Internship

I think I've found my dream job! The process for starting my internship took MUCH longer than I expected. But, I finally started and I love it!


I have said many times through out years that I never wanted a desk job because I would hate to just sit all day. I also didn't want something that required hard labor, and I wanted something that had to do with kids. This internship is the perfect match.
They have me picking up foster kids, supervising the visit with the parents, taking notes on behavior and actions and conversations. Some times the parents really lack any parenting skills at all, and I'll have to tell them things when they are being dangerous.
There was a developmentally delayed boy who has been working on crawling. I was sitting in the visit and suggested to the mom that we encourage him to try walking. With a little coaching, by the end of the visit he took his first dozen steps from me to Mommy then back to me. He seemed fascinated, and it was thrilling to witness.
Another child was very delayed in her potty training. When I first met her she would cry if we even suggested going to the toilet. Now when she first sees me she runs up proudly squealing, "Anna, Anna, I went potty all by myself!"
One 4yr old boy met me on my first day of the internship. He made it very clear that he did not like me, and did not appreciate me being there to pick him up to visit his parents. Even his younger sister mentioned to him at one point, "You're being a little mean." The next time he saw me, he ran up and gave me a hug. I was shocked that he was so happy to see me again. The time after that I was driving him home and he asked me to be his wife. That conversation itself was a crack up. "Anna, will you be my wife?" I said, "I'll be your best friend." He said, "Ok, but will you marry me?" I said, "Don't you want to marry some one who's not too tall to put your arm on their shoulder?" He said, "Oh yeah, and it would be really hard to kiss wouldn't it?" Made me laugh out loud
One time I was driving a 2yr old to his foster home. I took a wrong turn and got lost. It started getting frustrating and I was letting out, "Oh, Arg, Grr." All this was made more entertaining and some what relaxing by the cutie in the backseat copying me then giggling. I asked him, "Are you being cute?" He stroked the side of his hair and went, "Har har har" When I finally found the house, he threw his hands and let out a "Yeah!". (Pretty hilarious sight from a toddler)
It is a very rewarding role with something new and adventurous everyday. A few of the kids I recognized from the news. It was great to see how healthy and happy they are now compared to when their story was on tv. I get to see the happy ending that most don't get to see.
Not only do I get to see their health and wellness improving, but I also get to see parents cleaning up their own lives (some anyway). Going to rehab, leaving the abusive partner, taking parenting or anger management classes, finding a job, quitting drugs.
It is always inspirational to me to see a person motivated to improve their life. I definitely feel I have found my "thing"

Life update

Normally on Fridays I update on how my weight loss is going. I haven't lost any weight this past week. So I decided to use the free space to update on my life.
I have about another month until classes start again. I will only be in 2 classes, the other 3 are online and only pertain to my internship.
Yesterday I met with the volunteer director at Child Protective Services to fill out the paperwork they needed for me to intern there. There were two kids with their families in the waiting room the same time as me. Just seeing them and hearing the one talking got me excited to start doing things there.
They sent out character references letters to 3 people and have to get 2 back before they can let me start.

I am excited and yet still a bit nervous as to how it will work out. I have tried doing things like this in the past and it always hit some kind of dead end. Now it's extremely important as my college degree depends upon it.

I can get a job at the state as an assistant once I have this degree, but I have to have a Bachelor's degree to do what I really want to do, which it be a social worker. There are also no promotion opportunities with out a Bachelor's.

This means I will have to go onto university, which means I will have to get a loan. I don't really like that being I had hoped to start out life debt free.
I am looking into ORU in Oklahoma again. I had very badly wanted to go there two years ago.
My senior year of high school I had applied for over 50 scholarships and didn't get squat. There was one full ride through ORU that looked very hopeful, but in the end I missed it by 10 FRIGGIN points on my SAT.

Lately I have been thinking about ORU a lot, and am growing warmer and warmer to the idea of trying again. I have made up my mind that I don't mind if I have to get a loan, but I need to get at least one scholarship of any size to prove to me that I belong there.


