More Pictures

Yeah! My sis-in-law sent more pictures. Isn't he SO cute?! I get to see him in less than 2 days! Hooray!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Today is my brother's birthday. In keeping with family secrets, I won't disclose how old he is. Just know that he is OLD. Well older than me anyway. Although he told me that I'm not much further behind him. At least I'll always stay the same distance behind him! I love you Chris!

PS. My brother is the one holding my cute, adorable nephew! But I think John must get his cute, adorableness from his aunt or his mom...

Ho Ho Ho

Santa comes in many shapes and sizes in our house!

Here's Santa with Samson. Samson wants some catnip for Christmas!
And here is Santa on his sleigh!
Doesn't Santa look a little hairier?
Oh wait, it's just Samson with a Santa hat on!

Our First Snow

I left church today, only to find it pouring huge, perfect flakes of snow! Totally unexpected. While I don't know if I am exactly ready for snow, it makes me smile to think of it. Snow does that to you. There are several Gilmore Girl episodes where Lorelai exclaims about her love of snow. She is so right!

Black Friday

What a horrible name for the day after Thanksgiving. I celebrated by getting up at 2:00 this morning and going to Best Buy. Then I went to Circuit City. Then I went to Target. Then I went to Walmart. Then I ended up at the mall, where I shopped like mad at JCPenney.

Okay, totally just kidding. I slept until 9:30. Then I had breakfast. Then I attempted to balance my checkbook, which didn't work, and I was getting REALLY frustrated, so I decided, who cares if it's not balanced. So, now I am posting on my blog!

The Christmas decorations are going up around the house as we speak. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I talked to my mom last night and she said the plan was for Ann to be released from the hospital this morning at 11:00! It sounds like her and John are doing good. I am so thankful for that. And I will be in Georgia in one week to see them!

I feel like I am living in a constant Saturday! Yesterday felt like Saturday and so does today! I love four day weekends!

Update

I talked to my brother late morning. Ann is doing much better today. They were moving her to a new room and hoping to get her up and moving around today. Her platelet count continues to rise, so they haven't had to give her any more transfusions. So, she seems to be getting better bit by bit. I took some pictures to work with me today to show John off. It was lots of fun. One of my coworkers also had a baby boy yesterday, so we are celebrating lots of births.

Two random thoughts:
It occurred to me today that it is weird whenever you guys refer to me as Aunt Teresa. My mom's sister's name is Teresa, so she has always been Aunt Teresa and I have been Cousin Teresa, but now I'm an aunt too....hmmm...how do we solve this dilemma?

This isn't the first time I've had this thought, but it reoccurred to me this morning. Not only am I an aunt, but Daynah is an aunt and Josh is an uncle!

I'm An Aunt!

John was born this morning at 8:36! Isn't he a cutie! I love his lips...they always look puckered! He is healthy. He was 7lbs 13oz and 18 and some odd inches long (mom will probably post the exact length, but I don't remember off the top of my head).

Pray for my sister-in-law, Ann. She had to be rushed in for an emergency c-section this morning. She lost a lot of blood and they have had to do a couple of transfusions today. She is not entirely out of the woods yet, but she is doing well. My mom was able to talk to her for a few minutes this afternoon. My brother sounds like he is doing well, just tired.

For those of you who haven't heard, my travel plans changed slightly over the weekend, so I don't get to go see Chris, Ann, and John until next weekend. Until then, I'll just talk to them on the phone a lot and bug my brother for more pictures : )!

Give Thanks!

What a weekend to be inundated with reasons to be thankful! Stress is not a good thing, especially when you bring it on yourself. So, today in church Pastor Lyall preached on thankfulness and then this evening we had the feast of thanks. Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday, but I appreciate the holiday for the simple fact that it gets me thinking about what I have to be thankful for. The busyness of life often sneaks in and I forget that my life is a bed of roses compared to the lives of so many others.

Pastor Lyall had us say Psalm 100 today as a congregation. It is one of my favorite psalms!

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

It's Friday!

At approximately 5:15 this evening, my weekend will officially begin! HOORAY! It has been a long week. I am looking forward to hanging out with friends and family this weekend. Weekends are always busy, but they are filled with things that I want to do and I can leave the stress of work behind.

We'll make it another random fact day:

Andy Warhol designed the Campbell's soup label in 1968. And the can is considered a form of pop art according to a coworker's dictionary.

