Diary of a Fickle White Woman

I'm a very, very realistic person. I know when things aren't going to work out the way I had hoped and I accept it. Some people say to me, "You're usually so optimistic, why the pessimism now?" It isn't pessimism. It's reality. I just know the truth, even before it's made itself clear. Confused yet? I did not get into the nursing program I applied to. I knew I wouldn't. Not because I didn't think I was good enough for the program or because I was just being a debbie downer looking for people to tell me otherwise. In fact, quite the opposite. It sometimes ticked me off when people would say, "Oh, be quiet, you'll get into the program, I know you will!" Of course, once I told them the stupid requirements (or lack thereof) they would say, "Oh, well this is a different year. You'll be fine and get in!" Not the case. And I knew it wouldn't be the case. I was just being real about the situation. The competition was fie

I gave an award to all of you who comment (see what happens when you delurk?? ;)) so if you haven't checked it out, scroll down to the post below this one!!! Or click here ! YAY YOU! Lots to blog about, including: day/night in Chicago, a surprise in the mail from one of YOU, answer about the nursing program I applied to and what it means for my future, and an upcoming date, upcoming trips, etc.. Lots to say, little time to say it. Hopefully a few posts can happen this week and I can also catch up on reading and commenting. :) Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday weekend. I know I sure am!! And tomorrow is the 'greatest spectacle in racing' here in good ole Indiana. What's that you say? Oh. Yea. I couldn't care less either. Just more proof I'm not a stereotypical Hoosier! Hugs to all,

I'm talking about Momma Fargo, y'all! What were you thinking?!? Naughty readers! One of my favorite bloggers, Momma Fargo , gave me a sweet little award. Seriously, I love this woman. I wish she was my aunt (I'd say mom, but my mom is pretty neat) and I had the pleasure of having her in my every day life. Her blog is a clusterf*** (only word I could think of) of goodness; mostly stories about her career as a cop. Have I ever told about my obsession with crime shows (the real ones, not that Hollywood fabricated stuff) and crime novels and the shows COPS and America's Most Wanted? No? Well I'm obsessed. There, now you know. Anyway, obviously, given my obsession, hearing stories straight from the mouth of a real-life Popo makes me happy. That, and the fact that she's given me permission to tase people. She's hilarious and you are missing out if you don't read her blog. Fickle White (my brother's good friend-- Hi, John!-- calls me that and I think it

It's time for Ian 's "Monday Minute!" Although, with my length of answers, it's more like the Monday 20-Minute, but whatev bev. Wanna play along? Click the link to his name, copy/paste/answer the questions on your blog, link up at the bottom of his blog. Easy-peezy. So here we go! This week, Ian has created a special edition in honor of Daffy. Daffy's 30-something sister passed away last week after her cancer took a quick turn for the worst. Please keep Daffy and her family (including her sister's husband and young son) in your prayers/positive thoughts as they try to get through this difficult time. 1 - Do you *snort*? Normally, I'd say no. But I did on Thursday at the doctor's office. And it was SO loud. I have no idea where it came from, but it was pretty funny (I don't really embarrass easily). 2 - Our friend, has a nickname and it's Daffy .  What's your nickname? Well, I've told you about "Lacy Panties" (by the way, i

Growing up, I never liked soup. I'm really weird about warm liquids and always thought the idea of soup was gross. One day at Panera, I saw the light and have been obsessed with all different types of soups ever since. I could probably eat it every day and be perfectly content. A few weeks ago my mom needed a recipe of some sort for euchre night she was hosting. She asked me to find a chicken tortilla soup recipe that seemed easy. She ended up not making soup, but had bought all the ingredients and I made it for dinner a few nights later. Below may be the easiest soup recipe in the world. The list of ingredients may seem slightly intimidating, but don't let it be. Honestly, the most work is cooking and shredding the chicken (I cooked boneless/skinless breasts cut into strips in a skillet and shredded it with a utensil as it cooked. Ok, I'm lying, my brother shredded it, but it looked easy.), everything else you just through in the slow cooker and call it a day. It's so

"Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are" ~Bernice Johnson Reagon~ Image is my own. Sunset off of Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawai'i. Winter 2007.