As most people know by now, I have been jogging this summer. I am getting tan and thin and loving it. I honestly feel the best I have ever felt. Seems every day I have some kinda adventure or laugh while I am out. Recently I had one of my most memorable. A dog bite!
A couple months ago my mom voiced her concern about the areas of town I jog through. I kinda rolled my eyes and thought, "oh mothers!".
She talked me into buying and carrying a bottle of pepper spray. I got to use it for the first time, and was very grateful for it when the dog kept coming back trying to attack me.
Mom's advice also came in very handy last week. When Nick and I went on our road trip she hounded us to buy AAA. Both of us brushed it off, so last minute she ended up getting it for us. THANKFULLY we did not end up needing it 1,000 miles from home!
This past week I went to an African orphanage benefit dinner out in Portland with one of my girlfriends. AAA came to the rescue and towed me home when my truck had a fire on the freeway on our way home.
Appearantly Lexy and I both get very giggly when nervous, so we were quite the show for the tow truck driver. Let me say that guy was awesome. He was cute, and funny, and fun(making me even more nervous, thus more giggly, thus more entertaining for him).
I could tell you a lot more about my car blues, but I think I gave it enough attention in yesterdays blog.

As many people know, I am a writer. I have had the goal for about 5yrs to get a book published. The last story I wrote about a year and a half ago was 32,000 words long. All the places I sent it said it was way too short. The past six months I have been working on a new story called "Visionary". I am about 3/5ths the way done and am at 77,000 words. I am very excited about it and am hoping it will finally be the piece to accomplish my dream.

Well, that's about all I can think of for now. Cheers!!

~Farewell~

Please click play before reading this entry. Makes the experience much more real.

If you ask any older person it seems they could talk for hours on the stories about their first car. Today my first car is on the last bit of it's life. I figure maybe someday if internet still exists, my kids might be looking through this blog, and will appreciate this kinda entry.
If I am like every other old person, I will probably want to sit back and reminisce on it. So I figure right now in the present is the best time to document my first car memories. Kinda as a farewell letter I guess you could say. :D


It's a little 1990 Ford Ranger. Being that it was created the same year I was born, I tell often like to brag to folks that I am doing a lot better than it is. My grandpa picked it up for $800 in 2007. I have had a lot of memories with it. Some that show physically.

One of the first physical traits about it that makes me giggle feeling hillbilly is the duct taped front.

There was a time that I went out for a random joy ride in the country. It was a Wednesday. I was supposed to be in a meeting, but it got done way sooner than scheduled. My mom, dad, and brother were all at church. Coming around a corner, I didn't realize just how sharp of a corner it was. I slammed on my breaks and went off the pavement a bit. This made my tires slide, causing me to spin a 180. All I can remember was the big drop off I saw up ahead, and thinking, "Oh great, they will never find out what happened to me." While still screaming and trying to stop, my truck crossed lanes and I slammed into the side of the hill.

I was still quite a bit dazed when a car full of boys my age came driving by. With their jaws all dropped, fingers pointed at me, they all laughed hysterically as they passed me and kept on driving. I was about ready to burst into tears over the fact they didn't help me. Don't know how, but I some how manage to not shed a single tear over the ordeal. A while later a guy and his granddaughter came by and were able to stop and help me get back to civilization.
The front fender was busted off and the body was smashed in. But my dad did an impressive job of hiding the fact.

Speaking of my dad makes me think of another dent in it. On the side on the back end.




My dad drives a big ole diseal truck. Comes across as tough and rough. But one day while coming down the driveway with a trailer attached, he accidently drove the side of his truck into my parked dinker. His had to be repaired at a shop. Mine just got this tiny dent.

Ha ha! I guess that's why they say, Built Ford tough!


My truck has so many miles on it, that the mileage display reset. So in a way, it has only driven 30k miles in 20 years.



One day I was driving home and I heard a loud scraping beneath me. Freaked me out a bit. Pulled over and saw half my exhaust pipe was being drug along by the tiny bit still attached.

TIRES!

Tires are possible the most aggravating and yet hilarious parts of my trucks legacy. I have the absolute worst time with them! The guys down at the tire shop laugh every time I pull in. It's always the same, "Again?! Ha ha ha"
Some of them even wave at me when I see them in the grocery store. Their work is like my 2nd home.
It's something different every time too. Oh! There was one day that my starter went bad at work. My dad had to drive 30 minutes to come help me. Once he got it started he said the tire was also bad. Made my co-worker laugh when I told her my car wouldn't start, but she saw us changing a tire.

With all that said, I am sure glad I had something to drive these past 4 years. It drove me to sports practices, to friends houses, it drove me to my high school graduation, to my first day of college. My first year of college was so extremely hard on me emotionally. Through every bad day, if I was too upset to want to go home, it was there to drive me around until I felt calmer.
It's funny when I actually take a minute to think about it. A car is the thing that is with you for part of all your memories. It takes you to that great day at work, or to that funeral, or to that party. For some people it's the birth place of their child!
So I believe my truck has lived a long and fufilled life. All good things must come to an end. I hope it will hang on a little while longer.......until I can find something new!
Oh, and hopefully my next blog will have mention of something new?????

