300 Posts..Oh, and here's the dress.

Wow. 300 posts. But who's counting?

Well, some people wanted to see what my dress looked like (the one for the Civil War reenactment), so here it is. I was not able to go to the reenactment due to it being rained out. I did get to use the dress for the college Christmas concert. It was a grand time.

Getting ready to move. While I get along for the most part with the lady I live with, other concerns arose that have caused me to look for different housing. The Lord provided. :) I haven't live by myself at all. I did have my own room for about three years, but other than that, I've always had roommates. This is going to be a very welcome change.

At my current residence, there is a chick who lives in the apartment below us and she is not easy to get along with. Several weeks back, she knocked on our door and then was really nasty to me when I answered the door. She refused to listen to anything reasonable. She is convinced that we are purposely banging around our apartment to annoy her. Please. I have better and more important things to do with my time. So now, she is banging on the ceiling every time the floor creaks. I think she needs to get a life. This is an older apartment building and hearing floors creak is a given, especially when someone lives above you. It never fails that when I go to turn out my light, the floors creaks, and she feels the need to bang. She apparently thinks everyone must levitate to please her. I'm ready to get in the flesh and give her something to bang about by stomping and jumping around the next time she bangs on the ceiling because the floor creaks.

I'm so looking forward to moving out for that reason.

Overall Run Hike

I went on an eight mile hike this past Saturday. I may not have been the fastest, but I did finish.



The view once I finally reached the top.


Well worth all the struggle.


God's handiwork is amazing!


My favorite by far!


Those rocks were slippery on the descent in the rain.

Too funny not to share!

THERE ... I FIXED IT

When you walk through a storm,
Hold your head up high,
And don't be afraid of the dark,
At the end of the storm is a golden sky.
And the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown,
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart,
And you'll never walk alone.
You'll never walk alone

This song has been on my mind lately. It seems to fit a few different things. One, it brings back memories of being in high school choir. I miss both teachers. It's interesting to talk with my brother and his being in choir with the teacher I had. I was reminiscing about some of the songs I had the chance to sing and was asking him if they had done any of them.

Two, this song comes to mind when I feel like I;m on the outside looking in. I'm not alone even though it may seem like it.

Three, the storms of life. They come in many forms, but is with me through them all.

I'm keeping busy with work, school, and work. I have some tentative plans, but not sure if they will pan out. I enjoy my babysitting job and the opportunity to sit and chat with parents. They are outside of the small world I have at the moment. I'm planning on going hiking next weekend with a church group I've done things with in past. They are a great and fun group of people. I'm looking forward to it even if I don't know anyone there.

Hit the ground running

Summer is over for me. The kids come back to school this Monday. I am thankful that I have 16 students this year. 25 was a bit much. I did have to change rooms (and how is it the teacher with the least amount of students ends up in the largest room?) and everything is basically done. Well, I don't really have much of a choice at this point.

I had a fair share of the usual computer problems during in-service week. I tried not to have any, but they always seem to find me! At first, the problem was with the computer not being updated in quite some time, so I had to spend a day doing that. Then by Friday, when all the paperwork was due, my computer wouldn't open a single file (from the internet, flash drive, or saved on the computer just moments before). Very frustrating. No one knew what to do, either. So, I put on my detective gear and googled the error message. Kind of interesting, but I did figure out what the problem was and was able to fix on my own. I don't know what I'd do without Google! :)

Anyway, this school year is going to be busy. Teach in the morning and attend class or work in the library in the evenings. Babysit some weekends. I'll also be getting three allergy shots every week for the next six months. It looks like there will be no social life for me. Oh, wait. I didn't have to begin with. So, no problems there.

I am excited about participating in a Civil War reenactment in October! A friend of mine is going to make a dress for me. Another thing I am looking forward to is changing Sunday school classes this coming Sunday. I've been in a college and career class for nearly 8 years now (by choice, of course) and it's been great. It's just time for me to move on up.

Well, that's life in a nutshell for me at this point.

I'd like some allergies with a side of more allergies

So I have been out of the hospital for about a month now. I've been to the asthma/allergy specialist, PCP, or dentist every week since I've been out. I double scheduled myself today and saw both the specialist and PCP. Between them both, I was poked 62 times.

Yes, there is reason for all the poking. I had an allergy test done today. Of the 62 pokes, 61 came from the testing. Of the 50 allergens they test for, I was allergic to 41 of them. I am highly allergic to trees, grasses, animals/mites/insect and moderately allergic to weeds and molds. Of the nine allergens I wasn't allergic to, there were two weeds and seven molds. This was one of those scratch tests where they poke with a small needle and some of the allergen solution.

What you don't expect to hear is the nurse saying the following types of statements when she walks in 15 minutes later to check on you:

"Oh, my!"
"Wow!"
"I haven't seen someone that allergic in a long time!"
"Oh, my lands!"

Yeah, all from one nurse.

The doctor came in and told me that I won a prize for being the most allergic person all month. And what's my prize? Weekly allergy shots for the next six months. Oh, joy!* (*Read with sarcasm.)

They were all amazed at the level of allergic reaction to (drum roll, please) guinea pigs. Apparently, I am more allergic to them than cats.

Now, I have to leave school early on either Thursdays or Fridays to get the shots. I even have a doctor's note to do so. It's all right with the administration at school, but I still have to let my supervisor know. I may see him tomorrow to tell him about it.

When I was at the PCP, I received a Tdap shot (whooping cough/tetanus booster). That wasn't the main reason for me being there, but we'll see if it helps this school year. I still have to have some more blood work done to see about the high blood pressure and dizzy spells. The doctor want me to have a CBC, thyroid, and other things checked. Hopefully that will explain some the other things.

Other than that, I haven't used my inhaler since getting out of the hospital. I can't remember not ever using this long. Feels good!