Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Bingo!

Today I spent the morning and early afternoon at the nursing home. We got there around lunch time, and took Grandmommie to a private room to eat. After lunch we sat around for awhile and talked while I knitted on my Ursula sock. We went to Fit and Fun, where Grandmommie did some exercises with light weights and threw a ball and darts and such. She seemed to enjoy it. After that we headed to Bingo. The volunteers that were supposed to be there didn't show up, and everyone was getting cranky. At 2:31 Grandmommie was like, "Where are they? I'm ready to get started!" It was funny. Anyway, we played for about an hour. My dad and I gave our Bingos to her, so she can get a prize. After Bingo we said our goodbyes and headed out to Omaha.

So we drove just a little bit away from the nursing home. I saw one police car (probably the whole York department) sitting in the left lane with his flashers on. A car in front of us was waving out his window trying to get us to slow down. I had no idea what was going on, until I looked out the window. It seems a cow had managed to get loose, and was running around in the yards. I tried to get a picture, but he ran behind a house or barn or something before I was able to get one. That's definitely something I've never seen in Nashville!

When we got to Omaha, we stopped by Sandra and Micah's house (cousins on my dad's side). Riley got to experience REALLY BIG dogs for the first time. Tucker (a golden retriever) weighs over 100 pounds, and Smokey was over 80. I picked Riley up so he could be on their level, and he got used to them after awhile. He was trying to play with Tucker, but he wasn't really sure how to play with such a big dog. I laughed when Riley tried to sniff him though, because he had to jump up on his back legs to get up that high. =)

Tomorrow we're going to go to the yarn store/antique store, and to a ritzy pet store. Sandra said that it's really fancy and expensive, and that the dogs get to eat ice cream sundaes on a bar or something. I'm going to take Riley and the camera. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures if anything exciting happens.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

The Holidays according to Riley...a photo journal

I realized after my last post that I didn't put up any pictures of what Riley's been doing lately.

First, Riley went to see Santa. He got his pictures taken, and even had a chance to meet a guinea pig! The lady that was in line before us had hers there for the picture taking, and Riley and the guinea pig got nose to nose and sniffed each other. It was really cute, and I wish I could've gotten a picture of it. But anyway, here is Riley's 2nd Christmas picture!

After Riley saw Santa, he protected me from my dad's evil cat. She and Riley *do not* get along, and Riley came and planted himself between me and the cat. I'm not sure if he was protecting me, or if he was hoping I had his back if she attacked him. =)


Before Johnson family Christmas, my dad fried a turkey. Riley obviously wanted his share.



This is how Riley spent a portion of the trip to Nebraska. Every time we slowed down he would look out the window to see where we were. Riley loves riding in the car, so the trip wasn't a big deal for him. He slept pretty much the whole time that he wasn't looking out the window.




This is where Riley decided to hide last night. He knew something was going on because I took his harness off. I think he knew that bath time was coming!


Tomorrow Riley and I will be making another trip to the nursing home before heading to Omaha for the night. We're hopefully going to visit with cousins Sandra and Micah, as well as hit a local yarn store in search of sock yarn. After that, we'll head back to Nashville via Arkansas. We're going to stop in Little Rock to see baby Ethan, the newest member of the Gunselman family. Hopefully I'll be able to get a picture of him in his knitted hat and booties.

Well, that's about it for now. I'm going to go work on the Ursula socks. I'm excited that I have time to knit socks again. Hopefully these will be done before too long. I can't wait to wear them!

Monday, December 25, 2006

Where's my pink sweater?

I really can't believe that it's Christmas already. I remember when I was a kid and everyone was always like, "Oh, the years will go faster when you're older," and I was like, "I want them to go faster now!" Well, I've hit the point where they seem way too fast.

School is over for now. I made it through the semester, managed to turn everything in on time, and even managed to make all A's (and I passed internship). I really thought I'd have a B in my assessment class (and would've been ok with that) but I'm really glad that I got an A instead. This was by far the hardest semester I've had, and I'm really proud that I was able to do as well as I did. I stayed at internship a week after classes were over and was able to get all my hours in. I was sad that I had to miss a classroom visit for some of my favorite classes, but I was very glad to have that time at home.

