Highly Recommended:

Kings of Leon newest album: Only By The Night. It is amazing! I would LOVE to see these guys live and they will in fact be in Columbus January 27, but tickets are sold out!! :( Bummer!! But anyhow, this CD is awesome and the band in general is awesome and I recommend it and any other of their albums as well. :)

This one is for you especially, Aunt Jan :)

First off, Merry Christmas, everyone! :) I hope everyone got to spend time with their loved ones and got everything they asked for! ;) I know I did!!

I didn't ask for much but that is not always a bad thing because then you are almost guaranteed to get everything (or at least that has been my experience!). Bryce and I got some great things from Pampered Chef from Mom and Dad Roth. I also got a gift card to Sephora, which is awesome because I needed to get some Bare Minerals replacements! I also got another beautiful Pandora bracelet, complete with some beautiful new beads. :)

From my family, I got an iHome, which I was super excited for because it has an alarm clock and now I can wake up to my favorite songs. I also got a SUPER soft new robe, which was much needed and appreciated because my old one was tattered and not very soft anymore. And much to Bryce's chagrin, I got a Twilight shirt, courtesy of my sister Holly. I told Bryce I wouldn't wear it out in public. :)

But hands down, my favorite gift had to be my new TomTom!! I didn't think I would get it but I did! So of course, Bryce and I took it for a test drive when we drove back to Sandusky tonight. It was awesome. I am very directionally impaired so this is going to come in handy!

So anyhow, Bryce and I are now dog sitting here in Sandusky while the 'rents are in Louisiana visiting Shaina and Jonathan.

And I will try to be more consistent with my blog entries...I have been told I have been slacking! Sorry!! :/ I just haven't had anything too interesting to say lately. That being said, I am off to watch some TV with Bryce.

Again, Merry Christmas!!

Happy Holidays!

Just wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Hope to see some of you soon!! :)

I have a confession....

...I am obsessed with the book Twilight and I don't care who knows it! I have been hearing rumors of this book and the entire Twilight saga for a few months but haven't really paid too much attention to it. That is, until I saw an extended trailer for the movie that is coming out November 21. OMG, it looked soooooo good that I ran over to Target to buy the book and was extremeley dissapointed that they were out of stock. On the other hand, that made me want it even more because an empty shelf means that the book is good! So, reluctantly I ran over to Wal-mart ( I don't like giving that store any of my business but that is a different story for another time!) and they had tons of them! I happily purchased it and started reading it. I have not been able to put it down since then. I am about 3/4 through and the book is 498 pages. I know. I'm a dork. What can I say? I am a sucker for these kinds of books. I haven't been this enthusiaatic about a book since I read The Other Boleyn Girl which I thought was awesome. Anyhow, I just wanted to let every one know. :) I know....RANDOM!! Oh well. It's my blog! ;)

Once a month.

That is about as often as I have been posting lately. I can't help it. School has taken over my life! The work load from all of my classes can be overwhelming sometimes. I shouldn't be surprised, though....these are graduate level courses. I guess I am still adjusting though.

Besides school, I am still taking care of Papa. He is about where he was a few months ago--no worse, but definitely not better. He is still argumentative but he is 84 and stuck in his ways. And I always want to correct him when he is wrong (which is a lot!) so we just clash. Oh well. Que sera, sera!

Let's see.....Cami was enrolled in Doggie College. She is the sweetest dog ever but she has her issues. For one, she is stubborn as all get out and just doesn't listen. She is still having problems with going to the bathroom outside. (Heidi, maybe you would have some suggestions with that?) She is still a puppy and still learning but we are trying to take care of the issues now so that they don't become bigger issues in the future.

This past Friday, my Ashland supervisor came to observe me in the classroom. I taught a lesson on rhyming. The kids all behaved great and listened very well, which I was very thankful for! After the lesson, we went off and discussed some things. I got all 4's and 5's on my evaluation, which I was very pleased with. She told me to keep up the good work and gave me one or two suggestions for the next lesson I teach. I also received a compliment from the principal a few weeks ago. She told me that I was a natural with the kids and praised me for doing a good job. That made me feel really good and proud of myself, especially coming from the principal. :)

Well, I think I have everything covered. I know, I lead a very boring life. I apologize for that! :P I am off to write my two 10 page papers (gross!). Wish me luck, I'll need it!!

