After an Internet Drought

I haven't had internet. This is the first time I've been online in like three weeks. My cell phone had an accident. Ezra, the cat, knocked a cast iron candlestick off the mantle and onto my phone. It broke the screen. I can still talk on it, but I can't text or see who is calling me and other things. I usually text facebook statuses and little blurb updates to this blog if I can't get online for a few weeks. But that couldn't happen this time.

My friend Hannah's baby, Sadie Mae, was born and died today. Please keep her family in your prayers. This baby's life, though short, has touched many people and we are thankful for it.

Tabitha is seven months pregnant now and might have to have her gall bladder removed. She's going to the doctor tomorrow to find out.

We've had a crazy snow storm last week, which still hasn't completely melted away. Our gazebo collasped, and a teenager skidded on the ice and took out our mailbox. She's fine, no one was hurt, except our mailbox and her tail light.

I've decided to dye my hair. I hope to go out and buy hair dye today. Maybe I'll post a picture and let you see the difference, instead of telling you my intentions.

Everything else is much the same. Ryan and I great. I still haven't found a job. That's pretty much it.

Celebrating Six Months of Ryan!

Ryan and I have been together for half a year! It's gone by pretty fast. Today he and Lydia had their first real conversation.

Lydia came over and we hung out at my house from like 3:30 to 10:30. We did a Bollywood workout, a bellydance workout, played on the Wii Fit, and did Kinect Adventures and Dance Central. We played real guitar, and Rock Band. We also showed her Alison's harmonica and Dragon Age: Origins. We ate quesedillas (is that spelled right?) and fresh, homemade bread. And she got to appreciate my pets. Basically, a good time was had by all!

All right, that's all I have to say, as I am going to go talk to Ryan now!

Christmas, New Years, and Ryan

The next weekend was Christmas. On a typical Christmas Eve, my older sister Beth and her husband Daniel come. Christmas Eve is Dad's birthday, so we get Beth then, and Daniel's family get them for Christmas, especially since they still have grade school aged children. But this year, Christmas Eve wasn't going to work, because of timing. So we decided to have it the Sunday after Christmas. So Alison and I gave Dad his birthday presents Friday, but otherwise nothing really happened, except lovely holiday lasagna for dinner.

Our Christmas Tree.

Christmas we did what we normally did: open up gifts in the morning, then chill the rest of the day except for dinner, which was turkey and the trimmings. It was great, except over very fast because Mom and Dad had given me most of my gifts pre-Christmas, Alison's gift to me was the Florence trip, and Mom and Dad gave Alison mainly cash. We watched a few movies, it was great...

And then it started to snow! And it stuck! First white Christmas of my life!! Yay!

Road in Front of My House!

And it kept coming and kept coming and consequently it wasn't safe for Beth and Daniel to come Sunday. So they came Tuesday instead.

Tuesday was fun. And my mom got a laptop! I had no idea, but Beth, Daniel and Dad were all in on it. She'd also gotten a great digital camera, so she's like all technological now!

Beth and Daniel only stayed for the day, which is always a bummer because we'd all like to see them more. But it was a great visit.

Wednesday Tabby and I were going to hang out, but she didn't feel up to it. Thursday nothing in particular happened. Friday, yesterday, was New Year's Eve. Brad came over and we played games and watched TV. At midnight, I talked to Ryan. :) Brad spent the night, and then today Alison and Brad left. They're having dinner at his grandparent's house, then Ali's spending the night at his parent's house so she can be there to see him off tomorrow, when he head backs to Florida, where he's in school to get his PhD in Computer Science.

You might wonder why you've not heard Ryan's name, but it's not because he wasn't there. We're going strong. In fact, it's only four days until our sixth month anniversary! (Well, our sixth monoversary if you want to get technical.) These sixth months have flown by. We talk pretty much everyday, though not as much as we'd like. I've been very busy this month, and part of it I was on pretty much the worst schedule I could be with a boyfriend in India. But overall, we've been great. I admit, I am sick of talking on the phone. I just don't always feel like talking on the phone, but that doesn't mean I don't feel like being with Ryan. But it's pretty much my only option. Before, we talked online and on the phone, but today is the first day I've been online in forever.

