Campfire...Hot Dogs... & S'Mores....

Last year about this time we had a fire at Mom and Dad's house... cooked hot dogs, roasted marshmallows, and made pies. Back by popular demand we did it again this year. This is becoming a nice little tradition if you ask me. I didn't get as many pictures this year as last year, but it was still just as fun.

As I was sitting by the fire roasting my marshmallows to make my s'more I was reminded of a scene from on of my all time favorite movies... SANDLOT! So I will share it with you... (the video quality isn't the best, but you get the point).



Below are some pictures from the night,hope you enjoy.

Rocky & Chris... Best Buds

Even though Rocky is my dog, Chris is his best friend! He loves hanging out with Chris and sleeping on the couch with Chris. Sleeping is def. their favorite thing to do together. Here are some videos of the buddies hanging out... they were taken on my cell phone so the quality isn't the best, but they are WAY too CUTE!!!!


Rocky and Chris playing basketball with a toy that Ms. Janice gave Rocky.



Rocky & Chris Swimming, it is hilarious!!!

Sad attempt at a Halloween Card for Class

HAHAHA I had to make a Halloween card for class (at least thats what I chose). We had to use certain guideline provided by the teacher, but here is my final result...

Fun with Photoshop!!

Alright, I like to play around in photoshop... a lot! here are some creation I made back in February for my niece and soon to be nephew (he wasn't born yet)! I haven't printed them out for them yet, but I will... I have a couple more that I am working on and will post later. So here goes... let me know what you think!
















Hope you enjoy! I will post more as I complete them! ;)

FREE Applications and COOL Websites....

*new additions in green

Want to get rid of your quick launch bar, but don't want to lose the quick launch effect? RocketDock is a great program and for you Apple lovers out there that can't afford a MAC it gives you the effect of their Dock application.

1. http://rocketdock.com/


Want to daple in making web pages but don't want to pay for Dreamweaver or Frontpage?? Here are a couple applications I found that are pretty cool and best of all FREE!:

1. http://www.trellian.com/webpage/index.html
-The GUI for this program is a lot like MS Office 2007. Very user friendly.

2. http://www.pagebreeze.com/


Free Text Editor...
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm


Want to edit your photos but don't want to pay for Photoshop. Check these out:
1. http://pho.to/editor/
-This application is awesome!! great free program!

2. http://www.gimpshop.com/

3. http://www.getpaint.net/download.html


This website has funny stories from Tech Support people:
http://www.techtales.com/techroom.html


I will keep adding to this post as I find more fun stuff!

Multimedia first Lab assignment

Now this is my kind of assignment, a collage! If you click on it, it should get bigger.... this was my about me assignment.

CrAzY School Schedule...

Ok so I have survived my first week of school! I just hope I can keep up the pace! I am taking 16 hours plus working full time!!! Some people think I am crazy, but I am just trying to get done! I'm hoping Collin College (formerly known as Collin County Community College) turns into a 4 year college soon like I have been hearing so I don't have to transfer! That would be AWESOME!! Ok so here is my crazy schedule:

Monday: Intro to Visual Basic.Net Programming from 7:00-9:45pm
Tuesday: Intro to Computer Maintenance from 5:45-11:00pm
Wednesday: Database Programming - SQL from 7:00-9:45pm
Thursday: Intro to Computer Maintenance from 5:45-11:00pm
Online: Intro to Multimedia
Online and 1 Saturday a month: Speech from 9-12am (every second Sat. of the month)

Holy cow thats a lot! My Tuesday and Thursday night class is only a 6 week class so I will be done with it by Oct. 14th. Everything else will be done the second week of December. Then I only have 4 classes left to get my AAS in Computer Information Systems (focusing mainly on Programming).

But I'm excited about this semester because all of my classes have some cool things going on. In Comp. Maint. we are going to learn how to take a computer apart and then put it back together and install and Operating System on it (our Final Exam is that we have to do that all on our own and prove to him the computer works). In Multimedia we are doing a lot of stuff with websites so that will be fun. And in VB.Net I am learning about Programming which will help me greatly at work! As well as SQL, it will help me at work with the handhelds.

