What a day

As much of you know we had a big ice storm hit Northwest Arkansas this week. There has been ice everywhere and on everything and MANY MANY trees have been destroyed because of it. Many people have been trapped inside their homes with trees blocking their driveways. Well, today I got a phone call from my mom that a tree had fallen on my dad as he was trying to clean it up and the music leader at our church was taking him to the hospital. He works at our church and he was trying to cut down a tree that had fallen on the fence. We're not totally sure on exactly what happened, but the tree managed to hit him in the chest, the side of his neck, and it caused him to double over in a way that damaged his back. I immediatley left work to meet them there. After several hours at the hospital they discovered that he had a broken sternum, two broken vertebre and a contusion on his lung. By this time everyone in our family (plus the pastor and his wife) were in the waiting room. He is doing better now but was in a tremendous amount of pain for a while. He can't really move very much and is dependent on someone else to take care of him. Mom is having to feed him since he cannot really lift his arms. They said it would take about 6 weeks for him to recover so my mom is going to have her hands full for a while. He is still in pain but the have given him some Morphine and it has helped. He was able to have normal conversations with us somehow, I thought that the drugs would make him loopy but they didn't. He did really well. He told us that after it happened he just laid on the ground for 5-10 minutes and calmed down, then got up and walked into the church to get help.

Please pray that the pain will subside and for a speedy recovery.

My Day Off

I had a fantastic day today! I took the day off from work to celebrate my birthday weekend.

8:30am
I went to NWACC to try and sell one of my books back. They wouldn't give me a refund because it "came with another book" so I had to sell them back together. Poo.

9:30am
I stopped at the Crossover branch to visit my old work family. It was so nice to see everyone. It had been about 5 months since I'd seen them!

11:00am
I went to pick up my brother at his house. We went and picked up my mom from work and the three of us went to Chili's for lunch! (And yes, I did use one of my coupons! Free Molton Chocolate Cake and Ice Cream!) After that we took Mom back to work, and we went shopping! We went to JC Penny's, Sally's Beauty, and 3 consignment shops! I got a cute little cardigan, some sweat pants, and a cool thermal thing for my flat iron. You can slip it on your hot flat iron and throw it in a drawer, bag, suitcase and it won't melt anything nearby. Dave found some good deals too, and then on my way home (5:30pm) I stopped at Gordman's and bought a purse for $7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND they wouldn't even let me use my coupons because it was already on sale! But still.....$7.

It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed spending time with my brother.

Happy Birthday to me!

No topic

Well, Christmas was a blast, and Daniel and I decided we miss it now. We were both getting ready for work this morning talking about how we wish it were Christmas again. From January 2 until Spring it seems boring, cold, depressing, and it drags on and on. I'm excited about Spring time already.

I wanted to thank my friend Jenni for sharing some very valuable information in her blog. She informed her readers that she had signed up for several E-clubs online. In case you aren't sure what this is, (like I was at first) I'll give you some examples. She wrote that she had signed up at Arby's website, and they sent her a coupon for a free mint chocolate shake thing just for signing up!!! (not sure of the exact name) Well, I took her advice and signed up for as many e-clubs as I could find. So far here are all the coupons I have received.

SONIC-
choice of a FREE regular Tots
a regular CreamSlush® Treat or a medium drink (birthday)
one free item from the value menu

GORDMAN'S-
20% off any single item
$5 off next purchase (birthday)
15% off any single item (just for signing up)

APPLEBEE'S-
Free dessert shooter (birthday)

CHILI'S-
free order of chips and queso with a purchase of any entree

ARBY'S-
Free medium Dr. Pepper with any purchase
and of course the free Mint Chocolate shake for signing up.

I had signed up in December, so this is pretty impressive. Also, my birthday is this month so I'll probably be getting more soon! (YAY!) Jenni, this was an awesome idea and tell Scott that you are the smartest person I know. Imagine how much money you could save, everyone? Now, you have to expect that your email inbox will be fuller than normal, but it really is alot of fun getting the emails because most of them have had coupons for free stuff! Also, I am a coupon user so this is right up my alley.

