I've been tagged

My roommate tagged me to write 6 things about myself a VERY long time ago. I started the post. Really I did, but I never finished it. Today I am babysitting and currently the little boy is sleeping. So I did the facebook version. 25 things about yourself. Just think 19 extra random facts for your enjoyment.

1. I love to be the center of attention - in controlled situations. I love it when it's your birthday party and it's all about you. Or at Christmas when it is your turn to open presents. Telling stories (as long as they aren't too embarrassing). My roommate blames this tendency on my being the youngest child in my family.

2. I love acting. I used to be in musicals every year growing up. I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't the greatest actor, but there was something so freeing about getting up on a stage and being someone else. And getting to sing while doing it, even better.

3. I love traveling. I haven't been to Europe in 7 years but I love going and experiencing new cultures. Even my recent trip to San Francisco was fun because life is so different out there than my existence in East Texas. However, even with my love of traveling, Texas is my home. I wouldn't want to live away from here for more than a couple of years.

4. It drives me nuts to have to back track at the grocery store. My preference is to make one loop around, starting at the back. Go down every aisle and never go back to an aisle I've already been down. This rarely actually happens, but I wish I was better about it.

5. I hate coffee, but love coffee shops. My love of all kinds of tea greatly aids this love of coffee shops.

6. I'm only working part time right now and if I could afford to I would keep doing this forever.

7. I love to read - as long as it is fiction. I'm on my 4th try at A Ragamuffin Gospel. It is a great book, but due to the fact that it isn't a story it is a struggle. But this time I've made it to chapter 5 (a new record).

8. I've read the first Harry Potter book over a dozen times. Number 7 I've read at least 4 times. The first time I read book 7 it took me just over 10 hours. The only reason it wasn't in one sitting is that I had to work.

9. I'm not an animal person. I don't dislike animals (I'm quite fond of my roommates dog Zoey) but I wouldn't choose to own my own pet.

10. I'm trying to figure out a job that I can have, enjoy, and afford to foster parent. Hence the current part time employment. There are too many kids out there who need a safe place to live and someone to love them.

11. If I could have any career (and talent didn't matter) I would be a Broadway actress. Singing and dancing for a career? Heck yes.

12. I still listen to CCM from the 90s. And prebuy every Steven Curtis Chapman CD that comes out. Steven Curtis Chapman is also the only famous person that I think I would be speechless if I met him.

13. I love to play games. Board Games. Video Games. My life changed when I bought my Wii last year. And, thank you Cody for introducing me to the train game.

14. I would give anything to pick up the entirety of Tyler and move it closer to where my parents live. I love everything about living here except the 5 hour drive to see my family.

15. I'm a certified teacher, but have never taught in an official capacity.

16. I am the least spontaneous person you will ever meet. I have a routine and I like it that way. Luckily I have friends who are spontaneous and keep my life interesting.

17. I like country music. Much to many of my friends chagrin.

18. I used to hate washing dishes. Two houses without dishwashers has taught me to enjoy it and find it relaxing.

19. I used to think I was going to be a nurse and went to a specialized health high school. Therefore I have spent time shadowing people at: The ER, Endoscopy, Cardiac Care, Respiratory Therapy, Child Study Center, and a Vet Clinic. Therefore I have some very random health knowledge.

20. I used to be obsessed with horses. Took three years of horsemanship classes at the Ranch. Now I haven't been on a horse in over 5 years.

21. I try to always fill up my car with gas when it is 1/2 empty. I got in this habit when gas was so expensive. I couldn't stomach paying for a full tank. And it is also apparently better for your fuel pump.

22. I love tv. And I watch a lot of it. So much so that I am not allowing myself to start watching any new shows. There isn't time or openings on my DVR.

23. I am a raving fan of reusable grocery bags. Only in small part because they help the environment. Mainly because they hold 3-4 times as many groceries. That is a ton less trips to and from the car when I get home.

24. I minored in Vocal Performance in college. Performed in front of the whole music department and everything. I miss taking voice lessons and would do it again in a heart beat.

25. I was a cheerleader for my sophomore and junior years of high school. Those were some huge character developing years for me.

Now you know more about me than you probably wanted to. Comment as you wish.

My CIvic Duty

I will admit, I enjoy voting. I even enjoy voting on actual election day. I had to wait in line for 20 minutes, but it was worth it.  During that time span I got some amazing stories. Now, my polling station is the Dixie Volunteer Fire Department. I recognize that I live outside the city, but I voted in Brownwood, and wasn't nearly this entertained four years ago.

E and I got there at about 8:10am.  There was a line of about 20 people in front of us.  Not a big deal at all.  We were walking up when a lady walked up talking about how she needed to get to work.  We let her go in front of us.  We are waiting. E and I discussed taking pictures of this momentous occasion, but decided to refrain. That led us to discussing whether or not it was our first time to vote with the lady in front of us in line.  Which led us to discuss our previous voting experiences.  E mentioned that once she accidently touched the spanish button on the voting machine and it took them awhile to get it fixed. 

