Freaking out!

Ok so I am pretty sure I am not going to survive April. It is not even officially here yet and I am freaking out! April is the culmination of all of my classes. Once April is done I can pretty much just stop going to school. I would much rather have a week full of tests than a month full of papers and presentations. The hell starts on the 11th. I have to do a 30 minute presentation over a 15 page paper that I haven't even started and that I don't even have a clue how to do. On the 11th I also have a Risk Audit due in which I have to tour to facilities and write a paper about the risk in each. That means I will probably have to take an ENTIRE DAY to find and tour these places. Then the hell continues to the 18th. I have to do another presentation on yet another paper that I have not started and a test which I have yet to study for. Finally on the 25th I have yet another paper that I need turn in and thank god it is for an online class so we do not have to do a presentation. I don't think my brain can handle all of this at once. I think over the next month I will have written over 50 pages for all of these ridiculous papers, made over 100 powerpoint slides for presentations, and finally I will have 4 facility tours under my belt. ugh.

Happy Valentines Day

Today is a day that half the world (well the world that actually acknowledges the holiday) hates and half the world loves. Today was for the most part just a normal day. My boyfriend went to work and I went to work. Luckily for me (well kinda) I got to come home at lunch and stay home the rest of the day. I only worked half a day today because I had a test! YAY! I procrastinated all week last week and all weekend and finally took half the day off today to study. I left work at noon and came home to make my boyfriend lunch. Of course today he ended up getting off for lunch later than usual so by the time he got here the food was cold.. very very cold. Oh well he ate it and said it was good! I think he was just glad he didn't have to cook. After we ate I we took a nap! Best day ever! After he left I studied like a crazy person.

Something I have also been working on the past few days is getting my printer hooked up to my new computer. P.S. if you have Windows 7 an old ass printer isn't going to work with it. After trying with no success to connect it with my computer I tried my boyfriends computer. His is compatible with it and it should work but for some reason it still did't. But when I actually tried to print it worked. I printed all my notes and my study guide.

Well.. back to my original story... I went into my room to print my notes for class today and my completed study guide and for some reason it doesn't work. The printer wasn't even available. SUCK! I have to get all of my stuff together to go to the business center and print everything. After this I am just praying that there is paper in the printer. After printing successfully I walked outside and my bus was leaving the stop. SUCK! Luckily for me there are two different buses that come near my apartments so I knew the other one would be coming shortly. Surprise Surprise Surprise it didn't come quick enough. I was late to class. My first class went by fast and my test in the second class literally took 15 minutes to complete. I can honestly say that was the EASIEST test I have ever taken in my entire life. weird. Luckily, (word of the day) when I got out of class my boyfriend was on his way home from work so he was able to pick me up. When I walked through the door of our apartment there were flowers and a very sweet card waiting for me. :) He had also gone to the trouble of getting all the ingredients to make BLT's! Yes, I know it is not the most glamorous meal ever, but I have been craving them for weeks. After we ate we went and got some frozen yogurt! As Fergie would say Delicious!

Anyways... The whole reason I wanted to write this post was about one the most interesting thing I saw today. You always here people talking about sewer rats. Especially on Aladdin where that turbanized guard is constantly putting Aladdin down. So today I saw sewer cats! I never thought I would see that. I mean you would think a cat would stay away from a place that usually contains large amounts of water. I was waiting for my boyfriend to pick me up I was watching this cat running away from these people. It was running along the curb and all of a sudden it just disappeared!

Here one minute...

Gone the next...

I know the pictures are bad but you get the point.

Fun with food!

Recently I noticed that I take picture of my food. It just so happens that my food always look like faces. How freaking weird is that? I only posed one of these pictures!

What is up with all the kayaking??