The day I ran away

This picture is me, my brother, and an old neighbor friend Steven.
Thinking about Steven and his family, I always remember my first time ever running away.
We moved to my home when I was 5 years old. It was a property right next door to my uncle and aunt. So one day shortly after the property was bought(I was 4), we visited my aunt and uncle.
There was no house yet so we had not moved out of our apartment. My dad wanted to take my brother to show him the property. I wanted to come along but Dad wouldn't let me. He told me to stay in my uncle and aunt's back yard and jump on the trampoline.
Let's just say I was less than thrilled about it. I felt it was my God given right as the little sister, to be invited to everything my brother went to. I yelled and whined as they walked through the brushy trail to the property.
Once they were out of sight, I decided that if Nick got to go explore that direction, then I should be allowed to explore the opposite direction. So that's what I did. I walked through the woods for a bit, and popped out at the driveway.
The very imaginative person I am, I told myself it was some ancient trail to another world. I clearly remember walking up the driveway trying to figure out how I would speak to the village people if they spoke a different language.
It took a while for me to reach the top where the driveway met the road. When I got there, I figured out where I was and recognized the neighbor friend's house off in the distance.
I decided it would be ok to go see if they were available to play. Standing in the middle of the gravel road, I paused and giggled with excitement a bit, knowing this was my first time going somewhere unsupervised.
I made my way to their front door and knocked. The mom answered the door, and for some reason that I cannot remember, I asked if I could eat with them. She seemed a bit confused, but welcomed me in.
I remember seeing a big cantaloupe up on their fridge and thinking how much I wanted it, but she offered me a pear instead. I wanted to ask for the cantaloupe but felt it would be rude. So I ate the pear.
Still wanting the cantaloupe, I told her I was still hungry hoping she may offer it to me. Instead she offered me an apple. Again I felt it would be rude to say no, so I accepted. She was cutting up the apple for me when some one knocked at the door.


Little did I know at the time, that a missing 4yr old child is a very upsetting thing for a parent. I sat at the table hoping it may be her son at the door, so I could play with him. But instead the mom called out, "You're mom is here!"
I was thinking everything was fine. I thought she must have known that I went to play. I was wrong! When I got to the door, I saw my mom's face was bright red.
She very sternly ordered as she pointed her finger, "You! In the car. Now!"
Mom took me back to my uncle and aunt's house, where she and my dad both chewed me out in unison. Dad's face was just as red as Mom's.
I wanted to argue that Nick got to explore, why couldn't I too......but I figured with how mad they were it was best to stay quiet and take it.


Every night before bed, Mom would make up a story for us and called them, "The Nick and Savanah story"
That night Mom's story was about Savanah getting lost out in the woods and Nick and his trusty dog, Max, having to go look for me.
As I sat and listened with entertainment, I decided the day had been pretty good. I got to explore by myself, got some yummy fruit, and it ended with a good Nick and Savanah Story.

That cantaloupe would have made it better though lol

Watch out, she gonna blow!

You know those days when you are exhausted and want nothing more than to get home and lie down in your bed, but the rest of the world decides it wants to keep you away from home as long as possible? Well I had one of those days. But life decided to keep me from home in a quite unique and entertaining way.



Ok I admit it wasn't quite a nuclear explosion like the picture, there wasn't actually any fire at all........just the threat of it. LOL



Just across the street from my work there is a gas station that I love going to. Their prices are always lower but especially I like the people who work there.
This one guy has figured out I always get $20 worth. Every time I go I find myself hoping he is working just so we can have our little joke. He starts giggling every time he sees me pull up and greets me with his Spanish accent, "Twendy dollas right?"
It's gotten to the point that I look forward to going just to hear him say it.

Monday night I got off work and wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. I grumbled a bit when I saw my gas gauge on E; knowing that I had to run to the ATM to get $20, then go get gas delaying me a good 20 minutes from making my way home.
So I strutted along, finally making it into the gas station, saw my fave guy was not there, grumbled a bit more, then put on my half awake happy face and told the clerk I wanted $20 worth.
They young guy put in the money, and reached to put the nozzle into my tank.
In seemingly slow motion, a young lady came running out of the store, waving her hands and wailing, "Nooooo!"
Then there was a click sound, as the clerk started the pump, then a spraying sound, then I saw for a tiny glimpse of gas spraying through the air then the pump stopping.
The gal ran over in a panic and told us, "Some guy drove off with the spout still in the tank. He ripped the hose off the machine. I was trying to fix it but it kept coming off. So I just went inside to get a cone to say out of order."

