Life...and pictures!

So yeah, I haven't written a real post in a while. Sorry to all five of you who regularly check and see if I have. :) Right now I'm taking a break from studying and Sniper, the black cat has decided to be a sweet kitty and stretch out all over my hands as I try to type, I think he's trying to reclaim his "spot" that I kicked him out of.
Finals are next week and it seems like just a few weeks ago that I was writing about the end of the fall semester!
I quit my tanning job (waa-hoo!) and I have been tutoring underpriveledged kids for the last month or so. That's been quite an interesting experience but one that I have greatly enjoyed.
Oh yes, and we let Libby go free in March. It was a sad day for us but a very happy one for her. We made her an awesome little house with a hammock inside but I think that she decided she wanted a real squirrel house and is building a nest. No fear though, a friendly little owl took up residence in Libby's home and actually laid three eggs there!!! Very exciting and quite scary to Tim who discovered her by peeking into the door of the house and seeing a big glowing eye and three little eggs along with a "whoo-hoo" (or whatever sound owls make!). We've seen Libby a couple of times when we visit Tim's family but she hasn't wanted to get near to us. Oh well, we had fun with her and it was a neat experience but I'm glad that she's free to run around and make her little messes outside!
Well, I'm off to do some more reading about the antifederalists' case of the Constitution. It's pretty interesting! Maybe I'll write about how I see that some of their fears might have actually come to pass in our present day. They were afraid that the Constitution would give too much power to a central government and a group of elites. Hmmm.
Anywho, see y'all soon! Drop me a line and let me know what your summer plans are!

You know you're from Texas when...

I love forwards. Yes, that might be odd but I don't care. They're like getting joks all the time! I don't like the "good luck" ones where people give you a guilt trip unless you FORWARD THIS TO 10 PEOPLE WITHIN 10 MINUTES. Anywho, I got this fun one the other day and just thought I would share it with y'all. If you're from Texas you'll probably laugh and understand and if you're not, well, you can just laugh too and wish you knew the joke.
ou know ur from Texas when...

*You can properly pronounce Corsicana, Ennis, Waxahachie, Palestine,
Decatur, Wichita Falls, San Antonio, Mexia, Waco, and Amarillo.

*A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel.

*You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.

*You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but by the availability of shade.

*You think everyone from a bigger city has an accent.

*You measure distance in minutes.

*Little Smokies are something you serve only for special occasions.

*You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit.

*You know cowpies are not made of beef.

*Someone you know has used a football schedule to plan their wedding date.

*You have known someone who has had one belt buckle bigger than your fist.


*You aren't surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, and bait all in the same store.

*A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol. A Double Cab F-150 is.

*You know everything goes better with Ranch.

*You actually get these jokes and are "fixin' " to send them to your friends.

*You go to the river/lake because you think it is like going to the ocean.

*You go to the gas station and there is a sign in the window that reads,
"No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service!"

*Your family pet is the stray dog with one leg that came limping up to your door.

*You say "Up-air" when you are refering to a place "Over there".

*Finally, you are 100% Texan if you have ever heard this conversation:

"You wanna coke?"
"Yeah."
"What kind?"
"Dr. Pepper."

My candy heart :)

Your Candy Heart Says "Hug Me"

A total sweetheart, you always have a lot of love to give out. Your heart is open to where ever love takes you! Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a surprise romantic evening that you've planned out Your flirting style: lots of listening and talking What turns you off: fighting and conflict Why you're hot: you're fearless about falling in love

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

SPRING BREAK!

