Storms

We live in an area where spring storms are prevelant and today is know exception, we have storms moving into the area. With spring storms there is always a chance of hail, golf ball size to baseball size, strong winds and tornado's. I have only been through an actual tornado when I was a child, I have been around them, had friends lose material things, we have helped clean up after a tornado, but thankfully I have never lost anyone in a tornado. I love the smell of rain and the sounds of storms but I hate the devistation that is caused by storms. I love the rainbows that come after the storms reminding us of the promise that God gave to us. The sound of rain is very relaxing, I love to sleep when it is raining, it is harder to sleep when it is storming, especially if the wind is blowing things around outside, thankfully we have a basement and when there are warnings that is where you will find us, watching TV, sleeping or playing a game, doing things to take our minds off of the storm. I do hate driving in storms and I may have to today, especially since we have family coming for dinner. I wish the storms would go around us.

Communication

I have been sitting here studying for my final in Communication. I wonder how many of us ever really think about how many different ways we communicate and in those ways how many different ways we accent our communication. We communicate verbally and non-verbally, using our body language, our eyes, vocal tones, distance and more. With our communication we show love and understanding, we can intimidate others, we can share stories, as well as our hopes and dreams. Through communication we can educate others and we can bring healing into others lives.

It is through communication that I am sitting here writing this blog and learning more about communication with every word that I am typing. It is through communication that we teach our children.

As I was writing my notes on communication I realize that there are dimensions in communicating. Writing can be 2-3 dimensional depending on the description within the writing, but communicating with someone via a chat room or email that is 2 dimensional and is missing something. Voice inflection and body language is important in communication, it is important to hear the tone and to see the sincerity in the eyes of the ones communicating.

It is through communicating that we often miss communicate or we miss understand what the other person is trying to say, or they say something and we think they mean something else. Communication is a tricky business, but it is awesome.

I communicate with my granddaughter everyday and she says more with her smiles and her laughs than a lot of adults do with their many words.

Communication is really a great gift to all of us, where would we be without it.

Can't Sleep

Ever had one of those nights when you just couldn't sleep, even when you knew you had an early morning. This is the second one for me this week. I couldn't sleep Sunday night because my mind was to busy preparing my cooking final in my head and I was shaking off all the negative thoughts that were trying to invade my brain. Tonight I can't sleep for a few reasons. Tomorrow I have my baking final plus a quiz. I checked my English grade and there are two assignments that I did and turned in that my instructor didn't give me credit for which has lowered my grade and I have emailed her but haven't heard back, so that is adding stress to an already stressful time of finals. My communication final is going to be a bear, I studied for four hours tonight and still have 14 chapters to go. Then to top all of it off my legs decided to start jerking as I was trying to sleep, so here I sit at my computer hoping that I can relax enough to go back in my room lay down and get a few hours sleep before I have to get up. At least with missing out on my sleep on Sunday I got an A on my cooking final, so missing sleep was worth it. Hopefully tomorrow I will get my English grade straightened out and over the week-end I will finsh preparing for my other finals. Oh and I still have a speech to do, I am hoping to get that done this week-end as well. I am ready for summer break. I have enjoyed this semester, but I am ready to give my brain a break, start my new job and then start back at school in the fall. I am really looking forward to the classes I am taking in the fall and I am sure that I will miss out on more sleep, but I have a goal and I am moving towards it. Sleep, Sleep, or how I am ready for sleep. Good night all!!!

Preparing

There are many ways in which to think about the word preparing. We prepare for our day, we prepare for a presentation, we prepare our food and for me I am preparing for my finals. I can't believe this semester is almost over. This week-end my daughter and I prepared for our cooking final which is at 8 am tomorrow morning. We practiced filleting fish, different sauces and such. When we were done the kitchen was a mess, it was to small an area for all that was going on but we managed and cleaned it up. Our husbands enjoyed dinner very much, cleaning their plates.

Today, I prepared everything that I want to take with me in the morning, certain spices, shallots, garlic and more. I pressed my uniform and packed my knives. I made out my lists, so I am as ready as I can be for my final.

