Family + Friends | Campmeeting 2012

Knoxville Campmeeting 2012
Annual Thursday Night CiCi's Pizza outing.

Every year during camp-meeting, Thursday night is (was) dedicated to some sort of young people outing. However over the years its become more of a family thing, than a young persons things. :-| We rent out a CiCi's after hours, stuff our self with cardboard-y pizza (which tasted a bit yummier this time around, but COULD be due to the fact that I was DYING of hunger by this point)

The original plan, developed by myself, my friend Jennifer and my sister Robyn, was too go up to groups of people, and have Robyn and Jen stand there posing by the unsuspecting victims. However, It soon became a free for all with everyone grabbing people and snatching them into group photos. Hilarity ensued.

Any Takers?

What's bad, is when people start referring to their bad days..as "Erin Days". For instance, I was talking to my friend Rebekah, and she starts the conversation out: "So I had an Erin day today..." I knew instantly it was either bizarre, or had something to do with money. Story of my 2010. 


I knew at the beginning of this year,I stated that this would be a "year to remember" but..I'd really held out hope that it would be a GOOD year. So far...I'm just starting to become paranoid about leaving my home! 


So what's happened now? Well I'm driving to work its 7:55AM I have 5 minutes to get through three stop lights and too work. Only the Lord knows why I decided to take this particular route to get too work. Anyway The first light I come to is at the top of a hill, and is green, I slow down since its been green for a while, but am making it through. All of the sudden, I see this black car, which had been sitting at the light, start making a right turn...directly into me! There was nothing I could do but pray she saw me and stopped moving! 


She didn't. 


Nope ran right into the back passenger door, causing a nice little dent. Truthfully, my gut reaction was just to keep going. But since the car is not mine, I knew I had to stop. So I pulled onto the sidewalk and got out too see the damage. The car that hit me pulled into the parking lot and another car stopped in front of me. The first woman got out, handed me her card and told me to contact her if we needed a witness, as she saw the whole thing. *THANK YOU MA'AM!!* 


I then called my father quickly to tell him what happened, being an insurance agent he told me to file a police report, especially if Party B turns anything in too their insurance company; that way we know clearly who was at fault. After getting off the phone with him, the woman turned to me and started babbling about how she didn't know what happened, what to do, she had a court date and was just a tizzy. 


I will admit I really could have cared less, but that wouldn't be very Christ-like , so I allowed her to use my phone, despite really feeling I should just call the police at that point.  15 calls later, I take my phone back call the police, and then let her try her family one more time. Apparently they aren't early risers.


She finally reaches them, and gets their insurance information. At this point I realize the police will probably want my registration and proof of insurance. 


*cue panic* 


*girl dives into car and hauls all of junk out of glove compartment* 


Nothing. Nada.ZILCH. Citation here we come.


Ok, now what. I call my father just as the police officer arrives. Random Thought: I didn't know woman were on the Motorcylce "troup" cool. Anyway thankfully she was nice, and took what information I had, my insurance info, and my license.....After coming to the conclusion that I didn't have the information I needed. I hung up and just waited for the other shoe to drop. 


Police Officer to Party B: Ok ma'am this is a citation for failure to yield at a stop light, blah, blah, blah
Police Officer to Me: Ok this is for your expired tag and no proof of insurance. 
Me: Man.


After that I left and went on to work, were my co-workers we happy to see I was well, and happy to hear it wasn't my fault. I love them. :)


Then I come home. I walk in and I hear a tapping sound at my window, thinking it was one of my siblings being funny, I walk to the window and open it quickly and reveal...........a BIRD!!!!! 


Completely freaked me out of course. Seriously HOW in the WORLD does a bird get into my house?! So after while of ......snap bird is still in  the house...brb... 


7:00pm - Ok so I had to leave for class before I was able to finish this, but as you may have guessed, the bird reappeared.....however I've been home for approximently two hours and no sign of said bird. Hope springs eternal, but I know its waiting for the exact moment to fly out and scare me to death. Probably literally. 


Class Day 1 (English 1010)  - So that was an interesting experience, one my teacher is very young...30ish, and has annoying way of sound interested yet bored at the same time. But I think I'm going to like him..I don't just yet. He made us tell something interesting about ourselves, and halfway through, one young lady pipes up and says "I'm was home-schooled and this is my first day at real school."


