kitties

Have I showed you pictures of the family lately? I didn't include pics of everybody, but here are just a few of the hellraisers.

Michael ~ Vic seems to think he's a "bit slow." His reaction time

is always off and he seems to other odd things. He is the

brother of Caleb and Duncan (they're coming up). I guess they're

all brothers & sisters, but Mikey, Caleb & Duncan all have the same

mama & daddy kitty.

Here is Duncan. I also call him Duncan Sticks. Vic usually

calls him Lard Ass. He's our heaviest baby, weighing in at

20 lbs.! He's a bed hog, too. He insists on sleeping on my

pillow or Vickie's head. I think he thinks he's still a baby.

Earl the squirrel. Look at those big bugged out eyes! He's also

got a prominent overbite and his back legs are shorter than his

front ones, so he ambles along kind've weird. I think he thinks

his "kahunas" are still there, because he walks very bow-legged!

Bella is Earl's sister. She loves to give Vic hugs and will wrap her

arms around Vic's neck. She pretty much just avoids me.

Nate has been around the longest ~ about 20 years! He's

pretty laid back and none of the other kids mess with him.

Amelia is a bit too big for the kitty bowl, but don't tell her
that! She just spills out of it and doesn't care.

This is Caleb. We think if he was a person, we would
spend a lot of time in the principal's office. He's
always getting into trouble and loves crawling
inside boxes, bowls, whatever.

a little time off

I can't believe that it's almost September. I'm sure a lot of people are saying that. I really enjoy Autumn, though. I love that the nights are cooler and soon the leaves will be turning color. Of course this also means that we are starting to lose more of our lovely flowers. Most due to nature, but some to the squirrels, too.

It's really pretty cool that this little guy was able

to balance on the sunflower stems as well as he did!

He had to work pretty hard to get this sunflower face

down, but when he did he had a great feast!

I've starting slowly catching up on my magazine reading and I actually cross-stitched for a bit last night. I'm hoping that I can be at least somewhat productive during my time off from school. I have to purchase books next week. It's going by way too fast!

Speaking of school, I have to attend a workshop conference-type thing for the state Surgical Tech association held the first weekend in October. It's one of those non-mandatory, mandatory kind've things. What this means is that they can't force me to go, but if I don't go everyone will spit on me and call me mean names. So I'm going. It's being held in Traverse City, about 4 hours north of Detroit. I'm not looking forward to the drive, but that part of the state will be beautiful in October. I'm going to make sure I make some time to leaf peep while I'm up there!

A-

I found out today that I got an A- for the first semester! I'm so relieved. Nine weeks ago, I thought anything other than a C would be impossible, but I studied and worked my butt off and it all paid off in the end. I don't know what grade I got on my final exam (I should find out in 4 weeks, on our first day back), but I know I got an A on our presentation and I passed my competency (it was pass or fail).

I'm not real sure what today's plans are. We would like to go to the Renaissance Festival, but weather guy keeps saying something about rain. If it turns out he's right, we'll probably just stick around the house and catch up on movies and DVR recordings. It'll be nice to just relax.

NO MORE SCHOOL!! (for 4 weeks)

Today was my last day of school for the semester! I was so happy when I walked out to my car that I almost cried right there in the parking lot. I thought my 6 weeks of Air Force basic training was tough, but it wasn't near as stressful as these past 9 weeks have been. I had 2 finals today and did really well in both (I think). Leading up to today, my grade was 93%, so I've got a really good shot at finishing the semester with an A. I should find out my grade by Monday of next week.

So for the next 4 weeks I'm going to do the following:

* Catch up on the stack of magazines that have been piling up
* Cross-stitch
* Scrapbook
* Watch TV
* Some days I'm just going to do nothing

yesterday & today

Today in school... I got my grade for the last test I took. It was an 85%. Usually I wouldn't be very happy about this, but considering this is one of the hardest classes I've ever taken and I really didn't study as much as I should have, I'm pleased with the grade. We also had our presentation today. It actually went off without a hitch and everyone seemed to like it quite a bit. Nimrod (see previous post) showed up and we found him something harmless to do, so again, I was quite pleased.

Now I have to study for the first of my two finals this week!

Yesterday & today at work... I went on "field trips" of a sort. I helped deliver oxygen and other DME (durable medical equipment) to customers in the area. It was nice getting out of the office for a while! I'm hoping, that after a little more training, I can work this into a more permanent job. In January I'll have to start my clinical work at hospitals, so I really need to find something either after hours or on the weekend and the DME thing would be perfect.

the week in review

stress
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265

Geez, what a hectic past week I’ve had. I really wanted to blog earlier in the week, but little time and heaps of stress conspired against me! My week actually began with last weekend and our trip to Goderich. The drive up was very pleasant and I was really looking forward to some great Celtic music while laying on a blankie in the warm breeze and into the night, under the stars. It rained the entire day. Rain from the moment we woke up until way past dark. And not just a drizzle ~ the Canadian sky opened up and poured down rain on us like it was flushing some great industrial-strength cosmic toilet. Not being an especially big fan of drowning, I suggested we NOT sit in the deluge all day. Instead, we explored a bit of the town, played some cards and the girls drank some good old Canadian beers. Lots of them. But hey, any time away from work or school is a “good time” as I see it and there’s always next year for the Celtic music.

