Been Awhile!!

Sorry it has been a long time since I have update my blog, but what can I say, Life has been CRAZY!!!!

We Are Marshall!!!!

I regret that I don't have better pictures of the actual soccer game. However, it was a lot more fun then I thought it would be. I figured none of the three kids would want to sit through a two and a half hour soccer game. But they loved it.

After the game started, I relaxed and had a great time learning all the Herd names. There were a lot of them. Thanks Charity for making me go. Thank Sherry for keeping me entertained.

Monument

One of the most awe inspiring things which we did while we were on the campus, was visit the Marshall monument. I would suggest that everyone who has not seen the movie We Are Marshall rent it and watch it right away. Also, if it has been awhile since you have seen the movie, watch it again. It definitely makes you appreciated the smaller things in life.

Here are the names of all the players, coaches, and other people who died in the plane crash.

The monument itself, I must admit, I thought was UGLY!! However, there is almost a state of reverence which surround this monument. It made me reflect on how quickly life can change, and how we need to be prepared at all times to handle whatever may come out ways.

By far the most handsome sight of the day!!! I love this little boy!! Man I have never been around a child with this much energy. I think Ryan could run and run all day and never tire. If I understand correctly from Charity, that is how it is!! I now know what you are talking about when you say he has a lot of energy.

Marshall campus!!

We spent a lot of the day on the Marshall University campus in Huntington today. They have a lot of interesting things to see here.

This is a picture of Uncle Travis with both Kiannah and Aubrey. Both of the girls were pretty afraid of him when he first got home. But as you can see they both got over it rather quickly. I wish you could have heard both of the girls every time Travis would leave the room. They would start in and say over and over again until he got back, "Uncle Travis, where are you?"

As we were walking back to our cars, we found this on one of the buildings. The girls were walking in front of it as I snapped this picture. I got to thinking about this though, if we all truly believe this, we would all be a lot happier in life. After all this is what Heavenly Father thinks of each and everyone of us.

Hello. It is Sherry. Need I say more!!!!

He's HOME!!!

So, unfortunately I didn't get too many good pictures at the airport. My camera doesn't like to take pictures in the dark!!! Yuck!! I did however get this one picture which I thought turned out really good of Travis, Charity, and myself. Please check out Charity's and Sherry's blogs for more and better pictures of everyone!!!

Travis is coming home!!!

Travis is coming home tomorrow!!! I can't believe it has been two years already. My how the time flies when you are having fun or when you are not having fun. He has defiantly grown up in the last two years and changed a lot. But then, haven't we all changed in that same time period.

I had an early start today heading out to Huntington, West Virginia to be there tomorrow when Travis arrives. My mom thought I was leaving Rogers at noon because I had to work this morning. However, little did she know, but I picked Sherry and Kiannah up before the crack of dawn, and we were on the road at 6 am.

After a ten or fifteen minute stop in Little Rock to pick Aubrey up, we were on the road again. We had to kind of keep track of how long it was taking us to get places so we could lie to my parents about where we were. I hope we will be forgiven for telling the few white lies which we did tell in order to surprise my parents.

I talked to my parents several times on the phone and they kept telling us it would be real difficult to find the house after dark and that we needed to call them so they could meet us somewhere. However, we tried to call my parents and have them meet us but no one answered the phone. What are you suppose to do then?

So, we determined to follow the Mapquest directions and hope we didn't get lost. The directions took us straight to my parents front door with only one of the mileages being wrong. Thank you mapquest and to all the other drivers out there for letting us have a safe trip.

Almost healed!!

Okay so not the best picture in the world but you get the idea.

I think it is really funny when I am around Aubrey and Kiannah, I will ask them, "Where were Auntie Angel's stitches?" The touch the scar and them run away yelling "Yucky!!!!" How cute!! It still hurts whenever I knock it up against something but I assume this will take awhile for it to heal the under the surface.

More pictures of Sasha

Sasha loves to have her picture taken. So, after her baptism and she got off of work, we went over to the Village on the Creeks and played around with the camera to see what all we could come up with. Out of the 40 something pictures we took. These are the ones which came out the best. If you look close enough you will even be able to find a picture of me!!!

Baptism

Sasha got baptized on October 18, 2008. She was really excited about being able to do this. Her entire family was there as you can see in this picture below.

I was amazed at the number of people who showed up for the baptism. There were over 50 people there!!! I have never seen that many at a baptism for a child much less for a convert to the church.