Let me start out by saying I like my new job. I have however realized that working with people who are all around 5+ years younger than I am sucks. They are all so into themselves that they expect me to be into them too. This week we started teaching kayaking lessons in the pool, and having a staff kayak session every Tuesday. Not only are we teaching these classes almost every single person I talk to is obsessed with kayaking. I worked two shifts this week and on Wednesday I was hounded about why I didn't come to staff kayaking. Then today I was hounded again because I didn't go to kayaking lessons. Don't get me wrong I really enjoying kayaking but on my owns terms. I really like ocean kayaking and river/creek/lake kayaking. However, I want to do it when I want to do it. If I am tired I want to sit at home rather than go kayaking. I work every day 8-5 and they want me to go home and put on a swimming suit and come kayak in a pool. All of these people are at least 3 years younger than I am. That means they are almost all freshmen or sophomores which means they probably aren't working to pay for their housing, food, school, and other expenses. This means they have on average 2 classes a day and the rest of the day they do whatever they want except for the 2 hours they work every other day. I am by no means a morning person and at night it is hard to go to bed early so by the time the work day is over I am exhausted! On Mondays I am busy with work/school from 8am to 9pm. Tuesdays I work 8-5 but I am still tired from Monday. Every other Wednesday I have a 6am meeting so if I wasn't tired already I am doubly tired after the meeting. Later on Wednesday I have class and I work until 10pm. When they call Wednesday hump day I have to agree because after Wednesday it is all down hill! Thursday I work 8-5 and Friday I work back to back jobs from 8am to 7pm. As you can guess when the weekend comes around I don't want to do a damn thing. I want to sit and do NOTHING! I want to let the numbing effect of TV wash over me.

Today while I was on my way home for lunch I received an email informing me that there would be a kayak polo game on Saturday morning at 10am. I knew immediately that I would not be attending because it is early and it is on one of the only days of the week that I can get away with not leaving my house all day. It just wasn't going to happen. After I got done working my first job I headed over to my second at 5:00. My shift leader that I really like had switched shifts with this guy that is OBSESSED WITH KAYAKING! Of course the first thing he asks is "Why haven't you come to kayaking this week??" and then "Will you be a kayak polo Saturday?" I of course told him that I didn't have time because I had homework and every other excuse in America and he wouldn't accept it. I also informed him that I would not be at kayak polo. He just wouldn't drop it. Then he talked about how he loves kayaking and how he has gone on all these trips and then he asked if I was going on the lower canyons kayak trip blah blah blah.  I am almost at the point where I just want to say SHOVE THAT STUPID KAYAK UP YOUR... well maybe not. He's a nice guy (some of the people I work with are douche bags) so I don't want to be a jerk but its kinda getting to me. After an hour he asks us which one of us wants to go home and I immediately volunteered. I thought I was free and clear until this happened:

Alex: I will only let you go home if you promise to come to kayak polo on Saturday!
Me: OK I guess I am staying because I cannot promise because I wont be there.
Alex: Well what about coming to one of the sessions on tuesday or thursday?
Me: Ok I will try to be there on one of those days.
Alex: You have to say which one.
Me: Ok I will try to make it on Tuesday.

Then I ran out of there faster than you can say SEE YA WOULDN'T WANNA BE YA!

Too much of a good thing?

I say yes! Can you believe this! I didn't even know these existed until my short trip to the grocery store. How could they ruin a good honey bun by adding chocolate! Don't get me wrong I loooove me some honey bun and I loooove me some chocolate! Together? NO WAY! I think it would be totally discussing!

The dilemma.

No I am not refering to the stupid movie with Vince Vaugh.

Why do things always happen like this? When I try to plan my life I am always hesitant to make long-term plans because things always jump up and change my plans for me. A friend of my boyfriend just turned 21 so we are taking him to Vegas for his birthday. There is a large group of people going so the plans have changed about 200 times. At first we were going around the time of his actual birthday (September) but that didn't work out. Then it was going to be in mid February and that didn't work out. Then he decided it was going to be later in the year. I decided that I would just make some plans to go visit my sister in the deep south. I bought plane tickets and set the date. When I sent my sister my itinerary she ask me why I booked the same flight twice? Apparently I had booked the 2 flights home and no flights down there. I called American Airlines and for once they were awesome! I told them I wanted to change one of my flights and they said ok its done. I was in shock! I couldn't believe it was that easy.

