All quiet on the Pickens front...

There hasn't been much happening here at Pickens Plantation recently...

Clay and I have been adjusting to him staying in Atlanta during the week and leaving me here to hold down the fort.  Thank goodness he came home one night this week to change my oil and mow...I hate to think about what would have happened if he had let me use our "new to us" riding lawn mower.  I would have ended up in a ditch, the woods, or through the shed or fence.  I'm glad he knows me well enough to know better.

Last weekend we went to Heath Springs to stay with Clay's family.  His sister, Kelly, had her baby shower on Sunday.  Baby Bailey will be making her appearance in just a few short weeks!  I am so excited to be an aunt for the 4th time!  Every time I go visit his family, I realize how truly lucky I am to have such an amazing 2nd family. 

On the school front, everything is going well.  I am about a week and a half away from being finished with 2 of my pre-requisites.  They have been tough, but I've learned a lot!  I'm sure my family is sick of hearing all of my "facts of the day" that I have learned in my nutrition class!  Although it is tough cramming 2 classes into 5 weeks, I am so thankful that I don't have to drag out statistics for 3 months!  Awful.

Moving on to more exciting news, my sister, her husband, and Zoey have moved back from California!  I know you all know how happy I am to have them back.  Donna and Zoey flew out to stay with me while Matt and his dad drove all their stuff back from Santa Monica.  Zoey is just the sweetest little girl, with so much personality.  Everything she does makes you smile.  It is a great feeling knowing they are now only a car ride away, instead of a flight away!     

Welcome back Matt, Donna, and Zoey! 

We love you!                   

Exciting times...

Coley is here for the week (to save me from my boredom) and she ran across this great article that gave me the last little "you're doing the right thing" nudge I needed:  11 Things to Know at 25(ish).

Of course it's hard to go to back to school, become jobless, and change careers at 25ish, but apparently I'm not the only one and it just might not be as scary as it seems.

This was my favorite part of the article:

Now is the time to figure out what kind of work you love to do. What are you good at? What makes you feel alive? What do you dream about? You can go back to school now, switch directions entirely. You can work for almost nothing, or live in another country or volunteer long hours for something that moves you. There will be a time when finances and schedules make this a little trickier, so do it now. Try it, apply for it, get up and do it.

Pretty insightful, huh?

Even more exciting than going back to school is the fact that my sister, her husband, and my niece are moving from California to Raleigh in 6 days!  I haven't seen them since Thanksgiving so needless to say, I am ecstatic.  It is going to be bittersweet to see how much my sweet little Zoey has grown and changed over the past 7 months, but I am so happy that I am going to get to be present in her life now.  Not only have I missed my niece terribly, but I've missed my sister more than you could imagine.  It has been so hard to have her so far away through some of the most important times in both of our lives...going off to college, graduation, cheering at college football games, new loves, babies being born, wedding showers, holidays, birthdays, deaths, and all the every day things that you want your family to be a part of.  Even though we couldn't always be together in person because of the distance, there is no doubt our hearts were always together.  I can't wait for all the fun times that will most certainly be had now that my family is back together on the east coast!  





 

Bittersweet...

Tomorrow is the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.  I will make that 40 minute drive one more time, pack up my things, and leave my classroom, some of my best friends, and 17 little lives that I hope I've made a difference in.

The way I feel is nothing less than the epitome of bittersweet.  I am happy, relieved, sad, and scared all at once.  I am so sad to leave what I've grown to know the past 3 years.  I am even more sad to leave the amazing friends I've made...Susan, Megan, Keri, and Adrienne.  Without those girls, I couldn't have done it.  I know this isn't goodbye, but I'm sad I won't pass them in the hall or 'live' beside them anymore.  On the other hand, I am so excited to start the next chapter in my life.  I pray for strength, courage, and guidance as I switch from teacher to student.  I pray for the opportunity to learn the things that will lead me to a job that I love.    

With this change, comes many goodbyes.  I hate goodbyes.  I hate saying bye to Clay when he leaves for work. I hate saying bye to my mama when I leave home.  I hate saying goodbye to my sister and my niece when I know I won't see them for another 6 months.  I hate saying goodbye to my girls after an amazing weekend together.  Today, I got a little taste of 'goodbye' as I had to tell one of the sweetest little boys I've ever met goodbye.  This same little boy is going into surgery tomorrow morning to have biopsies taken to confirm the doctor's diagnosis of Crohn's Disease.  As I hugged his mother with tears streaming down both of our faces, trying to console her and tell her that everything will be alright, I looked at that sweet little face beginning to walk down the hall, and thought "THIS is why I became a teacher."  At the same time, I also thought, "this is why I'm going to be a nurse."  What I would give to be the nurse that gets to hold his hand and comfort him as he gets ready for his surgery.  Students like this, and students like my sweet girls from last year are exactly why I did this for three years  I did it for them.  Not for the state department of education, not for the administration, not for anyone but them.

So, it is with a slightly heavy heart that I say goodbye to education and hello to the amazing opportunities that are to come.  

        

You've got to be kidding me...

On Inside Edition tonight, they said that 4 out of 10 men have a "gene" for cheating.  Seriously?  Clearly, the doctor who discovered this gene is a cheater and just looking for an excuse.  If this is true, can cheating be cured or managed with medicine?  Does anyone else find this as completely absurd as I do??  Let's not give men an excuse to be idiots.  How about we just call it like it is and blame it on their selfishness and ego instead.  :o)    


Inside Edition also said these are signs your man might cheat:
-SAT scores- studies show that high intelligence is linked to monogamy...duh- smart men know better than to cheat on us! ;o)
-Middle aged men are more likely to cheat.
-Guys who are adventurous tend to cheat.


Moral of the story-  Date a guy that is smart, old, and boring.  

