What a Difference

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

My fall semester wound up this week. Yipee! It was a crazy and weird semester for my distance education buddies and me. We're glad it's over. We have two semesters left and should graduate in August. We have to pass the CRC exam in April as well as finishing the two semesters.

I feel so good this morning! I have not used my CPAP machine for about a week because I just didn't have time to clean it. Sad but true. My hubby helped me change out the pillows last night. My energy level is up this morning. My goal is to get into a solid routine over the winter break and keep it up when school starts back.

Heard from my two friends in my Three Little Girls in School post. We are going to try and start getting together regularly. We all have busy lives, but we know it's important to hold onto friends. It's tough to get into a new routine no matter how excited about it I am, but I will do this!

Well, that's about it for now. I have started waging battle on the mess that my house has become. Work will need some intense catching up, but I should be ready to enjoy the holidays and hit the books again next month.

Oooh, sparklies!

Your Brain's Pattern

You have a dreamy mind, full of fancy and fantasy. You have the ability to stay forever entertained with your thoughts. People may say you're hard to read, but that's because you're so internally focused. But when you do share what you're thinking, people are impressed with your imagination.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

Athletic? Only if geocaching counts!

You Are an Iced Coffee

"> At your best, you are: hyper, modern, and athletic At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you're out with friends and at work Wednesday, November 22, 2006 Happy Thanksgiving! There are too many things for me to be thankful for to list them all. For that I am grateful. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday. Tuesday, November 21, 2006 Hinder: Lips of an Angel I love this song. There was code that was supposed to put the video here, but it wouldn't play. I'll try again later. Saturday, November 18, 2006 Sleeping Better I have been sleeping with my c-pap machine for two days. It will take a few weeks to adjust to it, but so far so good. I chose a "pillow" that fits under my nose and above my upper lip with two buds pointing up into my nostrils. It has a built in heated humidifier. I don't feel like Darth Vader, but it is interesting sleeping in it. Yesterday, I woke up sleepy but relaxed. Have not been relaxed in a long time. Today, it was not quite as nice. My son went to his granny's and my husband went geocaching, so I napped until about 1:30. Not sure why, but maybe I am just playing catch up. Here's hoping it helps, and I adjust. The second sleep study showed that it reduced my holding my breath from 24-30 plus times per hour to 1. : ) LOL - well the description sounds okay, but the jobs don't really reflect my interests. Your Career Type: Conventional You are orderly and good at following a set plan. Your talents lie in working with written records and numbers in a systematic, orderly way. You would make an excellent: Bank Teller - Bookkeeper - Court Clerk Mail Carrier - Post Office Clerk - Secretary Timekeeper - Title Examiner - Typist The worst career options for your are artistic careers, like comedian or dancer. What's Your Ideal Career? Sunday, November 12, 2006 Three Little Girls In School My life contains so many blessings and always has. Unfortunately, when I reflect on my youth, I realize that I have not always been fair or kind to those that blessed me the most. If blogs allow us to exorcize our demons and write about how we feel, I owe some wonderful people both apologies and my love. Where better to give them than here - since I am a bit too cowardly to do it in person? LOL! In seventh grade, I met people that would change and shape my life. There were several wonderful people that helped me get through the awkward teenage years and personal losses. None gave me more or remain with me in my heart more than two of my fellow bloggers: Cheryl and Jennifer. I met these wonderful people (and their families) through church and bonded with them at church camp. Cheryl and I became best friends for the next 5 years. Though Cheryl and Jennifer were friends first (and longest), and despite the fact that Jennifer introduced me to Cheryl, Jennifer accepted me graciously. My deepest regret from that time period is that I was not nearly so gracious a friend in return. My life story is a bit unusual. Cheryl and I actually share a lot of unusual family characteristics. The two primary ones being having older parents (especially our fathers) and having older half siblings yet really being raised as only children due to the age differences. Because we had so much in common, she became a true sister-of-my