The one class I am least excited about it Speech. For those of you that know me, know that I am outgoing and friendly. But when it comes to giving speeches and presentations infront of a classroom of people I get nervous and I feel my face getting all hot and red. We had class this Saturday for the first time and we had to give an impromtu speech on a random topic we drew out of a hat. I got house training a dog. It was easy, but I could feel myself getting hot and losing my place. Oh well I guess thats what the class is for.

Well I better get some homework done... more updates later!

Check out the new Digs....

FINALLY some Washington DC pictures!

The Metro... how we got around town...

Site-Seeing...

There were some Homeless people...

Lost in the month of June...

WOW! is June really almost over? I can't believe how fast this month has FLOWN by!!! I guess being in Washington D.C. for a week doesn't help. I have been really bad about blogging this month and I think it has to do with all the craziness! I was in Washington D.C. from the 11th - the 17th and right before we left we released our new rewrite of RMS for the handhelds, so I have been BUSY BUSY!! So by the time I get home I don't even want to think of looking at my laptop! And I haven't been getting home from work till LATE so by the time I make dinner and clean up its almost 8:30-9:00 and I don't want to start something and end up staying up late! (haha my Dad joked just last night that I am getting to be an old woman that has to go to bed early!)

So anyways on top of cleaning the apartment this weekend, doing laundry, and trying to get Chris to go swimming, I will try to catch everyone up one what has been going on this month in more detail and post pictures from my Washington trip. I will try to update pictures on my MySpace and Facebook too (if you haven't added me yet... you really should!)!

Oh yea and MY BIRTHDAY IS IN 21 DAYS! YAY!!!

Being Mr. (or Ms.) Tough Guy (or Girl)

So most of you that know me know that I am a very kind-hearted person that usually wears my feelings on my sleeves and have a REALLY hard time being mean to people that are coming to me for help. WELL starting next week my VP has asked me to take on a personal mission (character building) to be Mr. Tough Guy with people out in the field that call me for help on issues that I have created documentation on.

In a way this is a good thing because I spends HOURS working on step-by-step instructions on how to fix an issue or how to deal with a new procedure (I take screen for screen snapshots of everything and lay it out step by step). Some days I feel like no one out in the field is reading the documentation that I am putting together b/c I will get 5-6 calls a day about an issue that has been documented. Not only do I create these documents but I email them out to everyone and I post them on the internet in two different places (our Sharepoint site and our Blog site (http://iotrms.blogspot.com/)). But I still get calls on these issues... don't get me wrong, I am in NO WAY complaining about having to take the calls, but it takes me away from helping someone that is really stuck and needs help.

I know that I am going to struggle with this character building assignment because I hate turning people away when they come to me for help. Even if I don't know how to help them I will take the time to research how to help them. I even hate telling people that they are doing something the wrong way (but Phil says I am only hurting them by not telling them)! My VP said that for the first little while people will get upset with me or get mad at me for not helping them "just real quick", but no matter what he is holding ME accountable for telling these people "no sorry refer to the notebook, and if you still have trouble then call me back"! In the end I know that it will only be benefiting the end user more because they will be able to feel comfortable with their handheld and will have a better understanding of how to deal with issues as they come up. I know that by being firm I am making them take ownership, but I don't want people mad at me or cursing me behind my back. On the other hand this will open up more time for me to help the other guys on my team with enhancements and other beneficial projects.

I am excited for this character building because it is a life skill that I will need to acquire at some point in time... how to help people help themselves by learning something on their own. Whether it is now or when I have kids I will have to help other little birdies learn to fly. When I have kids I won't be able to hold their hand through everything they will need to learn to take iniciative and learn how to do things on their own. I have great respect for my VP for pushing me to take ownership in this adventure and for wanting to help me really understand how to help others. Another big thing my VP always pushes is learning how to deal with conflict resolution, I guess now will be a good time to work on that too. Because I am sure me not helping people out real quick will cause some conflict and I don't want to have to run to the other guys on my team or my VP every time someone gets upset with me for not helping!