I went to Marisa's wedding on the 17th, and it was nice to see some Lipscomb people that I haven't seen in a few years. There was a big SAI table, and I also got to see Alicia and Stacey from my Johnson days. Marisa and her bridesmaids all looked really pretty, and I'm glad that I was able to make it.

I spent the week before Christmas at my parents' house because of doctor visits on Monday and Tuesday (18th and 19th). On Monday I went to the sleep doctor to try and figure out why I'm tired all the time. I really liked him, and we have a sleep study set up for January 2nd and 3rd. Scott called it "sleep camp," because I'll be spending the night (so they can see if I stop breathing or kick or move around a lot) and then staying the next day to do a nap study. I'll have to go to sleep every two hours so they can see if I go into REM sleep and how fast and all that. I plan on taking lots of knitting, and they'll have a TV for me to watch as well. Maybe I'll be lucky and find a TV show marathon that I want to watch. =) Tuesday I had bloodwork done, which showed that my cholesterol is continuing to get lower. It was 154, which is the lowest number I've ever heard for mine. Yay for good drugs!

On Tuesday afternoon Cassie and I went to get our hair cut to donate to Locks of Love. I was really excited to finally get it cut, but at the same time I was really nervous about how it would turn out. It took me over 2 years to grow it long enough to donate. I like how my haircut looks though, and it's nice not to have crazy long hair that gets everywhere!

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday basically consisted of shopping and working on Grandmommie's sweater. I spent a long time at Threaded Bliss on Thursday, and got tons of help. I did all the shopping for this Christmas, as well. Let me tell ya, the mall was crazy. I really don't have a desire to go down there during the holidays ever again, especially at night.

Friday was pretty crazy. Riley got sick, so I had to take him to the vet on Friday. He got into some weird bacteria, and ended up getting checked for obstructions (during which Riley growled at the vet and let him (the vet) know that he (Riley) was *NOT* happy with the situation) and got two shots. I've been giving him pills 3 times a day and have him on a special food. Riley loves the special food, because it's soft. He scarfs it down as soon as I give it to him. He's also done really well taking his pills. I tried to put it in a bread ball, but he spit the pill out (which is exactly what I would do when I was little). Luckily, it doesn't faze him at all to have me put it down his throat. After that drama, I went with my parents to Cracker Barrel to see my aunt and uncle (my dad's brother). They were passing through during their holiday traveling, and I was really glad that things worked out so we could have lunch. At this point I need to give a big WELCOME!! to Ethan Douglass (their first grandbaby), who was born on December 14, 2006. Hopefully I'll get to see him in a few days!

Saturday was Christmas with my mom's family. It was supposed to be at my house, but it got changed to my uncle's house. I was really glad, because that kept a lot of stress off of me for cleaning and such. I made my chocolate peanut butter pie, and that's all I really did. I got to see their addition to the house, which was really nice. I got to see my cousins Aja and Rachel, and met Aja's boyfriend. After the party I stayed around and chatted with Rachel, and then watched Dreamer. It was a really good movie, and I'm glad that Rachel liked it.

Yesterday we set off to Nebraska to visit Grandmommie. We got a late start because of all the running around we had to do before we left. We stopped right after we passed through St. Louis in one of the shadiest places I've ever stayed. It did have a fridge and microwave in the room, but still. Today we finished up the trip and stopped in to see Grandmommie. A minute or two into the conversation my sweet, 84 year old, missionary for years grandmother turned to me and said, "Where's my sweater?" We all had a good laugh about that. She's gotten demanding in her old age. So, my mom went out and wrapped it up so we could give it to her tonight. She really liked it, and it seems to fit pretty well, too! Riley went in with us, and did a very good job. I could tell that it took everything in him to stay when I told him to stay (and not go up to people that were just walking by). A few people petted on him, and he promptly rolled over to get belly rubs. I think this week will be a good preview for how he'll be as a therapy dog.