*HEAD DESK*


Here's a tip homeschoolers. Never.ever. announce this. It just makes you sounds like you've been holed away in your home, with no socialization. People already assume stupid stuff about homeschoolers....pretty much like they do with every probably. Blonds, Blacks, Mexicans....you get the point but if you walk right in and fulfill what they are thinking...then you will just have to...."deal with it".  


That's just my opinion of course. 


So of course I had to break the stereotype a little, not that I have to try hard to do so...as far as I know there aren't too many black people being home-schooled, that and I'm not exactly whatcha call shy (anymore) and we were very very very involved with our community  through 4-H and the Guide Dog Foundation and our church, other homeschool groups..you name it we were probably in it. 


I typically don't volunteer that I'm a ex-homeschooler right off the bat, I'll let people get used to me, before I "break it too them" then its just "Oh ok" verses..Oooohh......ooookkk. See the difference?
Yeah.
I did feel bad for the girl, as there were some snickers and giggles to that statement, but she'll learn. The hard way unfortunately. *sigh*


Anyway I think I'm all out of words now. 


BTW- If you need me, I'll be in my  bed, with the covers over my head. I don't plan on coming out anytime soon. 


TA TA!

Kids

Next to dogs,children have to be my favorite subjects rarely do I find one that will shy away from the camera. My family likes to harp on the fact that I don't have many "human" photos on my camera. But when I call up for volunteers...they (for some reason) won't volunteer! :P

Ethan and Anna

Caroline

Lewis

Lydia & Brigitta

I think I like Monday's

Give me a couple weeks and I might be able to tell you why.

The Weekend
My weekend starts on Fridays at 10:35AM.
An awesome feeling.
Pompei and I decided to check out a local dog park,and he had a blast...for the 10 minutes we were there. I had some shopping to do, and can't afford to bring a wet dirty puppy into stores. (We are not allowed to leave them in our vehicles)

We then went to Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby so I could get some more of those metal dresses; and then headed to Mckay's Bookstore for the next hour or so.
Poor Pomp was completely exhausted after all this.

Or so I hoped.

Later on I met my friends at our favorite hangout/study and we stayed there for a while.

Saturday, my sister disappeared with the car for 4 hours.
I'm starting to understand how a parent feels, I was biting some serious nailage waiting for the car  her to arrive home in one piece. (She's only been driving solo for about a month or so, and does not have a cell phone).
When the scuffed and hub-cap-less vehicle turned into my driveway, I knew my suspicions had been correct. Now I love my sister but...how shall I say this... observation of things about her, isn't a strong suit of hers. In other words...she doesn't know where she's going for the most part. 
When I talked to her, Friday we'd discussed where she was going to go, and how long she'd be gone. (Hey when you're the oldest of six, you tend to take on some "mothering" qualities, plus I really need that car to stay intact for at least the next few months.)

Well, being 18 she decided to make her own plans, and visit a library that neither she, nor I had visited. (She's also obsessed with the library) Well...she really wasn't paying attention to her directions, and left the house headed the wrong way.
And somehow managed to drive about an hour away from her course; thankfully some kind soul gave her directions back..which she did, but not before running the car off the road.

Thankfully no...permanent.... damage to the car was sustained.
And Robyn was fine too.

Did I mention I'm adopting all my kids when they are 20?

I'm thankful there wasn't a steep drop off or telephone pole in the way.

Sunday - Did my second ever photo shoot with a family from our church. A Nerve racking experiment for me, but one of my biggest critiques viewed them, and said they liked them... so gives me hope the family will like them as well. There's a reason why I want to be  pet photographer...they dont' have opinions. haha.
Then I took the dogs to a park, we all sweated our heads off, came home took a nap before getting ready for the evening service at church.

So yes, very uneventful but pleasant. My favorite kind! :)

Family Attack

My Dearest, Loving, Kind, Gracious Family...hates that I spend most of my camera time taking pictures of my dogs, other peoples dogs, or animals in general. (Other wise known as dogs)

So here I am snapping photos of my dogs....{See Two Dachshunds & Co.}  and all of the sudden, my family comes RUNNING down the hill...and I do mean the entire family....in spurts.

Apparently my mom was leading a revolt against my taking anymore non-human photos....and this is what happened....