Since Steph & Dee were visiting, it left very little time for me to study for my test that week. I tried to cram in little mini study sessions where I could, but I didn’t hit the books nearly enough and I think that will be evident when I get my test score back on Tuesday. I’m still doing pretty good overall in the class, though, so maybe this minor setback won’t be too bad.

Next week is our final week for the semester. I have two finals, a group presentation, and a 30-minute competency I have to pass! I had a dry run through of the competency last week, so I feel pretty good about that and I’m going to spend ALL weekend studying for the two tests, so hopefully I’ll do okay there, too. And then there’s the group presentation.

I absolutely hate doing group presentations. Actually, hate is too weak of a word for the way I feel about anything having to do with a group. I’d rather self-catheterize myself blindfolded in the middle of a raging hurricane with fire ants nibbling on my toes than work with a group on anything. There is always someone in the group who doesn’t pull his weight. Our group loser is Eugene. Eugene the self proclaimed “Powerpoint Master” who needs no help from anyone and “I guarantee I will have the whole thing done by next week.” Mr. Nimrod Pencil-dick Jerkface Dickweed made this proclamation 4 weeks ago. I think you know where this is headed.

So instead of spending my Friday night relaxing or studying for my TWO finals, I was re-working our presentation because we now did not have a Powerpoint. As you can imagine, I was not a happy camper and believe me when I tell you that Eugene is well aware of this. If he didn’t get the hint when I jumped ass in the parking lot, I’m sure he fully understood when I told him to “f*** off, you f***ing loser son of a b****!” Then again, maybe not ~ he is a dumbass afterall.

So needless to say, my weekend is going to be jam packed with studying and stressing about this stupid presentation. I’m glad I don’t have kids. I just don’t know how the mothers in my class can juggle, work, school AND needy little rugrats all at the same time.

Okay, gotta go study now!

a few links

When Vic & I moved back "up north" we decided that we wanted to do some traveling in and around the MI area. Sometimes that's not so easy to do. Gas, time off of work, babysitters (for Shannon) and just plain $$ have at times worked against us. But all in all, I think we've been pretty successful.

We're off on our next adventure in just a few hours ~ the "prettiest town in Canada" Goderich. It's located about 3 hours north of us in Ontario. We're headed up to the annual Celtic Festival. The ride up is really pretty and, because Vic is deathly afraid of heights, instead of taking the Ambassador Bridge over to Canada, we take the somewhat scary car ferry. It's a very bumpy ride across Lake St. Clair. You spend the 10 mins. riding in your car or else you'll get splashed with water (we found that out the hard way!).

Our traveling companions for this adventure are Steph and Dee. They drove up all the way from Athens, AL (anywhere near you, AZ?). Right now, they're all outside smoking and drinking pots of coffee, so I thought I would take a few mins. to say "hi" since I won't be home for a while. We've got the Jeep partially loaded up and really just have a few more items and then we're off.

No rain! No rain!

odds & ends

The Melissa concert Sunday evening wasn't bad, but I'm really glad I didn't have to pay $100. There was a little too much electric guitar, I thought. Vic & I both agreed that part of the reason people go to see Melissa Etheridge is to see her perform, not her band. But she played for almost 2 & a half hours and we had pretty good seats, so it was a nice night out.

The concert was held at the Detroit Opera House. Wow, was that ever nice! The ornate architecture was just beautiful. I'd really like to see an opera there. Madame Butterfly will be there in November, so maybe we can scrounge up the bucks to see it!

Our friends arrive from TN late tomorrow night. Our house has never looked cleaner! Even the dog got a bath! I wish the sweet Baboo could go with us, but there's a stupid "no dogs" rule at the park. Stupidheads. So now I'll spend the entire weekend worried about her.

I got a 95% on my last test! Only 2 more weeks of school left in this term and then I'll get a 4 week vacation. Yea!!

tenth

Look at the monster sunflower in our yard! Below is a photo of me and the giganto sunflower. As you can see, he is just a tooch taller than moi! He's a big fella!


Vic and I are going to see Melissa Etheridge at the Detroit Opera House tomorrow night. I've seen her a couple of times a few years ago. She really puts on a good show, but since she's become a "big rock star" her tickets have doubled in price. I don't think there is anybody I would pay $100 to see, including Melissa. So I won the tickets instead! I was the 10th caller Friday morning, so now Vic and I will be having a light supper and taking in a concert at the Opera House Sunday evening. Truth be told, I'd rather be going to an actual opera, but that's not what the 10th caller gets.