Toodles!

Alright, I suck at posting.

Now that school has started, I have had little time to post any updates. School has been going well. I thought that grad school was going to be different but it really isn't. I am definitely the youngest student in all of my classes but it hasn't really bothered me too much. Most of the people in my classes already teach so it is nice to have that perspective to think about when we are learning. It is also nice to have everything fresh in my mind since I only just graduated in May.

For one of my classes, I have to complete 120 hours in a special education classroom. I am completing these hours at Louisa May Alcott elementary school in Cleveland. So far, things have been going very well and I am having a blast working with the students. I have really been able to get in there and really help out where ever I can. It truly is and will continue to be a great learning experience.

This past weekend, I was down in Atlanta, GA for my cousin Diane's wedding. My youngest sister was also a junior bridesmaid in the wedding. We had such a good time and the wedding was absolutely beautiful. I was sad to go! Maybe I can convince Bryce to move down there. Hell, we would probably have a better chance of finding jobs down there anyhow!

Anyhow, so that's what has been going on these days. I will try to update more regularly--I am sure I will have lots of things to discuss while completing my field experience hours!

Until next time! :)

Ooookkkaaayyy...

So, it has been a while since my last post. It is probably due to the fact that nothing too out of the ordinary has happened. I have been caught up with the Olympics and I was sad to see them come to an end last night. However, I am not going to lie. I am pretty upset with the whole gymnastics fiasco. Gymnastics has always been my favorite event to watch. To me, gymnastics IS the Olympics. But this year, with the the investigations of the Chinese gymnasts, it really just took away from the whole splendor of it. BTW, I really do believe that some of those gymnasts, maybe not all of them, but some of them are under the age of 15. (You have to be 16 the year of the Olympics to compete.) BUT, Michael Phelps totally made up for it by winning his 8th medal. Not gonna lie, I got kind of choked up!

Shaina came to visit!! I got to see her an spend some time with her, although not enough. It had been 8 months since I have seen her and it was nice to continue where we left off. Shaina has always been a best friend to me and I always considered her like a sister before Bryce and I were even engaged. :)

I started classes at Ashland today. Well, actually I am taking the classes at Lorain County Community College but they are Ashland classes. It is nice that LCCC has the University Partnership for those who would like to attend the school but are not close to them. However, the financial aid process is taking a lot longer than I anticipated and I am becoming more and more agitated the longer it takes. But, I will leave that story for another time because I am really tired and have some homework to do.

Catch ya next time! :)

Thankful Cami is home!

Cami has pulled through and is now resting at home. She is still quarantined to the house but we are just glad she is still with us...there were times that we thought the worst but we held on to hope and she made it! Thanks for all the positive vibes! :)

With all that has been going on with Cami, I haven't had a chance to update on anything else that has happened in the last week. On Monday (Aug. 4) Bryce came down to Berea and we went to go see Radiohead at Blossom. It was an awesome show. I don't claim to be a huge Radiohead fan but I have to admit, they put on a really good show and the energy that they had was contagious. Even though I didn't know too many of their songs, I still found myself dancing along and cheering them on. The only bad thing about it was the parking and driving at Blossom. If any of my blog readers have been there then you know that there is no rhyme or reason to the parking situation after the concert. Sure, they direct you before and tell you where to park. But afterwards, it is every man for himself and you really need to have a pair of cajones to navigate your way through. Thankfully, Bryce was driving and he pretty much just cut everyone off and we got out of there pretty quickly. Here are some pics from the show:

On Tuesday, we were fortunate enough to see Barack Obama at Baldwin-Wallace College, which is a hop, skip, and a jump away from where my parents live in Berea. The event was free and open to the public since it was a town forum. However, we were disappointed when we found out that the tickets were sold out. That's where my good ol' dad saved the day! Because he is a Berea councilman, he got 2 VIP tickets and 2 general admissions tickets. He was going to take another councilman with him and use the VIP tickets while giving the general admission tickets to Bryce and I. Well, at the last minute he found out he couldn't attend and Bryce and I got to use the VIP tickets. We sat three rows away from his podium and we had a great view. The only thing that was kind of annoying was that even though the event started at 2pm, we had to be there by 12pm. Sitting there for two hours doing nothing was not fun. But eventually, Barack showed up and he delivered a great speech. Here are some pictures from the event:

Moving on, this past Friday (Aug. 8) was the year mark for the countdown to our wedding! We are super excited and cannot wait to share our day with everyone! :)

It was also surgery day for my younger sister, Erin. She has always had hammer toe and walks on her toes. When she tries to walk flat-footed, she loses her balance and falls backwards. When she was about 10, she had surgery to correct it but eventually the corrections failed and she was back to square one. Since it was not life threatening and she had no other issues, it kind of went on the back burner. After a while, we started to notice that her toes were curled and they looked almost claw-like. We figured it was just from the toe walking. Well, as of recently she has started to lose her bladder control and wets herself, especially when she plays sports. Well, when you are 15 you should not have to be worrying about that. After many opinions from several seasoned neurologists it was determined that Erin might have a tethered spine. This basically means that the spinal cord has become attached to the spinal column at some point along its length, most often in the lower (lumbar) portion. That would explain why she is having trouble controlling her urges to use the restroom and her curled toes. This is something that she apparently has had since birth. To correct it, they went into her lower back and literally removed part of her spine. It was just a small piece but the doctors think that might have done the trick. The pressure on the spine seems to be alleviated and Erin says she can already feel a difference as far as not having to go to the bathroom all the time.

She has to be in the hospital for at least 5 days and 3 of those days she has to be flat on her back so that no spinal fluid leaks out of her incision. I went to see her today and she seemed her usual cheery self. She was getting antsy from laying flat for 3 days and she was starting to move around more. At one point, she complained that her head was itching and asked the nurse of she could wash her hair. The nurse brought us some shampoo and conditioner and towels. We took the meal tray and lowered it as far as it could go. We then raised her bed as high as it could go and put the tray and bed side by side. Erin then shimmied to the edge of the bed so that her head was hanging off of it. We put a basin under her neck and used a pitcher that the nurse gave us and I washed her hair that way. It was pretty funny and Erin totally felt better afterwards. Here are some pics of that adventure:

Phew!! Okay I think that's about it, lol. Like I said, our priority has been Cami so everything else (with the exception of Erin's surgery!) has taken a back seat. But things are starting to slow down now and get back to normal so that's always nice. :)

Until next time! :)

PS: Congratulations to my good friend, college roommate, and bridesmaid Sarah on her recent engagement!! :)

PSS: I am way excited to see Shaina in a week!! :) :)

Please say a prayer for our little Cami...

..she has been diagnosed with the Parvo virus. She is currently at the vet's in quarantine. I cannot express how much my heart aches for her. I can barely write this without crying. I know she is a little fighter and can get through this. The vet said they found it early enough where there is some hope. She is hooked up to an IV and is receiving fluids and antibiotics. She also has a fever, which could be a good thing because it means she is fighting the virus.

Bryce and I are trying to be strong but it is so hard because she is our little baby. As I am sure you all can relate, you start to love your pets like they are your own children. She is our first pet together. When they are so young, you don't think about anything but playing with them and cuddling and all of the fun stuff. And now, she is fighting for her life. She's just a baby...

Please say a prayer for her and keep her in your thoughts.

Thank you,

Monica & Bryce

Oh boy...

Well, I am back from Atlanta! I had a blast and cannot wait to go back in September. I have been back for about a week now and I have been busy getting the house back in order and making sure Papa has been okay. He had a little bit of a scare while I was gone.