Hmmm sounds like I am going to be busy! EXCITING and SCARY at the same time! Plus on top of all this Convention is in a week and a half and I will only be able to take support calls for about an hour or so a day... so as Amy said that other day "Time for them to put on their Big Boy Pants"! (ha ha I don't know why but I love that saying!) But really YAY Convention time is almost here!!! I am getting really excited to meet everyone I talk to on the phone regularly!!

I will keep y'all posted on my experience as a Tough Girl! :)

My Personality...

Do you agree or disagree??

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion |||||||||||||||| 66% Stability |||||||||||| 46% Orderliness |||||||||||||| 58% Accommodation |||||||||||||| 54% Interdependence |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Intellectual |||||| 30% Mystical |||| 16% Artistic |||||||||| 36% Religious |||||||||||||||||||| 90% Hedonism |||||||||||| 43% Materialism |||||||||| 36% Narcissism |||||||||||| 43% Adventurousness |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Work ethic |||||||||||||| 56% Humanitarian |||||||||||| 43% Conflict seeking |||||| 30% Need to dominate |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Romantic |||||||||||| 43% Avoidant |||||||||||| 43% Anti-authority |||||| 30% Wealth |||||| 23% Dependency |||||||||||| 43% Change averse |||||||||||| 50% Cautiousness |||||||||||| 50% Individuality |||||||||||| 50% Sexuality |||||||||||||| 56% Peter pan complex |||||||||||||||| 70% Family drive |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Physical Fitness |||||||||||||| 56% Histrionic |||||| 23% Paranoia |||||||||||||||||| 76% Vanity |||||| 30% Honor |||||||||||| 50% Thriftiness |||||||||| 36%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality test by similarminds.com

Unpacking my life....

Well I got all moved into my new place this past weekend (actually I got all moved in Friday before dark... and I started Friday morning!!!). Thanks to all the guys who helped me move (Derek, BJ, Steph, Dad, and Chris) I wouldn't have been able to do it all so fast without all of them! I went back and cleaned the old house Saturday morning, my roommate came and got her stuff and all she said to me was Hi! WOW! really? Oh well!

I have almost unpacked ALL of my stuff!! I didn't really realize how much "stuff" I had! Even when packing it up, I think b/c I packed a little at a time I didn't even realize all that I had (and I think stuff was more spread out throughout the house). But while unpacking all of it at once and in closer living quarters I became well aware of just how much "stuff" I really have! So not only did I sort through all of my stuff while I was packing it to weed out anything that I really don't need I am also doing the same thing while I unpack! It is hard b/c I like to keep things that have sentimental value, but i keep having to ask myself how long do you really need to keep hanging on to those shirts from high school that I will never wear again b/c they say Seniors '03 on it and the fact that they don't fit? Or how long do I need to keep magazine clippings for collages that I thought about making here and there? ha ha I guess you could say I am a pack-rat!

So I am sorting through my life once again and cleaning out the clutter! Getting ready for another garage sale! :) I will post pictures soon of the new apartment!!

New Favorite Singer...

LUCY WALSH - daughter of Joe Walsh (from the Eagles)
she has a beautiful voice and kind of has an 80's thing going on with her wardrobe and music style.

http://www.myspace.com/lucywalsh

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1584232&vid=221820

Check her out!!

I'm moving on....

As moving day approaches I find myself in a funky mood... one that is a mixture of excitement, nerves, and sadness! Excited to move into a new place, new people, new surroundings.

Nervous because I am actually ON MY OWN!! When I moved out of my parents house I had someone there helping me pay the bills and it wasn't all up to me, now it is ALL me! Which is a good thing that I don't have to rely on someone else, but kind of scary.

Sad because I love the house and it is so cute!!! And its my first house for being out on my own... I was doing laundry the other day and as I was folding towels I thought this will be the last time I do this here and as I was walking back out to the living room as sudden wave of sadness came over me, but it only lasted a few seconds. You know in movies where people have flash backs of times that they spent with people or doing something? My thoughts kind of flashed like that... I thought of all the stuff we had done in the house and to the house and our little christmas tree and decorations, it was a sad but happy feeling to have been able to have those times.

Even though my roommate and I's relationship is pretty strained at this point she will always have a place in my heart and everything that we went through in the house will forever be cherished memories.