It is one day after Ann's due date.
6 more days until I have 6 days off of work!
66 days until my spiritual birthday.
104 days until I leave for Thailand.
232 days until my birthday.

Oh, and I was supposed to post my answer to the would you rather column since I can't vote from my own computer. I would choose the flailing arms. I figure, I don't really want to announce my emotional state to everyone at all times. And I figure that people would get used to my arms flailing. And if they didn't I would still have Jerelyn. We could just flail our arms wildly together.

On a sadder note...

My Would You Rather column has lost several voters. Or my blog has lost several readers. What to do? What to do? I guess I could start by thanking the faithful readers of my blog who inspire me every day to write more! I never expected so much support and encouragement (tear, tear)! You, the fans, are the reason I do what I do. Thank you Mom and Dad for encouraging me to be the best that I could be in everything! Thanks to all my English teachers who never stopped pushing me to do my best when writing papers. Thanks to Holly who read and edited an endless amount of papers in college, always correcting my grammar and making sure that the content made sense. Every last one of you have made my blog what it is today!

Okay, enough with the nonsense! Vote, people, vote!

Neglect

I feel as if I have had no inspiration for my blog lately. When I feel uninspired, I feel like I shouldn't post because than I am just giving a half-hearted effort to come up with something to write. I feel like I am letting my readers down. But part of the reason I haven't updated is because I haven't had the time. Something about being on the phone every night. Or is it something about dating some guy? Oh wait, maybe the phone issue and the dating thing are the same thing?! And I think they relate to me not getting sleep anymore : ).

Kevin, sorry that your first mention on my blog is such a random one! Just be glad you got mentioned : )!

Okay, you guys caught me. I really just wanted to post so that I could officially say I'm dating someone : ). Hey, it's what's going on in my life right now and it feels weird not mentioning it, so I'm solving that while I am functioning off of little sleep and should be in bed and don't have the energy to decide whether this is a good idea or not!

So, I'm interested to see the comments that will come in on this posting...

Another Tuesday

Go ahead everyone...comment away. I am perfectly willing to admit that it is again 10:00 on a Tuesday and I am still at home! Even though I don't feel like I need to justify the fact I am not at work, I will let you all know my schedule for the beginning of the week : ). Monday I worked 10 hours. Today, even though I won't get to work until later, I will work 9 hours. Tomorrow I will work another 10 hours. So, there you have it.

How about some random facts today:

I tried a cotton candy blizzard from Dairy Queen yesterday. Pretty good, but too sweet to finish the whole thing.

Still no news that my nephew is born. But it could be any day now.

I forgot to watch the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown before Halloween. Maybe I'll watch it anyway.

I feel compelled to wait until after Thanksgiving to listen to Christmas music, but I really want to listen to the Charlie Brown Christmas CD today.

It was at least 100 degrees in my office yesterday because they still had the heat on. It made me very sleepy. Oh wait, I might have been sleepy for other reasons : ).

My sleepiness almost caused me to fall asleep at my desk yesterday while doing paperwork. Oops!

I have a new client that is taller than me : )!

That's all for today!

Pictures

Here is Isabell all comfortable in my bed. If it looks like she is glaring at me, it might be because she is. She does not like to get her picture taken : )!
Here is Isabell ignoring me after the first picture...she really doesn't like the flash. But she wasn't too offended. She stayed. And I can hear her purring next to me as I type this! Okay, seriously, I'm going to go shopping now. I just thought pictures would be an added welcome to an extremely random and relatively boring blog posting.

Oh, less than a week until my sis-in-laws due date.

And for those of you anxiously awaiting this countdown: only 238 days until my birthday! Don't worry, it hasn't made it onto the screen saver of my phone yet. I have to at least wait until 2008 to do that!

A Relaxing Morning

This is the first Saturday in several weeks that I have not had to get up in the morning to do something. I have taken full advantage of it. I did not get out of bed until 9:30 and then I just bummed around until about 11. The funniest (and I use the term loosely, because most of you won't understand the significance) part of my morning is that Isabell (the cat) has been attached to my side all morning, following me from room to room, and being extremely cuddly. I know that I am only second best because Daynah spent the night at a friend's house and Isabell doesn't quite know what to do when she is gone. But, it still has been entertaining because Isabell rarely spends a significant amount of time in my room. I have clocked her at well over an hour of time laying in my bed this morning and begging for me to pet her. Daynah comes home at 3 and then I know I won't see Isabell the rest of the day, but I'll enjoy the time while I can : )! Now, I'm off to get ready to go shopping!

