Kitchen is FINISHED!!!!!

Just a quick update to let all know that the kitchen is complete. The contractor got all the cabinets back in without any problems. As a little extra plus, the clock/timer on the oven works now (when he took it out, he said he didn't think it was wired correctly...not a shock after some of the other wiring issues we had when we bought the house). Lots to do today as we have to finish Christmas shopping and put the kitchen back together. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

I Have a Floor

Well, it has been almost 3 months, but my kitchen floor is intact and finished at last. Here are the pictures of the final project...before the cabinets, etc. go back in.

These aren't the greatest pictures, but it does give you an idea of the finished product. Almost all of the baseboards are back in place and that just leaves reconstructing the cabinets...a task that sounds a lot easier than it is. We do at least have the refrigerator back in it's proper place. Hopefully (keep your fingers crossed for good luck) we'll have a fully functional kitchen tomorrow night. I'll keep you updated...

Kitchen Update

Well, the time is finally here for the great kitchen repair. It has been a long time coming - since October 29 when we had the kitchen flood. I have seen huge improvements each day and wanted to share them with you.



These are all made Monday morning with the cabinets cleaned out and waiting for work to start.

Here is what it looked like when I got home from work on Monday evening:

And now - Tuesday evening. The biggest change is not something that is visible to the camera. While they had the hole in the floor (where the new wood is now) they went under my big kitchen and put supports under it so that the floor is perfectly level. For anybody who lives in an old house, especially a mill house, you know -- there is nothing level in the entire house. Well now, my kitchen floor is level. I felt like a drunk walking across it the first time...I guess I was used to the topography of the land and had been adjusting to it for the past 5 years.

And finally...here is what it looked like Wednesday night. It's another big change, but the best is yet to come.

How do you like the fridge in the pool room door? There is a new solid floor with sealant on it. Today, the vinyl floor will go down and then all that's left is putting the cabinets back...ha!ha! I made that sound easy. The ceiling cabinet and floor cabinet won't be that much trouble...I don't think. However, the floor-to-ceiling cabinet where the oven is built in and the pantry is may be more of a problem...did I mention they jacked up the floor??? Now they will have to shave off the top and bottom of the cabinet that is meant to fit snug to make it fit. The jigsaw puzzle part of this should be interesting.....Stay tuned for more updates.

New countdown timer

If you look at the bottom of my page, you will see that I have added a new element to my blog. The reason for this in part has to do with why I haven't blogged much lately -- I absolutely HATE this time change in the fall. I have still not fully adapted to leaving work in what looks like the middle of the night. Don't get me wrong, I love this season of the year - I just hate the time change being sprung on me and the fact that it looks like bedtime at 5:30 in the afternoon. Oh well, it won't be too much longer before the days start getting longer. I can't wait.

Water, Water EVERYWHERE!!!!

Some of you know and some of you don't...but you're about to...what a wet week it has been on Upland Street. Wednesday started off just like any other day except for some reason I decided to shower before getting anything to drink or taking Nick out - which meant that I was already clean that day...and that was a good thing. That is where the day started going south--in a big hurry. I threw on clothes after my shower so that I could take Nick out and while standing on the back porch I looked down to see wet footprints on the porch..."Why are my feet wet?" I asked. As soon as Nick was ready to go inside, the answer to my question was evident - My kitchen floor was covered in water. This was the start of a very long day. Once we got the leak stopped and my kitchen flooring seemingly dry, this is what it looked like. The dark water stains on the cabinets didn't use to be there.

This is the edge of the cabinets where the water was coming from. For anyone who doesn't know, it is on the opposite end of the cabinets from the where the hot water heater was. Also, this was made several hours after the hot water heater had been removed from the house...

it was constant water seeping out - UNTIL - the insurance company insisted on sending out ServiceMaster to take care of the water cleanup and evacuation. They found water in places I wouldn't have thought it could get to. This is what my kitchen looks like now---AFTER SERVICEMASTER.

There are 4 of these big fans plus a dehumidifier in my kitchen making it a wind tunnel. The white areas of the floor are what are wet and the dark is what was dry to begin with...the dark is where there was glue, dirt, etc. I will update more when I have something positive to report.

Nick

Saturday was my sweet little Nick's 5th birthday - my baby is getting so old...that's 35 in dog years. In honor of his birthday, I have uploaded some pictures of him doing various things throughout the last year.

Nick is the smallest Gamecock Fan in the house, but he loves to show his support of the team any time possible. Here are some photos of him demonstrating his love for the Gamecocks.