As I have mentioned before, Papa has congestive heart failure. Well, it has been catching up to him as of lately and one of the symptoms of it is shortness of breath. Apparently, while on a visit with his "lady friend" he became very winded and could not seem to breathe. So, she drove him home and his brother-in-law made sure to check up on him several times that night. So he seemed fine after that.

WELL, on Friday, my step-mother and I were going to volunteer to raise money for the Berea High prom at the zoo. I pulled up to the house at 4:30 with Papa and got out of the car. I waited for him as he caught his breath ( he gets winded just from getting out of the car). I asked him if he was okay and he nodded his head and said yes. The next thing I know he was swaying from side to side and he sunk down and fell backwards onto the concrete. He had just fainted in front of me!!! I thought he was having a heart attack. I ran into the garage and screamed for my step mom. Luckily she was in the kitchen and came running out right away and called 911. I went to Papa and and he was lying face up with his eyes open staring at the sky. I thought he was dead! But then he looked at me and I asked him if he was okay. He looked at me strangely and said "I'm sleeping." My step mom and I both kind of snickered because we were glad he was alert and speaking but he had no idea that he had just passed out. He realized he was on the concrete he then asked "What am I doing down here?" He was trying to get up but we would not let him. I ran inside and got a pillow and his blood pressure machine. He had scraped his head on the ground and was bleeding a little bit but I don't think he hit it too hard. By that time, the ambulance had come and they were evaluating him. They decided it was best to bring hikm in because he does have a pace maker/difibrillator. Laurie (my step mom) followed the ambulance and I went ahead and told my sisters what had happened. They had been home the whole time and had no idea what had happened!

Laurie texted me for the next couple of hours and kept me updated on what the doctors were saying. At first, they though it was his pace maker that was not working correctly but they then determined that wasn't the cause. So they decided to keep him overnight to run tests. At that point, I went over to the hospital to see him and he was alert and cracking jokes. I knew he would be okay for the most part. The next morning, he was discharged after saying there was no obvious reason for his fainting. So, just to be on the safe side we are staying in Berea for the next week.

Soooo that was my weekend in a nut shell. Pretty exciting! :-0

All I am going to say....

...is that I have found and ordered my wedding gown. :)

And the verdict is in...

...Papa can still drive, according to a specialist at the Cleveland Clinic. I am not sure if I mentioned it in previous entries but the family has had some concerns regarding Papa's driving abilities. As time has gone on, we have noticed that he weaves and does not stay in his lane. He is not consistent with his speed nor does he leave enough room between cars when he stops at lights. This is the reason that I drive him almost everywhere. And when he does whine and complain that he wants to drive and I give in and let him, well, let's just say that I am hanging on to the seat because it is so scary!

So, the reason that he was taking this test is because during his last visit to his geriatrics specialist my step-mother told her that Papa had been in 2 accidents recently. They were minor ones but they happened pretty close together. So she said it would be best to take a test to determine what we should do. Even though Papa agreed, he was determined to pass the test and show everyone that he still belonged on the road.

The day came and everyone in the house was waiting around dying to know what the outcome was going to be. We all believe that his driving privileges should be taken away. It may sound harsh but we think it is what is best for him--and for society! Thank goodness for cell phones and texting because I don't think I would have been able to wait until they got back to find out what was decided! My step-mother was letting me know each process through texting and so far it seemed like he would not be able to pass. He took a vision test and it was determined that he has trouble seeing at night. The lines on the road need to be freshly painted and bright otherwise he has a hard time seeing them, which explains the weaving. Then he took a mini mental exam which he did okay on. The next test was a computer exam which had several tasks for him to complete, such as differentiating between cars and SUV's. Apparently, he failed it miserably and the screen even showed the words "Very High Risk." Then, it was on to a brake reaction test and he scored the minimum score required. So, at this point, I thought for sure he was going to fail and he wouldn't be able to drive. The last part of the exam, of course, the actual driving. My step-mother says they were out for about and hour driving and he drove around the town, through construction and everything. He determined that Papa was still a decent driver and could still drive. WHAT??!? I guess in my heart of hearts I wasn't surprised. I knew he would somehow pass and still be able to drive. So he drove on the way back and my step-mom said that the whole time she was on edge because he was just not staying in his lane! I don't know what this doctor was thinking but whatever. Papa has to go back every 2 months to get evaluated. What he should have done was take him onto the highway. That's where his driving and weaving get really scary! We'll be sure to mention that next time.

