Cunninghams of Georgia

Career Direction

2012-02-01T18:47:00.003-05:00

For the past few weeks, I have been praying to God for wisdom in what career direction I should take. I have been talking with Dad, and he has suggested that I become a paralegal, which would mean two or two 1/2 years of college at another college outside the county. However, today I finally received a manuscript from a Christian publishing company that I will proof so that they can see if they want me to become an editor. I am going to do the proof-testing, continue praying for wisdom, and see what comes out of it.

On a related note, I have been posting things here about the novel "War of Magic" that I started working on in April of last year. Last week, I made the decision to halt any further work on the novel. I am not happy with it, as I find it too meandering and disjointed, I am not connecting well with my characters, some editing problems, and a few other reasons. I have, in the meantime, re-connected with a novel series that I will have been working on for five years this May; I am currently working to see if I can indeed salvage it and find a way to finish the story in just two books instead of adding a third. I am still considering publishing one of my stories through createspace, but I am not sure which one it will be and am reluctant to self-publish without good feedback from other people.

Life around here continues to be busy. Mandy's birthday celebrations are next week (I can't believe she's going to be eighteen), Dad and Seth are continuing work, and Mom and Mandy are continuing to juggle school and various social events.

What's Up?

2012-01-17T12:30:00.003-05:00

Well, we've been rather busy around here for the past few weeks.

The biggest event took place over most of last week. Our sister church Chalcedon had a modular that was for seminary students, but it was open to the general public for free. Mom, Mandy, and I went to a good majority of the lectures, as Dad and Seth had work or did not want to make the trek to Cumming because they had work the next day. It started with two lectures on Monday evening, and then between Tuesday and Thursday there were eight lectures a day (with breaks for lunch and dinner), and then Friday ended with two lectures. The series was well-done, and I learned quite a bit about church history and theology, including heresies that I had not known much about or about church fathers that I had never heard of before. We also had the opportunity to meet people from other churches in the denomination. I think I'm finally beginning to put faces to people, namely those from Chalcedon. It was a very fun and enjoyable week, but it was also tiring, given the hour-long lectures, waking up early, and then getting home late. However, I believe we've fully recovered and are now back on our normal schedule.

Then we've had a few other minor things come up. Two Fridays ago, I went back to the coffee shop with my friends to sing karaoke. We had a good time, and one of us suggested that we start making it a monthly occasion to socialize. And also, Mandy's birthday is coming up in a few weeks, and so there have been plans for her celebration; her best friend Bethany is planning a party (Mandy knows the invitation list and the location, but otherwise Bethany is keeping her in the dark about everything else), and then we're planning on having a dear family from our church join us for dinner on Mandy's birthday. Mandy is also working to help arrange a formal dance at church in March, which we're looking forward to.

I think that's all that's been going on around here. I'll try to update when something comes up.

My Pretty Book

2011-12-30T12:57:00.001-05:00

I got my book from createspace today! If I were to publish it through createspace, this is what it would look like.

Cunningham Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T19:25:00.002-05:00

Well, Christmas this year has come and gone. It has been a very good one.

For us, Christmas sort of began on Thursday the 22nd. Seth, Mandy, and I myself went to the theater to see "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows" with some friends (I'll be posting a review of it on the ramblings blog soon), and we hung out with them on Thursday evening while Mom and Dad had a date night with "Mission Impossible 4."

On Friday, we had a hectic day of wrapping last-minute gifts and preparing food. In the evening, we went to Houschton to celebrate with the family there. We ate supper and then opened up our presents. Grandma Linda was sick and could not be with us, so we did a nice little surprise for her: we piled into the cars, drove a few miles down the street to her house, and then brought her some supper and sang her some Christmas songs on her front lawn. After serenading Grandma, we went back to the house and just hung out. I played a few Christmas songs on my guitar, and then Mandy, Gabe, and Noah played a few tunes together. We all had a good Friday evening together, and then we went home.

Because Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, we opted to open our presents on Saturday the 24th. So on Saturday morning, we woke up and opened presents. We got gifts of new gloves, a double bass stand, a book of traditional Irish songs (guess who got that one... hehe :) ), new clothes, a Zelda video game for the Wii, and much more. After presents, we had our annual breakfast of quiche and then straightened things up before going to Grandpa Mike's house. We spent most of the afternoon there. The adults talked upstairs while the kids played in the downstairs basement; I got into a Tetris tournament with Seth, Noah, and Gabe, and it was quite entertaining.

Dad and Seth both had Monday off, so we decided to run some errands and spend time together. We did a few returns- exchanges for clothes that were too big. Note to self: never go to the Mall on December 26th. The place was an absolute madhouse, stuffed to the gills with people. You'd think Christmas hadn't even happened yet with all the sales and the throngs of people in each store. After doing our errands, we went to the theater to watch "Mission Impossible 4." After the movie, we went to Longhorn's for dinner, as Dad got a coupon from work. We had a good time together there, enjoying the food and each other's company.

On Tuesday, Seth went back to work though Dad also took the day off. We spent most of the day cooking and cleaning, as we had company over that night. We also a good time with them. Today, I had an impromptu get-together with some friends, which we all enjoyed, even though it was only for a few hours.

Also, on Monday I completed my current draft of my novel "War of Magic." On Tuesday, I did the necessary work on createspace to get the copy. However, I unfortunately misunderstood the nanowrimo prize, so I only was able to get one copy, which I did have to pay for. So, I will not have five copies like I thought I would get. Still, one copy will be fine for now. I should get the book by the end of the week, and I'll try to post a picture of it when it arrives.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable Christmas week this year. I've posted pictures of some of the events on facebook.

Christmas Performance and Karaoke

2011-12-13T16:22:00.004-05:00

This year, the church held another Christmas concert-esque event. Seth and Mandy both participated, as did some of our cousins. Mandy played the cello and sang in the choir, and Seth just sang.

The concert went very well. God be praised that Mandy was calm during her playing and that she played very well without her usual nervousness. Mom also made ten delicious cheesecakes for the reception afterwards; I only got a few pictures, as I got distracted, but needless to say, they were beautiful and tasted amazing. It was a good evening, and we all had a good time with our church body and family members who came out for the event.

I did take videos of the event, but the 18-minute compilation that I put together won't upload on blogger. I did upload it on facebook, but it won't show up here for some reason.

Otherwise, not much else has been going on. Dad and Seth are staying busy with work. Mandy is staying busy with school and her social schedule. Mom has now gotten into Christmas cookie mode. And I've not been doing too much. I'm trying to finish a draft of my novel at breakneck pace so I can use a free printing coupon I got. There are currently two opportunities for me to do some form of editing or writing work, and I'm waiting to hear back from one of them, as nothing has come of it yet. But I'll keep you updated on that.

On another note of performance, I did something that I'd never done before last night: sing karaoke in public. And no, no alcohol of any kind was involved. I went out with my college friends Blair and Christie, as we wanted to hang out during Christmas break, so we went to a little coffee shop in downtown Lawrenceville. The place was somewhat empty and didn't have a lot of people there (and most of them couldn't sing anyway), so it took courage for one solo piece, and then it became addicting. Singing once wasn't an option; I kept wanting to do other songs. I first did a poor attempt of a duet for Mamas and Papas "California Dreamin'", and my first solo song was Enya's "Only Time." A lot of people that night were singing country, so I tried to alternate between genras. During the evening I sang Josh Groban's "To Where You Are," Kelly Clarkson's "Behind These Hazel Eyes," Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" (another bad duet because Christie and I didn't know this particular version of the song, so it was hard to keep up with the lyrics on the screen), "Haven't Found What I'm Looking for" by U2, and "Summertime" by Ella Fitzgerald (the version on the screen was different from the version I knew, so I stumbled a lot over this one). Even if I sounded awful, I had a lot of fun. I was really getting into it on the stage, something I didn't expect to do; last time I sang in a performance was the youth choir at church, and I got a bad case of stage fright, and my mouth kept going dry on me (and it didn't help that I couldn't sing alto at the time, even though I had been told I was an alto). It was a good evening. I did get sort of tired of some of the bland/ lackluster performances and the frequent country songs (I personally thing that American folk has a lot more personality and variety than country does), and I wasn't fond of the Maroon 5 cover (I hate Maroon 5 and their perverse lyrics) or of the whole Gospel-praise stuff. But, otherwise, it was a good evening. I really enjoyed the coffee shop, and I wouldn't mind going again with my friends at some point in the future.

The Newest Cunningham

2011-11-29T15:29:00.002-05:00

On Monday, another little Cunningham joined our ranks, bringing the total list of Cunningham grandkids to fourteen. This afternoon, Mom, Mandy, and myself visited Aunt Sarah and Uncle Josh in the hospital. The baby's doing well, but Aunt Sarah's rather tired. We are very thankful that the birth and recovery are not as bad as they were when Nathan was born almost two years ago, and hearing the birth story was a testimony of God's goodness in protecting both mother and child. The new baby is downright precious and sweet, and she looks just like a Cunningham. Lord willing, the three should be going home tomorrow.

Mandy has been helping out at Uncle Josh's house. She spent the night there last night and helped Noah and Sunny manage the little kids, and it sounds like she had a good time. Except for Noah hacking her e-mail twice (and IM'ing me once, but I knew it was not my sister talking to me), but that's typical of him.

We Can Dance

2011-11-11T23:43:00.002-05:00

Tonight, our church held another informal dance in Braselton. This marks the third informal dance we have done in a year, our first one being held last October.

