Snow Days

FINALLY... I have my camera whilst there is snow. The last couple of snow storms we have had, my baby brother had my camera and was out of town. So now... I can share with you this:

Cardinal at our bird feeder

The Holly Tree in our front yard

Beautiful snow covered tree in our neighbor's backyard

I think this may be my favorite show of all... Daddy & Momma Cardinal

At the bird bath...

Momma chillin' in the snow...

Momma at the bird bath

The new puppy - Bella - enjoying the snow

As the snow was coming down

Just beautiful

Enjoy the day wherever you are!

Just Stuff

1. I love Sonic ice. I don't know why I love it, but I do. I think it is because I can munch on it without breaking my teeth. I love Sonic ice so much that sometimes I get an extra large cup of ice that will last me almost through the workday. I may be a little weird.

2. In my perfect dream house, I will have an automatic ice maker. It will make Sonic ice. I may be a little obsessed.

3. I just heard Little Jimmy Dickens sing these words: "May the Bird of Paradise fly up your nose." He turned 90 and had a birthday celebration. He used to come into the Sears store where I worked as a teenager and bought things from me. He is very short. He would have been about 60 years old then. I have just aged myself.

4. I cannot believe I worked at Sears 30 years ago. I may need to cry for a minute.

5. I also worked at the Opryland theme park. I miss Opryland. I really, really do.

6. My boss totally rocked today. Why? Because he had a deposition in Goodlettsville yesterday and I told him about Chef's Market... which is one of the best eating establishments in the middle Tennessee area... and he went there and spent a LOT of money buying a wonderful lemon cake and bringing it into the office. I ate some today after lunch. I promptly fell into a sugar coma and I may never come out of it.

7. I love Hawaii 5-0. The old show was great but the new show is wonderfully written and shot in a great nitty-gritty kind of way. I would move to Hawaii to work on that production team. I would probably move to Hawaii for other reasons too.

8. Item number 7 may interfere with my plans to move to Montana. I have never been to Montana, but I want to live there. The pictures are beautiful.

9. I have never broken a bone in my body. I am now frantically looking for some wood to knock on. I would be happy to live my entire life without breaking a bone in my body.

10. This semester's classes already feel better than the last semester. It has only been a week since I started class, but I don't feel the need to crawl into a cave and cease to exist like I did last semester.

I think ten items is enough for now.

Yep... it's been a while

The past few months may have been some of the most difficult months I have endured in a while. I was so overwhelmed with school that I really imploded. I took nine hours of classes on top of starting a new job with a new law firm.

It was beyond taxing. I found that I got up in the morning at 5:30a to get to work by 7:00a and work until 4:00p. Then I would get home by 4:45p, eat a quick bite for dinner and begin schoolwork/homework, etc by 6:00p. That would typically go into about 1:00a and the cycle would start all over again. Unless it was the weekend... in which I hit the turbo thrusters and stayed up until 3 or 4a, sleep until about 9a and start the process all over again.

Insane. It was completely insane. It was so insane that I am not sure what occurred during the last semester as far as anything else in the world was concerned.

Have I learned my lesson? Yes. I've learned a few. The first being that I will not take nine hours and work full-time. Sorry... I'm just not the young girl who has the ability to do that sort of thing anymore.

Second... I have to keep a balance in my life. I only see my friends through Facebook. Seriously. Therefore, I will make a concerted effort to get out of the house and see actual live, breathing people this semester.

Third... no procrastinating the homework this semester. This happened last semester mostly because I was always working on some project or another and I really spent the semester putting out the fire that was close enough to burn me.

This semester I will be taking two classes. I already feel like I can breathe easier.

Our family did lose and gain a member during the semester. On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, our 10 year old toy poodle developed a heart condition that was going to be a chronic problem and we chose to put him down. This was especially difficult for my father, who really adored that dog.

So, two weeks later, I searched for a replacement dog. I tried a few rescue places and found other poodles, but they were all aged and we just did not want to get too attached to another dog that might not be around that long.

Off to Craigslist I went and found a wonderful little miniature pinscher puppy down in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We contacted the owner, made the arrangements and the next day I drove to Chattanooga and picked up Bella.

She's captured our hearts. And most importantly... we ALL love this dog. The last one was not as thoroughly loved by all members of the family. Here is Bella with Dad...



So... we have enjoyed getting Bella accustomed to our home life and she has made the transition really well.

And now... back to the books.