I'm riding the short bus these days.... ;-)

Don't you hate it when you're so tired but then you can't go to sleep? Those are terrible times. I was so tired this afternoon that I thought I would try and take a nap. Yeah, it didn't happen. I laid there about an hour before realizing it was a hopeless cause. Oh well... I'll just have to get to bed early. :-)

I wasn't supposed to work this morning but a shift was open so I picked it up. And, out of the kindness of my heart, I made breakfast for the guys at work. ;-) Didn't actually end up eating till after 8 because of calls, but it was good when we finally did. :) Oh, and to show their gratitude for making them breakfast, they decided to play a joke on me. Yeah, pretty bad.... I suppose I deserved it though. :) We had gotten back from a call and one of the guys was standing outside, so my partner and I hit the horn and sirens. :) It was loud and so him and his partner had to return the favor. We had all sat down to eat breakfast and they both took a bite and at the same time spit it out. Their comments were: "Why is it so bitter?!" "This is bad!" "What did you put in this!?" "Wow, that's terrible stuff!" I had already eaten several bites of mine and so at first figured they were just playing a joke. After they kept saying it was bad and with such straight faces, I started to believe them. They finally admitted it after I started to get a little worried. :) They were so happy they had gotten me back that I wasn't that upset with them. Working up here you have to be able to take jokes and teasing well or you'll never make it. I just give it right back and so most of us get along fairly well. :) The last couple days I've been told that I must ride the short bus and lick the window. I did laugh pretty hard about that one. :) I was told this morning it was going to be a long 8 hours because I was working. :-) It was a pretty good shift anyway. :)
I work again tomorrow and it'll be a crazy day. There's a bunch of LDT's going out so there will be a bunch of extra crews. Elisabeth and I will be going to Carrollton MO and we'll get back in time for me to work my evening shift. I should then be off Tuesday and Wednesday, but we shall see. You never know when something will turn up. :)

Well, that's all for now.... hope everyone had a good Sunday afternoon. :)

My pretty sweet life. ;-)

Well, I've taken a break from posting pictures from my trip but hopefully I'll get finished with them before too long. :) I really should be going to bed as it is 12:15 and I'm not sure how much sleeping I'll get done since we've been busy this evening. I think the chocolate milkshake I had earlier is keeping me awake. ;-) Oh well....
I went home last Friday and was able to stay with my family until this morning (or more like yesterday morning) when I had to leave for work. I made it to work before 10 and was told I had no partner. That's just lovely. So, I got to work with the boss till 3 this afternoon. I always thought it would be a little freaky to work with the boss but it turned out to be a pretty good time. :) Well, we didn't do a whole lot besides one transport in town... rather boring, but that's the way it goes. We didn't get any calls all afternoon and most of the evening, but the other crew ended up running their butts off. They were a little upset about getting all the calls.... :) Towards later evening, we started getting more calls, nothing too awesome though. Flipped car, cardiac arrest (which ended up as a J4), suicidal pt, and a sick person. I suppose it hasn't been too bad of an evening then. :)
My favorite times to work are when you have an awesome crew on both trucks. This evening was pretty hilarious and there was a lot of laughing going on. :-) Teasing, a great deal of sarcasm, jokes, and stories always makes for an enjoyable evening. :)
Later, we all went and got ice cream together and actually had time to finish before getting any calls. I think that probably added to my craziness. ;-) I was told this afternoon that my true colors were coming out.... actually that was said quite a few times this afternoon and evening. Haha, beware everyone! ;-)

Well, besides working and going home not a whole lot has been happening in my life. It's days like today, with having a good crew and this totally sweet weather, that make me love my job. :) There are times when I really don't want to go to work, but I really do love it and I'm glad I don't work in an office. :) An office can be pure torture and I can't stand being inside when the weather is gorgeous.

I suppose I should try and sleep... I'm hoping it's a good night so when I get off at 7 I can go run. :) I'm trying to get back into a routine of running and getting my mileage back up. We'll see... my heart still freaks out. Dumb thing. ;)

Hope everyone is sleeping and has a good day tomorrow!! Actually, that would be later today. :-)

Day 2

The second day started with us sleeping in late, walking to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast, and then going to IKEA. I really love that place. :) I didn't get any pictures of it, but it's a huge building full of furniture and other stuff and all for a relatively decent price. I wish we had one in Columbia. :)

On our walk to Dunkin' Donuts we saw this and had to get a picture. :)

One of Liz's favorite places. :) We went there two days in a row... then we figured we should lay off for a little bit or we might come back totally obese. ;-)

Yay for coffee!! :) I was high on caffeine a lot that week.

I think this is an awesome picture! :)

Yeah, I had to copy next. :)

This was the leftovers.... :)

Grover Cleveland's house. We had a tour of the house and learned a lot about our 22nd and 24th president. They had blocked off the upstairs and we were unable to go up there. Liz and I kind of wanted to break the rules and go up anyway, but we decided not to. :)

This place smelled like fresh bread and had tons of cakes. I don't remember the name of it but it was some Italian place. :)

Awesome cakes. I want to decorate like that. :)

The outside of the building.

Liz's aunt and uncle's home. Don't ask me why the picture is crooked because I have no idea. The screened in porch was probably our favorite place.

The pretty flowers behind the house.

Ok, so I'm pretty sure this isn't a real bug, but I don't know for sure. :) He looks too fake to be real.

