, and we wondered why; after we left, Dad suggested that perhaps she was a homeschool mom and recognized us as homeschoolers because of how we kids interact with our parents. It was soon dark outside, and the directions we got on-line proved to be pretty much worthless. We got lost twice, and being tired didn't help very much. But, finally, after 11 PM, we arrived at the resort. The first day, after breakfast, we went to the beach. We only stayed an hour because the waves (probably due to Hurricane Earl) were huge and the lifeguards called everyone in; poor Seth battled the worst of it when the waves flipped him over twice and made him all dizzy, not to mention the fact that water got stuck in his ear and refused to come out, no matter the amount of hydrogen perioxide. We found solace instead in the resort pool, particularly the lazy river, which became a big hit with everyone. It was nice just to sit back and not have to go anywhere, which is something we all needed badly. On Thursday, it was cloudy (also probably from Earl), but it never rained; that day I taught Grandma Gail how to use facebook and told her what twitter and youtube were. On Friday, we girls went to Boardwalk on Broadway, which was a ton of fun. Basically, it was like an outlet center/ carnival, and there were virtually no crowds, which made it all the better. We walked to various stores, took pictures, and bought souvenirs. Mandy got two Ugly Dolls (one for her, one for Bethany), I got a Reeses' Pieces squishy (I love those things, and they are so hard to find nowadays), and Mom and Grandma picked up various things like candy and souvenir spoons. We went back to the resort to get the guys, and we returned to Boardwalk for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. The place was more crowded that evening, and the restaurant was particularly fond of its disco ball, loud music, and dancing servers. After dinner and some group pictures, we returned to the resort to pack up. After breakfast and hugs and good-byes on Saturday, we had an uneventful drive back to Georgia. We first tackled the house and the various disasters the cats had made, as well as taking care of other business like cleaning out e-mail inboxs and cleaning the church, and then we finally relaxed for the evening. All in all, it was a good week.

I don't have the pictures uploaded yet, but I will try to get them on facebook soon. Hopefully I will post them before the talent show on Saturday (more room to record Mandy playing Pachelbel :) )

Update

Sorry for no updates, but life has been hectic around here. Here is a list of what has happened over the past few weeks.

1) Mom taking her science students and the rest of us to Mammoth Caves for a few days. It was very hot and humid there, but we had fun.

2) I had my last day of work at Radiant early in the month. Seth is still working over there, and he says that now they have moved Peripherals elsewhere in manufacturing and that it has a lot more space.

3) Modular at church last week. We had a week-long modular on Christian ethics, which kept all of us on our toes for five days, but we all enjoyed it.

4) Dad celebrated his birthday this week. We went out to Taco Mac for dinner on Monday, and on Tuesday we went and saw "Inception" in theaters (amazing movie, by the way; you can find a review for it on the ramblings blog).

5) College started. I began my third semester at GGC this week (I decided to go back instead of GSU for various reasons, but I did not announce this here because I was keeping it a surprise for a certain friend of mine :) ). I'm taking anthropology, American literature, British literature, health, and Middle Eastern/ Indian history (the first and last one being electives to fill the full-time ballot and health being a stupid requirement). I don't know yet what class I like the most, but I could probably give you an answer in a few weeks. All I can say is, it's going to be extremely busy with lots and lots of writing and projects. Mom also started back this week with her microbiology class and an algebra class.

6) Seth's graduation. This is taking place on Saturday, but preparations have been happening since Monday.

7) This hasn't happened yet either, but next week we're going to Myrtle Beach with Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom, and preparations for it will start after Seth's graduation party.

So, yeah, life has been hectic, and it's showing no signs of slowing down. Well, I think I should get some homework done now and prepare myself for vacation next week.

Cat, Couch, and Conversation

A funny thing happened the other day that gave a few of us a good laugh.

Mom, Mandy, and myself were sitting in the living room watching a movie when one of Mandy's friends called, so we had to put it on pause. While the conversation was going on, our fattest cat Claws jumped up on the couch next to Mom. Now, this cat has the weird tendency to, whenever you pet or touch her near the base of her tail, to start licking or gnawing on the thing nearest to her, whether it be herself, you, or a piece of furniture; and she has no power to fight it, only adding to its bizarre nature. Mom began making Claws doing such action, except the cat began gnawing on the couch. Mandy had to stifle a laugh, as she was still on the phone, which made the rest of his laugh and Claws start biting the cough again. After a few minutes, Mandy, not able to contain her laughter any longer, had to leave the room. It was a funny moment.

Blue Ridge Camping

Well, we just got back from camping at Lake Blue Ridge in north Georgia. Three days of happy chaos, and we all greatly enjoyed it.