There are a lot of great people in the Centerton Ward. They have been willing to help us out anyway that they can. I would just like to thank them all for the love and fellowship they have given to Sasha as she has joined this church. It means a lot to the both of us.

G Rated

This is the G Rated version of my experiences last Tuesday night. The R Rated version is to follow.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, intelligent, young women, who was the fairest in the land. However, her evil stomach made her dirty dishes which needed to be washed. Grabbing a sponge she went about to tidy her dishes and make the presentable to those around her.

However, one broke and caused a boo-boo to appear on her right thumb. She thought maybe she needed to go see the nice doctors at the hospital to make sure nothing serious had happened.

The good doctors and nurses at the hospital fixed her up right away and sent her on her merry way.

For the more graphic version, read the following post.

R Rated

For those of you with a weak stomach, please do not read or look at the picture in this post.

In follow-up to the 'G Rated' post, I will relate the more graphic version of last Tuesday night. View discretion is advised.

Sasha and I finished with the Young Women's activity last Tuesday night, which was on modesty and drove home. No, it was not a dark, rainy night, but it could have been. Because what I am fixin' to relate only happens in nightmares.

When we arrived at the house, it was dark and empty, and horror of horrors there was a counter full of dirty dishes which needed to be washed. (Gasp!!!!) Earlier in the day, Sasha had gotten a glass down out of the cabinet to get a drink of milk. Only to notice, there was a crack in it from half way up the glass to the rim. Teresa had told her to it was trash, but somehow it did not get thrown away.

Seeing these dirty dishes, I decided I needed to do something about them before the overran my house. My weapons of choice... a sponge, water, dish soap, and good old fashion elbow grease. I have an aversion to dirty, greasy dish water (I am afraid I will catch some foul disease like dirtogreasowateritis. It is a true disease, look it up). So, I keep clean water running the entire time I wash dishes.

After knocking out a few of my larger opponents (pots and pans), I picked up the culprit to abliterate the scum. After giving it a good one, two on the inside, I attacked the outside with a vengeance. Too much of a vengeance, because I him in half, and in the process, sliced open my right thumb.

Having worked in the Operating Room for a number of years, I no bad when I see bad. Trust me this was bad. Blood started gushing out, pulsing and uncontrollable. Immediately I applied pressure to staunch the flow.

Screaming to my sidekick for help, which did no good considering Sasha wasn't wearing her hearing aids, I received no help. To gain the assistance I needed, I had to kick her in the leg. Finally, having gotten her to look at me I was able to communicate my need for a paper towel.

Marcus was not due home for another ten minutes. I was unable to use the phone to call help to the scene of the crime. So, I had to wait until he arrived. Marcus came and after convincing him I actually needed help, he called his mother. When she arrived, she got a hold of a friend in my ward, Lacey Schofield to see if she could take me to the hospital. She was able to get a hold of Jean Fields to take me to the emergency room to address my battle wound.

Upon arriving at this safe haven, I was admit into the care of two person, Austin Long RN and Dr. Holland DO to assist in putting me back together again (much like Humpty Dumpty). After an hour and a half of holding pressure, Dr Holland asked to see. Much to my surprise, blood was still gushing out of my thumb. What had a done? What would Dr. Holland do?

Because of the excellent pressure which I had held faithfully for the last hour and a half, Dr Holland and I had an argument over how many stitches I would need. I wagered I would need multiple, he thought one. He tried to pressure me into not calling on my friend Lidocaine 0.5% plain (a numbing agent). I insisted he use it.

Boy was it a good thing. Once he jabbed that needle down into my thumb to inject this sweet, merciful tonic and pour soap on it to clean it, he realized just how bad it actually was. Five stitches later, I should have bet the man on it, I was almost as good as new. However, had I known what I know today, I might not have gone into the ER. The worst part was yet to come... the dreaded TETANUS SHOT.

I believe Austin (who I worked with in the OR for four years) took great pleasure in giving me this shot, because it has pained me ever since. I took it in the shoulder (not my bum), in case any of you had any doubts. I took it like a real woman.

I returned to the scene of the crime, exhausted and fell into bed, only to be awoken by another nightmare... the alarm clock going off at 6:30 am. The Start of a New Day.

Changing banks

So, this past week I have been thinking a lot about switching banks, and am in the process of making this change. I never realized how many different things were involved in making this change. I switched from Bank of America to Arvest.

