giving in

I can't stand not being able to post my big ole pictures on my new blog so here I am posting pictures. For those of you who haven't been perusing the new blog, well, it's been hard work. You actually have to KNOW stuff to set up a hosted blog. But I paid for a year of it so I need to figure it out.
I may have not mentioned this but I'm heading to Sanibel on Sunday. I'll be there for less than 48 hours. How sad is that? The plan was that I would have flown down last weekend and spent over a week there, then helped my cousin fly back to KC with her kiddos. But I have this little thing called nursing school orientation tomorrow morning and it can't be missed. Nor would I want to miss it because I will meet all the other students, maybe find a living situation AND GET MY STETHOSCOPE! Yes, I, Mandy, will be wielding a stethoscope as of tomorrow. It's gonna be really hard not wearing it everywhere.
Speaking of nursing school, I have been asked to interview for a scholarship at Liberty Hospital next Friday. That is really exciting for me, I can use all the help I can get! If granted the scholarship, I would also agree to work for LH for a while so that would be interesting. Didn't really see myself staying in Liberty after graduation but it's not really up to me or my will, eh?
Okay, so last Saturday I went with dad to set up the boats for his rowing team. Honestly, I didn't do much but I did get some pictures.

Alas




it has rained A LOT here in the last few weeks. Dad measured how much rain has fallen by how much his truck bed is filled. Here is my reflection in our homemade rain gauge.


Another rain-y picture


LOVE!

Just in case

You were thinking, "oh that Mandy, such an exaggerator, surely catastrophe DOES not follow her so dilligently!"
My cousin and her family were out of town and I volunteered to house sit for them. This turned into car sitting, as you have seen a few posts ago. I only actually spent one night at their house on Sunday. I decided it would be a great opportunity to study for my two tests this week. Yeah, pretty much watched "Brothers and Sisters" all night. That's okay, the tests didn't suffer for it, don't you worry! I felt a migraine coming on toward the end of B&S so off to bed I go. NOT SO FAST! I remembered that my cousin has a jacuzzi bathtub in the master bath. HELLO! A bath is JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR (or soon-to-be nurse) ORDERED! Oh my, was that bath glorious. Anywho, all of that to say I fell into a deep and wondrous sleep. An hour later I awoke to to a CRASH! More specifically I awoke to myself CRASHING! The bed had collapsed. Maybe not as pee-your-pants-scary as a bird crashing your tv watching but, well, let's just say I had to check the sheets just in case. A BED COLLAPSED WHILE I WAS SLEEPING ON IT! I mean, COME ON! If ever a wrench were thrown in someone's recent work-out schedule, this is IT. I mean I haven't been gaining weight, but obviously the bed thought otherwise.

Why hello catastrophe, what's it been, 2 months? Glad to see you're still stalking me.

Don't tell me this doesn't look like a monster face.


LOVE!

PS I didn't break the bed, apparently there is a slat that is prone to falling out and it had fallen. I'm not taking it personally.

Did I ever tell you??

About the time there was A BIRD IN OUR BASEMENT?!!
A few months ago I snuck some time with the basement t.v. (usually known as "dad's territory") while home alone. If I remember correctly I wasn't feeling very well and merely wanted to snuggle under some blankets and watch mindless television. There I am, minding my own business, vacillating on whether to nap or not nap when A BIRD FLIES ACROSS THE T.V. SCREEN AND LANDS ON MOM'S HEDGEHOG COLLECTION. If there were EVER a time to pee one's pants, this SURELY would be it. I know I've said before that I "'bout peed my pants" or that I was "so excited I peed my pants". All these former statements PALE in comparison to the bird moment. What the heck do you do when there is a bird in your basement? First of all, FROM WHENCE had it come? There are no legitimate windows in the basement and the only source of bird entry in the past has been the fireplace (in which cases bird exit was not as life-like if you catch my drift). I'm pretty sure I would have noticed if a bird got through the fireplace and flew through the open doorway downstairs. The fireplaces had no evidence of bird meddling. I tried to open the tiny little basement window only to find that the screen WILL NOT BUDGE. Unfortunately I do not speak birdtalk fluently so I could not express to my terrifying friend that the window would not be his exit. Do you know what it's like for something to FLY AT YOUR FACE? Because I do. This is why I do not like animals such as this. Birds have been added to my list, which also includes butterflies, frogs and ladybugs. The ANIMALS you cannot predict and therefore should be avoided list. And you know, having seen "The Birds", well, those scenes flashing in my mind were not so helpful. The bird flew into the bathroom and I forced myself out of the fetal-rocking-position to figure out what the HECK I was gonna do. I decided on trapping the bird in a plastic cup. Eventually chasing the bird with the plastic cup sufficed, I got it upstairs, opened the door and screen door and got the intruder OUT.
This story really sums up my life. Because things like this HAPPEN ALL THE TIME to me. As the joke with Cecilia and me goes, "Am I being punked?" explains every day for me. I'd like to think I'm the greatest source of humor for God.

*shudder*

LOVE!