Aloha, Colorado! Aloha, Hawaii!!

Well, in about 13 hours, I will be taking off headed for Hawaii!!! I still can't believe I am actually going. It's just so surreal. I have always wanted to go, but I really don't think I thought it would actually happen... But here I am, finishing up some things tonight before I head to bed. I will get up and finish last minute things in the morning before leaving for the airport. I doubt I will have a chance to update while I am gone, but I will definately post when I get back with pictures. Until then... ALOHA!!

A

Well, I meant to write this post a week ago but time got away from me. My lunch with A was nice. I think it is definately a step in the right direction to heal our relationship. Oh, and can I just say, Libby Jo is the cutest little baby girl. I miss her... I am hoping to try to make our lunches at least a monthly thing... that is until A leaves for the military and wherever that may take her... I only wish that we were closer before she was making this big change. There are still some things pending with her and I am still going to ask everyone to pray for her to make the right choices in the next few months.

It's Getting Closer

Wow... I can't believe that in less than 2 weeks I will be in Hawaii!  It just seems so unreal to me.  I really need to start giving some thought to what I am going to take with me and such.  I want to pack as lightly as possible as I will have no one to help me lug my bags around the airport.  I need to call the airline to check on somethings for my flights, I need to figure out how much money I will have to spend while I am there.  I feel like there are another million things I need to do before I go but right now I can't think of them.  I should start making a list... In the meantime, I need to get some sleep.  Goodnight!

Something to try

Okay, here's what you do...

Go to Google.
Click on maps
Click on Get Directions
From New York, New York
To Paris, France
Read line 23....

I saw this and I had to see what it said.

Happy Happy Easter (a Little Late)

Hope everyone had a very happy Easter! Mine was very good. After church Sunday morning, we went to my grandparents for lunch. The whole family was there (eventually). Everyone except my cousins A and J were there for lunch. A made it a bit later in the afternoon, and she brought Libby Jo (see previous post for pictures of the cutie), and J had to work so he didn't show up until later in the evening, but it was really nice to be able to see him again. We don't get to see eachother very often, so it is always nice when we get the chance. Seeing A was really great. Our relationship has been very strained for the last few years. Libby Jo was born in January (until Sunday, I had only seen her once) and I hadn't seen A since Thanksgiving. She and I got a chance to have casual conversation, which is much more than we have had in a few years. I think we really made a jump when she suggested that we have lunch this week (I work only a couple blocks from where she lives). So we (A, Libby Jo and I) have a lunch date on Wednesday and I am really looking forward to it. Also, I am finally working on getting all 5 of us grandkids (and the new great grandbaby) together for a portrait. There is a bit of a scheduling challenge (it's either in the next 2 weeks or not until the end of August) but we will eventually get it together. I hope to get a nice print from this, have it framed and give it to our grandparents for Christmas. I am going to end this post now, with a couple prayer requests. First my cousin J is having surgery on his shoulder in a couple weeks, please pray that his shoulder can be fixed and that he will have fast healing. Also, A is facing some life changing decisions in the next 6 weeks or so. Pray that she will choose the right path and that those of us who love her can help and support her through these changes.

Libby Jo

Just got some pictures today of Libby... Wanted to share them.

Pray for little Brea

Recently I have found a website of a family that brought their daughter Brea home from China about 6 months ago. This darling little girl became very ill and has been in the hospital since February. The family lives in Louisiana but Brea has been in Arakansas Childrens Hospital in the Cardio Vascular ICU for quite sometime. They have truly relied on God to take care of this precious child through many ups and downs. Today, she received a new heart and so far has been doing well. I just want to reach out to anyone who may stumble across this blog and ask you to pray. For Brea, her family, her doctors and the family who lost a child so that Brea could received her new heart.

You have GOT to be kidding me!!!!

This is what it has been doing all day....

I was laying in bed this morning trying to wake up and hear the weatherman say that there is 6-7 inches of snow on the ground and I literally said... "Seven inches, are you kidding me!?"
Actually this isn't all that abnormal for March here. March is actually on average our snowiest month of the year and so far this March, we had only had 2 inches of snow on the ground (average is a little over 11 inches) which actually fell the night of Feb 28. So we technically had not had any snow this month. Here we are the end of the month... and I thought maybe we got lucky this year. Yeah right. It is supposed to be snowy/rainy through tomorrow. Not looking forward to having to brush my car off again in the morning. I do have to say... at least the roads weren't icy today. We'll see what they are like in the morning.

