Stuck in the Middle

Lately, I've been getting a little frustrated. I just don't know what to believe anymore. It's concerning the "Does". I feel like people are taking sides in this situation and I don't want to take a side. I kind of feel like I'm being forced to take a side just because I don't necessarily agree with everything that is happening. I feel like some people are just not being forgiving and are being extremely judgemental even though they might not know the whole side of the story. I mean, I don't know the whole side either which is why I am trying not to pick a side. It's just extremely frustrating. I keep thinking, what would Jesus do? Anyways, tomorrow I will be leaving for the middle school retreat in Myrtle Beach so no blogging for a few days.

Home Sweet Home

I'm finally back home and I am so glad. I missed all my friends here a lot and I also missed sleeping in my own bed. My back is killing me now from not being able to sleep. My room is covered in stuff that I am slowly putting up. I've taken a break to type this and check some things on the internet. While I do that, I am watching Bones. I got the first season over Christmas. Monk wasn't on sale this time :(. I have to unpack and then repack because I am leaving on tuesday to go on the middle school retreat with the church. It should be an interesting time. I hope. It'll definitely be something new to me. I'm going to the chiro tomorrow and then I've got a bunch of laundry to do. I was excited when I got here and saw my tourist in your own town pass came in the mail. YAY! I'm looking forward to going to the plantations. I've always wanted to go see them.

Day After Christmas

Well, I didn't quite update yesterday as I thought I would. My relatives arrived after 1 and we ate around 1:30. My cousin's grandfather left before they got here because he had to eat. Anyways, we opened presents and my aunt told us to open presents while my grandmother opened her presents. Eventually, my grandmother realized we were opening presents while she did and she made a huge fuss about it. We had to alternate with her after that. I got a GPS which was a surprise from my grandmother. That's about all that happened. I went and saw my cousins house and land and took a bunch of pictures of the damage from the tornado (yes, it was a tornado). My cousins were on the news 2 nights in a row. Here is the article from one of the news places. http://www.waff.com/global/story.asp?s=9582792. Here is the video. http://www.waff.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=3275247&h1=Cleanup%20begins%20after%20strong%20storm%20destroys%20home&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=98467&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=3131386. Here is the second video. You can see my brother and cousins on it. Well, I can't find it right now. Maybe they haven't posted it yet. I'll see if I can find it tomorrow. Anyways, I'm going to a family reunion tomorrow and then we are leaving on sunday.

Ok, I found it here it is. http://www.waff.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=3278999&h1=Limestone%20County%20EF1%20Tornado%20damages%20Bell%20Mina%20Community&vt1=v&at1=Video%20Player&d1=167167&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=78156064

Christmas

Every Christmas we always wake up early to look at our stockings and then we go back to sleep. I'm normally the person that wakes my brother and sister up. I woke up at 2 and decided that it was too early to go look so I woke up again at 5 and woke them up then. After I looked through my stocking, my neck and back started killing me. I'm having awful muscle pain right now. We finally found the heating pad so I put that on for about 2o minutes.

My other funny grandma story is this: my cousin Dee came home one night and my grandma looked at him and said, "I'm pregnant. And it's yours. I guess we are going to have to get married." I about busted out laughing when Tiffany told me this. I asked her what did Dee do and she said that was one night where he just went straight to his room and went to bed. Lol.

More to come later about Christmas since it's still only the morning. I'm sure I'll have more funny stories later. Check back for updates.....

Update: It's 12:30, we were suppose to eat at 12. No one is here except for all of us that slept here except for my cousins grandfather (not related to me in anyway). This happened last year. We were suppose to eat at 1 and we didn't eat til 3. Ever since my grandpa died, no one seems to ever be on time anymore. I think he would be highly disappointed. I think the thing that frustrates me the most about it all is the fact that they know we have to go somewhere else tonight yet they still take their sweet old time. Very disappointing.

