Yesterday

The day started out with a meeting with my Academic Advisor to try and map out the next 2 years of my life (as far as school and classes go). The meeting was at 12:30, and I got to the campus about 5 minutes before that because my Mom had to drive me (because only the truck is working right now...yay), and we had to stop for gas before we left town, so that put us a few minutes behind schedule.

Anyways. The meeting went well, I thought. I should have scheduled for an hour, but I don't know if I could stand to meet with my advisor for that long...I mean, she's a nice lady, but...I don't know, I just don't think I could be in the same room with her for that long. We got all of my required classes mapped out and divided into quarters, but I still have 18 credit hours to add into that before I reach the total I'll need to graduate. With electives, that shouldn't be too hard to manage.

There's probably going to be at least one quarter that I'll be taking 18 credit hours, and I'm really not looking forward to that. I still need to remind my advisor that I'm not planning on doing the Masters Program, and maybe talk to someone about what my other options will be with the degree that I'll have. Hopefully I'll find something that I'm interested in because I really don't want to be a teacher anymore...at least, not right now.

At 2:00, I had an orientation session for the Learning Center, where I'll also be working this Fall (if they still keep me at the Advising Office, that is). That lasted about an hour and a half, but we'll get paid for that, so it was basically easy money. :) We just talked about things you can expect to encounter on the job and stuff like that. Like I said, it was easy money.

Since I have no vehicle, Jake was nice enough to pick me up. We headed over to the mall, and I called Jess to see if she wanted to meet us there so I could give her her birthday present. She got there about an hour after we did because she had some stuff to take care of before she left.

While we waited, Jake and I wandered around Walden's for about 30-45 minutes (probably the longest amount of time I've ever spent in that store...mostly because it's a small store). I saw some really cool stuff, and found a book that I'd like to get (a Dr. Seuss book that has a collection of 12 books...I basically just want one of them, tho ;p), but it'll have to wait until I have money.

After Walden's, we browsed around the calendar stand that they have outside of Hot Topic. They have some really cute ones for next year, and I may have trouble picking just one out, but they might come out with one between now and when I get mine that's even cuter than the others, so my decision won't be as hard. :)

After that, we went down to FYE and poked around a little. I may have gotten some ideas for Christmas presents. I know it's early, but I like to get started early and spread out the expenses a little. Anyways. After we got done in there, I gave Jess a call to see where she was, and since she was close, we decided to meet in JCPenney's. When we finally found her (we were at one entrance and she had come in another), we headed over to Old Navy so she could grab some flip-flops.

We headed back to Penney's and decided to go to Hot Topic, where I also found some potential ideas for Christmas presents. We looked around, but nobody was buying anything, so we left. We stopped by Journeys (or whatever the shoe place is that's by Hot Topic) and looked around in there for a few, mostly because Jess wanted to listen to the song that they were playing.

By this time, it was about 5:30 or so, and Jake was ready to leave (he's so not a good shopping buddy! ;p), so we headed to the cars. I walked over to Jess's van with her so I could give her her present, which she loved, but it was a little small, so I told her I'd exchange it for one the next size up and mail it to her or something.

The exchanging of the present was a little harder than I'd expected. I went to the store last night, and they didn't have any of the same hoodies there. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, so I called Jess and told her the situation and that I was going to go ahead and return it and try to find it on the website, and if that didn't work, the she'd be getting something different, and she was okay with that. So, I returned it and checked the web when I got home, and I actually found it, so I ordered it and hopefully it'll be here in a few days. :) Crisis averted! ;p

P.S. I think this is probably the longest blog I've ever written!

Boredom

I can't believe that the summer is almost over! I don't feel like I've done anything at all...especially since the Hinder concert had to be rescheduled for a time/date that I couldn't make it to. That was really disappointing. I'd been looking forward to that concert for the entire summer.

It doesn't seem like I've even been hanging out with my friends as much as normal (for summer, that is). It kind of feels like it does during the school year, only a little better because almost everyone is closer that when school's in session. But Jessica has been gone almost all summer, and Katy works during the day while Brittany and Tabby work 2nd shift (and those work schedules don't work well with eachother).

Really the only exciting thing that I have left to look forward to is the trip to King's Island with Jake and his family. Last year was really fun, even though it was a little chilly (especially after riding on a water ride), so I hope that this year we don't get rained out or anything! That would be horrible.

. . .

I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing for a job during this school year. I'm still waiting to see if I get my Work Study money, but I really don't know what's going on with it. If I don't have that, I'm not sure if they'll keep me in the Advising Office, so I'll only be working 4 hours a week in the Learning Center (provided they don't change their minds and tell me they don't want me).

