Sunset picture...

Recently took this as the sun was going down...

You know you're getting old when...

...when you receive the invitation for your 10 year high school reunion in the mail. Ugh, talk about a slap in the face. And for Bill & I, it was a double slap in the face, why you ask? Because we got *TWO* invitations...which seemed kinda silly if you think about it. wouldn't the reunion people take notice to the fact that "hmm...they have the same last name and the mail is going to the same address...maybe there married". well, i guess the reunion people didn't place that close attention. our next question was "do we each send in our own invitations and say we aren't bringing a guest" or do we fill out one form and go from there.

$160 for one frickin night of drinks and dinner with several people that I haven't talked to since June of 1995??? i don't think so...we'll take a pass and see you at the 20th. there are talks of having a get-together and have a fun time with all of our SHS friends...not just the ones who were lucky enough to graduate with us.

fight on all you saxons...ha ha...thanks for the memories!

Name change...

I decided to change my blog address...it is still Nifer's Notes, but i changed the address. dont' ask me why, it looked fun. i got the line from the Gilmore Girls, one of my favorite shows!

sorry i haven't been updating...haven't found much to say.

How are you living your life?

I received this in an email, so I thought that I would share it here!

01. Bought everyone in the pub a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins*
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
* 07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
* 08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
* 09. Hugged a tree
* 10. Done a striptease
11. Bungee jumped
* 12. Visited Paris
* 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
* 14. Stayed up all night long, and watch the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
* 16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
* 18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Touched an iceberg
* 20. Slept under the stars
* 21. Changed a baby’s diaper
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
* 23. Watched a meteor shower
* 24. Gotten drunk on champagne
* 25. Given more than you can afford to charity
* 26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
* 27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
* 28. Had a food fight
29. Bet on a winning horse
* 30. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
* 31. Asked out a stranger
* 32. Had a snowball fight
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier
* 34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
35. Held a lamb
* 36. Enacted a favorite fantasy
* 37. Taken a midnight skinny dip
38. Taken an ice cold bath
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
* 40. Seen a total eclipse
* 41. Ridden a roller coaster
42. Hit a home run
* 43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days
* 44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking (that's pretty much how i ALWAYS dance)
* 45. Adopted an accent for an entire day
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
* 47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
* 48. Had two hard drives for your computer
49. Visited all 50 states
* 50. Loved your job for all accounts
* 51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
* 52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
* 53. Had amazing friends
* 54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
* 55. Watched wild whales
56. Stolen a sign and construction cones
57. Backpacked in Europe
* 58. Taken a road-trip
59. Rock climbing
60. Lied to foreign government’s official in that country to avoid notice
* 61. Midnight walk on the beach
62. Sky diving
63. Visited Ireland
* 64. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
* 65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
66. Visited Japan
67. Bench pressed your own weight
68. Milked a cow
* 69. Alphabetized your records and books and video tapes and DVD’s andpersonal records (like bank not vinyl)
* 70. Pretended to be a superhero
* 71. Sung karaoke
* 72. Lounged around in bed all day
* 73. Posed nude in front of strangers
74. Scuba diving
75. Got it on to “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye
* 76. Kissed in the rain
* 77. Played in the mud
* 78. Played in the rain
79. Gone to a drive-in theater
* 80. Done something you should regret, but don’t regret it
81. Visited the Great Wall of China
82. Discovered that someone who’s not supposed to have known about your bloghas discovered your blog
83. Dropped Windows in favor of something better
* 84. Started a business
* 85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
* 86. Toured ancient sites
87. Taken a martial arts class
88. Swordfought for the honor of a woman
89. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
* 90. Gotten married
91. Been in a movie
* 92. Crashed a party
* 93. Loved someone you shouldn’t have
* 94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy
95. Gotten divorced
96. Had sex at the office
97. Gone without food for 5 days
* 98. Made cookies from scratch
99. Won first prize in a costume contest
* 100. Ridden a gondola in Venice
* 101. Gotten a tattoo
* 102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on
103. Rafted the Snake River
* 104. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
* 105. Got flowers for no reason
106. Masturbated in a public place
107. Got so drunk you don’t remember anything
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug
* 109. Performed on stage
110. Been to Las Vegas
* 111. Recorded music
112. Eaten shark
* 113. Had a one-night stand
114. Gone to Thailand
115. Seen Siouxsie live
116. Bought a house
117. Been in a combat zone
118. Buried both of your parents
* 119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off
120. Been on a cruise ship
* 121. Spoken more than one language fluently
* 122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
* 123. Bounced a check
124. Performed in Rocky Horror
* 125. Read - and understood - your credit report
126. Raised children
* 127. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
* 128. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
* 132. Called or written your Congress person
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
134. …more than once? - More than thrice?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
* 136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone waslooking (probably sang even louder!)
137. Had an abortion
138. Had plastic surgery
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived.
140. Wrote articles for a large publication
141. Lost over 100 pounds
* 142. Held someone while they were having a flashback
143. Piloted an airplane
144. Petted a stingray.
* 145. Broken someone’s heart
146. Helped an animal give birth
* 147. Been fired or laid off from a job
148. Won money on a T.V. game show
* 149. Broken a bone
150. Killed a human being
151. Gone on an African photo safari
152. Ridden a motorcycle
* 153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100mph
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
* 157. Ridden a horse
* 158. Had major surgery
159. Had sex on a moving train
160. Had a snake as a pet
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
* 163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
164. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
165. Visited all 7 continents
* 166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
167. Eaten kangaroo meat
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground
169. Been a sperm or egg donor
170. Eaten sushi
* 171. Had your picture in the newspaper (a few times actually)
* 172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year inyour lifetime
* 173. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
* 174. Gotten someone fired for their actions
175. Gone back to school
176. Parasailed
* 177. Changed your name
178. Petted a cockroach
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes
* 180. Read The Iliad
* 181. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
* 182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups becauseyour apartment needed them
183. …and gotten 86ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times,they figured out it was you
* 184. Taught yourself an art from scratch
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
* 186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
*187. Skipped all your school reunions
*188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
189. Been elected to public office
190. Written your own computer language
*191. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
*193. Built your own PC from parts
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
195. Had a booth at a street fair
* 196: Dyed your hair
197: Been a DJ
* 198: Found out someone was going to dump you
199: Written your own role playing game
200: Been arrested