Just to verify...

So, I had to go back by the dead deer today. Yep, it was still there. It was not a figment of my imagination. I have a picture on my cell phone to prove it. So, for those of you who are in Peoria, just ask and I can wow you with the dead deer hanging from the tree. And my amazing photography skills.

You know you've entered a parallel universe when...

So, I'm driving two clients home this afternoon. I was driving through main street of a pretty small town, but it was still main street. I innocently look to the left and there before my eyes is a deer hanging from a tree in the process of being gutted!!! Not joking. I saw it with my own two eyes. My client thought it was funny until she realized that it was a real deer. Then there was a few seconds where I thought she might hurl in my car!

Side note...

My readership has almost tripled...well at least my votership on my Would You Rather column has almost tripled since the first one. That makes me excited : ). And was also another excuse to procrastinate! I am so going to get ready for work now!

Procrastination

I am laying in my bed under my warm covers telling myself that I should really get up and get ready for work. It is, after all, approaching 10:00. However, bed under covers equals warmth. Rest of the house outside of covers equals really, really cold. The sound of the wind in the trees outside the window also makes me believe that outside the house equals cold. Granted, I'm excited to wear a sweater to work today, but the process of getting there has me procrastinating. What's a girl to do? Well, post on her blog was my answer! Plus there is the whole dilemma of which sweater I want to wear as the first sweater of the season. It's an important decision and one I will have to live with for the rest of the winter. If I choose the wrong one, there is no going back. Maybe it's too important of a decision and I should just stay in bed all day and call in sick to work. Bad idea, I know. Okay, okay...paperwork and clients are telling me its time to face the day, embrace the coldness, and suck it up!

Pics

This is me smelling the roses : )
Zuela wanted the chance to smell a flower too!

Lisa, Zuela, and me in the backyard. Zuela was supposed to go with us on our adventures throughout the day, but she didn't get ready on time, so we had to leave her behind. It sounds cruel, I know, but you should see how much time it takes a sea horse to get ready!!!

More Pics

View from the Tower in the Heights
I look kind of freaked out, but I promise it was just really sunny!
And it was really windy!
Lisa was so excited every time we saw a "Christmas tree"
We walked along the river downtown. This is Lisa soaking in the atmosphere!

A Fun-Filled Visit with a Friend

Lisa got into town last night at 9:00. She is leaving at 6:40am tomorrow :(. So, we had to pack all our fun into one day. We slept in a little this morning, but were out the door before 11. I took her to Tanner's where we shopped, ate apple cider donuts, saw the billy goats and llamas, took lots of random pictures, and then headed for our next adventure. Well, first we stopped at Applebee's for lunch. Then we drove down Grandview Drive. Once at the end of the drive, we decided to go up into the tower. Then we went back down Grandview Drive a little ways in order to take some pictures. The trees were BEAUTIFUL! Then we went by my office so she could see where I work. Then we went downtown so she could see the riverfront. Then we went back to my house where we took some random pictures around my house. Then we took a much needed hour long rest. Then we went to Avanti's for dinner where Lisa got to eat a gondola! Then we went ice skating. Then we came back to my house and hung out and talked. Oh, and in the middle of all of that we made three trips to Walgreens to pick up some pictures. Third time is a charm!

Here are some pictures from the day.

Lisa made some new friends at Tanners!
I got to ride an Oveja!
A closeup of us on Grandview Drive.
My friend Zuela also came to visit me from Texas! She got to play in the leaves!
We decided to play in the leaves instead of do anything useful like rake them! We enjoyed crunching them under our feet all day long!

Fun Fall Facts

Today I was playing pool with a client (really that has nothing to do with what I want to say, I just wanted to rub it in that I got to play pool while I was at work!) Anyway...we were in the attic at work which is a concrete floor. I was wearing my "clicky" boots and on the concrete floor they were really loud. Well, as many of you know, I get excited when the seasons change and I get to start wearing my clicky boots again. They make me happy. They make me smile. Have I mentioned that I like fall?

15 more days until my nephew's due date!

Raining Leaves

I love fall! I was driving to work yesterday, and I couldn't help but smile. My office is an older part of town, so the trees are huge. As I drove down the road, I felt like it was raining leaves. A couple times they obstructed my view for a few minutes and I felt like maybe I should turn on my windshield wipers. And there is a tree by my office door that drops HUGE leaves that are super crunchy when you step on them. God is amazing that He would make crunchy leaves a part of the process of life for a tree!