Everything was great until yesterday. I was so excited to go see my sister and meet her new puppy. We were on our way home from school and my boyfriend got a phone call. I heard him said, "Ok I'll ask her. You said the weekend of the 26th right?" I knew at that very minute that there was going to be a problem. It turns out that all of the Vegas plans decided to rear their ugly head. Turns out that all my plans were now screwed up. I really want to go see my sister but Vegas really doesn't come up that often. I really need to try to win some money, because I could use a financial push right now. It's at a good time too. It is right after both of my midterms and school wouldn't get in the way. Ugh I hate when things like this happen!    

HRH of Sanitizer!

Being sick sucks but I can guarantee that sounding like a man sucks worse! At work all day today I looked around at my poor coworkers knowing that my disease was going to spread like wildfire through each and every one of them. I really don't want to make anyone sick! I was the queen of hand sanitizer today! I cloroxed the phone after I used it every time, but I must admit it was really annoying trying to keep others healthy! So many times today people called and had no clue who I was. Several old men thought I was a guy.

At first I thought I was having and identity crisis. Then I realized its not me its everyone around me! Almost everyone I work with at my new job thinks that I am this girl named Emily. She seems like a really nice person but WE DON'T LOOK ALIKE AT ALL! The only things we really have in common are that we are girls, white, with brown hair. UGH! Anyways while I am at my other job people on the phone either think I am a guy or that I am the office manager. Her name is really similar to mine but she has a very deep southern accent so I don't know how we get confused. The on top of everything tons of people think I am my sister. At least 75% of the people we meet either think we are the same person or that we are twins. Neither of which is true! I wish I could just be me and not be confused as someone else! gez!

On a random note... The other day I complained about being an over-sharer... UH every single person that has a blog is a over-sharer! BAHAHAHA I feel better now.

My wishes have come true!

Last week my sweet sweet boyfriend made me brownies out of the blue. They were so delicious and I ate them all before the week was over. Around noon today I thought to myself, "Man I wish I had some more of those brownies!" The thought went away and I played some video games, watched some TV, and rearranged the closet. We had lunch and I started watching TV and the thought came back! I try not to eat crap like brownies but every now and then its really hard to "just say no". I was really disappointed because we didn't have anymore mix so there wasn't even an option. Then the miracle happened! A friend of mine texted and told me that her and her husband just pulled a batch of brownies out of the oven and they wanted my boyfriend and I to come over and help them finish them off!  I couldn't believe it! I instantly texted back asking when we should show up. I didn't think about being sick or what it would be like if I went somewhere. I just wanted brownies!!

Get him here!

Anyways... after my brownie haze wore off I asked my boyfriend if he wanted to go and he said, "Are you crazy you are sick! You sound like a man!" So needless to say we stayed home.

Not again!

Today I woke up... SICK!! UGH! I hate being sick but I loooovvveee lying around and doing nothing! That's what weekends are for right?? Well this weekend was FULL of all kinds of crazy things I had to do. I was supposed to take a CPR class from 8-12 this morning but at the beginning of the week I decided that wasn't going to happen! I mean my cards only expired uh lets see... 7 months ago.. I can go a little longer! haha j/k I decided I would do a challenge rather than retake the class. Next on my list was to attend a setting class from 12-2. I also decided at the beginning of the week that this wasn't going to work either because of previous arrangements. However it turned out that my plans for this evening were delayed a little so I would be able to make the setting class. For those of you who are wondering what the hell I am talking about a setting class is when employees of the climbing wall put tape by each grip they use to climb so that other climbers can be challenged by taking that route. Each route is ranked different difficulty levels to test climbers. Anyways I had already said I wasn't going to be there because of scheduling conflicts so Its not like I actually missed anything. Finally, tonight I was going to shadow the marketing guy at the University at one of the basketball games. I have been dreading it ALL WEEK! It wasn't difficult to call and cancel! Now I just have to wait and continue to dread it until my next chance comes along.