Ryan also had a setback this month. He's been saving like crazy for about four and a half months to come and see me... and then the family's only car died and he had to use his savings to fix it. So instead of February, like it was looking like he'd be able to come, it'll be at least April. It's conceivably only a two month setback, instead of a four month one, because his family is going to help him out a little and he's getting a raise in February.

Spiritually, I've been only okay. Except that one spirit filled weekend, I've been just sort of barely chugging along. Ryan and I have tried to spiritually bond more, but it's not succeeded, which is distance more than anything else. It's hard to pray and do Bible Study and all that stuff over the phone-- we've tried, but it's just not the same as it is with people in person. And I don't know about him, but sometimes the most spiritual things happen in silence with me. A poignant, prayerful silence is powerful in person. Over the phone, silence is just nothingness, or worse, it makes the other person believe something is wrong.

Physically, I'm starting to exercise regularly again. In early summer, I'd been doing pretty well. But I lost my primary workout methods (DVRed episodes of FitTV programs and Wii Fit Plus) when lightning hit. I didn't get them back until fall. Before that, I also lost my secondary workout methods and workout buddy when Tabby got pregnant! So it hit me at the end of November or so that I'd not worked out regularly in sixth months! Since then I've been trying to get back on the horse, but I've been so busy that when I think about exercising I usually don't feel like it and am unable to talk myself into it. Still, I exercised today and I'm on the road back to regular exercise. I feel so much better right now than I did pre-workout, even though it's been a few hours since I stopped.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to hang out with Tabby for the first time in like... three weeks? Is that right? At least two and a half. She's right around her third trimester now. Not sure if it just started, or is just about to, but she's getting bigger. I don't remember if I told you, but she's having a little boy! His name will be Jordan.

Later this month, around the 15th, Lydia and Suzanne, a woman from our Bible Study, should be going to Atlanta. Lydia made plans for that weeks ago, and I've not heard anything about it since, so as far as I know that's the plan, but we'll see as it approaches.

It feels good to blog. Currently I'm on Alison's computer, which will go back to Florence with Alison later this week. This is the first time I've gotten on it since she's been here, and so I'm not sure I will again, but maybe. Dad's computer is going to be fixed, but still hasn't been sent out to be fixed, so it will be a while. But Mom's new laptop does have a modem, so maybe I'll get on it if she'll allow it. Have a great year, everyone!

Between Florence and Christmas

Upon my arrival home, I mainly was just trying to recover from my 4:30 am arrival. As I could, I began helping Mom out around the house, cleaning for Christmas. Alison came home around two weeks later, for Christmas. I got to go to Bible Study twice during the time in between Florence and Christmas, which was good. It'd been a month, because it was canceled, then my ride was out of town for Thanksgiving, then I was out of town in Florence. But I got to go the next two weeks, then it hasn't happened the last two weeks because Fridays fell on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.

The weekend before Christmas was awesome. Bible Study was Friday, as I've said. Then the next day, Lydia had a party at her place. It was sort of just a 'girl's night' party. We had taco salad and talked, and then played Apples to Apples. It was great. Then I spent the night. Lydia and I talked a little, but she went to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour. I couldn't sleep. So I played a game on facebook. I got less than a hour's sleep. The next morning, we went to the church meeting in Simpsonville. I'd not been in forever, nor had I met with any Recovery saints except Lydia and her family in a long while. So that was awesome. Especially since people talked about how we should not judge or alienate any Christian, even if they weren't the same as them (unification of the Body of Christ is pretty much as close to my heart as you can get, and in Simpsonville in the past I've heard a lot of anti-denomination talk, that is, that Christians who are in denominations are wrong, which put barriers up between Christians with that opinion and their brothers and sisters meeting elsewhere). Also, it related with what we discussed on Friday in Bible Study.

Also there was Anna, who Lydia and I traveled with to Athens last year while we were visiting different churches in the tri-state area. Anna and I haven't really seen each other much since, because Anna was out in California, but she's back now. The three of us were excited to be reunited. So we decided to have lunch. So Lydia, her parents, Anna, and a couple from the church all went out to Don Pablo's for lunch. It was great. I fabulous time. It was a fabulous, amazing, spirit refreshing weekend.

When I got home, Alison had arrived a few hours previous. She brought her cat Cinnamon too. We spend the week prior to Christmas cleaning, and doing things like putting up the tree and decorating. Well, we'd put the tree up before that, but hadn't put any ornaments on it yet (we're all allergic, so we use an artificial tree). We were so busy it didn't really feel like Christmas until it was upon us.