heart. Not that I didn't love Jennifer, but I latched onto Cheryl. Bless Cheryl's heart, she put up with my demanding friendship and never seemed to blink. In many ways my friendships came with a price - I wanted to be the center of the friendship. Not just with Cheryl, but more so with her. It especially bothered me when Cheryl and Jennifer did things together without me. Irrational, yes, since they lived about a mile apart and had been friends first, but did I mention that I was not a gracious friend? In high school especially, I boasted an attitude. I tried to be friendly and fair to people, but if you ticked me off, you knew it. Let's just say that over the years, Jennifer and I successfully ticked each other off a lot. Hehe... it was a mutual thing. Sometimes I acted like a 5-year old, and sometimes she shared information that she said she wouldn't - hmmm, passive aggressive? Let's remember that we were teenagers, and despite the fact that I treated her poorly at times, I claimed Jennifer and her family as family. I knew how to throw a wonderful mad, and Jennifer knew how to ignore you (hearing aids turn off don't they?). Also, I loved to play the "you don't exist" game. Cheryl became a master of supporting me without alienating Jennifer. Naturally, they just didn't tell me when they did stuff sometimes. When I found out about some of those times, I'd get mad. See a pattern here? We did do some things together well, but all too often I'd ruin a wonderful opportunity for us to become the three amigos because of jealousy. My apologies go out for these occasions. We could have been a wonderful trio. In retrospect, and many years of psychology classes and working as a VR Counselor later, it appears to me that I may have been experiencing depression and some OCD issues from an early age. My family (both sides) is rife with emotional/mental health conditions. I realize now and did then that what I expected from my friends and how I reacted to them was a little too emotional and demanding. Bless them all for continuing to put up with me!! College pretty much split my close friendships. It was too hard for me to hear from Cheryl about what she and other friends from home were doing while I was away. Never mind that my life hadn't stopped and didn't revolve around them. Again, did I say that I was gracious? We all went through trials and tribulations, and I was not there for them as I should have been despite the distance. (Another of my life regrets is that I did not fight the snow or threat of storm to make it to Cheryl's Daddy's funeral. I should have and am deeply sorry.) As an adult, I handle things much better. Still, I don't make friends easily. I have friends at work and through my distance education class, but not friends that I do things with. I work, come home, take care of my family, and that is about it. Events in my life - the death of my grandmother in 7th grade and the death of my father my junior year of college - created some of my distance and lack of interaction with others, but I know that I could change that if I wanted to. One of my besetting sins was and sometimes still is that I shared private information about friends with other friends because I thought that it could help them or that person could help me think of a way to help them. Unfortunately, that often lead to gossip and turned out more as a betrayal than a help. This habit has diminished greatly over the years, and I know and respect boundaries better than I did. I also know that sometimes people just need to talk and not have their problems solved. It seems that I continue to avoid close friendships out of fear of rejection or causing pain. (Can't get much more honest or real than that folks!) Again, I know that I could change if I just worked harder at it. Jennifer keeps me involved in her life as much as she can, and she was wonderful when I was pregnant and had my son. Cheryl has her own life; we still manage to shoot each other e-mails. I read both their blogs. We all still live in the same town. I think we all turned out pretty cool. Jennifer remains passionate about her Christianity and now cochlear implants. Cheryl loves animals and does wonderful things to help save and protect them. Me? I am passionate about vision and vision loss and helping people receive services to adapt to vision loss. Maybe we can still become the three amigos. We have husbands and families, but that does not mean we can't be real friends. I know that Jennifer and Cheryl both do more with other people (and sometimes each other - I am glad) than I do. Maybe, I still only deal well with small numbers of people. I think that I could do better and be a better friend now. The question is ... have we all moved in too many different directions with too much water under the bridge to become true life-long friends? I hope not because I still love them both very much. One other friend that I owe the