Can't sleep

Yeah, so it's almost 2 am and I am just not tired. I don't know why...I didn't have any caffeine today. I did take like a 20 minute nap but considering how exhausted I've been from moving furniture yesterday, I should be tired by now. Anyway...my week was so-so. I spent my Single's Awareness Day at the VA Hospital. That was tons of fun. I spent about 2 1/2 hours in the waiting room only for the doctor to tell me to come back if my knee isn't better in two weeks as opposed to the urgent care doctor telling me to get it checked if it isn't better in a few days (which is why I went back to the hospital.) So yeah, I pretty much wasted a whole day. I wasn't happy about it. The rest of the week was pretty normal until I went to Portsmouth to help my parents pack up their furniture and stuff into a U-haul. That was a bittersweet experience. It's weird that I may never see the house I grew up in but when I really thought about it, about 95% of the memories I have in that house are bad. I made it back here just in time to get to Praise Team practice which was awesome as usual except for the fact that I was so incredibly exhausted and my whole body was super sore. I toughed it out, then I came home, ate dinner, and soaked in the tub...that was nice. I got a good night's sleep then got up and headed to the church early to practice "Show Me Your Glory". I got it down, but it just wasn't smooth so I just let Acoustic (my fellow rhythm guitarist) play the lead on it. While I was practicing Elvis showed me some stuff and gave me a few tips, so that was cool. I really do want to get better...which I have been because I've actually been practicing, but I still have A LOT more to learn. Anyway, the service was AWESOME. The longer am at Bethany, the more involved I get, and the more I get to know people, the harder it gets to think about leaving. The people at this church have become my family, and I just don't want to leave them. We'll see though. It's in God's hands ulimately. He'll put me where He wants me.

Anyway, I had lunch then watched a lot of VH1 then took a short nap, headed to the crucible then spent 4 hours at Women's Group. I love women's group. For a long time I didn't like it because I felt like I didn't fit in because I was younger and not married, but it really doesn't matter anymore. I love being there, spending time with everyone, talking to everyone, and laughing with everyone. Which is why I stayed for 4 hours.

I came home and hung out with Blue Jacket and Homeslice for a while which was fun. Now I'm going to attempt to go to bed. We'll see how that goes. I got a lot to do tomorrow because I didn't do it today because I was too tired. So yeah...I'll be busy tomorrow. I hope all is well with all of
y'all. Love ya bunches!!

God bless!

Pepto

It's official.

Ok, this is going to be quick because I need to eat lunch and get to class. Anyway, it's offical that I'm going to New Orleans. I registered and paid last night and it ended up being $30 instead of the original $70 that I thought it would be! Praise the Lord!!! So yeah, I'm really excited about going even though I know it will be a draining and humbling experience. I'm just pumped that I'm actually going to be able to do something about it instead of just watching all the destruction on tv.

Practice Saturday night and worship yesterday morning were both AWESOME!!! I love being a part of the praise team so much. The more I think about it, the more I think I really don't want to leave. That's something I thought about yesterday. I've finally found a church that I absolutely love with people that really are like the family that I always wanted and never had. (I'm having some family issues right now if you can't tell, but it's with aunts and cousins not my parents.) Anyway...I've finally found a church...I don't want to leave it now, but it's not about what I want it's about what God wants, so we'll see. It's all up in the air for the time being.

My parents are doing pretty well. My mom got a job as a waitress which she isn't thrilled about, but she's happy she has a job. She's going to keep looking to see if she can get something better, but she has a job for now. They're coming back to Ohio this coming weekend to get their furniture, so I'm going to P-town Friday night and Saturday to help them pack up and stuff. I will be back in time for practice though, so don't worry.

School is going just fine. I've been slacking a little bit lately, but it won't kill me. I have a little breathing room, which I talked about last week. As of right now I pretty much have Bs in everything which is about the best I can do. Each class requires so much time and effort that if I put in an A worthy effort in any one class, the rest will suffer which I don't want. Speaking of that, I need to print off my paper and get ready for class. So I will be seeing y'all! Love ya lots ladies!

God bless!

Pepto

I'm a klutz.