Do You Think They Do This At Home?

Alright, I am ready to pull my hair out of my head... You see, I work in an office that is dominated by men. I workin in the office with 2 other women and then there is my boss. He drinks a lot of coffee which in and of itself is normal. However, when he doesn't finish his cup, instead of walking down the hall to the bathroom sink or even the drinking fountain, he dumps it in his trashcan! Anyway, back to the story, we process a lot of paperwork through our office which is important and we have to keep it all on file or it could cause a lot of problems. I won't go into a lot of details, but yesterday one of our files was removed from the office and it should have been returned to us. This afternoon, we realized that it had never been returned. Off I went to track it down. I talked to the person who had taken it from the office and she told me that she didn't realize we needed it back because "they were just copies." Anyway, she had passed it on to someone else and she didn't know where they were. She got hold of him and he said he THREW THEM IN THE TRASH!!!! I just about exploded when I heard this. Fortunately, the janitorial service is pretty bad and they had not emptied the trash cans in the office. We pull out the trash can and sure enough... there's our paperwork... DRIPPING WITH COFFEE!!!! To top it all off, this is not the first time we have found paperwork in the trash covered with coffee. My question is where did they ever get the idea that this was okay and do they do this at home?!? My goodness...

Things to do...

I made my reservations for my shore excursions on my Hawaiian cruise. I am really excited about them too. In Kauai, the first day, I am going Tubing on the Hanamaulu Ditch system an then the second day, I will be going to Waimea Canyon (the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific"). In Hilo, I will be taking a tour of an area that was destroyed by a lava flow in 1990. The stop in Kona, I will be renting a car for the day and get to drive around and see some of the sights on my own and probably spend some time just sitting on the beach. Maui is the one I am really looking forward to. First, I will be snorkeling at Molokini Crater. Hopefully I will get to see some sea turtles. Then the second day in Maui, will be a really early morning. I will be up at 3:30am on my way to the top of Haleakala, a dormant volcano where I will get to watch the sunrise. Then the rest of the day will be on my own and I will probably be taking some time to nap that day. So, just a little over a month to go and I will be off to paradise. I have already started to give some thought to what I want to do next year. I would really like to make it to Europe (Paris/London) but I am seriously considering taking a couple of small trips and driving around some areas of the country where I have never gotten to see. I have lots of time to consider those plans.

Friday's Feast

Haven't feasted for awhile so I thought I would partake this week. Will try
to get a regular post up soon.

Appetizer
What is your usual bedtime? Do you like that, or would you rather it be
different?

I try to be in bed by 10:30, but rarely am I asleep before 11:30, although
lately it has been 1am or later. Not a good thing. I really should be
asleep by 10:30.

Soup
When it comes to advice, do you give more or receive more?

I give more.

Salad
Describe a memorable meal you've had.

That would have to be the dinner I had the night of my Junior prom. Most
people would cringe at this, but I had a candlelit dinner with my boyfriend,
which was prepared by my grandmother (my whole family, and his mother, were
in the house at the time too). It was really special.

Main Course
Name a work of fiction that affected the way you think about something.

I don't do a lot of thinking and analyzing when I read. Nothing really
stands out in my mind.

Dessert
What is your favorite type of fruit juice?

I regularly drink apple juice, but I really like pear juice and Mango.

ALOHA!!!!

So what I thought would not be happening... is actually happening!!! I am so excited. I got a steal on a Hawaiian islands cruise in addition to the steal on airfare to Honolulu!!! I leave for Honolulu on April 28th and after 7 nights cruising around the Hawaiian islands, I will be back home on May 7th! I can't believe it! My travel agent was even in awe at the prices I found.

Big Fat NO for Hawaii

So it's not going to be Hawaii... too expensive but I did find the place I will hopefully stay at when I can afford it. I did get my airline reservations for July. I am still in need for something for the spring... I will figure something out eventually, hopefully soon though. Before I know it, spring will be there.