Today is the day...

..that I face the gigantic pile of paperwork that had alluded me all month. It is a stack of over 300 single sheet assessments that I need to file. I am telling you this pile is larger than a brand new pack of paper. I have been hiding these things in my desk drawer for a over a month hoping they would disappear.

This is a picture of the file folder I use to organize them all alphabetically. I took a before just to show what kind of seriousness I am dealing with. At around 10:15 I got all of it out and started working to get all of them organized. It took forever and I tried to quit about 5000 times!

 Here it is about three hours later! The fun hasn't even begun! 

Yeah almost 4 inches! That is freaking ridiculous!  I couldn't believe how many there actually were I was in shack. At this point in the process I usually take out each section and alphabetize it as well. Next, after going through the whole file I then begin the actual filing process. These days are usually very long and by the time they are over my back is KILLING ME! Today I got lucky someone gave me something else to do :)! Thank you Sherry! Today I was spared multiple paper cuts, back spasms, and hours of labor. YAY! I will still have to do it next week but I will think about that later!

What's in a name? and other random additives.

I think I maybe one of those people most people hate. I think I am an "over sharer"! (Imagine that word coming just before a very dramatic BUUUMMMM BUMMMM BUMMMM!) I have found that when I meet new people I spend most of the conversation talking. I talk and talk and talk and they barely get a word in edge wise. I talk about my doctors visits, my graduate school woes, or even looking for jobs. I realize I am doing it too. I think to myself shut up! shut up! shut up! Then I ask them questions about them and try to get them talking but they just answer the question and stop talking. I hate telling my life story to anyone who will listen! I think part of my problem is that I used to be really shy and I really didn't talk to anyone I didn't know. In situations where I didn't know anyone I would just hang out by myself. I guess going to college does help come out of that so called shell, but I'm not sure I like being this too talkative person. This summer we had out high school reunion (I didn't go) but at a different party the same day I ran into an old classmate. He even commented on how much I talked now and how quiet I was in high school. Ugh.


On a slightly different note I think I finally realized why I am so terrible at remembering names. My name is weird. It is said weird, and it is spelled weird. When I introduce myself to someone it goes like this:

Other Person: Hi I'm Amanda
Me: Hi I'm Me
Amanda: Was that Mee or MMe?
Me. No just Me
Amanda: Oh wow what a cool name where did that come from?
Me: My mom mixed two names
Amanda: Oh thats really unique

As you can see by the time this whole conversation has happened it would be hard with someone with ADD like me to actually remember the name. My new thing now to help me remember names is to say them several times in my head after they tell me. Of course that doesn't always work if we are playing 20 questions about my name.

It's the most wonderful time of the yeeeeaaarrr!!

While I was at work today I was minding my own business and one of the ladies I work with came in and said, " My daughter is selling girl scout cookies." I didn't even have to think for a second! My only response was, " Can I pay with a check?" So I ran to my desk and got my check book. I ordered 2 boxes of thin mints, 1 box of samoas, 1 box of tagalongs, and 2 boxes of trefoils. Yeah I went a little overboard for a home with only two people. Some of you may not be familiar with the kinds of cookies I am talking about... Most of you don't know this but I was the number 1 cookie seller in my troop about 4 years running. The stock show was the best place to sell girl scout cookies. Anyways I will now be stepping up on my soap box for a minute. I think it is totally ridiculous that they have changed the names so many times. I know that the names that I used above really don't describe what kind of cookie your buying. Thin mints are the only old cookie name that has stayed and it is the closest one to actually describing the cookie itself. Oh well I really don't care because the Girl Scouts obviously don't care about describing the cookie! They have a two new cookies called Thanks-a-lots and Shout Outs.... What the hell does that mean?