On Tuesday evening after work, Dad went up to the lake first to make sure we got two campsites (you can't reserve sites next to the lake). Seth and I went to work on Wednesday, then Mom picked us up from there. We had quite a merry crew with us, Michael and Hannah H., Erin S., and Bethany G. It was about a two- hour drive from Alpharetta to rural north Georgia, and we arrived at the lake around 5 PM. We unpacked the car and got a few things set up, then we kids went for a swim in the lake. For whatever reason, the TVA decided to drain the lake, so we lost about three, four feet every night, and, plus we had fifty extra feet of a rocky and very muddy beach. Sill, we enjoyed the swim. Seth, Hannah, Michael, and myself did the daring task of swimming across the bay while the other three chickened out about halfway; we four made it and walked around (with some swimming involved too) back to the campsite. I must say, it felt good not to feel like a wimp, even though we were all a little tired afterwards. We had hamburgers for dinner, and then the girls went down to the beach for some silly pictures. We enjoyed the evening with a large lightning storm (Seth was totally fascinated by it), but thankfully it stayed fairly far away and only gave us a few sprinkles of rain. We did see a lovely full moon rise, but getting good pictures was hard because of the dark.

Thursday dawned fairly cloudy but otherwise not bad. Some people went swimming, and later the Abrahams joined us for their first camping trip. Nothing else big happened that day except for casual swimming and goofing off. That night we saw a lovely blood-red moon rise, though it rose much later than expected.

Friday was the big day, as a couple of families came up to go tubing down the Toccoa River with us. We had quite a merry party of about twenty-one people (including the A. kids). However, because the lake was being drained, the river levels were much higher and it moved much faster than usual; what would have normally been about an hour and a half trip became roughly thirty minutes. It was terribly short, but it was very entertaining nonetheless. Brittny and I tied our tubes together, and we made quite the awkward pair of trying not to hid the trees and brush on the river banks. I had a humorous beginning of trying to get into a better position on my tube, but the bulky life jacket that they forced us to wear (regulations have gotten worse since last time) did not help; I did finally manage to get in, but I was pretty much unable to move otherwise. The tubing guys told us to turn right when we saw the orange buoy, which got various reactions from everyone. Some, like Brittny and myself, got to shore without incident (though I made a very ungraceful exit from my tube), but Mom and some others had trouble, requiring them to be pulled in instead. After that, we drove back to the campsite for a large cookout. It didn't last long, as several had to leave shortly after dinner, but we still enjoyed it.

On Saturday morning, we got up, ate breakfast, and then packed up our campsites. It didn't take us that long, and then we split up. The A's went home first while Dad and Seth took a detour to Radiant Systems to pick up the car and Mom took everyone else home and dropped off the H.'s van. Then we came home. We're all a bit tired, but we thoroughly enjoyed our trip. I've yet to upload pictures, but I'm thinking of doing a slideshow for it instead... if I can think of some good bluegrass music to use, that is.

The next few weeks will be busy with other vacations as well. My last day of work at Radiant is August 6th, and the week after that Mom is taking some of her younger science students to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Then, the last week of August/ first week of September we'll be in Myrtle Beach with Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom. I'm looking forward to both vacations, as I only had one last year and plus it's good to blow off a bit of steam from work.

4th of July

Today I'm going to try and make my rounds, updating all three blogs that I manage (well, at least two of them: this one and the ramblings, as I have a few ideas in mind for that one).

Life still remains hectic. Quarter end came and passed at work, but it hasn't slowed down in the least; in fact, yesterday felt like quarter end even though it's just the beginning. I'm really looking forward to college next month and working towards my bachelor's so I can get a job that I like and actually have some talent in.

4th of July this year was quite busy as well. On Friday the 2nd, we went to the annual gathering at the Howlands for dinner and fireworks; we had a blast, even though our fireworks seemed to be the lame ones of the bunch. On the 3rd, we went to Uncle Jason's house for dinner, where we also had a good time with family and some friends. On the 5th, we went to Lake Nantahala in the mountains of North Carolina with two other families from church. The place was absolutely gorgeous, and I have pictures aplenty to prove it (now to find the time to upload them). It was a good day, with swimming, good food, fellowship, nearly flooding the boat (a funny moment, actually), jumping off a thirty-foot cliff into the water (Dad was the only one of our family to do it), avoiding snakes in more shallow areas of the water, and more. We would have liked to stay later, but because of the two-hour drive back home and work the next day, we had to leave fairly early. We were all red as beets when we came home, though now we're all looking nice and brown.

Well, I'm sure I could post more, but I can't think of anything else to say and Mandy and myself need to get going to help clean the church.

