My Linguistic Profile

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

10% Dixie

10% Yankee

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I really should be working...

I'm taking an extra long lunch break today. I really shouldn't because we have another state agency review tomorrow. I'm not ready for it yet, but I will be by the end of the day.

I've been feeling really negative lately, so now I'm working to being more positive. I'm currently trying to find more things to do and get involved in around Chattanooga. I hoping to find a beginners pottery or painting class and I'm toying with the idea to take a hip-hop/jazz class with Charissa in a few weeks (if she decides to go). I'm not sure yet. After Riverbend this past week, Elizabeth and I decided that we have to find a good kareoke bar--any suggestions?

I don't know how to transition to this but, the new Jack Black movie "Nacho Libre" is hysterical. I highly suggest it! I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. However, like all Jack Black movies, don't expect to gain any brains cells.

Sad Day

It's been a pretty terrible couple days. First of all, men are a bunch of
#%&*%$@*$#%$*!!!!...nuff said. I've been working a lot and I'm really tired physically. I can't seem to turn my brain off when I'm trying to fall asleep, so I'm not well rested.

Then, to top off everything, my dog is being put to sleep this Wednesday! I got my dog, Toto, when I was in the first grade for Christmas. She's now 16 years old and pretty insane (literally). She doesn't have a terminal illness, but she is having some other health problems that make it difficult to care for her. She can't really see or hear anymore. She is also really nervous all the time and bit the groomer last week! She has never been this way until the last year or so and my family doesn't want her to bit anyone else. I'm going to miss this little fur ball! The really sad thing is that I'm not able to go home in time to see her one last time. = (

Pride & Prejudice Marathon

Hey Chattanooga area ladies! I sent most of you an e-mail. Some e-mails I still don't have! Anyway, we are watching P&P at my new place next Saturday (June 3) starting at around 4:30pm. We are watching the A&E version so it will take a while, but will be fun! If you plan to come please let me know and if you can help bring a little appetizer that would be fabulous. I will take care of drinks and dessert!

Promotion!

I've been working for Mercy's Chosen Children for a year now. Wow, how time flies by! I've learned so much this past year in this field of social work (probably more than in my 4 years at Covenant!). I was hired to do the office management and recruitment. I was (and still am) in charge of answering the main phone line, answering questions and recruiting potential foster & adoptive families. The first couple months were rocky and it felt like almost every conversation I had with a potential foster parent or even our current foster parents ended with me saying "I think that is right, I don't know. I will have to call you back". Thankfully that chapter is over and I feel like I have a much better handle on everything. We moved to a new and more spacious office last fall and that made my job a lot easier with organizing the files and folders and the gazillions of paperwork we have to shuffle through.

So, now my role in the agency is changing slightly. I'm now an official case manager (I have my own business cards and everything!), as well as, continuing most of my office management tasks. Now that I have a handle on the office management, it no longer takes up my 40 hours a week so I am ready to do more than paper shufling. I'm now in charge of the placements of 6 foster children (cute as can be!) and their foster homes. Like my co-workers I've been trained to teach the state's 20 hour foster and adoptive parent certification seminars which we all co-teach together 3 times a year. I've just been promoted as the case manager who is in charge of home assessments. I'm going to be the one who is in charge of assessing each potential foster and adoptive family after they go through our certification training. I conduct several interviews and learn all about their family and why they want to be foster/adoptive parents. (For a sociology person, this is soooo fun! Sociology minded peeps love knowing what make people tick!) I then take all their information and references, back ground checks, etc. and write up an assessment document (8-12 pages) to submit to our supervisor for approval to our agency.