First, you have to open the accounts. Then you have to contact your employer to change your automatic deposits. Then you have to contact all the companies who automatically withdraw from your account. It is a lot of hassle. However, it will be worth it in the end I hope. We will have to wait and see.

New glasses

I recently got a new set of glasses but realized I hadn't shared a picture of them with anyone. Only people who have seen me in the last three weeks know what they look like. I hope you aren't disappointed when you see how they look on me.

I figured it was about time I got a new pair. I don't remember how long I had the last pair I was wearing, but I know it was over four years. I always figured, the doctors told me my prescription hadn't changed enough to warrant a new set. So, I kept the old ones.

Let me know what you think!!!

Just another Manic Monday!!

Just another Manic Monday, wish it were a Sunday? Actually, I wish it were a Friday, that way I would be off of work for the next two days. Wouldn't that be nice. I can't believe how quickly this year is flying by.

Tomorrow is my brother Travis's 21st birthday. It is hard to believe he will come home from serving his mission in 24 days!!! That is craziness. I remember when he was playing with GI Joes. It just doesn't seem real to me. Anyways, Happy Birthday Travis!!!!

My mom finally made it back to Ohio after being away from my Dad for two LONG months. My Dad told me he thought he forgot what she looked like. I sure hope not. That would be kind of scary to wake up with someone in your house who you didn't know. She made it home at 11 pm yesterday. I am going to miss her. It was fun having her here for the last two months. I really appreciate all the hard work she did to get my house painted on the inside. Now, if I could only get to work on the outside!!

Bowling!!!

Yesterday I decided to take Shayla bowling since she and I were the only ones at the house. Sasha got a job this week at Taco Bell in Bentonville, Marcus is still at Vista, and Teresa was sleeping because she had worked the night before.

Shayla and I surprised Sasha by showing up and having lunch at Taco Bell. Sasha is real excited about being able to earn money for herself. I am real happy for her. However, she likes to get her money and she is taking the missionary discussions. I am just wondering what is going to happen when the talk to her about tithing!?! Do you think she might throw a fit about that?

Anyways, after we got done eating, Shayla and I had a few errands to run, like going to Wal-Mart and Petco. I was getting close to the Bowling Alley and thought it might be a lot of fun to take Shayla since she has never been. I was right.

She is real cute. I don't know what it is about bowling shoes, but they look a whole lot cuter when they are tiny. When you get feet my size they just look like clown shoes!!!! Ever time Shayla would roll her six pound ball down the lane, she would do a little dance and run in place on the slick wood. I just wish I would have taken my camera with me yesterday. I know I would have gotten a lot of great shots of her.

After two games, she still wanted to bowl more. I told her maybe once Marcus gets home from Vista, we can all go celebrate by bowling a few games. I think they would all enjoy it. When we got ready to leave, Shayla thanked the two gentlemen who were running the counter. She was flirting with them. One of the being very nice asked her if she wanted a printout of her scores. It was just like she had been given a jar full of candy. She has been showing the score card to everyone this week! I love how excited kids get about the simple things.

Co-workers

Today at work, I had the wonderful opportunity to present at two different meetings. With my new job, I am in charge of helping to educate my co-workers on our new computer system. So, I prepared for three weeks over this presentation. I was a little worried because initially the workflow process I was in charge of did not work.

I stressed out over how to get it to work. I contacted everyone I knew to help me. They sent me guides over the proper way to get a patient transferred in the computer system from the Emergency Room to the Operating Room. However, none of these were correct. Finally, the last person I contacted (why is it always the last?), was able to help me.

So, after three weeks of preparation, and countless hours of work, I gave my presentations to two different groups. My entire presentations (mind you, both of them) took less than ten minutes!! All that stress and worry for nothing! That will teach me to worry less and just do the work. I am glad I have co-workers who know what they are doing and are willing to teach me how to properly do my work!

World's Ugliest Car

Is this the world's ugliest car or what? It seems everytime my Dad goes somewhere it seems he gets stuck with a Chevy HHR. I think these are the ugliest cars in the world.

Three years ago when we went to Washington DC, we rented a car so we could get into the city from our hotel room. It was a dark steel gray Chevy HHR. It was a decent enough car but man was it ugly.

