Soon-To-Be's

My life is going to change dramatically in the next month. 1) I will be moving over 2 hours away from home. 2) I will have a new job (another fast food place but it is a start away from home I suppose) and 3) Murphy is going to have a huge hissy fit, which will cause me massive anxiety. I left Tuesday night and surprised Jay at home and I came back this afternoon (Friday) to go to work. He has been a massive snuggle bug since I came home. The last time I left, just a week ago, and returned I woke up the following morning with him snuggled up against my back. Usually he is at my feet when I wake up, but here lately he has been missing me. I hate leaving him at home for a few days at a time. I feel sad when he isn't attached to my hip meowing demands at me.

I have a list of things I need to do after I am done with school. 1) Finish my knitting project. 2) Finish my quilt I started in February. 3) Finish the other quilts I started and never finished, haha. 4) Start my cookbook I want to make for myself. 5) Begin Jodie's baby blanket. 6) Read from my Kindle. 7) Start walking to lose weight. 8) Save some money. 9) Come up with newer recipes. 10) Get a tan.

First, I have to finish my seminar, write a 6-8 page paper over "Spirited Away", complete a take-home final for theatre and take a final for my other English class. I think I can do it! :)

Easter = Food = Cooking Ideas = Other Possibilities!

Today I spent my Easter Holiday working for nearly 6 hours right in the middle of all the family and food festivities everyone was enjoying. The money is good, the work wasn't too difficult. We were slow today so it was a dull day, but in the middle of the small talk with co-workers I realized a few things.

I need to create a recipe book for myself. I need to write down all my favorite recipes my mother makes before I move out, and keep them in a small book or something. I have a list of things to write down and place together, I just have to do it. Hopefully sometime this week I will find the time to do just that.

Before I filled up on food from work and ate a portion of my Cookies and Cream Easter bunny my mother bought for me (therefore I feel like a fat pig right now, and very lethargic) I was sad I didn't get to make anything for anyone this Easter. I am usually making Oreo Dirt Dessert or helping my mom make something for the family but this year I didn't have the opportunity to do that.

Cathy, our new manager at work was talking about cheesecake brownies. She said she has experimented over the yeras and simply put together two of her favorite recipes into one. I love cheesecake and I love brownies, so hopefully I will get to try this awesome dessert she says she may bring in for everyone before I leave. It sounds really good, and makes me half tempted to search for a recipe related to it to try and make it.

Next Step

Well, I came home from work this evening and sat down to watch some Netflix. It is an addiction, I swear! Maybe it was fate, but I have no idea, my laptop decides it is going to restart. Instead of going right back into Netflix when it rebooted, I started searching the net for job openings. After over two hours I applied for three, and plan on applying for more, but we shall see how that goes. Right now I keep hoping to get a phone call for an interview (especially from two of the places I applied for) and then the journey comes to scheduling an interview, or multiple interviews...I keep wondering how this is all going to work out between my current schedule but something will work out...it always does. I am also currently making a list of to-dos yet again, and also lists of random things in general at the current time. They are lists of things I should not be worrying about right now, but I am. Due to nerves, excitement and wonder I am making lists for lists, if that makes any sense. Right now I would love to jump one month into the future, because in one month (hard to believe) I will be finished with school, and soon taking a vacation week from work and going to Chicago with Jay. It will be a new experience, considering I have never been West of Kentucky in my life. I am always traveling south or east it seems. I am looking forward to the time away from Ohio and spending the time with Jay and meeting up with a few of his friends. Murphy is in for a life change as well, and actually has been for the past four or five months. Due to the distance between Jay and I the traveling I have been doing has more than doubled, even tripled since before we started dating. I use to be home nearly every night by eleven (usually because of work) but now I have been gone for at least two or three nights at a time, and once even nearly a week. He has been more clingy and lovey in the past few months, but also his temper has come out of him. I swear, I came home from a six day stay at Jay's, was home for about two hours, and once I put my uniform on to go to work Murphy wanted some loving. I petted him and started to head downt he stairs and the cat literally threw a fit! He meowed his disappointment and leaped for attack! I still have a slight scar to prove it. I am hoping here soon he can be with me again every night, or nearly every night. I miss him when I am away from home, more than anyone may be able to imagine. I think Jay thinks he is just a cat, but Murphy and I are pretty much each other's best friend. Every time I have ever needed someone to be there for me he has. He was with me when my grandparents died, when I had mono, when I graduated high school, when I started college, when I broke up with Jeremy after a 7 year relationship and was there to snuggle with me during my nights I cried, and will be here for me when I graduate college and take that next step in life. I hate to uproot him from the home he has always known, but I am sure he will adjust, and most likely will adjust much faster than I will. It is all going to be a new experience all in itself, and the nerves and the excitement is overwhelming. I pray to God every night he can get me through this and keep my sanity.

Right Now...

Just a quick little post before I head on to bed. It is late, I just made a list of daily to-dos to help reduce the big picture that has been causing me to freak out the past few days. I made it much more simpler. Instead of hourly I did just two or three tasks to complete, which made me feel much better about what I have to do for the next 22 days! Right now I am thinking about how lucky I am. Each day I keep thinking about how I am truely blessed to have such a great guy that makes me laugh and smile. He keeps me on my toes, that is for sure! Jay constantly has something on his mind, something brewing in that noggin of his. There seems to be some idea or some type of contemplation that always sticks to his brain, and he in turn makes me think and ponder, too, about things I never thought I would ponder over. I always look forward to our conversations on the phone, because at least once a night I will laugh at a joke or something corney he says. I have never been treated so decent in my life. He is a true gentleman, and like he said, "Chivelry is not dead!" He has proved that one to me by far! The little things he does to make me feel special seriously make me smile from ear to ear. I never dreamed I would ever be this happy, and each day I find myself wondering why I am so lucky and so blessed to have the best boyfriend a girl could ask for!