Hope this gives all of you single ladies some renewed faith in men!  :-/  Yikes!


PS-  I'm glad I found a good one.  ;o)

THIS is why I hate bees...

So, my knee is scraped, my head is throbbing, and I'm pretty sure I broke a bone in my hand.

What happened might you ask?

Well, I had a run-in with a wasp, or a "wost" as my sweet husband calls them.

I went out to the shop to get Hank, like I do every day.  Only today, there was a wasp building a little hive on the door.  If only I had seen him before he saw me.  I go in, no problem.  Come out, shut the door and suddenly I feel something (a wasp) in my hair and something that feels like a bite (a sting).  Yep, I got stung on the top of my head, all while trying to hold Hank by the collar because I didn't have his leash.  I am in a furry, panicking, trying to get the bee out of my hair.  Then, I start running, get ahead of my feet, and fall...HARD...with Hank's collar still in my hand.  I scrape my knee and my hand and I'm pretty sure I have a broken bone because my palm is super swollen and in pain.  So I put Hank in the car and try to figure out what to do next because my keys are still in the lock, I can't get in my house, and I am not about to go near that door.

As if you aren't amused enough already, it gets better.  Better than me falling?  Oh yes.

I stand there, by the car, looking in at Hank wishing that he could help me out somehow or give me some advice.  Round 1...I walk up to the door and try to sneak up and its as if the bee sees me coming.  So, he swoops down off the hive and tries to sting me again.  I run back to the car.  Round 2.  I see a water bottle in the car....grab the water bottle, hide behind the door with one foot in, and throw it as hard as I can at the door.  Of course, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, so naturally, I missed the nest.  Round 3...I see a stick.  I throw it.  Miss.  I see another one, throw it, miss.  Then I debate whether or not to get close enough to the door to grab the stick and bottle and throw them again.  Nah, too scared.  Round 4...I grab a rock..throw it, ding the door and knock the black paint off.  Oops.  No more rocks.  Round 5....I grab the floor mat, yep.  That's right, the floor mat.  I put it over my head (go ahead, laugh) and sneak up to the door.  I get scared, and go back to the car.  It's like the bee is waiting on me.  I look at Hank, still nothin'.  He's so confused.  Round 6...I go back...and my heart is beating a million beats a second.  Anyone that knows me, knows that I am deathly afraid of bees.  I FREAK out (obviously).  So, I put the floor mat back over my head, stand with my back up against the shop, as if I'm a navy seal or FBI or something, and inch towards the door.  Of course, I couldn't get the key out.  So, I have to turn it every which way because I had left it mid-lock when I was being attacked the first time.  I can't get it out with my left hand so I switch the mat to the my left hand, trying to keep it between me and the bee.  After a couple hard tugs, I get the key out and what does the bee do?  Swarm at me again.  What the heck is up with this bee?  I just want to get my key and leave you alone!  So, I get the key, try to fight off the bee with the floor mat, breathe a huge sigh of relief when I get away...without falling, and PRAY that I'm not allergic to wasps.

All I can say is, it's a good thing I got Hank out before I got stung, because he would have been staying in there until Clay got home.

First up on the agenda when Clay gets home...pick up the water bottle that I was too scared to get and KILL.THE.BEE.

You're welcome.  Go ahead and laugh, I would too.              

 

   

Mama...

On Sunday, we celebrated the most important women in the world...moms.

For those of you that know my mama, you know she is the sweetest and kindest woman in the world.  She puts others before herself, always.  As I've gotten older, I've come to truly appreciate the amazing woman she is.  She is the most selfless person I've ever met and would do anything for anyone.  She loves her family and sticks by us through thick and thin.  My mama has had more heartache than anyone deserves and she meets every challenge with style and grace.  I admire her more than she could ever imagine.                    

Mama, I hope to be HALF the woman you are one day.  I love you so much and I hope you never forget how much you are loved, admired, and appreciated by everyone who knows you!

Big changes...

Since Clay and I have been together, there have been tons of changes.  New jobs (x4), new cities, getting married, a new dog, buying a house, etc.  Well, what fun would it be if we didn't throw one more change in the mix?!

Some of you already know this, but I am not going to be teaching next year.  I know, I know.  (Insert gasp here for some of you.)  I made the decision a while back that I wanted to go back to school for nursing.  In college, I initially wanted to go into nursing, but PC didn't have that program.  Anyone who has went to PC knows, once you get there, it is really hard to leave.  So, I didn't leave.  Instead, I stuck it out in a major I wasn't so sure about.  I taught for 3 years but now it's time to find out who I am really supposed to be.  My family and friends knew that it would be just a matter of time because all along they thought I was meant to do something else.  To all those who told me this years ago, here ya go..."You were right."  Never doubt what your mama tells you...she's going to be right.  Period.

I'm sure some of you are asking, "Why nursing?"  Well, obviously the desire to help people.  Also, science was the only thing in school that I was interested in and actually learned instead of just memorizing for a test.  The main reason for my career change, which I don't think anyone knows, is the nurses at Grace Hospital that took such good care of my daddy when he was dying.  I watched as they came in, gave him his medicine, and did EVERYTHING they could to make him comfortable.  They were so reliable and they quickly became a constant in a situation that was ever changing.  I remember my sister asking them what they would do when we were faced with the choice of switching over to Hospice care.  They were straight-forward and honest and gave us the advice we so desperately needed but hated to hear.  Let him go.  We trusted them and knew how invested they had become in our family and what we were going through.  I want to be that for someone one day.  Someone that a heartbroken family can cry with when things go wrong and rejoice with when things go the way they had hoped.  So, to those nurses, thank you not only for treating my daddy as if he were your own, but for helping me see who I am meant to be.

Love you daddy...
11/15/56-6/27/08