For a week, I kept a close eye on the weather. No rain was in the forecast, but the temperature was a different story. For over a week, the projected low temp was in the low 30's. So, we all made sure to bundle up in layers that we could easily take off when we grew warmer.

First, we all had potluck supper of chili, soup, and hot dogs. Not to mention a dessert table and another table for hot drinks like coffee and hot chocolate. After eating and some fellowship, then it was time to dance. First up, it was a new one called (I believe) "Black Nag." Then there were the polka, Pattycake Polka, two different versions of the Virginia Reel, some swing dancing, Salty Dog Rag, and Postie's Jig. This time, I did not get much video of the evening because people disliked the camera and because the lighting and angles weren't great. Also, I was out on the dance floor pretty frequently anyway, so I would not have gotten much anyway.

We left around 10:30 or so because it was cold and because some of us have to be up in the morning. It was a bit early, but it was still an amazing evening. I'm already looking forward to the next church dance.

A Little Update

2011-10-29T00:38:00.002-04:00

Nothing much has happened over the past month. A few doings here and there but nothing terribly big.

School has been keeping Mom and Mandy busy. Dad and Seth are also staying busy at work. And I'm still doing housework and playing guitar, but this week I've started writing my own lectures for world history. Our evenings during the week have been pretty hectic. On Monday evenings for the past few months, our church has been competing in a men's softball tournament with other churches; we haven't done amazing this year, but I have to say that Covenant has the most loyal, loud-cheering fans this side of the Chattahooche River. On Tuesday evenings, Mom, Mandy, and I go up to Cumming for a world civilization history class. On some Wednesday evenings, we go to Cumming to meet with one of the prayer meetings that meets there every week. On Fridays and Saturdays, we generally have something big going on, whether it be a party, a get-together, youth group, or what have you. And things are only going to continue to be busy around here for the rest of the year.

2011-10-11T15:34:00.002-04:00

If you want to know what lately I am up to nowadays, check out my profile on figment.com. This is the place where I have been posting some of my writing. My novel "War of Magic" is being posted, and I've entered two separate contests for kicks and giggles. No, I am not looking for a way to bump up my hearts on the story contests; I'm merely posting the link to my profile so family members can see some of my writing.

figment

Still Here...

2011-10-10T20:48:00.002-04:00

No, I haven't disappeared. We're all still here. There's just nothing going on around here. We've been busy with school, music lessons, church events, and other little things, but nothing big has happened in a while.

God's Great Mercy!

2011-09-15T14:29:00.002-04:00

This weekend, we Cunninghams once more experienced God's great mercy towards us.

For a few months, our van had been giving us some trouble, with it worsening particularly in the last few weeks. We finally figured out that it was likely a transmission problem, but Mom and Dad decided to take it to the shop on Monday. On Saturday (the 10th, three days before our original shop plan), we decided to go to Ikea in Atlanta to get Seth's much-belated birthday present. Ikea is a neat furniture/ home store in northern Atlanta, and it generally has spartan styles. It also has little demonstrations of how you can fit an entire apartment into a space about as big as Seth's bedroom. We five had a good time looking around, trying out chairs and couches (with often humorous results) and picking up a few odd things, including a new dresser for Seth.

As we pulled out of the parking garage to go home, the transmission started acting up. Because of Atlanta's poor design, we had to take the long way to get to the highway, so we took Northside Drive. Northside Drive is a pretty, forested road, but it has a lot of hills; our poor van became very sluggish, going no more than 20- 30 mph. By now, we were all praying that we could just get to the highway, as the van would do much better on a straight, flatter surface. Finally, we got to I-75, but we pulled the van into a parking lot, as we didn't think we could make it home. Dad almost called someone to get us, but eventually he decided to try and get the van back to the house; if we left the van in the lot, then we would've had to pay a pretty penny to get it back to our county. Still praying, we got onto the highway. Traffic wasn't as bad, and we didn't run into any significant problems. When we got onto the road which our neighborhood is off of, the van started acting up again; but, God be praised, we got it safely onto our driveway. We were all frazzled after we got home, but we were all so thankful for God's mercy to us. Our van could have died in Northside Drive or on the highway, but it miraculously ran long enough to get us home.

Our van's been repaired now and is running just fine, but it's a testimony of God's goodness towards His people.

Nothing Much...

2011-08-20T11:36:00.002-04:00

It's sort of hard to post when not much is going on around here. But I'll post a few things.

- Mom and Mandy start homeschooling on Monday the 22nd. It's bittersweet because this is Mom's last year of homeschooling her kids. Mom's also been preparing for her science class that she's teaching to several kids, and she's also been enjoying reading about British history in her spare time.

- Dad's being kept busy at work. Radiant is being bought by NCR, and the transition period is rather hectic and full of unknowns. Plus, one of Dad's co-workers just went on maternity leave this week, and so he's taking her place while continuing to manage his current job. Seth's doing well at his staging job, and he seems to be enjoying it.

- I think our cat Pooky is mental problems. I kid you not, this male cat acts like he's a prissy girl when he meows, sits, and even walks; it's rather bizarre. Lately, he's taken to following people around the house like he's a little lost puppy. This is a joy when I'm trying to clean or do something important and he keeps getting underfoot. I don't know why Pooky is so needful (and way more so than the other cats), but his behavior's getting rather annoying.

- Earlier this month, we determined that I am not going back to GGC... at least for this semester. There were a variety of issues involved in that decision. I'm not sure where I'm going, as I'm running out of job options in the area, so some prayer is much needed. In the meantime, I've been taking to doing more things around the house, like straightening it up more often. This week I also made dinner on Thursday; it was a promising recipe that we'd never had before, but I admit I was disappointed with the results and thought it was rather bland. Everyone assured me it was good, and Mom and I both thought of ways to make it better next time. I'm hoping to make dinner one night again next week, and I'm trying to decide between catfish tacos or cuban grills. At least the poppy seed chicken I made on Sunday for home shepherding group turned out; I was real pleased with that dish. Besides more attempts at cooking and cleaning, I've still been writing. This week I finished my latest novel attempt, and we'll see if I can get it nicely polished up in subsequent drafts.

- Oh, guess what? Sarah H and I may get a few seconds of fame. Celtic Woman is recording their latest show in Atlanta next month, and Sarah and I are both going to see the first night of recording. We're really excited about it. It's 17 days away, on September 6th, and it's exciting because we could possibly end up in audience shots on the DVD. But it's too early to tell, but it's an exciting possibility. I'm still trying to figure out something to wear, and I think I may need to make a trip to Cato soon.

- Mandy passed the six-month mark for having her license. Now she can drive one friend around. She celebrated it this week by hanging out with Bethany for an entire day at the mall. She was ecstatic on Tuesday night and was so excited about it that she started fretting over wearing something cute just for the occasion.

- Music lessons have been going well. Mandy's sort of taken a break with her teacher over the summer, and she'll get another break while her teacher has another baby. Seth's started double bass lessons last month, but he's only had two classes because his teacher is always sick or busy with something else. I've continued guitar over the summer, and I'm still enjoying it. The fingers on my left hand are developing callouses, which is a good thing and will make playing easier. Christie and I took Johnny to the repair shop this week, and I must say he's sounding a lot better than he was before, though I want to say that something still doesn't sound quite right with it. But I'll wait until Monday and see what my teacher says.

- It's been extraordinarily hot down here, with temps getting into the upper 90's during the day. Everything is starting to look brown, and rain has become very sporadic; we had our first rain in probably over a month this week. Thankfully, the humidity hasn't been as bad as previous years. I'm looking forward to cooler weather and, hopefully, more rain as fall approaches.

Formal Dance

2011-07-27T18:23:00.002-04:00

Last Friday, there was a formal dance held at church, though several non-members attended. It was a very fun evening, and I managed to record some of the dancing. Here's a youtube link to the video. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBour2_4czo

A Week in Florida

2011-07-19T11:55:00.011-04:00

Last week, we went down to Cape San Blas along the Gulf coast of Florida, and we spent a week there. It was us five, and Grandma Linda and Bethany G. accompanied us.

Here are some highlights and memories:

- Our little white van was absolutely packed to the gills with everything. We had seven people, their luggage, a bunch of food, games, and you name it. The van rode low the entire way down to Florida, and going over train tracks was quite interesting. It rode low also on the way home, but it was not as bad.

- A family from our sister church owns a rental place about four hundred yards from the beach. They were generous enough to give us a discount. It was a beautiful little place. Mandy and Bethany took over the in-law suite downstairs while Seth and I each got our own room, which has not happened on vacation in years (Seth even had the luxury of a bed, as usually he sleeps on a couch or on a pull-out bed).

- The water was gorgeous. The first day, it was a beautiful blue and calm. However, as the week progressed, it grew choppier and less blue because of frequent storms that churned up the water. It made for some nice body-surfing opportunities.

- We found several shells in the water. It became a game to find whole shells without cracks before the waves carried them away.

- We were smart and put on a bit of sunscreen this year. And we only spent about an hour and a half in the water at a given time. Thus, none of us got badly sunburned. We all came home looking nice and brown.

- We got rain at least once a day, usually in the mornings or at night. It was amazing to watch the big storm clouds roll in and the thick gray line of rain underneath the clouds grow bigger as it approached. On the last night, I watched lightning flash inside a big cloud, which was very neat.