I just wish that I could get an update soon, before I start school preferably. That way, if I need to look outside of school to find a job, I can start the search soon and hopefully get established in a job before classes start up. It would be nice to start saving up money as soon as possible...especially with my need for a new car.

Shopping trip

Well, my Mom and I took my brothers school clothes shopping at Old Navy today. The boys each had a spending limit of $100 a piece, and I just wanted to grab a new pair of jeans (since I was down to 2). The store was having a "Fall Preview" sale, which meant that a lot of their shirts and such were on sale for $10-15, which made it easy for the boys to get 4 or 5 and still have money left over for pants.

The boys each walked away with at least 2 pairs of shorts/jeans, and about 4-6 shirts a piece, which is good, and we didn't even spend $200. I got a pair of jeans, which were like $25 (I hate spending that much on jeans, but it was necessary this time). The total came to a little over $200, but I had a 10% off coupon, which brought it down to around $187, which is fantastic! And I got a free tank top because they have a promotion going on where you get a free tank top with the purchase of any women's jeans. Yay! I love free stuff!

So we ended up getting a great deal because of my coupon, and I think the boys are happy with their purchases (which is hard to do, at least for Ben because he's so freaking picky about his clothes!). After the mall, we stopped off at KFC and I bought my brothers and myself something to eat because they were "starving" or whatever.

Speaking of KFC....I heard that they're rebuilding the Taco Bell in town and it's going to be one of those half-n-half places. It'll be half Taco Bell, half KFC! I'm so excited about the prospect of having a KFC in town! I mean, Lee's Chicken is okay, but I LOVE KFC! I'm so excited!

This sucks!

Ever since the accident, I haven't had a vehicle to drive around, and that means that I've been stuck at home a lot. If I want to go anywhere, I have to either pray that Mom or Dad don't need the car, or mooch a ride off of someone else (which I really hate doing). I just wish that I could take myself places without needing to get permission or without having to bother someone else about it. I miss being able to hop in the car and drive down to Wal-Mart just because I'm bored...I don't have that luxury anymore. Now if I'm bored, I get to walk places, which I really don't enjoy doing because it takes so long and my foot still hurts pretty bad.

So, I'm basically stuck in the house all the time, which isn't great. I've been getting on the computer a lot lately, which is not a good thing because I never have anything to do when I'm on here, so I just poke around on some websites and pray that someone logs into their messenger so that I can talk to them.

My Mom said that she's going to get her van up-and-running so that I can use it until I can afford to get another car, which will be cool...only I don't know when that's actually going to happen. And she informed me today that she thinks it would be a good idea for me to use her van during the Fall and Winter quarters so that I can save up money for my new car....which is a good idea, except I'm not comfortable driving her van in the winter and I need something that I'm comfortable with to get me to and from campus every day. I just don't think it's a good idea, but I told her that I would/could use it for a couple of months and save up as much as I can then.

As far as what car I want to get, I'm not sure. I haven't even really been looking around to see what's out there because I don't have the money yet. I'll probably wait until the week before school starts back up and then go out and check some of the dealerships in town to see what they've got. I hope that I can find something that I like that also fits into my budget!

Worst Day Ever!

So, for those of you who do now know yet (which is most, if not all of you), I had a car accident on Sunday and totaled my car. Basically, I lost control when I was trying to merge onto I-75 from the 33 exit so that I could head over to Wal-Mart from Jake's house...I ended up in traffic on the highway and someone hit me while I was out there, which sent me flying back over where my car hit the cement overpass guardrail, where my car finally stopped.

I'm okay, I only have some bumps on the back of my head (one really big one that makes it difficult to sleep), my right foot is a little torn up, and I have some cuts and bruises on my legs (mostly the right one), and my neck and back have been pretty stiff, but nothing too serious; and I'm pretty sure that the people in the other vehicle did receive any major injuries, but I'll never be able to drive my car again...I miss my car!

I was on my way to the store to pick up a few things so that I could make lunch for Jake for his birthday (we were going to celebrate it early with my family)...that never happened. Mom and Dad ended up ordering pizza after Mom got me home. We were also supposed to go to the Hinder concert at the Allen County Fair, but it was cancelled for that night and rescheduled for Thursday (which we can't do), so I don't get to do that...even though I've been looking forward to it all summer!

But, I'm just thankful that I survived the whole incident and that nobody was seriously hurt, but I can't help but wish that I just would have gone to Community Market (the other grocery store in town) instead...if I had chosen to do that, none of this would have happened, and everything would be fine.