And here is my sweet boy last year looking out the front door for little ghosts and goblins on Halloween.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK!!!!!!!

Camping in the Mountains

Danny, Nick, and I went camping in the mountains this weekend...or rather Friday night. We had intended to stay the weekend, but several things were against us. First the weather did not cooperate. It was not supposed to rain this weekend, but at our campground it did. That brings us to #2...the campground that Danny has stayed at before and wanted to go to this weekend was full, so we had to find another one, and it was not nearly as nice as Davidson River. So, we decided to come home early as the camper was soaking wet and will take a while to dry out. I do have pictures from the trip though. On a positive note, Nick seemed to like camping a lot.

PICTURES

Here is the camper all set up on Saturday...This picture was made about noon when we decided to come home. As you can see, we didn't have space to set up the screen room. The picture was made from our campsite designated picnic/fire area which you will be able to see more of on the next picture.

The picnic/fire area was behind the camper and up just a little hill (there was only 1 step, some campsites had STAIRS to climb to get to the picnic area. There was a fire pit/grill on the other side of the picnic table and a nice little clearing if the weather had been better.

So here we are on our walk before we left. Doesn't Nick look cute in his little hoodie? Keep in mind that all these pictures on our nature walk were made at around noon on Saturday...it's not raining now, but the fog is like pea soup.

Nick seemed to feel right at home on the camper bed.

Here is Nick watching me fix supper Friday night very carefully hoping that I will offer him something to eat or drop something.

Here is the last shot of Nick watching Danny load up the back of the truck while I finish packing up the inside so we can head for home.

Update

Hi guys! I know it has been a long time...even Leigh has update her blog several times since I have. We just stay so busy and in the evenings are ready to fall into bed. I have added the Capital One Mascot Challenge to the right sidebar. Cocky is currently 2-0 and in 3rd place because the tiebreaker is total number of votes. Take the link at the right and vote for your favorite in the mascot challenge. I promise to update again very soon.

Football Season

I hope everyone was able to watch the game Thursday night...or at least the 4th quarter. It's unanimous, anybody whose vote counts LOVES Chris Smelley. Next week is a conference game and while it isn't against one of the powerhouse teams in the SEC, Vanderbilt is building a very strong team and from what I have seen, DJ Moore from Spartanburg is a major part of that building. Hopefully, it won't be a contest, but we'll have to wait until Thursday night to see about that. I must say that with high school football starting last weekend, NCAA football starting this weekend and NFL starting next weekend, all is right with the world. There is nothing that can go wrong with a weekend when there is a football game to watch in person or on TV.

Finally!!!

Today is the day that I have been waiting for all year...ALMOST as important as graduating and landing the big job...Football season kicks off in just over 13 hours. Danny and I are going to the game. As it turns out, the person that normally opens at work had to go to the hospital today for a class and they asked if I would mind coming in early and that I would be able to leave early.... WOO-HOO!!!! That made my day - it's that much earlier that we will be able to hit the road. In preparation for the game, I slept in this morning since Danny is off all day...I didn't get up until 5:40 which is 2-1/2 hours longer than usual. I could rest on the way to the game, but...I'm sure I'll be too excited to even try to take a nap. Hopefully, it won't be too late, and since Danny is off tomorrow as well, I can sleep in again, probably getting about the same amount of sleep as usual. That's all for now....Cheer for the Gamecocks tonight at 8:00...Hooray for football season.

Big Week for Gamecocks

This has been a really big week for all those Gamecocks out there...Football tickets for the upcoming season were mailed out. It's a very special day when they come in...that envelope holds sheets of crisp tickets with lots of fancy graphics and a worlds of hope for the season. Which of these games will be upsets...can we pull a win out from under one of the major teams...are the easy games really going to be easy???? Now it really seems like football season is getting close, 3 weeks today there will be a win-loss stat in the books already. Anyone who has been to Columbia for a football game in the early part of the season knows what the temperature is like and knows that the heat we have had this past week is satan stoking the fires down under so Columbia will be nice and warm for the opening kick-off. GO GAMECOCKS!!!!!