Okay, I'm finally posting a blog (SUSAN!). I know it's been a while so I'll try to say what's been up along with some fun pictures.
I had midterms last week and I think they went really well. I'm trying to make all A's this semester because Tim said he would get me an i-pod Nano if I did. (I feel like I'm in 5th grade but who cares! I want a Nano!!) The second half of the semester is going to be pretty hard though. I have a 12-15 page paper due and Latin is going to get harder because we're going to be doing a lot of translating. Hopefully, it will be do-able. I'll let you know if I get my nano. ;)
After midterms were finished I went for an interview at Handley Middle School and I got a job as a tutor starting on Monday! I'm really excited about it and will hopefully doing that this summer instead of my present job. I think it's going to be really neat and I'm looking forward to the experience as well as the MUCH better pay. :) I'll let you know how it goes but I'm sure I'll enjoy it.
After my interview on Friday (yes, I had a busy day!) we met our friends Chris and Katey at our apartment and we started the drive down to Houston. We stayed until Monday and we had SO much fun and were really busy. Friday night as soon as we got to the Woodlands we ate at a really nice and fun restaurant but I can't remember the name. Then we went to Katey's dad's house, where we were staying for the weekend, and met her parents and talked to them for a while. That night we enjoyed the hot tub for a while and tried to watch a movie but that didn't last. On Saturday we got up around 9 and went ice-skating at the Galleria and then to the rodeo that night. Chris was the only one who had ever gone ice-skating but the rest of us learned quickly and had a blast slipping and sliding around on the ice. There were a few misadventures, I fell once and Tim and Chris raced around and on the final turn Tim slid by me and took out a little kid who was quietly waiting on the side. After a few angry glares from the mother they quickly left and the boy wasn't too hard.
The rodeo was a blast; we ate sausages and funnel cakes and sampled all of the various toffee, candy, and garlic that the stands had to offer. Afterwards we went back to the house and had a really good conversation before calling it a night.
Sunday we went to Galveston and fed seagulls, flew a kite, and ate awesome seafood at Willie Gee’s. That night we grilled burgers and watched part of a movie before the night ended.
Monday morning Tim and I slept in and got everything together to leave. We stopped to eat at the Potato Patch in Houston (the food, once again, was awesome!) where they served fried okra and threw fresh and hot biscuits at us. We had fun on the drive back to Arlington and Fort Worth; so much fun in fact we decided to go watch a movie near their apartment complex. Those plans didn’t pan out because Katey’s bracelet got misplaced but Chris saved the day when he found in under the dishwasher in his apartment. We then watched 24 and finally they brought us home around 10:00 last night.
So our first weekend of spring break was fast and furious but a ton of fun. We got to do things that some of us hadn’t done (ice skate for Katey, Tim, and I and sit through a whole rodeo – Chris and Katey and feed a whole bag of Doritos to some sea gulls and I don’t think any of us had done that!) So here are some pictures to go along with this tremendously long post! Have a great rest of spring break!!

Christmas pictures...finally!

Yes, I know I'm horribly late on posting these but better late than never, eh? We spent a glorious 10 days away from Arlington splitting the time between our families. It was great getting to see my dad at Christmastime. (He works overseas and hadn't been home during Christmas for three years). We took a family picture after Church on Sunday and I never really think about what a big family we have until I see a picture of us altogether! Yeah, I'm #2 of 7 but that doesn't seem like so much compared to my dear friend Susan who is #8 of 14!!!
Today we're having a home morning but Tim needs to work on a webpage he's building and I need to seriously clean our house and get organized. I've been on break far too long!
This week I worked 39 hours at my job. Now, I know most people work a 40 hour work week and I have done the same as well. But most people do not sit at a tanning salon for 11.5 hours and have 9 people come in during the WHOLE day!! Luckily, I didn't do that every day but I was there from Monday thru Saturday at least 4 hours at a time. My paycheck will be pretty nice (I say pretty nice because I get paid about $.10 over minimum wage) but I don't think I'll do it again.

Alrighty, well, enough verbage, enjoy the pictures! (more from the Merkin Christmas later on)

My Weekend!

I had a great weekend with my sweet family and my dear friend Susan (previously mentioned on this blog). Here are a few pictures of me and my older sister, Rebecca and youngest brother, Robert decorating a gingerbread house. isn't he the cutest thing? And yes, I have a 24 year old sister and a 5 year old brother. Same parents. :)

I'M DONE!!!

Hey y'all! I'm done! WAaa-hooo!! I finally finished my last final at 10:30 yesterday morning. It feels soo good to be through but I'll still be a little nervous until I get my grades back.

More news:
I am very sick. Its yucky to be sick but at least I don't have any tests to worry about. My throat is really hurting and I'm very tired. Hopefully I'll get better quickly soo...