As it is, I'm going to have to buy a new car after I start working again...so I'm going to have the stress of school and work, plus having to worry about making car payments and everything else. I just hope that this is the only accident that I have to go through...I don't think I can handle this again!

Technology stinks!

Jake's 21st birthday is on Monday, but my family is going to have a small party for him on Sunday (technically today). I just asked Mom if she and Dad could make him a cake, but they also want to make him a meal (because it's the tradition in our family). Mom asked me to find a picture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Dad to use when he's drawing the design on the cake to decorate it, and I actually found a picture that I liked, and it didn't take that long.

I should have known things were going to take a turn for the worst. First of all, I had to use my brothers' computer because their printer's the only one that has color ink in it right now. That wasn't too bad...until I went to print the picture. The stupid printer wasn't responding, so my Dad told me to turn everything off, turn the printer back on first, and then the computer. But there was a problem, of course...I couldn't get the dang computer to turn back on all the way. It got to the "Windows is loading" screen (or whatever it is), then it would make this weird noise and then go to this random screen that I've never seen before.

I wasn't sure how to handle that, so I went and told Mom what was going on, and she said she'd handle it in the morning. I should have known that I wasn't going to be able to simply print off a picture...there had to be something that went wrong, of course! Hopefully Mom can fix the problem tomorrow, otherwise I don't know what we'll do for a visual aid for Dad, because I definately don't have any Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle stuff, and I don't think my brothers do, either. This really sucks!

My project

The other day, my Mom asked me to clean up the "animal room" and change the bunny's cage and all of that fun stuff. I had already decided that I was moving "George" (aka: Georgia- my bunny) out of the dog cage that the people I got her from had her in and that I was going to switch her over to the ferret's original cage (which is much smaller and easier to clean). I had been thinking about how I was going to reposition everything so that it would all fit in there when I decided that it would probably be a good idea to take out the big cage that we had the other cages sitting on so that I would have more room to work with.

If only I knew how much of a bitch it was going to be to take that damn cage out of there! I don't know how it was managed, but we somehow got it up the stairs and into the room without having to take it apart, but I had no such luck with taking it out. It got stuck at the top of the stairs because it was turned sideways and I couldn't turn it around because 1. it was too heavy and 2. it kept getting stuck on things. So, my Mom went downstairs and grabbed the drill and I started to disassemble it. That took about an hour alone, and I cut my foot somewhere in the process.

When I finally got most of the screws undone, I was able to start ripping the 2X4 s apart. The sound of them crunching and cracking was very therapeutic, not that I had any need for it to be such...but it was very satisfying. :)

I actually got it down to only having the base and one of the side "walls," but I still couldn't get it down the stairs because it was still stuck on things. So I called my Mom to come help me. We got it unstuck, but then it started getting stuck on things while we were taking down the stairs. We got it all the way down the stairs, only for it to get stuck on the door at the bottom. My Dad came over and wrenched it out of the doorway (yay for Dads!). I dragged the stupid thing out the front doors and onto the front lawn. I didn't have enough energy to pull it around to the back...I took care of that the next day.

So now the "animal room" is very roomy and it doesn't seem as crowded in there with the animal cages and the computer desk. And I bet it won't smell as bad anymore because that old cage was pretty gross. It belonged to an iguana before it came to us, and it was never thoroughly cleaned out...yummy. ;p I just hope I don't have to go through that again for a very, very long time!

Dull

Well, I wish that I had something fun and exciting to blog about, but I really don't. I haven't really been up to much, let alone anything exciting. But next weekend, that will be different. On Sunday, I'm going to a Hinder concert, featuring Papa Roach and Buckcherry...that should be pretty good. And then the next day (Monday) is Jake's 21st birthday, so that will be exciting.

After that, I really don't have anything fun until Labor Day weekend: that Sunday is a family reunion, and Monday I'm going to King's Island with Jake and his family. That trip was really fun last year, so I'm extremely excited about this year! Hopefully I'll have more money to spend this time! :)

As for today, I'm going swimming with Brittany, and then I don't know what I'll do. My Mom informed me that I have to chauffeur my brothers around. I have to take Nick to/pick him up from football practice, and either take Ben to Showchoir or bring him back from it...or maybe both. I really don't want to get stuck doing that because it means that I can't make any plans for this evening because I don't know when I'll have to run out to one of the schools to pick up/drop off one of them. It sucks and I wish that I didn't have to do it.