I am a Traveloholic...

I think I have a SERIOUS problem!!! I am looking for trips again. I know I will be in FL for the 4th of July, however, I do not have my tickets purchased. I need to make a decision. Airfare is going up and I need to do it quick, but I am wanting to wait in hopes that fares will drop. Not likely with my travel dates though. So I should book them tonight. We'll see. I am wanting to plan something for the spring (around the end of April) and am leaning toward Hawaii. But if I go to Hawaii, I want a nice hotel on the beach, not on Waikiki (too many people for me thank you). I would really like to stay at the Turtle Bay Resort on the north shore. But they are really expensive (about $250/night) and I still would need plane tickets into Honolulu (expensive, yet again) and am thinking if I am on the north shore, I really should get a rental car also... So this trip I am fantasizing about could cost me $2000 before I even get there!!!! It probably will not happen. I have also been considering another cruise... I have looked at some Caribbean sailings and am right now looking at Alaska (that would be early May). My fall trip, I have no idea right now, I just know I need to go somewhere. I get restless if I don't go somewhere every couple months. I think I have it down for my future plans... I will take trips in Jan/Feb, Apr/May, Jul/Aug, Oct/Nov... I have the vacation time to do it but I don't know how long I will have the $$$ to do it. I am just hoping that when I have children, they will keep me occupied enough that I will need feel the need to go somewhere all the time. I do want to travel with them though, I just know I won't be able to 4 times a year... unless I win the lottery and I am set for life with lots of extra spending money. Time will tell...

I was trying to check a price on a cruise to Alaska (Vancouver to Seattle) but the RCCL site is not working right... I will probably check tomorrow.

Pictures

It's too late to really write a post, but I leave you with some pictures from my vacation... I could look at these all night and the rest of the week since it is cold and snowy. YUCK!

I'm Back

I made it home from the cruise. I update with pictures tomorrow (hopefully)!

It's a Boy!!

L had her baby boy early Tuesday morning!!! M shares a birthday with C!!! I probably won't get to see him till after I get back from my trip but I suppose it will do. As L said, he will be here forever... Just thought I would post that on here.

Worked on packing tonight, not doing too bad. Still have to iron a couple things, and get the toiletries packed. I am ready for it. It is still snowing out. Started up again this afternoon around 2:30 or so. I can't for that week with a guarantee of NO SNOW!!!!!

Friday's Feast

Here we go.. on time this week...

Appetizer
What was one of the fashion fads when you were a teenager?

Two pairs of slouch socks (preferably colored) with the pants folded and tucked in or the pants tight-rolled (WHAT WERE WE THINKING!?!)

Soup
Name one thing you think people assume about you when they first meet you

That I am quiet and laid back.

Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how hard do you work?

6... It all depends on my mood...

Main Course
If you were given a free 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl to sell anything you currently own, what would you advertise?

My pretty extensive book collection.

Dessert
Fill in the blank:

I love to snuggle up in bed when it is cold.

Finally Some Relief

Well, I will no longer have to worry about stress at school, I withdrew from classes today. It was not the easiest decision to make though. I was caught in a place where tomorrow is the last day to withdraw and get tuition refunded. However, if I just dropped the one class that I loathe, I would lose my student loan and would have to pay for my other class basically immediately. I am already out the money for the books and supplies which I already bought, I really couldn't come up with the extra money to pay for the class. So I dropped both of them. That is what was the really hard part. One of them I was happy to drop. As a matter of fact, I wrote emails to the instructor telling her that esentially she was the reason I decided to drop the class. It is a huge brick taken off my back. I was so tense last night that I didn't sleep well. Tonight should be better since I don't have to worry about that.


See this? This is the forecast of the rest of the week. Saturday, we fly to Florida for the cruise. I am so looking forward to this trip. I have walked around work all week (the whole two days so far) like an incoherent zombie. It has not been pretty.

So vacation is in 5...4...3...

Why didn't you say so?