For the first two installments of this mind-blowing series, click here and here . Junior year was more tame than sophomore year, and actually pretty lame (as in, it's taken me forever to write this post because I had a hard time recalling anything exciting). But let's face it, my sophomore year was more crazy in one month than probably the other three years combined. ~The year I went back to school 30 pounds lighter and shocked all my friends. Their facial expressions I will NEVER forget. It was priceless. Too bad they'd have looks of horror on their faces now haha. (I make fun of myself a lot, I know I don't look that bad, but come on, you have to have a sense of humor about things and be able to laugh at yourself.) ~The time I lived with one of my favorite people in the world. She's living in London now so I haven't spoken to her much the past year, but she is such a breath of fresh air. ~The year I lived with a nut case and pathological liar (4 of us in the

It's time for Ian 's "Monday Minute!" Although, with my length of answers, it's more like the Monday 20-Minute, but whatev bev. Wanna play along? Click the link to his name, copy/paste/answer the questions on your blog, link up at the bottom of his blog. Easy-peezy. So here we go! 1.Have you ever peed in the shower/bath/pool? Shower, yes. Pool, yes. Bath, NO! Come on now, at least the chlorine kills it in a pool and in the shower it goes straight down the drain. In the tub you have to sit in it. That's just nasty! 2.What is your biggest pet peeve? Oh good grief, I have a ton. Lying, chewing with your mouth open, smacking your gum when you chew, stupid names, stupid spellings, words that gross me out, scraping silverware on ceramic dishes, people who drive under the speed limit, lying, ignorance, did I mention LYING? I'm sure I'll think of a hundred more between now and when I write my next post. 3.What's the story behind your blog title? I'm s

*I want to drop kick Blogger in the cooter. Yes, the cooter. I just typed up this long freakin post that took 40 minutes at least and clicked 'publish post' only for a stupid "BAD REQUEST" window to pop up. THE WHOLE THING IS GONE. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? I have had so many issues with gmail and blogger lately. Seriously google, get your shit together. *JT was walking around the house practicing his rhyming skills. He and Griffin do this all the time and it usually involves made up words. Today’s rhyming word? Fucka. “Fucka, ducka, mucka, chucka, fucka. YEA!” HAHA. I was laughing so hard. Fingers crossed he thought of the word on his own and it isn’t learned, LOL. *I hate when people are elusive. Say what you want to say and don’t tiptoe around it. I don’t censor myself; if there is something I want to say I say it and try to do so tactfully and I respect any one else who does, too. *I think the American education system is in greater need of a facelift than the healt

Apparently my approach to making myself clear nicely hasn't worked. As a result, please read the following for further clarification. I'm just going to come right out and say this: At 23, could you have been paid to date a woman 15 years older, divorced, and with three kids? No? Then what the hell makes you think that's what I WANT?!?! Do you want to know my initial reaction to you men who have emailed me, wanting to get to know me and possibly go on a date has been? "I think the differences are too great, but let me know if you need a babysitter!" Read my profile before "winking" or emailing me, please. It clearly says that I want a man between 23 and 30, never been married, and without children. I take care of 9 kids every week, the last thing I need is to date someone with children. I'm also saving myself for marriage and ideally (although I am realistic about this) would find the same in my future husband. Having a herd of youngin's pretty m