- We didn't do much. When we're on vacation, we don't like going to a bunch of places. We largely spent most of our time at the house watching movies, goofing on the computers, reading, swimming, long walks to the beach, and taking pictures of everything (with the occasional trip to the store for something). On Friday, we went to Crooked Island to find some shells; it wasn't very successful, but it was a nice beach. It made for a very relaxing week, and we lost track of the days.

- We made friends with the local wildlife. There was a little green frog called Spencer who occasionally showed up at night, and his frog cousins Roger and Hyacinth were always nearby. At Crooked Island, we met a crab called Eddie.

- On Friday (our last night) we went to Mexico Beach to go out for dinner. We had the hardest time finding a good restaurant to eat at, but finally we settled in the Fish House Restaurant. It was a small, hole-in-the-wall place. The people who worked there were nice and served us quickly, and our waitress was a hoot. The food was pretty good, though I found the batter for my fried catfish was a little bland.

All in all, it was a good week. Here are some more pictures.

Reformed Conference in Virginia

2011-06-27T14:09:00.000-04:00

Well, last week we three Cunningham kids, our cousin Gabe, and several people from our church spent a good portion of the week up in Bluefield, Virginia for the annual Reformed Family Bible Conference. It was an amazing trip, and next year we're hoping we can go again... as an entire family this time.

On Tuesday, we three, Gabe, Bethany G., and Joseph and Leila B. got up early for breakfast and to get the car packed. It was weird to have us packing it up and then telling Mom good-bye because for years I've been so used to Dad packing the van and then everyone leaving. After getting in our caravan, we began driving north. We took the scenic route to Virginia, going through South Carolina, then North Carolina to Tennessee and then finally to Virginia. We spent about seven, eight hours driving (including a few breaks), and we arrived in the town of Bluefield that afternoon. Bluefield is literally right on the border of West Virginia, and later we would actually cross the state line on our way home. The entire Appalachian region is absolutely gorgeous, and I wouldn't mind at all living somewhere in that area.

Because I was a last-minute addition, there was a bit of a fiasco over where I would be staying. However, we finally solved it, and I shared a room with Evi F. We got the AC dorms while Mandy, Bethany, and a few others were in the non-AC dorms; thankfully, the weather would remain nice all week so those without AC weren't miserable. After unpacking, it was soon time for dinner at 5 PM. In the past, I'd heard horror stories about the food served at the conference, and I was fully expecting to spend the entire week without food; however, God was merciful in that the food was edible, not great but enough to keep you from starving; everyone agreed that the food was much better this year, even if the portions were tiny.

On Tuesday night, we had our first hour-long lecture from one of the pastors in the denomination. Between Wednesday and Friday, there were three lectures a day, two in the morning and then one at night. The lectures this year were on the book of Ephesians and centered around Christ and the church. They were all excellent and very relevant to the times we live in. It made me very thankful that we have such good, faithful pastors who still preach God's Word and not rely on entertainment to do it.

When there were no lectures, there was plenty of other things to do. Several of the nerds played nerf gun war, many guys and a few girls played ultimate frisbee, but most of the time people sat around various places on the campus and socialized. On Tuesday evening, a Gospel group from further south gave a concert in the chapel; on Wednesday afternoon, Judy Rogers, who is the wife of one of the pastors, gave a concert; on Thursday afternoon, several of the young musicians and singers got together and did a little concert, which was excellent. A few people at any time of the day could be seen playing an instrument on campus, and we even had a talented bagpipe player one day. Several people also danced throughout the week, particularly the Salty Dog Rag, and it was largely for practice for Friday. On Friday evening, after the last lecture, everyone gathered in the Dome (the campus' gym) for the dance. The place was filled, and people danced the Pattycake Polka, the Virginia Reel (a fun dance), Postie's Jig (very entertaining to watch people leap around and try not to hit each other), and several others.

It was an amazing time to meet other people from other churches in the denominations and to make new friends. The one downside is that the entire week was quite exhausting, given the busy days, excellent lectures, late nights, and early mornings. By Friday, it was clear that sleep deprivation was beginning to set in, and several people were tired before the evening dance began. Most of us spent the trip home sleeping (except Mandy and Joseph who goofed off in front of the camera and did some rather bizarre and strange things, as evidenced by Mandy's pictures).

It was an amazing trip, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Everyone's already beginning to think of next year's conference, and we're hoping that Mom and Dad will be able to join us next time.

Busy Summer

2011-06-16T11:45:00.002-04:00

It's been a busy summer thus far. Between Six Flags trips, camping trips with the family, and other social events, we've sure been kept on our toes. Last week we went to a recital for a young baritone at our church, and we spent most of that week cooking in preparation for the event. The week of Memorial Day, we spent a few days camping with the family at Vogul State Park; we had a good time, and I've posted pictures up on facebook.

And things are only going to continue to get busier. Today, Christie's coming over so we can try to compose music for some song lyrics that I've written. Tomorrow, we're going over to some friends' house for dinner and fellowship. On Monday, there will be something like a large party starting in the afternoon and lasting until sometime Tuesday. Let me explain; every year, the RPCUS (the denomination our church belongs to) holds an annual family conference in Virginia. Mandy's been twice before, but this year Seth and I will also be going (I was a last-minute addition). Several young adults are carpooling with us up to Virginia, and so some of them will be spending the night with us on Monday so we can leave early on Tuesday morning. I'm really excited about going, as this will be my first time. I'm bringing my camera, so hopefully I'll get some good pictures. And, over the rest of the summer, we've got other events like a family vacation to Florida and a possible second camping trip with the church family.

So, yeah, it's been pretty busy around here. As of now, I have not had much success on the job front, most likely because I have no experience in retail. I've applied at some places, but I haven't had the time to apply at others. I will try to start looking again after the Virginia conference. Keep me in your prayers as I continue to look and also as I begin to wonder about my calling and what the Lord wants me to do for His kingdom.

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

2011-05-30T18:34:00.002-04:00

It's been an excellent three days for Memorial Day this year.

The fun started with the clan gathering together on Saturday to celebrate Grandma Linda's birthday. We grilled out, and then afterwards we just chilled in the house. Ainsley was a hoot. She had fun playing with the tape measure and treated it as if it was a magic trick, bowing every time it went back into the metal container. Then she wanted Mandy to chase her around the yard, and she kept denying that she was crazy (which is a sure sign that she's a Cunningham through and through).

Today, we went to the Howlands for the annual Memorial Day picnic. This year marks the tenth picnic we've attended since we first started attending Covenant eleven years ago (they didn't hold it one year for a few reasons). It proved to be a very hot year, but thankfully there wasn't much humidity. Nonetheless, most people stayed outside, seeking shade under the pavilion or wherever they could find it. There were boat races this year, and Christie and I raced once (we failed miserably, but then neither of us really knew what we were doing). There were other games like ultimate frisbee, kickball, wiffle ball, and volleyball all throughout the day. After the boat races were done, the teenagers decided that they couldn't take the heat anymore. So, not caring if big snapping turtles lived in the pond, began jumping in the pond. They dragged the floatable dock out towards the center of the water, and there was a game of "king of the raft" that went on for a while. Some people took great delight in pushing others off the raft or into the water, and Mandy would have gotten thrown in had not one of the adults intervened (Cliff later dunked her to get her fully wet, though). Dad even took dip in the pond to cool off, which made several of the kids cheer to see an adult join them for a few minutes. Because of the heat, a lot of people got sunburned. Right now, I'm looking as red as a beet, but I'm expecting to be nice and dark in a day or two.

Next stop: camping with the clan in north Georgia later this week. It promises to be a pretty hot week, but we're all looking forward to it.

Oh, and Seth officially starts his new position at Radiant tomorrow, where he'll be working in staging, which is a step up from peripherals. We're very proud of him and the fact that he's quickly advancing at Radiant based on his own hard work and not because of Dad's position in the company.

End of the School Year

2011-05-23T15:11:00.003-04:00

Well, I've finished my third year of college. Now a few more to go.

So, I turned in all my papers and all my reading on time. I ended the semester with three A's and one B, which I'm thankful for. And now I have to look for a job. I've turned in several applications, most of them last week, and I'm waiting and praying for a good job to turn up. In the meantime, I'm actually rather bored. I've got no papers to do, no reading to finish, and no stories to write or rewrite. I hope I get a job soon because I hate sitting around doing nothing.

Stormy Spring

2011-04-26T14:45:00.002-04:00

I do not think I can recall such a tumultuous spring in regards to the weather. Generally, this is the time of year for thunderstorms, loads of rain, and lightning and thunder, but I don't remember it ever being this bad. A few weeks back, we had thunderstorms for three nights in a row, and we've had several other ones ever since then. We got a brief rain shower yesterday, which was nice, but I think we could use some more rain because it's been getting dry and hot. It's sobering to look at other areas of the south like Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina that are absolutely getting pummeled with huge storms.

In the midst of stormy weather, life has continued on. I've got this week and three days of classes next week before I have finals, and I am so looking forward to being done with this semester. I put in an application at the vet down the street for a kennel job, but when I called last they said they were still looking through applications. I do need a summer job this year, and I'm praying I find a good one because I've heard that Radiant may not be hiring temps for the summer.

Well, I've got to get back to work on this Scots-Irish research paper for my history class.

Birthdays

2011-04-09T14:35:00.002-04:00

In late March, we celebrated two birthdays: Mom's and Seth's.