God Bless Mama Mary

8 years ago, I lost a very special woman, although at the time, I didn't realize how important of a person she would be to me. I only wish I would have had the opportunity to get to know and love her. She is my mother-in-law and she was tragically taken from the earth on May 13, 1997. I am attaching a poem that I wrote a few years back...

The One I Never Knew

We love the same man but in different ways.
You are the one I never knew.

You are the one who gave him his life
and I am the one who he now calls his wife.
You are the one I never knew.

Your days were numbered and your life ended too quickly.
Although he was hurt, he kept on going. Trying to be strong
when all he wanted was to have you back in his arms. He took care of his
sister and his grandparents too. But there was no one to take care of him.
You are the one I never knew.

I never met you before you had left.
But he tells me many stories that lead me to believe you were heaven sent.
I can only picture in my mind how great it would be
to have my mother-in-law alive to see.
They tell me all about the fun times you had, and even about the times that were sad.
I promise to take care of him, along with your daughter too. She is turned from a little girl to a beautiful woman, you should be proud, she looks just like you.

1 year after your death, he called me on the phone.
We talked and went to dinner and eventually we fell in love.
2 years after that tragic night,
he became my forever knight…
when he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife.
After he asked, and I said yes…we noticed it had begun to rain.
However, we were not upset, just knew that you were sharing our happiness and that your tears was the cause to the rain.

From that time, we planned and planned the perfect day.
I had my mom to help me with the details, but your help and guidance too would have been the better way.
Soon, that wonderful day in September was here
A perfect day all sunny and clear.
The ceremony was beautiful and the roses were too.
The one problem was I put your rose in a vase and didn’t give it to you.

You are the one I never knew.

New Job!!

On April 18th, I was offered a position that I quickly accepted! I started two weeks ago. I am working for Riverside Publishing in their Customer Service Department. So far, I love the job and love the people that are working there. Everyone is nice and helpful! I'm so glad to be back to work!

interviews interviews and more interviews....

Things are going pretty well for me and hopefully, I should have a job sometime in the next week or two. I had an interview on Tuesday and a phone interview on Wednesday both with staffing companies. I'm waiting to hear back on Tuesday's interview to see if it turns into a 2nd interview. For the phone interview, I had a face to face interview today at the staffing company. I think that it went pretty well and it sounds like it may be a job offer. I had another interview yesterday with a financial group as a recruiter and I have a final interview with the president of their company next week! I'm really hoping to hear something soon!!!!!

Also, dh and I have discussed this, and I am going to be placing a call to EEOC (Equal Employment) and put a claim against my old company. After talking about "where everything went wrong" I really feel as if they discriminated against me from when I had my surgery and was dealing with all of my follow-up and treatment plans (for those who don't know, I had my thyroid removed back in August. It turned out, that there was a malignant tumor on the right side....good news is that I am healthy now!) I'm not interested in getting my job back, I just don't want it to happen to someone else, kwim?

where i've been...

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...
Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /
Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

What Color is your Brain??

http://quizilla.com/users/kstarbuck/quizzes/What%20Color%20is%20Your%20Brain%3F/">%20src="%20What%20Color%20is%20Your%20Brain?
brought to you by

How do these people survive??

