Man is it cold outside! This is a picture from my drive in from work this morning. I awoke to the sound of sleet pelting my window and thought “Oh no-it’s gonna take me forever to get to work!” So I hurried to get ready and left for work. I knew it was bad when I backed out of my driveway and couldn’t drive up the alley because my tires kept spinning. This one just kind of snuck up on all of us. The forcasters made such a big deal the last few days that everyone was tired of listening to it and I’m assuming they just stopped listening. TX DOT spent the last 3 days sanding bridges, overpasses, and streets and then when it actually hit, they didn’t sand anything!! That’s Texas for ya! Hope everyone stayed safe and stays warm!

Okay, first off let me say that yes, I am a girl but I also know a
little something about cars. Mainly through experience, but isn’t that
the best way to learn something!! For example, I have learned that it’s
ALWAYS good to keep water in your engine, or you’ll have to replace it.
Also, keep your oil changed every 3,000 miles and air filter changed
frequently. Don’t wait until you are on empty to fill up your gas
tank…you might get stranded somewhere. Last, learn how to change your
own tires, daddy isn’t always going to be around. All this to say that I
know enough not to pour steaming hot water on my iced over windshield!!
I saw a lady do that this morning and felt like yelling out the
window…”do you want to replace your windshield-cause if you keep doing
that you will” Also, I know that you should never put make-up on in the
car when you are on a bridge that is completely iced over. People are
nuts!!

So once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.
The winners are:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.
6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

Okay, so we don’t have a florist, decorations, invitation, or tux’s but we did just book our Honeymoon! It’s called priorities people! Well, we do kind of have all of those, just not officially. I mean come on, we have 4 MONTHS to plan…but according to my mom and everyone else that’s not enough time. Anyway, we are going to spend 6 days, 5 nights in Pagosa Springs, CO right outside of Durango. I think this has been the most expensive day in my entire life!!! Let’s count…$500 medical bill, $??? new medical bill from this morning, $too much on plane tickets, and $even more on hotel…yep that sounds about right, the most expensive day of my life…..by the way did we mention we are now excepting donations!

I was in traffic the other day on my way to Waxahachie and I was only going about 5 mph at the most. Needless to say I got a little bored so I had to entertain myself. This is a little glimpse into how I went about doing that. Enjoy!

So if you ever wondered just how early I get to work in the morning take a look at this…not that you would ever wonder that, but I thought I’d share anyway! This picture should show how early I get there by the lack of sun or other cars in the parking lot!!!

This is the first picture of Jonathan and I in 2007.
The time is here…the clock has rolled over from 2006 to 2007 and it’s time to start a new year. I can remember when everyone thought the world was going to end when the clock struck midnight on the first day of 2000. Boy where they wrong! I was thinking back to 2000 and a lot has happened since then including: Graduating college, started working at Children’s Medical Center, moved out on my own, Changed churches, had a few different cars, got a new CRAZY dog, Became an aunt-then became an aunt again, Changed positions at children’s, gained some incredible new friends, Got engaged to my best friend who I will marry in 4 months. Oh and how can I forget this one–had surgery and then another surgery because my Dr. tried to kill me and play it off as a “little knick”. This upcoming year is going to be a great one, some of the highlights that I am looking forward to are:

1) Turning 26 on April 16 (I’m getting old–YIKES) Oh wait, I’m turning 25 again!!
2) Getting married on April 28
3) Becoming a Blundell (I’m moving up in the alphabet)
4) Gaining a wonderful new sister-in-law
5) Moving to Waxahachie (Never imagined I would live there–I’m a city girl)
6) I will have worked at Children’s for 5 years
7) Presley will turn 4–believe it or not, she will be older than me (for those who don’t know, Presley is my dog)

This New Year’s day was a blast. Like always the Turner’s and Medlin’s have their annual New Year’s Day lunch. My dad and my “other dad” Bob both have birthdays on NYDay. We went and ate some great food and spent time with family! I hope everyone has a happy and blessed New Year!