I can see my new little niece!!! Yes! Heather had her baby! Yippie! Annabelle Grace was born very early on Dec. 9 and she weighed 7lbs. 12oz. and is 20 in. long. I really want to go see her but I won't if I still have a sore throat, I'll have to wait until after Christmas to meet her. I'll post a picture of the little darling soon. She is sooo beautiful!

Merry Christmas!

The finals week that would never end!

I live in North Texas so whenever it gets really cold and freezes everyone freaks out and shuts everything down. UTA shut down at 1:30 today (Wed) and won't open back up until noon on Thursday. Which is great except I had a final scheduled for 8am Thursday. So that final is going to be moved to Tuesday of next week. And it stinks because I am so ready to be done! Now my last week has to drag on until next Tuesday. Ah well, maybe I'll do a little more review...Yeah right! I'm going down to Magnolia and Houston this weekend to visit my family and some friends. I'll take my binder but I doubt I'll get anything done.
My other three finals went okay. I got an A in Latin but I don't know about Logic or Government. I'm pretty sure I did quite badly on the Logic final but we'll see. Oh well, I'm just ready to be done!

Thanksgiving!!

Todd is on the left and wouldn't smile but Seth did so I posted this anyway.
Bethanie, Stephanie, and Rebecca at Heather's Baby Shower



I finally decided to post some pictures of my Thanksgiving. Hope y'all enjoy!

Daddy's little fatty

Somebody loves her peanuts!!






Here's some updated pictures of Libby. Yes, she eats a lot, she's very healthy. :)

Crunch time

Yes, it is final week so that means a week of junk food (get the title now? Crunch, as in the chocolate bar. har har). Tim and I went to the grocery store and loaded up on piazzas that were only $3 each! That makes for a filling and cheap meal so of course we bought four of them. When we came home we realized that one wasn't properly sealed and being the lazy couple we are decided to go ahead and eat it because hey, it had been frozen! That doesn't matter for pizza tho and it was kinda yucky and we ended up throwing it away. The moral to the story is: buy lots of frozen piazzas so you can pull out another one if one is spoiled!
Anywho, yes, I have four finals this week: Critical Thinking and Gov't on Tuesday, Latin 2 on Wednesday and World Civ. on Thursday. I'm not sure which one I'm most worried about but I would have to go with Latin and World Civ. My Latin teacher is awesome and tries not to make the tests too difficult but there is just sooo much information. My Civ teacher didn't get the be-nice-to-your-students-because-they're-taking-more-than-one-final memo and she makes up for his (Latin prof.) mercy. We have to write two essays, one of the questions she already gave us and the other we can pick out of three she's giving us from the 6 on the review. Also there will be 5 short answers taken from the 156 (!!!!) that were given on the reviews. Oh, and did I mention there's a map portion of ten world-wide locations from about 75 on the review. I think I'm going to cry. It sounds much worse when its written out. Thankfully I made friends with a very generous and smart lady in my class and we are sharing the 6 essays and the ID's. So I'm actually almost done studying for that one. But I really want to do well in those two classes especially because I love Latin and I'm a History major, so I should do well in the Civ class. I'll just never take that teacher again! Bitter feminists don't always make the best teachers.
Okay, I feel better now, back to outlining "the role of the post classic nomadic empires in the development of a great Eurasian sphere." Those nomads! They're always popping up somewhere.
Cherrio and good luck to all of you with finals this week!

**Breaking News!! Latin ladies update!**

Well, I am pleased to note that the infamous Latin Ladies have reconciled their differences after half of a semester of evil looks and sulky behavior. On Friday the two actually sat in their original spots but with Lady B sitting at her prized desk. I overheard them visiting about their children and how crazy their lives are so at this time I can report that the two have official put their differences behind them and moved on to much more important issues. The rest of the class is very greatful because we have another whole semester with all of these people! If there are any more changes, however, I shall let you know!

What's in a date?

I thought this was interesting! I'll post on the end what Tim and I were. I want to hear what all y'all were. Let me know!

Your birth date describes who we are, what we are good at and what our
inborn abilities. It also points to what we have to learn and the
challenges we are facing.

To figure out your birth number, add all the numbers in the birth date
together, like the example below, until there is only one digit.

A birth number does not prevent you from being anything you what to be,
it will just color your choice differently and give you a little
insight.