Mom's celebration began on Thursday, the day before her birthday. Mandy and I worked together and planned that our present to her would be taking her out to lunch and then paying for her to get her hair cut; however, because of our schedules, the two events could not take place on the same day. So, on Thursday, after Mom and Mandy came back from cello, we told Mom that we were taking her out to lunch at Zaxby's, and she was surprised. We went out and had a good time there enjoying that delicious chicken, fries, and Texas toast. The next day, Dad took Mom out for dinner; they went to a restaurant in downtown Lawrenceville and had a good time together. Then, the next Thursday, we girls took Mom to the Nova hair salon in the morning. The lady Milly, who cut my hair a month ago, did a good job, though she did cut Mom's hair shorter than she wanted. Still, Mom was very happy about not having to sit on her hair or getting tangled up in it all the time. Dad did buy Mom a present, but it was one most people wouldn't expect though she asked for it. And Seth, being the slacker he is, hasn't bought Mom's yet... much to me and Mandy's chagrin.

Seth's was also pretty simple this year. Mandy, being the social organizer that she is, actually planned him a small party for several of his friends (though only boys were invited, which kept things simple). The boys came over for dinner, played some poker, and then watched two movies. I took a few pictures of the event, but none of them were particularly memorable. We bought Seth some clothes for his birthday, though his "big gift" is yet to come.

Seth actually did get something of a birthday present though not from us. The week of his birthday, Radiant Systems hired him on as a full-time worker, which means he's no longer a temp and can get his own insurance, benefits, and vacation time. This week was his first week as being full-time. He's still working in Peripherals, but he'll also soon be helping the guys out in Staging, where he'll upload software onto the Point of Sales and such. It's a big step for Seth, and we're very proud of him for moving up. Actually, the week before his birthday, Peripherals threw him a surprise party complete with presents and cake, including a helium balloon that sings "Happy Birthday" when touched.

Spring?

2011-03-15T13:06:00.002-04:00

It's been a bitter winter down here, but it looks as if we're getting an early spring as well. Earlier this month, we had some temps in the 60's and 70's, which were downright heat waves for us; then, it cooled down again. And now, the temps seem to be going up again. It's very exciting to watch the signs of spring. Our dogwood tree has buds that are beginning to open, the crabapple's red leaves are coming out, and the white tree (don't know it's name) is beginning to turn green itself. The tulip tree is beginning to bud as well, which means within the next month it'll start dropping sap all over the cars and the driveway. The weather has become so nice that Mom has begun her garden. She's planted some broccoli and I believe cauliflower for her cool weather crops, and she's got even more veggies planned. We moved the vegetable boxes this year to a sunnier area of the yard (which, believe me, is hard to find in our yard), so we're hoping our garden will do much better than it did last year.

Spring coming closer means spring break for me! I'm off school this week, and it's nice to have a break. My American lit. teacher, however, is desperately trying to get everyone to read a whole bunch of William Faulkner and to discuss it on the discussion board; she clearly doesn't understand the meaning of "spring break." This also means that the schedule for fall classes is up as well. I've got a basic idea of what I want, but I can't sign up until my advisor removes the hold on my account (which I don't know if it'll happen because of my interactions with her; I'd have to say she's the worst advisor I've had at GGC so far); and I'm also waiting to see which teachers are assigned to the classes, as I don't want to take a class where the teacher is horrible. Now this is making me think of me returning to the work force for the summer; I'm not sure yet where I'll work, but Dad is going to see if Radiant will take me back on for a few months.

Recently, I started guitar lessons with Mr. Price, and I've been enjoying them. My fingers are getting tougher, and I can play for a longer period of time without my fingers turning red and hurting like crazy afterwards. I've taught myself the old hymn "Wondrous King All Glorious", and I'd love to be able to play the hymn "Like a River Glorious", but that one has flats and I don't know where flats are on the guitar. I am also teaching myself Enya's "May It Be", and it's quite a lesson in speed. For now, I'm using an old guitar on loan from my friend Christie. I've named him Johnny, and I've developed maternal instincts around him; he does, however, need some work done. However, Johnny is a rather large acoustic guitar, which makes him rather cumbersome and difficult to hold given that I have a short torso. So, today, Christie and I are going to Guitar Center, where I'm going to test out classical guitars (which are not as big) and find one I like, one that I will buy and call my very own. I'm also involved in Christie's music club at school, and I try to attend meetings when I'm not too busy with homework.

And so, life is fairly busy around here though nothing too big has happened. We're excited for this Friday, which will be the church's spring bonfire and square dance. We had one last October, and it was a ton of fun. We danced the waltz and the polka, and I learned the Virginia Reel. We had to cancel the original date because of the weather, but it looks like Friday will be just right. We're all really looking forward to it.

Stupid Cat...

2011-03-10T10:16:00.002-05:00

I think it's an established fact that cats are just, more often then not, stupid. Usually they show this in their various, strange antics... like sucking on the other cats' necks, attacking shoes or table legs, or fill in the blank. Well, we recently witnessed another strange antic that I've never seen before.

Now, it's common on warm spring days for the cats outside to roll in the dirt. I'm not sure why they do it, but I'm not going to get into cat psychology on this one. Anyway, I was at school when the incident happened, and I heard about it later that day. The cat boxes had just been cleaned and filled with new litter when Claws, our whale who is secretly disguised as a cat, decided to check them out. Then, suddenly, she started rolling around in the litter. It was new with nothing in it at the moment, but it was the strangest thing Mom had seen.

Now, if you'll excuse me, Pooky's stirring up a fight again, and I've got to deal with it before the situation worsens.

Licensed!

2011-02-18T18:28:00.001-05:00

There is much rejoicing in the household today. Mandy passed her driver's test and is now a licensed driver! Way to go, sis!

Seth's New Car

2011-02-14T14:08:00.002-05:00

I did forget to mention that Seth got a new car about two weeks ago. I forget the exact model, but it's used and is like a smaller, five-seat version of a suburban. We did have some issues with it for the first week of owning the car, as it was in the shop most of the time because the former owner admitted it did not some work done. But, it's now been resting on our driveway. It's given Seth the freedom to go hang out with his friends (like when he went camping with them this past weekend) and to go to work early and thus leave earlier than usual.

Happy 17th!

2011-02-12T13:48:00.002-05:00

Yes, it has happened; our dear Mandy has turned seventeen. I think we're more than a bit freaked-out at the realization that the baby of our family is only a year away from eighteen. It's quite frightening.

Mandy's birthday celebration began on the 4th of this month with a party. She invited fourteen people, and we managed to squeeze all of them into our little house. We had a lovely dinner of fried rice, teriyaki chicken, and Chinese salad (complete with sliced jicama); and then there was a simple New York cheesecake with strawberry sauce. Oh, and not to mention Mom's first attempt to make wontons, which were delicious and a bit hit among all the guests. After Mandy received presents of shirts, earrings, a mug, and other similar things, we all cleared the living room as best we could and played "Never Have I Ever". Given how "violent" the game can be, I'm amazed that no one was hurt and nothing was broken given the size of our living room. Then we played Wax Museum, where you have to stand absolutely still while "it" is watching you. Seth, of course, won both times; I kid you not, he was so good at it that the guys were able to treat him like a wooden board and push him around at it. I actually caught a video of it here:

After wax museum, people started to leave because it was getting late. A couple of people stayed behind and watched "Inception" with us. The party ended at 2 AM, and we all had a blast.

Saturday night was also special. Dad took me and Mandy to Chick-fil-A for Daddy-Daughter date night that they were having. It was nice to go out together. Then we went home, and Mandy opened her presents. I renewed her Picnik account and bought her earrings, Seth bought her a purple body pillow (which she loves but unfortunately the cat Claws has also fallen in love with it), and Mom and Dad have yet to give her the "big gift" which will come at the end of the month (I believe it will be a new cello case). She also received a nightshirt from Grandma Gail and scissors for left-handers (Mandy was so ecstatic to receive them, and she started laughing at us when we tried to use them). Currently, she is out celebrating with Grandma Linda, which I believe is the last major part of her birthday.

Otherwise, not much else has happened since then. It's been work and school, the usual. I did get my hair cut this week, and I gave about eight inches or so of it to Locks of Love; it's nice not to have to deal with so many tangles and split ends. We're having company tonight over for dinner, which we're all looking forward to. I also started guitar lessons this week, but my loaned guitar Johnny needs some work done before I can start playing anything and sounding vaguely good.

Nauseating....

2011-02-02T12:30:00.002-05:00

I've pretty much had it with GGC's food services. This is the second time in less than a week that I've had a major beef with them. And it's not been one of the restaurants on campus; it's been with two separate ones.

First, on Friday, I paid over $9 for a piece of fish, two things of vegetables, and a drink because I didn't order the $6 combo (what's the point of buying the combo when you can't eat all of it?) that has more food in it. I complained via a comment card, and I'm due for a meeting with one of the guys running the thing to explain what happened. I hope it goes well, but I'm not expecting it to. This is GGC, after all, and it never fixes anything properly.

And second, I had a rather nasty experience with GGCity Cafe. I won't go into the horrid details, but let's just say I found a hair in my food. They apologized profusely and gave me a new wrap to eat, but I'm not impressed. Now they've instilled a paranoia in me that I'll find another hair somewhere.

I guess that's what the college gets for using the lowest bidder for food services. Every student has complained about it for years, whether it be the horrible taste, high prices, the inexperienced people working the restaurants, or even the food being horribly made (like when raw pork was served recently). It's rather nauseating, and I've just about had it with them.

One Year Ago...