As Bill Engvall from Blue Collar TV would say, "Here's your sign!"
You have to question yourself and say, "How do these people survive?"

1. Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. "We don't have half dozen nuggets," said the teenager at the counter. "You don't?" I replied. "We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply. "So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?" "That's right." So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets.

2. I was checking out at the local Wal-Mart with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those "dividers" that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the "divider," looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code she said to me, "Do you know how much this is?" I said to her "I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today." She said "OK," and I paid her for the things and left. She had no clue to what had just happened.

3. A lady at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thingy."

4. I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. "Do you need some help?" I asked. She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery to fit this?" "Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm, too?" I asked. "No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries. It's a long walk."

5. Several years ago, we had an Intern who was not too swift. One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper. What do I do?" "Just use copier machine paper" the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five "blank" copies.

6. I was in a car dealership a while ago, when a large motor home was towed into the garage. The front of the vehicle was in dire need of repair and the whole thing generally looked like an extra in "Twister." I asked the manager what had happened. He told me that the driver had set the "cruise control" and then went in the back to make a sandwich.

7. My neighbor works in the operations department in the central office of a large bank. Employees in the field call him when they have problems with their computers. One night he got a call from a woman in one of the branch banks who had this question: "I've got smoke coming from the back of my terminal. Do you guys have a fire downtown?"

8. Police in Radnor, Pa., interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed.

9. A mother calls 911 very worried asking the dispatcher if she needs to take her kid to the emergency room, the kid was eating ants. The dispatcher tells her to give the kid some Benadryl and should be fine, the mother says, I just gave him some ant killer..... Dispatcher: Rush him in to emergency!

"Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid."

The picture above...

Is of our nephew...who is 9 months old. I was over there eating dinner and he was VERY interested in Daddy's beer bottle...he was very focused on it.

Daddy wanted to see what would happen if he actually give him the beer bottle...scary enough...it was quite a hit.

And...were his mommy and auntie appalled by daddy's actions.....nope.....we pulled out the digital cameras!

I'm sure this kid is destined for therapy!

It's Miller Time Baby 

It's been awhile

Since I've posted here...oops. I have no good excuse, despite the fact that I didn't have enough time!

Well, now I have some time, alot more than before. As of last Friday, I was let go from my job. I was let go for quite a strange reason, but as I've thought about it more and more, I can't help wonder if in some ways, they did me a favor. Now, I can find a job that treats their employees hopefully a little nicer and don't make one feel guilty if you have a medical condition and need to rearrange work schedules because of doctor's appointments. Or if you can't work a full day because you may have some medical restrictions, that they actually understand instead of making you feel guilty.

So, anyone want to hire me??

So, I belong to this email group

 

 

A few years ago, I stumbled upon the world of Yahoo Groups and my oh my has it been an interesting ride ever since!

 

So, last week, one of the lists that I am on, kind of fell apart, but it had been coming for a long time.  The list was full of drama almost all the time and I felt that as a whole, people had begun to separate and not support each other much like in the “good old days”.  People were leaving the list, backstabbing other people and just creating more and more lies.  In the end, there have been 2 lists that were created and maybe that’s how it should be.   In the end, I spoke some words, that truthfully were not the nicest things in the world to say, but I had grown very tired and frustrated with the lack of maturity, so I spoke my mind.  It actually felt good to say some of those things.  In all honestly, for the people who feel it necessary to now backstab others (including myself), I really wish that someday that they will realize that the world doesn’t revolve around them and that they too make mistakes in life.

 

Off my soapbox and back to work!  Happy Wednesday!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I can’t believe that the 2004 Holiday season is already here.  It seems like 2004 started yesterday and already we are preparing for 2005.  Even though money has been tight for us the past few years, I absolutely love Christmas and not just for the gifts...I love the yummy food J and getting together with family.  Most of all, I love celebrating the reason for the season...I always see this time as a re-birth of my soul...silly as it sounds.

 

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated this journal...oops....but who is really reading it truthfully? LOL 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Did this work?

 

 

feeling lost and confused right about now...

i just don't know where i want my life to go right now. before my surgery, I worked my tail off, I took pride in my job...worked hard.

then, i find out I have cancer. suddenly, I don't know what's important...I still enjoy my job...but lately I feel like there are more important things than work. family, health

I could use some prayers right about now...taking this weekened to try and find out what's more important in my life.

an update on me

All things considered, I'm feeling pretty good...just still nervous as all hell. It's hard when you're trying to stay calm, however, your head is full of all these different "what-ifs"...Ugh...poor Bill...I'm surprised he hasn't hit me over the head with a blunt object yet. ha ha. i keep telling him I wouldn't be offended if he did that!

