Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a happy and safe New Year! T & I are off for New Years' Day so we are headed south to visit K & B! :) We haven't seen them since September, so we are very excited! I imagine there will be lots of games and wedding planning going on! :)

Workers!

We had our first worker company on our 6 month anniversary (Sunday)!! :) Linda & Megan came for supper and the night. I'm highly disappointed in myself - I didn't get any pictures (I should have at least gotten some pictures of the apartment - I don't think it's EVER been so clean- lol) !! We had a fun evening, though! We played Boggle and Megan showed us a new game on the Internet - which is very addicting (and somewhat educational, I must add), so I won't share. ;) We were so excited to have them!

Merry Christmas!!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!! We are planning on spending the day with my family. More later!

Happy Anniversary!

The main reason we went on the cruise was to celebrate my grandparents' 50th anniversary!

Here's a wedding picture.

Here they are after 50 years of marriage!

Happy Anniversary, G'pa & G'ma!! And thank ya'll for the cruise!!

Cruise!

We had a wonderful time on our cruise! We flew to Ft Lauderdale and met up w/my great-aunt & uncle (Jerry & Barb) as they were surprising G'pa & G'ma on this trip. 

So, for the sake of saving time at the airport, T & I packed light. We were planning on carrying-on our luggage...(aren't you impressed? I had the 3oz liquids in the 1qt baggies and everything!) However, at the last minute, Dad talked us into just checking our bags since the rest of our group was checking their luggage anyways. So, my luggage is ALWAYS last. It doesn't matter who I'm traveling with, where we are going, but it's ALWAYS last off the belt. So when we get to Ft Lauderdale and my bag is the only one missing from our luggage stack, I don't stress b/c I figure, once again, it's going to be last. However, this time it was different. For some reason, my luggage (and yes, ONLY mine!) ended up at the Miami airport instead of Ft Lauderdale. Very convenient, I know. After my suitcase is found in Miami, the Delta attendant (who, by the way, is way too happy for this early in the day, especially to be talking to someone who isn't so happy that her suitcase is 45 minutes away) reassures us this is not a big deal, someone from Carnival cruise will pick it up and take it our ship, but first we must check in w/our cruise line before they will do anything. (Are you thinking that she's making this sound ALL too familiar?? -- yeah, me too!) Once we checked in and talked to several cruise reps, I learned that my suitcase was on a van w/ "all the other luggage and it's on its way to port right now". "All the other luggage" at this point in the day made me feel somewhat comforted...I guess I wouldn't have been the only one on the ship wearing a turtleneck, long jean skirt, cotton tights, and snow boots in the 80 degree weather for the next 5 days! Anyways, to make a long story short, I got my suitcase about 4 hours later just before we left the port. *whew!* I must add that I didn't start really stressing about this until about 1 hour before we left the port...aren't you impressed??? Somehow I knew I could trust the Carnival reps w/my dearly beloved suitcase! lol :) 

Anyways, we really did have an awesome trip, despite the missing-for-6-hours suitcase.

We left from Miami, went to the Bahamas, Half Moon Cay, & Grand Turk. 

In the Bahamas we visited Paradise Island via ferry from Nassau. On the ferry we learned a lot about the island, who lives there, owns it, etc. In the slide show below there are pictures from the Atlantis (on Paradise Island). We toured the Atlantis and did some shopping at the market.

Half Moon Cay is a privately owned island about 79 miles from the Bahamas. And it's just beautiful! The water is so pretty!!  We spent the day soaking in the sun and enjoying the beautiful beach. There are also some pictures below.

Lastly, we went to Grand Turk. It is known for it's snorkeling and beaches...and also it's shopping. We went shopping and also visited the beach. We would have liked to tour the island but didn't have much time to spare after shopping. :) 

The last day on the ship we spent the day at sea. Thankfully, the seas were "smooth sailing" that day. We learned how to make towel animals, watched as a large block of ice was carved into a swan and just relaxed. And of course, ate a LOT! :) 

Enjoy the pictures!

Semester Fall 2008: COMPLETE!

Yay!!! We have officially completed another semester!! And our grades are posted: all A's & B's for both of us! We are very happy!

So in the midst of studying my brains out this week, I met a man who can't read and write. I was (and still am) in complete shock! T & I were dogsitting this week and the couple's house we were staying at, is getting some additions/repairs done on the house. So it just so happens that the garage door installer shows up (thankfully T was there!) to install the garage door and the keyless entry. The owners had left a list of instructions posted in the garage, in case the contractors came while we weren't there. So T & I greet this man and he tells us what he thinks he's supposed to be doing. Just to verify he was doing what needed to be done, I walked over to the list and said, "Well, here's a list, maybe this has something on it that applies to the garage door". He preceeds by telling me that he can't read and write and asks if I would mind reading it to him. I have to say I probably paused for a complete 5 seconds just trying to grasp the fact that a 50-something year old man can't read and write. I have to say, since then, I have given a lot of thought to this. I honestly can say I believe him, I don't think he was lying to me. But how can you not know how to read and write by the time you are 50-something? This is America! Most education is FREE! So, while he worked on the garage, he talked to T & I - told us about his family, how he was looking forward to Christmas, his daughter just had a baby (girl) and how excited he was to see her again during the holidays. Just a good 'ole Southern man! I have to say, this did put a damper on my stressing for finals. Here I am, stressing about finals, trying to complete a college degree and worried about making a B in a class and yet, there are still people (in America!) that can't read and write. Wow...

So, T & I were talking about this later and he said he that heard once that there have been studies that show that there are people who graduate w/a high school diploma and still can't read and write. Being an education major at one point and having completed a minor degree in education, this was never mentioned...so now I'm interested...are there really people out there like this?

What an eye-opener week! Now to get ready for the cruise... :)

End of another semester...(well, almost)

Can't believe we are approaching the end of another semester. In August, this week of finals seems so far away!

Tim is done with his finals and awaiting his final grades to be posted. However, we know that he made a 100 in his Stats class!!! Yes, that's a FINAL avg!! :) I'm so proud of him! I just wish I could go to class w/out the textbook, pen/pencil, or calculator, and not take any notes, not study, wait until the NIGHT before a project is due to START on it (and make an 98 - and have the professor ask to keep it for future examples!) and have no problem making straight A's! Hopefully our children will have his learning abilities!

I have one final down, two more to go. I, too, am waiting for my grade to be posted. Thankfully these professors have a deadline for this or we (students) would be pulling our hair out with anticipation! My accounting final (Thursday) is the only one I'm dreading b/c it's cumulative. I'll be glad to get it over with, no doubt! Thankfully, my boss is a CPA and understands how overwhelming this is and therefore is letting me off early tomorrow so I get some more studying done! :)

We are looking forward to our cruise next week when we can RELAX!!

Now back to studying...