Phew!!! I'm tired just typing that all out! Anyway, it's really exciting to do "a real job" and be in the "real world" and making a difference in family and children's lives! Sometimes I feel inadequate to do what I do, but I'm gaining confidence each day and my co-workers and boss have full support in me. God has really opened up such a wonderful opportunity for me here and I'm happy to be a part of such an amazing organization. For kicks, our website (I'm the designer) is http://www.mercyschosenchildren.org

So You Had a Bad Day

Yep. It's true. In case you hadn't heard yet through the Loft-grapevine (yes we have one, don't deny it!) I've just gotten out of an almost 2 year relationship. Peyton and I have been doing the long distance thing for about 10 months and it was really hard. Apparently, it has been a lot harder for him than for me and he decided that we needed to break up. He plans to move back up to Chattanooga in the fall sometime if job stuff works out and we hope that when he moves back we can try this dating thing again. He also hopes to find a roommate too. Anyone know anybody needing help with rent? I don't totally understand him on everything and the timing but we both agree that the Lord is in control and it will work out if it is in His plan. This gives me great comfort while I try to make sense of my feelings and mend a broken heart.

I'm really grateful for my friends here in Chattanooga who have been wonderful and have checked up on me from time to time. My small group has been such a blessing as well. I don't know what I would do without them. My parents were in town last weekend and we painted my new apartment. We had a really good talk about relationship stuff. Please keep me in your prayers. Is there anyone who has been in a long relationship and then have it end? I go back and forth in a whirlwind of emotions. One minute I'm fine, the next really, really, really, mad. Then I'm a crying mess and then back to being just fine and almost happy with the situation. It's so weird!

Well, on a happier note. I'm planning on having a PRIDE AND PREJUDICE night at my apartment sometime really soon! More information to come!

Really Funny Story!

Late Grateful Dead Leader's Toilet Stolen
Apr 2, 6:39 AM EST
The Associated Press

SONOMA, Calif. -- The long, strange trip continues for Jerry Garcia's toilet. Police say the Grateful Dead leader's commode was stolen recently from a driveway along with three other toilets and a bidet, The Press Democrat newspaper reported Saturday.
Garcia's salmon-colored toilet was the subject of a legal battle before it was finally moved to Sonoma, to await shipment to a Canadian casino.
It's unclear if the toilet was swiped by a wayward Deadhead or a thief remodeling a bathroom. Police have no suspects or leads.
Henry Koltys bought Garcia's Marin County home for $1.39 million in 1997 and removed the toilet and other items he planned to sell to raise money for a charity.
After Koltys sold the house to a friend of the band's, the new owner sued to block the auction. The dispute was resolved last year, and Koltys moved the items to his home in Sonoma, about 40 miles north of San Francisco.
Last month, Koltys sold the Grateful Dead singer's toilet for $2,550 to online casino Goldenpalace.com, which planned to use it as part of a traveling marketing exhibit. The casino is offering a $250 reward for its return.
Henry Koltys said Friday that the toilet once stood in the master bathroom of Garcia, who died in 1995 at age 53. "It would have been his personal head," he said.
The casino has made other unusual purchases in the last year — it paid $25,000 for actor William Shatner's kidney stones and $28,000 for a grilled cheese sandwich that reportedly had the image of the Virgin Mary on it, Koltys said.
Jonathon Lipsin, who worked for Garcia as a gardener and now owns a Northern California record store, said the toilet might appeal to dedicated Deadheads.
"It's a little gross," Lipsin said. "But I could see it at a rock 'n' roll museum, too."

I'm moving in a week!

I'm moving in a week and I cannot wait! I have found this sweet apartment and it seems just perfect for me. Once I get all settled in I want to host an all out girl weekend/ Pride & Prejudice showing (the A& E version of course!) And maybe do the fondue thing again? I'm thinking sometime in May so that those gals who are getting married can be married long enough to leave their husbands for a few hours and hang with the girls!

I could never be a Mormon!

Even after the HUGE theological issues, I could never be a Mormon. How do they function without caffine? I don't understand how I could live without it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here are some photos from this weekend! Sorry Jared and Elizabeth! I thought I had taken some pictures of you as well, but they were not on my memory card this morning! Sorry!