Anyhow, other than that, nothing out of the ordinary has happened. I'm just trudging along day by day. Next week, I will be traveling to Atlanta for my cousin Diane's wedding shower and I am really looking forward to it. It should be a lot of fun. :)

See ya!!

I ain't as young as I once was...

..you know, like that song? Ha, not that I think I am old by a long shot but I did go to Cedar Point yesterday and today, well, my body is not happy with me!! My best friend Kimberlee and I decided to take the day and have some fun up at the Point. We got there at about 3 and stayed until it closed. It was the perfect amount of time. We rode almost everything so it was a good time.

Anyhow, today is just a day of cleaning and chores and errands and things like that. Pretty exciting.


I leave you with a quote:

"Growing up is a process, not an event." -- Paul B. Jamison

A whole lot of nothing.

I haven't had much to post lately. I never claimed to lead an exciting life!!

Right now, I have been job hunting and keeping my fingers crossed to hear back from someone. I have also been getting my stuff together for grad school as I found out that they will honor quite a few of my classes from BGSU. So that's always good. Other than that, I have just been doing the best I can taking care of Papa. It can be difficult at times and very frustrating, especially since we have been butting heads lately about a lot of things, but I am trying my best to just keep going and ignore it. After all, he is 84 years old and super set in his ways. I think I may start yoga or some sort of meditation to deal with the stress. But I will keep you all updated on that whole adventure, lol.

That's all folks!

Adios!!

PS: My little sister Erin asked me a while ago why I end all of my entries with "Adios!" I told her I just did it once and it stuck. It's kind of like my signature. Maybe I will start something new...stay tuned!! :)

Say hello to Cambria!!!

The newest member of our little family has finally arrived!! Her name is Cambria, although we call her Cami. We picked her up from her breeder on Saturday. She is a pure bred AKC chocolate lab. Bryce and I were going to pick her up on Sunday but the breeders called us on Saturday and told us she was ready if we wanted to come and get her. The drive was about 30 minutes but it seemed like forever!! We finally got there and were soooo excited to bring her home. We stopped and bought her a little bed and a little collar, even though we know she will outgrow them in a few weeks, most likely.

So we had our first night with her. We put her in a crate at night and she whimpered a bit but eventually she fell asleep. Then at about 2am, she started whimpering again. So I got down on the floor and put my hand in her crate to comfort her and let her know I was there. Then she fell asleep again. THEN, at about 4am, she woke up again and had to go outside so I took her out and even though I was tired, I was so proud of her for not going in her crate and letting us know she had to go. 7am rolled around and she was up for the day and wanted everyone else to be so she whimpered until I let her out again. She played around with Jack and was running and jumping and was just too cute. Then she pooped out and fell asleep, which was nice for me because then I got to sleep too! Bryce felt bad so he offered to sleep on the floor next time, which I was grateful for.

So we are excited to have our little one. She is staying with Bryce in Sandusky for the time being because Papa does not like dogs, unforunately. I tried to convince him but no such luck. Oh well. We will all be together soon enough.

In other news, I met with an advisor about grad school at Ashland University. I have to take a Praxis I exam, which is like an ACT or SAT, next week. I'm looking forward to getting going with that and getting my teaching license and masters. Sooooooo yeah. I also got to go to the Jack Johnson concert at Blossom last week. We had seats 3 rows back and it was awesome--minus the migraine headache that I had. But Jack was amazing live and I would definitely go see him again.

That's all folks!

Adios! :)

In other news...

I have been slacking on the posts lately, I know. I have been running around doing this and that and have put blogging on the back burner.

Papa is in Atlanta for 2 weeks to visit his 3 other children. So I am on vacation as well!! :) It's been nice. Bryce came down to Berea last week and we went up to the zoo. It was HOT!!! We only managed to stay for about 2 hours but it was still a good time.

