Spring break, part 2

Spring break flew by! It's strange to think that this is really going to be the last spring break I have as a student. If I do, in fact, go into teaching, I will continue to have them...just from the employee side. So, here's how the rest of the week went...

Monday, I worked a 24-hour shift. It was exceptionally busy but the night was wonderful. We slept all night but we're not too sure if it was as a result of a truly slow night or if it was due to the pagers not activating (there were LOTS of issues with them all day). Either way, I was happy to take it.

Tuesday, after I got cleaned up from my shift, Jon and I spent the morning and first bit of the afternoon looking at apartments. We settled on one that we loved, filled out an application and are currently waiting to hear if we get it. The one that's on "hold" for us at the moment, the current tenants move out on April 30 and with a 5-day turnaround from the apartment complex between tenants, it will work out well with our desired move-in date of May 8 or 9. I also had dress fitting number 1. It went pretty well and it should be finished the last week of March. I'm excited!

Wednesday, I had to head off to work for meetings and training. It was fun and informative (helped me catch up a bit on what I've been missing out on over the last few months that I've been in school).

Spring break, part 1

I am on day 3 of spring break -- and I've gotten a fair amount of stuff done during these last few days.

Jon and I came home on Thursday after his last class of the day. His last class wasn't held so we were able to get home at a decent hour, which was quite nice. Friday began early for me as I got up for an appointment with my eye doctor that never happened. I went there only to find out that they had been trying to call me for the last week to say the doctors would be out of town and needed to reschedule. The only problem was that they were calling the non-existent house phone at my parents' house. My appointment has subsequently been rescheduled to this coming Thursday. After my visit to the eye doctor's office, I had an appointment to get my hair cut with Janelle, someone who I have known for years but has never cut my hair. It's been several months (5, to be exact) since I got it cut. I also wanted to discuss the possibility of her doing my hair for the wedding. She said she'd love to -- and she liked what I had thought of, so we're on the same page for what's going to happen, I think. :-)

Following my new hair cut (really, just a trim), I had lunch with Dad. It's something we used to do often when I lived in Raleigh but we haven't done it in a while. After lunch, I was off to collect Jon so we could head off for the first 2 hours of our premarital counseling with the pastor who will be marrying us. The session went well and we have one more this coming Friday, hopefully getting it all finished up then. Before work on Friday evening, I went with Jon back to his house to hang out for a few hours and have dinner with him and his parents. Work was mostly uneventful, which was nice. Only 1 call for the 12 hours. I have a feeling I'll be paying for that with my shift tomorrow.

My family history

For some reason (and I have no idea what or where it came from), I was suddenly inspired to research my family history. I'm guessing part of it comes from the lack of motivation to do my school work for the week just before spring break (I mean, c'mon...it's time for a break!). However, how this particular topic came to me, I don't know.

I remember that many years ago (like, grade school...I think it was 4th grade) I had an assignment to make a family tree. Mom did the "digging" and asked my grandparents who our ancestors were and we made a poster that I still have at their house. I think I'm going to dig it out when I get home at the end of this week.

However, in the interim, I did some digging on my own on the internet and was able to trace my maternal grandmother's history back to the 1600's. I recognized a lot of the names from my poster that I did way back when...and it's really neat. I was able to go back 12 generations (which was a surprise to me).

I think I have found a new hobby. Maybe I'll be able to trace some of the other branches of my family. I'm excited about this!

Ranch chicken

So, I'm sure that someone out there has come up with this recipe. No doubt. However, after some searching, I didn't find one like this and thus the experiment began! Unfortunately, my better half took off for Florida yesterday morning and left me here all alone so he didn't get to be the guinea pig for this recipe (he claims to enjoy it...I guess because he's getting fed and doesn't have to cook).

So, here's what I used:

• 2 chicken breasts (no, I didn't eat all, or even half of that, but it's silly not to make enough for at least 2 meals for me
• 1 cup of chicken broth (I used 1 cup of water and 1 chicken bouillon cube)
• 1/2 package of dry ranch dressing mix
• 1/2 cup of milk
• Flour as needed
• Olive oil

Here's what you do:

Old Disney movies

I love watching old Disney films. I, often times, enjoy animated films more than live action movies. Here are some of my favorite animated classics from my childhood:

• Fantasia (1940)
• Cinderella (1950)
• Alice in Wonderland (1951)
• One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
• The Aristocats (1970)
• The Little Mermaid (1989)
• Beauty and the Beast (1991)
• Aladdin (1992)
• The Lion King (1994)

See a theme here? Lots of princesses and animals.