Getting there is half the battle(or something like that)

Well, I officially have only two weeks left in this semester!!!! I can't believe it's almost over! In January, I will start my LAST semester at Western. Again, I never thought this would happen. If I were up there, winning an Emmy, and I had to thank someone or several someones, Jordan would be the obvious first. The thing is, I'm not sure who would be the second. I have had many people behind me and even more than that who ask me all the time how school is going. There would be so many people to thank that I would be the one that they ran off stage with the horrible music that they play at those award shows.

So, if you are reading this, I am sure that you have helped me somehow in this crazy long process of getting a degree that I was a little apprehensive about in the beginning, but now feel VERY excited about. Here is you very long overdue THANK YOU!!!! I hope that I can continue to count on all of you when job seeking begins.....I may be even more crazy then!

Also, thanks for not playing the bad music on me while I was in the middle of my very dramatic speech.

Barley

I know that Thanksgiving is over, but I had to share one more thankful blog, and that's only cause he's so cute and fluffy. This is my Barley, Or "Burley" as we usually call him. I got Barley from someone that I worked with at the bank a million years ago. I called my mom that day, cause I still lived at home, and asked if I could bring home a kitten....her response was......"you'll just have to call your dad". Really? Really Mom? Did you really think that my Daddy would say no to his precious little girl? So I called Dad....his response...."He just can't stay in the house".

Did I mention that Barley is my inside/outside cat?

He lives inside when we are not home (well, during the day he sleeps inside all day to be accurate) and outside when we are. In other words, he really hates us and is glad to share a home with us only when we are not there. I think what he really hates is that I love to pick him up and hug him and squeeze him and make up songs with his name in them....ok, yeah, I have a problem beside the fact that my cat hates me.

I love this cat like no other. He is totally hilarious and makes Jordan and I laugh constantly. By the way, Jordan tried to make me get rid of him when we married. I am pretty sure that he would now be just as upset as I would be if something happened to our "Burley". He brings a little joy to my life when the days at school or work have not. So I am thankful for my "Burley" and hope that he is thankful for me and my warm bed.

2 Pac, Miley Cyrus, and a little (ok a lot) of Journey

Doesn't someone in history say something about music makes the world go round (or something to that effect)? Well, it makes my day go round. Thank goodness. Today, I am thankful for the happy and usually pretty old music that makes up my ipod and helps my drive home from school or work or wherever I happen to be that day.

I realized yesterday, as I was singing VERY loudly on the way home from school (to Cyprus Hill, I might add.....embarrassed?? Nah) that "insane in the membrane" really ended my day in such a happy mood! How sad is that? It is a horrible song, but it takes me back to being a kid. I think the first time I ever heard that song was from my cousin T.J. and I am pretty sure it was on a cassette. I love music that takes me back to a different time in my life and it just makes me smile. OK, so maybe Miley Cyrus only takes me back to a year or so ago, but man, her music is so upbeat that there is no way I can be in a bad mood after listening to her. That's right, I am a closet (well, not anymore) Miley fan. I can sing as good as she can, cause lets face it, there isn't much talent there. I also wondered, who else has a combo on their ipod like 2 Pac and Miley??

I love the feeling of just letting the day go and "jamming" out in my car, all alone, for at least 30-45 minutes a day. So, turn up your volume the next time you hear that song that makes you remember exactly where you were in 10th grade the first time you heard it. It's the best!

Paula Deen

I feel like my thankful post are getting just a little too serious for my taste. So to sum up my really important thankfuls, here they are:

Mom and Dad
Grandparents (those with me and those who watch over me)
Family in all aspects
Friends
A warm bed and a place to live

Ok, I'm sure that there are a lot more things to be thankful for, so please don't think less of me if there is something that I have forgotten. I'm trying....believe me, I'm trying.


So today, I am thankful for Paula Deen. I am thankful that her cookbooks came into my life and made me look like I am the best little southern cook this side of the Mississippi. I am thankful that her millions of pounds of sugar and butter make me seem like a super hero. I am known at CVS for "my" carrot cake (yeah right, it's totally Paula's) and I am known in some groups of friends for killer mashed potatoes (again, way to go Paula for making me look totally awesome). Cooking is an outlet for me and I will let you in on a little secret, it also makes me feel wonderfully loved when people love my cooking. My "dream" is to own my own little bakery. I'm sure this would only happen if we won the lottery, but still, I like to think it could happen. Paula has made me look like a great success and an unbelievable wife. I can't believe I'm going to tell you the biggest secret of all.....her recipes are FOOL-PROOF! You can't go wrong! It's the best thing ever. If you don't have a Paula Deen cookbook in your house, I highly recommend you run out and get one. Jordan highly recommends you run out to our house and take one of the 6 that I have!