A Not So Christmasy Christmas Eve

We just had a bad storm go through. We lost power for a few hours but thats about it. Then we get a phone call from my cousin saying that the wind had blown his shed away and his porch. A bunch of his stuff was exposed and he is now worried about looters and stuff. I think he has a bunch of tools and motorcycles that are now exposed. What a great way to spend Christmas Eve. Who knows if my brother is going to be here now for Christmas Eve. He might be spending the night at my cousins to help guard the stuff. It's definitely not feeling like Christmas. I guess a lot of that has to do with the weather and everyone is working now and my grandpa not being alive anymore. He used to make me feel like it was Christmas. Every Christmas He would always say I'm going to light a fire in the fireplace so Santa burns his bottom when he comes down the chimney. No more of that. Anyways, another funny grandma story to share. My cousin Tiffany told me this one. She said that is was like 12 or 1 in the morning and Dee (my other cousin who lives with my grandma) wanted to go to bed. So he asked my grandma if she was ready to go to bed and she said no so he took away her walker so she couldn't get up (she was in the recliner). Well, about an hour later, she yells that she wants to go to bed. By the time he comes in there, she changes her mind. This went on for awhile and he finally got tired of getting up so he just ignored her. Well then she starts making a noise every 5 minutes or so. This went on until 8 am. I thought that was one of the craziest things I had ever heard. I have another funny, but I think I'm going to save it for tomorrow. I have a few things that I am working on concerning myself. Things that I want to change\improve about myself. Maybe I'll share those tomorrow or not. We shall see. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Song of the Day (last one this year): Santa Claus is Coming To Town

My Heart is Breaking

I got a call from a friend today. She is going through a nasty custody hearing with her husband. He had several people who she thought were friends write affidavits against her or for him. At times, I don't know what to believe. I want to believe what she is saying but at the same time, it's hard. I don't know what to do. Something that she told me just really disappointed me. I don't necessarily know what's true and what's not. However, I just really can't help feeling disappointed in what these people have done. It has affected my opinion of them. I can't help it even though I don't know if it's true or not. I guess I just need to pray for everyone involved in this situation that I've suddenly found myself in the middle of. I'm trying not to mention names at this point because I don't know who reads this or what. Anyways, just pray for my friend, her husband and the kids. You can call them Jon Doe, Jane Doe and the Doe Children. God knows who they are. Anyways, on a funnier note, my cousin Dee comes in and starts talking to my grandma. He normally lives with her. He said Grandma do you know who I am. She said that boy that lives with me. He said do you know my name? She said Dee. He said what's my last name? She said Coffee. Dee Coffee. My mom goes that's Patsy's son mom. My Grandma is like no, that's not her son. I was cracking up. It was hilarious. She thinks that my cousin Dee is 2 people. Dee Coffee is adopted (by my Aunt Patsy) and he plays for Alabama. This is the funniest part. My grandma thinks that my cousin Dee, who is white, plays for Alabama's football team. She thinks he's the black football player with the last name Coffee. I can't remember what position he plays, but it just cracks me up. It always makes me laugh.

Not So Christmasy Christmas Song of the Day: Achy Breaky Heart

To Grandmother's House I Go

I just got to Alabama this afternoon from Tennessee. I had a ton of fun in Tennessee and didn't really want to leave. Mainly I didn't want to drive. I hate driving. I love my friend Jess's little girl, Addison. She is super cute! I still haven't heard about that job I interviewed for. I'm trying to be patient. I don't know who to call about it anyways, because I don't even have a phone number to call. I applied for another job at CSU, but I seriously doubt I'll even get a call about it. It's like administrative assistant to the VP of Business Affairs, but it's a job and I applied for it. I really need to work on my sister's scrapbook. I should try and get it done, but I'm really not feeling like working on it right now. Maybe tomorrow. I'm on cd 5 of The Chronicles of Narnia. I finished The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Then listened to The Horse and His Boy. I can't remember much of the parallels there except for maybe trust. It's a good story though. If you want to know more about it, I can tell you. Then the next one was Prince Caspian (which is the movie that just came out). Now I'm on the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I just started it. Still, I'm halfway through the books and that's saying something. Some of my cds have scratches on them. On a side note, one of the girls on Wheel of Fortune tonight is from Greenville and she went to the College of Charleston. She is a english professor at Clemson. Very interesting!