Teaching Middle School Sunday School

So I'd been praying for a couple months about how to get more involved with my church. It was one of those prayers that you pray and don't follow up with any real action on your part. I wanted to get more involved, but I wasn't really actively looking at where I could serve. God is gracious in my effortless prayers and opened up a really neat opportunity this weekend. Somehow my name was "highly suggested" to the Sunday School coordinator by the education director at my church for me to be the assistant girls middle school Sunday school teacher. I've only talked with the education director at my church maybe twice and I know that those few encounters where not conversations that would cause him to think of me right away when this position opened up. I didn't even think he remembered my name. Over the weekend I thought about whether or not to take on the mind of a middle school girl again. Yikes! After some thought, I really felt that this was what the Lord wants me to do right now. Even though my prayer a few months ago certainly didn't included hopes of interacting with the ups and downs of 13 year olds, it is just what I was praying for. I also realized that if I didn't take the position now, the education director may realize that he was thinking of someone else! =)

So, any suggestions from anyone who has worked with middle school girls? I still remember those not so glorious days, but I do feel rather clueless.

Oh, by the way! I found a great apartment a week ago and I'm moving in a month!

Grrrr....Apartment Hunting

For those who know me well you know that I HATE change. When I was a little girl I cried when the St. Louis Cardinals traded "my favorite" baseball player. My mom tells me that she found me sobbing in front of the TV saying that "he looked so good in red!". Then when my dad decided to switch to a different company I cried about that too. It was not a big deal. Our family did not have to move nor did I really know anyone he worked with. I just hated change. Well, I think I have grown up some since I was a kid, but maybe not too much. I'm apartment hunting and this phase in my life is bitter sweet. I'm excited about something new, but I'm scared of change and making the right choice. One place I was really excited about that felt perfect totally fell through yesterday. I was so disappointed that I'm back to square one. I spent last night praying that the lease the landlord made would fall through and he would call me back today. So far no calls. Talking to my dad was really helpful yesterday. He reminded me that God was in control and that He has something better in mind for me. I'm trying to stay positive, but I'm just a whirlwind of emotions. I hate making big decisions on my own and I absolutely hate change.

Winter Wonderland

Winter is finally here. I was wondering if it was just going to skip on by to spring. January had spoiled us with 60 degree weather and sometime it pushed close to 70. We got some snow this past week and the locals are freaking out over 1/2 inch of snow. It's really funny to watch the evening news and hear how the weatherman stayed up all night tracking our "severe weather". The snow has been pretty and it makes the cold winter a little better.

I've been reading a pretty good book lately. I borrowed it from Peyton. It's called Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. It's about how to understand the wonderful and confusing world of the man's heart. It's really for a guy to read but the author also encourages women to read the book too so that we can better understand the men in our life. =) I'm enjoying it and I'm learning more about why God intended men and women to be different. And also how, as a woman, to understand the heart of a man when it seems many times crazy, unrealistic, and untamed.

Another book I read back in January that I recommend to everyone I know is The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. I'm by no means a big reader (ask my mom) nor am I a financial kinda girl and even the thought about reading a book about finance just puts me to sleep. However, this book was really life changing and fun to read. It is just common sense money saving, eliminating debt advice and I have started to use some of the tools he teaches in my own finances. Dave Ramsey also has a radio show I listen to from time to time online. You can listen to it free online at daveramsey.com from 2-5pm eastern time.

Cigarette anyone?

So, Saturday night we had a bridal shower for my roommate. It was really fun! We all dressed up in cocktail lounge attire. I love planning parties and this was a fun one to plan. Thanks for a fun evening girls!

I've Become A Blogger!

It's official, I've joined the blog community! I never thought that I would start one of these things. So far this is really basic...actually nothing really. However, I hope to add more and more. I got a digital camera for Christmas, so I plan to make good use of it.