The lady who was so nice proceeded to go into a tirade (though whispered) about how we shouldn't have spanish on the ballots.  If we went to Mexico, they wouldn't give us English ballots, would they?  She went on for a couple of minutes and effectively eliminated all conversation between us and her.

Next we heard from behind us, "I need to know who to talk to to report harassment by my supervisor." There was this guy talking quite loudly about how he needed to talk to someone. "I need to know who to talk to to report harassment by my supervisor. I'm afraid there might be retaliation." Two things went through my mind: First - why are you doing this in front of 30 people in line at the voting booth. Second: I'm pretty sure retaliation is not the word you were going for. Unless you are planning on hurting your supervisor for the harassment. Everyone in line was standing around awkwardly wondering what to do. Luckily we got in to vote a few minutes later. 

I had no idea my journey to cast my vote would be so interesting. Welcome to life in East Texas. You never know what might happen.

Then E made me an "I Voted" sticker, because Smith County seems to have forgone the expense. I wear it proudly.

Eager Beaver - Well Beaver at Least

I work at a really awesome place. Almost all of us have taken a personality test that assigns animals to you based on your personality. I always get beaver in my top two. (the other being retriever.) Today I was having a rough day. You know, one of those where it feels like roadblocks are being thrown in front of you left and right. My face was covered with zits (at least it felt like to me), I didn't feel good, the internet was going to be too expensive to get at home, you name it, and it was bothering me.  I was just in one of those bad moods. BAH! 

The bad mood made me completely not motivated to do anything. So I decided to finish a project that I started a couple of weeks ago.  I cleaned out a filing cabinet. To the normal person, this would not seem like an exciting prospect, but to me, it was glorious. Not really the going through the stuff, but the feeling of accomplishment when it was done. I seriously showed two people my accomplishment.  They don't understand. How could they? They aren't beavers! 

So that and my dear roommate getting me a vanilla dr pepper from Sonic have turned my day around. This evening will be spent at home, cleaning and preparing. My mom is coming to visit! I haven't seen her since August, so I am very excited. 

Life is about to change big time. When I know the details, I'll pass them along. :)

Wii

I have an addiction. It's rather pathetic. Every night I go home and want to play Super Mario Galaxy. Seriously. I don't want to cook, clean, or even really watch tv. All I want to do is play. This is not healthy. Not to mention the state my room is in due to my playing games instead of cleaning. Luckily I now have more stars than I'm missing.

I also have begun to watch The Office. That's right. I jumped on the bandwagon! Now if I can manage to stop playing my Wii long enough to watch some episodes. 

Other than that I'm tired. And figuring out what I want to do with my life. Everything can change so quickly. 

One of these days I'm going to plan out a post better than this. You know actually have a thought process behind one.  But probably not anytime soon. :)

Busy as a Bee

This seems to be a constant state of my life.  Being Busy.  I'm sure if I looked over the majority of my blog posts, most of them would involve the busy state of life that I always seem to live in.  I have the distinct feeling that from this point, life is only going to get busier, not slow down. :)

In other news,  the kitchen is done!  We have been washing dishes for days and trying to get everything put away.  I would love to just see it finished and clean once.  Of course since we still live in the house and use the kitchen daily, this will be a challenge.  But maybe during this three day weekend it will happen.  

That's right my friends! It's labor day!  You know what that means? Joanna is going to spend a lot of quality time on the couch playing Super Mario Galaxy that I borrowed from Stephen. Yes! A weekend of watching tv and playing video games.  And painting my choir room on Sunday afternoon. (hopefully)  

And now my lunch break is done and so I am going to get back to this work that I do. It seems to be multiplying before my eyes...

Week 12 is a Glorious Thing

Yes. I did survive last week.  And while the kitchen still isn't done, progress is being made and that helps a ton.  Having a Monday off, even better. Coming back to work wasn't as tough as I had expected, but it did bring something new to light.  A new Cell Phone policy.  

I have never had to get my own cell phone.  I went straight from mom and dad handing me a cell phone to my employer handing me my work cell phone.  I never really got to choose, I just accepted what was given. (with joy since it was one less thing for me to worry about)  But not anymore.  We have gone to a reimbursement policy, which meant Joanna needs a new phone.

So here it is. I was slightly impulsive, but I love it:

It was not really my intention to come out of this with a motorola krzr but it was only$15 more than the lamer phones and so I took the plunge.  That's right friends.  This is the first time I've had a phone that wasn't the free phone.  And I have returned to the world of the flip phone. Yes!

A phone that flips.  Who knew how wonderful simple pleasures could be. :) and now I return to my regularly scheduled work program.

