Christmas Spirit

When Squirt and got back from Thanksgiving, we were determined to get a Christmas tree. The idea of getting one/decorating before Thanksgiving was strongly vetoed, but we wanted to get one quickly after because we only had a couple of weeks to enjoy it. Unfortunately, all the roommates were not available to pick it out, so Squirt and I jumped in the car and drove off to find one...and we had no idea where. We just started driving around. Eventually we called Rachel I think and then our friend Erin and we were able to locate a place that had trees...home depot. People do it differently here, you don't go march into the woods with your saw and cut it down. You just go buy one.

So, we did. We pulled out like 30 different trees and finally decided on one. We picked the two most indecisive people to do this job, but Squirt did well. I don't think I did because I didn't have much of an opinion but I should've had more, but it worked. The tree is super. The nice home depot man put the stand on it for us and loaded it into my car and everything. Then we went to target to pick out lights cause Squirt's mom had already gotten us some ornaments. But we also went to Michael's and got a few more.

We got home and I carried the tree in and we took the wrapping stuff on it (this is a real tree we're talking about). Squirt noticed that it was crooked, so then we worked to get it upright. This is a picture of Squirt frustrated because we put the lights on the tree and they didn't look right so we took them off. Then we put them on again, but they looked bad so we took them off. We put them on a third time and they stayed on but we adjusted them to look just right. Can we say perfectionistic at all???? Both of us, not just her :)

Then came the ornaments. I never knew I could be so particular about the placement of the ornaments, but if they're out of place to too close together they just don't look right. I can even tell you the number of times we readjusted the ornaments. But it looked so pretty when it was done. We had a great time. We were jammin to some Christmas music, it was super.

Ok, but then, we really needed to get the pine needles cleaned up because it was not such a good idea to leave them on the floor. We can't find the vacuum, but then end locating it and I start vacuuming and nothing is coming up. So, I UNPLUG IT, smart I know, and flip it over to try and diagnose the problem, haha, yeah right. Well, actually I did. I saw my dad do this before, but there was a lot of stuff wrapped around the turny thing with the brushes on it. So, I got scissors and started cutting that off. I got it all and then we noticed that the belt was broken...when you don't have a spare, that is not a quick fix.

So, we call our friends at the wheatley estates..."hi do you have a vacuum?" Uh yeah. "great can we borrow it, we need it pronto" Sure. "Ok, we'll be there in one minute" and we drove over to their house and got the vacuum. It was very important to have the needles vacuumed up before roommates got home. Thankfully the Wheatley estates saved us. We got the vacuum, brought it inside, vacuumed all the needles, returned the vacuum and made it back before our roommates got home.



Finished!!!! Somehow I was elected as the tree-waterer. I failed miserably at first and I'm pretty certain my roommate, Taralah bailed me out on occasion. I know my other roommates reminded me also. We must've picked out a hearty tree though cause I'm back from two weeks of no watering and it's still very much alive. The pine needles are still on and soft and don't fall off when I touch the branch. I tried watering it, but I'm not sure if it will do any good anymore, but we'll see. We're allowed to keep our tree up longer since we missed out on two weeks of tree-seeing enjoyment :)

Merry Christmas from the Short House.

Fasting from Fast Food

Yep, that's right. I think no more fast food in my life for a while. I never really eat it, but the week of Christmas Dream, we were trying not to buy groceries and stuff cause we were all heading home. So, after the shows my roommates would be hungry and so we would want to go somewhere. They basically dared me to eat something. I think we went to taco bell once and chick fil a. Really, I don't think I've had taco bell very much at all. I remember it a few times growing up, but it was not a restaurant we frequented. So, I had that. Then at chick fil a they ordered for me cause apparently there's some stuff that was good. And it was, I just don't normally have it. I don't think Michigan even has chick fil as. I wonder if there are fast food places Michigan has that Mississippi doesn't??? Anyone know?

Well, today, I just got back and didn't feel like going to the store because it was such a long drive and I was hungry so I just went to Wendy's. It's just not super. I'm, thankfully, not sick or anything, but I definitely don't feel stellar. I allowed myself to have a pop as a treat (cause I rarely have it due to the badness for the bones) and I barely drank any of it cause I didn't like it. Haha, I couldn't even eat all of what I got cause it was too much...I'm not even sure the word. So, yeah, I will be retiring fast food from the menu for quite some time.

Let's just say, I am looking forward to grocery shopping. Actually, I love grocery shopping. I hope when I get married and have kids I still enjoy it as much as I do now. I like to spend a couple of hours in the store...I don't necessarily buy more than I need, I just enjoy looking. Weird, I know, but there are so many options, it's great! I took the day off of work to get re-settled back in to Mississippi. So now I can have plenty of time in the grocery store before ballet.

