Ok, you can laugh if you want to...

All you native Oregonians probably will laugh, go ahead, I don't mind a bit. Saturday night was a very taxing night at work, and when I got home Sunday morning I was mentally and emotionally drained. It was all I could do to drag myself out of the car and tackle the stairs to my apartment. But when I was half way up the steps, I noticed something on the wall, right about head high. A little pick me up gift from God. It was a Praying Mantis!!! (Cue laughter) I was really excited, I have never seen one, only pictures. So I ran inside and got my camera, and as I was taking pictures of it, it tipped its head back and look straight at me, like it was posing for the camera. The girls at work just smiled and nodded, and giggled, but I am still excited. So Here it is, I named it Bob.

Long overdue update

Ok, so its been a little while since I was on here. All right, more than a little while. Point being its time to update. Well what have I done lately? Not to much, maybe thats why I don't update often. Well in July Matt and I watched the fireworks here in Stayton. We missed about half of the show, but it was still nice. The hospital picnic was in July, but it was less than interesting. Thats about all I rememeber from July. Lets see, in August Becky asked me to baby sit, so I did... during the DAY... I know, you all think that is perfectly normal don't you... well I only have one thing to say about that... phssst, weirdos. I helped a co-worker with her wedding (I severed food and picked up afterward.) Matt took me to the beach again, and we flew a kite. This Thurs I went with one of my supervisors to pick blueberries, but the U-Pick place we went to said the blue berries were all done for the season, so we picked peaches instead. I went to another wedding for a co-worker this Sat, and she wanted me to wear my costume. Then she took a pic of me in front of the bouncy castle that she had rented. Thad and Matt and I went black berry picking yesterday. My hands are all scratched and my finger nails are purple, but I still had a great time. We made out like bandits, and fetched in enough berries for 12 or more pies. Matt is taking several pies worth back to Montana with him when he moves home next month. Thats all I can really think of right now... I know, I should do better, but thats the best I can come up with at 6 something in the morning. Better luck next time.

Vacation

Well, I just got back from vacation in Montana. Matthew and I car pooled up there, we had an absolutely marvelous time. Even the ten hour car trips had a certain element of fun... but that's what you get when you stuff Matt, Marjorie and caffeine in the same car for that long of time. Upon our arrival, Pedro and Mickey nearly mowed us over in effort to prove who had missed us the most. On Tuesday, we drove down to Hamilton and met up with Cheri, who took us flying. We went up in a little four seat Cessna and flew from Hamilton to St Ignacius and back again. The flight was smooth, hardly any turbulence, and great visibility. On Wednesday Matt went back down to the Hamilton area, and I got mom and dad, and the puppies all to myself... oh the suffering. :-) Most of what I did for the rest of the week consisted of popping into Joann's several times to see my coworkers, and sewing(mom helped me fit a dress pattern.) Not very exciting you say? I know, but I liked it. Tom and Adrienne drove down from Helena and Billings respectively to see me on Friday night. We had our annual community birthday party, watched a movie and ate pie. Unfortunately I had to send them off first thing on Saturday, since Tom's brother was getting married, and Tom was in the wedding. After I kicked them out, we all(mom, dad, Matt and I) attended Nick and Alena's wedding reception at the church. We ate cake and watched Carl's toast again (very humorous.) But as all good things must come to an end, we were forced to undertake the journey back to Oregon on Sunday morning. So now I just have to retrain myself to sleep during the day.
In other news, I am posting my most recent babysitting pictures of Titus and Raquelle, because I think they are cute... but then again, I am biased. Also my skirts are coming along, I have two done, almost three. I will admit to exaggerating a bit about the "ten skirts" part. I will only get five, but I will have two shirts plus leftovers. Oh, and I decided to name my car Tarik (nocturnal visitor), sorry Brett, he just isn't a Biff.

Hope you had a great Memorial Day

I had a great weekend. Matt and I went to the beach on Sunday. I almost didn't get to go, I didn't realize that Memorial Day was my holiday to work, and I almost had to bail out on him, but one of my coworkers was trying to pick up a shift that night and was more than willing to take mine.
It was really rainy and grey in the morning, but we went to the beach anyway, and I am glad we did. By the time we made it to the coast the sun and come out and things were warming up. We walked up and down the beach taking pictures of waves and playing in a little stream. It doesn't seem like we did all that much, but I just loved it. It was just what I needed at that time. After the beach, we came back to my house and made enchiladas for dinner... I added way to much garlic. I barely finished my dinner, but Matt thought it was wonderful and he ate the whole pan. (Its a good thing too, I don't think I could have finished it.) Then we watched a Star Wars movie. Definitely a great day.
On Monday I went to the sale at Jo Ann Fabrics, the goal was to get enough of the clearance fabric to make one or two more tiered skirts. I ended up picking out five different fabrics. And when I got home I realized that I had GROSSLY miss-estimated how much fabric I needed, so now I have enough to make TEN skirts... Maybe I will make some peasant tops too.

