One Step At A Time...

Quick Picture Post.

2009-08-30T21:11:00.003-04:00

Just a few pictures from my recent journey to North Carolina.

I'm a sharp shooter! Yes sirree!

And we're both pretty excited about my shooting talents!

And Dad makes fire come out of his gun. (I didn't quite master that part.)

And here is Cheri hard at work on one of her beautiful mosaics!

And here is the Queen of Hearts reigning over my room! Thanks Cheri!

Overdue Update.

2009-05-31T22:39:00.002-04:00

So... A lot has been going on since I last posted in April...

1. I moved back into my mom's house. That has been going pretty well so far. It's been a month since I moved in, and I don't think either one of us have wanted to strangle the other yet. So yay! Most of the time I am either at school, work, sleeping, or working on school work. I don't really go out anywhere anymore. I don't have time for any of that. Ha.

2. I started the summer session on May 11th. I am taking three classes right now--Biology with lab, Developmental Psychology, and Medical Terminology (bio and dev psych are accelerated six week courses). I am doing pretty well in them so far. I have gotten A's on every test and quiz that I've had in them. I'm happy with myself in the school area of life! That's definitely a good thing.

3. I dropped to part time at work. I only work about 20 hours a week now which is weird. I've worked full time for about 5 years now, and now that I don't I feel like I am forgetting to do something. The less work thing has definitely been a good thing. I can't imagine being able to do all of my school work while working full time. This course load is crazy for the summer.

And now, I must go to bed because I have class at 8 tomorrow morning. In Oviedo. Oy. Good night!

Don't You Dare Blame It On...

2009-04-24T23:25:00.002-04:00

[small rant]

You wanna know a surefire way to piss a girl off ANY day of the month? Ask her if she's pmsing just because she happens to be in a not so great mood that day.

Go ahead. Do it. See if it doesn't get you in trouble--the silent treatment, a longwinded tirade. And say it again. Say that you can't wait for the pmsing to end. Thank God you only have another week or so of it, and then you're in the clear.

You know what? Ninety-five percent of the time, it is NOT pms! Ninety-five percent of the time, there is actually someTHING that has pissed us off or put us in a bad mood. And you know what else...? The fact that you keep blaming it on pms actually prolongs the bad mood/feelings I have towards you, and you just need to SHUT YOUR MOUTH.

[/small rant]

So how was everyone ELSE's day?

Champion of Water (Sports)!

2009-04-21T22:43:00.002-04:00

In my dream last night I was competing in the national water polo tournament.

And I was freakin good.

How do ya like THEM apples?!

Mid April--End of Semester Sprint

2009-04-17T20:15:00.005-04:00

Well, you'll all be happy to know that my blood test results from my doctor's appointment about a month ago revealed that I am practically perfect in every way! Dad says it's because I am half-English, and Mom says it's because I AM her daughter. Ha. So perfection on both sides...leads to me! :-D Heh. Well, I know I'm not perfect, but at least my blood results are!

The next two weeks are the homestretch for the end of the semester. I am already feeling the stress build as I worry about my grades. It always seems like the last month and a half of class is when everything falls apart. At this point, all I can do is my best and hope that it's enough. So fingers crossed for me...

The beginning of May will find me moved out of the house I have called home for almost a year and back in my mom's house for the duration of my time in nursing school. Widely known fact: my mother and I have a history of not really getting along when we live in close proximity to each other. However, we have both decided to make a real effort to make this work between us. It seems promising. I only hope that we can both follow through.

I picked up The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike at the library yesterday. I'm looking forward to reading it. I've heard good things about it. I'll let you know how it is when I finish it...

Random Post.

2009-03-24T22:41:00.005-04:00

All right everyone, you should read this post from the bottom up because I posted the pictures in here wrong, and I do NOT feel like rearranging them!
And just so you know Grandma... I made this post just for you... You know, because I hadn't posted in so long. :-D

Since Smokey was then conveniently out of the way, Rascal took to exploring the backyard on his own... My roommie and I have great cats! :-D They always keep us entertained.

But then Rascal (Melissa's cat) came outside and chased around for a minute. Smokey decided it was safest to stay under the chair for the remainder of her time outside.

On this clothesline drying day, I decided to let the cats out in the backyard. Smokey explored a little bit...