For those of you who still care...

Today I went to the doctor AGAIN and he suggested that I do nothing. I went from doing nothing to being medicated and sicker to doing nothing again. He said my tonsils looked inflamed but he wouldn't do anything. I was a little confused but at the same time I was glad he cared enough to not put me through all that again. He did mention having them removed... EEK! I really have never had a problem with my tonsils so I don't think that its necessary to have them removed on their first offense! I'm sort of attached to them... literally! Also, every single nurse in that office was sick! This is a freaking ear, nose and throat doctor and every single employee there is sick. They were all coughing and clearing their throats constantly. I swear if I get whatever kind of plague that has  taken that office I will be FURIOUS! Today I finally went to work. I was only there for half the day and the second I walked in the building my  boss came over the loud speaker and said "Ok, over achiever!" I was glad to be back. Especially because I have a GIGANTIC pile of mail that are about to swallow me whole!

Don't count your chickens before they get better!

Well... All that happiness was for nothing. All of my celebrations about getting a doctors appointment were for nothing. Friday morning before I woke up for work after starting my "cure all" antibiotics I still felt like crap. I tried to get up and get ready for work and just like Thursday morning I felt terrible and I called into work again. Like my dad said just the other day, " Missing school was worse than actually going to school because the next day you were behind and had to work twice as hard. I hated school but I was there everyday!" For me missing work is just the same and its true (well most of the time). Anyways, I hated to call in again because now for the next few weeks its going to be really busy. On Wednesday when I was last at work I input a large pile checks into our deposit software and at the end of the day somehow the deposit wouldn't come out right. It was exactly 4 cents short AKA my worst nightmare! So after missing on Thursday I really didn't want to miss Friday but I was really feeling terrible. Like the day before I got back into bed and didn't wake up until after noon. I spent the rest of the day feeling groggy and laying on the couch. The weekend rolled by and I still felt terrible. This morning after taking three days of my antibiotic I got up feeling normal and headed to work. Only an hour after being there I started feeling like I was going to throw up at my desk and I developed a fever. Luckily I made it through all of the checks I had left from Wednesday. I felt good knowing that but everyone at work insisted that I go home. So once more I stayed home sick. My mom called and I told her I had been sick and she told me to read the side effects. After I got off the phone I looked at the side effects and I had every single one of the many "possible" side effects. After calling the doctors office and finding out my doctor was out of town. The nurse said she would give me the number of the doctor who was covering for him this week and send my papers over. Then without even telling me the other doctors number or even his name she hung up the phone. I was really confused and I thought I misunderstood what she said. After waiting about an hour I called back and ask her if I was supposed to call the other doctor or if she was going to do it. She asked me if I wanted the other doctors name and number and I was like uh duh! I don't know if she didn't realize that I had no idea who this other doctor was or what but I was just like COME ON LADY! Luckily after dealing with her and the nurse at the new doctors office I have another appointment tomorrow with this new doctor. Yippee!

Really?

This morning I woke up feeling terrible! I got up to get ready for work and I just felt awful and I never started feeling better. I mean every morning I feel terrible when I wake up. Its like raising the dead. This morning was different so I called in sick to work and got back into bed. Luckily thanks to the (almost) medical miracle that happened yesterday I had a doctors appointment for my sore throat I have had since Christmas. At around 2:00 I got ready and went over to the doctors office. While there I had to fill out a mountain of paperwork and the receptions asked me where my prescription should go. I quickly told him the intersection and he looked at me weird and then he said, "Are you sure? Don't those run parallel?" I thought about it and I knew I was right so I said yeah and went to sit down. While I was sitting there I could here one of the nurses behind the glass talking to the receptionist talking about how I must be wrong and it had to be somewhere else. Luckily the receptionist told her that's where I said it was so I must know.