This past weekend, I went over to Sandusky to spend time with Bryce for his 25th birthday. We went to a Dave Matthews tribute band concert at Lyman harbor on Friday and then went to Bike Week on Saturday. Bike week is always interesting, to say the least!

Bryce finally got Rock Band for his Xbox 360. I was skeptical at first but I have to admit that it is a pretty fun game. I am pretty good at the drums while Bryce handles the guitar.

That's all I got for now...I'm off to run some errands.

Adios!! :)

Wedding Website!!!

Keep track of the planning!! I will add more information as it becomes available! :)

http://www.weddingwire.com/roth8809

Any suggestions??

Soooooo...I need to start getting in shape. I have been on the "college" diet for 4 years now and have not exactly been healthy. This past year has been especially hard since it was senior year and I rarely had time to eat healthy, if I even had time!

Anyhow, I am not necessarily trying to lose weight. I weigh about 115 and am 5 feet tall. What I want to focus on is toning. I want what every woman wants...a flat belly!! My dilemma is that I have no motivation or self-control when it comes to eating right and working out. If I walk past a cookie or anything sweet, I have to eat it. I am lucky I don't weigh 400 pounds by now!! I thought that by being home, I would eat better and start to get more active. WRONG!! If anything, my laziness gotten worse. At least while I was at school I walked around campus all day.

I need to change the way I eat and become more active, not just for the wedding but for me as well.

That's where you guys come in.....anyone have any suggestions on how I could start??


Thanks, I appreciate it!! :)

Adios!!

Best weekend ever!! :)

Soooo, this weekend was my birthday weekend. Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone! :)

On Friday, my best friend, Kimberlee, and her boyfriend Stephen came up from Berea to spend some time with me. We went up to Lakeview Park/beach and fooled around for a bit. We then realized that we were starving so we drove up to Applebee's in Avon Lake. They gave me this cute little cup of ice cream for my birthday! :) I then got to drive Kimberlee's convertable VW Bug which was a blast! (It does not take much to excite me!) We came back and they bought me a cute little cake and bought me a bottle of wine. It was good times. :)

Bryce was unable to come up on Friday because of Troy's graduation party so he came up on Saturday. We went up to Dave and Buster's. Both of us had never been there so it was an experiene. After a great meal, we bought a power card and went to town. We tried this two player shooting game and both decided it was waaaay too loud for us so we moved on. We then discovered the coin machines/games where you put a coin in and what ever number the coin lands on is the number of tickets you get. BUT, then we found this game where you just push a button to try and make a light stop at the highest number of tickets. Well, I managed to make it stop at the BONUS light and we won 418 tickets! We were pumped. So we had a total of about 1400 tickets and went to the store. We ended up just getting some shot glasses and other cups. It was a good time, though. I had no idea it was 21 and over though!! They IDed us at the door!

Anyhow, today was my grandma's 63 birthday so I went home for the day to celebrate. Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful day but great weekend.

I also finished my book! I have to say that while overall I enjoyed the book, the ending was just kind of blah. I feel like something else should have happened. But I won't give anything away in case anyone else wants to read it. ;)


Well, that's all I got. Until next time!

Adios!! :)

Turning over a new leaf.

For those of you who don't know, tomorrow is my birthday! I will be 22. Woo hoooo!! Partaaaay!! Not really, lol. It has made me do some thinking though. Now that I am a college graduate and am getting married, I have come to realize that I need to start fresh. I need/want to eliminate the negative aspects of my life. Since there really aren't that many "things"(I am blessed!), I am mainly talking about people.

I have recently discovered that some people are just fake and I cannot stand fake people. I need to seperate myself from those types of people. I am too nice and usually let certain things slide but I need to quit doing that. I let people walk over me too much. It stresses me out to a point where I get sooooo anxious and I'm tired of it. So instead of trying to work things out like I usually do, I am just removing those certain persons from my life. Needless to say, they will NOT be getting an invitation to my wedding. I am just over it and done. I am tired of letting people walk over me.