Christmas Song of the Day: I'm Getting Nuttin For Christms

A Disappointing Day

Well, I heard back about that job that I was so excited about. They said they had a great response and were looking at candidates with more administrative assistant qualifications. Sounds like a load of crap to me. Ok. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood right now. Still, I was super psyched about this job and that was just a huge disappointment. I seriously hate looking for jobs. I hate the disappointments and letdowns. It's super frustrating! On top of that, I love Christmas because I love presents and I just experienced a huge letdown. I don't know. Maybe it's because I got my phone and so that was the majority of my Christmas present. I got that three shirts and a basket with bath & body works stuff. That's it. I don't know. Maybe it's just cause my brother and sister got a ton of more stuff than me, but I can't compare what I got to what they got because it might all come out to the same amount. I still just can't help being disappointed. I guess also my brother got a lot of stuff because he graduated as well. It's just hard for me to seperate the two because they both occurred at Christmas time. Hopefully, my Christmas will get better. We shall see. I think the best present I could get at this point would be a call from that place I interviewed at offering me a job. I don't really have my hopes up about that one anymore either. Anyways, I won't be blogging for a few days because I will be in Tennessee. YAY! I'm looking forward to that.

Christmas Song of the Day: If We Make It Through December

Graduation

Wow! So my brother graduated from college today! It took long enough. Only 5 years later. I guess that's not too bad. Graduation took like 3 hours! I think we stood for 30 minutes while everyone walked in. Super long! Then we went out to lunner (lunch and dinner combined). My cousin cracked us up with stories about my grandma. He lives with her and she has dementia so she does some pretty crazy things sometimes. She thinks my cousin is adopted, has a twin and his last name is Coffee. She thinks that he plays on Alabama's football team (whichever player's last name is Coffee). The funny thing is that the Alabama player is black and my cousin isn't so I don't get how she gets them confused. It's quite interesting. He said that she will read the same thing over and over again. For example, my aunt got my brother a card that played music for graduation and my grandmother opened and closed it for "four hours" while they were driving here. My uncle said it drove him crazy. He said he eventually gave her the sale ads to read. Anyways, I am currently listening to the Chronicles of Narnia on cd. I listen to it every Christmas during my travels. I've already finished The Magician's Nephew which is the first book chronologically but the sixth book that was written. It basically tells the story of how Narnia came to be. Everytime I listen to it I see the biblical parallels. Aslan is like God. The witch is like Satan. Aslan appoints two humans to be king and queen of Narnia (like Adam and Eve). Right now I am listening to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I'm at the part where Lucy, Susan, Edmond and Peter have all entered Narnia and have just met the beavers. Hopefully, I can remember the parallels and can write more as I listen to it. Sometimes I can't remember things later. I have to write them down right away or I will forget. Oh well, such is life.

Christmas Song of the Day: Good King Wenscelas (I have no idea how to spell that)

Commissioning and stuff

I went to my brother's commissioning today. It was pretty cool. Although, it was kind of long and boring but I guess I can't complain. It was pretty cool all the guys singing their songs at the end and the salutes. It was a long drive to Clemson though. On friday we are opening our presents. That should be fun. Still no word on that job I interviewed for. I just want an answer. I'm trying to be patient, because I know the last interview I had, it took longer than I expected to hear back plus it's Christmas time so it might be harder to get things approved. Anyways, both my aunts will be here tomorrow as well as two of my cousins. It should be an interesting experience especially since my cousins like to be loud. Hopefully, they will control themselves. That's not very likely though. I'm looking forward to going to Tennessee and seeing Jess and Addie (Michael too, I guess, that's Jess's husband). I went back in August and had a great time. I wish I could have stayed longer then. I am also looking forward to January when Carrie and I get to be tourists in our own town. Should be tons of fun! My mom wanted me to make cookies today. I really didn't want to, but I made the dough and she baked the cookies. We made the peanut butter cookies with the hershey kisses in them.