2011-01-27T15:06:00.002-05:00

Today the youngest member of the Cunningham clan celebrates his first birthday. It is amazing to think that one year ago today how we all were anxiously awaiting what would happen, with Aunt Sarah being in the hospital and all the worries there. And now, today, I am reminded of God's goodness in preserving Aunt Sarah and little Nate during that difficult time. He is certainly good to His children, and it is a reminder that He does hear our prayers, no matter how weak and tainted our words may be.

A Bit of Alarm

2011-01-25T15:26:00.002-05:00

Well, this morning was interesting, to say the least. Thank you, GGC, for that.

I got up at 8 so I could get ready to stay on campus all day for the music club meeting and for my world literature class, which meets at night. I received a text/phone call from GGC announcing that they would be testing their new siren today and possibly for the rest of the week. I didn't think much of it and went about my morning business.

Shortly after nine o'clock, I was sitting on my "perch" (a brown armchair that I sort of claimed and which I sit in quite frequently) and checking e-mail and all that when I hear the sound of music playing somewhere outside. I thought "hmm.... weird" and forgot it when it stopped. A few minutes later, an alarm goes off. At first I thought it's someone's car alarm or a siren, but it doesn't move and it keeps going on. The sound was more reminiscent of something you would hear from an air raid. Mom and I were both genuinely puzzled and began to wonder if we had missed the morning news about World War 3 starting or something like that. I also wondered if perhaps it was the GGC siren but shrugged it off, as the campus is more than a few miles away and this area is wooded and hilly. I posted on facebook about the alarm and quickly learned that it was indeed the GGC siren that they were testing that morning; a few people said it had been in the paper to tell people it was just a test, but we Cunninghams don't read it, so we didn't know. And, we were not the only ones to hear it. It could apparently be heard a few miles down Lawrenceville- Suwanee towards Suwanee town and in the Collins Hill High School area.

So, in conclusion, it was an interesting way to start off the day.

Georgia Snowstorm of 2011

2011-01-17T10:02:00.006-05:00

The storm begins

This storm will probably go down in Georgia records as being the worst that anyone can remember. Well, now that everything's just about melted and getting back to normal, it's time for the tale of how a snowstorm shut down Atlanta and threatened to drive several of us crazy.

The approaching storm first came to our attention either the Thursday or Friday before it began. However, none of us thought that we would get a lot of snow or that it would stick around long, but it would prove otherwise. The snow was predicted to arrive Saturday night (though they later changed this to Sunday night), and it showed up later than expected; the weathermen predicted it would start snowing around 7 PM, but it didn't start until closer to 9:30 PM, after we had gotten home from evening services and were eating dinner. We were fully engrossed watching Mandy and Seth playing Mario on the Wii (which is as entertaining as watching a movie) when someone turned on the porch light and we saw the snow falling. Now, Georgia gets wimpy snowflakes that are more like baby snow flurries, which rarely stick; this was not the case this time. The flakes were absolutely huge, and they were falling in huge numbers for more than a few minutes at a time. It took less than an hour for everything to be completely covered by the snow, and it was still falling. The temperature had dropped below freezing, so the snow was definitely sticking. Finally, Mandy and I put on some warm clothing and went outside around 11 PM. There were at least two inches on the ground already, and there was plenty of good snow for snowball fights. Mandy and I started throwing snow, and then Seth came out to join us for a little while. While we were goofing around and listening to other neighborhood kids grow ecstatic at the sight of so much snow, we had a funny moment. A couple of teenagers/ young adults came walking down the road and passed us; one of them had shaggy-looking pants that reminded me of a Chewbacca costume or of a sasquatch; so our joke that evening was that we saw a sasquatch outside in the snow. Anyway, Mandy wanted to build a snowmen, but we went inside instead, where I made some tea to warm me up.

Snow the morning after

Now, GGC had sent out an announcement to all the students and faculty (they do this three times: one by text, one by a phone call less than two minutes after the text, and then by e-mail a few hours later; it gets rather annoying after a while) on Sunday afternoon before the storm arrived that campus would be closed the next day. Well, on Monday morning, we woke up to find six to seven inches of snow covering everything, including the road. We could not even tell where our driveway began and ended. Dad, Mandy, and I went walking in the snow, and Seth later joined us. The roads were too impassable for Dad and Seth to go to work, so they just stayed home. Mandy kept getting text messages from our cousin Noah about sledding and having all sorts of fun, but sadly she could not convince Mom or Dad to drive her out to Duluth. So, needless to say, the snow was fun that first day, but it's more fun when you have friends to share it with.

Playing in the snow

On Monday, freezing rain began to fall in the morning and grew throughout the day. The temps remained cold enough to keep the snow from melting, but it also introduced a new problem: if the temps dropped below freezing that night (which they would), everything would start turning to ice. And it did. School was cancelled for Tuesday, and Dad and Seth were not able to leave the house for work on Tuesday either. Around this time, we started watching clips of the local news on-line to see what was going on. The roads in the metro Atlanta area were icy, cars were either being wrecked on the roads or abandoned because of the ice, and there were not enough snowplows and salt trucks to deal with the problem. The highways got cleared fairly easily, but other roads were not. Mom and Dad ventured out on Tuesday afternoon, and it took them two hours to drive a few miles to the grocery store, where there was practically no food anyway, but God be praised that they made it home safely.

On Wednesday, the temps refused to rise above freezing, so nothing could melt. School was cancelled again, and by this time we were all getting antsy. Mandy wanted to hang out with her friends, but she was stuck in the house because the roads were too unsafe. I'm generally not a social bug like Mandy, but after three days of being snowbound, I was beginning to develop cabin fever. I temporarily cured this by going outside and making a snowman (which turned out more like a snow volcano), and Mandy joined me as well.

School was cancelled again on Thursday, but by this time the roads were becoming clearer and more passable. Dad and Seth went to work that day, which took them over two hours to get there safely. The roads were still icy, though, and we were still stuck in the house. School was also cancelled on Friday, and a faculty meeting was held to discuss how to make up an entire week of missed college. However, that day Bethany came over to spend the night, so it was nice to see some other faces for a change. On Saturday, we drove up to the outlets at Dawsonville for our annual after-Christmas shopping. On our way to the mall (there was little to be found at the outlets this year), we stopped by Radiant to say hi to Seth and Cliff, who were working a full day there. They re-organized the entire place, and it looks so different from when I last saw it back in August, before school started. The mall was a little more successful shopping-wise, but I'm hoping to make it out to Cato today or sometime this week to see if they have any better clothes.

Yesterday, the snow began to disappear. Some boys after church had a snowball fight, which was entertaining to watch; after home shepherd groups, Ben C. started up a bit of a snowball war with Gabe, Noah, and Christopher. Yesterday, I saw more of our green-ish lawn re-appear, and today the snow is just about gone except for a few areas.

Despite this storm shutting the entire city down for a few days, I am thankful it wasn't worse then it could've been. We didn't run out of food, we kept our electricity and heat on, none of us were in accidents (one person at church had one, but he's all right), and we all stayed safe. I am thankful that God was good to us in these ways.

Snowbound!

2011-01-11T09:48:00.002-05:00

Well, what started off as much rejoicing over a beautiful snowfall has now turned into something much different: worry. Atlanta has practically been shut down for two days now, and it doesn't look good for the rest of the week. The problem is that it's too cold. Temperatures this week are hovering around 20- 30ish degrees, which is not enough to melt the snow, which causes some brief melting but which re-freezes into ice when the temp drops low at night. And ice is a horrible situation to be in down here. Because huge snowfalls like this are rare, only happening every 10+ years, Atlanta isn't well-equipped to handle it, as the metro area only has three snow plows total; so, hence, the entire city is shut down for further notice. This is the second day that Dad and Seth haven't been in to work because all their carriers (i.e. Fedex, etc...) have closed down because of the conditions of the roads and because not everyone can get in to work. GGC has also closed down, and there's no telling when it will be back up again. So, all in all, it's one big mess.

Dad, Mom, and possibly Mandy are going to try to get out of the house today and see if they can make it to the store, if it is open. But we are not too concerned about it because we have a Food Lion not far from the house, where we can walk if needs be. And we're thankful to still have electricity and heat. So, despite being snowbound in Lawrenceville, we're doing good, and we're all fine down here.

Removed Celtic Woman Post

2011-01-10T10:34:00.002-05:00

I have removed my review of Celtic Woman's February 2010 Atlanta show, but the 2009 may remain up for a little while. My reasoning is simple: I was getting tired and frustrated of the daily spam I kept getting for that particular post. I've saved the review among my personal stuff on my computer, but I'm not likely to re-post it again.

On a happier note, we got around six inches of snow last night. It's a gorgeous (but very cold) winter wonderland out there. The general consensus is that we have not had this much snow since 1993, when it snowed for two days and kept us stuck in the house. I've got pictures, and I'll try to upload some later. Or I may make a slideshow like I did for our snow event last February.

It's Snowing!

2011-01-09T22:25:00.003-05:00

It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! And this isn't your bitty Southern flurries; this is the real deal. It's powdery, and we got probably an inch in less than an hour with more still to come. It's falling outside in huge snowflakes, and it's so gorgeous! Ah! I'm so excited!

Another Winter Storm

2011-01-08T18:37:00.002-05:00

Well, my wish of snow is coming true again... somewhat. Georgia's about to get hit with another snowstorm, which looks like it'll turn into an ice storm. It should arrive here by tomorrow evening, and now we're all wondering what that will mean for Monday, which so far looks nasty. It could mean school gets cancelled that day, but I won't know for certain until either Sunday night or early Monday morning.