Busy June

Well, crunch time indeed has begun at work (hence why no posts for a few weeks). Instead of working our usual eight hours, Seth and I have been working closer to ten, and last Saturday we had to go in for a few hours (though thankfully this weekend it won't be happening again, but there's no telling what next week will bring). It's quite tiring, but, on the good side, it's quickly shaping up to be Radiant's biggest quarter yet with next quarter looking big too. Good news in an economy like this. While it's tiring to work so long, there is overtime pay and it looks like we may get five days off in July because of inventory (which I am greatly looking forward to).

I wish I had more to tell, but work is consuming our lives right now. Well, except for Mom and Mandy. Mandy has been a social bug for the past few weeks ever since school ended, always getting together with friends and spending the night, or just going on neat trips like to the Botanical Gardens downtown. She continues to enjoy playing her cello, and she's recently been playing hymns like "Faith of Our Fathers" and yesterday discovered one of Bach's suites.

Well... I'm going to get some reading done and turn on the critiquing part of my brain.

Memorial Day

Well, the four-day work week is over, and, from what Seth says, crunch time begins on Monday, where the full force of the quarter will hit everyone and which may require overtime, but we'll have to wait and see.

Memorial Day was fun this year, as it always is. The ultimate frisbee game began early, so Seth and Mandy left earlier than we did. The day proved to be cloudy with a few scattered showers, which kept the temperature from being an absolute scorcher like it was a few years ago. We arrived around noon or so, and lunch began shortly afterwards. After lunch, the canoe races began; this was a new addition to the picnic and a definite keeper, as we attracted quite a crowd. I wasn't planning on participating other than taking pictures but paired up with Evie for one of the first races. Seth also raced, as did Noah and Gabe, but sadly none of the Cunninghams made it past the first round. It was humorous that Seth made the same mistake that I did: we both went too far to the left and thus hit the bank later than the other team, but Noah and Gabe had different issues, one including how to maneuver the canoe meant for rivers than small lakes. The races were entertaining, especially when one of the leaky boats, being used by one of the boy teams, capsized in the middle of the lake, but no one was hurt. Racing was fun, and I'll definitely participate again next year.

Because of the heat at times, this meant water balloons and the like. The younger kids were running all over the place with water guns and balloons, all of them looking soaked for most of the afternoon. The older kids had another approach: the lake or bottles of water. Caroline decided to hit Joseph with water but ended up getting it all over me (I was already a little wet from the race, so it didn't matter much except for giving me a bit of a shock). Later, one of the other boys pushed Joseph into the lake... twice, another humorous incident.

The rest of the afternoon was enjoyable between conversation, learning bochi ball (thanks, Brittny!), and, of course, taking plenty of pictures. Around 5 PM, people, who had been trickling out for about an hour, began picking up the pace when the dark gray clouds rolled in and thunder began booming. Soon there was a downpour, and everyone was soaked. There was some confusion as we couldn't find Mandy, Sunny, or the Bowman girls, but we eventually found them. A quick stop at Checkers for dinner, and we returned home. We all got some nice sun, and I felt burned for the next two days, but now it's faded to a lovely brown. I'm hoping this summer to get more sun so I don't look so pasty.

And that was how we enjoyed Memorial Day. Oh, I nearly forgot. On Saturday, we enjoyed a clan gathering at Uncle Jason's, where we celebrated Grandma Linda's birthday. We had a blast hanging out together, cleaning up the mess Ainsley made with a sharpie marker (it came off, thankfully) and watching videos from Uncle Jason and family's trip to Disneyworld back in January as well as from his visit to Haiti in February. We haven't had as many clan gatherings because of everyone's busy schedules, but we're hoping to be able to meet more often like we've done in the past.

Now, I got pictures from both events, but facebook is being weird and not letting me upload them. And there's far too many to post here, so I'm not sure what I'll do about that yet.

Well, I'm going to get myself some lunch and straighten up some more. Mom and Dad spent the last few days in Asheville, leaving Seth and I to manage the house while Mandy hangs out at Uncle Josh's, and they should be here soon.

Tidbits

I swear, I always forget everything I want to add to a blog post, and I'm sure this time will be no exception. But, I will put down what I remember.

1) The weekend of my birthday, Grandma Linda took me out for my birthday, and we had a girls' day out at the mall. We had a good time shopping together, and I got some shirts and a bathing suit.

2) In less than a week's time, we've attended two graduations, one for two peers of Seth and Mandy, and another for cousin Gabe. Attending Gabe's last night, I don't think I've ever been at a graduation that large; we Cunninghams made plenty of noise cheering for Gabe, as there were around forty of us taking up parts of three rows.

3) On Sunday we had company over for lunch: the Strevels, Alex, and then some of the Price family. We had a blast with them.

Well, that's all I remember, though I could have sworn there was more. We're looking forward to the church's annual Memorial Day picnic on Monday, and Seth, Dad, and I are looking forward to a three-day weekend, as crunch time is upon us.

