Easter time and the last 2 weeks

Today's the first day in 2 weeks that I've been home for a day. I worked 2 and a half weeks straight and then two days off in Nebraska...then an easter weekend of working. Now!!! Time off!!!!! YEA! I hope you all enjoyed your Easter!

Note to those of us that aren't as young as we were...be careful jumping on a trampoline. I visited my wonderful nieces and her parents...and my 2 and a half year old niece Jocelyn wanted to jump on the trampoline with me. I thought, yeah, this will be great. I always wanted a trampoline when growing up (what child didn't). I figured this would be great fun. However, I'm tremendously out of shape and after "jumping high" as my niece told me, I got a little tired. It was all fun and games for 45 minutes. Afterward I was heading back to Wichita and my body was sore. I didn't realize though that my knee would be messed up. It still hurts sometimes, but it's getting better. I could hardly walk on Friday! Oh well....that will teach me to act like I'm 10 again. However, I did have a blast and enjoyed being able to play with my nieces, something I don't get to do often.

Now with my time off, it's Journal article time, catch up on tv time, clean up the apt time, and sleep in time!

Pumpkin's enjoying the window's being open. He's so cute!

Picture of the day.

This is why I love the Plains, this is the sun setting on Christmas day!

Love all!

My new toys

I got some new Toys!

So a couple weeks ago I got my new toys delivered! My very own washer and dryer! It's so great having a washer and dryer again. I had a washer and dryer in Raleigh, but they weren't mine. They worked, and saved me money from having to buy some. My apt in Wichita had hookups, but I needed to purchase my own. Which was fine because I was ready to own. I researched them a great deal and decided I wanted a Whirlpool front loader. I LOVE THEM! I love them so much I just want to find things around the apartment to wash. I can wash once a week or when needed instead of saving it up for 2 weeks and taking it to a laundry mat. They are great!

Washer

Dryer

Love

They've found me

The credit card companies have found me...it didn't take long. I usually make it a year or so, but today I got 2 credit card offers. I don't want them, so I have to send them to the shredder. Annoying! So I like this whole real world thing, but I'm getting annoyed with all the real world bills. Why all at once? Why can't they wait until I actually have the money? It always seems to come when I think I'll be ok. Newest annoyance is my Pet fee and deposit. $350 I mean seriously....only 100 of it is a deposit. To much I tell you! But I love Pumpkin and he's worth it. And that's my annoyance for today.

This is my sewing kitty. He's in my curtains as my mom was sewing the hems in. He loves to sit with me when I do some handwork and when mom's here!

Love

Stock rant

So each day at work we have a 30 min or 1 hour update on the stock market. Where it is, whether it's up or down. Oh my goodness, I'm not a big stock market person, it's just in the last few months that I even began to understand it, but I'm not a believer in day trading. I've watched and read and heard from people how you loose more if you day trade, so I'm a long termer. I'll leave my stuff in and alone, so I don't understand obsessing over how it's doing. I mean why beat yourself over the head each day about how it's doing if you can't do a thing about it. Just let it go! It's not doing so well now, who knows when it will get better...just ride it out! So that's my rant...why obsess when you can't change it! Just leave it alone or at the very least just check it once a day...each 30 min doesn't matter! AH!

Picture of the day

I forgot my camera on Thursday night at the Carrie and Keith Concert, so thanks to Amy for coming through! This is the concert crew! We had a blast!

Love all!

Crazy life

Well it's march and seeing as I only posted once in Feb, and it's already March 8th...I'm off to a fine start! I don't know why I'm having trouble posting, but I've been terrible at just about everything that has to do with the internet. Well that's not totally true, if it's in my e-mail (both home and work) or on CNN.com or various other sites I browse at work then I'm on top of it. Facebook and blog sites don't come in to play there and thus....I'm being such a slacker! I don't even check facebook everyday (and if you knew me 9 months ago, you'd think I was lying, I had it open constantly while at school) I guess somethings change when you get a job in the real world. Another difference is that I actually know what's going on in the world. I read CNN daily (when at work) especially on my morning shifts, I've read all the "news" by 7am and when people talk about it like it's new (it is to them) at 10am or later, I'm like I've already read that! It's crazy. A year ago or two I didn't know anything, ever. I told Adam that he needed to be my CNN so that I knew what was going on. Now I'm on top of it. I know all about the daily reports about the nation's economy...the heated political race (again a new thing for me is to watch and care about that)...top stories of the day. It's crazy really. Anywho that's life for me and the internet!

