Fun times:)

The last two weeks have been filled with wonderful Christmas parties, children's program practice (real show was this morning), ornament exchanges, shopping, and all the other crazy Holiday adventures. I will have to say the children's program went awesome this morning, and it was great to see the kids share the true meaning of Christmas!! I was nervous running the sound and communicating with the back stage crew for everything, so I can just about imagine how nervous the kids were. They did an amazing job on all their lines and songs, and everything went off without a glitch! Kelly, I bet you don't miss running the program--it's a ton of work keeping those creatures in line:) I think I got lucky with the easy job:)
The picture above is from our "Coffee night" that we had at Aaron and Lisa's last Saturday night (we're missing a few who graciously volunteered for photographer duty). We trialled all sorts of different types of coffee made in an assortment of ways. Needless to say we all walked into church a little frazzled from the lack of sleep the night before. I don't think we thought out the timing issue of consuming massive amounts of caffeine late at night. We decided that next time we do this we'll have to switch to Saturday morning instead:) You guys will be proud of me, because I actually enjoyed a few cups of black coffee--the trick is to have good coffee brewed well, and you don't need all the sugar and milk:) I did bust out my frother, so we could make some eggnog lattes. They turned out very yummy!
Anyway, that is all I know. Can't wait to see you all Friday:)

I'll be home for Christmas . . . You can count on me:)

Did you all think that I fell in?!? I have not felt well for about 2 weeks. Nothing like the horrendous flu that you all have experienced back in NE. Glad to hear that everyone is on the mend and through the worst. I have had a cold--ok, not bad I know:) It all started before Thanksgiving. I thought I had shaken it until I ran a 5 mile race on Thanksgiving in the cold rain--probably not one of my brighter moves, but the run was great. It all culminated last week when I woke up Monday running a temp and feeling lousy, so I stayed home from work (they frown on exposing patients to sickness:). By Thursday I had lost my voice completely and was downing spoonfuls of honey while gargling with salt water--do these things really work? Anyway, I muddled through Friday with half a voice and a very hard of hearing brain injured patient--charades anyone?!? I rested over the weekend and am feeling 95% better. A little cough and runny nose, but on the up-swing!
We had our first snow flurries today!! For some reason I am so much more into the Christmas spirit this year than usual. I think it is because I am so blessed and excited about all that God has done this past year, and I am getting so pumped to see everyone for Christmas. Not that I don't get excited every year, but in years past I would be stressing over work. I would put in longer than my usual long hours to get a million things settled at work, just so I could go away for a week, then get home to Nebraska for Christmas and drop from exhaustion. However, this year I feel so refreshed and energized (aside from being sick this last week:)!
2 weekends ago I went with some friends to see a Christmas Carol at one of the theaters in Providence. The pics are from our dining out adventure at Fire and Ice prior to the show. It's always a crazy time with these guys. We had 3 others join us, but they didn't make the picture for some reason. I was going to post a pic of the crazy group that I ran with on Thanksgiving morning, but am still waiting for the picture to come via email. I had my camera all ready and had asked someone to snap a shot of us, when my battery pooped out. Luckily he had a camera and offered to take a pic and email it, so when I get it I'll just have to post another blog:)
I am helping with our Christmas program at church, so we will be busy the next 2 Saturdays with dress rehearsals. The kids are doing great, but have a lot of work to do before the 17th!! Kelly we could use your help:)
Not much else going on this end of the United States. I am getting very anxious to be midwest bound in just a few short weeks, if you haven't picked up on that already!!! LOVE YOU ALL and can't wait to see you.

Nothing new here, but thought I would send out a post. It has been a while! We had a wicked storm this weekend with tons of wind and rain, but it was great to get caught up on a good book, chili, and movies:) Sometimes we need days like that so we can stay in and relax! I hope to have nice New England fall pics this weekend, as we have a ladies retreat in Massachusetts. There are fun hiking trails at the retreat center. It should be a great time. I don't know if there are even any leaves left, because of the crazy wind . . . I will try anyway:)

Hope everyone's doing well. I am counting down the days until I get to see you all!!