Domestic Life

WooHoo!!!! The weekend is here. Today that just means we're doing a different kind of work. I got up this morning and sat in my new (Danny and I each got one for our birthday) rocking chair and watched it rain. It was a very enjoyable morning to sit and relax and enjoy the wet weather. I don't remember the last time we had wet weather that wasn't part of a storm...just a nice rain. As soon as I came in, it was time to start thinking about how to spend the day. That was the first mistake. I was wondering what we needed to think about for supper when the next thing I know, we are on our way to who-knows-where on a search for corn. Now, I have put up corn in years past...in fact, I have assisted in canning and freezing more vegetables than I eat...but to me, the only vegetable that is truly worth all the trouble is corn. We found corn, not enough to put up but enough to cook for today and have leftovers one day, and we ordered corn to pick up on Thursday evening. So, next week, Danny and I will take on a new venture together...the "putting up" of food. Anyone wanting to shuck corn, clean corn, or cut corn off the cob is welcome at my house next weekend. The dozen ears that we got this morning had a really good flavor and I am looking forward to having corn to eat on during the winter months. If not before, I'll be sure to update everyone on how the corn goes next weekend.

Has it really been 3 weeks??!!!

It seems hard to believe it has been 3 weeks since my last blog. Things stay busy in Lyman with both of us working full time. Our days are pretty much the same...get up EARLY, around 3:15...work...eat...go to bed EARLY, around 9 or 9:30. I'm still not quite in the groove yet, but it is getting better. We both get up at the same time and I usually get in a few hours of transcribing before I have to get ready for work (that way I don't end up transcribing until very late at night). I usually have about an hour or so after I get off to get supper ready before Danny gets home. By the time we eat and clean up the kitchen, it's time to get ready for bed. Going to bed that early to me just seems wrong. I feel like the world is leaving me behind if I miss the late news. In fact, back in the good old days (only about 7 or 8 years ago). I would watch the news, start getting ready for bed, and then watch Miami Vice reruns at midnight. Even when we were in school, we stayed up and watched the first 30 minutes of Letterman before going to bed. It is quite possible that work ages us exponentially. All of those people looking for a fountain of youth should try not working...preferably after hitting the lottery...that should stop the aging process, or at least slow it back to its normal speed.

Since the week of July 5th, Danny has been on his regular shift and is settling in well. He works a regular 4-day week, 10 hours a day, from 6:30-5:00 (I know that is really 10-1/2 hours, but they call it a 10-hour shift).

I will try to do better in keeping this updated, but...we'll see.

1 week down

I haven't had to get up and go to work 5 days a week since November of 2001...that made this week a very long week. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but it is going to take a little while. I have started actually doing my job rather than just watching someone do it and trying to learn from that. Actually doing something makes the day go by faster. My regular hours will be 8:30-5:00. I asked about the rotating 11:30-8:00, and that is just going to be occasionally when the part-time people working evenings are unavailable...it's not going to be a regularly scheduled event. The work schedules are made up a month at a time, so I will know in advance what my schedule will be. Even though I'm actually getting to do some things, I'll be going to class to learn more about the software sometime in July. I had this class before I started my internship in January, but there were parts of the software that I didn't have access to at that time, so I'm redoing the class for a refresher on what I have used before and to learn about the parts that I didn't have access to. We'll have to see how week 2 goes...it will be a little bit different because Danny is working night shift this week, but only 3 nights because of the July 4th holiday.

Gone!

Yesterday when I got home there was something missing...something that I was especially fond of...Danny's facial hair - all of it. He is having a respirator fit test today and had to shave the goatee and side burns. He wouldn't let me make a picture of him and promises that now that all the hair is gone, he's in the process of growing it back. It isn't the change that I thought it would be, and I like him just fine without, but he says its coming right back. He doesn't like the feeling of shaving.

Work is going fine. I haven't done a whole lot this week so far. My supervisor was unexpectedly out of the office Monday and Tuesday, so there are a lot of things that I won't be able to do until today. Hopefully, she'll be able to get me set up with the appropriate modules on whichever computer I'm working on so I can start doing more of these things on my own. So far everyone has been very friendly and helpful...it really does seem to be a great environment to work in. Not that it matters...it pays in U.S. dollars and that was my requirement for a job. Hopefully I'll have more details on work later this week.

It's official...

I will be starting my full-time job on Monday at 8:30. My hours to start with will be 8:30-5:00 and at some point I will start rotating covering evenings in the minor care area...those days will be 11:30-8:00. I don't think it will be that bad - just look at how many years I worked until 8:00 at Springs. I'm really excited to get started and my boss sent me a very nice e-mail on Thursday saying how excited they are to have me start. (They have been short staffed for several months due to some promotions and expansions they have had.) Since they are trying to seem more personable than your regular hospital, the office staff all dress as such rather than in scrubs. That is good and bad. I'm looking forward to working in a professional environment where I can dress accordingly (I did that about 200 years ago and enjoyed dressing up for work), but on the other hand, there is something to be said for having a "uniform" and just throwing on your scrubs and white shoes. I'm sure I'll have lots to blog about in the coming weeks as I learn new things.