So Much to Learn.

Let me just say upfront, I have learned some things about myself in the last few days. Not all of them are pretty. God is doing some sharpening and while I know it will be good in the long run, man it hurts right now!

My name is Joanna, and I am a whiner.  That's right my friends. I complain. A Lot.  I really need to get over this. It's not fun for anyone around me. Not to mention my tendency to complain leads directly into my tendency to emotionally vomit on whoever is nearby when I don't like how my life is going.  This has really got to stop.  It leads me to gossip and not dealing with problems directly and indirectly (this is never my intention but it happens) talking about people behind their back.

I don't do well when my home life is stressful.  Our kitchen has been being remodeled for the last two weeks.  I am so excited about the presence of a dishwasher in our lives. However, work is really crazy, due to it being the last two weeks of summer.  So no peace at home, kitchen a mess, work stressful = a very stressed out Joanna.  (Which led to complaining and emotional vomiting as mentioned above.)  I realized that at first I think that for sure it won't be a problem.  Then the longer it goes on, it gradually wears me down and then I am just tired of everything. Work. Home. Life. Everything

When I reach this point, I want 2 things. 

Number 1 - A hug from someone bigger than me.  Even though I know that this person isn't going to actually fix anything, it makes me feel for a brief second like I used to when my dad would hug me and make everything ok.  After this point I feel like I can continue on.  Someone did this for me yesterday without even knowing it.  God provides exactly what we need at exactly the right moment.  

Number 2 - Holding a sleeping baby. There is nothing that relaxes me faster than just sitting on a couch, holding a baby while he/she sleeps. It is wonderful.  I feel like all is well in the world. I can get beyond my problems and remember that there are things more important than my worrying.  I have discovered that going to the pool with friends and playing with their children helps to a certain extent. Basically, they got me away from the craziness that is my life.  However, tomorrow morning (while my kitchen is being worked on when I would normally be sleeping) I am going to go hold a baby. I am excited. And thankful that I have so many friends with babies. :)

So yes. This person is still learning much. I don't do well tired, stressed out, and no home that is clean. But hey, at least this is temporary. A temporary place that has an end (hopefully the home part tomorrow.) And life on the other side will feel that much sweeter having walked through the stress of today. After all, we learn so much more and grow so much more when life is hard. Too bad it has to hurt so much.

Long Time... No Post

Due to the time of year, posting has become few and far between. At work I rarely have the time to jump on and say what has been going on.  At home there is no internet. Add in a week of vacation and Voila! No time for posting. :)  So here are a few highlights:

1. Vacation - 4 days of traveling for 3 in Colorado. Next time I vote for less traveling more time in CO.  Other than the days in the car/ on planes, it was a great trip.

2. Summer - Week 11 is here! This is always such a bittersweet time. It is hard to believe that the staff got here just over three months ago.  Time has FLOWN by.  I'm ready for life to return to "normal" but I will miss all of the wonderful friends I have made in my summer staff.

3. Hair - I chopped it off.  At some point I will take a pic and post it, but I haven't had time yet.

4. Kitchen - Our kitchen is being remodeled. This had led to a lot of eating out, and not being able to cook.  I will be so thankful when it is back working and done.  It was supposed to be finished this week, but it appears that next week is the final date.

5. TV - Probably the most exciting for me! We broke down and got Dish Network with DVR and let me tell you it is WONDERFUL!!! I love it.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy TV. Unfortunately at some point during the kitchen remodel, my room's tv stopped working. Now I have to call in and get it serviced, which we know is one of Joanna's favorite things to do.

Ok. that's the short of it. Life is good and choir planning will be coming next week in full force. And a trip down to out other location to take some pictures and clean up the office down there. Someday my life will slow down...

On the upswing

I'm finally feeling like myself again.  My room is clean, I've worked out the past two mornings, and I have some energy. Life is much happier.

I'm now in charge of Children's Choir at church.  It's a little overwhelming to think about, but I know that this is going to be a fun thing for me to invest in. I love kids; I love teaching kids; and I love Music.  All of these things add up to great amounts of fun on Sunday nights.  Now if I can just get through the list of 20 things that have to be done before the kickoff on Sept 7th. 

Recently, a friend showed me some tough stuff about myself.  It is so easy for me to become selfish and complacent! He showed me of how completely selfish I was being about some things. It was one of those hard, but good conversations. (And he didn't even really know he was doing this, which makes it even more of a God thing.) Now I have to figure out what I am going to do about it.

We are already in week 8 of summer. And I will be gone all of week 9. That means I really only have 2 1/2 weeks of summer left. Crazy. Weird. Where did the time go?!? Soon it will be the fall and I will be thankful to have all of my friends back. I live in such a weird world. 