world and did not treat very well is Melissa. If she ever stumbles across this blog from Chattanooga, I hope that she knows that I love her and miss her. My friendship with her was different and in some ways closer, and I know that I could have treated her better. She is another wonderful person that put up with me. Okay, I needed to get all of that out. I read their blogs and realize that despite living within 10-15 minutes of each other we don't do much/anything together. If most or all of that is my fault, I apologize... and I miss you both. Tuesday, November 07, 2006 Results with a Twist I went back for my sleep study results. I do have moderate obstructive sleep apnea. They want to do a sleep study with a c-pap machine November 20th. My follow-up session for results and ordering my equipment will be December 13th. A little far away, but it's already been a year or more,so... skip ahead several hours... So.... I get home from work last night. My course assignments due today by 11:00 p.m. safely uploaded. My son happily spending the night at his granny's, and my husband going to bed early with a toothache. I'm thinking about clothes that need washing, and the phone rings. It's the sleep center saying they have an opening TONIGHT. Did I want to come... are you kidding? God is good. I hit the road and get there close to the time I was scheduled for on the 20th. Let's just say that I was wrong when I thought I could not look any worse than last time. The two technicians were awesome but really believed in using the goo for the electrodes! Picture it... along with the funky hair and electrodes add in an elongated plastic tube stuck under my nose and above my upper lip. That's not all, folks! At some point in the night, the tech. comes in and says I'm breathing through my mouth but shouldn't be. So, she adds a lovely bright red chin strap to the mix! Yep... go ahead and laugh - I did. I left a little early as I became uncomfortable about 5:30, and the tech. took pitty on me. Drove home with a cup of coffee and Motley Crew's Dr. Feelgood CD blasting. Yes, under the veneer of age and education, I still LOVE the deafening roar of rock music (when it doesn't give me a headache - drat getting older). I know that I have some mild hearing loss from my teen years. I know that I can loose more now. But... it Feels Sooooo Good! Now you know waaaay too much about my inner child, so I will go get ready for work. Have a great day! Sunday, November 05, 2006 Happy Halloween ! We saw quite a lot more acion this Halloween than originally intended. My son did not seem to feel well when I arrived at his granny's after work to pick him up. He was sleeping and difficult to wake up, so it appeared that between his cold and the rain the goody hunt was off. As we headed to the car, my boy woke up. I aked if he still wanted to go with granny around her neighborhood. He perked right up and away they went on her buggy. My little fire fighter enjoyed the trick-or-treating and asked to do more. On the way to his grandma's I decided, "What the heck?" and stopped at a few houses on the road to the highway. Well, he racked up. The only glitch came when my direct 4-year old told one woman (after much deliberation and noting that the candy looked different) that he'd come back when she had the "right" kind of candy. Thus we began a conversaton in the car about people doing this for children to enjoy Halloween and the need for politeness. He acknowledged the need for curtesy, but maintained that she did not have the right kind of candy. LOL! That's my boy! He kept me going until about 7:40. We picked up his daddy and did a few more stops. Finally about 8:00 p.m. we knocked off and headed to Krystals for some bring home supper. I enjoyed it but felt dead tired! Three humorous things that happened. One - there were two people on a porch with a scary dummy holding their candy bowl. When my son went to get the candy, the dummy moved! Turned out to be a person after all. Scared us both. Two - he kept telling everyone that asked if he was a firefighter that "it's just a costume." Three - one man asked him to put out the fire in his jack-o-lantern since he was a fireman. It took several puffs, but my little man finally succeeded. He laughed and took pride in his work! Sleep Study 2 Hmmm, for those who have seen the movie Hellraiser (or it's previews), you will appreciate it when I say that I bore an uncanny resemblance to Pinhead once the technician had all of the electrodes on my head with hair mussed up around them for my sleep study. It proved quite interesting to sleep that way. The worst part was the tube in my nose to measure the oxygen intake. It annoyed me plus had "Y" tubing under my chin that prohibited movement. Still, sleep I did. The results of the study remain a mystery. When I woke up that morning, the tech. thought the morning crew would keep me for a day study. He said something