I HAVE A JOB!!!!!!!

After a very long 2 years, I have a full-time job. I accepted an offer today to work at the Village at Pelham medical office. I really don't have a lot of specifics, just that I will be starting very soon. Since I have already attended new employee orientation for the hospital, I don't have to do that again. Job transfers take place on the first day of new pay periods which will be Monday, June 23. That is less than a week away, so it may be that I have to wait until the next new pay period which will be 2 weeks after that. That is all the info that I have for now regarding my new job...I hope to have more details tomorrow.

Job Interview

I had a job interview for a real full-time job with benefits today. I will find out sometime next week if I got the job or not, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It is working at the Village at Pelham facility on highway 14. I have applied for several jobs there at the new hospital that will be opening in October, but this position wasn't at the hospital...it is at the medical complex. They are expanding a department that I have applied to already and decided to call me in for an interview this time. I think it went well...but what do I know...If it were up to me I'd be ruling the world by now ;) If you think about it over the weekend, I would appreciate any prayers regarding my job situation...I really feel like the Village at Pelham is where I am meant to be. It is a very relaxing atmosphere...not as impersonal and unfeeling as things in the big house (the main hospital). Maybe my next post will be that I have a job!!!!

Day Off

Since I'm not used to "working" outside the house, I now have something new to get used to...a day off! On one of my first days off, I decided to get caught up on things that needed doing around the house - the first was sewing. Some of you know that I have had a bag of sewing that I intended to work on while helping Sandra recuperate after her surgery in December. Well - that bag of sewing is what I tackled. All of the sewing was Nick's babies that had stuffing coming out...so it was like Christmas and Birthday for Nick all day.

So here Nick is on the bed with all of his new...mended...babies. Is my child spoiled or what - nobody needs that many toys. It's amazing how much more productive you are when you have a "day off" from something rather than...oh...just not working at all for 2 years.

We had a joint birthday dinner with my family for Me and Danny on Saturday night. This was great fun for Nick when we got home because that meant there were...........BAGS! Nick of course thought the presents were for him. As soon as we came in, I put the bags on the pool table and here is where Nick sat for quite a long time waiting for someone to give him his bags.

He stayed like that for a while. Unfortunately, I missed the photo of him standing - he only sat like this after he wore out from standing on his hind legs trying to get the bags. He just thinks that anyone who comes here comes to see him and anything that comes into the house is brought to him...Did I mention SPOILED??

Major Event

Today is a major event in the Rogers' household...for the first time since January 26, 2005, Danny and I are both getting up and going to work - real paying jobs!!! It has been a long time coming, but we have now officially moved past "the mill" and have new careers.

Danny has only worked outages in his internship and really doesn't know what his day-to-day routine will be (other than getting up in the middle of the night - alarm went off at 4:30 this morning). Today isn't at the plant, and will mostly be paperwork and some computer training, we think.

I will be working all day today at my part-time job. It is going well...not a huge learning curve...I've just jumped in and started working. Last week I worked 4 days but 2 of them were orientation. We'll see once I get settled in just how many hours a week this is going to be. Things are going well and I am still looking for full-time work, but I feel at least I have both feet on the threshold at the hospital which is a major step toward getting full-time employment there.

1st Day at Work

Wow! I am now getting ready for day number 2 of my new job. How odd it seems to say that I have to get up and go to work...I have done school for 2 years, but there wasn't a paycheck involved in that. Now I have 1 full day behind me and am going for a second. Yesterday and most of today will be orientation, so I really haven't done "my job" yet. I'll get a taste of that this afternoon and will get a schedule of when I will be working. Amazingly, there were about 50-60 people in my orientation class, getting ready to do all sorts of things...from housekeeping to hospital administration...from just out of high school to retirees who got bored and wanted something to do (or needed to supplement retirement). It was definitely an experience yesterday and a whole lot of information to take in. Gotta go...don't want to be late for my second day at work.

Owls

This is a picture of one of our baby owls from several years ago. I am posting this now because we were sitting in the yard Friday night with family and I started talking about the owls being gone for the year. They come late in the year to nest somewhere withint a block or 2 of our house and stay until the baby (pictured above) learns to fly...sometime in May. The year this was taken, we had them right outside our bedroom window, but in December of that year, we had a lot of damage from the ice storm and the owls have been a little farther away since then...but they always come back to our area and you can hear them late at night or VERY EARLY in the morning. So anyway, this is a photo of the baby while it was learning to fly.