I am preparing for my other finals as well by studying. I have loved this semester but now I am preparing to enjoy my summer break, although I will be working, that has rewards all in its own.

I think for tonight this is all I have to say on this subject.

Playing Washer and Arguing

This is a story I put together in Comp. class off of two index cards.

My husband and I were out on the lawn playing washers and I was winning of course. We were discussing many topics and the afternoon was going along swimmingly until the topic of people at the age of 50 or older having to take a drivers liscense retest. My husband who is not yet 50 started laughing hysterically saying why of course if your over 50 you should have to retake your test and I yelled at him saying that is absurd, (throwing a washer and overthrowing it) I can drive perfectly fine and I am over 50. He begin saying stupid things like: when you get older your reflexes slow down, your eye site isn’t as good and you know your memory begins to go too (throwing his washer and it landing in the box. I came back at him rather loudly that I agreed that those things happened with people over the age of 65 (throwing another washer and over shooting it once again), but it would be ludicris to test everyone at the age of 50 because most of us are just beginning to live, applying all the things that we have been learning in life and look at this age I am helping teach our son how to drive, especially off of the grass. He continues to laugh and throws another washer, hitting the mark). Now keep in mind that will we are arguing the game continues on and I keep missing which is making me all the madder, I am getting louder and more frustrated, so my husband is having a great laugh at my expense. Then he comes up with this hair brained idea for me to take the test to prove my point and yes you know I am all about that, so we agree that the following Friday I would take the test and you know I will pass, (we are betting a steak dinner on this one) because at 50 there is no reason that you are not still capable of driving. We continued to play washers and he won the game, but the war is far from over.

26th Anniversary

Today my husband and I are celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary. In the years that we have been together we have overcome many obstacles and I can truthfully say that we are more in love today than the day we got married. We have learned to celebrate life together and to enjoy those special moments in life, like: the birth of our children, their first words, first steps, their first day of school, our daughters weddings, the birth of our granddaughter, buying our first home, and there are so many other memories that I could share here but it would take pages and pages. There were times in our marriage that I wouldn't have wished it upon anyone, it was those days of growing, struggling and changing and now I hope that others have a wonderful marriage like I do, this marriage I would wish upon others. Today I woke up to this card:

For My Wife
Anywhere with you is my favorite place to be...
I love the closeness we share-
and all the ways you keep me falling more and more in love with you...
I love sharing everything with you-
my partner, my friend, the one who means everything to me.
Happy Anniversary

(These first 26 years have only been the beginning of what we have. I'm so excited for the next 26)
What wife's heart wouldn't melt with that!!!!!!!!!!

I have a husband that continues to grow and change, one that works hard to provide for his family. One that will admit mistakes. We laugh together, we've cried together, but mostly we live life together. We have lived our wedding vows and it hasn't always been easy, but it sure has been worth it.

My Tatoo

This is my first and only tattoo (for now). This tattoo has a lot of meaning for me. The rose symbolizes Christ to me, who is the center of my life, without Him I would not be where I am today, nor would I be who I am today. The banner with the name Randy is for my wonderful husband and the pink ribbon of course stands for finding a cure for breast cancer. So when you put them all together it comes to this: 2 1/2 years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer and instead of my world crashing in on me, I grabbed hold of my faith (in Christ) and began the journey of healing. I prayed and I stood and I had surgery. My husband was with me through every doctors appointment, biopsies, surgeries and recovery. He was with me as we prayed and believed. He was with me when I would break down and cry and He was with me when they told us that I didn't have caner anymore and Christ was with us every step of the way. My tattoo is my way of saying thank you to Christ and to my husband, the ribbon is to remind me what I am saying thank you for. Every time I see it I remember the journey, but mostly I remember the victory. I am blessed, not perfect, but blessed. After this journey through cancer my husband and I are so much closer and we were close before. We appreciate the little things about each other, do we still argue, of course, it's fun to make up. We remember that life could come to an end with one diagnoses so we appreciate every moment that we have together and Tuesday we will be celebrating 26 years together. I know that many women are not as fortunate as I am, that they not only lose their health but their husbands as well, so I am always thankful for all that I have been blessed with.