It's been long enough

Ok, I think another blog update is in order. I learned, when I was home for the holiday, that my blog is quite entertaining. But, just to assure all of you readers, I just write what really happens and what comes to mind. So, here goes it...
Before I left to come home for Christmas and such, we had quite drastic weather changes. One day, was quite a windy day and so they set off the tornado alarm cause I guess one was sighted in our town or something. I always forget if those are warnings or watches. All I know is that the siren goes off tons of times in GR and we never do anything about it. Ok, ok, one time we got woken up to go into the basement, but that's it. Tornadoes are not quite so common here, so my roommates were a little more of the panicked variety. We don't have a basement here, so my bathroom is the "safest" place to hide.

There was also one day when it got really cold and it "snowed". I forgot that people here get very excited about the snow. They were all telling me, "I bet it's gonna snow today!" "Did you hear we might get snow" "Aren't you so excited that it's going to snow" Haha, I just looked at them and was like, oh right, this is an exciting thing, I forgot. So then I would try to be excited. I was at work and they were like, LOOK! It's snowing. If I hadn't have looked at that particular moment, I would've missed it. I don't think our weather man would even report it. Maybe "a few flurries" if we were lucky.  Haha, but it was fun, they enjoyed it.

Yeah, and then before I left it was in the 50s. I drove back tonight and it's 40 something, so I'm thinking it's still staying warmish, but I don't really know. I haven't stayed up to date on the MS weather. As a matter of fact, someone asked me what the weather/driving conditions were going to be like on my way home and I had no idea. I just knew I had to drive today, so it didn't really matter what I would encounter cause I had to drive.

My joints tell me when the weather changes, so the drastic changes are kinda weird. But everything definitely likes the warmer weather, so hopefully it will stay warmish. I experienced enough frigidness and snow when I was in GR so I'm ready for a southern winter. Not a wanna-be northern winter :)

Creatures' Greetings

Did you know there are different animals and things that live here in Mississippi than Grand Rapids???? It's true. Sometimes, they show up in places you don't want them to. I came home from work at the bagel shop the other day and this was on my bedroom wall...


I texted this picture to my friend and her child determined it was a wall lizard.
"Ahhh, there's a lizard on my wall in my bedroom!"
My kids would love to help you.
"I wish they were here"
My son says it's a wall lizard
"Does he have a suggestion on how to remove it without touching it?"
Do you have a butterfly net?

"No, I didn't happen to bring one with me. I have a cup or a bowl or a broom. I'm guessing the creature would like to live so I'm thinking more of the catch and release method than the smack and flush."
He suggests holding a trash bag under the lizard and then gently nudge it with the broom.
"Ok, he may just have to live on my wall til after ballet tonight when a roommate is home to help me. If he's gone by then, I'll assume he found a way outside...oh wait, then maybe he'll climb on me when I'm sleeping, EEEWWWWW! Well, I'll try it by myself. Thanks for the suggestion. I hope it doesn't jump on me."
"Will it bite me if it touches me????"
Probably not. If you grab it and hold onto it, then it might bite. But just brushing against you shouldn't make it bite you. It won't hurt if it does bite and lizards aren't venemous.
"ok, I'll try and get it then. I most definitely will not be grabbing onto it, so it should be good. If it fals it will land in my bed. I sure hope I get it."
You can use a towel or something between it and your hand. It's worth a try. If it disappears you's know it's still somewhere in your room.
"yeah, that's the scary part. I don't want it somewhere in my room, I'd rather him just stick to the wall...it'd help if I wasn't so short., grrr"
12 minutes later...
"I win! He fell off the wall and started climbing on my bike and then I trapped him in the bathroom and chased him around for a while and directed him into a bag. Now he's in the bag outside, he hasn't come out yet so I'm just leaving him there and he'll come out eventually. *Shudder* I did not like that"
Way to go! 

I went to ballet and he was still in the bag. So, I left him there. When I got back from ballet, I was talking to the same person on the phone. I reached out my hand to grab the doorknob to get inside and there was a huge spider right about where I was going to reach! I did not have so much mercy on the ginormous spider. Then there was a spider crawling on my floor!!!! You have to understand, all spiders are gross, but these are especially unpleasing to look at or crawl on your floor for that matter.

Thanksgiving

Plans were all set. I was heading to North Carolina with my roommate. We were leaving at 5am, I believe. That is very early. Since I had been on the morning shift all week, I was used to being up around that time so we decided that I would be the first driver. We get into Squirt's car and I start backing out, we've got 14 hours ahead of us. I look at her car and there is no input for an ipod. No big deal, we'll just use some CDs. Just kidding, no CD slot either and I most certainly didn't bring tapes because I don't think my car has a tape player. But that wasn't too much of an issue, we could use the radio or just not listen to anything and talk.
I got over the no music thing very quickly and easily. We start going and I'm driving on the freeway and go to set the car on cruise control...there isn't one. So now we've got 14 hours of pushing the gas pedal.
It ended up working out just fine. Out of 28 hours of driving, we spent about 30 minutes listening to music (both of our ipods have speakers).
Now, of course, this is Squirt and I, so we didn't really know where we'd be passing through or anything. But eventually we got to Lexington, South Carolina. I texted my friend from Alaska because she used to go to school there and just said that I was thinking of her cause I was driving through there and eating my halfway treat :) She immediately called me and was like, I'M HERE!!!! I haven't seen her since being in her wedding and no plans to fly up to Alaska, so we were able to have lunch on the way back home and that was really nice.
The break in North Carolina was great. I got to meet my roommates' family and that was very enjoyable. It was fun to see where she grew up and to meet a lot of the people she loves and cares about and talks about. We especially had a great time hanging out with her little sister, Katie. I also got to meet some of her friends. We had Thanksgiving meal at her Grandma's and they basically have the same types of things we have in the north. We mostly just hung out with the family and that was really fun!
On the way home, we mostly just talked the whole time. Squirt slept some, but I couldn't really sleep. I rested a bit, but sleep was not my friend that day. So we talked and talked and talked and it was super great. Then she sang to me...I will always love you. Haha, she's very funny.

