A new respect: Trucker in my travels

As I made my journey back to Maryville Monday night I gained a new respect. It was 5:30 when I left home (it takes 3 hours to get back to Maryville) so it was already dark. As many of you know it's rut season so deer are roaming everywhere! After about 25 minutes into my journey I came up behind a semi truck. I know what you may be thinking. Oh great, I hate getting behind semis. Right? Especially in the dark when you can't see very well to pass them. Scary right? Well generally I would think the same thing and if it was day light I would have been having a little road rage when the truck driver kept slowing down to 45 mph going up a hill and 65 mph going back down the hill. This time it was a little different. I found myself feeling a lot less scared and nervous behind this big truck. I thought hey if he sees a deer before me he can plow it out of the way or blare his extremely loud horn. I somehow felt a sense of security being behind this big 18 wheeler. So, there you have it. As I found myself slowing down behind the semi going up hills and speeding up to make sure no one would get between us going down hills I gained a new respect for truckers. I thought if he ever pulls into a gas station I might just have to pull in too just to tell him how thankful I was for him. I was able to follow this wonderful truck driver all the way up till 20 minutes until I arrived home. Thank you Lord for putting that trucker in my travels.

You might be wondering. Did a deer ever cross the road?





Yes, a doe did cross the road in front of the big truck. The truck had to stomp on the breaks and blare his horn loud and clear. Thankfully that was the only deer that actually came across the road. The big ole' truck saved me as I followed his big shiny square door home.

Thanksgiving

Although the stores may have you confused, Thanksgiving (not Christmas) is right around the corner! I mean don't get me wrong I'm just as excited as the next person for Christmas! Who doesn't love Christmas?!?! As I get older it's not all about the presents anymore (don't stop the giving mama and papa :) Kidding!) I find myself looking just as much forward to giving gifts and seeing all the family. Now before I get too carried away with Christmas let's focus on Thanksgiving. I happen to be a real big fan of Thanksgiving. Food, food, and more food.... you know what that means right? Any college student's dream!!! LEFTOVERS to take home!!!! No grocery shopping for days or even weeks! So what does that lead to? You can spend your money on other types of shopping like.... CHRISTMAS!! Okay okay enough about Christmas. I do look forward to spending break back home with family and friends for Thanksgiving. I have a lot to be thankful about. I'm thankful for many things (too many to list) including my family, friends, a nice house to live in while I go to college, my boyfriend right across the street (some days I'm more thankful for that than others ;) kidding again!), the capabilities to walk to school everyday, I'm thankful that I am lucky enough to be able attend school, to have a job, to be welcome back home whenever I want, to have financial help when I need it, to have a nice car to drive, to have all the luxury technology, On top of all things I think I am most thankful for the people in my life. I couldn't have asked for a better support system. So, Thank you Lord for giving me everything and everyone you have given me and thank you to everyone who has been apart of my life. 

If you haven't all the things you want,

be grateful for the things you don't have

that you wouldn't want.

-unknown

Addicted

The first step is admitting you have a problem right? Okay, I admit I am addicted to Janet Evanovich series of books.

This is the first book I read of Janet's. (Also the first book in her series of 3.)

The second book is Motor Mouth and the third is Trouble Maker.

I have read the first and second, the third I have not found in our library yet.

Janet has several series. Another series she has includes 17 books.

In the past week I have read 2 of the books in this series. (They have around 300 pages but are easy and fast readers.) Hey, it's better than having other kinds of addictions, right?

What are your favorite book titles, series, or authors??

Meet Spike!

