Change

All of the trees on the property are starting to turn to autumn colors and it made me start to think about change. Change can sometime be quite scary and other times quite exciting. When Joe went form the Marine Corps to just going to school, it was terribly scary, but then when he went from school to the Fire Department it was exciting. I am personally going through a change with going to school. Although I have been in school for many years it seems, I have just been taking class after class to work towards a degree. But this just feels different, and its exciting. Come next summer I will be working in the field that I love and enjoy. Samantha changes on a daily basis and that too is exciting.


I made our reservations for Virginia today. My parents and the three of us are going to travel up there and go to a pumpkin patch that has a bunch of different activities, and just get away and relax. While we are up there we might go to the zoo or do something else but really this will just give us all a chance to get away from the day to day hussel and bussel of life itself. I am looking very forward to it.

I know that some of you are curious to know how I did on my two big tests. I did a lot better than I could have even hoped for. I was very proud of myself, and felt like all of the time that I had spent studying went toward something. So I am going to just keep up the hard work and hope that this streak continues.

I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend and I will post again on Monday! Ta-Ta

Another Long Day

Today was just packed with things to do in it. We had to go and resign for our health benefits for another year with the city. We were trying to get our homeowners insurance changed because we were going to get this unbelievable rate, yeah well guess how that turned out. So now we have to go and undo all of that from today. I had to go and see about WIC for Sammy and Joe has reached that point where he makes to much, which is good but still a change for us, not having that cushion. I had to study for my exams that I have tomorrow, which I didn't even get to until about 6:00 tonight. I think that I am as prepared as I can be without knowing what to expect. I have posted the pictures that I promised last night. I am signing off for tonight as I am exhausted and have a long day ahead of me. Hope all is well!

Busy Busy

So this weekend was just absolutly maddening and I didn't get a chance to write, Sorry!

Quick Recap:
Friday was payday so we did all of oru errands and went grocery shopping and what not. Saturday, Joey worked and so it gave Sammy and I some quality time, and I tried to squeeze in a little studying. Sunday, I cleaned the house up and did the majority of the laundry along with trying to get the rest of my homework accomplished.

I had school today and we worked on our chair massage routines for about 3 hours and then went on to Body Work. We learned how to work the legs with a scoop, lift, twist method; quite interesting. After lunch I had Anatomy and Physiology for 3 hours and a quick overview of what we can expect on Thursday (TEST!!!). I had a test today in my Basics and Bodywork class, and did pretty well. I am pretty satisfied as to how things are going in school. This picture is of Jennifer prior to me beginning her chair massage.









Doesn't she look comfy?










Joe is working tonight and I guess has some sort of nightime drill that they are doing. We have a busy day tomorrow, we have to go to the health department and then we also have to go and sign up for our health benefits with Joe's work. YAY! Somewhere in all of that I am going to study for my two tests that I have on Thursday. Sammy was with her nanni and her papa today and they took her to the creek and played in the water and threw some rocks so I will try and get a couple of pictures to post on here tomorrow evening.

I am starting my diet tomorrow, becaus eI am fed up completely with myself and I am just tried of being tired and just all around disgusted. Any and all encouragement will be greatly appreciated. I will post on a weekly basis as to how much weight I have lost and hopefully not gained. I am determined to be at my goal weight for graduation. We will see how things go. Wish me luck, I have a feeling I am going to need it!

Have a good night all!

With age comes wisdom

Joe worked today so it gave Sammy and I a chance to hang out and play. We had a really good day, we colored and played in her tube, and made a fort, and read books and just had an all around great mommy and me day. She is getting really good at doing somersaults by herself, when she has the courage to go through with it! I wasn't able to get to much studying done, but I got a bit done so I think that it will all work out in the end. Joe is off for the next two days so I should be able to get more done then.

Towards the end of the day though - I started thinking, and we all know how well that works out for me. Joe and I love having my parents so close to us. However with Joe working every two days and then currently with me in school but eventually I will be working, its hard to get out and help out on the farm like we would like to be able to do. Not to mention it is hard to take Sammy for a walk because we certainly can't do it on our road with the traffic. Me father is the person that does most of the farm handling with the occasional help of Joe, but with the plate in his neck, I worry about how much longer he will be able do the things that he does now. All of things paired together made me start to think about how much nicer it would be for all of us to downsize our property amount, build the houses that we want and not take what we will settle for, and be able to have the time to travel and do things as a family. Really enjoy the time that we have with one another instead of working our tails off all the time. I started talking to my mom about this tonight and we were on the same page so that made me feel really good.

My mom sent me a link to house that is really only like 10 minutes away from where we currently live but it was completely different. The property would be far easier to take care of and it had a stream on it and it was almost 10 acres so though we would take a steep cut in land, we would still have plenty.