about averaging results and some good REM sleep. I'm not sure what that means, but the day crew did not keep me for the day studies. They sent me off to my unit meeting for work in the rain! I went last Thursday to receive my official results. My consultation and study took place in Smyrna, but the follow-up was scheduled for Murfreesboro. Unfortunately, therer was someone with the same name (except for middle initial) with a file in the Murfreesboro office. They did not realize that I did not fit their file until I had spent 40 minutes waiting (and almost sleeping in a very comfortable chair). They called to get the results faxed, but noone had scored them. The people that could scrore them had left for the day. They were very apologetic and nice about it all. They won't charge me for either that visit or the one tomorrow. Supposedly they will double check and be sure that they have my results! More later. Friday, October 27, 2006 Sleep Study Well, I spent last night hooked up to electrodes and trying to sleep "normally." I looked like something from one of the horror movies popular this time of year. They did not tell me much this morning. I thought they were going to keep me for a day study at first, but the new shift said I could go home. (Actually went to a unit meeting for work that was nice.) Apparently, I exhibited some signs of sleep apnea, but I also got a good deal of REM sleep, and they average it all. Next week is the follow-up visit, so I will know more. Tuesday, October 17, 2006 Hey, I'm a Gemini. One set of answers didn't cover it! I am a Nasturtium What Flower Are You? Flower I am a Daisy What Flower Are You? Thursday, October 12, 2006 Happy Thoughts Feeling better this blog than last. Still stressing but focusing on the happy. My friend had her cochlear implant programmed and can hear some sounds in her ear for the first time in 31 years. These are exciting times! My mother and I took my son for an eye exam. He has worn glasses since he was 18-months old. The pediatric ophthalmologist was great (as was his experience at the pediatric dentist office that he didn't want to leave a few weeks ago). He charmed the staff per usual for him and spoke to them as if their (polite) equal. He met another 4-year-old, only child in the play area. They were like two peas in a pod. That's cool since I was feeling like I was in the land of stepford a little bit again with the other parents. This child's mama was a lot like me, too. Tuesday, October 10, 2006 Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog. Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog. Monday, October 02, 2006 Blues My intention is not to only blog negative things, but this afternoon has been not so good. I stayed home from work because I felt a little yucky and needed to clean house. The cleaning house part went okay. I did not get everything done that I planned but a lot never-the-less. This afternoon I discovered that our finances had flown south. That was not so unusual, and I would only have been a little sad about that normally. Situations arose that made it worse than usual. Also this afternoon, I went to let the dogs inside before heading out to get my son. A stray had been in the neighbor's yard, so my dogs were nuts to go over there. They got away from me. I went in the house to lure them in with the dog treats. The two smaller dogs came running in - should have known something was not right. I went outside to find and leash my Great Dane. She was in the neighbor's yard scuffling with their dog. I could not tell whether they were playing or fighting. A friend or relative of their's came in at the same time. We both yelled at the dogs. Barley ran off then came to me. I leashed her and waited for the other person. The dog acted timid, but I really thought they had just been playing. She said the dog was bleeding. Our neighbor came over a little while ago. She was very nice, but she said their dog needed stiches. Since the dog had eaten today, the vet. was going to keep her overnight then sedate her tomorrow. She asked if we were going to get the bill. I told her of course we would. She was not sure which vet. her husband had said. I told her to just bring us the bill or something. It seems like when it rains it poors. I am sure the vet. bill will not be small. Sunday, September 17, 2006 Fishing The Day Away This afternoon we took little v fishing. This was his first trip. Vorin took him to a place near the house. I went to take pictures and ended up fishing. Vorin pretended to fish but really watched little v. I was going to leave them to it, but little v caught his first fish! That hooked me. I stayed, and we fished while Vorin watched. Soon (in fishing terms), little v caught his second fish! Wow! Vorin and I each in term had nibbles, a couple of bites, and fed several unseen fish lunch. We stayed to fish a little while, and I finally caught my first