Like mother, like daughter:)

Mom and I just had an awesome weekend! It was so much fun to get caught up and hang out. We decided that it had been ages since the two of us have been able to spend quality mother/daughter time. We were blessed with great weather for the most part. It did rain a good chunk of the day Sunday, but we found other ways to entertain ourselves indoors. It turned out to be a plus:)

As you can see we went apple picking, toured some mansions, ate too many wonderful meals that we gladly did not have to prepare. She even got to experience what it's like hanging out with my crazy friends. We only made 2 trips to the Christmas Tree shop where you will be happy to know that we only bought a few small items!!

I now have a million apples that I will have to put to good use this week. Right now I am making a baked apple in the oven, using our newly created recipe that we enjoyed while watching a classic chick flick (Pride and Prejudice) the other night!

Mom, I love you and wanted to let you know that I had a great time! I am so glad we had the opportunity to hang out and have some quality time together. Thanks for coming to visit.

Encore presentation:)

I couldn't help but post the skate one more time, because I was thinking of how fun it would be to see Mom go fishing and catch one of these when she comes to visit next week:) I think I better stick to more conventional touristy adventures instead! I've been checking the foliage report at www.foliagenetwork.com. I hope that we get some fallish colors for her visit. I absolutely love the fall out here. I'll have to take pictures, because it is so beautiful. One thing on my agenda for this fall is to go apple picking. Can you believe that I have never been apple picking! I want to feel like Anne of Green Gables picking apples, and then come home and bake as many yummy apple dishes that I can possibly come up with:)

Anyway, not much going on here this week. Just work, the gym, and getting caught up on "spring" cleaning (I know I am a few seasons late:).

On a serious note . . . I need prayer!

I have a new addiction:) I can't stop going to the Christmas Tree shop. I remember going the other day and spending a small amount, and I was in shock as I realized and voiced to the cashier that I had never come to the Christmas tree shop and spent under a certain amount. She laughed and agreed. Just be glad for those of you in Nebraska that you don't even have this temptation:) If you have never been to one, then you don't know what you are missing. They have everything imaginable for super inexpensive prices. Too many cute things for my apartment. The problem is that my apartment doesn't have room for all of them:)

Just a bunch of random thoughts! I am sure I will have more exciting post-worthy pictures and stories after next week!

Happy Rehab Month!

Not much going on here. It has been rainy and chilly, so I have just been hanging low. Great time to get caught up on a good book and drink some hot chocolate:)

So September is rehab month! I have been taking pics for a bulletin board at the hospital to celebrate, so I included a few of the pics. The first is my "official" picture for our rehab staff board to identify each therapist. I had to laugh the other day, because when I started six months ago they were out of film in the camera, so they just took a polaroid that looked hideous. I took another pic the other day, and believe it or not, this one is better than the first. The next pic is the oldest member of our rehab team:) The last one is of two of our PTs messing around with a new "ambulation toy." I am still loving my job--all of my co-workers are great, and we get some of the best patients. I have had to learn a few new languages to communicate with some of my latest patients (Mandarin and Portuguese!). Don't ask me to say anything in either language, because it's not pretty:) I can't believe I have been at this job for over 6 months now. Where does time fly?

I did have a wild day today that started with me almost passing out and/or loosing my oatmeal. If your squeamish at all then I recommend skipping to the next paragraph, but for those in the medical profession (or just love to hear gross things) keep reading . . . . So I went in to evaluate my new patient this morning who was admitted after having an above the knee amputation. I also knew that he had developed a wound on the stump at the previous hospital. With that said, I helped him get out of bed to the chair. It was a two person job, so it took some effort. Part of the dressing on the stump fell off during the whole process. I flipped on the light to grab the nurse to dress the wound again, and in walk our physiatrist and the nurse. We all decide that as long as the dressing was half way off we would look at the whole thing uncovered. When they pulled off the dressing I thought I was going to loose my breakfast. I can handle a lot of things, but had not prepared myself for the cantaloupe sized wound (no exaggeration!) that was staring me back in the face. I won't go into more details, but it was pretty gross. And the rest of the day went down hill from there:)

I am totally pumped for a visit from Mom and possibly Katie at the end of September. Just in time for my birthday. I am so excited . . . I can hardly contain myself!!!