Skype and Turning 21

Ok, well now I'll finally post about the big event of turning 21. The stress of Friday melted away from everyone when we went to the Bowmans' house for dinner. We all had a blast, and we kids learned a dance called the "clumsy lover". I think there's hope for me to overcome my clumsiness and two left feet yet. We kids also spent the night with them then the next morning went with them to help a family from our church move. It was a really nice weekend altogether and very providential, I believe, that we fellowshipped with fellow church family on the same day everyone was stressed out and worried. It was an excellent way to loosen up and be relieved of the day's burdens.

And now, on to the main event. I woke up on May 4th not feeling any different, just groggy and not wanting to get up to go to work at 5:45 AM. Work was normal that day with nothing extraordinary happening. After work, Seth and I came home to find my birthday dinner. I had had a tricky time figuring out what I wanted Mom to make, so I settled on salisbury steak (more like hamburger cooked in a kind of broth and onions then set on top of French bread), which was absolutely delicious. Dessert was sort of humorous, actually, because I had been thinking of banana pudding a few days earlier but had not said anything, and that was the dessert Mandy chose to make (and it also was excellent). My birthday present came on Thursday, as I was fully expecting to have to wait for it because it was a big-ticket item. That evening, while Seth and Mandy were off at youth group, Mom and Dad went out for a few hours then came back with a box. And, inside it, was a beautiful HP laptop, the same one Mom has. I stayed up a little late to get a few things installed, but the next day I had fun installing the rest. I absolutely love my new laptop. I now don't have to switch between computers carrying my hard drive if I want to work on something, and... I also have a webcam!

So, yes, I did install skype on my new laptop. I'm not giving out my username for just anyone, so if you want it (I'll only give it to people I know) either e-mail me or leave a comment (I control the comments, so I won't post ones about your usernames).

So, a big thank you to my family for my new "toy". I love it and am looking forward to using it for school this fall.

A Stressful Day

Ok, one of these days I'll get to posting about my birthday, but right now I'm not really in the mood. Today I was reminded why I really dislike cities.

A few weeks ago, I made plans to attend the orientation at Georgia State so I could take care of some things there and get introduced to the campus. We had it all worked out, and everything seemed to go well this morning when Mom dropped me off. Orientation itself as ok, though the campus itself is a labyrinth set in the middle of the labyrinth of Atlanta (not to mention being right next to Grady Hospital and Cabbagetown). Still, it was uneventful, and I did everything I wanted, except for one thing that I may have to do later. I signed up for classes, and it all worked out perfectly so that I only attend them on Tuesday and Thursdays, something I really wanted to do, so I was relieved. However, the worse was yet to come.

Mom called and asked where I was so she could get me, but I had no clue because of the campus' design. While I tried to guide her with the map that I had taken (I thought it would be helpful for figuring out buildings and such, but it wasn't), my phone died and so I stood on the corner of a street for several minutes until finally Mom and Mandy found me. We had slight trouble getting out of Atlanta, then I realized how stressful the whole morning had been. Mom had spent two hours trying to get onto the right highway after dropping me off, and then she had had to call Dad again after my phone died. To kick myself for past mistakes and indecisions, I treated Mom and Mandy to Zaxby's for lunch then helped straighten up the church before the big cleaning day tomorrow.

Make no mistake; every time Mom goes downtown, she ends up getting lost; we joked that we should buy her a GPS. But, then again, Atlanta was very poorly designed, with several one-way streets and the like... not to mention the location of the GSU campus. Mom and I both agree that we should blame the Yankees for it; after all, Sherman burned the city to the ground and forced us to re-design it Yank-style. So, we're blaming it on the Yanks. And also on my inability to drive, which is becoming very crippling and frustrating at the moment.

So, today was a stressful day. While I'm looking forward to starting my classes in August and commuting via a bus, still today didn't go as well as I would have liked. But, it's all in God's hands, and I pray He will sanctify all of us through it.

Removing Blog Posts

Ok, before I post about turning 21, I wanted to let you know that the posts of my time in Houston have been removed from the Ramblings blog. This was a decision made by myself, though it has been on my mind for a week. Looking back over those posts, I am ashamed to say that I lacked discretion in talking about the time I spent working in Texas and in some of those posts was doing nothing other than letting myself vent over issues that I should not have. So, I apologize here, to my readers and to Barker Cypress, for those posts. I copied them on a word document, but I will not be posting that anywhere else on-line or showing it to anyone else.

So Far...

