Day 120: Geode

In case you didn't know, a geode looks like a regular rock on the outside but is kinda hollowed and lined with crystals on the inside...Taylor has one and we played with it for a while

I told her to smile:

but her eyes were all squinty, so I told her to smile pretty:

she cracks me up

Day 119: Code Blue

I drove to Macon today to visit my sister and I noticed that my car was acting a little funny so I was going to pull into a gas station to check it out. Well as I get in the turning lane on Riverside Drive (5 lane road) my car dies....and I'm on a hill...in the middle of afternoon traffic...on a road that people are known to get into crazy wrecks. So, I called Jeremy, and he told me to get out of the car (which took a while cause of traffic) and as I run across the road these 2 guys pull over and offer to push my car into the gas station (thank God!). But as they start pushing it my steering wheel locks up and the red light turns green and cars start driving straight at us and now those poor guys are having to push my car uphill to get it out of the way because we missed the turn that would've taken us downhill.... They finally got my car in the gas station parking lot and I insisted that they go because Jeremy was on his way.

After a throughout assessment, I decided that my car was overheated and started gathering supplies to put water in it (I basically have an advanced auto parts supply store in my trunk). Jeremy pulled in and Ren got there soon after him. The next thing I know a mechanic pulls over to help out, and he agreed with me that it was overheated. So we wait for it to cool down some more (I'd already gotten the radiator cap off) and we tried to crank it so we could put the water in (you can't put water into a hot engine without it cranked or you'll blow the head gasket) and she still wouldn't start (yes I said she, my car is a girl because she is moody and likes attention). So we pushed it down the hill some to get it out of the way and decided to come back later to give it time to cool off before we tried again.

Jeremy and I were discussing the possible options for my car if it didn't start again and I decided that if we couldn't get it to crank then I was changing it to a code IV and calling up the mechanic to come take it (the mechanic that stopped offered to buy my car...). I got to thinking about it and that little car has over 200,000 miles on it and 2 years ago a mechanic told me that it wasn't going to last another week...and so I've been praying for the last 2 years that my car would last until I finished school (I would literally lay hands on my car and pray before I would drive any long distances), and well I am basically finished with school...so God answered my prayers but now I'm wishing that I would've asked for it to last until I could afford a new one, I guess I should be more specific...

Jeremy had to go to band practice so it was left to me and Rennata to push my car back up the hill so that if it did crank I could just slip it into first and drive out of the gas station (the transaxle tends to rub/grind whenever I'm stopped and try to throw it into 1st too fast). We didn't get it too far and apparently we looked like we were having trouble because a few guys came over to help out (another mechanic, my lucky day). Turns out we didn't really need help cause I got it to start and we were able to put water in it and get it to Ren's house!!! Yay! (I think God is gonna let it last at least a little longer)

but I guess that if I can't find a job as a nurse or if this whole nursing thing just doesn't work out then I could always be a mechanic...

Sad part about today, in the midst of fiddling with my engine I somehow got oil on my shirt...and I really liked this shirt

it was kind of a stressful day, but when I got to Ren's I was greeted by Sam

he always makes me smile!

Day 118: I am a stroke (I hate that commercial)

We went to a stroke symposium today and got to learn some pretty interesting stuff about strokes. There were several speakers but I think the most profound part was the roundtable discussion. They had a number of stroke survivors come in and actually talk about their experience and life now since the stroke. It was really enlightening.

After the stroke symposium, the girls and I went to dinner to celebrate the fact that we never have to wear any more GCSU nursing uniforms! (today we had to wear our blue polo's that are too wide and too short) But we went to Chili's cause Meagan won a gift card! Thank you St. Mary's!

I think it's funny that Meagan and Amy look so much happier about their water than Ansley and I look....

Some Good News: My teacher found my final exam! her words: "sorry to worry you. I have your exam" thanks for your apology, I still kinda want to glare at her...and WebCT, but at least she apologized

Quote of the Day:

"I can't over emphasize the power of love. Love can take you anywhere" ~Dr. Ezekwueche

"Plant and nurture love, and let it grow ahead of time" ~Mrs. Ezekwueche

Day 117: Abor....that place with the trees, I can't spell it

Today we marked another item off of our list of things to do before we graduate! I think this was number 3: Go to Lockerly Arboretum

there's a well, and you can drink the water! and even though it kinda had a metallic taste, I think it still tasted better than Milledgeville City water...

