1. I don't mind housework, but I will NOT wash dirty dishes. That's Erik's job, along with taking out the trash, and I can't even remember the last time I hand washed a dish.
2. When I like something, I get really obsessive for a while. When I finally read the Twilight series, I think a part of me freaked out with a need to read all four books as quickly as possible. Of course I saw the movie, too, and perused the website, got the soundtrack for Christmas, etc.
3. I am an introvert with an occaisonal need for socializing. I'm perfectly content to be at home by myself (with the dogs) and I often make trips to stores by myself. However, when a social event arises I'm always excited to go and see people. I also love having people over for dinner.
4. I get really uncomfortable when people discuss politics around me. I do have a political view and no, I didn't vote for Obama, but I don't like to talk about it.
5. Foods with mushy textures are revolting to me. I can't stand applesauce or anything like that.
6. I have been best friends with the same three girls for 10 years. No one gets me (except Erik) like they do, and I can be completely myself around them. I miss them so much!
7. I met my husband Erik at the Weakley County Soybean Festival at the library book table. It wasn't love at first sight because I was all hung up for some other guy, but a month later we were dating and 2 months later I knew I would marry him. 2 years later Roxy won Most Photogenic at said festival's pet contest!
8. I was criticized by many people for getting married at 20 years old. My response is, I know what I want and I know that marrying Erik at 20 was God's plan for me. I don't necessarily believe in being engaged for 2 years or something like that just because one of you is still in school. I'm a testimonial to the fact that it can and does work!
9. My two hobbies are cooking and reading. I don't cook a three course meal every night for dinner, mainly because I work 3 12-hour shifts a week. I do love to use my crockpot. I have made some real doosies-one I particularly remember is Paula Deen's Mexican Chicken casserole. It was so gross!
10. I used to never eat anything with the word "casserole" in the title. Occaisonally now I do.
11. People ask me all the time if working in Labor and Delivery has made me not want children. The answer is no. I do want kids someday and now I have a "birth plan" sorta thing in my mind of how I want my labor to go. Unfortunately there's something known underground as the "nurse curse" which is basically when nurses have bad labor experiences, like an emergency c-section.
12. I went into L&D because it was the "least gross" area of the hospital in my mind. While there are certainly no bedsores or trachs on my floor, there are some really gross things. Fortunately for me we starve the ladies in labor so when they puke it's just bile. I can deal with that. But there are grosser things than vomit!
13. I am a dog person. If it were possible to have dogs without the mess and fur, I'd have at least 5. Corgis are my favorite and since they tend to shed a lot, I will definitely never have 5 at one time!
14. I am also a tv person. Now that we've cut our cable down to just basic (you wouldn't believe how much money you save, and you don't even miss those old shows) I have my main shows that I watch like The Office, 30 Rock, Fringe, Lost, Biggest Loser, and Regis and Kelly.
15. I would say I like living in Texas, but I don't love it. It's hard living so far away from your family and old friends. Texas does have its perks. There are lots of places to visit, people are friendly, and the economy is pretty stable compared to the rest of the country. The Mexican food is not as good. How I miss you Don Pancho's!
16. I am an avid reader. I espeically love books in a series because I always want the story to continue. I love our library because I can request the books online and they have them ready for me at the counter when I go. When I don't have a book going I feel like a part of my life is missing. Books I have recently read are: The Private Patient, Multiple Blessings, and The Thirteenth Tale.
17. Walmart, you are the devil. I hate your low prices and your rows and rows of your store brand. Of course you don't have the brand that I have a coupon for. I hate your self check out lanes and your produce. I hate that I can't beat your dog food price anywhere else. You are the bane of my existence!
18. On the other hand, I love shopping at my HEB Plus store. I can get organic milk for $2, great produce, and a variety of cheeses I've never heard of.
19. When it comes to movies, I love sci-fi, adventure, and comedies. This is one of the reasons Erik and I got along so well to begin with. I will not watch romantic comedies except Return to Me, which, if you haven't seen it, you need to.
20. I have one of the most dysfunctional families of anyone I know. For my family who is reading this, I love you and love that you visit my blog. However, we are dysfunctional and it's a fact.
21. I have dreams or nightmares almost every single night. I have never been a good sleeper and this may be part of it. If I'm dreaming something particularly disturbing I can usually wake myself out of it, but I can't ever change the dream.
22. One of my OCD tendencies is chapstick. I must have a tube of Blistex medicated chapstick at my side at all times. This includes my scrubs at work, on my nightstand at night, and currently on my coffee table as I write this. At any given point I have 2 or 3 tubes floating around my house. Sadly, I have roped Erik into this fetish now he's the same way.