Now he is in Salt Lake City for a business trip. Guess what car he got. A Chevy HHR. Only this time it is a light gray HHR. Is that funny or what?

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Charity wanted to know what my fish looked like since she had put her fish on her blog. This is a video of them because the pictures didn't turn out the best in the world. It might be a little long.

If anyone is in need of fish, please let me know. I have plenty to go around. For the longest time, I only had about 14 fish. Now as you can see there are about 5 million. At least that is what it seems like. So, fish are free.

Here is the only decent picture I got of the fish. They are fast little buggers.

pogo.com

So, when I get bored at home, which is quite often, I log onto one of my favorite sites and play game. It is a great site which I suggest you check out if you every get a chance. It allows me to relax and unwind after a stressful day and after the kids have gone to sleep for the night!! When I log on I know that my day is almost over! What a relief.

Best Friends Forever

Have you ever had such a strange and weird day that you cannot even put it into words? My life is falling apart all around me and there is nothing I can do about it. Nothing, I can do to keep the walls of protection up around me. Well, that was my day today. Between all the drama at work and then coming home to all the drama here has put a strain on my emotional state of being. Somebody help me!!!

The only ray of sunshine in my life is the fact that I have three of the best friends in my life. They are Charity Brown (yep, my little sister), Sharon Ann Valentin (BFF), and Sarah Santos (Suck it up Princess!!). They are always there for me when I need them. Even after midnight! Willing to talk to me for hours as I wind down for the night.

Even though I am not sure if I am going to be able to sleep tonight, I appreciate all that you do for me. You really are the greatest friends I could ever ask for.

Around the block

Shayla and I took a walk around the block today after dinner. I have to say I have been kind of addicted to my camera since I took the kids pictures on Monday. I thought I would take the camera along in case I ran across anything pretty enough to capture on camera.

These are just a few of the pictures I was able to get. I have a feeling these will be some of the last flowers we see this year. I am reminded of this every morning when I wake up and get ready for work. I realize fall is fast approaching and the days are getting shorter.

It is during these early quite mornings that I do my best reflecting. I think about all I have to be grateful for in my life. I have my family, friends, church, and a loving Heavenly Father. What more could someone ask for?

Sleeping Beauties???

My favorite part of the day is when I look over at the dogs and one or both of them are snoozing away. I was lucky enough to snap this shot of Annie while she was napping on the living room floor. This truly typifies Annie. I think the only thing she enjoys more than sleeping is eating! Most of the time she tries to stay away from Zeke.

However, when it is bed time, Zeke lets me know! When he is in bed, he is in bed for the rest of the night. He loves to sleep and he sleeps hard. These two are the loves of my lives. I am so glad to have them in my life. They make it more happy and enjoyable.

Hardboiled eggs

Have you ever noticed, when you hard boil eggs some of them are easier to peel than others? Why is that? I have tried everything under the sun to make it easier to take the shells off, but to no avail. Maybe one of these days I will figure out how to make them easier.

The reason this is on my mind, is I am making tuna salad and egg salad sandwiches for dinner tonight. I boiled the eggs and started peeling them. The first five went well, then the sixth and seventh went horribly. So, I got to thinking about it and wanted to know what you all thought.

School Pictures

Teresa was worried about not being able to afford school pictures for her kids this year. I thought it would be fun to take the kids after school and play around with the camera. Here are some of the shots I ended up with.

This is a picture of all the kids together. I decided to have them all dress in pink. Marcus has been on a pink kick lately. Plus the girls just look beautiful in pink. I did a few touch ups on Marcus and Sasha's faces, can you tell what I did? I will never tell!!

This is my favorite picture of Sasha. I love how the pink looks on her skin. I also like how the color fades into the black and white. Sasha is very photogenic when she chooses to be. I think it really shows in this picture.

Marcus is convinced this picture will get him all the girls on the Internet. I wish his shirt would have showed up a little more pink than it did. However, it still turned out real nice.

Shayla was my test model and she did a great job. We went out hunting for places to take pictures before the older kids got home from school. She has several really good pictures, but this one was one of my favorites.

Charity was talking about wanting to open a photography studio the other day. Hearing her talk made me want to get out the camera and play around with it a little. I had a fun day! Apparently so did Shayla. While we were at Wal-Mart printing out the pictures, she told the man who was working the counter, 'This is my bestest day because I got to get pictures!'