As for school, I started on Thursday. However, classes are up in the air because the students' ability to drop or add classes is down, so I have no idea what my actual schedule will look like. I'll let you know soon.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-29T13:27:00.003-05:00

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

2010-12-25T17:03:00.002-05:00

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

2010-12-21T11:04:00.002-05:00

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....

2010-12-19T22:51:00.003-05:00

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?

2010-12-11T16:30:00.002-05:00

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

2010-12-06T14:14:00.003-05:00

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

2010-12-02T11:47:00.002-05:00

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

2010-11-30T17:34:00.003-05:00

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

2010-11-23T11:05:00.004-05:00

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...

2010-11-16T10:04:00.003-05:00

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

2010-10-27T19:20:00.003-04:00

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

2010-10-19T13:44:00.003-04:00

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

2010-09-28T16:21:00.002-04:00

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

2010-09-14T11:17:00.002-04:00

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

2010-09-08T19:46:00.003-04:00

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

2010-08-26T10:42:00.004-04:00

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

2010-08-07T09:42:00.003-04:00

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

2010-07-31T15:19:00.003-04:00

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

2010-07-10T10:21:00.003-04:00

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

2010-06-17T17:53:00.002-04:00

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

2010-06-05T12:04:00.003-04:00

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

2010-05-28T16:46:00.002-04:00

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

2010-05-16T21:19:00.003-04:00

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

2010-05-14T17:03:00.002-04:00

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

2010-05-11T20:03:00.003-04:00

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...

2010-05-03T16:53:00.002-04:00

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!

2010-04-13T20:52:00.002-04:00

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

2010-04-02T23:33:00.003-04:00

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

2010-03-29T21:28:00.002-04:00

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!

2010-03-18T20:00:00.003-04:00

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

2010-03-13T10:10:00.002-05:00

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...

2010-03-06T09:35:00.003-05:00

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

2010-02-13T21:24:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-02-12T16:57:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-02-06T15:43:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-04T19:44:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-01-30T00:07:00.002-05:00

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...

2010-01-26T20:46:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-01-19T20:47:00.001-05:00

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

2010-01-15T09:53:00.003-05:00

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

2010-01-13T11:16:00.002-05:00

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

2010-01-11T11:40:00.002-05:00

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...

2010-01-08T10:05:00.002-05:00

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?

2010-01-07T16:24:00.003-05:00

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

2010-01-06T13:54:00.003-05:00

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"?

2010-01-05T15:05:00.002-05:00

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.

Christmas

2009-12-29T10:38:00.003-05:00

Well, I finally get a chance to sit down and write about Christmas 2009 while I delay my exile (Mandy has banished me to the couch so she can sleep without me waking her up with my sneezing and coughing). It was wonderful, and we all very much enjoyed it between the food, plenty of fellowship, and of course the presents.

Christmas began for us on Christmas Eve day when Mom bought herself a new HP laptop as a gift. She loves it, and so does Mandy especially (a few words here: webcam and self-portraits should give you the picture). Later that afternoon, we went over to Uncle Josh's house for the clan gathering with Grandma Linda. We first enjoyed various appetizers and the like for supper, and then afterwards we went to the basement for something new: singing. Uncle Josh had printed out some sheets for Christmas songs like "O Christmas Tree," "Silent Night," and "Jingle Bells," so we all gathered around Hannah, who played the piano, and Noah, who played the violin, while we sang. We sounded good, and Uncle Josh even offered us a rare look at his bass version of "O Holy Night." After singing, we went back upstairs and opened presents. I don't remember everything we got, but I do know that Seth got a tie and a shirt (he wore them on Sunday and looked rather sharp) as well as a sweater, Mandy got a purse, a shirt, and a makeup kit, while I got a purple shawl, some black gloves, some earrings, headphones for my MP3 (which fit my ears beautifully), and a makeup kit. After opening presents, the adults and older kids participated in the white elephant gift exchange. This year included a Joel Osteen video, a dial-up modem, moon pies, a train set, my old college textbooks that I couldn't sell, a snuggie (which we got and which is really, really warm), a book on beer dieting (which ironically I ended up getting), vienna sausage, and stuff like that. After that, we settled around to pass the rest of the evening with conversation and grazing off of the food table. Things turned interesting when Noah brought out his violin and played some tunes while we had a bit of a hoe down in the living room. I captured some videos of the event, but I've yet to upload them or the pictures, which I shall try to remedy at some point. All in all, a wonderful evening.

Christmas morning. Mom woke up first to start making the bacon for the quiche, which woke up Mandy who took great delight in forcing Seth and me out of our beds. Ironic that 11 AM is her normal wake-up hour on vacation but Christmas morning she wakes up at 7 AM; there's something perverse about that. Anyway, so we got up and ate some leftover sausage to tide us over until breakfast, then we opened presents. Dad got a beer magazine, some tobacco, a new lighter, a sweater, and a sleeveless coat. Mom got a package of lambaic (a sour beer made of fruit), a new cutting board, a new collander (which we all love using much better than the old one), and a new purse. Seth got new headphones, a new MP3, new shirts, a set of keys, and a new book for his drawings. Mandy got a UGA sweater, matching hat and gloves, a set of keys, a few keychains, and a notebook. I got a durable notebook with the Celtic scroll design on it that I'm still finding a use for, a gift card to Cato (which I spent on two shirts yesterday), a cute outfit from Cato, two keychains, earrings, a portable hard drive (there's a story behind it that I won't tell now) and a book called "Dead Men's Secrets" (which I read in two days). After opening presents, we ate breakfast and watched "Joyeux Noel", a foreign film about the Christmas ceasefire during World War 1 (very touching movie. See the Ramblings blog for a more detailed review). The Greers invited us over for lunch, and we enjoyed ourselves with talking, good food, and a tense game (forgot the name) between Seth and Caleb. After spending the afternoon there, Mandy stayed to spend the night while the rest of us went home.

On the 26th, we went to Grandpa Mike's house for the clan gathering there. There was the usual feast and the grazing and conversation. In the basement, the kids played video games. Noah, Mandy, Seth, and a non-blood relative played a multi-player Mario game; their commentary of "hey, leave me a penguin suit!" "hey, come here, Alex, and I'll throw you in the lava" "press A! No, you cowards!" "Mandy, you're going to debtors' prison for losing that many lives" was half the fun while I focused on a tetris game. We stayed there for a few hours then went home.

On the 27th (Sunday) we had the Bowman family over for lunch. This is a large family of 11 people, but we managed to fit around two tables. Mom made beef stroganoff, salad, rolls, lemon cheesecake, and a chocolate torte for the meal, and everyone seemed to like it. After lunch, we kids (both older and younger) went outside to play frisbee then later went on a little walk. We were all tired afterwards, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.

And that's what our Christmas was: busy yet fun. Lord willing, we're driving to Florida on Friday to visit Grandpa Large for a few days (and I'm hoping this cough goes away before then), and then we'll have one more week before we get back into our normal schedules. Well, mostly normal. I'm not going to college next semester, and I'm waiting to go back next fall. In the meantime, I'm hoping to find a job (I turned in several applications today for various places) to keep me busy.

I'll try to upload pictures of Christmas soon, if I can snag Seth's computer. In the meantime, I should get to bed and hope I sleep better tonight.

Christmas Begins

2009-12-22T16:57:00.002-05:00

Well, we're just about ready for Christmas. As of Friday, everyone's Christmas shopping was done (finally! I hate shopping at the mall during the holidays; makes me feel claustrophobic), so we could focus on the white elephant party that evening. The party was a lot of fun, and we all enjoyed it. We played a couple of games, including paper telephone and movie charades, and towards the end we watched "Napoleon Dynamite." Mom tried a wassail recipe, and oh, it was delicious! Nothing like hot apple cider to brighten a cold and otherwise gloomy day. The elephant gifts went well, and I got a goldfish in the process. No, it wasn't dead, and in fact Artie (the fish that I've been forbidden to re-name) seems to be doing splendidly in his new glass bowl with fish-friendly water. One of the gifts that evening was the infamous mannequin head that Mandy calls "Erica." She and Bethany found it in a box years ago, and the thing creeps me out. It was a gag gift last year, and this year she made a comeback and is now back in our house. Cliff loved the Vienna sausage we gave him (I had the idea of putting it in a Victoria's Secret bag to see if I could scare anyone with it. It didn't work, but it was fun anyway), and people liked the ball hoop you could put on your head... well, as long as you're not wearing it and become the target. All in all, a good evening. The next day, Seth and Mandy went to a birthday party and saw "Avatar" with some friends afterwards, which they enjoyed.

With all the presents wrapped and such, now it's time to focus on the food aspect of Christmas. Mom bought two pumpkins, and since yesterday I've been helping her mash them up to make real pumpkin pie. So far, one pie has been made, and it looks delicious; we're going to try it out on the family on Christmas Eve. Not only that, but we're having the entire Bowman family over on Sunday (since their two oldest sons are visiting from Texas during that time), and so Mom's got the menu planned out. It looks to be a good yet busy weekend coming up.

Pictures!

2009-12-17T23:22:00.003-05:00

In light of the White Elephant party tomorrow, I finally snagged Seth's computer to upload pictures. Enjoy!