That's all.

:)

Anyhow, now that I am done venting (for now), I had an AMAZING weekend!! I am truly grateful for the people who I am surrounded by and who are not fake to me. I love you all!!

I'm off to finish my book...it is absolutely amazing by the way. I can't wait to watch the movie and compare the two.


Adios!!

I've been tagged!

Oh boy....

The Rules:

Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random, facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 6 people to be tagged, list their names & why you tagged them. Don’t forget to leave them a comment saying “You’re it!” & to go read your blog. You cannot tag the person that tagged you, so since you’re not allowed to tag me back; let me know when you are done so I can go read YOUR weird/random/odd facts, habits and goals.

Okay, let's see here....


1. While I love reading in general, I absolutely LOVE romance novels...you know those cheesy Harlequin ones...yeah, I'm not really sure how I got into those but I have collected quite a few over the past several years. If you're ever interested, let me know! ;)

2. I have an 83 year old roommate. Sometimes I think it is more interesting then when I lived with my 3 girlfriends in BG. Everyday is a new adventure!

3. I can't seem to shake the habit of biting my nails. I have been doing it probably since I came out of the womb and for as much as I try I can't quit. It's not even a nervous habit anymore. I do it just to do it. My grandmother use to put hot sauce on my fingers to try and get me to quit but it would just make me angry and I would still bite them anyways.

4. Speaking of my grandma, I was raised by my maternal grandmother until I was 16. Then, I moved in with my dad. I decided it was time for my grandma and step-grandpa to live on their own--along with myself, they also raised 2 of my sisters.

5. And speaking of siblings, I have 7 brothers and sisters! Wow, right? Well, they are all half-siblings. Regardless, they are family. Ready for the list?! In order we are: Monica (me), Kyana, Krystal, Holly, Erin, Chelsea, Alin, and Zeratus. Holly, Erin, and Chelsea are my dad and step-mother's children. Kyana, Krystal, Alin, and Zeratus are my mother's children. My parents were never married. I am what they call a love child. :)

6. I am deathly afraid of spiders. I can't even look at them...they are sooooooooo gross. Too many legs and too many eyes!!

7. I love octopus! Eating it, I mean. It is very common with the Puerto Rican folk. We call it "pulpo" which means octopus in Spanish, naturally. Some people may get grossed out but if you like calamari, which is SQUID, then you would probably like "pulpo".

8. I am working on earning my masters in mild/moderate intervention. I will be taking courses at Lorain County Community College. They have a partnership with Ashland University and while I will the classes at LCCC, I will recieve my degree from Ashland.

9. I tend to be a little OCD about locking doors at night. I lock them and check them at least 3 or 4 four times before I go to bed.

10. I like to put my iPod on when I am stressed out and dance around my room. You know, like the commercials... :) It's a great work out too.


Hope you enjoy it...I can't really tag anyone though since everyone has already been tagged!!


Adios!

Apparently...

I'm no good at making banana bread. It was mushy and not cooked through, despite the fact that it was in the oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Grrr...I put a lot of time into it and was looking forward to it (as was Papa) and I messed up. :( Sorry Bryce...looks like you will have to do the cooking in the house!! Although, I can make a mean scrambled egg and toast breakfast... :)

In other news, I bought a new trash can today. Pretty exciting, right? Well, it is when you have been using an outdoor trash can in your kitchen for the past 2 weeks. Papa doesn't seem to get that it is totally gross to do that. First off, it is unsanitary. Secondly, he uses no trash bags so everything he throws out could potentially and does stick to the can. And third, it takes up soooo much room. He was insistent that he did not care about any of that and that it was not necessary to buy a new one but I marched off to good ol' Target and bought a normal kitchen trash bag. I don't think he is used to it yet because several times today he has left wrappers on the counters, as if totally unaware of the shiny new trash can sitting there in front of him. Or, he could totally be defying me and rebelling against the trash can...that seems more likely.