Nothing monumental has happened since my last post. Work continues to keep me busy; Seth is now working at Radiant too, and it'll be competition time for us... hehe. Our boss Andrea's got us busy, as we've got four hundred time clocks to build by the end of June (not to mention other peripherals that we've got to make as well during that time. But, with four temps including myself and Seth working in our area, I think we'll manage). Not sure if I'll manage waking up at 5:45 AM each morning and going to bed at 10 PM (too early for me and my night-owl ways).

I'm working on getting ready for Georgia State in the fall. I've applied for financial aid and have determined that living on campus is out of the question (the bus seems to be my transportation, but we'll have to see). Next Friday I'm going to an orientation downtown, where I hope to sign up for my classes and become accustomed with my new campus. Journalism majors are required to have a minor, so I'm choosing anthropology (it fascinates me, and it's more of something for me to have fun with then actually do something with).

I can't believe I'll be 21 tomorrow. I don't feel like 21; sometimes I don't even feel like I'm 20. And, no, I'm not planning on having a celebratory drink or anything like that; being a tee-totaler by choice because I don't like alcohol, nothing much will change in that regard. I'm not making any big plans for my birthday, as I've got work on the brain (work pays for college), beyond the usual stuff that we do for everyone's birthday (favorite dinner cooked by Mom, favorite restaurant on another night).

Accepted!

Well, it's confirmed. I was accepted to Georgia State University for a major in journalism! This is an answer to prayer, as for some time I have been unsure about what path to take with my life and have prayed for God to show me where He wants me to go. I now feel more confident about going down this road of editing.

The details will be worked out, but I just thought I'd share this bit of good news.

Birthdays

Ok, finally, an update, as I promised.

The two big recent events were two birthdays within the family, Mom's last week and Seth's this week.

Mom's birthday did not start off very well. She was up all night in pain from an ingrown toe nail, but the next day, after a few hours of sleep and Dad doing "surgery" on her foot, she was doing much better. We had Zaxby's for dinner and gave her her gifts on Saturday. We kids gave her a gift card and a vegetable dicer (which we ended up returning and getting another one), and today she bought a new springform pan (to make cheesecakes in) and some mojito mix (made with cane sugar, not with high fructose corn syrup... a big plus). Dad gave her a little device that uses electricity to ease pain or something like that, and she's really enjoyed it.

Seth's has passed fairly uneventfully, as the major event for it has yet to occur. On Wednesday, Dad had to stay at work very late (he came home at 2 AM. It was end of the quarter at work, and there was inventory as well, so, hence, an extremely hectic day for both Dad and myself). Mom and Mandy picked me up at Radiant so I wouldn't have to stay home, and we went home for a late dinner. Tonight, we went to Five Guys' (amazing burger place) for dinner. Tomorrow, Seth asked for pizza rolls for his birthday dinner, and he will also get his presents then. I am also working on a birthday slideshow for Seth (we wanted to do one for Mandy but were unable to until we received our lovely photo scanner), but it's proving a bit tricky since some good pictures are in the scrapbooks and we're having trouble figuring out the background music (out of all of us, Seth listens to music the least, so it's hard for us to figure out exactly what he likes outside of a couple of artists). I'll be sure to post the slideshow here when I'm done with it.

And that is what has happened. Spring break for Mom and the kids is next week, and they've got plans during that time. I'm currently on a few day break from work because of inventory, so I sort of consider that my spring break. I didn't post this earlier, but I applied to Georgia State a few weeks ago for a major in journalism (I want to become an editor because I believe that there is a severe lack of good ones); I've yet to receive word, but I think I'll receive word on it soon. I'm also currently looking for driving schools (the one I wanted to go to did not give out its current phone number, so I'm going to have to look elsewhere) in the hopes of being able to drive to college myself. But, we'll just have to see.

Moose Call

Ok, sorry for not posting in several days. Work has been hectic (and will only continue to be so), but I have a few days off this week and next, so I will try to update everyone. In the meantime, here is a tidbit to enjoy.

Today, the cat Trouble was sitting in Seth's lap, just purring and being sweet (most likely wanting to use it so we will let him outside, but we're smarter than that). Anyway, the old cantankerous cat Socks was walking nearby, and the two started fighting. Trouble opened his claws and clawed poor Seth, causing him to yell. However, this is no mere "aaaaahhhhhhhh!" This, rather, was, what Mom and Mandy called, "a deranged moose call". Their imitation of it was pretty hilarious. Seth's fine (I mean, I think he's made of iron sometimes), but we all got a good laugh at the poor imitation of a moose call.

Spring!

I finally think spring is coming! Despite the cloudy and rainy days that are still continuing, the weather is finally warming up for good, it seems. Tomorrow and Saturday will should be sunny and in the 70's, which will be a real treat after a dark, wet winter.

Saint Paddy's Day passed uneventfully. Some people at work wore green, though ironically the day before many wore orange. I couldn't find an orange shirt, so instead I wore my Celtic Woman t-shirt. How Irish can you get?