I want this for my kitchen! =)

All ready to enjoy a lazy evening and watch movies. :)

And that, my friends, is the end of day 2. :)

Day 1

Ok, so first day of vacation! :) Our flight was at 2:30 and we left Columbia around 10:30. Liz's mom drove us to the airport which meant we didn't have to pay for our car to be left there all week. Yay! :) We made it through security without being pulled aside to be checked. What a relief! ;) Not that I have anything to hide, but you've got to admit, it would be a little freaky. :)

Here we are waiting to board our flight. We were very excited. :) But of course, you could've probably guessed that. ;)

Waiting for our turn behind a long line of planes. We probably waited 3o minutes waiting for our turn. As you can tell, I was very bored... What else are you supposed to do when waiting to take off? People might get upset if I stared too much at them wondering what their story was, so I figured I was safer looking at the planes taking off. ;-)

Liz really did like the gummy worms, even though it looks like she's upset with it. :)

Flying into New York was awesome! I would've loved to see it during the day, but it was gorgeous at night with all the lights.

What a pain it would be to have to drive that every day! Yuck. We were driving out of New York around 9 and it was still packed with traffic. It's definitely the city that never sleeps.

The runway was so close to the water that it almost seemed like we were going to land in it. :) It makes for a cool picture though even if it's a little blurry.

The Empire State building. As you can see I was trying to take this picture while in the car.. so it's not perfect, but I still like it. :)

This Macy's was HUGE! We drove past and it seemed to never end! Pretty amazing that they would have enough stuff to fill such a huge building.

I love how this one turned out. It's so pretty and the reflection in the water is cool. :)

The background is a little too blurry, but it's a good picture anyway. :)

And that is the end of day 1. :)

New Jersey here I come!!!

I'm leaving for New Jersey tomorrow!!! =) Yes, I'm excited. :) Our plane leaves sometime around 2... not exactly sure on the time. And we'll be back early morning on Friday the 13th. :) I'll be sure to take lots of pictures, but I probably won't post any till after I'm back.
I haven't even gotten anything packed yet and I don't get off work till 7. Oh well... I'm always a last minute packer anyway. :) I was only supposed to be working an evening shift today, but then they called asking me to work the night as it needed to be covered. So here I am... writing a post while I'm working. I was told this morning was pretty steady, but we've only gotten two calls all evening... and nothing major wrong. I'm hoping tonight will be restful and I won't be tired tomorrow.

Ok, so I read back over what I just wrote and I realize how jumbled it sounds, but I'm too tired (already) to go back and change anything. So please, just bear through.

Oh boy, is it time for bed yet?! I think I could fall asleep right now....
Ok, this is going to be a pretty lame post since there will be no pictures, I'm tired, working, and I need more energy. I think that covers it all. ;)
Well, the exciting news this week is..... well, there just isn't any. I have 2 1/2 hours left of my 16 hour shift and then I'll be making the long drive home. Should be pretty interesting... I imagine there will be lots of singing going on; and talking about the other crazy drivers that are out and about; and pretty much trying to convince myself not to fall asleep. Good thing there's no camera in my car. ;-) It shouldn't be too bad really... it's just the second hour that's the worst. ;)
So far, work hasn't been too bad today. It was pretty consistent in the morning and afternoon, but this evening's been pretty nice. :)
You know what?!?! I just thought of something! I think I'll have vanilla yogurt with strawberries for dessert. :-) Yeah, it's pretty exciting stuff... especially when there's nothing else for dessert. Actually, that's not all true... I did make cinnamon rolls and bring them to work, but I'm really not craving one and besides they're so unhealthy. ;-) Usually I don't care too much about eating that healthy, but this week I was trying to do better and I've substituted chocolate milkshakes for fruit smoothies. :) Of course they will never be as good as chocolate but I've found out I can make a pretty good pineapple strawberry smoothie. :) And they're pretty healthy for you too. A lot of calcium and fruit. You can't get much better than that. :-)
Well, I really don't have a whole lot of anything to say.... so I think I'll end now before I say something even more random and weird. :)
Hope everyone is having a wonderful, enjoyable evening! :)

This wil be the dump post. ;-)

No, I am not going to talk about our dump where we take our trash (I'm really not that weird)... It's just my way of saying that a bunch of pictures are "dumped" on this blog. ;) Yeah, I know it's retarded but it probably caught your attention and now you're just disappointed I'm not going to talk about an actual dump where we take trash... ;)
Anyway, here's a bunch of pictures so I can at least say I have a cool blog with pictures. ;-)

Bethany has always loved Beric... He seems to love the attention. :)

Hannah and I decorated this awesome bear. :) He was really cute!

Blowing out the candle... actually it looks like she already blew it out. A little late on the timing. :)

We weren't exactly sure how to cut it so we just dug in. ;)

For Bethany's birthday we did cookie monster cupcakes... which had WAY too much icing. :) You can't tell from the picture but there's some really strange looking cookie monsters. Some were so top heavy they couldn't hold themselves up. :)

Such a sweet uncle to feed his adorable little niece. ;)

Patrick and Paige

Yes, he is being Mary Poppins. :)

Abigail loves sitting with "Papa B" while he works... not sure how much he gets done though, she can be quite the distraction. :)

Ew... it's a towel-head!

Seriously, this picture cracks me up! :)

I'm guessing he's showing off his muscles to the girls... typical guy. ;)

Taking her own picture already?

Love it!

She is definitely going to be like mommy and daddy... very photogenic. :)

Well, that's about all I have time to dump... hope you enjoyed them cause who knows when I'll post anymore. ;-)