After much anticipation, Tim and Kara (or should I say Kim and Tara) finally tied the knot on Saturday, Dec 30. The wedding was great and she looked beautiful in her gown. While at their reception, Jonathan and I heard many comments regarding our upcoming wedding. The top 5 comments we heard were:

5) Just imagine, in 4 months that will be ya’ll
4) Are you excited
3) Now, when is it again?
2) Are you ready?

The # 1 comment was….Drum roll please…….
1) It will be here before you know it!

These are some of my favorite pictures from Kara and Tim’s wedding
Jonathan and Amelia (one of the flower girls at our wedding)
Laurie and Kara
Kara in her dress

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, or Hanukkah, Kwanza, whatever you
celebrate. I will say that trying to fit in 2 families in one day is
CRAZY and I think Jonathan and I have come up with a solution. When we
buy a house, we are going to buy one big enough where every holiday we
can just have both sides of the family over and we won’t have to go
anywhere! (And yes, that includes the Lehman’s and Medlin’s)
I had a wonderful Christmas, celebrating with both mine and Jonathan’s
family. It felt like a very fast pace two days (Christmas Eve and Day).
Sunday morning I went out to Jonathan’s church, Encounter, in
Waxahachie and enjoyed a great Christmas service with him. Then we went
down to Austin St. shelter with a group to pass out hygiene bags we made
for the men and women in the shelter, and hung around just talking to
them. Some of those men have fascinating stories if you just take the
time to listen. One guy we met is from New Jersey and was making his
way to Arizona. I think he likes Texas because he came here in 1991 and
hasn’t left yet! As much fun as it was, it was also a little cold and
wet…we were out in the rain without any umbrellas so you can imagine
how wet we got. All in the name of love I guess. After we left Austin
St. we ran home and changed (well, of course I had to wash my hair
again) and then went to our parents church for the candle light service.
Lastly we went to Kara (Jonathan’s sister) and Tim’s place for a
Christmas Eve party. We had a great time and I do believe some Bingo
was played. What kind of Christmas party would it be without Bingo!
Christmas day it started all over again…I went to his parents house
for breakfast and spent some time with them, then we headed back to my
parents to open presents and eat lunch with my family…then we headed
to Sulphur Springs to spend the evening with the rest of his family.
Crazy two days, but it was fun and I had a great time with all the
family! This is the time of year I look forward to all year long…I
just like spending time with all the family and watching my niece and
nephew open up their presents with anticipation of what might be in that
package. The joy on a childs face when they open up something they have
been wanting or asked Santa for is amazing! I think my nephew got every
Ben10 action doll there is. And of course it wouldn’t be a family
gathering unless my 2 year old niece went streaking across the house
with nothing but a smile on. Oh the memories!

Working in healthcare, some days you can get caught up in the fast pace
world of medicine where your days are stressed and non-stop. I remember
working in the Cardiovascular ICU and there were some days that we
didn’t sit down, just going from patient to patient. When your days are
like this you never really get to enjoy your job or, in my case, enjoy
the kids I work with. Anyway, the point to my story is the other day I
was at work and in walks this boy who looks healthy and full of life.
If you didn’t know his story you would think he was a healthy young man.
But I remember the day he almost met his maker. It was a while back
when I was working in the ICU and all of a sudden his heart went into a
very lethal rhythm so we ended up “coding” him (doing CPR) for about 45
minutes until we could get his heart back to a normalized rhythm. He
had heart problems all his life and as a kid had many surgeries to
repair them. After he coded, the doctors told his parents that the only
way he would walk out of this hospital is to get a new heart. Little
did they know this would mean he would have to stay in the hospital and just wait
until he got one. As he put it, “I’m just waiting here for someone else
to die.” It’s a sad way to look at it, but in reality that was the case.
Well, about a month later, he did receive a new heart and did
beautifully. So here he is 5 or 6 months later walking back into the
hospital after we was free to live the rest of his life. All this to
say, I guess I would take all the stressful and crazy days if it means
that I get to experience the joy of seeing someone who was on deaths
door and now full of life!