Christmas Song of the Day: A Soldier's Night Before Christmas

Laughter is good medicine

Right now, I'm laughing so hard. America voted Ed in! You reap what you sow! Treat people like dirt and no one will want to do you any favors. Anyways, I'm hoping Michelle wins! I will be extremely disappointed if anyone else wins. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's the Biggest Loser. Today I drove to Greenville. I hate driving. I'm glad it's Christmas time though. I get to meet my brother's new girlfriend tomorrow at his commissioning. Hopefully she is nice. I still haven't heard about that job yet. Hopefully I will hear soon. I just want to hear one way or another. I don't like this whole waiting thing, but I guess it's teaching me patience. I'm thinking that all these contestants have lost a ton of weight! (sorry, got on a side track there) I'm done watching the girls (at least I think I am). We shall see if Ryan finds someone more permanent. If I don't get a job, then I told him I could help him out for a little while.

Christmas Song of the Day: The Christmas Song

I'll be home for Christmas

Yay! I'm leaving tomorrow for Greenville. I'm excited to be done watching the girls, but I'm also sad. I've kind of grown attached to them. Although, Morgan is sick ALL the time. I swear, that girl does not know how to stay well. I hope I hear about that job soon. I would love to get it, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. It's so annoying looking for jobs and all that stuff. I'll be glad when that's over and done with. I'm pretty much packed and I have a ton of stuff to take with me. It's unreal. Some of it's presents though. That's always a good thing. I'm watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 and I'm about to cry. They are at St. Jude's handing out Christmas gifts. It's just makes me emotional. I guess that's what happens sometimes.

Christmas Song of the Day: The Christmas Song

Joy to the World

I finally finished Christmas shopping! Yay for me! I'm so glad to be done. I normally love shopping, but it's kind of hard this year because I shouldn't spend money. I'm trying to finish this stocking I'm making. Then I've got to finish my Christmas cards. I'm leaving tuesday afternoon to go to Greenville. I'm ready for a little vacation. I'm hoping I get a call about a job soon. It would be nice to have a job to start the new year on. I watched Katie and Wyatt last night while Michelle and Billy did some Christmas shopping. Anyways, Michelle wrapped all my presents for me on friday night. It was nice. I wrapped a few presents myself yesterday even though I hate wrapping presents. Mostly it consisted of putting them in a box and putting a ribbon on it. I know, I'm super lazy, well, and super busy.

Christmas Song of the Day: Away in a Manger

Blah, Blah, Blah

Ok so I need to finish my Christmas shopping, but I really don't feel like doing it. I only have to buy a few more gifts, but I just feel like doing nothing. I really don't want to do anything. The sad thing is I only have to go less than two miles to get to where I need to go. I was going to go to the mall, but I need my printer to work first. That means I need ink for my printer. I also need to finish the stocking I'm making as well as send out my Christmas cards. They are done. I just need to write in them and mail them. I just don't feel like writing anything right now. Plus I have a headache. I think I'm such a complainer today. Who knows what is wrong with me. Anyways, I guess I'll probably go and get it over with.

Christmas Song of the Day: 12 Things At Christmas That Are Such A Pain To Me

Coca-Cola Christmas Song (the one with the polar bears)

I haven't seen any coke commercials lately. Very odd. I think I normally see them around the holidays. I don't know what made me think about that. Maybe because I'm craving a coke or something. Anyways, I think my job interview went well. He said they had 45 or so applicants and he interviewed about 14-17. I should hear next week from him. We shall see. I wasn't sure going into the interview, but the more I think about it, the more I'm ok with it. I like the hours either 7:00-3:30 or 8:00 to 4:30. I get to choose from the state insurance plans, I can carry up to 360 time off hours a year, and I get all state holidays off. Very nice! Anyways, I really liked the job applied for on monday, but I'm trying to keep an open mind about this job. If I don't get it, then I will have an open mind and keep looking. Well, I will keep looking anyways regardless. Anyways, only three more days of watching the girls. It makes me want to have kids so bad. It's ridiculous! I'm hoping I can get over this. Otherwise, I'm going to drive myself insane.

Christmas Song of the Day: Carol of the Bells

Time Is Ticking Away

I have so much to do and no time. I'm skipping church tonight just to finish my Christmas Cards and get a few other things done. Plus I have a job interview tomorrow and I need to be ready for that before tomorrow morning since I have the girls tomorrow. I'm starting to get stressed because I feel like I have no time to do anything. I guess that's life, though. Anyways, only one more week and then vacation! I'll be leaving next tuesday afternoon\evening to go to Greenville. YAY! I'm so looking forward to Christmas. Hopefully, it will be a fun time. We shall see.