ACLS

Well, I passed the ACLS. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. And considering that I was running on four hours of sleep, I think I did down right awesome. I aced the written part, and then when it was time to do the hands on part, the instructor told me I did well enough in practice that I didn't have to do it again, he was going to pass me and I could go. It was a long drive in between Stayton and Eugene, but I saw lots of iris beds. (Irises are my favorite flower, just in case that seemed really random.) Now having been awake during the day for two days, my sleep schedule is all messed up. I tried to stay awake last night, but I fell asleep half way through my movie (probably between one and two) and woke up at 5:45, half way slide down in the chair. So now I am not only sore, but also not tired enough to sleep during the day, and I have to work tonight. Sometimes I just don't cooperate with myself.

New Toy

Oh boy am I out of shape! I bought a second hand elliptical machine at a garage sale on Saturday. I think I managed to go about 5 min (in 4 sections). I thought I was going to die, my legs felt like they were on fire! I tried again on Sunday, and only managed to go 15 seconds before my legs started to scream. I walked around like an old lady. I left it alone on Monday, and tried again today. I managed to do 5 min again (this time only in 2 sections):-), and two min later in the night. And I don't feel nearly as bad. So either its going to get better, or I am going to have a serious delayed reaction and wake up feeling like I was hit by a truck...
In other news, I have to take the ACLS test on Mon and Tues. (That's the Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support.) I am a little nervous. Not only about the test, but that I have to be awake during the day to take it, and I have to drive to Eugene and find the place before 8am.
And last but not lest, names for my car, I have a list I like, but I would appreciate a vote. Here they are in no particular order(meanings in parentheses): Tarik (nocturnal visitor), Arturo (from Arthur, means bear or stone), Tempest (I think you can figure that one out), Aidan (little fire), Galen (calm).

ok, so its been a month or more...

So, whats happened in the last month? Good question. Well, I got a brand new nephew, and he is just the cutest little doll... except when he is screaming of course. His name is Titus, seems a little big for a little guy, but he'll grow into it. I was working at the hospital the night he was born, but I couldn't hold him because I had a patient with a contagious disease. So I had to wait until he was almost a day old before I could hold him. It was torture. But I made up for it the next night, he slept in my lap all night while I charted. :-) Mom and Dad came down from Montana to visit Titus. They stayed at my house (excited grin), and Mom and I went down to see the Oregon Gardens.
I got a new car too. Dad brought it up to me from Montana when they came to see the baby. Its a 97 Honda accord, and its red (a little more sporty than my last two cars.) And it has a CD player :-), this makes me happy. It purrs like a kitten and takes the hills without a second thought. I have decided that its a he, and he needs a name. A strong name... but I don't know what that is going to be yet. Any suggestions?
And that is just about all the interesting stuff for this whole month. Yup, its a boring life, with some excitement thrown in the middle.

Of Cars

Well, my nice little car has been acting a little strangely lately, so I decided to have a mechanic look at it in hopes of fixing any problems before they got to big. No such luck. I was informed that my car is slowly dying, and will soon give up the ghost if not fixed... it will cost as much to repair the motor as we originally paid for the car.
So now I face the wonderful prospect of finding a new car. I have decided that I hate car shopping. I looked at a couple cars with good brand reputations, low mileage and decent prices, only to find numerous red flags on each. Two had rebuilt titles with a description of damage that didn't really match up. And one sound extremely suspicious of a scam. Now my parents are looking at one in MT that I really hope checks out. Granted I have only been on the hunt for a week, but as I mentioned before, I hate car shopping. My poor father has had to put up with one to five calls a day with countless questions that probably seem exceptionally obvious to him.
And that is all I know right now... which doesn't amount to very much.

new, and slightly confusing

Hi, I have a blog. Now I have to figure out what to do the this sucker... Well, I guess I could put up a picture, that seems to be a popular move.

I took this pic a few days ago. I don't know what it is, it grows on a tree though and I thought it was pretty. I've never seen flowers this big on a tree.