I went in last Thursday for my doctor's appt. and he says that I'm looking good. I go in next Wednesday for the body scan. This is the part that's freaking me out, is if they find anything...then they have to do what's called "cell ablation"...which means a few nights in the hospital...and I'm like locked away from everyone. I'm a little miffed because I guess we didn't quite catch the whole story from the doctor and the nurse was telling me about this on Friday. It totally through me for a loop...that I wasn't expecting. Ack!! I'm nervous because that's more time off of work, which I really don't have much left...plus it's the whole idea of everything too.

On a positive note, Bill and I started house-hunting this weekend. We've been working with his sister, who's a loan officer and she let us know what we've been qualified for. We'd like to be in the house as soon as possible, but we have till next July, so we're taking our time being picky. We went to this one townhouse and it was just GOD awful...our friends just happen to live in the subdivision...but the people in this house didn't take care of it...blech....and they were asking $150K for it. DEFINTELY...not worth that amount. I mean, when you sell your house, you need to do your best to get it clean and KEEP it clean, as that helps in selling ( I remember ALWAYS having to keep my room clean when we lived in Champaign...that sucked for an 11 year old...always making sure the bed was made...lol). Not to mention, the family was in the house while we were there, so that was disgusting. The entire house reeked....and there were awful stains on the carpeting ugh...I'm getting sick just thinking about it.

The other positive news is that Bill and I made the decision for me to stop BCP...however, we're truly not ttc as of yet. lol I want to wait until all of this testing is done before I can truly say I want to get pregnant. I mean, if it happens, we'll totally enjoy it and be happy, but if it takes 6 months before we can seriously start trying...than that's perfectly fine with me too. I don't want to jeopardize a little one's life because Mommy had all these nasty yuckies to deal with. If I have to go through with this ablation thingy...i've read that they would like you to wait at least 6 months before getting pregnant. I read it online, but I would like to wait and see what the doctor has to say. Bill understands that we need to take care of me first too...so that's reassuring. lol

The nice thing that I thank God for everyday is the support of everyone. I've had so many people just thinking of me, it's been really nice. For so long, I really considered dropping the membership from my church, but after all of this, I'm going to stick with it. The minister calls me to see how I'm doing...she came out to the hospital the day after my surgery....people have been sending me cards and keeping me on prayers lists. Not to mention, they've been supporting my parents too. I guess in the whole scheme of things I freaked a few people out...trust me wasn't my intention.

Well, now that I've written a novel and probably bored all of you to tears, I must get moving.

Long overdue posting

For my one fan, who reads it. :-) Otherwise, this is for my own health...literally.

On August 12th, I went in to my doctor to get the results of my thyroid ultrasound. I've been feeling not-so good for awhile and I kept on my doctor stating that the medicine wasn't working. So, he ordered an ultrasound...and then he told me the worst part...it had grown and he needed to remove the right side of my thyroid. I had all these emotions going through my head, from just your simple outpatient procedure to not making it off the surgery table. Never been hospitalized made it even scarier.

the morning of the surgery, all i kept thinking was "don't throw up"...I was so nervous. I knew that once I had anthesthia, I wouldn't feel a thing and all would be well. I did everything I could not to bawl once I was wheeled away, kissing Bill good-bye. But I had to be strong, and know that everything would be ok.

Well, it was and it wasn't. As it turns out the doctor took out the entire thyroid, as it showed the thyroid as 70% cancerous. My first question was "do i need to have chemo?....I remember asking Bill that in recovery"...luckily I don't.

My recovery has gone so well, it's amazing. I find it hard to say "I'm a cancer survivor"...even though I am. I'm not even 27 and I can say that!

I love those Ebay people!!!

Finally, something that worked out for the best!!

A few weeks ago, we received a notice in the mail that we had an account balance on our Ebay Account of $172. This was the first account we had used and we hadn't touched it since June of 2003 before me moved.

So, I contacted them asking why the balance was so high, because I didn't understand that. The rep emailed me back stating that the last payment was made in 6/03 and there was a remaining balance of 2.38...when they went to make the payment the next month, the bank returned it and they've been returning it ever since. When he told me this, I realized what had happened. Before all of this happened, we believe our car was broken in to...and we had our bank acct info in the car....so we decided to close that account and open another one. Well, before we closed it completely, we did have some payments that were going through, so the bank had to contact us and we had to approve the expense. Once all payments were put through, we did close the account. And low and behold...Ebay wasn't notified.

The response that I got back today was that Ebay will credit our account $170...so we just have to pay the remaining balance of 2.38. Truthfully, I was expecting them to say "Tough, we want our money"...so i was quite excited to read this!!!!!!

Just had to share!!!