When I think about this "new phase" of my life as I am calling it I think about the Rascal Flatts song I'm Moving On (not all of the lyrics pertain to my situation, but the thought behind the song)...

I've dealt with my ghosts and I've faced all my demons
Finally content with a past I regret
I've found you find strength in your moments of weakness
For once I'm at peace with myself
I've been burdened with blame, trapped in the past for too long
I'm movin' on

I've lived in this place and I know all the faces
Each one is different but they're always the same
They mean me no harm but it's time that I face it
They'll never allow me to change
But I never dreamed home would end up where I don't belong
I'm movin' on

I'm movin' on
At last I can see life has been patiently waiting for me
And I know there's no guarantees, but I'm not alone
There comes a time in everyone's life
When all you can see are the years passing by
And I have made up my mind that those days are gone

I sold what I could and packed what I couldn't
Stopped to fill up on my way out of town
I've loved like I should but lived like I shouldn't
I had to lose everything to find out
Maybe forgiveness will find me somewhere down this road
I'm movin' on

I'm movin' on
I'm movin' on

The Power of Prayer!

I know that I have been praying for sometime now and Mom and her "Prayer Team" (as she calls them) have been praying that my house rents out fast and that everything will work out with my new apt.
WELL!!!!! I went to my new apartment office on Saturday to finalize our plans b/c there is a lady that wants to move in on the 10th so I wanted to tell the guy at the apartment that I want to go with the bigger apartment! While I'm there he tells me that they are having a move-in special and the first month is only $99! WOW!!! SO instead of having to pay close to $1,300 I now only have to pay $630.25!! Thank you GOD!!!
Well I call my landlord while I'm at the apartment to make sure that the lady still wants the house so I don't go through all of this mess with the guy in the office for nothing! My landlord tells me not only does the lady REALLY want the house but now she wants to move in on the 5th!!!! I was like ummm ok sure why not!? AHHHHH that is only a week away! (now its only 4 days away!)
So needless to say the Lord really answered my prayers and then some!!! I want to thank everyone that has prayed for me during this time!

Psalm 50:15
"Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."

Isaiah 41:10
"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Matthew 11:28
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

With all that said I have two final verse that have become kind of the guiding verses for my life...
The first verse helps me deal with the worry gene I inherited from my wonderful Father and Oma!
Matthew 6:34
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

And the second verse helps me with my struggle with being patient...
Romans 8:25
"But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."


In closing Thank God and Praise Him in all that you do and say!

P.S. anyone that wants to help pack or move HOLLA!!!

Which Jane Austen Heroine Are You?

Elizabeth Bennet

You are memorable, lovely and clever, the life of the party... you always have the perfect thing to say in every situation. Your honesty, virtue, and lively wit enable you to rise above the nonsense and bad behavior that pervade your money-seeking and often spiteful society. Nevertheless, your sharp tongue and tendency to make hasty judgments often lead you astray... if not careful; you can display qualities that you despise - pride and prejudice. But if you can get past negative first impressions, your life and love story will be epic!!!


** Haven't really read any of her books but I would like to if anyone has some I can borrow.**

Too much WORK not enough PLAY!

My Spring Break flew by WAY too fast! So this week its back to school for me... and what kind of welcome back do I get? OOOOHHHH Midterms!!! UGH!! The only one I'm really nervous about is SQL Server! I think I have about 6 weeks left of school which isn't too bad!
The garage sale went really well this weekend! I don't think we could have asked for better weather!! It was sunny and warm outside, but not too warm! I got a little sun burnt on my face Friday, but Saturday I tried to be good about keeping lotion on. I made pretty good money on the sale, so I'm not complaining!
The only thing I will complain about is that the 3 day weekend went by way too fast! I felt like I spent most of the weekend working instead of being able to enjoy it! Oh well there will always be more weekends! Easter Sunday was fun (I even didn't really mind FREEZING at the sunrise service Sunday morning!)! We all went back to Mom and Dad's after church for breakfast. We all started playing Wii and Lauren (my niece) was "roasting" us at bowling! It was hilarious! When my player wasn't doing what I wanted her to do Lauren told me that I just needed to get along with her and then she would help me win. Ha ha she is so cute!
Well my roommate stopped by the house Friday to get some more of her stuff to take to her parents house.... she wants to sell her bedroom set on craig's list and while we were talking about it I told her that even though she has moved most of her stuff out and she wasn't sleeping there she still has to pay the bills... I am getting nervous that she is going to skip out on her part of the bills which is REALLY frustrating! I wish they would hurry up and rent the house so I can be done with all of this!!!