Corn Maze:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=132141&id=603748360&l=ace73745ae

Thanksgiving:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=132139&id=603748360&l=fbc2850cbf

Party at the Bowmans:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=132137&id=603748360&l=5938cbf921

O Christmas Tree

2009-12-11T12:55:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been busy with working on this 12 page history paper that's due next week (I can't believe that I couldn't find any books on the Byzantine empire. Thus I got stuck with the internet instead) and am battling a cold. On Monday I was feverish and just out of it, but on Tuesday I felt more functional. Right now I'm facing the dreaded dry cough. My defense? Vitamins and lots of water. Mandy also has been battling, but this time it is her teeth. The orthodontist put another wire in her mouth for whatever reason, and her gum is growing over it, which is causing some discomfort. I know she will certainly rejoice when her braces come off, as they have not been kind to her these past few years, but she has been a trooper.

Nothing much has happened this week or last except the Christmas tree on Saturday. For about a week, we had planned to get our tree, watch "A Christmas Story" (which has become an annual tradition), and have Zaxby's for dinner. The afternoon was bitter cold when we went to Home Depot to see what they had. Mandy was hilarious, trying to hold up these massive trees and nearly falling over at one point. After buying a tree we liked, we went home to decorate it. With the piano out of the room, we finally had enough space for a tree, as for a few years we never bought one. Then we watched the movie and ate supper. My favorite part about a real Christmas tree is its smell, how fresh and green it is; nothing compares to it, and I love it. The cats like the tree too... drinking from the water, that is. We're constantly refilling the bowl, but that's to be expected when you have seven beasts in the house.

Ok, back to work. Got to get this rough draft of the paper done today.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T23:24:00.002-05:00

Well, I'll jot down this quick post before bed, else I will forget about it tomorrow.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. It was the first real family reunion that I've attended since returning from Houston, so it was nice to see everyone again. Mom made rolls and a huge batch of mashed potatoes, and there was plenty of food. Uncle Jason fried two turkeys (which were delicious), and then there was the stuffing and the gravy plus a bunch of side dishes. I don't think I've ever eaten so much potatoes and gravy and creamed corn in my life before. After the meal, the kids ran outside, but they soon returned inside when it proved to be very cold and windy. The adults sat around the table (there were about three or four tables that we joined together so everyone could see and talk to each other) and talked about various subjects like roughing it out in Montana or hilarious childhood memories from Dad and the uncles. We stayed there for about six hours before everyone began to depart. When we got home, it was around 7 PM, but it felt much later. We watched a couple of movies (well, I watched one of them. I was busy working on nano word count) before going to bed while Dad brewed.

On Friday, Mandy, Sunny, and I got together to spend the night with Grandma Linda. We spent a few hours in the later afternoon shopping for Christmas presents before going back to the house with Papa John's for dinner. Grandma taught us a new card game, and we had a blast with it, staying up late to see who would win. In the end, Grandma won, and even Mandy, who had been in the negative zone for the first few games, ended up with a higher score than me. Saturday dawned warm and sunny as we drove up to Tangier Outlets in Commerce for a few hours. It was packed there, but we found some good stuff. I bought a few things for myself, and I contemplated brown boots, which seem to be the fashion nowadays, but I'm waiting until after Christmas when they are sure to be much cheaper. The crowds started getting bigger and we were getting hungry, so we went to McDonalds for a late lunch then went home. All in all, a good weekend.

Otherwise, nothing much has happened since then. Mom and the kids went to a planetarium on Monday (which meant waking up at 6:30. Ugh), and they enjoyed it. I discovered that I have this week and next week of classes before finals, which is freaking me out a bit because I'm still trying to think of a topic for my 12-page history paper; once I know that and get the research, my fingers will fly. We're still talking about Plato in philosophy, which is still making my head spin though reading it I see subtle topics that are relevant and seen even in today's modern society. It's interesting, to say the least.

Well, I've got to get to bed. I've got to get to school early tomorrow for a longer philosophy class (because we spent one entire class period discussing good literature instead of Plato, so now we have to make it up. Thanks, John).

50 K!

2009-11-30T15:55:00.001-05:00

Yep... this afternoon I passed the nano goal of 50 K! Granted, what I have is not organized and has large chunks missing out of it, but I passed and am a winner! So, yeah, I'm feeling very giddy right now.

Tomorrow I'll try to post about Thanksgiving and the weekend with Grandma Linda and Sunny.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T09:32:00.002-05:00

A very happy Thanksgiving to you all! Enjoy this day!

How to Buy Tickets

2009-11-24T10:01:00.003-05:00

Note to self: when you find tickets for a show you really want to attend, do not wait a month before buying them. We delayed on buying Owl City tickets, and thus there shall be no concert for Mandy, Dad, and me next February. But then, I doubt there were many tickets because the venue was so small. I hope he comes back to Atlanta in the near future.

On a happier note, Celtic Woman finally announced their 2010 tour last night. And they're making two stops in Atlanta in February (ironically, a week after what would have been Owl City). Yes, so I'm feeling very giddy about it right now. I'm waiting to see if a few friends are interested in going, though I think it will depend on the cost of a ticket. If they've gone down from what I paid last year, I'll be a happy camper. So, until then, time to count down and see when the Fox will start selling the tickets. Probably December.... grrr.

Sorry for the Delay

2009-11-24T00:20:00.002-05:00

I apologize for the lack of posts, but I'm up to my neck in school and this stupid nano (which has no end in sight and which is making me hate its boring self). There's just so much to post about, but when I finally find the time to sit down, I've forgotten some of it.

Last Saturday, we attended the church's annual Thanksgiving dinner, which is always a great time of fellowship. Everyone pitched in and brought something, and the food was delicious. Mom bought some new gadget that allowed her to make ten pounds of mashed potatoes, and oh, were they excellent! After the meal, everyone, kids and adults alike, was allowed to stand up one at a time and share what they were thankful for. You had a wife thankful that her husband is returning from Afghanistan in a few weeks, husbands thankful for their wives, thanking God for being employed during this tough economic time, and being thankful for attending a good church. After that, everyone pitched in to clean up the church and prepare it for worship the next day. We were the last to leave, as Mom mopped the floor, and we were tired the next day. But, nonetheless, we enjoyed the service. One thing that was especially nice was being able to use our new sanctuary. About a month or so ago, construction finally began on the expansion of our church. They first built the extension on the back of the sanctuary then covered it before knocking down the wall to connect the two rooms. The newer part of the room is not quite finished yet, but sitting in it during the dinner and during church definitely made the entire sanctuary look bigger. Looking at the original size, I'm amazed that we fit so many people into the room; we must have absolutely been like canned sardines.

Now that the extension is connected, it will continue on the front side of the building where the sanctuary will be expanded about ten more feet. The bad thing about this is that today they tore up the bushes and sidewalk in the front of the church, which makes getting to the door complicated and muddy. We're supposed to be using the new door, but it's been blocked off because the extension is not quite finished. As I said, it complicates things.

Oh, before I forget. Thursday was loads of fun. We gathered a small group of peers from the youth group to go to the north Georgia corn maze before it closed down for the season on Saturday. We got dinner at McDonald's then drove an hour and a half to the Cleveland area. We then proceeded to get lost trying to find the road to turn onto, so Mom called Dad for help. With his aid, we figured that there are two roads titled "75" in the Cleveland/ Helen area; idiots couldn't have come up with a different name for it. Anyway, we arrived at the place but found that no one was at the desk. We were tempted to go inside the maze inside anyway, but a guy arrived, so we paid and went inside. The goal of the maze is to put seven whole punches into your paper from little hole punches all over the maze. We had to find these using flashlights. Mandy hung with Christopher and Bethany, Seth and Ben C. were loners, Ben G. and Cliff were together, and I was with Mom. The maze was much muddier than we expected, and our shoes and pants were covered in mud afterwards. Next time, I'll wear tennis shoes and not crocs. Anyway, Cliff and Ben, who finished early, took great delight in sneaking up on the girls and making them scream so loud you could hear them from all the way across the maze (which covered roughly eight acres). Cliff and Ben were cruel to me and Mom by jumping us and making Mom lose her hair clip temporarily. Then, while we were looking for the 4th hole puncher, they covered it up while we walked past. Towards the end, my eyes got used to the dark, so I walked without a flashlight. I found the 4th and 6th hole puncher by myself after I split off from Mom towards the end, and I had to guide her to both of them. After we finished the maze and got a few pictures (which I have yet to upload), we climbed back into the car and drove back to the church. After we dropped off Bethany to go home with Ben, we went to Burger King for a midnight snack of onion rings. We were tired, but oh, it was so much fun! We're planning on going again next fall and maybe even filming another film there, as the place would be perfect for either a sequel to "Curse of the Wood Man" or some sappy horror film.

And the rest of the week is going to be busy as well. Tomorrow we're having some friends over for a movie night to watch the new "Star Trek" (we watched it on Friday, and it was good). I have school on Wednesday (curse the Butler for only giving me one day for Thanksgiving break), then on Thursday we're going to Jefferson to celebrate Thanksgiving with the clan.

Whee!

2009-11-19T13:14:00.002-05:00

Tonight, the youth group (including my family) is going to a corn maze in north Georgia. I'm looking forward to it, and I'll see if I can get any pictures, though it may be hard in the dark. Tomorrow Seth and Dad are going to Auburn, Alabama for an economics conference. And Saturday night, we're attending the church's annual Thanksgiving dinner, always a social event of the year. It's going to be a busy weekend.

Nano continues onwards. I am past 34 K, which means 16 K is left. I'm thinking now that I'm going to go far beyond 50 K because I simply have too much left to put in. With "New Moon" coming out tomorrow (much to my disgust), I'm trying to keep my desire to write a better human/ vampire romance story on the back burner; hard to when you have a contest to complete first. Argh!