Another movie

I saw "Rush Hour 3" on Friday with Jake and Brittany. It was really good, in my opinion. I would even say that it was as good as the 2nd "Rush Hour" movie, if not better...I liked the plot a little more for this one. And they did not put all of the funny scenes in the previews; there were plenty others in the movie. :)

So, I'm able to add that to my list of accomplishments this summer. It's not much, but at least it was a good movie. I still have King's Island to look forward to, and that will -definately- be exciting, as long as it doesn't rain the entire time we're there! I think we all learned from last year that we need to bring a change of clothes...last year we rode a bunch of water rides, but it was overcast and kinda cold outside, so we were chilly for most of the day. I hope I have enough money to get some cool souvenirs this time! :)

What I've accomplished this summer

I decided to make up a list of everything I've done this summer in hopes of making myself feel a little more accomplished because it just seems like I haven't really done anything in the last couple of months...we'll see if it works.

Things I've done:

1. Finished 3 baby blankets- this still leaves me with about 10 more to do (including my own)
2. Read 4 books- I still want to finish at least 3 more before the summer is over...then I can feel like I've -really- accomplished something (and it will make a huge dent in my reading list!)
3. Visited Sarah at her new apartment- it was a lot of fun and I'm hoping to get the chance to do it again soon
4. Met with my biological father- and tomorrow I get to meet his mother
5. Saw at least 4 new movies- I'm planning on seeing Rush Hour 3 this weekend!
6. Stopped eating fast food and drinking regular pop/soda- for the most part, anyways

Okay, so it doesn't seem like a really long list, but that's because I didn't list everything separately. Now that I've made this list, I don't feel like my summer has been a complete waste of vacation. Hopefully I can get a few more exciting things packed into the next month before I have to return to school. I should have at least one that I know of...I'm going to a Hinder concert at the Allen County Fair in a few weeks...that should be pretty cool! :)

Adventures in Dayton

So, I went to visit Sarah on Sunday with Brittany. We got to her apartment around noon and we ran to the store to get some stuff so she could make lunch for us. While we ate lunch we watched "Muppet Treasure Island" (the boy is so creepy!).

After the movie was over, we went to the mall at Fairfield Commons...it's absolutely huge! And it has a Disney Store, which is amazing. Sarah and I made plans to do some Christmas shopping there sometime (before Christmas, obviously) in the near-ish future. They also have a pet store ("Fetch") and they have about 3 or 4 chocolate stores...amazing! They also have a Build-A-Bear Workshop, where I made Jake a turtle for his birthday and named him "Michaelangelo." :) His turtle shell is a backpack! It's so freaking awesome! That's where I stuffed the shot glass that I got him (it is for his 21st birthday, after all).

We also went exploring in the Macy's store there. After we looked at all of the hideous dresses they had on sale, we wandered over to the mattresses and started laying on them to see which one was the best. The best one was the Sealy Posturpedic that I found...when you plopped down on it, you sunk into the bed. It was like having a worn-in mattress without having to break it in first. :)

We wandered around some more and eventually met up with Sarah's parents in the JCPenney. After they did some shopping, we all headed back to Sarah's apartment. Her parents brought her a new computer because her's crashed, and they set that up. After they were done, they gave us money for pizza and then left. We decided to run to the store while we were waiting on the pizza to be delivered to grab some snacks and stuff. When we got back (before the estimated time was over), we waited on the pizza. About 10 or so minutes after it was supposed to be there, Sarah called Dominoes and asked what had happened to it. Apparently they had gotten there early and we weren't there. They tried to call Sarah's number (her cell), but they dialed "937" instead of "419" so they didn't get her.

When the pizza finally arrived, we watched a little bit of the old version of "The Producers" (which was pretty funny) and ate our food. We headed out around 9 because I had to be up early this morning and I wanted to get some sleep. :)

The trip was great and it's definately something that I want to do again! Hopefully I'll get the chance to do so. :)

Another meeting

So, I'm scheduled to meet with my biological father at his mother's house next Thursday to have lunch with her. I don't really know a whole lot about her, but he seems to think that we'll get along, so I hope he's right. I've heard that she's a really nice lady, which is comforting.

In other news. I really want to do something exciting before my summer is over, but I can't really figure out what to do. I mean, I'm going to a Hinder concert on the 19th of this month, but I don't know if that's going to be good enough. I'm hopefully going to visit Sarah this weekend, but it's only going to be for a day trip, and I don't know if that will help me feel like I've accomplished something in the last 3 months. The summer is flying by and I just want to be able to enjoy it before it's time to head back to school and work.

Speaking of work...I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with my job if my Work Study grant doesn't come through. I have to be on campus for a meeting on Monday, so I'm going to stop in the Financial Aid office either before or after the meeting and check with them on that, and hopefully I'll still be eligible for it. I'm not sure if they'll still keep me in the Adivising Office if I don't have work study...so I hope that I get it, just so I don't have to worry about it!