Example: March 20, 1950

3 + 20 + 1950 = 1973

1 + 9 + 7 + 3 = 20

2 + 0 = 2

Keep going until you end up with a single digit number. 2 is the birth
number to read for the birth date in the example. Find your number and
then read on.

#1 The Originator
#2 The Peacemaker
#3 The Life Of The Party
#4 The Conservative
#5 The Nonconformist
#6 The Romantic
#7 The Intellectual
#8 The Big Shot
#9 The Performer

# 1 - The Originator
1's are originals. Coming up with new ideas and executing them is
natural. Having things their own way is another trait that gets
them
as being stubborn and arrogant. 1's are extremely honest and do well
to
learn some diplomacy skills. They like to take the initiative and are
often leaders or bosses, as they like to be the best. Being
self-employed is definitely helpful for them. Lesson to! learn:
Others'
ideas might be just as good or better and to stay open minded.

Famous 1's are Don Kotula,Tom Hanks, Robert Redford, Hulk Hogan, Carol
Burnett, Wynonna Judd, Nancy Reagan, Raquel Welch.

#2 - The Peacemaker
2's are the born diplomats. They are aware of others' needs and moods
and often think of others before themselves. Naturally analytical
and very intuitive they don't like to be alone. Friendship and
companionship are very important and can lead them to be successful in
life, but on the other hand, they'd rather be alone than in an
uncomfortable relationship. Being naturally shy, they should learn to
boost their self-esteem and express themselves freely and seize the
moment and not put things off.

Famous 2's are President Bill Clinton, Madonna, Whoopee Goldberg,
Thomas
Edison, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

#3 - The Life Of The Party
3's are idealists. They are very creative, social, charming, romantic,
and easygoing. They start many things, but don't always see them
through. They like others to be happy and go to great lengths to
achieve it. They are very popular and idealistic. They should learn
to
see the world from more realistic point of view.

Famous 3's are Alan Alda, Ann Landers, Bill Cosby, Melanie Griffith,
Salvador Dali, Jodi Foster.

#4 - The Conservative
4's are sensible and traditional. They like order and routine. They
only
act when they fully understand what they are expected to do. They like
getting their hands dirty and working hard. They are attracted to the
outdoors and feel an affinity with nature. They are prepared to wait
and
can be stubborn and persistent. They should learn to be more flexible
and
to be nice to themselves.

Famous 4's are Neil Diamond, Margaret Thatcher, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Tina Turner, Paul Hogan, Oprah Winfrey.

#5 - The Nonconformist
5's are the explorers. Their natural curiosity, risk taking, and
enthusiasm often land them in hot water. They need diversity, and
don't
like to be stuck in a rut. The whole world is their school and they
see
a learning possibility in every situation. The questions never stop.
They are well advised to look before they take action and make sure
they
have all the facts before jumping to conclusions.

Famous 5's are Abraham Lincoln, Charlotte Bronte, Jessica Walter,
Vincent Van Gough, Bette Midler, Helen Keller, and Mark Hail.

#6 - The Romantic
6's are idealistic and need to feel useful to be happy. A strong family
connection is important to them. Their actions influence their
decisions. They have a strong urge to take care of others and to
help.
They are very loyal and make great teachers. They like art or music.
They
make loyal friends who take friendship seriously. 6's should learn to
differentiate between what they can change and what they cannot.

Famous 6's are Albert Einstein, Jane Seymour, John Denver, Meryl
Streep,
Christopher Columbus, and Goldie Hawn.

#7 - The Intellectual
7's are the searchers. Always probing for hidden information, they find
it difficult to accept things at face value. Emotions don't sway their
decisions. Questioning everything in life, they don't like to be
questioned themselves. They're never off to a fast start, and their
motto is, "Slow and Steady Wins the Race. They come across as
philosophical and being very knowledgeable, and sometimes as loners.
They
are technically inclined and make great researchers uncovering
information. They love to uncover secrets. They live in their own quiet
world and could do a better job of learning what is acceptable in the
world at large.

Famous 7's are William Shakespeare, Lucille Ball, Michael Jackson, Joan
Baez, and Princess Diana.