Christmas Song of the Day: Up On The Housetop

Photoshop

I downloaded some action sets from Pioneer Woman. I LOVE them! I know how to use InDesign and Illustrator but photoshop I still quite haven't grasped all the little things. I know what I want to do sometimes, but I just don't know how to do it. Anyways, I took two different photos and one I applied a Vintage Action to and the other one I applied a seventies and burnt edges look too. This is how they turned out.

PS. Can someone tell me how to insert photos where I want them instead of them going in at the top and then me moving them?

Christmas Song of the Day: Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Call Me

I'm really excited about this job I found online today. I was looking at monster.com and I saw an ad for an administrative assistant. I clicked on it and saw it was for Water Missions International. They are a non-profit (i'm assuming) christian organization that provides water and sanitation needs to disaster stricken areas and third world countries. Their website is here: http://www.watermissions.org/about.html. Anyways, I was really excited to find an administrative assistant position for a christian organization in the salary range that I was looking for. I'm really hoping I get called for an interview. Pray for me that if this is the job God wants me to have, then it will all work out.

Christmas Song of the Day: Jingle Bells

Christmas Time is Here

Today Carrie and I finished the Christmas cookies. Yay! Now I have to finish everything else I need to do. I feel like I have a ton of stuff to do and I don't know if I will get it all done. Anyways, today at church Kathryn wasn't there to help me so I was by myself. Heather let Hannah (her daughter) stay in the room with me to help me out. Well, I asked her what she wanted for Christmas she said phone, then a laptop (if she doesn't get the phone) and then a camera (if no laptop). She said if you have any extra phones at home, I'll take them. Then she asked me how old I was when I got a phone, I told her 21 (I think it was actually 19). Then she asked me how old I was now and I said 26. I told her she didn't need a phone til she could drive. She said how old do you have to be for that, I said 15 or 16. She said can you teach me to drive? I said if I'm still around then. I was laughing about it. Then I told her I had two digital cameras and she said, can I have one? I was like no. I don't think so. One's my nice one and one I put in my purse. She told her mom she didn't want to go to her class anymore. She was going to help me from now on. Lol. I love Hannah and her sister. They are great. Anyways, we took a bunch of crazy pictures when we were making stuff today. Carrie said we should sell cookie trays next year. What do you think? Should we? I'll post a picture later of what we made.

Christmas Song of the Day: Blue Christmas

Christmas Cookies

Today Carrie and I made Christmas cookies. When I say made cookies, I mean MADE COOKIES! We started at 10:30 and Carrie made her pumpkin something another cookies and I made sugar cookies with the cookie press. Then we made the peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses in them. After that, we let the oven cool then made pretzels with hershey kisses on them (melted the kiss a little in the oven) and put a m&m on it. Then we made chocolate chip cookies and M&M cookies. While the chocolate chip cookies were baking, we took an hour break to eat leftover pizza and watch the first episode of house. In between all of that, we also made candies, fudge and rice krispie treats. Carrie also made icing for her pumpkin cookies. We finished around 4:30. Tomorrow I'm going over there and we are going to make all the chocolate covered stuff. YUMMY! When we were walking through the store yesterday, I was like we should do chocolate covered oreos. I kept saying random things we should cover in chocolate (pickles, bacon, etc). I also ended up with a paper cut from opening up the flour and a burn on my finger from the stove. That last one hurts! Anyways, we didn't get to finish because I had to go babysit. Hopefully, we can get it all done quick tomorrow. My back is killing me and I feel like I've constantly been going non-stop for like forever.

Christmas Song of the Day: Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

The Chicken Dance

I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Seriously, I should not even be typing this. I should be in the car on the way to Michelle's, but I just can't break the cycle of blogging everyday yet. I'm an addict. I hate wal-mart. It took forever to find a parking place and forever to check out and forever to get out of the parking lot. If you are ever in summerville, do NOT go to the wal-mart at exit 199. It's terrible. I'm super excited about pizza tonight with Carrie and making cookies this weekend (this is why I should not be typing on here). Before I go to her house, I have to go to Michelle's to (1) print and fill out a job application since I have no ink in my printer and (2) she is having a purse party so I want to see the purses that she has there. Anyways, that's it for now. Sorry for the randomness.