Sorry, Ian , I have to take a break from meme's. But, to anyone who wants to partake in Ian's awesome Monday Minute , go to his blog and join in on this week's very special addition. Here's a hint: it has to do with this adorable face who needs all the prayers she can get right now (she was just diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of cancer): So I had my anatomy II finals on Thursday and have been waiting on pins and needles since then to find out my final grade: I was borderline A or B. My grade was finally posted today and I got a 90 (a 92 is the lowest A). That's good, right? I should be proud of myself. Especially for how hard it was this semester and that I willingly admit I did not put in 100% effort (it's been a rough few months, OK? ;)). I should be jumping up and down, because that should be a perfectly fine grade to keep my chances of getting into nursing school high. Ah, but the key word being should . Let's back things up a bit, shall we? My

I know what you're thinking: "Seriously, she's doing ANOTHER meme?" Yes. My blog content has been less than stellar lately (although, I don't think it's ever been stellar and I still drop my jaw when a new person follows along), but I'm working on it. I babysat 11 hours today-- starting at 5:45 a.m. so this is as creative as it's gonna get. Welcome to motherhood, eh? Anyway, first and foremost, I want to wish all of you beautiful, amazing, inspirational, never-cease-to-amaze-me mother's out there a very happy Mother's Day. I hope your families have wonderful surprises up their sleeves and you get to rest the whole day! Keely @ MannLand5 hosts this meme (seriously, can we come up with another word? Do you understand how much I loathe typing/reading/saying this word? Almost as much as I loathe Lady Gaga.) usually on Sunday's, but switched it up this week for obvious reasons. Wanna play along? Go to her blog, answer the questions, link up. Wo

Ah, yes, Kaua'i. My favorite island (although not by much) out of the three Hawaiian islands I have seen. For spring break, my parents and aunt and uncle came out for vacation. My parents had been to O'ahu the year earlier, but hadn't really seen a lot of the island as they were there for just a few days. My aunt and uncle had never been, so they all flew in and spent three days on O'ahu so I could show them around. After the three days were up, we hopped a plane and headed to Kaua'i. I was in love the moment we landed. Kaua'i means "The garden isle," everything is lush, tropical, and everything I had imagined Hawai'i to be. I really cannot describe the immense beauty that is the island of Kaua'i. The best part? We were there at the end of March and all the whales had started migrating back to Alaska. As a result, there were ample amounts of whales surrounding the entire island. Our condo lanai was on the ground floor and overlooked the cliffs

Because I know what amazing people all of you are and how unimaginably supportive and uplifting you all have been for me, I have a very, very big request for each of you. Tonight I was feeling bad for myself about just about everything. Pretty status quo these days. And then I checked my blog roll and saw an urgent sounding post title from Ian that made me snap back into reality and be so thankful for all that I have, good or not so good. His friend, Michelle , received news that no one wants or deserves to hear. Her 16-month-old daughter (as of today, 5/5) was just diagnosed with cancer. I'm speechless. And heartbroken. And overwhelmed with complete sadness that a beautiful, innocent, precious child could have to go through so much at such a young age. I know the Lord doesn't give us any more than we can handle, but still... Please, please pray. And if you don't pray, send well wishes and good karma their way. I think we can all agree that this family needs all the suppor

And other tales from sophomore year. Ah, sophomore year, how I loved thee. Brace yourself, it was a crazy one. ~I lived with 5 of my very favorite people in the world for a way-too-short semester. ~The year I started my pursuit to a journalism degree. ~I was a little naughty. No, not skankalicious naughty. ~I lived in the greatest apartment complex not only at UD, but in the world. Even if the public style bathroom did flood every time we showered. And I had to wear my adorable wellies to mop up an entire buckets worth of water. I think my roommates may or may not have called me "mom" once or twice that semester. ~The time I face planted on a coffee table and yelled at the pizza delivery man for harassing me to come down to the front desk and pick up my pizza. See question 4 of this post if you are confused. ~The first time I had a concussion (from said face planting into coffee table). ~The time I was roofied. ~The time I had my second concussion from face planting off of a