Another little additive: A friend of my mom's calls her Kitchen Aid mixer her "Paula Deen". LOVE IT! I love giving names to things that are just things. (as in, my car's name is Georgia and I have went as far as to name my friend's van....yeah, I have issues). Have a great week and cook till your heart's content!

Jordan

Who would have guessed that my next thankfulness would be towards Jordan? Ok, every one thought it would be to Jordan. Even I knew. But for reasons that I hope will surprise you (cause if they didn't, this would be one boring blog) I am going to tell you why I am so thankful everyday that Jordan is in my life.

We started dating 12 years ago! Yep, that's right, 12. Those have been some of the happiest and saddest 12 years of my life, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. All of you reading this (which means just you Cayce :) ) know the heartache that Jordan and I have went through and what we have conquered. Jordan was a hard person to love for several years, but it doesn't mean that I loved him less. I tell people often that I feel like I have loved 3 men, Jordan from high school, Jordan after his dad died, and Jordan after he realized he would never get me back if he kept being a jerk. Yes, we broke up for a span of time and I dated someone else. I will never regret that, because it made me see that I was possible to be loved by someone else and it was possible to be happy again, yet it made me also realize that I wanted to be happy with Jordan. He never gave up, called everyday, and finally (when he stopped calling for 2 weeks) made me see that there was no way I could live without him.

So, now that you are wiping away the tears of joy and sadness for us that I have placed upon you (bahahahaha), I will tell you why I am so thankful for Jordan.

He BELIEVES in me. He believes that no matter what, I can be anything I want to be. Somehow, he thinks (or he says he knows) that I am much smarter that I think I am. He thinks I can save the world with this public health degree. He thinks that I can make a mean buffalo chicken dip. He thinks I am the most beautiful and I know this because he tells me everyday. He thinks that I am obsessive and silly most of the time. He loves me in spite of the fact that I'm silly and obsessive. He has made me grow up, take responsibility, finish my degree, and just plain feel better about myself. He is not perfect and not always nice, but who is? He is always honest (which falls back under the not nice category) and I am thankful for that too. I am thankful for his faults, for his courage, for his mind, for his.....well, his everything. He has truly made me complete and I pray everyday to God, thanking Him for Jordan.

So there you have it, I am still crazy in love with my high school sweetheart. See, it is possible!

Being Thankful

Usually, I would never participate in something like "for a whole month, name something daily you are thankful for". I would think it was silly, I would think that I didn't have time, or even scarier than that, I would wonder if I would be able to think of 30 things that I was thankful for. Isn't that sad?. Not that I'm not a thankful person, just that I would be scared that I couldn't come up with enough to say (I know, you all are thinking, umm you never have a problem finding enough to say). So, since it's already November 4th, I don't have to come up with 30 ! HAHA! I cheated the system. I also know that I won't blog everyday! HA! Beat it again!!!

So, for the next however many days, I am going to say what I am thankful for.

Day 1: Religion

I know you a thinking, why religion, why not God or Jesus? I am VERY thankful for having God in my life and just as thankful for His greatest sacrifice ever, His Son. But for this month, I am going to focus on religion as a whole to be thankful for. Have you ever met anyone who didn't have religion? Have you even had to be around someone who didn't have God in their lives? They are a sad group of people. They are a lost group of people. I am not as religious as I should be and I'm not as religious as I was raised (please forgive me for that Mom, it's me, not you guys). But, there isn't a day that passes that I am not thankful for God. There isn't a day that I am not thankful that I live in a part of the country where religion is a great and valuable thing (another reason I am proud to be southern!). Without religion, do you realize what our world would be like? Do we actually understand what we would go through every single day? Without religion people would have nothing to hope for, they would have nothing to strive to be better for. So in my opinion, religion is something that we all need to be thankful for, as well as God.

Blogging for my sanity

As I sit here in my "office" wrapped in a cookie monster blanket (which is mine, not one that belongs to a child that I can blame it on....is that weird?) I try to think about what I want to say in my very first blog (ok, not my VERY first, but my very first that I am going to tell people about....maybe....). My doctor told me a while ago that maybe blogging is what I need to de-stress myself. Stress? Who me? Stressed? 19 hours of class, part time job, husband, house that needs to ALWAYS be clean....that's stress? YES! YES THAT'S STRESS! So you are now thinking, how in the world does she have time to blog. I don't. I don't have time. But for my sanity and for my stress and for my husband, I think it is time to try blogging.

Here it goes........
going.......
should I tell people?..........
now?.........
ok, maybe tomorrow.............