The guy then reached up to the top and tried to mess with the hose to get it screwed onto the machine. When he did, gas came spraying out again. He did this three times before the girl screamed at him, "Stop, stop it! Stop trying, you're just getting gas every where. Cancel the order and switch her over to tank 10!"
He pulled the nozzle out, reached over, and put another one in.
A total of $1.79 in gas had sprayed out of the first one. As my tank filled up from the not broken machine, the girl shuffled back and forth grabbing her head nervously. The guy and I both remained silent, with expressions of trying hard not to laugh. Just then gas started trickling out on it's own from the broken hose.
I poked my head out the window and asked if I could get out and help some how. The guy said with horror, "No! There's gas every where! Opening your door could make a spark. It only takes a tiny spark and this whole block will be in flames! Just stay as still as you can." So I got myself comfy and slurped my chicken noodle soup and watched the rest unfold.

Quickly all 5 employees surrounded my truck trying to figure out how to stop it.
One female got on the phone and called the owner. He instructed her how to kill the machine and said he'd be down in a few minutes.
Once the machine was off, and the gas had stopped dripping, all 5 nervously giggled with relief. Then another spoke up, "What about the gas that's everywhere?"
The first girl pointed to the girl holding the phone and barked, "Call the fire department!"
At this point I finally broke, and couldn't hold it in any longer. I let out a loud laugh and had to ask, "Is this a joke?"
The panic was very obvious in her voice when she replied, "Ma'am, please stay calm. Everything is going to be alright. Don't panic. The fire department is going to help."
I could not stop my laughter, so I covered my mouth with my hands to try and hide it.
The girl spoke on the phone and told them what had happened. Just then I heard a fire truck siren coming down the street. I thought to myself, "Goodness what have I gotten into?!" With the image of a bunch of firemen surrounding my truck in my head.


I found out later the fire truck was unrelated, being a call for a customer with chest pains in a nearby restaurant; but talk about funny timing!
The employee repeated what the fire station said. They said the gas had most likely evaporated already, but to spray the area with water to be safe.

The 4 employees walked into the store to grab buckets and fill up with water. The original gas clerk stood by my truck, with bright red cheeks, and laughed with a near hysterical tone, "I'm so sorry ma'am. This has been a very weird day."
It took a few minutes before the 4 came out with their buckets of water and stood in line to splash my truck and surrounding ground. They all sighed with relief then the girl said her apologies to me and said it was ok for me to leave now.
As I began to drive away, I shouted out the window, "I hope your day gets better!"
I only made it about another mile down the road before I had to pull over because my tears of laughter made it too hard to see. My side ached from laughing so hard, as the tune played in my head, "When you least expect it, you're elected, you're the star today. Smile, you're on candid camera!"

!!Adventure!!

I and my lovely buddies Lydia and Lexy made an all day trip to Sauvie Island on June 29. It was a pretty hilarious start to the day when Lydia got out of the car and had to use the out house. We all held our breath as we heard her awe struck gawks at the stench, and felt the fear in our hearts that something alive might be in there. But, SHE SURVIVED!!! No animals or anything =-)Well, not in the out house any way!

Let me tell you, I never knew how intimidating bulls were until walking next to one and all the images from "The run of the bulls" went racing through my mind.
We, not so calmly, crept past a big giant black Angus bull. He just friendly mood at us then walked away. Once we were past him, we all laughed with relief. Turns out I wasn't the only one who's heart was racing.
We found a log that we thought was a perfect photo spot, so we used it for just that












After a while we stopped to have a picnic. We had German rolls stuffed with beef. I don't remember the name but they were home made, warm, delicious!
And the mosquitos made a meal out of us :(
Poor lil Lydia got bit right on her eye

We sat and talked for about an hour. Those girls are SO funny!




On our long walk back we passed a big beautiful field. Lexy and I wanted to go explore, but Lydia said she didn't want to. So we left her behind for a few minutes. Turns out Lydia is a pretty smart one!
We wandered a bit and had fun. I lead the way, therefore I was the one who's feet got drenched as I walked right into a big body of water hiding in the grass. Needless to say, we decided it was best to go back to Lydia after that LOL! I had to literally ring my socks out they were SO wet.

We passed the big bulls again, but this time we said hello instead of being nervous. Well, I think Lexy was still a tad nervous.
We came to an opening next to the river, with a little cliff that we sat and hung our legs over and enjoyed the view.