I've been blogging for 4 months and I think I know SO much that I'd like to share my wisdom with y'all. Ha. Kidding. I hope you guys know my humor by now. Cockiness is really sarcasm. Just sayin'. But I do want to share with all of you who are unfamiliar with this option and/or know about it but don't know how to do it. This is pretty much the only thing I know about blogger (which, if you continue reading, you'll see that I may not even be correct about all of it); any other useful tips are basically out of my realm of knowledge. Did you know that you can receive any comment on your blog via email? Did you also know that you can respond to that comment via email? Personally, I LOVE responding to comments. I'm sure many of you wish I didn't because 9 times out of 10 I respond with a novel, but it comes with the territory. Sorry. Anyway, a few people have asked me in the past couple months how you go about doing it and I thought I should just let the whol

AKA-- freshman year of college I've decided to write four posts, one for each year of college, with some of my memories. Mostly because I want to write them down while I still remember them, but also because thinking back on some of the crazy things we did, I laugh. Laugh hard. Freshman Year (in somewhat chronological order): ~I met my very best friend on move in day. She ended up only staying a semester and moving back to Boston, but that hasn't gotten in the way of our friendship at all. *Hi Carebear!* ~I walked in on my roommate having sex twice in the first week of living there. Um, if you'll remember, I went to Catholic schools my entire life. And am saving myself for marriage. Awkward. I believe the first time it happened I said something to the effect of, "Oh shit. This is weird." The second time, "Jesus Ashley, don't you know to put a rubber band on the damn door?? Get a clue." And then I turned around and walked out. Suffice it to say, our r

It's time for Ian 's "Monday Minute!" Although, with my length of answers, it's more like the Monday 20-Minute, but whatev bev. Wanna play along? Click the link to his name, copy/paste/answer the questions on your blog, link up at the bottom of his blog. Easy-peezy. So here we go! 1. How much would you have to be paid to eat a human cadaver's finger? That's disgusting. I'm not a cannibal and no amount of money could make me one either. Nasty. Ian, do you have Jeffrey Dahmer tendencies? 2. Describe the worst physical fight you've ever been in. LOL! OMG, yea right. I look like such a fighter, don't I? I'm not violent, at all. Besides, I'm much better at verbal attacks and giving looks to kill. Minus the little tiffs I'd get in with my bro, I've never been in a physical altercation. 3. Name one song that if you never heard it ever again, you'd be thrilled. Anything by the annoying Lady Gaga. Or Justin Bieber. Or that '100

A while back I wrote this post, making fun of the shorts below: " Rocco Slim Fit Low Rise Jean Shorts I still think this trend is, um, feminine, for lack of a better word. And then, the other day, I logged onto face.book to see new pictures uploaded by my brother's best friend, who is practically my bro as he as been in our lives for over 15 years. He is an incredibly successful model and really making his mark in the industry. So much so that he is the new face/spokesmodel for Lucky Brand Jeans. Don't believe me? Go to luckyjeans.com . The man in with the scarf is him (I'll keep my opinions to myself on this look). You can also click on the men's tab and up pops a picture of him wearing a grey shirt. Anyway, here's one of the pictures for the summer campaign he put on the book. You better believe I made fun of him. Sorry, there are just some things that should not be considered fashionable. Bermuda shorts that hit above the knee on men is one of them. Along

Update on all things going on in my life! ~Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your kind words on my last post. I really was just sharing the prayer because I thought it beautiful, but I can't express how grateful I am for your encouragement and support. I had NO idea I would "meet" such a beautiful, wonderful, uplifting bunch of people when I started this blog a short 4 months ago! ~I have been on Cymbalta for over a year for the treatment of fibromyalgia (which I've had for two years now) and depression. It did wonders for my fibro issues (paresthesia= pins and needles sensation in the entire body. Basically, my whole body is constantly 'asleep' and chronic pain.) For the depression? Suffice it to say that it had A LOT to do with my debbie downer way of life as of late. To be completely honest, it made me feel like a 12-year-old psychopath. I had ZERO patience, snapped for no reason, was bipolar, and felt insanely immature- no 23-year-old should essen