One thing that really annoys me at doctors offices is they bring you in and the nurse asks you questions and then they shut the door. Then 30 minutes later after about 20 false alarms and a possible nap the doctor comes in. He looks down my throat, feels my lymph nodes, looked up my nose, and in my ears then says, "You have tonsillitis and you need antibiotics." I was shocked! I have never had tonsillitis before and I'm really not sure what it even is. All I know is its freaking ridiculous that nobody knew what it was! I have been feeling crappy since CHRISTMAS! I had 2 different people look in my throat and they didn't see anything. I also went to my general practitioner and she didn't see anything and did prescribe anything either. The doctor that I saw today said he rarely sees any patients that haven't already been treated. Luck me I'm finally a Unicorn!

Terrible Trumpet

Last night at around midnight a group of people walked up and down our street yelling and playing one of these...

 No I did not put the wrong picture up... Seriously a freaking trumpet! It wasn't good trumpet like Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, or Dizzy Gillespie it was TERRIBLE TRUMPET!

Life... the good... the bad... the UGLY!

They always say that good things come to good people. They also say good things come to those who wait. Well... today is one of those days that made me wonder. Am I a good person? I went to see my general practitioner on the 4th, while there she suggest that I see a specialist. She said that one of her staff members would find one and give me a referral.  Well today I finally got a call telling me that I needed to find the specialist and make the appointment myself. I called the first guy and his receptionist told me the first available appointment would be available on January 24th! I have had a sore throat since CHRISTMAS!!! I cant wait anymore! I decided I would call one of the 10 other doctors to see if maybe I could get something earlier. I called EVERY SINGLE ONE and the earliest I got from any of the was February 1st! After that I decided that January 24th really didn't look so bad after all! I called back and the lady said the most wonderful words I have ever heard!! "Oh, it looks like someone canceled for tomorrow!" I literally screamed "OH MY GOD ITS A MIRACLE!" Yes, I know this is a little over the top but I was really excited! I was on top of the world! The rest of the day went by well and I was nervous about my first class but I was excited to finally be doing something in which I was genuinely interested. Later in the day I began to wonder... Do good things really come to those who wait?? My sweet boyfriend dropped me off and as I walked into the building I realized that the side of the building said Exercise Science Center. I was supposed to be at the Sports Sciences Center... Are they the same? I asked a guy outside and he had no idea. I then went inside and asked the first person I ran into if I was in the right building and he said NO! I called my sweet boyfriend to come back and get me but my phone didn't work. I walked over to the kiosk and asked the lady inside where the Sports Science Center was and she let me know that is was across campus. Today it was around 20 degrees. Lets just say I moved here from a place that rarely gets cooler than 70. 20 is COLD! So I walked all the way across campus and by the time I got to class I was late, freezing, out of breath, and my nose was running uncontrollably. After was class was over I looked at my cell phone and saw that this lady I had been communicating (I use that term very loosely) with about my application to graduate school had replied my email. I had simply asked how the process was going and if there was a timeline on when I would find out if I had been accepted. This is what I received...

Smart Sister,

Your File is incomplete.. We are still missing your letter of intent and 3 recommendation letters for you. There has been some updates added to our graduate program process so you will need to go back to the website for any additional new information posted. It is your responsibility to keep up with your status in order to get all the required documents in. An email was sent to you as a reminder  in December. Since the first day of class has started, you will need to contact the graduate school and change your application status for another term.

Thank you!

What a jerk this lady is! I simply asked how the process was going and she responded with this! This was not at all what I expected to get back from her. This lady is one of those people that just gets under my skin. Half the stuff in the email is incorrect. I never received any email from her, I had been checking my status daily (a graduate school application isn't one of those things you and just forget about it), and she is the one who told me all the wrong information in the first place. Ugh! Anyways as you can see I got some really bad news. I waited three months to have her tell me my file was incomplete! Today good things definitely did not come to those who wait! The only small shining moment of today was that there is still a possibility that I am a good person. :)
 

Goodbye my dear friend.