Now, after talking about free food from Sonic and Arby's, here are my plans for 2009! Again Jenni, I agree with you 100% about not calling them "resolutions", but instead calling them "goals." I don't really have many because if I have too many, I'll be overwhelmed. I am currently in school so a current goal I have is to do well and continue to take classes until I at least get my associates degree. Another one of mine is a very common resolution that 90% of the world will share with me......get in shape. Now, this is not just one goal for one reason. I have learned that if I am going to do something, I have to schedule an event that will be considered as my deadline for this goal to be met, otherwise I cannot do this event. In 2007 I had my wedding in June to push me to diet. (by the way, dieting is not a goal of mine...eating better-yes, dieting-no) Now, this year I have a few "deadlines" to help me out.
1. We are planning on taking our vacation the last week of September this year. Currently we are planning to go to Glacier National Park in Montana. I am SO PUMPED about this! Now, I have to drop a few pounds before our vacation, because we are planning on hiking and stuff.....so that's a pretty good goal if you ask me.
2. Whenever we have kids (could be 1 year 0r 7...I have no idea, don't get your hopes up) I want to be in very healthy shape. I have read that women who are overweight when they become pregnant are more likely to be fat and have a horrible labor and all kinds of stuff that is scientifically accurate but I can't think of them all now.....anyway, the point is I want a good pregnancy when the time comes, and I want to have a better chance of having an easier labor and all those things that can be good because I'm healthy. Pretty good reason. (also, I want to be healthy when I'm 70 too...)
3. This is the one I am really excited about. I decided that some time before our vacation I am going to run in a 5k race! Daniel and I want to do it together, but I have to tell myself I'm doing it with or without him. (it would be great if he ran it too...) So, if you know of any that will be happening after June then let me know! I bet it will take me that long to get ready to run 3.1 miles.

There you have it. This turned out to be rather long, and I apologize but I was on a roll.

Have a great 2009!

Tis the season...

How should I begin this update? Let's just start from the beginning...

Friday: Daniel took the day off and I had to work, so we decided to meet up for lunch. It was a really good lunch, but it was going to be the last time I was going to see him for over 24 hours. This may not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but Daniel and I are always together. We've only spent one night apart, and I made my mom stay with me to keep me company. I was going to stay at my mom's this time and he was going to stay at our house. After work that day, I went straight to Prairie Grove for a church event. This was the worst traffic ever..they are working on making the road bigger, which means they first have to shrink it down to 1 and 1/2 lanes with barrells lining the road all the way. When I finally arrived at the church I had to run in and change in to my pajamas! The women were having a pajama party. We ate, had a fashion show, watched a comedian, had a cake walk, did a gift exchange and cleaned up. Very exhausting, especially if you have a bad back and are wearing house shoes on a concrete floor. It ended around 9 30 and then we went to my mom's house. We unloaded my back seat which had my overnight bag and entire kitchen in it. The following day we were having our 2nd annual Christmas Candy Making Day! We stayed up preparing breakfast for the next day and cleaned the kitchen. Bed time was 12 am.

Saturday: I woke up at 6 30am, hoping it was only 12 30am, and got ready. We started breakfast and the girls arrived. We had a great breakfast and then I presented everyone (even the three younger girls) with a gift that Daniel had come up with. Daniel's grandmother makes these adorable aprons and I gave everyone an apron specially for this day!

Then the candy making commenced!! It was a fury of melting, dipping, rolling, stirring, chocolate everywhere, caramel on everything, marshmallow cream, peanut butter, peppermint extract....crazy! We had so much fun and it was so much more organized and enjoyable than last year. We planned well! After we got finished we had to clean all our dishes and divide all the masses of candy up for all 6 families. We didn't finish all this until 4ish or something...I had lost track of time by then. My feet were hurting so bad, I wanted to cut them off. I got all my belongings together and headed home. When I was ALMOST to the Rogers/Bentonville exit, (Hwy 112) I realized I left my suitcase at Mom's! I had to turn around and she met me at the Wal Mart in between us. I didn't get home until 6 something. When I got home I left everything in my car, ran in side, and fell in the chair. Daniel told me to go look in the kitchen, low and behold he was cooking a roast! And there were rolls rising in the oven! And, could it be? ROSES! The three R's all right there in all their glory!! He is the BEST HUSBAND EVER! He really loves me! It was the first time I had seen him since 1pm the previous day, and he missed me too!! I didn't even realize I was hungry until he brought me a plate and I ate everything on it. Sooo goooood. Needless to say I went to bed by 9pm.

Sunday: We woke up (barely) and went to church. After that we went to Mom's for lunch, and around 2 we decided to go Christmas shopping. That only lasted until 4 30. We were cranky, tired and getting on each other's nerves so we went home. We got home and Daniel said "why don't you go to bed?" And I was like, "It's 5 30!?" It didn't take me 5 minutes before I was kissing him goodnight and asleep...and I slept for 13 hours. I didn't wake up until 6 30am the next day!!! (which was today...) I've never felt better. I could not believe I slept that long, and I guess I needed it. Daniel cleaned up after me all weekend and was so loving, he has been the absolute best husband anyone could ever ask for, and he's mine!!