Christmas Song of the Day: Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer

I'm bringing home a....

BABY!! My friend Ellen had her baby! 3 weeks early! Her water broke this morning and she had the baby around 5:30. She wasn't even pushing that long. Her name is Caroline Ruby and she is 19" long and weighs 6 lbs and 5 oz. She and Ellen are doing great. I saw them at the hospital for a few hours, but didn't hold the baby since I've had a cold and didn't want to chance passing along my germs. Anyways, this needs to be short cause I have to get up early in the morning. My feet are killing me. I think my ankles are swollen. At least, they look swollen. I'm glad tomorrow is friday. I have a busy weekend ahead of me. I have so many things that I need to do. It's crazy. I need to finish my christmas cards, finish buying presents, wrap presents, make a scarf and a stocking and make cookies. There is probably some more stuff I need to do but I can't remember what it is right now.

Christmas Song of the Day: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Rollin (Rollin) Rollin (Rollin) Rollin on a River

I sang Proud Mary with Cheyenne today when she woke up from her nap. She loved it. (She's almost 4 months). I laid her in my lap and moved her arms to the motions and she just smiled and cooed at me the whole time. She loves it when you sing to her. She's a pretty happy baby. Morgan on the other hand is another story. She doesn't listen at all. You call her name and she ignores you. I was making some progress with her until I was gone for a week and a half while they were sick. Today she wouldn't leave child's day out. She would just collapse on the floor. It was awful. I had to carry her out and Patti (the director of child's day out and the pastor's wife) carried out Cheyenne for me. Then in all of that mess, I lost my sunglasses. They were such a good pair of sunglasses. I think I had them for 3 or 4 years. That's a long time in sunglass years. Anyways, Carrie just informed that Tommy Tuberville resigned (that's Auburn's football coach). It'll be interesting to see who they replace him with. I'm super excited that I've gotten to be involved in some surprise Christmas presents. I can't say who even though the people probably don't read my blog. Anyways, two more days until the weekend. YAY! Then Carrie and I are making cookies. Double YAY! Hopefully I won't get a flat tire like the last time I went to her house. That would suck. After this week, only one more full week of work left before I leave for Christmas. I'm super excited about that.

Christmas Song of the Day: 12 Days of Christmas

Just Around The Riverbend

I'm currently watching The Biggest Loser. I must say I can't stand the blue team specifically Vicki. What a loser! She sets a terrible example for her kids on the way to treat people. Anyways, I'm ready for this week to be over. I'm glad tomorrow is wednesday. I can't take much more of these girls that are sick all the time and Morgan doesn't listen, AT ALL. Only one more full week until I'm done. YAY! Hopefully, I can find something soon after the new year. I just saw the Kay's commercial with Jane Seymour's open heart design. I really like it. Too bad I won't get it. Quick fact: I don't own any diamonds. None. Zip. Zero. I thought about buying myself one, but refrained. I just bought some sudafed nasal spray so far I can breath through my nose. It's really nice. We'll see how long it lasts tonight. Last night I did not sleep well at all. I kept getting up and going to the bathroom. Note to self: do not drink a big glass of water before bed.

Christmas Song of the Day: Away in a Manger

All I Want for Christmas...

Seriously, I want this snot to go away. I'm tired of blowing my nose. It's driving me crazy. My nose is raw and red. It sucks. Anyways, on a more positivie note, I went to that website ElfYourself and put my picture, Carrie's, Gina's, Krista's, and Michelle's on it. I cracked up lauging. If you want to see it, go here http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/dYYMEJPyJEfK/fF9uNaxtHlxtIT6wCeMNVwbE. I crack up everytime I watch it. I went to the chiropractor today. It was so nice. I feel a lot better. Then I watched the girls for a few hours. They took a nap for a few hours so that was nice. I came home after Ryan was home. That's about all I did today with the exception of the ElfYourself. I'm still laughing about that. I guess I should work on my Christmas cards.

Christmas Song of the Day: The Chipmunk Christmas Song