....Amy looks like she's stalking Ansley

and someone lost their footprint...

this reminds me of 2 things from childhood: 1. when peter pan lost his shadow and wendy had to sew it back on for him. and 2. that computer game "where in the world is carmen sandiego?" I used to play that game all the time in GT (gifted and talented...that was like the equivalent of honors classes for elementary and middle schoolers in Effingham....yeah I was a nerd...am a nerd)

OH! I just checked my e-mail and my teacher said that I didn't post my final exam paper...only I did and I can even see where I posted it and it has the date and time and everything....grrr...I hate WebCT

Quote of the Day:

"Yesterday when I woke up I had a huge headache he's Russian! and then I literally ran into a wall" ~Amy

Day 116: LAST DAY OF CLASSES!!!

Today was my LAST day of undergraduate classes EVER!

2 of my lovely friends (Meagan disappeared)

our leadership and management group members....and Jasmine, creeping in the back like always

and I got a care package from FHUMC, yay!

but sadly this will be my last one cause I'm graduating! ...which isn't that sad, I'm actually happy about that part.

Quote of the Day:

"If you see someone you know, don't look them in the eye" ~ Milner aka: Mufasa

Day 115: Road Stupidity

This has just not been my week.

My back is still bothering me and it kinda hurts to drive because any sharp movements and a sharp pain kinda radiates down my legs, and I drive an stick...so I can't really just sit there. On my way home from Effingham today this guy decided that his car needed to be in front of mine...only my car was beside him when he decided this...like I could look through my passenger window and see him.... Long story short, he almost ran me off the road and I had to hit the brakes and all that fun stuff, which made my back hurt and I might have also yelled a few unkind words in that car's general direction. I kinda wanted to follow him but then I realized that I wouldn't know what to do when he finally stopped so I didn't...

However I did follow this one guy home the other day. I was driving my dad back to his house and we stopped for a school bus to let off some kids and this idiot decides that he's going to drive around me and go in between me and the school bus...which is stopped. I started yelling at him (but I don't have road rage, I just have a very low stupidity tolerance). And since we were in my parent's neighborhood and this guy lived on the way to my dad's house, we followed him and my dad got out to talk to him. He claims that he didn't see us...but he admitted that he was stupid so I was happy.

I wish there was way to let people know when they're being stupid, especially while driving. You can honk your horn but people don't really listen to it. I want to be able to say hey you're stupid and then a sign magically appear on the stupid person's car that says "you're right I'm stupid..." and then in finer print have an apology to humanity for that person's idiocy...that would make me happy...

and my fan is still not fixed. I asked my landlord 2 weeks ago to come fix it...now it's incredibly hot upstairs.

I would try to fix the fan myself but my landlord said that he installed it himself...deduct from that what you will... So my back hurts, I'm hot, and this fan is stupid...and I kinda wish that it would apologize for being stupid....needless to say, I'm a little cranky.

Day 114: Warrior 1, Warrior 2, ...Johnny Bravo?

We had a family get together at my brother's house and everyone (except Jeremy) was there. Ren and Blake kinda passed out on the floor at one point, which is surprising cause my family is really loud.

Jake didn't have any issues with all the noise,

but he did have to chill out under the bili light for a while cause he's a little jaundice : ( but he looked super cute! It looked like he was laying out in a tanning bed

My back has been bothering me this week (I think its the bed I've been sleeping on at my parent's house) but I really needed to crack it and nothing seemed to be working. So my brothers started trying to show me different "moves" to fix it....one of these is the warrior pose...I'm not sure what the others are....

Johnny Bravo? ...I don't think that's a yoga move

I eventually got my back to crack some, but it wasn't by doing any of those....but we did learn that me, Daniel, and Michael are slightly more flexible than Ren and Timmy

...there's never a dull day in our family.

