Frozen Pipes

Yesterday, I woke up early because I needed to go to the bathroom and was extremely thirsty. As I stumbled in to my restroom, eyes half shut, I sat down and started to go (sorry for the image) and reached to fill up a cup of water at the same time, I am a great multi-tasker, what can I say! As I turned on my faucet, no water came out. None, zilch, zero, not a drop!! Since I am mostly still asleep this didn't seem to alarm that much, so I finished doing my business, and crawled back to my bed.
Later, when I woke up for good, I went back to the bathroom to get a drink of water. When I turned it on, again, nothing came out again! I ran downstairs and tried the other bathroom and the kitchen faucet, nothing! I couldn't believe it, somehow our pipes had frozen over, maybe the -20degree weather had something to do with it?!?
After talking to the landlord a couple of times, we finally got a plumber/electirian man over to our house. When he came in he started looking around and went upstairs to check my bathroom faucet. As he started up the stairs, I remembered I had not been able to put any of my laundry away. Of course, the last load I had washed had a lot of my undies in it. So right by the bathroom is my yellow, grey, pink, red, and an assortment of undies sprawled all over the floor, along with some shirts and socks. I was mortified. Luckily, he had to run back to his truck to get a machine, so I ran upstairs, and instead of putting all of the clothes in my room like a smart person, I put my large coat and a sweatshirt over it and ran back downstairs, trying to act like nothing had happened!
Later on, he informed us that he had to leave, but that he would be back because it was going to take some time to get the pipes unfrozen because the floor below us had also frozen. Most likely, it was going to be another three to four hours before we had any water.
Of course, at this time my bodily functions where definitely in need of an outlet. I decided the best option would be for me to walk to my lab final early and just use a restroom in the building. I thought about asking a neighbor, but I didn't want to stink up any one's house, if you know what I mean. After I got all my cold gear on and got out the door, I thought I was going to have stop at a local business to relieve myself. Luckily, I made it to the building on time! Hopefully, we do not have anymore frozen pipes this winter because it will not be good on my body!

New York City

I'm going to New York City!!!! I am so excited! I leave in a week, our flight leaves at 6am. This means that I will have to leave home around 2am to make sure I get to the airport, get through security and be on my way to NYC! This also means, that I will probably not sleep at all next week with all of my excitement (for NYC). I am going as part of a group through K-State, and we will be attending the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show (the IH/M&RS).

For Friday and Saturday night, a girl from my class and me will be staying in the Upper West Side in Hotell 99, and Sunday-Wednesday we will be meeting up with the rest of our group to stay at the Double Tree which is in Times Square, talk about crazy!! I am hoping to be able to see even 3% of NYC in the brief time I am there. Most of the time we will be able to do as we please, but one day we will have to go to the show and another day we will tour a couple different hotels (what, do they think this is my major or something?!? oh wait...) but all of that should be fun too, just not as fun as being in NYC for the first time.

I am truly blessed to have this oppurtunity and ask everyone to pray for my classmates and me to have a safe flight and a safe time there!

Sunshine and Summertime

Today will be my first official day of the last harvest I will work in Ada! I'm really excited for harvest to start, and I know all of the farmers are too. It is always a race to see who can start cutting first, and once one person does, all the farmers get real ancy to see if their wheat is ready so they too can begin to cut.

My job is to stand in the a/c and weigh the wheat trucks and test the grain. It is a pretty easy job since I don't have to sit in the sticky Kansas sun and can read a book when I'm not busy. Although its not all glitz and glamour, (ha! as if anything about harvest is) if I need to use the lady's room, I have to walk across the street and over to the city park while holding a stick to fight off all the mean dogs that come over and bark and chase me. Than when I reach my destination, I have to sit my fanny down on a dirty toilet that is essentially just covering a huge hole in the ground. When I am done, I have to use hand sanitizer to clean my hands, since there is no sink! Plus, I have to think in the timing of my potty breaks because farmers do not like to be kept waiting, so I have to make sure no trucks are coming during my little outing.

Other than that, it is a pretty easy job that I look forward to every year! When I first started working at the elevator, after my sister had left, I was really excited because I figured it would be a great way to meet all the cute farmers' grandsons, but oh no was I wrong! All of the farmers are too old and have let their grandsons take over the combines and tractors, so who do I get to see all day, you guessed it, the old farmers! But they are always entertaining to say the least, and that way it keeps me out of trouble ; )

Also harvests means home for me. It is really nice just to be able to hang out with my family and see them each day, plus I am now only 10 minutes away from Paden instead of an hour and a half, so I can't really complain about that!!