Rain Rain GO AWAY!!

UGH!! It has been POURING rain since last night and it's a little depressing!

I should be packing more stuff and getting garage sale stuff together, but this rain is really making it hard to be motivated to do anything! I just hope that it stops raining tomorrow so it dries out by Friday! Oh well, it will all work out just fine! Well I think I am going to go to bed now... can't wait to wake up to more rain tomorrow!! ;) goodnight to all!

Rain rain go away,
Come again another day,
All the world is waiting for the sun.
-Breaking Benjamin - Rain

Frustrated!! :-/

I just feel so frustrated right now with everything at home... I am just ready to get out of here and move on with my life! I want to deal with my problems and MY problems only. I shouldn't have to feel like I am constantly babysitting someone that is old enough to take care of themselves! There is a certain person at work that thinks that I should be the one to stop my roommate and keep her under control and tell her that she is messing up. I have tried to talk to her and she won't talk to me, why should I have to do flips and tricks to get someone that "SAYS" they are your best friend to talk to you about what's going on with them. I should not of had to call her dad to try to find her when she went missing! She wouldn't answer her phone or texts when I tried to call and that really hurt, then to find out that she told our neighbor "well I know people are looking for me but I'm not replying to anyone!" WTF!!!! How can you do that to your friends? That is so freaking GAY and messed up!!

And what really burns me is that she comes home and acts like nothing happened, that her actions had NO affect on anyone around her! She really hurt me and I know that I am supposed to turn the other cheek, but how am I supposed to just let it go and open my heart to her again just to turn around and run out?!? I don't understand girls and thats why I don't trust them! A girlfriend is supposed to be there for you and your supposed to be able to tell them anything... I don't want anyone to have that kind of hold over me, where they know so much personal stuff that they can just turn around and use it against me! I just CAN'T trust a female like that unless its one of my sisters! Maybe one day I will find a girl that I can trust, but until then I will keep guarding my heart towards girls!

Well I think I have vented enough for now... until next time!

Cleaning and Packing

I spent my day today cleaning the house and starting to pack stuff up. I LOVE the house I am in, but the roommate situation is no good and I can't afford it myself. But after going apartment hunting yesterday I am actually getting excited about moving (not necessarily to an apartment, just a change of scenery)! I looked at a couple different apartments here in town and there was one that I found that is awesome!! All I need to do now is take my application back up there with all the fee's that go with it, since I don't know if the house will rent before May 31st I can't give them an exact move in date. But if I am approved and I put my deposit down they will hold an apartment for me.

I guess I should back up a little and tell you why I am moving... my roommate lost her job, so she started working part time at a job she had before. I got her a temp. job at my work, once they didn't need her anymore they let her go and she was going to start working full time for the other company. WELL something happened or fell apart or something, but she disappeared for like a week, and when she finally started showing up again she would come home long enough to take a shower grab some clothes then leave again. She bounced TWO rent checks and she wasn't working that I know of. Plus one of her friends said that she started experimenting with drugs. So needless to say things were kind of weird around here. Well now the guy she was hanging out with pretty much ditched her so she is around the house more, but she locks herself up in her room! WHATEVER!! So now she doesn't really have the means to live here and like I said before I can't afford to live here by myself.

My landlord was nice enough to in a way let us get out of our lease early. She is going to put the house up for rent and if it rents before our lease is up then no penalty on us, but we do have to honor the lease till May 31st at the latest. I just hope that my roommate can keep up her half of the bills till then.Hopefully this week I will get my tax return so I can take it and put it towards the new place :)!!!