fish! (First one ever that I can remember.) Hooray! What a great day!! Saturday, September 16, 2006 Tired but Satisfied We had a long day today. My mother and son went with me to a lap band seminar at Baptist. I had been to one for Centennial Center for the Treatment of Obesity, but found out that while the center was "in-network" with my insurance the doctors were not. That would not be so bad, but there are no "out-of-network" benefits for this service - hmmm, nope, no extra $14,000 sitting around. Off to Baptist I go. Anyway, left the seminar and had lunch at Cracker Barrel. After Cracker Barrel, we took my wonderful little guy to a hands-on science center. We only arrived home a short time ago. This one tired Mama! Is the little guy sleepy... doesn't sound like. Ominous microphone noises waft this way from his room, so I know the keyboard is out. LOL! I'm missing a geo caching event in Huntsville, AL tonight, but I am just too tired to go. I sent my ID Timber wolf geocoin with hubby, "Vorin," for others to discover and log. Now, trying to watch Auburn vs. LSU and the Blade season finale at the same time without picture in picture. Star Wars and Animals I probably should have titled this "shameless plug", but it is for a wonderful cause. One of my friends works tirelessly to put together Celebration Pet Day each year in Shelbyville, TN. Her blog site for the event this year is: Celebration Pet Day I mention Star Wars because she and her husband are fellow sci-fi, er, fans - yeah, that's it... not fanatics... fans. : ) They attend DragonCon every year. She has arranged for a "Meet and Greet" with the 501st Legion costuming group as one of the activities for this event. Visit her blog for more information and to see a picture of the legion in costume. Her regular blog: Richardson Zoo also has some great DragonCon pictures. Tuesday, September 12, 2006 Life is Good Things are going well. I had a fun weekend with my hubby and some friends geocaching. Monday, my friend Jennifer had her cochlear implant surgery and made it through just fine! Hooray for Jen! Work is going well this week, and I am blissfully ignoring my school work. I also checked out books to read for pleasure from the library. Ah, life is indeed good. Wonder how long this will last? Tuesday, September 05, 2006 forgot.... I forgot to say that during all of the other activity the end of last month my baby turned 4 and my husband and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. You know... just some minor details! : ) Long time no blog Well, I'd like to say that it is just because I am busy that I haven't written, but that would not be entirely truthful. Actually, I also forgot my login info. and the auto complete went away for some reason. August was a busy month. The summer semester at Auburn wound to a close, and the week of the 21-25 we were on campus for the beginning of the fall semester. I love Auburn University and like the town, but it has been the pits trying to get back into things at work this go around - yuck! I went to a seminar on bariatric surgery at Centennial Medical Center on August 29th. I have decided to try for lap band surgery through my insurance. It may be a huge fight, and it may just mean jumping through some hoops. It is covered though, so count on me to fight for it. It won't mean a magic cure for weight loss, but that combined with diet and exercise usually yields great results. Wish me luck! My friend Jennifer just received approval for cochlear implant surgery - hooray! She is having it soon and would appreciate any prayers that could be sent her way. I know her surgery is very different from the one I want, but she has inspired me to give it a go. Anyway... my house is a wreck and needs some attention. I am going to try and get some things done tonight so later! Sunday, August 06, 2006 House Cleaning Whew, I hate housework. I am happy to say that we have begun halling out the muck and starting to reclaim our house after two semesters of neglect. My husband will help if I get the ball rolling, but he does not begin without me. I understand that because I want him to help when I'm cleaning. At least maybe I'll begin the last year of my master's program with some order - won't say clean because that may jinx me. Saturday, August 05, 2006 August Already? Greetings and salutations! It has been awhile since I posted, and I can't believe it is August 5th. The good news is that my summer semester is over. I earned two A's and an "S" for satisfactory (as opposed to a "U" for unsatisfactory). Things are moving along now as my group and I are halfway to graduation. Now we get a two week break then go back to Auburn the week of August 21-25. I look forward to seeing everyone, but it's a rotten week to leave. My son turns 4 on the 24th and my anniversary is the Saturday after I return on Friday. Ah well, this will improve our lives later. My Aunt from Georgia is