Hopefully this summer will be a good harvest and with God's help, everything will go on without a hitch!

Chicago - Part Duece

On Sunday, the second day we were there, my friend Jene and I decided to walk down to Navy Pier and check it all out. It was the last day of Marine week, so we knew the scenery had to be good (wink wink)!

The first glimpse of it as we were walking.

Tugboats on Lake Michigan.

The famous ferris wheel, it is actually in the place where a man named Ferris built the first wheel : ) No but seriously, true story!

As we walked down the pier, there were several small food shops where you could buy gyros, cotton candy, etc and also places to buy tickets to shows for that evening. Along with the ferris wheel, there was a miniture golf course, a mary-go-round, and other fun things you could do.

The best part though was when I stumbled upon where my two boyfriends live:

That's right, every moment I can, I snuggle up with Ben & Jerry! Chunky Monkey all the way!

As we kept walking I saw this huge yacht, which I thought had to belong to someone extremely rich, I got super excited to see it up close! As we were walking closer to it, I see people on board cleaning it and so on, and than all of a sudden one of them approached us to see if we could buy tickets....yes, it was just some touristy-huge-yacht ment to trick those of us who never see huge yachts into thinking its super fancy, when really you can pay $30 to get a ride at night and maybe even a meal. I was so disappointed, BUT I still took a picture!

After the sweet yacht, we just walked around some more and took pictures of the lake and different sites in Chicago:

One More Sad Song

The other day, I was listening to the radio, and the DJ was interviewing a musician. They were talking about the importance of sad songs, and how they help people get through tough times. No one likes to listen to upbeat songs when their heart is crying out in pain.

On Sunday, one of Dad's best friends, was murdered. He was a great family friend, and my dad and him got really close when they both were single fathers, raising their kids. It was and is really hard to swallow. These things don't happen to people you know, especially not in small town Kansas, where you always feel safe. This is something that happens only in the movies, right?

When I got off of work on Monday I drove to McPherson, to see my dad. I did it more for selfish reasons, wanting to see him for my own good. After I heard what happened, it really put things in perspective to me and how important my family is to me, and I need to see him. I wanted to make sure that he knew I loved him. When I got there, I realized I needed to be there, not for myself, but for him. The man I always looked up to, who was always strong, was visibly shaken. I got out of the car and gave him the biggest hug I could, and we just cried. I held my father, not knowing what to say, just knowing that I was glad I was there, to help him through this time.

I know that if my dad didn't have God in his life, it would be so much harder to go through this moment. All I knew to do was to pray. I prayed for Mark's family, his kids and grand kids, that they would look to God through this, I prayed for my family, to be there as support, but to also make us realize how short life is, and how we tend to take each other for granted, I prayed all day, talking to God about some of the silliest things, just because I need him, needed to talk to him, needed God to hold me.

As I drove to McPherson, I began to realize how right that DJ and that musician were. I could only listen to sad songs, only those songs knew what I felt, how much it hurt. I know that this week, will define tally be a sad song week, but hopefully, next week, we will be able to rejoice in God's love, and slowly start to listen to the happy songs again.

To Mark, you were a great friend and an awesome father, you will be missed!

Chicago - Part 1

I do not have Internet at my house, so I decided I would write on here while I am working (shh, don't tell!)

Last week, I left for Chicago, and even though I threw up on the plane, it was a great trip! Yes that is right, I was that girl. Some of the girls who traveled with me sat a few rows back and figured it must be a small child the flight attendants were fussing with. Oh no, that small child was this 20 year old! We hit some turbulence for what seemed like an eternity, and all of a sudden I got really sweaty and felt my temperature rise. Of course, this all takes place right before we landed so I am stuck in my seat, seat belted in, and can't get up to go to the restroom. It was completely embarrassing and the businessman next to me is trying to be nice and saying things like "oh that's the worst turbulence I've ever felt". I am just going to go with him, only I'll probably expand that and say it was the worst turbulence ever!

After we landed though, I had a drink of water and some gum (thank goodness I had two full packs of sweet mint gum and enough mints to feed Chicago), and I was feeling much better. We got on the EL (stands for elevated train) to head for our hotel. Luckily, while we were waiting for our luggage and discussing how we were probably going to get lost, some very nice people helped point us in the right direction. We lucked out and met some nice people all throughout Chicago to help get us where we needed to go! The hardest part was trying to get all our luggage on the train, get off in the .3 seconds it gives you to exit, and than make our way from the orange train to the red, which ran underground. This meant we had to drag our luggage down several sets of stairs and find our way underground until we found the right platform and make sure we got on the train going north, instead of the one going south. Through it all, we managed to make it and find our way to our hotel.