However, there is a bit of a troubling matter concerning one of our cats. Trouble, for the past few days, has stayed inside and slept most of the time. Yesterday, after going to the vet for a shot, he came home terrified and refused to budge from under Seth's bed. He ate the wet food we gave him, and only now has he publicly ventured out from his hiding place. He had trouble jumping onto one of the beds, and he's still acting tense and freaked out for unknown reasons. Perhaps it's those stray cats who hang around the area, but I don't know. Hopefully he'll return to his old self soon.

Mandy is still loving her cello. Yesterday, she figured out some of the notes for Pachelbel's Canon in D and part of "Ashoken Farewell", and she's looking forward to playing duets with Bethany G. She bought sheet music for Coldplay's "Viva La Vida," and I think a performance with Christopher, Cliff, and Noah would be amazing.

Events of the Week

Here are this week's highlights (not a lot of time to post now).

1) Dad, Mom, and myself saw "Avatar" last night, which was a cool movie. Seth, Mandy, and some of their peers went out to see "Alice in Wonderland," which they liked.

2) Mandy has begun cello lessons, and she's liking them.

3) On Tuesday and Wednesday, Seth, Mandy, and their youth group peers and pals went to Atlanta to participate in a pro-life exhibit on two college campuses. On Thursday, we hosted the youth group and spent a lot of time talking about those two days.

4) Mom got her birthday present of a photo scanner, and she loves it. We're really looking forward to using it and saving our old pictures.

5) It spent most of the week raining here. Very dreary, but there are some subtle hints that spring is in the air. It's been warmer, the birds have begun singing again, and little buds are beginning to appear. We had our first thunderstorm of the season last night, and my did it rain. It came down in torrents, and we had lightning. The whole place is looking like a marsh at the moment. I'm looking forward to a nice, warm spring after several months of cold and rain.

Not Ignoring You...

Sorry for the lack of posts (yes, I know, almost three weeks since my last one), but I've been busy.

Here are some highlights:

1) Seth is now the proud owner of a truck! He bought one from Mr. Horton and is currently learning how to drive stick with it. He loves it.

2) We got snow this week. It wasn't much, but, hey, it was snow. It would have been a snowstorm if it hadn't started raining. Oh, well. And the earth is supposed to be warming up? I still don't get that.

3) Mandy had her birthday party last Friday evening at Grandpa Mike's. She invited about sixteen or so of her friends, and we all had a good time. There was even a boogying/ singing session to Iyaz's "Replay." Someone suggested we have a karaoke next time because everyone was singing along to the radio. Still, we had a blast socializing. I took pictures, but apparently facebook doesn't like uploading them.

I can't remember anything else (serves me right for my lack of posts).

Well, must dash. We've got a very busy day ahead of us. Dad and Seth are doing mechanical work on the new truck, Seth and Mandy are later going skeet shooting, Mom and I are cleaning the church and the house as well as grocery shopping, Dad's doing lesson planning for his history class, and tonight we're having the Prices over for dinner.

I finally uploaded Christmas and winter pictures onto the computer, but sadly facebook links don't work and it isn't letting me upload them anyway. I was going to make a slideshow, but I don't have the time to do it.

Mandy's New Toy

Last night, Mandy received her last birthday present: a new camera. A real nice one too. It's a fancy Canon, and it looks more like one a professional would use. Mandy absolutely loves it. She's been snapping away with it, and she especially enjoyed taking pictures of the newest clan member Nathan this evening. Yes, we saw Nathan today when we went over to Uncle Josh's house. He is so little, but he is so alert and so adorable! Aunt Sarah is doing better, and she's moving around, albeit slowly.

Well, gotta get cleaning. We're having company over after church tomorrow.

And two more days until Celtic Woman! I think Sarah and I are going to burst from such excitement.

Snow!

It's snowing! Yes, it's Georgia. And, yes, this is not flurries but the real thing. It's absolutely gorgeous outside, a real winter wonderland. Mandy and I took plenty of pictures, though she took more. It is really beautiful outside. Sadly, it won't last long. The snow will probably stop sometime tonight, and tomorrow will be warmer and sunny. Still, it's pretty while it lasts.

Oh, and a brief update. Little Nathan went home from the hospital on Wednesday night and is doing well as far as we know. Aunt Sarah is also feeling better, but continue to pray for her recovery.

Celtic Woman Surprise!

Well, I am close to bouncing off the walls. Less than an hour ago, I received a lovely surprise: Sarah H. and myself will be seeing Celtic Woman on February 15th in Atlanta!