23. My car is always messy. There are usually cups or glasses, papers, and trash in my car and I never clean it out. Finally Erik gets so fed up with it that he cleans it out. I love him.
24. I am a very loyal person. I'm people loyal, brand loyal, restaurant loyal, and patient loyal. Unless of course they are an absolute jerk, then I just don't care. A lesson-be good to your nurses! We work hard not to get fired by putting up with your crap!
25. If you know me, you know I have opinions. About everything. I've gotten better about thinking before speaking, but sometimes I still slip up and insert my foot into my mouth. I mean well but I'm just saying out loud what everyone else is thinking.
Thank you for reading this exhaustive list. If you have a blog I would love to read 25 things about you!
The two cake layers are cooling. Next to it are my two days worth of lunches for work. Mongolian Beef Stirfry is so good!
The frosting. It really didn't make as much I thought it would.
The finished product with my meager attempt at piping. I don't have a set of piping tools so a plastic baggie worked just fine.
This is Austin's flight walking past us. Even though I snapped this picture I could not tell where he was. They shaved his head and he put on 20 pounds of muscle while he was there, so it wasn't easy to recognize him. He is in the second row from the left, next to the black guy.
There he is! All graduated and smiling! It was seriously a mad rush to get to your Airman once the parade was over. Families had very little contact with the trainees over 8 weeks.
My dad's three kiddos. Look how much taller Austin is than me!
Austin and Greg.
The fam. Austin asked my dad to wear his uniform to the parade, and so everybody kept saluting him. It was a bonus though because we would have gotten bad seats if he hadn't been wearing his Lt. Colonel insignia!
Everyone who graduated got a coin. Plus Austin got another coin for being an Honor graduate-number 63 out of 800!
Austin's bed and living space.
Every material possession the Air Force let him have was kept in this small locker!
Ethan chilling out on Austin's bed.
The Airmen got a town pass from 2 pm til 7:30 pm for good behavior. So, after lunch we headed back to our hotel to change and then see some of the major attractions in San Antonio. Here we are at the Alamo. You could only take pictures from outside, but the atttraction is free. They even had a storyteller who gave a speech on the events at the Alamo. It was really cool. Also, by this point it was 90 degrees outside. Another great thing about San Antonio is it's very military friendly. They get a discount on just about everything. There is an Airmen graduation every Friday and they all hit the town for the first time since arriving at the base.
Interesting fact: the historical society of San Antonio ruled that no building would cast a shadow over the Alamo as a means of respect. So even though sometimes in pictures the Alamo looks like it out in the middle of nowhere, it is actually in the heart of downtown. There was a Fuqua who fought at the Alamo, but it's TBD if Erik's family is related to him.
You can't go to San Antonio without going to the Riverwalk. It was so much fun! We stayed right downtown so everything was in walking distance.
This was actually taken on Saturday before we left. Before this we had been to Ripley's Believe it or Not and the Wax Museum. Both of which freaked Ethan out so he didn't go in.
We took a boatride on the riverwalk on Friday before it got too hot. So much fun!
So on Friday Jan. 30th I drove to Dallas Love Field ( can I just say that I hate Dallas? The traffic is so bad!) by myself and flew to Little Rock. On Saturday Ethan's party was at his daycare which also houses a gymnastics place.
Here is the birthday boy! He had a pirate themed party complete with a pirate hat, eyepatches, and swords.
Ethan and his friends got to play at this huge play-place, (think McDonald's x 10), an obstacle course, trampolines, and a treasure hunt. This is my favorite shot of Ethan jumping off the huge bouncy-thing. He had such a good time!
I had such a good time and I got to see my grandparents as well. We watched the Super Bowl on Sunday, played lots of Wii tennis and ping pong, and then I had to fly back. The flight back was really terrible. Every single seat was full and a rather, um, hefty lady sat next to me. Plus the plane kept dipping and shaking. At one point I was so nervous I spilled my ginger ale all over the flight attendant. I'm not usually a nervous flyer, but I was so ready to be back on the ground! Immediately I went back to work on Tue-Wed-Thur. On a good note, I was Providence Labor and Delivery's Employee of the Month for January! You are nominated by your peers, and I found out later that my preceptor Karen nominated me. I was actually quite surprised, because I had such a hard time adjusting to these people when I first started. It will look great on my resume someday!
Today (Sunday) after church Erik had to go up to the law school to work on his next quarter's assignment, so I thought I would do something nice for him. For me, doing something nice for somebody always means cooking or baking them something. I had a pint of strawberries in the fridge and some chocolate chips so I made chocolate dipped strawberries! I actually added some butterscotch chips because I didn't have enough chocolate, and they were great! Yum!