Lexy snapped this shot that I thought was purdy neat.






Our dear Lydia is moving to Kansas for University in just a few days. I am gonna miss that girl so much. We have shared so many adventures in the two short years we've known each other.
I couldn't have asked for a better final adventure before she leave.
Lydy, thanks for the great fun. Miss ya buddy!

Half way there!

November 17 I got all dressed up and went with some friends to the mall to freak people out in our wild outfits. We were celebrating "International Make A Stranger Feel Awkward Day".
I made this little video.


As I edited the video, I had the thought pop up in the back of my head that from the back side, I looked very similar to some one I know. That's when it really hit me. "I am a single 20yr old college girl who's butt is comparable to a 60 yr old mother of 5."
Thanksgiving night I had a long hard talk with myself, and made the goal to lose 50lbs by Christmas 2011.
This picture was taken for documentation on Thanksgiving Day 2010


By May I was VERY frustrated with myself because I had only lost 15lbs. I found some pants that I used to be able to wear but did not fit into anymore. I made them my goal pants for the half way mark.
I could get them up, but I could not button it. I figured I only need another 10-15lbs to be able to. So I made it my goal to be able to wear them again
I took a picture the 1st day, then the day I got the button on, and then today.
Guess what else I did today? I hit 25lbs today!



I got a nifty little pedometer to set goals for my exercise. Today I ran for the first time. You have no idea how big of an accomplishment running is for me.
I am the girl that convinced my PE teacher I could not run in PE because it was against my religion.

I also got this cool water bottle the other day that holds your entire daily amount of required water. Let me tell ya, it has been exhausting trying to drink it all each day.


I have another 25 to go before my goal, and I have a little more than 5 months to do it.
Guess there's just one thing left to say..........................







Almost there!

Weird food,Gooodwilling, and a sandy diaper

Had some experiences today, too fun not to share. So here I go!
Woke up and had to go to work at an hour far too early. I am a waitress at the restaurant inside a retirement community. Today I laughed as I got all sorts of odd ball orders. With each one, it got weirder and weirder.
There was "Lettuce tomato sandwich, oh, but no lettuce please" So basically this was a tomato with bread.
Then there was "Bacon swiss sandwich with no bacon, oh and make it grilled" "Um, so do you want it like a grilled cheese sandwich?" "Ewe, no that's gross. Just put some white bread and swiss cheese on the grill."
Then a Bratwurst's on a hamburger bun, and then, two raw eggs.
These were some of the strangest orders I have heard in my 2 and a half years there, and they were all on the same day!
I think this beat my old favorite of grilled cheese on raisin bread



When I got home around 3, my mom asked me to go to Goodwill with her to help pick out some light t-shirts for her upcoming trip to Mexico.
I'll have you know I am very proud of the fact I convinced her to go to Mexico in the middle of July wearing a Snoopy Christmas t-shirt! I told her I cannot wait to see her all hot and sweaty in Christmas wear. Therese, maybe you can make sure and get a good snap of it?


Another fact about me is that I am a sucker for witty and original t-shirts.
That being said, today I found the perfect shirt that I could not walk away from. Most who know me, know I love to write. The shirt I found made me and my mom laugh out loud. If you know me well, you are probably laughing too, knowing my little joke I have been dragging on for years now. Every time some one offends me in even the smallest way, I tell them I am going to put it in my autobiography.


My final funny story.


Later in the evening I went for a walk through town. I passed by a sandbox. A iddy biddy boy, couldn't have even been two yet, sat digging with his shovel. Somehow just then, he decided his diaper was lacking sand.
He picked up a big scoop of sand and dumped it down his diaper. I only vaguely caught the first scoop. But when I saw the second scoop go down it caught me off guard and made me momentarily laugh out loud.
All this happened as his 5 foot skinny as a toothpick mother stood only a foot away gabbing with a buddy. Hearing my laughter made her look down in perfect timing to see his third scoop go in. His diaper was now bulging.
I figured she would screech, or groan, but she surprised me when she broke out in the loudest, deepest, most hilarious big belly laugh. I mean seriously, this laugh came from such a small woman, sounded like big Bertha the cook at the highway diner who's specialty is pork rinds.
Even better, instead of stopping him, she announced loudly as she threw her hands in the air, "Oh, where is my camera? Bwa ha ha! I gotta get a picture!"

It was thoroughly entertaining!
Any way, that was my day. Hope you enjoyed a little glimpse of it!