Last week I started working evening shifts, I wasn't sure how I'd like them because I like getting off at 3 and having the rest of the day for me, but I do like them. Things are a bit slower (because it's not "working" hours), and time goes by faster. I don't get tired during the shift which is great! I'm excited that evening shifts are in the works now. It's convective season scheduling so when storms break out, I'll be there, very exciting. I was extremely excited last weekend about the storms coming though OK and KS. People think I'm crazy, but I missed what I call "real" storms. Storms are just a different breed out in the east. I missed what I grew up with! I'm so thankful to be back in the plains! It was all I hoped for, a huge lighting show, great squall and some supercells with tornadoes. With the active pattern we've had thus far this winter I have a feeling this spring will be wild! I hope so, I'm looking forward to working it. Maybe some chasing as well!

Thursday night I got to see Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban in concert! It was great and I got to go with Sarah, Amy and Matt. Carrie was wonderful, but we were so far away it was really hard to see her. I sang (probably to everyone around me's annoyance) each song, because I love her songs! However, even though I don't like Keith as much, and didn't know all of his songs he is a better performer! He was crazy and got out in to the audience and people were attacking him and he just kept singing and smiling. I've never seen such a thing at a concert. His camera work was great too..the camera's that show him on the screen behind him, you can tell he's got some money. However I was disappointed that the two didn't sing a duet...you'd think they could have. It was great though! Next is Sugarland in May! If you have the chance see them!

I forgot my camera for this concert, but here is Carrie when I saw her in 2006, it was outside at night thus it's so dark!

Sending all my love!

Mid February already?

Hey all!
I know, I know. I've not been good at posting lately. It's sad at how bad I am right now especially since I'm not terribly busy. It really is true, when you spend all day on the computer, you don't want to come home to it. It was easier when I just had a few minutes a day to get on, e-mail and posting. Now I've checked my e-mail at work all day, so I don't want to get online when I get home. It's just so easy to be lazy. This week has flown by, like the last few weeks, it's hard to believe it's past Valentine's day. Now decorating for St. Patricks day and Easter since they are so gosh darn close.

Things are going well, I went home last week to see my family and to celebrate my mom's birthday! Yea mom! This week I worked off and on and now I have a couple days off, thus I'm not in bed right now. I've got my apartment pretty well organized, and so after work and days off are days just awaiting my journal article. I'm trying to get it done.

Things at work are good, it's crazy though, these storm systems. I'm sick of these weekly winter storm systems, as are most people in the area. Everyone gives Meteorologists a bad time saying "the only profession to be wrong half the time and still get paid", hey it's fricken hard sometimes. The last couple big storm systems are just crazy hard to forecast, consantly changing. It all takes our schooling many years of knowledge, but forecasting is done best with help from models, and when they don't handle a storm system to well, then it doesn't matter what we know...it's ever changing. And to be honest, it's still amazing to me at how good the models actually are. They may be off on some timeing, but they get every big system, 7 days out, it's amazing really. Think back just a few 10's of years when all you could probably get was a few day forecast, and now 7 days out is pretty descent, at least for the trend...warmer/colder/chance for precip. So think about it before you jump on critizing your local weather person...it's not an easy job. I myself have not exempt from making the slide comment, but I am now in it every day. I still wonder at times if this is a dream or not.

I am to my normal being at a new place lull though, the time when it's not so new anymore, but you don't have any friends yet. I'm so gracious for my friends that have come up to Wichita, but sometimes it'd be nice to go out somewhere in Wichita. I know, it's my own fault....it just takes me a little while to get involved in things at each move. It will happen...time will show it. I've got a positive outlook with my current lull.

Missing you all, and sending my love on this Valentine's week and always!

My apartment

Well I've been working for 8 weeks and been moved into my apartment for almost 6 weeks and my apartment is basically 80 percent organized and put together. So I thought I'd talk about it and show some pics.

First is my living room, my curtains are the same that I had in Raleigh, but they have been taken apart and put in their two separate parts since I have two windows instead of a sliding patio door.

Standing in my bedroom doorway looking into the living room. To the left, not in the picture is the front door and to the right is the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen, it is one of my favorite places in my apartment. I love to cook, so have space is great!

I LOVE all the counter space, in the foreground is the edge of the sink and another little bit of counter. Great storage and space to cook! YEA!

My second bedroom is the mess area at the moment, it will in the near future have a bed. If/when you go through Wichita or stop to see me, there will be a great place to stay! Forgive it's mess for now, it will be picked up soon. Lots of what's in the middle of the room is for the bed that will be put in there. The curtains I love and were the curtains in my bedroom before I got my new bedset.

The final and newest part of my home is the bedset my mom has made for me for my bedroom. Imagine the walls are tuorquise and the pink lamp isn't there, but this is my new duvet and curtains! I love them both! So excited to have them! Now I just need more on the walls as far as decorations go!

So in a nutshell that is my apartment! I love it and soon it will be all set. It's a work in progress. Now I can start working on my journal article. I've been extremely bad about that! I've got to get it done! Hope you've enjoyed the picture book.

Love!