Melissa mentioned to her boyfriend that she wanted a clothesline in the backyard... so he made one! :-D Now we can use the clothesline and save even MORE on utilities! WHOO! By the way, I now know that it is best if you don't hand your clothes in half over the line... It doesn't dry them well that way. Ya learn new things every day. Ha. I never did have much common sense.

Anna and I just hanging out after the game.

Went out with a couple friends from class to a Magic game two weekends ago! It was fun. And we hung out a little afterward! (Me. Mauricio. Anna.)

I think this is my favorite picture of her EVER! :-D

Smokey looks so pretty in the light!

This is the facial expression of my beautiful cat, Smokey, most of the time. :-D Well, really only when she's annoyed...

THEN you have an almost COMPLETE ball! I just have to hand sew the open patch closed. It's a semi-frustrating and time-consuming thing that I do not particularly like doing--mostly because I can't seem to keep my stitching hidden!

This is the time when you put the stuffing in... You don't want to sew it all up yet or else, well, it will just be a flat piece of fabric basically.

I don't know if you all remember, but a while ago (my first post I think) I said I was going to make a patchwork soccer ball... Sooo here is the progress on that!

A Day on the Other Side of Town!

2009-03-09T00:08:00.011-04:00

Today I went over to the other side of town to visit with Grandma and Grandpa on the day after their 50th anniversary! Whoo! This post is going to be very picture heavy... And I don't know how to put the pictures on here so that you can click to enlarge them. If you end up wanting any of the pictures you'll have to let me know, so that I can send you the original file in it's unedited LARGE size. :-)

Ahem... Here we go...

On my way over to Grandma and Grandpa's house I decided that I would take a picture of Dad and Cheri's old house. I told Dad before that I would take a picture and send it to him because the house looks so different now, but I kept forgetting my camera. Whoops! Well, I remembered it today... Sooooooo, here is the house now...

Doesn't it look boring? The flowers in front of the porch are all gone. It just looks plain. Too sterile. Blah.

After taking this picture, I decided that I would make a little detour to a little lake... (and when I parked my car, the radio started playing You Can Call Me Al... Ha!)

Now, I don't know if everyone is aware of the story of Lake Como... If you aren't then you should probably ask my dad to tell you the story... Because, quite frankly, I just don't tell it as good as he does. But I will provide pictures to supplement the story that I think he now has the obligation to tell to the blogging world! :-D

There he is in all of his guardian glory...

I decided to sneak up on him from the side--you know, while his attention was elsewhere.
Just wanted him to see that I am NOT afraid of him! That's right.
And we are now best friends. I'll probably visit him every week...
While I was walking around the lake I saw this tree limb, and I had to take a picture of it. Dad, doesn't it look kinda like the kissing tree only on land? Neat! Oh! While I was taking in the pretty little grassy areas and such I realized that there are probably some caches in that area... I tried to find one with my naked eye, but it didn't work very well. I'm going to have to look that up for next time!

And now onto Grandma and Grandpa!

In this picture it looks like Grandma is admiring the little wheelbarrow serving dish and Grandpa is surprised. In reality, they both seemed to really like it. :-)

After a recent conversation that Grandma had with my dad it became obvious that Grandma NEEDS to grow herself some tomatoes... Well, Dad... Here. This is the area that I think would be the best place for Grandma to put a pot and whatever else she needs to grow her very own tomatoes. What do you think? I am certain though that the tomatoes should not be planted next to this little guy and his friend, the cactus...

Do you agree?

And now, I give you pictures of the couple who were at the 50 year and 1 day mark (and counting) of their marriage when I visited them! Enjoy!

(The card Grandma is holding says the number 50 on it as "proof"that it is true!)

Love, Nina

P.S. Ummmm Dad? It's your turn to post. And I do believe the people want to hear the story of the Lake Como Lions... :-D

Goals, School, Tests...

2009-03-01T14:33:00.003-05:00

Hello!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive! I have been trying to get some things accomplished and decisions made this month.

I have made a goal for this year! By the end of December I plan on having about 2/3's of my debt paid off. This is completely doable. I just have to make sure that I don't squander away my money on buying lunch at work when I have perfectly good food here at home! I just need to make my lunch!!! That means either getting up a little earlier in the mornings or making it before I go to bed... We shall see.