Anyhow, I also bought a book today. It has been a while since I have read for pleasure and now that school is out, I can finally enjoy a good book. I picked "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. You might recognize it as a recent movie but it was a book way before it was a film. I'm not too far into it but so far it's okay...I can honestly say that getting through those first boring chapters of a book is the worst part of reading for me. After that, it gets good and I can really enjoy it.

So, I'm off to go read some more and catch some shut-eye. Sorry for another really long post...I don't know why I'm writing so much!! :)

Adios!

Can you even use dial-up internet anymore??

So I have been without internet for about a week. Thankfully, good ol' Time Warner Cable came out and hooked up high speed internet. I should correct myself...I have had internet, sure. But it has been dial-up. Papa never uses it (I am not sure he even knows what the internet is anymore) and it has just never been updated. So I took care of it and am finally back on. Does dial-up even work anymore??

Anyhow, I have gotten pretty comfortable living here with Papa. I make sure he eats, takes his meds and puts on his memory patch. He is still having a heard time remembering what day it is, though. For example, he thought today was Sunday. I mean he was insistent! He asked me if we were going to my parents house in Berea because it was Sunday and he always goes on Sundays. I had to remind him that it was Monday. Then he came up to me and said he thought it was Sunday so he couldn't go to the bank. Every day is a different day for him. The days just blend together. But, I try to get him through it and any other little things he needs help with.

Today I spent the majority of the day hosing down lawn chairs and tables for our party this weekend. Let me tell ya, it was pretty gross! Those tables hadn't been used in about a year so the leaf and stagnant water and mud build up was outrageous. As I was hosing down the patio area, one of our neighbors came by and introduced himself and offered to power wash the tables and the patio for me. It was very generous of him and I am truly grateful for that.

I got to see Bryce a couple times this week. Right now it's a bit difficult to see each other every day with his job and me living in Lorain but when we do see each other we just fall into place and act as if we have never been apart. I am SUPER excited for him to finally move in with me here in the next month or so. I cannot wait to start our new lives together! :)

Okay, okay...enough with the lovey-dovey stuff. I am just so happy with where I am right now in life. I am surrounded by great people who love me and would do anything for me and I couldn't ask for anything more. And it will only get better. :)

Adios!!

PS: Sorry for the novel...I had a lot on my mind!

Happy Mother's Day.....

to everyone, but especially to the women in my life who have always been there for me and loved me unconditionally. :)

Graduation from BGSU!!

School's out for summer! And for good!!

I did it!! I got through my last final and I am done with my undergrad! It is kind of bittersweet; I'm excited to be done and moving on but I am sad because 4 years is a long time and I have made many great friends here.

Soooo....now what? I am actually kind of bored. I have family coming up on Saturday for commencement, naturally, but until then I have nothing to do. I suppose I could start packing but....ha, I'm so lazy! And I love it!

Anywho, that's all...I've got nothing...it's a blog about nothing!! :)

My first blog!

Hey Everyone!!

Sooo, I'm giving this whole blog thing a try! (Studying for my finals just seem so unimportant right now!) I figured since the rest of the Roths have blogs, why not me?

I don't claim to lead a very interesting life, even though right now my life is full of fun surprises! This is my last week of classes...actually, last week was the last "official" week of classes. This week is finals week and graduation is on Saturday. I still can't believe it...these 4 years have flown by!

So after graduation, I am moving in with my 83 year old grandpa in Lorain while I am in transition and looking for a job. He has dementia, among a pletherea of other health issues, and is at the point where he really needs someone to help take care of him. He absolutely refuses to have an in-home nurse or move in with my parents so this is the next best option. We are looking into long-term assisted living for him so until then I will be his companion. After he moves into the facility, Bryce and I will be sort of "inheriting" his house, sort of as a wedding gift from him. So we are EXTREMELY thankful for that and super excited! :)

Speaking of the wedding, I will admit that it is so hard to focus on school work when all I want to do is read bridal magazines and browse wedding websites!! We are getting married at St. Mary's on August 8, 2009. We are still looking at reception sites which is really fun. But I won't give away TOO much detail just yet...;)

Anyways, I'm done with my novel!

Adios!! :)