OH and I found out that Blake only comes to me when she needs her diaper changed...yay...

we ended the fun filled family day with a little Strongbad...and Trogdor

My brother used his PS3 to go online for us to be able to watch this on the tv...it was pretty much amazing

Day 113: Put on your big girl panties and just deal with it

This morning started out rough cause I had to call and talk to the people about my car being hit and we had some issues....and after I talked to my brother-in-law who encouraged me to "put on my big girl panties" I finally got a little mean with them and they called me back and we got everything worked out, yay!

Then I had to tackle my list for today...see when we were kids, my mom would leave us notes full of lists for each child and what their specific tasks were for that day. If you did not do what was on the list then momma wasn't happy and well everyone was aware of when my mom was upset...it's not a fun time. Well since I've been home pretty much all week, I've been getting some lovely little notes from mom...yay...I started a collection

I finished all of my lists everyday (mowing the grass was on one of the lists), so my mom was happy and all was good and right in the world. So when she got home today we went to the store to pick up some stuff for Daniel and Courtney, which means that we had to go drop it off at their house...cause they needed it....and we REALLY wanted to see Jake again

He's just too cute! Then we went to Michael's house so we could eat dinner and see my other nephew cause he's pretty darn cute too!

Don't you like his superman PJ's? And it wouldn't be a trip to Michael's without some video games....this is Monster Hunter III on the Wii...

...I'm better than Timothy at this game, he dies a lot.

OH! My sister is starting a 365 blog! Her's is called "Run Mommy Run" go to renwilson.blogspot.com to check it out!

Quote of the day:

"I forgot how to spell nephew" (she spelled it nefew...hahaha)

Day 112: Story of my Life....

I don't even know where to begin...

My dad woke me up this morning to tell me that the bus backed into my car. That's right a bus hit my car. So I get up at 7:30 to go look at the damage...which miraculously, wasn't that bad. Just a dent in the door (which must have been caused by the bumper cause my car is pretty low to the ground) and my driver's side mirror is broken...which is kinda a bad thing cause I can't really see much of anything in that car as it is.

(you can see the pollen on my car...grrr...I hate when trees try to procreate)

(the mirror doesn't look that bad, but it's all jacked up. I can't move it at all and it's tilted too far in)

So then I get to wait around all day for the insurance people to come...then I had to go to some shop in Springfield to get an estimate to see how much damage was done. But as I said yesterday, I don't know road names in Effingham and I didn't know where this shop was, so it took them a while to tell me where it was.

When I finally made it to the shop (which is not listed in the phone book), their computers were down so they couldn't give me an estimate...yay....and my hands still hurt from mowing my parents grass. In fact, I think they're bruised cause shifting gears today almost made me cry....I'm such a wuss.

Basically I have the worst luck with cars. The other night I was driving my dad's truck home (which I think is worse than driving my car) and I somehow hit the emergency break when I was stopped at a red light and I couldn't get it to come undone...so I tried the best I could to get the truck off the road and my parents (who were behind me) stopped to try to help me get it undone (apparently the emergency break sticks and you have to pull some kind of cord or something...I have no idea), but a cop stopped to see "what the problem was" and when my dad told him he just started laughing...which always helps...

Highlight of the Day: I discovered what is probably my new favorite TV show (at least for right now because there is nothing on TV and I'm trying to procrastinate): Silent Library. It comes on MTV2 and it's pretty much the funniest thing ever! ...or at least it has it's moments of hilarity. You should watch it. now. http://www.mtv.com/shows/silent_library/series.jhtml

Quote of the Day:

Boy at Harvey's: "do you want corn bread?"

Me: "what does the corn bread look like?"

Boy at Harvey's: "it's yellow..."

....ok, now I wasn't away from Effingham that long

Day 111: I kinda scalped the yard...

I mowed my parents' grass today...which is impressive cause I haven't used a lawnmower in years, but now my hands are blistered and so sore that it kinda hurts to type...and I have some pretty sweet tan lines from my keens...and by sweet I mean that my feet just look dirty...