When I was in senior in high school just before graduation my parents gave me a gift. A rather large gift which I would have to pay half. They wanted me to have a reliable vehicle to go to college. It was a single cab maroon Chevy Colorado. The first few weeks I had it I took it to school and while I was parked in the lot someone backed into the rear side panel and left a football size dent. I never got it fixed because it was barely noticeable. It was a very sad day and it was really annoying to have my brand new car dented. A few years later I was a summer camp and some dumb kid sat on my hood and buttons on his pants scratched my hood. A year later I ran and errand from camp in town and within the 5 minutes I was in Walgreen's someone had keyed my driver side door. It was about a foot long and really deep. It was in town where I had no enemies so I have no idea what happened. After having my truck for around 3 and a half years I decided for Christmas and my birthday I would ask for my dent and scratches to be repaired. I went and got a estimate and it would cost and UNBELIEVABLE 3000 bucks! That was wayyyy too much and I decided she could live with her beauty marks. Little did I know that only a few short months later I would be in a wreck. In October 2009 I got in a wreck in San Antonio. I hydroplaned in a puddle and ran into the side of another vehicle. My truck did a full turn and ended up facing the wrong way on the interstate. The police came and my truck was towed. My dad rushed down, saw the truck, and talked with the people at the repair place. The truck was totaled. He told me later that day that my truck wasn't even worth 4000 dollars at the time of the wreck. It took about week to decide whether to fix my truck or to just scrap it. My dad decided to fix it. After 2 months and 7000 dollars my truck was fixed and we were reunited. Ironically the dent and the key mark on the side of my truck were still their because all the damage was all on the other side of the truck. The wreck was really upsetting and it was hard to drive again. I was lucky because neither I or the other driver was hurt. A year went by and my truck and I moved to a new city. On December 29, 2010 I got into another accident. This time I wasn't so lucky. Again both the other driver and I were both fine. My truck is another story. I hit a 18 wheeler an the truck ran over the bed of my truck and then caused me to flip and eventually land back on the tires. It was definitely totaled this time. We had it towed to the local wrecking yard. My dad came and talked to the owner and he sold my truck for $150. It was so sad to see my truck that I had worked hard to pay for and that I owned be sold for that small amount of money. To me that truck was priceless.

Christmas- A gift within a gift.

Christmas was fantastic. I decided I would go home for the break and spend some time with my family. It just so happened that during the holiday my sister was graduating with her doctorate degree. Then  my sister, dad, and I decided to surprise my mom with a new TV stand/cabinet to match the new TV my parents bought themselves for Christmas. When I finally got home for the holiday my dad took me out to the garage to show me the brand new jeep they had bought! I was really confused because last Christmas they bought a jeep. I didn't understand why my parents needed two almost identical red jeeps. When my dad saw my face he asked what I was thinking and I told him that I was confused about why they needed two. He then told me that it was a surprise for my sister because of her great accomplishment and she needed a vehicle for better gas mileage. They were just going to have it in the garage when she came home with a congratulations sign on the back. However, I thought it was a better idea to wait until Christmas and give her the keys in a card. That same week my dad and I shopped around for a TV cabinet. After a few days and several different stores I found the perfect one. I got a trailer and brought it home. My dad and I decided that it would be best to leave it at our family business until Christmas so my mom wouldn't see it. Later we decided that we would also leave my sisters car at the family business as well. On Christmas Eve we told my mom that we were leaving early the next morning to go get my sisters car and we told my sister that we were leaving early to get my moms table. Neither one of them suspected a thing. On Christmas morning after my sister opened her keys we all ran outside and when we opened the back of the car mom was surprised to see her new TV table! My dad said he felt like he was on the price is right.