Spike is the newest part of my life right now. Adam and I picked Spike up yesterday afternoon. After visiting 3 different pet stores and scoping out all of our options, we finally picked Spike the Bearded Dragon. This pet is new to me. I have seen similiar pets but I have never heard or seen a Bearded Dragon until now. Adam, however, has owned a Bearded Dragon before. He had to get rid of it when he ventured off to college his freshman year because he was living in a dorm. Now that he is in a house he missed his Dragon and has been wanting one for quite some time. We got out the big ole change bucket (Do you have one of those?) and counted $60 dollars of change!!! Wowza! After searching through cars, trucks, rooms, and sofas we came up with a total of $70! On the way to pick up this new pet of ours I commented, "Ya know we could be doing something practical with all this change like grocery shopping." But, what fun would that be? ;) Spike eats pretty healthy, I wish I had a diet that was as good as his. He eats crickets and salad. Spike it a dessert animal so he also needs a heat lamp. What a life, a heat lamp for warmth all the time and a good diet. I got to name our new pet and I picked Spike because his body has little prickly things on him. (They don't hurt when you touch him though.) When Spike gets cold he will curl up in a corner. During this time if you hold him he will just sit there not moving. So, brave me, picked Spike up out of his cardboard box, we were bringing him home in, and held him in my hand. Let me assure you Spike doesn't take long to warm up in your hand and he does not like bumps in the road! We hit a bump in the road and Spike scattered! I was like oh crap, Spike has escaped! Adam had to pull over twice on our way home to caputre Spike. Lets just say Spike spent the rest of the ride home in his box!

Meet Spike

Trick or Treat

First I would like to inform you that Maryville did not get any snow!

Secondly, Before heading back to Maryville Monday night, I got to see these precious boys for another Halloween night! They stopped by State Farm, where I was helping my mom prepare for her first night of handing candy out on the square for her work, so I could see their faces in their costumes! I was only expecting the youngest since the older two are getting pretty "cool" for many things now-a-days. I was thrilled when I saw not just one cowpoke but two!! Jaxson decided he would take advantage of getting loads of candy one more year of trick-er-treating before he threw the towel in! (If only that was my biggest decision I had to made) ;)
Aren't they handsome!! (Don't pay attention to the girl on the left)

Goodbye Fall

The big and exciting (to some, not so exciting to others) news in Maryville today is that we are supposed to get snow, thats right SNOW tonight! I am not sure how I feel about this news yet, ask me tomorrow when I have to walk in it to my 8 am class. Most of you have a favorite season, and mine used to be summer. However, as I get older I realize I don't really have a favorite season. I look forward to each and every season. Every season has something to look forward to. Summer- shorts, golden tan, lake, sun, warmth! Spring- flowers, cooler days, rainy days good for reading and napping. Fall- trees changing colors, leaves falling, hunting, bonfires, football, halloween. Winter- cute winter clothes, boots, sweater dresses, sitting by the heater, hot chocolate, wrapped in a blanket with someone you love, movie nights, and Christmas!! See what I mean? I love all the season's. However, I am not sure if I am quite ready to say goodbye to fall just yet! It' only the beginning of November, can't the snow hold off for just a little bit longer?! So in memory of fall 2011 I will post a couple pictures of harvest time!

Yes, you see it right. This here is my Dad and I harvesting the good ole fashion way with no combines. Dad used the tractor and corn picker(if that is the correct name for it) to pick the corn that shot into a wagon following the corn picker. I (with help from my mom, brother, his gf, and my bf) picked up corn by hand off the ground that Dad had missed. As I rode in the tractor down the road, Dad and I joked about how redneck we must have looked with our old machinery. He asks "You don't care if your seen with this old stuff?" and I reply "Nah, whatever works." I may never admit it to his face but I really love doing things the ole fashion way and making things work on the farm with my dearest Daddy-o and the fam!

I had to go ahead and add a few more pictures from this fall....

This is Adam and I (he is the boyfriend) ;)

After a night of fishing at Colden Pond (A pond on campus)

To the left is Dylan (Adam's brother), my roommate Lindsey, Me and Adam.

I love the lights in the background reflecting on the pond.

Beginner

Hi ya'll!
I am new to this blogging thing. I recently decided to get away from the world of facebook as it was very time consuming and dramatic! I decided to make my own blog for my close friends and family so they can follow me and also my cyber friends! My wonder neighbor introduced me to blogspot.com and I fell in love! I love reading her posts, keeping updated in her life while I am away at college and also looking at ideas on her cyber friends posts. I realize this too will probably be time consuming but I feel like it won't be as bad as facebook once I get the hang of things and far less dramatic! If any of you don't have a facebook I will inform you it is a nice way to keep in touch with your friends and family by viewing pictures and sending "wall posts" and "inbox messages" but it can also be very mean and hurtful! I look forward to learning more about this site and blogging! :o)