Padre Visit

This weekend was cool. My Dad got to come down for a visit. We watched movies and ran around town looking at my museum, the zoo, the dam and trying to keep the dust out of our hair...yeah right! Not with 60mph wind gusts!! We also went to Home Depot to see if Dad's first cousin was there and he was!! I almost forgot he lived here. It was good to see him and I know we shocked him. The look he gave was classic!

It was a good visit and just made me miss my family more. What are you gonna do? Go see them, of course! When? I don't know...that's the bad thing. I will eventually. I usually do.

Later taters, gotta go do some work.

No Subject

Well I wanted to blog about something but I forgot what it was about, so I'll just update you on my life.

1) Last weekend I had the privilege of spending time with Jason's sister, Ruth and her husband, Cliff, her two boys, Devon and Bryce-man, and Cliff's niece, Jesse. We went up to Dallas to watch Medieval Times Friday night. It was awesome. I hadn't been in 12 years. I think I was more excited than the kids. We rooted for the yellow knight and we had the loudest cheering section due to the fact that the National Championship Junior High Cheerleaders were there. "Spirit Fingers!!!" The next day we roamed the Bass Pro Shop, lost a kid, found the kid and then went to Grapevine Mills Mall and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. That was cool. Never been there before. If I see another volcano with a sparkler...

2) My friends Lewis and Heather are engaged and getting married fairly soon. Congrats to them. Found that out Sunday!! Yay! It's a year for weddings...let me tell you...

3) Extremely busy at the Dr Pepper Museum. I got to crawl in between the first and second floor of the museum stringing a data cable from the router to our office. That was fun. We're also gearing up for two major events. The 10-2-4 Club Covention. It's when Dr Pepper Collectors gather together for a good time swaping, selling and showing off their collection. The museum participates heavily. This year I will be shooting my first movie for our convention seminar. It will be interesting... The second major thing we are gearing up for is the move of the museum's collections to another building. I can't wait to drive the forklift...watch out people!!!

4) My Dad is coming in to town this weekend. It is a last minute thing and I'm glad. I miss my family.

5) 27 days until I find out my test scores, so I can begin the next phase of my teacher certification... I hate waiting.

Check out the pictures from last weekend:

The Crew

The Lords and Ladies


The Convocation


The Procession


The Yellow Knight


At the Bass Pro Shop

Valentine's Day

Well here it is. I can officially say I've been on both sides of the coin so to speak. What I mean is that I've hated this day and I've loved this day. I remember getting this funny balloon in the shape of a heart with arms and legs and it would hover over the ground looking like it was standing up. That was from my dad. Cute!! I also loved Val's Day because in elementary school we made boxes to put Valentines in. Gosh I loved that!!! (I'm a dork!) In the past I've hated this day because I had not been the recipient of valentines from a boyfriend because I didn't have one, and of course that upset me and actually made me bitter! Ugh!! I eventually moved past that and became neutral. It was just another day. You realize you can and should show someone you love them any day of the year, not just Valentine's Day? Anyhoo... Honestly, this year I wasn't sure what to expect. I have learned that expectations can be good and bad. You certainly should have expectations of your friends and loved ones but not overly exaggerated to the point that if you don't get what you want, you'd be disappointed every single time. I would say I have done this on more than one occasion with disastrous results. Then I was miserable and felt sorry for myself. So all that to say is that I'm learning how to balance what I need to expect and what I want to expect. I hope this all makes sense. Hey! It does to me! So with that being said I will tell you about my Valentine. He's handsome and sweet and he did the wonderfullest thing for me! I drove up last Friday to OKC and met Jason at the high school because he was announcing the varsity basketball games. I got there just before the girls halftime. During halftime Jason and I met up the first thing out of his mouth wasn't Hi!, How was your trip? or even a hug!! He gave me his keys and said I needed to bring him a piece of paper from the front of his car. Ok. And of course I would do it, but I'm thinking to myself, why can't he do it? Well I'm walking out to his car and even before I get to the door I can see the beautiful bouquet of roses (see pictures) in the front seat and I drop his keys because I was so surprised. I really was floored. By the time I get back to the stands...I have a huge grin on my face and so does he. He did a good job and I love him for it. I, on the other hand, gave him a Jeff Gordon chocolate car. It's his favorite driver in NASCAR and they keep making cute stuff with his logo on it. I also sent him a card in the mail and I hope it gets there today!!

So the moral of the story is that everyday is special and if you have friends, family and special loved ones, tell them how you feel and not just on Valentine's Day.

Do you know the history behind Valentine's Day? Follow the link to the History Channel. Also check out these interesting facts on the economics of today.

Wandering...

So I was driving along a flat stretch of Interstate when to my left I saw a huge oil refinery. It was dusk so its lights were on and it looked like a small city. To my right I saw a state trooper out of his car aiming a speed radar at the cars going past, so of course I slowed down. Not two seconds later I was walking down the empty streets toward yet another oil refinery just right of the other one. I thought that was odd for some reason. Why are there two oil refineries so close together? Then all of a sudden I hear the Pink Floyd song "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" playing in my ear. Well that's interesting...oh yeah! Wake up!!! Yes, I was asleep while dreaming something very weird and then Jason called me (he has the Pink Floyd ringtone). It wasn't late, in fact I was asleep around 8:30 due to a HUGE headache, maybe even a migraine. I don't know. So Jason talked awhile and then I couldn't go back to sleep just yet, so I read a little. I'm reading Treasure of Khan by Clive Cussler. Pretty good so far, and I like it even better because there's a character in it from Arkansas who has a Razorback hat. Go figure...HAH!

Nothing much else going on...it seems forever ago that Christmas and the New Year was here. The months seem to be zooming by. I went up to OKC to take my first two competency exams to become certified as a teacher at the secondary level in social studies. It won't be until next month that I find out if I passed or not. The first test was pretty easy but long (OK General Education Test). The second was World History/Geography test. A little more difficult...

I, of course, saw Jason while I was there and it was nice because I hadn't seen him in five weeks!! I don't think I could do that again.

Now I'm just playing a waiting game. Waiting on test scores, waiting on construction at the museum to finish so we can move collections, waiting on job opportunities (museum and teaching), waiting on whatever...I'm tired of waiting.

I've been really busy with getting ready for the move. Crunching numbers for moving expenses, setting up a time line for the next several months, counting shelving units, deciding where everything is going to go...it's been pretty hectic and my apartment has suffered because of it. I'm doing a little bit here and there for cleaning up but it's slow going. My brain doesn't want to think about anything when I get home.

Random thoughts:

• I watched a movie the other night called Beowulf and Grendel. It was pretty good actually.
• Found a quote from a 1921 annual from Waco High that I love: "It was his chiefest ambition to graduate in knickerbockers." I don't know if he did but sure is funny imagining it.
• I've been listening to country music in the evenings lately (while putting together a puzzle) and I like it for the most part. There are some tearjerkers to say the least and ones that I weren't expecting to be either...they're pretty sly. Last night I heard one called "Drugs or Jesus" by Tim McGraw. Good.
• The weather. I wish it would just gradually go from cold to slightly warm consistently.

Anywho...that's all I know for right now....I'll write something later.