Now I just have to get all of the work that needs to get done before the end of the week finished. And then - Colorado Mountains here I come.

Strep Type G

I personally didn't know that there were different kinds of strep. When the doctor told me last wednesday, "You don't have strep." I went on my merry way thinking I just had an upper respiratory tract infection.  I didn't seem to be getting better as the week progressed and on Sunday thought, I need to go back to the doctor.

Then I got the call. A most frustrating call. It was the doctor saying that they needed to call me in a prescription, please call them back. So I called them back, and guess what, I do have strep. Strep type G.  The immediate test only tests for type A. Awesome. So now, in my feeling awful, I have to drag myself out of the house, to the pharmacy to FINALLY get on antibiotics. That's right friends. ONE WEEK after I started feeling sick, I finally get to start treating it. 

And now it is Wednesday. We are three days into the antibiotic regimen and I pretty much hurt worse than ever.  The upper respiratory tract infection has decided to get worse, so now I can't breath out my nose and my throat hurts. And everytime I swallow my ear hurts, since my tonsil is so swollen my ear can't drain. 

All this to say, Joanna is throwing herself a pity party.  Feel free to join if you so choose. Feel free to ignore also.  Just be thankful that you don't live with Joanna. Then you have to hear all the complaining. I have apologized to my roommates multiple times for my whining. I just hate being sick! Right now, nothing sounds better than being to eat without pain. or Andy's I feel like Andy's frozen custard could go a long way to making me feel better. I just might have to make a trip for lunch...

The Deadly Parking Lot

If you live where I do, you can probably guess where this is.  There is this shopping center in town, and the whole world likes to hang out there.  It has a Jason's Deli, Marble Slab, Starbucks, Ross, Linens N Things, and some other stores.  I spend a lot of time here, and I must admit, almost every time at one point I will think, "That car is going to run straight into me."  Usually an unfortunate word is at the beginning of that phrase.... 

Anyway, today, due to my ridiculously swollen lymph node, I decided to have soup for lunch. (Much more pleasant to swallow.) Of course Jason's has the best selection of soup. Which meant facing the (dun dun dun) deadly parking lot. (Seriously the dun dun dun plays through my head when I think about going to this shopping center.) So off I went. 

In the time span of going, parking at Jason's Deli, then leaving, I almost got backed into THREE times. One time actually required a horn. The entire time I thought "I hate this parking lot. I wish I could pick up Jason's and move it somewhere. Anywhere else. Preferably not on Broadway somewhere else." But I survived my trip, and the lack of strange feeling while eating lunch was totally worth the driving.

On the precipice...

Something big is coming. I can feel it in my bones. I actually have the "I don't want to eat because so much emotional junk is going on in my brain." I haven't felt this way since my sophomore year of college. (though it's not nearly that extreme. I'm actually eating which wasn't what happened then)  I really thought I was getting sick for awhile, but now I think it is just everything. I could be more specific, but the junk is too personal.

I got really shaken up (in a good way) at Summer Staff Bible Study on Wednesday.  I am complacent.  I would much rather run the path of least resistance than face challenges of any kind. I hate change. I hate conflict. I'm passive-aggressive. I'm lazy. I'm a gossip. I'm am a sinful, fallen person who has so far to go in her walk with the Lord. 

My heart is at a very tender place right now.  It is time for me to do what I know. But sometimes, ok all the time, putting the talk to action is so hard. 

Who knows how long this period of stress will last. I know it will make me grow, but growing up is so hard...

Mom for a day!

Ok, so I wasn't really Little Larsh's mom, but hey, it felt like it today. I got the call at 6:45 this morning. Little Larsh's baby brother was on the way! I jumped out of bed (more like rolled), took a quick shower and headed over. I'd been waiting for this call for DAYS! Little Larsh slept through the commotion of mom and dad leaving and I had to wake him up so that we could get to church on time.

We made it to church and he had tons of fun playing in the nursery. Of course he was supposed to nap from 11-1, and had only been asleep for 10 minutes when I went to pick him up just before 12. We went through a drive through for me and then brought him home to bed. Then came the wonderful fact of him sleeping for almost 3 hours. It was sheer bliss. Once he woke up and ate, we played and went outside and blew bubbles. (Ok, I blew bubbles, but he enjoyed watching them float by). Then he was mr cranky pants again, so he is currently taking a nap.

Which leads to how I am managing to blog. Mom's, I have a new respect for you. And Little Larsh is an easy baby (at 11 months he is still a baby)! I can't wait to go up to the hospital and meet the new Baby Larsh. I'm sure that pictures will be soon to follow. But for now, I've got to go check on the laundry...

Oh summer staff...

When my college summer staff found out that I was still using xanga, they expressed their shock. Apparently I am far behind the times. So here I am on blogger. I'm pretty sure I won't blog any more regularly, but hey, it's a new place to start.