#8 - The Big Shot
8's are the Problem Solvers. They are professional, blunt and to the
point, have good judgment and are decisive. They have grand plans and
like to live the good life. They take charge of people. They view
people
objectively. They let you know in no uncertain terms that they are
the
boss. They should learn to exude their decisions on their own needs
rather than what others want.

Famous 8's are Edgar Cayce, Barbara Streisand, George Harrison, Jane
Fonda, Pablo Picasso, Aretha Franklyn, and Nostradamus.

#9 - The Performer
9's are natural entertainers. They are very caring and generous,
giving
away their last dollar to help. With their charm they have no problem
making friends and nobody is a stranger to them. They have so many
different personalities that people around them have a hard time
understanding them. They are like chameleons, ever changing and
blending
in. They have tremendous blessings, but also can suffer from extreme
in
fortune and mood. To be successful, they need to build a loving
foundation.

Famous 9's are Albert Schweitzer, Shirley MacLaine, Harrison ford,
Jimmy
Carter, Elvis Presley.

I was a #5 and Tim was a #2. We both thought they were pretty
close to our personalities. With some adjustment, of course! ;)

Arbonne!

Hey Guys! Well, I’ve starting working for Arbonne as a consultant. They’ve been around for 25 years but have only gained recognition in the past few years. Their sales numbers went from 25 million in 2001 to over 200 million in 2004. The company is doing so well because of how terrific their products are. All of their products are botanically based and free of all animal by-products and mineral oil (which comes from crude oil!). And they combine that with great anti-aging ingredients. People are becoming more and more concerned with what they put on and in their bodies as well as the concern with premature aging. It’s really exciting and I’ve enjoyed experimenting with the different items and telling people about the products and the company.
Please let me know if you’re interested in hearing more about the company or trying out some products. If you’re in my area then I can drop some off for you to try or if you’re out of town then I would be happy to mail some to you. You can also check out their website here and browse through the catalogue. And if you are interested in ordering something then I can pass on my discount to you, which is 35%!
I look forward to answering your questions or sharing some of their great products with you.

More family and fun pics

This is one of my favorites, from left to right, Robert, Amy, and Stephanie Shenk and Kathleen Henderson. Kathleen is Tim's cousin and she and Amy are best friends. Us Shenk kids grew up with the Hendersons and they are our family's closest friends. That's how I met Tim too!

This is of Amy and Kathleen with our younger brother Tim in the background.

Here is Steph, Seth, and Amy.

And I just had to put one of my older sister from a while back. I'll write a post about Rebecca soon, there's a lot I can say about her! :)

I'm sitting here watching "You've Got Mail" with Libby because Tim is up at his lab working on the finishing touches for his thesis. Libby is keeping me entertained by running around on top of and behind the couches and chewing on my papers and notecards. She also has tried chewing on my favorite pen, the phone, tv remote and the wall. Yeah, I know, she's crazy. Hopefully its just a stage she's going through. Ha! I feel like a mom! And what a cute little hairy baby I have.

Well, since the last post I put up here was so overwhelmingly popular, I am going to post some more pictures of my beeeutiful family. Tim's brother Seth recently went and visited them for the girls' birthdays and he sent me some great pictures.

Okay, well, I hope y'all enjoyed these pictures. Have a great weekend and a good rest of the month.

My Family

Today I thought I would write a little bit about my family. I've been thinking about them a lot because Monday (the 17th) was my little sister's birthday and tomorrow is my other younger sister's birthday. So I guess today I'll focus this blog on them.

Stephanie will be twenty tomorrow and she's the sister right under me. She's going to the community college by our house (Go Tomball!!) and is doing extremely well, hey, what else would you expect from a Shenk? She's involved in the leadership at Tomball and even works there as well. Poor Steph, she's up there waaay too much. :) Steph is going to major in Education/English and she wants to be a high school English teacher. I think she'll do very well in that and will be very popular. Stephanie also has a wonderful boyfriend named Robbie who is in the Air Force and all of our family loves him, he's really a great guy. Lessee, what else...she loves to read and loves bright colors and looks cute wearing them. I'm sure there's much more I could write about her but I will keep it at this, I don't want to embarrass her too much. :) But I love her very much and I'm so proud of all that she's accomplished. Happy Birthday!!!!