Long story short: Sarah's dad got two tickets that he didn't want, so he worked out plans with Dad so Sarah and I could go. We only learned today about this, and both of us are ecstatic. We tried making plans to go back in December, but they fell apart for various reasons. So now we've got free tickets and a show in nine days! And a big plus is that we'll be much closer to the stage, so no need for an ISU or binoculars. Yeah, I'm ecstatic! The plans have been set, and we only have about a week until the show. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to continue dancing around the house and grinning from ear to ear.

P.S. Mandy turned sixteen today! We're going out for dinner tonight (not sure where), and Bethany G. spent the night last night. Seth and I gave her a premium upgrade on her picnik account, which she loves, and her big gift from Mom and Dad has yet to come. She's also looking forward to learning French with another one of her gifts

News

Ok, work is keeping me busy, so sorry for no updates.

Aunt Sarah was allowed to go home yesterday, but things are a bit stressful there with Rivers being sick on and off all week and plus still Aunt Sarah's recovery. Nathan is doing well, and he may be allowed to go home soon (hopefully). Continue to keep them in your prayers.

Also keep Grandma Gail in your prayers as she recovers from a recent surgery.

A New Cunningham!

And the Cunningham clan has expanded to thirteen grandchildren! Nathan Cunningham was born on Wednesday, six weeks premature. He is five pounds and doing splendidly. From pictures Uncle Josh has sent us, this little one is all Cunningham and looks just like his daddy. We are thrilled at this happy news, but it looks like he will be in the hospital for a few more weeks. Continue to keep Aunt Sarah in your prayers, as she's having a hard recovery. I will update with more news as I get it.

Ok... sorry...

I apologize for no updates, but life has been extremely hectic. I wake up between 6 AM and 8 AM (depending on the morning), drive to work with Dad (which is about a 45 minute drive without traffic), and then arrive to work on kiwis. And so I spend about eight hours of the day. After I'm done, I go to Dad's cubicle and hang out until he can leave (which can be anywhere between 6 and 8 PM). Then we leave for home and eat dinner. I usually find a few minutes to check out things on the internet, then usually I'm in the shower and off to bed. So, you can see, I'm very busy.

I did beat Seth's record at making kiwis. Today I built 100, and his highest number is 96. Plus my supervisor Andrea was thrilled at this number and said she was proud. It certainly brightened up my day.

Well, that's all for now. I'm singing along to Celtic Woman's "You'll Be in My Heart" (oh, man, this is such a beautiful cover. I absolutely adore it) and loving it, and soon it'll be time to get ready for bed. Getting up at 6 AM tomorrow (which is absolutely beastly) for breakfast with Dad and Mr. Horton, so I better not stay up. I do believe my days as a night owl are officially over.

Oh, and an update on Aunt Sarah. They're planning on inducing her on Thursday. Today we received some wonderful news. Little Nathan, despite being six weeks early, is already six pounds, so he will not be a pre-mie, as they call them. All we're waiting for is him to turn into position (or "straighten him out" as Uncle Josh says), but still it's good news. On Sunday night, we got the girls in our custody. The older two Sunny and Rivers are going to Disneyworld with Uncle Jason, his family, and some others, so we get Ainsley. She's such a sweetie, though right now she's a bit fussy, probably because she misses her sisters (they left a few hours ago). Still, we've enjoyed having the girls, and we're looking forward to meeting little Nathan.

Employment!

Ok, my life has become really busy right now, so I will jot this down then dash off to clean the kitchen and watch "Fringe." I am employed! I got hired at Radiant Systems in Monday, and now I've spent about thirteen hours (over two days) sitting down and building kiwis (no, not the fruit). I wish I could tell more, but I've got other things to do. I'll try to post some more later, but that is the big news right now!

How Ironic

You know how we had Arctic temperatures down here for a few weeks? Well, this Wednesday Mandy and I went to the mall, where she got herself a new coat and I bought my fur boots. The irony of this is that now the temperature's climbing back into the fifties, where coats and fur boots are not needed. I guess we should have gotten them earlier, but, hey, we made it through the Arctic weather without the warm items. With much shivering, that is.

And before I forget, an update on Aunt Sarah. Last Friday was a bit frightening when the baby's heart rate began to drop, but nothing happened. This week has been calm, as nothing else has happened. The cousins have been well-taken care of, as the girls have been with Uncle Jason and Aunt Nancy (and Mandy is helping them) and the boys have been staying at the house while occasionally coming over for dinner at our house. We think today Aunt Sarah may be able to see the kids for the first time in over a week, so we're really hoping for that. Continue your prayers for them!

Interview

Well, I had my interview this morning, and I think it went well. I was told I'll know by Friday or so because of a few other possible interviews with others as well. I'm getting a bit giddy about it, at the possibility of finally finding work after several months of unemployment.