Old Mother Hubbard

Old Mother Hubbard went to her cupboards to get her poor dog a bone... I can't say this nursery rhyme agrees with my cupboards any longer. Teresa and I had to do a lot of rearranging this weekend to make everything we bought yesterday fit.

My kitchen is not the biggest in the world. Which meant I had to make more room for all the food. Teresa and my mom had the bright idea to turn one of the hall closets into a pantry. This worked out great. As you can see here most of the food fit right in. However, not pictured is another three boxes which had not room in the cupboards.

I am just so glad that there will be plenty of food for the kids to eat in the next few months. It may not be what they are use to eating but there will be plenty!

I have found it exciting to have the kids and Teresa living with me. Needless to say there is never a dull moment in my house!! The dogs are just eating up the extra attention they are getting. I know they love every minute of it. I am also sure the kids love the attention also.

Shopping Spree

Some of those reading my post will already know that I now have four of my cousins living with me. Their names are Teresa, Sasha, Marcus, and Shayla. It has been quite fun having them living with me. But I realized I was missed many things necessary in order to run a family efficiently.

Teresa gets food stamps on the 13th of each month. So, being the person which I am, I made a menu for the next three months and a shopping list which should give us more than enough food to last. I hate shopping! Hate it with a passion. But I knew it needed to be done.

So, Sasha and I woke up early this morning to go and get three months worth of food. Three hours and $550 later this is what the backseat of Teresa's car looked like. It was quite full. Marcus thought the car looked like it was squatting. The lady at Aldi's kept asking us if we were preparing for Hurricane Ike coming ashore. However, I had to explain that I was trying to be like the Duggars! However, I don't have twenty mouths to feed. I only have five. The food will go a long way to feed us for the next few months. Shayla kept saying, 'Oh my gosh.' She was so cute.

Did I mention that the trunk was full also? Well, it was. Sasha and I went to two stores to get all the food that we would need: Aldi's and Wal-Mart. It took two carts at each store to get all the food out of there.

We were both very tired by the time we got done with all the shopping. Needless to say, my house is still a mess. The food is not all put away. Hopefully I will get to it tomorrow. I need to get the house clean before the missionaries come over to give Sasha and Marcus the second discussion.

I had a nice lady at work who gave me $1000 to help furnish the house with the necessary items which we need everyday. Things like towels, bed clothes, toilet papers, paper towels, laundry soap, soaps, etc. The only thing different about this trip is I took Teresa with me instead of Sasha. We had a lot of fun. We spend two hours shopping at Kohl's and Wal-Mart. After two hours of shopping and two carts later, Teresa and I had another full car. In this picture you can see several of the different items which we bought on our trip.

Do you see the Viva Paper Towels? These are the best paper towels ever made. My dad's parents used them. For years I tried to find out which brand they used. Finally about two years ago, I decided to try a new brand and what do you know. I had found them. Since then that has been all I have used. I have accidentally even sent them through the washer and dryer before and was able to use them afterwards.

Here is the trunk of my car after the second part of the shopping spree. Isn't it great. Two full car loads of things in one day. I didn't even spend a penny of my own money! They best type of shopping!

Who is Voncine?

My sister pointed out some of you might not know who Voncine is. So, I thought I would explain.

A long, long time ago there was a lady named Voncine. She worked at a cheese plant in Monet, MO. While she worked there she met two young people named Larry and Goldie. She thought they would make a good couple. So, she played matchmaker and introduced them.

Larry and Goldie just happen to be my parents. They decided to name their first daughter after this wonderful woman, hoping she would be as wonderful as she was. Gues what. She is. At least that is what I have been told!!!

My full name is Angelea Voncine McGarrah.

Retirement Party!!!

It is official. After almost ten years working in my employment, jt181@hotmail.com has decided to retire. voncine@gmail.com has agreed to step into his shoes and fill the void which he absence will create.

Many of you will not know where the name for my email address came from. However, I guarantee two of you will. Not to mention names, but Charity and Tanya!!!

For those of you who do not know the story, I will give you a brief overview. Back in the year 1999 there was a popular boy group named NSYNC, who happened to have a singer in the group named Justin Timberlake. Well, Charity and Tanya, we shall we say, starstruck by him. So, they created several email accounts using any form of his initials and names they could.

I, not being very computer literate, asked if they would give me one of the accounts. So, I inherited jt181@hotmail.com. Thanks Charity and Tanya for all the wonderful years on this account!!