Majority of our luggage on the el train with us.

When we arrived, we met a very nice bellman who directed us to all there is in Chicago and went out to eat and meet up with the rest of our group. We ate at a bar, Jake's, and just hung out for a while.

My yummy bbq flat bread pizza!

Than the rest of the group decided to go bar hopping, so two other girls and myself (we are all under 21) decided to check out what the Magnificent Mile had to offer us. And offer it did, from Cartier and Tiffany, to Burberry, Gap, Louis Vuitton, and even Niketown. We went into Macy's and got a massage on one of our hands from a girl dressed in 80s gear and than went back to the hotel to warm up. No one seemed to remember that Chicago wasn't in Kansas, and we should expect a few degrees drop in temperature, so no on packed jackets or heavier gear. Oh that's right, I did, but it got thrown up on it from the plane....dang it!

So back at the hotel we decided to hit up the steam room, hot tub, and whirl pool and call it a night. It didn't start out quite like I wanted it too, but I was still excited to just to be there!

Leaving On A Jet Plane

I haven't wrote on here for a while and my boyfriend, Paden, is getting a little upset so here we go:

Tomorrow I'll be flying out to Chicago!! It'll be my first time to visit there and I'm super excited. I'm going with a group I'm in, Hospitality Management Society, and we will be attending the NRA Show (the restaurant not the rifle). It is held every year and there are people from the Food Network, famous chefs, and every food chain/restaurant/brewery or anyone else who has anything to do with restaurants. During the show, we get to go around and sample all the food and see all of the new products that could possibly hit the market in a few years.

This is the Marriott Downtown where we will be staying. It is located on the Magnificent Mile, so hopefully I'll have plenty of time to explore!

Wish me luck!!

Working for the Weekend

I'm currently working two jobs right now. One is at the Fairfield Inn were I work at the front desk. Basically I deal with customers complaining and fold towels.

A LOT OF TOWELS!

This is just a little bit, tiny, small part of the towels we have to fold. I'm talking thousands of towels, okay so maybe not quite that many, but way too much. Anyone who knows me, knows I really don't like to involve myself with anything that has to do with cleaning or folding, you guessed it, my roommates love me : ) (Honest, I'm not that bad, as long as you don't step in my room!)

Tonight, though, I worked with a wonderful woman, I'd call her my superhero. She folded all the towels for me! Three baskets full, and I didn't have to help one bit! So the whole time I was dealing with guests arguing with me about how to turn the shower on or get upset because they made the reservation for 2010 and not 2009 or not understand why I don't know how to direct them to the Fairfield Inn when they are calling from New York not Kansas, I was able to smile because I had no towels to fold!

Telephone Games

Tonight was our annual telefund here at KSU, actually the college of Human Ecology has done it the past 3 nights, but tonight was the only night I could help. Basically we call all of our alumni, begging, pleading, almost crying, trying to get them to give us money for our college so we can get scholarships, ect. I participated to get more points for a club, so I can go on a trip with them to Chicago for the NRA show (woot woot)!!! That's another story though...tonight I got hung up on, sworn at, and laughed at, BUT I had some nice people who gave some money or said they would but couldn't because of the economy. One poor lady had just got laid off, I felt so bad for her especially since I was asking for money (way to shove it in geez).

The best part about it though: I walked away with two free shirts! Oh yeah baby, want college kids to help with anything?Give them some clothes or food! Seriously, need college kids to clean up poop: give them some food, they'll do it for free, want them to sign a petition for something silly like banning tv, which would be insane, but give me some food or clothes and oh yah, my John Hancock is on that for sure! Tonight I got both because I also got some peanut butter cookies and plenty of snacks the whole evening so really I couldn't go wrong. I also won a space pen, which is this pen that you can write upside down with, in grease, in below freezing weather or in space. I guess a KSU grad invented it and now NASA uses it. So if I'm ever in Antarctica trying to write a letter in grease while being upside down, I'll have no problems. Plus I have two shirts to help keep me warm and some Wheat Thins to munch on. Man, college sure prepares you for anything : ).