Just remember, I am always open to visitors! I love to play tour guide when I am not so exhausted from weddings and moving:)

Fun with Friends:)

Ok, round 2!! I had a nice typed out post and somehow deleted it. How annoying!!

Sarah, one of my best friends from Nebraska was out to visit this past weekend. We had an awesome time and crammed lots into 4 days. We visited a few of the mansions--Astor's Beechwood (where Kelly used to work), the Marble House, and the Chateau Su Mer. If you ever get another chance to come visit, I would recommend the Chateau. I enjoyed it's unique style. Many of the mansions start looking alike after a while. I enjoy the ornate mansions, but loved the "livable" feel of the Chateau with it's beautiful carved wood and many fire places. As you can see, I took advantage of a picture opportunity under one of the huge weeping willow type trees. It just makes me want to pull up a blanket and a good book to relax in the cool shade of one of these story book trees. We lucked out with touring the Beechwood, because we ran into Patrick. He used to work with Kelly and let us go in for free!!

Every 3 years in Newport they have a Coach Festival. Coach as in carriage, not a purse of sporting official:) I loved going back in time and seeing these beautiful horses pulling carriages full of ladies and gentlemen all decked out in their 19th century garb.

Saturday evening we hit up a Polo match between the USA and Jamaica. Jamaica won in the end, but it was a close game all the way. My prior knowledge of Polo consisted only of what I knew from watching Pretty Woman, so we had fun trying to figure out how the game was played. Molly and I even joined with the crowd to turn over divits at half-time.

I took a ton of pictures, so I may have to do another blog in a few days on my experiences as a tourist in Newport. It was great to be able to do and see all these things that I usually don't take the time to.

Happy Trails until the next blog . . .

What a Wild Week!!!

I survived a five day trip with our youth group to Darien Lake, NY (near buffalo) for a Christian music festival that was held at Six Flags. It is about an 8 hour drive. We loaded up 3 vans Sunday morning at 6 AM and returned Thursday evening. As you can see, my vanload of junior high girls was quit packed. I don't think we could have fit any more in that van:) We camped at six flags (air conditioned campers--can I get an AMEN:) All week we rode rides and listened to great Christian music at many of the concerts (everything from praise and worship, rap, to rock and roll!). It was an awesome time with the kids. I teach the junior high/high school Sunday school, so this was a great opportunity to get to know all of the kids much better. They are such a riot. I am pretty sure that my abs got the best workout of my life, because I was laughing so hard this week at the many random comments that the kids came up with.

The other pictures that I posted are just some of the highlights from the week. I thoroughly enjoyed the Superman, which has a very intense drop (a 60°, 200-foot drop!!). The next picture is of my friend Molly and I hanging out with a couple of the girls in one of many pictures taken in line as we waited for rides. We got very creative with games to play while standing in line:) The following two pictures capture my 2nd annual Skycoaster experience with the graduated seniors (200 ft drop and I had to pull the cord from the top--it was awesome:). The last picture shows how some of the boys got creative with their hair for the concerts. Too bad that we discovered after the fact that it's "hair glue" that works best, not "elmer's". It was an adventure alone getting the glue out of their hair!

We had an amazing time, but I am glad to be back in my own bed!

Amy, Stacy, and Sarah--Just wanted to let you guys know that I will begin praying for you and the adventures to come when all of your kids are teenagers!!!

