Southern Travel

Check me out! Posting so frequently!!! Don't you simply love it?

So a little update before I share my traveling stories . . .

The roaches have moved out, or maybe just down the hall, but I'm totally okay with that! I simply refuse to share my bed with the beasts! Friday we lost our water in the building. . . they got it back later that night but it seemed to be contaminated. So, I gave it a couple days and things seem to be toxin-free, or so I hope! Unfortunately now I don't have much hot water. I have to turn the water on about 10 minutes before my shower so that it is at least bearable, but it seems as though I will not have a HOT shower for a while! Two nights ago the fire alarm went off in good ole' Stuart hall . . . and guess what? It was my fault. . . oops! ACTUALLY, it was REALLY the facility's managers fault for not having the stoves cleaned! And as I type this update the alarm in one of the towers in my complex is actively going off!

Okay. . . so what you really all want to . . . my travels:

Florida was great!!! Loved it. . . except for one small detail. . . the day we planned on being our BEACH day was the day tropical storm Barry decided to pound the sands of Daytona! UGH! Great storm, sucky beach weather! Living in Ohio I miss the beach dearly! Over all however, it was a great time! Check it out:

My cousin Terri and I. . . whenever we are together we always take a close up head shot like this because many people think we are mother and daughter. . . or as Terri makes me say, sisters!

Uncle Joe and myself showing off our beastly muscles, and bad ass attitudes!

Aunt Grace, Uncle Joe and their FAVORITE great-niece!!!




Terri as the Caterpillar from Alice and Wonderland. . . oh did I mention when Terri and I get together weird stuff starts happening. . . keep scrolling!!!




Don't you just love it??? Maybe Terri really is my mother. . . Mommy, Daddy, is there something you forgot to tell me?

Okay. . . having some technical difficulties with loading pictures. . . I might have to leave you here with this WONDERFUL portrait of my beautiful cousin Terri (who's graduating from Physicians Assistant school . . . or is it Nurse practitioner school? Well, whatever it is she worked her tooshy off to do it! I'm so proud of her!!!)

Please stay posted for the conclusion of Southern Travels . . . There is oh so much to share about New Orleans and my escapades with the beautiful, fantastic Katie Naab!!!!

For now. . . I need to read. . .

Roaches: A Hazard To Your Health!

Returning to Dayton has not been easy for me. For one I had a pretty fantastic time at home and coming back to Ohio was once again forcing me to give up my life. But the larger reason that this particular return was difficult was because I had to learn fairly swiftly the art of extermination!

Last night I returned back to my room a little after 10:30. I was multi-tasking--talking with Fr. Sam on the phone and checking my email when all of a sudden the nastiest roach when scurrying right past my feet and across the room! To say the least I had to apologize to Fr. Sam not only for screaming and dropping the phone in a panic but for the profanities that crossed my lips in the process! I was successful in lobbing my flip flop at the monster and killing it. . . cleaning it up was GROSS. . . have you ever smelled a squashed roach? It's nasty! OH, did I mention how big the sucker was??? THREE INCHES!!! I felt creepy and crawly for the next half hour.

I was obviously shaken up on the phone with Fr. Sam . . . who being a bug hater himself showed me much sympathy and offered support to get me through this time of creepiness!!! Shortly after ending the conversation with Fr. Sam I went to grab something from under my bed and there again a second THREE inch roach bolted from its hiding place! I quickly jumped for higher ground. . . grabbed my phone and called the good priest back . . . he simply answered by saying, "this can't be good!" He was right! There I was phone in one hand, crying about how miserable I was, standing on a chair armed with a flip flop trying to find the nasty beast!

The only thing worse was that time that my sister's iguana got loose and I attempted to search for it dressed in jeans tucked in my boots, snow gloves and a stick! Hysterical on the phone I decided I had to get down and search for it. . . it's one thing to "think" that there "might" be another one. . . BUT to "KNOW" that it's running around is a whole nother bucket of worms!

Long story short. . . I killed the second one. . . complained to the front desk, who said with a smile on their face that they could do nothing for me, grabbed my car keys, went to Meijers (the only 24 hours store besides the satanic Walmart), bought roach killer (for "small roach" as it was all that the store stocked, and headed back to the war zone. Upon opening the roach killer I discovered that "small roaches" were definitely NOT what I was having a problem with! Miserably I went to the desk again and DEMANDED something be done!

They FINALLY sent the trouble shooter up who gave me more roach killer, a bottle of roach spray and a lecture on how roaches do indeed get in your bed and where there's one there are thousands! UGH, thanks dude, you are so VERY helpful!

So I sprayed my room. . . a lot! At the advice of Fr. Sam, left all my lights on, put on a blindfold to block the light out and went to sleep. . . and of course dreamt of killing roaches all night. To say the least it was a VERY restless night!

Today. . . I went to Mass and prayed profusely that God protect my room from the devilish beasts. Before returning to my room I took a trip to the grocery store to buy BORAX, a laundry soap that dries up roaches exoskeleton killing them. I cleaned my room, vacuumed EVERYTHING, I even moved the bed for a thorough cleaning! Then I put the BORAX EVERYWHERE!!! Hopefully I encountered my last!

Tomorrow's headlines: Graduate Student at UD inadvertently poisons herself while dealing with roach infestation!

Attempting a Commitment

Hey everyone! Do you like the new look? I felt like I needed a change . . . so many things in my life right now are helter skelter and giving myself--or my blog--a new look seemed like a fun idea! Not that this gave me any more order to my life but it definitely let me have control of something!

Anyway, I am attempting to make a commitment to anyone who actually still checks my blog with anticipation that there will be something new! Are you still out there? Through a suggestion of Katie I have decided to pick one day a week with a specific TIME to sit and blog! Who knows what I'll write about! Maybe some days I'll just pop on and say "hi!" But maybe I'll surprise myself and have some great things to share with you!

I'm gonna try it! I am not back in Dayton yet, I leave on Thursday. . . so don't expect these postings to start until next week!

Hope you are all well, I'm . . . . well, I don't really know how I feel. These days I sometimes feel like returning to Dayton is like giving up a beautiful life for sweat and tears. I just keep telling myself those sweat and tears will pay off. . .

OH, P.S. I went to Florida and New Orleans for Vacation. . . had a wonderful time with my family and KATIE!!! I'll post more later. . . maybe I'll save that as my first "weekly" post! Then I can guarantee I won't have a loss for words!