{ATTACK!!}

*Sigh* Crazy People. :))

Goals - 2009

2009 - A brand new year....already I know this will probably be one of the craziest years of my life...besides last year. While I'm not one to set New Years Resolutions, I do have some goals and things I would like to get/ see done this year. Some are little things, while others I know will takes a lot of work. I'll share a few with you. Next year I would like to be able to look back and check of a least a few? Of theses...?

*I thought of some others I wanted to add, and need to see written down somewhere*

Erin's Goals and Things for 2009

• Go to bed earlier on a consistent basis
  
• Get a new Cell phone
  
• Get a new car
  
• Raise another Guide Dog Puppy - #FAIL
  
• Not procrastinate so much
• Make A's and B's in school
  
• Get another Job
• Organize my life more
  
• Move over the Mountain
  
• Be a better sister/friend
• Learn to share
• Eat Breakfast
  
• Start and thing and FINISH IT
• Keep Car and Room Neat
  
• Travel More
  
• Use my camera EVERYDAY
• Blog at least 2-3 times a week
  
• Walk Dogs Daily
  
• Train dogs DAILY
• Spend less time on the computer
  

...................................

Good Bye

For the remainder of this week, I will spend my time saying my goodbyes, to a dear friend. I have known her for just a year, but our time together has been awesome. She has been so supportive of my through every endeavor I have taken up. She has been my comfort through hard situations, and helped me get my mind of pressing matters by the offer, not of words, but a small wag of her tail. In turn, i have trained her and socialized her to as many different situations as I possibly could, and she has excepted each challenge with dignity.
I'm really proud of the dog she has turned out to be, and can only hope that she will be able to change someone else's life as she has changed mine.

{Midnight in my lap at our 4-H Teen Retreat}

Alright you made it through the sappy stuff. But now my life is coming to another point. I have nothing to do with myself but work..and prepping for the move.

Moving means a lot change including but not limited too: housing, church, job, school, stores, food brands, prices, friends, guide dog group, etc..etc..

The biggest worry I have is with the school and job and puppies. With the school we've already spoken to someone there who gave us a LIST of things we need to bring. *sigh* Oh well. Its worth it.
But my worry is starting in uncharted territory with no *close* assistance. My A/C came to my community college with me, and spoke to the person...but this I'm going it on my own. YIKES.
Puppy #4 is due in late March..which is right in the middle of the semester....close to finals.
I'm not too worried about having a small pup during that time...with a schedule and proper exercise I'm fine. But its introducing it to a class during the semester which worries me.
Maybe ...depending on my schedule; puppy may get to stay home for the first semester.

Then the job thing, I can't afford to live on my own and work at a doggie daycare. The pay is just way to little. And I'm truthfully tired of working in those places. I love the dogs but.........yeah.

Now that I know when Midnight is leaving, I'm ready for things to speed up already, and lets get this done, so I can get my next puppy. But alas, only one day at a time.

Update

First day off in about a week, and I was looking forward to just hanging around the house, and doing whatever. My siblings would be with our homeschool group for at least 4 hours; my mom and dad were upstairs working the house, and the dogs were snoozing on thier beds.
I was happy just to finally get some pictures edited, and to finish a couple scrapbook pages for Rei's new partner.
Until my cell phone rang.
Right away I knew without looking who it was and why they were calling. My mom wondered if I would be so kind, as to go, in our 15 passenger van, and pick up my brothers and sisters from church. arrrggghhhhh....NO.....
But I figured it was the least I could do for them, and reluctantly gathered my things, and climbed into the van. I was planning to go shopping with my sister later, but I wasn't expecting to have go GET them, bring the others back, and then go back out.
During the 15 minute ride over there, I decided just to haul everyone with me....the park was nearby, and the dogs needed to walk, so we could stop there; and then go grab a snack and let us girls do the shopping we needed to do.
Amazingly enough everything went as planned; they all cooperated very nicely and we all had a great time with each other! I don't think we even fussed one time at all. I was surprised, but happy.

To see Photos CLICK HERE -They seem kind of pixelated to me...does anyone else notice that?

In other news, "The Move" aka Operation Caoas - Family Edition, is still moving forward, slowly but surely. My shopping list is dwindling by the week. There are still things i would LIKE to purchase, but I don't NEED them in order to move. I haven't been back to the house, since it supposedly got "cleaned", so I don't know how much work I still have to do, but will find out next wendesday.

I still have Midnight - Puppy in Training, and we don't know when she is to return to the GDF. I have been spoiling her, with toys and beds and treats. But I am going to miss her so much.