Also! I have decided that I am going to be applying to two nursing schools. Seminole Community College and Florida Hospital's School of Nursing. I am hoping that if SCC doesn't take me in for the spring program (because of their requirements and what my status would be at that time) that FL Hosp will take me in because of my good grades and (hopefully) amazing scores on my nursing school entrance exam. Fingers crossed on that. I am a bit concerned though about when I actually do get into a nursing program. I have been hearing from everyone that the program is really intense (especially the FL Hosp one) and working more than two days a week while going to school full time is super difficult if not impossible. I am worried that I might not be able to work so much which would make it hard to make rent and all that... I am looking at the possibilities... One of which is maybe moving in with my friend (and her mom) who is in the FL Hosp nursing program already. Or the second option is just to suck it up and find a job that I will be able to work as much as possible with semi flexible hours and not do anything except work and school... I don't really have to worry about this until fall comes around (since that is when I apply to these programs)... But, it is just sitting there in the back of my mind nagging me constantly. Eh, who knows.

Ah well, for now, I will just keep doing what I need to do to get into the programs! Which is studying constantly for the entrance exams (I have to take two because the two schools require different exams) that I will take early this summer and make sure I get A's in my classes.

So, that is where I'm going now... To do more school work... And study for the tests...

(Oh, Aunt Janet, I haven't forgotten about you! I'm emailing you this week! :-) )

I Don't Wanna!

2009-02-09T22:07:00.006-05:00

[rant]

Okay, as I have mentioned before, I am in an online English class. First of all, I am a little peeved that I have to take this class because I have already taken it's equivalent at FSU. But, that's another rant for another time...
In this online English class, I have noticed that the first language of the majority of my classmates is not English. That's fine. That is fine. Whatever. They don't write MY papers or discussion posts, so, ultimately, they are not affecting me... right? WRONG! Ugh! (I'm a little frustrated, can ya tell?) Every week we have to post no less than 150 words about one of the assigned stories. No big deal. I can do that. Easy. However, we then have to reply with 150 words to a discussion that one of our group members have posted. Right... Okay... Normally, I wouldn't have a problem with this. I actually even enjoy going back and forth with someone about a story we have both read. It's interesting to see their point of view as compared to mine. It's just that it's not that simple with these posts I have to try to respond to. Take this one for example:

"In Cathedral story the narrator drew a bad perception of Robert as he imagined him of not being capable of performing in a regular manner. His experience could probably relate in the way the he described the appearance of the blind man. There were moments when he felt uncomfortable just by his presences and by the way he was really not part of the conversation when the blind man and his wife just talked about their lives excluding him. Even thought the blind man was not capable of seen things, he was very precise in his eating and describing his surrounding something the narrator was able to visualize. In the dinning room the narrator was surprised in the way the blind man was eating his meal as in several occasion he noticed that the blind man was eating with his fingers too. The blind man was able to get familiarize with the surroundings and this is what the narrator was practically concentration for the most part on the blind man’s actions. "

::deep breath:: It's not that I think they are dumb or anything like that. It SEEMS like they are trying to speak English correctly, but this is just bad. Am I being rude? Am I giving off the impression that I am better than they are? I don't mean to. I am just having trouble getting enough out of responses like the one above to be able to respond back! I mean, really, what are they saying?!

And NOW! Oh boy... This past week we had to submit a paper--a response paper--to be peer critiqued. The teacher assigned each of us two papers to critique. I ended up with the two people that have proved to be the worst English speakers/writers in the group. Excellent. Now, I have to go through these papers, try to figure out what point they were TRYING to get across, and critique them on it. I just finished doing one, but I think I am also supposed to actually EDIT (as in grammar and verb usage/tense) the paper as well. (I emailed the teacher to make sure of that.) If that is true then I am not close to being done with it... There are sentences like these all throughout the paper:

1. He had noticed the blind man having a full set beard and did not have a cane with dark glasses.

2. He was amazed when he seen the blind man smoke and actually knew when the cigarette will end. He had believed that since blind people cannot see the smoke that they will find no need to smoke.

::shakes head:: Maybe I am being snotty. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut and just edit the papers... Well, I will edit the papers, but I think I will complain about it a little more--at least to myself.

[/rant]

New Computer. New Direction.