My mom said that living in the "big city" has made me a wimp and all I could say was "Yeah, the big ole city of Milledgeville has spoiled me...."

but there are some things that only really work in places like Effingham. For example: we gave someone directions to my parents house and I said "its the first subdivision on your right after the rope swing by the river" and they knew exactly what I was talking about. When I was little we lived out in the middle of no where but there was this huge shrimp boat in the field across from the road that we lived on....so we'd tell people to turn left when you see the shrimp boat...to this day I don't think I could name more than 5 roads in Effingham County. In fact the only way I know what road my brother lives on is that it's right next to Peavy Pond (that's not the real name of that pond, but my Uncle Jessie named it that about 18 years ago cause my dad always got his truck stuck in it)

I also got to see Jake again! He's pretty much the only thing that I've taken pictures of lately...

but I must say that this picture kinda makes him look fatter than he really is...

Day 110: Dumpster Diving

My mom calls me all frantic this afternoon to tell me that she thinks that she threw $100 in the trash and that I have to go outside and pull out all of the trash and go through every bag until I found it. I reluctantly agreed and went outside and dug through 4 bags of trash....yay... You can learn a lot by going through someone's trash. This is what I discovered:

1. My parents eat out a lot.

2. My dad drinks a lot of coffee.

3. Even in Effingham, people give you weird looks when you start digging through the trash

4. My mom did not throw away $100

When I called my mom to tell her that it wasn't in there, she insisted that it was and that I didn't look hard enough....so I looked again....that's right I searched through 4 bags of trash...twice! Still no money. So, my dad gets home and I tell him about it and he starts laughing cause he knows where the money is....but I didn't think it was funny, cause I went dumpster diving for nothing...ugh! ~I'd post a picture of this, but who really wants to see a bunch of trash? (me in the trash might have been funny, but I wasn't about to get my camera anywhere near that crap)

Highlight of the day: I got to see Jake again!

Quote of the Day:

this quote comes with visuals...

standing in McDonald's trying to decide what to order: a McFlurry or a milk shake

Then Timothy does this:

...and this:

and then he said, "I'm just testing it out"

Day 109: Lil Ospin III

I got a phone call from my sister-in-law today. It went something like this:

Me: Hey, are you ok?

Courtney: Yeah....

Me: Are you in labor?

.......silence.........

Courtney: .......yeah

Me: how far apart are your contractions?

Courtney: about 4 minutes

Me: where's Daniel?

Courtney: watching TV

Me: When are you going to the hospital?

Courtney: Oh, we're here now....he should be here by 7

Me: The baby? Really? When did you get to the hospital?

.....silence......

Me: are you having a contraction right now?

.....more silence.....

Me: I'll take that as a yes...I'll be leaving here soon, love you!

Courtney: *click*

A few hours later and we had this little guy!

I think he looks just like my brother.

My mom always called Daniel "Ospin Jr." cause he looks like my great grandfather...so I guess that would make Jake "Ospin III"...right?

Day 108: Goldfish

I discovered that my car smells like goldfish (the snack, not the animal) but I don't know why....I can't decide if that's a good thing or bad thing. It could be good cause I like goldfish, but I haven't had any in my car....which is why that could be bad....

Day 107: The Art of Rhetoric

I've been working on this paper for Legal and Ethical, which of course means that I vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, unclogged the sink's drain (gross), took out the trash, cleaned my room, and looked through some of my old stuff from high school. I found my old art portfolio!

It doesn't really have anything in it cause I gave most of it away to my Humanities' teacher's daughter, but my brother made it so I kept it. One of the few things left inside was this picture:

I gave a presentation about Ethos, Pathos, and Logos using this picture. We got to class one day and had to find an illustration of rhetorical devices used in advertisements and then explain it...I'm not gonna lie it was a pretty impressive presentation. I just pulled crap from out of nowhere and still did really well...I wish I was still that creative and quick thinking about stuff like this...maybe then my legal and ethical paper would be finished and I wouldn't be procrastinating anymore...I hate school.

Graduation is 21 days away!

Day 106: Reflicted

First of all this was my LAST day to EVER have to wear my white uniform! I will no longer be forced to look like a cross between an astronaut and the abominable snowman.

Goodbye pleats!

Since it was my last day and the only day that all 4 of the day shift student nurses were going to be working we all rode together and brought breakfast for the staff. It was pretty tasty!! Overall today was a great day, but I am pretty sure that I hit an all time low when the girls made fun of my southern vernacular. I am fully aware that my southern drawl is a dead give away that I grew up in Georgia. But today I realized that some of the words in my vocabulary put an even stricter confine on the geographic origin of my younger years.