Empy Apartment

Over the past couple of days, I have been searching for a place to live next year with two of my roommates. Everyday, I get the newspaper and scratch out everyplace that isn't 3 bedrooms, is too expensive or has the wrong date. Its been pretty stressful, but I think we found it!!! Last Friday, we went and looked at 5 total places which makes for a long day and they start getting jumbled in my mind ahh! One of the apartments we looked at, smelled like cat pee with a little marijuana mixed in. It had mold in the bathtub and a bed in a closet. Needless to say, this wasn't exactly the one we wanted. The one we all fell in love with has a fireplace, a study room, it's two stories, plus the owners pay for water and trash woohoo!! We are all pretty excited about it and are going to go sign the lease tomorrow! Now we just have to decide how to decorate it : )

All the Worst

The other day I really had the "Spring Cleaning" feeling hit me. So I decided I'd get organized, clean the house, and enjoy the nice weather while jamming out to some tunes. Well we didn't have a mop, so I decided to got the Dollar Tree and get one. I also needed to buy some paper dividers, so I went ahead and got them too. I was pretty proud of myself with my $3.22 purchase, I was ready to change the world (or my room at least)! I started mopping my kitchen first, and that stupid mop didn't even last long enough to finish half of the kitchen. It started falling off, crumbling to pieces, and making a bigger mess for me to clean up. I was ticked, but once I threw it in the dumpster and slammed the top, I was feeling a little better. Plus I remembered I had just got those dividers, so I could get my school work organized. Well, those dang dividers hole punches were off so they wouldn't fit into a notebook, and they hole re-enforcers were probably thinner than the paper, so I tossed them too! Probably the worst spring cleaning day I've ever had!

I Ain't Never Had Too Much Fun

Tonight, during work, while I was folding my thousands of towels, I was singing right along with the radio. I love to sing, even have the nickname American Idol from my bro-in-law. The only problem is I'm awful with lyrics! Often times I come to a part I don't know in the song, so I just make up words or sing jibberish until it comes to a part I know (typically the chorus). Well last night the song, I Ain't Never Had Too Much Fun by Trace Adkins came on, sure enough I start singing, and for the first time in my life I realized that the lyrics went:

Too much fun whats that mean

It's like too much money, there's no such thing

It's like a girl too pretty, with too much class

I had always sang it: It's like a girl too pretty with too much glass. Now I knew this didn't make sense (well I hope I knew this), but I honest to goodness thought this is what he sang. I just figured it was one of the phrases I never understood. Well finally, after singing this song since I was probably 4, I got the lyrics right!! So take that all you doubters : )

Money Talks

On Monday, I received my very first paycheck from my new job! I was pretty excited especially because the number in my bank account kept getting lower and lower and would much enjoy the boost. So the next day, I receive this phone call from an unknown number, so I decided not to answer it. I checked my voicemail, and it was from my bank explaining to me that they simply could not except my check, and I needed to come in. I just knew I was in some sort of trouble with the law or something extreme. I was near a panic attack when I went in, thinking they were going to beat me down or have me arrested for a hot check or something along those lines. Come to find out, the printer messed up when it printed my check, and I was able to get it all worked out through my work, so it was nothing I did (thank goodness!). Never again, though, do I want to receive a phone call from my bank. It is just too bad for my health!

Happy Birthday

Just wanted to give a shout out to my little bro!!! He turned 9 today woohoo! Oh the joys of playground fun, learning to multiply, and having to deal with those awful chores...I miss those days. I love you Ethan, you are more amazing than you will ever know! I pray that you will follow God and grow up to be a strong man of God. Love you : )

I'm On the Football Team

Superbowl XLIII is now over, and I was so excited the Steelers won. I'm actually a huge Chiefs fan, but my boyfriend loves the Steelers, so I was excited for him. I love the Superbowl! It is such a good time to get together with friends and football fans to have a party, eat great food, and laugh at all of those commercials, oh yeah and some great football. This year really brought the best of the best to the table, except the commercials, kind of lame, but I won't complain to much especially since it was such a good game. Hopefully next year I'll be able to see my Chiefs in it. Hey! A girl can hope can't she?!

Blonde Hair Blue Jeans

Yesterday during class I managed to get a huge purple dot from one of my permanent markers on my favorite blue jeans. These are the jeans that no matter what time of the month it is, what shirt I'm wearing, how much I've had to eat, they still fit and look good! I could not have these ruined. So needless to say, I totally panicked and ran out of my class to find the nearest bathroom. I scrubbed and scrubbed until my fingers blistered (well not quite, but might as well have been) and that dang stain would not come out. In my next class, I had to go to the front to talk to my class, and I was so embarrassed because I had just taken a drink of water and spilled it all down the front of my shirt. So not only did I have a wet shirt, but I had a huge wet spot on my jeans with a purple dot in the middle! I looked like a total train wreck. Finally though, I was able to get home, so I could really doctor this dang spot. I got a wash cloth and really started going at this spot, nothing really seemed to happen. Next, I got some detergent that claimed it had stain-fighting powers, so I thought this should really do the trick! It helped a little, but still the stain lived on, so I turned to google to try to save my favorite pair of jeans!!! After some finger nail polish remover, hair spray, and carpet cleaner, finally, finally they were saved. I'm not sure which one did the trick, but I do know that if it happens again, I'll be ready : )