Amy was sixteen on Monday and I simply cannot believe that! She's the baby girl of our family and will always be our little puke (SP? It means "bellybutton" in Maori). HAhhaha, poor Ames, she'll never grow out of that one!! Amy is excelling in her classes this year and is developing an interest in kineseology which is what she'll probably pursue in college. She's a great driver and will probably get her license soon. Amy has also been saving for more than a year to buy her own horse and she has very nearly accomplished that! Hopefully she will be able to gain ownership of a tall, dark, and handsome horse named Dan. She loves to ride barrels and is really getting very good at that. Well, once again, there's more I could write but I don't want to go on too much. :) Amy i is now about an inch and a half taller than me and calls me "little brown monkey" but she will always be my little pet. I love you girlie, Happy Birthday!!!

I'll write more about all the rest of my family. As I have one other sister and three brothers this blog would take on immense proportions if I wrote about everyone one of them. That will just have to wait. For now you will have to settle with the little bios of these two sweet girls and a couple of pictures.

Libby

After many requests, I am finally going to post some pictures of our new little darling. Her full name is Libertas and we got her about a week and a half ago. Tim's sister works at a vet clinic and someone brought her in after finding her. Mindy generously gave her to Tim, who's always wanted a pet squirrel. I don't know how long we'll have her as she could become pretty wild. We're hoping to have her for a few months at least. Okay, enough verbage, here is Libby!!!

Day of rest

Today has been a day of rest and relaxation. I had Yoga and Latin this morning but after lunch I slept for 2 1/2 hours! It felt so wonderful! I also have not done a lick of school work today! I had my Latin I final on Friday and my History mid-term yesterday. So needless to say, I've been psycho busy studying and cramming my poor little brain with all sorts of interesting facts.

So today I have not done anything useful and have watched "Freddie", the Astros game, and now Jay Leno. More TV in one day than the whole semester! As usual, Leno is making fun of Bush but not in the spiteful way as I hear so often. Anyway, don't want to get onto that tangent...

School is going good, I think that's what primarily on my mind these days. I finished Latin one on Friday and am half way through with the rest of my classes.

Hope everyone has a terrific day and a great weekend!!

Cats!

Finally, I am writing again. I was trying to go to sleep but I've been staying up so late recently that I cannot go to sleep at a decent hour! Plus, Tim is studying with a friend in the livingroom and that is one very thin wall away from our bedroom.

Anyway, I just thought I would write a post on our cats: Sniper and Sammy. They are two of the neatest, cutest, and funnest cats I know. Sniper is Tim's cat and he can be pretty mischievous. He climbs onto our tall armoire and swats the back of your head as you walk by. He also climbs up there and wines and complains in the morning when he doesn't have any food. Sammy is my cat and he's a very sweet and mellow kitty. He loooves to have his neck scratched, especially in the morning and late at night. He's always been chunkier than Sniper and maybe because of that he has no jumping abilities at all. He used to try but I think he's all but given up hope. Like they say, gray cats can't jump!

Here's some pictures of our darlings, Sammy is the chunky gray cat and Sniper is the black one. I think these pictures will be pretty telling of their personalities.

I have so many more pictures and I might post some more later. Hope you enjoy!

Latin translations

I've translated some interesting sentences this semester while learning Latin and I thought I would share some of them with y'all.

Me philosophiae do.
I give myself to philosophy.

Philosophia est ars vitae.
Philosophy is the art of life.

Immodica ira creat insaniam.
Excessive anger creates insanity. <- I like this one. :)

Fortuna viros magnos amat.
Fortune loves great men (heros).

These are just some short ones that we've translated for homework. We've also translated some old myths such as: Pandora's Box, The Tragic Story of Phaethon, The Curse of Atreus, and Cleobis and Biton. Of course they've been simplified but its still fun to actually read stories in Latin. :)

We're using Wheelocks Latin and 38 Latin Stories in our class and I would really reccomend those to anyone who would even like to learn a little about Latin. If you take some time to work on it, I think you can learn at least the basic grammar rules and a whole lot of vocabulary on your own just using this book. I found a hardback copy on Amazon for $19.