So after thinking about all of this it made me think about how much more I know now then even a year ago. Having a child changes your mentality completely. Its not about what Joe and I can together or what project we want to take on next, rather it is what are we going to do with Sammy now. Lets take Sammy here or lets do this with Sammy.

I am going to school to get the education that I need to be able to make really good money so that we will have the availability to give our kids anything and go places and enjoy life. With as fast as Sammy is growing up I just don't want to miss a second of anything in her life, and if I am constantly go, go, going I will miss out on things. I want her to experience all of things that I haven't and have always wanted to. I guess that's where tonight's title comes from. With age comes wisdom.
Good Night Y'all

Surprise, Surprise

We have been waiting for Joe's check to start being automatically deposited into our account for close to 4 months now and every payday would roll around and we would have to go pick his check up and be told that they hoped to have it working the next time. Well today his check really was automatically deposited, YAY!.

The day was filled with errands and grocery shopping. Joe and my father worked on the carport a bit more this morning and got 4 more trusses put up. Maybe by the end of next week it will have a roof on it, weather permitting and all.

I have to take my van in to be fixed, yet another problem. Fortunately the van is under warranty and we don't have to pay for any of this. Never the less though, the entire time we had the Neon, we didn't have a flat tire or one problem with it. With the van, its been nothing but problem after problem. We are only using this van as a temporary vehicle though to get us through the next 2 years and then will upgrade it to something with more features, like rear heat and air. Sammy really could have used that today - the air not the heat!

Not much is planned for the weekend, Joe works and I have a lot of studying to do for next weeks classes. I have a test on Tuesday in Massage Therapy Practices and Principles, and then I have a test on Thursday in Musculoskeletal Anatomy and Anatomy and Physiology. Next week will be hectic I am sure.

That's all for now - Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Another Day Closer

Today I had school and Joe was off so he got to spend the day with Sammy which always leaves for open conversation. At school we palpated one another to find the different areas of the scapula, and the trapezius. After we palpated and found the different parts we then proceeded to paint one another's scapula and the parts of it. So that made for a very interesting morning. After we broke for lunch I had Anatomy and Physiology, and learned all of the different parts and pieces to the cell. All in all today wasn't too bad.

However, on my way home I had called my grandparents to see when they were going to need to have their lawn mowed. We have an ongoing agreement that they will pay us a little something to come over and do their yard work, and it covers the money that Joe uses while at work for his meals. Works out great, or at least I thought. Apparently, Joe and I are just SOOOO Busy that they didn't want to burden us with having to come over and take care of it so they did it themselves. Well it does burden us but we will get through it and say la vie. It was just another stone thrown in the continuation of the family feud.

When I did get home I was pleasantly met with trusses on my carport, which made me feel better. This is what it looks like so far....





I am very excited to see the finished product, it will be soooo nice.



Sammy has been dealing with some hair issues, she has a lot of natural curl and volume to it that when she wakes up in the morning her hair looks like she has just gone through a wind tunnel...



I guess all girls have their moments though!

Have a good one!

A Long Day

Joe worked today so it gave Sammy and I a chance to sleep in. Once we got up and going though we were moving. I got everything in order that I needed to do out in town and had my list ready, I got Sammy in the car and then put everything else we would need in the car as well. Once we got on the road we got stuck behind an out of towner who was just out for a drive, which normally doesn't bother me, but I had a lot to do and still wanted to be home to do some studying. So he finally pulled over and let us go by, which I commened him for. The we went to Walmart - filled up the van, got a quick bite to eat, and then to Staples. When I went to pick up Sammy she was soaking wet. Of course when we left the house however I grabbed the little diaper bag which doesn't have a change of clothes in it. So I stripped her down and put another diaper on her and she went into Staples half naked. I got the worst looks from some people and you could tell that those who were giving the looks didn't have any kids because they were all primped and pretty and not stressed out in the slightest. We stopped to say hello to Joe at the fire station that he was working at and then continued on with our afternoon. Here are a couple of pitures of the fire that Joe went to on the 19th of August, he is in the bottom right of the picture (greeneville fire t-shirt scratching his head)under the recovery tent.



* Sammy has gotten clingy since I have been going to school, which I love at times but after not being able to do anything last night because she didn't want me to put her down, that left a lot to do today.




I am feeling comfortable so far with how school is going although I am scared on the chemistry part of it that we are working on but I have faith that it will be okay. I am excited to see what we do next. I can now give a 25 minute chair massage, and with a little practice should be pretty good at it. I gave one to Joe last night and I was proud of him because he only complained 1 or 2 times.



I think that things have some what quieted down for the evening, but I still have a lot to do before I can call it a night. I have school tomorrow so it will probably be after I put Sammy down for the night tomorrow before I can post again.