my Friday morning thus far

Wake up suddenly at 5:39am...need to leave the house in 11min (20 min at the latest).
Showering is not an option as I went for a run last night.
Think to myself as I'm knocking shampoo bottles to the floor with my early morning uncoordination, "must move alarm clock accross the room!"

Walking out the door in 20min (yes, I am going to be a few minutes late to work).
In one hand I have my keys and both my work bag and purse on my shoulder (remembering to throw both breakfast and lunch into my work bag)
In my other hand I have the two coffee filled travel mugs I'm taking with me on my drive (since I didn't have time sit and eat breakfast this morning and I have a long drive to work).
Close the door behind me and enter early morning darkness.
Walk down first step...and fall down second step.
Quickly access if everything anatomically is okay, but remember that I don't have time for this. Get up, brush myself off, hope that my clothes are not completely dirty as I cannot see them and don't have time to change anyway.

Arrive to work safely. My clothes are not too scuffed with the carport dust I briefly found myself laying in this morning. As I can observe thus far, everything remained in my purse and work bag, as I didn't have time to even look and see if anything flew out during my early morning calisthenics. Amazingly, I didn't spill any coffee and enjoyed both mugs on my drive to work. Anatomically, the only thing I notice is that the ankle that failed me this morning is a little sore...which I'm going to choose to ignore as I'm running a marathon in 2 weeks.

Here's hoping the rest of my Friday is less eventful.

a day off

So, it's an absolutely beautiful day here...and I happen to have the day off. Our office is offically closed. I was suppose to be hosting an educational seminar on hearing loss and hearing aids, but due to only two RSVPs, the seminar was canceled. I decided to take a personal day instead of driving the 100miles round trip to the office, where there is nothing for me to do. And, it has been a marvelous day! Really, it's unbelievable how happy I get just because of a beautiful fall day with the windows open. I slept in till 7am, went for a run, then spent some quality time with my nephew while Annie had breakfast with a friend. When Annie got back from breakfast Nathanael was down for his morning nap, so she and I sat out on my back deck chatting and drinking coffee. I got to have a good chat with mom too, as it's been way to long since we caught up like that. I know you all probably aren't interested in every single detail...but hey, this blog is called Mandy's Ramblings :) I'm now going to attempt to download a couple videos I've taken of Nathanael recently with my cell phone...hope it works!

The above video is from a couple weeks ago. Annie & Robbie were over for dinner and decided to give Nathanael a bath here. Annie was opening and closing the bathroom mirror, and it happened to be one of those random things that got Nathanael LAUGHING!!! In a different video, Robbie is having to wipe away tears he's laughing so hard. This kind of laughing could be considered medicine it makes you feel so good :)

The above video is from this morning. Nathanael was chatting away (while chewing on his favorite butterfly). I didn't want to move any closer, as I thought he's stop chatting. So, sorry it's so far away.

blogging while listening to football

So, it's been WAY TO LONG since I've blogged. I'm sitting here, with my head phones plugged into my computer, listening to the Appalachian State football game (it's not televised). I thought this would be a good time to catch up on some much needed blogging. Right now ASU is ahead 21-0 after 1st quarter. I'll keep you updated throughout my blog :)

So, life here in Boiling Springs has been great. I absolutely love being near Annie, Robbie & Nathanael. And it's been great to be roomates with Chrissy. I think we're learning how to be good roomates. (ASU just scored 28-0 now)

I was able to drive up to Ocean City, Maryland several weeks ago and enjoy a little bit of time at the beach with Bryan, Tricia, Annie, Robbie, and all the kids. It was GREAT! Below are a few

pictures...

Aren't both of these families SO CUTE! Cute couples and cute kids. Maybe I should be using the word beautiful here...beautiful couples and beautiful kids. Yes, I think that's better. We're all really hoping to plan a family beach week far enough in advance this year that everyone will be able to go next summer. That will be SO fun.

(Half time now at the game. Score still 28-0)

On the work front...well, wish I had raving things to say. It's been a bit of a challenge the past couple months. I haven't minded the drive as much as I was thinking. I've gotten into listening to audio books. Thank goodness the local public library is a little outdated cause all their books are on cassettes...and that's exactly what I need :) No cd player in my car. I've enjoyed some of these books so much that I find myself not minding slow moving vechicles on the country roads near as much. So, it could be safe to say that these audio books are helping to tame my road rage.

Well, I'll tie up this blog. I've just pulled some banana bread out of the oven. A neighbor cut Chrissy's and my grass while were out earlier today, and we're making bread for he and his roomates. I made the bread and Chrissy is writing a witty poem to accompany it. Knowing Chrissy's skills, the poem may be better than the bread!

(by the way...still half-time)