MIA . . . but don't worry I'm back:)

I bought an ipod last week, and was so excited to rush home from work to download songs and head to the gym with upbeat workout music. Well, a week later, and I am finally at that point. It has been a huge battle (me vs the laptop). You will be glad to know that once again I come out on top, but I will admit that it put up quit a struggle. For something that should have been so easy it really was a chore, because I couldn't figure out why the itunes program wouldn't load on my computer. No worries, I won't bother you with details, but we are in business. In the process I also decided to install wireless internet. All these computer projects have rendered me out of blogging condition as many long nights were spent with my obsessions. Piece of irony . . .you'll notice that the song on my ipod is "Bad day" which this is actually a good day now that the silly little thing is working:)

Enough of my computer drama. Not much going on here this week. I am dog-sitting for my favorite dog this weekend. Murray is the most adorable Bichon Frise and has a great personality. His downside is that he tends to be a bed hog. He moves with you whenever you change positions, which is something I am definitely not used to! I'll try and take pictures:)

I got a new hair color and cut also! I tried a new salon, where I encountered Marco the Marvelous. From our difficulty communicating on all the regular hair issues, I concluded that he is truly Italian and that English is a second language.

It has been really slow at work this week, and I hate to admit that I hope for more patients. I like to be busy, but feel bad that it is at someone else's expense. I really don't wish that people get sick, have strokes, car accidents, or other major traumas. I do, however, like job security:)

Anyway, it is time to head to bed!!

Tennis Anyone?

What a week! It has been great having the opportunity to drive a $60,000+ Mercedes transporting hot tennis players around Newport the last couple of nights. I come home every night and check the ATP tour website (the official men's professional tennis website) in order to figure out who I have picked up and dropped off at various places, and how they are doing in the tournament. Tonight I think beats all of that, as I had the opportunity to pick Steffi Graf up from the airport in Providence and drive her to the hotel in Newport. If there is one tennis player that I remember seeing and hearing about growing up and would like to meet it would be her. She was very sweet and down to earth. We had a great conversation about children, travel, and her experience with being inducted into the Hall of Fame 2 years ago in Newport. She asked what I did, so I told her about Occupational Therapy! She is in town to give a speech for one of the new inductees tomorrow. As you can see from the picture, I even got an autograph:)

I will be working tomorrow at 1 when the induction ceremony begins. I hope that because everyone should be at the Hall of Fame already for the ceremony that I will be able to watch as well. I'll leave you with one more story. So the other day I am talking with a player as we are waiting for another to come out of the hotel. We had a few minutes to chat, and somehow the weather came up--go figure! I guess it would be the default conversation with someone you don't know. I mentioned that they had great weather for the championship so far. The player then proceeded to ask me if I knew what the forecast was for the rest of the week. Me, not knowing anything about the upcoming weather decided to make up my own. So I responded with a general "beautiful! Sunny and in the 70's all week." I thought that was a safe answer. I am not a weather-person nor claim to be one, because for the next 3 days we had severe thunderstorms!!! OOOPPPPSSS!! Sorry Mr. Bogdanovic. I think he still did pretty well despite the rain. On that note, I need to head to bed so I can enjoy the beautiful sunny day tomorrow. It's ok, I checked the weather channel this time--it's legit!

An all-American weekend!