2009-01-31T22:09:00.004-05:00

Well, the laptop that my mom purchased for me when I graduated from high school in 2004 finally bit the dust. It has been a few years coming. For a while, I had to prop pillows, remote controls, books, etc underneath the power cord to keep it turned on. One day, it miraculously cured itself. But, today, when I tried to turn it on to do some work for school, it said, "No. Absolutely not. I will not turn on." Only after Melissa and I propped the power cord up just right with the handle of a staple gun did it decide to turn on. Le sigh... I knew it was coming, but I was just hoping it would last longer. Oh well. I went to Best Buy this afternoon, talked to a very nice girl there named Kelly, and walked out about an hour later with a new laptop. Despite the fact that I really am poor now, I am excited about this new laptop. I think it kind of represents a new start for me. I have decided on the career I want to pursue--nursing. I have decided to find a new full-time job as soon as possible. I think this new year is a new start for me in many areas of my life. And I am excited to take them all head on. Full force. And do the very best I can to succeed in all of those areas.

However, I now face the daunting task of transferring important files from my old laptop to my new laptop. For some reason, that always proves to be a very arduous task. I will be tackling that tomorrow--Sunday--along with some coursework for two of my online classes. Fun.

My one class that is actually on campus--Medieval Humanities--has group presentations due throughout the semester. My group has been assigned the topic of Life on a Feudal Manor. It was actually my first choice. It sounded the most interesting to me. (My second choice was Knights and the Chivalric Code.) Anyway, I have taken up the post of "Coordinator" for my group. I think I like this position. I find it semi-easy to delegate and make sure things are going on schedule. Sure, someone may end up not liking me because I am making sure that everyone in the group stays on schedule and on task; but, you know what? This is everyone's grade, and I will not fail because YOU won't do what you said you would. Wow. Okay. Next.

My roommate, Melissa, has that Blockbuster service where they send you dvd's off of a queue that you create online... A few months ago, we started watching the tv series, Grey's Anatomy. We love it. We quote it regularly in our house. --The reason I bring this up is because at the beginning and end of each episode there is a voice over by one of the characters. It is usually something that makes you think. It strikes a chord of some sort with you in your own life. That phrase is then acted out in various situations for the next forty minutes, and it leaves you thinking about how it applies to your life. We finished the entire series at the beginning of this year. There is one voice over though that I still remember vividly. I think it might be my favorite voice over from the show...

"Too often, the thing you want most is the one thing you can't have. Desire leaves us heartbroken. It wears us out. Desire can wreck your life. But, as tough as wanting something can be, the people who suffer the most are those who don't know what they want. "

Fortunately, I feel like I have finally figured out what I want for myself--at least for now. What I want the most right now is to get my nursing degree. That's what I desire. The other stuff, right now, is a distraction. I don't need distractions. I have had enough of those to last me a little while.
What are your thoughts on that voice over quote???

I'm Joining Your World of Updates!

2009-01-19T22:43:00.009-05:00

Hello Everyone!

I decided that since everyone seems to be keeping each other updated through their blogs, I might as well join the blogging world as well. So, here I am. ::waves:: :-D

Spring semester started for me this past week at Seminole Community College... I am taking four courses--English 2, Medieval Humanities, Intro to Business, and Human Resources Management--and I am very glad to have something to do with my "free time" other than sleep, eat, watch tv, etc. I just finished doing about 3.5 hours worth of schoolwork, so my brain is not willing to retain any other information I may want to throw at it tonight. So, the books are closed until tomorrow.

Recently (read: over the past year or two), I have been trying to be craftier than is really natural for me... I have taken up knitting, crocheting, and sewing. I may not be particularly great at any of them, but I enjoy doing them for the most part. Plus, it gives me something else to do to fill my time. AND, it makes me feel like I have accomplished something when I finish with a project. At the moment, I am working on a patchwork soccer ball that is going to be amazing when it is done! Pictures will be posted when it is finished. The only crafty thing I have done that I have pictures to post is a mirror that started out looking like this:

And ended up looking like THIS on a wall in our house!:

I LOVE how it turned out, and I smile every time I pass it! In case you can't tell what is around it, I tore off the covers of magazine, cut them into strips, rolled them up, and glued them all around! I LOVE IT! :-D

Now, I am going to go to bed. I am tired, and I have to be at work at 745 tomorrow morning. So, I will leave you with one more picture! My roommate, Melissa, and I went to a Magic game on the 9th of this month... This picture is from that night!

Love, Nina