So Much to Do

I always make lists of things to do, plus I break down my weeks into hours of "operation". I make myself an hourly schedule for the day and try to follow it. Usually I end up over estimating how long something will take. Right now I am trying to get myself to calm down over all the thing that I need to do in the next 23 days, and sadly most of what I have to do is due by the 25th. Too much to do, and so little time! I need to research some more for seminar, plus write about 10 more pages to reach my 25. I also have to research another topic for my Religion class and present on it. For my theatre class, there is so much to do! Between finishing the script, drawing the costumes, planning the music and lighting, drawing out the stage, drawing the setting how I picture it and make a poster for the advertisment of my play I have a lot to do. With my American literature class I have a paper due but it will not be too bad thankfully. I can have that done in a few hours. It is crunch time and I am not enjoying it what-so-ever. I would much rather be snuggling with Murphy, knitting or quilting or spending my free time with Jay. I have to look at the bright side of things that I am nearly done with school, that in the next few weeks I can spend my free time doing those things, plus looking for a job, which will be the most difficult part of all I do believe. Hopefully I can keep my sanity, and be able to stay calm. Wish me luck!

My Bucket List

I just finished up watching Toy Story 3, and I must say it is absolutally adorable! It made me think of the little animal figures I played with for hours at a time, and in fact I still have at least 20 of them. Thinking back in my life, and also watching Andy drive off on his way to college, it made me think of my past, but also a lot about my future. My future seems to be the big theme here lately, and instead of sitting here worrying about where I will be working or living in the next six months, I want to think about the list of things I want to accomplish in my life. The title represents the movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, but the list mainly makes me think of the movie A Walk to Remember with Mandy Moore.

• Publish a book, whether it be successful or a total flop.


• Foster at least one animal in my lifetime, whether it be dog, cat, guinea pig or rat. I do not care.


• Make a quilt for everyone that I love.


• Make yarn baby blankets for every baby born to a close family member or friend, and everytime I do think of my Grandma Gebhart at least once.


• Have a small room dedicated to my yarn and fabric supplies.


• Live to see when there is a cure for cancer.


• Pass down the ring on my right hand to my first born daughter/granddaughter.


• Take Murphy with me to wherever I call home as long as he lives.


• Own as many Disney movies I can get my hands on.


• Find time to read at least one novel a month.


• Visit the beach once every five years.


• Learn how to crochet.


• Grow my hair out and donate it to Locks of Love once.


• Have a spider plant and give the "babies" to anyone who wants one, too.


• Try Sushi.


• Visit Italy or Tuscany, or both.


• Go back to school for a different degree.


• Study another novel and write an article (like Senior Seminar).


• Go to a Buckeyes football game.


• Volunteer at the animal shelter.


• See Elliot and Adelyn.


• Pierce my ears for the second time, maybe a third time.


• Make potato soup like my grandfather made.


• Keep my Grandma and Grandfather's pictures in my home.


• Make a scrapbook for each child I have from the time they are babies until they are adults.


• Swim with a dolphin.


• Touch a cub to a large cat (tiger, lion, leopard, etc.).


• Visit one of the best water parks in the USA (and be thin!)

My number one would be to live a happy life, with the people I love and care for most, whomever they may be. I want to spend my life laughing and enjoying things that make me happy.

Realization

Tonight I came to a realzation: There are 31 days left to complete my college career. I find it absolutally astonishing! Seems like yesterday I walked into my first college class as a Senior in high school back in 2005 completely paranoid and freaked out by the fact I was actually taking COLLEGE classes. Here I am almost 6 years later about to graduate with a bachelor's degree in English. I think the hard part will officially begin now. Finding that job, moving all my belongings, forcing myself and Murphy to get use to a new environment, getting use to a new job, managing my bills on my salary alone and going on with my life. I am struggling just trying to finish seminar up and manage it with the last projects of my other semester classes. It will be a huge relief to be able to print out my completed seminar and walk it to my instructor's office and turn it in. Even after my 7 minute presenation on my subject is over with, I will feel even more relieved. Tonight I simply cannot get myself to focus on the subject. Tomorrow will hopefully be a more productive day in the steps to completing it. My goal tomorrow is to go through and edit what I already have done (if I do not decide to completely rewrite the whole thing out of frustration) insert more sources where I need them to help explain my points, and also to complete some more pages for it. Over the weekend I plan on bushing up on the actual novel and finding more ideas to help me complete my research. I never thought I could write a 20-25 page paper in my life. Right now I am trying to figure out how I am going to condense it to simply 20-25 pages. I haven't even begun to analyze the second main character in my research and I have over 10 pages now. I think it is time to go relax and snuggle up with the kitty. I was at Jay's all weekend and Murphy has missed me since I left. He has kept a close eye on me since I came home, and even when I come back home from being away for a few hours at work or school he continues to keep close just in case I sneak off away from him again. I do not know what he is going to do when we move into our own place. I have a strong feeling it will be a long process in introducing him to a new home. He has been at my parents' since he was almost three months old. He has established a routine here and has his comfort zones. I hope he surprises me and adjusts well to the new changes that are to come in the future.