in town this weekend. She wants to see my son, so I guess house cleaning is out for another day. No one is allowed to visit right now because my house is an absolute wreck! Not the kind of wreck like the people who say their house is a mess and mean they have a tiny bit of dust somewhere. I mean a bonafide wreck. Well, going to enjoy some "down time." Later! Thursday, July 27, 2006 A Song to Help End the Semester With a final that I haven't studied for tomorrow, a project that is 3/4 finished, and a final exam next Tuesday, this song keeps playing over and over in my head! Artist: Anna Nalick Title: Just Breathe (2 A.M.) 2 AM and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake, can you help me unravel my latest mistake, I don't love him, winter just wasn't my season Yeah we walk through the doors, so accusing their eyes Like they have any right at all to critisize, hypocrites, you're all here for the very same reason 'Cause you can't jump the track,we're like cars on a cable and life's like an hourglass, glued to the table No one can find the rewind button girl, So cradle your head in you hands And breathe, just breathe, Woah breathe, just breathe May he turn 21 on the base at Fort Bliss Just today he sat down to the flask in his fist, Ain't been sober, since maybe October of last year. Here in town you can tell he's been down for a while, But my God it's so beautiful when the boy smiles, Wanna hold him, maybe I'll just sing about it. Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable, And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table. No one can find the rewind button boys, So cradle your head in your hands, And breathe, just breathe, Woah breathe, just breahte There's a light at each end of this tunnel, you shout But you're just as far in as you'll ever be out These mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again If you only try turning around. 2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song If I get it all down on paper, its no longer inside of me, threatening the life they belong to And i feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd Cause these words are my diary, screaming out loud And I know that you'll use them, however you want to Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable, And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table No one can find the rewind button now Sing it if you understand. and breathe, just breathe woah breathe, just breathe, oh breathe, just breathe. Monday, July 24, 2006 Americans with Disabilities Act turns 16 on July 26th The Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, did not solve all of the problems that people with disabilities experience, but it did begin programs and services still in existence today that do help and serve them. People with disabilities now have a lot more options for transportation, adaptive technology, training, and careers than before. Happy Birthday, ADA! Whine Time This will likely be a popular post title for me. I try not to whine - really, I do, - but somehow I do it anyway. Anyway, here goes... Today I was able to remain in my office and work - that's good. The problem is that I have a touchy situation that I am trying to navigate at work, it's the end of the summer semester (one project, two exams, and a time sheet due by next Tuesday), and I am TIRED. For some reason, I am having more and more trouble waking up in the mornings. It's not depression (trust me, I know), so it must be either the weather or my unhealthy diet. At least the weather was nicer today. I hope it holds out until tomorrow. Tomorrow I have two morning appointments in Murfreesboro and an inservice to conduct or help conduct for an agency there in the afternoon. It will be a busy but easy day. Anyway, enough for now. I'll find more interesting things to post later. Sunday, July 23, 2006 My Passions My life is full of blessings. My passions stretch across the board. This post will just let me share some of those with you. I am a spiritual if not overly religious being. My belief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit remains firm. How I perceive that trinity and how I conduct my worship for them changes, but my belief in them and their guidance in my life do not waiver. My husband (of 11 years on August 26th) and my son (turning 4 on August 24th) provide me with the love and stability that this Gemini needs in her life. We play, fuss, fight, and live. They are my favorite people in the world, and I love them! Other family members enrich my life immeasurably, and it is impossible to list each of them separately without filling up my blog, so just know that I am passionate about both of our families, too. Work...stimulates my mind, aggravates me beyond belief, and allows me to meet a lot of truly wonderful people. I have been a V.R. Counselor with the State of Tennessee for 9 years with 7.5 of them spent working with