Disappearing Is Nice...

2009-11-17T19:25:00.003-05:00

I've been taking my own sweet time reading Plato's "Republic" for philosophy class because, frankly, it's one of the most boring books I've ever read and there is no set deadline. This afternoon I was going to finish reading Book 2 when I realized I couldn't find it, much to my pleasure. Mom teased me, saying that I probably threw it away but didn't want to admit it. Why would I do such a thing when I can sell it on-line when I'm done with it? Anyway, I was ready to celebrate the book's disappearance when I found it hiding on my dresser. I was bummed out, so I had to sit down and read it.

Also, I thought cockroach season is over down here. Tonight I've seen two cockroaches (possibly three) in the house, and one of them is dead. One of them decided to torment me by sitting on the shower rod while I was showering. I'm officially creeped out, to say the least. I hate those demon bugs. I wish there was a simple way to blast them all at once and keep them from coming back forever.

Party

2009-11-14T00:36:00.002-05:00

Tonight we three Cunninghams helped participate in a large surprise party for our friend Leila Bowman. She was completely surprised. Once when she walked into the house and secondly when she unwrapped a suspicious-looking box to find Cliff inside. We ran around outside in the dark with a few flashlights before returning inside for some games. I got plenty of pictures, but I haven't uploaded them yet. I may do it tomorrow.

One good thing about going to a small college is that if the major teacher gets sick, there is no class. I nearly panicked this morning to wake up and find that it was 8:30, and my class is at 9:00. I discovered, though, that the Butler was sick. No classes meant some time to start taking notes for my second paper for Bible class, where I shall be refuting the New Perspective on Paul heresy.

I am also convinced that vitamin D does work. I had a headache earlier that was a warning sign of an impeding fever, but I took a large dose in the morning and smaller doses throughout the day. I'm feeling better and will continue taking them until this cough is gone. Until then, I'm more convinced of its natural remedy.

Results

2009-11-10T23:50:00.003-05:00

I had the interview this morning, but sadly I don't think I'm going to be hired. They were looking for someone to help close up at night (which could be anytime between 10 PM to 1 AM) and which 1) I cannot drive to it but also 2) with college I do not want to be out late, especially on the night before morning classes. I'm going to keep looking for work.

We had a very busy weekend. Mom, Mandy, and myself went to the annual ladies' retreat in Helen, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We had plenty of opportunity to fellowship with everyone else and enjoyed the two lessons, one on repentance and the other on modesty. All in all, an excellent weekend.

The weather here is pretty gross. Tropical Storm Ida (now a depression) is passing over us, giving us plenty of rain (like we need any more after the flooding in September) and a lot of wind, which is blowing the dying leaves off of the trees. As I said before, we're expecting a hard winter. I'm hoping for some nice snow because 1) we're long overdue and 2) I have a music video idea I'd like to try out, but it will only work with snow.

I know I'm rushing the post, but I haven't had much time to sit down and type it. Between college, catching up on nanowrimo (I'm at 18 K right now), and staying busy at school and with shopping, I haven't updated this blog as much. I will try to keep it fairly updated. Otherwise, nothing else interesting has been going on.

God Be Praised!

2009-11-06T12:48:00.002-05:00

I have some good news! I have a job interview next Tuesday morning!

What happened is this: on Wednesday after my classes, we went to Toys 'R Us for some early Christmas shopping and saw that they were hiring. I went home and filled out the application on-line, not expecting a response because I have no experience in retail. Well, during philosophy class this morning, my phone started buzzing. It was a local number and since I had turned in the application, I decided to answer it in the hall. The lady was really nice and said that they were hiring temporary workers for the holiday season, and she wanted me to come in for an interview on Tuesday. I was so ecstatic when I heard it. It will be temporary, but it nonetheless will mean pay and experience, both of which are good. And Mom said that if I work well enough, they may decide to keep me on. That is, if I'm hired. But I'm feeling really happy that they called me for an interview because that is a very hopeful sign. As the title of my post says, God be praised for His love!

"You Might Be a Redneck if..."

2009-11-04T16:47:00.002-05:00

Mandy lately has been speaking in more southern twang (probably from hanging out with the Greers), and today in the Costco parking lot she came up with a new word that cracked me and Mom up. She said "hawt," i.e. hot, and she spelled it for us.

I guess our southern blood is coming back. Got to get rid of the Yankee accent.

Ugh...

2009-11-04T11:52:00.002-05:00

History class is quickly becoming boring. We've spent a ton of time on the Greeks, and the Butler keeps dragging it on. He keeps saying "ok, next class period we'll take about Alexander and his empire." He's been saying it for a week. Needless to say, I'm quickly learning to hate the Greeks. As Mom says, what a teacher's specialty is, they'll spend a lot of time focusing on that. Well, it's true. For Mr. Price it is the ancient world (particularly the Middle East), and for Mr. Butler it's Greece.

Oh, and just a head's up. It's not common knowledge because I'm not fully confirming it yet, but I won't be returning to Christ College next semester (and no, it has nothing to do with the slow classes right now). I'm still working out the details, but I'll probably be going elsewhere next fall with a break this winter (hopefully which I will use to build my income back up). As I said, nothing's been confirmed yet, but it's just a head's up.

Mom and the Eye

2009-11-03T15:42:00.002-05:00

For those of you who know Mom, you'll know that she hates eyeballs. She can dissect anything except one of those. Yesterday, Mr. Butler brought in Halloween candy to school (which he took some from his kids) for us three students who were there. Among the candy were two eyeballs made of candy, the weirdest and grossest thing I've ever seen. I mentioned that Mom hated eyeballs, and Ben C. decided to play a little good-natured joke on her. He opened the package (with great difficulty) and approached her as she was taking out the garbage. He held it out and said something like "I found this. I think the kids may have found it somewhere." The look on Mom's face was priceless. Especially when Ben ate it. Mom thanked me for telling my classmates that she hates eyes. It was funny.

Whoo!

2009-10-30T18:00:00.003-04:00

Well, two things to celebrate about. First, we're going to see Owl City in concert next year! I e-mailed the venue with a question regarding its supposed age limit, but I got a response that said we could go. Mandy was so excited when she heard the news, and I was too. If we're able to go in February of next year, this will be Mandy's first real concert and my real second one for the first time in years. Mandy's trying to organize a group of her friends to go, as several of them are Owl City fans.

Second, after a month of hassle with the insurance company, Seth has been added. Thus, he can now drive by himself in the car. A big step for him. Tonight he's driving Mandy to Christopher's birthday party (which is only five minutes away, but still, it's a first).

Need a Laugh?

2009-10-29T18:49:00.000-04:00

Check out the video we filmed yesterday! It's meant to be a spoof on horror movie trailers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2qZBhWbegw

Pictures!

2009-10-26T13:30:00.003-04:00

Well, there's been no Butlerian Jihad yet. And I stress "yet." I have absolutely no idea what to expect with this paper, as I have no clue how he grades stuff.

Anyway, on a cheerier note, pictures! I finally stopped slacking and uploaded 757 pictures from my camera to Seth's laptop. I took over 200 at the beach, but about 91 made the final cut to my facebook album. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118599&id=603748360&l=7d1d167105

Today

2009-10-24T15:16:00.003-04:00

I need a brief break. I'm writing a paper for my history of philosophy class, and I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing or how to defend the statement I chose.

Dad took me driving earlier this afternoon. I drove in a few big loops all over this business park area with stop signs, some other cars, and stuff like that. I'm feeling more confident about it. I'm still a beginner and need to learn to pay attention, not to stick to the curb, and stop better, but it's not as nerve-wracking as it was when I drove back from Alabama.

Well, back to this paper. If I don't post again, you'll know that Mr. Butler killed me in class, so be forewarned.

Cunninghams of Georgia

Career Direction

What's Up?

My Pretty Book

Cunningham Christmas 2011

Christmas Performance and Karaoke

The Newest Cunningham

We Can Dance

A Little Update

Still Here...

God's Great Mercy!

Nothing Much...

Formal Dance

A Week in Florida

Reformed Conference in Virginia

Busy Summer

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

End of the School Year

Stormy Spring

Birthdays

Spring?

Stupid Cat...

Licensed!

Seth's New Car

Happy 17th!

Nauseating....

One Year Ago...

A Bit of Alarm

Georgia Snowstorm of 2011

Snowbound!

Removed Celtic Woman Post

It's Snowing!

Another Winter Storm

Christmas 2010

White Christmas in Georgia

How to Miss an Eclipse

Six Kitties....

Snow in December?

Fashion Sense

A Bit Frightening

Winter Weather and Music

Angry Monkeys

Still Here...

Weird Weather

Mid-terms

School

Talent Show

Graduation and Myrtle Beach

Update

Cat, Couch, and Conversation

Blue Ridge Camping

4th of July

Busy June

Memorial Day

Tidbits

Skype and Turning 21

A Stressful Day

Removing Blog Posts

So Far...

Accepted!

Birthdays

Moose Call

Spring!

Events of the Week

Not Ignoring You...

Mandy's New Toy

Snow!

Celtic Woman Surprise!

News

A New Cunningham!

Ok... sorry...

Employment!

How Ironic

Interview

*Sighs*

Some Snow...

Let It Snow... please?

Prayer for Aunt Sarah

Can Anyone Say "Freezing"?

Christmas

Sighs