I'll have to update more tomorrow when I get home from my orientation for my JOB!!!!!!

HOME!!!!!!!

FINALLY, after 6 weeks and 4 days...who's counting...Danny is home from the outage. He will be off until he reports to work on June 2, and then who knows. Nick and I were very happy to see him home again. Even though it will be long days, and lots of miles, we are glad he will be home with us for a while. It should be about 5 months before the next outage takes him away for weeks on end.

Kitchen Work??

Saturday before last I set out to clean out, reorganize, and re-paper my kitchen cabinets. I thought that sounded like fun way to spend the day. My friend Leigh had offered to help me with this back before Christmas and this was the first chance I had to get started. Never one to miss a photo op, Leigh grabbed this photo of me re-papering the cabinet over the refrigerator. It's okay Danny, I was carefull and Leigh was there to dial 911.

So, here I am just working away. Shortly after this photo, we took a quick break...that was the beginning of the end. After relaxing for few, Leigh decided to take a little nap, just 30 minutes. Two hours later here is my kitchen help.Leigh (and Baby West) and Nick had a nice afternoon nap. That was pretty much the end of work for that day... Leigh's suppertime (morning) sickness set in after that. I did finish the cabinets and they look much better. Thanks, Leigh, for getting me started and motivated!

JOBS!!!!

It has been a long time coming, but by June 2, both Danny and I will be employed again. Unfortunately, mine is just part-time, but that is the way to get into the hospital system. So far, all of the full-time positions I have applied for have been filled internally, so to have a shot, I have to be "internal" which I will be on May 26, my official start date. I actually have 2 part-time jobs, hoping that I can get close to 40 hours a week between the 2, but we will have to see what happens. I'm just happy to be in...after my 90 probationary period I can apply for all the jobs I want as an employee requesting a transfer.

GRADUATION PICS

I got the pictures of Danny and I graduating in the mail this week...here we are getting our sheepskin...covers. No, they do not actually hand out diplomas at graduation, just the pretty leather covers for them. The diplomas will be mailed out. (The reason for the delay is that grades didn't have to be in until Friday at 9:00 a.m., just 25 hours before graduation, so they didn't have time to print them after they found out who did and didn't make it.)

AWARDS PROGRAM

I also have a picture of the awards program where I received the Outstanding Administrative Office Technology Student Award.

GRADUATION

WOO HOO!!!!!!
As of Saturday Danny and I are finished with school. There is so much to tell you all about and so little time. It has been very hectic since my last post with us living in 2 different places and trying to finish school, but here goes.

1. Danny has a job. He has accepted an offer from Duke to work at the Oconee Nuclear Station. He has to report on June 2 to in-processing to start work. That is really all we know at this point...we don't know what area he will be in, shift he will be working, or anything else right night. I will keep you updated.

2. I received an award at the awards program the week before graduation...the Outstanding Administrative Office Technology Student award. I got a very nice plaque and was recognized at the awards program.

3. Did I mention that Danny and I both graduated last Saturday?? We are now both Honor Graduates from Spartanburg Community College. We walked at the commencement and were recognized as graduating with honors, which was very special. After that, we went to a reception for Danny's class at the Marriott as they are the inaugural class in Radiation Protection Technology.

I have all sorts of pictures to upload but will get around to that later. I have more important things to do this morning...like finding me a job. I have an interview lined up today that I have to get to, and then who knows after that, but I've got to get on the ball and return to the RWW (real world of work).

Apartment Life

This is how Nick spends most of his day in the apartment. He hears so many new sounds that he sometimes looks like a vulture looking out the windows into the parking lot. There is a grassy area just across the parking lot that the dogs in the complex seem to congregate to, so he gets to see other 4-legged people just like him. Last night he was asleep on the back of his chair when Danny got home. He actually heard the truck and ran to the door to wait for daddy. We are on the 2nd floor and the parking area curves around, so he couldn't see the truck from where he was, just heard that engine. Last week he was too distracted with other sounds to notice the truck when it got home.

Work is going well for Danny - he is gaining confidence in his daily tasks. We are both just waiting anxiously for graduation. For me this is the last full week of classes, exams start a week from Tuesday, and then it's GRADUATION!!!!!!!!!!