people who are blind or visually impaired in 5/6 counties in Southern Middle Tennessee. My wish is to be able to share vision and low vision information with everyone that needs it regardless of whether or not they want or need the services of my agency. Many people with low vision do not go to ophthalmologists or have low vision exams. They don't know the number and variety of low vision aids available to improve their activities of daily living or job performance. School, apparently I am addicted. My bachelors of science degree came from the University of Tennessee at Martin in May of 1993 in Secondary Education, English. I began working on a master's in school counseling at Middle Tennessee State University (one class at a time) in spring of 1998 and continued working on that degree (roughly about 5 years) until I reached the point that I would have to end my current career to participate in two 300-hour internships and decided that I did not want to quit my job. So... my agency is mandated to reach a certain percentage of "qualified" counselors by a certain year. To reach that goal, they are working with the federal government to pay for masters' degrees in Rehabilitation Counseling via distance education. Still wanting my master's, I signed on for the one through Auburn University. Auburn rocks! We, my distance education cohorts and I, go to the Auburn Campus one week each semester. This summer marks the end of our first year, and we only have one to go. My husband has been and is very supportive of my educational endeavors despite wanting to kill me for not knowing what I want to be when I grow up! Fun - definitely! I adore reading, movies & music and have all of my life. I love to take pictures, so scrapbooking provides a creative outlet for me despite my limited creative abilities. I love to make scrapbooks for other people to share the pictures I take. Online gaming is a fairly recent passion. World of Warcraft was my first experience and lasted about a year. It is a fun game, but many of my guildies (including husband, family members, and real-life friends) moved onto Everquest 2, so I moved with them. It took awhile for me to get the hang of EQ2, but now I really enjoy it. Another new pastime (as of yesterday) for me is geocaching with my husband, son, cousin and his wife, and friends. I have linked our geocaching blog, written by my cousin, under my links. It's a lot of fun and equates to real life treasure hunting for my son. My husband says that I do not have friends but families. I have my work family that provides my major source of social interaction. My online gaming family in the form of our guild, Shadow Dragons / Company of Shadows / Zenbassmasters. We chat as we play and often quest together. My Auburn family or Distance Education family with people from Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee and a few others depending on the semester. His family theory may be true, but I do have a small spattering of individual friends... somewhere... we just don't do things together very often. Animals - We have a Great Dane, Black Labrador Retriever, small mixed cutie dog, and a black cat. The Great Dane and Black Labrador were both rescue dogs. We love animals! This is a good overview of my life's passions. There are others, but this post is long enough! Test, test - is this thing on? This is my first experience creating a blog. Several of my friends have them, but I was not sure that I had anything to say. That will surprise many of my friends and co-workers because they will tell you that I am never at a loss for words. Still, my concern is whether or not I have anything to say that other people will actually be interested in reading. I am sure that I will find out soon! Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) Blog Links Eschenbach Great Dane Rescue Happy at Home Independent Living Labrador Rescue Life Among The Natives Low Vision Information Low Vision Solutions LS&S Maxi Aids Richardson Zoo Technology Access Center Zen Bassmasters Geoadventures Blog Archive ►  2007 (8) ►  March (5) ►  January (3) ▼  2006 (30) ▼  December (1) What a Difference ►  November (9) Oooh, sparklies! Happy Thanksgiving! Hinder: Lips of an Angel Sleeping Better LOL - well the description sounds okay, but the jo... Three Little Girls In School Results with a Twist Happy Halloween ! Sleep Study 2 ►  October (7) Sleep Study Hey, I'm a Gemini. One set of answers didn't cove... Flower Happy Thoughts Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added ... Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added ... Blues ►  September (6) Fishing The Day Away Tired but Satisfied Star Wars and Animals Life is Good forgot.... Long time no blog ►  August (2) House Cleaning August Already? ►  July (5) A Song to Help End the Semester Americans with Disabilities Act turns 16 on July 26th Whine Time My Passions Test, test - is this thing on?