And, on another note, my phone was found at Wachovia, much to my relief.

Well, back to work. I've got an application for Georgia State to fill out, and I need to call our vet office to see if I can get in touch with the office manager.

*Sighs*

Well, I went a little more job-hunting this morning. The good news is, I have an interview with Panera on Wednesday morning. The bad news is, I lost my phone. I had it in my coat pocket, but it seems to have disappeared somewhere between Panera and Chick-fil-A. Why oh why do I always put my phone on vibrate?

*whacks head on computer screen*

The search continues....

Some Snow...

Yes, we did get some snow, but it's probably no more than half an inch (or less). The yard is covered with a very thin blanket of it, not enough for a snowball fight. It snowed on and off last night, often mixed with rain, which was a concern for ice, but the roads are clear so everything is good. The temp is not supposed to get above freezing today (yeah, this is Georgia), so I'm hoping the snow sticks around today. I'll also try to get some pictures of it, but there is a little problem with uploading pictures known as "have no connection cable," so it'll be a while before I can post any.

Let It Snow... please?

Well, about an hour ago, some snow began falling here in Georgia, which is enough to get everyone excited. It's pattering off and not sticking, much to my disappointment, but the weather's supposed to drop way below freezing tonight and some more snow hopefully is on the way. Come on, snow! It's been cold all week, so I think we need a little something to spice things up!

Prayer for Aunt Sarah

I ask that you all keep Aunt Sarah in your prayers. As some of you know, she's pregnant with #6 and was due sometime in March. Well, last night her water broke. After some hours of waiting, it looks like the newest Cunningham won't be born hopefully yet because his lungs are not fully developed. It looks like Aunt Sarah will be kept in the hospital on bed rest for a few weeks, so I ask that you keep her and the baby in your prayers for a safe birth and for the little one's health.

Can Anyone Say "Freezing"?

Ok, I've got to sit down and not get into a fluster. Just a minor note to those who build fantasy worlds: never ever leave your map out in the open and expect it to re-surface later when you really need it. Bad form. I lost a map I loved drawing, and now I'm getting all flustered about finding it. Anyway...

Nothing much happened over New Year's Eve. Dad had to work late because it was end of the year (and quarter), so we just hung out at the house and watched a couple of movies, including "The Notebook." Mandy didn't cry like Mom and I did (and to others, I've never cried during a romance movie before), so we called her heartless for it, even though she did say she liked it. We made a few preparations for going down to Florida the next day. Early New Year's morning, around 7 AM or so, I woke up with a horrendous coughing fit that did not stop for several minutes. It was horrible, and I was wondering how I would be able to stand traveling in that condition. Even though I was out of it as we drove down south, I felt better and was able to stand the seven, eight hour drive. We arrived at Grandpa Large's house in time for supper of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and the usual holiday comfort food. The next day, we just hung out at the house. Dad, though, did help fix Grandpa's internet, for which he was very grateful for. The weather down there was absolutely freezing. On our second and last night (Saturday), it got down into the low twenties. On our drive back on Sunday, we stopped by a beach near St. Augustine but didn't stay long, as it was too cold. We compared this to December 2007 when we stood on the beach in jeans and t-shirts (or Mandy wearing a fleece and shorts that day), unlike this year while standing huddled up inside a coat, not daring to touch the water. It was a very long drive back to Georgia, but we survived.

School for Seth and Mandy started back up yesterday, and so it seems like everyone is back on a schedule. Except me. I went job-hunting last week, but the lack of experience in the work field is definitely hurting. Dad thinks he may be able to get me a temporary job at Radiant, but there's been little word on that so far. In the meantime, I'm beginning to think about Georgia State and how that whole thing may work out. Oh, and I'm doing better regarding my cold (I don't think it was pneumonia). Otherwise, I'm just fairly bored and wanting to get back into a normal schedule where I'm actually busy.

Well, now I'm thinking of looking in the office for that stupid map. Mom is taking Fuzz to the vet (the cat got himself in a cat fight, and now he has an ugly wound. I think he's the only cat really to get hurt for being outdoors, as none of the other outdoor animals have had the same amount of problems), so I've got some time. Perhaps I can ask the sibs if either of them have seen it, though I doubt it. The search continues....

Oh, and the weather is absolutely freezing here. The daytime temperature has barely gotten above freezing, and it's been in the teens at night. Mom put out some hot water in the bird bath yesterday for them to enjoy, but a few hours later it was a frozen block. That's how cold it is. Thankfully we have our lovely new furnace to heat the house and a warm snuggie. Plus cats to keep you warm in the middle of the night as they sleep by your feet. The weather just makes me laugh at those who are screaming "global warming" because I'm pretty darn sure this colder-than-normal Southern weather is not the result of warming.