Yeah, ok...so I'll start with yesterday. Printmaking was pretty good, but then I decided to skip Painting because I haven't missed a class yet and I just wanted a break. So instead I hung out with TV Dinner for a while then came back and just relaxed. I woke up around 6ish and got a shower and made myself look hot (just kidding). Then I went to pick up Writer so we could go get Chinese. This is where the fun began. As I was walking the 10 steps from my car to her door, I fell...I turned my ankle a bit and went down straight onto my left knee. I have not felt such pain in quite a while. So when Writer answered the door I had this terrible look on my face and just asked for ice immediately. I was still in pain, but decided to go on my way anyway. Driving was interesting since I have to use my left leg to push in the clutch. Anyway, we went to China Garden. It was a little more expensive than I expected, but it was yummy. Then we went to Real Life. I sat through the whole thing with ice on my knee. I felt stupid. Anyway, afterwards I just came home and rested. I went to bed and I was feeling ok. Well, the phone rang this morning and I got up to answer it and this intense sharp pain just shot through my whole leg. So I decided it might be a good idea to just get it checked out to make SURE that it isn't anything serious. So after Blue Jacket got out of class, she took me to Urgent Care. They did an x-ray, and told me that it was just really badly bruised. The doc said that sometimes if ligaments are damaged in falls like that, it takes a while to show up so if it doesn't get any better or if it gets worse, I'll have to go see a physician and probably get an MRI. But for now, she just told me to keep ice on it, take ibuprofen for the pain, and rest. So I'm fine. It was good to know that it was nothing serious. I just figured since I sprained my right knee years ago and it hurts all the time now because I didn't take care of it that it would be a good idea to make sure this one was taken care of.

So yeah, I'm just going to be chillin out on the couch for the afternoon, but then I'm hanging out with Writer to celebrate "Singles Awareness Day" which is known to all of you as Valentine's Day. That will be fun. We're gonna make some dinner and then watch Just Like Heaven or the opening ceremony of the olympics or both. Blue Jacket and her friend Costume Designer might join us which will be really cool.

Okie dokie, I'm gonna go watch Family matters. I hope all is well with everyone. I'm always keeping you in my prayers. Love ya ladies!!

God bless!

Klutzo...I mean Pepto

Finishing from yesterday

Ok, so yeah...the Chili Bowl, then I came home and finished watching the game while studying for my art history midterm which I think I did fairly well on. That was about the only upside to yesterday (Monday). The day was just kinda blah. Nothing went terribly wrong but nothing really went right. Just one of those days, ya know? It was also my 4 year anniversary of singleness. That's a long time. I got kinda bummed about it, but I'm fine today. Anyway, I got online to check on the classes I was planning to take for Spring to make sure they're still open. Well, Color photography, the class I've been looking forward to for the last year, was CLOSED! So I e-mailed the prof to see if he could sign me in. Well, this morning I saw him, so when I got a chance, I went to talk to him. Unfortunately he said that since I don't need it to graduate and there are other people who do need it to graduate, that I should just go ahead and find another class to take. So that really sucks. I just registered for Installation and Performance...that will be a wierd one I'm sure. Anyway, today will be a long one...close to an all-nighter. Once again it's my own fault, but the last few days I've just been tired. I feel like I've constantly had a ton of stuff to do, and I'm ready for a break. Fortunately, after tonight it I get a bit of breathing room. I have a 1-2 page paper due on Monday and then nothing for another week and a half. So that will be wonderful.

So say a little prayer for me tonight as I'll be in the photo lab into the wee hours of the morning with the creeps and weirdos. I'll be seeing ya!

God bless!

Pepto

The boss is out for now

Yeah, the bosses are at a meeting, so I thought I'd update my journal because I'm bored and I didn't bring any homework to do. Anyway, I had a pretty good weekend. Friday I had dinner with Writer and then we hung out at Barnes and Noble for a bit then we went to see the Narnia movie (my 5th time her 4th). It was fun. Then I went home and read. Then I got up Saturday and read, and I finished the last book of the Narnia series. It was nice to just kinda veg out and be a bum for a while. But once again, I'm going to pay for it this week. Praise team practice started out frustrating, and I still don't completely understand why. The first song we rehearsed really wasn't difficult musically, but we struggled with it for some reason. I dunno, but then we took a bit of a break and when we started back everything was fine. After practice, I ran to Meijer, ate dinner, then practice Knees to the Earth for like an hour and a half, then I went to bed.