The Florence Trip

Happy New Year!

It has been a while since I've done a proper blog post. There's a reason for that: I've been busy. My last real post was Thanksgiving, despite the little text post thrown in there. Thanksgiving weekend, my parents surprised me by buying a lovely wool coat and giving me some shopping money as a early Christmas gift.

After Thanksgiving, I went to Florence with my sister Alison, who is a student at Francis Marion University. She has an off campus apartment where I stayed with her for a week and two days. Originally, the plan was a week.

I had a really great time. It was lovely to have a change of pace. I'm not sure I have the chronology right, but I'd like to tell you about some of the highlights. The first day I was out there we did a lot of shopping and went out to dinner. That was Sunday (we'd driven down late Saturday night). On Monday I went with Ali to campus. I hung out in the library while she was in class, then met her professors. Either Sunday or Monday Alison bought this awesome video game called 'Dragon Age' which was actually pretty awesome to watch, as it was like watching a movie, which we played throughout the week. On Tuesday I attended her biology class, her professor having had invited me the previous day. I also attended Alison's senior presentation, which she did very well. In this, I went out to lunch with Alison and some of her friends to Moe's, which interesting enough, was in the local hospital cafeteria. I'd never heard of just going to a hospital cafeteria as if it was a normal restaurant or mall food court. Wednesday brought around Alison's Christmas party. Alison is the president of the Physic's Society and she had planned and executed their first annual Christmas party. She was sooo nervous. She thought it'd be an utter failure up until the last moment... but it was a total success! We had pizza and ice cream (I tried pineapple pizza for the first time and it was awesome!), then we had a game of Apples to Apples and Alison had brought Lips (a karaoke type game) and her Xbox, and it was so funny to see all these guys belting out Lady Gaga. There was also a gift exchange, what is commonly called a 'Chinese Christmas' I think? I arrived with a DVD and ultimately ended up with a Walmart gift card. It was awesome.

Some of Ali's friends in the physics department.

Thursday I stayed home and enjoyed the wifi. I don't remember what night it was, but one night we got stuck in traffic for forty five minutes or so on our way to Applebees, which is on the end of the road Alison lives on. We never made it there-- by the time the practically standstill traffic got to Ali's apartment complex (we'd started at the other end of the road, not from her home) we turned in and just ate whatever we could cobble together in Alison's apartment. I don't remember specifics from Friday, though Alison was working on a lot of homework and I couldn't really get the internet.

Saturday we went to David's Bridal. Alison is one of the maid of honors for her friend Leanna, who is getting married in July. She was there to try on wedding gowns. It was very fun. After four dresses, we determined she wanted a tea length dress, then we asked if they had any others in her size in stock to try on (because the one she'd already tried on wasn't quite right) and they brought out a lovely dress that not only did Leanna love, it was her size, and it was the last one they had, and therefore was on sale for $99! So even though she'd really only gone there for an idea, not to purchase her dress, she found her dress for real! That's actually happened every time I've gone wedding dress shopping with someone! With Tabitha, we found a dress that fit her like a glove and was only $75 the first day she went out to look for a gown. With Alison, she still hasn't bought her dress yet, but she found the one she wanted when she, my mother, and I went to try some on 'just for fun' (she's still unsure of the date, so she's going to wait to order it until either it's close to the wedding or they decide to discontinue that style). It was, at least when we looked (might be on sale when we order or something, who knows) less than $150.

That night, I was supposed to go home. But I didn't because Alison had 6 assignments due Monday! So she and Mom talked and she realized she could bring me home Monday night, and not have to give up any studying time over the weekend. So Sunday we didn't do much but I watched tv and such. Monday she had class and she got her stuff turned it. I got to see her friends one last time and say goodbye.

So Monday night, Alison didn't have us leave until like 2am because she hates to drive through Columbia area during traffic. So we got home around 4:30 in the morning. Consequently my sleeping schedule was screwed up the next week.

You may ask why I didn't blog during that time, but basically it was because my time online was limited. I did get online, but my priority was to do those kinds of things I can't with only dial up (and blogging is possible on dial up) while I had the high speed. I'd thought I'd get online a lot, but it didn't happen mainly because Alison needed her computer for homework. Aaannd while I was gone, Mom and Dad's computer died! So when I got home, I had no internet at all!