I've always known that people from "up north" think that words like "y'all" (in my opinion the apostrophe is optional, in the south we usually just leave it out, but whenever they added it in the dictionary they put in that apostrophe...I guess it makes them feel like it's a real contraction or something...) and yonder (by the way this is a real word. It's been used since at least the 1500s, "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?" ~Romeo in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) are for ignorant rednecks, but today the girls made fun of one of my "Effingham words". But I KNOW that I am not the only person to use this word! It's on Urban Dictionary (which probably doesn't help my case any, but whatever). According to urbandictionary.com:

Reflicted~ 1. a mix between being retarded and conflicted. Generally stupid or goofy acting. 2. afflicted with retardation

synonyms: stupid, lame, idiotic, ridiculous

So when I called myself reflicted, it was a valid choice of words. ...but that statement probably doesn't help my case either...

Quote of the Day:

"There was only one muffin left. I should have just taken it, I'm not applying here"~ Bethany

"that's probably another one of the words that they only say in Effingham...."

Day 105: Hats

I don't know why people don't just wear hats all the time. I used to never wear hats cause I think I look funny in them, but when I went to Haiti I wore one 24/7 and I fell in love with them! You can wake up and look absolutely horrible and then put on a hat and it can almost completely hide the fact that you look like a straight up mess.

I looked like a mess when I woke up this morning and I didn't really want to leave the house, but I had a lot of errands to run so I had to wear a hat today...

Quote of the Day:

"every time I step on that rug I get surprised"~ Andrea

Day 104: PDR

I found this on the nurses station and I immediately thought of Amy's mom teaching us how to use this to look up stuff, haha....

Then I was talking to a Nurse Practitioner and we got onto the subject of people addicted to meth and she was surprised by my knowledge of the meth addict. Then when she found out that I was from Effingham, she said, "OH, 'METHingham, no wonder." Then I found out that not only does Effingham have the highest production/addiction rates of meth in Georgia, it's also the highest in the South. Between that and tiger ridge I'm not sure if I want to tell people where I grew up anymore...not to mention the fact that it's called Effingham...

Day 103: Procrastination

Here is a guide to procrastinate properly:

Step 1: Find someone to procrastinate with

My roomie, love her!

Step 2: Figure out what you want to do and gather supplies

Phase 10! and for snacks we had pretzels, tic tacs, water, and cheerios...I love cheerios, I'm like a little kid

Step 3: Invite more people to join the fun

Our neighbors came out to play with us!

Step 4: Eventually go back to work...or not

we left butt prints...you can see all 5!

Quote of the Day:

"I don't want to be a loser loser. I want to lose, but I still want to get somewhere"~ Little Megan

"I've never had one, but if I had to choose, I'd want gonorrhea...it's the best one right?"

"I like balls, I like to put them in my mouth....I have herpes, sorry"

Day 102: Number 2: Bartram Forest....check!

My friends and I have made a list of things that we have to do before we graduate and leave Milly (and quite possibly each other) forever (sad day). Number 1 on our list of things to do was to go to the River Walk and we did that last week. This week we did Number 2: Visit Bartram Forest!

I used to go to Bartram almost every day of sophomore year, before nursing school took over my life and allocated my time in other places. I've missed the fresh air and trees and sunshine!

Amy and Ansley were frolicking

Day 101: Panhandling

I drove all the way to Macon to go to church at FHUMC so that I could run the Cafe because Jessi was out of town...and no one even showed up to go to the stupid Cafe....I had to recruit people to come eat the food... Needless to say, I will not be driving from Milly to Macon to run the Cafe again. The youth will have to fend for themselves, especially since prom was more important that church ...cough sarah and jonathan cough... (really I'm just jealous cause I had to sit through the "Epworth by the Sea is a Great place to be!" bit...)

But at least I got to see my most favorite little girls in the entire world!

I was trying to take pictures of Blake, but Taylor is such a little ham...she kept trying to get into all of the pictures

Quote of the Day:

As he was preaching "Milly get me some water" continue preaching~ the guy who was preaching cause Jimmy was out of town (I miss Jimmy!)