So why am I cleaning and packing now you ask? Well, the house needs to be clean so the landlord can show it. And instead of cleaning around things, I might as well pack away the things I won't need in the next couple of months. Also, I am planning on having a garage sale next weekend so if I start sorting through things now I will find more stuff to put in the garage sale! I hope to make some good money on my garage sale! It feels good going through stuff that you haven't really touched in a year or so. This time around (moving) I am getting rid of anything that I haven't really looked at in a year. I'm trying not to hold on to all this clutter that I do, since I am down sizing I really don't have space for clutter!

It's kind of frustrating knowing that you worked your a$$ off today cleaning and getting things in order for my landlord to start showing the house, and my roommate who told me that she would be home today to clean her room and bathroom WASN'T!! She came home around 11 and then left again and then came home and slept all afternoon then woke up and left again and then came back and then left for good! As she was walking out the door she said that she was going to clean tomorrow, but her idea of cleaning is putting everything in garbage bags and taking it to her parents!?! Oh well as long as its off the floor and her room looks nice!

I had more written, but I don't want to look like I am writing a book so I cut it out to make another blog out of it...

It's all about ME!!

Well lets see... I currently have a GREAT job that I LOVE! Some days are a little more stressful than others, but you have to take the good with the bad, and I feel like I am lucky to have my job! What is this great job I speak of... I am a Support Analyst which is a fancy term for saying "I am the handheld guru for my department and help people out in the field with their handheld issues" (I don't know how comfortable I feel putting a bunch of person information out on the web so I will leave out what company I work for, those of you that know me already know where I work so no need to remind you! ha ha) One of my new most favorite people in the world from Suffolk County, New York has nicknamed me PRINCESS (not b/c I am snobby or anything like that) so I have become known as the Princess of Handhelds!
I am also a FULL - TIME student (and this semester by full time I mean taking 15 HOURS (5 classes) full time!!!) working towards my Computer Information Technologies degree! I take most of my classes online so I can work full time, this semester however I do have one night class on Thursday nights from 7-9:40! So pretty much I wake up, go to work, come home do homework or go to class, then go to bed. On weekends most of the time I am working on homework... Sometimes I feel burnt out on school, but I know in the end when I am done I will feel so good about sticking with it!
Why am I still in college when I graduated 5 years ago (man that's scary to think about!!) you ask? WELL... I have changed my major about 4 times now, lets see first it was Play Therapist, then it was Interior Decorator, then Nursing, then Elementary Education, and now it is CIT. So I have about 43 credit hours that don't count towards JaCk! So my advice to any high school seniors out there.... take your basics the first year and maybe second year of college, but PLEASE be actively researching what you want to do! I spoke to a friend the other day that I hadn't talked to in about a year... he asked how things were going and I gave my standard answer "oh good just you know work and school!" his comment back (which really hit me that I need to hurry up and get done) was "School?? What are you, on the 7 year plan?" - Its a pretty funny comment, but I need to be more motivated to finish! But it also doesn't help that I have taken a couple of semesters off here and there.
I guess now I should tell you a little more about my personal life... I moved out of my parent's house about a year ago almost (nothing bad happened, no falling out or anything like that it was just time for me to "spread my wing little birdie" as my mother is fond of saying) and I love it! I do have a roommate at the moment but that is soon about to change (I will have to write about that in another post)!
And my adorable child is the love of my life... before you start thinking anything BAD... I'm talking about my Boston Terrier - Rockstar (A.K.A. Rocky)!

He is so full of personality, me laughing so hard all the time. And his AtTiTuDe!! Man he is not afraid to give you some tude! He will be a year old in April, he knows how to sit, shake, lay, give high fives, kennel, and kind of roll over... we are still working on getting ALL the way over on rollover and we are working on here! He LOVES playing with his toys and he loves forcing you to play with them as well! He has a bed time and if you stay up past his bed time he will go to bed without you! Or if he stays up too late he will try to stay in bed under the covers as long as possible (lazy bum!) and he loves to "huff" at you if you aren't doing what he wants you to do or thinks you should be doing, or if you are trying to get him to do something he REALLY doesn't want to do!

Well I think I have written enough for now, I will post more later...

Getting Started

Life is kind of CrAzY right now, but hopefully this weekend I will have more time to write some stuff. So check back soon and often!