I have had a great weekend. Friday after work I went with some friends to a Newport Gulls baseball game. Gotta love the uniforms:) After the game, we went over to the Newport Creamery for some ice cream (actually a double scoop chocolate sunday with walnuts on top)!!
Saturday I had to go into work for my per diem job to do one eval, then headed over to the beach to meet up with some friends. After laying out in the sun for a couple of hours, I found that I had an awkward sunburn going on. After reading Amy's tragedy the other day I tried to make sure that I applied sunscreen, but evidenlty I did it too quickly and missed a few spots. Let's just say I am having a hard time putting my arms down at my side because my armpit creases are burnt:( You see, it's been ages since I have been out in the sun for that amount of time. We have had so much rain that it was fantastic to spend the whole day outside without worries of a rain shower.
Saturday night I went fishing with some friends. As you can see from the pics that the sunset was beautiful and we caught a smiley skate (looks like a mini stingray). We did cook up fresh fish last night. I enjoyed the fluke, which of course is a fluke, because I don't like fish! I brought the remainder of my red hot dogs that I have been saving in the freezer for an enjoyable summer evening like this. Other than a few starfish, fluke, and skates we didn't end up catching a lot, but we had a lot of fun. To be honest . . . my friend Molly and I roasted marshmallows and manned the fish/hotdogs on the fire while everyone else fished. Can't say that bothered me at all. I'd rather watch than bait a hook with a slimy squid:) One of the guys decided to throw on his wet suit and look for some lobster, but even they were scarce last night. Maybe next time.
Today I am just relaxing and getting caught up on housework, etc.

Back home, but still livin' in a suitcase:)

What a whirlwind! I have been back in RI for well over a week, but am house-sitting now for a dog, turtle, tadpoles (soon to be frogs), and plants. You will all be surprised that everything is still alive and well after 12 days in my care. Now if I can only make it another 3 days . . . I did, however, decide that I have an even greater appreciation and amazement for women with children. I have had a hard enough time flying home from work to let the dog out and make sure he is fed! Let's just say that I like my flexability and where God has me right now:)

The other night I was sleeping soundly when I heard and felt a thud next to me on the bed. I looked up to see these cute eyes peering at me and screaming "take me outside, I have to go potty". So, at 3AM I stumbled out of bed to let the dog out. I have had many nights like that in the last week! Somehow he found the pile of pillows on the floor several feet away from the bed and decided to take a death-defying leap to my side. If he would have landed on me, I think I would have been changing the sheets while he went outside--If you know what I mean:)

Just a short blurb, so everyone didn't think that I fell off the face of the planet. I had an awesome time back in NE seeing all of the family and just hanging out. I posted a few of the pictures from my time home.

Red Hot Dogs!!

I was craving red hotdogs the other day, but was saddened by the fact that I have not been able to find them anywhere in the state of RI. Believe me, it's a small state, and I have tried to locate those snappy little guys at every stop I make. We were discussing some of our favorite foods at lunch the other day, so I mentioned that I have been searching for red hotdogs to satisfy my craving. Most everyone looked at me with the kind of look that comes only when you're caught singing intensely as you drive up next to a car full of stuffy people. I did, however, get a loud scream from my supervisor who agreed that red hotdogs are "the only" hotdogs to have. Apparently, Nebraska and Maine have something in common--yes, you guessed it--RED HOTDOGS! So time went by, and I had put the idea of a nice cooked red hotdog with an enormous bowl of mac and cheese out of mind, when I received a gift wrapped in a pretty purple cooler on my desk. Have I mentioned that I love my job! My supervisor had gone to Maine to visit family and brought back red hotdogs for me. Lets just say that I had a feast on Thursday night.

On a different note that doesn't really relate to red hotdogs at all, unless you count family get-togethers that have involved the worlds best hotdogs, I was just thinking about the crazy times that we all have when we get together, so I thought I would post some pictures from Christmas. I apologize if there are any incriminating photos:)

My first attempt

So here I am in Rhode Island, patiently awaiting an exciting trip back to Nebraska to visit almost all of my favorite people. In the meantime, I thought I would try and get caught up with my sister and cousins in this whole blog universe. Amy, Stacy, and Sarah--- I know I will never match your sites with all of those adorable children and great stories, but thought that I could offer some beautiful Rhode Island scenes that you all can escape to on those crazy days when the diapers, questions from 3 year olds, housework, and all of the other amazing things that you mothers do never seem to end. Hope everyone enjoys. I'll see you soon. I tried to keep this short for my first attempt in case it doesn't actually go through . . .