The Long Awaited....

UPDATE! After getting such a nice compliment on how well I was doing on updating my blog from my friend, Becca Willis, I seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. It's been nearly a month since I've posted (since "losing my mind" doesn't really count). But, no worries, I'm still here. We're almost through November and you have no idea what's been going on. So, I am here to inform you of all the recent happenings so you will experience withdrawal no more.

Ok, let's take a brief visit back to October. I asked all of you to pray because I was working at 6am every day. Well, we all know how Andrea does on a lack of sleep, so low and behold, I got sick. I spent the next two weeks sick and working at 6am, but I still did ballet. I've requested to not be on the 6am shift anymore, but so far that wish has not been granted, so a few adjustments may need to be made when I return after the holidays. Yes, so the sickness and early morning working kinda got the best of me the first two weeks of November. But, never fear, a little sleep and health is restored to me.

Me and my buddy, Bethany

Hair clinic - I was the dummy

Chanbriandrebeff plus friends

Ballet has been going well. I am still very much enjoying it. Everything is still good, nothing is broken. I do have a couple more aches than when I started, but that goes with the territory. Someday my body will be fully restored and I am looking forward to that. Feel free to continue to pray for my body, specifically for my shins if you think about it. We are having a great time though. We have such a good group of girls in our companies. We all went out to eat last week and had tons of fun! All of our dances are coming together nicely, also. It's very fun to be dancing and learning choreography!!!! Some of us are going to do a Christmas performance in a nearby city so we had to learn how to do have for some little kids coming with us. I have become the hair guru at ballet. It's fun cause I get to try lots of things on peoples' hair and that's enjoyable. Apparently, hair and nails are my thing. I always just liked to mess around with that stuff on myself, but other people are enjoying having me do it for them too and that's very fun for me! 

Guess what's in the present?

Some of you have been asking, but I will not be coming home for Thanksgiving this year. It's too short of a break to make the trip all by myself and so I was never planning on being able to come back for Thanksgiving. I will be going to North Carolina with one of my roommates, so that should be fun. I'm sure it will be different being in the south, but I'm excited to go with her and meet her family. I did make it back home for a very short weekend and I was able to bring my friend, Rachel, with me. (And Daniel, but he lives there so it wasn't anything new for him). We had a great time, but we were there less than 48 hours. I was able to introduce Rachel to Robinettes and a few people we were able to surprise because no one knew I was coming. I came back for a couple of birthday surprises. I will be home for Christmas which is a longer break and so I am looking forward to catching up with more of you then! The video of the surprise is posted on my facebook so you should check it out!

Losing my Mind!

I was thinking this was no big deal, just life. But things keep happening, so I have to write to you about it because I really don't know what's going on in my head. Well, for one thing, I must have poorly slow reflexes because I have to take some pills every day...like calcium and stuff...and there are about 11 per day that I take. I always, almost without fail, eat one of them from off the ground. I drop at least one per day and I don't know how I manage to do that every day. One time I dropped the entire bottle on the ground and they scattered every where all over the kitchen.
In addition to eating pills off the ground, I am losing things!!!!!! The problem is that they aren't actually lost, but I swear they disappear while I'm looking and then suddenly reappear when I don't need them anymore. This first started when I bought castor oil (for my legs, I'm not having digestive issues). I had it and some other things and I could find everything but the castor oil. I kept looking and looking and finally broke down and bought new stuff since I figured I must've thrown it out. The day after I opened the new one, I found the original, lost one.
I bought some clear nailpolish at target the other day and I painted my nails and used it. I was going on a trip and wanted to bring it with me (that same day I used it) and it was no where to be found. I searched all over my room cause I had just used it ten minutes ago and I gave up and left without it.
So, I went on a trip this weekend and I brought my face wash. Except, I went over to someone elses' house after ballet to shower because we were leaving right from there. So, I used my face wash at her house and then I could not find it the whole rest of the trip. I figured I just left it at her house. WRONG, I opened up my bag to unpack it and there it was, right in my bag the whole time. I had been using hers all weekend cause mine was missing when it really wasn't, I just didn't know that.
My cell phone charger is still MIA, but I am confident it will also re-appear when I least expect it.