Oconee

Today has been a VERY LONG day. It started at 4 a.m. when Danny's alarm went off. I have been working ever since as did he. He seems to be adjusting well to his schedule - for those of you who really know Danny just getting out of bed at 4 a.m. is a MAJOR accomplishment. We still don't know where the permanent job is going to be, but we should know by the end of this month. While the days have been long, he is looking forward to getting regular paychecks. We have had a nice couple of days and from his attitude this outage is going better than the last just not having a roommate. Even though he likes night shift and hates mornings, he doesn't seem as tired as he was last time. Of course, it is still early on.

Nick's Car Seat

This is a photo of my precious baby on our way to Oconee for a couple of nights. He likes riding in his car seat.

Danny's first full day of work went well. I will update with more details tomorrow.

Road Trip

Today I took a roadtrip. Not just any roadtrip...a roadtrip with my sister. Whenever this occurs, there are usually some very interesting stories to tell. It has been a while since Sandra and I have done this, and we no longer go alone as we have my nephew, Andrew, and my niece, Caroline with us. They are not yet old enough to appreciate a really good road trip because neither of them can drive...but that day is coming. They also don't appreciate our singing some really old songs. Sandra and I have been roadtripping for many years and the only thing that was missing from today's trip was our really loud, really bad singing. In place of singing we just talked and pointed out things that weren't there the last time she had been that way. At one point, one of the kids asked why we didn't just say everything was new and just stop talking...Didn't happen.

The purpose of this trip was twofold. First, we went to the Duke Power World of Energy to learn about nuclear power. Danny will be working at the Oconee Nuclear Station starting next week (his internship only) and I thought it would be cool for the kids to see and learn about what he would be doing. The second part of the trip was for my sister, a Clemson graduate, to visit and reminisce about her college days. As you all know, my allegiance is to Carolina, but if Sandra went there it can't be all bad (well maybe today, but not from '82-'86). It has been many years since she had been to Clemson and boy has it changed.

All in all it was a really good day. I think the highlight of the day was the visit to Clemson Ag-Sales to get fresh ice cream...YUMMY!!! This is a delicacy I discovered back in the 80s when she was a student and have not had for a very long time. Today's delight was a brown sugar vanilla milkshake, which was wonderful. Back in the dark ages, they had orange-pineapple ice cream that was to die for, but that wasn't on the menu today. I think it has been replaced by orange-passion, which just didn't sound as good.

I would post pictures, but neither of us took a camera. I was going to, but walked out without it and didn't want to go back in the house and stir up Nick and Danny. We stopped and bought one later on, but then never used it. I'll have to try to do better in the future.

Golf

Today was a really great day for golf, and Josh, Danny, and I took full advantage of it. The weather was almost perfect - the wind could have been a little less. It was a great way to unwind. We played at the Rock at Jocassee, which is a new course for me. It is a really pretty course that was fun to play. I imagine it will be really beautiful once everything starts to grow and bloom. We all had some good shots and some bad shots. I happened to have a few great shots all together on the same hole. To start with, my tee shot hit the cart path and took an amazing bounce toward the green. My second shot (on a par 4) caught in a gust of wind and sailed into the flag. Unfortunately it didn't drop into the hole, but it was close and I was happy with the par I ended up with on that hole. I think we are all looking forward to playing the course again.

36 Days to Graduation!!!!

The official count is 36 days to graduation. I am so excited. I only have 4 more days at my clinical site, and I have mixed emotions about that. Everyone there has been really great to work with, I have enjoyed the work, and I will miss them all, but, I will be able to use the extra time to complete those end of the semester projects that are really stressing me out lately. I need about an extra 40 hours a day to get everything done that needs doing. Hopefully I can do a little catching up over Spring Break.

Happy Easter Monday

Today was a big day for us. Danny had his interview with Duke for his job once he finishes his internship. We probably won't know anything until May. They are supposed to send out offers the first of May and are anticipating starting the new graduates to work on June 2. I don't guess we'll know until then which plant he will be working at. I still don't know anything for sure about a job for me but have reason to be hopeful that there will be something for me at the hospital.

More importantly - It is only 40 days until graduation!!!!!!! I am so ready.

As you can see, we are very proud of Nick. I have looked for a recent picture of me and Danny together, but could not find one. I will work on getting one in the near future.

Right now Danny and I are swamped trying to finish school and find jobs. Hopefully very soon we will both be able to report that we are gainfully employed.

Nick Now

This is what Nick looked like at Christmas, 2007. He's a lot bigger than he was 4 years ago, but he gets more handsome every day.

Nick's First Day With Us In 2003

This is a picture of Nick as soon as we got him to his new home. It is hard to believe he was that little.