Sunday, I got up and went to the Heritage service. I enjoyed it. It was nice to just sit back and enjoy it. During Sunday school, I ran to Tim Horton's to get some coffee and spent the rest of them time practicing Knees to the Earth. I ran through it with Elvis once to make sure I was playing the right thing and to make sure I would actually be heard. Well, by the time we got to the second song in the worship set, I couldn't hear myself at all with all of my volume controls maxed out and playing as hard as I could. So sure enough, when we got to Knees to the Earth, nobody could really hear me and all of that extra practice seemed like it went to waste. I've been getting pretty discouraged about that lately. I've been getting discouraged because I feel like I'm playing my heart out and nobody can even hear it so what's the point? I feel completely unnecessary which is a crappy feeling to have. I know...I'm playing to worship God and not please others which is why I keep doing it and why I do play my heart out when we're up there. Ok, enough venting. Back to the rest of my day...I spent the whole afternoon baking which I hope everyone enjoyed. Then I went to drop a couple cupcakes off for my boss, pick up a friend and headed to the Chili-Bowl which was awesome. Whoever had the idea of getting hotdogs from Skyine: you're a genius! I had some Chili on my hot dogs...don't know whose it was, but it was good and then I had some of the White Chicken Chili, don't know whose that was either but it was good.

Gotta go

New Orleans or bust

Ok, so some of you may remember that back in October sometime, God lit a fire under my butt to do hurricane relief work in New Orleans. At the time, I had no idea when or how I would get there, but I knew I HAD to go. It wasn't a matter wanting to go, it was clear to me that God was telling me to. So I've been waiting ever since then for the opportunity to go. I thought for a while I would be going with a group from Bethany, but nothing has been mentioned of it since and I don't see anything happening soon. BUT, a group from Campus Crusade for Christ is going. We usually have two spring break trips: Chicago at a cost of $150 and Panama City, Florida at a cost of around $290. This year, however, we're going to New Orleans to help with the hurrican relief effort instead of going to Florida. The cost: $70!!! I knew a couple weeks ago that they were going to go down there, but whether I could go depended on the cost, so now that I found out it only costs 70 bucks, I'm so going. I am so excited, but I know that it will definitely be a humbling experience. Even the information sheet they gave us said that you should be prepared to be physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained but walking with the Lord in the end. So I can't wait. My parents may be a little bummed because this means I won't be able to visit them over Spring Break, but I think they'll definitely support me in this.

In other news...I got home at almost 2 in the morning last night from the print shop. Then I had a lot more to do this morning and I still didn't get done quite in time, but I got done about 30 minutes past the end of class. My prof didn't mind, she was very understanding and she knew that I had been working my butt off on this stuff. I could have gotten done earlier if I had not gone to CAYAC, and I knew that ahead of time, but I would hate to miss it. I love it so much, a part of me wishes we could have it everyday, but then it wouldn't be as special. HBM and Elvis rock my socks for doing this especially since all the effort is only for one person thus far. I love you guys! Fortunately, my painting class was just a critique today which was wonderful because I don't think I would have had the energy to stand for 3 1/2 more hours today. Instead I dozed off while sitting. OH yeah...my parents found an apartment in NC, so that's cool. I might try to go visit them one weekend in April for their birthdays...it depends on if I can afford to miss a day or two of class and work. We'll see.

Ok, well...I'm gonna go read. I'm now on book 6 of 7 in the Chronicles of Narnia series. I'm determined to finish them by the end of next week. I don't think it will be that hard. Anyway, I hope all is well with everyone out there. I'm keeping you in my prayers!!!

God bless!

Pepto

Hump day

Yes, it is Wednesday...woohoo!! I'm really starting to like Wednesdays even though I'm usually rushing to get stuff done that's due on Thursday. I think it's because we have CAYAC and I enjoy it so much. It should be hard to go because I have so much homework to do tonight, but it really isn't. I'll get to all the school stuff afterwards. So it may be a late night, but I wouldnt' change it.

Anyway...I looked into CBS. I have to take the GRE (Graduate Record Examination). Yeah, it costs $115 which I think is pretty outrageous to have to pay that much to take a test...nobody likes taking tests. I'll do it anyway. I haven't told my parents about it yet, but I guess it's not really THAT important to tell them at this point. As I've told most of you, them being in North Carolina has no influence on my decision whatsoever, and nothing is definite yet anyway. So yeah, I'll be workin on all that stuff over the next month.

In other news...it's another typical week of school. I've taken advantage of my free time...unfortunately a bit too much. So I have a lot to do to catch up, but it's my own fault. It's not too bad. I'm not stressing out too much, I just have a lot to get done tonight and this weekend. I'm now over half way done with the 5th book of the Narnia series...Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It's pretty good. I like it. In case any of you cared. I got a new phone number. It's a 937 number so now if any of y'all need to call me, it's not long distance anymore. :D

Ok, well I'm gonna read for a bit then run to the bank and get some lunch, etc. Peace out.

God bless!

Pepto