It was an exciting weekend, and I'm glad it went well. I'm also glad it's over. I cannot begin to imagine what life would have been like this weekend if we had kids! Ohhhh.......I'm tired just thinking about it!

Quick update-short and sweet

Daniel and I have way too much fun together. We always laugh and have dumb games we play all the time, and making the bed is one of them. We usually end up in a pillow fight that's kinda dangerous but we are laughing histerically the whole time. Well, I wasn't expecting it tonight. I was tired, just wanted to get it over with so I could sit down and chill. Apparentely Daniel had other plans. We have one large, decorative pillow that we put on the bed last, after everything else is done. So I'm standing there on the side of the bed looking at him, he's directly across from me looking back, and he decides to throw this thing, as hard as he can, at me. (NO joke, it weighs about 15-20 pounds...it's big) Well I saw it all happen in slow motion. I couldn't move! It hit me square in the gut. I let out a "HUUUGHHHHH" and drop to my knees, trying to catch my breath and laugh at the same time. He runs to my side and laughs so hard for about....oh....10 minutes straight. It was one of those moments that if we had a video camera filming this, we'd win America's Funniest Home Videos.
Just wanted to share.

Happy Halloween and Happy November!

Well, we had a military Halloween at work at LOC-Arvest! I got to wear some of Daniel's old uniforms! It was fun! Lots of people in our department participated and it turned out pretty good. They had a costume contest for the whole campus (three different buildings), but we didn't win. The departments that won did a circus theme and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. My department put me in charge (for some reason) of getting our theme together and organizing the "party planning committee". I think I did ok for my first year!

On October 22nd around 2pm, my newest nephew was born! My brother Franklin and his wife Rebekah welcomed their 4th child into the world, Nathan Heath Hamrick! He is a SWEETIE!! So cute, and so good! He hardly cries! Everyone was quite excited! He'll be about 3 months old when we get together for Christmas! He has 2 big sisters and one big brother who are so proud.

Not alot has been going on other than that. We're gearing up for the holidays this year, and for my class to end. I will be registering for next semester in about a week. Also, I will be very glad when this election is over, although I may be very afraid for our future, depending on who wins! That's all I will say... =)

Sleepless nights, and we don't even have kids yet

Lately, I haven't been sleeping well. I don't know if it's the weather, stress, or what. I even have a hard time falling asleep, and that's not normal for me. Last night was the worst though. I can handle most things that wake me up, but this was a bit extreme. It starts out with me heading to bed around 10pm, as usual while Daniel finishes watching whatever show he's watching at the time. I'm just about to doze off when I hear Moxie getting in to something she wasn't supposed to be in, so I chase her around and spank her until she's under the bed, out of reach. I had returned a phone call to my friend but left a message telling her I was going to bed around 9 30, so she calls me back around 11ish. I haven't talked to her in a very long time so I got up and we talked for about an hour. This is all well and good...until around 1am. Daniel had come to bed at who knows what time and we were both sound asleep. Now, you'll have to understand that the TV in our room is different, and the buttons are on the top of it instead of on the front. Sometimes Siggy will jump up there and turn the thing on by stepping on a button but it's never done anything this weird before...

I guess he somehow hit just the right combination of buttons, but when that thing turned on, the volume was ALL the way up, and it sounded like it was a scratched CD skipping, but 10 times worse! It seriously sounded like a machine gun going off in our room. Needless to say I bolt up and start yelling "DANIEL! DAANIEEEL THE TV!!!" as he's waking up a little. (he is a very deep sleeper) He's halfway awake, staring at the alarm clock beside him and I start shoving him and yelling "DANIEL!! GET UP!! DO SOMETHING!" I'm still halfway asleep or I obviously could have fixed it myself, same goes for him. He gets up and starts hitting every button on the alarm clock...and I'm staring at him when I finally realize what he is doing and then try to reason with him. "DANIEL! NOT THAT! IT'S THE STUPID TV! COME OONNNN!" He then wakes up completely and yells "THEN YOU DO SOMETHING!" (you have to understand, if we didn't yell at each other, you couldn't hear the other one over the friggin MACHINE GUN IN THE TELEVISION...) So he runs over there while I meet him there and he hits every button except the volume, for some time I stand there like an idiot and watch him, then I yank the dang power cord out of the wall. Silence......we both start grumbling, fall in bed, and go back to sleep. This afternoon I realize how crazy this night was so I decide to tell my mom about it, and we end up laughing and crying about how hilarious this probably would have looked. The whole time this was happening, we have the windows open, Daniel is running around in his boxers, and we're screaming over this horrific blasting sound...I'm sure we woke someone in our neighborhood up....