Woman With the Dirty Feet

Usually when I work at the hotel, I bring along some nice socks. And by nice, I mean they match, aren't dirty or have holes in them, and do not have any crazy designs on them like most of my socks. I am kind of a sock fanatic. I love to wear mismatched fun colored socks!!
But back to my point, when I got to work today I realized the only socks I had were these white athletic ones, which I couldn't wear because of the shoes I wear at work. My shoes are slip-ons, and you can see what my socks look like, so I have to be very particular so my boss doesn't yell at me (she's a very petite scary lady, who can be sweet, but only on Fridays when she's going home). So since I couldn't wear my socks cause its a Thursday and she's still very grumpy, I just stuck on my shoes and went to work checking people in... and OH MY GOODNESS, I have terrible smelling feet!! Never before have I known this, but every time I'd take my shoes off to let my feet dry off from their sweat-i-ness, my stench would waft up to my nose, and I'd almost gag. Now that I'm home from work I'm going to have to scrub my feet and put an air freshener under my nose to hopefully make this smell go away! But honestly, I mean it couldn't have been my feet right?! it was the shoes that made them smell right?! Right, that's what I thought!

Ballad of a Teenage Queen

My younger sister just turned 13!!! I could not believe it, she's now a teenager, a young adult, no longer a child. I feel so old : ( Since it's a big milestone in her life, my older sister Miranda and I decided to take her out to eat.

My older sister, Miranda, and Kylie, the birthday girl

It was such a blast especially since it was probably the first time the three of us had really ever hung out together. We were able to tell Kylie all about our embarrassing stories like when I dropped a feminine product in front of all the wrestlers my 8th grade year and about died of shock!! Talk about one of my worst moments in junior high, which is such a cruel age anyway, but I was quickly relieved when one of the wrestlers made a joke about having to ice his downstairs friends because he had gotten hurt there, so I was able to make a quick exit!
Seriously though, I hope that if she does have any questions or is just having a hard time dealing with all the life-or-death issues that junior high kids have to deal with (what dress to wear to the dance, who's dating who's crush, etc.) that she will feel free to come to one of us for help. I know when I was in junior high that it would have been nice to have someone to come to with questions instead of trying to figure it all out. My big sister didn't care much for me, and my mom didn't know how to communicate with me really (we are just now learning how to and she's quickly becoming one of my best friends), so I felt a little lost sometimes growing up. So here's to my little sister Kylie, who is now going to have to face the world head on! I hope that she always looks to God to help lead her on her path to adulthood, and she remembers her older sisters may not be able to give her the best advice, but we can always make her laugh. I love you sister always and forever.

Applesauce

I decided I'd finally write a post. I've had this blog spot for a while now, but just have never wrote anything. Basically I use it for easy access to all my favorite blogs, so I can see what they are up to. Not sure why I have yet to write anything, I guess I had thought about it before, but never knew how to begin. I mean the first post is like a first date. All those bumps and awkward pauses, okay so maybe not quite the same, but still I'm nervous! I was trying to think about things I could write about, and I thought hey! I could have my very first post be about food since that is such a popular blog discussion, but the last thing I had eat was a pop tart loaded with butter, I didn't figure I could do a lot with that! The last thing I made was chicken fried steak, but I went to warm the leftovers up in the oven and ended up severally burning my left-hand, so, well, I'm trying to forget all about that and probably won't make chicken fried steak for quite sometime. I also thought, well maybe I could write about roommates. Honestly though, I don't feel like telling all the world how I live with my ex-best friend, who badly hurt my feelings last semester and now she's making it hard to live here with the constant slamming doors and talking bad about me behind my back to our other roomie who tells me everything!!!, so no I won't talk about that (although just want to say I still care for her a whole lot ( : ). So than I was like well what else do I got to talk about...my boyfriend? Not a whole lot going on that front except that right now I feel like we've taken steps backwards. Now I've re-read this and I feel like a real Debbie-downer. So I decided hmmm what about applesauce?! I guess that does go in the food categories huh?! But common, it's a fun word and the first thing to pop in my mind, even though I rarely ever eat the stuff. So there it is my first blog, all sorts of awkward and jumbled, talking about nothing that makes since at all (I mean honestly when does applesauce make since), so I guess this was kind of like a first date. Much better than some I've had, but that's another blog for another time.