I have been on such an emotional roller coaster lately. I don't quite understand. I have always been a bit of an emotional person but this is much more that usual. It is really stressing me out. I haven't heard from my friend who was supposed to go in for induced labor today. I am hoping everything is alright. She had some other complications so I just hope that she is have a long labor and nothing went wrong. I may try to call her at the hospital tomorrow afternoon. Maybe she will call me in the morning and I won't have to worry anymore.

Work has just been stressful lately. I am so over it right now. I go through these phases where I am just ready to quit and find a new job. But I really don't want to lose the job security and I would be hard pressed to find another job with the great benefits that I have now. So after a long day at work, I had to go to school... the instructor I have on Mon and Wed is a total airhead in my opinion. Fist off, I will be gone next week (on my cruise, woohoo!), which this trip was planned long before I even considered going back to school. Anyway, I talked to her the first night of class about me being gone, and she told me that she would see what she could come up with for me to make up the missed classes (as well as I wanted to know what I would miss as far as assignments, so I could be prepared for when I returned to class the following Monday). So I sent her an email over the weekend to remind her about me being gone and that I was still waiting for her to provide me with that information. I didn't hear back from her (she claims to be really good about responding to email, but both emails I have sent her, have gone pretty much unanswered until late the night before our next class and then this last one until we were in class. She then proceeded to pretty much blast me in front of the entire class about being gone and that she was unhappy about it and on and on... I was so furious about that... I do have to say though, she then gave us her extra credit assignment she would accept for the semester. It seems like it will be pretty easy and she is giving it a pretty hefty point value for extra credit. Then on top of that, last Monday we were given a project to work on which is due next Monday. Since I am going to be gone, I was planning on having it ready to turn in on Wednesday. This assignment was originally given to us with limited guidelines, and she told us to just go with it, she wanted to see what we came up with. So I worked my butt off this weekend trying to get as much done as possible since I also have work and class tomorrow... tonight when she heard people starting to freak out about how they didn't understand the assignment etc, she decided to give us more "guidance" on it. People start asking questions and she starts getting more specific about what she wants, and on and on... now I have to practically start all over, as what I have done already, doesn't meet her "guidelines." Ahhhhh!!!!!! I just want to write her a scathing email telling her what I think of what she has done, but I have to keep reminding myself, this is the lady who will be grading me for the rest of the semester (this is only the 3rd week of classes). So I walk out of there absolutely furious, again wondering what I was thinking when I decided to go back to school... This just topped it off...I am driving home, my mind on school (and my friend, who at this point, I am starting to worry about a little bit), I am on a dark state highway, I look down and I am going 13 over the speed limit, and no sooner do I notice this and go to slow down, I also notice a sheriff's deputy sitting there, and I know he is working traffic enforcement... Sure enough, I pass him and he pulls up behing me with lights, pulling me over... I am going to get a ticket. Although at the same time, I am hoping he will check my driving record and notice that it is spotless... I hand him my registration, insurance and license and proceed to apologize to him. He goes back to his car to do the normal driving and warrant clearance. I know he is writing me a ticket because it is taking too long if he is just going to give me a warning. He walks back up with his clipborad (with a ticket attached to it, for yours truly, he asks for my home phone number (which I willingly give him), then he asks me where I work... this is where the evening perks up... I work for a local police department (this is another reason why I would like to stay at my current place of employment :-)) He just looks up at me with a look of frustration... asks me what I do there (I work in the records office), and then he says to me while handing me back my papers without a ticket, "Why didn't you say something earlier?" "Sorry, sir." "Just drive safe..." Thank you Deputy Compton, you made my day... actually it was probably more like YOU MADE MY WEEK!!!! (just for the record, I know I could have probably saved myself some time and stress wondering if I would be getting a ticket if I HAD said something earlier (we all take care of our own), and I seriously considered this as I saw those red and blue flashy lights pull out behind me, but I also know that I probably really did deserve that ticket and would have taken it. There is a bit of an ethical question with that too... I will tell them if they ask but I don't know if I could consciously try to use that to get out of something I really truly deserve).... So once again, THANK YOU Deputy Compton... He is my angel this week and I will jump through hoops for him if he ever needed anything from our office. So I actually pulled back out onto the highway with a smile on my face and a chuckle in my throat...