Tomorrow the plan is to go to Country Kitchen to use a gift certificate that Grandmommie got for Christmas. Other than that, it'll probably consist of sitting and watching TV (and me knitting). I have some more pics to post, so maybe I'll do that too. I love the little motel place where we're staying...the sign said "Pets welcome!" and "Free Wireless Internet!" But anyway, it's time for me to head to bed. Grandmommie gets up at 6am (!), which is really early for me and my family. I figure her lunch time at 11am will probably be our breakfast. =)

Total weight loss as of last Friday: 21.4 pounds. This week is going to be hard because of limited selection, but let's hope I can stay as close to WW as possible.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Friday, December 08, 2006

Killing time

So I've got a little time before work, so I figured I'd update a bit. At this point I have one paper left. I was supposed to do a lot of work on it last night, but the internet was down. It's kinda hard to write a paper when all my sources are bookmarked internet sites. It was ok though, because I really didn't want to spend the night working on it anyway. =) I still have Saturday and Sunday and most of Monday to get it done, so I'm not too worried. Part of me wants to have a marathon writing session on Saturday and just finish it, so I can turn it in and be done. I have at least 3 days left at internship, but I'm not worried about that at all. I love being there, so it's no big deal to finish that up. Today is daycare day. Hopefully we'll be low, since it's getting close to the holidays.

The big drama right now is that my nose is so stopped up that I can't breathe when I'm lying down. I had to kinda prop myself up last night, and ended the night trying to sleep sitting up on my couch. That's the second night that it's been like this, and I really don't want to deal with another one like these.

In better news, I lost another pound this week. That makes 19.4 total! Hopefully next week I'll get a 20 pound sticker. Woohoo! I think I need to go buy yarn to celebrate. =)

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Step 2. Take training class

So I posted awhile ago about Step 1, which was to pass Riley's therapy dog screening test. Well, tonight I got the call asking if we wanted to be involved in the training class. Hurray!! I was sooo excited, and chased Riley around the house and snuggled him. He stood and watched me while I was talking, and could tell I was excited. The class starts on January 17. The first three classes will just be people, and then the dogs will come. They're also planning on taking some trips to the nursing home, and I'm really hoping I'll be able to do those. I have a weekend class next semester, so the days might conflict. Hopefully it'll all work out though. I'm definitely excited! I need to get my mom to make Riley some more bandanas. =)
Yesterday I took the only real final that I have this semester, and it was pretty bad. It was open book open note, and I had to look up probably 35 of the 39 multiple choice questions. It was ridiculous. I wrote one essay before class, but still ended up with 7 pages total for the 3 essay questions (typed, thank goodness). Now I only have one paper left, which is going to be about the treatment of a mental disorder. It's due on Monday, and I'm hoping to have it done early enough so I can go knit at the library early Monday afternoon. I'll get to knit with Ann! I also got my form for the NCC exam, which is going to be in April. It's a total multiple choice test, which I like. I usually do really well on those, and I'm hoping this won't be the exception. Usually Vandy people pass, which is good. I'm taking it less than a month after comps, so I should be all studied up and ready to go. It'll be cool to have a certification and have letters after my name.
I actually have a fairly busy social calendar in the next few weeks. Friday I'm going to Girls Night Out with some friends from work. Saturday I'm going to Marisa's wedding shower. Sunday I have a Chi Sigma meeting. Monday is knitting at the library. That next Saturday is Marisa's wedding. The weekend after that is family Christmas. In between all that, I need to finish my internship and clean the daylights out of my house. It has really gotten neglected this semester. I also want to knit a lot and watch movies. One of the teachers at my internship gave me a list of movies that I need to see, because my pop culture knowledge just isn't what it should be. So Scott and I are going to watch some of those over break.
I guess I should get going on my research. But before I do that, I have to post pics of my new yarn! At the daycare Christmas party last Friday, I got a skein of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn! I was really surprised and impressed, and it's really pretty. I have needles for it, and I plan on making Jaywalkers with it. The colors in the pic aren't quite true to color...it's hard to make them look exact. The yarn is a deeper color, and more red than pink. Thanks to Sheila for helping pick it out!